TEST DRIVE #15 - Holodeck and Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

001: Where were you a minute ago? Well, you aren't there anymore. Instead, you're standing in a very large, dark room lined with yellow. There are doors at either end of it.

Here's where things get a little choose your own adventure-y. You could:



1: Approach a console filled with buttons, located a few feet away. Press one, and it'll let you out of the room. Travel down a long hallway and you'll be in Ten Forward, the Enterprises' entertainment lounge. Have a drink, mingle and try to figure out why you're here.

OR

2: Maybe you just muttered some vague request under your breath. Maybe you wished aloud you were somewhere else. Or for help? If you did, might be in a fire station. Muttered something about killing whoever dumped you here? Surprise - you're in a slasher movie!

Though they're confusing, these visions feel about as real as they can be. And guess what - other people can experience those fantasies with you, as if they too were really there. How ever will you escape? Or do you want to?

[OOC: Welcome to the Holodeck! If you choose this option, whatever your character chooses to say out loud will cause a virtual reality program to load and play. While your character feels as if what they're experiencing and seeing is quite real, they're purely living through the latest and best in what he Enterprise has to offer in entertainment. Make sure to detail what your character's fantasy is, so that those threading with them will know how to react.

Open til next month's test drive!]

Comments

Couldn't resist!

[themerlin]

Somewhere else...

... Merlin's eyes snapped open and went wide. he felt something... something different, something like and yet unlike magic. A different kind, perhaps? And yet, there was something tantalizingly familiar to it.

With an oath, he snapped his fingers and disappeared, reappearing in that hallway, peering down it as he strode out of thin air toward the source of that feeling.

"Hello, young one."

He knew, without knowing, that this meeting was... important.

Ha!

[merlinastrice]

Merlin stepped back. A sorcerer. At this instantaneous appearance, he knew to play the hapless servant better than anyone else. Was this some Lord of this place?

"Hello," came his intelligent reply back, "Um, where am I?" Should he have addressed him as 'my Lord'? He looked as if he were richly dressed but Merlin wasn't exactly sure the lays of the land just yet.

Re: Ha!

[themerlin]

He looked careful, canny, and maybe just maybe more. Merlin nodded.

Merlin's eyes crinkled, and he smiled. "You are on board the Starship known as the USS Enterprise, a star-going vessel that is in space." he peered at the young man.

"You were brought here by a strange being who has done the same to many more of us. He rarely is seen, but apparently can bring people here from any time, any world, and any universe."

[merlinastrice]

Starship? USS Enterprise? Space? He was in the stars?

Merlin's mind reeled. That had to be the furthest away from Albion he'd ever gotten to, if the sorcerer were to be believed. He'd had his fair share that had misled him.

"And how is it that once could convince him to send us home?"

If he was rarely seen, then perhaps he could devise a spell of some sort to get himself back to Camelot. How was he going to explain this one to Gaius? Arthur?

[themerlin]

"Well, quite a few people are working on that, but as yet, no one has had any success, at least, not and revealed it to anyone else." Merlin sighed.

"Forgive me my lack of manners sir. My name is Merlin and I hope, despite the circumstances, that you find your stay here interesting."

[merlinastrice]

Sir? That was a first anyone had addressed him as such. He was about to laugh and correct him when he gave his name.

"I'm sorry, this is the first time I've met another Merlin."

[themerlin]

Merlin stared, then sighed. "Damn Q anyway."

he shook his head. "Quite all right. Knowing Q and how he does things, it wont be the last." He chuckled. "Come on. There's more to see, and drinks to be drunk, and a lot to tell. And I have a feeling you have a story or two yourself worth telling."

Another Merlin! Very different from him, and yet... not a bad thing.

[merlinastrice]

Though he may have seemed threatening at first, this Merlin seemed...almost welcoming of him. Parts of him even reminded him of Gwaine. But before he could be convinced of going anywhere, he needed to know.

"Do you consort with a sorceress? By the name of Morgause?" he asked. "If you're a sorcerer, why haven't you cast a spell to send yourself and others home?"

This is not the meta you were looking for...

[themerlin]

Merlin chuckled. "No. She and I never got along, not at all. Sad what happened to her in the end in my universe."

To the second question, Merlin chuckled. "Do you think I haven't tried. Q is far more powerful than I, or so it seems, though I think here is more to it. It's almost like some force is keeping the full brunt of my power from ending his plot."

Merlin glanced aside as if at someone in particular, frowned, then back at the younger man.

"Even a wizard of power can find one's self outmatched."

[merlinastrice]

"Your universe."

A different world, that was something he hadn't considered completely. Merlin listened as Merlin recounted how he had tried to cast a spell to return home. His eyes followed Merlin's gaze as he looked and frowned.

"He's found a way to render your powers useless."

It wasn't a question.

[themerlin]

"You are not a young me." He smiled, nodding. Intriguing. "I looked more like this." And he changed, rippling and flowing into his youthful form.

"Not useless, really, but... unable to stop him, as yet. But a wizard can be subtle, slow, and careful. A wizard can plan, and move with the misdirection of a snake. And a wizard can remember to never let his opponent see what he is thinking."

Merlin chuckled.

[merlinastrice]

The way he did magic so easily, so freely, somehow unnerved Merlin. A small bubble of jealousy rose; what sort of life did this Merlin lead to be able to do these things so freely?

"You are certainly not an older me," Merlin replied. Not from the way he looked or acted. "Are you also from Albion, then?"

[themerlin]

"Nay." he blurred back to his normal self, and shook his head.

"I was from a small town called Caolinus, then traveled much. These days, I live here, but just prior I lived in Camelot." The fortress prison turned only home he knew.

[merlinastrice]

"I'm from a small village called Ealdor. I'm an apprentice to the court physician and a manservant to Prince Arthur."

Hapless servant. That was what he was. For now. Until he understood what it was like on this...ship. This wizard was not in league with Morgause, it sounded like. From what he spoke of, they hadn't gotten on well.

[themerlin]

Merlin stared. "Not just a different life, but a different timeline as well... that's... Ah. That's... " His voice faded as he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, for what is to come." Real sorrow, and something like horror filled Merlin's eyes for a moment, then he shook his head.

"Since Time dislikes things out of place, you'll likely forget this all happened when you go back." And some part of him wondered. Should he warn Merlin of what might come? What came in every universe?

[merlinastrice]

Merlin furrowed his brow. He knew those looks. Something happened to this Merlin that had caused him great pain, that much he could tell. He wanted to ask him everything.

What was to come? Are the events still the same even though it sounded as if they were of different lives? What happened to Morgana? Gwen? Arthur? Would he see-- Merlin mentally shook himself and caught up with the conversation.

"I will?" he asked, weighing that option. "Then...it could be like being on holiday."

[themerlin]

"Yes. And you can work on going home, on learning things and such, even while taking time to enjoy yourself. Letting one's self not be serious all the time does not mean one has forgotten how we arrived."

he grinned at the younger Merlin.

"Someday, Q will slip, and then, my friend, well, he might just learn why Merlin is a bad name to cross."

[merlinastrice]

"Perhaps for you," he responded. He wasn't sure if he could trust the other sorcerer just yet. But, a different life, a different time, it seemed.

"What is there to do, then? Are there...others like you?" he asked carefully.

[themerlin]

"You mean like us?" Merlin eyed the young man. he didn't believe for a moment that someone with his name didn't have magic.

Not even remotely. try again, Merlin.

"However, we can study the cosmos, other kinds of magic, other cultures and people, and learn more about the universe we are now in."

[merlinastrice]

Us had Merlin's jaw clench tight a bit and his hands clenched a little. He shook his head.

"Like you, I'm afraid. Magic is outlawed in Camelot. Punishable by death by King Uther's laws."