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

[succinctly]

Something like that. [Glancing over at Skye, May still seems more interested in the crowd for now. It's not that she doesn't care about Skye- far from it. It's them she's worried about, what they might do, how this whole celebration might make them act.]

Seems like you're enjoying yourself.

[hacker]

You seem like you're … [ She balks on the word, shaking her head and admitting, honestly, ] Not. Seriously, do you even know the meaning of the words "kick back," or have they just totally evaded your vocabulary?

[succinctly]

[It's a loaded question. She remembers a past that doesn't exist, a time when she wasn't so tense and alert, but it never really happened, so maybe this was the truth of it, maybe she was just how things truly were for her.]

I'm here, aren't I?

[As if her presence was proof enough.]

[hacker]

Yeah, and it's weird. And creepy. And leads me to believe something is really not okay.

[ Whether she means with May or in general remains ambiguous. Skye glances around, insuring that nobody's listening in, before glancing back at May. Her brow furrows. ]

Seriously, what are you doing here?

[ Surveillance ?? Babysitting ?? Hearing May laugh undercover was jarring enough (not real, her mind recalls: never happened); it never occurs to her that May might really be here to enjoy herself because it's just so far outside any schema Skye has for her SO. ]

[succinctly]

Everything's fine, Skye.

[She's only here to make sure that nothing goes wrong. But she doesn't want to put that idea in Skye's head. That sort of defeats the purpose.]

You should go enjoy the party.

[hacker]

That? Was like the least reassuring thing you've ever said. And you kicked me off a plane once.

[ But she holds her hands up in a gesture of surrender, taking a step back. ]

[succinctly]

This many people in one place? It's asking for trouble.

[The problem with doing things for someone's own good, is that they rarely understand the method to your madness. Not that May is often worried about the way others think of her. But through all of this, Skye has been one of the few people she knows she can trust.]

I'm just making sure nothing gets out of hand.

[hacker]

You mean like giant spider-robots trying to kill us all? Think that's already out of hand.

[ Maybe not today, but in general. Whoo positive thinking. ]

[succinctly]

[That earns a slight twitch of a smirk, barely noticeable to the untrained eye.]

Or riots.

[hacker]

Okay, I know you're gonna accuse me of underestimating, like, basically everything, but considering what most of us just woke up to, do you really think we're gonna start fighting each other? [ Pause for effect before she drops one hand, incredulous. ] That's legitimately, actually insane behavior. I mean, we've got giant robots and fake realities and computer systems that even I barely understand to worry about. Who's gonna waste time freaking out on one another?

[succinctly]

Put enough people in one place and bad things can and likely will happen. All it takes is one wrong move to turn a crowd.

[She's taking an extreme angle on it, but they're living in extreme times. The last thing she wants is to be caught unaware.]

[hacker]

You're looking for things to be wrong.

[ Whether that's mere distrust, preparation, paranoia, or something else, she can't say. But she knows is when she sees it because she's been looking for things to be wrong in her own team, something to have changed following Puerto Rico. Following what she did to Trip. ]

May, we have enough to worry about, you don't need to hold off trusting the people who are on our team. Sometimes, a party's just a party.

[succinctly]

And sometimes it isn't. [She doesn't have to trust anyone. These people aren't her team. Despite the fact that the world she knows best has been proven to be entirely false, the team she knew is the team she still trusts most.]

I'm not suggesting you do anything here, Skye. But I'm not interested in being caught unaware.

[hacker]

[ It feels a lot like suggesting. But Skye's also probably projecting her desire for some kind of maternalistic approval onto that, too. Still. Her shoulders hunch, both defensive and sheepish.

Something in her relents, and she moves to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with May, scanning the cavern. ]

Well? See anything worth getting worked up about?

[succinctly]

Plenty. [She says, as if that's enough of an explanation. But she knows Skye well enough to know that there will undoubtedly be more questions so she tries to head those off at the pass.]

Him, for one. [She points out a burly looking dude who seems less enthusiastic about the party but is definitely in the midst of it.]

[hacker]

[ For a moment, Skye looks out blankly. A shrug seems to indicate her ambivalence towards the identification, but a moment later, it settles in. ]

Who needs security in an underground human settlement?

[ Because there's no doubt in her mind that the guy's built for it, so seeing him all-work, no-play makes her think that must be the explanation. Except that there are holes there, too. ]

[succinctly]

Someone with something to hide. [Keeping her theories from Skye won't do any good. The young woman had a way of finding out on her own anyway.]

[hacker]

[ It doesn't take a genius (or someone who'd overheard the mission for Coulson's painting) to know that May hates undercover, so Skye steps forward, shaking her shoulders out. ]

Great. I'll get friendly.

[succinctly]

Skye. [She reaches out to place a hand firmly on her shoulder.] Be careful.

[hacker]

Aren't I always?

[ With a scoff and a roll of her eyes, Skye dips off before May can articulate the very obvious NO YOU ARE LITERALLY NEVER CAREFUL SKYE STop. ]