test drive | 1

[unplug]

test drive

Welcome to the first test drive for Systemwide! We are excited to have you. All prospective players are welcome to tag in and test out their characters, be they unplugged or free born. We would like to offer a range of scenarios that can be expected during gameplay, which are also useable prompts for app samples, and of course, if something else about the setting strikes you, feel free to come up with your own!

Please put your character name and canon in your subject line, and indicate which prompt you are launching from.

simulation | maybe this is your first time. perhaps you've been here countless times. it's a room, as confined as a boxing ring, as expansive as a battle field, whatever you need it to be, whatever you're here to train for.

1.

Before you is a city of rooftops, empty of human life. This is a safe place, because while it may hurt you, at least it won't kill you. Perhaps you are practicing your influence over reality, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Are you successful, or are you failing to free your mind? Perhaps you're helping someone else overcome their fear of heights.

And of course, an operator can always load up some Agent-like training programs to make it interesting.

2.

Congratulations, you know kung-fu, or maybe some other system of combat, like crazy parkour archery, cartwheeling with guns, or sword fighting on horse back. Perhaps you're trying out something even more fantastic, a magical skill or a superpower.

Show me. Or a friend.

mission | whether on board a ship or with your mind sunk deep into a Matrix, you will have to join the battle eventually. sometimes things go terribly wrong. what are you gonna do about it?

3.

Something's gone wrong with this extraction.

There's a lot of information to process. Your target's been extracted, and that's the good news -- your ship, in reality, is heading to their location now -- but the bad news is your team has been scattered. You could be anywhere within this Matrix, deep in the jungle, or lost on a subway train, or staggering out of the crashing waves of a night time beach, and the operator needs a minute to figure out your exact location before they can direct you to a port out of here, or send another operative to collect you.

All you have to do is stay alive for that long. Easy, right?

4.

You were warned of this. You've been prepared in endless simulations, with a dozen cautionary tales, training sessions with the EMP. Still, it's nothing like you imagined, when the operator shouts: "Sentinel closing in at seven o' clock. It's gaining."

And then the shriek of metal.

reality | as much as many Matrixes are designed to be a comfort, you have to face the real world sometime. or maybe this is the world you have only ever known.

5.

Annual celebrations are rare to come by, but the anniversary of Neo's Truce is one that always draws in the crowd. The event takes place in a massive cavern in Zion known as the Temple, and there is music, and there is dancing [a little NSFW].

Everyone is there.

Where are you?

6.

The wind on your face, up here on the desolate surface, tastes bitter, different to what it feels like in a simulated reality. It's freezing cold and always dark, but sometimes, you need a reminder about what it is you're fighting for. Or maybe you're seeing the wasteland of Earth for the first time.

Either way, you shouldn't be out here for too long. The machines might find you.

wildcard | choose your own adventure.

7.

Perhaps you're riding with the Dothraki, or sitting under the Sorting Hat for the first time. Maybe the pleather bodysuit is pinching under your armpits as the traffic of the 90's roars by, or the Nova Empire's sprawling city glitters, towering above you. Maybe you're showing someone around the place you called home for your entire fictional life.

Or perhaps it's nothing as fantastical as that: the Council meeting droned on for two hours, and you're just happy to be home, even if it's a tiny enclosure with rust-edged furniture. Maybe someone's coming over for lunch, and there are real greens in the protein slurry today; maybe you're about to ask to join a crew.

There are infinite worlds to explore, but try to remember that only one of them is real.

Comments

[hacker]

Maybe it's always been like this.

[ Food in general. Slowly, reluctantly, she lowers herself back to the bench, stares at the food like it's a traitorous lie. Unease colors her expression, belying disgust. ]

I mean, we wouldn't know, right? All food is like this: we never tasted food before. Something just told us that we did.

[righteously]

[He blows out a breath. Like a dream, like when you know you're asleep while you dream and you can take control over it, do whatever you want, fly, have a threesome, whatever.]

Just like a dream...

[He mutters to himself finally, and with that little boost of encouragement, he sets off at a run. A full blown sprint.

The drop approaches rapidly, and soon his heart's dropping into his stomach because his foot's on the last step of ground and he launches forward. It's a dream, it's a dream, he's going to make it because it's a dream, and-

and for a few seconds, it goes pretty well. He's got more momentum, he's making more distance, than what should be physically possible. And then he glances down, and he sees the sheer drop and nothing supporting him, and he knows how far away the other building is, and the logical part of his mind declares that he's not going to make it and that he has to fall.

And so he does, eyes widening, fear setting in, he plummets to the ground.

Well, so much for that.]

[retrofire]

Whoa now, I don't know if sad's the right word— [ It's kind of the right word. But the whole chill act hits a snag when she barrels right through it and implies that Rocket might've been a program, causing Peter to hesitate a second too long. ]

I mean, he's gotta be real, right? He was pretty convincing. And not the weirdest thing out there, actually— his best friend was a talking tree.

[ Well. ]

Sort of talking. Definitely sentient.

[ Getting sadder by the minute?? ]

[retrofire]

No, see, it's got a cassette in it. There's tape— [ Except the question isn't literal. Or maybe it's very literal; either way, Peter seems to catch on a few seconds late, brow furrowing as he eyes Cole, expression turning mildly suspicious.

His voice matches, words drawn out and cautious. ]

You're not talking about the lyrics, are you.

[retrofire]

[ Zero for two. Neither one of those names mean anything, but the emphasis on the second one gives him some context, at least. Peter leans in slightly, projecting the appropriate air of mystery and intrigue into his voice. ]

Quill.

Of— [ Improv. A very slight pause, then, confidently: ] The Jackson Five.

[ex_spins462]

[ Natasha's head tilts back with obvious derision. ]

Little pale for that, aren't you?

[ Running a thumb over the skin showing above the neckline of his clothes for emphasis. ]

[ex_spins462]

[ Natasha takes it. She's lighter than she was then, and all she really needs is a steadying hand to haul herself up. She shakes out the pins and needles in her cold feet, drops it once she's steady. ]

Yeah, what was I thinking.

[ They pick their way back across the uneven ground, cold wind sneaking fingers in under the new shifting gaps in their clothing. Natasha wonders if the air she's breathing ever tasted the way it did in the Matrix. Before the sky was darkened and the world scraped clean. ]

So I'm thinking of learning how to knit.

[subjectzero]

[Laughing at Jack either gets you points or a punch in the throat. She leans back in her chair, the wide span of her knees broadcasting her own arrogance as she looks him up and down and decides - hell with it. He's fresh, he's fawn-wobbly, and he sounds like he might be funny.

She kicks open a drawer, pulls out a jar of clear fluid. It's small; it doesn't need to be bigger.]

One jar, one day of you picking up my prep work.

[She leans towards him, elbows on her knees, and smiles.]

You puke, it's two days.

[retrofire]

Ah-hah.

[ Very gotcha, as if he's the one with the clever lines instead of her. ]

So you're Terran.

[ Oops. He corrects himself, bowing his head very slightly to make it seem like a patronizing translation rather than a mistake. ] From Earth.

[hacker]

[ Oh, this just got awkward, didn't it?

It only takes one beat of hesitation to establish Skye's bluff before she ever makes it. She balks, surprise blanching her face, and she's simply not fast enough on her recovery to disguise her obvious assumption: neither Rocket nor Groot are real humans, and the thought never occurred to Peter to doubt them.

The hardest lies to parse are the ones people tell to themselves. ]

Weird. [ She blinks quickly, shaking her head and putting on an affect that finds the notion realistically bizarre. ] But hey, aliens, right? Pretty sure the real world is way crazier than anything dreamed up and packed into my matrix.

[ex_spins462]

[ Natasha's eyes widen and then narrow. ]

Yeah. Expecting something else?

[ He sure doesn't talk like an Asgardian, but she doesn't know what else is out there. Still. That would explain why he doesn't know her. Every person on Earth might have heard of SHIELD, but maybe he wasn't from Earth.

Just how big was their Matrix, anyway? ]

[paragon]

[ he doesn't react to the non sequitur, just tilts his head, turning the idea over for a few seconds before nodding. easy enough to imagine her making quick work of dangerous implements. ]

You should. You'd be good at it.

[ he won't get caught up in the neverending cycle of wondering how much they can get back of what they had, if they never really had it in the first place. she still made choices, and got better, and if she wants to do it again she will. ]

What'll you make first?

[ he leans over to open the manhole for them to climb back through. ]

[virtuoso]

Putting the clip in implies intent. There's little point in—

[ The wall's on the verge of crumbling, now, but the shots have abruptly slowed; at least two of their attackers have been taken out, leaving two more. One wounded, by the sound of it.

Sherlock stops talking because of the pained yelling instead of the precarious status of the wall, leaning around to get a glimpse of a man holding his bleeding leg amid a pair of corpses. The one still standing takes a shot at his head, narrowly missing as he pulls himself back behind cover. ]

They're innocent victims. [ Who are still shooting at them, but— ] Not these, but there's a difference between shooting at a program and shooting at bystanders because they've had the bad luck of being hijacked.

[virtuoso]

[ He doesn't flinch at the familiar voice. That's only thanks to practice, and the way he refuses to turn and look at her as she joins him on the ledge is as tellingly cool as any obvious tension. ]

Heroically. [ Quiet and curt, finely sarcastic. But that's it for petty criticism, followed by a brief beat of silence before he continues. ]

Virginia Woolf. Critics generally agree it's about the human struggle to capture meaning in art rather than simple imitation, the idea that the true reality is one of feeling.

[ Absent and rote, listing back what he finds relevant. It's the follow-up that's more genuinely engaged. ] The real question, then, is whether or not an actual machine's more efficient.

[ Efficient enough, apparently. They've done a good job tricking most of humanity. ]

[retrofire]

No.

[ Which is almost true. He'd assumed she was from Earth, which is kind of a dumb assumption given that everyone looks human, here — it'd been a belated choice to confirm it.

And there's such a thing as a subtle approach to this. The thing is, after you've been yanked out of a pod full of snot and told nothing you remember matters, it's difficult to take the subtle approach to anything. ]

How much do you know about aliens?

[ex_spins462]

SHIELD was created to defend Earth from extra-terrestrial threats.

[ Which implies more than she actually does, but also explains why she isn't exactly boggling at the concept of aliens. Her fingers play idly up his neck as she considers him. ]

So were you an alien, MJ?

[ That sounds like even more of an adjustment than Steve had to make, which is saying something. ]

[ex_spins462]

A warm sweater.

[ Without hesitation, like she's been thinking about it. Natasha slips through the hole onto the ladder. Wraps her palms in her sleeves and puts her boots on the outside, slides downwards rather than risk her weak muscles on the climb. ]

You'll have to give me your measurements!

[ She calls back up to him, and then waits once her boots meet the familiar sharp impact of the metal grating. ]

[retrofire]

[ That's interesting. His expression says as much, though he's tempted to say they could've used more of that in the 80's, when spaceships were abducting small kids.

Instead he smiles lightly in response to the slide of her fingers up his neck, entertained by the attention whether it's a ruse or not. Or because it's a ruse, probably. ]

I'm as human as you are, sweetheart.

[ Here. That's the qualifier. Peter almost leaves it there, but after a second thought: ] But yeah, I'm from Earth. And only half-alien, if you want to get technical about it.

[ex_spins462]

Which half?

[ Still smiling, still flirting, now with a deliberate drop of her gaze down and then a flick back up again. ]

[retrofire]

The important half.

[ Which means absolutely nothing. And is a little cagey, joke aside, if only because he a) has no actual idea and b) doesn't even know what the other half is, aside from "old as balls", apparently.

But she's no stranger to aliens, at least. That helps sell the 'same matrix' story. ]

What year?

[ex_spins462]

2014, when I got out.

[retrofire]

[ Crap, right. Earth years and counting. A brief pause, then (mostly sure)— ]

Same. [ Another pause, trying to play stoic, but curiosity gets the better of him. ] You said SHIELD defends against alien threats, right? Does that mean you've gotten off Earth?

[echopraxia]

( this new world of theirs is--

she always thought that she would rather have the truth. it is an ugly thing to swallow that perhaps she only wished for the truth when she believed she knew it.

eventually, )

Non, ( not quite mocking. ) We cannot be having with frivolous beauty, Mssr de Lioncourt.

[ex_spins462]

Not me personally.

[ Though once she's qualified to get back into her Matrix she fully intends to find a way. Which is why she wants to know what's out there. Natasha likes to be informed. ]

But the focus is mainly on visitors. Turns out alien tech can be pretty disruptive.

[ She strokes a thumb over his pulse point, listening carefully to the tick of it. ]

How long have you been off-planet?

[righteously]

[Well then her friend's gonna have to go find another table because the Cool Kids Table is totally full.

If by Cool Kids you mean friendless losers. Population max: 2.

His own eyebrow lifts and her statement, lips tugging down into a frown.]

You think? Seems like body farm's the only kinda farm around, as far as I can tell. This could be long pig.

[He argues reasonably, only to stop when she takes a bite. His face goes from thoughtful to disgusted in .2 seconds.]

How can you- ugh.