The Sixth Iteration (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sixthiteration) wrote2019-01-30 07:22 pm
sixthiteration) wrote2019-01-30 07:22 pm
Entry tags:
Test Drive 23
Test Drive
The 3 rules of the TDM
- It has to take place in the 6I universe.
- It cannot be the character's arrival into the game.
- Please only test new characters who do not have a version in the game. Our cast list is here.
Prompts
- FULL VIEW - The Observers really do their best to make each villager's wrist device as user-friendly for them as possible, but with all new tech, sometimes there's a learning curve... And sometimes, you just screw up. Like now, when you've accidentally triggered the video option and called someone completely random on the network without realizing it. Yep, you're just going about whatever, totally oblivious. Here's to hoping that your clothes are fully on, and that the person on the other end is nice enough to speak up sooner rather than later.
- SHADOW OF A DOUBT - Being the intrepid (or just bored) villager you are, you've gone exploring and found yourself a very interesting (if moderately spooky) cave. What lurks in the dark? Might it be some shadow dust to turn you intangible? Or perhaps a cave wolf with all of its little goblin-monkey friends? Maybe, just maybe, it's both.
- ILL AT EASE - 'Tis the season for the common cold, and you've got it. Unfortunately, the village doesn't have a corner drug store, so you're achy, miserable, maybe a little feverish. The good news is a little time in bed should do the trick. That is, if you're not the sort who has to be bullied to take care of yourself anytime you get sick. Either way, maybe you'll be lucky enough to find someone to tuck you in and bring you some chicken soup.
- WILDCARD - Choose your own adventure. Maybe play powers roulette.
- NETWORK - All characters are fitted with a smart watch-like device on their left wrist, which they can use to send text and video messages to other villagers. Text and/or video are allowed, any length. Display names may be changed by characters on the fly, but anyone can tap to see someone's real full name.
Please list your CHARACTER NAME, CANON & PROMPT NAMES in your SUBJECT LINE.
00.01 babiest brother dearest.... <3
The moment he hears it, he inhales deeply, holds his breath for a moment while he turns on his wristband, and then lets out a little noise of glee, only the last half of which comes through the connection after it engages.
"FIVE. Finally. You finally made it, you old bastard. Took you long enough!"
i won't hesitate bitch
Ugh. Klaus.
The wave of resigned irritation that settles over him is almost palpable, though it's undercut by a flutter of relief that Five will never admit to. He must have fucked up somehow, bringing them--wherever they are--but if his siblings are here too, not dead, then things are not as dire as they could be.
He'd rather hack off a limb than admit that kind of sentiment, though, so he settles for a snotty, "What do you mean, finally?"
perfect 5
It feels just like going home. Comfortable. Familiar. Perfect.
"I mean, it took you long enough, dear brother, to finally join us. Diego has been here for years, and I arrived shortly after he did."
An exaggeration, but Klaus honestly doesn't know how long either of them has been here. Keeping track of the days is hard, especially when he's been fighting with his body and his mind the whole time to stay sober.
"Please tell me you brought Ben. My life has been empty without his nagging."
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They aren't all here. Klaus only mentioned Diego, and he would have said something about the rest if they were present. Especially since he'd admitted Ben isn't here, though Five isn't exactly practiced in transporting ghosts. And--
He'd been in a rush, of course, a few mistakes were understandable, he'd had enough confidence in himself to assume they'd be minor enough to fix on arrival if they existed. A few gaps are perfectly understandable with a freestyle jump through time with that little preparation.
But a completely different location? With years between them?
How could he have miscalculated so badly?
The gears of his brain screech to a halt as he struggles to process the situation, and his mouth continues without him, snide responses essentially muscle memory at this point. The fear he's failing to rein in only makes his tone more scathing.
"How exactly am I supposed to tell whether I brought Ben along, Klaus?"
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Klaus can hear the panic in Five's voice somewhere underneath all the rage, and he heaves a deep sigh.
"It wasn't years. Maybe like a month or two. We missed you though. Now where are you so we can meet you and get the hell out of this place."
It feels like the light at the end of the tunnel, Five arriving to get them out of this mess and he can't help a silent laugh at himself because Five looks like a child but he's smarter than all the rest of them put together. The whole thing is ridiculous. Everything about their lives is ridiculous.
"I would be perfectly happy to never wear scrubs or sensible footwear again."
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It's a good thing Klaus isn't physically here, because if he was Five might have murdered him with his bare hands.
As it is, Five screws his eyes shut, clenches his jaw, pinches the bridge of his nose, and counts backward from ten. Then he does it again. Then he forces himself to focus on that at least the situation isn't as bad as he feared.
A month or two isn't ideal, but it's better than years. Maybe that means the rest of their family isn't far behind. This could be salvageable. He hasn't completely failed yet. As long as there are options, there are ways to keep moving forward.
When he speaks again his voice is clipped but calm.
"No. Tell me where you are and I'll find you." Force of habit. He doesn't like staying in one place for too long and he's too impatient to wait for Klaus to get his shit together long enough to find Five himself. Even if Diego is with him, Five doesn't have much faith.
His own ability to get himself oriented he has much, much more confidence in, and they need to get back on track as quickly as possible.
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Besides which, he'd thought it was pretty obvious he was joking. Who knew surviving the apocalypse (twice) would make Five struggle with interpreting tone??
Whatever.
"Uhhh number 88, North Village. Also known as the new Umbrella Academy."
Obviously Diego had found a place big enough to house everyone should they all show up. Diego is good that way. And both of them fully expected everyone to show up, because no matter how unreliable everyone else was, you could always count on Five to know what he was doing.
Except...
"Wait. Did you find out about the powers thing yet?"
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And there are more pressing topics.
As soon as he hears the address, Five hangs up on him, partly from impatience and partly because he's in a shit mood and feels like taking it out on everything around him.
He doubles back to the inn to check the maps he's found there, scowling as he estimates the distance. He'll be walking for a while, which in itself isn't anything new, but he's not interested in fielding Klaus's chatter for the couple or so hours it'll take for him to get there.
But there is a disconcerting amount of information he doesn't have yet, but (very, very unfortunately for Five) it seems that Klaus does. So after he's taken the time to make sure he really knows where he's going, as he sets out, he calls up Klaus again.
"What powers thing."
No preamble, no apology for unceremoniously hanging up earlier. Just a demand out of nowhere. What a charming conversationalist Five is.
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It isn't a surprise when Five hangs up, but Klaus lets out a loud groan and flops back on his bed for a moment. Just a moment, though, because the minute he sits still for too long he can feel the crawling under his skin, and it's easier to move. So he pulls on his stupid sensible yuppie hiking boots and laces them up and heads out, yelling to the house at large that he's going to get Five, just in case Diego is lurking somewhere.
He's already walking toward the South Village when Five calls him back to ask about the powers thing. Of course Klaus hadn't expected an apology or explanation for the hang-up; this is Five they're talking about. But he still makes an injured noise, hand over his heart even though Five can't see him.
"You wound me. Who raised you to be such a little jerk?"
It's gentle, a little more gentle than he'd usually be, because he felt like shit when he arrived and Lord knows Five probably feels equally like shit. Klaus figures he's pushing his luck at this point, but he's always lived for danger.
"Anyway, joking aside, the powers thing. Powers from home have gone kaput. I can't see shit when it comes to ghosts, which I frankly can't decide is a blessing or curse. Instead we have these...other powers. Based on the colour of the scrubs, I think? Mine are purple."
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What? Their powers have what?
He hasn't tested his abilities yet. Hadn't thought to, hadn't wanted to jump until his family was accounted for. But now--
He realizes distantly he hasn't said anything for several seconds, and hangs up again before Klaus has a chance to say anything about it. Maybe he already has. Five's ears aren't working right.
Mechanically, almost in a stupor, he brings his hands together and focuses--
Nothing.
He does it again.
Nothing.
Decades-old familiar panic washes over him, so strong it's nearly nauseating. He's stuck. He's stuck again. He can't do this again, he can't--
No, no, he can't do this now. He shakes his head, forces breath into his lungs, blinks the ash out of the corners of his vision. He needs to focus. There have to be options. He needs to fix this. He needs--
He needs a drink, is what he needs. He needs to get blackout shitfaced, a quick hit of oblivion, something to grind his brain to a halt so he can reset. Crude, but effective. But he hasn't found anything like that here and he can't--he can't--
He's fucked up. He's fucked up the worst he's ever fucked up, he's lost over half his siblings and he's taken the rest god knows where and now he can't get them back out. Even if he had his powers, he wouldn't know where to begin, there's too many unknown variables for him to calculate a return trajectory. He doesn't know where or when they are, he and Klaus and Diego, let alone the ones he's lost to the undertow of spacetime. They could be anywhere, anywhen, or stuck in between--oh fuck--
No no no, there have to be options. There are always options, as long as he isn't dead then he has the strength of will to keep on walking. That's the basics. The basics of survival. Focus on what you can do. Don't dwell on mistakes, or you'll go mad. Just keep moving.
If he can't calculate where to go from here, at least maybe he can backtrack, figure out how they got here. He can remember what he did on the fly. Maybe if he recreates the math, finds his errors, he can figure out where he lost his siblings. Then as soon as he fully has his bearings, he can go get them.
He looks around, frantically--there's nothing to write with, nothing to make a mark on the buildings around him. So he picks up a stick.
If Klaus makes the entire walk himself, he'll be able to find Five still there, hours later, crouching at the outskirts of South Village; scrawling in the dirt, equations in a spiral extending several feet around him, disheveled and covered in earth.
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Klaus knows Five stopped listening a while ago because Five rarely listens to him (honestly, most people rarely listen to him) but it's nice to talk about it anyway. He (again) isn't surprised when Five hangs up on him (again) because...it's Five. What does surprise him is that Five doesn't call him back a few minutes later demanding more information. Usually Five always wants more information, and Klaus is just a touch confused about it. Maybe Five needs to think about what to ask first.
Klaus occupies himself with humming a song, trying to remember where he heard the song and what it might be called while he walks. After a while, the lack of a call back becomes concerning and he tries calling Five instead. No answer, twice in a row, and then no answer a third time after about a half hour.
Now Klaus is starting to get worried. Five should at least have answered to yell at him not to call by now. It's only when he starts to get worried that Klaus starts to dissect the conversation they'd been having before Five hung up on him, and it dawns on him - not all of them hate their powers. And if Five is the one who brought them here with his powers (which he's starting to doubt, but generally Klaus keeps those kinds of thinky-thoughts to himself because he's probably wrong and no one would listen to him anyway) then Five's powers might be important when it comes to getting them out.
"Shit. Shit shit shit shit..."
He hisses it out and gets his ass in gear, moving faster through the woods. Sure, the so-called sensible hiking shoes are biting his feet and he's a bit winded, but this is no time to wuss out. Five is probably losing his shit.
It takes him another hour and a half to get to the outskirts of the South Village, heart pounding, with a stitch in his side, sweating and panting, and it's there that he sees Five, crouched in the dirt and scribbling away manically with a stick in the dirt. Hunched over like that, with tension and panic written into the lines of his body, he looks very small and very young, and even though looks can be deceiving, Klaus feels a surge of worry.
"Fuck."
Walking over, Klaus presses a hand against his side and winces, stops at the edge of where the complicated calculations are scrawled in the dirt, bracing himself with a hand on his knee, bent over and coughing.
"Christ on a cracker. I haven't hauled ass like that since 'Nam."
A pause, while he waits to see if Five is going to berate him for being distracting or useless, but when there's nothing, Klaus crouches and sits on his heels, still panting a bit.
"Five. Five. Fiiiive. Earth to Five. Hey. You okay?"
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Nothing. He can't see any problems. He suddenly misses Delores so deeply it aches--she'd always been able to spot the mistakes he couldn't. Something like despair settles over him, like a heavy blanket. He's not panicky like he was before, but instead he feels wrung out, stretched thin. Tired. Not to mention developing a cramp from crouching on the ground for hours, but that's never been a consideration before.
He runs a dirt-caked hand through his hair in frustration, which only serves to streak more of it. He sits there blankly for a moment, staring at the writing in the dirt, before his brain engages again, like the start of another cycle. He doesn't have time to be tired.
And so Five leans back forward and begins scrawling equations again. The same as before--it's repeated multiple times around him, like if he just wrote it over and over and looked at it from different angles he might suddenly have a revelation--muttering to himself as he goes.
He doesn't look at Klaus once.
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"Wasn't planning on it. That would be like painting over the Sistine Chapel."
It's pretty easy to see what's going on here - Five is scared, out of his depth, frustrated, and repeating the same equation over and over (even Klaus isn't enough of a burnout not to notice the repeating patterns in the dirt) in a frantic effort to fix whatever this is.
Frankly, it's just a tad bit terrifying. Five always knows what to do, even when he doesn't. Hell, he comes from the future, he knows everything.
Standing up, Klaus pushes a shaky hand back through his hair while Five starts back on his equations, doesn't look up at him, just keeps scribbling and muttering and squatting in the dirt like he's the last man on Earth again. Except he isn't. Klaus is here too, and he should be doing something. The problem is, he's not really sure what to do. He knows how to comfort most of the others, he's done it off and on several times over the past few days for almost all of them. Five has been impervious to comfort, all the stress and trauma seems to slide off him like water off a duck's back. It's been over 15 years since Klaus has seen Five, and he's only been around this version of him for a few days total. He doesn't know how to comfort him.
Fingers tug at his thick hair a bit, distracting him from his spiraling thoughts, and he exhales heavily.
"Uh. I don't mean to interrupt but...there's an Inn like a 10 minute walk from here where we could scrounge you up a notepad or something..."
A pause, and he bites his lower lip, instinctively reaches for his pockets as if he had a cigarette to light to take the edge off, because his skin is crawling again and the need is hurting his diaphragm.
"And I don't know if this is pertinent or whatever but there are other people here besides me and Diego and they all came the same way. So."
He doesn't expect Five to be listening. But it's something
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He's on his feet in an instant, before he even really thinks about doing it, which makes his stressed muscles strain in protest but if he's going to indulge in the favorite pastime of yelling at Klaus he's going to be standing up to do it.
(It helps only marginally. Five is unfortunately still very short.)
"What?" The sudden fire might make up for it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Five knows he's overreacting, but he feels like his emotions have been stretched and yanked around like a rubber band too many times in the past few hours, and he's not very good at managing them on the best of days.
"What other people? Why didn't you say something before?"
(When did Klaus have a chance to? Shut up, inner voice that sounds suspiciously like Delores.) He knows that he only transported his family--or tried to--and there's no way he could have brought along anyone else, which means...
It means this might not be his fault. Maybe that's the variable he's been missing this whole time: the reason he can't find an error in his calculations is because there isn't one.
Something else did this. Which is alarming in its own right, but at least that means it might not be his own failures that doomed them. His own judgment wasn't at fault.
Small comforts.
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"Oh my god, are you-"
More yelling. Klaus drops one hand and gestures with the other (conveniently, the one tattooed "Good Bye") as if to brush Five off, to dismiss him. Takes another step back and to the side, swaying a little.
"Oh please. When was I supposed to tell you anything, Five? Maybe right after you hung up on me the first time, or maybe the second time? Or how about when I tried calling you three times and you didn't answer, huh? Maybe I could've told you about it then."
Huffing a breath out, he glares at Five for a moment, then puts a hand on his hip and the other on his forehead.
"I'm just saying I don't think this is all your fault. You know?"
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After a long moment of seething, though, he finally turns away, his fists clenched at his sides.
He could back off. Maybe even apologize. But he's keyed up, so he doesn't.
"Where's Diego," he bites out instead. Diego is at least capable of a comprehensible conversation.
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"Probably back at the house. You know, about two hours back that way."
A gesture toward the direction he just came from. Klaus stands still for a moment, feels the slow throb in his feet from where the hiking boots dig in, feels chilly wind slipping up the arms of his scrubs, and shivers.
"But you know what? I'm not going back there today. It's a long walk and my feet hurt, and I want to go to the hot springs then crash at the Inn."
Turning, he raises his brows, looks at Five with a questioning expression.
"How long has it been since you had a good soak, old man?"
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"I'm not going to take a bath with you, Klaus."
Now that his mind is settling, he feels something like--well, he refuses to call it shame or embarrassment--over his earlier--he refuses to call it a fit. But he certainly doesn't want to talk about it, and he knows from experience that Klaus can be more perceptive than he has any right to be. Another thing he'll never admit.
And the last thing he wants to do is have a conversation with Klaus about anything in a hot spring. Not when there is so much he has to do, now that he has better stock of the situation.
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Of course, he's not going to mention the fact that he usually goes into the hot springs in the nude, because ew, he wouldn't do that in front of his brother, no matter how old he is inside that kid body. Pushing a hand back through his hair, he exhales heavily and looks around.
Honestly, he's just not going to mention Five's freakout. If he doesn't mention Five's shit, then Five doesn't have any reason to mention Klaus' shit, and they all get along better that way.
"Seriously, I'll answer anything you want, to the best of my ability. Cross my heart."
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Whatever.
Five rolls his tongue in his mouth, mulling it over. His choices are these: a long walk up to the North Village, when there's no guarantee Diego will even be around when he gets there. Or he can stick with Klaus and gets answers immediately, if delivered in typical convoluted Klaus fashion.
Neither is ideal. But Five has never been particularly patient. Persistent and resilient, yes. But having to wait, when he has the option not to?
He's already heaving a sigh before he consciously makes a decision, because in the end there is only one he'd ever make.
"Fine." It comes out through grit teeth, almost like it's painful. "Where is it."
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When Five finally grates out that he's willing to come with Klaus to the hot springs, Klaus claps and grins.
"Excellent. And it's not far, just over that way."
He gestures vaguely southeast, and starts moving, carefully skirting Five's equations on the ground, because he isn't completely sure if that particular threat still stands or not. Better to play it safe.
The walk to the hot spring isn't long, and Klaus doesn't hesitate much before stripping to his underwear and sliding into the water. Turning to face his brother, shoulders out of the water and enjoying the hot, revitalizing, blessedly healing waters of the springs on his sore feet, he rests his chin on his crossed arms against the rocks at the edge of the spring.
"You know, you really should come in here. You do realize you're covered in dust, right?"
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No, Klaus, he hadn't noticed.
"You said you'd answer anything. So start talking."
Because Five doesn't even know what to ask at this point, he's so out of his element, so he'll pass the burden onto Klaus. As revenge for being confusing earlier.
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It's lovingly acerbic, and he ducks his head under the water before breaking back to the surface with a little gasp and pushing his fingers back through his hair, eyes closed.
"Mmm. Feels good though. You know, they say this spring has healing properties. I think it's already getting rid of the blister I got walking for two hours to come meet you. Rude of you, by the way, to not just meet me in the middle."
Distracted? Who's distracted?
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It's not like he's any stranger to being dirty, anyway.
"I was busy." It doesn't come out as snappish as he'd meant it; he'd really rather not dwell on the topic, and it's evident in his voice. Which means it's time for Five to get them both back on track.
"You said there were others brought here the same way we were." Five turns what he knows over in his mind. Hell, he remembers his own circumstances waking up: certainly not typical for after a jump, but at the time it had seemed more prudent to get out of there and get his bearings than wonder about it. Now, though, the more curious part of his mind is catching up.
The clothing, the tubes, the packs, the wrist communicators--all this points to some kind of organization that apparently has the ability to yank people out of spacetime at will. Not implausible; he'd worked for a place like that. But he doubts this is the Commission. Not their style.
Which begs the question: who, and why? It's only a matter of time before Five gets to the bottom of it--he prides himself on his ability to get shit done, thanks--but right now, his only source of information is, well. Klaus.
"The clothing, the supplies--they were provided by somebody. Whatever this is didn't happen on accident. We've been brought here for a reason, but--what?"
It's a rhetorical question, but knowing Klaus, he'll answer anyway.
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Klaus gamely lets Five drag him back on track because Five was so kind as to allow him to soak in the hot springs while they get caught up. The hot spring is the closest to what could be called Klaus' happy place here, so being here is giving him the energy and mental fortitude to actually deal with this situation. Almost as much as Five doesn't want Klaus to be his only source of information, Klaus doesn't want to be the one who has to explain all this weirdness, because he can barely keep up with it himself, let alone explain it to a genuine genius.
"Yeah, all of that. That's...pretty much what I was thinking too." Or at least parts of it were, but he's not going to give Five more reasons to call him an idiot today, it's not like Five really needs the help, "But like, why drop us here without any supplies or whatever, or even our own stuff? What's the point of that?"
Tilting his head back, he looks up at the sky, and sighs a little, "Maybe they're seeing if we can make it. Which like, I don't know why they would've brought you, you can survive anything. Wait, maybe that's actually why."
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