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quaranmeme2017-10-20 08:26 pm
riverview: october 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 31 Character Slots available.
● Applications are open but the application and reserve cycle will resume with apps closing on November 7th.
● 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
Over the course of the past couple months, something has been changing in the Abandoned City, the part of the Quarantine that was abandoned over a decade ago after the great Epidemic that decimated the population of the sprawling city. It hasn't been independent or spontaneous either - Quarantine resident Ava Orlova has been practicing with her energy production powers outside the city in a way that has had some interesting side effects.
With burst after burst of glowing blue energy surging through a spur of one of the abandoned and neglected transit train lines, something has started stirring. The line was connected to a long-dormant hydro-electric power relay station located near on the river just before it connects to the waterfalls (see the crudely-drawn map here), and with all that power being pumped through the train line and ending up in the station, the backup generators have wheezed to life.
What does this mean for Quarantine residents?
Providing the station can be secured and brought back to full power, it means that the overall electrical grid in the city will be much more reliable, the fences will be more secure, and new methods to try to direct the portal to send mistaken arrivals home can be explored. Most importantly, the part of the Abandoned City surrounding the newly-activated power station will be much easier to tame and inhabit. The possibility of expansion is very important for the Quarantine - with new arrivals coming through the portal almost constantly, overpopulation has been a bit of a concern of late.
With all of this at stake, the Perimeter Guard and the Government of Riverview are teaming up to make sure that this new area gets explored, secured, and made useful in as short a time as possible. Anyone with even an inkling of desire to explore will see ads, fliers, or Perimeter Guard Cadets talking up the exploration mission out to the new power relay station. Head over to the Perimeter Guard Headquarters to receive a free package of exploration equipment courtesy of the Government of Riverview (complete with comfortable camouflage jumpsuit, tactical belts, and a lightweight pack with a survival kit including food, water, first aid, flares, and other similar supplies) and be issued a weapon to follow the train line out to the power station and ensure the route is safe.
It isn't just the route to the power station that needs to be cleared - with all the activity and the thrum of energy and light at the station, a swarm of interested monsters and creatures has come toward the area. The exploration team and any techs interested in helping to get the station fully operational will need protection, and the station itself will need to be cleared of all threats and secured so the engineers, electricians, and technical geniuses can safely work on establishing a power grid in the area.
Join in the fray, and back up your fellow explorers to get the area safe, secure, and able to be used!
Almost any type of monster is possible, including monsters featured in previous Test Drives, monsters that players make up on the fly, and even monsters from individual character canons that could have conceivably come through the portal. The fight, however, is totally worth it. Once this area is cleared out, there's going to be a lot more space to move around and a few interesting new locations...
During the 10th month of every year on the moon, due to a complex series of chemical, electromagnetic, and magical forces that no one has ever exactly distinguished or completely understands, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead are weakened almost to the point of nonexistence. During this time, residents of the moon are able to see and interact with the dead - ghosts, manifesting in ways that run the gamut from being a strange sense of being watched or being visible or audible all the way to more corporeal spirits that can affect the world around them. The barriers are weaker in some parts of the city than they are in others, with some areas experiencing little to no ghost activity, while others are so populated with these ghosts that residents can barely go a few feet without running into one. The ghosts are generally the unsettled dead, people who died violently, or who were lost, seeking a place to call home, and their behavior is as varied as it was while they were alive. Some ghosts are angry and vengeful, some are simply lonely and lost.
While some people tend to interact with the ghosts only a little and as necessary, others avoid them as completely as possible, and yet others actively seek out souls who are suffering and try to ease that so they can stop coming back year after year. There are other people who have found that ghosts from their home worlds have come through with them, following them through the portal when they arrived, even if they did not die on the moon...
Whether facing death or making peace with those who have died, this is a time to reflect.
A Few OOC Guidelines:
● Characters may see or interact with ghosts from the Quarantine's past. These people will be as varied as the NPCs, from a multitude of different worlds, and characters are welcome to either engage or avoid, as players wish.
● Most Quarantine-based ghosts will have died in either the Great War with the neighboring reality or in the Pandemic that wiped out the population of the Abandoned City years ago.
● Characters may also see or interact with ghosts from their own or other characters' canons, providing the character in question is dead in canon and is not currently being played in the game.
● Canon-based ghosts should not be simply transplanted into the game as they were in canon - they are ghosts, and therefore 'not quite right,' and should not be used as an excuse to NPC a canonmate for a month. These ghosts are there to be used as plot devices to open up new avenues of CR, to create angst, to help a character make peace with their past, or other similar reasons.
● Ghosts should not be complete corporeal physical presences indistinguishable from living people, but barring this, how strongly the ghosts manifest and how much they can interact with the world around them is up to player discretion. Ghosts shouldn't be present the whole month straight, but can disappear and reappear at random times.
Since October 9th, the residents of the Quarantine have been having a stranger-than-usual experience that's been drawing them closer together (or pushing them apart). The machinery in control of the process that's used for canon updates has gone haywire and is releasing nanites that usually function to restructure characters' bodies to match the updated information. The nanites are doing something different, though - they're sharing memories between characters.
Memories can be shared in several forms:
● First Person: This is experiencing another person's memory as if it's your own, seeing through that person's eyes in all its detail. This option wouldn't clearly expose the identity of the person whose memory is being viewed unless the memory includes that information specifically.
● Dreamscape: Mostly happening during dreams or with shared flashes during the day, this is watching the memory as if it were a three-dimensional movie, during which you can meet and talk with the person whose memory is being viewed.
● Network: These are memories shared through the network by accident, either as audio/video uploads or text-based descriptions transcribed to the network. These would be posted with the ID of the person whose memory is being shared.
● It is up to individual player preference how much feelings can be used in the memory, but knowing the other character's thoughts is not permitted.
● All memories must be from your character's canonpoint or earlier.
Whether your character is accidentally sharing a memory, 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!
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[ Not the same thing, exactly, but it's the truth.
The second part takes longer for him to reply to, because it brings back that memory so clearly. The ranch, his father, That it was all for nothing; standing across the desk from Deso and trying to make the Major understand. It's going to happen again. Suddenly, he wishes this conversation was happening in person. ]
We'll end it.
[ There's no room in his mind for doubt. ]
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[Because they have to. They have to bring an end to this once and for all. The First Order will be brought down...And part of her, through no fault of her own, feels guilty that she's here. She isn't there searching for Luke, training with him...and doing more.
Maybe they should have this conversation in person..]
I'm almost done here...did you want to meet up? Talk in person?
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[ She's not the only one who feels that way. With Poe, it's less guilt than frustration, anger, the sense of being captive. That last one? Not his favorite thing.
Besides, it would be nice to see Rey. Make sure she's doing all right, make sure she doesn't need anything. He doesn't realize how much it's itching at him that he can't check in on his team, but at least he can do that much for Finn and Rey. ]
You have somewhere in mind? I'm still getting my bearings.
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She needs to see Poe, just to make sure he’s okay. That he’s doing well...and has everything he needs. ]
I can come to you. Are you at the communal housing? I can bring something to snack on too, if you’re hungry.
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[ He has a room to himself which is?? Also weird?? He's gotten too used to communal living for a solo space to feel anything but too big and too empty. ]
You living somewhere else? And that's okay, I'm fine--fully stocked on food. They even have a fruit here that's kind of like koyo melon. Ever had koyo melon?
[ He really likes koyo melon ok. ]
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No, I'm living in the same building, probably a different floor than you. It's very different from what I'm used to.
No, I haven't. There's a bunch of food here to try, and Cisco, my friend, he's really the expert on the different types of candies and things.
I'll be there in a few minutes.
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He's just gonna use the kitchen area and start cutting up one of the like four cantaloup he has positioned neatly by the sink. He also leaves the door to his room open, partly because it feels like an invitation for passerby to say hello and partly because BB-8 likes cruising the floors getting a complete scan of the building, which is where the little droid is right now. Somewhere. In the building. That is. ]
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Hey.
[She has her staff on her back and a small bag with her. She doesn't leave her room without either or. Rey knows better than to confront someone with a knife, and she doesn't want an accident to occur.]
What are you making?
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[ He's completely casual about it, like they're not on a foreign moon in a foreign universe with food varieties neither of them have ever tasted. Poe arranges the slices on a plate and offers it to her with a grin, unaware he's been here before, unaware he's been missed. ] Not quite like home, but close. One of Yavin 4's exports is a similar kind of melon.
[ Then, remembering that Finn hadn't known either: ] That's where I grew up.
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I didn't know. I thought... [She averts her gaze for a moment, gathering her thoughts.] I guess I've always thought you grew up in the Resistance, where ever their home base was.
[Because it's hard to think of anything before the fighting, or any time of peace. She'll have some fruit in a moment, but she's still taking him in... And before she can stop herself, she crosses the distance between them to hug the older pilot.
Yes. He's been missed, very much so.]
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Until she says something, all he can do is stay calm, stay collected. She doesn't need him fussing. ] Nah. My dad has a ranch on Yavin 4. That's where he and my mom went, after they mustered out. It's where I lived with my grandad until they came back from the Rebellion. I grew up a farm boy.
[ He tries to get a look at her face. ] Rey?
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Or maybe someone else will beat her to the punch.
She simply holds him, telling herself that he's real and not going anywhere--for now. His voice grounds her, reminding her of what they were talking about. Poe, the pilot, a farm boy? She wouldn't have guessed.]
Wouldn't have thought of you as a farm boy, or on a ranch.
[Rey falls quiet for a moment, taking a deep breath.] I'm fine. [Really, she was...just ignore how tightly she's holding him for just another moment before pulling back. There's a half smile on her face.] See? Fine.
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Then he picks up a slice of fruit and offers it to her. ] Yep. Harvesting melons and shoveling runyip dung. A very exciting life.
[ He doesn't like being pressed. It puts his back up, puts his feelings on lockdown. He's not about to do to someone else what he hates having done to himself. But he'll be keeping an eye on her. Sometimes things resolve themselves. Sometimes, a person has to hit a breaking point before they'll open up. ]
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She takes the offered fruit, taking a small bite of it. Oh, it’s sweet but not enough to hurt her teeth like some other sugary candies. ]
But it was still a life, with your grandparent no less.
[ Better than a harsh, lonely life on Jakku, but that’s something for another day. ]
Have you had the chance to explore the rest of the place?
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He winks at her. ] Maybe you shouldn't meet my dad. He could tell you some pretty embarrassing stories.
[ He selects his own bit of melon, biting into it and chewing enough that he can talk around a mouthful of melon mush. ] Not yet. Finn's here--ran into him while I was buying food.
[ For a certain value of ran into. Ran into his memories? Ran into a riddlebriar of things that neither one of them wanted to talk about? He swallows his tidbit and frowns thoughtfully at the fruit instead of taking another bite. ] I can't say I'm glad about it, but maybe between the three of us we'll find a way home sooner.
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Oh no, I need to hear those stories now. You've given me something to look forward to. [To learn how he became the man he was today. Meeting someone important like his father...it would be an honor.
She finishes the slice he offered to her, enjoying the refreshing taste of it. Her heart thumps louder in her chest.] I know...he's here, you're here. It's nice, in its own way. I've been here for about two months and I didn't think I'd see either of you again.
[Or that she would see Poe again this time. She didn't check to see if any of his old belongings were around.]
Maybe, it's possible. We could try to salvage a ship, but the problem becomes finding a map that'll get us home. I've tried to chart out a map of the stars and it's nothing I've seen before. [But maybe in the mean time....the could do something else...]
We could see about being closer together, or at least the three of us staying on the same floor.
no subject
And hey, he did a lot of stupid things as a kid. Including barrel rolls around the Yavin gas giant at age three but that one he only has his dad's word on.
He offers her the plate of melon slices again, studying her face, trying to read something from her expression or voice. ] Figuring out if we can even get there from here is definitely the first problem to tackle.
[ He's not convinced of this other universe stuff, not yet, not entirely.
Poe brightens distinctly at the prospect of the three of them sharing a living space, or at least a living vicinity. He's a sociable person, and before he ran into Finn the prospect of being here on his own was a bleak one. He would have managed, met people, made friends--he can't help himself--but it's so much better this way. ] You want to?
no subject
But then he may want to hear a story or two from her childhood...and they weren't the most pleasant things. However, she did trust him and she had some good memories.
There's a soft hum of agreement from her. She reached out to take one more piece of melon.] I've been trying. There isn't much material to work with, and no droids. There's someone who has a knowledge of robotics, but nothing close to building an actual droid. [She's referring to Tony Stark and her mind goes back to Jim with his shuttle, she wouldn't take that from him.] We'll figure something out.
[There isn't any doubt in her mind about that. The three of them together could figure something out, and maybe rope either Tony or Cisco or Jim into this..Assuming they'd want to help.
The conversation turning to them rooming with one another is enough to make Rey smile a little more.] Yeah, I wouldn't mind. It's to quiet on my floor. It doesn't really feel like anyone else lives there.
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[ Before he can say anything else, though: SPEAK OF THE DEVIL AND HE SHALL APPEAR. IE there's a robotic babbling in the hall and BB-8 comes rolling in, chattering to himself in binary about the annoyance of stairs.
--And then he lays his photoreceptor on Rey and gives an overjoyed trill, leaning forward to charge across the room at top speed and narrowly avoid ramming into her legs.
Poe grins.]
Welcome back, Bee.
no subject
[The people are nice enough, especially the ones she's made friends with. There are two more bites to the melon slice before it's gone.
To her surprise a certain orange and white droid comes down the hall, rolling in and makes Rey freeze. BB-8! Her little friend! Possibly the only friend she made on Jakku. If he knocked her down, she would've been fine with it.
No, she is not about to get emotional over seeing the droid. Nope.]
I didn't think he was here! [And now she's kneeling down, inspecting him, making sure he's all there and no bent antenna. Oh, he was sorely missed too.]
I can't believe you're both here.
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And she's right about the chatter on D'Qar. There was that one time Yolo Ziff made his life difficult and made wanted posters really easy to make, for example. Poe has had dalliances, too, sure, but never within his own ranks and always with the understanding that it was short-term fun. Mostly, though, he's just too busy. Too busy for romance, too busy to care about his looks.
He grins at BB-8 and Rey's reunion, leaning against the counter with one hip. ] Little guy was on his own here for a few days before I found him.
[ BB-8 buzzes a negative and chirps a correction. ]
Sorry, when he found me.
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[Please, he has to care a bit about his looks. The way he does his hair is proof of that. No one has hair that's all nice and spiffy like that. One does not roll out of bed looking the way he does.
But, she is in the same boat as him. There wasn't time for romance. Only time to survive, to work, and to live another day. They had that in common at least.]
Where was he roaming around? If I had known, I would've looked for you--both of you.
[She rises to her full height feeling...happy. She hasn't felt happy in a very long time. She's with her dear friends, and now the hope of actually leaving this place is growing. It's getting brighter and, once they're gone from here, they can go back to helping the Resistance.]
no subject
BB-8 lets out a rise-and-fall chorus of chirps that list of locations, businesses, parks. ]
He kept himself busy. [ Poe shakes his head. ] You've been here two months? I saw you off to Ahch-To right before I got here.
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How she not have known BB-8 was around?! Someone would've posted about the droid on the network at least.]
I can tell--! [And now her attention turns to Poe. Her eyes slightly widen hearing when he last saw her...] You remember that? [So they were from the same time period.]
I was on my way to Ahch-To. We were almost there when I was transported here.
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[ How is that even possible???? ]
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