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

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! ]

iv

[backwatertrooper]

Out on a mission. About to pick up my helmet, and then I was just... here.

[More or less. He'd been feeling unhappy and out of place and frustrated about his failures. Fearing what his mother would say - despite knowing that all she'd be would be happy he was all right and there, and proud of what he's done so far. Even if that isn't enough, isn't at all anywhere near what he wants to be.]

Don't know about the monsters... got here a few days ago.

[wulf]

I figured I'd ask around about the monsters... see if maybe there's more help needed elsewhere. Pretty new myself.

[ a beat here. there's something: ]

A soldier too, I take it?

[backwatertrooper]

Can we even go elsewhere? [Weren't they sort of... stuck, here, even if the area they were stuck in was admittedly large? No sullen frustration there at all, no.] Didn't... sound like it was usual, though.

Yeah. [Automatically, Cloud shifts up a little, as much as that's visible on a reasonably small screen. Maybe he's not the type of soldier he wants to be, but he still is one.]

I.

[leadintheyoung]

[ Someone having her back? Now that's something Líadan is used to and she falls back into it with about as much thought as any healthy body puts to breathing. Of course, that means her ally's back is keenly guarded and she's rather quick to inform one of the encroaching monstrosities of as much when it deigns to approach and try to jump him from the side. She falls two steps behind, opens her mouth, and sings a sharp, wordless quip. That lively set of notes sees a spike of ice rush and spear the reptilian through the heart, causing the corpse to lurch forward and slide to a rather messy halt at their boots.

She doesn't miss a beat in observation of her handiwork. Dead is dead and it's the living they're concerned with; though, they seem to be getting fewer and fewer at this point. Brandishing the dagger in her hand, she steps forward to close quarters again, turning her eyes around them sharply. She can't see as well as she'd like, but there can't be that many left and he's nothing if not a good knifehand from what she's seen. A good warrior, even, and that's something she respects. Looking to him, she nods. ]

What do you say we finish this up? Between the two of us, I'd call it at five. [ Plucky? Who's plucky? ]

[wulf]

[ plucky. he likes it. it's all too familiar and nyx rolls his shoulders as he adjusts his grip on his knives. she stands close to him in the dark, enough space to be out of the way, but nearby enough that he can feel her presence close enough for back. she's proven to be invaluable with her magic, and it's made him ache for seconds at a time about crowe, watching the ice sung into existence to thin out the number of monsters they faced.

he's lucked out. ]

We close it up sooner and we might have time for dinner when we get back.

[ because really, getting thrown into a fight is great and all, but being able to unpack all of the nonsense he'd been given to digest would be great too. the fact that he talks about it so easily might give a hint as to just how confident he is that they can definitely finish up quickly and efficiently.

there's a low hissing noise from the side that draws nyx forward at once with his knife. there are only a few monsters left, crawling around, prowling at the edges. he waits for one to get close enough before moving forward with his knife, whipping the blade at the first on-coming creature, letting the honed blade slide through the tough hide on its flank as it lashes outwards. the second knife rings out as the lizard-monster snaps forward at the blade with its jaws.

in and instant he severs its jaw with a slick, wet swipe, bring is curved knife upwards to deal a blow to its throat swiftly. ]

Let's go!

sorry for the lateness!

[leadintheyoung]

[ The prospect of dinner that much sooner than later is that much more powerful a motivational tool when one's been working up an appetite and Lí most certainly has. What's more is that he said 'we,' which implies the possibility of keeping her present and good company through dinner and that sounds rather agreeable to her. After all, if one can't break bread with a person at whose side they've fought, who can one break bread with? No one, that's who and it would be good to get someone else's perspective on all of this. Suffice to say she's counting her luck as being on the fair side and that confidence of his? Oh, it's quite noted. ]

You're speaking my language.

[ She checks her grip on her dagger, mindful of the skittering and click-clack of claws across slick stone and her ally's movements. No sooner than he moves forward does another of the monsters attempt to rush them from the side and she moves swiftly to meet it, parrying sharp claws with a well-aimed slash and digging a boot into its chest so as to force it back. She doesn't give it time to recover, though. Rushing forward, she plants her dagger through the top of its skull and doesn't so much as flinch at the resulting splatter. The claw that grazed her shoulder might get a twitch, but it's there and gone for the adrenaline pumping.

Two down, but her ears betray at least two more as she's retrieving her dagger. She's quick enough, but finds herself dropping hard to avoid stepping into a pair of outstretched claws all the same. Trying to divide them? They're trying to divide them and she'll be performing a quick roll to draw herself into a crouch and closer to her ally's back. It's not the most comfortable thing to have to do with a bow at her back, but it's done all the same. ]

Come on, then. Come on...

[ And wouldn't you know that whisper would earn a hiss in response and it's nothing short of enraged. Trying to get them to reveal their hiding places and take a bit of risk? Why, yes. She is and she's listening for it, sparing her companion a glance. ]

v.

[kuyamu]

[ as fate would have it, Hanzo has the same idea. he's seen the city on foot, but even in this place, it isn't so easy for him to put aside the habits of an assassin; he has to know its vantage points, to know the layout as clearly as he would by a map. it has the advantage of being isolated, too, which Hanzo is glad for. after a decade in exile, his patience for people wears thin quickly — worse here, where the people are all strange and unfamiliar, and one of them is a brother that should be dead. Genji believes he should change his ways. not everything is as simple as putting an end to his killing.

despite escaping the streets to avoid the people below, when he comes across someone else on the rooftops in a moment of stillness, curiosity catches at him and draws him towards the man. he has to wonder what kind of person it is that would come up here, for what reason; he knows his own, but can't imagine another thinking the same way. Hanzo's metal prosthetic feet click quietly against the stone as he approaches, letting the sound announce his presence before he speaks. ]

I did not expect to encounter anyone else here.

[ his stance is cautious, but his kyudo-gi is pulled on with both sleeves and his hands are by his sides — deliberately kept away from the bow and quiver he has strapped to his back. ]

[wulf]

[ nyx hears the soft sound of something clicking over the worn out rooftops and turns from his place perched up high on one of the somewhat sloping tiled eaves. the man that moves towards him looks well-used to the height, moving so precisely that there's no doubt in his mind the noise he creates is purposeful (there are people who want to be heard and people who don't care if they're heard).

he'd come up here because the cloying streets below had started to get to him. he doesn't mind cities, really, he lived in the slums of the crown city for long enough to know how to wind around others, but there's something in this place that makes him desperately home sick.

he hadn't needed a new home (but he had--he didn't belong to that one anymore now did he?)

he tips his head just a little bit, arms hanging down at his sides, his only knife sheathed at the small of his back, the other one very obviously empty and devoid of its partner. ]

Rooftops tend to be quiet places. It's why I like 'em so much.

[ he offers the other no smile, but no real frown either, eyes curious, examining as he takes a few paces to the side, but neither forwards nor backwards--exploratory. ]

Though I guess with so many people from all these different places, there's bound to be a little more foot traffic up here now.

iv.

[seditionist]

@fulcrum

I was at the beach. What about you?

And considering how many monsters there are, it probably does.

[wulf]

Watching the sunrise. Jeez, they really know how to pick em.

When they said all the crap about needing a new home I was kind of hoping the fight would be over.

[ but maybe it's best to keep busy for the time being. ]

[seditionist]

It was similar for me. To a sunrise, I mean.

Do you think the fight is ever really over?

[wulf]

I like to hope that one day it might be for people. Guess that's not gonna be any time soon at any rate.

Back to the grind it is.