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riverviewooc2017-04-20 11:42 am
riverview: april test drive meme
riverview test drive memeWelcome to Riverview's test drive meme! Feel free to dip your toes in on the test drive meme to try out your character in the setting, play out a mission, and get samples for your application at the same time!
● Reserves are currently OPEN.
● Applications open on May 1st.
● Providing all parties are amenable, threads on the test drive meme can count as game canon, as the plot in the prompts presented is game canon.
● TDM threads do not count for Activity Check, but they do count for Activity Bonus Points, so long as all characters involved are accepted into the game.
● Threading on the TDM is intended for prospective new characters, so top-levels should only be posted by players of these characters. Since the events in the TDM are considered game canon, characters currently in the game are free to use the TDM prompts logs and posts on the regular communities.
Feel free to use the prompts below or create your own scenario. The setting is built to be flexible, so feel free to make things up as you go.
information resources
premise ● arrival ● setting ● ask a question ● calendar ● navigation
Recently, a team of skilled explorers went out into the jungle to the Northwest of the city to follow up on several sightings of a giant lizardlike behemoth that's been skulking around outside the walls, a creature whose level of aggression (and therefore how dangerous it might be) was unknown. The team, while not exactly as stealthy as they were supposed to be, did manage to find the creature, which they found to have about the intelligence and temperament of a very, very, very large dog. And whom they named Liam.
Having established that the behemoth (which is around the size of a blue whale, snakelike in shape, but with four legs, brown striated scales, large claws and teeth, bad breath, and an affinity for face-licking) is not an intentional danger to the city, the authorities could not rule out the idea that it might cause accidental damage to the city, walls, or crops around the city. As a result, research has been done and a new mission has been drafted and recruited for - baiting the behemoth. The objective of this large-scale mission is for many small, quick-moving teams to take behemoth bait deep into the jungle for the purpose of luring the massive but mostly-harmless creature away from the city and hopefully to a new, less-inhabited feeding area. There is room for many different teams, and all of them should be heading deep into the jungle heading directly away from the city, going Northwest. The authorities in question have come up with a wide variety of food and pheromone scented lures that range from mild to truly stinky, so which type your team gets is up to you.
Each lure is small enough to fit in a cage-shaped canister that can be carried like a backpack by one person with average strength, and each lure-carrier will need to be accompanied by at least one or two fighters. Why, when the behemoth is peaceful? Well....
The behemoth might not be aggressive, but unfortunately it's picked up some unwelcome companions. After last month's near-disaster where a colony of lizardlike monsters had taken up residence in tunnels under the city, wreaking havoc in the power grid, and were subsequently either killed or flushed out of the underground, some of the local fauna has been bumped down the food chain.
The fauna in question is a very large pack of mammalian six-limbed creatures that usually live in the trees and hunt oversized insects in the underbrush. When the lizards escaped the underground into the surrounding jungle, and drastically reduced the population of the insects the mammals usually feed on, the predators became parasites, attacking the only thing left that is more docile than the insects they usually feed on - the behemoth. These creatures are quick-moving, well-camouflaged in the jungle with mottled brown-and-green fur, and sport massive teeth and long tongues that allow them to stick to whatever surface they land on.
Hungry as they are, they will make no distinction between the behemoth's juicy hide and the lure-carrying teams that are trying to help it. Hopefully, their ranks can be thinned enough that the behemoth survives the trip to its new home.
Not everyone is cut out for missions into the jungle or cleaning up angry predatory parasite monsters, but that doesn't mean that staying home means being safe from the weird things that come out of the portal. In the early morning of April 20th, drawn by the warmth of the rising sun, a massive swarm of rainbow-colored fireflies emerges from the portal into the quarantine. Unlike regular fireflies, though, they are bright enough to glow even during the day, and these bugs have bite! While generally harmless aside from stinging a little, the bite of the rainbow fireflies causes certain kinds of emotional response to become heightened, depending on the color of the firefly in question. While scientists have never run into these bugs before and have no idea how it works, they can cause this effect in any kind of sentient creature that is capable of emotion, including androids and characters that are usually unaffected by substances. The effects on emotions are as follows:
| ● RED: Lust/Anger ● ORANGE: Honesty/Openness ● YELLOW: Fear/Anxiety |
● GREEN: Jealousy/Envy ● BLUE: Sadness/Grief ● VIOLET: Love/Affection |
When a character is bitten, the effects on their emotions can last anywhere from an hour to a week, depending on the character's psychology and resistance to certain emotions - for example, if a character has a hard time dealing with their grief, the effect of a blue firefly may last longer than other colors. How the characters manifest the heightened emotional response or sensitivity is up to the individual player, as different body chemistry or other circumstances might change how characters are affected. Red firefly bites have a 50/50 chance of affecting a character with lust or anger, though characters who have not reached sexual maturity (underage characters) won't get get the lust effect.
Firefly effects can be easily avoided simply by avoiding the fireflies. It won't take long for some of the geniuses in the Quarantine to start making and distributing firefly repellent, and characters can expect sales of mosquito tents to skyrocket.
These alien fireflies have a lifespan of around a month, and they are unable to procreate outside their native environment, which means the last of them will be dying off around May 20th.
CLARIFICATION: In response to a player question, the effects of the fireflies CAN layer, so they can be affected by more than one at the same time. Red fireflies with the lust effect don't make characters incapable of controlling themselves, just heighten feelings of arousal/desire.
Whether your character is posting up a silly word game to distract people from the dangerous mission going on, trying to get hold of a friend, or putting out feelers for people to go out into the fray with, the network is going strong.
Alternately, an offer for a free app is popping up on new arrivals' devices - Friendr is a friend-finder and/or dating app. If characters choose to install it, they will fill out a short bio and parameters for what they're looking for, upload a snap of themselves, and then proceed to browse for matches. This is a typical swipe-left-or-right type app.
Many thanks to
mistojen for coding this especially for Riverview!Choose your own adventure and do something else in the setting!
no subject
The Loki who is related to your alternate universe self. I've never met your brother, of course, but compared to what I saw of him on the news this one is not as similar as I might have expected. Not just in appearance but personality and behavior. Perhaps even goals and motives, though I can't be sure. [She's been too wary to open up overmuch to him, or to try and encourage the same from him.] He's quite personable, and skilled in the kitchen, if you would believe it.
[Wanda never expected to help cook a feast with Loki but there you have it. That was a thing that happened here.]
no subject
I should like to meet him. I shall hope that your good word is not too generous for him. [He chuckles, and it's a little warmer this time around. He steps closer to the fridge, rubbing his hands together as he does.]
Can I help?
no subject
Still, it had been important to tell him. A version of his brother is here and he seems to be behaving himself.]
If you like. [She starts to hand over cheeses and a bowl of fruit while she starts searching through the cold-cuts.] There's some bread on the counter behind you as well, if you wouldn't mind getting that and a knife from the block to cut it?
[Pulling out paper-wrapped meats, she turns and places them on the counter as well.]
As for my good word, it's too soon to tell. I imagine you'll learn sooner than the rest of us in the end.
no subject
He turns around to face the bread and takes it in one hand, using his other hand to remove a knife from the block so he can flick it around like a show off before catching it again.]
I imagine I will too. [And he says that gravely, while slicing into the bread.] Tell me more of this place, as you see it. What have you come to experience here?
no subject
They're very kind here. For all that there are monsters at the gates and at times in the sewers, it's a city full of people trying to really build a community and live their lives. They have every intention of getting us back where we belong, if we wish, but they have no stable way of doing so. In the meantime they attempt to make us feel at home, and welcome to build the community with them instead of merely living alongside it.
[Wanda offers Thor a wry smile as she eventually comes to lean against the counter.]
It's quiet, if you want it to be, but there are opportunities to keep busy if you prefer. No doubt they could use your skills here if you're minded to lend them. [She pauses a beat.] And with so many people from our world here, many of our team does, but there isn't the same structure or cohesiveness that there was back home.
[They're not a team here, and Wanda still isn't sure how she feels about that.]
no subject
[And this is coming from the guy who fell face first into Earth and coped somehow.]
It may take time for them to find their bearings. [Been there, done that.] We always worked better under true pressure, perhaps that is where we'll find cohesion. Not that anybody likes to rely on that sort of miracle.
[He smirks, pushing the bread he's sliced toward her.] Have you put your skills to use?
no subject
I have. On two occasions. There were monsters to fight beyond the fence, and giant lizards in the sewers once. There are many people with gifts and abilities here...
[She pauses.]
Though I have told no one about the neural interfacing I'm capable of. I would prefer to keep it that way.
[There's no warning in her tone, but rather a plea. Please don't tell people she can fuck with their heads. And oh, by the way she's still sorry about what she put him through.]
no subject
[He addresses it first, because it's the most important factor here. He won't claim to know why, exactly, but he understands several reasons it could be. It was a formidable power, indeed.
He doesn't want to burden her with the truth of what he saw and what it made him feel, so he will move on.]
I have come to realise we are not alone in our uniqueness, though I'm sure I don't know the half of it yet. [He's only met a few people, after all.] Are monsters our greatest enemy, here?
no subject
So far as I can tell for the moment, yes. There are many of them, varied in species, but they are in fact the only enemy I've been able to identify since my arrival. If there are any here in the city who are not as they seem, perhaps responsible for our being here after all, I have yet to come across them.
[She offers him a little smile then, looking at him speculatively.]
Would you let me come with you when you decide to face some of Riverview's monsters beyond the fence?
[She'd like to see him in action, when there isn't the fate of the world resting on their shoulders. Fighting Ultron, she hadn't had a chance to properly appreciate his prowess.]
no subject
He raises a brow at her speculative look, then offers her a sly smile.]
You need not ask my permission. I know you to be more than capable of holding your own in battle.
[Which is a great honour indeed. She is talented beyond her years, but perhaps she could use some assistance in honing her fighting ability.]
But I would be happy to give you pointers. I have, after all, been doing this a very long time.
no subject
I would welcome your insight. Everyone has had different things to teach me and most of it has been useful in the field. [Her smile spreads as she considers this further.] Perhaps before we go we could gather everyone together for a sparring session. It's been a while since our last and I don't see everyone here as often as I used to at the compound.
[Which perhaps could be telling in an of itself how different things are since he last saw the team. A situation like this ought to have brought them closer together, not spread them further apart.]
no subject
That would be a fine way to match skills and learn from one another- not to mention, learning to fight as a team. [And then he can't help but pause to consider-]
Has the team lived on in my absence?
no subject
No one has died since Pietro. [She gives him a faint smile.] But the team isn't really a team anymore either. There was an incident, a mission with unexpected casualties--
[They were her fault. Everyone said so. She wasn't quick enough, fast enough. But if she hadn't intervened then Steve and so many others would have died, surely--]
The United Nations got involved. Laws were put into place, and right around that time Bucky resurfaced... [She trails off and rubs her eyes.] The team has split. Those who are adhering to the law and those who are not.
no subject
Of course, it fades quickly to concern as she elaborates.]
I should have known things would not continue as they were for so long. [Last he remembers, he'd just left. He wonders what Thor is doing while this occurs, whether what he returned to Asgard for had come to fruition. Concern continues to knit his brows before he lets it fall away.
He'll dwell on it another time.]
Which side of the split do you reside on? With whom?
no subject
It was Steve, Bucky, Sam, Clint, and Scott on one side with me. You haven't met Scott yet, he's someone that Sam met previously. [Quirking a half smile at Thor, she continues.] Tony led the other team, with Rhodey of course, and Natasha, Vision, and if you could believe it, the King of Wakanda. And a boy who went by the name Spider-Man.
[Yes. This is their life apparently. Panther Kings and Spider Boys.]
Would you like the whole story from the beginning?
[She can manage a flashback montage with the best of them.]