tdm 007

[ateratmods]

Test Drive 007

WELCOME TO ATERAT

Here is our Seventh Test Drive Meme! There are a lot of areas of the city to explore, so please have a look around! In case you need a little help getting started, I've included a few prompts below, or feel free to start your own! Exploration and player initiative are the names of the game here!

Helpful Links to Get Started

Arrival & General Information | Setting & Bestiary | Locales & Businesses | Residences & Housing Info | Rules & FAQ (ask questions here!)

I. Crash Into Me

Not exactly, but close enough. You have just arrived and received a strange satchel from a tiny, strange little man and are left more or less to your own devices (more information on what to expect upon arrival can be found here)! Follow directions to the north and check out the housing, or maybe have a look around the Historium and try to get some information from that giant glowing ball, see what you can waste your meager starter coin on in the Market District, or maybe just meet the neighbors.

II. What Goes Bump in the Night

It looks like Aterat proper has a spirit problem. Maybe you're seeing specters, hearing disembodied voices, your windows rattle when there's no breeze outside. Maybe there are cold spots in your place of business (or your apartment, which is so much worse). Either way, you're 100% convinced you're haunted. Hopefully, someone else believes you, or maybe you're used to feeling crazy.

III. Into the MirrorVerse?

Through the looking glass in every apartment or other residence lies the MirrorVerse, a place of emotion. More information on this mysterious place can be found here.

IV. Try the Network

The Tell-Phone allows for text, video, and audio transmissions to everyone else who has one. Give it a whirl!

V. Wildcard

The above prompts are all options, and there's much more to the setting than what they provide. Do your best (or your worst)!

Navigation

Comments

[moonlitrequiem]

Sadly, the answer isn't obvious to Yin, but she listens intently. Her lashes lift, only a fraction, and Yin slowly turns back to Lauri-Ell.

"Their own choices." She couldn't explain what, or how, but that phrase does spark a bright warmth in her mind before it sputters out.

She will definitely look at flowers differently next time she sees them, even if she only watches and doesn't ask much or think about much as she does.

[kree_soldieress]

At least someone else will appreciate the wonder of flowers.

"Have you eaten recently?" Lauri-Ell asks, because yes, she's still quite concerned.

[moonlitrequiem]

She might not be able to show that appreciation in a big way, but yes.

Yin shakes her head. She's not very hungry, though, accustomed to going by with just barely enough.

[kree_soldieress]

Ah, then the answer is very clear! That makes sense.

"Would you like to accompany me? I can prepare food for you."

[moonlitrequiem]

"Yes," she answers plainly. Yin registers she's not very hungry, and she doesn't want anyone to waste food on her, but it doesn't occur to her to say that part.

She still has a bit to learn.

[kree_soldieress]

As if it would be wasted. Lauri-Ell could eat it herself, or give it to those in need. She would be happy with either outcome.

"Wonderful. My apartment is like that of all other arrivals of adult age. You can tour it to see what yours may be like."

[moonlitrequiem]

If Yin could, she would be relieved to know nothing would be wasted.

Lauri-Ell's idea seems a favorable one, so Yin gives a subdued nod of her head to indicate she will follow and go along with her.

[kree_soldieress]

"Alright then, this way," Lauri says with a smile as she turns toward the right part of town. Then she was happy to walk at a very sedate pace. Most people could not manage her own.

"I am Lauri-Ell, by the way."

[moonlitrequiem]

Yin doesn't seem to look at anything specific, but her head follows in Lauri-Ell's direction and she steps behind her. She listens for the other's footsteps, and steps only after she does.

"Yin," she offers a name for a name, but wastes no time with other words.

[kree_soldieress]

"Oh!" Lauri-Ell says with pleased surprise. "There is an Earth term for that. It is half of the concept of balance. That is a strong name!"

[moonlitrequiem]

Yin's eyes open wide to that, not having expected it. She, after all, had not chosen her Syndicate name (she will, later), and no one really asked about it or commented on it.

"It is...." Earth term. Yin takes a moment, then carefully asks, "You are not from Earth?"

She's not supposed to care, not supposed to wonder, not supposed to ask, not supposed to even have wants. But Yin wants to ask, so she does.

[kree_soldieress]

"I am from a world called Hala," she said brightly. "Humans do not have blue skin, correct?"

That gets her walking with a bit more pride and energy in her step.

[moonlitrequiem]

"I did not know your skin was blue," Yin admits softly, very carefully. It gives away far too much to say that, doesn't it? While she could have, she has not used her specter anywhere near Lauri-Ell, yet, and it's not something she can do traveling like this.

But Lauri-Ell's world of Hala explains that for Yin.

[kree_soldieress]

How could she not know? Lauri-Ell comes to a stop and looks at the young woman.

"Do you not see me?"

[moonlitrequiem]

Yin shakes her head.

"I hear you." That's how she follows, knows where to look. She's used to navigating the world around her well enough.

[kree_soldieress]

How interesting, but not a problem.

"Then I shall describe myself to you. I am a very tall woman, nearly six and a half feet tall. I am also heavily muscled, as befits a blacksmith and those who work with their hands. My hair falls to my shoulders, and is braided on part of my left side. I will not describe the colors."

The woman might not recognize colors after all.

"In general, I stand out as non-human to most here."

[moonlitrequiem]

"You are any other person, to me," Yin points out, because she wasn't aware any of that was abnormal. Her programming was meant to care about those things, either.

But, despite that, she files it away that Lauri-Ell and others consider her to be a standout amongst them.

The description helps Yin piece something together, mentally.

[kree_soldieress]

"That is kind of you to say," Lauri-Ell said with a smile. It was comforting to hear that she would be considered as any other. "And I shall treat you the same."

[moonlitrequiem]

It was a little more complex, of course. Being that Lauri-Ell met her and spoke to her, Yin recognized her voice, her kindness, as Lauri-Ell, which made her an individual, but for now, this was the best way Yin could explain how she viewed her - as a person, like any other person.

There's a moment of silence, Yin's eyebrows only lift a little. Those words fill her with a strange feeling Yin can't place. It is faint, far away from her grasp.

She knows how to respond to it, though: "Thank you."

[kree_soldieress]

The woman smiles brightly and nods.

"Wonderful. I must now ask, do you require help in navigation? If you do I can offer my hand. If not then I will continue walking. How can I assist?"

[moonlitrequiem]

Yin shakes her head, accustomed to much what they are doing now.

"I can hear your footsteps. It is not necessary." If she gets emotionally closer to Lauri-Ell, she might even tell her about her spying specter, but another time. Not so soon.

[kree_soldieress]

Ah, that is a very great skill, one Lauri-Ell envies.

"Alright then. I will keep walking. Would you like me to avoid congested areas?"

[moonlitrequiem]

That question causes Yin's mind to pause. She keeps following Lauri-Ell, but her mind just comes up blank. Would she like? Choices. Her mind doesn't grasp that one.

"Take the most direct route." She can manage well enough, usually, in a crowd.

Or she might have to grab on to Lauri-Ell then, after all.

[kree_soldieress]

Alright then, she can do that.

"Let me know if it becomes difficult. I do not wish you to be uncomfortable."

Then she starts forward again. The best way to the complex is through the market after all.

[moonlitrequiem]

Yin, due to how she's been treated for so long, isn't even sure how to define difficult for herself, but she nods in agreement.

She will just have to figure it out. Lauri-Ell's sentiment of not wanting to her to be uncomfortable is taken into consideration with as much confusion as the rest of her concerns, unaccustomed to any of it.

Through the market they will go. Yin can tell when they get closer by the rising din such a place usually creates.