JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME

[oasismods]

"-̭̫̜̩̪̑̈́̓̌̐-̞͓̘̩͖̿́͒͑͘░͙͈̥̦̼̌̊̒̾̅░̨̢̠͙̖̉͊̽͌͝░̫͔͎̤̘̀̑͋͛̾ȩ̨̬̙͛̐̋̀̕͜m̻̬͈̠͒̌͌̍͌͜ ̡̲͈̙̼̽̾͆̊̃f̖̟͉̲̪̈́̾̀̂̀ą̢̯̘̙́̇͑̈̋i̪̱̙̘̟͌́̄̊͘ļ̢̛̲͕̣͐̎̿͛u͕̣̥̘̳̓̃͗͠͝r͉̠̗͖̰̉̅͗̚͘ę̛̺̥̝̘̄͑̌̈́.̣̫͕̰̭̓͂̈́̓͊ ̟̗͔̟͋̿̒̚̚ͅA̠̫̬̼̣̒̇͛́̊l̫̬͎̤͈͑̀͂̐̆ë̡̧̝̺͖́̍̂͂͝r͙͍̱̫͕̆͊̾͐̕ţ͙̻̣̝͒́̄̈́͆!͕̫͓͉̹̌̍̽̂̓ ̧̛̲͎͖̳̌̆̾̏░͖̲̞̼̹̇̄̌̈́̊░̡͍͎͍̘̇̈́̕͝░̪͚̼̦̃̋͊̆͜͠è̛̞̬͙̠̖̊͌̂m͖̝̟̗̣̽̄̐̚͠ ̛̹̯͈̮̼̈́͊͌͠f̧̰̖͋̊̈̊̑͜͜ą̨͚͎̹̀̎̑͋́i̞̬͓̭̳̎́̓͘͠l̢͈̲͇͕̈́̆̐̌̈́ư̰̞͚̻̺̔͑̓̑ṛ͎̯͚̇̔̾̔̏͜ę̛̻̼̭͊͆̕͜͝.̯̖̫̣͔̔̋̔̽͠ ̺̼̟̲͌́͒̔̅ͅĄ̹̝̖̺̂̇̽̒͊ĺ̛̺̰̰̤͎̾͗͝e̛̗̭̻͕̹̓̔͆̆r̢̛͙͖̘̻̈̚̚͘t̰̲̠̖̻̉͂̆̓̇!̬̞̟͉̺̂͆̊͑͐"

You awaken to godawful static overlaying a female voice that's too monotone to be anything but a recording. The static makes it difficult to understand the warning, but it's clearly a warning if your surroundings tell you anything...

You're buckled into a sturdy seat bolted to the wall behind you. Around you, there are dozens of others like you, some awake and others still unconscious, but it seems most of the seats lining the walls are occupied. The lights are dim, likely auxiliary lighting, leaving you mostly in the dark. You smell smoke and hear the sizzling crackle of electrical systems popping and shorting out. Some of the seats were jarred off the wall, leaving the occupants either wounded or dead. Count yourself lucky all you have is a headache and various aches accounted to whiplash.

You appear to be in a drop ship or an escape vessel of some form but the pilot is dead and the hull bears a massive gash where it buckled under the impact and sheered off. Through the door-sized opening, you can see vegetation. The air that wafts in is heavy with a humid heat, but it's obviously breathable.

Once you make your way outside, you'll see greenery: Trees, grass, and shrubs tangled with vines that grow wildly and suffocate the trees they climb. In the distance, behind the ship, you can make out a sandy desert that seems to stretch on endlessly. Forward through the trees, however, you may see a crumbling wall, but more importantly, you'll see signs of civilisation. Buildings and other structures seem contained within those decrepit walls. Maybe the natives can fill you in on what's going on, because the last thing you remember isn't being in an escape shuttle. As a matter of fact, you don't remember much about your arrival or where you are. But it's going to be a bit of a hike, better get moving. Though you might want to grab the backpack of supplies under your seat before you go.

"W̞͓̝͓̓̀̍̒͘͜ȃ̢̗̪̤͇̔̃̚͝░̟͙̯̳̱̈͂̈́̈́͠n̬̘̬̤̠͛̅̈́͋͝i͓̟͈͎͙̐̆̈́̔̓n̡̟̤̟̤̑͐͋͐̚g̩̱͖͉̻͌͛̈͆̈́!̧̪̰͇̦̓̂̆̌͝ ̢͔̣̠̗̾̉́̌̒C̢̥̟͍͊͊͑̀̚ͅr̛͙̪̙̟͐̽̓̅͜i̫͖̻̣̘̽̑͂̾̎t̩͇̦̬̞͊̌̑̈́͝i̡̳̠̞̐̿̍̎̀͜c̡͕͙͕͕̓̊̌̾͘å̼̯͍̙̲̍̏̚͝l̢̥͉̮̙̋̆͐̆́ ̢̰̞͕̯̋̈́̈́̋͌f͇͔̟̻̈̽͌̒̉ͅa̳̰̠͉͔͒̑̈̈͘i̟̭̦̺͎̍̾̽̈́̐░͕̣̥̭͛̿̓̽̐ͅ░̰̪̠͇͍̆͛̀͝͝░̘̱̩̳̘͆̈́̆̀̚e̛̻͈̳̳̺̊̔̚̕.͙̟̳̼̾̀̅͊͊ͅ"

With that, the power dies, leaving the drop ship in the dark, crackling and groaning as the hull cools from its catastrophic re-entry.

---

[MOD NOTES: TDM threads may be used as game canon.]

Comments

maya | borderlands

[phaselocknroll]

[ It takes a little while for the world to come into focus, longer still for her eyes to adjust to the dim light, and perhaps even more startling than the wreckage is the fact that she has no idea how she got there. She doesn’t remember hopping on a shuttle off Pandora to… wherever this place is. Logically, she knows that the crash could have rattled her brain enough to give her mild amnesia, but she still finds that gap in her memory disconcerting. What she does remember is that this is the second time she’s come to after whatever transport she’d been on has crashed or blown up or been otherwise destroyed. Twice was enough to start constituting a trend, right? And it’s a trend she would rather not see continue.

As it is, she’s battered, bruised and her neck aches something awful. A healing hypo would be more than welcome right now, but she doesn’t spot any immediately in the debris, and she’s never been able to use her own healing abilities on herself. Figures.

Maya works her safety harness off, fumbling in the low light, when the lights go out altogether. Figures.

She’s able to get the damnable thing off and wriggle out of her seat, pointedly ignoring her various aches and pains as she does. She brings a hand up, and the blue tattoos that snake down the length of her left arm, from shoulder to fingertips, begin to glow bright cyan. The Siren conjures an orb of blue-purple light in her palm, illuminating what’s left of the ship’s interior as she takes mental stock of herself. No digistruct device. No weapons. But her powers seem to be fine. Better than nothing, she decides, and takes a better look around. Her eyes land first on the backpack beneath her seat, and no Vault Hunter worth their salt can resist loot of any kind, even a battered backpack. Maya tugs it free and slings it over her shoulder.

Only then does she turn to her fellow survivors, holding her hand up higher to offer them light if they need it. ]

Are you okay? Let me help you with that.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter's kneeling on the floor, sifting through one of the supply knapsacks left lying around, when Maya approaches.The sudden flare of purple light in the darkness makes him wince, holding up a hand to shield his eyes by reflex. It's familiar, in an all too terrifying way, and panic chokes him for a second. He swallows it down, forcing himself to relax once it becomes clear he's not, like, on fire or anything. Once his eyes adjust, he turns to the light source -- some smartass comment on the tip of his tongue about lightshows and emotionally preparing a guy for one -- and blinks.

Oh no she's hot, is his first thought, followed soon after by, Why's that light gotta be purple?

But those thoughts scurry to the back of his mind, and he blinks at the orb of light in her hand. ]

... How are you doing that?

[phaselocknroll]

[ Well, all things considered, it’s not a completely unreasonable question. Sirens were extremely rare, so it made sense that this guy had no idea what he was looking at.

She lifts one shoulder in a shrug. ]

Just something I can do. Are you all right?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Oh, okay, that explains next to nothing, but he doesn't press any further. Bigger fish to fry, after all. He starts to shrug, but when the movement starts to hurt even a little, he stops. ]

About as well as anyone who crash-landed in some random ship in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.

[ He digs through the pack again, frowning. ] You mind bringing your freaky magic light in a little closer?

[phaselocknroll]

[ She frowns slightly, but she also can't fault this guy for his mood. If she wasn't so ~zen~ and ~centered~ all the time, she'd probably be a bit snippy too.

Maya crouches next to him, bringing her light closer ]

Is there anything good in there?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ When she moves, he offers a brief nod of thanks before fishing out-- a flashlight.

Maya's crackling, blackish-purple light is only going to fly so far with him, okay.

He flicks it on, though, pointing it down into the bag and shifting it so she can take a look, as well. Looks like Peter didn't win knapsack bingo, since his first pack lacks any weapons. ]

Doesn't look like they expected us to be out here very long. [ He glances over at her, then, slowly, ] Don't suppose you could tell me what the hell's going on, could you?

[phaselocknroll]

[ There are flashlights in there? Thank God. Maya slings her own pack off of her shoulder and fishes the flashlight out after some rummaging. She flicks it on, keeping it pointed upward as she douses her own light.

At his question, she merely arches her eyebrows and says flatly, ] Looks like we crashed.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Hissed, ] Shit.

You know, I kind of had that feeling? But I wasn't too sure.

[phaselocknroll]

[ That gets a smirk out of her ] Glad I could enlighten you.

I'm Maya, by the way.

[nostalgiabomb]

Peter Quill. People call me Star-Lord.

[ Or they used to, back home -- "they" being a pronoun for the handful of people who were happy to humor him or at least apathetic enough to call him whatever he liked.

He regards her for a second, head tilted with curiosity, examining the tattoos that swirl along her left side, now that they've dimmed. ]

Uh. Your arm went out. [ Star-Lord? More like Duh-Lord. ] Magic henna or something?

[phaselocknroll]

[ Considering Maya hangs out with a girl who calls herself a Mechromancer and a... Zer0 who speaks in haiku, she ain't bothered by the call-sign ]

You mean my tattoo? I've always had it.

[nostalgiabomb]

--Seriously? [ Awesome. ] Does the light show come standard with it, or is that something you added on later?

[phaselocknroll]

Can we maybe get out of the ship that may or may not explode on us before you grill me about my powers?

[hasitsthorns]

[ A light with a purple hue definitely sticks out among the dim overhead fluorescence. It catches Rose's eyes whilst inspecting the wreckage. ]

Woah, that is bitchin'. You're your own flashlight. How cool!

[ That wasn't an answer to her question, but Maya gets a friendly smile nonetheless. Rose hasn't had a chance to look at herself and thus doesn't realize just how haggard she looks. She aches, sure, and her head is throbbing but she figures most everyone else's is too. Though her headache might have to do with the fact that she's actually bleeding. She felt (and smelled) the blood trickling down the side of her temple but didn't deem it bad enough to do anything about just yet. Gashes on the head always look way worse than they actually are anyway.

She would know. ]

[phaselocknroll]

And you're bleeding.

[ Ever to the point, that Maya. ] You should get that taken care of.

[hasitsthorns]

'Tis but a scratch.

[ Please get her super cool Monty Python reference. She needs validation! ]

It's fine, really. Just conked my noggin into something earlier. [ Something... pointy, apparently. There's a lot of pointy things in this wreckage though, in her defense. ] I thought I might be hallucinating because of that light, actually, but no it's just you being super cool.

[ Hm. ]

Have you always been able to do that?

[phaselocknroll]

It’s bleeding an awful lot for a scratch. I can heal you, but it’s better if we get outside first.

[ u tried Rosie. ]

I have. Why?

[hasitsthorns]

[ Aw, bummer. That was such a good reference too... ]

I just wondered. Most people where I come from, if they have powers, aren't... really accepted, so. You don't see it a lot! It exists, but. A lot of people are still afraid to make it known if they can do anything outside of the 'norm.' [ For good reason, too. Her kind is a perfect example of 'monsters' that are usually slain soon as they reveal themselves. ]

You can heal, too? Is there anything you can't do? [ Which isn't meant as a jab. She actually sounds genuinely awed. ]

[phaselocknroll]

Oh. There aren't a lot of us with these kinds of abilities- [ there are very, very few, in fact. Like only six in the whole universe few ] -but we're not exactly shunned for it.

Um. I can't cook?

[hasitsthorns]

[ That sounnds nice. A place where people aren't condemned just for being 'different.' Rose hadn't thought it existed. Though, to be fair, she hadn't imagined anything besides the worlds she knows of had existed until now. ]

Hey, that makes two of us! I'm a terrible cook. Oh, and - My name's Rose, by the way! It's nice to meet ya' despite the super bizarre circumstances.

[phaselocknroll]

I’m Maya.

[ She offers the young woman a small smile. ] Let’s get into the daylight and I can take a look at your head.

[hasitsthorns]

Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

[ And just because she might as well ask while they're moving- ]

You don't happen to know what happened, do you? I mean. Besides the obvious, of course.

[phaselocknroll]

I don't remember a thing. Not the crash, not getting on the shuttle. To the best of my recollection, I should still be at home on Pandora.

[hasitsthorns]

Me neither.

[ It'd be one thing if it was just her. She had hit her head pretty hard in the aftermath. The fact that Maya doesn't remember either, however, is a whole new brand of unsettling. Not that she's about to show it. ]

Must have been one helluva party. [ Heh. ] Where's Pandora? [ The only place she knows by that name is the music website. ]

[phaselocknroll]

To really answer that question, I'd have to know where we are in the first place. "Out in space, somewhere" is probably the best I can do.

[ She starts heading towards the opening in the side of the ship as she talks. The sooner they're out of this deathtrap, the better. ]