uploadedmeme | Test Drive

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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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1. Employee of the Month

[Something wasn't right.

Which could be said about a lot of things right now. Waking up in a strange mall surrounded by a thick mist was a concern—and the fact that he could no longer feel One For All burning in his veins was another, leaving him feeling more disconnected than ever, even after growing up quirkless.

As upsetting as all that and more was, there was something a little more pressing on his mind—mostly the fact that he couldn't seem to leave this particular kiosk.

The voice told him when he came to in this place that he had a job here in this mall, so Izuku had sought it out hoping to find some clues. Maybe there would be someone there who could tell him more about this place, or the mist that was outside—or really, anything useful he could take going forward.

Instead he found himself alone at a small pop-up store in the middle of the mall—a kiosk with the words Fresh Pressed Hair Boutique printed in curved script on the top. There were a dozen medal rods and things that he recognized as hair straighteners lining the counter, as well as a cascading display of hair hanging from the shelves in the center. Other than that and the cash register, Izuku was completely alone.

There were obviously no leads here, so it would be better to investigate elsewhere right?

Izuku had taken five steps away from the kiosk when he discovered his problem.

Within the first five steps, something felt off. It was a minor twinge in his right hand—painful, but not too unusual. The bones had been shattered enough, so aches and pains in those crooked fingers weren't unheard of. He hissed between his teeth, stopping to massage the phantom pain before continuing on.

Another five steps or so brought more pain, this time shooting up his arm. He tried to shake out this pain as well, but it persisted, throbbing deep in his bones.

It was when after another few steps that a distinctive crack was heard and felt that Izuku stopped in his tracks. He hadn't done anything—One For All wasn't responding to him, and no one was around—so why was his pinky finger purple and bruised?

Izuku went back to the booth to sit down and recuperate, testing out his injury. He could move his finger fine, so it didn't seem like it was broken...but the bruising still persisted. Why?

After a bit of muttering, he worked up a hypothesis. For a while he can be seen circling the kiosk, hissing out in pain when he wanders too far before going back to jot notes down on some receipt paper.

He needs to figure out how far he can go without pain, how far he can go with minimal pain, and how far before the pain becomes more damaging—and from there, make a plan of attack. Being stuck in the middle of the mall was less than optional, so gaining more information from his position was all he could hope to do for now. As soon as someone passes, Izuku does his best to wave them down with a--]

Excuse me? Do you have a moment?

2. Learn From the Mistakes of Others

[It had been a while since Izuku had felt so helpless.

The first time he had seen a glimpse of what happened outside of the mall—the body flung against the glass as if it weighed nothing, sliced clean through as if it was made of paper, and the screams that followed—

He tried to block the image from his mind. A hero in training he might be, but none of his training thus far had prepared him for something so gruesome. It was needless violence, needless death—and the worst part was Izuku couldn't do anything about it, or do anything to stop it.

Part of him wanted to rush into the mist, to bring back any others that might have tried to venture out—but he didn't know what he was up against. He had no quirk to rely on, no allies...but he couldn't just leave those people out there to suffer the same fate!

Izuku needed a plan if he wanted this to succeed. Rushing in would just be certain death, as much as it pained him to admit. For now he sits in front of the doors with a mall directory in hand, drawing notes in the margins of what could be useful at the various stores. At least if he was by the doors, he had a chance of stopping more people before they ventured outside...or maybe he could find someone willing to bounce ideas with him.]

3. Wildcard

[None of my ideas for Midoriya are set in stone, so feel free to come at me with anything else you might want to play! He will be in the mall trying to help others for the most part if not taking the first option! Switching to prose is also acceptable!]

[She isn't aware of the roles and stuff, so Petunia doesn't know to count herself lucky that she can wander as freely as she can. She's spent the first like, hour, having a panic attack and slowly grown to accept that this... Whatever this was was definitely happening. She didn't understand why or how, or why her, but here she was.

Everything's sliiightly more advanced than she's used to, just off enough to make her boggle. She's so lost in her thoughts that at first she doesn't respond when Izuku calls out to her, making her jump in alarm when she realizes.]

I, um! [she waves her hands, wide-eyed and looking a little panicked at being suddenly addressed] I'm not interested in buying anything, sorry!

Edited 2018-08-18 22:16 (UTC)

[Oh--crap, he hadn't even thought that people might avoid him pointedly, thinking he was an employee here. Izuku stutters for a moment, restarting his mind on a more reassuring path.]

No! It's--uh, not what it looks like! I'm not trying to sell you anything, I'm not a real employee! Well-- [He nervously rubs his bruised finger because clearly the game thought otherwise--he couldn't tell if the throbbing was phantom or otherwise] --I mean, I didn't plan on being an employee, I just kind of...became one when I got here? If that makes sense?

[Ugh. Start over, Izuku. Get to the point.] Sorry. I'm just...stuck here at work, and I was trying to figure out what's going on around here? Have you seen more of the mall? There doesn't seem to be a lot of people around right now, so I haven't been able to talk to anyone...

Umm... [The look on Petunia's face should make it clear that no, it doesn't make sense, but she's willing to go along with it. He doesn't seem that much younger than her, nad seems just as confused.

She wanders closer then, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she listens, eyes brightening when she realizes he seems to be in the same situation as her.] Yeah! It's so weird! And where there are people, they keep disappearing! I followed this woman trying to give her back something she dropped, but when I turned the corner, she was gone! Poof! Completely disappeared!

And-- And everyone just ignores me! Or if I try to ask them more, they look at me like I'm crazy! Or if they do talk, they just repeat themselves! It's completely weird! That thing, uh, in the beginning-- In the, uh. The machine! It said it was America? And-- 2007? But that can't be right, right?

[She's babbling on herself now, hands curled into fists and she's practically vibrating with anxious energy]

So the other people here who aren't brought from the outside don't seem to have the AI capability of acting independently...or perhaps they're just programmed to make us feel comfortable and have no other purpose but to take up space...maybe they don't want us to rely on the information beside that which we can glean ourselves...

[Izuku is muttering to himself, lost in thought. He's wandered back to his kiosk, scribbling down his thoughts. For a moment it's like he's forgotten he was even talking to another person.]

...if the purpose was for us to experience a story, then it would make more sense for the AI to have a larger role, but if they're non-responsive then the point must be to see how we deal with this situation ourselves...uh...oh! Oh! Uh...sorry, uh...I was just...thinking out loud...

[God, how embarrassing! He finds one person to talk to and he makes a fool of himself off the bat. He shakes his head, offering a shaky smile.]

I don't know if we are really in America in 2007, but we don't have any other information to go off of, so for now we'll have to work under the assumption that it's true...the whole situation is extreme, so who knows what's true and what isn't.

[There's a pause, before Izuku shakes his head again, clearing the clouds from his thoughts.] But that doesn't mean we can't work with it, right? [He flexes, smile brightening. If someone was nervous, it was a hero's job to make them feel safe, right?] So it'll be okay!

Midoriya Izuku | Boku no Hero Academia | OTA

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