riverview: test drive meme

[riverviewmod]

riverview test drive meme

Welcome to Riverview's first 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 March 1st.
● All threads on the test drive meme can count as game canon once the game is up and running.
● TDM threads do not count for Activity Check, but they do count for Activity Bonus Points.

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 ● navigation

prompt i: batten down the hatches

If the sky has seemed a little more yellow-green than usual for the past couple of days, there's a reason for that. Meteorologists have been warning of a particularly nasty storm blowing in from the direction of the Delta in the Southwestern part of the Abandoned City.

The Quarantine is about to be hit by a nasty typhoon, and there's a lot to be done. Whether you're helping sandbag the banks of the river, which is bound to be swollen by the storm and flooding, weatherproofing your building, or just huddling indoors for warmth and helping reassure your friends, family, or partner that everything will be okay, it's time to take action!

prompt ii: monster madness

There's been a lot of talk around the Quarantine about the various predators and monsters outside the fence, and how they've been getting steadily more active, crowding the fences, trying to leap over them, seemingly driven by some kind of mania. There have even been increasing instances of predators that normally mind their own business attacking the fences wholesale, slamming into it over and over as if they're trying to find a weakness.

The good news? The fences have been holding. So far.

The bad news? They won't be holding for much longer.

The Perimeter Guard is in a bad way, and it's all hands on deck. They've also sent out a few of the Perimeter Guard Cadets to post up flyers around the city asking for temporary help in fighting off the beasts. So pick up whatever weapon you're best with, hop onto a truck transport, and head on over to the fences to help drive off the monsters and keep the Quarantine safe.

prompt iii: hold your lover close

With a storm rolling in that's going to keep everyone indoors, that might cause power outages, and is just frankly pretty scary, a lot of the clubs, restaurants, and hotels are doing special events to keep everyone's brains occupied and flooded with endorphins.

There are flyers around the city advertising various couples activities: speed dating, dance classes, overnight pool parties, and all-expenses-paid lovers' nights in.

The catch? The great deals only count if you're a twosome. So if you don't have someone to love, hit up speed dating in the indoor courtyard of Riverview's largest mall, or grab the first person you see and take the opportunity.

prompt iv: solution

After a day or two of storm activity, things are definitely not getting better: the rain is torrential, the monsters are attacking with increased energy and decreased rest times, and the distractions are starting to wear thin. Power outages happen off and on, a very rare situation in Riverview Quarantine.

The government has put out an all-points-bulletin imploring anyone with an exploratory spirit to help.

From what government science techs can tell, the storm isn't natural - after all, even the meteorologists were saying that the pressure systems seemed extremely strange. They've managed to narrow the cause to an area in the delta where the storm seems to be originating from, and are broadcasting the general location so anyone with the guts can head out into the storm and try to find the source of it.

Any characters who decide to penetrate the jungle in search of the source will find a device in the shape of a pyramid, with glowing blue edges about a day's walk into the Abandoned City. The pyramid is a malfunctioning weather control device that is causing wild pressure fluctuations and causing the storm as well as making the animals in the jungle aggressive and erratic. Characters can destroy or deactivate the device to end the storm.

This mission can be threaded out however you would like, in groups however large you would like, and more than one team can accomplish the goal.

prompt v: wildcard/network

Whether you're looking for help with a mission or just want to get to know your fellow new arrivals, your character can make a post to the network.

Or you can choose your own adventure and do something else in the setting!

navigation

Comments

[dust_of_life]

Did people actually use words like 'perimeter?' Fatima suppressed a smile. In part to avoid embarrassing her new friend.

And in part because it kind of hurt, considering how cut up the inside of her mouth was right now.

She was wasting time, anyway. Standing up straight, she pulled the hunting knife out of her boot, hurling it at one of the monsters she'd managed to let slip through. The knife embedded itself to the handle in the creature's skull and the critter dropped like a stone.

Sloppy. Arty would not approve.

"Hey, Flying Guy!" she shouted up to her new friend, "Give me a rough head count of what's coming this way."

[keepitup]

Good at spotting things and good at throwing things. Maybe he should see if she'll teach him something about aim.

"It's Ray!" he shouts back first. "And ummm, HOLD ON."

He turns, dipping a little before he smoothes out as he turns himself a full three sixty degrees to look around.

"There's more of them that way!" He's pointing north along the fence. "Maybe two dozen that I can see from here until the horizon!" Ray turns back though, towards their little spot. "We've got three more incoming!"

[dust_of_life]

Ray. Like a Ray of sunshine. She'd remember that, because it amused her for some bizarre reason. And because it was such a...normal name. Somehow, she'd expected a flying guy to be named Sebastian. Or Antonio. Or Zephyr. Ray could be the guy who ran the coffee shop down the street from her community college.

"Not for long, Ray," she said, spinning around to spot the trio rushing at the fence.

...did people actually use words like 'incoming' too?

Dismissing the thought, she grabbed hold of her necklace, squeezing it until the jagged spokes of the sunburst dug into her skin and blood started to ooze out between her fingers. "In about five seconds, Ray," she said, "they're going to go flying to the right. Hit them when the first one comes to a stop."

She considered using more para-military slang, but couldn't be bothered.

With a sharp twist of her wrist, she sent a force blast at the critter on the left, sending him flying into his companion who, in turn, flew into the one on the right. All three went sprawling.

[keepitup]

Listen, even if Ray doesn't admit it, he's spent a lot of time imagining what it would be like to be a real superhero. Not like Oliver, who came back to Starling with a dark reckoning to be carried out — but more like ... more like ... Superman. And yeah, he's read the comics, and yeah, Ray kinda wishes he was real, but the practical side of him knows that what's fiction is fiction.

Not that one day in his future, Ray would ever meet Supergirl or someone like that.

Still, it means that in situations like this, he's got the right lingo, okay?

"Wait, did you just say that in five seconds, they're gonna go-" And then those five seconds are up, and the woman is clearly doing something, and just like she said, the monsters go flying and Ray changes his propulsion and gets into position. This time, instead of throwing out blasts, he just keeps his energy weapon on, like one continuous beam, and Ray uses his arm to guide it from one monster to the next.

He can't do that all the time. It would drain his power source faster than it could regenerate, but for this three-in-a-row setup? Yeah that was worth it. And for the first time since he got here, they get a breather.

[dust_of_life]

Wow, that outfit clearly came with a lot of toys. Fatima wondered, for the first time, where, exactly, it came from. Was it native to this world? Or had he brought it on his own? And if the latter...had he, like, made it or something?

That was bordering on impressive.

She paused to catch her breath, shaking out her hand. She'd cut herself so many times that it didn't really hurt her as much any more. Which sounded kind of teenage angsty and emo, but it was a fact. She still got anemic though. She'd have to watch it. Maybe a little more stabbing, a little less cutting.

"Thanks, Ray," she said. "If you don't mind, could you possibly bring me my..." She gestured vaguely in the direction of her knife, sticking out of a critter like Excalibur out of the stone.

[keepitup]

He sees the way she shakes out her hand, like it stings or something, but Ray is too far away to see the cuts or any traces of blood.

"Everything okay over there?" he asks, as he flies in the direction she waved in, hovering downwards and then landing, metal boots hitting the ground as Ray reaches over to pull out her knife. "Got it!"

Then it's back up into the air, back over the fence, and then back down again inside the perimeter. He's still got to stick the landing a little better, but it's not ungraceful so Ray is pretty pleased.

"Here you go," he says, smiling through the protective window in his helmet. "Though, you ... might want to clean it off a bit."

[dust_of_life]

She walked over to him, not at all surprised by how tall he was. Somehow, seeing a guy hovering above you just gave that impression. Had to admit, though, he was also kind of good-looking. At least from what she could tell behind that window.

"Thanks," she said, taking the knife like she didn't even notice it was covered in goo. "I'm Fatima, by the way." She decided she didn't need to bother adding the usual, 'and I'm not a terrorist.' This wasn't seventh-grade and they weren't back home in Los Angeles, at her all-white middle school from days of yore.

For a moment, she reached out to offer him a handshake, but then paused, glancing at her hand, all covered in cuts and blood. Probably better not.

Her hand dropped to her side again.

"So what's a nice boy like you doing in a place like this?"

[keepitup]

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he replies, grinning as Ray moves to take off his helmet. There were still creatures a good distance north of them, but this section of the fence is secure for now. Actually removing his headgear covers up some of his vision, so he doesn't even notice that Fatima just extended her hand and then took it back.

Without glass and metal containing his head however, Ray's short mess of brown hair blows a bit in the wind. His eyes are big too, just like his smile.

"Oh, haha- well- I heard about the attacks on the perimeter and thought I'd do my part and help." That look in his eyes couldn't be more genuine. "Can't just freeload while I'm here." And yeah, does the man ever stop smiling while he talks? Maybe not.

"You've got a sharp eye though. And a nice throw."

[dust_of_life]

Fatima was a little startled. Apparently, she'd been fighting with an American James Bond. The smile and the wideness of his eyes were a bit disarming. But so was the cleft in his chiseled jaw and the perfectly-timed way his hair blew in the wind.

She did not know what to make of the guy.

"Thanks," she said. It was probably a mark of her surprise that she didn't offer a glib reply. Something like 'I know' or 'Of course I do.'

There was something entirely unlikable about this place. Fatima hated being off her game. But then...how could you play a game when you were still trying to figure out the rules?

"Where you from, Ray?" she asked.

wrap this one in maybe a few more tags?

[keepitup]

He grins, yet again, when she says thanks. And when she asks where he's from, he's eager to answer.

"Washington." Of course he gives a state name. It's a very American thing to do. "What about you?"

Even amongst the fallen bodies of large creatures who had just been attempting to kill them, Ray Palmer is still game for a get-to-know-you-conversation. But after a few seconds, no matter what they're talking about, he'll ask if she wants to head up north, to see if they need any help over there. He'd seen a few volunteers fending off a similar group of creatures, and it doesn't hurt to see if they might need some assistance.

We can end here!

[dust_of_life]

It seemed right that he was from Washington. Somehow, all the weirdest people Fatima knew ended up clustered around and about Seattle.

Except for the vampires. The weirdest vampires she knew were, of course, from the UK.

Fatima definitely wanted the backstory on this guy. But now wasn't the time. Even she knew that. As much as she liked to show off--Oh, it's no problem for me to talk in the middle of battle, I can handle everything--she had reasonably straight priorities.

For now.

There would be a interrogation later.