TEST DRIVE #2 - The Holodeck/Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

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

Henry Gold | Once Upon a Time AU

[goldencobra]

[ Ten Forward ]

While Henry was almost getting used to fairy tales being real, science fiction was something else entirely. But he took solace that he was better than sitting on that bus even if he did have an important job to do when he was due to get off it. Looking around the lounge, he couldn't help but smile at how cool everything looked. Eventually however, he moved to the bar and asked:

"Do you take credit cards?"

[ Holodeck ]

Sitting in what looked like a strange room with lines chequered over the walls, Henry opened his storybook to a page containing a picture of a castle. He'd already flicked through several other pages before settling on this one for the time being. After a moment though, he wondered out loud.

"I wonder what it looked like inside."

Suddenly the lines around him vanish and he's inside a castle. Standing up, he looks around in awe and wondering what on earth just happened.

[magicsprice]

Though it had taken quite some time to get used to the ship and how it operated, Gold had managed it finally to a degree. While he still wasn't all that trusting of the replicators, he did come to appreciate the things called 'holodecks'. While it had been explained to be nothing but the work of a machine tricking the mind into believing what you saw was real, it still felt a bit like magic. Like he was playing out a waking dream. Like all magic of course, it held a price. But to play out the dreams he'd held onto so long, the price was one he was all too willing to pay. Grief and regret were something akin to an old friend to him by now anyway.

After he'd stepped inside the room though, he abruptly realized he should have paid attention to if the room was already in use or not. The castle looks far too familiar for his comfort and he's left to wonder if someone hadn't accidentally stumbled onto one of the programs he's had saved for his personal use. Though needless to say, when he spots the boy with the book and backpack he's a bit taken back by the sight. If this was the program he'd thought it was, having Henry in it looking as he does before him, is a bit of an oddity.

[goldencobra]

Upon hearing the door to the holodeck, Henry placed the book aside and looked up just as the arch was disappearing. Upon seeing who had entered, he grinned and ran towards the man, giving him a very tight hug.

"Dad!"

And suddenly nothing else mattered. He wasn't alone any more. And despite their differences, arguments or whatever else had happened recently, Henry was glad his father was here. It didn't matter they weren't in Storybrooke because they were together again. And together they could do anything.

[magicsprice]

If Gold had been confused previous, the man was downright dumbstruck at the shout and abruptly being embraced tightly by the boy. For the first several seconds after the arms locked about him in the tight hug, he could do nothing but stare at Henry.

When he was finally capable of speech, he didn't speak to the boy. No his words were directed to the machine that controlled the room. "Computer. Shut this bloody thing off. Now."

If there was a bit of irritation lacing the words, he believed himself the only one capable of hearing it. He only had one son and he very well knew that Henry was his grandson and not his son. He didn't know what sort of glitch had caused this, but hopefully it didn't repeat itself in the future. The programs he did have saved had taken him far too long to actually make for him to delete and start over from scratch with them again.

[goldencobra]

Upon hearing that particular tone from the man's voice, Henry pulled back and watched the castle disappear from around them, leaving only the two of them as Henry's belongings to be seen amongst the chequered lines.

"What did you do that for? I'd only just started it up." As if by magic, all the relief disappeared and Henry looked annoyed. Not bothering to curb his tongue in front of the man and not understanding why his father was irritated in the first place.

[magicsprice]

Gold had to do a bit of a double take at the boy after that question was put to him. The boy should have vanished with the castle. Yet, somehow he was still here and he was still holding onto him. He stared silently for a good second before swallowing and managing to once again find his voice, though the words were perhaps a touch more shaken than he cared for.

"You're not a hologram....why did you call me dad? I'm not your father."

[goldencobra]

Henry looked as confused as Gold had only a moment ago. Not only did that not answer his question, but it raised a lot more as well.

"Oh...um...Sorry mister." He pulled back. "Guess there's people in space that can look like people you knew back home." He turned to go back to his things, his stomach feeling nauseous because he'd thought for a moment that everything was going to be okay.

(comment 555 lol)

[magicsprice]

"What is your name?" He had thought he knew the answer to that, but with the boy's outcry of 'Dad!' and the raised point of the possibility of look-a-likes, he was doubting that now. The very least he could do was to try making amends with the boy. Perhaps answer the questions he no doubt had about ending up here in this strange place.

"You can call me Gold. I can try to answer any questions you might have about being here instead of where you were last, if you like."

[goldencobra]

There was an abrupt turn at the name and the boy stared back. "I'm Henry!" He cried out and walked the few paces back, his brain in overdrive. "What's your other name?" It was the first idea that came to his mind. Probably not the best question to check if his man was Gold but the name he was looking for wouldn't be said so easily.

[she_listens]

"Credit cards?"

The woman behind the bar smiles at him. That's an awfully grown-up question.

"No," she chuckles. "But you don't need them. I'll be happy to get you whatever you want."

[goldencobra]

"Wait, for free?" He looked incredulous at the woman, still grinning.

"O-Okay then. Can I get some hot cocoa with cinnamon on top?"

This place couldn't any good if they didn't make a good cocoa.

[she_listens]

(ooc: I want to apologize for being a complete doofus. After I tagged here, I noticed Henry had also popped up under Guinan's thread and I just tagged in the complete wrong place. I was about to message you about that, and then Real Life happened and I failed to tag back and now here we are and basically I feel like a silly person. I'M SORRY. HELLO, WELCOME TO TEN FORWARD, I AM A GOOFBALL. ~flees into the night~)


Guinan grins, and in a teasing voice says:

"Unless you have something you'd like to trade. For instance, can you teach me how to dance?"

Her eyes sparkle with laughter, like catching starlight in two deep wells.

"One hot cocoa with cinnamon, coming right up. Would you like whipped cream?"

[goldencobra]

(ooc: Oh don't worry about that. It's not a problem, honestly. I'm just happy to be tagging you in general. Someone plays Guinan and they're tagging me /flails! <3)

Henry looked a little worried for a moment but smiled again after he realised she was joking.

"Yes please." He replied. That was how he had it back home anyway.

[she_listens]

(ooc: LOL, aww. But of course, I had to! She'll like him. :3)


Guinan nods, tucking a smile into her left cheek as she turns away. She had a feeling, but it always pays to ask.

When she returns, she's carrying a clear mug filled with rich hot chocolate and a good dollop of whipped cream, with just the right amount of cinnamon dusted on top.

"There you go."

She sticks close, but not so close he'll feel like she's hovering.

"How long have you been here on the Enterprise?"

[goldencobra]

Smiling, he took a small sip of the drink and frowned ever so slightly. It didn't taste like what he was used to. But then again, this wasn't Granny's so he should have expected that.

"Thank you." He said, quickly, remembering his manners but the question gave him pause. He quickly deduced that the Enterprise must be where he was currently so he answered with the truth. "'bout an hour? Not long. What about you?"

[she_listens]

Oh, she notices that frown.

She notices a lot of things.

Putting her current project aside (she was only wiping down the counter anyway), she leans her hands on the bar and gives him a knowing smile.

"Long enough to know when someone isn't completely satisfied with their order."

She doesn't sound the least bit angry. In fact, she turns thoughtful a second later, giving the cup of cocoa a careful look.

"Something's missing, isn't it?"

[abyssum_invocat]

"They don't cost money like things do on earth," answers a girl about Henry's age, sitting in one of the chairs with her legs dangling. With a head of dark, bluntly-cut hair and sharp blue-flecked dark eyes to match, Sinthia was interested in the only other child she'd seen on the ship that didn't look like he belonged.

"You must be new."

[goldencobra]

Henry quickly turned at the voice, interested mostly because free wasn't something he was used to for obvious reasons. Granted he always got what he wanted because his father had the money but he wasn't stupid enough to think it didn't cost him.

Once he realised it was another kid, he smiled and nodded at her statement. "Yeah. I was on a bus to Boston and then I found myself here." He pocketed the credit card and held out his hand. "I'm Henry."

[abyssum_invocat]

"I'm Sinthia," she greeted, pleasant enough even if she did lack a bit of enthusiasm for meeting other children. She took his hand in return, eyeing Henry curiously for a moment.

"I was in Austria," she volunteers, though she's since stopped bringing up the year unless asked; while the replicators could manage clothes she'd refused to wear some of the children's clothes it provided, leaving her in mostly uniform jumpers and skirts. "I've been here for a little while, though, and I don't think it's any more like Boston than it is like where I came in from."

[goldencobra]

"Wow. Until today, I'd never been outside my town let alone the country. What's Austria like?"

Henry had had a quick look around and thought this place looked really cool. Boston could wait. There was no time frame on the deal after all.

[abyssum_invocat]

She blinks. "I haven't seen that much of it," Sinthia confesses. "I live in a military base. But Innsbruck is very pretty, at least what I've seen of it." The base is mostly underground; such are the precautions taken when one is a mad scientist, for lack of better description.

"What's Boston like? I've never been to America either," she says. "I was born in Berlin, but I don't remember much of that. I've lived different places in Germany, though." They, however, were not so pretty.

[goldencobra]

"I never actually got to Boston. But judging by the maps I have, it's like any large city in America." Henry shrugged and pointed to his backpack. He was lucky he'd had it with him when he turned up here.

"What about those other places in Germany then? Were they interesting?" Henry even looked impressed at her English despite not living in an English speaking country.

[abyssum_invocat]

"They were military installations too," she says with a little shrug. "The trips between them were prettier. Inside the gates it's all machines and factories."

The backpack is interesting--it makes her wonder if he was planning on running away, in which case he probably got quite a lot farther than he'd intended. "Why were going to Boston?"

Off Ten Forward!

[shut_up_dammit]

Leonard's sitting at the bar when this kid approached. Great. Another kid. Just what he needed. Like he didn't have enough problems with Sinthia and the band of teenagers running around. But he manages to look approachable, not happy, as the kid stands close to him and talks to the bartender.

"They probably won't take yours, but don't worry about it. Get whatever you want, I'll get it."

He wouldn't normally do this, but he hadn't seen the kid around. He probably could use someone here.

[goldencobra]

Henry was a little surprised at being addressed by the name but he smiled at him nonetheless. No need to stop being polite just because he wasn't in a familiar place. Then again, anywhere but Storybrooke was unfamiliar. He never even made it to Boston.

"Oh. Thank you, mister. I was going to ask for a hot cocoa with cinnamon, if that's available."