hugtopiamods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hugtopiamods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
hugme_mes2019-08-16 10:20 pm
hugtopiamods) wrote in hugme_mes2019-08-16 10:20 pm
Entry tags:
♥ 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.
no subject
Somnus, secondborn of House Caelum. You're...his descendant, aren't you?
no subject
[The amount of confusion in his voice makes Regis seem about as small a threat as Ardyn does just for a very different reason.]
I am, but you will have to forgive me. None of the stories mention him having a brother. He was not the second born. He was the only child.
no subject
...He lied to you. He lied to every single Lucian living and dead for two thousand years and however many generations. I know it sounds...beyond mad, but I swear it's the truth.
no subject
[Regis settles his hands back into his lap and then gives Ardyn a nod.]
Can you tell me what it is we have been lied to about or will it be too much for you right now?
no subject
[He spoke hesitantly, not sure if Regis could be trusted or if Ardyn would be believed.]
I-...word was sent that the gods had declared me king. My brother called me back to the capital only to claim that it was him the gods wished to ascend to the throne. He sought to be rid of me then and there, and-...in a sense, I suppose it worked.
[That was a vast simplification, but Ardyn seemed unwilling or unable to say more right away.]
I've...been in Angelgard all these centuries. I was only just released in...721, I'm told the year is.
no subject
[Regis mutters the words under his breath, trying to sort out what he's been told and match it somehow to what he has learned here and what he knows from home. His train of thought screeches to a halt though, when he realizes Ardyn specifically mentioned 'Angelgard' and not some other prison.]
You must be mistaken. Only one has been held on Angelgard in recent times and Adagium you are not.
[The man who attacked him and his people was proud, cocky, confident and wanted nothing more than destruction. This man before him is tired, uncertain, lost and seems to want nothing more than a little understanding.]
no subject
...I've made no mistake. That's what your kingdom's guards called me when they tried to kill me on sight.
no subject
[Once more Regis doesn't call Ardyn a liar. How can he in the face of such strong and honest emotional reactions? But, how is he to look at the man before him and then think of the one whose face was the last he saw as he was beaten unconscious? He has no doubt that face was not Adagium's own, but the manner and the aura around him is nothing like that of the man before him now.]
Adagium slipped into Lucis and murdered any who crossed his path; he beat me unconscious and had every plan on killing me once he was done using my connection to the Lucii to call his brother for-
[Regis' voice trails off there because Ardyn already mentioned his brother--mentioned Somnus--and that somehow cements the truth in his head like nothing else could.]
What happened? What caused you to change so much?
[He expects no answers--surely, Ardyn won't have any idea until the trigger for the change occurs--but he can't help but ask the questions anyway.]
no subject
...Verstael came to the island in search of a weapon to wage his pointless war, and he found me instead. A healer of the scourge practically turned its sole vessel and avatar. He seemed thrilled with the concept, as if it were a weapon he'd unearthed after all. But I don't...care. I've no wish for vengeance against descendants I've nothing to do with, and I don't want to kill anyone else.
I truly must no longer be human, if I were to choose to go along with something so unthinkable. If anything at all, I may yet be worse than the monster my brother chose to paint me as.
no subject
[The way Regis all but snarls the word makes it clear that he feels that explains a lot. Perhaps, even everything. The man here has done nothing directly against Lucis yet, but if what Ardyn says is true, he has no doubt the researcher was on the group of ships that was attacking the Wall at the same time Ardyn was attacking from within. Even from the little interaction he's had with the man, he has no doubt that his particular brand of obsession could take a man even so meek as the one before him and transform him into a weapon given enough time.
The very thought of it would make him ill if the thought of the lies his family has been living for so long hadn't already made him feel so.
Slowly so that he doesn't frighten him anymore than he already is, Regis stands and moves so that he can kneel in front of Ardyn, hands resting lightly upon the redhead's folded arms.]
Tell me what I may do to make up for the sins of my family? You deserve so much better than what has been given to you.
[If nothing else, he deserves a chance not to be turned into the weapon that Verstael and Niflheim so badly want.]
no subject
[He wasn't quite startled, but Regis' actions had clearly thrown Ardyn off a bit. At the very least, it had knocked him out of whatever self-hating spiral he'd been on in his own head.]
I don't...want anything from you. I don't want anything at all, merely...to be left alone.
no subject
[Regis takes a deep breath, frowning as he finishes doing so.]
If you have not already heard, Verstael is here. I have no doubt that he will seek you out as soon as he hears of your arrival. If you can give me even a silver of trust, I will do my best to shield you from him. Just because his obsessions drew out your worst in one place does not mean it has to happen here as well.
no subject
I'm scarcely a child in need of protection. But...on the other hand, if there's one thing liable to keep that irritating lunatic away, it's the idea of Lucians other than me.
[verstael was quite clear about his likes and dislikes from day one]
no subject
[Regis is quiet for a moment, thinking over the best way to make this all work.]
If you do not wish to be protected, consider my words as an offer of assistance instead. This place is frightfully dependent on positive contact with others and you are tired. I suspect it will do you well to have those who will help with the contact aspect and then ask nothing of you in return.
no subject
no subject
[Is he offering? Yep, sure is, but only if Ardyn wishes to accept.]
no subject
no subject
[Regis shakes his head to emphasize the point.]
You are a unique existence and it is up to you to decide what that existence is.
no subject