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quaranmeme2018-08-20 10:12 pm
riverview: august 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 84 Character Slots available.
● Reserves are currently OPEN and will close on September 1st. 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
Recent events in the city have been...pretty overwhelming. A large influx of refugees from a dying planet have been being brought in by drop-ships and the government is doing the best it can to provide for them as much as possible. For now, since it is summer, the new arrivals will be housed in makeshift tent cities set up in Riverview Central Park as well as other smaller parks around the city, any spare empty lots, along the banks of the river, and in a few of the sports fields. The resources of the city are going to be taxed to their limit, and while the Capital World will be contributing funds and helping to get together building supplies, Riverview's intrepid citizens are going to have to find ways to supply more space to build shelters for the refugees, and more power to supply the electrical grid in the city. Thankfully, there are more than a few people in Riverview with that exploratory spirit, who are looking for solutions to the problem of space and energy.
However, it's not just the explorers that are able to help out the refugees. Any citizen who wishes, including brand new arrivals, is more than welcome to attend the tent cities where makeshift field hospitals have been set up with as many medical amenities as possible. While serious and life-threatening injuries or illnesses are taken to the Riverview Hospital, people who need first aid or more minor or moderate tending can attend the field hospitals and recover in their temporary homes. Volunteers are requested to help with many different tasks - medical staff to help heal the injured and ill, anyone capable to cook and serve at soup kitchens, members of the Perimeter Guard, police, or other capable fighters to secure the tent cities and make sure there's no violence or theft happening, and drivers and laborers to help bring supplies from the drop-ships and other parts of the city to keep the tent cities supplied. Of course, there are going to be a lot of other jobs that come up on the fly, so everyone is welcome.
● The refugee aliens are called the Frysh; they are humanoid mammalian and have a similar internal physiology to humans, however, they look somewhat insectoid, with mandibles, slightly shiny skin that is smoother and harder to the touch than human skin, and delicate wings that aren't capable of carrying the weight of the body (they cannot fly). Their skin ranges from pale to dark gray, and they have mottled or spotted/freckled markings in a wide variety of warm earth tones on their faces, necks, backs, and the outside of the thighs; their blood is dark rusty brown and slightly more viscous than human blood; eye colors are very widely varied. Average height is 6 feet, and doesn't vary based on sex (the species has male/female/neutral). The aging process is similar to that of humans, and refugees come in all ages. The species is very high-tech, but the tech is mostly related to entertainment rather than weaponry, medical, etc. as the planet the species lived on was quite utopian and basic needs were always taken care of by tech that was left on the planet when it was destroyed.
● Characters who complete a thread for this prompt only before October 15th, and who are accepted into the game during the September or October application cycles are eligible for a thread reward. Please see the current exploration mingle for details on how Thread Rewards work and how to submit once you are accepted.
What with all the teams combing the woods and jungle around the city, there's a lot more action going on outside the city walls than normal, and with all that activity, it's really only a matter of time before something unsavory is stirred up. Starting on August 20th, anyone in the city will notice a strange cloud of green-brown spores drifting slowly toward the inhabited area, and by August 21st it will be impossible to breathe without inhaling some of them. It doesn't take long for disposable filtration masks to start being handed out for citizens to use, but there aren't enough for everyone and even with the filtration masks, some of the spores may be able to get through, especially if the mask is older or in slight disrepair.
Any character who inhales the spores will find themselves changing just slightly. At first it's a sort of lethargy, with affected characters not wanting to do much of anything, even finding themselves stranded in public without the energy to get themselves home, at the mercy of passers-by to give them a hand. After a day or so of that, affected characters will find themselves getting back some of that energy but feeling...different. Slowly, affected characters' bodies are changing.
There's a wide variety of effects that characters can experience, in a variety of intensities - fungus starts sprouting on the body in various places and cannot be removed without pain, like they're part of the body; there's an intense desire to consume insects; characters' skin becomes slowly more damp and slimy, and in some cases excretes a substance that is either toxic or causes hallucinogenic effects; fingers and toes become webbed and the character finds themselves 'drying up' if they don't go take a nice soak in the river. There could be a host of others, but as long as the transformative effects are related to amphibians or fungus, the sky's the limit.
How much characters are affected is up to player discretion, the transformation can take as long or as short a time as desired, and the effects can last anywhere from a couple of hours to an entire month. While the effects do wear off naturally, by September 20th, an antidote will be spread among anyone still affected to ensure that no one is stuck in toadstool form for too long.
The refugees that have been flooding into the city were mostly comprised of families, and they hail from a high-tech world, which means that the kids brought along a lot of toys. One of the more common toys that the kids play with is a device used to play a game they call 'Push and Pull' - the device is a baton with a soft, glowing force shield bubble on either end, one red and one blue, which are each able to 'mark' a person so they become magnetic, as either the positive or negative pole of a magnet. Once a person is marked, they will either be magnetically drawn to or repulsed by other people who have been marked. People marked with a positive pole will be drawn to people with a negative pole and vice versa, whereas people with the same poles will be repelled from each other, no matter how hard they try to touch.
Obviously, there's not a huge amount of child-friendly entertainment in a tent city, so many kids have accompanied their parents as they go out shopping and exploring the city, and many of them have brought their Push and Pull sticks. While some of the children might innocently bump into passers-by with the glowing shield on the sticks, there are some more...energetic...children who are running around bopping people with them on purpose.
The game only ends when all the pairs from the same Push and Pull stick have attracted each other and touched hands. Have fun trying to figure out who your other pole is!
With Dragosta, the annual celebration of romantic love, just a few days away, the city is gearing up for the season. One of the big draws this year is one of the first all-Quarantine movies produced in over a decade, with the actors, directors, and crew - from special effects to gaffers - all being residents of the city. In the spirit of Dragosta, the movie is a romantic comedy, and it's being heavily publicized on digital screens and holographic ads, as well as by promoters handing out flyers and hosting contests related to the movie.
One of the promoters had an idea for a little extra advertising, though, and is handing out what she's calling 'wish crackers' - similar to a Christmas cracker but not related to the holiday season recognizable to some humans, they are paper tubes tied off at each end, intended to be pulled from either end by two people with a bright little pop. Each cracker is decorated with a picture of one of the main characters from the romcom, and when they pop open, a soft glowing mist emerges. The mist is, in fact, a spell, and crackers decorated with each character have different effects that lend themselves to 'adorable' romance movie tropes.
Leading Man: Bodyguard: One of the people who pulled the cracker feels an impulse to protect the other person from harm, and the other person doesn't particularly object...and maybe even enjoys it.
Leading Lady: Fake Dating: The characters both feel the urge to convince everyone around them that they're dating - the reason why can vary depending on the particular pairing, but they'll find a way to justify it for sure.
Man's Best Friend: Amnesia: One of the characters to pull the cracker comes down with temporary amnesia, and the other person feels the urge to take care of them and help them find their memory!
Lady's Best Friend: Reunion: Both characters suddenly feel a sense of déja vu, like they've known each other at some point before and are meeting again for the first time in a long time.
How long the effects of the crackers last is completely up to player discretion.
NOTE: Effects of the crackers should not remove character inhibitions or make them participate in sexual activities they normally wouldn't.
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!
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What's sad that this isn't even the first time this sort of thing has happened to him. And as then, her friendliness is concerning. Why is he just "unusual," rather than creepy and potentially dangerous? Is she naïve, or just a poor judge of character? Either way, that attitude could get her hurt.]
You're pretty trusting, aren't you? For all you know, I could be some vicious murderer.
[Which... technically, he kind of is. For the record, though, he has absolutely no intention of harming her. He's just kind of hoping she'll see sense and go home.]
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But you aren't, are you? [ She says that as if it's a rhetorical question, but she watches his answer, momentarily startled by the mere possibility. Still, she repeats something she feels to be true. ] The easiest way to make someone untrustworthy is not to trust them.
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Tag along if you want.
[He gets the feeling she's going out there with or without him, anyway. At least this way he can keep an eye on her.]
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[ She doesn't bother saying she's a princess, because she finds that unimportant. She does, however, clearly expect her companion to give his name in return. ]
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"Eilonwy"? Is that right? [Haganemaru has a little trouble with the pronunciation, but it's close enough. What a weird name. After a second, Jintetsu taps the hilt subtly with his finger. Oi, pay attention.] - Ah. Jintetsu, by the way.
[With that out of the way, he promptly gets to walking.]
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And then: ]
I wonder what we'll find in this wood. The trees aren't like anything I've seen before.
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It's... nice. For the first time in days, Jintetsu feels like he can breathe.
Eilonwy's comment draws his eye back to a nearby tree, whose roots have caused part of the road to rise and buckle.]
... Same here. I don't think they've got these where I'm from.
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[ Without waiting for an answer, she moves closer to the tree that's dividing the road, testing out the height of the branches. ]
If we got high enough, we may be able to see the way ahead.
oh dammit that link was supposed to be https://youtu.be/6Em9tLXbhfo
You're really gonna climb in that? [A long skirt, that is.]
that does make more sense!
Well, I haven't seen any leather breaches laid out along the side of the road.
[ And no bandits to fight and steal the sensible clothes from, either. Which is just as well, honestly. Still, even if she has climbed in long skirts before, he does have a point. ]
Will you do it, then?
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[Yeah, walked right into that. Oh, well. Jintetsu shrugs off his cloak and hat and sets them aside, one inside the other. It's the first time so far that his mechanical left arm has been properly visible, incidentally.
Anyway up he goes, and not slowly. He's remarkably agile, and it takes him only a few minutes to reach the top.]
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The most important, of course, being: ]
What do you see?
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[Mostly it's more of the same - crumbling buildings being reclaimed by the slow advance of the forest, all the way to the horizon. The extent of it is kind of astonishing, actually. Could the city really have been that big? Could any city? How many people must have lived here, once?
... Meanwhile, Haganemaru just goes ahead and calls down to Eilonwy.]
Well, I see the river. Looks like it flows toward the... southwest. [Could be a good path to follow, for fish and fresh water if nothing else. But if they ever had to swim, that'd be a problem.]
[Jintetsu picks up here, though it's still Haganemaru doing the actual talking.] Southeast there's a big rock outcropping. And due south... [He squints, shading his eye with his hand.] What is that?
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The river seems a likely path to follow, especially if the water is fresh. And an outcropping, perhaps shelter to make camp around. And...]
Well, you can't expect me to know! I can't see it!
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That's about all he can accomplish up top, so Jintetsu puts the sword back at his belt and descends from the tree. All this yelling back and forth is dumb, anyway. It takes him twice as long on the way down, but he skips the lowest couple branches and just jumps down, landing on his feet.]
It's some kind of tower, maybe. Real tall, real thin. But it had these... ball things, along it. [He takes his cloak and swooshes it over his shoulders like a cool guy.]
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Like my bauble? [ She produces a round stone of some sort, slightly smaller than a fist. It gives off a golden light, and flashes when she holds it up for him. ]
Oh, is it a wizard's tower? I've had quite enough of those, thank you.
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The hell is that?
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[ Eilonwy's bauble is actually the Golden Pelydryn, an ancient heirloom of her house, but she is mostly unaware of its powers and has always treated it like a toy. ]
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[He puts his hat back on, hiding what little expression his eye could give away. A lot of the things people think of as "magic" aren't really, in his experience. In the city, they've got all sorts of lights that run on electricity, right? Just because he doesn't understand it doesn't mean it's supernatural.
As for the real supernatural, well. Let's just say he's had some bad experiences.]
... Well, it didn't look like that.
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[ She stands up even straighter, saying this, proud of the mother that she lost and the ancestors she never knew. ]
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After a moment, he turns back to the road and starts walking, heading south.]
Then maybe you'll come in handy if we find a wizard.
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What would a wizard be doing out here?
[ She says, following him down the road, apparently taking him in earnest. ]
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[this is gonna be a loooong trip.]
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But knowing what's likely to be in a tower is not knowing why it's there. Why, I know exactly who I am, but I can't say I understand how I got to be on this road.
[ Yes, yes, of course she walked here, entirely by choice. But if it were up to her, she'd still be in Prydain, and not all of the explanations for the quarantine had made sense. ]
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[Okay yeah, maybe she's speaking figuratively, but it never hurts to make sure.
(He's met some pretty stupid people.)]
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