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quaranmeme2018-04-20 06:40 pm
riverview: april 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 25 Character Slots available.
● Applications are currently open and will close on May 7th at 10:00 pm EST.
● 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
For the past month, the flooding in Riverview has been out of control, and the attacks of strange mutated creatures from the swollen river haven't been helping much. While the water level has stabilized over the past couple of weeks, the river is still way, way out of bounds and keeping a large number of people in relief shelters or put up with volunteer families, causing significant damage to riverside properties, homes, and businesses. While residents have done everything they can to try to correct the situation, from machines and tech to magic and appealing to the River Spirits during the yearly Flower Festival River Spirit Procession, nothing has made any real meaningful difference.
On the 20th, almost a month to the day after the river started swelling out of control, anyone looking at the rushing surface of the water will start to see a strange glow just underneath it, and as the day progresses, glowing white tentacles start to rise from the surface of the water. As the tentacles rise from the surface, members of the Perimeter Guard will be setting up a protective barrier around the area to keep civilians back until they figure out what's up with whatever's in the river.
In the meantime, the presence of the glowing thing is driving the last of the nasty giant mutated crocodiles, carnivorous toads, and other monsters out of the river in droves. While the Perimeter Guard is still holding the line, volunteers are being called for to take out the monsters as they exit the river, menacing the rest of the city. Whether your character is a member of the Guard in training, helping keep the civilians safe from the possible new threat in the river, or a volunteer helping take out the fleeing monsters, their help will be more than welcome.
After a few days of study, Gramarye Magic Research's strongest mages have banded together and found a way to communicate with the glowing presence in the deep, using a wide variety of nature-based magicks from different realms. And what have they learned?
The presence is not just one creature, it is many, and they are awakening from a long, long sleep. Possibly almost as long as there have been people on the moon - it's hard to tell, when the creatures 'speak' so slowly. What the mages have managed to get from them is that it is their awakening and movement that's causing the flooding in the river, a combination of blocking up the river's exit through the fences with their bulk and an overflow of elemental water magic that is causing the river to swell with more water than it can hold. The creatures, who call themselves the 'Guardians of the Deep,' are eventually ruled to be completely benign, and their only request is to be helped on their migration to the sea - a trip that they usually take once a year when they are not in hibernation. The problem is that, since their last migration, the river has become a much more dangerous place, plagued by monsters and clogged with rubble from the Abandoned City.
Any resident with nature magic of any kind and who can communicate with the creatures, who is a fighter or member of the Perimeter Guard, or who has abilities that can help to clear the river of any debris or blockages, is invited to aid in the attempt to escort the Guardians of the deep down the river. Once they reach the delta and waterfalls, their path will be clear and they will be free to explore the ocean until they return to the city in late fall.
ETA: In response to a player question, the Guardians look like very large glowy amoebas.
The Guardians of the Deep are slow-speaking and they are also slow-moving. For a period of at least two weeks, they will be making their way from the center of the city down the river with the current, and as they travel, they'll be having a rather...interesting effect on anyone who is sensitive to their influence. This sensitivity is something a character may be aware of through a strong connection with or love of nature or animals, it may be a spiritual or magical sensitivity, it may be an emotional one, or it might simply be something a character is not aware of until they are affected. However, no matter what a character is or where they come from, they may be susceptible to the aura of the Guardians.
And what does that aura do?
Starting on April 20th and intermittently continuing throughout the next month, any characters with a sensitivity (feel free to make one up that affects your character, or have them be immune as per your choice) will lose an important sense. While sight is the most commonly lost sense, others may lose hearing, taste, touch, smell, or other senses unique to their physiology (whether biological, mechanical, or otherwise). The only relief from this loss is for the character to make direct contact with another character - any other character, in any way, as long as there is no clothing, material, or other matter blocking contact. As soon as contact is broken, the loss will return.
The effect can last for as long or short a time as each player wishes, and affect whatever sense is desired. Reprieve from the effect comes with skin-to-skin (or equivalent) contact with another character, and is not limited to just one other character - it doesn't matter who else is being touched, as long as it's someone.
During this year, there's been an influx of people from a dying reality consisting mostly of living plant people, and they've really taken the Flower Festival as a great opportunity to introduce one of their most honored traditions to the people of their new adopted world. The tradition involves sharing various types of flowers with strangers, with each type of flower having a different meaning and effect on both the giver and receiver - the bond of the exchange can spark emotion as well as physical responses that function in a unique way that affects almost everyone that participates, whether animal, plant, or even android.
Some of the flowers have been used up, but a few types still remain. Any characters exchanging the flowers with other characters, whether friends or strangers, will experience emotional/psychological effects, physical effects, or both once the exchange is complete. Effects can last for as short or long a time as the players involved want, and are as follows:
● Baby Blue Eyes - Trust/Healing the Inner Child
Emotional Effect: Either an inexplicable trust in the person the flower was exchanged with, or a generalized paranoia.
Physical Effect: De-aging. Characters can become a younger version of themselves, physically, mentally, or both. Whether or not their normal selves are of age, de-aged characters may not participate in adult prompts unless they're de-aged to something above 18.
● Rose - Friendship/Beauty
Emotional Effect: Openness and a desire to make new friends, or excessive competitiveness.
Physical Effect: A temporary glamor that makes both participants in the exchange appear as the most beautiful possible version of themselves, and improves their charisma.
● Valerian: - Relaxation/Heart-Opening
Emotional Effect: A near-complete erasure of anxiety and stress, or a dramatic inexplicable increase in it.
Physical Effect: Forced honesty. Both affected characters become incapable of lying. Whether they're compelled to blurt the truth or if they can keep their mouths shut or talk around the truth is up to player discretion.
[Flower meanings used in this prompt come from this site.]
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!
iii ♡
(Somebody is watching them, and it's Lucretia! She'd heard the sound of the watermelon hitting the ground from where she'd been weighing up oranges in her palm, and turned to investigate: a young person, standing there, holding wet shards of jagged fruit.)
Are you alright? (She asks, unaware of their recent affliction.)
no subject
I feel healthy, but I can't find the fruit. Could you help me, kind stranger?
[Most of the watermelon, meanwhile, has sort of slid and wedged itself beneath the bottom of the fruit stall. Their reaching hands can't locate it.]
I think it's been ruined. I should submit a formal apology and donation to the owner of this store, but that may be difficult while my eyeballs have stopped working.
[That's definitely the obvious next course of action, here.]
no subject
There you are.
(All better. Lucretia fishes in her jacket pocket for her card and turns to the vendor, who has been watching the pair of them this entire time without saying a word, and pays for the watermelon.) And don't worry, I have the watermelon covered.
What... has happened to your eyes? (That's the bit she's a confused about.)
no subject
You have an incredible grasp on your Nature. Thank you. That was very kind.
[Order, maybe? Order seems like an apt description of their apparent savior, a strong guess at the person's Nature.]
I can't say what happened to my eyes. It was blurry for a second, and then...
[They rub at an eye a little, blinking forward, trying in vain to restore their sight. Nothing seems to bring back even a little of their vision.]
What causes blindness? I'm unfamiliar with medicine.
no subject
Oh, but their description of what happened to their sight is familiar to her! Lucretia actually hums, curious and excited to find she knows the answer to this. She's not aware that The Tetherer is still new to the Quarantine, so some of this may go over their head in her haste to explain.)
I can answer that, actually! I work at Gramarye, and we've recently made contact with life forms we actually didn't know existed until now. They're self-titled Guardians; they've always been here, but dormant, sleeping under the rivers. As they complete migration, they output a lot of powerful elemental magic, and it seems to be directly affecting those more sensitive to nature magic.
no subject
More powerful Natures can be written off as magic. The most powerful, that of the gods like the Tetherer, are indistinguishable from magic to an outside observer.
To the Tetherer, Natures are simply a truth of the world, not magic at all. Magic is real on some worlds in the Natures Universe, but Natures aren't magic.]
I must be at a disadvantage against the Guardians, then. I am of the three Gods of the Natures, the Tetherer. I suppose that would make me sensitive to their abilities.
[They pause for a moment to think. If they're distressed, they seem to be keeping it inside. But they're certainly not smiling.]
Could you please point me in the direction of the communal housing, or perhaps a guard who can walk me there?
[They reach out a hand, unsure what they're intending to do by doing so, but they need to ground themself without the ability to see what's around them.
They'd never share this with a stranger, especially one they've shared their status with, but the thought that something so limiting can seek out those close to their Natures like the Tetherer is terrifying. The simple act of being blinded so suddenly is terrifying enough, regardless. But they have an image to project.]
no subject
It's highly likely, yes. We, uh– we're not entirely sure how long you will be inconvenienced by this, but we do know that...
(Well. It will be easier to show them. Lucretia pauses for a beat, then reaches out to touch her fingertips lightly to the back of the Tetherer's hand. When their sight is restored to them, the first thing they will see is Lucretia's slightly sheepish expression.)
no subject
Is this your Nature? [they ask, awe in their voice.
They've never felt so grateful to be able to do something as simple as see, but it's true that they've taken such things for granted. They study her face intently, memorizing it just in case it goes away again.]
no subject
Uh, no, it's– we've been investigating the magic behind it and it turns out physical touch overrides the symptoms for... for whatever reason.
no subject
Not that they distrust her. They take note, though, of her discomfort, and loosen their grip on her fingers, remember their training. To resist the Nature just as you indulge in it. It's a balance. Tethering brings people together, but lean too close and it can be a detriment.]
Magic can be strange. I have little experience with it.
I can't ask you to touch my hand forever, not when we've just met. But then, I'm unfamiliar with everyone in the Quarantine.
[Something they both relish and resent. It would be nice to have the Separator here, to have June here, but both come with their share of problems. The Separator alternately worships the ground they walk on and resents them for their recent admission of doubt in their respective roles. June hardly has a finger in her role as Destroyer yet.
It's refreshing to start from nothing. To not have to be a god. But it's lonely.]
no subject
(Her discomfort ebbs slightly when the stranger loosens their grip, allows her to wiggle her fingers momentarily. It's the only way they're able to see, she reminds herself, and tries to ignore it.)
About the magic, I mean– have you... just arrived? (Well, that uh. That makes this even trickier, because now there's no way Lucretia can gently bring them to somebody who wouldn't be remiss to hold their hand for the day. They don't have anybody like that. She's hardly one to leave somebody who requires help, either... she exhales shortly, resists the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration.)
It... wouldn't be forever, (she says, reluctantly,) we're working on a cure, though I don't know how long it will be.
no subject
[They pause to consider the thought of being effectively blind for an indeterminate amount of time. It's not a happy thought.]
You don't need to hold my hand for too long. If you or someone else could just walk with me back to where I'm staying, I can trust I'll be safe to deal with it there.
no subject
I would say welcome, but I can't imagine this feels particularly welcoming.
(She indicates their hands with a wry smile.)
Anyway; I'm more than happy to walk you to where ever you need to be. I'm– my name is Lucretia.
no subject
[The blindness they could do without, but honestly, the rest of it is great.]
Thank you. It's a little different here, without people waiting on me at every turn, so I recognize my imposition here.
no subject
Uh, I can only imagine.
Whereabouts are you staying?
no subject
In the community housing, floor 12. I've only just arrived, so that's where they assigned me housing. It's not a dissimilar system than refugee services where I'm from.
no subject
(The moment she arrived she had run into Taako, after all, and he had immediately offered her a place to stay at his house. Lucretia gets a unfathomable, far-away look on her face then even as they start to walk. She misses that stupid house.)
no subject
[The Tetherer thought everyone at least started out in community housing, though...]
You must have had a friend already here, then? If you've never been to the assigned housing.
no subject
(She loves how green the buildings are around here and in that regard, the community housing is just about impossible to miss.)
Yes, I went to live with him the moment I arrived so I missed that whole... uh, experience. What's it like?
no subject
Well, I live on a communal floor, so I have many roommates. It can be difficult to sleep with so many others in the same room, I've found. I lived in the Capitol Tower with others in the Nexus, but I had my own private quarters, so it takes some getting used to.
I appreciate the experience, though.
no subject
('Sounds awful' is what she very clearly means.) Hopefully you can get back private quarters once you've been here a little while. Are you working?
no subject
[Or at least, a similar situation.]
Ah, yes. I'm to start working as a... "barista"? I looked it up and apparently it's a coffee shop worker.
no subject
(It's tough, having this all happen at once. Lucretia found people she knew and a place to stay right away... she'd been very lucky in that regard.)
Terrific. In that case, let me know the name of your shop, and I'll be sure to visit you.
no subject
[It's pretty obvious they're not quite used to having roommates just yet. They've barely met their housemates. They all seem so much more used to the situation than the Tetherer does.]
It's simply called The Coffee Shop. I'd love to see you there, provided I can... see.
no subject
(She can understand that situation is probably difficult. Hard to talk about too, if they're still so new to everything.)
Gramarye are working on a cure; you really shouldn't be inconvenienced for too too long... would you like to give me your network name? I could always call you with more information if we get any.
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