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

[goldcuffed]

[If they're attacked, he'll fight the creatures off with his bare hands if he has to, whatever it takes to give him a few minutes holding Laurent. It's been days but it feels like it's been an age, wondering constantly where he is and if he's alright and is he worried? It's only reluctantly that he puts Laurent down on his feet again, with one more sweet kiss.]

The last thing I remember is- the baths. Thinking that you, at least, would make bedrest tolerable. [He smiles wryly, a little sheepish, like he knows he's in trouble for this. It was worth it, because he found his love down here.] Then I woke here, and they took me to the hospital. I suppose they did some work to heal me. It is not so life-threatening anymore.

But I couldn't stand lying in bed missing you. I don't regret it.

[redoublement]

And what a fine job of bed rest you're doing. [ Laurent chides again, settling back onto his feet with his arm still around the other's neck. His hand slid from the nape, towards the other's face instead. Softly stroking his fingertips along the line of the other's jaw, as if marvelling that the other really was there at all. ]

And if I make you regret it? [ He murmured, but was smiling, even as he said it. It faded though, his eyes closing as he shuddered out a soft, slow breath. ]

I didn't think you would be here. [ He admitted softly, quietly. ] When they told me that the portal is drawn to pulling people who feel displaced- [ He swallowed, shaking his head softly. ] For that alone, I thought it would never take you. You've always been so sure of your place...

[goldcuffed]

You weren't here to make it tolerable. [He retorts smartly, settling his hands on Laurent's hips, thumbing over fabric as if he's just trying to remind himself that this is real. That he isn't alone, without his love. Apparently it's hard to believe for both of them, and he smiles, tilting his cheek into his lover's touch.] I found you, didn't I? You can't make me regret that.

[He tilts his head a little more, presses a kiss to Laurent's palm, then brings a hand up to curl his fingers over Laurent's. Those words feel like a confession, and he treasures the opening up, but- he has it all wrong. Damen's uncertainty had only grown on their way to Ios, had ballooned into something great and terrible when Kastor betrayed him. When he heard bells, and knew that his brother's body lay only feet from him.]

Laurent, the only thing I am sure of these days is that my place is at your side.

[redoublement]

I've been here more than a week. [ He swallowed, curling his fingers with Damen's, squeezing softly and letting out a single soft chuckle. ] I wish I'd found you sooner. I looked- [ But he really hadn't thought the other would be here.

Calming himself, he exhaled slowly, turning his head and resting his cheek against the other's shoulder, his eyes closed. ]

Lets get you out of these sewers, so that I may assess what the healers in this place have done for myself. [ And decide whether or not he was putting Damen right back into bed or not. ]

[goldcuffed]

I looked for you as well. [His smile curls on his lips, wry and a little ironic.] It seems one of us should have stayed put. [He curls an arm around him, holds him against his chest gently and savors his warmth, the solid press of him.]

Their physicians are talented. I do have that much to say about this place. [Their methods and equipment had seemed much more advanced than anything Paschal might have had or done.] But yes, let's go. You seem to have taken out this nest all by yourself anyway.

[redoublement]

Talented or not, I would like to see their work for myself. [ Because he knows Damen, and he knows that regardless of what he says, it could have been far worse than he would have allowed himself to let on. Laurent needed to know, needed to see for his own sake that the other wasn't going to start bleeding out again at any moment. A week- it wasn't very much time at all, and certainly not after suffering such a life threatening injury. ]

I admit I had some... stress. To relieve. Dealing with these monsters was at least a suitable enough distraction to keep me occupied for a few moments, at least.

[goldcuffed]

You will. [It means he will probably be scolded for being out and about while still hurt, but some part of him had thought he would never be scolded by Laurent again. He will take the chiding and relish it, knowing what it means. He picks up his sword again, and lets Laurent begin to lead them out of the dank, damp tunnels, toward the exit.

That admission, the delicate phrasing of it, sends Damen's heart soaring. His smile spreads, warm and fond, crinkling at the corners of his eyes, and he says, leaving no room to argue,]

You missed me.

[redoublement]

Of course I missed you. [ Laurent did not even hesitate in the reply, pausing in his stride to turn and look at the other once more. He stepped into Damen's space again, bringing them close, his fingers curling softly, squeezing the other's hand. He dropped his forehead, just resting against the other's shoulder as his other hand slid up the small of Damen's back, holding him close. Savouring the warmth of the other, his presence there. ]

I have come to need you, Damianos. To be without you is to be asked not to breath. To deny a flower the sun. [ It's softer, sappier than Laurent usually allows himself. But it is the truth.

Before Damen can reply, though, Laurent was turning away again. Resuming his course down the dark and quiet tunnels. Wanting to be free of them, now. Wanting to share the sunlight with his lover. ]

[goldcuffed]

[Damen smiles, pleased, when Laurent stops to fit himself into Damen's arms again. He curls an arm around his waist, twines his fingers of his free hand with his love's. Will they ever make it to the surface like this, if they keep stopping to hug and kiss and touch each other? He can't bring himself to care.]

I missed you as well. [He says softly, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of his head. Before he knows it, Laurent is pulling him back through the tunnels again, and Damen follows, because he doesn't know how to do anything else, with Laurent.] It killed me, thinking you weren't here.