hugtopiamods: (Default)
hugtopiamods ([personal profile] hugtopiamods) wrote in [community profile] hugme_mes2019-08-16 10:20 pm
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♥ August Test Drive Meme

animated gif of a money driving a car with two people laughing and saying drive monkey drive
August Test Drive Meme
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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?
the silhouette of a man staring down at a crowd of rats

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
a row of contestants before a game show host

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
two fingers together with smiling faces drawn on

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.

Taken CharactersReservationsApplications
begguiling: (clever hours of happiness)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-19 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
Good plan, these two. Once they've scooted away to a less crowded area—he's in no hurry, though, and is actually a slow flier when he's not boosting himself with magic or teleporting—Magolor comes to a stop and lets go of Vianca's hand, though he remains leaning lightly against her arm. He'll need to be close to see the map! No, it's for the money, but you know.

He waves his newly freed hand at the map, either offering to take it or pointing out it exists, however she decides to interpret it.

"Sorry to say I don't have such a memorable name . . . not that I'd want that one. That's just asking for a rough childhood. Anyhoo, mine's Magolor, and I'm happy to meet you! Let's take a look at what you'd like to see around the city, Miss—?"
pinkmin: (Default)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-19 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
It didn’t seem like she overly minded the leaning, at least. Vianca stayed comfortably still as he did so, pulling the map open between them. If this was where she was going to be, getting an idea of how the map translated to the environment around them was going to be very important.

“Vianca,” she provided in that tiny voice of hers. “It is... good to meet you, Magolor.”

Even if she was still looking at everything as impassively as when she first stared at him. At least until she started looking at the map, when her eyes started eating up the whole thing with Intensity. “Is there a library?”
begguiling: (make brainwashing go rampant)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-20 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, there must be. In a place like this? I haven't been to it myself, but there's no doubt!"

He skims the map; at least he has a passing familiarity with the layout of the city by now, even if he hasn't thoroughly explored the whole thing. And there it is, the library—more than one!—in the entertainment district, the one he's least familiar with. Makes sense he hadn't seen it in person. He taps the map with his glove when he spots it:

"Looks like you're in luck, bookworm! I don't know this area very well, but that just means it'll be an adventure for the both of us."
pinkmin: (004)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-20 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
Zoom went her gaze, straight to the spot Magolor was pointing out. [ENHANCE.] There it was! There, multiples were! Multiple!!

The indication that this was something that was extremely exciting to her was the sudden, fervent series of nods happening at Magolor's side. This was a very good, blessed thing, and Vianca now knew where she was going to live for the time being. Sort of. Proably. She was already wondering if there could possibly be any overlap from the books from her world and the books from this world, or if they were... all new. Wow. All new. Wow.

"Would you mind?" She asked a bit quickly, as if giving it speed would make it seem less like strong command in her own head, even if it wasn't even a suggestion in the first place. "Could we please take a look?"
begguiling: (be cute and smile)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-21 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
And here he'd thought he might be jumping the gun a little calling her a bookworm. This girl is a certified nerd. But so is he, of a different sort, and she's mild and charming and inoffensive enough in this. Magolor gives her a chipper thumbs up.

"You're easily pleased! That's not a bad thing. It sure makes my job easier. And I want to see it myself, so let's roll out! Care to navigate for us? We're right here—"

He indicates where they are right now on the map, and the direction they're facing, but if she doesn't protest, he'll leave carrying it to her. It's easier for him to hang onto her arm as they go without his hands full.
pinkmin: (001)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-22 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
Vianca carefully followed his gestures, taking a good look at the location and a better, more orienting look at the area around them. Okay. Yes. Navigating was a thing she could do. If she could handle a library that shifted, she could handle a city with a predetermined map. Easy.

Taking hold of the map, she gave a determined little nod. Off they went!

"I'm the..." Hm. "I was the librarian, back home."
begguiling: (your dad is an addict)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-23 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
"You weren't too young for a job like that?"

Rather than being concerned or dubious, it's a genuine question, innocently posed. Magolor still really does not Get human ages, or even the ages of most other species, to be honest. He's known a lot of very capable young'uns! But he's also been exposed to a lot of worry on this planet over human kids who seem to be around Vianca's age, probably? He thinks? Like that size ish??

He holds onto her arm lightly with both hands, floating along beside her.
pinkmin: (002)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-23 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
"The Headmaster did not think so."

It was small and quiet, just like she was, but there was a note of pride resonating in her voice. It had meant so much to her, to be able to take that place. Still, she went on a bit more somberly. "I had been performing the duties anyway, after the other librarians left. I knew it the best."

There were a number of people she had wished she could see again. She had been hoping that keeping the library running smoothly meant that... that maybe they'd come back and find her right where they had left her in the steady constant that was the library. Maybe they'd take her with them, next time they left. Maybe...

"... but Headmaster Hand worked just as oddly as his brother at times."
begguiling: (an annoying stroll into the unknown)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-25 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
" . . . Let me guess. A left hand and a right hand?"

By now he's beginning to get, well, some kind of weird picture in his head. Where had she come from? Some place ruled by a pair of hands? How big were they? Was there a body too? Or just a couple of hands lording it over the people?

For some weird reason, he finds this narrative fascinating.

"Sounds like you come from a pretty interesting place, to put it lightly."
pinkmin: (009)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-25 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
Nodding, Vianca turned her very serious face towards Magolor, letting go of a side of the map so she could hold up her hand in a slightly clawed motion. Very seriously. "Big ones. They were larger than many people and floated around."

She picked the map back up properly after that, and glanced down at it as if letting it go had skewed their positions. Objectively, Vianca knew the Academy was very strange. Everyone said so. Weird things happened there all the time, and it was crazy. Things weren't supposed to work that way. It was what all her books said too-- or at the very least, they all had a set of Rules to follow that made sense within their own worlds.

As far as Vianca could tell, Final Destination did not have any of those.

"People would say it was bizarre, but I lived there my whole life. It was normal, for me."
begguiling: (a fucked up helicopter ride)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-25 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"And you never met the person behind the hands? Or maybe there wasn't one, I guess. Stranger things have happened!"

He lifts his own free hand up to wave it around in the air. Stranger things may have happened, but even by Magolor's standards, this description is somewhat beyond the pale. There's all the weirdness of the universe, and then there's the specific weirdness of this.

Headmaster, huh?

"If one of them was the Headmaster, does that mean this was a school?"
pinkmin: (012)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-25 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Vianca glanced at his waving hands and nodded. It did make sense to wonder if there was anyone attached, if your own hands floated. "They were just hands." Really Big Hands. "They turned into people, sometimes."

She'd remember seeing it happen, once or twice. It wasn't that common of an occurence, but neither was actually seeing them at all. Normally they were just up in their tower, coming down for graduations and when things were especially dire. Well, maybe they frequented more places than the library. Vianca had to admit she wouldn't have known otherwise.

"Oh, but yes. Smash Academy. A high school and university."
begguiling: (visualize memes)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-25 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, them turning into people (human-shaped people? orb-shaped people?!) sometimes is where that gets into the territory of maybe weirdest thing Magolor's ever heard, a very high distinction. Two huge disembodied hands running a school is understandable, but—

He shakes his head and blinks. There's nothing to do but just accept it for what it is, which is weird, but so is much of the universe. It's not like he can't envision an alternate timeline where he had succeeded That One Time and then sent gigantic replicas of his own hands all across different dimensions to personally guide the lives of people on individual planets, and actually that's a fun fantasy to have some other time, so thanks for that, Smash Academy!

"And you were born on this planet, and then took a job at this school, huh?"
Edited (that was the wrong word and worrisome) 2019-08-25 23:01 (UTC)
pinkmin: (010)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-25 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Smash Academy is grateful for its chance to shape your daydreams, Magolor.

"Yes." Something like that, anyway. Sprouting was a way of being born. She was alive after all. Or... well. She had been, that much Vianca was sure of. She tried to push this existensial crisis to the back of her mind, focusing intensely on matching her surroundings to the lines on the map in front of her.

"I had enrolled as a student, first. Most people had just come to enroll, or to teach, but they came from different places. A little like here, maybe."
begguiling: (enjoy the public shaming)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-29 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
Luckily the layout of the city isn't too convoluted. Magolor keeps one eye on the map, but he's happy to let her lead, watching Vianca and her reactions too.

"So they came deliberately, as exchange students! Sounds pretty prestigious."

And it's more familiar to him than a situation like this, where no one here had asked to come. This is a first for him, compared to consensual interdimensional travel.
pinkmin: (012)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-31 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
"It seemed that way. There were lots of people that were very important where they came from."

Vianca paused them at a street corner. Were there vehicles here? Riding Pokemon? Other transports? She didn't know, so it was vital to look both ways before crossing the (currently empty) street.

... All clear! They continued boldly on.
Edited 2019-08-31 00:15 (UTC)
begguiling: (subprime mortgage owners team up!)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-31 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
All clear! What a responsible girl. Seriously, the kids here have their shit together more than the adults. Magolor floats along with her without protest; a nice leisurely moneymaking walk to less familiar parts of the city is a fine way to spend his day. And by now, he's curious about this interdimensional academy.

"Lots of different species, I bet! Important how? Royalty, that kind of thing?"
pinkmin: (001)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-31 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
This was all much more talking than Vianca had done in a very long time, but there was something... nice about it. It almost felt a little freeing, to be somewhere new, where no one knew she was very bad at being anything yet. In that same vein it felt very comfortable to keep the topic on her home and not herself. The Academy was endlessly more interesting.

Vianca gave a very sage nod. "Many princes and princesses. One of my room mates was a god." Just, you know, a random god. Arceus wasn't that big a deal. "... She really liked muffins."

She turned those blue peepers on Magolor for a moment, looking thoughtful. "A few looked a little like you."
begguiling: (in online casinos begins the future)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-31 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
The god thing is definitely worth commentary. He's all prepared to ask about it, even. It may not be as shocking to him as to some people—he's met them, he helped take one down, he got to be one very very briefly and tragically—but the idea of just having one as a roommate and sharing muffins is enough to give him a Moment and catch his attention.

Or it was. But then she has to go and say that, and that he really needs to know about. Magolor looks up at her again with pricked ears, all attentive.

"Really? Like me? Well, tell me all about them! Maybe they were friends of mine!"

Now, "a little like you" could mean a lot of things. It could mean she ran into Doomers, or it could mean she ran into Halcandrans, or it could even mean she ran into someone like Meta Knight or Taranza. You know, the other versions of them, whichever ones from whichever universe happened to attend this Academy, a thing he has no trouble believing could be the case.
pinkmin: (007)

my brain keeps saying the blush is his eye and i'm having a crisis

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-31 06:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Vianca nodded with a thoughtful look, gently veering them around a corner. It was the general shape that first made a connection, but it was really his eyes that struck a familiar chord, and the way his clothes became more of his identifying features than his actual appearance.

"He was one of the resident assistants. His name is Meta Knight?" She glanced at him again, seeing if that name brought about any familiarity. "I think he was from... Popstar? I did not talk to him very often."
begguiling: (become suggestive)

omg time to never use that icon again

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-31 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh boy does it. The recognition is obvious, because Magolor doesn't bother to school it in any way—neither repressed nor exaggerated, he's just purely surprised. And very interested. Meta Knight! Of all the people! Yeah, that sounds accurate. He would travel the stars to attend a prestigious academy as an RA. There's no way this was the "same" Meta Knight as either of the two Magolor's met, but aren't they all kind of the same, really?

Ah . . . he misses him. Just a little. A tiny bit. It'd be so funny if he showed up and had to suffer through being fawned over . . .

"Meta Knight! No kidding! He's an old friend of mine. I'm not from Pop Star, but I visit pretty often to hang out with that crowd. I'd just split with them when I ended up here instead, as a matter of fact."
pinkmin: (012)

w h o o p s

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-08-31 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
There was a little lift of her eyebrows. That was a surprise, actually! She hadn't really thought that there would be a connection, since the chances of that were so incredibly slim. And yet! Here they were!

"Really?" There was definitely some curiosity in there. "I wonder if there's the chance that they're the same... Maybe you're both from a different time."
begguiling: (everything is magic)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-08-31 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, we surely are. Or even a different dimension! I think that's the most likely. Meta Knight is Meta Knight, but there are all kinds of worlds out there where he might be doing his own Meta Knight thing. I've already met a couple of him on my travels. Say, did you ever get to see behind his mask?"

He has no guilt whatsoever about thinking the mask thing is funny, despite he himself being in a not dissimilar position.
pinkmin: (010)

[personal profile] pinkmin 2019-09-01 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
Vianca nodded along. The concept of different dimensions and times wasn't a new thing for her, considering the way FDC seemed to work. It didn't happen terribly often, but she'd had her own encounters with different versions of people.

Before she could dwell on what that meant to her, Magolor had already enticed her with even Bigger Mysteries. Vianca blinked a few times, giving a very quick shake of her head.

NO. SHE'D NEVER SEEN IT. THE MYSTERY FACE.
begguiling: (you may receive the moon)

[personal profile] begguiling 2019-09-01 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
"Hehehe. He's pretty careful about that, so I'm not surprised. I've only gotten to see it once myself, and he sure was embarrassed about that!"

And you bet Magolor was absolutely living when it happened. There is a bounce to his flying along beside her looking back on that. Ah . . . he misses him. All of them. Well, not Taranza, because you know. Right now, it isn't a wistful or homesick kind of missing them, only a pleasant moment of recollection—but the depth of that feeling surprises him for a second. He didn't realize he had it in him until now.

"Maybe he'll follow you here, hmm? Or me, either way. Wow, talk about a coincidence though!"

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