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

[righteously]

[The way she so firmly bounces the hell outta the situation catches him off guard, and he actually tears his eyes away from the vomit soup to shoot her a surprised look. Man, that is a level of done even he finds impressive.

Kinda makes him rethink the whole thing to be honest, so he glances back down, poking at it a little more with the fork.

Rehydrated boogers has him gagging and glancing away, because it's probably an even more accurate description for it, and that's...

Alright, this is not doing them any favors. He clears his throat. Shakes his shoulders out.]

I'm gonna do it.

[He declares finally, like he's amping himself up. He pops his neck like he's getting ready for a fight. Shakes his head.]

I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna try it.

[He repeats firmly, because this is all they've got. This is the food for, like, ever, and Dean's got a long standing relationship with food. That relationship can't be ending, can it? No way, he's so not ready for that breakup, so he shoves his fork into a big ol' fat lump of goo and breathes out slowly, bracing himself.

Alright. Here we go. Come on, baby, don't let him down.]

[hacker]

[ His determination is inspiring, truly. It catches Skye's attention more definitively, and she whips her head in his direction, watching with no small degree of apprehension. She pulls her lower lip in between her teeth, watching him try it to see if it's safe … ]

[righteously]

[Without further ado, he shovels the fork into his mouth.

And freezes.

Brow slowly furrows.

...Chews slowly.

He pulls a face, but swallows.]

Nothing.

[He declares.]

It tastes like nothing. Literally jack crap. I don't know if it needs, like, salt? Sugar? No clue.

[He throws his hands up, shrugging in frustration.]

[hacker]

How can it taste like nothing? Like water?

[ Because even the water here tastes a little like something. Nutrient-enriched something. It's unsettling. Skye is skeptical, but she's not completely dismissing Dean's review. ]

Is that better or worse than tasting like bad something?

[righteously]

[A frown tugs at his lips and he licks the empty fork again, shaking his head slowly. No, it didn't taste like water, he'd have said water. Hell, for that matter, do they even know what water really tastes like?

He shrugs unhelpfully.]

Neither, man, just-

[How do you even explain what mushy nothing tastes like? No seasonings, no... grill taste, no... nothing.

Instead of searching for the words, he just pushes the plate toward her a little.]

Try for yourself, see what I mean.

[hacker]

[ Well. It is their only choice. She shoots the food a reproachful look, waffles on it, then steps forward to stir hers around in the tin tray. Her expression doesn't exactly anticipate a rave review for the slop she's pushing around, but the alternative is starving to death.

And it sure as hell beats the steady diet of other people they'd been surviving on in those creepy machine battery towers for, apparently, forever. Disgusting. ]

God, what I wouldn't give for nachos, or a pop tart right now.

[ But she picks up the tin tray, brings it up close to her face, and shovels some into her mouth. Her cheeks puff out as she hesitates on actually swallowing it (only swallowing, because nothing about the consistency really necessitates chewing—that somehow makes it worse).

But he's right. It's an empty, bland sort of nothing. She swallows, presses her tongue to the inside of her cheek, and shakes her head, dropping the fork back into the tin dish. ]

Nothing.

[righteously]

No friggin' kidding.

[He mutters unhappily. Nachos, god damn, he's never gonna get to eat nachos again. Nachos and cheese. Nachos and beef. Beef. Steak. Bacon. Pie. His lips turn down into a scowl, because what the hell's the point in even living if all the little things that made it worth it are gone?

God, he hates the real world.

He really friggin' does.

His eyebrow arches a little as her cheeks puff out, study her expression, and nods in acceptance at the answer.]

Nothing.

[He echoes in agreement, annoyance in his tone.]

That's great, that's what we've got to sustain on from now into infinity.

[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 shakes his head, hands coming up like he's shielding the thought from intering his personal space.]

Nope, no, no, you shut your mouth right now, sister.

[He closes his eyes, blocking out the pain. The what if food were never real possibility is more disturbing than the matrix.]

Some of us gotta live the dream of a simpler, better, meatier time.

[hacker]

Hey, I'm missing the glory of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets as much as anybody right about now.

[ YoU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE HURTING, DEAN. But with that deflection, she grabs her fork and ... spoons some more tasteless garbage into her mouth, smacking her lips unpleasantly as she swallows it back. Wow no. This just isn't going to work. ]