Test Drive

[uploadedmods]

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

Comments

[officerzeppelin]

"My brother does the same work I do. We usually work together." It was a partnership neither had ever been able to successfully dissolve, no matter how much the universe (or Sam) tried.

"You two ever, y'know, team up?" He didn't know if psychiatrists actually did get together to shrink heads, but it was a lot of talking as far as Dean knew, so it seemed like a more likely working relationship than his and Sam's.

[officerzeppelin]

"And for Bibles of all things." Dean chuckled a little at what he took for irony, but quickly recalled his smile just in case the android would take offense.

"You're not, you know, religious, are you?" The work 'religious', from his lips, sounded a lot like most people would say the word 'diseased'. Pretty rich from someone who literally had a close, personal relationship with God.

[yorozuya]

[The bridge of the albino's nose wrinkles. His eyes squint suspiciously, as if the other were attempting to mooch off of him in some way. He gives the other a once over before scratching at his cheek.

It was a pretty big store...]

As long as you don't start taking stuff I got dibs on... [Which was anything. He was there first, after all!]

[relieable]

[well, yeah. Osomatsu's pretty good at mooching. but, really, he's mostly lonely. Gintoki's, like, the first friend he's made here, so he wants to stick together]

Oh, no way. [he says now, thinking there will probably be multiples of items in one store. still, he crosses his fingers behind his back] You won't even have to worry about that.

wrote a tag and never submitted, how about that

[a_shadow]

Tex's brows push together slightly. She would almost think the woman was kidding, except that this is said as sincerely as everything else she's said.

"Well, like I said, it's kind of the older version of what I'm used to." Which doesn't really mean anything when it comes to divinity being involved or whatnot.

The radio noise comes back, a staticky voice responding to Circe's attempt. It seems to be bleeding in from another frequency.

"Oh," Tex says, turning her attention back to the radio. "Turn it to channel 6, I want to see what signal they're on."

[lavelly]

None at all. [He's just as resigned, as tired, as she is. They're never going to escape this kind of thing, are they?

He rubs his hand into his eyes and exhales loudly.]

We should... probably explore, I suppose. Try to find others.

[But he doesn't make any move to get up.]

[catsuya]

Katsuya Suou.

[His shoulders visibly sag.]

I--thank you. Though it doesn't...

[Katsuya visibly dithers as he tries to work out the best way to articulate I didn't get you food so that you would do this for me, because everyone deserves to eat and you aren't obligated to help me out when I committed a crime and in fact it's probably better that you don't.

He does not say any of that. Instead he leans in again conspiratorially.]

I'm still, er, exploring, and I need to get back to my, uh. My girlfriend. [He tries not to wince.] But I'll come back as frequently as I can--please let me know if you ever can't, um, get away from work for a while.

[She won't starve on his watch!!!!]

[squadgoals]

Ha, well—you could say I'm married to my job. [In a light, easy tone that clashes with her wry expression, she sweeps a hand over the racks of clothing, and twitches a rueful smile.] In a way, I'm already home.

[Hoodies made reasonable pillows, and she'd certainly roughed it in more dangerous terrain—with a cup of cold soup and a sandwich, she was practically drowning in riches. Focusing back on Katsuya, she keeps her expression neutral as she reads between his words.]

Exploring? Mall's pretty standard. Looking for anything in particular?

[squadgoals]

[There's no verbal response, just a nod—and Shepard starts to walk to Lavellan. She stops in front of him, pausing for a moment, then extends her hand.]

Come on. We've made it through worse than a mall.

[Her tone is pitched low, soft, with a smile running through it.]

[mightyboy]

Uh... [Well...most of that didn't make any sense, but he at least got a name out of it.] Well, no one really seems what's going on here, so it could be normal.

[Izuku grabs a hairbrush--couldn't hurt to brush the oil through the man's hair, right? It should help have a more even saturation.]

I'm-- [Kacchan's face appears in his mind, screaming at him for even thinking about giving his real name out. He hides his hesitation behind a small cough] --sorry. I'm Deku. [Izuku tries to brush the man's hair as gently as he can, being careful of tangles.] Have you only been to the food court so far?

[mightyboy]

[Another smile at her enthusiasm. It was still so much fun seeing the world through the eyes of someone who hadn't experienced anything it had to offer in this time period.] There are a lot of pictures of cats on the internet, it's true! You can watch videos of them as well. I bet there are thousands of cat videos on the internet by now.

[Izuku might have to try to get his hand on some kind of computer so he could do some research about this area. Unfortunately the cash register he had was analog, so there was no hope of doing anything useful on it--besides harvesting it for receipt paper.] I bet you could look up information about this time period on your phone so you an get an idea of what new inventions have been made by now.

[mightyboy]

[The urge to sigh again was so strong in him...but he bites it back, chewing on his bottom lip. Even in dire situations, Kacchan was still Kacchan.]

Sorry. I'm just trying to make suggestions since I can't help myself. I don't know what's out there, so you have a better handle on the situation than I do.

[mightyboy]

Then it shouldn't be a problem with her. We don't have to use your quirk if it's not necessary. [It was always good to have a back-up plan, though.]

If you find any other people with interesting information, you can always radio me about it. I don't get as much traffic as you, so I have plenty of time to brainstorm tactics. [Again, a blessing and a curse. All the time in the world to slack off and not get punished by the simulation, but none of the information a station like Shinsou's invited.]

[Now Izuku is mumbling a bit to himself, writing a few more notes.] It is interesting how this place didn't completely remove most of our quirks, but left them at a reduced potency...was that by design, or was it an oversight? Or perhaps they didn't have the ability to erase them completely, if they're so intrinsically a part of our self ...

[mightyboy]

[That...is an interesting concept that Izuku never considered.]

So you're saying our true consciousness could have no bearing on this body, but rather the building blocks of our character could have been put into a completely different set of AI? That's...very complicated. [And honestly hurt his head trying to wrap around.]

[begrudge]

Any potential upside of bludgeoning the doors wouldn't survive the high probability of sustaining grievous injury intact, true. No claims toward practicing conflict-averseness can be made on Ryo's end, but he can at least make a go at idling passivity at the expense of any other justification, same as her. His mortal, noodle-y arms aren't all that conducive to the heavy lifting necessary to sling theater chairs around without the cheerful accompaniment of muscle strain and overextension arriving shortly after. Too bad.

Relieving the chair of the tottering unbalance of a pair of propped feet, Ryo sits up, slightly less slouchy when the threat of sliding right off the seat and acquainting himself with a popcorn-infested floor no longer holds water.

"Is 2007 that big of a leap from your time?" Ryo asks, like it's a matter of smooth contemplation instead of a minor existential crisis that the date's more than three decades ahead of anything he can conjure to mind. "This might be bread and circuses, given what's happening outside."

That's just how appeasement goes. He can't say he disapproves.

[begrudge]

Nothing wrong with that. It's a handy thing, a sense of responsibility and endearing conscience. Shinichi dons it far better than recalcitrance, far better than the shitty, depressive state of Ryo's brand of badly-endured pessimism, which is always seething towards a very clinical, ugly sort of despair when left alone.

So let it be known that Ryo takes to votes of dubious confidence like blanks in a gun fired at him in confidence, which takes the idea that he's sensible and won't offer Shinichi a crash-course on quick and easy ways to light anything within a one-mile perimeter ablaze and lopsidedly turns it on its head.

"Once," he remarks, admission butchered by his current desecration: the sloshing sound that pouring the contents of the liquor bottle into a holy water font makes. "I'm usually better prepared, so I don't typically rely on bombs to get by in a life-or-death situation. At least, nothing this rudimentary. But then this isn't what I'd call a typical situation."

Providing blatant contrast to Shinichi's confusion is the singeing tenor in Ryo's voice, once a couple of bottles are emptied and he can finally get around to lugging out the gasoline can, entirely unaware of any wiggling, sentient fingers.

"The liquor's too weak to serve as fuel, but the bottle's good for this kind of explosive. Glass shatters easily."

Not unlike the heart, or Ryo's unwillingness to take half-measures in anything, thus irreconcilable with waiting around for what might be the eventuality of their deaths with open arms.

"Feel like lending me a hand?"

No irony lost there.

IT'S COOL, i'm on wedding trip prep since i'm leaving tmmrw so i'm sorry for all delays on my end!

[begrudge]

Pretty valid concern. The bottles put up a sticky, contentious fight that'd be better amended by shattering their glassy casings and taking slugs to offset the slow laboriousness found in snapping each cap off, but that's just disgruntlement taking a swan dive in him. Drunken revelry's easier to handle than prejudiced sobriety, which calls to question the necessity of beer bottles cloistered in a church's dingy attic, but then maybe the priests couldn't abolish liquor entirely, since wine's so often converted to lifeblood between these hallowed pews.

For reasons that Ignis can already lift straight from their jaunt in the fog, the cardinal of them being the existence of mist monsters, Ryo's dementedness remains intact as he hunches down in poised recline over a slimy concoction of gasoline swirling in a bottle. Absolutely nothing's to be done about the stench, the caveat of an unholy matrimony between a high-count liquor bottle and petrol fuel bleeding profusely into the room. Don't sniff too deeply.

"We could see how stabbing them goes," Ryo concedes upon his companion's return, artless and lacking the right punch of humor to sail his words across as a joke, "if they'll take to it better than a fire bomb, assuming they can bleed."

Assuming they can get a few cuts in prior to evisceration, assuming they aren't already trapped and barreling down toward imminent destruction. The stakes have always been high, but Ryo's not hurting for anything more than peace of mind. This church feels like deceit with its convenience, roundabout mockery for being a godless heathen.

It's only getting more depressive from here on out. In acknowledgement of Ignis's impressive haul, he takes up the board, laying down cutlery against it. Scraping out a dying wish is always an option, though it's better to go at it with a fork and knife than the futility of human nails scrabbling against enamel.

"I'm thinking that if we don't end up blowing this place up in the process, you could always try leaving a message against the window when it's time to go. Anything's fine. A message to a friend, even, if you think they might stumble across it."

Without precursor, Ryo hands over the bottle for Ignis to even partition the contents between mason jars, much beleaguered.

"If we're separated, what'll you do? Got any plans of your own?"

[unshielding]

You're right.

[ And it does help him regain his focus. He can power through this. He has to. It's what he does. He's so thankful that Natasha is here with him. She's been a rock for so long. ]

Do you think this place is real?

[unshielding]

Steve watches the form approach with a sinking feeling in his gut. There aren't a lot of good reasons to be riding a horse inside a foggy building in an oddly abandoned town like this.

"Get back against the wall." Bucky's hushed tone is matched as Steve starts to put himself between the horse and Bucky, like even if he's invisible he'll make sure anything that's going to hit Bucky will hit him first.

"They can't see me. Just get back."

Bucky probably won't, of course. Steve knows better than to think he's going to listen, but he has to try to keep Bucky safe because he's only just gotten him back.

Maybe the rider is friendly, but Steve isn't taking any chances until he gets a better look. Not with Bucky here. He wishes that his invisibility could extend to another person and not just clothes.

[singingwhilecrying]

[ Okay, now he's winning some sympathy. As much as Pearl wants to call this strangers oddities, scold him, and leave him in the corridor, she also assumes the absolute worst of people. What if this poor man really was never taught to read, let alone use a map? The exasperated, disbelieving stare on Pearl's face softens to one of genuine concern.

Then, he volunteered himself to follow her. That pushes the wrong button, and Pearl lets out a flutered grumble. ]

What!? I can't be responsible for you! [ She takes a glance to the side, to the quite obvious cylinder bearing the map of the mall which were spaced out to be visible at just about any position in the building. ] It's right there! Go now. Shoo!

[ Her hands lift, brushing her fingers rapidly to try and theoretically brush the freeloader away, cheek puffing up in frustration. ] It's not that hard. I have confidence you'll find a way.

[singingwhilecrying]

Am I--? [ She repeats the first part of the question to herself, just to assure herself that that's really what he asked. ] What are you trying to say?

[ Pearl's eyes narrow. This human's demeanor is raising any number of red flags. Then again, most human behavior raises red flags to her. Her head pulls back, body language seemingly trying to lean away from the conversation as her narrowed eyes scan over Takasugi, studying him to find out his motive.

Eventually, realizing that he has no intention of adding on anything to the question, she decides to err on the side of caution. To answer literally. ]

I certainly will fight if I need to, but I don't see why that matters. The last thing we should be fighting right now is each other.

Sorry for disappearing for so long!

[singingwhilecrying]

"... They did what!?" Somehow, even with an impenetrable mist in front of her and a week of isolation behind her, Pearl manages to find a way to be concerned of the most mundane of stories. "Are they okay? I don't think people can digest that..." Her eyes scan off to the side, subconsciously locking to a nearby book with a grimace that can be heard in the way her voice strains out, "Oh, heavens, no."

Shaking her head of the unpleasant mental imagery, Pearl clears her throat. "--No. I can't speak for the others here, but food is the last of my concerns. I'm more worried about this town! I've contacted people in a church, and now a mall? Is everyone stuck!?" Brow furrowing, the gem stares out the far window, frowning at the continued mist's presence.

"Is this a normal climate for this region?"

[catsuya]

[He looks where she gestures and can't help a grimace. He feels for her, but as long as they're all in this situation this is the limit of the help he can give.]

Oh, you know. Um, anything out of the ordinary. Old habits die hard, I guess.

[He used to be a police officer. Patrolling was what he did.]

[lavelly]

[He takes her hand with a wry grin, and pulls himself up. It's true that of the situations they've found themselves in... this is one of the least alarming. Or at least the least immediately stressful.

He'll still have to let her take the lead as far as navigation goes. He's familiarized with much of future technology, but some things he's still unfamiliar with. Malls included.]

What do you suppose is the point this time?

[Because of course this is another simulation. What else could it be?]

perhaps......

[theseuschip]

“Won’t open.” And the fact that Simon’s, for now, given up on making it open feels almost like playing hooky, evident in the way his right hand is braced against the armrest like he’s ready to jump out of his seat, expecting... a something next. That isn’t coming. Which is starting to freak him out.

“So... what? Are we in the WAU’s version of the ARK right now? Have I just lost it, and I’m imagining all this?” Simon’s voice grows increasingly terse, because he knows full well why she isn’t sending him on errands to figure this out right now. “How do I know you’re even really here?”

The only person who would know what’s next is sitting right next to him, and the absence of that urgency that colored all of their interactions in PATHOS-II has started to feel like prodding at a bruise. A reminder that they didn’t come here from a setback; they’re not in an obstacle course of trial-and-error on their way to the real outcome Simon wanted. It’s over - it’s post-over - and he’s still. Like... this.