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hugme_mes2019-08-16 10:20 pm
hugtopiamods) wrote in hugme_mes2019-08-16 10:20 pm
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♥ August Test Drive Meme
August Test Drive Meme
Premise ♥ Setting ♥ Rules ♥ FAQ ♥ Mod Contact
Click on the title of the prompt to read it.
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...
❥ 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.
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.
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:
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.
"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:
- Play Twister until someone falls! The longer you go, the more points you win!
- Help each other do a handstand! The Wheelbarrow is acceptable too.
- 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.
- Create a complicated Best Friend Handshake consisting of more than 5 moves and do it together 3 times without messing up!
- 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!
- Do a trust fall into your friend's arms. The higher or further you fall, the more points you'll earn.
- 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.
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!
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.
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Maybe you're a double-agent or something. I guess you've kind of been helping us back home, when we run into Imperial trouble.
[A little too conveniently at times, but he's never actively done anything to hurt their group.]
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[Figures, he gets to be just as clueless here as he is at home when it comes to this guy.]
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[. . .]
I can try, if you'll listen.
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That... is not the response he'd expected at all, and it stuns Noctis into silence again. After a beat he nods, hungry for any kind of information he can glean about the mystery man who's been practically stalking them cross-country. He's not always the best at sitting quietly and listening, but he can make an effort, yeah.]
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As I said--my name is Ardyn Lucis Caelum. First child of the house blessed by the gods and Crystal, born into a world ravaged by the ancient war and the scourge left behind. I was granted the power to heal the afflicted of the plague that took the lives of so many, and that was what I did. [His thoughts reflected what he said, showing brief flashes of a dark-haired man in white draining away the blackened corruption from others' skin at barely even a touch.]
My brother and I...disagreed, as time passed. [More erratic flashes now, of the young man in black gesticulating furiously and shouting without sound.] He believed me to be shortsighted; that my methods were inefficient and could do little to stop the plague's spread. He chose...more far-reaching methods to deal with the Starscourge.
[It was perhaps ominous that his thoughts reflected a flash of fire as his words said nothing to Somnus' specific actions.]
Eventually it...came to a confrontation. I was told that I had been chosen to take the throne, and returned home. But...
[Ardyn trailed off, his thoughts showing yet another confrontation. Somnus with the Blade of the Mystic, and Ardyn with a matching sword in red--the two swords clashing in an ancient version of the throne room.]
What I did--my healing, it held a price. For I could not eradicate the scourge fully--I contained it within myself that it would cause harm to no other. But something happened in our confrontation that...made my restraint upon it crack. [His thoughts by now had clouded over again, not just with something dark but with some deep miasma, like the blackest of night without trace of a light or haven.]
THe last thing I remembered was...being cast down and rejected by the Crystal. I pleaded with it to tell me the truth of why any of this had happened, of who had been chosen. But...
[The haze cleared for only a moment, for an ominous sight. The blade was brought down, and Ardyn's thoughts went blank.]
...I awoke in Angelgard, and have been there ever since. I was only released a few months ago.
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True to Ardyn's request, he does listen quietly, brows furrowed, taking it all in while the cloud of Ardyn's memory fills in some of the gaps his words leave behind. It's complicated, of course- life so often is. With how things turned out, maybe Somnus was right about some of it, but from the sight of that fire in his memories... not all right, if that's implying what he thinks it does. It paints a very different picture than the histories wrote about the great Mystic and founder king of their country.
When Ardyn finishes, Noct's gaze drops awkwardly to the ground, hands stuffed into his pockets. It's... a lot.]
Yeah... I can see why he wouldn't want to share all of that with me.
[A descendant of the guy who apparently stabbed him and locked him on an island for two thousand years? Understandable. Though there's still the mystery of how he went from this to... that.]
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...It was Niflheim's military that let me out of the island; apparently seeking what they thought was an ancient weapon for their war against Lucis. But I want nothing to do with either. Kingdom and empire alike...it's no longer any of my concern.
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Might be a good thing that you're here and away from both of them, then.
[He's not thrilled, personally, but for people who are in a bad spot, maybe it'll be a blessing in disguise. Assuming things don't go to hell here, too.]
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[At least they're on the same page in that regard. He's supposed to be on his way to Altissia... and he may not be getting married anymore, but he still has to rescue a friend.
Unbidden, his thoughts turn to Luna again. Is she going to be safe while he's trapped here?]
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[Again, Ardyn made the mistake of glancing at Noctis' cloud, ending up staring a bit distantly--like he was suddenly a thousand miles away. His own thoughts shifted as well--to Aera, and a field of red sylleblossoms.]
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Is that... the Oracle in your time?
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[Ardyn glanced up, then quickly tried clearing his thoughts again. Fumbling for a response, he came up with:]
Y...yes. She-...her name is Aera.
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...She looks like Luna.
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[He wonders if that's ever going to be not weird to say, but okay, this is his life now.]
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....
Oh. Oh, geez. Now he feels kind of bad for bringing it up.]
I don't know much about the history of the family, but they're still Fleurets. If... that helps at all.
[He has no idea and he's bad at this, ugh.]
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[He managed a halfhearted smile, thoughts still determinedly blank.]
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She's been healing the Starscourge. It's still around, but... not like it used to be. At least, that's how it feels.
[Nights are still very much an issue, but they're working on that. In day to day life you don't see that many sick people on the roads he'd traveled.]
Figured... maybe you'd wanna know that.