![[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}
quaranmeme2017-12-18 08:58 pm
riverview: december 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 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
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.
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!
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:
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.
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!
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
This was as good a time as any to turn his attention back to the birds. Somehow staring in their soulful eyes felt safer than looking at his own brother. Maybe he was imagining the accusation in his eyes, but… who knows? It isn’t like they’ve been close in a long time.
He crouched down once more, giving one of the nearest porgs a test skritch. Do they like skritches? How does one interact with birds? ]
So… you know it’s been a long time since anyone’s called me that. It’s weird.
no subject
Lyle noticed rather easily that Neil wasn't looking at him. Somehow he wasn't surprised. Considering Neil had been anywhere but with him for years and now he was there. He was probably thinking that Lyle was mad. The problem was, he had stopped being mad years ago. Even before joining Celestial Being. It had served no point to be mad so he'd stopped.
He sighed, still just holding the bird in his hands. It was large enough that he needed both hands for it sit comfortably. It was definitely happy there at least, eyes closed and making vaguely happy sounds. It was making some of the others curious]
Years. But call me crazy, but I don't want to call my brother "Lockon".
no subject
How do you know about that?
no subject
He kept his gaze long enough meet Neil's before looking down at the porg. Yep, definitely going to keep holding this bird now]
Four years after what you can remember, your teammate Setsuna recruited me as the sniper for Celestial Being. So meet the new Lockon Stratos.
[Not the porg he's holding in his hands]
no subject
Setsuna did what?!
[ How did Setsuna find about Lyle? Their personal details weren’t common knowledge. Even after the trauma of his past came out, Lockon still never mentioned he had a living relative to any of the Meisters. It wasn’t relevant.
How did Setsuna find him? Why did they choose him instead of literally any other human being skilled with firearms? Sure, they’d probably need a new sniper. That much made sense. He’s probably never going to be a proper sniper again… But the same codename? That could only mean one thing…
Neil frowned, scooping up the sad little porg before he stood again. ]
They didn’t even bother to give you a different codename. You must’ve hated that.
no subject
[Lyle said nothing else during the inner conflicting bouncing around in Neil's head. He had the porg to distract him. It was cooing softly, snuggled in the warmth of his hands. It probably the happiest little thing he'd seen in a while (and probably the happiest of everyone present). It seemed to be making other jealous because they were gathered, looking up at the one he was holding]
You think? And of course every time someone else walked through the door, they were thinking I was you. It was really annoying.
[He says it with a sarcastic grin, but that's how he hid it. He hadn't stood a chance with most of Celestial Being to be seen as anything but a replacement]
no subject
In the end, Lockon asked what he thought was the most important question. ]
Why did you do it? Why did you agree?
no subject
Now there was a question. He couldn't possibly reveal to his brother, who had died for the cause of Celestial Being, that he had initially joined Celestial Being because the connection would help Katharon. The first thing he had done - after all - was call Katharon to get advice on how to proceed]
Call it curiosity. I just wanted to know.
[Which wasn't completely untrue...]
no subject
Bullshit.
[ There’s unmistakeable anger in his voice. He couldn’t believe anyone would join an organization like Celestial Being out of mere curiosity. Nor would they accept someone who was half-hearted.
He had more to say on the matter, but the shuffle and sounds of the cute little birds distracted him. They also dispelled the momentary flare of his temper. A sigh slipped out and his shoulders slumped a little. He reached over to pet the bird Lyle held and offered a tired smile in apology. ]
You don’t have to tell me the reason.
no subject
Still the suddenness of how quickly Neil from friendly to angry surprised him. At first it was met with surprise, but that quickly turned to anger as well. How dare he judge Lyle’s motives for doing something when he had just up and left with no personal contact for years]
Good because its my reason not yours. Besides, it’s already been done.
[The bird Lyle held was happy at the attention, cooing happily, much to the confusion of its comrades who weren’t getting pets]
Maybe we should go someplace without so many birds.