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

i. batten down the hatches

[Adam can't remember when the sun began setting. He feels like he hasn't slept in days - muscles aching as bad as after a day of hard training, hands grimy and sweat making his shirt cling to the small of his back. But he keeps going, hauling bags of sand to the riverbank, nailing planks to windows, carting food and water to buildings.

Organizing the rescue isn't something he's felt comfortable with - he's a strategist at best, but for fights, not to help. But he couldn't stay idle, sit with his thumbs up his ass and wait for the work to be done. He was the Champion, after all, raised to save the whole world. He wasn't about to stay behind; he couldn't.

But the tiredness was taking its toll on him - movements more sluggish than they'd been in the morning, vision going sometimes blurry when sweat falls into his eyes. He's not paying enough attention, which is how he ends up crashing into someone else, falling back a step or two, and dropping the sandbag he'd been holding over his shoulders, hands outstretched.]

Sorry, sorry! Didn't see you there!

iii. hold your lover close

[This is stupid. He should be out trying to prevent extra damage, but the doors have been locked, everyone asked to remain indoors. Still - it's definitely stupid, that he's finding himself at this speed dating event. He knows he looks awkward, all 6'2'' of him shifting from foot to foot as he waits at the bar for a drink. The nametag with his messy scrawl reading Adam is stuck just above his heart on the grey henley he's decided upon, and he knows that if he really wants to do any of the activities advertised around, he's going to have to go and sit down, talk to someone.

Talk to someone. That really isn't his specialty. But - fine. Some Dutch courage should help, and he downs the straight vodka he ordered just a moment ago, managing to only wince a tiny bit. Taking a deep breath, he approaches the first person he sees, and, putting on his best smile, he holds out his hand as he smiles.]

Hi. I'm Adam.

iv. solution

[The rain is coming down hard, sheets and sheets of hard, cold water that makes visibility difficult. Adam shakes hair out of his eyes, water falling in rivulets along the sides of his face, and he clenches his jaw, tightens his slippery grip around his gun, before turning around to the small ragtag group they've assembled.]

City's this way! [He has to yell over the howling wind and loud patter of the rain hitting the group, but he points to the blurry outline of buildings, indicating the Abandoned City, making his point as best he can. They're almost there.

He starts walking again, taking the lead, but stops dead in his tracks only a moment later. In front of him, growling, obviously rattled and looking ready to pounce, is a mountain lion.]

Shit.

((ooc: I'll match brackets or prose!))

Edited 2017-02-21 11:10 (UTC)

Caitlin has seen unnatural weather before, so when she learns that that's what's happening here with the storm, it kind of feels like her responsibility to try to find a way to stop it. It's not the same without Cisco to help her and Barry to do the heavy lifting, but she can't just sit back and do nothing; it's not Caitlin's style. Her necklace is still around her neck, though the pendant is tucked beneath her shirt to make sure that nothing happens to it. She needs it there to keep Killer Frost at bay. Maybe the only thing worse than the downpour would be turning it into snow because then it would build up a lot faster on the ground, hindering progress. The last thing she wants is to accidentally do just that.

Shaking because she feels cold right down to her bones, Caitlin does her best to keep up. She's not usually out in the field for these kinds of things. She's the one behind a computer screen researching while Cisco is spitting out information and orders into Barry's ear via the comm. This is a whole different animal and maybe she would've done better to try to set up something like they do at home so that she could stick with her strengths. A little late for that now.

When Adam stops suddenly, Caitlin stops, too. It takes a second for her brain to catch up with what her eyes are seeing and her breath hitches looking back at the mountain lion. A hand moves to her chest, not the reflexive movement to clutch at her heart, no. She's clutching at the pendant of her necklace. If she takes it off, she can freeze the ground between them and that'll slow the mountain lion down. ...but, she could also lose the battle to Killer Frost and then this situation becomes ten times more dangerous for the group than any mountain lion can make it.

"Okay...okay, don't panic," Caitlin says quietly. "Don't look away from it. Just...mountain lions are easy to intimidate. Make yourself look bigger; be aggressive," she says, looking around rapidly for a rock or a stick to throw or wave at the animal. That feels cruel, but she's read articles that say that sort of thing will scare one off. Hopefully that's true. It's hard to see through her sodden hair sticking to her face, but she snatches up a broken tree branch — not huge or heavy, but large enough to look threatening, she hopes — and she touches her fingertips gently to Adam's back to get his attention before offering the branch to his right side.

He's looking straight on at the mountain lion in front of him when Caitlin comes up to him, listening to her advice and straightening up further, squaring his shoulders, clenching his jaw. He's not a small guy by any means, but he'll make himself even more imposing if needs be. He puts one foot forward, squelching in the sodden ground, making his pose more aggressive.

He feels perfectly calm. Heart beating fast, but solid, hands steady. This is a situation he's dealt with before; he's been trained for this. His whole life, as a matter of fact. He darts his eyes down to Caitlin, and what she's holding up at him. A branch, which make Adam raise his eyebrows, surprised. He holds his gun a little higher just for a second, showing it off.

"What about this?" Maybe she simply doesn't want to kill the beast. Not that Adam is big on killing animals himself, but if it's kill or be killed, he's not going to hesitate. His fingers slip on the rain-soaked gun, his eyes moving from the mountain lion back to Caitlin. "Or are we going the pacifist route, right now?"

The gun will be a lot more effective, obviously, if he wants to kill the mountain lion, but Caitlin doesn't really take killing lightly; even an animal. So when he looks back at her and holds up the gun asking about it, Caitlin shakes her head. "Unless you're going to kill it..." she says frowning slightly, her eyes on the mountain lion. It still appears to be poised to pounce, but it hasn't actually attempted an offense just yet.

Her eyes move back to Adam. "Unless you're going to kill it, it doesn't do any good. A mountain lion doesn't know what a gun is; that's not intimidating. But it does know what a branch is and it probably knows that it hurts to be hit with one," she points out.

The creature is frozen staring back at them and Caitlin wishes she'd watched more Discovery Channel in her free time, because she honestly can't tell whether it's preparing to strike or waiting to see if they're preparing to strike. "I can try it...have my back with the gun? If this doesn't work...kill it?" she offers, gripping the branch a little bit tighter. Caitlin Snow, the woman behind the computer, offering to try to intimidate a mountain lion away from them just to spare its life because right now, it isn't doing anything wrong. They're in its territory and it's probably weighing its options because there are more of them than there are of it. Killing it just for behaving standoffish in this situation doesn't seem fair, but Caitlin's a softie like that.

Everything Adam's made of wants to say no when she offers to try it. No - no way he was going to put a civilian in harm's way in such a situation. But he had no idea if she was a civilian to start with, especially since she didn't look scared, just determined. And the rules, here, were different. He was in no position to tell her no if she wanted, not really. He wasn't in command.

Still, he held the gun tighter when he nodded briskly. He wasn't sure the branch would be enough to scare the mountain lion away, but he was willing to give it a shot - for all he knew, it was just terrified by the storm, rattled just like they all were. Not enough of a reason to kill it, even if Adam probably wouldn't have hesitated if it'd been a person.

Can't say that his training hasn't been weird.

He gets himself in position, aiming at the mountain lion as he sidesteps very carefully, giving Caitlin some more space. "I'm not taking any chances with your life. One wrong move, I'm taking it down."

His tone brokered no argument. He wasn't going to play around with other Quarantined people's lives, not for any reason. Humanity above all.

Caitlin watches as he nods and prepares himself. Hopefully, they won't need that gun, but she's certainly not mad at him for having it at the ready in case they do. Caitlin might not like the idea of killing an animal because they're afraid that it might attack, but if it does attack, well. They have to do what they have to do.

"I'm not going to argue that," she tells him, because she isn't. It's a legitimate stance, especially since he's the leader of this group and far be it for her to ask him to set aside that responsibility knowing that if something bad happened to her, he'd have to carry the burden of it around. It isn't her place to tell him to stand down no matter what and even if it was, she wouldn't. Caitlin values all life, but she certainly values her own more than some random mountain lion's.

Caitlin puffs out her chest in an attempt to make her tiny frame appear more intimidating and she takes a step forward so that she won't accidentally clock Adam with the branch.

"Go on! Get!" she shouts at the mountain lion with a surprising volume in her voice, considering how soft-spoken she's been up to this point. She swings the branch menacingly at it. "Get out of here, go on!"

It growls at her, but it doesn't look to her like its decided whether or not it wants to pounce or wander off. So, she tries again, even louder and swinging the branch again. "Go on! Go home!"

Edited 2017-02-23 21:43 (UTC)

Adam, calmly, brings the gun up and aims as Caitlin shouts, the mountain lion not moving. Giving her some more space, he steps to the side, gun cocked, ready to strike. The beast growls and growls, but doesn't move - neither to retreat nor attack, which is not actually a bad thing. Looking back a just a second at the rest of their group, Adam motions at them to walk past him, giving the animal a wide berth, towards the city.

"Quietly!" He whispers harshly against the rain and turns back to focusing on the lion, growling more and more fiercely, sounding just about ready to either run off, or strike.

In the end, it runs. Adam's surprised by it - he honestly thought the beast was scared enough to just go at them, but it doesn't. And for a second, Adam thinks it's because of them, but then he hears the crack, the sudden thunderclap, and he doesn't think. He throws himself at Caitlin, pushing them both out of the way of half a tree falling where they were standing a moment before, the bark still smoking from the lightning that just hit it.

They hit the ground hard, with squelching wet noises and mud splashing around them. Adam shields Caitlin as best he can, his arms around her head, before pulling back a little once the tree is down, looking at Caitlin with wide eyes, panting.

"Are you okay?"

Adam | Lazer Team

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