![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
riverviewmod) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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
premise ● arrival ● setting ● ask a question ● calendar ● navigation
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
When the person makes their way around the counter there is the briefest tug at his thoughts. That was Weird, unless it was Al, no one really belonged behind the counter here. It had been far too long since he'd had employees and his friends certainly wouldn't - but before he even had a chance to process questioning who or why there are arms wrapping around him and something catches, because in all his life there weren't nearly as many people that had hugged him as in Riverview. Of all the possibilities, Al, Lola, Yuffie - and he ignores the pain in his chest at that reminder - the one that made the least sense was the one standing before him right then.
In all the time that passed he hadn't forgotten the familiar feeling, the way her arms wrapped around him when they did hug and there was a sense of belonging there- where normally he'd jerk back and confront whoever dared to touch him without warning, Where not even a single word had passed between them first, his subconscious is what catches on before the rest of him. The rational, logical part of his brain insisting that some random person has just invaded his personal space is ignored in favor of giving in to the touch because this wasn't some awkward hug from some girl that barely knew him. This wasn't a hug of comfort, this was desperation and clinging and so tight he could feel all of the emotion built up inside of it, but he knew this hug - even if it shouldn't be possible, even if it couldn't be because she wasn't there and there was no way that she would be, not any version that remembered him anyway - but he knew it, his body knew this sensation already, because it was the one that felt most like home.
There is the briefest moment of hesitation as all of this plays in his thoughts before he turns to wrap his own arms around her in response. Possibly with the slightest bit of awkward adjustment because he'd grown in the time they were separated, and they wouldn't fit together quite like they might have before. Still, he's hugging her back for the moment before shifting to withdraw. To know if this was really her, not some illusion his mind had conjured up or another trick of this place. Ed knew that people were talking about seeing ghosts of their pasts and he was hardly expecting to be immune to that - but the idea that this could be any part of that illusion seemed too unlikely to entertain. Even more so than the thought that she was actually there.]
no subject
She opens her eyes and turns them -- well, up at him now. Makes a swipe at them because she can feel the tears still threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes as she looks into that familiar gold and finds herself pausing to search his face in that moment. He's hers, alright, but he looks different and not in those small, nearly imperceptible ways that arrive in minutes or an hour or two. He's grown. Gained inches in height and some sort of conditioner if the sheer vibrance of his hair is any indication. He's been loved and well by the sun, and... lost some muscle, she thinks, despite the healthy gain. He stands in stark contrast to that pale, muscular, sleep deprived boy for whom she'd screamed not even two hours ago. More and more she realizes and it doesn't make a lick of sense. She'd known there would be things that didn't when she'd heard about the general store, but this -- ]
Ed.
[ Her voice is hoarse when she finds it again and like so much water. Gloved fingers find his left hand and ask in threading because even though she can breathe and she knows, she hadn't been ready to let go just yet. She knows, but she wants to hold onto that feeling, that sensation for a little while longer. ]
What's going on? I-I thought I'd lost you.
no subject
When her fingers thread with his he squeezes them just slightly, as if to confirm he's there. He's real. He wasn't going to just disappear on her again, like he imagines he must have before. The last thing he remembered, restoration and the gradual building population all over again, Purgatorium had been returning to what they knew it to be, or at least on the way there. When he'd found himself in Muir at first he'd thought it was another trick, another test, but the clock tower had been missing and landscape was so far removed from what he knew it to be. Then the realization that no one was there, no one he knew, no one that recognized the name Purgatorium. Reality had set in, and with it the need to survive in a strange new place, Ed had learned to adjust without ever truly acknowledging his losses in Purg and that skill followed him when he found himself somewhere entirely new. No point in mourning, he needed to move forward.
After a moment he seems to notice that she had asked a question, he offers the faintest smile in response, uncertain what to say. How could he say anything to that? He knew how it was, to be going from day to day with certain expectations and then one day find everything changed on you. Someone missing, somewhere new. He swallows, gaze shifting away, he has no idea what she's endured up until this point, why her voice is hoarse or how she thinks he vanished.]
Did you speak to Orientation? They have a whole video that explains-
[It did answer her question, but it was also a method of stalling. Of not explaining what she really wanted to know, not apologizing for disappearing on her when she still needed him. He assumed she did anyway, Purg was bare bones when he'd left it and even though the land wasn't empty it might as well have been. What kind of network would she have had in that time? Who would she have relied on in his absence? For a brief second he wondered just how long it had been for her since he vanished and the guilt only twisted sharper with that thought. Voice soft, so very soft when he speaks next, as if without outright saying it he was asking her forgiveness.]
You know I would never have left if I had the choice...
no subject
But we did.
[ She almost doesn't hear the words as quiet as they seem in her ears, as loud as they are in her head. They don't so much tumble out of her mouth now as they are offered with a particular note of something like insistence and something more that bleeds into those three simple words thick and slow for the truth of what he's said, what she knows, what she's done. ]
We just did.
no subject
[He repeats the words quietly, watching her so carefully for every flicker of emotion while her eyes search his, and as she swipes at her eyes again. He's not thinking about every little detail she's taking note of, the way he's changed over the nearly two years since he'd seen her last. He is aware of the stark contrast in her though, and if he'd stopped to put thought to it he would have wondered about how he must have looked those first few months in Attollo before the sun did him some good. The smile returns, haltingly as her grip tightens in his hand, almost forced - but he wants to reassure her even if he's not entirely sure of what just yet.
They did, they both left, they both got out and they were here now so that was all the evidence he needed that what she was saying was true. There wasn't much thought put into those words than that, because he simply lacked the context with which she was battling.]
Time can be a little different here.
[Like Purg, so she knows. He hopes she knows, at least. Understands what he's getting at before he's forced to say it, there's the briefest hesitation as he considers just how to put what he needs next.]
You... Came straight from there, didn't you?
[He doesn't know, he has no idea that things had progressed as they had. World crumbling around them, the plate - the sky itself in that place, falling down and finally snapping that it had all been too much. Too much to take in, too much to deal with and as they'd said their goodbyes with that final insistence he would still not be joining her, despite it. Repeating it one last time before she gave in and said goodbye instead - only to find himself tugged through the doorway into what was supposed to be paradise at the last possible second.
Ed doesn't need to explain that he didn't, he can tell that she knows just from the way she's looking at him, can tell that all of this is more of a shock than she's prepared for even with the experiences they have regarding this exact thing. He knows, he's grown, he's aged, he's darkened with the sun and he can tell the contrast is alarming in her eyes. She hasn't changed at all, if she's been anywhere but Purg it wasn't any kinder or it wasn't for very long and that sense of abandonment just digs into him sharper at the thought. He never meant to leave her behind, he wouldn't have, given the option but here they were and what other explanation was there?
His voice is still soft, full of concern and disbelief that he's ignoring now in favor of the more pressing. He was going to have to tell her, how long it had been, where he'd been before now- he knew she wasn't the type to sit idly by and let him ignore the differences as if they never happened. Too much was different, too much time had passed, and he was going to need to come up with an explanation for all of it.]
Guess we're going to have to catch up.
no subject
[ She almost, almost drops her gaze now that those words, stressed and even despite the strain on her throat, are out of her mouth. He really doesn't know. Doesn't have anything remotely close to an inkling of memory or he wouldn't have said the things that he has and she knows. She's figured, but that doesn't make the reality of the situation any less of a throbbing ache threatening to spill from her chest, grip, and shake the rest of her. It's with a weak little squeeze, the barest of assurances before hesitation, that she retracts her hand and wraps her arms around herself and grips her arms tight. She doesn't drop her gaze, but she can't help the slight shake of her head as she speaks, and too quickly with too much emotion. ]
We just left Purg, you and me. It was just us. We were all that was left and the world was crumbling around us, it was dying, Ed. It had been for so long and you, you didn't --
[ She sinks her teeth into her lower lip, tearing her eyes to one side. He said it himself just a moment earlier and she's heard it so many times now in so many words that it comes to her unbidden. Her brows furrow, her shoulders that much more tense as her gaze finds the floor. Her voice is quiet, too quiet when speaks now. ]
I couldn't leave you there to die with that world, Ed. I couldn't.
[ She shakes her head slow with those words and only just manages to lift her eyes to look into gold again. Her voice almost cracks as she searches them. ]
You really don't remember, do you?
no subject
What are you... Talking about-?
[If there was any doubt those words would have solidified it, because he didn't know. He figured he must have disappeared on her, because he had no recollection of her leaving before him, like everyone else had. As she explains though, his expression shifts, no longer soft, pained, confusion. His eyes harden at her words, shaking his own head. When her gaze lifts to find his once more his lips press together before glancing away, himself. His tone is almost accusatory as he tries to control the swirling emotions in his mind with this implication. Had he forgotten? And if so, how-?]
I have no idea what you're talking about.
[He doesn't mean to be so biting, putting up defensive walls as he may be, it was more a frustration with himself for not knowing than anything to do with her. What else was there, that he might be missing?]
The last thing I remember. The clocktower was being rebuilt, people were coming and going again-
[He blinks, gaze snapping up to her's once more.]
All this time I thought I left you there. I thought I vanished, but you-
[A beat before golden eyes widen suddenly, with realization.]
I didn't what?
no subject
[ There's so much weight about those words and so much wear hanging off her every syllable. Detaching a hand from her arm, Valeria raises it to her mouth in an attempt to choke back a stuttering little something as she tears her eyes away from him again. Up her hand goes, fingers spreading to catch the tears that come too quickly, too readily and spill down her face. For a moment, it's all she can do to try to contain and combat that still swelling emotion that sees her inhale sharply and shudder. She doesn't lower her hand. She needs to breathe, to calm down, but she's tired, so tired and this isn't the battle she'd anticipated on the other side of that door. ]
You're right. [ She takes a slow, shaky breath. ] You never would have left if you'd had the choice. If I'd left it up to you, you'd still be there now if there was anything left of it. We'd still be there because I wouldn't leave you, Ed. I couldn't, but you -- you wouldn't hear any of it even though everyone was gone and the city was silent. The Powers were silent. Even the monsters had dwindled to almost nothing. We were barely surviving and everything was falling apart. It was just us and --
[ She shakes her head almost violently now. Inwardly curses because she can't force the tears to stop coming and every failure becomes her. Works its way that much deeper into her so that the pain and the weariness swells and feels that much more raw. She swallows. ]
And I'm not going to apologize for what I did because you were being completely unreasonable and kind of a jerk about it. I mean, what was I supposed to do? What could I do? If we some day died together, I think I could live with that, but before our time when we had the option to try something, anything and live?
[ It's a shuddering exhalation as her other hand moves to her face. Her voice drops low and soft and too quiet between bitten back sobs. ]
I just wanted you to live, Ed, and I wanted to live with you and if you hated me for that, then I -- I'd live with that as long as you were alive.
no subject
The clock tower...
[His voice is barely a whisper, gaze lowering again with the realization.]
We went through the clock tower.
[It wasn't a question, that made sense to him. It was logical that he'd outright refuse to leave, for as far as he knew one day he returned Al to his body. He needed to go home for that, he couldn't walk through a door into some unknown "paradise" and still manage to get home and save his brother. He would have stubbornly stayed there, no matter what the circumstances and he realized that, but to hear it like this...]
What do you mean- it was just us..?
[He could guess, he had an idea but it was a hard concept to swallow and he needed to hear it if it was the truth. His brain wouldn't process it, otherwise. If Purg had become nothing but the two of them, how had they survived at all as long as they did? Sure, it had gotten pretty quiet in the days leading up to whatever happened, but even in his worst moments he couldn't realistically fathom being the last there. At the next thing he only smiles, ruefully. Nothing she says could be dismissed as unrealistic, but the words 'unreasonable jerk' only made it that much easier for him to imagine. He knew he could be just that, so what could she even have to apologize for? Putting up with that? Saving his life despite everything? He's not even able to register the talk about dying, that might sink in later but for now there was something more pressing to address.]
I could never hate you.
[His voice is soft again, swallowing back the emotion there. He couldn't stand the thought that she'd even think that, especially not when she had every right to do what she did. Maybe that was hindsight, maybe the years away from Purg matured him past the point he was at when he'd been there with her, but whatever it was- he could never fathom even considering hating her for doing what she thought was right to save him. Especially not like this, not with it coming at him like this, and as many questions as this whole situation brought to the surface there was only one concern at the moment. She was crying. She was crying because of him and the thought made something inside him clench with the pain of it. He barely gives her a moment to register the movement, reaching forward to pull her arms from her face before tugging her to him in another hug. This time not nearly as gentle as the first, clutching her to him as if unable to release the tension from his body, voice breaking with the next words, practically against her ear.]
Please- stop crying....