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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!
a-ok by me!
He got more than he bargained for.
[ As sweet as Kara seems, Clark knows there's steel in her. She's a survivor.
He doesn't want to linger on what might be a bad memory so he asks a different question. ]
Is there just us where you're from? Are there other aliens or metahumans?
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You can say that again.
( They both are, which is something almost nobody else understands.
And she's thankful for the change of topic, her expression lightening considerably as she hangs up the wet tea towel. )
Well, there's probably still more than a few former prisoners out there, but yeah. Aliens, I mean, anyway. Metahumans are almost unheard of.
J'onn J'onzz is the last Green Martian, and heads up the DEO. And Mon-El crashed about eight months ago. He's from Daxam.
( Her lips twitch, and she laughs a little. )
I've been to what's been called "Earth-1" before, and there's oodles of metahumans there but not really any aliens.
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Clark doesn't have many friends but he's working on that. It's easier here: people aren't so bothered about his secret. He's careful with showing his powers. ]
There's a few people here from a world similar to ours. They have minor differences... you can usually tell by who recognises Gotham and Metropolis.
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Present company included. She looks curious, moving to stand beside him. )
That's pretty cool. I wouldn't mind meeting them. I've only met one group of aliens who weren't refugees like me.
And that was back on Earth-1. I got to work with the Flash, the Green Arrow and the Legends to stop their invasion.
( Kara rubs the bridge of her nose and adjusts her glasses, wistful. ) It was fun.
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[ This is assuming his friends don't find her first. Clark attracts a type.
He teases her: ]
Fun? Are you sure it's not your middle name?
[ Clark hasn't stopped smiling or feeling light around her. It is fun. ]
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( That would be interesting, and she'd frankly have a blast. When he actually teases her, she laughs, bright and bubbly. )
Wellllll Eliza might have a fit if I were going to change it now, but—
( She grins. ) You'd better get used to it now!
( Smiling suits him, as much as it does in her reality. if she can provide some levity for him, she'll be more than happy to oblige. )
I kind of want to race you sometime, by the way. Jimmy—James told me once that he thinks I'm faster than you, and I'd love to find out.
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Clark's so proud of her. It's weird: he had nothing to do with how tough she is. ]
Set the date. I'm in.
[ Jon can join in.
Clark wants to know who James is that he can say that so confidently but he's asked enough questions of her. He can find out another day.
It's her turn. ]
Do you have anything to ask me?
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For him. Just because she remembers their planet and he doesn't in no way diminishes the magnitude of his loss. )
How about sometime this week? I'll give you a little bit to practice.
( There she goes, teasing him now. She knows she has a whole lot of that to do, too, but the opportunity had been to irresistible not to take.
So here they are, with her sticking out her tongue at him.
When she finally sobers, she finds herself asking quietly: )
How long ago did you decide to go out there and help people in your spare time? Be a hero. And you are one to me.
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He becomes serious when she asks her question. ]
I was doing it another way... I was drifting around and helping where I could. [ He had been a ghost. Clark could always disappear if someone found out about his powers. He didn't want to sit on a farm and stay safe. ] When General Zod's ship found me, he demanded humans turn me over to him. I showed myself as Kal-El. When everything was over, they started calling me Superman.
This was a couple of months ago.
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Tighter this time, not letting go. )
Are you all right? ( Leaning back just enough to look at him, her eyes search is. ) I can't imagine, being all alone like that. That's why my mother made me promise to protect you. I might be a lot late on that one, but I'm going to help in any way I can.
It'll get easier. Especially since we're not alone.
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Clark hugs her back desperately. This time he really doesn't want to let her go. ]
I know it will. [ His breathing is shaky again. ] Everyone thinks I did the right thing by fighting our people. [ Clark doesn't believe that. ] If we'd had time, could I have helped? I don't know.
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She just wishes she'd been there to help him when he'd been going through all that, alone. Kara leans her head against his shoulder, hoping she can be some sort of an anchor. )
I wonder that, too. When things are happening too fast to think things through, we do what we can. That doesn't necessarily mean it's right.
There's been a lot of times where I've looked back and think I could've saved my aunt. But she was threatening J'onn, and Alex... Alex did what she felt she had to.
( It still hurts, though she'd never admit it to her sister. )
We'll never know, really. We're not gods, no matter what anybody else says.
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We're not. We have to think about what we do.
[ Their actions have more impact because of their power. Now, Clark's realising it's also because of their influence. Kara says her Kal has been around for a long time. He wonders if humans have accepted him. ]
I never want to face a choice like that again... but I can't tell what's in my future.
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Good. That's what we should do, as much as we can. My mom told me we'd do "extraordinary things."
( They should make their parents proud. In the past few months, she's been a bit, well, self-important. This conversation points that out starkly, and though she says nothing, she's deeply ashamed. That's not the kind of person either Alura In-Ze or Eliza Danvers raised her to be.
She clasps him tighter, sighing quietly. )
Neither would I. But I wouldn't want to know my future. The Flash and the Legends time travel, and as cool as it is, knowing... wouldn't make anything better.
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[ Clark might not know what she's been doing but he has faith in her. She'll push forward and grow.
Every moment that passes makes it more solid that he has someone from his world, who knows him, and understands what living on Earth is like. How does he say "thank you" to someone for existing?
Clark finally lets her go but he doesn't move away yet. ]
Actually, that reminds me. I have my father's AI. Maybe we could build a console for it and talk to him. You can ask him anything you want.
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( She doesn't mention her adoptive family much yet, because it's complicated. They had resisted her choice to aspire to be a hero and help others because they'd worried for her safety.
Her existence had cost them Jeremiah; something she'll never forget. They can't, won't understand, though they support her now. There has always been a sense of belonging with Kal that has been lacking with humans, because it's more difficult to achieve for her.
Though the hug ends, she doesn't move away, either. And his offer makes her eyes grow wide, the smile she wears now turns softer. )
I'd be honoured, thank you. If my mother's were here, I'd offer the same. We should build a console; there's a whole other abandoned city out there that might have the parts somewhere to do that.
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Sometimes, objects come through the Portal. Yours might show up. I thought the one I had was destroyed.
[ It's usually in his pocket: currently it's safe amongst his belongings in his room. ]
Do you know what parts we need?
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I hope so! Sometimes it's nice, to talk to her about my day. Do you do that too?
( She considers this a moment, and then nods. )
The basics. It won't be fancy like the one made by the DEO, but that's okay. It doesn't need to be.
My dad was part of the Science Guild, and I spent a lot of time with him. Makes me a bit of a dork, but I should be able to get it working.
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A friend of mine managed to make it work for an hour. I asked all the questions I could.
Anything you need, I'll help you.
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Finally, science isn't boring anymore. She grins up at him, pleased. )
Challenged accepted! I can't wait to give it a try.
After our race, maybe? I'm excited to see what's up with that rundown city anyway.
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I've been exploring and salvaging with some others. I could give you the grand tour.
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( She grins easily, eyes dancing. )
You know it's really something, knowing you like this. When I landed, you'd already had everything down pat and, well. It's nice.
( He's more like her, this way. Even if it's hard to admit she's got a lot to learn still. )
Anyway. Can I get a tour of this city, in the meantime?
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