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riverview: july 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 62 Character Slots available.
● Reserves are currently CLOSED and will open on August 15th. Applications are currently CLOSED and will open on September 1st 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 ● exploration progress report ● ask a question ● calendar ● navigation

It's definitely not unusual to hear strange things from the jungle north of the city - the stomping and crashing of massive creatures, the mating calls of smaller animals, the sounds of nature at its most deadly and most alive outside the safety of the city's walls. But for the past few days, and continuing on into the month from July 20th, there's a new sound that's rising in intensity and volume over the others. At first, it is a soft, plaintive whimpering noise, the sound of a person or animal in distress, that comes on the evening breeze and echoes with the sound of rustling leaves in the trees.
As the week goes on, though, the sound gets louder, more prevailing, filling the air with the sound of whimpers and cries of distress that would drive even some of the least empathetic people to want to help - or at least just shut it up! It doesn't take much time or effort for the Guard to start recruiting people both from inside its' ranks and outside them, calling upon anyone who is capable of doing so to form troupes or teams to head out into the jungle to search for the source.
The jungle is dangerous, and full of wild beasts, and at this time of year, just following the rainy spring season, there's bound to be a few sinkholes and quicksand pits as well, hidden between the trees and behind decomposing logs. But the further into the jungle that explorers go, the louder the sound becomes, until it becomes all-encompassing, a humming cry that drowns out everything else as teams reach the source...
As the noise reaches its fever pitch, the exploring teams enter a small clearing in the jungle, and the sound stops, silence falling for just a moment before it's replaced by the oddly peaceful sound of leaves rustling in the wind, birdsong, and the soft whuffs of animals breathing.
In the center of the clearing, draped with vines and covered in moss and leaves, sits an out-of-place piece of the modern world, a three-storey-tall creation that's set up like an installation, but which obviously has four large, thick legs. It's made to move. For all that it's obviously not a natural part of the scene, it seems to blend in strangely well, especially since it's covered in not only foliage, but perching birds, lizards, sugar gliders, bats, monkeys, and all sorts of other creatures. Across the side of the machine is painted a code: 5561A-T4M3R.
With a bit of fiddling, exploration teams will find that it's possible to open up a holographic display that allows them to turn off the whimpering noise and get the machine up and moving, and after a check-in with the home base, the orders are clear - escort the T4M3R back to the Inhabited City for study. It won't be easy, because the T4M3R is very large, and the noise it will make attracts monsters, and all the dangers that explorers faced on the way out will be that much harder to avoid with the giant mech in tow.
The T4M3R isn't the only thing that came back to the Inhabited City with the exploration teams - the whole way, the mech has been trailed by a massive flock of little rodents that look much like sugar gliders but in a wide variety of colors from regular old brown and gray to blue, purple, red, pink, and just about any other color you can imagine. At first, they're annoying and just mildly threatening, gliding from tree to tree, chittering away with bright little voices in a massive storm that could easily cause some serious problems for the teams of explorers and the city residents if they took a turn for the feral. But as time goes on it becomes obvious that they have nothing bad in mind. In fact, they just seem drawn to the T4M3R.
And they stay that way.
Even as the old mech is taken to a bunker in the Perimeter Guard paddocks to be studied and examined, the sugar gliders hang around for a while, as if waiting for their robotic friend to return. Slowly, though, they disperse, abandoning the Perimeter Guard area, and spreading throughout the city, jumping down from buildings and landing on unsuspecting residents' heads - still doing no damage. In fact, some of them seem to be getting attached to certain people, following them home and chittering at their windows and doors begging for food.
After a couple of weeks of study, the reason ends up announced on screens and flyers throughout the City - the T4M3R is a discontinued project, put on the back burner when the city's resources had to be redirected to taking care of the epidemic. It is a device that emanates a particular sound wave frequency that is intended to tame animals, an attempt at a non-violent solution to the problem of monsters outside the wall. And while the project was never entirely successful, it did have some small measure of success this month.
Sugar gliders in all colors of the rainbow are now permanently tamed, and available as common pets for any resident of the city to adopt without any cost in Activity Points. Welcome your new flying friends, Quarantine!

What are the odds? Of course the portal is next to impossible to steer to the worlds of people who want to go home, but on the early morning of July 20th, it opens to a world that may be familiar to long-term residents of the Quarantine.
Drawn by the warmth of the rising sun, a massive swarm of rainbow-colored fireflies once again emerges from the portal into the quarantine. Unlike regular fireflies, though, they are bright enough to glow even during the day, and these bugs have bite! While generally harmless aside from stinging a little, the bite of the rainbow fireflies causes certain kinds of emotional response to become heightened, depending on the color of the firefly in question. While scientists have had a chance to study these bugs, they still have no idea why the bites do what they do - they can cause this effect in any kind of sentient creature that is capable of emotion, including androids and characters that are usually unaffected by substances. The effects on emotions are as follows:
● RED: Lust/Anger ● ORANGE: Honesty/Openness |
● YELLOW: Fear/Anxiety ● GREEN: Jealousy/Envy |
● BLUE: Sadness/Grief ● VIOLET: Love/Affection |
When a character is bitten, the effects on their emotions can last anywhere from an hour to a week, depending on the character's psychology and resistance to certain emotions - for example, if a character has a hard time dealing with their grief, the effect of a blue firefly may last longer than other colors. How the characters manifest the heightened emotional response or sensitivity is up to the individual player, as different body chemistry or other circumstances might change how characters are affected. Red firefly bites have a 50/50 chance of affecting a character with lust or anger, though characters who have not reached sexual maturity (underage characters) won't get get the lust effect. Effects of the fireflies can layer, so characters can be affected by more than one firefly at the same time.
PLEASE NOTE: Red fireflies with the lust effect don't make characters incapable of controlling themselves or strip their inhibitions, they just heighten feelings of arousal or desire.
Firefly effects can be easily avoided simply by avoiding the fireflies. It won't take long for some of the geniuses in the Quarantine to start making and distributing firefly repellent (this batch has become immune to the repellent that was created last year), and characters can expect sales of mosquito tents to skyrocket.
These alien fireflies have a lifespan of around a month, and they are unable to procreate outside their native environment, which means the last of them will be dying off around AUGUST 20th.
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!
gabby kinney | marvel 616
[ distress! animals! all things gabby is heavily invested in. though she wished jonathan was here to help her with this mission. or laura. mostly so laura can tell her if she needs to hold back or not. that's still a problem with gabby. so when the animals came out to attack her, she decided the best thing to do was ignore them. it's not like they could do anything to her.
which is why she's trying to shake this large snake that's currently wrapped around her arm and cracking her bones (which heal quickly anyway) out of irritation than actual pain. ]
Look, Mr. Snake. You don't like this. I don't like this. Why don't we call it a day?
[ ii. wake up. ]
[ what is she supposed to do with this? gabby walks around it, looking it over from every angle and — nope, not a clue.
so she unsheathes her bone claw with a quiet snikt! and looks over whoever is nearby. ]
Is it okay if I stab it?
[ iii. the swarm ]
[ gabby was in heaven. all these cute animals! and they're here for her (clearly). so what was she going to do about it?
make her own sugar glider army. she puts them in rows and marches up and down, nodding her head seriously. ]
Listen up soldiers! From now on, you are part of the Honey Badger army! What I say goes and I say, uhhh . . .
[ she trails off, at a loss. maybe she didn't think this through. but an idea pops in her head. ]
You have to give one hug to every stranger! And maybe steal their food.
[ #nailedit ]
[ iv. friender ]
» Seeking: People who will do illegal things for friendship.
» Preferences: 🙀👏🙊
» Interests: animals, princesses, braiding hair
» Bio: Hi, I'm Gabby! I'm a clone. I have a sister and a pet wolverine. I'm tough but I also like to bond with other people. Just don't treat me like I'm dumb.
i.
Do you want me to cut him off? Or are you trying to be nice?
[Laura'd kill it, but y'know. She seems eager not to.]
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ii
[The most excellent teammate commentary.]
What you think you're gonna do? Thing's as big as an escape pod.
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iv.
after that, he doesn't have clue one about how to use Friendr. so uh.
you've been swiped? by a dude with white, curly hair and sunglasses? who says he's a Time Lord? do what you will.]
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iv
Gabby! Dude, how've you been? Is Jonathan with you? How's the little guy doing?
omg squirrel girl!
Re: omg squirrel girl!
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nita callahan, young wizards.
✦ ii. wake up!
✦ iv. rainbow bite — effect: honesty
✦ wildcard
well hello, Nita. Wildcard?
Oh! It's you.
i love every niche thing in this book series
my Five had a Dairine companion years ago, so much <3
eve polastri (killing eve)
04 - you would not believe your eyes (orange+blue)
05 - friendr
» Seeking: Information, answers, and a huge glass of wine.
» Preferences: Serial killers. Kidding. I'm married.
» Interests: Research, sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. Uh... yoga?
» Bio: I said trouble wasn't interested in me, but turns out I was wrong. Hate it when that happens.
[ 03 ]
Shoo! Shoo!
[ suitably cowed, the sugar gliders start flying away and gabby retracts her claw. ]
Are you okay?
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04
After the initial shock, they hurry over to her, hands hovering before them in the classic "I have no idea how to help but I really wish I could" gesture.]
Are you okay? What happened?
csevet aisava ✒ the goblin emperor
v
... but what else is he supposed to do with this thing? all he ever heard from Bill or Clara was that the swiping was A Thing. so he'll probably just ... stare dumbly at the app for a moment]
Apps. Mmf.
iv. (red)
Looks like you have more than a walk in mind.
[His voice isn't suggestive, only stating the obvious. There's one thing that has him confused, though.]
You said "we," but I only see one of you.
Sorry this is so late! I got wrapped up doing my app but I'd still love this CR.
No worries, I’d also still love this CR! / also cw: mentions of sexual themes + harrassment
also cw: mentions of sexual harassment
I just noticed these two are in the same communal housing
yes good.
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Yondu Udonta | GotG
[Yondu is not amused. At all. He's surrounded by stray sugar gliders that for some reason seem to think that the Centaurian is their new food giver. Or fancy perch. He's not sure which it is, but he's not taking either option very well. So now there's a blue man with a bright red crested fin on his head, waving his arms in the streets in a desperate attempt to scare away a cluster of rainbow colored friends.]
Gah! You cut that out right now! Go on! Get!
[All he really manages to do is shake a green glider off of his elbow and have it relocate by running up his leg to the shoulder on his other side.]
What the devil-?! This planet's full of little colored rat bastards!
[He smacks at a few more with the same amount of success before licking his lips and apparently getting serious.]
That's it. You asked for it.
[ooc: Feel free to wildcard me with anything.]
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As a kid, Peter definitely believed in aliens. He also believed in strange creatures lurking in the woods, in monsters creeping in the shadows, and things that generally went bump in the night. He was young and impressionable and saw way to many horror movies under his grandfather’s watch. And to Peter’s credit, when he was eight years old, he realized a handful of those beliefs turned out to be true. But you know what he didn’t and doesn’t believe in?
Ghosts.
Which is why what Peter’s currently seeing has him questioning a lot of fucking shit right now.
It’s not until Yondu straightens and adopts that way too familiar posture (kill mode) that Peter finally spurs himself to action. He darts forward and snatches at least one of the sugar gliders from Yondu’s shoulder – a little dude with bright red fur – before he can sic his arrow on them. ]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey! What the hell are you doing?
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hello fellow grumpy space person
Need a hand? I think I can find a frequency that'll discourage them...
hello!
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So, hopefully Yondu won't freak out when a dinosaur roughly the same height as him trots over and snatches two of the sugar gliders out of the air, and swallows them whole in a motion similar to a seagull. They're barely down her throat before she's watching him expectantly, waiting to be thrown another one.]
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April Ludgate | Parks & Rec
[If there's anything April actually gives a crap about, it's animals. At first she's not sure if the sound is human - in which case, good - or what. As time wears on and whatever it is gets louder and louder, she finds herself getting roped into the search party. It's not like there's much else to do.
Holding her hands over her ears dramatically, she glares straight ahead at down the path.]
ARE WE THERE YET? God, make it stop.
[She wants to help, really. She swears. She's just going to be miserable in the mean time. If only Andy was there, everything would be so much less awful.]
iii:
[Some people seem to be annoyed with the gliders, but April has practically gathered a swarm of her own. There's at least a half dozen that have figured out she's a sucker for feeding them regularly, and more seem to show up at random as word gets around. It's cool, kind of like her own little army of relatively harmless rodents. Harmless until she teaches them to crave human blood, that is...]
v:
» Seeking: Frenemies
» Preferences: My husband
» Interests: Animals, the occult, games that turn people against each other, Government but don't tell Leslie
» Bio: I'm a very rich widow with a terrible secret.
i but that friendr omg perfect
[he's just as annoyed by it as the rest of them, but people whinging about it isn't going to make it go away, so the Doctor just gives her a flat, deadpan look that she usually just sees in the mirror]
So, for the record? On both counts: No.
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Shouto Todoroki | My Hero Academia | OTA
[Todoroki hasn't been in the quarantine for very long, but he's already going on missions. he heard that doing that was a good way to see the jungle, safely, with others around to help if you get into trouble. well, the scarred teen doesn't think he will get into trouble. he has his Quirk still.
the team has come across T4M3R, now, and the people have been told to escort it back to the city. that's fine. as long as the whimpering stops. Todoroki is able to create thick walls of ice to block dangerous animals from getting into the team's path. he'll use his fire if he needs to, but this place is a jungle, and he probably should only use that part of his Quirk sparingly. right?]
II) enjoying the scenery
[following the exploration team has proven that Todoroki can handle himself. at least, he thinks he can. now with a blue critter riding on his shoulder, he takes to the streets of the city to familiarize himself with the layout. Riverview is quite massive, larger than he'd anticipated. it's kind of cool, though he's not certain if he wants to stay yet. he offers the sugar glider a piece of fruit that he gets from a stall selling exotic-looking produce. what kind of fruit is it? he has no idea. the man told him it was fruit. the blue sugar glider is eating it, so he tries it, too, and finds the flavor to be luscious, almost like a mango.
he's going along into the evening, minding his own business, when something stings the back of his neck. Todoroki slaps his hand over the wounded area, watching as the firefly darts away unharmed. now, that's an interesting color. he's never seen a firefly look like that before. it's beautiful, but also weird. as of now, he isn't feeling the effects of the sting yet]
III) friendr/network
» Seeking: heroes
» Preferences: n/a
» Interests: cold soba
» Bio: I was told to make one of these, so I did.
III) wildcard
[got another prompt you want to play out? do you want to plot? poke
✔
ii
Blue is slowly accustoming herself to the presence of humans, and more importantly, the abundance of sugar gliders to eat. Her gaze is trained on the creature riding Todoroki's shoulder as she approaches, and her tail waves with interest as she turns to look at the human in a silent query. Give?]
The Doctor (12) | Doctor Who
[The Doctor was one of the first to start badgering people about the noise, really, and by the time the Guard finally gets its act together, one of those groups will find him already at work in the jungle, adding another sound to the cacophony: the whine of his sonic screwdriver. he's up a tree, perched precariously on a branch, his matchstick legs wound around it to keep himself from falling as he scans]
Oh, so they've finally got their heads on straight. About time. Sinkhole about three feet to your left, do try not to fall in, won't you, I don't have the time to start another rescue mission.
[that three-storey structure has the Doctor's interest more than most things he's encountered in the Quarantine, so far. he's given it a good scan, but now the question is how to get it to move. so he's scaling one of the legs, vines leaking sap onto his coat, and three sugar gliders already settling in to take a nap in the hood of his hoodie. the vines make it pretty easy climbing, it's the critters that are getting in the way. a bird lights on his shoulder and starts to preen his curls]
Oi! Gerroff. I know this is your home, but wouldn't you like it to be a mobile? There's a great big world out there, you know...
[the bird responds by screeching in his ear, pulling out a tuft, and flying up farther]
And now I'm part of a nest. ... Terrific.
[the swarm is really quite thick where the Doctor's at - maybe it's because Time Lords and their long, long lives are a goldmine of emotions and memories. whatever the reason, he's batting at them wildly in the midst of trying to tune his guitar]
You could save it for the encore, you know, I've not even warmed up.
[open to any color! have at!]
» Seeking: Companions.
» Preferences: Of what?
» Interests:Here. Now. This.
» Bio: Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey.
Troublemaker. Trouble-fixer. Yes, the two are surprisingly co-existent. No, we can't go back in time to save your parent/friend/pet/possession.
[not a fan of any of these? choose your own adventure, and the Doc will be there. possibly with a guitar, if you like. hit me up at
friendr
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cady heron | mean girls, the musical
[ honestly, she isn't entirely upset over starting anew somewhere else; the jungles of american high schools have proven to be difficult to break into and while janis and damian have been interesting tour guides well. this is something else. it's a challenge she certainly would like to return to but for now....
for now, cady has a backpack of supplies and an eager beaver look on her face as she tries to follow the sounds of cries. the furrow in her brow deepens and she can only think about what these animals must be going through, the kind of pain they must be enduring. these sounds still sound so foreign to her as she can easily identify the cry of a jungle cat or a predatory bird. she's stopped to listen again on her path, so apologies if she bumps into you. ]
S-sorry!
[ bug bites? no problem.
mosquito nets are all the rage where she's from and cady can handle a bite or two, unaware of the initial effects, far too accustomed to such happenstances that she barely notices them at all.
she's in the middle of enjoying a a good math book and a latte ( !!! this is a big deal for her! ) when she feels a little nip, sharper than the others, enough to make her yelp. which unfortunately knocks her cup of half-consumed caffeine over. ] Crap! [ turning to the person at the cafe table next to her. ] H-hey, do you have an extra napkin?
» Seeking: Friends! Of all kinds! Not opposed to dating though!
» Preferences: Boys, I guess?
» Interests: I love math, animals and "Africa" by Toto.
» Bio: Hi, I'm Cady! I grew up Africa where my parents were researchers. We moved back to America to start a new adventure and I guess I'm starting yet another one here now! I've spent more time around animals than people, honestly, so I'm excited to meet more people.
harper mcintyre | the 100 (no spoilers here)
WAKE UP
THE GLIDER SWARM
FRIENDR
wake up
[The words are about as gentle as Kara gets, which is to say her tone is a little brusque but not mean, and she even reaches down to help Harper up.]
The terrain only gets rougher from here on in.
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