TEST DRIVE 005

[phantasmods]

Hello and welcome to the fifth test drive for Phantasmal Rift!

Test drive threads are assumed to be game canon for accepted characters unless otherwise noted, so don't feel like you'll have to introduce yourself a second time to everyone you meet! As an added bonus, participation in the test drive comes with the chance to earn up to two items of loot for your trouble! Characters who are accepted can earn one item for having a top level, and one for tagging out to someone else's top level! Your SWEET LOOT will be included with your acceptance notice.

Additionally, characters currently in game can earn themselves a piece of bonus loot for the dungeon by tagging people's top-levels on the test drive! Existing characters get their bonus loot along with the rest of their loot at the conclusion of the dungeon.

This time, the Test Drive takes place in Incendia - a less-ruined-than-expected city that has been abandoned for over a century, due to the magical effects of the Fissure (unstable reality region) that have made it impossible to live in. What effects are these, you ask?

Well...

BY DAY

By day, the city is lovely, if oddly empty. The sun shines down, and magical lights along the sidewalk - the equivalent of power lines - flow energy throughout the city. It's possible to think that the little sparks you sometimes see at the corner of your vision are related. After all, there's a great deal of magic in the air...

But in spite of this, the city lies abandoned, for no immediately apparent reason. You might have found yourself in a wide-open shipping yard, where large metal containers levitate about, moving without any help or oversight from human hands. Be careful; these containers changing positions make it easy to get lost for quite a long time, since few of them have much in the way of identifying traits over than color. Didn't you already pass that arrangement of two red ones on top of a blue one before...?

Or perhaps you're in the massive park in the center of town, with its blatantly magical fountain (a half-dome of water just hanging in the air) and the tents of an abandoned festival. Two stages and a long line of street food booths stand empty - surely no one will mind if you use them for something, right?

Or perhaps you're just suddenly on the streets, among stalled-out taxis and cars that go nowhere and lack the familiar smell of gasoline. There's apartments and shops all around, with little gardens spilling out over balconies... Maybe if you go knock on some doors, you'll find people.

Wherever it is you are, surely there's got to be someone around who can tell you what's going on, right...?

BY DUSK

As night falls, rather than dropping the way you might expect, the temperature begins to rise. And then the sparks in the edges of your vision are very much more than simply at the edges of your vision. They catch first on the plants, the papers stuck to the now-lit magical streetlights, the trash cans... And then, increasingly so, on the buildings proper, the shops, the skyscrapers, the cars in the street.

Within half an hour, an inferno is starting to build, and it's clear that there's not going to be anywhere above ground safe from it. But fortunately, there's safety beneath the level of the streets - if you can make your way fast enough to an underground station.

BY NIGHT

In the remains of these subway tunnels, lit mostly by the dim glow of magical energy lines, you're at least safe from the inferno above. Unlike the aboveground parts of the city, however, the tunnels are in an obvious state of disrepair, with broken concrete, rot, and mildew. The stations might have once been clean, but they quite transparently are not now, and the tunnels themselves are as bad or worse.

Thankfully, no trains run anymore, so you're not at risk of being run down on the broken tracks. There's also not any full-on collapses blocking the way, and the tunnels seem well-enough made that there's probably not risk of a cave-in.

Less pleasantly, you aren't the only thing taking shelter in the tunnels from the firestorm above. And the magic of that flame has touched the feral dogs that rove the tunnels, turning them into barking, howling creatures of as much flame as flesh themselves. And then there's the occasional patch of mold, mildew, and slime in the darkest parts of the tunnels, where even the magical circuits have gone out, that moves to douse any light that comes near it...

Comments

[ax_iom]

[... Was there ever a memory like that? Something small... Some happiness? She just couldn't remember. It was like a fog in her brain. Like something...

Father Cyriac's words still linger in her head. She was only making things worse. All she ever did was make things worse.

She looks at the scones, no trace of recognition of the crepes, or any such fond memories on her face.]

... It's better than nothing.

[nor_iron_bars]

Wow, there's high praise. Don't get too carried away or anything.

[Jail deflates a little internally, but she's not letting that discourage her. Sorry, Lily, you can't push her away that easily.]

'Kay, now it's your turn- I picked out something for you, so you get to pick out something for me.

[ax_iom]

Can't you just have the same thing?

[nor_iron_bars]

You wanna split this one, then?

[She eyes the plate of raspberry crepes speculatively.]

Looks like there's enough for two.

[ax_iom]

Good enough.

[She shrugs...]

Not really hungry.

[nor_iron_bars]

[And now they're down to sentence fragments. Probably not a good sign.]

[Jail puts the plate down on a nearby table, grabs a couple forks, and pulls out a chair for Lily to sit down on with a flourish of exaggerated courtesy.]

C'mon, at least try a bite. The last time I ate something this big by myself, Marco kept calling me a garbage disposal, remember? Don't need that again.

[ax_iom]

Marco just says stuff like that because he knows you can give back as good as you get.

[She sits, and takes a bite, at least...

The lack of reaction is. Probably alarming!]

[nor_iron_bars]

Rude and false- I give back way better than I get.

[Jail grins and unlocks the front panel of her mask to take a large bite of the crepes. Mm, raspberry. They're still warm, too.]

[Which makes Lily's total lack of a reaction all the more worrying.]

So, you wanna know something super weird 'bout this place?

[ax_iom]

I'm hallucinating it?

[it would be nice if that was true.]

[nor_iron_bars]

Probably not- and if you are then you're hallucinating me, too, so try to dream me something cool.

[Her tone is deceptively casual.]

Nah, the real weird thing is that time is kinda fucky here, compared to other worlds. People can get taken from lots of places in time, not just space. Maddie and I both remember being from the same time, but when Faith showed up she was from like a year in the future, to us- and we hadn't been gone at all, far as she knew.

[ax_iom]

Not convincing me that this place is real.

[what the fuck]

[nor_iron_bars]

If it's a fake, then it a damn good one- and I know from fake shit.

[See for example every ID she's ever made for you.]

So I figure I oughtta check, so we know when you're from- what's the last thing you remember?

[It's an innocent question... but it's got a hook in it, and Jail knows it. When Lily's from is important, maybe even more than it is for anyone else she knows, because she remembers what Faith told her.]

[She remembers finding out they almost lost her.]

[ax_iom]

[... Ah. She knows what's going on, and she sighs.]

... Darkest Night. I just killed Cyriac. And then...

[nor_iron_bars]

And then.

[The cheery calm bleeds out of Jail's voice, leaving it bleak and solemn.]

You wanna explain 'and then' to me? 'Cause I gotta say, I really don't like what I heard about 'and then'.

[ax_iom]

Then I revealed who I am.

[Her voice is cold.]

So, get on with it.

[nor_iron_bars]

...Okay.

[Jail's response is flat, her expression blank, and she puts down her fork with a decisive little clink of the metal against the plate. She gets up, walks around the table to stand in front of Lily for a long moment, then lunges forward suddenly-]

[To grab Lily in a hug.]

Who you are is a fucking dumbass who needs about three billion years worth of therapy, and I'm so fucking sorry we let it get this bad.

[With the front panel of her mask still off, the usual faint raspy undertone from her gasmask's filters is missing from her low, husky voice. Maybe that's why it's audible, the way her breath catches for a moment, right before her grip tightens.]

Should've done more, should've been a better friend, should've... fuck, I'm sorry.

[ax_iom]

Jail...?

[She goes stiff, and still. She doesn't seem to understand what's happening. But this is the most honest emotion she's heard from Jail in... ever, is it?]

Wha- What are you talking about? It's not- You didn't do anything wrong.

[nor_iron_bars]

First time I've heard you say that.

[She gives an unsteady little laugh, but doesn't quite let go yet.]

But apparently, one of my closest friends was planning to get herself killed and I didn't notice- so yeah, I think I fucked up.

[Friend, and also the woman she's been falling in love with for a while now- but she's uncomfortable enough being even this vulnerable, admitting that is going to have to wait a while.]

[ax_iom]

I deserve that much. You know it as well as I do, Jail! My whole life, I'd been a symbol of their system, people became mages because they admired me!

[Guilt and despair are overwhelming, and she can't see any way out but dying.]

[nor_iron_bars]

Bullshit, princess- they fucking used you, you and every other mage they could. You think Marco's little boyband idol career didn't drag a few poor bastards in? You gonna blame him for that, too?

[She pulls back just enough to look Lily in the eye while she talks, still not letting go.]

You think there weren't already other girls pulling the same propaganda duty you got stuck with back before either of us showed up? You think they didn't start looking for a replacement the second you learned the truth and told them where they could shove it?

This shitshow of a system didn't start with you, that ain't on you. But 'cause you decided to stand up and fight back, it might end with us, and that's enough to wipe out any fucking debt you think you got ten times over and then some.

They hurt you, lied to you, used you... and you did the right thing anyway, soon as you got the chance. What you deserve is a hell of a lot better than what you got.

[ax_iom]

I deserve this, Jail!

[... Or so she believes.]

And what else am I going to do, anyway?! There's no place for me left in the world! All I can do is kill, and once the Hand is gone, what else am I going to do?!

[nor_iron_bars]

Like hell you do! We've all done bad shit, but you'd forgive any of us in a heartbeat. How come you're the only one who's gotta suffer for screwing up?

[Jail isn't backing down on this one.]

If you don't know where to go, I'll help you look. If there isn't a place for you, I'll fucking make one. If you don't know what to do, then we'll learn something new together- but you don't fucking leave us all behind!

[She's never once loved anyone who didn't leave her soon enough. Maybe that's why she didn't realize how bad the idea of Lily being gone hurt until Faith told her what happened.]

[ax_iom]

Because I'm the only one who can't do anything else! I've done so much to hurt others! So many people lost their familiars because of me!

[Tears are starting to form at the edges of her eyes.]

I don't deserve to be with any of you! I don't deserve to keep going after this! No one's going to accept what we did, anyway, but if I make everyone think I'm the leader of the Hand, and then die, at least then no one will think the deaths of their loved ones were meaningless!

[She's blending ideas and justifications into an incoherent mess now. She doesn't even seem to realize this herself, running entirely on emotion instead of thought.]

[nor_iron_bars]

You've done more good in one fucking week than most people do in their entire lives, you've done more to help people than anyone I know, and they lost their familiars because of the Hand. You know, those assholes that you took down.

[Jail answers her point for point, refusing to give in.]

Bullshit, that's all bullshit! Why would you being part of the Hand and dying make them feel any better than the actual Hand leaders dying? That's total crap! The only meaningless death in all that would be yours, because it doesn't need to happen.

And if you think no one will accept what we did, then I got news for you: we won.

[Finally, here, she musters up a smile. It's a tiny, tired thing, but it's there.]

Like I said, Faith's from a year later. A year after Darkest Night. She told us everything- the Hand is dead, you're alive, and we won.

[ax_iom]

That's not winning!

[The tears start flowing now.]

I just... I want it all to end, Jail! I'm tired! I can't... I can't keep going, okay?! I just... I can't keep this up... I can't keep being some hero, I can't keep being some hated villain, I just... I need it to be over! I've been fighting since I was six! I don't remember what it was like before I was risking my life to fight!