Sept/Oct Test Drive Meme

[computerized]

Alpha Complex Test Drive Meme

Please feel free to take a Test Drive to see if the environment would suit your character! All potential players are welcome.

It may be your first day in Alpha Complex or your hundredth, either way, you are in serious trouble.

Scenario One
Your character has been accused of treason!

Whether the accusation is true or not, you are a wanted citizen!  Do you turn yourself over to IntSec (Internal Security) for questioning?  Do you make a run for it and go AWOL?  Will you fight for your right to exist or hole up somewhere safe until the chaos passes?  Do you become The Fugitive and try to prove your innocence?  Or are you guilty as hell and seeking help from friends or other parties who would be willing to assist you for a price? 

Beware of the security cameras everywhere - some of which actually work - and being spotted by citizens who might be willing to turn you in to gain points with The Computer or to prove their own loyalty.

Scenario Two
Your character has been given the mission to hunt down a traitor!

It is your job to hunt down and apprehend the traitor by any means necessary.  If you fail or refuse, you might be accused of being a traitor yourself.  It doesn't matter if the person you are hunting is innocent or had good reasons for their treason.  It doesn't matter if their crime was major or some minor form of treason, Friend Computer wants their head.  You have twenty four hours to complete your mission.

Please post your character name and fandom in the subject line.
Work Together. Turn On Each Other. Survive.

Premise | Setting Information | New Arrival Introduction

Comments

[kholodnyy]

No, he's not looking to hurt her. Not this time. It's enough that she's sticking her neck out for him - that moment of indecision, that hesitation back in the corridor. Natasha had ample time to corner him for the police, but she chose to help him instead. It's not something he plans to forget. Or leave unrepaid.

"I have everything to apologize for," he mutters almost under his breath, but the tone of voice is tinged with something close to resignation. Yes, he's heard that before. Recently, in fact, from a guy with a heart that's still too big for his body. If he has a problem believing it from Captain Fucking America, stands to reason that the Widow trying to tell him the same thing isn't going to have miraculous consequences. But at least he's listening. "James was my father. It feels -- weird, I guess, having someone outside the family use it."

His mother, his sisters, even Steve on occasion. But he's been Bucky for so long - and no one at all for even longer - that being addressed in such a manner is fairly unsettling. He shifts, allowing his shoulders to slump down further against the wall, and tilts his head. A part of him is primed and ready to move, but most of Bucky's attention is now focused on Natasha.

"I've slept on worse things than the ground." Corner of his mouth lifts briefly. "It's your call, Widow. Having a weapon or two would make the sleeping a little easier, though."

[missromanova]

"Stop thinking about it like that." Natasha replies with a surprising amount of firmness in her voice paired with a vague shake of her head. "Believe me, apologies won't get you anywhere. The people that you feel like you need to apologize to aren't going to listen. The ones who understand why it happened aren't going to need you to apologize in the first place." Natasha glanced over at Bucky for a lingering moment, as if trying to read him before she continued with sincerity. "The only thing we can do is try to make up for it. Some of us are better at that than others, but it's all we have. All you can do is try to wipe the red out of your ledger. You might never get there. I haven't." She gave a single shouldered shrug, and there's effort put into keeping her tone even and dismissive. "But you keep trying. It's all we've got."

Natasha manages to give another crooked half smile before she reassures him. "Don't worry, I'll stick with Bucky. I was never sentimental when it came to names." Probably because she's had so many over the course of her short life. It's when she sees the corners of his mouth twitch that Natasha huffs a quiet laugh of amusement. "Was that almost a smile? I'm doing better than I thought. We're going to need to find our way Free Enterprise for that, it's the black market here." She runs her fingers through her hair with a sigh. "I left my blaster on that building we jumped onto, they can track it. I have enough credits to get both of us a decent gun, clothes. Food. After that we can figure out what to do, I have some connections, favors owed. We'll be alright. It'll be rocky but it'll be alright. Hey."

Natasha shifts her foot a little to tap the side of his boot and get his attention until he looks at her. "I'm not going to let them find you. I'd rather live in a warehouse and dismantle them from the inside out than do that, alright? We're going to be fine. They don't know what we're capable of, and that's our advantage. A valuable one."

[kholodnyy]

A dark brow lifts in response. Who is she to tell him what to think? Excuse you, lady, he can do whatever the hell he wants right now. Just because.

Actually, no. That's not fair. He can choose to do anything right now, and revel in the choice, but there will be consequence for each and every action he takes. And she's just trying to help, hence the advice. Now, granted, it's something he already more or less knows, and just hasn't completely accepted in his heart yet. His brain knows that no amount of 'sorry' will ever make up for the things he's done. And that's okay, he'll live with it. But his heart still holds that traitorous little sliver of hope. It has since he found Steve in his safe house.

"Yeah. You keep moving forward, because if you stop --" He frowns, expression kept deliberately neutral, except for the moment of levity. He reaches up, rubs at one eye with his flesh hand as if wiping away weariness, and then turns his head to look at her again. "Why are you helping me? I'm Steve's ..." Friend. "Problem, not ... not yours."

Bucky's voice is quiet, a thread of softness running through it that he's too tired to mask. She ran with him. For him. By all rights, Natasha should hate him, and should have trapped him in Berlin. He still doesn't know why she choose otherwise, even if he is grateful to have gotten a chance to stop monsters worse than him.

"I just don't understand."

[missromanova]

Bucky doesn’t finish his thought and Natasha doesn’t ask him to, because she knows exactly what he’s going to say. Perhaps not word for word, but she knows what he’s thinking. She knows what happens when someone stops moving forward. When he moves to rub his face Natasha catches it in the corner of her eye, but she only glances over at him when he starts to speak again, her legs bending so she can rest her elbows on her knees and let her arms hang loosely before her. Despite his question and how serious she knows he is, Natasha gives an airy sound through her nose that resembles a quiet laugh paired with a crooked and weary smile rooted somewhere that wasn’t humor. She looks away again, her head falling back against the wall, but her smile stays as she stares off. “Because.” She gives a tired shrug and a shake of her head, but when she looks back at him and sees his face her expression softens. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Natasha holds Bucky’s gaze for a lingering second in silence before she gives a weak shake of her head, as if not knowing why he wants to hear it aloud. As if not wanting o share her true reasons because she wishes that they were just unspoken and understood. “Because I know what it’s like to not who you are when you wake up in the morning.” Her voice drifts a little into something that’s dangerously close to honest vulnerability before she pulls it back, instead adopting a calm but certain tone. “ Because I know how it feels when the whole world is against you. And what it’s like to watch yourself do something through your own eyes and not…” she trails off quietly, and Natasha’s eyes flicker with something raw, and regretful, before she wets her lips and looks away from him again with another shrug. “And not know who’s really doing it. I know what it’s like when you wake up and realize the person that you are. And how different they are from the person you want to be. What you’ve done versus what you’ve always wanted to do.”

Her throat moves when she swallows hard and Natasha looks down, picking at her nails from where her hands hung off of her knees. She can’t look at him in that moment, but there’s a frown on her face that she doesn’t seem to be aware of. “Because I know what it’s like to wish that someone had gotten you out sooner and I won’t let anyone stay like any longer than they already have. I won’t let anyone get punished for it, because they don’t understand.” Her jaw flexes with tension. “They don’t get that whatever punishment they deem appropriate doesn’t even come close to what you’re already doing to yourself in your own head.” Natasha pulls air in through her nose in a slow, deep breath, and she releases it in a sigh before she manages to compose herself enough to look back at him and meet his eye. Her smile is back. No longer crooked. Sad.

”Because it’s the right thing to do. And all we can do now is try to do the right thing whenever we can. You’re not the only one who has to keep moving forward.”