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

Agent Texas ★ Red vs. Blue ★ OTA

[a_shadow]

the mall

The fact that she's just awakening here doesn't really concern her as much as the fact that she's shackled down. She struggles against her bonds, even while the introduction reel is running, cursing loudly, but once she realizes the importance and significance of the text running above her head, she sullenly stops. Eventually she's released and she climbs out of the machine. She's wearing a Macy's employee badge, is dressed sharply in a suit with a skirt, and she finds her hair is up in a french twist.

The fact that Tex is in a human body, rather than some kind of robot or even disembodied, is confusing enough. Why is she dressed like a store clerk, a salesperson? She decides to march toward the nearest exit of the mall and remove the badge instead of going to Macy's. But this is painfully difficult to do. She feels drawn toward the store she's been assigned to, and not going there makes her steps stutter, become halting and slow. She makes an aggravated growl and heads there in the end, figuring there will be something there that will help her figure out how to get out of this role.

But of course, no such relief is coming to her. She simply stands in the furniture department at Macy's and waits for someone to come by so she can ask them to help her.

let's bounce

After the first week, Tex finds she's able to move away from the furniture department at Macy's, and she finds herself something to wear in the other departments of the store. She feels protected by the thick sweater and leather jacket she picked out, and decides to brave the mist. She looks around after finding the discarded car keys and motions to anyone nearby.

"You want to make a break for it?"

radios

[ Once Tex realizes she's not going anywhere, she finds a CB that happened to be in the car she chose and presses the button. ]

Who else is here who doesn't belong here? I'm talking about waking up in this chickenshit town when you were definitely somewhere else before. Like, look, I can't say I'm not kind of grateful because I was about to be dead in the other place, but I don't really need to be fighting someone else's battles for them here.

wildcard

Think of some other way your character can run into Tex? Run it by me at texelations or just post it and get started!

radios

[myorders]

[ As luck would have it, Peggy has gotten her hands on a radio as well, and she's been keeping one ear open for anything of interest. Which, in this place, includes practically anything. Information is valuable, as is determining who else might be nearby, or at least within radio range. ]

Yes, hello, I don't believe I'm meant to be here either. At the very least, this is not anywhere I've seen before.

And while I might not be in your exact situation, so far as being about to die is concerned, but I have things I ought to see to back home. This is highly inconvenient, although I don't expect saying so will accomplish anything.

[a_shadow]

Considering the introduction talked about an 'audience' being involved, no, I doubt saying anything is doing much. It's probably giving them something to laugh about, actually, if I think about it.

I'm glad it's not just me, though, because a lot of the other clerks in the store seem like video game dummies. You know, like, walk up, press A, they say the same shit over and over?

[myorders]

Ah, yes, you've worked that bit out too. It's not difficult to do, of course. I, for one, am not too keen on the idea of being observed, but it isn't as though I have any say in the matter.

Video games? [ The concept of that is lost on her, but she still thinks she grasps what Tex is getting at. ] Someone, or some thing, designed those things to only respond one particular way, is that what you mean?

[ She can't begin to fathom how, but it seems to be the best description for those things. ]

[a_shadow]

Yeah, like they were designed but someone half-assed it instead of making them full people.

You'd think if they were bringing people like us in they'd just do that. Wouldn't that be easier? I don't know. Maybe it's really expensive or something.

[myorders]

Perhaps it is. This is all a bit outside my realm of experience.

Unless the point of those people is to direct us to one specific outcome, although I can't imagine what that might be.

radios... IRL??

[pharmaka]

Circe could not look more out of place. She's used to garments she's made herself, not just hand-sewn but spun and dyed, the yarn from wool she harvests from her own sheep. Literal centuries to herself on Aeaea have turned a necessity into a pleasant past time for her, and the clothes are the least of what she's left behind. She barely recognizes anything here.

That may be evident in how tensely she holds herself, standing nearby in her fresh-out-of-the-3D-printer standard attire. She waits politely for Tex to finish speaking into her radio nonetheless.

"May I trouble you for an explanation of what that device is? I am not familiar with it." There's a lot of adjusting she needs to get started on-- immediately.

[a_shadow]

Tex turns, frowning.

"It's just a radio," she says. She holds the radio up and out slightly, but hesitates before handing it off. She's not sure if this is a situation where the radio is too old-fashioned for the person to recognize it, or if it's too advanced. "It's just like a standard comm link, but the tech is older. Do you know what that is?"

[pharmaka]

Circe takes the radio and examines it as someone curious about a foreign device. It is so very much not her realm of expertise, but it reminds her, wistfully, of Daedalus, so long ago. He would be first to take it apart, where she only inspects it like it is delicate porcelain.

She accepts the question with an unbothered, "I do not. Radio-- a derivative of radius, beam or ray?"

[a_shadow]

"Sure," she says, realizing the right answer: this person has no idea about this kind of technology. "It lets you talk to someone over long distances. Anyone who has another one like this that's tuned to the same frequency." She points at the dial on the side. "See? Move that to another number and try pushing the button and talking, like I did."

[pharmaka]

"Ah, I see. Thank you." It's not common for gods to thank anyone, but Circe has never been a very good goddess.

She carefully switches the channel to a different number-- not that she recognizes this script, but she understands the principle-- and speaks. "Is there anyone listening?" Circe releases the button, then adds to Tex, "This is a marvelous invention. I would think it divinely made if you were not so underwhelmed by it."

lets bounce yo

[hoboagogo]

[Getting new clothes is probably a good idea-- and definitely not one that Shinjiro, gutter-trash-extraordinaire, has subscribed to yet. So... yeah he's still in his old, shitty red coat, bloodstains tarnishing it and all. And probably has a bit of a funky smell to him, but fuck it- it's the least of anyone's worries.

He sits up from where he'd been lounging as the question comes, dark eyes immediately darting to the keys danging from Tex's fingers.]

Seems like a pretty shit idea.

[But, hey. It's not like he can get more dead, right? He rolls a shoulder as he stands, not seeming too bothered by what a terrible, stupid plan this is. At least it's attempting to do something.]

Fuck it, I'm in.

[a_shadow]

[ Tex smirks, though she nods too, inclining her head. ]

You know? It probably is. But if there's one thing I'm sick of looking at it's this piece of shit mall. I've been trapped here long enough.

[ She approaches the nearest set of doors and presses the button to see if something outside lights up. It does, and she jerks her head toward the door. ]

You want to lead the way, or go second?

[hoboagogo]

[It's an absolutely ridiculous choice, objectively- there was no reason to chance it. But Shinjiro can see the appeal in the simple act of choosing. Yeah, it might get them killed, but at least it's on their own terms.

He glances at the door, then to the car keys in her hand, considering. She doesn't seem the type to invite someone else just as bait. (If she was, then his choice wouldn't matter, would it? She could keep it locked if he went first, and shut him out if he went second.) So... it really doesn't matter, from what he can tell.]

No reason we can't bolt at the same time. But, uh... fair warning: I ain't exactly a sprinter.

[a_shadow]

All right.

[ She leads the way then, exiting through the door and waiting for him to exit behind her, then beginning to run. Her thumb jabs at the button on the key fob occasionally to make sure they head in the right direction. It's almost instantaneous though—when she passes into the fog, there's a squelching noise, advising that something scary is nearby. Tex slows slightly, looking for whether her companion was keeping pace with her. ]

the mall; Gwen's role is pathological

[symbioticbeat]

It kinda sucks being surrounded by stores and not actually having any money. Then again, for as weird as most of the 'shoppers' and 'clerks' around here are acting, she might not need any money at all. They certainly don't seem to care one way or another.

She shouldn't be interacting with anyone anyway, given the role she's apparently supposed to stick to, but she's never going to learn anything if she hides away in a corner the whole time. So here she is, striding into Macy's with a trade paperback stolen from the comic store upstairs stuck under one arm. The scanners at the door don't even go off as she enters. Either they don't work or they only work with Macy's inventory.

"Hey." She approaches the woman at the counter, expecting her to be just as distant as the other employees she's tried to talk to. "You're okay if I just grab a couple sweaters off the racks, right? Thanks."

[a_shadow]

Tex waves her hand at the racks of sweaters nearby.

"I think I'm probably not supposed to be, but whatever," she says. "No skin off my back."

After all, something changing the routine like that—a thief taking off with clothing, getting her potentially in trouble as the clerk—might actually change this things up enough to allow her to walk away.

so sorry for the delay!

[symbioticbeat]

Well, that's an answer with more personality to it than anything else she's heard from a clerk today, and she can appreciate that. She might almost be willing to believe that this person is in a similar situation to her own, but why would the Powers That Be here want to put one of their stolen people behind a cash register?

"Awesome. Makes this a lot easier. I could use a break from the usual stealthy thief nonsense." There's the lie, as she's not a thief at all and has in fact proven herself to be terrible at such tasks. But it's not like some random NPC store employee is going to care about any of that, right?

"Where do you keep your turtlenecks?"

It was no time at all, it's fine

[a_shadow]

Tex raises an eyebrow at her.

"You're going to go to the effort of stealing something and you pick turtlenecks? No no no. Let me show you where the cashmere is."

She jerks her head in that direction and starts walking there.

"I really wouldn't expect I need to teach a thief about getting the best value."

There's one major problem with the tack Tex has taken: the increasing nausea and headache that grows worse with every step. She lays an arm across her stomach, trying to ignore it, but when they're about two-thirds of the way to the cashmere rack, she gags and her vision goes white with the pain.

Tex gives a light growl, grimacing. "Sorry, I—"

One more step— and Tex goes to her knees.

wildcard, i do what i want

[lavelly]

[It feels like he's been wandering through this strange complex for hours, and he's yet to find anything even remotely familiar. Panic prickles dimly at the back of his mind, less a true feeling and more an impression that he might be feeling it were he capable of feeling much of anything right now.

Which he isn't. He's been struggling through a fog of apathy since he got here, and he's not inclined to change that. There's something comforting about it.

But spotting Tex in his explorations nearly knocks him out of it without even meaning to; she's the first thing here he recognizes at all, and while she wouldn't be anywhere near his first choice, he finds himself clinging to it like a lifeline.]

Texas?

[He doesn't even try to be subtle as he makes a beeline right for her.]

Where's everyone else? [Everyone else meaning... Normandy Securities, or anyone else at all from the station.] You're the first familiar face I've seen since I got here.

Lavellan do you like punches to the nose

[a_shadow]

Tex had been heading toward the food court, finding that she'd been neglecting this physical body for too long. She believes she's experiencing hunger, and she intends to do something about it. Consequently, though, she's feeling a bit off, a bit faint.

When Lavellan addresses her, she is immediately on guard. She doesn't like being addressed by name by someone she doesn't know, especially when she's never been in a body like this one before. She frowns at him, brows drawn together.

"Who the hell are you? Why do you know who I am?"

Let’s Bounce

[lochnessamonster]

“Are you sure this is a great idea?”

[Vanessa likes to have a good time. She likes to party. And she can down shots with the best of them, unless they happen to have an incredibly powerful healing factor, of course. But she also has a good, steady, reasonable head on her shoulders. And from everything she’s seen, leaving the mall is certain death. Of course, if someone doesn’t figure out a way out they’re probably all dead anyway once the food and water runs out.]

“We need to hang out by the door. See if we can figure out which direction the car’s in.” [With any luck, they’d hear the quick beep beep of the doors unlocking by pressing the right button on the key. And, if it’s close enough, maybe see headlights flash.]

[a_shadow]

[ Tex shakes her head, smirking a little. ]

I'm not the best at coming up with great ideas for plans. Just quick solutions. And yeah, I don't know what comes next after we find the car. But at least we won't be in this goddamn mall anymore.

[ Which has its own appeal. After being trapped here this long, Tex just wants out. She looks at Vanessa for a moment, then gets closer to the doors and hits the key fob.

There's no flashing of lights, no audible beep at all. Tex tilts her head, thinking. Then she sighs. ]

This is the door closest to where I found these keys. But the car they belong to could be anywhere outside.

[lochnessamonster]

[Tex wasn't wrong; getting out of this mall would be wonderful. Vanessa herself was getting stircrazy as hell and she understood the desire to try just about anything to get out.

Vanessa's staring out the glass panes trying to make out even the faintest flicker or light, or the softest beeping sound. But nothing. And that doesn't bode well. They can't very well just start running around in the mist, bumping into things, and hoping they find the right car before something tears them apart.

Well. They can but it doesn't seem like a plan that's going to end very well.]

"Shit. Does it say what kind of car it is on the key? Because I think if we go out there, if we don't find the car in under a minute, we get our asses back inside."

[a_shadow]

[ Tex flips the key ring around to look. ]

Yes. GMC.

[ She looks back through the fog again. It's not dark out, just foggy. But she can't even see the shapes of any cars through it. ]

You serious about giving it a try?