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riverview: july test drive meme

Welcome to Riverview's test drive meme! Feel free to dip your toes in on the test drive meme to try out your character in the setting, play out a mission, and get samples for your application at the same time!
● There are currently 5 Character Slots available.
● Applications open on August 1st and will remain open until such time as there are 30 or more character slots available at one time. Applications will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis. Any applications in excess of available spots will be placed in a queue and processed as drops or activity sweeps happen.
● Providing all parties are amenable, threads on the test drive meme can count as game canon, as the plot in the prompts presented is game canon, and may continue while applicants are waiting on the queue (including spanning multiple TDMs).
● TDM threads do not count for Activity Check, but they do count for Activity Bonus Points, so long as all characters involved are accepted into the game.
● Threading on the TDM is intended for prospective new characters, so top-levels should only be posted by players of these characters. Since the events in the TDM are considered game canon, characters currently in the game are free to use the TDM prompts for logs and posts on the regular communities.
Feel free to use the prompts below or create your own scenario. The setting is built to be flexible, so feel free to make things up as you go.
information resources
premise ● arrival ● setting ● ask a question ● calendar ● navigation

So you thought that the impending summer and the great weather meant the end of the stormy spring season? Not so much. Just like the storm back in February, though, this one isn't exactly natural.
Early in the morning on July 20th, the portal switches to a different reality, and almost immediately, an ominous greenish mist starts to seep through. Though the Perimeter Guard tries to contain the spread, it's next to impossible to stop an intangible foggy mist, and as it rises, it contaminates the clouds. By the early afternoon, a storm is brewing. As the rain falls, it's the same musty, unnatural green as the mist, and it quickly becomes obvious that the rain burns any living creature like acid. Thankfully, it's very mild acid - a few minutes of exposure will only result in non-living biological matter disintegrating, like hair, fingernails, and the outer layer of horns. But stay out in it much longer than that, and any exposed skin will start to itch and peel and then burn and sting like a bad sunburn. Feel safe with your umbrella or raincoat? Good luck, because stay out in the rain for more than 15 minutes and it will start to erode even synthetic fabric and plastic, though it seems completely ineffective against metal, stone, glass, and plant matter like leaves and wood.
Unless you're really creative, the only safe places are indoors, under the eaves of buildings, inside vehicles with solid tops, and anywhere else with a solid roof - hope you're sharing the closest hidey-hole with someone you really like!
Unfortunately, while most of the electricity in the city runs through metal wires, a few key components of the power grid involve synthetics like plastic and other materials. About 25 minutes into the storm, right when these materials start to be eroded away by the acid rain, rolling power outages start to occur at random in the city. While the whole city isn't affected and the fences remain at full power, many places will suffer a complete drop in power. As the storm intensifies, the temperature starts dropping until it goes from a nice warm summer day to something distinctly chillier.
Here's hoping your characters can keep themselves warm and entertained until all the digital comforts of the modern world return - time to break out the candles, board games and cards, or swap some stories. And maybe swap some body heat.
Bonus: there is a ton of free ice cream being handed out before it melts? Not helpful?
Thankfully, with all the genius minds in the city, someone was quick to come up with a solution after a couple hours of examining an acid rain sample. It's pretty rushed, but as the storm clouds coalesce into a sickly green-and-charcoal swirl in the sky, an experimental machine is put together that will blast a compound into the sky that will nullify the acid storm. It only takes a short time to put several more units together, and then the Perimeter Guard is recruiting heavily through every channel available for teams to take the devices out into the woods so they can be aimed properly to shoot their payload into the clouds.
Teams can consist of anywhere from two to six people, one of which should be a driver, and the rest of which will be needed to help clear any fallen trees. These teams will be fitted with coveralls and helmets that will (hopefully) protect them from the rain while they're outside of the vehicle.
Two canisters full of the compound straight into the eye of the storm clouds are expected to clear up the ever-building thunderhead clouds and stop the rain, but more definitely won't hurt.
Isn't going out into the woods dangerous? Oh. Right. It definitely is. Each team of explorers trekking out into the forest is going to need some protection. A call is also going out to the general population requesting that anyone who is a strong, experienced fighter please accompany the teams out into the forest to protect them from monsters that are willing to risk the rain in search of a lightly acid-tenderized exploration team shaped meal.
The protection teams should expect most of the danger to come in the form of giant, ravenous monsters that look like either massive elk or boars, and seem completely immune to the rain - probably because their backs are protected by thick layers of grass, moss, tiny saplings, and thick slabs of bark. With their backs all coated in moss and grass, they're also well-camouflaged in the murky green fog and rain, so they seem to appear out of nowhere, bellowing and trying to either spear the teams with their horns and tusks, or eat them whole.
Armed with super stylish full-body suits that should (theoretically) protect them from the ravages of the acid rain, these fighters are exactly the muscle the exploration teams need.
Whether your character is posting up a silly word game to distract people from the dangerous mission going on, trying to get hold of a friend, or putting out feelers for people to go out into the fray with, the network is going strong.
Alternately, an offer for a free app is popping up on new arrivals' devices - Friendr is a friend-finder and/or dating app. If characters choose to install it, they will fill out a short bio and parameters for what they're looking for, upload a snap of themselves, and then proceed to browse for matches. This is a typical swipe-left-or-right type app.
Friendr base code is by photosynthesis.
The code in the textbox is for the default color scheme, but the Friendr app has a wide variety of themes, so feel free to customize with colors and patterns as you see fit, but do not remove the credit line out of respect for the creator of the code.
Whether or not this month's mission solution is actually threaded out on the Test Drive Meme, the acid rain will let up in the late evening of the 20th. Blackouts will continue for a few days afterward, and there will need to be considerable time spent cleaning up the city in preparation for this month's celebration. Feel free to thread out any of that, or use the wildcard prompt to choose your own adventure and do whatever else you like in the setting!
:D
And I won't, I promise.
I'll see you there.
( Peter isn't far from the shop, and he grabs a table for the both of them. He hasn't ordered yet, determined to buy Tony lunch. And he definitely sends a few more texts insisting he buy Tony lunch for once. )
->action
He still can't help but feel a little relieved as he walks up to the table and Peter looks just fine, if almost vibrating with energy. Christ, was he ever that young?]
Exactly what money are you going to be buying me lunch with?
[It's not the best opener as he settles across from him, but it is delivered with an amused look.]
no subject
It was a good feeling, having a familiar face around. Especially someone he respected as he did the older man.
He smiled, bright and energetic as ever. )
So I got assigned a case worker when I got here since I don't have a guardian and all. Turns out, this place gives you money if you're under eighteen. Pretty cool, right?
( He motioned towards the sandwich menu on the far wall. ) This place is pretty good! I found it the first day I got here. They're almost as good as the sandwiches at the Bodega I used to go to.
no subject
He could roll with it, though, or at least try to. He owed the kid that much.]
Fair enough then, lunch is on you. Grab me something good.
no subject
( Peter stood, making a gesture at Tony that clearly said he'd be right back.
After a couple of minutes, he reappeared at the table, setting a plate down in front of Tony before setting down his own plate and sliding back into his seat. Both of them had similar meals, a sandwich, chips, and a small piece of fruit. )
So what'd you want to talk about, Mr. Stark? Everything okay? Do you need my help again? ( He picked up one of his chips, glanced up at the other curiously as he popped it into his mouth. He finished chewing before continuing: ) I have my suit!
no subject
Still, he was probably going to have to keep an eye on that. But for the moment, he just broke off a corner of his sandwich and popped in into his mouth while he tried to work out what to say.]
No, everything is okay. Mostly. [He smiled a little wryly. Aside from the monsters and being stuck in a weird city and everything else.] There's just a lot going on here I wanted to fill you in on. And I'm not sure I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself, so I wanted to get through it all in person.