riverview: december test drive meme

[riverviewmod]

riverview 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 13 Character Slots available.
● Reserves are Open. Applications will be open from January 1st until January 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.
● 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

prompt i: winter rescue

Going into the last week of December, the city experiences an abrupt and unexpected dump of snow - several feet of it, in fact. Usually, it wouldn't be a big deal, since most people and most exploration teams could just hole up and ride out the storm and snowdrifts. And that's what most of the city is doing.

Unfortunately, this is the week that some of the Perimeter Guard Cadets have decided to go on their Winter Expedition - a sort of camping trip slash exploration expedition into the Abandoned City just outside the walls of the Inner City. While the goal wasn't to get too far away from the walls, with the snow starting up in force, the groups of Cadets have gotten turned around in the inclement weather and are stuck outside the walls, unable to return to the safety of the Inner City.

A general call has gone out to anyone willing to brave the snow and storm to rescue groups of Cadets between the ages of 12 and 17 who are trapped outside the walls in their camps.

prompt ii: a flock of stargulls

During the last half of December, residents might start noticing the appearance of cute, trilling little birds with soulful eyes (very mild spoilers for the most recent Star Wars movie in the link) throughout the Quarantine. Perched on tree branches or the corners of awnings and eaves, they will keep multiplying in number until December 20th, when a positive swarm of them will come through the portal.

Welcome to the Quarantine, Porgs!

These little lovable birds (spoiler-free image) will be settling in to roost just about anywhere you can think of. Outside your window, inside your kitchen on top of your fridge, under your bed, or anywhere else. Whether residents consider them a nuisance or a potential new pet, they're bound to cause a stir. The Porgs will be out and about in the city until the end of December, when most of them will find their way back through the portal to whichever world they came from, though a little colony of them will remain in the City from now on. Porgs will be added along with domestic foxes and Pokémon as creatures that can be found or caught in the city as pets without the use of AP!

[Thanks to Sere for submitting this prompt as a mini-plot!]

prompt iii: mistleglow

Some residents may remember that back in September, a love-drunk and confusion-spell-addled newlywed mage from Gramarye Magic Research let loose some pretty little fairy lights that trapped people in the city in little invisible bubbles until they kissed (and any kind of kiss would do). Well, the same slightly-less-newlywed but no less romantically-inclined mage happens to really, really enjoy the winter season, and thinks it's totally romantic. That particular sentiment is pretty common in the Quarantine - while Hygge is the celebration of familial love, the residents of the Quarantine all agree that that family often includes partners and lovers. Besides that, the folklore of mistletoe as being representative of love and friendship is something that the Quarantine has in common with the universes many residents inhabit.

So, as the last week and a half of December rolls around, residents around the Quarantine will see the result of the resident romantic trying to share a bit of Hygge love - small, glowing sprigs of mistletoe will be floating around the Quarantine, ready to trap people up and make them share a bit of affection. But how does it work?

Two or more characters walking under one of these glowing, floating sprigs will get stuck for one hour, trapped inside an invisible enclosure with an approximate three foot radius. The only options are to either wait out the hour, or to kiss! Characters will know they're meant to kiss, because part of the magic spell is the sudden and intense knowledge that they should kiss in order to break free. There is no compulsion to kiss, just the knowledge that that's how to get free. This time, instead of any kind of kiss working, there will be different types of kisses that will work to release the trapped residents depending on the color of mistleglow:

RED: MOUTH ● ORANGE: NECK ● YELLOW: CHEEK
GREEN: FOREHEAD ● BLUE: HAND ● VIOLET: BUTTERFLY

Trapped residents will not know what kind of kiss will work for each color and may have to experiment before finding the right one.

prompt iv: snowed in

Remember those Hygge Cabins that the City set up all along the banks of the river? Little cabins with enough space for a small kitchen, a table to eat at, and a lounge area in front of a fireplace, meant to be shared in celebration of familial love and found family during Hygge? Well, the sudden onslaught of snow that trapped the Cadets outside the city are also serving to isolate people who are in and around the cabins.

With the river nearby, the heightened humidity in the area of the beaches where the cabins are set up, the snowfall is even heavier than it is throughout the rest of the city. Anyone who's down by the water will find themselves quickly driven out of the open and into one of these cabins, whether it's inhabited or not! Whether these weather refugees are sharing a cabin by choice, after having a lovely dinner together, or unwillingly, in the form of an intruder on someone else's holiday or by being driven into the same cabin with a stranger, they're going to be snowed in for a while!

prompt v: friendr/network

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.

Code to post your character's bio is in the textbox below. An example of how it looks can be found here.

<br><center><table style="width:300px;"><tr style="border-bottom:1px dashed #528887;"><td></td> <td style="padding:20px; padding-bottom:0; width:300px; font:38px Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; color:#c4c4c4; text-align:center; letter-spacing:2px; background-color:#2a2a2a; border-top-right-radius:50px; border-top-left-radius:50px;"><b>Friendr</b></td> <td></td></tr> <tr><td style="font-size:70px; vertical-align:middle; text-align:right; padding:0; color:#528887;">«</td> <td style="background-color:#2a2a2a; padding:20px; padding-top:10px; padding-bottom:0; width:308px;"><img src="IMAGE URL - 300px WIDE OR LESS" style="border-radius:20px;"><br> </td> <td style="font-size:70px; vertical-align:middle; padding:0; color:#528887;">»</td></tr> <tr><td></td> <td style="background-color:#2a2a2a; font:12px arial; text-align:left; padding:10px;"><span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Age:</b> your character's age</span> <span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Seeking:</b> friendship/romantic/anything</span> <span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Preferences:</b> sexual preference or n/a</span> <span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Interests:</b> three interests</span> <span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Bio:</b> 30 words or less</span> </td></tr> <tr><td></td> <td style="text-align:right; font-size:10px; background-color:#2a2a2a;"><font color="#528887">base code by</font> <a href="http://photosynthesis.dreamwidth.org/" style="color:#528887;">photosynthesis</td></tr> <raw-code><tr style="border-bottom:1px dashed #528887;"><td></td> <td style="background-color:#2a2a2a;font:20px Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; color:#c4c4c4; text-align:center;">Character Name</td> <td><td></tr><tr><td></td> <td style="border-bottom-right-radius:50px; border-bottom-left-radius:50px; background-color:#2a2a2a; text-align:center;"><table style="width:100%; font:30px Verdana;"><tr><td style="text-align:left;"> <span style="text-decoration:none; color:#528887;">« ✘</span></td> <td style="text-align:right;"><span style="text-decoration:none; color:#528887;">✔ »</span></td></tr> </table></td> <td></td></table></raw-code></center>
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.

prompt vi: wildcard

Use the wildcard prompt to choose your own adventure and do whatever else you like in the setting!

navigation
[the cabin by Izabela Witkiewicz]

Comments

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki shoots him a dirty look but he comes closer all the same. ]

Really. A gift.

[buildingcastles]

A thank you gift. You want one?

[ Aha. The old techniques really do always come through. Christian reaches into his pocket, fishing around in an overcoat for the mystery prize. ]

Only if you want it.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Wryly. ]

Do you actually have anything in your pocket?

[buildingcastles]

[ And now it's his turn to be offended. ]

Of course.

[ He pulls his hand out of his pocket, fingers closed over his palm. ]

One favor. Won't take more than a minute and then you can move on. And you get my thanks. Not a bad deal, right?

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki highly doubts it. ]

Fine.

[buildingcastles]

Thanks. You're great.

[ And as soon as Loki is within reach, Christian reaches out with his off hand and snags his shirt, pulling him in for a big kiss. It's brief and not fishing for more, but it's not shy either. ]

'Preciate it.

[ And he happily steps outside of the glowing mistletoe's range, keeping a careful eye on where he stands. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki stutters before pulling himself apart with a snarl, eyes flashing. ]

[buildingcastles]

You said you'd help me.

[ You did agree to it, he doesn't say, but implies. Gray eyes meet sharp green impassively. ]

Hold out your hand.

[dothelokimotion]

An explanation would have worked better at the start.

[ Loki cools his anger easily before extending his hand. ]

[buildingcastles]

Explanations just make things more complicated.

[ Because trying to explain his weird life has never really led to that much good. But that's also his own fault, running from trying to explain his unbelievable situation to normal people.

He shrugs and ignores that possibility. Instead, Christian opens his hand, revealing empty air. He holds his palm up and watches as snow falls and gathers in his cupped hand, then raises that to his lips and whistles a few notes. When he tilts his hand over Loki's, a single, unusually large snowflake drops into it. ]

Thanks for bailing me out.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki's expression flickers seeing the snowflake. Christian has no way of knowing what he is, but he is aware that the man is uncanny. ]

It was mutual, regardless.

[buildingcastles]

[ He smiles at that answer. See, Loki isn't so bad. ]

I guess it was. Still, I did promise you a gift. It's a snow drop.

[dothelokimotion]

A snow drop?

[buildingcastles]

Yeah. You plant it in a snowbank and it turns into a flower.

[ That's a good gift, right? ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki squints at Christian to see if he's making this up. ]

Was this formed from your own magic?

[buildingcastles]

What? No, I picked it.

[ What do you think he is, exactly? He can't just make things! ]

It's a seed. You know, it grows on its own.

[dothelokimotion]

[ He blinks. ]

In the snow? Just like that?

[buildingcastles]

Well, not just any snow. It was over there.

[ He turns to gesture toward the river in the direction of the portal. ]

I was on my way over and found it. They're not too common where I'm from. It's a nice gift.

[ Because he feels like Loki is judging his present a bit. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki carefully cradles it in his palm, afraid it might break. ]

That takes a certain amount of skill.

[buildingcastles]

Picking flowers? You just have to know what you're looking for.

[ He smiles again. For all his huffing, Loki seems like a decent sort of guy. Maybe more decent than he wants people to see. ]

Snow drops grow in fresh snow that no human hand has touched. So if you can find a patch of snow no one else has gotten to yet, you might be able to spot a few.

[dothelokimotion]

Perhaps I shall look into it.

[ He wonders how his powers would affect such things like snow drops. It's still a learning exercise for him. ]

[buildingcastles]

You could get some fresh snow and plant it. You might get a seed out of that one.

[ He doesn't ruin Loki's image by saying his interest in the flowers is actually cute, but he's thinking it. And the aloof attitude only makes him more amusing. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ He nods slowly. ]

We shall see.

[buildingcastles]

Do you always do that?

[dothelokimotion]

Do what?