January 2024 Test Drive Meme: Our First!

[sweetmod]

Welcome to the Simulation: Our First Test Drive

Taken | Reserves | Application | Activity | TDM Questions | Premise | FAQ | Calendar Full Navigation Reserves open 01/27/2024 @ 12:00 AM EST Reserves close 01/31/2024 @ 11:59 PM EST Welcome to our Test Drive Meme! Our Test Drive Memes are considered game canon and are open to current players and prospective new players alike! It is completely optional to keep your TDM threads as canon to your character's experience in the game, so feel free to play around and enjoy the flexibility before applying! All TDM threads can be used for samples for your application and activity proofs. All TDMs come with an additional greeting message from Daisy in addition to her typical Welcome Message. This is her message for newbies for this month: "Hi there, Sweet Subjects! Congratulations on being the Very First Batch! That also means you're the first friends I've made for this whole project! Isn't that exciting? Unfortunately, I have to already apologize to you. You see, I wasn't expecting you quite so soon! My math was a little off and well...There are a few kinks in the system I'm working out. But don't worry! I'll take care of everything. You can trust me. After all, we are friends, and it would be very rude to not trust your friends! Why don't you just stay inside this little house while I fix things up? You'll be safe! P̴̥̾̉r̸̢̋́̓̀̏ó̵̧͖̈́̏̋͊̅̋̕͘b̵̛̺̞̦̳̙͒͘͜ä̸͓̗̯̺̰́̿̆͘͠b̶̭͔̯̆̒̐l̵̨̬̬̱̱̙͔̻̊̾́͠͝y̶̰̺̲̝͙͈̝͙̟̖͑̆̾̀̀͒͝!̶̱͚͙͉̠̓̒́̌̽̌̚͝ Remember: Don't open the door to strangers. Anyway! In the meantime, get to know your fellow Sweet Subjects! After all, you're going to be spending a lot of time together! Thank you for understanding! Good luck! Prompt One | Prompt Two

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Summary: 🌼 Content Warnings: Optional light alcohol, isolation, bad weather via thunderstorms, feeling of being watched and taunted, false information, mental manipulation, memory manipulation, memories or depictions of murder and torture 🌼 Characters wake up in an unfamiliar house during a thunderstorm. They hear Daisy's broadcast on the TV. There is a persistent knocking at the door, but you know you shouldn't open it. 🌼 Another character (or more) is in the house with you. Pictures of you both begin to take up the walls. Of memories you either really experienced or false memories. They increasingly become more violent. 🌼 A radio broadcast warns Sweet Acres residents about an escaped criminal. Paranoia grows between characters. Violence out of deluded "self-defense" may occur. 🌼 The true escape from this prompt is to just open the door. Outside, all is well and you realize the house was one giant mind fuck...Or hopefully, you realize. Your memories might be a little scrambled now. There is a knock at the door. You mustn't answer the door. It has been a long, long, long day, hasn't it? You don't even remember sitting on the couch and you certainly don't remember dozing off. But that strange broadcast certainly woke you up and now...You are here. In an unfamiliar house with outdated wallpaper and dirty carpet. The weather outside seems frightful. Torrential downpours with clashing thunder and flashes of lightning chase even the most persistent shadows in the house. Was the lady on the TV serious? Did you just have to wait in this lousy place for the storm to blow over? Or, wait, how did she word it? Wait while things finish configuration. Damn, your head is hurting and you could use a drink. Hopefully, the tacky yellow kitchen has a stocked fridge. Luckily for you, it's filled with fresh food and some fresh booze. There is a knock at the door. You mustn't answer the door. Unluckily for you, there is another person in this house with you. They might have woken up on the same couch as you or are bumping around upstairs. Either way, the freak in the polka-dot dress wasn't wrong: You're not alone here. When you and whoever else in this house finally join up, you will notice that the house seems to become a bit more lively. The pictures on the wall change to feature you or your companion. Some of the pictures are genuine from back in your homeworld, but others...Not so much. Others look like false memories of you with families you don't even remember or at a school you never attended, but they are all so real you can't help but think maybe Daisy is telling the truth after all. There is a heavier knock at the door. You mustn't answer the door. There is a radio in the house that suddenly begins to declare an emergency announcement: "At this time, we urge all residents of Sweet Acres to seek shelter immediately. The wind is picking up and we anticipate this storm to last the rest of the night - Oh? This just in: a convict has managed to break into Sweet Acres. We are told that they were last seen in...Oh, oh my...Whatever you do, make sure your doors and windows are locked. And remember: don't answer the door. And remember: don't trust strangers." A heavy booming knock lands three times at the front door. Let. Me. In. The pictures around the house begin to change. Now it shows you and whoever you're sharing the house with doing some...terrible things. Maybe some of it is true. Some of it may be completely false. Will it matter when the pictures seem so terrifyingly real? What happens when the TV glitches on and starts to play sketchy home videos of one of you doing something terrible? What happens when the radio starts to play terrifying audio of you confessing to an atrocious crime? What happens when the person you're stuck in the house with might just be the stranger the radio warned you about? Or will you have the sense to realize that something is very wrong here and that you're both being played a fool? The knocking at the door is only getting louder. So loud it cracks the door. The storm worsens. What should you do? The madness will only worsen the longer you stay. You may even be driven to defend yourself from each other, you may come to develop false memories of crimes you didn't commit. You may just... Decide to open that damn door already. It turns out, that's what you needed to do the entire time. Because the moment you do? You open the door and see a beautiful, sunny day outside. No rain. Not a single gray cloud. Certainly no horrifying stranger either. But now you're left with whatever you did or thought from the house. For some people, the terror may slip away as easily as the rain, but for some of you, you might be stuck with paranoia and suspicion. Welcome to Sweet Acres. back to top ⤴

[ The Bot Problem ]

Summary: 🌼 Content Warnings: Forced sexuality, optional sex, aphrodisiac style computer virus, dubious consent, hunted by machines, use of bombs, guns, and shrapnel. Possible character death or maiming 🌼 Sex Bots are spreading a virus to those that touch them that will cause player characters to go around flirting with others. They can either get rid of the "virus" by having sex or meeting someone who can hack it out of their system by asking grounding questions (or any other creative means a player may have). 🌼 Characters are hunted down by violent little metal boxes known as metal dogs. The metal dogs are extremely resilient but can be destroyed by extreme measures. These metal dogs are intent on killing and maiming characters and plants. You will notice that there are still some errors in the system as you go out and about exploring your new town. There will be an occasional glitch that opens up a screaming void of bottomless darkness before it blinks out of existence. Those are unsettling enough, but at least they don't seem harmless. The bots, on the other hand, are a different story. They glitch into the town, cracking through this carefully structured reality like breaking through a window. It seems like Daisy has a lot of work to do on the external firewalls of Sweet Acres! In the meantime, you're going to have to deal with her incompetence. The Sex Bots A lot of the bots can easily be mistaken for other residents in town. These are model-gorgeous women and men who almost seemed like caricatures of stereotypical beauty conventions. Big lips, huge hips, large muscles, chiseled jaws, perfect hair, pearly white teeth. These beauties flounce about and no matter who or what you are, if they look your way, they are immediately approaching you. "Hey, sexy. I'm single, horny, and lonely. I just turned 18 and I've got my daddy's credit card." "I've never seen a person more beautiful than you. I'm the CEO of at least three different six-figure income businesses. How about I take you on a night out in my Ferrari?" There isn't a single thought behind those eyes or in those smiles. If you have the thought to rely on your Daze, you can just block the Sex Bots and they will blink out of existence. Alternatively, you could probably just smash them out of existence with a good punch or the swing of a weapon...They will just vanish into a cloud of corrupt coding. But if you're a bit more gullible and still catching up on the strangeness of this place or can't figure out Daze, you might make the mistake of responding to one of these bots. The Bot will immediately scan you for all of your information and warp its features into something that you actually would find to be the ideal beauty. "This is better, right?" It's hard to deny...They even sound like the ideal beauty in your mind. A gentle hand on your arm and then they are leading you away. Except they aren't leading you anywhere. You watch helplessly as coding goes up your arm and begins to consume your body. You can't feel anything but a prickling sensation. The Bot vanishes, but you are left rewired. Now it is you with the dramatic features emphasizing your most attractive parts. Regardless of your personality, you suddenly feel the urge to walk up to just about anyone anywhere and flirt with them. Whether stupidly or sincerely. It's hard to remember yourself with the bot's virus wreaking havoc on your Daze. Worst case scenario? You wind up sleeping with someone because of this bizarre virus, but you will also ironically get it out of your system this way and feel completely normal after. Alternatively, you can find someone who is a bit more tech-savvy with the Daze and who might have an idea of how to hack into your system and get rid of the virus for you. This might involve some personal line of questioning, but hey, at least you're not walking around asking for sex from total strangers anymore! The Metal Dogs The Sex Bots are a dream compared to the other virus attacking the system of Sweet Acres. One will begin to see small metal robots trotting about, no bigger than a backpack, with lethal determination. These metal dogs scour their surroundings for anything organic or anything that doesn't belong in the space. This means they are actively ripping up plants and destroying trees, which is tragic enough, but just be glad they haven't seen you yet because it turns out that Daisy's Sweet Subjects are the metal dog's top priority. The moment they notice you, they will begin a neverending chase. These robots can catch up to a speeding car and resist an enormous amount of damage. They are waterproof and run on their own network completely disconnected from the Daze, so good luck trying to hack into them- it won't work. They can see just as well in the dark as the light and have sensors that allow them to pick up on body temperature as well as any vibrations you might make. They are not gentle creatures: their goal is to terminate all organic beings and Sweet Subjects in the area. If they catch you, they will immediately attempt to blow your head off with a small gun they can form. Alternatively, they will expel a shrapnel bomb if you catch them off guard. They also have paralyzing fog bombs. Metal dogs can be destroyed, however. With large explosions, armor-piercing weaponry, people with extreme super strength. Or you can get creative! Maybe you know a spell that can turn them into a stuffed animal or melt the metal. Maybe you have control over metal beings. There are ways to destroy these things. But don't worry. If worse comes to worse, Daisy is going around to destroy them for you. But do you really want to owe her your life? back to top ⤴

Comments

Ellie | The Last Of Us 2 | CRAU

[enduresurvive]

[PLEASE WAIT]

Ellie wakes up with a start, hand reaching for — hm. She's not sure, in the end, so she drops it. The couch feels unfamiliar, though something in her head tells her she knows this place. But this isn't the first time she's woken up somewhere weird, so she can't trust that feeling. Most things weren't what they seemed in Mathias. She's also pretty suspicious by nature, which might help her here in awhile.

This isn't the house in Mathias, though. It's not even the same colour inside. Not to mention the broadcast she can hear. What is that even coming from…? The television?

"This makes no fucking sense" she says aloud, unaware in her confusion that someone else is in the house.

Either:

Your character wakes up just after this, or your character is already awake and comes into the room when Ellie wakes up.

Whichever, she's immediately on edge, pushing herself off the couch. Her backpack is there next to her, but she's well aware it's probably useless. The only weapon she's had for weeks has been that weird knife. (She still has that, in fact, but doesn't go for it where it is on her belt.)

"Who are you?" she asks. "Wait, do you…do you hear knocking?"

[ Ultimately she will open the door, or be talked into opening it, or try to talk someone else into it. Endgame goal here is getting out! But we can see a few horrifying pictures for funsies; if you want some gross zombie pictures or something lmk and I'll set that up in the thread. ]

[BOT PROBLEM]

The first thing that happens, which a month or so ago would have absolutely flipped Ellie out, is the weird holes. They aren't often. The first one that appears a few feet ahead of her does make her jump back.

"Please tell me you see that," she says to whoever is exploring with her. It doesn't last, though the feeling of wrongness lingers after the strange void disappears.

The robots are also…really something else. She's never seen an actual working robot before. She's kind of amused by the first one, some jock bro type that comes up and hits her with, "Where have I seen you before? Oh yeah, I remember now. It was in the dictionary next to the word ‘gorgeous.’"

She snorts, almost actually laughing. "Wow, I've heard some stupid ass jokes before, but I didn't expect a robot to be the one saying them."

To a different one, she might say, "As cool as it might be to fuck a robot, I am definitely not in the mood." That might not matter, depending on how soon intervention reaches her! The second bot — a cute girl bot in a leather jacket — might get to her. Feel free to step in!

Grounding questions only for today, folks. She's here to intervene before a bot touches someone else, too, though!

Starting with, "Whoa, hey. They said no, dude. Back the fuck off."

WILDCARD

[ These aren't working for you? No problem, toss me a starter and we'll go from there! ]

[ Ellie is a CRAU from The Village, which was also a small town horror setting. She's not very different from how she was at home, though some of her rage has cooled (or turned back into despair, depends on the day/incident), her mental health is real shaky, and she's familiar with the existence of magic and of other worlds.

I'm boywonder if you want to plot, or PM me here. ]

[blondshell]

(It's a mutual effect. Katsuki is concentrating on the correct amount of freckles on Izuku's face and he can surmise that if anyone tried to counterfeit a Deku, they would probably fuck up on that part. It's the easiest, clearest memory he has and maybe it means they knew each other before in their supposed lives or maybe it means they just agreed to do this together. Whatever the case, the only thing that makes sense is that they wound up here together.

Scars. Freckles. Dumb hair. Annoying wobbly voice.)

Clowns are for toddlers and weird...(He pauses, frowning.)

American horror movies. (He forgot the word 'American' for a second there.)

Yeah, and you're Deku. (A pause, his tongue curling in his mouth.) Izuku.

(He follows Izuku's glance.)

Looks like it. (He moves to his feet then, but he doesn't let go of Izuku. He just winds up moving to grab his hand instead and pulls at his arm to join him.)

But it's easy to fake pictures these days.

[swordlord]

(Mihawk was something of a legend in his own right, but while he is an arrogant man, he wasn't the sort to needlessly brag either. Instead, he hums thoughtfully.)

Not dust to all. Legends can serve as an inspiration to many. My entire world revolved around a legend. Most would think it offensive to consider it dust.

[snakesona]

I was being literal.

Unless you think having an immortal legend serves best?

bot stuff

[clipon]

Hal has been doing a lot of people watching recently, and he's gotten the idea with the sexbots thing. That said, he can tell when someone's about to Get Got by a glorified chatbot and has started trying to step in and prevent it, in part because once the people get flirt-sick they're extremely annoying.

So, a robot that extremely looks like a robot is going to walk right up and punch the leather jacketed bot right in the face. She, of course, explodes into bits of code before dissipating, and Hal turns his head to look at the presumably human next to him.

"You can block them if you think real hard about it," he explains, "but it seems that sometimes the manual way is more cathartic."

His voice is very slightly metallic-sounding and he's made of matte grey metal and red circuitry lining his face and hands, but despite the materials he looks normal human shaped. It's probably pretty uncanny, sorry.

[enduresurvive]

Ellie will probably eventually get the hint on the bots, but for now this is all way too unfamiliar. Of all the crazy shit she's dealt with in her life, sexy robots sounds like something in a really bad movie. Or a mediocre comic book, maybe. The standards are different.

But what is maybe even stranger in this moment is another robot waltzing over and punching the shit out of the sexbot.

"Holy fuck," Ellie says, eyes wide. "Are you…"

Wait, how does one talk to a robot? He seems to be much more conscious of himself than the sex ones are. What do they call that, robots that think for themselves? Androids or something, she thinks. She's read a lot of books.

"You're different from them," she says instead, knowing it sounds stupid as hell.

"Uh. I mean. Thanks?"

[doublycursed]

"Yeah. Two hours ago one of them shoved her breasts in my face," Izutsumi says, obviously highly unimpressed with the memory. "And then some guy talked about a Cybertruck or something. It was stupid. Some guy in dark glasses saved me."

At least the guy is okay. And saving him felt... cool? Izutsumi never did figure out what she wanted to do with her life after their big adventure in the Dungeon, and she doesn't know if she feels particularly called to be a hero or whatever, but it's pretty cool to intervene and get to kick something.

She wonders if this whole situation -- being trapped in a weird town -- can be solved by kicking something. Maybe? She'd just have to find the right person.

"Do you know where we are?" she asks the guy, arms folded over her chest, tail flickering in irritation behind her. "Because I woke up on some couch with some stupid clown thing talking at me. And now there's things called 'bots', whatever they are." She lifts her head, staring past the guy's shoulder, eyes narrowed. "And I think there's more coming."

cw: uhhhh body horror retractable arms lmao

[addickted]

They suuuuuure do come in handy, ya got that right, Mistah. [In contrast, Angel's accent is a nearly-comical thick New York one -- all old timey mobsters and tommyguns and "I'm walkin' here". He'd be much more of a caricature if it weren't for the...spider thing.

Speaking of -- one arm reaches out for the cigarettes, another pulling a couple free and tucking one into his chest fluff for later. And then, seamlessly, two more appear from either side of Angel's torso, sliding free to make him properly eight-limbed: six arms, two legs. One of the new hands grabs the other cigarette, holding it out and lighting it carefully, then placing it in his mouth, all while the topmost pair stay propping his chin up.

Grinning and inhaling, Angel lets the third pair slowly retract back into his body. It's a little unnerving, but if this tall hunk of golden southern drawl is already calling him pet names, he's probably not gonna freak out about Angel's disappearing limbs. For good measure, he adds:] That ain't all that retracts, just so's you know.

[Inhaling deeply, exhaling the smoke into a skilled ring:] Angel Dust. I'm guessin' you haven't heard'a me, huh? [A woeful sigh.] Not havin' my talent recognized is such a fuckin' drag.

[fullgauntlet]

[His heart does a weird little jump in his chest when he hears Katsuki say his name and correct it with his real name like that. Another confusing feeling makes him take a second to just stare at the blond boy with his pupils dilating. And when their hands slide together he simply holds onto it like it's the most normal thing in the world. Gathering to his feet he still stares for a second before he looks away from Katsuki with a short blush burning his nose.

Right. Those pictures.

He looks up again. The first one that they move to look at appears to be two little boys standing side by side. One with a bright glowing sunshine-like smile and messy blond hair. The other is a slightly shorter, watery-eyed boy with a mop of green hair who's also smiling sweetly. They have yellow umbrellas and they're holding hands.

... Izuku looks down at their hands.]

It's the two of us. We're so small... And we're standing together like it's something we do every day. But how are we supposed to know what's real or fake?

[His head is swirling with questions.]

electrosexual

[addickted]

"Heh, amateurs." The voice isn't from a would-be victim -- Angel's gotten savvy to the bot's games, and is pretty over it now. He's been perched on a bench nearby, all lanky legs and multiple arms and fluffy cute creepiness, watching the sex bots wander around and spout lines at thin air. When they catch their prey, Angel doesn't intervene -- their own damn fault for getting in trouble, dumbasses -- just watches and chuckles.

But finally someone with some sense. The very tall (pushing eight feet with the boots) spider demon flashes a grin of pointy, terrifying teeth, waving a gloved hand. "C'mere, toots, nice to see some'a you living have some sense."

[whatam_i]

"A wise decision." He says and straightens his suit a little, looking around the town.

"So, have you noticed anything else odd about this place?"

[addickted]

[Angel waves a dismissive hand, one of four he has. He's tall, pushing seven feet, but lanky and reedy as hell, and very animated as he scoffs and sprawls over a nearby dumpster.]

Your loss, hot stuff. I'd blow your damn mind. Guaran-fuckin'-teed. [Then he flashes a mouth of bright, uncomfortably sharp teeth.] I'm an Aries, sweetheart.

Also a spider demon, if that's what you meant.

[whatam_i]

"No idea, I woke up under similar circumstances." He says when she mentions the couch and the clown, which when you come from Gotham is something you just naturally distrust immediately. Clowns always mean trouble.

"What? Where??" He asks, flinching and looking around warily. "Perhaps we should get off the street."

[clipon]

There are plenty of pitfalls when talking to a robot, but Hal doesn't seem too pressed about what she says, perhaps in part because he's still pleased to even have a body at all. His expression is a little inscrutable but all he does is tilt his head before responding.

"You're welcome. But yes, I'm very different from them. It seems those bots are built around a single purpose with a small script of responses, much like a simple chat bot given a body. I'm a fully-formed artificial intelligence."

A beat passes, and he continues. "My name is lil Hal, but you can just call me Hal."

[clipon]

"You mean other than the constant glitching, the bad coding of the entire simulation, the fake serial killer, the dogbots trying to kill people, we were brought here by a psychotic clown woman that's probably an AI as well, and the fact that I remember a ton of shit that supposedly isn't real?"

A beat passes. "Other than that, no."

cw: all the casual body horror here + prob eventually refs to suicide

[givehead]

(Dirk likes the accent. He recognized it from movies and he didn't really have much of a basis for comparison as to what was or wasn't uncommon back in the days of People Still Existing. He was surrounded by dorks with cheesy accents.

Or he had been anyway.

His face remains blank throughout the entire display of Angel's bizarre body, but behind his lens, Dirk's fascinated and some part of his mind is already wandering all over what could be done with those.)

Nope. But that's probably good we don't share the same timeline. You don't want to have heard of me. (Not even said with any hint of arrogance, just matter-of-fact. He blows his own pointed trail of smoke - right into the middle of Angel's smoke circle.)

I'm Dirk. And it's never too late to show off a bit. (He glances down pointedly.)

I hope it doesn't retract too much. I got a thing for phallic-shaped anything.

[givehead]

Y'know, you can just block 'em with your brain, right? (Granted, it wasn't actually using anyone's brain, but it might as well be. The Daze had been effortless for Dirk to adjust to. He taps his temple.)

Just think really hard at them about them vanishing or some shit.

(Which sounds like an absolute lie. He's about to go into some lame explanation when the guy suddenly sprouts that. Dirk stares at him blankly, and then, rather robotically:)

If we are in an actual simulation, which I'm pretty sure we are, then it is incredibly unlikely anyone will ever actually die in any real sense of the word. We might undergo a similar experience as death, but I'd bet my left nut that we'd just snap back into this reality.

[kobes]

[Mihawk's hands are huge, which Koby had expected. They're also warm, which he hadn't. There's one reflexive flinch at the first touch -- he can count on one hand the amount of times someone's touched him gently, and his body is used to tensing up in anticipation. But once that instinct has passed, Koby doesn't twitch or flinch as Mihawk carefully plucks the tiny shards of metal free of his shoulder. It's worse there than his arm or shin -- those times he'd been running, but the metal dog thing had cornered him and he'd taken the full brunt of the explosion on his shoulder before Mihawk had saved him.

That in itself had been...more than Koby had anticipated. Maybe that's why he'd felt confident proposing an alliance, because Mihawk had already saved him once. Maybe that's why he'd asked for the help with his wounds, though truthfully Koby had only expected Mihawk to glance at his shoulder and tell him to stop complaining. Instead he was genuinely...helping. It was probably just altruistic -- Koby wouldn't be any help as an ally if he was injured.

Then again, he's already burst into tears once in front of the pirate. Mihawk probably isn't expecting much from him.

Once Mihawk's done, Koby exhales softly, not realizing he'd been holding his breath. The sun is warm and bright enough that he isn't cold after handing over the unbuttoned uniform shirt, even just in his tight, thin undershirt. But he crosses his arms anyways, instinctively, prompting more blood to well up as he moves.]

There was a fully-stocked kitchen in the house I woke up in -- I think I saw some bottles of liquor there. Maybe they'd have a first aid kit. [Sternly, scowling:] I'd prefer a first aid kit to pouring alcohol on it and hoping for the best.

[whatam_i]

"Yes I saw the clown woman as well, which was....disconcerting." Clowns in general are never a good thing, he's learned that from living in Gotham.

"So this is all a simulation hrm? Fascinating. I wonder if there are any power points around town that feed into it."

[givehead]

Unlikely. I gained some serious omnipresence and coding is sort of baby talk in comparison to dabbling in countless soul fuckery.

(Dirk? Admitting he wasn't the best at something he felt he excelled at? Never. Especially not to any variation of himself. That would be the fucking day. But there is a detectable difference in him beyond just the willingness to apologize. He's not gloating like he used to. Instead, he just kind of sounds like he's rehashing disappointing facts.

But he's also not about to admit to himself that if things had gone according to plan, neither of them should be alive at this rate and he's just bitter that there's still one+ versions of him infecting any part of any universe.

Watching himself, especially a younger version of himself, struggle through playing it cool felt like applying pressure to a deep bruise. He remembers what that felt like. How sore it was to be that young and how hard it was daily to deal with the fact that he actually did have emotions.

He clenches his jaw and stays cool as a cucumber. He can't tell if he hates Hal for being so painfully obvious or if he just feels a weird sense of self-preservation.)

I'd save your opinion on that one. Maybe if you're worth your shit one day, you could take me out. That's always the real test in the end, isn't it?

(There's some acidity in his mouth and he swallows down around it. Honestly, Hal probably definitely was the only one who didn't want to die.)

Cool. (He doesn't expect an 'it's fine' or 'thank you' because he wouldn't say either of that shit either.)

Well, if it makes you feel better, people's nerves can be inconsistent. Some of us feel pain more prominently while others hardly feel pain at all.

(...Man, he's not even going to ask about the ceramic dolphin, because really, even if he is older, they still got the same brain in theory, so like. This is just another Tuesday.)

I've never been that sensitive to pain so it makes sense that you wouldn't be either. If you ain't opposed to me feeling up on you, I can run some generic tests doctors run to test out people's reflexes. (He really didn't need to word it like that, but he means the offer.)

[kobes]

...really. [Koby looks extremely dubious, because that sounds...very fake. But then again, he's good friends with a guy who's literally made of rubber and can do all sorts of fake-sounding things. Maybe that is how things are here. It can't hurt to try, at least.] It's as easy as that?

[Then, shoulders scrunching up towards his ears, Koby busies himself with smoothing out his (dumb, dorky, slightly bloodied) uniform.] I guess that makes a horrible sort of sense. People like this Daisy person wouldn't want to lose their toys as easily as that. [Koby's already fairly sure that the whole experiment thing isn't real, which just means that they're being punished somehow. Or just played with.]

Okay then. How do we get out?

[dead_tongue]

[Okay, he's just gonna close the distance and give him a quick hug, then.]

Yeah.

[Iggy looks carefully at the photos, frowning. Then he looks back at Koby and grins.]

If that's supposed to be our wedding photo, then it sucks - I'd definitely be the one in a dress.

Hey. C'mon. Let's not look at the creepy fucking pictures anymore. Come sit on the ugly couch with me, huh?

I'm Iggy.

[givehead]

Yeah. Kinda lame, I know. (Definitely sounded fake especially if someone wasn't used to living in a shitty version of real-life Sims.)

The metal dogs need to be put down with force though. So, don't attempt that on them.

(Or else he probably would die.)

Nah. Manipulators get off on the long haul of their own bullshit. Otherwise, it's not really worth it.

(Ask him how he knows! He looks at Koby, silent for entirely too long before replying very simply:)

We can't. I tried.

[givehead]

I guess that kind of does help. You seem pretty decent at it.

please wait

[givehead]

(Oh, man. One of Dirk's lacking skills is empathy and he has no clue what to do with someone who is obviously terrified. He doesn't even know how or when he got here, but here he is, staring at this floating bastard.

He doesn't totally blame the laugh tracks and realizes he needs to actually speak up.)

Uh. Hey, guy. It's...(A huge thunder boom crashes overhead.)

Just noise. (Nailed it.)