riverview: test drive meme

[riverviewmod]

riverview test drive meme

Welcome 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 April 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.
● Since this particular TDM is plot-heavy, current players are welcome to do their own top-levels to interact with the plot. However, since it is still a TDM intended to help potential new players get involved, there will be a special additional +25 Activity Point bonus for any thread submitted by a current player that involves a potential new character rather than focusing on existing CR, for this TDM post.

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. Thanks to player-created plots, this month's Test Drive is set to effect the game setting for the next few months, so please enjoy!

information resources
premise ● arrival ● setting ● ask a question ● calendar ● navigation

plot overview

After just over a week of increasingly serious blackouts and brownouts around the city, the team in charge of the structural integrity and defense of the wall has found the source of the problem, and posted a network entry explaining that the issue is caused by a large quantity of lizard-like monsters that have compromised the underground infrastructure of the city, and requesting volunteers to help do a full-scale manual extermination of monsters and assess the damage and do urgent repairs.

prompt i: a call to arms

The most urgent request presented is for people to help clear out the monsters in the underground tunnels - and there are a lot of them! With estimated monster numbers in the area of 500-1000, ranging from adult to juvenile, there's a lot of work to be done to clear out the underground infrastructure of the city. The Perimeter Guard will have a steady stream of transport trucks going to escort any fight-capable residents who want to volunteer out to the tunnels. They will also provide weapons of various varieties as well as short training sessions on how to use them safely in a confined space for anyone who doesn't have their own.

Whether you fight with a weapon, your fists, magic, or poison darts, your help is more than welcome down in the tunnels. The only real request is to keep seismic or explosive abilities or attacks on the mild side, and to be careful not to poison the city's water supply! Other than that, go wild.

prompt ii: into the depths

Clearing out monsters is all well and good, but they have definitely done some damage to the city's infrastructure. So it isn't just the brawn that needs to step up to help the city, it's the brains. There's a call for anyone with any kind of special ability that would help with emergency repairs. Whether it's engineers, chemists, anyone with first aid, runners to distribute supplies, or any other special ability that would help out in the underground tunnels and fix some of the damage that's been done, anyone is welcome to help. And if you think it's just scientists who are needed, think again - magic is a well-known if not-well-understood facet of life in Riverview Quarantine, and some of this stuff works on a more arcane level than a mundane one.

And, of course, all of these brainiacs are going to need a little backup, so any bruisers to act as escort and protection are also welcome.

prompt iii: trapped in a...

Not everyone has the skills or desire to head out into the jungle and fight for the city, and that's perfectly fine. Inside the Quarantine walls, life is carrying on as normally as it can. That is, aside from the ongoing blackouts.

Wherever you might be in the city, you run a pretty decent risk of getting trapped somewhere for a short period of time. Whether it's trapped in an elevator, a tram car, a store, the housing you share with someone you barely know, or anywhere else in the city, it could happen to you. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship or a meet-cute to tell your grandkids about...at least, that is, if you get along with the person you're stuck with...

prompt iv: friendr/network

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 new, free app is popping up on people's 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.

Code to post your character's bio is in the textbox below, or you can just do a text version of the information in the app. An example of how it looks can be found here.

<center><blockquote style="width: 220px; margin: 0; padding: 0px; background-image: url('http://i42.tinypic.com/2uf53s4.jpg'); font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana; border-radius: 20px; text-align: center;"><div style="padding: 10px 0 0 0; text-align: center;font-size: 25px; font-weight: 900; font-style: italic; color: #528887; text-shadow: -2px 2px 2px rgba(150, 150, 150, 1);">F<span style="font-size: 16px;">RIENDR</span></div> <center><img src="ICON URL HERE" style="border-radius: 50%; width: 70px; height: 70px; box-shadow:-3px 3px 2px 0px rgba(82, 136, 135, .75);"></center> <center><div style="width: 210px; background-color: #528887; color: #fff; padding: 5px; font-size: 14px;">Name of Character</div></center> <center><div style="width: 210px; background-color: #528887; color: #fff; padding: 5px; font-size: 11px; text-align: left;"><b><small>AGE:</small></b> ## <b><small>INTERESTED IN:</small></b> Male/Female/Any <b><small>SEEKING:</small></b> Type(s) of Relationship(s) <b><small>ABOUT ME:</small></b> Blurb goes here, can be as long or short as you wish.</div></center><br> </blockquote></center>
Many thanks to mistojen for coding this especially for Riverview!

prompt v: wildcard

Choose your own adventure and do something else in the setting!

navigation

Comments

Castiel | Supernatural

[cellphoneangel]

1. a call to arms


[Fighting is nothing new to Castiel although he doesn't look like the typical sort. Who goes to a battle wearing business casual and a tan trench? He's quiet and unassuming among the others, prone to look more towards the landscape than at his fellow combatants. Relating to anyone, especially humans, has never been one of his strong points.]

[When the waves of the monsters come in the tunnels, that same quiet holds. The blade in his hand is used without mercy or pleasure. Killing is something that has to be done, not something he enjoys, especially now. Demons are one thing, but these creatures don't seem to be good or evil. Why the electrical supply? Food or warmth? At least the one they called 'Ray' had a plan to avoid more of this. Putting them to sleep is a much better option. In Castiel's opinion, worse to worst, they should gas the whole thing and pull their unconscious people out afterward. Might save lives on both sides.]

[When the last of this wave falls, Castiel wipes down his angelblade and tucks the rag away. A hand lifts, glimmers of white light held in his palm with fingers curled loosely around. He has no idea who is around him, and whether or not holy light might hurt them. Best to keep it dim and quickly put out. Healing he can do also if needed.]

Everyone all right? [His voice is like him, emotionless with a rough undertone. It's not that he doesn't care. It's just how he is. Angels aren't the best with empathy.] Any of them left?

[In the weak light he's giving off, Castiel can't help but take a look around for Sam or Dean despite knowing they're not here. If there's some sort of fighting, he's gotten used to them just showing up.]


(2. into the depths)


[Doing what is needed is going to lead to a few unpleasant experience for the unwary. 'Runners' they said. Well, angels tend to not run. Or use doors. They tend to go from point a to point b at the speed of thought with the flapping of wings. For those not expecting it, the ride can be quite the thing. At least it wasn't time travel. Dean Winchester claimed that he couldn't go to the bathroom right for a week the last time Cas tossed him back in time. For those not used to it, the ride can produce some vertigo or queasiness. Then there's also the fact that Castiel is a warrior, used to taking orders. He doesn't ask or wait around once the order is given. If someone is unfortunate enough to say they need to go to tunnel ABC, Cas will very likely touch a hand to their shoulder, and there they'll be. Whether or not they were ready to go isn't asked.]

[Yeah. Have fun with that.]

[There's also the fact that Castiel simply appears without warning unless one catches the flutter of wings a split-second before he appears. Ever see the old Tom and Jerry cartoons where the cat ends up hanging over the ceiling by their claws when surprised? He gets that reaction once in awhile. Or attacked. He's used to either reaction. Good luck.]


4. friendr/network

(username: castiel)

There is an error in the friendr picture they told me to do a tap on. It won't accept my age.

[This is why the Winchesters just stare at him sometimes.]

I don't understand the 'seeking' part either. Is this in general or people we are looking for? Some could be seeking a whisky and a triple bacon cheeseburger while others might enlightenment. This program could be useful for hunters. Was this made to discover our weaknesses?

[Tech-stupid meeting an app is never a good thing.]

[peacekeeps]

[ he lets the cigar hang loosely from between his fingers, his breath leaving him in a huff of smoke as genji's mask disengages completely. underneath is a face that jesse hasn't seen in years--not in the news, not in the wanted lists, nowhere. and a smile he reckons he hasn't seen in even longer than that. ]

Genji.

[ and then, from deep in his chest, he can feel it—the compulsion to grin back, wide and wolfish. he lets the cigar drop and puts it out with the toe of his boot, then reaches up to take off his hat. for a better look and all. ]

I could ask you the same thing.

omg bless roy

[leadintheyoung]

[ Whoops.

That's a pretty distinct, familiar sound if ever Lí heard it and it sees her figuratively freeze in her tracks after her dagger finds the heart of the beast she had been after. A quick glance about and she'll quiet those remaining snakes with a whistle, then fall back to round the corner and see who tripped the one and if they need any help with it. There might be a teensy weensy bit of guilt somewhere in her expression coupled with a teensy weensy bit of embarrassment and maybe a bit of amusement once she catches sight of him. She's always had a hard time with that last part when a friendly face winds up stuck even when it hadn't been her intention. ]

Sorry, are you well? I may have gotten a little carried away.

[ More like forgotten her company for a moment there. Her regular companions know very well what she's capable of and how best to move in battle with her, but a construct full of strangers... well, perhaps she should've given a little more thought to that and the lighting. She'll be moving forward all the same, though. If he can't free himself, he'll need the help or risk unpleasant injury to that leg and injured allies don't tend to bode well when you're trying to accomplish something.

At least she isn't laughing? ]

[girlexmachina]

"I suppose that's so. It does seem to work for you."

She considers terminology for a moment. "And a hunter," she says. "But yes, 'fighter' works too." Sometimes it was fighting that needed to be done, but hunter was always what she trained for, growing up. "Though there aren't machines to hunt, here."

[greatcleavage]

This is yours, I take it?

[Roy is irritated, as is hopefully quite understandable given the circumstances, but he's doing his level best not to actually turn that irritation on her. These things happen. Fog of war, miscommunication, it's just the way things go sometimes. He could have been watching more carefully, for his own part.]

I don't suppose you can just dismiss the spell...

[leadintheyoung]

[ Well, that's a relief and Lí is pretty quick to oblige, lifting Mae up carefully and drawing her a mite closer to the cable so she can get a handle on it and find herself a good foothold again. She'll start looking for one of those herself in a moment if only so she can tear a bit of fabric to wrap her hand in for the rest of the climb. ]

That I can. I'll take a closer look at you once we're out of this space. Do you still want to go for the roof or would you rather I open the doors?

[ Trusting Mae to know her limits? Why, yes, she is trusting Mae to know her limits. Most people do, don't they? And she's not hearing or seeing much in the way that would suggest otherwise, so. Doors or roof, what's it gonna be? ]

[morganknight]

Clearly, now it was her turn to say strange things he didn't quite understand.

"You're going to have to unpack that for me a bit." They were, after all, riding in a machine. Or... sitting and waiting for the machine to move, anyway.

[whattingawhat]

[ isn't that the nature of any good student-teacher relationship? Invariably they learn from each other. She shrugs a little at his answer. ]

I was never good at the distance. I guess I'm an up close kind of girl.

[ since they're talking...]

Hi, I'm Buffy.

[fingerstripes]

[ There's the kind of quick-thinking pragmatism he can appreciate. He balances carefully, holding his weight as considerately as he can. ]

Let's just hope the power's not cut off from the top, or we're gonna have a bigger problem.

[fingerstripes]

[ He's so used to the suit being recognized in his own world that it's still a little strange to getting that question again. Which is probably a little egotistical, now that he's thinking about it. ]

Something like that.

Alright, now I've gotta ask, whose roster are you on?

[girlexmachina]

Machines are so ubiquitous to her. It's hard to imagine them not existing, even if she knows, intellectually, that it must be true. How to describe them to someone who had never seen them?

"The machines are creatures of metal," Aloy says. "They're huge, and dangerous to hunt, but you can find valuable parts on them to make things out of." She holds out her spear as an example, which is certainly a fairly sophisticated weapon.

[morganknight]

He'd noted the spear already -- the quality of the metal in particular, and what a strange juxtaposition it was.

What he envisioned was not exactly accurate. The machines he pictured were more like weapons of war than animals, and her world overall he imagined as far more post-apocalyptically modern. But machines roaming the land, needing to be hunted? Got her there.

He nodded, once he'd formed up that mental picture. "Sounds like a hell of a lifestyle," he said, though he definitely approved.

[sexpo]

[ W e l p. For once in his life, Howard Stark is actually speechless, his jaw dropping for a moment before he regains control of himself. And at least half of that is for the suit, because if this wasn't his son (!), he would have such a tech boner right now, oh my god.

But also, yeah, there's definitely the shock of actually having a kid - not something he's given much thought to, other than preventing it. And there's the resentment he hears in Tony's voice, and it strikes a nerve he didn't really know existed. He feels guilty, because part of the shock of finding out he's a father is having a pretty good idea of exactly how shitty he'd be at it.

(Hopefully, he thinks, Jarvis was around. The man deserves to have a son, even if it's just a surrogate. So does Ana, for that matter.) ]

Good to know the Stark facial hair genes got passed on, anyway.

[ That's the most neutral thing he can think to say, because his normally eloquent brain isn't working quite like it should right now. ]

[flowlikewater]

I have yet to be able to pinpoint how people will react to being a cyborg, truthfully. This place is quite interesting.

[flowlikewater]

I assisted in clearing out the tunnels earlier. But I am rather out of my element when it comes to the technical side of it. [ He only knew about his cybernetics, not electrical circuits and security systems. ] I have been doing rounds to make sure nobody is in danger if they get trapped.

[flowlikewater]

[ He had been angry at everything back then, at his family, his brother, and Overwatch for daring to think they had the right to keep him alive.

But it was different now. ] I am, Angela. I have accepted who I am. [ A thoughtful pause. ] And I hold no ill will towards you, for the record. I know I did not leave on the best of terms.

1

[angelic_archer]

[The fighting is something he's used to even if he's not used to the kind of numbers that were pouring through the tunnels. He wishes he could use his bow but there's too much risk in the confined space when he's not fighting with people who know how to anticipate his attacks. Instead, he draws his seraph blade, naming one of the Angels so that the blade glows with a bright white light.

Then Alec becomes a blur of motion, his speed and training enhanced by the runes that he'd activated as soon as he entered the caves. His focus is directed to the monsters trying to overtake them and the being around him, trying to protect anyone who might not know how to deal with this kind of enemy.

It isn't until the fight is over that he realizes that his leather jacket is torn, blood dripping along his arm. Ignoring the injury, he scans the other fighters, noticing the light one of the fighters is holding. There's no sign of runes, but that light seems familiar.]

I think they're okay. [Everyone seems to be moving under their own power and dealing with their wounds with an efficiency that doesn't suggest grave injuries. His own cuts are forgotten as Alec walks toward the man.]

You have a witchlight?

[mercyful]

"I would not blame you if you did," she replies. This really doesn't seem like the proper location to be having this conversation, but she has to at least let him know this much. The thing is, had she the chance to go back and do it all over again, she'd make the same choices. It's just that with time she understands better now how hard it must have been for him, and that it was something that her words couldn't cure. "I saved your life, but you needed to find your own reason to live. It wasn't up to me or anyone else."

But now she smiles, glad she has the chance to tell him this in person. "I never could have pictured this being the place where we would reunite."

[girlexmachina]

"It's certainly never boring," she agrees, with the faintest of smiles. "There are none like those here, which strange, sometimes. I still expect to see them, going about their business."

[firelogic]

Um, why, is there one here?

*Mutants are a totally not human creature type except on Ravnica where you get elf mermaid mutant shamans. Ravnica is weird.*

I've seen people with metal limbs, and metal on their limbs, and limbs made of living metal, but having fleshy stuff outside of the metal bits is new. And looks uncomfortable.

[noassgardian]

It's--

Are you not Tony Stark?

[Okay, now this is weird. Are they dealing with some weird, alternate timeline again...]

I'm Wiccan, of the Young Avengers. The Tony Stark I know tried his hardest to get me to stop being a superhero. I guess you're not him, sorry...

nyx ulric / ffxv kingsglaive

[wulf]

i. — a call to arms

[ from one fight to the next. combat is something that nyx isn't a stranger to, so when the call for all able-bodied folk is placed, he's pretty much right there in a heartbeat. the call of the fight isn't what summons nyx, but the fact that they need help. what's done is done back home, isn't it? he's done. if he's going to be stuck here, but alive, then he's going to let them put him to good use.

particularly after they pieced him back together so well.

of course, there are adjustments that have to be made. nyx is so used to the king's magic, the gift of the ring temporarily loaned to him. now he really is on his own, half forgetting when he throws his knife that he must be sure to pick it up instead of warping straight alongside it (it happens a few times, but he recovers with a shocking grace--it's almost like he meant to do it, hahahahahaha...)

one thing's for sure: this guy is really good with a knife. one in his hand is a mean, curving thing, slicing through the air effortlessly while the other is a standard knife that the perimeter guard have loaned to him. it looks oddly out of place next to the other, but clearly nyx is managing. maybe you're fighting right beside him and racking up a hella sweet body count--he'll have your back.

later on, he's off to the side as the fighting has begun to significantly die down, tying off a new wound to staunch the bleeding until they can return to the city proper. give him a hand? ]

iv. — network

USERNAME: ULRIC

Hey. I'm Nyx. Couple quick questions:

What were you all doing before you were brought here? And the whole tunnel monsters thing. That doesn't happen often, does it? Just curious.

v. — don't look up

[ except do, because there's a guy just kind of kicking it on a rooftop surveying the city from above. it's nothing like insomnia (nothing ever will be, really) but nyx has found a weird peace here, just looking. he takes in the view for a good while before deciding that sitting around isn't for him and using the rooftops to get a good layout of the city. yes. that's right.

he's gonna do a little casual rooftop running to get a good layout of the city. he's a flash of black as he moves, observing various streets, choke points in alleys, major buildings, the long, tattered sashes rippling from behind him in purple streaks.

he'll figure out the city down below on foot later okay? tell him to get down? good luck. join him? much better. your choice! ]

[goldcuffed]

I will hope against such a thing, then. [He's not entirely sure how electricity works, alright. Damen keeps one steady hand on Dick's ankle, and lets him deal with the whole technical mess.] Is there no other way out of this box? Why would someone build something so cramped and then have the only way out blocked off as soon as something goes wrong?

iv. un / ulric

[wulf]

[ well there's something. he can't say he doesn't miss training with the rest of the glaives. this would be a good start. ]

I'd be up for it. How early are we talking?

[ he'll do it regardless. he's got energy to burn. ]

i can redo all my icons for it!

[inebriety]

This isn't giving up, I'm being practical. [Why is fake Steve looking at him like he has expectations? No one has any expectations of him because everyone knows he's a hot mess.] It'll take too long to fix it on our end so we might as well wait.

[It's making him want to explain himself. This is terrible, he needs to lower expectations immediately.]