revivalprojectooc | Opening Test Drive Meme

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Opening Test Drive Meme

TEST DRIVE
Application FAQ | Taken Characters | Reserves | Application

Welcome to the first Test Drive for The Revival Project!

For those who do not know, this game is a spin-off from The Drift Fleet game, which is shortly closing. For more information about what this game is about, please check out the FAQ here or the premise here.

The TDM for the first round of applications is NOT required but is highly recommended. Really this is to see the interest level in the game as well as to have everyone interact on the new planet and with the new experiences offered here. There will be a post in the TDM where questions can be asked regarding the prompts/settings. We're keeping this loose though so go ahead and have fun with it. Any questions about the game please direct to the comment section of the FAQ.

If you are a Drift Fleet alumni, please label your character as 'DFAU' on your top level so we know. Also, keep in mind you have complete flexibility on how your character comes here. They could be taken before endgame, after endgame, two years after, one year before, etc. It's up to you! The only option not allowed is to completely restart your character (because then it's not DFAU, is it?)

So go! Explore Agra 10! And, as always, HAVE FUN!

*ATTENTION! RESERVES ARE NOW OPEN!*
*ATTENTION! APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!*
*GAME OPENS AUGUST 19th!*

WHALE COMB PARTY

In the square near your arrival point, one building seems to be in fairly good repair. It’s large and stark white on every wall. Unlike the other buildings, all the lights are on and the windows looking out are intact. That alone would make it remarkable but it’s hardly the most noticeable thing once you step inside the open doorway.

Hanging against one wall is a piece of fabric that has ‘WHALE COMB!’ painted on it in drippy, fluorescent pink letters. A smiley is painted underneath it right on the wall with three eyes and long fangs. The fangs drip down all the way to the floor and the eyes are just a blob of paint, but whoever left it seems to have been trying, here. ‘US THANK THEY!’ is written beside it, barely legible. On every other wall is ‘EAT’ in various sizes and colors. They thankfully don’t drip as much as the smiley since, beneath them, are tables upon tables of food.

There are meats, fruits, root vegetables, and even what might be a sweet dessert of some sort as well. Bowls are full of them, apparently a welcome dinner for the Agrii’s new heroes. At the very least it will give everyone a quick crash course on what is edible around here. But some of it might have … adverse effects:

- People chomping down on the striped meat all seem to get very drowsy a few minutes later.
- The red fruit that looks like a giant cherry is the equivalent of a few shots - the more consumed, the more drunken this party is getting.
- There is a bowl of weeds that have small, daisy-like flowers all along the stalks. This tastes like chicken and gives the eater a sudden burst of energy that will have them running around the room like they’re being chased.
-There are a collection of drinks, some made from the red fruit, some that are clearly water, some that taste like a less-sweet lemonade with no effects, and then there's a blue one that tastes like an especially dark beer. People drinking this will find themselves incapable of lying for a half hour.

Of course, no way to know any of this before you chow down. So dig in and enjoy the show!

LOST AND ALONE

They said don’t go into the forest. If the noises there weren’t deterrent enough then the thick trees and lack of paths should have been. Yes, you’ll need food. Yes, both meat and many fruits are in the forest. But maybe you should have gotten some more information before heading in.

Congratulations: you went into the forest and are now lost. You can’t hear the murmurings from town, nor can you see any of the lights that might be flickering on and off in the city. How are you going to get back into town? How do you make sure that the creatures here don’t attack you? You probably don’t have any weapons, so you’d better figure something out quick.

Or, maybe you’ll get lucky and run into another foolish person wandering around out here. Try not to attack them - unless they attack first.

MILES TO GO

The first thing every survivor needs to find is shelter. Not long after your arrival at the fountain, it’s getting darker now and, even if the night is short (you’re about to find out it’s not!), you don’t want to spend your first one out on an unfamiliar street. Distantly you can hear a sound like a wolf howling through an elephant’s trunk. It’s loud and alien. Maybe you want to find somewhere to sleep a little more quickly.

Right away there are two pretty solid options that will do nicely for the night: an abandoned hotel-like structure and some empty stores.

The hotel structure seems to be the most popular option for others. Its large, overgrown lobby leads you to the staircase and over a dozen floors of rooms in varying conditions. Despite it looking as though no one has set foot in here for decades, the stairs and floors all are secure. The rooms that have doors on them open up to dusty rooms that all have a bathroom (of sorts) attached and long, narrow bed frames. Figuring out a mattress will be a challenge but at least this is a safe place to sleep. As long as no animals laid claim to this room before you got in...

But let’s say the room in the hotel doesn’t work for you. Maybe the room is too small for you. Maybe you don’t like the stairs. Maybe you want someplace private to separate yourself from the rest of these strangers and to think quietly about what to do next. Either way, the other option is any number of abandoned stores lining the block where you arrived. The glass doors and windows of many are broken but there are just as many intact as well. The rooms are all large and empty, as whatever wares inside were either taken or dissolved over the years. There may be a counter or two that will get you off the ground, though. With all this space, you’re bound to find something to sleep on.

Unless someone else got there, first...

code bases by tricklet

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Natasha is already standing when she hears the knock, every intention of meeting whatever fellow kidnappee has found their way to her door and making sure they're settling. Call it micromanaging, but she'd rather know who's here with her, what they can do and what help they might need, then chase them off for her privacy.

It's not that she's looking for company as much as information, but the end result is the same.

When she hears that voice, though, the heavy sense of responsibility is lifted. It's replaced by something much more raw. "Stay right there!"

An instant later, she's opening the door, already reaching for his shoulder even while she's confirming that he is who she thinks he is.

Clint almost turns around to try his luck at another door, because despite his earlier thought that he'd just walk right in if he didn't get a response, perhaps the silence from the room in front of him means its occupant is asleep. He's not so rude as to just barge in, not when there's another room just a few steps away. If this were his own house, of course he would let himself in, but it isn't, so he refrains.

As he's contemplating whether or not to leave, he hears a familiar voice shouting a command to stay put and he freezes in place. His fists clench without him being aware of doing so, because this has to be a mean trick: using that voice to get to him.

But then the door opens, she's gripping his shoulder, and he's frozen in place, unable to do much more than stare. A second later, he finds his voice again, but it still comes out sounding more strangled than he intends it to. "Hey, Nat."

Natasha has had enough time to wonder what she'd do if this happened. More than anyone else, she's thought about what she'd do if she came face to face with Clint again. All her forethought and planning never really produced an answer, though. Now that she's looking him in the eyes, she doesn't have any better idea what to do than she had when she woke up with all these memories...

She hears the way his voice tightens.

Then she's pulling him into a hug. She's still not sure what to say, but she's here, and he's here, and for a moment, they can have that.

"Hey. Didn't think you'd make it."

Likewise, Clint's played and replayed their last moments together almost to the point that it drove him mad. Of course he knows why she did it, but he still believes it should have been him. There's no changing what happened, and he wouldn't dare dishonor her by losing sight of the significance of what she did.

But he sure as hell regrets it, and he has a lot of lingering guilt on that score. She's looking him in the eyes, and it's almost too much for him. He wants to look away, but before he can, he feels her pulling him in for a hug and in spite of himself, he leans into it and just holds on.

"Yeah, well- You know me, I'm hard to get rid of."

There's a moment's pause, and he just says one thing. "Sorry." It doesn't even begin to cover what he's feeling, but he feels like he owes it to her.

"What the hell do you think you're apologizing to me for?" Natasha asks that, but she knows. She knows what he's apologizing for, and that's why she doesn't accept it. Of all the things, why would she accept his apology now.

How she remembers it, she'd won their last argument.

Natasha drops back to her heels, wiping her cheek surreptitiously. It's nothing. Dust. "You just get here? Figure you must have some questions."

"You know why." She was supposed to survive, but that's not how the story played out. One of them was taking steps towards being a better person, and that person was not him. At least she didn't go rogue and start murdering people as a way of getting revenge. "You were supposed to live."

At least, that's the thought that was in his mind when they went to Vormir.

And if that's just dust, then it must be getting around. That's it, just dust in his eyes. No big deal. He can appreciate the attempt at steering the conversation in a more normal direction, though. "Just arrived. This place is kind of a fixer upper, huh?"

Natasha's chin comes up slightly, but she doesn't say the obvious: that's something they're going to disagree on. There's no good arguing it. It's settled and done, and it still hurts. It hurts seeing his face now, after it's all done. She never expected to have to deal with the fallout of her choices for very obvious reasons, never expected to have to peel the scab of this wound.

It's clear that she's not going to change her mind. That's enough.

"Maybe we're lucky you showed up when you did," she says instead of challenging him. This is a better conversation, until she can figure out how to tell him that she's fine here. No matter what happened at home. "Figure you must have seen three projects you're ready to dig into. What are they? Blowing out the hotel lobby so we can put in a gym?"

It is, and the matter is settled, but he knows better than to think it'll ever stop hurting. It might lessen over time, but he'll always carry it with him and wish he could have stopped her from doing it. But seeing her here, apparently alive and well, is still very much a good thing. It's what he's trying to focus on, instead of the things he can't fix.

In response to her question, he takes a quick surveying look around the room. "Yeah, for starters, a gym would be great. Setting up an archery range around here somewhere would be good too. Maybe we could even get a boxing ring in too." In case that's anyone's cup of tea.

"You still like that kind of thing, don't you?" Training, kicking ~~his~~ people's asses, that sort of thing.

"We're stranded on an alien planet with who knows what waiting for us out there, and you have to ask that?" A boxing ring wouldn't be a bad idea. Firing range could be good, if they could get some weapons assembled. As though you could drop her into a situation like this and have her give up staying in condition. To say nothing of whipping some people around them into shape.

She's already considering the advantages having Clint here; aside from the fact there's no one she'd rather have watching her back, a bow is a lot easier to assemble in the wilderness than a Glock is.

"A girl's got to be able to do something to blow off steam."

"That's another question. Have you seen anything out there that qualifies as a threat?" He's not so paranoid to automatically view everything unfamiliar as a threat, but as she pointed out, this isn't their planet, and that's reason enough to be wary.

It's not surprising that he's been thinking along the same lines as her. They've known each other for so long, it's normal for them to slip into the roles of each other's backup. And as for assembling a bow, he's also been tossing that idea around. He can't stand not having a weapon within arm's reach.

"Good thing you've got me, then." He'll gladly be her punching bag, in exchange for getting to be here with her again.

"Depends what you consider a threat." She crosses her arms, businesslike as she runs over what she's seen so far both here and in Drift Fleet. With all that considered Natasha is comfortable with a little paranoia. "No people, no dangerous wild animals. The food isn't exactly what I'd call safe but it hasn't hurt anyone either."

Natasha had taken a little nap as a result of her choices, but other than her pride no harm done.

"But we've been kidnapped. The people mind it, if they are people, don't seem to have a great read on our needs and we're on our own in some kind of abandoned city. I'd say there are some hazards to account for."

"The Chitauri. Loki." That name is daid with some bitterness. "Thanos." He doesn't actually expect to see any of them, but they wre what he considers threats. If they're dealing with threats of that magnitude, he wants to know about it.

But it sounds like that's not the case and he lets out a short sigh of relief.

"Yeah, and I'm not a fan of that. Kidnapping in general is a no go with me, and if you factor in being dumped here without anyone giving a crap, that's just even worse."

He crosses his arms and his frown deepens as he mulls over these ramifications. "That aside, how have you been?"

"I haven't seen Loki, but if he does show up we probably don't have to consider him an active threat." There's bitterness in her own tone too, but if the Loki who showed up here was the one from the Fleet, they'd have Cap acting as advocate for him. Natasha agreed he wasn't likely to stir something up, but she can't entirely trust it. "Probably."

A deep breath, because there's a lot to explain. Natasha isn't sure where to start. She doesn't want to give a report. Not with Clint. She wants to tell him it really is okay.

"There's a lot to tell. I don't know how much you've heard already, but... it's been a while for me. Most of it's good."

"Natasha, you're kidding." Clint hasn't been gradually relaxing or anything, but at those words, he very visibly tenses. "Not an active threat?" Obviously he doesn't know what Natasha knows, but to him, Loki will never be someone he can trust. There are some things that can't be forgiven and what Loki did is one of them.

He lets out a long breath that he didn't know he was holding in, and he tries to will himself to settle back down again.

"You could start at the beginning." Unless of course she really doesn't want to give him what information she knows. He doesn't want to be left in the dark, but he'd rather hear about things from her, who he knows he can trust without question. "I guess that whatever it is can wait," he says, reluctantly acquiescing. He's only just arrived, after all.

"I'll start at the beginning," she offers, nodding slightly. She owes him that much. She owes him more than that, for everything he's done for her over the years. For trusting her when he really shouldn't have. For leaving him alone on Vormir.

"How about we sit down. You can keep an eye on the door, and I'll get a little rest while we catch up." It's the best Natasha can do. "I think we're safe enough here for that, for the moment."

"Yeah, okay. Sounds good." He can't help but sound relieved that she agreed; yes, he wants to know what she knows, but also, he just wants to listen to her. In the world he's from, no one will ever hear from her again, and whether it causes him hurt later, he doesn't care. He'll take what he can get.

And he's tired too, so sitting down sounds like a great idea right about now. "Sounds like a plan. You take a load off and I'll keep an eye on things for awhile." He owes her just as much, perhaps more than he'll ever be able to repay.

Natasha exhales, not quite a laugh but there's a sort of rueful humor to it, the absurd mental image of them dancing around each other because of their mutual regrets, the choice they'd both tried to make for the other.

It's almost funny.

Or maybe it's something else, some other emotion she doesn't want to put a name to that's trying to escape.

She takes a deep breath and sits on an empty window sill. She didn't expect it to be this hard running into her best friend. "I guess the beginning is that this isn't the first time I've been kidnapped like this. Aliens taking people from different places, different times. Apparently that's something that happens."

Clint gets it. He didn't expect to have this conversation with her, because how could he have predicted any of this? He's no god, he has no magic abilities. Communicating with the dead is not something he can do, no matter how much he's wished he could. But he also knows better than to look gift horses in the mouth. If he can have a second chance with Natasha, he's going to seize it and not ask too many questions. Neither is he going to waste it.

He looks around for somewhere he can sit as well, but despite the tiredness that's dogging him, he decides that for now, he's just going to just lean against the wall closest to her. "That's what I've been hearing." It doesn't particularly please him, but very few things in his life right now actually achieve that. "Okay, so you've been snatched before. Straightforward enough. What kinds of things have you seen?"

He's fully aware that the answer to that could be a long one, but he's just looking for the rundown here.

Long didn't even begin to cover it. She shouldn't tell him the whole thing. They didn't have the time. Even if they did—even then, she wasn't sure that was the best use of it. There had to be more than that. She wanted to ask the last thing he remembered.

Did he know they did it?

Natasha tells him what she can, though, to get started. "You wouldn't believe some of it if I told you. We were on this reality show." There's a slight catch in her voice as she says it, because she knows how ridiculous it sounds. "Travel the galaxy. Drama. Romance. See your friends how up and leave again, then come back without remembering any of it.

"Every so often I guess the ratings needed a boost because something catastrophic would happen. In one system we saw a planet destroyed by an asteroid. We barely had time to evacuate it."

She's still not convinced that the Atroma hadn't been behind that too, somehow.

He wants to tell her what little he knows, but what would that even be worth? He doesn't know yet how everything will turn out. It's still anyone's guess, and Thanos is still a fairly big threat, not that Natasha needs reminding.

"Reality show? You're kidding, right? You got brought all the way to wherever this is to be on a reality show?" Clint shakes his head, feeling incredulous but knowing Natasha isn't the type to just say things. But when she mentions that catastrophic things would happen, his expression darkens again. "That's messed up. But I guess it's good to know what I have to look forward to. I don't like not knowing what's what, you know." He knows that goes without saying, that both of them feel that way. Better to have knowledge, however grim, than to go in blind. At least that's his take on things.

"What else have you seen?"

"Don't know that it will be the same here." She's not sure what's going to happen here at all. They have information available. But this is different. It's also very new. It could look very different around here a month from now, two months, a year.

Who knows how long they'll be here?

"I saw Steve get married at one point. Another Steve. It's been a ride." Natasha nods slightly, her eyes shining. "Not all of it's bad. I've had time here. It's been months since I remembered... Since I remembered Vormir. I've been okay."

That's not entirely true. She's had good moments, especially with James, but she's also had hard times. How is she supposed to process her own death? But she's been alive, and she's had the chance to have more good moments. That's all they can ask for right?

Clint nods, knowing that as far as he can tell, anything's possible. It bothers him a little, because he does like to be able to know what's coming as much as possible, but he clearly doesn't have that luxury here. Still, when he sees Natasha light up like that, all thoughts seem to fade to the back of his mind.

And the news that an iteration of Steve got married also adds to what he's currently feeling, namely happiness on behalf of his friends. "Well, I'm happy for both of you."

He really is. Knowing what he knows, it's good to hear that people out there can still find happiness and good things. It's not all bleak and hopeless in every corner of the world. And yes, he considers it nothing short of a miracle that she's here and alive. There might be hard times but at least there's good things still happening too.

"It'll be all right, Clint. Everything will." Because she believes in them. Because she knows them. The Avengers are her family. She knew they wouldn't let her down. She did what she did so she wouldn't let them down too.

The hard part is not being able to see it.

"You should know, sometimes—at least in the fleet, sometimes we would remember things from home. One moment everything would be normal, then the next we wake up and we have two sets of memories. I was there for years. At the same time, I was home. When I showed up in the fleet, the last thing I remembered was Ultron. Then not long after, the accords. You might find that happens here. That we remember things."

Well, that he remembers things.

He desperately wants to believe that, because if everything isn't all right, if they don't win, then Natasha died for nothing, and there's no way in hell he'd ever be able to live with that. So, he tries to put on a smile for her, but to him, the effort just feels flat and uninspired. "Of course it will," he says, trying to inject as much confidence into those words as he can. Maybe if he says it confidently enough, he'll start to believe it, and it'll actually happen.

"I know I don't have to tell you there's a lot of determined people on the job." Hard-headed people, too. They'll need that if they hope to even have a chance.

"Sounds like a trip." He shakes his head, trying to make sense of what she's telling him. "You're sure whoever's doing this isn't spiking the water?" Or whatever this planet has.

"You will." She sounds confident. She might have heard something before, in the Fleet, from Thor. She doesn't have enough details to pass it on. Not really. But it's enough to know they win.

"You know, I can't rule that out? Especially considering the way the food around here will mess with you." If he hasn't learned that lesson yet, then the sooner he finds out the better. Natasha is anticipating more of that. Maybe unfair, considering, but her experience with situations like this is both limited and clear that the kinds of beings that do this to people don't hesitate to make things strange in different ways. Possibly just because they find it entertaining. "It would explain some things."

Miles to Go

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