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

Steve Rogers | Marvel Cinematic Universe

[unshielding]

Glitching
Steve wakes up strapped to the table. It's not wholly unfamiliar, but it's been a while. It sends him down memory lane, distracts him from the thoughts he'd had before he'd opened his eyes, but they quickly win his attention back. Thanos. Whatever this place is, he has to figure it out and get back to the others.

He ignores the suggestions and rules and steps away as soon as he's released, but when he steps closer to the big mirror, he realizes that while everyone else who's waking up seems to have a reflection, his is missing.

"What is this?"

Into the Mist
Steve has no reflection and no one seems to be able to see him. Once he gets his wits about him and he takes stock of his surroundings in the mall, he isn't afraid of the heavy fog. He's faced far worse in his life than the unknown and even that isn't something that will slow him down. He sees no reason not to face it head on, especially after he sees half a body hurled back out of the haze. Whatever is out there, it's hurting people.

Whatever this place is--a trick from Thanos or physic illusion--Steve will power through it because he has no choice. He's managed to remember enough to remember who he is and that this isn't right. That's a good start. He knows enough to fight back. He can't take a chance that it's not real. He can't leave people out there to get hurt if there's even a chance that they're real

He runs back into the sporting goods store he'd woken up in and he grabs a baseball bat off of one of the displays before he heads back to the glass doors that lead out of the mall.

"Stay here!" He yells back over his shoulder to anyone behind him. Then he's heading out into the dense fog after whatever had grabbed that body back. It's too bad that no one else can see him.

Go for a Drive
Steve's managed to find a car and he's driving slowly through the mist, keeping an eye out for anyone else who might need help. He's alone in the car with his thoughts, but at least he can cover more ground this way. With the poor visibility, he has to move at a snail's pace, because it's only a matter of time before he hits something between people, creatures and objects. At least if he's slow, he won't destroy the car or kill anyone.

He catches sight of what he hopes is a person and he cracks the window.

"Over here!" The headlights flash at them, but when they look over, Steve's still invisible and it looks like no one is driving the car.

Wildcard
[ Hit me with something else or plot with me at blauren. ]

go for a drive;

[freightcars]

He woke up in a god damn library. He's not so sure what's more unsettling about the whole thing- the fact that he's been kidnapped, the machine he woke up in, or the desolate, all-encompassing fog stretching around them in every direction.

Ten minutes into trying to walk somewhere, he's decided it's the latter. He'd started hearing things, whispers around him coming from nowhere.

Sergreant Barnes...
...Howard!

Distant, dim things like they were a mile away but somehow right beside his ear. It got him nervous, twitchy, whirling around like he was losing his god damn mind, one second away from bolting until-

Headlights.

"Thank god," he mutters to himself, jogging over to the passenger's side, hand on the doorhandle, only to see-

not a single fucking soul in the driver's seat. He doesn't open the door, can only stare, can't seem to stop the involuntary, "What the hell?"

[unshielding]

The way the figure is moving at least seems more human than monster. Steve knows that monsters can look an awful lot like humans sometimes, so he watches the figure move closer with a sharp eye. It's not until they're right at the door that he can see who it is and he can't decide if he should let himself feel relieved or get angry all over again. If this is a trick, it's a damn cruel one.

"Bucky!"

His bat is in the passenger seat and he shifts it out of the way before he remembers that so far, no one's been able to see him.

"I'm here!" Except that he can't wave. He can't do anything that Bucky can see, so he flashes the headlights again and lowers the window. "Get in."

Before they attract something else.

[freightcars]

Yeah, this is absolutely not helping with the whole hearing voices, seeing no one issue. The window rolls down and Steve's voice comes out, and-- Bucky's jaw drops, head cocks in utter disbelief.

"W-" He starts, stops, glances around into the fog as if to ask it are you seeing this shit? Obviously, the fog isn't interested in confirming or denying, so he's left to just flatly state, "I'm losing my god damn mind."

But he could, at least, be losing his god damn mind in the passenger's seat of a car instead of the middle of... wherever, so reluctantly he tugs the door open and clambers in. Stares at the empty driver's seat like it's a ghost or like it's going to suddenly bite him.

[unshielding]

"So you can't see me either?" It's said with a small amount of resignation. Maybe some silly part of his had hoped Bucky would be able to see him, even when no one else has been able to. Bucky's always seen things in Steve that other people hadn't. Why not take it more literally this time?

He puts the car back in drive and starts rolling slowly forward again once Bucky's securely in the passenger seat with the door closed.

"You're the first person I've found out here in hours, Buck."

Those words are easier than what he wants to say. Bucky's the best looking thing he's seen all day, even if it's all some trick. Steve's lost Bucky too many times. No, he's failed Bucky too many times. He's not sure how he's going to take it when it turns out this Bucky isn't even real. Will he crumble away again or just disappear?

Maybe it's Steve who's going crazy.

and I'm going to bug you too. <3

[myorders]

Similarly, Peggy's reflection has gone, and as far as she can tell, no one can even see her. It's disconcerting to say the least, but she has much bigger fish to fry. For one thing, she's unarmed, and it could be some small amount of paranoia talking, but she feels very vulnerable to be here without a weapon at her disposal.

It's as soon as she's sufficiently armed herself that she hears someone shouting back in her direction to stay there.

"Oh, no, I'm not staying here!" There could be more things lurking around unseen, and she'd rather not run into them if she can help it at all. Whatever's out there is most certainly dangerous, and it seems like a foolish idea to venture out alone. "You shouldn't go by yourself!" And with that, she follows after whoever it is that's gone into the fog.

Except how in the world she's supposed to locate anyone in this, she hasn't the foggiest idea. Perhaps staying inside was the better choice after all. But beggars can't be choosers, and she's not about to turn back.

[unshielding]

Steve hears the voice behind him and though it sounds familiar, he plows on into danger with the bat in hand, pausing only to make sure it's safe to open the door and that he won't be letting anything in as he goes out.

"Ma'am, I'm a lot sturdier than I look." He turns and it looks like whoever it is is either just as invisible as he is or he's going crazy.

These things aren't mutually exclusive. He knows he's falling apart a little at the seams. How could he not be? He watched Bucky crumble away. He failed to save countless lives. Plowing forward is all he can do to keep himself together.

[myorders]

Peggy can't resist rolling her eyes, even though she's reasonably certain no one can see her anyway. Whoever this man is, either he has a death wish or he is completely lacking in fear or self-preservation. Perhaps it's all of the above.

"Considering I can't see you, I suppose I'll just have to take you at your word," she replies, trying to stay as close as she can. It's harder than it looks, when the person she's following is invisible. And if Steve thinks he's going crazy, then Peggy's right there with him. Nothing about this makes sense, yet there's no time for questioning it.

[unshielding]

Right. Because no one can see him. He sighs and slows his pace so she can catch up. At least he thinks she can. Neither of them seem to be visible.

"I'm trained for dealing with things like this." Things like this being defined as all manner of monsters, aliens or other inexplainables. "I'd rather not put you in danger if you aren't."

It would help if he could see who he's talking to. For all he knows, she's got similar training herself. That would explain the familiar voice, too. Maybe someone he'd met at SHIELD or in his work after that? He's wracking his brain, but the memory seems so distant.

Glitching

[cryfrustration]

There's a thin sheen of sweat coating Vrenille's skin by the time he manages to rise from the creation bay to which he'd been strapped. It's the sweat of struggling, of spiked adrenaline and reflexive panic when he found he couldn't move.

They don't have MRIs where he's from. They don't have any of this where he's from, but the automated-sounding voice, when it finally begins, is so eerily reminiscent of the kind of shit you get in Inquest labs that he thinks he must've missed about half of what it's told him to a whirlwind of confusion and fear. Something about states and "Earth" and a main something?

By the time he tunes back in, it's on to some spiel about him being scared speechless and severe consequences, and all he can think, bitterly, is Well I've got the scared part down, no fuckin' worries!

So he's feeling distinctly shaky as he finally gets to his feet, eyes wide as he tries to get his bearings. There's some comfort in catching his reflection in the nearest mirror and seeing that he's still him. But then there's this voice to his right where no one is standing and on reflex he just says, "What?"

The very moment it's out though, his stomach drops, his mind scrabbling to reconstruct what the automated voice said: you may choose one person... But there's no one there. So it's okay...right?

[unshielding]

Steve turns from the mirror to the man next to him. This man has a reflection. It's eerie and Steve is starting to feel like something is really wrong, which is saying a lot considering his day so far. Whether this place is a trick or reality really has been altered this much, Steve can't say, but he can't imagine much is out of the realm of possible right now.

"Can you see me?"

It seems like a logical question, even when it sounds silly saying it. No reflection could mean a lot of things. He needs to eliminate some possibilities.

[cryfrustration]

Okay, okay one crisis at a time. There is someone there, and Vrenille has started talking to him so...okay, wow, guess this is gonna be his bag now, for better or worse. (Gods he hopes the guy's not an asshole. Or a rich, entitled asshole. That'd be worse.)

Just suck it up and deal, man he tells himself flatly. Anyway, it sort of helps having something to focus (at least his mind, if not his eyes) on.

"Nah," he frowns in the direction of the voice. As far as the apparent invisibility goes, he's more perplexed than alarmed, "You're not doing it on purpose?"

Like "doing it" on purpose is a completely reasonable thing to expect. And yeah, sure, for him it's maybe not such a big deal. The stranger's tone of voice, however, makes it pretty clear even before he answers that no, he's probably not doing it on purpose, so he guesses that makes the question fairly rhetorical.

"You know how to end an invisibility spell?"

[unshielding]

"Is that what this is?" Steve's so far out of his depth. He guesses this is the kind of illusion someone like Loki could pull off, but to what end?

"Magic isn't really in my wheelhouse." Or anyone he knows all that well, either, save Wanda, whose power seem to function in a way very different from anything else he's come across in his limited dealings with other magic-like things.

"Is it in yours? Do you know how to disrupt it?"

Glitching/Wildcard

[dyeordie]

[ Perhaps it's quick to assume that everyone has a reflection but Steve. It's true of Natasha, too, who has somehow found herself a real life representation of the invisible life she otherwise tries to lead.

She finds that, unlike everyone else, she can see Rogers. Perhaps their glitch existed in the same place in the code, or maybe it's just another layer of this experience. Whatever the answer happens to be, it's clear to Romanoff that this isn't going to bode well for either of them. ]

This feels like an unintended circumstance, doesn't it?

[ She had listened carefully to everything they'd been given, and while she couldn't see the audience they'd been prepped for, she felt the staging for their entertainment all around them.

They couldn't talk about their roles, but there was no reason they couldn't cleverly allude to them. ]

[unshielding]

[ Steve looks around for the source of the voice. There are others around who have reflects, but none of them seem to be paying attention to him. If he's got no reflection, maybe it's more than that. Maybe he's not alone, either.

It takes him a moment to place the voice and the tone, but when he does, it's with a furrowed brow. No one else here looks familiar at all. ]

Natasha?

[dyeordie]

Steve.

[ A simple greeting, an acknowledgement. Perhaps not the person she's interacted with, but a recognizable version, yes? Close enough that she's willing to have this conversation, even if she's feeling very on edge. Not that she shows it, and maybe he couldn't see it, even if she did. Arms crossed loosely, she notes her own lack of reflection.

No reflection, no real presence... She'd bothered with makeup today, apparently. She can feel it on her face, even if she can't see it without a mirrored surface. ]

I didn't expect to see you here.

[ Ba dum cha! ]

[unshielding]

Hilarious.

[ He crosses his own invisible arms and he hopes that she can picture it. ]

Do you think anyone else is here?

[ They'd been in Wakanda. Bucky had just--He cuts off the thought. Not now. He can't deal with that now. He has to push through it. Later, he can deal with it. ]

Who else is still alive?

Wildcard (as discussed on Plurk)

[protagonized]

[The number of people ransacking the sporting goods store went up significantly after half a person ended up dirtying the mall's entrance. Simon had avoided the obvious weapons, though, and made a beeline for the first aid supplies. There's not much here, but it's better than nothing. He doesn't doubt that in a horror movie setting someone (living) is going to need patching up, and soon.

He's in the middle of shoving first aid packs into a backpack when he sees something...interesting. That sure is sports equipment, floating on its own. Simon stares.]

So...are you a good ghost or a bad ghost?

[unshielding]

A good ghost, I hope.

[ If his heart isn't in the joke, he says it anyway. He's momentarily distracted from his own relentless search for tools when he sees the man's collecting first aid supplies, though. It's a smart move and it says a lot about his character. Steve smiles, even if it can't be seen. ]

My name is Steve Rogers. I'm usually visible.

[protagonized]

[Simon doesn’t know where to look, so he winds up addressing a spot about five feet from Cap’s head. Sorry, Cap.]

Simon O’Neill.

[This is so bizarre.]

Is there a reason why you’re, uh, not visible?

[unshielding]

I'm sure there is, but I have no idea what it is.

[ And it's pretty frustrating to not know, not to mention he's scared at least a few people without meaning to, which no one needs when there are probably real dangers lurking out there. ]

It's nice to sort-of meet you. I don't think I'm a ghost.

glitching - Gwen's role is pathological

[symbioticbeat]

"AH! What?"

Gwen nearly jumps, having been addressed by a disembodied voice. Of course, so far disembodied voices have been something of a norm, but it isn't the same one that's told them their roles here and it sounds about as confused as she feels. Glancing around reveals no one, even when she checks the ceiling and under the nearest table.

"I-it's purgatory." Is that a lie? She's sure it is, technically, but since no one can prove it at the moment it has to count toward her quota. "You're gonna have to be more specific with your question. Also being where I can see you might help."

No, no. What is she doing? She shouldn't be helping anyone like this. She should have kept walking and left the question for someone else to deal with. Maybe she can still do that now. Maybe she imagined the voice in the first place.

[unshielding]

"I don't think moving is going to help. I'm standing right here. If you can't see me, you can't see me." Which is concerning in and of itself. He really shouldn't be invisible.

"I didn't mean to scare you, though." He waves his arms in front of his own face, not that anyone else can see him doing it. "You don't really think we're in Purgatory, do you?"

Steve's not even sure he believes in a place like that, but maybe that's the sort of place Thanos would send people. Maybe Steve's the one who actually disappeared. He could handle that a lot more eaily than what he'd actually seen.

[symbioticbeat]

"Let's see, stuck in a mediocre location with no clue what's going on in the outside world while being made to put up with changes we didn't ask for? Yeah, probably Purgatory." She could think of worse, of course, but could anyone really argue with this assumption given the circumstances? Not to mention there's the whole lack of powers thing.

"I mean, you're invisible. I know some people who would totally go for that," not really, so maybe this counts toward her lie count, "but I bet you're the sort of person who likes to be seen." Though even someone who wished desperately for invisibility would be bound to get tired of it eventually.

"Can you see yourself?"

[unshielding]

"No, I can't." There's a hint of humor in his voice when he answers. He's not sure that he's someone who likes to be seen, but he can admit that he likes to make sure he's heard. Maybe living on the run the last two years has had him suppressing that and wearing a subtler uniform, but the bright contrast of the old one had felt right for a while, like people couldn't just ignore or underestimate him as easily as they had when he'd been younger.

"It's a little unnerving, if I'm honest, and I'm going to have to remember to announce everything I'm doing until I can figure out how to fix it." Not that he has any idea how.

"You wouldn't happen to remember dying, would you? Because I don't."