quaranmeme | riverview: june test drive meme

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!mod meme: test drive

riverview: june 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!

● Reserves are currently OPEN.
● Applications open on July 1st.
● 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
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prompt i: don't wake the deity

Whether you've just arrived in the city or you've been here a while, and you have a sensitivity to the spiritual, magical, multidimensional, or anything else outside the realm of everyday normal, you've probably noticed a distinct uptick in weird feelings, strange nightmares, or daymares - hallucinations of scary things that are lurking just behind you.

You're not the only one who's noticed it.

There are rumors going around that the psychological and spiritual disturbances are due to the emergence or re-emergence of a deity. Some people say that it's something new that's come through the portal with the sharp increase in new arrivals recently, and others say it's simply an ancient spiritual presence or some ancient incorporeal monster that's been somehow awakened. Gramarye, the top-tier magic research center in Riverview Quarantine, has been studying anyone who's felt this presence, and have recently confirmed that whatever it is, it's being fed by all the extra energies and prayers and thoughts as the city's population increases. The one thing everyone agrees on is that, if the expanding community is feeding the entity, then the entity has got to go! Teams are being assembled across the city to travel into the Abandoned City or the forests outside the walls and look for anything like an abandoned temple that can be destroyed or that contains a relic that can be broken or pacified by a ritual. You're looking for something that will solve the problem, or for other evidence of a way to solve it. The mission might be dangerous, though - there are the usual dangers of venturing out into the wilds, but this time, characters may also face booby traps, spectral or physical guardians, and if the entity itself gets awoken? Someone will have to kill it.

The mission is open to multiple teams, multiple deities can be named (both made up or from characters' various canons), and there can be multiple outcomes. If you complete the mission in a TDM thread, and all characters involved are apped and accepted, you can submit the completed mission thread to the exploration page once you are in the game!

prompt ii: monster miscalculation

The problems the city is having this month are not just ethereal - there's something a little more scientific stirring up trouble. Recently, a large research company in the Quarantine has been trying to develop a monster repellent to provide to explorers who are traveling outside the walls, in hopes of protecting them from attacks. Unfortunately, the containment unit used to store the repellent - which is still in its experimental stages, not even yet tested on animals, let alone people - completely failed, leaking the experimental repellent into the environment around the facility. This facility is close enough to the wall that the repellent has permeated the groundwater and soil in the area and leeched underneath the fences.

Even more unfortunately, the repellent seems to currently have an almost opposite effect on monsters than its intended purpose. It's attracted the attention of a large colony of carnivorous plants that has thrived just outside the wall for decades, living by attacking fellow monsters that are dumb enough to try the fence in that area. Now, instead of going for other monsters, the plants are drawn to the failed repellent and are climbing the walls in search of the source, craving more of it. Residents have been asked to both help clean up the tainted soil by the wall and to fight the carnivorous plants in that area.

The carnivorous plants are in the form of vines ranging from the thickness of a pinkie finger to nearly half a foot thick, that grow incredibly fast, writhing together to form thicker tendrils. The leaves are about a foot wide at their largest and have stingers around the edge that cause a painful rash, and the flowers are large and red or orange, capable of spitting thick globs of acid that can cause burns ranging from very serious (red) to moderate or mild (orange or yellow-orange). They can be defeated especially well with fire, extremely strong pesticides, and edged weapons - vines do not grow back once they've been cut.

prompt iii: wark games

The carnivorous plants aren't the only ones feeling the effects of the spilled experimental repellent. Recently, an intrepid team went on a mission after hearing rumors of a type of monster outside the walls that might be able to be tamed and used as valiant steeds. The team was successful and the possible steeds, which turned out to be Chocobos!

So far, the Chocobos have been comfortably in training, learning how to wear saddles and carry people, but once they get a whiff of the repellent in the air, or gotten a taste of it in their water, they kind of go a little off the wall. Or, over the fence, as the case may be. Highly energized and unwilling to listen, Chocobos who have been exposed to the repellent will get free of their pens and start stampeding around the city. Citizens, it's time to team up to tame the wild Chocobos! Let the wark games begin!

prompt iv: attraction repellent

The local wildlife aren't the only ones affected by the experimental repellent spill. While at first they didn't think it had any effect on sentients, they're having to start reevaluating that particular theory, because residents are definitely feeling it. Whether they're inhaling it in a gust of wind that smells disturbingly of ozone, or sipping a glass filled from a tap in the area of the spill and tasting something like chlorine, it's getting into residents' systems.

Once ingested or inhaled, the repellent can have two effects on an affected character: an overaffectionate mood, or an anti-social mood. The effects can vary in type, swinging from affectionate to cranky and back again at the drop of a hat, and they can also vary in intensity and manifestation - it all depends on body chemistry, both within an affected character, and in the interactions between two characters. So whether or not your characters liked or disliked each other beforehand, maybe their chemistries are very compatible or not compatible at all, and feelings might be a little...out of the ordinary.

Affectionate moods can range anywhere from a casual 'I love you man' to romantic or even carnal ideation; anti-social ones can range from being nervous around crowds or other people to being outright aggressive with other people. The repellent does not remove inhibitions and characters are able to control themselves. Emotions might be heightened, but these effects should not be used to facilitate things that would normally be completely out of character. Please put content warnings in subject lines.

prompt v: friendr/network

Whether your character is posting up a silly word game to distract people from the dangerous mission going on, 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.

<center><table style="width:300px;"><tr style="border-bottom:1px dashed #528887;"><td></td> <td style="padding:20px; padding-bottom:0; width:300px; font:38px Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; color:#c4c4c4; text-align:center; letter-spacing:2px; background-color:#2a2a2a; border-top-right-radius:50px; border-top-left-radius:50px;">Friendr</td> <td></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-size:70px; vertical-align:middle; text-align:right; padding:0; color:#528887;">«</td> <td style="background-color:#2a2a2a; padding:20px; padding-top:10px; padding-bottom:0; width:308px;"><img src="IMAGE URL - 300px WIDE OR LESS" style="border-radius:20px;"> </td> <td style="font-size:70px; vertical-align:middle; padding:0; color:#528887;">»</td></tr>
<tr><td></td> <td style="background-color:#2a2a2a; font:12px arial; text-align:left; padding:10px;">» Age: your character's age
» Seeking: friendship/romantic/anything
» Preferences: sexual preference or n/a
» Interests: three interests
» Bio: 30 words or less
</td></tr>
<tr><td></td> <td style="text-align:right; font-size:10px; background-color:#2a2a2a;">base code by <a href="http://photosynthesis.dreamwidth.org/" style="color:#528887;">photosynthesis</td></tr>
<raw-code><tr style="border-bottom:1px dashed #528887;"><td></td> <td style="background-color:#2a2a2a;font:20px Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; color:#c4c4c4; text-align:center;">Character Name</td> <td><td></tr><tr><td></td> <td style="border-bottom-right-radius:50px; border-bottom-left-radius:50px; background-color:#2a2a2a; text-align:center;"><table style="width:100%; font:30px Verdana;"><tr><td style="text-align:left;"> « 
 ✘</td>
<td style="text-align:right;">✔ 
 »</td></tr>
</table></td> <td></td></table></raw-code></center>

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

Choose your own adventure and do something else in the setting!

navigation
[jungle palace image is signed and was found on artstation.com]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ A moment's hesitation, but - really, what the hell does he have to lose. Except his phone, and he doesn't really care about that. He places the device in Byerly's waiting hand. ]

Where? Up your sleeve?

A digital key, my good man. Think of it as - this thing here demands a password, and I happen to have had that secret phrase whispered into my shapely ear.

[ He turns the phone on through perfectly ordinary means, of course, and frowns like he's entering in some tricky little sequence to get it to unlock itself. Truthfully, he's going through all the files he can find on the phone. Anything good in here? Any contacts pre-loaded...? ]

Hmmm. Hmmmmmmm. It's a tricky one...

Digital? What, like -

[ He waggles his fingers, given that's all the word means to him. When he sees the screen turn on, he leans in a bit, but - well, it's all still kind of gibberish to him, especially if Byerly scrolls quickly.

It lists the man's name - Captain Steve Trevor - though no army affiliations. Some basic contacts for housing and potential jobs, and a list of his special skills associated with said jobs. Piloting, combat, and ... "friendliness." All Steve was willing to say about his own spying abilities. Age: 30ish. Present year: 1918.

Otherwise, the man's phone is pretty much blank. He's set nothing up. ]

What are you doing to it?

Ah-ah-ah.

[ When Steve peers around, Byerly leans back, angling the screen so it can't be seen. What, as though he'd let his snooping be known... ]

Entering my password, that's what I'm doing. A password which I'm not about to just give away. Come now, dear fellow. I won't let you spy what I'm doing unless you have something to offer in return.

You've got my phone, don't you? Could call anyone with that thing.

[ The concept of there being information inside it is still a bit beyond him. He hadn't been listening much during the orientation. ]

How're you putting in a password? There's nothing to type with.

[ All right, he's gotten all he can from this. He tilts it back down for Steve to see and demonstrates. ]

Et voila. See how it's done?

[ A flicker of recognition at the French, then his face brightens as he watches. It's still weird but he gets the concept. Ish. ]

The buttons are in the screen.

Tout simplement. [ He hands it back. ] And this isn't even the grandest of the grand technology that will be revealed to your wondering eyes. What revelations there are before you. I'm nearly jealous.

[ After a few attempts to make sure he can replicate this whole unlocking thing - and he can, given a few tries - he tucks it away in a pocket on his uniform. ]

Yeah? You've already been around the block a few times?

I've been around a multitude of blocks, dear fellow. But - tell me. What's the most marvelous thing you've ever seen?

[ An image of Diana instantly comes to mind. Crossing No Man's Land, in Weld, hell, just everything. Somehow he manages not to look too lovesick. ]

The peace. Relatively, anyway. No shells overhead.

[ A quirk of his lips. ]

I ask for your marvels, and you give me peace? My word. I seem to have run into a grotesque sentimentalist.

Yeah, well. When the war you're in feels like the end of the world, having a world at all might be th craziest thing.

[ Said with heavy cynicism more than anything. He believes in what he does - in Diana - but he doesn't for a moment think the world is actually a nice place. Sentiment. Yeesh. ]

Portals opening to other dimensions ranks up there too.

See, that's a bit more what I'm looking for.

[ He stretches out a finger to point at Steve. ]

A marvel is something that strikes you dumb. That keeps you wondering every moment - my stars, is this really happening? Peace isn't like that. It strikes you dumb at first, but soon enough, you take it for granted. You forget your good fortune.

You ever lived through a war yourself?

[ A little judging, a lot curious. Byerly doesn't look like a solider, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. ]

Ah, plenty of them. My home finds a new someone to be at quasi-war with every few years. Or, well, no, that's not true. It finds an old someone. Or sometimes it just finds itself - tears itself apart for a little while. [ His smile broadens. ] Though you can keep that judgmental look right on your face - I've never been a soldier myself, sweet Captain of mine.

[ He opens his mouth to say something - sympathy, denial of his definitely judging face - and stops. ]

"Captain"? Who's a captain?

[ And even more of a smile. ]

Why, you are, Captain Trevor.

[ Hell. Steve's gaze instantly sharpens as he considers Byerly in a new light. Not judging now, oh no. Calculating. Recalibrating.

And - just as quickly, relaxing. But there is a coiled nature to his stance that Byerly should recognize. A faint strain to his casual posture. ]

Good guess. Do I have a nametag or something?

[ Tell him how you found out so he won't let you do it again. ]

[ A hand comes up to tap his chin. ]

Taped to your back, perhaps? No, no, nothing so straightforward. Let's just call it a certain ability I have - to look at someone and know a thing or two. Like, for example - [ Oh, he recalls that lovelorn face earlier when they were talking about marvelous things - ] That you're missing someone. Someone you love deeply.

[ Bullseye. A slight flinch to show the hit - very small, enough that people not a spy like Byerly might not have seen. But visible, oh yes.

Despite the fact that he's been caught off guard, he's kind of enjoying this? Spycraft is something he's good at, after all, even if he's much more used to flirting with women ... ]

Who says I wasn't thinking of you?

Oh?

[ He lifts his eyebrow, a little surprised in spite of himself. He'd thought that old Earth types - and this man is an old Earth type - were often less than...open-minded. So that's a surprise. What's interesting, though, is the speed of that pivot. From discomfort to immediate flirtation... ]

No, I don't think so. That was the look of a man who was pining - and you can't pine over what's right before you. [ A little purse of his lips. ] Though I'm tempted to remove myself from your sight, if there's the remotest prospect of having you look so wistful for my sake.

[ Damn. Sometimes he gets a good ol' startle with that tactic - very effective to watch the Victorian types freeze the hell up. But not this guy, no. What little surprise he sees isn't enough to rattle his cage.

He'd better reconsider his next steps. Meanwhile, he keeps his tones soft, still faintly seductive. Still looking for an opening. ]

I can pine for a lot of things. Good wine, good food. Just familiarity.

Am I familiar to you?

[ Byerly's head tilts to the side. His smile reveals nothing. ]

Edited 2017-06-21 00:49 (UTC)

[ His gaze sharpens thoughtfully, taking Byerly in. His clothes, his stance, everything he's said so far. ]

You knew the tech. But I think you're a little old-fashioned.

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