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hugtopiamods ([personal profile] hugtopiamods) wrote in [community profile] hugme_mes2019-10-20 11:04 pm
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♥ October 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

animated gif of a group of cars playing soccer
October (Lasohm) Test Drive Meme
PremiseSettingRulesFAQMod Contact


Havenwell is normally a beautiful city - all tall spires and pure white stone glistening with gold against a blue sky. Now, it's still quite lovely, but it's marred. The wall that surrounds the city has a large glimmering hole broken through the stone and the buildings are missing bits and pieces here and there. The city is still reeling from the aftermath of its siege when a new set of souls are drawn to its shore. Good luck, new arrivals; and please excuse all the dust.



two fingers together with smiling faces drawn on
PROMPT I: Buddy System
With all the changes and the fear of a secondary attack lingering, the natives are a lot more protective of their newest arrivals. When new characters begin to appear at the temples, they receive the welcome speech, get their communicators and the simple map of the city, and a warning to stay away from the walls. Then they get taken to the front of the temple by a helpful robotic priest. Rather than turn the newcomers loose right away, they pull someone seemingly at random off the street and push the two people together with a cheerful, "It's dangerous to go alone, so please show our newest resident around. Please be buddies!" They wait until they're certain the pair is going to be moving off together before going back inside.

They try to place a new arrival with one of those who previously arrived, but who can keep track of all that, right? Characters may find themselves thrown together with an actual veteran or with another new arrival who only came here a day or even just an hour before them! Good luck helping each other out, offworlders, and don't lose your buddy!


PROMPT II: The Havenwell Archives
Lasohm is another month that belongs to Ohma and after such a vicious attack, a small group of citizens decide that it might be great for the offworlders to help with something important to the feline god. These citizens are marked with a sash with the sign of a quill on it, a decidedly antique symbol considering how technologically advanced the people are. They hand out fliers to any who will take them, offering a small amount of Dora in compensation to any who will help the Havenwell Archives repair, catalogue, and restore any books damaged by the attack.

The Archives is a large building in the south and its doors, which have been sealed shut until now, are slightly ajar, allowing people entry. Head to the Archives and you'll be greeted by one of a handful of robotic citizens, all wearing that quill-emblazoned sash, and directed to a small room where you and other offworlders are put to the task of reassembling history texts that have fallen into disrepair or reviewing work that earlier offworlders completed, fixing any glitches that might occur in the text. Most of the writing is illegible, but it seems that these books are important to the Archives for more than just the information contained within. As you work, you might notice that talking and sharing information about yourself or engaging in physical contact near these books with the other people in your room makes the text on your pages a little more legible, a little easier to read and understand, and easier to fix.


PROMPT III: Virtual Research
a virtual first-person view of hands reeling in a fishing rod
After the attack, every part of the city is on repair duty and the means the Entertainment District as well. As new arrivals wander the city, they might be called into one of the numerous Virtual Reality cafes. These cafes vary in layout, but most have areas for the natives to plug directly into the machines and other areas which have older looking virtual reality helmets that allow flesh bodied people experience the games. For those who need assistance with their sensory inputs, basic options like audio descriptions of visual scenes, enhanced audio and descriptive speech, closed captions, and crude mobility chairs are available. A handful of cafes have other options like direct visual or audio cortex stimulation to simulate vision or hearing, or suspension tanks to allow simulated movement, but these are currently unavailable due to damage.

All of these facilities are, unfortunately, under repair. The direct plug-in systems are easier for the robot natives to fix because they can do the most important part of it - testing - by themselves. But for the helmets and other interface systems, they need your help. Naturally, they'll pay you for the work, but they need the offworlders to play the available games and record any areas where they find glitches. Playing with a partner increases your chances of finding and fixing any issues, so feel free to log in for free for once and test any of the following games:

  • Big Bass Fishing
  • The beautiful lake has blue-green waters surrounded by forest and rocky, reedy shores. You and your companion are on a small single-motor fishing boat and you have fishing gear - two poles in the water. As the game starts up a read-out announces the objective: Catch the largest fish before the time limit ends. What's the time limit? ...Well, that's your first glitch because it reads as static. Might as well start fishing though, right? It doesn't take long to catch a few regular sized fish, nothing too exciting, and then? You get the big one - it bows your fishing rod nearly in half as you reel it up. The fish leaps into the air and you realize this is your next glitch because the fish hangs there - the size of a minivan - and yells, "BIG. BASS. FISHING. ATTACK." The fish slaps its fins and tails at the boat and now you and your fishing companion better fight this fish or you'll end up in the lake or worse.

  • A (un)Familiar Experience
  • Jump into the life of the temple familiars and see life from their perspective! Choose the temple, any temple is fine, and be transformed into a fledgling rainbow dragon, a purple mouse, a white raven, or a blue feline. You're free to move about the virtual confines of the temples and, in fact, you can even interact with other familiars in their temples - who may be other players in this game. Play, climb, try to get your fledgling wings to fly, tumble about with the other mice, enjoy your simple life as an animal! --or you would if you weren't an insane size. Rather than being a small mouse, you're the size of a horse. That fledgling rainbow dragon? About the size of a fly. The building sizes are off, too - one might have door that's 30 feet tall, but a ceiling that's only 12. Everything else seems fine, but those sizes? Well, you better figure out how to get around that.

  • Robot Crossing
  • Logging in with another character will net you a little farm and a variety of games to choose from:
    1. Pick and harvest as many Aellyn vegetables and fruits as you can before the timer runs out! The more you pick, the better your score. Work together with your partner to clear the field in any way you can. Strangely, once you finish clearing a tree or a field row of their bounty, they seem to magically refill when you turn your back. Strangely, when the timer runs out? It flashes 00:00 and the game...doesn't? Stop? In fact, the fruits and vegetables just keep multiplying and multiplying and if you don't hurry up you might just get buried in them all!
    2. With a partner, use the giant slingshot to launch comically large fruits into a garden patch of other colored fruits. Match a line of 3 or more similarly shaped fruits to clear it from the field. The more fruits you can clear, the higher your score - aka welcome to Fruit Crush. Stack lines of 6 or more to get shining clear diamond fruits that clear the entire row and snag yourself some bonus points. Or they should, but whenever you clear away a matching set, the fruits explode, sending fruit bits and juice everywhere - most notably on you and your partner. Still, the game is going on and it looks like it won't stop until you finish, so good thing it's all a computer game, right? Sure feels real though - reeeeeeally sticky.
    3. You and your partner(s) are given a magical golden pumpkin and it's your job to grow it into the largest pumpkin possible. Why? There's a county fair of course and the largest pumpkin wins! But how do you grow this pumpkin? Well, for whatever reason? This pumpkin is already the size of a grizzly bear and it just won't stop growing! You and your partner better find a way to stop it from growing out of control or you might get (virtually) crushed! You could do a song and dance routine together to touch the pumpkin's soul to teach it moderation or calm its insane vegetable puberty. You could hold hands and share stories and entertain the pumpkin until it feels satisfied that it's grown enough. You could just hack and slash at it in an attempt to reduce its unwieldy bulk. The possibilities are endless and so is the pumpkin's growth, so you better hurry!





Have fun however you like with the setting! Make a network post, make up other prompts based on the general setting, go wild. Havenwell is your oyster.

This TDM is for the November application round. If you have any questions, feel free to direct them to the FAQ or to the Mod Question thread below. The reservation round begins on October 30, 2019 at 10:00PM EST and our applications will run from November 2, 2019 to November 9, 2019 from 10:00PM EST to 10:00PM EST.

Taken CharactersReservationsApplications
whenyouneedme: (153)

[personal profile] whenyouneedme 2019-11-02 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Kai blinked, pausing to give a little half-step turn towards her.]

Y'know, the usual kind. [... Just, give him a second, he'll get there.}

[...]

[...up went one of his hands in a 'STOP' gesture.] They don't have to be any more than platonic. All I've really been doing is holding hands.
daikonrose: (157)

[personal profile] daikonrose 2019-11-02 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ THAT'S A GOOD THING TO BE SURE ABOUT, but also, feels kinda weird? Kyoko is back to thoughtful frowning as she slowly moves to follow him again. ]

That's... a good thing, then, but.... Even so, putting a price in terms of real money on things like that is kinda....
whenyouneedme: (029)

[personal profile] whenyouneedme 2019-11-03 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I getcha. S'kinda weird, huh?

[Off we go again.]

I think it's an insurance thing, since there's bound to be a fair amount of folks that aren't really the most touchy feely, y'know? But things still cost money, and jobs aren't really a thing yet, so. It's kind of a sneaky motivation, but its a motivation all the same.
daikonrose: (158)

[personal profile] daikonrose 2019-11-04 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Kyoko was sucking in her lip as she tried her best to listen to all this rationale instead of letting her thoughts drift to useless things, like the look on Shotaro's face when he told her he was leaving his obnoxiously expensive bouquet with her as payment for stealing her first kiss, because that was irrelevant and unrelated to all this. If she looked at it sensibly, there was really no harm in holding hands for the sake of a few bucks and ostensibly the greater good! Even if it was extremely weird to kidnap her just to come do that here!

So, actually her thoughts did drift despite her best intentions, but one detail jars her enough to bring her back to full attention. ]


--Jobs aren't--a thing?!

[ That might be the most foreign concept to her in all of this. ]

What kind of society is this?!
whenyouneedme: (146)

[personal profile] whenyouneedme 2019-11-04 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
One where everybody turned themselves into robots so a lot of things... don't happen the same way anymore.

I guess saying there are no jobs is wrong, you can get paid doing odds and ends. I usually help out with temple cleaning duties. But I haven't seen like, your typical part-time stuff or things like that.
daikonrose: (221)

[personal profile] daikonrose 2019-11-05 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, that actually does kinda make sense. Jeez, there are so many complicated things to unpack, and she'd barely even accepted that she's apparently on a different planet or something, like, for real. ]

So we're forced to touch each other or starve? Uh--I changed my mind, I'll hold your hand if you want!!
whenyouneedme: toniii (101)

[personal profile] whenyouneedme 2019-11-05 10:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[Kai glanced at her, raising an almost-amused brow. Almost, because it wasn't fair to be too amused by this reaction when she was new.]

If you want. [It's here, for you! Kai held it out a little from his side, so she could opt to take it or not at her own discretion.]

You won't starve though, promise. All the houses have machines that can make ingredients for you.
daikonrose: (35)

[personal profile] daikonrose 2019-11-05 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Incredibly, the sudden offer had less to do with fears of her own poverty than of the realization that this would explain why it was apparently so normal to just hold hands with anybody, anywhere. She really had been very rude not to! Even though he hadn't actually asked!

But oh yeah, she also doesn't want to die of starvation or exposure, personally.

She's reaching out for his hand already, but pauses when he offers that valuable piece of information to look at him again. ]


O-oh. Like... 3D printing? --But I guess that makes sense, since robots wouldn't be selling food--but then, what does anyone need money for? Just rent? [ That's not so bad. Maybe she actually can hustle up enough just from running errands? ] Not that I can guess what the robot rent standard would be....
Edited 2019-11-05 23:27 (UTC)
whenyouneedme: (104)

[personal profile] whenyouneedme 2019-11-06 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
[This was like getting left hanging on a high-five. Kai nodded along.]

Well, there's a bunch of free housing for folks, but apparently there are nicer digs that you can buy. The food replicators can get upgraded too, for better ingredients and full meals and stuff.

Quality of life stuff, mostly.
daikonrose: (188)

[personal profile] daikonrose 2019-11-06 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ And Kyoko continues to obliviously leave him hanging, her own hand still half-extended. She's absorbed in thought again. ]

Free housing? So then... we're actually not required to do anything?

[ A pause, and then she leans in intensely, grabbing his hand with both of hers, looking at him with desperation in her eyes. ]

Hey, so, can you tell me the way out of here, too? Do I just go back to the place I woke up and tell them to send me home?
whenyouneedme: hisogons@twitter (133)

[personal profile] whenyouneedme 2019-11-06 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh, hello-- Kai's eyes went wide a little, taken aback by this sudden turn of events.

Then his expression shifted, a furrow in his brow in... apology, or disappointment, it was a little hard to say.]

... 'Fraid I don't know that one. Sorry.
daikonrose: (185)

[personal profile] daikonrose 2019-11-06 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ Kyoko just keeps on staring at him for a second, as if he might suddenly remember some forgotten detail that will get her home. Really, it's just taking a moment to sink in. ]

So... we're not forced, at all, in any way, to do the thing they brought us here to do... but we can't go home either? Even... if we won't be any good to these gods?
whenyouneedme: (148)

[personal profile] whenyouneedme 2019-11-06 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
[A little awkwardly, Kai settled his other hand on top of hers. Out of comfort??]

Not yet, at least. It seem like a one way road right now. Supposedly the touch is what gives 'em their power back so... Not forced, but highly encouraged.
daikonrose: (211)

[personal profile] daikonrose 2019-11-06 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ The new touch makes Kyoko jump, and look down at their hands--what, had she never let go? Ah jeez, what's wrong with her, she doesn't even know this guy's name. In a gentle, but brisk, motion, she pulls away and quickly folds her hands in front of her. ]

... I'm sorry. We only just met, but I've been imposing on you a lot, without thinking about it.
whenyouneedme: (141)

[personal profile] whenyouneedme 2019-11-06 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Well that wasn't a surprise. Kai gave a little shake of his head.]

Don't worry about it. It's rough.

'Sides, I offered.
daikonrose: (144)

[personal profile] daikonrose 2019-11-06 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Sorry Kai, only three bucks worth of hand holding today.

Kyoko quickly shakes her head. ]


You've been a big help! I really don't know how to thank you enough! Um--please let me help you clean at this temple, at least!
whenyouneedme: (150)

[personal profile] whenyouneedme 2019-11-09 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
[[Beep beep.]]
Edited (i linked the wrong one!!) 2019-11-09 02:04 (UTC)