TDM #8

[vivalamods]

TEST DRIVE #8

The day begins as any other, you’re going about your day, living your life, when, without warning, you feel the world around you shift on its axis. You feel a great tear, welling from the depths of your soul as you are ripped from all you have known. If you’re lucky, you arrive in the wilderness of an unfamiliar world, where the language is foreign and the people are hostile. To make your escape, you must learn some language, flee, and occasionally fight, all to find your way off the floating isles you find yourself on and to the great ocean below, where rebel forces will welcome you.

If you’re unlucky, you materialize within a room full of armed guards and are quickly subdued with charged nets, stripped of your belongings, fitted with strange devices that suppress your powers and pressed into servitude. Your days are unimaginable pain and toil.

Fortunately, even in this world, there is still hope. For the denizens of this world have not given up. And it is for that dream of salvation that the Crimson Corsairs raise their flags and sail - for liberation. Perhaps you are one who has lived their entire life under the oppressive yoke of the Empire. Perhaps you have seen first hand your family and friends cut down by nobles hunting men for sport, or perhaps you have run afoul with the church and barely escaped with your life. No matter your origin, the Corsairs sail for you, for your freedom, for your life. And today, a taste of freedom will be won for all.


ARRIVAL/LIBERATION
The attacks on Bluvink and Vindess were wildly successful, but it also created the largest risk to Imperial citizens ever. Due to the heavy dealing with certain elements of the imperial citizenry, there has been a heightened risk at the Empire cracking down on them. In an effort to protect them, the Corsairs have welcomed a large number of refugees from Imperial settlements for the first time. While some servants were also liberated in the operation, a great deal of the Corsair’s airship resources were devoted to evacuation.

As such, the Vault is filled to the brim with people being processed and temporarily housed. Whole families have been displaced, and it’s hard to determine who might be willing to sell out the Corsairs for a chance to return when offered. Please be patient, like as not, you’ll be here for a while.


UNDERGROUND OVERCROWDING

In addition to the refugees, many of Flotsam’s regulars are currently residing in the Vault. While the settlement is quite large, even its capacity is starting to become overloaded. And with the clashing personalities of typical Vault and Flotsam residents, to say nothing of all of the Imperial refugees who have been ripped from their former lives and are now residing in an unfamiliar and, for Isle-dwellers disconcerting new home, tensions are running high. It’s pretty common for brawls to break out, although if you’re taking part or attempting to keep the peace is another story entirely.


CRITICAL REPAIRS

The fighting in the Isles Above was intense, and the airships did not escape unscathed. The ships have been brought into the Vault for intensive inspection and repairs, and those who are on duty are working day and night to get them fixed up in time for the next major operation. Whether you’re a craftsperson, hunter, gatherer, or salvager, chances are high that you’ve been tapped to procure or create material for these repairs, and you haven’t really had much time to rest.

It’s all right though, the foremen kindly left free pizza in the mess hall. That makes it fine, right?


WHEN YOU’RE LAND-BOUND, BETTER DRINK

Many of the Flotsam residents are going more than a little stir-crazy hiding out in the Vault. In what is certainly an extremely cunning plan without any potential downsides, the Vault has mobilized all of the Waterlogged Row’s purveyors of grog and set them up centrally within the Vault. And thus, the Flotsam citizens are able to engage in their favorite past-time. Getting extremely drunk. In enclosed quarters. In a city full of scholars that’s under constant bombardment.

Surely nothing will go wrong.


WILDCARD

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OOC
Welcome to the eighth Test-Drive Meme for Viva La! All threads here may be considered canon once characters have entered the game. Threads here are eligible for use as a roleplay sample for applications, which will open on the 5th of February at midnight.
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Comments

[blessmefather]

"That's an admirable profession choice. I considered it when I was young. I picked up a few helpful medical skills using my strong senses, but ended up using them more for investigations instead, as a job," he explains. "Helps me to navigate without the cane too, though I prefer to use one so I can walk without having to think so hard about it."

[redprayer]

And finally it clicks. Rezo tilts his head in Matt's direction. "...You are also blind?"

And here he is, leading Matt to the Academy. Rare is the time when the blind leading the blind is so literal.

(Rezo's always been a little offended by that metaphor, honestly.)

[blessmefather]

Matt's eyebrows raise for a second, followed by a delighted grin. "I am. Always nice to meet someone else in the same boat. Most of my friends are sighted, but there are some things people don't understand unless they've experienced it."

[redprayer]

"...No, they don't, do they."

Matt's obvious pleasure takes Rezo aback, even if he can intellectually understand it. He's also used to most of his social circle being sighted people.

(He's also used to other blind people not staying blind after he meets them.)

[blessmefather]

"I'll never understand why sighted people find the fact they can be recognized by smell a bad thing. It's not that they smell bad. They're simply unique like the sounds they make."

[redprayer]

"Pfft-"

It's the unexpectedness of the comment more than anything else that makes Rezo sputter a half-laugh.

"I can't say I understand it myself, but I think it may have to do with the fact they normally don't notice such things. I've had people insist they don't smell like anything at all."

[blessmefather]

"They wash up and claim they smell like nothing. I smell soap," Matt says with a small laugh.

"Sometimes vision is overrated. There are some things I wouldn't mind seeing one time, like the sky, but I'm fine the way I am."

[redprayer]

There's a bit of a pause on Rezo's end and his footsteps slow down.

"...Really?"

It isn't as if that attitude is new to him, but it's been fairly rare. Having sight just makes so much more possible. Few could be truly content to settle for having less than others.

"Even if there were an easy way to restore your sight, would you choose to stay the same?"

[blessmefather]

"Maybe I'll change my mind in the future. But right now, I have more important changes to worry about. I've lived without sight longer than I had it as a child."

Now he's wondering... He tilts his head. "Of course, if you'd prefer to change your situation, that's your business. I can understand why some people would feel differently."

[redprayer]

But what if an opportunity were right in front of you? Rezo wonders. If I, at this very moment, could simply touch you with a spell and grant you the light once more, surely you'd be tempted? You'd be a fool not to be.

But Rezo can't give Matt, or anyone, that, not anymore. So with a bit of a hum, he lets the subject drop.

"...I believe everybody has something they'd like to change about themselves, if only they could."

[blessmefather]

"I agree. Generally the people who think they're perfect already are... trouble." Matt shakes his head to himself, smiling a little painfully at his memories of those who fit that description.

[redprayer]

Rezo has met a great deal of people during his life, and that includes troublesome 'perfect' individuals. Still, the statement throws him off because Rezo has never thought of his desire to cure himself as seeking perfection.

"Do you think perfection is unattainable for humans?" Rezo asks. "I do, but... One can always seek improvement."

Especially if that improvement is just to get you to the level of a normal person.

[blessmefather]

"To err is human or however the old saying goes. Creatures and races of all kinds miscalculate or forget. And you can't be alive without getting upset at some point. But we try to be better. And it's admirable to learn."

Matt pauses, considering the trail of their conversation. "Are you thinking of changing something about yourself?" he asks. Perhaps Rezo wishes to see, or is turning some other opportunity over in his mind?