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

[peacekeeps]

well all of that stuff sounds way more exciting than just bein a soldier
whatre you queen of
if you don't mind me askin

[peacekeeps]

[ well this is opening up a lot more questions than answers. ]

Rita Repulsa. That's a heck of a name.

[ cartoonish. but he comes from an age of heroes, so possibly he's heard worse. ]

Why'd you have to fight 'er? And why you?

i'm so sorry for how late this is

[redoublement]

[ Slowly, Laurent's head tipped to regard the other, the hint of a smirk curving his lips upward as he rose his eyebrow higher. It was clear mischief on his features, and his posture shifted, his shoulders rolling back just slightly, before he leaned forward, his fingertip trailing softly along the seam of the door. ]

It can't be that hard to lever them open. I propose we find our own way out.

[redoublement]

If we're still in it when it starts to move again, we just drop back through into the elevator. [ Laurent shrugged, like this were the most obvious thing in the world to him. There was no point taking too many unnecessary risks, after all. ]

Though I suppose we ought to try the more obvious method first. The doors. I do so prefer to find the path of least resistance, when I can.

[bespredel]

[ Yuri couldn't argue with that sentiment- although there was something funny about the reply that niggled at Yuri. He didn't understand it, then, though. So he pushed it down, avoided thinking about it too hard in favour of keeping his already waning attentions as sharp as he could while exhaustion worked steadily to pull him down. ]

You've been here, what, a few days? Little bit early to be getting so sentimental. [ Yuri scoffed, waving his hand at the other, as if in disgust or disregard. As if he hadn't been just as homesick- maybe even more so, given he thought he had been missing for so much longer than the other. ]

[backwatertrooper]

[A nod, before Cloud looked down at the floor.]

... Unless it went down because someone else got it.

[Down, and further away from them. But either way, doubtful that would happen. But the idea that it could, well... Cloud might be a bit too pessimistic, but it seemed like his typical sort of luck. Shaking his head, he planted himself by the doors, wedging his fingertips into the seam between them as well as he could and pulled.]

... Ugh. Um. [Glaring at the door and then throwing a hesitant glance over his shoulder and wishing Zack was here, wishing he was SOLDIER and could do better than get the doors open about a finger's length.] Could, you pull the other way?

[He didn't like asking - mostly because he wanted to be strong enough to do it himself, but asking for help seldom got him good results, too.]

[bespredel]

[ Yuri scrambled onto his feet, keeping his spear in one hand and his stun gun in the other. He whirls then, snarling and driving his spear hard down through the stunned creatures throat. It howled wetly, spasming on the dirty floor, blood spurting and giving the air an acrid, metallic tang. His back is open, exposed, and there's still another monster. Yuri knows it- twists in time to see it, wrenching his spear out of the dying, thrashing creature as the other shook off Viktor's kick. ]

Come on then, you ugly son of a bitch. [ Yuri growled, squaring his stance again, and waiting. Letting it come to him, dropping his stun gun to it's place at his hip in favour of having a two handed grip on his spear. ]

<3

[livingsymbol]

[Steve trusts Tony with the third lizard as he pulls away to handle the first two. He keeps an eye on him, and turns to swing after he's knocked his own problems over, but when he sees Tony work his magic with the taser, he smiles.]

Not a fighter, huh?

[He moves closer, raising his shield when the two lizards snarl and hiss threateningly. They have no intention of letting him get to Tony, but Steve doesn't intend on leaving him there.]

Hey, boys. If you're that hungry, I've got something you can chew on.

[He lunges at the lizards, forcing them to leave Tony alone just to defend themselves as he starts swinging the energy shield. It gets both of them snapping and dodging away, circling low as Steve tries to hit them. And then they leap at him in return, two biting at him at once, and Steve himself is cornered as he and the lizards each struggle to get an advantage.]

[hevenly]

I became Queen of Hel through trial by combat. But I left it in the charge of my brother. I am not suited to rule.

[mannerism]

I highly doubt that.

[ surely not all. ]

What sort of work have they offered you here, I wonder?

[livingsymbol]

[He's still working on building those other stories up.]

I'm working with the Perimeter Guard right now. Search and Rescue.

[Which he's sure Peggy won't find surprising at all.]

It's different, but I like it. It... makes me feel a little more at home.

[mannerism]

[ no, not surprising, not one bit. ]

Sounds like a good cause. Is there much need for it in the city? search and rescue? any big crisis I should know about?

[ and stick her nose into. ]

[livingsymbol]

I think my job mostly involves keeping people from being lost in the jungle. But there have been some disturbances out there. We had a storm when I first came in, and you saw the tunnels.

I try to help out where I can.

[As for bigger, more serious threats, Steve considers the question a bit longer.]

It seems like a lot of us are brought in from different worlds and that sometimes pieces of those worlds are coming through with us. I don't know how much everyone would be willing to talk about it, but there might be some dangerous animals in their worlds too. I haven't really been able to ask around.

[conceptualise]

[ wow, dick. he's gotham's little prince, not useless. ( talk to selina for a more honest assessment. )

bruce wordlessly pulls himself up to the ledge, and drops his feet onto the roof. his eyes are narrowed as he shifts his focus between dick and the city. despite his best intentions, he's impressed by the other's ease scaling up the building. he might even be better than selina, something which bruce is never, ever letting her know.

there's nothing to be seen yet. the city is dark and quiet in its outage. it only makes him more homesick; bruce cannot imagine gotham ever being this quiet.

bruce turns over one question he wants to ask — where did you learn to do that — and swaps it for ones more highly prioritized. ]

Who are you? [ suspicion sharpens his gaze. the other knows him. it's not so surprising. he is, after all, bruce wayne. but someone who knows him, who will run around in a masked costume, capable of bursting through a window without apparent harm to himself, then practically waltz his way up a building?

he knows of only a handful of organizations capable of such. none takes kindly to him. ]

[conceptualise]

There is no need to be rude. Hasn't your father taught you that?

[ that's it. that's the tag you're getting. ]

[littlestguano]

[The choked off sound that ensues is the result of Damian being too appalled by the (intentional?) irony to properly voice the immediate invective that springs to his lips. The reprimand doesn't offend, but he's irritated that it doesn't give him an answer. He'd have thought Bruce's first reaction would tell him what he needed to know.

Turns out he can't tell if Bruce is sassing him because he does know him, or if he's just being a difficult asshole. (And okay it's possible if he doesn't know Damian he may have taken offense at the abrupt comment, but that's hardly his fault.]

No. He's setting a terrible example for me. I'll be sure to tell him the next time I see him. [Turns out sass is hereditary.

Damian shifts his weight to one side, the only tell that in spite of his collected demeanor he's antsy to figure this out.]

[noassgardian]

There's training, yeah. I work with an actual Viking.

[He shrugs his shoulders.]

It's really cool.

aww you do love me

[inebriety]

That wasn't hands on.

[And then Steve has to make him look bad by taking on two at once while he looks on like a damsel in distress. That won't do at all. He takes advantage of their distraction to get in close and get a few whacks in. All he has to do is hold out for 30 seconds and then they'll have real firepower.

However one of the lizards gets irritated enough by to make a distracted swipe at Tony which is enough for him to lose his weapon.]

Oh shit.

[Steve please help him because he is standing far too close now.]

with the love of a toothy lizard

[livingsymbol]

You're doing great, Tony. They're just lizards.

[Really large lizards, which Steve apparently forgets or conveniently ignores for the moment. He's taunting them with his aggressive attacks, trying to fight his way toward Tony as he speaks.

One of the two lizards manages to disarm Tony, and as it rears back for a bite at him, Steve is hit by sudden, acute anger. He forces past the second creature and launches himself at the lizard trying to bite his friend, tackling it so that he ends up grappling it on the ground.]

Get back!

[Steve tries to protect Tony by keeping him away from the danger directly. Although the second lizard is still free to attack, he's making such a scene with the first it at least makes it harder for the beast to get a clear shot to jump on him.]

that is a lot by your standards :>

[inebriety]

[Tony can only fret as Steve does something immensely stupid and use their fight to keep distance between him and the remaining lizard. Luckily they don't have to keep this up for much longer as the wall opposite to them explodes as Iron Man bursts through.]

I'm here, Tony!

[Tony has no voice modulators on his suit and Anthony also interfaces directly through the speakers so his childish voice rings out clearly.]

Attaboy.

[The remaining lizard screeches at this newcomer and takes a blast that sends it crashing through the wall. The one Steve is wrestling is harder to lock onto due to the risk of hitting Steve as well.]

Steve, would you mind disengaging or do you have this handled?

[conceptualise]

Right now is not the time for your flippant attitude.

[ bruce almost finishes with damian. but that would give up the game too easily, and clued into damian's doubt, he is entertained.

there's also the fact that no, this isn't the time for anyone's attitude, but bruce wayne rarely heeds his own advice. ]

Help me with this. [ bruce tries to pry the doors apart. his strength alone proves insufficient, however. he frowns at the doors. ]

There must be an emergency release. [ right?

no, someone please tell him. how do you public transportation. ]

[leadintheyoung]

[ She hears the snakes hiss from their place upon the wall, the sound of ice springing life as some of the first wave are knocked back and into the traps. The traps work themselves, rapidly encasing the intruding bodies to hold them firmly in place, and Líadan isn't inclined to allow them time to seek any freedom.

It's a wordless hail, a vocal swell that sees the ice move rapidly to wholly encase those trapped. Roy's back isn't left unguarded and she's of a mind to see to that armor once the lizards are fully encased. Quick eyes spy a more immediate threat, however, and a hop and a twirl will see her release her dagger so that it flies ahead and past Roy to lodge itself in between the lurker's eyes.

Plus five lizard pops and another down. What's next? ]

[livingsymbol]

[Steve is surprised by the young voice that comes so clearly through the armor. It startles him while he's fighting, letting the lizard clamp its jaws down on Steve's arm. The teeth sink in, and he should have kept his focus, but he's been struggling a lot for various reasons. The unfamiliar child's voice was enough to shake him.]

Nn. Don't mind, just- hang on.

[His voice is steady, but Steve has to struggle to get control of the beast. He finally gets his leg under its belly and his free hand behind the joint of its jawbone so he can kick it away from him, staggering back to his feet with one bloody arm.]

[greatcleavage]

[Roy lashes his sword through the frozen monsters almost as an afterthought, taking full advantage of their immobility to make sure they're done and dead.]

Nice throw!

[But Roy isn't going to stand around admiring. He charges forward, his sword raised, like he's prepared to meet the charge of the next wave on all his own. He isn't, of course; he hasn't forgotten his assistance. But he's in armor and a frontline fighter, and her work from the back is excellent.]

[fingerstripes]

[ Bruce knows. Dick risks a look and it's a mistake, because the moment he meets that sharp gaze that's what he sees. Every half-baked lie he'd been working on dies inside him. Bruce will know.

Maybe it's better this way. Maybe. He takes a breath. ]

...That sit-down you had with the people in charge here. Where they explained the whole... alternate reality thing? [ He's just going to silently pray right now that Bruce didn't skip out on orientation. ]

I'm from... one of those other realities. From another version of Gotham. [ There's no real way to know that for sure yet, but it's probably best to start there. It speaks to separation. A distance. Not an inevitability in the life of a boy barely into his teens.

He needs Bruce to listen. ]

Bruce Wayne is a friend of mine.