riverviewmod: (Default)
Riverview Moderator ([personal profile] riverviewmod) wrote in [community profile] quaranmeme2018-01-20 07:58 pm

riverview: january test drive meme

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 2 Character Slots available.
Reserves will open on February 15th. Applications will next be open between March 1st to March 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

premisearrivalsettingask a questioncalendarnavigation


prompt i: behemoth herders

Starting around the 20th, residents of the city will start hearing some pretty disturbing rumors circulating - the rumors originate with some members of the Perimeter Guard who are returning from patrols, pale and a little panicked. They're reporting that a herd of terrifying beetle-like behemoth monsters lumbering toward the city - one female leader clocking in at 60 feet long and about 20 smaller male companions, each around 30 feet long. Unlike the Behemoth who showed up earlier in the year, these ones are nasty, sporting horns and big enough to knock over trees and displace even the bigger monsters in the usual crowd, and they've already breached through the wall of the Abandoned City and are heading toward the city itself. A herd like this could cause some serious damage, maybe even enough to compromise the wall of the Inhabited City. Thankfully, the Perimeter Guard has a nice big ace up their sleeves in the form of a small fleet of mechs, but the problem is that the mech are still in beta-testing, prone to breaking down, and there aren't enough to go around. This means that there's going to have to be some serious support on the ground.

The attack on the behemoth beetles is two-fold. The first order of business is to send out anyone with big powers or big guns to wear them down, beating on them the old-fashioned way, with brute force. The second is to circle around behind and, while the monsters are distracted, try to herd them away from the city using bright flares, fireworks left over from the Festival of Light, and even more big guns. Volunteers to do the shooting and supplying the brave souls going out into the jungle are welcome!


prompt ii: drift compatible

What do you use to fight a giant monster? A giant mech. And thankfully the Perimeter Guard has been working on something just like that - a new fleet of 20 three-story-tall mech suits meant to be manned by two people. With the behemoth herd approaching, the Guard is calling for anyone with piloting experience, or even people willing to take a quick course in it, to help man the fleet and head out into the fray, stomping through the brush and fighting the behemoths either in the Abandoned City or the jungle outside it. The goal is to take them out, take them down, or at least help the ground teams herd them away from the city and discourage them from returning.

Mechs are piloted by two people working together - while it's not exactly drift compatibility, the two characters need to act together, with one directing where the mech goes and keeping an eye on the terrain, and the other one manning the guns and keeping an eye on the mech's defenses and energy and ammunition levels. This takes a lot of concentration and cooperation, and this day is bound to forge a lot of new friendships....and probably a few mortal enemies. On top of the difficulty of working with someone who may be a total stranger, don't forget the mechs are in beta-testing and are only being used as a last resort, which means they have a bad tendency to break down in unexpected ways.

Each mech is fitted with two large canon-style guns that can be semi-automatic or automatic with a limited amount of ammunition, one plasma sword, and a force shield that can take four serious hits before it is depleted. They have a finite amount of energy storage and are able to be in continuous use for 3 hours maximum before shutting down. Out of the fleet of 20 mechs, the mod only expects about 5 to still be functional at the end of the battle, so feel free to have characters destroy them in threads. If any player (once accepted to the game) is interested in having their character take over the mechs as a project going forward, feel free to PM the mod account and we can talk it out!


prompt iii: the crystal caves

Once the city is safe enough that it isn't in poor taste to advertise fun outings, residents will start seeing ads for a new attraction in the city - the Crystal Caves. Presented as an excellent date spot, the caves are beautiful natural formations only recently discovered just a short walk outside the city. With the path cleared and patrolled by hired security to ensure that the trip there is safe, happy couples (or singles, but why go alone when you can bring a special friend or two?) can walk through the caves.

Inside, characters will enjoy a short walk along a twisty cave path where the walls appear to be made of semi-opaque crystal that shimmers with different colors, looking almost a little like the Northern Lights. After this path, the caves open into a series of beautiful caverns that seem to be made of pure crystal, with jagged crystalline formations in wide varieties of colors, some of which look almost like they've been slowly melting for decades, molten and shimmering. Visitors can find booths offering rock candy crystals on sticks and other treats, souvenirs, and for those without as much exploratory spirit or patience, guided tours that point out some of the more beautiful formations. There are also a few smaller caverns that have been converted into overnight camps where groups can stay the night and enjoy a catered group breakfast in the morning!


prompt iv: dream a little dream

If there's one trait that entrepreneurs in Riverview Quarantine all seem to have in common, it's jumping the gun and opening attractions or releasing new products before taking the time to conduct enough tests. The Crystal Caves are no different, unfortunately, though in this case the effects are a little less distressing. Residents who traveled to the caves will find themselves tossing and turning at night anywhere from a few days later to a week later, depending on their mental fortitude, and slipping into incredibly strange dreams. Varying from wild flights of exhilarating fancy to personalized nightmares depending on the personality of the dreamer, the dreams are incredibly vivid and realistic, with everything feeling, smelling, sounding, tasting, and looking completely real.

The strangest part of the dreams, though, is that anyone who'd looked at the same particular crystal as another person and seen their reflections in it will experience the dream with that person as an equal participant, able to share the same dream-granted abilities and experiences, able to work together as a team or hinder progress. Whether that person was a partner, a friend, an enemy, or even just a stranger observing the same formation at the same time, if their reflections appeared on a crystal together, they will find themselves sharing each other's dreams off and on for about a week. Some dreamers might even find that just thinking about a particular person they know as they fall asleep can pull that person into their dream, even if they weren't in the caves together.

This effect can be shared between just two people or larger groups, and the dreams themselves can belong to any character affected or be a combination of all of their dreams. The dreams themselves tend toward the positive more than the negative and the fanciful more than the realistic, but where they fall on that spectrum depends largely on character temperament and personality. Characters affected simply have to have looked at the same crystal in the caves, even if it was on a different day or at a different time, or for characters who would not have gone to the caves, be thought of by a person who has while they fall asleep.


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.


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

[crystal cave by Piotr Dura]
fhux: (23.)

[personal profile] fhux 2018-01-26 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Stiffening when Ren barrels over like a dark cloud on a stormy horizon (nothing good can come from his close proximity) Hux startles when pinched. Pinched! Without considering that a saber may slice off his hand, he smacks away Ren's offending wrist and scowls haughtily. ]

Don't touch me, Supreme Leader.

[ Smashed into a console? Fine. Force-choked? Less so, but predictably violent all the same. Descending into pinching? He has some degree of dignity to cling to and it doesn't involve letting Ren manhandle him on a tepid basis. ]
killthepast: UNMASKED; TROS (019)

[personal profile] killthepast 2018-01-26 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He looks down at Hux's hand, and in a heartbeat, he's making a sweeping gesture to knock the genera back with the Force and, indeed, smash him against the nearest console.

Except, this being a dream-- this being Hux's dream-- it doesn't work, and he's left with an immeasurable sense of impotent frustration. ]


Then wake up already!
fhux: (16.)

[personal profile] fhux 2018-01-26 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[ That's fucking hilarious. Minus Hux's reflexive flinch, of course.]

Careful, Ren. [ Singsong, smug. Too much, thrilling in the lack of power afforded to the other man. The last time Hux issued that warning he was intimidated by the reply, yet what is there to fear here? ] I may awaken yet you might not. Trapped here without your precious Force, I wonder if you would finally learn anything of value.

[ He wouldn't want Ren locked in his mind, yet the threat is quite a heavy one. ]
killthepast: UNMASKED; TROS (017)

[personal profile] killthepast 2018-01-26 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ren underestimates Hux. It's true. He assumes the general's not half as sharp as he really is, that-- in the real world-- he's no threat to Ren at all.

That's all true, that it's one of Ren's blindspots.

But Hux underestimates him, too. People who assume he's nothing more than a spoiled child with no skills beyond the Force, who mistake his lack of emotional discipline for a lack of discipline overall... It's to their own detriment.

Physically, he's still a force (heh) to be reckoned with. And so, as Hux's smug smirking and his snide threats have the knight seeing red, Ren lashes out quickly to strike at the general's face with his fist. And then he tries to yank the other man to him, to pull him into a hold, intending to get an arm locked around Hux's throat. ]
fhux: (29.)

[personal profile] fhux 2018-01-26 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ His head rocks back when knuckles connect, dizzying him into a stumble that proves to his detriment as meaty hands wrench him in and an elbow ruffles his hair the wrong way. No, he thinks, using the pain in his nose as a catalyst for action. Hux snatches up to make a fist in long non-regulation curls and yanks hard, letting his weight suddenly go limp to try and drag Ren down with him.

He may not have Ren's heft or muscle but long before training with the First Order, no one at the Arkanis Academy enjoyed scrapping with little Armitage and his sharp nails. There is no such thing as fighting dirty if you win. ]
killthepast: UNMASKED; TROS (180)

[personal profile] killthepast 2018-01-26 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It does the trick of tipping Ren off-balance and sending him down with Hux, sharp pain flaring in his scalp. Though he's trained extensively with the Knights of Ren, excelling in close-quarters combat, there's one thing he hadn't factored into this impulsive fight:

He's missing an entire sense. The Force is so much more than magic tricks or displays of brute strength. It's a part of him at every level, part of his sight and his hearing and without it, he's impaired.

But he can push through it. This isn't real, even if the tug on his scalp and the body he's grappling with and the hard floor beneath them all feel real. Though he loses his grip on Hux, he tries his damnedest to catch the other man sharply with his elbow, snarling like a wild beast.

Let go of his hair!! ]
fhux: (23.)

[personal profile] fhux 2018-01-26 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Going down like a pair of bricks on a metal floor certainly feels real in a way the ostentatious emperor's parade didn't, probably because the ship actually exists and is easily remembered. Also because Hux has experience in being introduced to the ground, face-first ...

He tugs on Ren's mop of hair to try and get him to expose his neck, then reaches up to rake his nails along the unseemly scar that slashes its way from brow to throat and beyond, the latter out of danger under his tunic but the rest literally up for grabs. Hux snarls, bootheels kicking as high as possible. This would never happen on the actual Finalizer for a host of reasons, so there is some cathartic pleasure to be drawn from trying to beat Ren's thick head in where the lack of the Force paints them as equals in strength.

Almost. Ren is, unfortunately, so much bigger like a wolf assaulted by a fox. The fox isn't holding back, isn't thinking of how this will play out in reality once he wakes up and his frenemy is back to wielding sorcery; he just wants to see Ren bleed and be the cause of it. Just once. It doesn't have to be real when the memory would be sweet enough in itself. ]
Edited 2018-01-26 22:27 (UTC)
killthepast: UNMASKED; TROS (113)

[personal profile] killthepast 2018-01-27 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ His training taught him much about endurance, how to suppress any instinctual urge to avoid pain and instead draw strength from it. No, he can't use the agony that erupts from his face down to his jaw to fuel his connection to the Dark Side, but it is motivating, if nothing else. His ensuing rage ignites enough fire in him to twist his head-- the pain in his scalp little more than a nuisance now, despite the general's hold on it-- and clamp his teeth down on Hux's hand as it tries to claw its way down as much as Ren's tunic will allow.

That's right, he just resorted to biting. Hux isn't the only one who can fight dirty. And like the general, Ren intends to draw blood, even if he has to use his teeth to do it. ]
fhux: (20.)

[personal profile] fhux 2018-01-27 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Startled by being bitten, he sits up to straddle Ren and keep him pinned as Hux aims a backhanded fist at the bastard's face in an attempt to make him let go. Who fucking bites people? ]

Stop, Ren, stop!
killthepast: UNMASKED; TROS (142)

[personal profile] killthepast 2018-01-27 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ SEMI-FERAL DARKSIDE USERS BITE PEOPLE, THAT'S WHO.

He does let go when Hux backhands him, though that's only so that he can attempt to sit up and get Hux off of him. The only thing that calms him, even a little, is Hux telling him to stop.

Which Ren is, of course, taking as a sign of Hux's surrender.

But he does stop. He looks up at Hux, breathing harshly, teeth practically bared in a snarl, before he speaks up again. ]


Get off of me.
fhux: (42.)

[personal profile] fhux 2018-01-27 09:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It may seem as though Hux is climbing off but he only shifts position to dig a bent knee into Ren's chest. Snatch his jaw with an iron grip, fingers safely out the way of those gnashers.

Panting hard and fast, Hux seethes. ]


You could only ever dream of breaking me.

[ The mindscape begins to dissolve like fog around them, Hux's grip slackening as his shoulders slump. ]