Summer Test Drive! (Calibrations edition!)

[thespaceopera]

THE SUMMER TEST DRIVE MEME
(Or Winter Test Drive for you Southern Hemisphere folks!)

Got someone you want to try out before you app? Well this is the post for it! Feel free to use anything that fits in the setting of Drift Fleet! Want to play bumper shuttles? Want to go wild in a med bay? Play around with the current plot? Have at it!

Threads from the Test-Drive may be made game "canon" but DO NOT count toward AC!

FOR NEW PLAYERS: You DO NOT NEED an invite to participate in the TEST DRIVE! If you decide to APP into the game, ONLY THEN will you need an invite from a current player!

SPECIAL NOTE!
Since June is a special month in which we'll be breaking from the usual plot to bring back the calibrations plot, the Test Drive prompts will come in two flavors!

OPTION A: Standard Test Drive
Go ahead and treat the test drive as you normally would, using past plots or fleet locations as your setting! Here's some helpful info for some ideas.

April/May's Star System

March's Star System

Game Details

SS Iskaulit

OPTION B: Build-a-Calibration
If you'd like, you can use the info given about the Calibrations plot to design your own calibration room for any characters you want! Got a character you want to explore their inner psyche but isn't in the game yet? Go ahead and try it out! It can be a fully fleshed out room, or simply just a small part of it you'd like to play with.

Alternatively for any characters that are in the game, you can use this as a chance to either iron out, brainstorm, or test run any components of your calibration before the actual plot starts! We don't recommend posting the entirety of your calibration in this meme (as you'll have nothing new to post come plot time), but this can be a good chance to test out any parts to make sure they work how you desire.

Test drives are posted SEASONALLY, so the next one will be in September!

Comments

[ringleadering]

[ There were missing parts of the story and Rick needed more information before he could start formulating plans and points of action. There were always things to take care of and Rick knew he needed to handle it all. They all depended on him to, whether he could or not. The end result mattered far more than the steps taken to reach it. ]

Where is here? How is that possible?

[ How could Maggie and Carl have been in the 'place' for awhile? He just saw them unless time moved differently or he once again slipped into a coma. The thought of it made a new tendril of panic curl around him. No. He refused to lose more time yet again. ]

When do you think is the last time you saw me?

[postocular]

In person? ...Eight months.

[ Which sounds convoluted, because it hadn't been long at all since Rick had seen him, he assumed. ]

Time moves different here. I felt like I went home once, but I never left, I guess. Changed, but didn't leave.

[ringleadering]

[ Eight months. His breath all but left his lungs and he started to question more about of HIS current mental state. ]

Changed how? This the government or somethin' else doin' this? [ He shook his head for a moment. ] Are you - we - imprisoned here? [ In space. His mind couldn't wrap around the latter part, which probably said a lot about him. He could get on board with being kidnapped because at least then he knew what to do - plan, attack, win. ]

[postocular]

No, nothin' like that. When I got here, I didn't have a screwed up face.

[ Hell, they hadn't even come to Alexandria, yet. Glenn was alive.. It had caused a few problems when Daryl and Enid got to the Fleet, but clearly the Atroma thought it was best to fix that particular problem.

Carl shifts, looking around the hall for any of the crew lingering around. ]

Fell asleep. Maggie said it was for a few days. Woke up it was gone. I remembered being back. Remembered it happening. Even though I never left.

[ringleadering]

[ While he needed details and facts to formulate a plan, the current information only made his head ache. It didn't make any kind of sense and there had to be something more happening than what it seemed like on the surface. Things were rarely ever as they appeared, especially in their world.

But were they in their world at all? Had they gone somewhere else? Rick had never really 'looked' to a higher power, despite being raised in a very religious household. ]

It was dream-like? What ya went through? [ His face tilted downwards as he considered the options. ] Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. None of this does. We'll -- have to see if all our memories are the same.

[ He refused to consider Carl might not be real or something else far worse. ]

[postocular]

No, it wasn't like dreaming. The Atroma-- the ones who brought us here. They can do things with the augments we all have, like uploading memories. You have one, too.

[ He reaches behind his ear to the bump where his own augment is. ]

Don't try to remove it. Nothing good happens when you do.

I think they're more or less the same, now. They weren't for a while. I was the last one to kind of catch up. [ That hadn't been particularly great. Being told he was wrong, or not real because he didn't align to how the others saw him before. At least his missing an eye seemed to smooth things over a bit. ]

[ringleadering]

[ The headache officially pierced along his temples and the base of his skull. Each new piece of information only made him feel more out of sorts and he usually never felt like that. But none of the training from his past could account for everything facing him now. Everything surging around them. ]

The - it's implanting things in our minds? [ Rick looked incredulous since it sounded like a b rated sci fi film. One of the stupid ones Shane used to drag him to back when the world made a lot more sense and consisted of mostly the living. ]

The Atroma suppresses memories and then lets ya have 'em later on? [ Why, though? What did it have to gain? ] Do ya know how you got here? What the purpose is? How big is this - ship? [ The displeasure fully evident on his face the more he talked and far worse when he felt the bump of what had to be the 'augment'.

Nevermind the warning, Rick would still try to remove it. ]

[postocular]

I guess? [ Carl shakes his head. ] No. Maggie and I just woke up on the ship that you're on- the Marsiva. We'd been on the road for a long time, and then there was that big storm. Then we were here.

The Marsiva is the one that you're on. Do you see the other ships out the window? We're all on those. Then there's a bigger ship called the Iskaulit.

[ Dad. Dad.. You don't want to do that.. really! ]

You'll only be there a few days, then you'll show up on one of the smaller ships. Food's better where you are, at least.

[ringleadering]

[ While Carl explained about the ships, Rick returned to his quest of casing the space he found himself in. Any little clue might be useful later on and he knew how to take in relatively minor details thanks to all his time at the Academy and living in a world gone mad.

So far, he hadn't heard the death rattle but he refused to become too optimistic about it. ]

Can you move around on all the ships or do they confine ya to just a certain one? [ The imprisonment theory still made the most sense. ] When can I see you? I mean - in person.

[ He has to Carl. He has to see what happens. ]

[postocular]

Yeah, you're free to move around once you're off the Marsiva. They'll give you a ship assignment, but you can transfer if you want. Pretty free range. I'm on the Red Fish.

[ So far, it's 100% walker-free, but Carl remains suspicious and most definitely armed. You never know. ]

Once you can leave, I'll see you. Just let me know where they send you.

[ringleadering]

[ More than anything else, Rick needed to physically check over Carl to reassure himself. He needed to make sure nothing unforeseen happened; a father's outlook but one Rick never shut off. Not that he wanted to and he still needed to know about Judith's whereabouts. Did she end up somewhere else? Did they leave her behind?

Nothing made sense. Not a single bit and he couldn't stand not having answers. ]

Are there a lot of people here? [ Someone had to notice a lot of people snatched away to some odd location in supposed space. The fact they could move around deepened the puzzle of why anyone remained trapped. If they modified memories, did people eventually want to stay?

Stockholm Syndrome; something he witnessed plenty in kidnap cases. ]

How you holdin' up with the loss of your eye? [ He let out a soft breath, leaning against the window for a moment. ] Should have handled things differently.

[postocular]

About a hundred or so? People come and go all the time, though. They say it's to back home, but there's no real way to know.

[ Carl has seen plenty of people shuffled on and off the fleet since he's been here, and it never looks like there's any sort of rhyme or reason to it. It can't be that easy to win the show, right? ]

It's done, dad. [ They can't take it back and they can't very well change what happened. ]

[ringleadering]

[ Were the people returning from where they were abducted from or were they being killed to make space? Pun, not even intended. His mind scattered with so many thoughts, questions and concerns. They needed more information and quickly before something happened to one of them. ]

That doesn't answer how you're dealing with it, Carl. [ The dad mode always caught on, Carl. You can't just escape that. ]

[postocular]

One day at a time. Just like when it happened. [ He's not going to admit that it's taken some adjusting. There's a displacement, and his mind can't decide which to believe. If he didn't go home, why did it carry over? ]

[ringleadering]

[ There were too many things not adding up and Rick didn't care for it one bit. He wanted information but for the moment he felt rather stuck. He also didn't like Carl dealing with things on his own without his help. What kind of father left their kid to their own devices with things like this? ]

You -- remember bein' shot? That's how you remember it happenin'? [ Rick shut his eyes for a moment, not really wanting to talk about it but needing to know if it measured up the same for both of them. ] You're strong, Carl, always have been. Your mother -- she'd be real proud of you, you know.

[postocular]

It's... weird. I remember when I fell asleep that everything was fine.

[ Not fine exactly. He can't forget how wrong-footed he'd felt with Daryl and Enid. Feeling wrong or less real because he didn't fit with how they remembered him. The way Daryl kept believing Carl was sent as some sort of mind game to fuck with him. ]

When I woke up, I remembered everything else. Alexandria, the hoard.. Glenn. Abraham. Spencer. Olivia.

[ ...Oh. That, he's not so sure of. Carl believes that Lori was better off not being around. Seeing what he's turned into. He smiles, but it doesn't quite reach his eye. Falls short rather quickly. ]

[ringleadering]

[ Selective memory or suppression of memory? What had the ability to do such a thing? He knew trauma caused the mind to close down to certain aspects or react in ways no one ever anticipated but this seemed different. It seemed too calculated in a way. ]

Whatever was implanted has to have somethin' to do with it. It's why it needs to be dealt with. [ He looked far too resolute about it. ]

[ The look on Carl's face made him frown, though, and he slowly sat down to lean against the window. He didn't really have any fear of it breaking and scattering him somewhere else. ]

Listen to me, Carl, she would have been. You take care of your family. You've taken care of me. You've been -- you're there for Judy. She wanted you to be strong and you have been. So much stronger than I am.

[postocular]

[ With unlimited access to their head, there's no telling how powerful the Atroma are or what else they'll do to them. Carl tries not to think about it, but maybe that's what they want in the first place.

He overcomes the brief impulse to just hang up to get away from this conversation, but talking to his dad like this while he's so close yet so damn far makes him realize just how much he missed him and Judith. God, he misses her. ]

I wouldn't want her to have seen all the stuff I've done.

[ringleadering]

We've all done terrible things, Carl, just to survive and get to this point. No one is clean. We've all got stained hands but we're still here. We still haven't gone too far. [ They weren't too far gone; a constant effort Rick made to honor the memories of Dale and Hershel, especially. Bob, Glenn and Beth as well. All those who once existed with such hope for a better way. The loss of each one still cut him up inside. The loss of Lori did as well and Shane but they existed in different aspects of his mind and memories. ]

Whatever this is, we will figure it out. We'll do it together like we always do. Nothin' has overcome us and this won't either. You just keep your head down, alright? Don't try and do somethin'.