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quaranmeme2017-06-19 09:05 pm
riverview: june 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!
● 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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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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Choose your own adventure and do something else in the setting!
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She swaps the subject around fairly swiftly, though. Ah, well. ]
You don't like it? [ He takes a moment to brush red-gloved fingers through his bangs. ] I thought girls were charmed by the cool, mysterious look.
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It doesn't really... ]
Masks just mean you're trying to hide.
[ Before she turns on her heel, back in the direction she had been walking before he startled her. She shoots a sidelong glance up at him, and the corner of her lips curl just slightly. ]
Are you going to keep sitting there and talking or are you going to do some extermination, hm?
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Just makin' sure the citizens remain safe and sound! If you'll excuse me, then...
[ He slinks back on the rooftop, out of sight, but he doesn't completely abandon her just yet. While she presses on, Yuuto does want to make sure she actually manages okay; he'd hate to run off only to find out later she had gotten hurt, or worse. (She said she was able to handle it, but...)
Luckily for him, he knows how to sneak around soundlessly, undetected—as phantom thieves do. So, how's that walk going for you down there, Hana? ]
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Somehow she suspects he's not entirely gone. Call it intuition-- although she really has no way to tell if he is or not. Her steps become a bit more cautious compared to before their encounter--
Although that quickly changes when she hears someone screaming for help not too far away. Because instincts kick in immediately and she never plays on easy mode-- so she bolts toward the cry for help. ]
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Seems like it isn't this girl who needed the help after all.
Although she sprints toward the panicked cry, Yuuto isn't one to turn his back on someone either. He sticks to the rooftops, running across and bridging the gaps between them, but he's careful to keep his footsteps light and quiet.
When Hana arrives on the scene, there's a man sprawled on the ground in an open area, pinned down by a group of the sentient flora; their thick vines twist and curl around him, and there's no doubt what they're prepared to do. He spots her, crying for her to do something—anything—as he desperately attempts to claw himself away. ]
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Hold on! Help is coming!
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A dagger whizzes through the air, striking its center, and while it makes no sound—being a plant and all—its pain is evident by the way it writhes. It's enough to buy Hana some time, while from the shadows of nearby trees and buildings emerges... ]
—Distract it for me. I'll get him out of there!
[ This guuuuuy. Bet she's glad to see him again. ]
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Yep, that guy. ]
Hey, I don't take orders from weirdos in masks!
[ ... But she's gonna sprint around the plant to get it from the other side anyway, doing exactly that. Being a distraction. ]
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Now to free the man before he gets hurt any further.
With one flower down for the count, another bud blossoms, targeting Hana. Just like before it attempts to spit another glob towards her.
Meanwhile, Yuuto rushes forth. First thing's first—to get his dagger back out, which he forcefully pulls free from where it hit. The next is to start slicing at the vines holding the man captive—which turns out to not be quite as easy as he was hoping. ]
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Well, no problem at all.
She sees Yuuto approach out of the corner of her eye, glancing at him as he pulls his knife free from the plant and then sets himself on freeing the man. Hana looks back just in time to see a new blossom about to hurl acid at her and she hops, throwing herself to the side again and rolling before pulls her pistol and takes aim at the flower and firing one or three shots right into its center. The plant writhes once more with another bloom down, but instead of retaliating with another, this time it sprouts more vines and they lash out in all directions but particularly toward Hana— and toward its original victim and his apparent rescuer. ]
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Yuuto isn't oblivious to the flora's violent retaliation, and knows he'll have to make a split second decision. The most viable option was one he was hoping he wouldn't have to use until he could put some distance between the monstrous plants and the person who fell victim to it, but not all plans work perfectly, as things go. Within seconds, Yuuto does his best to guard the man with his body, sprawling red-gloved fingers over his face. ]
Come forth—!
[ With that summon, the mask on his face fades into a blue aura (and he's careful to keep his face covered with the hand, in addition to the limited light); then, in the next instant, a peculiar being materializes, skidding to a halt in the dirt as if it's just hit the brakes on its motorcycle. Menacing as the skeleton on the flaming bike may seem—its low, deep laugh contributing to such an image—once it revs the engine, suddenly the vines explode into flames.
Whatever just appeared, it doesn't stick around for long. The Hell Biker fades out of existence almost as quickly as it came—and with that, Yuuto regains his mask, freeing up both hands to try to drag the man away as quickly as he can. The fire is hot, and nobody needs to be getting burned on top of everything else tonight. ]
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She honestly has no idea what she's seeing after that. Because at one moment he's glowing and the next moment there's a goddamn skeleton on a bike on fire out of nowhere and then the vines— ]
What the f—
[ before the sound of erupting fire drowns everything else out. Hana gasps and again she scrambles to her feet, barely, this time to get away from the flames.
If only she had her mech with her.
With enough distance behind her her legs falter and she goes down on her knees, breath quick and short. What the fuck just happened. ]
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—Hey! [ He calls out toward Hana, tone still commanding; while he isn't oblivious to her shock, he isn't giving it any regard, either. Business isn't over yet. ] Call for an ambulance or something, this guy needs help!
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And then she sees the masked guy and the man they'd just tried to save. ]
Shit— I'm on it!
[ Hands shaking she tries to pull her phone out of her pocket and it's with some god's blessing that she doesn't immediately drop it when she does and holy shit, how do you even do this? She'd just gotten here and she has no idea how things work here and it's enough that she starts to feel frustrated at herself until she finds an emergency number programmed into her phone and she calls it without further delay. ]
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Thanks. [ And he genuinely means that. ] ... You okay?
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I'm— fine. [ kind of. ]
What was that? What did you do?
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Yuuto gently cocks his head toward the unconscious person in his arms, expression soft, but no less serious. ]
Let's save the small talk for later. Until I know he's in better hands.
[ Which isn't a lie; Yuuto would feel better about it once he was in the care of someone more qualified than him.
After that he falls silent for a moment, but adds before Hana can get another word in: ]
Can you look after him for a sec? I want to make sure none of those other crazy plants are still nearby.
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[ Her brow furrows at the deferral but— he's right, they need to make sure the coast really is clear or they could be in bigger trouble. Without protest she hurriedly makes her way over and kneels down to take the unconscious man from Yuuto, practically dead weight in her arms and she takes a deep breath to steel herself.
Whatever he'd done, it was clearly more effective than anything she could. Damn it, why is she useless without her mech? ]
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Be right back.
[ Without another word, he ventures off into the shadows of night, unseen.
He's glad she took charge without argument, because he did need an excuse to be out of sight for a bit. Yuuto does, honestly, check the immediate area for any other potential dangers—but he doesn't want to be seen by any authorities either, to take an extra cautious step. A little excessive? Maybe, but his identity as Joker is a carefully guarded secret, especially when it comes to any authority and officials, not to be shown to just anyone. And chances are, with as large as this city is, it's a slim possibility he'd ever cross paths with this girl again. It's odd enough around here that she'll probably forget about him in due time.
Help arrives in record time, natch. An ambulance comes to retrieve the man, which they do with haste, while one of them gets the needed information about his situation from Hana. It isn't long before they wrap up and head off to their destination, leaving the area in silence once more.
A minute passes before Yuuto emerges, strolling back in with both hands shoved into his pockets as if he hadn't been purposefully hiding away. He saw how it all wrapped up, of course, but he pretends that he hadn't. ]
—Looks like the coast is clear for now. ... They got him?
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Once they've left, she's resigned herself to the fact that the dude in the weird get-up and a mask has probably scrammed, as would be typical for a character she imagined with a similar kind of look, but as soon as she starts to think to head back to her new living quarters, she hears his voice.
Of course. He was hiding. ]
Yeah, he's in good hands. [ A beat, then, ] I'm surprised you came back.
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All too used to others assuming the worst from him, he doesn't seem particularly bothered by her words. Weirdly instead, his demeanor relaxes; if nothing else, that guy is in better hands now. ]
Are you? I'm not. [ Ha. ] I didn't think I gave off the impression of a liar.
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What did you do back there?
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[ Sorry Hana, he's totes bullshitting. ]
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LMAO...