♥ August Test Drive Meme

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August Test Drive Meme
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As Achtom and Ohnir flow into each other, the skies are still gorgeously blue and dotted with high fluffy clouds that never seem to threaten rain - so long as the weather stays controlled. Businesses are picking back up, the natives starting to cater once again to flesh-bodied people with varied amounts of success. The VR cafes are featuring more helmets so even more people can play along with the ever expanding selection of games. Overall, it seems like Havenwell is quite the peaceful city.

But there are still some issues to be had...

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❥ PROMPT I: Where's the Pied Piper?

All Achtom, the residents have been dealing with things in characters' houses seemingly moving of their own volition to other parts of the house and going temporarily missing, returning chewed upon by the mice that have overtaken Havenwell. By the time the new wave of arrivals come, the worst of it is over, but there are still some pesky little temple familiars running about the city!

The noises at night aren't as terrible as they once had been, but the squeaking and chattering in the walls and ceiling is still noticeable. It's still difficult to sleep at night for all the noise throughout the long night hours. Trying to find the source is a surefire way to drive yourself mad, but it seems that sleeping in the same bed with another person makes it a little easier to bear, especially if you hold hands or touch throughout the night.

Pink and purple rodents of various sizes from panda mouse tiny to chihuahua-sized rats are still popping up all over the city. It seems the only place they aren't is where they're supposed to be - Ainea's temple - and that's a big problem. While many have been returned thanks to the offworlders' efforts, Ainea's temple priests are still out in the city, begging residents both robotic and flesh to peacefully and carefully capture the creatures and return them home to the temple. They pass out soft woven reed baskets to any who agree and thank all participants heartily for their help.

❥ PROMPT II: We Didn't Start This Fire

Throughout the month, pockets of the city experience magnificent dry lightning storms. Before each onset of the storm, an immense clap of thunder booms across the entire city like a siren and the natives hold their figurative breaths until the first strike rains down. A peal of lightning, searing hot, strikes the ground or hits the spires of nearby buildings, cracking stone and leaving nasty burn marks behind. Each storm is only 4 to 5 minutes in length before they suddenly disappear again, but in those few minutes chaos reigns. For anyone unlucky enough to get caught amid one of these storms, take cover! Residents throw open doors and push people inside, even shielding the offworlders with their own bodies if necessary to keep them from getting harmed.

When the lightning and its sonorous booms pass, residents scurry out to repair the damage. They'll be asking nearby offworlders to help as well with patching the stonework or removing broken debris. Most importantly, they put out a call for help in putting out fires that spring up after each storm. Their metal bodies can't withstand the heat for long without melting and the water is dangerous to their circuitry. After the fires are put out and the damage repaired, on occasion, residents will ask for the somber help of pulling a native robot unlucky enough to take a direct hit from the lightning to a local repair shop. Strangely, the natives don't seem sad when their friends and family can't be repaired, and instead start gathering up objects from home to take with them to the temples along with the bodies. When asked, they say it's to pray for a rebirth and go on their way.

❥ PROMPT III: Let's Play the Friend Connection

With all the craziness going on, some people might just want a distraction. A lot of Havenwell's natives certainly seem to think so. Despite everything, the Entertainment District is as bustling as ever and this month the offering is to participate with a friend or group of friends to play a game called: Friend Connection. Rather than the usual plug in and sit configuration, this time the VR cafes have been reorganized into 3 meter by 3 meter square pads with no chairs or furniture available. Players plug in or put their helmets on and they're instantly transported to a garish neon-lighted stage with multicolored spotlights that show a floating, legless robot with a rainbow bowtie and a magnificent mustache. The robot's LED face lights up into the approximation of the :D emote and then a disembodied voice comes from speakers overhead:

"Hail, well met, and welcome to the hottest game show around: Friend Connection! As the studio audience already knows, this game is simple! You and your new friends compete to complete more challenges than the other hidden team. The more fabulously you and your team completes each task, the more points you'll be awarded. At the end of the game, the team with the most tasks cleared and the highest point value will be declared the winners and take home some fabulous prizes. On today's team is..."

And the robotic host waves an arm to a scoreboard behind it, showing your names. The heading "Other Team" has ???? underneath it and a list of challenges is revealed along with a burst of applause. The list reads:

1. Play Twister until someone falls! The longer you go, the more points you win!
   
2. Help each other do a handstand! The Wheelbarrow is acceptable too.
   
3. Recreate your favorite scene from a romantic movie. Take, for example, That Scene from the hit movie, Skytanic! Or hum along to this song as you and your friend make some pottery together.
   
4. Create a complicated Best Friend Handshake consisting of more than 5 moves and do it together 3 times without messing up!
   
5. Answer trivia questions about each other and your worlds while holding hands and staring into each other's eyes. The more questions you can answer, the higher your points!
   
6. Do a trust fall into your friend's arms. The higher or further you fall, the more points you'll earn.
   
7. Play two truths and a lie with your friend. If you can guess correctly, you'll earn points for your team!

Are you ready, contestants? You have 20 minutes. Good luck!

At the end of the game, the characters are declared the winners by a slim and, naturally, exciting margin of just one point! And their fabulous prize......? The friendship they earned along the way! Congratulations, players! And don't worry, when the game ends, you'll be in the exact weird position you were last in as the helmets turn off. Hopefully you aren't still in those weird Twister positions because everyone can and has been able to see you. Yup, the entire time.

❥ PROMPT IV: Comic Logic

Although Achtom is waning and Ohnir beginning, Diacht's influence is still going strong. Throughout their day as they go about their daily routines, helping people out or trying to find their missing items, the natives stop looking at them and start looking above their heads. In fact, as characters meet one another, their attention may also be drawn vertically above their companion because floating above every offworlder's head is a faint white cloud. Whenever they move, the cloud moves too. Attempts to dispel it by magic or physical means does nothing and it seems like you can't touch it at all.

It's annoying isn't it? Or maybe you're feeling quite curious about this phenomenon? Or maybe it scares you? Whatever you're feeling or thinking, it shows up in that cloud clear as day. It's not every thought or feeling that shows and attempts to control what appears fails, but you're now broadcasting your innermost self to the world.

For a time at least. Smart characters might notice that after prolonged physical contact with another character, the cloud fades away and stays away for an undetermined amount of time. Sometimes it's an hour, sometimes it's a day, sometimes it's only 5 minutes, and then it begins to reform again. Whatever it is, it's here to stay, so good luck keeping your secret inner workings, well, secret.

❥ PROMPT V: Buddy System

With all the changes going on, it might be hard to be a new arrival to Havenwell. The natives understand! Sort of. When new arrivals begin to appear at the temples, receive the welcome speech, get their communicators and the simple map of the city, 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, "Here's your guide to Havenwell! It's dangerous to go alone, so be buddies!" 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!

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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 September 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 August 30, 2019 at 10:00PM EST and our applications will run from September 2, 2019 to September 9, 2019 from 10:00PM EST to 10:00PM EST.

♥ Taken Characters ♥ Reservations ♥ Applications ♥

Comments

[scourgingstars]

As impossible as everything else here, it would seem. I almost feel as though I shouldn't be surprised by the concept.

[promittere]

I don't think there's any way to make a situation like this unsurprising. [He pauses.] Though I do think that if more from Eos come, you should be cautious.

[scourgingstars]

...I know what I am, and I know the kingdom would sooner see me eliminated. I want nothing to do with them and no interest in dealing with the empire.

[promittere]

[That's...surprising to hear, honestly.]

...I hope you can find peace here, then.

[scourgingstars]

I...very much doubt that's possible, but thank you.

[promittere]

Well, the entire place seems to be founded on the idea of comfort, so perhaps you will.

[scourgingstars]

Such concepts have been well out of my reach for a long while yet.

...I've doubts that I am even meant to be here. Surely there has been some mistake.

[promittere]

All the more reason for you to be brought here, one would think.

[He shrugs one shoulder.]

The residents of this place don't seem to believe they've made any mistakes.

[scourgingstars]

...There's not a god alive in any world that would ever desire my help, even with something so straightforward.

[promittere]

Because you believe yourself to be accursed?

[Purposeful wording, delivered calmly.]

[scourgingstars]

I-

[Ardyn paused, a short and hollow laugh leaving him. He sounded utterly hopeless when next he spoke, broken down and not knowing how else to explain what he felt should have been clear.]

I am unworthy. Unsuitable for the role I was given and rejected by bloodline and Crystal alike. Naught stands before you but an undying shade with no power to help anyone or anything.

[promittere]

[Perhaps that's the reaction he should have expected. Ignis takes a moment to chew on that, considering his words.

What he wants to say is blasphemous, but...What the gods want, what the gods demand, is absurd. They can only see a way to fix what they caused by taking the life of a man Ignis loves, forcing him to sacrifice himself for others because a life deserves a life but there has to be another way.

There must be.]

Do you truly take the gods for the word? Are they not the ones who did this to you to begin with?

[He does not know how Ardyn became what he is, but he imagines it much the way all powers of the world go. Gifts, but one that was somehow twisted, corrupting, some embodiment of the scourge that was plaguing their star somehow.]

[scourgingstars]

That...can't be so. I must have done something wrong, made some misstep along the way--had I done everything right there would have been no reason to choose my brother for the throne.

[Truthfully...Ardyn wasn't certain they had. But no, that must have been the case. Why else would the Crystal have cast him down, why would none of the gods have intervened if that day in the throne room had not gone as they wished?]

[promittere]

[At that, Ignis scoffs.]

They have a plan. They've always had a plan. I think you merely played your role, and took the fall from it.

[And it made him a monster. But it makes sense, doesn't it? They left the world to rot with the scourge for thousands of years, waiting for the Chosen King...

When they could have acted sooner. It was all planned for them, it was all foreseen. It's near as fact, as far as Ignis is concerned.]

[scourgingstars]

That...that isn't possible. I was helping people, I-...I only--

[Ardyn faltered and trailed off, bringing his hands to his head. No, it didn't make sense, did it? It didn't make sense that a warmongering, backstabbing, fratricidal traitor had been chosen for the throne when his path to it was littered with the corpses of his very subjects. It didn't make sense that his gods-granted power had caused his body to break down and become this thing.]

[It didn't make sense that an Oracle died and not a single one of the gods seemed to care.]

[promittere]

Isn't it?

[Ignis...finds it in himself to feel sorry for the man. It's hard to imagine a man like this could become the Ardyn Lucis Caelum he knows - but it's writ in stone, just as it was intended to be.]

...I'm sorry. [He sighs, softly.] I did not intend to upset you.

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn didn't answer right away as he struggled to collect himself; it was perhaps becoming obvious that he was not what one might call stable, despite being less utterly and murderously insane. A few shaky measured breaths later, his hands fell away and a black stain on his face unseen by either of them quickly evaporated.]

It...is not your fault. I--I don't know. Perhaps you have some kind of point, but I haven't the ability to believe all of it was for nothing.

[promittere]

[Ignis gives him the time to collect himself - he can't blame or begrudge him for this. To not know what would happen in a mere 35 years, to not know about the prophecy and the Chosen King...

Having your failures thrown in your face is never a good thing.]

Perhaps it wasn't for nothing, but I do not believe the gods ever had the best intentions for you.

[scourgingstars]

...

[He couldn’t believe that. The mere thought was too terrible to bear and too painful to consider. Had this outcome been desired for some reason? No matter how he wanted to deny it...some part of him couldn’t, and that hurt worst of all.]

I... don’t know. There is no way for me to understand the gods’ will, only to act as an agent of it.

[promittere]

[There would have never been a time before where he would have thought he could pity Ardyn Lucis Caelum, but it's happened. What is this world coming to?

But can he hold the future against a man who does not know what is to come?]

A fact I'm sure they're more than willing to remind you of.

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn didn't seem able to come up with an answer for that; true as it felt, there was no way to argue.]

...Then for what reason should I trust any other deity apparently in need of my help?

[promittere]

[At that, Ignis doesn't have an answer.]

You don't have any. It's up to you whether you're going to trust them or not.

[scourgingstars]

I don't know what I'm meant to do now, much less can I decide anything like that.

[promittere]

Well, if these gods are too be believed, what we're meant to do is embrace one another.

Which is, of course, ridiculous.

[scourgingstars]

Ridiculous is certainly a word. Preposterous, insane, not liable to happen in this lifetime, do take your pick.

Not a remark against you, for what it might be worth. That's simply nothing I'm interested in dealing with.