expiationmeme | TEST DRIVE MEME #3

TEST DRIVE MEME #3

Welcome to the TDM for Expiation, a pan-fandom adventure game with fantasy, science fiction, and some horror elements. We ask that top-level comments are reserved for new characters and players looking to experience a taste of the world and overarching storyline. Characters already in the game, however, are free to use TDM prompts in their own catch-alls and logs. Feel free to submit any TDM / prompt-related questions to the corresponding comment below.

New players / characters looking to app are free to use TDM threads as samples in their application. Preexisting players / characters may use TDM threads as part of their AC proofs (with the stated limitations).

You may find the below links helpful in getting to know themes of the world, locations, the people, and so on.

info | world

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN...

BRAVE NEW WORLD (ARRIVALS)

After receiving the paper with your sentence, the whole world quickly becomes dark and you find yourself falling through what seems to be an infinite void. You lose track of time after a while, but as soon as your focus seems to waver, your vision clears and you find yourself resting rather unceremoniously in a pile of seeds used for chicken feed.

Once you make your way out of the grain silo (and we of the moderator team wish you good luck in finding a fun way out of it), you may find that several other people have been dropped into the world just like you have. Some are disoriented, others are panicked, and others yet are simply angry about being brought somewhere against their will. Amidst the chaos of new arrivals to the world of Expiation, the newcomers will find that there are some people in the crowd who seem a little more familiar with what’s going on.

These people will tell you that you find yourself in a strange new world, and that it’s best to make your way to a nearby town called Aldrip to get settled down there. It’s a few hours by foot away from this area, but it’s the only place in the nearby area that can accommodate newcomers like you.

WE LIKE TO PARTY (WE LIKE, WE LIKE TO PARTY)

Recently, many Chosen have emerged victorious from a hard-fought battle, taking out a gargantuan creature that threatened to suck the energy from the whole area surrounding Aldrip if it had not been stopped. Such efforts do not go unrecognised, and in the aftermath, the locals all decided to band together to celebrate their saviours’ heroics. Nothing less than a village-wide party and parade would be fitting for such an occasion.

This is an undertaking that will likely take a significant amount of effort. While the locals wanted to make this into a surprise, many of them lack skills to put the thing together properly. Chosen who want to get involved in the preparation process can put their organisation and culinary skills to the test to create fixtures and food for the event. Better yet, your efforts over the past months have improved supply routes into Aldrip, meaning that the food shortage has passed, and you’ll have just about anything your heart desires for the occasion.

Alternatively, you can choose to enjoy the spoils of your efforts! Once the day of the party arrives, Aldrip will erupt into a full-scale celebration, and all Chosen are encouraged to party as hard as possible. Good food, good drinks and good times will be in no short supply for the occasion. Additionally, those who took to the front lines in the previous event will be revered as heroes and likely spoiled rotten.

THIS IS HOW YOU GET ANTS

PLEASE PARTY RESPONSIBLY

It’s no understatement to say that some of the Chosen like to party hard- and that’s quite alright! A few days ago, the people of Aldrip had already set aside a few rooms in the inn to act as an infirmary for those who had been injured during the battle with the Branded. It took little effort for them to expand this project into a full medical wing for those who would undoubtedly be acting irresponsibly during the festivities.

It’s up to you to decide what circumstances brought you here. Perhaps you were injured in the previous battle, and have been stuck in bed as you recover from your wounds. Maybe you had just a little too much to drink, and you decided to come by while you collect yourself. Regardless of what your reason for being there may be, the people of Aldrip have guaranteed that you will receive the best of care.

With that said, the place is terminally understaffed. Aldrip’s locals will certainly appreciate any assistance they can get- even if your character might not have the best training or bedside manner. Medicine can’t be that hard- what’s the worst that can happen?

MR. MAGNIFI'S MAGNIFICENT MIXTURES

Once word of the upcoming celebration spread, several individuals from outside town came in to offer their services or goods in Aldrip. One such individual came into town riding on a rickety cart with the words “Miraculous Magnifi’s Medicine! Guaranteed to heal what ails ye!” emblazoned in gold on its side. The thing smells a bit off, with a strong chemical scent coming from the back, but the moustachioed man who emerges from the back assures you that all of his “mixes are made with meticulous ministrations!”

Those who buy and consume the potion might find themselves feeling strange over the next few days as symptoms emerge. Some people wake up to find that their hair has taken on a rainbow of colours during the night, that rats cuddle up to them for no reason, or that their irises have been replaced with strange spiral shapes. Feel free to come up with inventive but harmless side effects for the miracle elixir- it’s meant for some good fun.

They’re strange symptoms for sure, and certainly not the advertised cure-all. However, Magnifi is already gone by the next dawn, meaning that no one can get a refund. Thankfully, the symptoms will go away after a few days, but the chaos that ensues in the meanwhile will certainly make for some fun stories.

IT'S NOT OVER

♪♫ LET IT GROW ♫♪ ► (FUTURE EVENT TIE-IN)

The party celebrating the dread beast’s defeat can be heard from miles outside of Aldrip, but the situation is not quite yet resolved. Much of the once-lush forest outside of Aldrip had its life force absorbed from it, leaving little more than profaned ground and an overwhelming scent of rot. Worse yet, there are reports that some of the beast’s severed golden tendrils have taken on a life of their own, creating snake-monsters that threaten the local wildlife.

However, the monsters are not the only new arrivals in Pessiria Forest. Those who go to investigate the area will find that fairy-like creatures have gathered in the profaned land and are trying their best to help bring the area back to its former glory. At first, they seem to keep their distance or ignore you entirely, but after determining that you mean well, they inform you that they can temporarily bless the Chosen with the power to make full-sized plants burst forth from the seeds they plant into the ground.

It’s still going to be hard work. Even with the power to bring plants to life, planting seeds in the miles of dead forest will likely take a very long time. Still, these strange fairies could use the help, and tough jobs can be better if you bring a little help from your own friends. (Or enemies. No one’s going to judge you for who you bring.)

WHAT'S THAT MYSTERIOUS LAUGHING SOUND?

The process of regrowing the devastated part of Pessiria forest is well underway, but the process does not go entirely smoothly. Partway through the process, locals start to report that they can hear a strange girl laughing in the forest in the middle of the night, but no one seems able to track down its source. Curious Chosen can patrol around the forest at night to try and figure out the mystery.

Those who are particularly sharp-eyed might see a faint spectre of a little girl wearing a straw hat dancing about, but she never seems to stay in sight for more than a few seconds. One blink is all it takes for her to vanish.

You probably won’t be able to catch this strange spectre, but it’s become something of a game among the villagers to go looking for her anyways. Some say that seeing her is a sign of good luck, and wave to her before she disappears. Others say that if you see her while holding hands, it will bless you with a lifetime of good love. Almost all of these assertions are probably nonsense- but what will you do about it?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Now it's her turn to be a little shocked, jaw dropping slightly as she blinks at him. Okay, now she gets why he'd been so surprised she'd heard of Inaba -- no one here had heard of Tatsumi Port Island, even if they were familiar with Japan.]

You're the first person I've met here who's even heard of it, even though it's pretty big. I was a student at Gekkoukan.

Were you there when people were getting afflicted with Apathy Syndrome?

[ Apathy Syndrome? Now that's something he hasn't heard about in a while, and also something very specific, especially if no one's been recognizing Port Island either. Odd. How odd.

A theory pops in his head, impulsive and maybe a little silly with his relatively new "insider knowledge" on how some things work in this world and others. He can't state it outright, not with the chance of him looking like a drunk lunatic in front of this perfectly normal girl, or when it's still just a bare bones idea...but he can cheesy about it, maybe. ]

I don't think so, but I'd heard plenty about it. Real spooky stuff that all just sort of...stopped one day? Not sure what doctors are saying anymore, the little I hear about it's drowned out by those conspiracy theory types saying it was just the shadow of something bigger.

[ He starts up on another doodle as he talks, early shapes suggesting a cat to go along with the dog, but it's slow going as he keeps an eye on her for any kind of reaction. ]

You must've lived through it, right? What do you think?

[Dazai would be so disappointed in the way her eyebrows furrow, just a bit, when Adachi says it's the shadow of something bigger. She's been trying to learn how to hide her feelings better so fewer people worry about her, but that's easier said than done!]

Dunno... it was kind of scary right up until it just stopped one day! [And a shrug as she thinks back. How were normal people handling it back then...?] Some people started like a cult, other people just went about their days as normal. I just felt really bad for the people who got hit with it, mostly.

[Her eyes flick over his face curiously. If he's heard of Apathy Syndrome, he has to be from her version of Japan, right? But he can't be a Persona-user, can he? The chances are so low out of the millions of people living even in her version of Japan.]

It ended about a month before I got here.

[ Unfortunately for her, a keen detective's eye catches that reaction. Nothing 100% conclusive, but something for him to chew on regardless. When he goes back to his drawing it's with a smile that says he's got a new secret. ]

A month? Damn, you must've been here for a while. It's been at least two years since I last heard anything about it.

[Ah. There's a more fixed edge to her smile as she takes that in. So he's from the future too, isn't he? Just like Ken, he's from a world that moved on without her. Dimly, she wonders what it's like, but-- that doesn't really matter. It exists, and that's enough, probably.]

I've only been here for four months or so, actually! [she corrects as if nothing had bothered her at all.] Time works really weird here. Whoever dropped us all here doesn't seem to really care about stuff like time.

[ His turn for his brows to furrow. This would make plenty of sense if it were talking some fantasy or sci-fi novel, but this is their real lives? They're sitting here, they can feel the ground under them and a breeze in the air?? Even with all that's happened to him, he's got to take a second and reflect on just how absurd it must all sound from the average bystander's point of view. ]

Man. I really want to ask "how", but if they can steal people from entirely other worlds that's not a huge leap, huh?

[ A pause. ]

Eh, maybe it is. They don't really cover all that space-time stuff in most schools.

[She huffs a small laugh and shifts to get more comfortable on the ground, leaning back on her hands and sticking her legs out in front of her while being mindful of his drawings.]

Honestly, I kind of stopped trying to figure that part out. Like, even if I guessed the right answer, there's no way to prove it, right? It's way easier to accept it as it is.

[It is what it is, as the kids will say someday in the future.]

It's like how the weather is always perfect and the moon is always full. Stuff's weird, but there's nothing we can do about it. At least, not until we figure out who the guys are that dumped us here in the first place.

Nothing we can do about it, maybe, but we can complain. Dunno about you, but I sure don't want to be stuck here.

[ Right next to the cat and dog he draws a circle, with evil eyes and a toothy smile inside. ]

Like this. [ a-hem ] "This sucks! Big, powerful whatevers doing the kidnapping still makes it kidnapping! Put me the hell back where I came from!!"

[ And as he projects to the heavens, he violently scribbles out the nefarious doodle-face, presumably defeating it. Or, damaging it. It's all symbolic and he's drunk, it's fine. ]

See? Now you try.

[The suddenness of his shout drags a startled laugh from her lips -- she can't help it! It was just so unexpected! And honestly more than a little silly, but that's never stopped her in the past as she joins in.]

Yeah! You don't scare us!! We've faced way scarier things than you, so just put us back!! It's so much worse for us if you put us back!!

[And then she's laughing again, because it's stupid! It's really, really dumb!!]

Like that?

[ A snicker fights valiantly to stay in the back of his mouth, but can't help eventually erupting into an actual bark of laughter. It is stupid! He didn't think she'd actually do it, but wow!! Guess he's not the only one here willing to make a fool of himself at the drop of a hat. ]

Yeah! Yeah, just like that. Nice and formal complaints, no way they'll be able to ignore 'em.

[ Needs a swig after that, gol-ly. ]

Aah, wish that worked everywhere else.

Did you try filing a complaint with the sky back in Inaba, too?

[She snorts a little laugh. If she tried, Pharos or Theo would probably ask why she was doing it, but it's funny to think about. Missed opportunities like yelling as loud as she could in the Velvet Room just to see what happened.]

How'd that work out?

[ Shaking his head, ] Nope, too small a place. Everybody'd hear and start talking about the crazy cop yelling at no one about the price of produce.

[ Huh, something's missing from the cat...oh, right. "Nya! Nya!" Let's fix that. ]

Oooh, you were a cop?

[Like, a fake cop like Goro, or the kind who sold weapons to teenagers like Officer Kurosawa? Anyway, she finally wiggles around to grab her own stick, starting her own cartoonishly cute dog close to Adachi's barking one.]

Not the best one out there, but, yeah. I was. Good thing there wasn't a lot of crime to bust out in the sticks.

[ Oh, a challenger? Then he'll idly tap his own stick on his knee and watch her draw, curious. ]

More rescuing cats from trees and returning lost wallets, then?

[She giggles a little bit, because it's a cute image to picture this weird guy climbing a tree to get a cat. He seems like the type who'd get all scratched up for his trouble.

Meanwhile, her version of a dog has pointy ears and a curly tail -- and wings? She's trying to draw a shirt on him, but it's hard to do that with a stick in the dirt.]

TEST DRIVE MEME #3

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