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memestertrucks2025-05-15 04:31 pm
monstertruckers) wrote in memestertrucks2025-05-15 04:31 pm
Entry tags:
MAY TDM
Things are a little stranger than usual at the gas station and garage. Namely that gravity just isn't working as it should. Objects float, pieces of the floor float... Even unlucky new arrivals can also find themselves floating! It's going to be a challenge to get around without any scrapes or scratches... Though at least there's what looks like a hospital nearby? Granted, it's an upside down hospital, but it's better than nothing.
01: SUMMONING CIRCLE
Drifters come to with an odd floating sensation hooked into their stomachs, and instead of laying on the concrete find themselves drifting a foot or two above the floor. An unfortunate few may be stuck on the ceiling. Whether they crash down hard into the floor (and the various vials, daggers, and broken glass scattered about) or remain floating in the air is a coin toss.
Still, it might be best to lend a hand with pulling them back to the ground, and hoping gravity will work as normal in another breath or two.
Once they make their way out, they can see a gas station and garage located in the midst of strange, floating rocks… And an upside down hospital close by, for those who had a rougher landing.
Still, it might be best to lend a hand with pulling them back to the ground, and hoping gravity will work as normal in another breath or two.
Once they make their way out, they can see a gas station and garage located in the midst of strange, floating rocks… And an upside down hospital close by, for those who had a rougher landing.
02: START UP
New arrivals will have a similar experience to before; a Convoy waiting for them, and a collection of vehicles, one of which feels like it belongs to them. The key to the vehicle may already be in the ignition, on the dashboard… It may have even been on their person, ever since they woke up in that garage. Either way, Drifters have the keys to the vehicle now.
…But there’s a few rough edges on these vehicles. Flat tires, cracked windows and mirrors, maybe some stuck doors and locks; all of them the sort of thing that requires two pairs of hands and supplies. The garage can take care of the (sometimes floating) supplies… Now it’s just a matter of finding some extra hands.
And hopefully no one's vehicle has decided to float. But one can never be sure in a place like this.
…But there’s a few rough edges on these vehicles. Flat tires, cracked windows and mirrors, maybe some stuck doors and locks; all of them the sort of thing that requires two pairs of hands and supplies. The garage can take care of the (sometimes floating) supplies… Now it’s just a matter of finding some extra hands.
And hopefully no one's vehicle has decided to float. But one can never be sure in a place like this.
03: HUSKS AND HAUNTS
The inverted hospital seems to have trouble deciding the exact formation of its hallways, whether the new arrivals should be walking on the ceiling, floors, or walls. But one thing that is certain: this place isn’t entirely deserted. Warnings of “Beware the Husks” have been spray painted on the walls. Metallic bodies line those same halls, some of them broken open. A wet trail leads from the broken Husks to the rafters… Where several odd monsters wait to drop down. Some look like they’ve merged with the hospital equipment, while others look like they’ve been cobbled together from different body parts. And all of them look ready to turn the newcomers into a corpse, or part of a specimen collection.
Strange, malformed chimeric creatures that are Unknown stalk the hallways. Unknowns come in three different colors, red aligned with fire, green with poison, and purple with lightning.
Adding to that are the various screens flickering on, and diagnose new arrivals as infected. The screens declare the infection seems to be contained, but requires further study… And if the monsters aren't enough to worry about, there’s also the restraint systems trying to activate and tie the new arrivals down.
Strange, malformed chimeric creatures that are Unknown stalk the hallways. Unknowns come in three different colors, red aligned with fire, green with poison, and purple with lightning.
Adding to that are the various screens flickering on, and diagnose new arrivals as infected. The screens declare the infection seems to be contained, but requires further study… And if the monsters aren't enough to worry about, there’s also the restraint systems trying to activate and tie the new arrivals down.
04: TESTING (CW: Needles)
The deeper someone plunges into the hospital, the more the building reacts to them. More defenses are deployed, treating them as thieves or intruders. Traps and monsters alike wait for them, with syringes melded into the forms of attackers, or lining places where someone might step or reach for. The syringes make a quick bite on skin… But it’s only a few minutes later where the effects become clear. Something in those syringes is now in the blood and forcing monster transformations. There might be an antidote amongst the supplies… Or the newcomers might need to rely on each other, in order to stay anchored.
The needles can also force temporary Swarm traits, along with:
+Group Mind: compelled to link thoughts with other Drifters, to share emotions, memories, and achieve cohesion.
+An increasing reliance on telepathy/empathy/etc in place of speech.
+Increasing collectivist mindset. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few; this becomes more evident during high stress situations.
+Compelled to hunt and share their prey with others.
+Gravity Affinity: If possessing wings or the ability to wall climb, may freely hunt/traverse corrupted gravity areas.
The needles can also force temporary Swarm traits, along with:
+Group Mind: compelled to link thoughts with other Drifters, to share emotions, memories, and achieve cohesion.
+An increasing reliance on telepathy/empathy/etc in place of speech.
+Increasing collectivist mindset. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few; this becomes more evident during high stress situations.
+Compelled to hunt and share their prey with others.
+Gravity Affinity: If possessing wings or the ability to wall climb, may freely hunt/traverse corrupted gravity areas.
05: LONG WAY DOWN
A portion of the gas station breaks away with groan and a rumble. And it is slowly pulled up and up, taking a portion of new comers with it! They (and anyone watching) will need to act fast, as gravity starts to go weird the further they rise. They’ll need to find a way back down, taking any supplies from the now-floating garage that they can grab.
What’s more, they are drifting closer to the broken moon, and that seems to be having a strange effect on those stranded on the new floating ruin. They may start to feel their control fray, and their forms shift, the higher they rise.
In terms of getting back down, there’s a handful of tow lines in the ruin that might work as ropes. There’s also a few pieces of rock that are floating up more slowly, and could work as stairs back down… Or there’s just jumping and falling fifty feet and hoping for the best.
What’s more, they are drifting closer to the broken moon, and that seems to be having a strange effect on those stranded on the new floating ruin. They may start to feel their control fray, and their forms shift, the higher they rise.
In terms of getting back down, there’s a handful of tow lines in the ruin that might work as ropes. There’s also a few pieces of rock that are floating up more slowly, and could work as stairs back down… Or there’s just jumping and falling fifty feet and hoping for the best.
06: PSYCHIC ECHOES
There's one last quirk to this area; a few scattered bits of odd plantlife, and the odd dead brain monster. While these things aren't a threat on their own (beyond being unnerving) they still pack a psychic punch; mainly in the form of temporary psychic abilities.
It's possible that after coming in contact with either plants or corpses, newcomers will find themselves gifted with either empathy (projecting or receiving emotions) telepathy, OR the ability to share their dreams with others, and having their dreams influenced by others in turn. This effect fades in just a day or so, but is still capable of causing mishaps.
It's possible that after coming in contact with either plants or corpses, newcomers will find themselves gifted with either empathy (projecting or receiving emotions) telepathy, OR the ability to share their dreams with others, and having their dreams influenced by others in turn. This effect fades in just a day or so, but is still capable of causing mishaps.
MICRO ENCOUNTERS:
PLEASE NOTE! These are small bits of set dressing for players to include in threads if they wish, rather than full fledged prompts or events. You may handwave your exploration of these areas, or thread them out.
Broadcast: The garage contains a few burnt out monitors. But a handful of them are playing a message over and over again on loop, filled with static. It’s a recording of important looking people in lab coats advising people to remain indoors and avoiding all objects falling from the sky. Especially “moon shards.” They insist that they are working to contain and cure the infection, but the safest action is to remain inside.
Warped Air: As seen in Long Way Down, the air overhead has strange warped pockets in it. There seem to be slightly different shards hanging suspended in the air, looking more silvery than the surrounding rocks. Almost like it could have fallen from the broken moon overhead.
Medical supplies: Most of the medical supplies found in the hospital seem to consist of healing salves and potions, a handful of healing herbs, and a few antidotes for poison or sickness. As for reverting transformations… It’s advised that new comers be careful of taking any experimental medicine. It may revert a change. It may also leave them hallucinating nightmares and fears, and they’ll be wanting someone close by to help administer the drug.
Heat | Digital Devil Saga
One of the new arrivals stands just outside the garage, a man in a gray and black suit splashed with orange across the back of his cloak, with vividly crimson hair and eyes to match, watching the sky as if he'd never seen it before.
As if he hadn't seen any of this before. Flying rocks and hovering items might be strange to anyone, but even the occasional thorny bush and struggling plant is regarded with the same puzzled wonder, struggling to connect any of it to something he already knows.
Part of him remembers similar things. This is a cactus (and don't touch it), that is a tire iron. Those things over there are big rigs--
Slowly, Heat turns towards the convoy, eyeing it with speculative distaste, rolling a key across his knuckles like a coin. "Not really what I thought Nirvana would be like."
Paradise is floating rocks and big trucks, apparently.
Who knew.
Start Up
Heat has found the vehicle the key goes to, a sturdy looking (jeep) vehicle that looked terribly unsuited for strapping a gun to, but after staring at it for a long, solid silent minute of pure, obvious disgust, has gone scouring through the other vehicles for something he can use. The low growl of "I don't think so," is the only thing he says as he stalks back into the graveyard of vehicles.
The (jeep) vehicle sits where he found it, a little battered and with a cracked windshield, a cheery vibrant cherry red.
Red is not acceptable.
Every item Heat brings back is some shade of orange, gray or black, the driver's seat torn out and replaced with one from another vehicle in more appropriate colors, a battered orange tarp slung across the roof and down the side and literally nailed into place with a wrench of all things and a handful of rusty nails. While it's obvious he's not quite sure what he's after besides color, someone may have a better idea that maybe a can of paint might work better than ... this.
Hospital (tw: gore, cannibalism(?))
There's another monster lurking in the hospital, a heavily muscled red and gold brute of a predator with two eyeless, shark-teeth filled heads chasing down anything that moves and isn't obviously human with relentless, ravenous drive. The only thing that evades the hunt are things that happen to be splashed in orange - just in case - and obviously human-looking things.
Ravenous is the keyword. There's angry hissing and growling whenever a monster simply disappears into bits of energy, but when a corpse actually lingers, it's torn into with voracious glee and no mind for neatness or manners. It doesn't matter what the monster is apparently even made of as cyborg monstrosities disappear down the twin gullets as easily as something made purely of flesh and bone.
And this thing's eaten more than a few. Where's it all going?
It's still prowling for more, little subtle about its stalking through the hospital's halls and rooms. Anyone inhuman will do, nearly. Whether or not this place is Nirvana, at least there's plenty of food.
Hospital: The Right Colors
On the off chance it encounters someone wearing that one special significant color of Orange, the demon's hunt pauses only briefly. Who knows how many different people from other Tribes went with them, and if they knew enough to wear Embryon's colors, then .. fine, they'd be treated like comrades. And comrades didn't let comrades go hungry. "You eat yet?" Its voices echo through two distorted mouths, distinctly masculine and easily understood for all the rumbling growl to it.
Hospital
It's not important; he had told Heat they were comrades, and he meant it.
Serph doesn't call his name. Instead, Serph simply enters combat beside him as Varuna, unsheathing a blade to cut off the needle fused arm from a red Unknown grasping for Heat.
Re: Hospital
It's so routine to have Varuna at his side that he automatically moves to make a space for the long cutting blades, not in a fashion that suggests he thinks he's being attacked by the way his attention remains mostly on the current fighting prey.
"It's about time you showed up." Though there's an obvious undercurrent of irritation to the growl, that's par the course isn't it? He's always annoyed about something. The nice part of two heads is one can be employed working on tearing a different limb off with his teeth while the other speaks, the lashing struggles of their current victim unpleasant but that's what made the meal after more savory. Varuna wasn't particularly chatty, so it might be rhetorical to even ask. "Where the hell have you been?
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Which makes him wonder... had he gotten through to Heat in his last moments?
"Here." Which isn't really much of an explanation, but it's true beyond just this building. He's spent a frankly extremely long time in this world.
Between the two of them, the Unknown doesn't stand a chance. And it feels right, too, to once again be openly devouring with another at his side.
But when Serph reverts after eating, it's apparent that something is very different. With 6 wings, feathers and both glowing hair and eyes, his human form can no longer truly be called that. He doesn't wear any clothing from the Junkyard anymore, instead wearing slacks and sandals with a halter top of checkered blue. The typical streak of orange is completely missing, though the tips of his wings carry the colour of his tribe.
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So for him, it's almost a relief. It meant the rest were around here somewhere (including Sera), and not running into them yet was coincidence. It's fine, the Junkyard had a lot of people in it and who knew how big Nirvana was.
These ideas are set aside during what passes as 'cleanup' and as Serph reverts back to what would have been a human form, and Agni ... doesn't follow immediately, watching eyelessly for a long moment in surprise so total it renders him silent. Changing back is simply to use finer tuned vision, frowning. His is identical to when he left, cloak and all.
Serph's ... doesn't have the feel of wearing another Tribe's colors, it's not something that strikes him as being a deliberate show of checked blue and white. But it's not orange. The tips of his wings, and why the hell does he have WINGS, don't look deliberately dyed. It doesn't even occur to him that Serph might have simply discarded their Tribe's colors and affiliation. Which meant there's one other option.
"Which one of 'em beat you?" There's only one reason a Leader might stop wearing their Tribe's colors. They might have let Jinanna and Lupa live, so another Tribe might be willing to let Serph live, salt in the wound of his defeat. "And don't give me any 'oh I'm loyal I can't tell you that, law's the law' shit, who was it?"
Giving a name is going to go badly for whoever got named.
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Akechi had mentioned months ago that people could be drawn from different periods of time. That there were other people who shared the same world as him, but came from earlier times.
The realisation strikes Serph immediately; Heat doesn't know.
This is a Heat who is still loyal to him, a Heat who only knows the law of the Junkyard and still abides by them even as they started ignoring the law as was convenient. This is a Heat who would immediately search for whoever beat him and tear them apart to take over.
Serph's expression and body language doesn't change, masking his feelings as usual. But his wings spread wide, proud and unbowed.
"No one beat me." He looks Heat directly in the eyes, unflinching. It feels strange to be taking the role of Leader again, but he slips back into it so easily in the presence of old comrades. "There are no tribes here."
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Start Up
He doesn't necessarily assume Heat is from the same world yet, but he does drift over to maybe help, at least. "What is wrong with the seat that was in it already?" he has to ask, confused at what exactly is going on here.
He looks like a normal human man... except he has six tails (five fluffy fox, one serpentine) and little blue-gray fox ears instead of human ears. Also, he is kind of small.
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This one doesn't look like he's planning on s fight, so why is he just hanging around in his other form?
"What do you mean 'whats wrong with it'?" Heat gives the offending black and red seat a boot, scowling. "Do I look like a Maribel to you?"
The red is very nearly the same color as his hair. It's very complimentary.
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He moves restlessly as he speaks, hands gesturing just a little to emphasize his words, tails constantly twitching and wagging behind him. He does not, in fact, look like he's planning to fight.
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For him, this is making an effort at explaining anything. Heat is not a great person to be dealing with rookies, he's never been particularly patient even ... before. "Same goes for green, yellow and blue. The Wolves aren't stupid enough to put white all over everything." It's the one thing he'll grant them. This 'honor' thing kept them from bothering. "Since this is the only thing the damn key will start, I'm fixing the problem."
As best he can. It's not going well, but at least it's unmistakable that the orange is very deliberate.
hospital: the WRONG colors
His clothes are threadbare, nondescript, scavenged from places like this one... except for the vivid yellow cloak and cowl which shades his face. It's not an outfit suited to stealth. Still, the moment Heat turns in his direction, he flinches back behind a corner and hopes to go ignored.
yellow is terrible switch to orange this instant
Heat is aware that the goal had been to bring EVERY conquered Tribe with them, including the much-disliked Solids that fell in line, but it doesn't mean he likes them.
Any of them.
That the people of the Convoy simply AREN'T part of his Tribe or the other beaten, worthless ones, hasn't actually sunk in yet. Which obviously means John is among their number, scarred probably from the conflict between Tribes and still wearing Mick's yellow. "Hey, you." He points, not with a finger but the sharply hooked claws unsheathed between his fingers like far too long brass knuckles.
So much for being ignored. "You've got a lot of nerve wearing that bastard's colors still."
"the king in orange" doesn't have the same ring to it
Not because the monster speaks to him, and not even because the wicked claws come as much surprise. Instead: because Heat has just said aloud what he's been thinking to himself for months.
"I..." How does he know? Is this entity a mastermind of psychic manipulation? John stands up slowly, hands half-raised in a pathetic show of I'm unarmed, looking stricken with guilt. Despite the human form, his voice comes deep and distorted. "It's... not that simple!"
King of Orange is okay sounding, but that's Serph.
Heat is not one of them. He doesn't have the psychic ability of a homing pigeon. He does however have almost godlike skill at leaping to conclusions.
And he doesn't believe that pathetic harmless look even a little bit. Too many sadsacks wound up being incredibly dangerous foes, and that didn't SOUND terribly harmless to him. And he fights better in melee, so the demon stalks closer, incapable of not having bared teeth. "It's always that simple. I bet you just don't want to."
Yellow. Of all the damn colors. He could tolerate the Wolves skulking about. Might even reluctantly give a pass to the occasional Maribel punk. But the Solids?
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Have some more red in your life. (Startup)
On one of his trips back, Heat will discover someone studying the progress of the vehicle reskin. Dressed- practically wrapped in- in a ground scraping red cloak with tattered hem- it almost seems like it's an affront to the effort that's been put in to destroying the vehicle's original color.
Vincent hasn't touched it, that would be rude. But as he hears someone approach, the gunman looks over his shoulder with a speculative look as if gauging whether the one approaching is the owner or some other curious bystander.
They are certainly a new face to him.
SSSSSSSSSSSS
Like Vincent, for example. Vincent offends him on principle, wearing crimson like a goddamn flag. The glare the ex-Turk is given as Heat stalks back to his vehicle with his newest bit of salvaged orange, could wither a cactus.
It's like Vincent breathing the same AIR he is, is somehow deeply obnoxious. "Move." It's not that the gunman is in his way. It's that Heat's going to alter his trajectory to force him to anyway. Goddamn uppity Maribel.
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He doesn't budge. At least not until the last absolute moment a collision might have been possible before he simply snakes to the side as if it were happenstance that he did; seeking another angle to observe. Heat will have to put some effort in if he wants to engage in a shoulder collision for this impudence.
Watch how that red cloak just billows in the air in his wake. This, actually, is an unintended side effect. That sort of thing just happens with Vincent.
"No paint?"
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The newly claimed seat cushion is tossed with the small pile of growing objects he intends to put to use obscuring as much of the red as he can. But when Vincent speaks up, the glare returns, shot over one shoulder. "Do you see paint around here? I sure as hell didn't."
Paint WOULD work much nicer, but there's a reason he'd made do with a crappy tarp barely the right shade. He also hasn't thoroughly searched through the area, so MAYBE something more appropriate is around.
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hospital (every color but orange, actually)
the second his sensitive cervid ears pick up as much as a chip of sound down corridors he can't see from the corners yet, jayce tenses. he raises his hammer, the corrupted core lighting the hall and his vision going forward. he's not exactly starving, but the mindset of prowling does flip a switch in him. human to draugr, survivor to predator.
this thing approaching the demon smells of undead. of strange rot, like the strike of ozone anteceding a storm. like chemicals being toyed with, like infection born from magic. who knows, it might have a poprock sort of taste to it. ]
taste the rainbow?!
But the sound of staggered hooves, like there was some sort of prosthetic involved, draws Heat to a stop with one mouth still full of bitten-off limbs from some misshapen thing that had pounced on him not long ago, suddenly alert. The smell of rot isn't as offputting as it is for some, Agni could eat nearly anything without suffering for it, and decayed is usually not appealing but decaying that MOVES..
Well. Ghouls could be worth a snack sometimes.
What it is is not a ghoul, but something he'd never seen before - and unique is ALWAYS worth investigating. The remains of his previous kill are tossed aside as he rounds on the vaguely deerlike (...deer. He knew what deer were in a fragmented kind of way) demon with a hammer with interest, content to stay where he is and let dinner come to him, bouncing once lightly on his feet.]
C'mon. You're not the moldiest thing I've devoured.
skittles flavored jayce
I'd like to see you try.
[ the hammer glitches the space around it, a jitter of corrupted energy around its hilt and body before jayce pulls the lever— and fires a blast that not only breaks apart what it hits— it distorts, corrupts on impact completely. the rot on him spreads to the surfaces it touches. ]
Hospital
Eating monsters was weird and he's not sure he'd be able to eat the ones in the hospital of all places.
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Eyeless or not, there's a sense that the two headed monstrosity is studying Levi, measuring him against some impossible to know standard, and by the downward twitch of what passes for lips, has found something he doesn't approve of.. The gun is ... actively a danger in fact, but Heat's so used to being all but impervious to gunfire that he ignores anything that might have been a threat with having one raised in his direction. "....What'd you eat, an onmoraki? You're damn skinny. Let's go."
Dealing with rookies or converts from other Tribes is best left to other people, but other people aren't around. If he has to carry a couple of newbs through their first few decent meals.. it better be worth it later.
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"Uh." He'll follow after Heat even if he has no idea what the goal here is. This guy looks like he can take care of himself but a little backup wouldn't hurt either of then. "Are you looking for something in particular?"
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Where ARE they going? Further into the hospital, and it's obvious he's looking for something.
"Yeah, looking for something more your size." One of the toothy heads turns just SLIGHTLY back towards Levi. "You don't look ready for anything bigger." He could be wrong. It's not like he deals with rookies much these days, and for a good reason.
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