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uploadedmeme2018-08-18 12:01 am
uploadedmods) wrote in uploadedmeme2018-08-18 12:01 am
Entry tags:
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.
Applications will open Saturday, September 15 until Saturday, September 22
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.
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.
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.
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)
joining the mistakes bandwagon
But even if the odds are impossibly slim of it actually being Noctis that he sees there, stepping out into the fog, and not some other dark-haired, dark-clad youth... it's still a chance. And Ignis will never let himself not try, if his (friend, brother, leige) king is in danger.
He'd been on the upper level when he first caught a glimpse of the maybe-Noctis cautiously stepping out of the doors, and immediately finds the closest stairs to begin bolting down. (Maybe this is why they keep stepping out and getting themselves killed. Perhaps the fog is already inside their minds, picking apart the faces and forms they know will have people throwing themselves out into it for. It would make them such easy prey.
He doesn't care.)
He's halfway down the staircase when Noctis returns to the blood-streaked doors, panicked and pounding against them, and deftly places one gloved hand on the railing and vaults over the side of it to get to the bottom floor faster, immediately springing from the landing to make a mad dash for the doors.]
Noct! I'm here!
[There's every chance that throwing open the doors could kill them all. That this was all some sort of trick, illusion. That a fog beast is close enough to shove and force its way in, that their tenuous sanctuary will be broken because of him.
He doesn't care. Not when Noctis needs his help.
There's no hesitancy as the door is thrown wide and his wrist his grabbed, pulling the young royal back onto the tiles. There's blood streaking in behind them from the puddle outside, but even after the doors are closed, he doesn't loosen his grip on Noctis's arm, looking over him desperately.]
Are you hurt? What were you doing?!
Yaaay! I'm happy you did, I apologize for the delay! Thanks for the tag!!
In that very moment, his friend’s face was like a ray of hope shimmering over the horizon and all he needed was a few more kicks before he breached the surface of the water.
Once he was pulled in Noct inhales a breath and when the door closes behind him he exhales before he grips his savior’s shirt. His eyes pour into the other’s as if all the worry, concern, and terror could be lifted from him by this silent exchange of sight on each other.
He was covered in the spray of gore from the half-body that was flung beside him, the blood was not his own. The only wounds he had from this escapade was what he brought back with him mentally. The terrifying hopelessness that significantly reduced him and all the power he’s known before down to size. He was insignificant here and pointless.
Yet, with Ignis here with him he began to feel something again that was more like himself. His friendship with Ignis gave him purpose again, it gave him a strong remnant of his identity. ]
Ig.. Ignis!
NO WORRIES i'll be slow this week, due to travelling, derp
And so, as always, he focuses on what has to happen. They need to get back from the doors, he needs to make sure Noctis is uninjured, make sure he has the means to cope. (After all, isn't this worryingly similar to the daemon attack Noctis had endured, so many years ago? Though, thankfully, he appears unharmed now.)]
I'm here, [His voice lowers, instantly falling into that well-familiar role of caretaker. He'd always looked after Noctis, after all-- always wanted to be able to be relied upon. And so, once he's certain the other man is unharmed, slowly places a hand to his shoulder, reassuringly grips it.] I'm here, Noct...
[But they don't need to stay anywhere near these doors. How simple panes of glass had divided them from whatever had caused such carnage, he's not sure-- and he's sure he'll think about later, once they have the time. But as always, Noctis takes priority.]
Come along... Let's find somewhere to rest. [And, hopefully, get the man cleaned up. No one needed to look like such a gory mess-- especially when it would likely just remind him of what had transpired. Gently, he takes a few steps backwards, keeping his eyes on Noct and the young royal's reactions.]
We can catch up once we're farther in, hmm?
Be safe!! Also, I'm a terrible prose at heart in bracket form... :( I always fail the tenses up ;3;
He composes himself enough to focus back to his friend and there’s a familiar expression on his face that reads the same as times they’ve shared before. It speaks clearly of inadequacy and insecurity, of self-loathing and hopelessness. He’s been down like this before—
yet even before, during those times, he still could rely on his power. His birthright, his warp even to safety. Here he had nothing but his feet to carry him and not so much as a stick to beat off whatever would (or did) come for him out there. The feeling of uselessness paled his skin and left him grey in contrast to the various hue of crimson and pink which dripped from his body.
He followed Ignis with full consent, no matter how dire, hopeless, useless, or insignificant he felt, Ignis was always his core, his foundation. Soon thoughts of gratitude flooded over his body and his eyes glistened with a painful warmth of tears and he reached out to his friend to grip onto while they moved further into the mall. ]
Thank you!! And me also.... lol. I have given up and basically just write whatever, tbh
Perhaps it's strange, how black and white it is to him: but he's never known or wanted it any other way.
He keeps a hand on Noctis's shoulder as they walk, carefully taking an easy path away from the view of the doors. Down one of the cross-hallways and to a small seating area in the middle of the main concourse, with number of ugly, faux-leather chairs and fake plants. Ushering the prince to sit, he draws a handkerchief from one of the inner pockets of his jacket, because of course he's the type to carry one of those.]
Here, sit, let's get you cleaned up, [It's just words for the sake of making noise, of reassuring his friend that he's here and ready to take on any problem presented to him, to be that constant, unerring support that someone as burdened as a member of the monarchy needs.
(After all, no one man can be expected to singularly lead a country, especially one as embroiled in tensions and wars as Lucis has been for the past few decades.)
Even as he sits next to Noctis, wiping at the steadily-drying blood, he's already trying to make plans in his head-- Get the gore cleaned off Noctis so that he can try and relax, have less of a visible reminder of what had just transpired. Assure his safety, and ensure that Noctis knows he's safe. From there, he can continue finding them somewhere to rest or find supplies or whatever else comes afterwards--]
Noct, talk to me, [It's as gentle as a prompting as he can give, still carefully trying to clean the splatters of blood from his face and neck.] How long have you been here?
no subject
No, stop thinking about that. Yet, that was a joke. How could he ever not think about it? This whole situation was a living nightmare. He’s had those kinds of dreams before where he was just a small insignificant child facing against behemoths. He had nothing between him and them to protect himself. He had no fighting chance. “Survive..” he could endure that concept but there was nothing here he had to survive with.
Save for Iggy.
Noct focused his eyes on his friend and stared at him as if the other was his lifeline; perhaps he was all that kept him tethered in reality (and that word is used lightly) and not off in the darkest recesses of his mind. He exhaled and the request was played over and over in his mind before he found himself responding. ]
I just.. woke up … and I walked out here, with all of them.. it was like… it was like I was made to just go out those doors.
no subject
Even if Noctis doesn't quite believe in himself, Ignis will do it for him.
And so he nods slowly when the words finally come out, rolling up the cloth once he's gotten as much of the blood wiped away as he can. Noct's clothes are another matter, but there's no hurry on that. At least the dark colour obscures the stains.]
You were still confused upon waking, [He reasons carefully, setting the cloth to the side and folding his hands in his lap, bright eyes staying locked on Noctis's.] And from what I've seen, the fog out there seems to have various effects on people's minds.
[...Well, alright, he's not certain of that, but why else would so many people mindlessly wander out? Why would Noctis do it?]
You weren't made to go out there, you were merely coerced into it. Otherwise you wouldn't have turned back for the doors.Take some time to regain yourself. I'll make sure you don't try it again. [And that part is said with a careful, easy smile- just the barest hint of his lips turned up, an attempt to reassure the prince.]
no subject
First and foremost, his friend was here. Ignis was real and everything about him was genuine Ignis; not just a hallucination brought on by his brush with not just death but a terrorized finale. He huffed gently and looked up to his friend. ]
What.. have we gotten ourselves into?
[ The explanations of what they’re doing here, what their purpose here was not as genuine as how Iggy felt here and now. Rather, the nonsense that was given to Noct before coming off that bed felt like a strange detached dream. Like he had watched the dream some years ago, over a recording, of someone else’s dream. In any case, it felt abnormal—
yet, everything was abnormal about what was happening here. ]
Are you alright?
[ He was, of course, preoccupied by himself for a good amount of time and Ignis was an afterthought to Noct’s immediate trauma. Yet, with the time now between the trauma he was calming down enough to step outside of his immediate world and consider his friend. Still, he struggled with feeling, behaving, and operating out of selfishness; such as going out those doors; what if he had let something in?
No, Iggy said it … it wasn’t entirely me.. He closed his eyes and lowered his head again with a huff. Everything seemed so complicated. ]
no subject
Honestly, he doesn't know what they've gotten into. Why it's, so far, only the two of them. Even where this is meant to be, as the locations named upon his waking had absolutely no meaning to him. Maine-- A mainland, perhaps? Though, names were often next to meaningless, so that was simply grasping at thoughts like straws. 'United States of America'-- well, the name of it seemed to obviously point to a collective of powers banded together, perhaps a union of nations. And, really, none of that mattered nearly as much as the machine's next words.
That obedience ensured that their audience was immersed and entertained. Implying they're little more than pawns and actors here. Unconsciously, his hand grips a little tighter.]
...I can't say. This place seems to defy sense on its most basic level.
[He struggles with giving up on trying to understand things-- after all, that's always been his role. To break down and analyze and understand motivations and nuances to be able to give his liege the best guidance possible. But in sure a strange, dire situation, understanding is almost extraneous. Knowing where they are won't necessarily bring them any better chances of getting out when they're completely removed from their own world.
At the last question, he lifts his head, finally looking back to Noctis, as opposed to distantly out into the thoroughfare in thought.]
Hm? Well, aside from the mild heart-attack you gave me, I feel well enough. Mostly perplexed and frustrated at this whole mess we're in. Though, I'll be honest-- since I awoke, I've been unable to access the Armiger.
[A pause, and he'll skip over the implications that had initially held- his initial fear and terror that something had happened to Noctis, as he was unable to feel that faint thread of magic connecting them to the Crystal's power through him.] Are you able to access your magic at all?
[because if it's just himself cut off, it's frustrating, but fine.... If it's both of them, he'll have to reassess things altogether. But perhaps it would make sense... if they're in another world, and the Crystal itself is not. Perhaps even the power of the Astrals cannot extend this far.]