cycleofspam | TEST DRIVE MEME

Whet your whistle, try out the setting, and see who you want to bring to the party!
IT'S A MINOR BLIP IN TIME
Maybe you were showering, or sleeping, having breakfast. You might have been participating in your morning commute or fighting off a horde of zombies.

Whatever you were in the middle of, a strange sensation of disconnection comes over you, as though you're watching your life on screen, a passive audience to the proceedings. It's almost like, well, being sucked down the drain like every adolescent nightmare, the feeling of disconnection replaced quickly with a pain so deep, it's as though every atom of your being is pressed too closely together, and your vision goes dark. Then, just as quickly as the pain came over it, it's gone, reality snapping back into place like a stretched rubber band.

WELCOME TO NEW YORK CITY

When your eyes adjust, you find yourself in a slightly spartan room, standing on a platform that seems to be made of glass or some sort of crystal. Energy currents in blues and greens swirl within it, dizzying and hypnotizing if stared at for too long. You're shocked from the vision by a cheery, bubbly voice that belongs to a petite brunette grinning at you from the base of the steps that lead down from the platform. She apologizes for any inconvenience you may have been caused, and hands you a small package, explaining that inside you'll find a phone, a directory of locations within the complex you've arrived in, a charge card with a balance of $500, and a key to a room in the dormitories which can be reached by following the green line on your directory.

She apologizes again for how confusing this must all be, but assures you that everything will make sense soon!

THOSE SEXY PROMPTS

01 ARRIVAL
After receiving your mysterious package from the happy girl who identifies herself as Airy, she suggests you head out and explore! You find out pretty quickly, or have a lot of trouble figuring out, that you're in a vast underground complex that consists of a lot of areas the directory says are "RESTRICTED". Places you can access are listed as "Forest", "Rec Room", "Cafeteria", and "Dormitories".

02 FOREST
Down a hallway across from a RESTRICTED area, a vast room filled with a living, breathing, underground forest can be found. Here, deep underground, the sun shines, a small creek flows, birds sing, and one could really believe they were outside. There's even a pleasant breeze! Weird, right?

03 REC ROOM
On the opposite side of the complex, near the dormitories, one will find another vast room labeled "REC ROOM". Inside, there is a seating area with basic refreshments (water, sports drinks), board games, a more relaxed seating area with sofas and places to read, a separate room that contains exercise equipment, another with an indoor pool, and a small basketball court. In a separate game room, there are arcade machines, an air hockey table, pool table, and ping pong table.

04 CAFETERIA
Across the main hall from the REC ROOM, one will find the double doors leading to the CAFETERIA. Outside, on a easel chalkboard, can be found the menu items available for the meal currently being served. Inside, several dozen tables and chairs take up most of the floor, and the din of conversation is comparable to a high school cafeteria. The older gentleman in the kitchen will come to the counter when approached to see which of the selection you'd like. We'd really recommend sticking to the offered selection.

05 DORMITORIES
Situated in a wing complex near the REC ROOM and the CAFETERIA is the DORMITORY wing. Rooms are solo and very small, ten to a hallway, and contain a single bed, a small dresser with mirror, and a small standing closet. Each hall has a common room at the end with seating and a five shelf bookcase, off of which are male and female bathrooms with showers, and a laundry room with four washers and four dryers.

06 WILDCARD
Start your own prompt! See what that phone can do, facilitate random encounters in any of the unrestricted areas! Go wild! Literally!

( DIRECTORY )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Are you okay?"

Airy had followed the other woman after she'd left the receiving area. It wasn't hard to find someone when they only had a few places they could go. When Rogue headed north it was a logical assumption that she'd come to the room on the map marked Forest. Airy knew opening up this place for people to see would be a good idea but there was something different about this woman's reaction.

She leaned over, unsure if she should leave things alone. Airy always wanted to help and if there was one small thing she could do for Rogue she'd be happy with that. It didn't hurt to try.

"I mean... you can tell me or not, I'm here to help... if I can."

Rogue hadn't heard anyone following her, but perhaps she just hadn't been paying attention. It was something that, once upon a time, could have gotten her killed, but now she couldn't bring herself to really care.

Taking a deep, shaking breath, she turned slightly to look at the woman who had greeted her when she arrived and shook her head. "It's just... It's been a long time since I last saw any of this," she explained in her smooth southern drawl. "I don't really know how to handle it."

"The forest?" Airy asked in a curious voice. She moved her eyes over the familiar bend of the trees while a smile touched her lips. This place was really special.

"This actually used to be my practice room." She waved a hand. "before we made the forest. I'm glad you like it. You're always welcome here."

Airy paused. "Why haven't you seen a forest?" She can't image living in a place without trees and she's spent the last year and half underground.

Before they made it. It was really hard to believe that they weren't actually outside, that the sky couldn't possibly contain the real sun. It felt real, though.

"I was..." Rogue looked away from Airy, her gaze moving to the ground beneath them. "I was locked away. I didn't see trees or the sky for three years." It hurt even to say it, let alone remember just how long those years had been.

Airy wanted to reach out to her but she didn't know if this girl wanted to be touched. Her fingers curled at her side and she knelt down besides rogue.

"Even if its just while you're here. You're welcome in this room." She smiled the sort of smile that rivals the unusual sun over head. "I'm sorry that you were locked away. I don't want that to happen again."

Airy would protect everyone if she could.

Rogue both wanted to be touched and was terrified of it. She didn't want to hurt anyone, especially not this bright, smiling woman who seemed so innocent.

"Thank you," she murmured, ever the polite southern lady even if she hadn't lived in the south for over a decade. "Are we really underground? Do any of the rooms have windows?" If they could reproduce a sun in this enclosed space, then maybe they could make the illusion of windows as well, or something like it.

Airy's smile faltered for a fifth of a second before resuming it's usual grin.

"No but I did ask about that when I first came here." It was actually a few months after she first came here but the exact time didn't really matter. Airy shifted her weight and took a seat next to Rogue. "I got a long winded explanation about structure and how it wasn't practical and that they could put up something like computer screens but that wouldn't really be practical either. If you'd heard the whole thing you I think you'd have been bored too."

Airy pursed her lips. "Sorry, I'm rambling."

It was suddenly difficult to breathe for Rogue, and she clenched her bare hands against her thighs, forcing in the slow, measured breaths to keep herself from panicking too much. No windows. No reminders that there was an actual living world out there, with people who were alive and well. There was no escape from the memory of when she'd been held prisoner, and suddenly this didn't seem all that different. (Which wasn't fair, of course, when so far she hadn't been treated as anything but a human being, but reason wasn't her strong suit at the moment.)

"Thank you," she repeated with another shake of her head, because she didn't know quite what else to say. "Thank you for being honest."

Airy frowned when she looked over at Rogue. It wasn't hard to tell that she was tense and Airy wished she could just comfort her except that she was a horrible liar.

"You won't be stuck here. You'll be able to walk around the city. I don't think they want you to go far because we're worried that anyone arriving here might get hurt if they get to far away but I've been to the park in the city. It's really pretty." She hoped that this helped. "I can show you where it is."

There wasn't much that could comfort Rogue at this point, though it was sweet that Airy was trying. Rogue wasn't sure that she deserved even an attempt at comfort, though, not after everything that had happened.

"I appreciate that," she said, meaning it sincerely, "but I think it might be better if I stay here. I don't know that I feel safe around other people."

Airy blinked. "Why's that?" She realized that it was a very insensitive question. "I mean... there was a time that I ran away from people too. I hurt them because I couldn't control what I can do."

It probably wasn't the same.

"Hiding made it worse but I won't make you hang out with people."

It was the same, oddly enough, but there was more to it than that. Rogue didn't just hurt people, she killed them, she had killed so many while locked away in the place that had once been her home. Experiments to find out how her power worked so they could use it against her kind and those who helped them.

And then there was her fear of other people and what they could do to her. Yes, of course she understood that not all people were cruel at heart; she'd met so many baseline humans who had given their lives to help keep her and the others safe during the war, but that did little to ease the instinctual fear of what a crowd could do if they got it into their heads that she was a danger to them.

"I think I'll be alright here with small numbers, but out there..." Rogue shook her head and looked back up at that beautiful sky that wasn't real. How could it not be real?

Airy didn't know all the details but from what Rogue presented there might be a way. "New York is a pretty big and busy city but if we go out at night it won't be to bad. I used to do it a lot and while 2 am is a weird time to walk around stuff is still open. I know an ice cream place that doesn't close."

She smiled.

"There are always things we can do. Sometimes it just takes help, take your time and do what you can but you're not alone." Her smile widens. "I know I just met you, I just met everyone who arrived here but I want to help them and protect them."

TEST DRIVE MEME

02 FOREST

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