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quaranmeme2018-01-20 07:58 pm
riverview: january 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 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
premise ● arrival ● setting ● ask a question ● calendar ● navigation
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
holy shit barold.............. also friendr because i can't resist
So of course the first time he 'sees' Barry again is when he's idly scrolling through Friendr.
He reluctantly swipes whatever the fuck way you're supposed to swipe, but rather than text Barry, he just sends:]
glad you appreciate fine art
Using voice, because that's what he's used to with Stones of Far Speech, he immediately replies. Although, he hasn't figured out you make a call. Because so far it's been pressing the little mic button and ending a recording. Weird, he thinks, but he could see the up sides. He's excited and happy and so fucking hopeful. ]
Holy shit, Taako!! Are you okay?! Are you both here?
honestly who doesn't
Taako's had a year to get used to this level of technology so as soon as he's listened to that recorded message he actually makes a phone call like a normal person.]
Nah, I'm dead and in fucking hell cause you made me look at a stupid bee with jeans badly edited on. [He can't quite help sounding a little happy and fond despite all that because he loves Barry, even if he'll never admit it out loud.] We're both here, Lup's uh, out right now but - hold up, I'll send you our addres, you can get here easy.
[And ding! There's a text notification with the address for Chez IPRE.]
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Hey, the bee's got style, I don't know what you want from me.
[ Is there an auditory way to give a hug? The big manly kind where you pat the person's back a little too hard? That's what Barry's tone gives off in spades.
He pulls away to look at his phone and clicks the link. He's figured out links and how they open up to a fucking map that travels with you! Back onto the phone and he's immediately walking. ]
Boy these assholes jumped right to the good spells, huh? This ... Phone? Is it a phone? Whatever it is, it fucking narrates god damn directions to me, Taako.
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[Being familiar with both Barry's hugs and his tone of voice in varying situations, Taako can pick up on what he's trying to get across there and it's... he missed it, if he's being honest with himself. More than he really ever expected to when they started on that fucking mission all those years ago.
Maybe that's why he starts idly fussing around the house while he waits, starting a new pot of coffee and starting to gather ingredients for sandwiches for himself and Barry.]
All that kinda shit is tech, not magic, I know a couple dipshits who'd be more than happy to explain the ins and outs of it all, but my expertise is pretty much in taking rad as hell selfies.
[Obviously]
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Barry pauses at the realization of, ]
This is tech?
[ and actually stops walking because his nerdy boner brain could not handle moving legs and processing the sheer joy of that. Only to realize that's not the important thing right now and continue onward and ask ]
What the fuck is a selfie?
[ And finally, the third and most important realization to strike him in less than 10 seconds (well done Taako) ]
How long have you been here?
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[He's fairly sure the last question was the most important, so he kinda breezes past the other ones. At some point GE can show Barry what a selfie is and point him towards Cisco to explain how all the technology here works. But Barry is going to bees to wrap his head around the fact that he could be here for quite a while.
To soften that somewhat troubling piece of information, Taako adds:]
They'll put us back right where we left from, no one's gonna know we were missing at all.
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[ You can probably hear this chubby fellow wrestling with the whole walking there thing by now. And maybe the wheels turning as he processes all this. ]
Damn. Who the fuck are we dealing with here?
[ They've been through a lot of shit. This--... This just. Seems like something fishy is going on. It's rhetorical, though. So he just sighs in a short huff. ]
Anyway, I want full details when I get there. Talk to you soon.
[ Click, hang up, continue walking. It won't take him too long. Even being the nerdy type, he's not totally physically inept. He does make it there and-- knocks? No. No of course he doesn't fucking knock. If Lup is here, this is essentially his place too. The hell are you thinking, Bluejeans. He does open the door and announce himself by calling out. ]
Taako?
[ He's just- going to assume the kitchen. ]
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In here, my man.
[Here's a weird thing: Taako realises that he's a little bit nervous, a feeling that makes zero sense except this is the first time he's known he's about to see someone from home, rather than just running into them during their first few days in the Quarantine. Surprise meant he could glide through that interaction on instinct, but now he has to think about it. Does he go in for a hug? Does he act like this is super normal? He has no idea.
This minor freak out happens internally in the span of about five seconds, before Taako actually sees Barry as he walks into the kitchen and it doesn't matter anymore.
Hug it is, he's just going right for it, but he's also going to say:]
You tell anyone I did this and I will kill you.
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Oh, no, I'm immediately telling Lup.
[ Not really, but he was going to eat this up. Oh speaking of! He def smells that joe a brewin'. The hug is broken as he tries to look over Taako's shoulder to investigate. ]
Please tell me you cooked. I've been eating instant noodles for a few days...
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I have a fucking insane amount of knives, Barry and I'm not afraid to use you as a pincushion.
[Taako isn't really a knife kinda guy, but Rin left more than a few things behind when he... left, and they've sort of just ended up in Taako's room, totally in practical and not at all sentimental way.
Anyway.
He disentangles himself from the hug in order to pat Barry on the cheek, part way between affectionate and condescending.]
Pulled pork and apple slaw sandwiches, technically didn't cook it right this second but it's, you know, better than instant noodles you animal. A hundred years on the Starblaster and you still can't feed yourself, gods.
can i go ahead and add you on plurk? 8>
The pat to his cheek just gets one eye closed and attempting to lean away from it without actually doing so. ]
Uh yeah. Why would I need to learn to cook when I had you two.
[ Duh.
Even saying her name when he thought he was going to be away from her again makes his smile a little wider. Shut up he's totally allowed to still be lovesick after like thirty years!
Anyway, he's going to help himself to some food. Nice size sandwich (noice), cup of coffee with just sugar. Probably no non-dairy creamer if they weren't expecting him. ]
So who else is here?
i was gonna ask u the same thing! def go for it c:
(Of course there's non-dairy creamer, Taako is a dope transmutation wizard who's mostly over the whole Glamorsprings thing.)]
Magnus is here too, he's only been on Fearun a couple years but I, uh, I had some ichor from Junior so we got that solved pretty quick. And Lucretia.
[His relationship with Lucretia is a rollercoaster and right now it's in a dip, judging from the edge in his voice when he says her name.]
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He's in mid sip as Taako explains. His own tone about Lucretia is more kind. ]
Mm! Her I knew about. We shared a dream somehow. It was... weird.
[ He's going to try and not think about how the rest of them aren't here. Jesus, Kravitz wasn't around, huh? Or Merle? No more Fantasy Jimmy Buffett??
A thought strikes him. ]
Wait. A few years into Faerun?
[ The fuuuuuck? ]
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(He may look a tiny bit disappointed for a second, before he smooths it over. He doesn't know how Barry feels about Lucretia, there'd been a selfish, shitty part of him that was hoping he'd have someone else who was as angry as him.
He should've known better than to think that'd be Barry.)
But the surprise at Magnus's time frame is more important.]
Are you shocked cause that's a fucked up time for him to come from or cause you were thinking we're all from the same point? Cause like, Barold, darling, the last shit I did was get the fuck outta Wonderland.
[That's a bit weird, considering he a) knows who Lup is b) isn't surprised to see Barry in a body. But between the ichor and the memory canisters, he's relatively caught up.]
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The.
Fuck. ]
Y'know. I really wish I had a fork to drop on the plate for dramatic effect.
[ It's a sandwich and that would involve moving.
So much easier to focus on humor than what the absolute fuck was going on. He could kinda figure the whole... knowing shit from the ichor thing he mentioned with Magnus. Speaking of. ]
How did you get Junior's ichor?
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Portal gave it to me, we're tight.
[Part of that is untrue, but the ichor did come through the portal.]
Sometimes shit shows up here, not just people and cause they've got that dumb ring around the portal that tells 'em when and where it's pointed, they can find who owns it.
[In the first few months here, Taako had poked around the portal for anything interesting and not come up with much, but still, he tried.]
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[ Contemplative munching? A go. ]
I'm not digging the whole can't go between planes anymore thing. Haven't herd a peep from--
[ Almost mentions the boyfriend who most assuredly hasn't been up to this point. So. Avoiding that awkwardness. ]
Her Majesty, either.
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Sorry, whomst?
[Since when has Barry had any kind of allegiance to royalty? Since when have they even know royalty? Not counting that idiot Sterling who barely even counts as royalty, he's like a lord, that's basically just a normal person who thinks they're important.]
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The fucking Raven Queen...?
[ Unless. Wait. Junior's ichor means he only knows about their lost time. Not about anything else. ]
Shit, wait, you don't know?
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[They might have been able to talk the Raven Queen out of punishing them for transgressions that didn't happen in her reality, but they can't change what they are, and what they are is a fucking abomination. It's a compromise that makes sense to Taako.]
I've got up to defeating the Hunger? And I mean that puh-retty literally. Like, Lucretia did her bubble, we died-but-actually-didn't and then we got back to you thugs and the Hunger was gone, that's it.
[He doesn't know anything past that.]
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[ Family ties. Gotta love 'em.
Now. For the rest of it... ]
Do you want any spoilers? Not a whole lot to tell, really. Though uh. I think you're gonna fucking love it.
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[He needs time to process, the idea of Barry Bluejeans in some bastardized cloak + jeans outfit, next to Kravitz in all his three piece glory. It's a lot.]
Hit me with it, bubbale, I wanna know how it all shakes out.
[They haven't been particularly fussy about spoilers, aside from... Julia. Taako came to a quiet, personal decision not to mention that to Magnus, not to fill him with dread for something he couldn't change.]
i can't remember the exact order of epilogue shit i need to canon review....
You're fucking famous on two planes. Yours and Joaquin's.
[ Next point: ]
Me and Lup are reapers, working with Kravitz. It's a pretty sweet gig, considering. The Raven Queen is Lup's biggest fan.
[ What else... ]
Killian and Carey just got married so that's pretty rad.
they actually all died surprise
[Being famous in one plane is pretty great, being famous in two is dope as hell and he's more than happy to hear that, even if he knows that Junior's whole broadcasting-their-lives thing means that people know a few more details than he'd like them to, considering what was in Lucretia's journals.
Still: it's awesome.]
Oh, shit, did we do the catering? I gotta assume we catered, Carey wouldn't do me like that. [It's a rhetorical question, he knows in his heart that he did the catering.
There's something more important he wants to ask, despite it being slightly awkward] Is, uh, hey, what's the deal with me and Kravtiz? Any updates there?
[It's a complicated situation, for Taako, but he wants to know.]
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i accidentally... deleted this from my inbox..... imsorry
omg how could u.............
i am The Worst™
its true
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