TEST DRIVE #2

[thecrossingmods]

TDM #2

Welcome to The Desert, wayward souls.
It's good to see you again.

The TDM is game canon and will be active FEB—APR. For further details about the setting, please reference our current setting page. All the information there is fair game for this TDM.

arrival

— BENEATH THE RIVER ( NEW CHARACTERS ONLY )
CW: claustrophobia, being buried alive
If your journey is starting here, you begin as all others have, and all others will: in The River.

You awake in the dark and the damp, with pressure all around you. In this case, however, it isn't water that surrounds you— but earth. Specifically, it is mud made from the sand of the desert and the standing water of the sparkling white salt flat that The River has become, and it behaves like quicksand. It has you here, and it doesn't want to let go.

You aren't in any direct danger; you may or may not notice that you don't need to breathe down here (or at all). But that may be difficult to appreciate in the moment: immediately on waking, you are seized by what was perhaps your last memory— or, at least, the somatic feeling of it. Panic, terror, pain; or (depending on the circumstances) maybe peace, or relief. It is the moment of your death as told by your body's visceral, emotional response, and it won't stop until you pull yourself out of the mud.

You are close to the surface. Even a bit of lucky thrashing might be enough for you to break through the sludge, and crack the shell of salt above. But The River will not release you easily; it will continue to suck you back down until you are able to fully pry yourself free— or someone else is able to lend you a hand.

— BEYOND THE RIVER ( EXISTING CHARACTERS ONLY )
If you arrived here from the Cavern, you'll find that the cave you came from opens up onto a rocky cliff face, not unlike the one you may have found yourself settled in before The Crossing. From here you can see the sprawl of the Desert ahead of you: the Oasis tucked against the base of the cliffs, the endless dunes, and the wide, white expanse of The River — though it hardly looks like one now.

There is no city to be found among these cliffs, though. They are steep and rocky, with dry, loose sand making finding and keeping traction difficult. There is a narrow, winding path to the Oasis below, but it will take time to hike, and the sun is already hot and oppressive above you.

Theoretically, there's a more direct route... if you're feeling bold. The cliffs are covered in jutting striations (as if, say, carved by a massive river, or maybe a River) that make halfway decent handholds and footholds for anyone hoping to climb their way down instead.

Just don't change your mind too much. If you turn back, you may find that the path behind has become impassable or now leads somewhere else entirely. You don't ever see it happening, but it's almost as if the cliffs are rearranging themselves whenever your back is turned.

shelter from the storm

— THE OASIS
The Oasis, as well as the rest of the surrounding Desert, is bustling with life. (Or do plants and animals have a Journey they need to complete, too?) It's a green, if not lush, patch surrounding a small lake of fresh water, partially shielded by the arms of the cliffs from the winds blowing across the dunes.

There are creatures besides you making their homes here: from small, skittering mammals to circling scavengers. If you look closely, though, you'll find it's a bit of a mishmash, as if an ecosystem appeared rather than developed... and, depending on where you're from, some of it might even be recognizable to you.

Those of you that came from the Cavern might appreciate the return of natural light, though you might be disappointed to discover that day and night don't always arrive at the cadences you might expect them to... In fact, they don't seem to follow any recognizable or even trackable pattern at all. Some noon suns stretch on forever; some sunsets speed run straight into dry, cold night.

If that were all the unpredictability the Desert had to offer, it might be tolerable enough... but the weather proves to be just as erratic. One day is clear and bright, with wide-open skies; the next brings dust clouds and lightning storms rolling in from the dunes. (And when today might be half as long as yesterday, those swings add up.)

Luckily for all of you, there have evidently been others here before you, just like in the Cavern. There is a collection of shelters lining the Oasis, no more than huts designed to keep everyone within as cool as possible. There's less space than there was in the Subterranean City, but that means some things are easier to find... The huts are decorated just like the city was before it, as if in layers with the odd familiar trinket from your home stashed in a drawer or under a mattress.

shifting sands

— THE DUNES
The Ferryman is holding vigil at The River, as they always are. They have positioned themselves (and their Lantern) so that their Light casts over the Oasis— but that aura can only cast so far.

The Lantern's Light might not be quite so obvious here as it was down in the Cavern, drowned out as it is by the desert sun, but you can still feel when you approach the edge of its protection, the way the sense of comfort and safety wanes. Beyond it are the rolling dunes of the Desert, where wraiths gather in great numbers.

Those who have been paying close attention will recognize that these are not the same wraiths you encountered in the Cavern. Or, at least, none of the wraiths you encountered in the Cavern are represented here.

These wraiths are not the violent, wailing beasts encountered by some during The Crossing. They are just the same as the wraiths originally found in the Cavern: silent, insubstantial, and always watching. The ones who have found the Oasis prowl the edge of the boundary; the others wander the dunes as if lost. Or, perhaps, searching.

If you, yourself, wander the dunes, you'll find them at best difficult to navigate— or, at worst, impossible. You may be swallowed by a sand storm, or lose sight of your landmarks when descending into a valley between the dunes. You might find yourself somewhere you never expected to be... Or, you might just need to send a message out to the others for help finding your way home.

code

Comments

[blindluck]

Maybe! [Nagito isn't exactly sure how the light works.] Or maybe it's frightening? The wraiths won't enter Ferryman-san's light at all.

[spaghettimonster]

Huh? How bizarre... I've never heard of magic working like that. Where's the best place to see this light? [At the first hint of direction, he'll move to make towards the top of whatever feature of the landscape is best, the better to try to see this for himself - though with how flat their immediate surroundings are, that could take a while.]

[blindluck]

Well, we're inside it right now, actually. [So it's hard to point out a direction exactly.] It would be easier to see at night. Or if you go to Ferryman-san you can see the lantern itself. They should be somewhere along the bank.

[spaghettimonster]

[Without a particular heading, he takes a minute to circle and survey the wide, bright landscape around them.]

...You know, it's a lot easier to spot a riverbank when it's not all covered in salt. And when the river is water, instead of also mud and salt.

[blindluck]

Yes, it was much more clear in the caves... [Nagito's eyes drift along the vague outline of the salt flats.] Maybe it would be easier to show you where the light ends. You can feel it when you leave it, if that makes sense. And you can see the wraiths!

[spaghettimonster]

Wowie! I don't know whether to be excited or alarmed. [But it's not an objection - if anything, anticipation crosses his skull.] Is it... like the difference between sunlight, and shade?

[blindluck]

It's the difference between feeling like you're in a safer area versus a more dangerous one. [Or maybe that you're in a safe area versus an unsafe one, but Nagito rarely feels entirely safe. He starts walking, assuming the skeleton will follow.] I'll show you where it is.

[spaghettimonster]

I... can't say I've ever felt that from a light. [Not literally, the way this sounds. The first sight of the sun after the years underground had felt a little bit like safety and danger alike, what with all the unknowns of the future, but mostly it had felt like hope realized and dreams come true.] Truly, life after death works in mysterious ways...

[So, absolutely he follows along, having been getting antsy from staying in one place. The struggle of so many new thoughts and claims to hold in his skull in the empty cavity where his name used to be, without the option to go home or rant about it all to anyone he already knows, is more than he expected to be dealing with once he started dissolving. Getting moving and experiencing something first hand should at least help.]

[blindluck]

[Nagito leads the way, pointing out a few places as they go--where the shelters are, the direction of the lake and the cliffs--until they reach the edge of the dunes. The wraiths, forms writhing and twisting, grow closer and closer, but Nagito doesn't show any hesitation. Finally, he stops.]

Here it is. I'm just outside the range of the light now.

[spaghettimonster]

[When the skeleton heard 'wraiths' and thought 'ghosts', these shifting figures... They aren't quite what he expected to see. Oh, they're pale, and transluscent, and altogether fairly spooky. But the shifting blobbiness, that's more like a few of the amalgamates he saw in passing than any other monster or human he's ever met. And they definitely seem to be watching.]

...So you are... [He hesitates just a few steps back, looking between the alien(?)human-cyborg guy and the wispy shifting figures.] They, uh, don't seem all that big on personal space?

[blindluck]

They can't hurt us right now. [Nagito can't help but keep an eye on them, though.] But they'll follow you around if they can.

[spaghettimonster]

Well, naturally. Who wouldn't want to follow me around? [The boast is somewhere between habitual sentiment and forced positivity. He takes another step closer, and another.] But... you said, they can't hurt us right now. Even outside this safe light?

[If not picking fights for the fun of showing off or general emotional lashing out, then surely their motive is fear, right? Then why is outside the light still safe..?]

[blindluck]

Right. For the moment, the light mostly just keeps them from following us around in the oasis. They can hurt you when we have to move on to the next area, though. And apparently they scream, though I haven't heard it personally.

[Nagito didn't take the Ferryman-less route, but his network device does come with a backlight, so he could get updates from the group that did. Nagito points to one of the wraiths prowling the edge of the boundary.]

It at least looks like they'd come to the oasis if they could, see?

[spaghettimonster]

It does look that way! And I suppose it wouldn't be much of an oasis, with a backdrop of ghostly wailing. [Or however it is that these supposed screams sound, but he's going to stick with ghost stereotypes for the sake of something easy to wrap his skull around, for the time being.

He finally takes that final step outside of the oddly emotional light's range, and shudders a brief rattling sound with the motion.] Ugh. I almost can't believe how completely accurate that was. The light feels... safer. Even though there's basically no difference in how light it is over here.

[blindluck]

Strange, isn't it? [Nagito's smile is calm enough, though, in spite of what he says.] Nothing like this exists in my world. But wraiths don't exist in my world, either, so I guess we don't need it.

[spaghettimonster]

Hmm... I guess it's hard to be sure. [For one, whether they really need the light, or if it's just the easiest solution to the matter. But also:] If they weren't in our worlds. What if, you can only see them if you're dead?

[Not that he actually wants to imagine having unknowingly gone through life with invisible wispy entities following him around and having inconsistent numbers of eyes, mouths, or fingers at him. As much as he wants attention and praise, that's not exactly the sort of audience he was hoping to cultivate. And yet, standing here with this fresh uneasy chill running down his spine, it's easy to imagine them doing the spooky invisible thing that ghosts do, except with more of the cultural expectations humans seem to have about ghosts.]

[blindluck]

[Nagito considers this.] I suppose I can't prove that one way or the other. It's a little unsettling to imagine that wraiths were crawling around everywhere and we just didn't see them, though!

[Because if that was the case, at least in Nagito's world, they probably really were everywhere.]

[spaghettimonster]

It is! I regret imagining it, and even more regret bringing it up. [Another uneasy rattle of bones, and he steps back just far enough to get back into that oddly calming radius. He isn't even looking at it, and yet, there's the change in his feelings. It really is like an emotional sun, calming one's bones regardless of the direction faced - making it easier to get back on the earlier topic.]

So, this 'Ferrymansan' is more of a 'Lanternmansan', holding the light that the 'wraiths' don't go near... And, when they decide to go, it's better to travel with them.

[blindluck]

Well, if the theory that the wraiths are people who failed to Cross correctly holds up, then they're probably only in the afterlife. [Nagito intends for this to make the skeleton feel better, but it may or may not actually help, considering they're now the ones who have to worry about Crossing correctly.]

[spaghettimonster]

[The skeleton considers this idea, in the context of his very limited understanding of this upcoming 'Crossing' and the behavior of the wraiths so far.]

...What an incredible unreassurance. I think I like my idea better. Where... Where did this theory come from? [Please don't tell him that the Ferrymansan said something like that. Even this calming light isn't powerful enough for that.]

[blindluck]

Oh, really? [Nothing he says ever comes out right, does it?] The way they follow us, attack us during the Crossings if we aren't with Ferryman-san, and the implication that we could fail the Crossings at all--well, something has to happen if we fail, right?

[spaghettimonster]

That does stand to some reason... [The concession is not an enthusiastic one.] How can it be called failure, if the result is the same as success? But...

[The idea is not a great one, and there's a sidelong avoidance to his face as he thinks it out further. 'Crossings' failures losing themselves to the extent that they only silently follow people around, maybe occasionally screaming, and... trying to hurt people during those crossings in the same ways they were hurt, themselves? Surely not, or at least, surely only very few would do that... But it would only take a few, if the others can't scold them into behaving more appropriately...]

[blindluck]

Failing could mean something else, of course! I just think it's pretty likely that's at least one of the options.

[It also fits very well, thematically, if this were a story. He prefers to think of things like that when he can.]

[spaghettimonster]

Well, I guess I can't dismiss it as an option. [As much as he would kind of like to, he can't deny there is a fitting story logic to the notion. As well as a 'hurt people hurt people' logic, or maybe a 'being a wraith isn't what they think it is' logic - what if it's actually great, and only the recently dead don't know it? But that gets into too many possibilities to mull over, so he shoves them all aside.]

As long as none of the options is 'shove people back in the mud', think away!

[Bones are not good for buoyancy, the clothing that usually cushions them just adds extra weight in that context, and trying to do it without the edge of blue magic at his disposal...? No thank you, he would prefer not to go swimming in any liquid much higher than his head again.

[blindluck]

I think the mud is very unlikely to help anything! [So the skeleton doesn't have to worry. Probably.] Ah, I've been rude--my name is Komaeda Nagito, by the way. [If he's been rude in ways beyond not giving his name, he isn't going to comment on them.]