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quaranmeme2017-09-21 08:26 pm
riverview: september test drive meme
riverview test drive memeWelcome 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 40 Character Slots available.
● Applications are open 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
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With the fall months starting to set in, the leaves changing color, and the pumpkin spice lattés freshly unleashed into the Quarantine, many minds in the city (or at least the ones who've been around for over a year) are turning to the fall mushroom harvest.
Every year, several of the Quarantine's fanciest boutique restaurants are competing to make the most original new recipes with classic favorite mushroom varieties harvested fresh from the jungle. These glowing little shrooms are a rare once-a-year delicacy that half the Quarantine is totally bonkers for, and a restaurant can turn a really serious profit from capitalizing on those cravings. Of course, that means that they need to source the mushrooms from the jungle, which is much easier said than done, considering the fact that the monsters out there like the delicate fungal flavor just as much as the people in the city. So, restauranteurs around the Quarantine are putting up signs and advertisements everywhere from billboards to just after the credits of your favorite trashy reality TV show.
The monetary rewards for returning with a fruitful fungal harvest are extremely high, so if you're looking to feather your nest egg a bit and are willing to do a bit of exploring and brave some beasties, head out into the jungle in search of bounty.
The restaurant business isn't the only business that's interested in providing a chunk of change for some mushrooms from the jungle - there's also a less reputable trade in the type of mushrooms that don't end up in risotto. While the advertising is more covert, it's not much less obvious, particularly since the glowing mushrooms aren't exactly contraband and occupy a grey area, legally. In fact, if you're curious, you can pick them up at most of the outdoor markets around the city.
And what is it the mushrooms do? Well, in a way that's quite common when mushrooms are involved, things get a little trippy. Depending on the type of mushroom a character tries, there could be a wide variety of effects, most of which center around size changes and hallucinations or weird dreams. Whether it's all in a character's head, or they're actually changing size depends on the type of mushroom they ingest. Welcome to Wonderland!
NOTE: The mushrooms can have physical effects to change a character's size from however tiny you would like to go, up to a maximum of 15 feet tall, or they can have whatever sort of hallucinogenic or dream effects you choose, including dream sharing between characters who eat the mushrooms together. Be sure to warn in the subject line if you use this prompt in a way that resembles drug use. All effects wear off in a maximum of 24 hours.
Every year on the last full weekend of September (the 22nd until the 24th this year) there is a special event called Tavernfest. A mash-up of Oktoberfest and a renaissance faire, Tavernfest is a tradition celebrating and promoting various local breweries in the Quarantine, along with food that pairs well with their beers, in a setting that hearkens back to historical periods. Costumes are encouraged, and everything about the fair is rustic and simple, from the cooking methods to how the brews are served to the various fair games and attractions.
Considering the nature of the Quarantine, though, 'historical' can mean a lot of different things, so expect to see people dressed in a wide variety of historical costumes from their own worlds and planets. The sharing of culture is encouraged at Tavernfest just as much as it is everywhere else in the Quarantine, so attendees are highly encouraged to wear the historical garb of their own worlds and talk about what it means to them!
NOTE: Riverview's legal drinking age is 14+.
This one's pretty simple - this is the month where autumn is really starting to kick in, and autumn on this moon means lots of rain showers. In fact, the rain can be so prevalent that there's a long-standing trend of people in the Quarantine using umbrellas like fashion accessories. They can get quite fancy, matching them to their outfits or carrying umbrellas that are adorned with decorations ranging from cute to high-fashion to bedazzled.
The one difference between umbrellas and regular fashion accessories? Umbrellas are meant to be shared! Riverview Quarantine has a culture of sharing, and that's never more apparent than in the chilly autumn and winter months when the rain is falling and everything's damp and miserable. So whether your character is out and about sporting a fancy umbrella with room for one more, or if they forgot theirs and are looking for a generous stranger willing to spare some shelter, hopefully the culture of caring will prevail!
Whether your character is posting up a silly word game, 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.
Use the wildcard prompt to choose your own adventure and do whatever else you like in the setting!
no subject
Wasn't quite like Texas, but it was something alright.
[As relieving as it is to see a familiar face, and though Billy wants nothing more than to act as though neither of them have a care in the world, there are things that must be discussed whether they like it or not.
With Tavernfest going on, they're the only ones in the park right now. A couple of streetlights dotted along the sidewalk and near the playground give off a dim glow. The swings creak as the wind gently sways them back and forth. It's serene and doesn't look like a place where they would be interrupted anytime soon.
Billy turns himself around so that he's facing Faraday completely.]
So... [He mimics Faraday by hooking his thumbs in his own belt.] The hell are you doing here?
[Repeating Faraday's question from earlier, but Billy's already anxious about the answer. Last time he saw Faraday, he hadn't been looking too good with that bullet wound in his side, and there were still some men gathered around the Gatling gun. Looking at him now, though, he seemed to be in one piece just as much as Billy was himself.]
no subject
So when Billy steps forward, blocking his path, Faraday blinks in surprise, startled by the bluntness of Billy's question. When his brain catches up with his ears, Faraday's expression sours, brow furrowing and mouth twisting to one side. ]
I'd hate to point out the obvious, here, Billy, but I do believe I asked you first.
[ Which obviously means Faraday has dibs. ]
no subject
Even when he finally speaks, Billy can't seem to look at Faraday, still trying to come to terms with what happened to himself.]
The Gatling gun got me.
[There's no other way to say it, at least, not that Billy can think of, so he just gives the details straight up.]
Next thing I knew, I was waking up in the hospital they have here.
no subject
Billy's answer, though, startles him more than anything, and for once, Faraday is silent. Truthfully, Faraday doubts any of the men Chisolm recruited believed they would see the battle through to the other side. Sure, they all must have hoped, but realists that they all were, Faraday imagines they recognized a stacked deck when they saw one.
Faraday already knew he was a dead man walking, the instant he took that first bullet; it's why he so quickly decided to charge the Gatling gun. Might as well put himself to good use while he still had breath in him, right? He had hoped the others would make it out, but it seems that wasn't the case.
He lets out a slow breath. ]
If it's any consolation— [ And the words come slowly, with only a hint of his earlier levity; he still can't quite wrap his head around his own death. Or near-death? He isn't quite sure how it works, considering he woke up in a hospital bed, hooked up to all manner of strange machines. ] —I took care of the Gatling gun.
no subject
He doesn't know how Faraday was able to pull it off, but he won't ask about it. At least not now. Billy learned from his dealings with Goody not to push too hard. If Faraday really wanted to tell him the whole story, then he would have done so already. Billy is no more ready to talk about his own "death" anyway.]
And now you're here.
[Is all he says. Simple and not intrusive. But the tension is starting to get to him as he kicks a nonexistent pebble off the sidewalk before taking a seat in one of the empty swings. A strained chuckle wrangles its way out of his throat as he looks up at Faraday.]
I knew you could do it. You're so reckless sometimes.
no subject
And now I’m here.
[ In a mild sort of agreement. Faraday’s more thankful than he’d ever admit that Billy doesn’t ask how he managed that particular feat, because he’s not entirely sure if he’s capable of saying “I ended up with more holes in me than a sieve, and then I blew it and myself the hell up” without an odd sense of dread clutching at his throat, choking him.
(He was sure he was a dead man. He was sure, and in his last few seconds, laughing in the faces of terrified men scrambling to get away, he had told himself it was worth it.
So it had been a hell of a shock to find himself blinking up at a stark white ceiling, in more pain than any man should have to live through, in a place so completely foreign it might as well be a dream.)
He watches as Billy wanders off to one side, and after a moment of hesitation, he follows after. He doesn’t take a seat in the swing beside Billy; instead, he leans back against one of the legs of the structure, thumbs hooked over his gun belt. When Billy looks up at him, letting out that tense little laugh, Faraday shoots him a halfhearted glare. ]
That’s a lie. I am never reckless.
[ Except when he is, which is always, all of the time, at every hour of the day. ]
It was a calculated risk. I knew what I was doin’.
no subject
I would hope you had something planned instead of just running blind at a Gatling gun.
[But if it's been taken care of, then Billy hopes the battle was won in the end. Going by what he knows now, Faraday, Goody, and himself were out of the fight, so that left Vasquez, Sam, Jack, Emma Cullen, and Red Harvest. Except the only one he knows for sure to be alive is Vasquez since he'd been in the church with the rest of them. What if the others had been taken out by the Gatling gun too, or were lying somewhere injured?]
Have you seen anyone else around here? 'Cause you're the only familiar face I've seen so far.
[Billy would be lying to himself if he denied the hope he had of finding Goody in the next bed over, or hearing that he was in another room, but when he asked the doctor about it (after he was well enough to not pass out every thirty minutes), they shook their head and said he'd been the only one who came through the portal at the time. ]
no subject
[ Does it still count if it was only half of an idea? That idea being, “Get close enough to chuck a stick of dynamite their way.”
The instant Faraday sees Billy start to relax, he does, too; he assumes they’re backing away from the topic of where they were before they arrived here, and Faraday’s grateful for it. Maybe eventually, once he’s wrapped his head around it a little more firmly, he’ll be able to put his usual flair and embellishments to the story of his death (or near-death?) and relay it over drinks – but not right now. Not when the scars are this fresh.
At Billy’s question, Faraday shakes his head. ]
You’re the first I’ve recognized.
[ And Faraday’s not sure if that’s a relief or not. He presses his lips into a thin line, glancing around at the quiet park.
Then, slowly and carefully, ]
Goodnight ain’t here?
[
no subject
The doctor said I came through the portal alone.
[It wouldn't be Billy's first time being all by himself in an unfamiliar land full of things he didn't understand, but after spending years traveling with Goody, the loneliness he felt after hearing that news had seemed just as heavy as when he fled the Master. He should have been used to being alone, but Goody had become the new normal after they'd gotten used to each other.]
I have his flask.
[Billy had considered whether or not he should mention that detail beforehand, worrying that it might prompt questions from Faraday, but then he realized he could just say it fell off of Goody's person instead of his own since they had both been in the steeple.
(After telling Billy he'd been the only one who arrived, the doctor reached into the drawer beside Billy's bed and pulled out the black flask with the silver fleur-de-lis in the center. "This was next to your body," they said.)
Now that flask was on Billy's nightstand, standing solemnly between some incense sticks and candles. Billy doesn't remember much about the meager altar his family had back in Korea, but it just didn't feel right to not have something for Goody's memory.]