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Test Drive

TEST DRIVE 001

-TDM threads can be considered game canon if players involved agree & if it suits any roles you may decide to choose for the current plot.
-Any reserving player that does not submit an app by Saturday morning will be subject to challenging applicants.
-Participation in the Test Drive is worth a flat 10 points per month rather than per thread, and you must have a minimum of 5 comments in that month to qualify for it.
-This TDM is good for the duration of the Mist setting. A new TDM will go up before the next setting.

The NETWORK for this setting is a voice-only walkie talkie system that can be used to communicate between all locations. The default channel will be open to all walkie talkies, but characters can change to an unused channel for private conversation.
of note: There seems to be something strange about these walkie talkies, in that there is no static. The quality is disturbingly crystal clear, like the person you're speaking to is right next to you instead of miles away.

CONTENT WARNING: Some prompts contain gore, character death, and substance abuse.

Reserves will open on Saturday, September 8 until Saturday, September 15
Applications will open Saturday, September 15 until Saturday, September 22

General Prompts

The lights above you are a blindingly, pristine white. The walls around you curve up into the ceiling like the inside of an MRI machine. Your hands, feet, and midsection are strapped to a clinical table, and minutes seem to tick by, with no clear course for escape presenting itself to you.

The curved white space above you flickers with color, and a perfect square like a television screen expands before your eyes. It pans over what appears to be a town, something small and simply populated.

“Hello, and welcome to your first setting,” a neutrally cadenced feminine sounding voice begins, riding the line between human and machine. As she speaks, captions of the text type themselves in neat and perfect Arial font. “The location is loosely based off Bridgton, Maine, United States of America, Earth. The year is 2007. You have been selected to participate. Obedience ensures an enjoyable and immersive experience for our audience. If you have been granted a role, instructions will follow. Do not talk about the role. Do not attempt disobedience. If you have not been granted a role, your objective for this round is simple: survive.”

After that, the shackles may release promptly and allow your character to roam free. Or perhaps not — perhaps they've been given a role to play, and if so, further instructions will play out upon the screen. Once suitably briefed, characters will be released to their own devices. Beware the mist.

CHECK OUT THE CURRENT SETTING PAGE FOR DETAILS ABOUT THE LOCATION.

learn from the mistakes of others

A pair of unperturbed mall inhabitants decide to chance the mist. They're the first of a handful to trickle out the front doors, and they seem to get by just fine. About a minute ticks by, and they disappear completely into the dense fog that presses in from every direction. It's so anticlimactic that for a moment it almost seems stupid to feel uncomfortable by the sight of it.

Until precisely one half of a body is hurled abruptly and with great force from an indeterminate point in the obscurity. It's not a top half or a bottom half; no, it's a cleanly sliced left half, head to toe as though a neat line were cut down the middle. It slams into the transparent glass doors and crumples before them, still and obviously unmoving, slowly leaking.

After a few seconds, a dark tendril of something reaches out, curls around the jutting left ankle, and drags it with painstaking slowness back into the fog.

At least the rest of them probably made it, right?

Right?

Hopefully you weren't one of the others to follow their lead. If you were, that dark shape seems to be closing in awfully quick.

eff this, let's bounce

A pair of car keys can be found discarded or perhaps dropped in their owners' haste. Braving the mist when it's at its lightest and pressing the key fob will cause a car to beep politely, flashing lights to indicate its location in the fog. Take anyone willing to go with you and pile in. Try to get the hell out of dodge!

An excellent idea....

Within five miles of the car's journey the battery will die and the engine will stall. Consider yourselves effectively stranded and with no one but yourselves to blame. Perhaps help will come if you wait long enough? Hours, surely no more than a few days... Maybe you should consider braving the fog to get back? Five miles can feel like a hundred in conditions like these.

Either way, it seems like you're trapped in the car for about as long as R. Kelly got trapped in the closet during that one unfortunate CD.

radio chatter

Characters in the library and the church will be able to communicate via walkie talkie radio chatter immediately! Characters in the mall will not have this ability until later in the month, so any network style threads with a mall character will take place during Week Two of the October plot or later, after most people have already been fully introduced to the setting and given time to adapt.

Roles

Employee of the Month (Multiple)

Some characters will be printed wearing a designated kiosk uniform, their name sloppily stickered in slightly crooked letters onto a Dippin' Dots badge, or whatever store they may happen to be assigned to. The cool voice that introduces them to the mist will carry on to tell them that they'll be playing employee # _____ in this month's immersive experience. Their motivations and objectives are simple: go to work.

Except the role seems to be bugged, because they can never not go to work. If they leave the five or six foot radius of their designated post they'll begin to experience consequences, which worsen in severity based on distance and duration. The role doesn't end at mall closing, it doesn't end on Saturdays, it simply doesn't end. Hopefully next month's code push will have a bug fix; we apologize for the inconvenience.

(If choosing to keep these threads as game canon, the role will wear off within the first in-game week)

Aggravated Assault

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing the role of a CONVICTED FELON having recently been released on parole. Your motivation for this month's immersive experience is frustration. Having undergone hard time, you'll find that we have increased your aggression and temper characteristics, and lowered your inhibitions. Your objective is to find and begin an altercation with Snuff the Rooster, who will be playing the role of the person who turned you in, NARK. Your altercation must take place in a public space with witnesses, and may not stop until Snuff the Rooster is unconscious, evicted from the mall, or someone intervenes.

Thank you for your participation!

Consequences for not completing the objective in this role can be moderate to severe.

Snuff the Rooster

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing the role of NARK. Formerly a close friend and ally of CONVICTED FELON from Aggravated Assault, you were quick to roll on them during police questioning in exchange for your freedom. Your motivation is to turn over a new leaf, and get your shit together. Your objective is to survive the altercation.

Thank you for your participation!

The Lovers (Duo Role)

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing one half of a partnership role! Please seek out (character 2). Your motivation this round is love, and the need to protect your partner from threats both inside and outside of the mall. Your objectives is to greet your lover with a kiss and place them above all others. Do not act like strangers.
Consequences for not completing the objective in this role or failing to present a convincing couple can be mild to moderate.

Pathological

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing a background character in our current setting. Your motivation is to tell lies; at least one third of what you say must be unarguably untrue. Your objective is to keep these lies from being discovered as false.
Consequences for not complying with this role can vary from mild to severe, with the compulsion to tell larger and larger lies growing as time goes on.

Scared Speechless

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing a background character in our current setting. You may choose one person, stranger or otherwise. This is the only person you may communicate with, either verbally or through writing.
Consequences for not complying with this role are severe.

Glitches

potency error

Someone seems to have miscalculated the relative strength of intoxicants; all inhibition-altering substances seem to have been cranked up to eleven. One shot has the strength of three, though the taste seems to stay exactly the same. One or two drinks will quickly creep up on you. One of the joints found discarded in the bathroom trashcans will easily green you out. God forbid you've got anything stronger.

greatest movie of all time

Settling in to the relatively nice theater found at the far end of the mall is a decent way to make the time go by. The projectors are automated, and there are six different theaters that show flicks at scheduled times.

Except that every single one of them is showing Spider-Man 3. Every single one, every single showing, no matter what is advertised, becomes Spider-Man 3. That's how you know this is a horror game. Hope you didn't wander in by mistake because the doors will shut behind you and leave you to watch the entire showing. Please keep your feet off of the seats.

please replace toner cartridge

It seems there was an error in printing someone this first time around; everything came through but the visuals somehow. Your character is flesh and blood, fully formed, wearing tangible clothes even, but are completely invisible. Donning additional clothing causes it to clip out and then promptly disappear. Taking clothes off will cause them to reappear. Hopefully this gets fixed in the next lite patch.

(If choosing to keep these threads as game canon, the glitch will wear off within the first in-game week)

code bases by tricklet

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[As long as they have something strong, she could really not care less what it looks like.]

Does that work for you?

[ Indeed, she can see through him more than just literally, but she's glad she doesn't have to in this moment. That vulnerability isn't something to take lightly. ]

We'll figure that out as soon as we figure this out.

[ Got it, bud? She'll remind him of his priorities because he's no good to anyone dead. ]

No, I guess I can understand what you mean.

[ But what a different life that sounds to be. Sam's form of philanthropy is hunting alongside his brother to ensure people didn't get their faces ripped off or their blood drained on the way to their local Starbucks. ]

So, what kind of music?

[ He leads them into the sporting goods section, specifically to baseball bats. He just wants to see what's available. ]

[By way of answer, he sits down on the nearest bar stool and immediately orders a shot of something strong from the strangely reticent not-person currently on duty.

At some point, he'll have to stop and examine the implications of all that. But now is not that point. Now is the point at which they get drunk.

He settles against the bar countertop with the air of someone who is very tired.

And apparently that's all he has to say.]

As perceptive as he is, he hasn't actually noticed the way the mist swirls around Steve's legs, around his presence like it's creating some kind of ghostly aura for him. He's so caught up in what's not there he hasn't managed to take in what is -- if only because he can't handle looking at that ghostly absence for long enough to pick it up.

There's no avoiding the sound of hooves, though, and he manages not to shoot Not-Steve an incredulous glance. "I was in assassin training, not cowboy camp."

What the hell does he know about horses?

Clop-clop. Clop-clop. Clop-clop.

It inches slowly but surely closer, and around the middle of the hallway, Barnes can begin to see it. The barreled chest, the long muzzle, a shoulder, a leg, a-

"...Someone's riding it," He murmurs, voice dropping an octave to a soft mutter. His bicep flexes beneath Steve's hands like he's at the ready, like somehow on instinct he knows this is a warhorse and the thing atop it isn't likely to come in peace.

[There was always the chance she was the only one in this situation. But there had been other pods—other places to come out of, lined up alongside hers in the bowling alley, and the introduction had spoken as if to a group. If you have not been granted a role, your objective for this round is simple: survive...

Even if she did have a role, Shepard was still going to damn well survive—and not just off stolen coworker candybars.]

I can't leave this area. [Don't talk about your role. The excruciating physical and mental pain of just leaving her designated circle for the adjacent hall bathroom was already bad enough to make her consider the merits of a bucket. No point pushing it in a conversation, too. Giving Katsuya a pointed look, she sweeps the area with one finger, in a circle, outlining her boundaries in the air.] I have... work to do. So if you could grab me something, that would really be a big help.

[At the withering statement, Shepard's head turns with the kind of pointed interest of a person in an enclosed space, waiting to see exactly what's going to happen next. In the dim light of the theater, Shepard narrows her eyes, attempting to get a better read on the disgruntled party. Did she want to be answered?

Even with her eyes still turned to the classic action feature playing out in front of them, Motoko has her full attention—although it's mostly hidden behind another handful of popcorn.]

[The baseball bats bring a wry smile to Diana. Selene always carries a bat. Usually to chase off Diana's latest lovers.]

Whatever kind I'm feeling.

Whatever I think'll remind people of their goodness.

[She points to a metal bat.]

That one's gonna have the most heft.

It's frustrating to not be able to speak freely, and doubly frustrating to not be easily understood even when she does. Circe has already realized that no one else seems quite as lost as she does in this building, and the distinct sensation of being once again alien, different, is severely distasteful to her. She thought she had left that behind long ago.

She can see his uncertainty, and tries to summon her patience. "These all seem so unfamiliar to me, I will have to see for myself," she admits with an open grimace. "I have learned the properties of things through time and experimentation, which I'm afraid I will have little of here. But-- it is worth a try. Perhaps if we can find any living plants, or gemstones; I am most used to those."

Gemstones are not her strong suit, but if needs must, she can make do. Circe is just relieved her newfound companion seems willing to go along with this. She knows too well that many, mortal and god, are strongly averse to witchcraft of any kind.

He really really isn't.

"No? Maybe we could discuss the existence of aliens while I sampled some of your wares?" Honestly he could just get out of Bucky's hair but the poor guy looks like he could use some rescuing. Phil can't physically drag him out of the ice cream shop but he could hang around.

"Oh, hell yeah." He looks like he's set to continue before another thought distracts him for it. "Side note, I can really go for some good grilled cheese right now."

"On the contrary, I stand to gain some satisfaction." A fishing rod made for a poor katana in his eyes but wielded by a skilled person, it would still prove to be a challenge, especially since Sephiroth had little practice with knives. "We do have an 'audience' to entertain," he chuckled.

He was just angry and annoyed that he was being used once more. And this time not even by someone he knew. A mysterious captor with the power to take from the strongest being on the Planet. That didn't sit well with someone whose own plans for world domination was just thwarted.

He raised his knife up to chest level and held it there, wondering if he could get Ignis to make the first move.

[Sephiroth ignores any disapproval and anger being directed his way. He stays right where he is, arms crossed as he waits to see if Noctis would engage him.

As it turns out, it has been worth the wait.]

Because you went first.

[He chuckles.]

[His lips tighten into a thin line; he thinks he catches her unsaid message, considering the repercussions he'd felt himself from not convincingly acting as if he was involved with Ms. Kusanagi.

Whatever the purpose of this... experiment... is, the people behind it have some strange priorities.

Katsuya gives her a single nod and leaves without any further questions.

There doesn't seem to be much in the way of convenience stores in the mall, so he heads back to the food court. The organic foods store seems the most sensible, so he goes behind the counter to see what he can find--casting furtive glances around all the while, even though there is literally nobody around to care. It's a necessity, he tells himself, but it still doesn't sit right with him.

For now, he puts together a chicken sandwich (protein!), a salad, some minestrone soup (vegetables are important!), and a large water, all in to-go containers. Balancing it all is tricky, but he pulls it off, and, satisfied he's gathered together a decently balanced meal (considering the circumstances), brings it all back to the Hollister where Shepard is working.]

Where should I put this?

[Lavellan hadn't gone far from his own pod once he'd awoken; he's long since come to the philosophy that if he's being fucked with, he's not going to encourage it. If something out there wants something from him, they're gonna have to work for it.

So he's lounging on one of the nearby benches when Shepard wakes up. He manages to process his surprise quickly, and lifts his hand by way of greeting.

There are a lot of implications here that he doesn't care to think about, so he won't. Just yet.]

You too, then?

[ Sam points to the one she'd noted, eyebrow raised. Sure, he'll take the suggestion. Grabbing one, he rests it on his shoulder, but he doesn't intend this to be their last stop. ]

That's not a genre.

[ He's teasing, of course. Some people probably defy typical conventions in that regard. ]

[She groans, rolling her eyes.]

That's like asking your dad to pick a favorite child.

[Of course, her father's choice would have been obvious...]

But I will say, the opening guitar riff to "Satisfaction" is one of the greatest pieces of music ever not written by me.

Wade grabs the poor bastard by the back of his shirt juuust as he's about to stumble outside, and he sighs as he swings him around and, with a gentle pat on the booty, ("be free, little one"), pushes him back toward the crowd where he's welcomed with open arms and all due comfort and group-therapy. Probably. Wade doesn't know and really doesn't care; his attention is back on JRPG McGee as soon as Bystander Bob is firmly out of (immediate) danger.

He splays a hand over his heart, letting out a muffled mock-sob.

"Ouch, Charlie, right in the fee-fees." A pause. "...That means 'feelings', by the way, Urban Dictionary told me so. Figured you'd need a translation, since you seem to have missed the two-thousand-whenever orientation that was going on outside of Victoria's Secret." His eyes dart between the door and the guy and back again, and he belatedly tugs it shut before continuing. Can't have Squidward Stabby-Legs coming in here and slicing anyone in half, or worse, breaking up the super helpful explanation he's about to give.

"Anyway, this--" he spreads his arms and spins, gesturing at the space around them, "is a shopping mall. And the first rule of shopping malls is we don't go grabbing people and roughing them up unless they're wearing Heelys." There's an expectant stare coupled with a waggling finger, because his tone apparently wasn't condescending enough, and he reiterates:

"No Heelys, no slappy slappy. Got it?"

Oh how the turns have tabled... Never did Wade expect he'd be the one delivering the no-slappy speech. If this makes his solo book's sales drop he's gonna be pissed.

[ That's concerning, and she knows her concern shows clearly on her face. ]

What is it that you need? I may or may not be able to help you, but I certainly can't do that if I don't know what's the matter.

"You sound as though you're accustomed to giving orders, and to having people listen to them." It's merely an observation, and surprisingly, Peggy finds herself not at all opposed to trusting this man, whoever he might turn out to be. "But rest assured, I'm not one who runs blindly into danger." Although, one might argue that that's precisely what they're doing; nevertheless, Peggy has no plans to get hurt.

"I certainly hope so. We have very few advantages in this situation, and it would be a fine state of affairs if our one piece of leverage turned out not to be that." She's trying not to resign herself to the worst either, but it's difficult to avoid. "I'm all for that. I hope you're as capable as you sound."

What would you call it, if not that? [ She values other people's perspectives, not just her own. She wouldn't have gotten very far in life if that were the case. ]

I agree, it is hopeful. I believe that people are far more resilient than they tend to realize, and this only confirms that. It's very nice to see.

[He feels the kid give in, relinquishing control to Gintoki in this moment. Luckily, he has extensive experience in transporting others - so steadying Shinsou proves effortless. Once he has a solid support of the other's weight, he begins to move. His steps are steady to allow the purple-haired kid enough agency to walk more on his own terms. The kid was suffering enough, didn't need to add any sort of mental anguish on top of it all by not allowing him enough control.]

What part of the food court were you working in, huh?

[While Shinsou's efforts to keep Gintoki's yukata clean have not gone unnoticed, it's ultimately not something he was particularly worried about. They were in a mall, after all - with plenty of opportunities to "borrow" some new threads if need be.]

Peggy realizes she's at a slight disadvantage here; being from the 1940s puts her behind others in terms of her knowledge, but even with that, she likes to think she's smart enough still. Whatever the other woman wants to tell her, Peggy will try her best to understand.

"Damage? I assume from what you've already said that this is not the type of damage that requires the standard hospital."

"Right." Peggy sets to work looking for the named tools, and while there's nothing quite like a wire stripper, she does manage to spot a pair of pliers that might seem a bit too conveniently placed. Perhaps it's only coincidence and some hapless maintenance man left them behind, but Peggy's not wasting time mulling over it. It isn't every day that one gets lucky twice in such quick succession, but Peggy also locates a small screwdriver that seems like it'll do the trick.

"Blocking off the doors might send a clear message, although you never know with people, I suppose. Perhaps doing both will steer people away from this place." And Peggy herself has seen what people can do when they're afraid; she'd rather not see something like that happen here. "I have the tools you requested."

Peggy's passing by on the way back to the doors, when she happens to spot an odd sight. There is a man there, looking rather dapper if she might say so herself, but it's not that that catches her attention. It's the fact that he's dancing. Most people she's encountered thus far are either in the throes of panic or working away at trying to barricade the entrances for everyone's safety.

This man is the first that she's seen who is doing something as seemingly frivolous as dancing. And, oh, he's addressing her now. Her mouth twitches with something like amusement, however out of place that feels.

"Good morning yourself. You seem as though you're having a good time." That makes one of them, at least.

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Test Drive

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I'M GLAD YOU'RE HERE!!

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hey shep it's me ya boy (1)

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Dancer