riverviewooc | riverview: test drive meme

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meme: test drive

riverview: test drive meme

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She huffs.]

Look. I'm sure you're nice and all, [she isn't. even a little bit.] but what's it matter to you?

[ Clark holds up his hands. ]

I was just curious. I don't mean to bother you, I was just on my way to the city ahead of us.

[Her attention swivels to where he'd come from. She still hasn't taken her hand out of her pocket, or her other one off her gun.]

You aren't bothering me.

[That would give him too much power over her one way or another. She shifts the strap of her rifle higher up on her shoulder with a shrug.]

What, the ruins?

[ He was paying attention to the outer fence and the tread of monsters, not a human girl. Clark would've walked right past her if she hadn't called out. Some humans are so quiet it startles even him.

It's a lot of bravado for someone so young, and she's very close to the kind of violence that makes him worry if not him, she might actually shoot or stab someone. ]

Yes. There's not a lot of food or water there. Shelter depends on whether you like small spaces.

[Sounds right up her alley, honestly. She wants to stay here, live with these people. She does. Ingrained is the idea that there's safety in numbers. But fuck numbers, and fuck anyone who thinks they understand where she's coming from. Sometimes she just wants to be alone and no one seems to get why.

She misses Joel so tangibly it's like he's dead. And that's enough to make her want to push this guy a little. Antagonize him. He's being so fucking careful. Like she's some crazy person with a gun he can't wait to take away. Maybe she is losing her mind. In another life, it was almost poetic.]

Perfect place to hide a body. Right?

[She says that with a light nonchalance. Gallow's humour, and all.]

[ Gallows humour, the best kind around. ]

Uhm, what?

[ On second thought, he might have seen that question coming. She has been gripping that knife very tightly for several minutes, and her words are equally sharp, if not more so. It still hits like a freight train. ]

[She laughs a little. It sounds genuine, or what she thinks genuine laughter sounds like to normal people anyway. Still, she regrets it, and ends up just shaking her head. Get it together, Ellie.]

Fuckin' with you, dude. Though you do seem kinda shady, gotta say.

[A beat. She has to choose trust. You can't run your whole life. And she isn't-- she isn't Joel. She doesn't want to be hard, or cold, or alone. She uncurls her fingers one by one from around her switchblade, and then she sticks her hand out, the move is just quick enough to mask her discomfort with having done it.]

Ellie. My name.

[ It sounds genuine.

He wishes he could point out it's fine if she holds on to the knife if she isn't a handshake person, but she's offering. Clark holds his out and shakes hers firmly. It's a strong grip, and he's mindful of his strength. ]

It's nice to meet you, Ellie.

[ Sorry he's not a serial killer? ]

[Her own grip is the same. Her hands are rough and calloused, more than a normal fifteen year old anyway. There's dirt and blood beneath her fingernails.]

Dunno. You don't really know me yet. Might change your mind later.

[I mean. She is the crazy weird forest hermit who's carrying a gun she was fully prepared to shoot you with. That's at least a little scary.]

[ She can turn a rifle on him and he wouldn't be extremely bothered. It would show. Somehow, he thinks that would impede any trust process more than anything she does.

If he did change his mind, she'd know. ]

You do have a gun, and I'm not armed. Stranger danger.

[ He smiles faintly. ]

Edited 2017-03-05 10:17 (UTC)

[David didn't look like he was armed either. It's hard, trying to learn how to trust her instincts again. But he gets a cockeyed little smile.]

What, your mom teach you that one?

She has a lot of good advice.

[ He will never shy away from admitting he takes it. ]

[Has. It warms her. Sure, he's an adult and all, way older than her (practically ancient but not yet 'was around for the dinosaurs' as Joel is) but she likes that, the present tense. Implies that she's still out there somewhere, and mothers are a matter of wonderment to Ellie. More people deserve to have them.]

Yeah. I bet.

[She tucks her hands back into her pockets, both of them now. Hand off the gun. Still on the knife.]

Well, you probably scared off all the game within a mile with the way you were stomping through the forest, so-- you were heading to the ruins?

I was.

[ He smiles more widely and adjusts his backpack, moving forward a few steps in the direction he wants to go in. ]

I'll be seeing you around?

[ After all, she's 'hunting'. ]

[Joel would let him walk away. Hell, Joel wouldn't be having this conversation. She can almost hear him cautioning her against it. Trusting this guy, a total stranger who's just as tall and dark as David was. It just makes her more defiant. He's not going to ruin every man she ever meets for her.

Maybe he can take care of himself, maybe he can't. Maybe he'll hurt her, maybe he won't. Who knows. But she's tired of all the death around her. She wants to build something better. She wants to be trusting. Maybe that means taking more risks. Her life isn't valuable anymore. There is no cure. She's just like everyone else - expendable. Weird, how that thought actually makes her feel better. Her dying doesn't fuck over humanity.]

You're the guy that's heading to a creepy abandoned city full of monsters completely unarmed. If you think I'm letting you go alone you're nuts. C'mon, lead the way.

[ She thinks of protecting him. Clark can't help it: he smiles a little. ]

I've been outdoors before, I'll manage.

You'll manage better with company.

[She's Firm on this. Now that she's decided it, put her mind to it, she's not going back.]

Besides, I've got tripwires set up all over the place. You really don't want to run into one of them.

[She's aware that just makes her sound more crazy, but. Well. It's true.]

All right.

[ Better that no one sees the outcome of that. It's no skin off his neck having her walk behind him. Clark can react faster than any attacker out here.

He heads straight, holding up errant fronds, clearing the undergrowth for her to walk more easily. ]

[She doesn't need him to clear the underbrush out of the way but it's... sweet, she figures. Like he thinks she needs it, or maybe that's something else his mom taught him. She puts up with it for now, but when they come to the first of her lines she skirts around in front of him and bends down to disarm it. There aren't really as many as she'd said, she's neither that reckless nor that wasteful with her resources, she just wanted to make sure she had a clear way to run if she encountered something she couldn't fight.

She winds the wire into a little spool and tucks the can of shrapnel into her backpack. She uses her body to block what she's doing. People don't like it when you point out you know how to make bombs with a bit of sugar.]

So where're you from?

[ He'd almost walked into it. If he were a betting man, of all the people here, Ellie would be the first person to find out the truth about him.

She's careful not to let him see, so he looks away. ]

Kansas. It's in the United States, on Earth.

[ No one left to mourn Krypton but him, and it's a place he knows only pieces about. If Jor-El's AI had survived the attack, and the Kryptonian ship had been his instead of being confiscated by the government and given to LexCorp, he might have something more to say on the subject. ]

[With faint exasperation,]

I know what Kansas is.

[She falls back into step behind him. Quiet for a moment. Then,]

What year is it?

[ Teenagers. ]

2013.

[She doesn't stumble. Stumbling gets you dead if you aren't careful, but her foot comes down heavier than she'd meant it to. Something snaps beneath her shoe. 2013. That's--

-- Shit. No way of knowing whether he's from her world or not. If the Infection is coming. If it's already happening in pockets across the US. She rubs at her arm over the sleeve where the bite suddenly itches beneath it.]

What day?

[Fuck. September, right? That late? She knows it was fall, must have dozed off during a dozen droning lessons, but she's pretty sure it was fall, because most of the casualties happened that first winter. People starved or froze because they had no idea how to survive in a world where everything wasn't automated and processed, and civilization all but fell apart until the zones were established. She should have paid more attention to history.]

[ She doesn't stumble. The press of her foot is notably different. Stopping to look at her might say he noticed. He doesn't want to freak her out. Clark keeps walking. ]

It's almost fall. Why do you ask?

[Why should it fall to her to ruin somebody's day? Sorry, pal, everyone you loved might be dead in a few weeks. Sorry, your world turns to shit. Sorry, it's rough but hey, at least no one dies of old age anymore.

She doesn't want to put that on anyone's shoulders. It might not even happen. There's no saying it will. Even if it were, and she could tell him now, what difference does he make? How many lives could he save?

How many.

Her fingers close over the bite, she squeezes the skin bloodless. Does she get decide that her desire not to be pitied, or looked down on, or coddled is greater than letting someone save their family? She takes a breath.]

Look, it's. It might not even happen, okay? But in my world... where I'm from, let's just say 2013 was kinda a bad year. For everybody. Starting sometime in September.

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