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test drive | 1
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?
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.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.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.
Anna | Frozen
Oh no.
[ Anna crosses her arms defiantly as she purposefully takes a step back and away from the edge. It's been explained to her how it works, the whole "free your mind" thing, and the person teaching her has already demonstrated how it's supposed to go, but Anna's not buying it, not for one second.
And sure, she's done a lot of seemingly reckless things that could be chalked up to boredom or an innate sense of adventure that comes with being cooped up in one very large castle for all of her (not real, imaginary, fake) life, but that does not mean Anna is stupid. And willingly jumping from a very very very extremely tall building is stupid and Anna's beginning to think she needs to cancel her subscription to the Matrix.
After all, she's a princess (not really, not in the real world), not a fighter (no, really, she's not. She defeated Hans with love and a strategic punch in the face into an ocean. She rather doubts this is a solid strategy that would work in the really real reality). And she certainly does not jump off buildings to her death. ]
I'll die if I jump! [ And if injuries that happen in the Matrix happen to your body in real life... well, she's not certain she wants to test the idea of death in the Matrix. ]
[ reality ]
Please, I'm looking for my sister.
[ Anna's walking around the communal dining area, looking (and feeling) very out of place. She doesn't know anyone here, though she's not sure if that's because she's the only one from her part of the Matrix that's been woken up or because she just... doesn't know anyone after living a life of relative isolation.
But that doesn't stop her from looking. Doesn't stop her from holding her head up high like the princess she is (was, is no longer) and going up to the first person she can find. ]
Well, I mean, I guess she's not actually my sister, but... [ But that's not going to stop her from always thinking of Elsa as her sister. They grew up together, they played together... Elsa was the only family Anna had after her parents died, and not being related by blood wasn't about to change that any time soon. ]
Her name is Elsa? [ It's definitely more of a question than a statement, like she's not sure that bit of information would be helpful or not. Her eyes are wide and hopeful, desperate for something familiar in this unfamiliar world. ]
reality
Yeah, okay, it's kinda sloppy, kinda weird, but it's still food. Where Ellie is from, food is a precious luxury - if you live in one of the few remaining quarantine zones, you're lucky to get full rations on a good day. If you live outside the QZ, well… chances of survival are pretty much nil. After spending close to a year living off gamey meat (squirrels, rabbits, deer, sometimes even rats if things got really desperate) and never really knowing where the next meal was going to come from, Ellie isn't going to complain about slop on a plate.
And besides. Eating takes her mind of things she doesn't want to think about. Like the fact that Joel isn't here. If she fills her stomach with food, then maybe it'll drown out the nervous feeling of dread that keeps knotting her all up inside.
So, she's shovelling a forkful of food into her mouth and is about to directly follow that mouthful with a chomp out of a stale hunk of bread when the girl approaches Ellie. Asks if Ellie has seen her sister.
Mouth full, cheeks puffed out with food, Ellie slows her chewing and glances away awkwardly for a second before cutting her gaze back to the girl. Aw, fuck. Ellie knows that scared, worried look. That very look on the girl's face is exactly how Ellie feels inside. She's just good at not showing it.
She manages to swallow a small clump of food. Still has way too much in her mouth, though. ]
Uhhh. I haven't seen her. Or, well. I don't think I have, anyway. Sorry.
[ Is talking with her mouth full rude? Fuck if Ellie knows. She keeps chewing, swallows a bit more. Feels kinda bad for the girl.
She gingerly holds out the hunk of stale bread. Offering her food is better than not being able to help the poor girl at all. ]
You, uh. You want something to eat?
no subject
She twists the bottom of her shirt while Ellie considers the question. Anna's more used to wearing bright clothes, pinks and blues and greens. The neutral gray colors of their clothes in reality is a bit... boring and depressing, but she supposes it's good for hiding? ]
Oh, [ she says, disappointment apparent in her tone when the answer to her question is a no. ] Well, uh. Thanks anyway.
[ But before she can walk away, Ellie is handing her a piece of bread, and Anna can't stop the sheepish smile that crosses her face when her stomach rumbles. ] Uh, thanks? [ It's a question in her tone, but that doesn't stop her from reaching out and accepting the offering. She breaks off a little piece from it and takes a bite. ]
i just realised: would they even have bread?? WHOOPS PROBABLY NOT OH WELL ROLLING WITH IT
A kind of awkward silence falls and Ellie just as awkwardly takes another bite of her food, eyes the girl, looks away, takes another bite of food. Mouth full of food again. She swallows most of it. ]
Soooo... this is a pretty weird fucking place, huh?
[ Which is putting it real fucking lightly. ]