Test Drive

[snowblindmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

If you'd like to apply to Snowblind and would like to test the waters first or get a sample set up for your application, this meme is for you! We've even provided some prompts for you to use if you want (but feel free to make up your own). Here's how it works. ✭ Reply to this entry with a character you're considering apping into the game. You can include the name of your character and the fandom in your subject line. ✭ Comment around to others on the meme, whether you're in the game already or not. ✭ Now you have a sample ready for your application! ✭ So go reserve and apply when reservations and applications are open. ✭ Seriously, do it. Network Prompts ONE: DISTORTION Something is wrong with the video feed. You're not sure what it is, but it seems that whenever anyone tries to post to the Network using video, their faces warp and distort like they're being ripped through with static. Odd, since it's only the people who show up blurry, and not the surroundings. Maybe you want to test it out with more people to see if everyone is experiencing the same problem, or maybe you just want to toss theories around about what the issue might be, but either way you turn to the Network for answers. Fortunately, the text and audio features are working normally, so you can still have conversations with the others without any problems. TWO: STRAIGHT TO DETENTION You had to head to the school in order to grab some more rations, but before you head out for the day you decide to explore around a little more. You've heard that people have had success in the past connecting with the Prophet here, so you head to Samantha's classroom and sit at her desk. When you speak up, though, trying to make contact, it's not the Prophet who answers. Instead, you hear the sound of a sharp crack and there's a sting on the back of your hands, like you've been whacked by a ruler. Raise your hand! If you don't follow classroom rules, I'll have to give you detention. A shadow flicks behind you, the looming outline of the teacher that reprimanded you disappears before you can get a good look. The problem? You can't seem to find the exit to the classroom. Your sense of direction warps every time you get to where it should be, causing you to become disoriented and turned around. The neatly-lined desks suddenly seem to form a maze. If you want to skip detention, you may need a little help from the Network. Maybe someone can guide you out. Action Prompts THREE: NO SOLICITING You're running out of time. You finally found a building you can stay in for the night...but it seems that someone else has found it first. And this someone else appears, for whatever reason, unhappy with the idea of letting you in to share the space. You know there's plenty of room for the both of you, and you don't have enough time to duck into another building for safety. You keep glancing nervously at the time on your tablet. It's cold, and you don't have much more time to argue before you're stuck out here. If talking isn't going to get you much farther, maybe you can offer something that will make it worth their while. Or maybe you can even force the issue. You probably have something on you that you can use as a weapon if you're not confident that your own strength will do the trick. FOUR: HOUSE AT THE END OF THE LANE The house that you and your traveling companion have stumbled across has seen better days. As soon as you step through the door, it's easy to see what's happened. Everything has blackened and burned--every object and decoration charred to oblivion, a snapshot of some family's unwitting last moment together. The only proof that it had ever been occupied at all is the creamy white silhouettes that light up the kitchen wall: the perfect outline of a mother, father, and young child holding hands as they pray together before the meal they'd never eat. Maybe you can still find some useful items stowed away inside the cupboards.

Comments

[onlytwothings]

[ The funny thing with House is that he's done this before. Wilson has lost track of how many times House has screwed with him, but it doesn't really matter. The song and dance has become old hat to him. ]

No? I shouldn't listen to her because she's not a huge fan of technology and because she's blind? Those are great reasons to not listen to someone.

[ It's all but unspoken, or un-typed in this case, but although Wilson isn't yet 100% sure who he's talking to, he almost wants to add House's name at the end of his sentence. It's quite a leap, naturally, but the words that appeared on his tablet are at least vaguely House-like.

For now, though, he'll just play along and see where that gets him. ]

Clearance code? What clearance code?

[rubikscomplex]

don't make it an ableist thing
it's a "she's factually incompetent in this arena" thing

and the clearance code to unlock the full video functionality
should've been in your coat when you woke up
unless you tossed it like a scrub

[onlytwothings]

Who's making it ableist? I didn't even know she was potentially blind until you brought it up. Do you even know that she actually is?

Oh, right, that clearance code. I have it right here.

[ He's not actually looking for it, since this must all just be an attempt to mess with him. ]

[rubikscomplex]

met her in person and everything
be careful
she'll turn you blind with the fashion disaster that is her life choices

good
just input the 12-digit code into the sproknocktin command prompt

[So, he's cottoned onto the code nonsense. Still. House isn't going to stop until Wilson does. It's a game now. Who breaks first?]

[onlytwothings]

All right, now I'm more inclined to believe you. It's difficult to argue with what you've seen with your own eyes.

Although, I'm having difficulty believing that anyone can blind anyone else with just their wardrobe. Unless she wears nothing but neon orange, that is. And can her life choices really be that questionable?

[ If this is who he knows it is, then he's talking to the king of questionable life choices. ]

Right. Got the sproknocktin command prompt pulled up right now, and I'm typing in the code.

[rubikscomplex]

three words:
purple spandex suit

okay
so, you should see the hansolong gui come up
navigate to the anikinian drop down menu and select video
this is fun
i always wanted to work i.t.!

[onlytwothings]

Oh, I see. You know, that might be a good look for you. Why don't you wear purple more often?

[ Of course House will pick up on the sudden shift to familiarity, but Wilson isn't about to draw any attention to it. He knows there's probably more people than Gregory House who use that sort of syntax in their writing, but still, he's going to just go out on a limb here and guess that's who's on the other side of the screen. ]

Yes, I see it, and the drop down menu. Now what?

Maybe this is your actual calling. You should explore it more.

[rubikscomplex]

who's to say i don't
i've got the hobo chic look going on
been here 8+ months
btw, if you see a guy around here in purple with a white face and green hair
turn around and run-do-not-walk away
insane clown posse's not just a band here, dude

my actual calling is bay watch talent scout
limited utility for that here
and i said click video
should resolve the issue in
oh
24 to 48 hours
give or take

[onlytwothings]

Now this I have to see. I wonder if I take a picture of you here, if I'll still have it when or if I get back to work.

Run but don't walk away from a guy in purple with a white face and green hair. I'll try to remember that. Thanks for the warning.

And all this time, I just thought you were a grumpy but still somewhat effective doctor. You had me completely fooled.

If it's not fixed by then, you'll be hearing from me again.

[rubikscomplex]

[Wilson directly called him out first. House is counting it as his win.]

you really wanna get into a pics war with me?
you don't even know where i keep my wmd's for the md's

also, if you only think i'm somewhat effective
where does that put you?
pretty sure i've got a better survival rate in my department

[Granted, House takes 24 to 40 patients a year and Wilson works in oncology... but it's the principle of the thing!]

[onlytwothings]

[ Congratulations, House. You win again. Except, what exactly is the prize? ]

Well, since you asked, maybe I do.
No, maybe I don't know that, but I think I can venture a guess.

It puts me in the position of being an oncologist. Just about anyone would have a better survival rate in their department. At least, they would until some genius in a lab discovers the cure for cancer.

And unfortunately, however much it saddens me to say it, that won't be me.

And by the way, it's still shocking that you have any kind of rate at all, given how much you hate most patients.

[rubikscomplex]

you drool in your sleep
and wet the bed
i have pics for both
wanna try me?

[One or more of these may be doctored...]

dead is boring
alive and suffering?
at least 10 times as entertaining

[onlytwothings]

Of course, because that's what you did those times you crashed at my place... took pictures of me drooling and wetting the bed. Sure, I'll try you.

[ He actually is bluffing, but House doesn't need to know that. Yet. ]

Isn't that statement of philosophy why I work in oncology and you don't?

[rubikscomplex]

wait 'til we get back
you'll see
i suspect everyone with a screensaver in the hospital will see

[They can both bluff. Because House doesn't expect to ever leave this place. It's hilarious, right? ... Right.]

pretty sure you like 'em alive, too
or should i be watching my back for an angel of mercy?

[onlytwothings]

What are our chances of getting back, anyway?
They won't believe us when we tell them where we've been.
Still, there's a lot of computers in the hospital, House.

Yeah, I like them alive. If it were up to me, they'd all stay that way.
You should be watching your back, but not for any angels.

[ And by that he just means in general. Something about this place gives him a vaguely unsettled feeling. ]

[rubikscomplex]

you remember "ol' yeller"?
the dog had a better chance of getting out alive

and you're a little late on the caution
probably wanna be more worried about the fact there's a dead alternate universe version of you in one of these morgues
so what's the last thing you remember from home?

[onlytwothings]

That's reassuring. What exactly are we up against here?

Am I?
And wait, there's a version of me that's dead? If I didn't know any better, I'd ask what you've been drinking.
Well, let's just say that I remember both of us standing next to a couple of motorcycles.

[rubikscomplex]

[Okay... nothing that House has any knowledge of. The last time Wilson was around his motorcycle he was throwing up his hands over it.]

the usual
crazy cultists with access to nanomachines in our bodies
able to rewrite our perception of reality
turn us murder-happy
torture-happy
happy-happy, joy-joy
praise the prophet

we've got a ruskie ai who might be helping us
or helping them crack further into the system
and we've got some chick named eve running the town system
she might be a bunch of spider robots
we haven't met in person, yet

there's also just the standard freezing cold, starvation, and radiation sickness
also running out of meds
you can prescribe them if you talk to @ADMIN
but we're low on pain pills

yep
version of you who's dead
who might actually be you
but only if you have a crapload of weapons in your bag
like srsly, dude
you were a walking arsenal
what the hell?

how old are you?

[onlytwothings]

[ Well. Where in the world is he supposed to start with any of that? Considering that his mind is now reeling with how to explain more of what he last remembers to House, everything he's just said feels like information overload. ]

You do realize that all of that sounds like a drug-fueled nightmare, don't you?

So pretending for a second that everything is exactly the way you say it is, what's the point? Why are we here? Is it to turn us into some unknown person's test subjects?

[ Wilson is shaking his head, because all of this is just too unbelievable to grasp. Spider robots? Nanomachines? It's beyond comprehension. ]

Now you running out of meds. That's actually scary. I've seen you without Vicodin, and I don't particularly want to see that again if I can help it.

I don't have an arsenal of weapons, House. I can't imagine why I would, unless it was out of self-preservation. This place doesn't sound like the friendliest place in the world.

46. Why, how old are you?

[ Yes, he knows you can tell a lot about a person from their age, but the question surprises him anyway. ]

[rubikscomplex]

[Crap. He's from even farther ahead. Well, this is great.]

tell me something i don't know
still working on the 'why'
but this place was some sort of military research base where they kept their super special ai named andromeda
who's girlfriends with the ruskie ai
it's hot
best guess right now:

wwIII happened
whatever they were working on here got knocked offline along with everything else
while their systems were down
someone manually broke in and inserted some kinda malicious ai/program into the system
it reboots
the prophet cult is born
everyone kills each other
but the system keeps running
there are people that are supposed to be here
it uses everything it has to get them here
but oops
everyone's dead
so it kicks the dimensional transporter the scientists were working on into gear and starts bringing people her
probably to test something
there have been other sessions
maybe it's how humans respond to the admin system
we're the "lucky" ones who came through whole and alive
you'll see the ones who didn't around
they're the anomalies
stitched together body parts that look like people you know sometimes
you've made an appearance multiple times, btw
very prominent in the morgue

and good
prescribe me more vicodin
we might get cut off from the admin again

and i'm 47

[Which Wilson might not actually believe, but... whatever. It is what it is.]

[onlytwothings]

[ Just a bit farther ahead, yeah. And if House doesn't know about what's ahead, then Wilson doesn't really feel like telling him. ]

So basically we're all living in some kind of post-apocalyptic world. Sounds like something straight of a science-fiction movie, and not really a good one either.

I always wanted to be in movies.

[ No, he didn't. He never wanted to be in anything remotely like this. ]

Of course. I'll get right on that. We can't have you going through withdrawals, not with all the end-of-the-world stuff going on around us.

Sure you are. So what's the last thing you remember, then? Or did the me who carried an arsenal of weapons give you the run-down?

[rubikscomplex]

less blade runner
more silent hill meets fallout

[You play video games, right Wilson? House also can't tell how sarcastic the other man is being with that Vicodin comment. He'll let it lie for now. He does have plenty in stock and he's technically trying to ween himself off of it given his leg's been healed for half a year. Hears an interesting question, though... House considers how honest to be and decides 'not very' is the best option.]

your double gave me all the deets
the future sucks ass

[onlytwothings]

Well, that makes everything better. All we have to do is imagine we're in a video game, and we can just turn it off when things get too scary.

[ Sure he plays video games. It's what he does when he's not working. ]

Great. So that leaves me off the hook, then. I don't have to explain anything, since you already know.

[ Except there's one other question that House hasn't answered. ]

How far into the future was he? Me. I don't even know what to call him.

[rubikscomplex]

we imagine we're in the video game
and use that logic to deal with problems here
everything is puzzles and fetch quests
the sd cards we find around town are the scraps of newspaper or notes or whatever that give you plot deets
we know the arc words are "dig deep" and "follow the spiral"
search everything you can for items
there's no easy distribution service here
and always keep moving
if you die
you might have an extra life and wind up at one of the morgues as a save point
sometimes if things are going really crazy
the game resets

call him wilson 1.0
you're 2.0
w1.0 was from around where you are
give or take a couple of months
he was the same age

[Absolute lies. Never you mind.]

[onlytwothings]

How much time have you had to think about this, exactly?

But fine, I'll play along. How many times have you had to use a save point? And waking up in the morgue is- morbid to say the least, not to mention completely predictable. But no one ever said video games were the pinnacle of creativity.

So then that means Wilson 1.0 gave you all the gory details, I assume. Without knowing it, he did me a favor. Then I don't have to tell you twice.

[ If this conversation wasn't happening via text, Wilson would be spearing House with a look. It does occur to him that may be why they're using this particular medium. Lies are harder to detect through text. ]

You're sure he was the same age?