ateratooc | Test Drive

TEST DRIVE 001

Welcome to Aterat!

Here is our first ever 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!

NOTE: While you do need an invite to apply to the game, you do NOT need one to tag or top level on the Test Drive!

Helpful Links to Get Started

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

A. Welcome to the Jungle

The URBAN jungle, that is. 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, see what you can waste your meager starter coin on in the Market District, or maybe just meet the neighbors.

B. We've Got Fun and Games

At least there's entertainment. In various parts of the city, there are street performers, slight of hand tricksters, and probably a game or two of poker in one tavern or another (there are several to be found, after all). Start up a game of darts, or just sit broodily in a corner and watch the others coming and going.

C. You can have anything you want but you better not take it for free

The Harbor District is a rough joint. There are pickpockets, swindlers, but also hardworking folk and more than a few buildings that seem to be locked. It sure would be a shame if someone were to go about performing some casual Breaking & Entering...you know, as long as you don't get caught. There are guards around, though not nearly as many here as in the other districts. It's almost as though they like to avoid the place. People talk about wererats in the shadows at night and it's not unheard of for the unaware to go missing when they're traveling around here after dark...

D. What's that smell?

As if being carted off to what looks like a city out of a video game weren't bad enough, there's an entire district to the northeast that seems to be walled off, warded, and in all ways inaccessible. According to the sign, it's the cemetery...and boy does it smell.

E. Speaking Crystal

You could always take a look at the instructions that came with your crystal and see who else is listening. Remember, though, these devices are Voice Only and cannot be filtered. If you speak, anyone with a crystal can and will hear you. Now, whether or not they choose to respond is another thing entirely.

If you have any questions at all about setting or what is or isn't acceptable, please submit it on the FAQ!

If you would like to explore any aspect of the setting more indepth, please PM the mod account OR comment here! All comments are screened!

» N A V I G A T I O N

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jacob wasn't interested in the seed aspect of the harbor district but the water itself. The sound of it lapped against the wooden dock and calmed the tension he felt knotting his shoulders. He had climbed to one of the nearby roofs and was looking out over the water, remembering the times he'd gone fishing with his dad. Sometimes it was still difficult to believe that he was dead... that so many people he'd known throughout his life were dead.

The soft brush of a footstep against the roof behind him filled his ear and Jacob's heart jumped into his throat. "Oh God!" He jolted and nearly fell off the roof in the process.

His hands clasping to the stone beneath him, he turned. Jacob was used to being paranoid and seeing nothing behind him but this time there was a shadow. Panic shot through his limbs and he suddenly wished he wasn't alone in a seed district. "Who's there?" He was only twenty three, it was far to young to start having heart attacks.

"You lack awareness," Altaïr said, tone flat and perhaps blunt. He stood there on the rooftop, arms at his side. It was careful, how he looked at ease but was ready with whichever of his weapons he may need - though now that he looked at this man, he doubted he would need any of them. If he needed to defend himself at all, it would only take an easy throw to get him off the roof and onto the ground.

He wouldn't need to do any of that. Foolish boy.

"Your distraction could mean the end of your life."

Jacob was foolish but it was a flaw born of circumstance. He had lived through a war involving super powered humans and monsters. He had been through hell and he was still alive. Would dying really be the worst thing to happen to him? It almost sounded like a pleasant escape from all that other shit.

"Huh? That's fine. Whatever works, I guess." He shifted and positioned his butt firmly on the edge of the roof.

"I just wanted to see the water. Figured it was worth the risk. If you want to mug me you can have the bronze I have on me. I don't mind."

"I have no need."

He'd not come here to pick pockets or 'mug' anyone. He'd come here to watch the populace and see how each section of the city worked. This was the place where, if he needed, he could see himself resupplying with weapons from those incautious enough not to keep theirs close to hand. Or perhaps just take out a bit of frustration on those who looked to have the constitution to take a few of his hits.

"Okay."

He's pauses awkwardly. "So, what are you doing up here? As someone who's currently sitting on a roof, it's weird man." Jacob was admitting that what he was doing was weird but he liked the water and it's been some time since he just got to sit and stare out over a lake.

Even with the occasional chaos of the area, it was peaceful.

The answer was easy enough: "Watching."

This time, when he moved over the roof, every step was silent - proof that he'd made the first noise intentionally, to gain the man's attention. He stepped up to the edge and nodded to the street. "Two crossroads in that direction, a group of men is preparing to waylay another. Their murmurings say they hold a grudge. Toward the water, an exchange is being made. They want it to be unnoticed. Three streets behind us, a woman is going home, food in hand. She should be kept from harm."

"Nice word for stalking." It didn't sound like he wad judging or had an strong opinion about what Altaïr was doing. He was just stating the words as they had been defined. "I mean that's good, that you're watching out for her." He wanted to know what she was doing living in a place like this.

"Do you think this is like any other city? With people fucking over anyone they can? If it was restarting and bringing people here-- you'd think that they'd have less chaos or maybe more." He exhaled and looked back at the water. It was getting darker and most of the lake was dropping from his view.

"Sorry man, I'm just thinking out loud. I am not sure why I am here. Feels like some sort of mistake."

His questions sounded rhetorical - and as such, Altaïr didn't answer them. He only shook his head. "No one knows why they are here, except perhaps the natives." And it was obvious this man was no native. If he was, he wouldn't be so contemplative. He would have a life to live. Not a rooftop to stand upon.

That was a thought.

Jacob turned away from the water and stared up at the hooded stranger. He wasn't planning to ask Altaïr for any personal information but the remark made him wonder-- what kind of world this stranger was from? He probably didn't read a lot of fiction.

"What if no one is a native? We don't really know anything, do we?" Jake was used to not knowing and it didn't bother him as much as it used too.

"No."

It was a truth he'd not really wanted to consider, but there it was - stated plainly. The shadow of his hood kept the narrowing of his eyes hidden, but it happened all the same. If no one here was from here. If even those he thought of as citizens had once been dropped here as he had...

What did that mean for this place? What was this place, in truth? Would they ever reach their homes?

More to the point: Would he even want to?

His brows drew down and he wondered. He doubted if he would, all told. Not to an Order that treated him as the Brotherhood had. Still. It was disconcerting, and the low sound he made deep in his throat spoke to that fact.

Silence lingered in the air between them and Jacob felt suddenly very uncomfortable. He pushed himself up to his feet, moving slowly. "I'm sorry. Guessing isn't really helping much of anything here." Jacob was used to living with the supernatural populace and knew how to move in an nonthreatening way.

It was something you had to learn when you were a regular kid adopted by a werewolf.

"But hey, if I figure anything out, I'll give you a shout out." Not that he knew this guy at all... "My name's Jacob. Not sure if I mentioned that before." He might have. His mind was all over the place and it was hard to remember how the conversation had started.

The movements told him that this man - was their age difference so great? He doubted it - was used to moving around people who were more like predators. Interesting. Where would he have lived to gain that kind of skill? It was obvious by his complexion that he couldn't have been from the Levant, which meant it was no Brotherhood.

The Templars, perhaps? They seemed more a blunt instrument than anything that could be considered a predator. They liked to sit in their positions of power and have others get their hands bloody for their behalf.

Which meant this was something else entirely. Perhaps worth knowing.

Jacob was an old Christian name. He was familiar enough with it that he didn't blink to hear it. "I will remember," he said, though he didn't give his own name.

No name. Cool. He could work with that.

It was hard to see the features beyond the man's hood but he saw the darker skin and the scruff at the tip of Altaïr's chin. If that wasn't enough, he would recognize this man by his lack of recognition.

"Cool. Oh. I'm living in the green building room 210. So you can find me." He moved around Altaïr, continuing to keep his motions light and easy. "You're welcome to stop by whenever. I'm game for answering anything, though I might not find out much." In many way's, Jacob was an open book.

"I guess, until next time." He paused and waited for some notification before heading off the room using the same method he'd used to get up there.

Test Drive - 001

C

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

ooc: I dont know where he will actually be living but just assume its correct.