TEST DRIVE #16 - Turbolifts and Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 001. Trapped in a Turbolift: This space travel thing is new to you, and you're starting to think the ship is purposely out to get you. A turbolift is just a grandiose name for an elevator, which should be the safest way to travel after all! But someone out there is out to get you, you're sure of it. Because the next thing you know, the lights flicker and the lift grinds to a stop. You're trapped, with whomever was unlucky enough to be in the lift with you.

It could be hours before you're rescued. These turbolifts span the entire massive ship, and don't just travel straight up and down. No, they can travel horizontally, vertically, sometimes even diagonally. You could be stuck between any deck now. There is a small access panel on one of the smooth walls, but how good are you with getting these things to work? Let's not forget that sudden stop tossed everyone around a little, and people could be hurt. Time to put your emergency thinking cap on, and make friends with the people beside you fast. You could be the only way back to freedom.

Conversely, you could slide that pack of cards out of your pocket and start a rousing game of gin rummy. Really it's up to you.







Option 002. Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, minding your own business, and now you're on a spaceship in the middle of a crowded room! It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens, and some of the food is looking rather strange too.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward. A long bar with barstools and a bartender span one side of the room, with a bank of strange computers on that same wall. It looks like people are ordering food and drinks from them. Tables are sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but floor to ceiling windows with a view out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

Comments

[iwatchtjhooker]

"It's my only jacket," he says, frowning. He looks up at her. Okay, the elevator probably isn't going to fall up, but if something that shared this track did start working, they'd be in trouble. "Can you see any openings?"

[dust_of_life]

She refrained from pointing out that it was an especially ugly jacket and it made him look like he had hepatitis. At some point, she'd introduce him to the replicators. They were by far her favorite thing about being stuck on the Hilton.

Apart from the fact that she wasn't being tortured and experimented on any more, of course.

Sometimes, she had the right priorities.

Turning to look up, she came face to face with the giant and very shut doors to Deck 37. "I might be able to blow these open," she mused. "But I'll need both hands free." Which was a problem when you were on a ladder.

[iwatchtjhooker]

Sam was struck, a moment, with the reality that some version of him (an emo hoodie version, apparently) had once dated a woman who could blast doors open, and had been ok with that. But it isn't something he wants to think about right now, so it's unfortunate that the solution he comes up with to their current predicament is what it is.

"Um," he says, having to swallow past the weird lump in his throat. "I could hold you up?"

It'd mean climbing up behind her and pressing himself against her, supporting her from behind and leaving her hands free. But it'd also mean... well, pressing himself up against her from behind.

[dust_of_life]

The incredible weirdness of the situation didn't escape Fatima either. Even after surviving four different versions of Dean, the multiverse still knew how to completely mess with her head.

But as weird as it all was, she preferred weird to dead.

And this whole elevator shaft just felt like five million accidents waiting to happen.

So she tried to put on her game face, a look that said nothing could faze her, nothing could get under her skin. She was too jaded to ever be wide-eyed again. "There isn't enough salt in the galaxy to stop me from haunting you if you drop me," she replied. And she slid over to one side of the ladder, as far as she could, eyeing the doors dubiously to avoid looking at him.

[iwatchtjhooker]

There was weird and uncomfortable, and there was necessary. Sometimes they dovetailed awkwardly. Taking a deep breath, Sam edged his way up the ladder, favoring the side with more room until he'd positioned himself with his feet on the rung below hers. Left hand gripping the edge, he pressed his right on the bulkhead on the other side of her, and leaned in close.

"Okay," he said. "No plans on dropping you." It was a toss up, whether this or being haunted by her ghost was more awkward, and he didn't really want to find out.

[dust_of_life]

And there was Sam Winchester. In all his warmth and sweetness. Fatima hated herself for immediately flashing back to their First Time. She wondered if he'd turned her into some kind of nymphomaniac. After all, she'd spent the first twenty years of her life actively avoiding sex.

Now it was practically all she could think about, when she wasn't busy with trying to keep busy.

...maybe that was a little dramatic. Still, it was a pain in the ass.

But all of that aside, she really did trust him not to let her fall. And she was okay with letting go of the rungs. No hesitation there.

Grabbing her necklace, she pressed one of the sharp points into her index finger until she drew blood. It pooled up like a dark, red bead. It was an act she was so used to, she didn't even think twice about it. It barely even hurt. "Sometimes, having tainted blood has its advantages," she muttered, carefully leaning over to the door, to start drawing out a glyph.