Test Drive 01

[cognitivus]

ɢᴇᴛ ᴄʟᴜsᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ

A Sense8 AU Sandbox

IN THE BEGINNING

It doesn't happen all at once — the world does not reorient itself and thrust upon you seven other cluster mates. No, it happens in stages. Snatches at a time. Moments, sometimes individually, sometimes in sets of two or three. Maybe you're reading a book, and you notice someone sitting beside you on the couch. Maybe you're surfing, and suddenly there's a second person on the board. Maybe you see them in passing, or maybe you both stand there, face to face, equally confused, wondering how you can both speak the same language when one of you is from Middle Earth and the other is clearly in Tokyo.

There's time to talk. Time to figure it out.

Unless, of course, there isn't. It's entirely possible that your first meeting is not during a calm, cozy, collected moment. Maybe you call on one of your sensates during a time of need. A fight, a chase scene, a moment of public speaking in the spotlight. A time when you're truly out of your depth, and you need someone with a particular, complimentary set of skills that can step in on your behalf.

It's time.

warnings : violence, psychological horror

GETTING STARTED

WELCOME TO THE CLUSTER!


On this TDM, don't worry too much about your official cluster pairing. This is for either workshopping different combinations, or different characters. If, in the end, you find you really like a certain combination, simply be sure to ask to be in the same cluster as the folks you've threaded with! For now, worry instead about playing out first meetings. It could look a little something like this:

Tag in with your character name & canon.

Set a scene by providing a variety of moments other characters can witness and jump into.

If you're going to tag into the same prompt someone else has already tagged into, consider making it a group thread; the premise eof this sandbox revolves highly around multi-person interactions. Don't be shy! These are your cluster mates, after all.

Or, if you're feeling especially daring and dramatic (and let's face it, we all are):

Set up a scene from an impactful moment around your intended canonpoint.

AU it to your heart's content. Maybe things go exactly the same as they did in canon, or maybe with a sensate cluster influencing things, it begins the path that deviates things wildly from the canon we all know and love. It's entirely up to you!

---

NETWORK USAGE

Communication via text is still very possible!

Through the magic of the powers of the human mind, that group text across universes still totally exists. Maybe it appears as an actual text chain to you, or maybe it's freshly dried ink on that magical scroll that keeps writing itself the more messages are exchanged.

Whatever the case, your mind retains the communications written down by your cluster, and all correspondences to one another are visible — unless otherwise stated to be private, of course. Create a prompt on your top level with some inbox action, and do a little lowkey texting!

Be sure to specify if a thread is private, otherwise you may have a handful of other folks chiming in with their opinion on your back-and-forth exchange at any time!

---

ANYTHING ELSE

Check out the info page for details, or post to the enable me please meme with information about characters you're considering bringing in! If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask me below, or on plurk!

Comments

[brandingproblem]

His eyes have always been keen. Where most people might think there's a trick of the light, might double take, might keep walking on until realizing something is wrong a little later, he trusts in what he sees. And he sees something not right.

His reflection is Not Right, and his attention is precisely honed on this fact.

He sidesteps the bike without the messenger having to swerve around him, ignores everyone else to approach the wrong reflection, tips his(?) head. "Hi?"

[aperturesubject0001]

There aren't a lot of reflective surfaces in the testing facility. What there are are portals. Chell has gotten used to the experience of looking through a fizzing orange hole in the wall and seeing herself in two places at once.

Looking through and seeing someone else? Not so used to it.

She approaches the portal as Clint approaches the windows, gazing at him in confused fascination.

Hello. A wave -- no, a sign, the fingers of her free hand tapping her forehead and moving out to the side. Her dominant hand is holding a bulky white-and-black gun of some kind, hanging down at her side, which makes her next signs more casual.

You shouldn't ... be here.

[brandingproblem]

She moves her hand, and he understands what she's saying. It barely even strikes him as odd; he simply does understand. What he understands a little less is the bit of tech on her other hand, and then at her feet.

"You shouldn't be--"

Wait. Where exactly is here? Because there's a moment when he's in New York, and then there's a moment when he sees beyond the reflection into what looks like a really crazy laboratory space and some glowing lights. "Nnnno, yeah, I think you shouldn't be there, either."

[aperturesubject0001]

Chell looks back over her shoulder, blinking as if she's seeing the place for the first time. Maybe part of her is.

I'm almost done with this chamber. Piece of cake.

She turns back to Clint with a shrug. Behind her, something goes zzzpew and a large, glowing ball of energy shoots upward at a leisurely pace. Chell ignores it. The High Energy Pellets are easily understood. The man in front of her isn't.

(And yet -- it feels like there's something about him she understands better than she's ever understood anything. Like part of the world that was always crooked has just righted itself.)

Where did you come from?

[brandingproblem]

Somehow, something about cake seems funny. He's not sure why.

"New York." Well. It's not where he's from, but it's where he's from...right now? He raises his hand as though to see if the glass is still there or if there's a portal and--

--then he's standing on the platform beside her. And when he looks at the portal, he sees her. And only her. And that's--you know what, that's okay, just, figure things out one thing at a time. "What is this?"

He's not actually talking about what's going on with them. He crouches, looks out over the area. Watches a ball of electricity just kinda meander up into a path and fizzle out harmlessly on a wall. Surveys the land, looks at the portal again...

"A puzzle?"

[aperturesubject0001]

You'd think she'd jump, at the sudden introduction of another person in the space, but she doesn't. It seems as unnaturally natural as seeing him through the portal in the first place. Impossible and concrete at once.

A test. She hefts the portal gun up, supporting it with her dominant hand, and gives Clint a nod that communicates Watch this.

Aiming the gun at one of the blank walls, she eyes her target, eyes the pellet emitter, then fires off one portal at the wall and one at the ceiling in rapid succession, just as a new pellet comes pew-ing out of the emitter. The portals behind her and Clint disappear; the pellet sails along, goes in one portal, comes out the other at a perpendicular angle, and makes its way to the pellet receiver. With a noise of electricity and gears, the receiver closes up -- and across the room, a platform well above their heads starts to slide along a track.

See? It's silly to feel proud of such a simple demonstration, maybe, but there's definitely satisfaction in her expression when she looks at Clint. Easy. I need to get up there next. Want to jump with me?

[brandingproblem]

This is, to his knowledge, not any tech that even Tony Stark's been able to conjure up. He can see the theory, sees it in practice. Bend space with fancy holes. But it's still so damn weird that it strains him for a second. Almost like an Escher painting. He can see the reflection of the emitter through the hole where it should absolutely not be seen, and it makes him feel a little dizzy for a moment.

A test. A puzzle. Same thing, in the end.

And then she says jump, and it's not wariness because she knows what she's talking about, but maybe skeptical is the best word to describe his expression. He looks up at the platform. Down at their legs. "I'm not sure even springs for heels are gonna get you up there."

No, wait. Test. Puzzle. Give him a second, he's new. "Do we..." His tongue pokes out a little at the corner between his teeth, a thing he does when he's deeply concentrating. "Shoot one up above the platform. And," with a motion to the wall behind them, "there, and drop out onto it?"

[aperturesubject0001]

Vigorous nod!

You get it! Oh-- She also glances down at their legs with a frown. These are shock absorbers. That drop doesn't look too bad, but for you ...

She looks up at the platform, unconsciously echoing Clint's gesture and catching her tongue in her teeth. It's maybe fifteen feet? Might be a hard landing. But if velocity maintains between portals and they just step through the first one--?

"Hey there."

Chell jumps and turns to face whoever just addressed her -- them -- Clint? -- and then blinks hard. The chamber is gone. She's standing beside Clint ona bustling sidewalk, and a woman in a security uniform is approaching with polite menace.

"You got anywhere to be?"

[brandingproblem]

He's thinking about the fact that maybe he's not actually here, but she certainly is, and maybe the puzzle is a little simple when he gets the idea of what her weird arm gun can do, but it feels good to figure--

--that he's still in his own world. Oh. Right.

Right, he looks like a crazy person, huh. Not really a strange thing in a big city, but for a collar? His posture goes a little more stiff. Proper, but not military straight. His gaze goes more distant, looking in the security officer's direction but not at her.

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am." Does he say anything else or leave it at that? Hm. He makes a choice, leaves it at that, because the longer he lingers, the more trouble that might cause. So he turns and keeps going where he's supposed to actually be going, and he expects...Chell? Is that short for something? Rachel? Hm. Expects that she'll just follow.

"Sorry," he says quietly to his new friend.

[aperturesubject0001]

Chell stays staring at the woman for a moment, bewildered, and suddenly angry. What gives her the right to speak to him -- them? -- like that?

The woman continues to ignore Chell completely. Her eyes are on Clint's back, mistrustful but already shading back to boredom. Chell feels a strong urge to pop a portal under her feet. Put the other one about six feet up a wall. Nothing that would do more than bruise a person's ego.

Her thoughts of petty revenge will have to wait, though. She realizes Clint's moving away and turns to hurry after him. Who knows what would happen if they got separated? And besides -- she wants to make sure he's okay. Needs to.

You were just standing there! What's her problem?

[brandingproblem]

"The problem is that I was just standing there." He shoves his hands in his pockets, feels the wad of cash Frank had shoved at him. He's only going to a pet store, doesn't even need the van to carry anything back with him, but Frank always makes sure to give him more than he needs in case he sees something he wants for himself.

It's a process. He loves the clothes he picked for himself. But it isn't something he's used to, the idea of wanting something and then getting it. Nothing makes the metal around his neck feel heavier than when his two different realities clash.

"You should go back to your test. Hope it isn't timed." Although, even just watching her walk, he still has about a hundred (million) questions. "Doesn't that hurt your feet?"

[aperturesubject0001]

To the question, she just shrugs. Yeah, walking around on the balls of her bare feet is uncomfortable, but her discomfort isn't that important.

I don't get it, she signs. Well ... I don't get any of this, I guess. Wait.

She reaches with her free hand to take Clint by the sleeve, tugging him to a stop again -- and he feels solid to her, warm through his clothing. Impossible. Real and impossible.

Where are we? I don't mean New York. I mean, you're here -- she "places" him in the air to her left -- and I'm there in Michigan -- places herself in the air to her right. But you and I are in the same place.

[brandingproblem]

She does feel solid. Solid enough to get him to stop. At least he's not being a weirdo lingering right on the other side of a window this time. "Where the hell in Michigan is there any of that?" He's pretty sure she's not an Avenger, but also...he doesn't exactly pay much attention to that.

He shakes his head, okay, wait, that's not actually the important question. Has he ever even been to Michigan? Like, statistically, it's probably happened, but he doesn't recall off the dome. "I don't actually understand it either, okay. I'm here. You can kind of also be here with me, or...in me? And I can also--I have to see if I can do this. I can also be there."

And he's in the sterile portal-y lab that's apparently in Michigan. Oh that's weird. Oh that's weird to do deliberately. And yet also easy as breathing.

"Neither of us are actually not...where we are, we're just kind of...projecting? I think?"

[aperturesubject0001]

She shrugs and replies, with extremely unhelpful nonchalance, It's underground.

And blink, and there they are in the chamber. Chell inhales sharply, tasting the sterile air, and then breaks into her first real smile.

It's like a Necker cube. Or the faces and vase illusion. Seeing one thing at a time, but it's actually both at once.

[brandingproblem]

Clint stares back at her a little blankly, not understanding the references directly, but--illusion he can get. Even that, it's hard to fully comprehend, because if it were illusion, well, they shouldn't be able to feel each other like they're actually standing beside each other, right?

"Yeah, like that." At least she smiles. It's a good smile, even if it feels like there isn't much to smile about. They found each other, didn't they? That's something to damn well celebrate.

"I'm gonna try and keep going on my end," he starts hesitantly, "but also still be here with you. So I don't get talked to, and you don't have to be alone." Since he hasn't seen anyone else in the chamber, hasn't heard any voices (yet). He takes a breath, and he's walking down the street, and he's standing with her, and it's somehow both disorientingly trippy and deeply intuitive. He's come to trust his instincts, his intuition, so he's going to take the positives where he can. Stick with the feeling that's right rather than weird.

"Show me how your arm works again?"

[aperturesubject0001]

So you don't have to be alone. Chell blinks, surprised by the offer. Usually it goes the other way: people leave. Charitably, because they figure she's fine on her own; uncharitably, because they don't know how to handle being around her and her silence.

People leave. Or they're taken. Same difference, in the end.

Okay, she signs. Maybe she can do the same thing, and walk along with him while also standing still--? It takes her a minute to get the hang of it. She's motivated, though. It feels important to stay with Clint. No, important isn't exactly the right word. Just ... inevitable. Clint is important in the sense that your hand is important, and just as impossible to leave behind.

This? She hefts the portal gun, braces it with her free hand, aims it at wall beside them, and fires. One of the other portals disappears: the view through the new one is straight down from the ceiling.

[brandingproblem]

This is much more interesting than shopping. He's never even heard of anything like this. Is this some kind of secret Stark R&D facility? Maybe... Teleportation holes feels like that kind of tech.

"So if I were to go through it..." He reaches a hand out. Tentative. His hand crosses the threshold, and he can feel the bizarre change in gravity tugging at his fingers. He laughs a little, incredulous. "I'd land right on my head."

[aperturesubject0001]

Chell tsks, the first audible sound she's made with her mouth.

Sure, if you weren't careful.

Sounds like a skill issue!

It takes some getting used to, she admits. I had a few hard landings. This is communicated with a little pantomime, her hand indicating falling and then smacking the portal gun, along with a boof! sound with her mouth.

At the same time, she's keeping pace with him in New York, glancing around with obvious curiosity. The two-places-at-once thing, like jumping through portals, gets easier with time.

You're from here? NY?

[brandingproblem]

He laughs, to himself on the street and to her in the testing chamber, at her pantomimed falling antics. Yeah, sounds like the whole thing would take some time to figure out. But she did it. And he's impressed. Proud. A little worried, for her being where she is, but...

"It's where I've spent a lot of time, but nah, I'm not from here."

[aperturesubject0001]

Are people rude like that woman was all the time?

Spoken like a true, sheltered Midwesterner. Bless.

[brandingproblem]

"She wasn't rude." Maybe he shouldn't defend the behavior, but that was shockingly polite as far as he's concerned. "I think most people wouldn't bother to say anything, and those who would would be bigger assholes about it."

Though, now that he thinks about it... "You probably don't see many collars where you're at." Both underground laboratory and also midwestern nowhere.

[aperturesubject0001]

Chell looks blank, tugs at the collar of her jumpsuit, and then points at the collar he's wearing with a quizzical look. So is he saying that this isn't a fashion choice ... ?

[brandingproblem]

Oh...oh, she doesn't know about collars at all. Like Will. She's not from here-here.

"Uh." How does he even begin to explain a concept that is so basic and entrenched in everyday life? "Do you have second-class citizens? Third-class? Fourth--like, the lowest kind of citizen."

[aperturesubject0001]

This is, frankly, not a question Chell has put a whole lot of thought into in her life, and it probably shows in her expression. She's heard the term before, back in high school or something, and she casts her mind back to try and remember the context. Sociology wasn't really what she was ever interested in.

Like ... women?

hooboy sorry clint we swear this isn't The Handmaid's Tale but

Or criminals? Oh, she continues, understanding starting to dawn, are you a criminal?

[brandingproblem]

Maybe?? Maybe like women?? "No--not like that, but they could be criminals. Or poor people? Or anyone who isn't able to...I dunno, game the system in their favor, I guess." He's never had to just...explain it. He scratches at his chin and tries not to feel the weight of the metal around his neck.

"So it's kinda frowned on to say slavery..." But it's not not slavery.