TEST DRIVE MEME #1

[space_aces]

WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD

Your journey only happened because of your benefactor, so it begets that it starts at your benefactor as well. SUPERBIA, which is as much of a location as it is an entity, is where everyone's search for Fortuna begins.

There's not much of a welcome party: shortly after their fateful encounter with SUPERBIA, in which they swore to join the quest to find Fortuna, the new Privateers will find themselves afflicted by a sudden change in perspective. See, teleportation is a tricky process, so from SUPERBIA's point of view, why not make the target destination none other than itself? One highly disconcerting moment later, and the Privateers find themselves inside the belly of the beast.

The vast mega-structure is shockingly lonely, void of anyone other than the Privateers. Those who look off the metal satellite and to The Network for intelligence (or take a skim at the Space Wikipedia article) will find out that the surrounding space is clear for lightyears; rumors have it that the place is cursed. It won't take long to understand why.

1

Overclocked

The innards of SUPERBIA are that of an impossibly scaled up computer, and the Privateers start right in the middle of it. You are the spider living in the dusty PS4. Literal rivers of coolant, transistors the size of mountains, landscapes made entirely of circuitry. The sky, bounded by a distant metal ceiling, is constantly alight with coursing electricity that cracks the sky with lightning storms. It can be assumed that the Privateers are the first living things to set foot here, because such a place is not ever meant to be traversed by delicate, organic, mortals that worry about things such as "temperature" or "voltage". SUPERBIA needs not lifeforms to continue its operations; why design for them? Traversal itself is difficult: unscalable walls and perilous drops are common to encounter. The only company the Privateers will find are oddly adorable maintenance robots, which sadly seem too occupied by their directives of maintaining the massive machine to offer any assistance (or even acknowledgement of their new guests).

It is immediately clear that the most urgent priority is to get the hell out of here. Before your adventure ends at the starting line.

2

Skeletons In The Closet

If one stays inside SUPERBIA, either by getting horribly lost or losing all common sense, one will notice a peculiar pattern emerge as one gets deeper into the bowels of the mega-structure. Passages shrink and become more level, and the incredible hostility and danger of the surroundings fade away, until one comes across areas which were definitely intended for humanoid organisms to use at one point.

The construction of these areas is cramped, unfurnished, and dreary; they are reminiscent of artificial environments meant to handle harsh external conditions like a submarine or bunker, but they are entirely livable. One can eventually find distinct rooms, but everything in them has crumbled to dust and their original purpose is nigh impossible to discern. Deeper investigation may reveal the few items that have stood the test of time. While it is more plausible for life to have existed here, that doesn't seem to be the case now. What happened here?

3

The Shipyard

In the opposite direction, when one finally reaches the outer edges of SUPERBIA, they will be rewarded with the place to pick up a spaceship and a stunningly beautiful view of outer space. The outside of SUPERBIA has no atmosphere to get between you and the stars, and they shine brightly, like a beacon calling one out into the first steps of adventure.

The shipyard is already filled with countless space ships of every size, form, and function, all autonomously constructed by SUPERBIA's factories over the countless years. What's the harm in taking one or twenty out for a spin? Even if one has no intentions of permanent ownership of the vehicle, it's not like SUPERBIA will miss it. For a Privateer with a more specific vision, however, there are kiosks around the yard which will allow one to design their very own space ship down to their exact specifications. When the process is done SUPERBIA's matter printers will have it out and space-ready right before your very eyes.

If a Privateer has a ship, vehicle, or large item that they intended to bring with them, they will also find them here, neatly parked in the Shipyard. Why didn't SUPERBIA extend this courtesy to the pilot's themselves? The answer is revealed as soon as the owner makes a closer inspection: the inner contents have been rearranged, like a whirlwind was unleashed inside and assorted loose items thrown around. Now aren't you glad your transportation was given special attention, and the same didn't happen to your innards?

4

Hot Crewmates in Your Area

But how will a single Privateer man an entire space ship? No worries: when one steps into a ship, the strangely endearing maintenance robots will suddenly take acute interest. The robots will follow inside and immediately start assuming the duties of a spacefarer, eliminating the need for extra hands on deck.

Even still, there's just no eliminating the want for a human touch, though. Thankfully even that dilemma has a contingency plotted by SUPERBIA.

Communication devices are easily available on every space ship. They come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from huge stationary consoles to portable smartphone-like screens. But whenever a Privateer attempts to access the Network, a pop-up will appear, obscuring the whole screen.

Tell me a little about yourself. Are you a LEADER or a FOLLOWER? What is your best feature?
The device will be rendered unusable until one relents to the pop-up's demands and provides answers to its questions. What will these be used for? The mystery will be solved when a social media app mysteriously installs itself on the same device, with profiles preemptively made for every Privateer. Each Privateer's profile consists of their given answers, paired with embarrassingly candid photographs. SUPERBIA has eyes in many places it seems.

Comments

[heeroics]

[ Heero thinks on that a second - but no. He wouldn't describe any of them as 'developers.' Not Odin Lowe, nor J, nor the Barton Foundation. ]

No.

[ He turns his eyes away from the strange TV person towards a river of coolant. He's lived on spacebound megastructures, but none of them ever looked like this, or had anyone who looks like Hermes on them. ]

This place may not be real.

[ And then it would follow that Heero isn't real anymore, either. ]

i even though my desire to comment on that horrible screencap is SO strong... also jjba spoilers

[unfastens]

[ Bucciarati also feels like this must be some sort of test - how else can he explain it? Perhaps one had to earn their way into Heaven, or, at least, earn their right to chase after this so-called treasure. He'd been shocked at his surroundings at first; then, as usual, he'd just decided to charge forward head-on, ignoring how perfectly not normal this all is. There's no reason for anything to be normal after death, is there?

It still strikes him as strange, though: the technological scenery, the mechanical creatures, the way his body still feels rather numb. As if he didn't really pass on. It's a testament to the oddity of the situation that accepting what's in front of him as a test to get to the afterlife makes more sense in his mind than truly believing he's been whisked away by an intergalactic starship. The familiar voice he hears - for the first time in days - only drills down that acceptance harder.

Because if he wasn't dead, then there's no way he would see Abbacchio. Right?

He catches Bucciarati halfway out of a zipper in the wall (if the colossal piece of computer board could be called a wall) and entirely by surprise, judging by the expression on his face. It's not like him to be unaware - was he distracted by the alien environment, or is it just that his ears are still recovering from being blown out? Even he doesn't know. For a moment, he's doubting his eyes, too: but how can there be any doubt when Moody Blues is standing there next to him? A man's Stand can't be duplicated. ]

-- Abbacchio!

[ guilt and joy in equal measure - both springing from that final memory of Abbacchio's body sinking into the sands of Sardegna. Ultimately, neither emotion wins, and he mostly looks bewildered. Like he's seen a ghost. Still, he doesn't hesitate; he steps out of the zipper as Sticky Fingers shuts it behind him, stumbling slightly in his gait. ]

mcgillis fareed | ms gundam: iron blooded orphans

[wresting]

i. skeletons in the closet

( that McGillis is in possession of common sense and sound reason is... entirely context dependent, actually, but the belly of the beast as it were is difficult — and dangerous — to navigate. once he stumbles upon the more hospitable rooms and paths of SUPERBIA, McGillis can't be faulted for the spirit of curiosity or the conclusion that a people safe exit must exist.

...somewhere. until he and his companion find said exit, though: ) Fascinating, isn't it. ( being taller than most of the airlock doors, McGillis ducks to enter the next room. sooner or later, his head is striking metal. ) We aren't the first SUPERBIA recruited. ( inside, McGillis walks a pace or two before pausing, hand on his hip. his smile is humorous. ) Perhaps we've made a mistake, chasing Fortuna.

( idle chatter, reflective of their new odds. McGillis is no less game than before. )

ii. insert shipping joke aka the shipyard

( this is the equivalent of a car rental — except, you know, for ships — and being a serious, reasonable man in this context, McGillis isn't settling for the first ship he sees.

in a comfortable enough seat, leg over leg, McGillis consults a datapad from one of the many kiosks about the shipyard. he's of a certain mind — mobile suits, including his own Grimgerde — among a few other specifications, all of which depend on things like SUPERBIA's capabilities, the caliber of pilot available, and where one ought to begin to investigate Fortuna.

to whatever companion that has withstood waiting this long: ) Will you be joining me? ( he asks, attention fixt on the datapad. )

iii. hot crewmates in ur area xoxo

( like most people, McGillis would prefer to skip the "complete your profile" part of acquiring a ship. like those same people, McGillis finds he must relent. transcribed audio to text and paired with a pfp best captioned as man hears knees pop for the first time: )

Tell me a little about yourself.
My name is McGillis Fareed. I believe anything else is irrelevant in the pursuit of Fortuna. We are all equal and if we chose, may begin anew.

Are you a LEADER or a FOLLOWER?
A leader.

What is your best feature?
( McGillis considers this one for a moment. ) Tenacity.

iv. choose ur own adventure etc

( ooc | some quick hits!

mcg has a subject sensitive background that may crop up in meta, so please, opt out here if necessary. i'm open to wildcard options and prefer brackets but am amenable to prose. feel free to pp me @ gjallarhorn to hash stuff out, altho i offer blanket permission to assume mcg and ur character have already exchanged introductions. )

2

[betelgeuseblast]

"Are you sayin it's smaller in here cause time got bigger?"

Iseul is a little worried about it getting even smaller than this. He's having to duck through doorways already, being over nine feet tall standing. This is kinda boring for an adventure, too, not even any fighting in it.

[riproduzione]

[ He doesn't much want to think about the alternative — if he had to hazard a guess, were there anyone here previously, it would be that they left in a hurry. Which only raises the question of why, and for the time being he'd rather operate under the assumption there is no why to investigate. ]

This doesn't look like the kind of area they'd place a computer terminal, [ at least, not the kind he's picturing — large and monolithic. ] This looks more like it was intended to be a cabin.

[ There are metal beams from the floor to ceiling, at the centre point there's a horizontal sheet of thick metal, maybe a foot in width. It certainly looks like it could have been used as a bunk, it's empty now, though. Or it always has been. He dips out of the entranceway to the room they're in and gestures down a dusty corridor that leads deeper. ]

Let's head back this way, might be more rooms further in that house these terminals you mentioned. If they need repairs, though, I'll tell you now I'm not the best with tech. All of this more advanced than anything I've ever seen before.

Re: 2

[freearcadia]

Well, that's a new sight for him, but it's not the first non-human he seen. "No, more like time could have been accelerated here, a year passing outside but a century here." Harlock clarifies as he rises to his full height - which is still significantly shorter than the newcomer.

as most of his crew members are technically appable, not making assumptions

[freearcadia]

"Good, it's just me for the time being." And the ship itself, but that's a long story.

"I can operate it by myself," perhaps not the most optimal set up, but workable. He immediately headed towards what looks like a terminal. "Well, this might prove interesting - let's see if it still has power."

[riproduzione]

[ This… isn't heaven. At least, he's almost certain it's not, on account of the fact that he was there — or a close enough approximation to it anyway — however briefly. He didn't even believe in life after death, much less the concept of heaven or hell, believed that after there would be simply nothing, but he's been proven wrong at least partially on that front. He's only here and alive, in a fashion, after accepting an offer from a curious entity known as Superbia. In some ways, maybe this is Superbia's test for them.

In any case, Abbacchio has never been quite so grateful to hear the sound of a zipper, or to see the somewhat jarring visual that is half of Bucciarati's body hanging out of a swirling void in the wall. Relief floods through him at the sight of his capo — followed almost immediately by concern — his footing seems unsteady as he emerges from the zipper, strangely so. It almost has Abbacchio hurrying forward, just in the unlikely event he's needed.

The expression on his face, too, is one that Abbacchio hasn't seen all that often. He closes the distance between them, footsteps echoing with an odd reverberation as the heels click against metal. ]

Bucciarati.

[ There's no need to ask if it's really him, if he's really here. Sticky Fingers is proof enough of that. ]

I… wasn't expecting to see you.

[ His being here means he accepted the same offer Abbacchio did, which leaves his stomach in knots just thinking about it. Why would Bucciarati accept an offer unless something had gone wrong with the mission? ]

bruno bucciarati / jojo's bizarre adventure

[unfastens]

i. OVERCLOCKED

[ he can't say he's ever had to traverse what amounts to pits of lava and high-voltage death fields - but, as it so happens, he's very well-equipped to do so. It takes him a moment to get his bearings. How could it not? A moment ago, he was in Rome, blind and deaf and barely aware of what was going on. Now... He won't pretend he entirely understands, but he'd at least received an explanation, and his body has been coaxed back into working. He can get up to his feet, and when he opens his eyes, he can see. The fact that what he sees is beyond anything he might have imagined is not important, even though it frightens him at first. This is where he was taken, so this must be where he's supposed to be. A trial, perhaps - one he must overcome.

So be it.

It's his intention to get to the end of this maze (whether that's the center or the outer edge doesn't particularly matter as long as he hits an exit), but old habits die hard. Bucciarati's Stand makes it easy for him to move through the hazardous landscape, or at least most parts of it; however, that's not the case for everybody. None of the trauma or suffering he went through managed to iron out his bleeding heart. This particular path leads to a dead end, at least for any regular folks on foot; however, get stuck there now, and one will hear a voice calling out from above. ]

Do you need a hand?

[ it is... a man's head, poking out of a hole about 40 feet up the wall. A hole that looks suspiciously like an open zipper. ]

iii. SHIPYARD

Are they going to give us instruction manuals?

[ he's been wandering around and admiring the ships for a little while; anyone else in the area might have spotted him idling previously, either by his lonesome or accompanied by a tall man in a dark coat. It's hard to miss a man in a spotted suit. For the moment, he's on his own, one hand to the shiny silver chassis of the ship he's currently in front of. ]

I imagine it has to be more complicated than driving a car or steering a ship.

[ two things he apparently has more confidence in. ]

[betelgeuseblast]

"Whoa... So you'd have a bunch of folks here and then come back in a couple years and you get a bunch of skeletons."

He's picturing it. Maybe the skeletons aren't necessary but looking at this guy makes him think about skeletons for some reason.

"...We don't got any skeletons, though, it's all dust. I think it's been longer than a year."

[freearcadia]

Probably because he has at least three jolly rogers on his outfit - kind of hard not to notice bone. "I'd say it'd take at least a century to fully turn bones to dust, of course, until we find something more solid; hard to see if it's natural or unnatural aging."

[somuchshipping]

"Uuuuuuh..."Hermes began, flitting his vision over from button to button until his eyes landed on one that looked like a switch. "This one? Maybe? ButForAllWeKnow ItCouldTrigger ASelfDestruct AndThenWe'dAllDie!"

Shipyard

[somuchshipping]

Clank, clank, clank, clank... clank, clank, clank, clank.

The sound of metal-on-ship-platform footsteps should be quite familiar to one that has worked with robots, but this one is likely Asajj has never seen before. Hermes just casually strolls up next to her and peeks at the ship she's creating.

"Hmmm, that looks nice so far! Buuuuut... I think I've got a ship that needs a captain. My ship, I mean."

2

[dumedknight]

Kanan coughs and waves the dust out of his face when the Doctor flops onto a bed (or what was formerly a bed).

Dryly: "If that's true, I hope we get better treatment than the last 'guests.'"

The desolation here sets him on edge a little. Years of experience are the only things keeping him from showing it.

[betelgeuseblast]

"Unnatural aging? Time's... time, right? Like do you get artificial time? Diet time. Time Zero."

Shit Time Zero sounds really cool. He hopes there's Time Zero. He sweeps his tail through dust, hoping to stir up some evidence. There's dust. He sneezes.

Avanti Kadam | Original Character | We made our own Gundam Timeline and ran a FATE campaign in it

[she_would]

-1: Overclocked-

Captain Avanti Kadam was getting too old for this shit.

That's what she thought as she puffed her way up a ramp that was part of her detour that was part of a larger detour that was part of a LARGER detour around a sheer cliff face she felt totally unprepared to climb.

She stopped at the top of the ramp to catch her breath, then looked around and saw that to continue this way she would have to navigate a field of sparking capacitors. The air smelled of ozone, and she was pretty sure that continuing on this path was a sure fire way to get electrocuted fatally.

"I see today is continuing with a general theme."

-3: The Shipyard-

FINALLY they made it to something that made sense.

Or rather, it didn't make sense, but it didn't make sense in a way she was prepared to accept. The massive shipyard was full of stranger and stranger looking ships, but her own ship, the one that had exploded (Almost with her on it. Her missing eye twinged.). The Osiris, a brick of an attack carrier that was decades out of date, but built tough enough to weather all but the most determined assaults.

She walked along the gantry holding the ship in place, then reached out with one hand to touch it and make sure it was real.

"How's that old saying go? 'Rule out the impossible and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' Or some such...But how can we rule out anything as impossible now?"

-4: Hot Crewmates In Your Area-

Tell us a little about yourself.
Captain Avanti Kadam. I've been in command of various ships for the last thirty years or so, and I dare say I feel more comfortable in space than I do down in the gravity well. I can't say I've ever been anywhere like this before, so if you feel like you're in familiar territory here, I may need to pick your brains at some point.

Are you a LEADER or a FOLLOWER?
I certainly feel more comfortable forging my own path than following someone else's, and hardly any of my command posts were destroyed so I must have been doing something right.

What is your best feature?
Could it be my ice cold calm under pressure? Or my roguish good looks? Perhaps my brilliant mind?

No, I think it's that I'm 188cm tall and can reach the top shelf without difficulty.

[somuchshipping]

Oh no, this place is the real world, all right! I should know. I was taken from my computer game. And since we're not in it, I can't do this...!

[Hermes lifts one of his clawfeet into the air and just slashes it downward. It creates a rip in space to a few feet away. Once Hermes notices this, which is nigh-instantly, he does a double take, just staring at it, baffled.]

4: Hot Crewmates In Your Area

[somuchshipping]

213.36cm for me.

[she_would]

Curses. My one charm point immediately overshadowed.

[somuchshipping]

Can't win them all! If it helps, my endurance stat is a 3.

[she_would]

Is that low?

3

[freearcadia]

"The Universe is a vast and strange place, I have long stopped believing things are impossible." A man calls out, approaching her from a long blue ship with the stern that is more fitting of a 16th century ship.

"Though I admit this is a scale I had never seen before,"

[somuchshipping]

Out of 10? Yeah.

[darkassassin]

Wonderful. Another droid.

She sighs, sliding the visor on her helmet back into place before he reaches her side.

"Really. Do you now?" she says, voice very slightly sarcastic. "I'm not looking for a crew today."

[she_would]

"I came within seconds of being incinerated when this ship's reactor ruptured and the entire thing was reduced to a rapidly expanding ball of plasma."

Kadam sized him up, along with his ship. She decided she liked the ship, but was having trouble getting a read on the man beyond that they had matching eye patches.

"...But then, the Osiris's presence here is hardly the strangest thing that has happened to me today."