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

Chang Wufei ✦ Gundam Wing

[zerofive]

i. overclocked
Wufei is not one to be particularly helpful to others. What he can do, however, is free-climb the seemingly-sheer metallic cliff-faces he is presented with, leap extraordinary distances, and at the very least not electrocute himself in the process.
erhaps you'll meet him as he's halfway up, climbing above you by clinging to fingerholds, or dropping a distance that seems entirely too far— if so, prepare to be ignored. If you can't help yourself, maybe you shouldn't have come here.

Or maybe, if you're lucky, and if you're skilled enough to get that far, you'll find him as you are climbing, and Wufei will begrudgingly consent to listen to your pleas... or maybe you'll just catch up to him while he's considering a jump, but before he makes it. In either case, talk fast. He's got places to be.


iii. shipyard
The shipyard, his eventual goal, finds Wufei moving between the ships with stoic purpose. He's not looking to commandeer a frigate, a shuttle, or a carrier— or anything else of the sort, at least not yet. What he's looking for is no less space-worthy, if more specialized, and... There!

"There you are," He says to himself; and so it is. The Gundam Altron stands at rest, every bit as tidily docked as if he had put her there himself, and Wufei approaches the looming vastness of his mobile suit with reverence and relief, "Nataku, I've found you."

Not that he would ever admit to anything as plebian as relief, mind you. But now that he's achieved his goal, he can focus on whatever comes next.


iv. crewmates
[It is only after many attempts that Wufei grudgingly answers the profferred questions. If he is to live and work here, to achieve this mission, one supposes it simply can't be helped.

Tell me a little about yourself.]
I am Chang Wufei, of the L5 Colony Cluster, pilot of the Gundam Nataku ne Altron.

[Are you a LEADER or a FOLLOWER?]
I work alone.

[What is your best feature?]
My strength.

[somuchshipping]

Just as Chang is backing away to give himself more space to run for momentum, a four-legged robot manages to speed past him and easily makes the jump. It then turns around to face him, turning his screenface into one that's sticking a tongue out.

"Come on, slowpoke! You can go faster than this!"

im so sorry

[zerofive]

AI are not exactly uncommon, in his experience. Intelligent systems govern any number of vital human systems; that's just the way of things. But one with personality, something frivolous and emotional and... whatever the hell it is he's looking at, right now?

It gives him pause.

And then, Wufei remembers his circumstances. He's in an unknown location, transported admittedly by his own consent if not his own means, with a mission in mind. There's no time for this. And anyways, he's not a slowpoke.

He makes the leap, passes by Hermes with a spare and judgemental glance, and continues onwards at a jog. That was weird.

Re: im so sorry

[somuchshipping]

And Hermes lets him pass and jog on. Well, at least for a moment. Soon enough, Hermes is able to catch up with him, overtaking him only enough for him to constantly be in conversation distance with him. This is when Hermes turns around and begins running backwards at the same pace.

"Got somewhere to be?"

Of course, Hermes knows exactly where Chang's got to be. Hermes's tone isn't taunting. it's more of a somewhat pitiful attempt at a conversation starter.

[zerofive]

"Yes," Wufei replies, shortly, because it seems the most efficient way to get rid of this annoyance. The novelty of personality-based AI is wearing off, rapidly.

He considers the machine's coordination, and the length of the drop and— no. This wasn't the time to fight. Priorities.

"Be on your way, robot."

[somuchshipping]

"Oh, but I am on my way," Hermes responds. "You and I are after the same thing, right?"

A corner quickly comes up, to which Hermes manages to navigate with ease. While running backwards. He did briefly take a quick glance beforehand, but he still managed to turn it without problem. The AI seems to have magnificent awareness of surroundings, doesn't he? He does all of this with a smug expression on his screen of a face.

[heeroics]

Perhaps it was instinct that led Heero Yuy to the shipyard, but it's recognition that brings him to the foot of the Gundam Altron. A mobile suit was something he'd almost expected to see, given their surroundings... but that one? There are a few possibilities:

1. Altron was stolen and beamed to SUPERBIA, just like Heero.

2. Altron was somehow reconstructed by SUPERBIA.

3. Wufei is here.

It's almost a relief when he spots Wufei on his approach, because it's the possibility that Heero has to question the least.

Heero's steps are soft and his gait is consciously inconspicuous, but he thinks that Wufei will recognize him all the same, and long before Heero wordlessly arrives at his side to assess the situation.

[zerofive]

He would like to think of himself as being as implacable as the Gundanium bulwark ahead of him, but Wufei knows better; he cannot stop himself from turning to look at Heero. From recognizing him, and from taking real joy in that recognition.

It oughtn't to be shameful. It is, just the same.

"You would be here," He says, acknowledging the inevitability of it. Something like this would not be offered only to Wufei, or if it were, not to him first, "What are you going to do."

And not about Nataku, of course. Wufei does not lie to himself with the idea that he could truly stop Heero, were he determined. But Heero, for all his many peculiarities, is not stupid. They have not often in the past had difficulty with understanding one another.

[heeroics]

Heero does know what it means for Altron knowing that Wufei is here, as opposed to what it might mean were Wufei not present. That's fine. There are a hundred other space-worthy ships in the hangar which he can use for the task, as Heero understands it.

His initial response to Wufei is a long, heavy pause. He isn't sure whether he should be here. But here he is, and Heero has been mulling over his options ever since. His gut told him that he should answer 'yes' - that this so-called opportunity presented by SUPERBIA wasn't something that he was allowed to pass up - but that doesn't mean Heero had planned very far ahead.

Now what?

Well, this appears to be some kind of shipyard.

"I'm going to find a ship," Heero says.

[zerofive]

Wufei offers him a faint wrinkle of disapproval at that. That's all, then? He's not worthy of hearing your actual plan? Then again, since when had Heero shared his intentions with anyone. It all seemed to go his way, in the end; such was the nature of strength.

"The prize, 01," He reiterates, ignoring all subterfuge with deliberate intensity, "What we were invited here to seek."

IV

[braidedwonder]

First of all : I'm offended you're even trying to find another crew, bastard.

Two : Of course you do your work alone.

[zerofive]

I believe what I said, was that I am not.

[braidedwonder]

I’m kinda surprised you even bothered to respond honestly.

I woulda thought you’d tell it to shove the questions up it’s ass or something instead.

[zerofive]

You have not changed at all, 02: you still lack insight.

i. overclocked

[fourhope]

Quatre is, by all accounts, probably the least equipped of the five when it comes to handling terrain of this nature. That's not to say he can't manage, just that he doesn't manage quite as well as the others do. It's not really his strong suit. There's one thing Quatre does have going for him in all this. He's used to the heat, despite everything he's not even broken a sweat yet. Though even Quatre would agree this place is a little too warm for comfort.

Luckily, if nothing else? Quatre happens to be stubborn as hell and not the sort to give up. So he makes his way, slowly and with great care. It's with no small amount of relief that he spies Wufei in a similar situation. Though Wufei is certainly a lot faster at navigating their current challenges than Quatre is. Fortune smiles on Quatre in that he finds the other pilot during a lull in the journey so he's free to jog over to Wufei's side.

"Wufei! It's always a pleasure."

What? Now is totally a fine time for manners and pleasantries! Why wouldn't it be?

[zerofive]

"Winner?"

He isn't sure why it's so surprising that Quatre is here. There's no logical reason for him not to be, if Wufei is; of all people, zero-four was perhaps the most likely to be tapped for this mission. And yet, amongst the sizzling heat and the landscape of silicon and metal, he seems unbearably out of place, even compared to Wufei.

He isn't even flushed, is just standing there as casually as anything. It shouldn't be permitted by the laws of physics.

"Yes," He replies, a little dishonestly. But just because he chooses to be a surly bastard it doesn't follow that he doesn't know what politeness is, actually, "I assume you have been recruited, just as I have."

[fourhope]

"Wufei."

He's not as close with zero-five as he is with several of the others, but Quatre does consider them friends of a sort. Though he's fairly certain friend isn't a word that Wufei would willingly use on anyone. Prickly as he is.

Part of his charm. Or so Quatre tells himself.

At least it's just Quatre. No Maganac Corps this time.

He'll take that, it's more than Wufei would have done once upon a time. Besides as far as he's concerned it's just further proof of what Quatre's always known - Wufei cares somewhere... deep, deep down. "That's correct. Something like this seemed unwise to ignore."

The potential misuse and the danger that provided? Truly catastrophic. Which cannot be allowed to happen.

[zerofive]

"I take it then that you have already decided what you will do, when it is found?"

Not if, of course not. When. Somewhere off in the distance a massive arc of static arches briefly from the electrified surrounds, briefly casts everything in stark and frightening shadow, and then turfs itself in the nearest wall and is absorbed. Wufei does not flinch, but he does turn to look.

This is not the optimal setting for conversation of any type. But then, now he has this to deal with; Winner's capable mind and ruthless nature was too valuable to discard for the sake of mere pride. He would probably require help, getting out.

Damn it.

"Tell me."

iii.

[last_son_of_dathomir]

"That is quite the droid. Rare to see one so...large." The sight of the Altron, not far from where Maul's own ship was docked, awaiting departure, had drawn the Dathomirian's attention. He's a few feet away, arms crossed over his chest, looking upwards at the Gundam. He glances over towards Wufei.

"What did you call it?"

[zerofive]

Wufei turns to look at the stranger with more aggression than politeness. He doesn't lunge, doesn't go for a weapon, but it's sharp, abrupt and— oh. Oh, you're complimenting the Gundam. Well. That was... a little different.

"Nataku," He says, a little stiff in his awkwardness, still recovering, "She is a Gundam. A mobile suit, not an android."

Large indeed, if it had been. But no, the nearest equivalent were Mobile Dolls, and while they could be intimidating to the unready, those automated insults were not a true threat to him.

"I am her pilot."

[last_son_of_dathomir]

"Ah. Apologies." Maul offers, noting the way Wufei describes the machine. "She" is a Gundam, is she? Or a mobile suit. Both, apparently. "A piloted machine?" He looks back up at the Altron. "That does make more sense." War machines were all too common; the Empire certainly seemed to like the idea for sheer terror value if nothing else. But Nataku's design still stands out.

"She's bipedal. Now that is unusual." He notes, instead. And why his mind initially ran to "large droid" rather than "vehicle", or Gundam, or mobile suit or whatever other unfamiliar term Wufei might also use. "I've seen war machines before, but never one of this size that so...closely mimicked a humanoid form. Curious."

[zerofive]

"Mobile Suits are a common technology of war," Wufei replies, the appellation of in my world an unspoken assumption, "They require both skill and natural aptitude to pilot, a Gundam more than any other. Nataku would kill an unworthy pilot."

More to the point, Altron, or mobile suits very like her, have. This Wufei knows from brutal firsthand experience; part of what makes them so deadly, to both themselves and others, is the reduction of concern for the safety of the pilot. They're large, over-powerful, and unforgiving, all of which suits Wufei to the ground.

"I am Chang Wufei. What is your name?"

i

[shangrilady]

Gasping. Wheezing. Clinging to the floor beneath her, thank fucking heaven for a solid surface, Elle 'catches up' to Wufei while he's pondering the state of his next move and just stays splayed out on the ground.

Who does this guy think he is anyways? This grasshopper man who hasn't even noticed her struggles?

"Not... dying here..." she huffs - this is a stupid first test, but she's got Shangri-La spirit, dammit!

[zerofive]

Grasshopper-man or not, Wufei has absolutely noticed her struggles. He looks down at her for a moment or two, considering his options.

Technically, there is no hurry. He could stop, bend down, even offer her a hand up. He could say any number of things, such as are you alright, or do you need help? Perhaps in another world, another life, he would have done all of that and more. That other Wufei might have even helped her cross the gap, offered her a boost up, and stayed with her through the rest of the journey.

But this Wufei simply looks for a moment, and then takes the gap at a sprint, landing lightly on the other side. He looks back at her, and then turns to continue on his way. What's true, after all is that this isn't a team effort. It's winner take all, and Wufei has always been unconcerned with coddling the weak.

[shangrilady]

He COULD be cool, and nice, and helpful - he could not let a fellow human possibly fall to her death. She's not being dramatic in her own mind at all.

But being disregarded gives her a second wind as she tugs herself up, huffing, puffing, and eyeing the gap. "...why's there so much damn gravity anyways?" she complains. Isn't this a space... thing? Who needs it?