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expiationmeme2023-01-23 02:02 am
TEST DRIVE MEME #1
Welcome to the TDM for Expiation, a pan-fandom adventure game with fantasy, science fiction, and sometimes subtle 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. 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.
You may find the below links helpful in getting to know themes of the world, locations, the people, and so on.
A WARM WELCOME
The journey here has not been a particularly convenient one. The last thing you can recall is the room of blinding white and the incomprehensible voices that were speaking about you. Then came the dropping of the floor beneath you and suddenly you were falling into black. As you come to and regain a more clear vision of the world about you, you find that you are surrounded by pleasant greenery.
Deciduous trees are sprinkled here and there in some miscellaneous fashion. There are plants and flowers all about, the chirping of birds. Above you rests a fairly clear sky with a dotting or two of clouds. The sun is pleasant. Overall, it’s comfortable. Perhaps too comfortable.
MEADOWLANDS ARRIVAL
Within eyesight, though you can’t possibly know the footing distance, there appear to be fields. A portion of them dedicated to long stalk vegetables and the rest a neatly organised collection of leafy greens. Upon closer inspection, you’ll find that some of these look ready to be picked right away. Not much further past the fields are other buildings. Simple in style and not at all grand in structure or make. There’s people, too. It looks lively. The locals will tell you that you’ve set foot in Aldrip.
Not far from you, in fact relatively close if not in hand already, is a rolled parchment bound by a rather nondescript twine. If you unfurl it, you’ll find a generic welcoming message addressed specifically to you.Welcome to Expiation. We, who have found you so worthy and deserving, have declared you to be one of the Chosen.
The cryptic written greeting is followed by a collection of recorded statistics—physical and mental attributes, along with other observations about your person that clearly weren’t made by you (but may not necessarily be inaccurate).
Nearing the bottom is a peculiar line—You have been charged with ▬▬ and in accordance with the doctrine of this world, you have ▬▬ until you will face your sentencing. Prepare your defence adequately or face the repercussions.
In spite of that strange little addition at the bottom, which may or may not make sense to you, you’re not the only one arriving in the meadowlands. You have some options. Maybe check with a nearby fellow otherworlder, scour the fields, meet the locals. First impressions, after all, can sometimes last a lifetime.
WILD COMPANIONS
The collective of newly-arrived aren’t the only ones exploring the meadowlands. Curious about the various sounds created by those not native to the world, there are animals living in and near the surrounding areas drawn to the attention. Different types and sizes of birds and beasts or other creatures that may resemble ones from your home world begin to close in on your location. Do they mean to do you harm or are they only simply wary about who you might be and what you’re doing?
Some of them are incredibly friendly, especially if you’re inclined to provide them with food, or if they’re younger and they simply don’t know better. But be aware, for every young animal, there is likely to be a parent not far behind, and less inclined to be understanding of your strange fate in this new predicament. As such, no matter how cute something may be, reconsider taking it with you, else you may simply stir the ire of their families.
If you find yourself in a position where you’ve inadvertently stepped into a territory not meant for you, you’ll need to find either a strategic escape or resort to force and self-defence. Fortunately, some of these larger, more aggressive beasts, are much the same ones that the locals in Aldrip have been seeking to cull for the safety of the citizens. Maybe you can make some fast friends with the Expiation natives by bringing them something you’ve had to put down.
THOSE WHO WERE THERE
Those Who Were There are what the locals refer to their gods as, considering them responsible for their continued growth in the world, the abundance of their crops and sea life, the greenery that surrounds them, native wildlife, and some of the strangely advanced luxury items that make their livelihoods a touch more convenient.
You’ve arrived at an opportune time. Although the peoples of the continent freely show their appreciation for their higher beings, every once in a while, they celebrate by way of joyful festivals, grand songs, and more expressive means of their devotion.
FESTIVITIES
Aldrip seems to be a bit busier than usual, with a little more foot traffic than what may be considered a normal day in the life. There’s music in the air provided by lutes, panpipes, and the dulcet tones of men and women alike, expressing songs and tall tales of those they have come to revere as celestial beings. They believe that honouring their betters can be done with song and dance as much as it can be with offerings and prayer.
The town is bustling, a plethora of additional street stalls selling all kinds of local cuisine, jewellery, weapons, and accessories branded with insignias that represent the same wave motif as can be found on the charms every newly-arrived will receive. There’s raucous laughter, a plethora of drinks (alcoholic and non) that are passed along merrily to those wandering through if one doesn’t have a drink already. It’s the perfect way to integrate yourself with the people whilst taking in the celebration.
A portion of the town has had the land cleared, set up with a minimalistic coliseum ring for archery competition and one-on-one combat. Winners of these exchanges don’t get anything grand, but are presented with plenty of free food and drink, and some may even be awarded with some modest badge accessories from the local shops for providing the people with some sport.
Out by the fields, closer to the shoreline of the Talion Sea, there’s a grand pillar of fire that’ll burn all through the day and into the dark of the night where more music follows and accompanies spirited dancing.
SENTIMENTAL OFFERINGS
If you’re searching for a momentary reprieve from the bustle of the festival, there’s a modest walkway of cobblestone that will lead you from the main streets of stalls, drinks, and making merry. Following the way it winds and curves will eventually take you to an elaborate display of dried flowers, jewellery, fanciful cloths, and other items. Some of these hang from nearby trees. Some are draped over an altar fashioned of dark wood.
A local who spies you there kindly explains that it’s a place to leave items of offering for Those Who Were There, as gratitude for all they have granted their loyal people. They also explain that the more sentimental attachment you hold for the item you give up, the more pleased the gods will be with you. What does that mean, exactly? It’s difficult to say, but it seems that it might endear you to the locals at the very least.
Those who leave an item will receive a noticeable wave-like mark on the interior of their dominant hand wrist, almost as if it’s a brand of some kind. This is temporary mark and will only last the length of the festival, but if locals see it, they will be more inclined to give information on the land, the people, and perhaps even extra drinks, food, or shop wares.
Even if you don’t leave an item, as you’ve only just arrived and you may not have much on your person, the locals won’t punish you or think ill of you. It’ll give you a chance to gather yourself before you go back to the festival proper. If you choose to go back at all. The relative quiet is so welcoming, after all.
THE GLITCH EFFECT
NO SIGNAL
If you’ve arrived in this world with a mobile device or something akin to (notebook, laptop, and so on), you’ll find that whilst there are no electrical outlets, there are slender and flat platforms available to keep items of this nature with a charge. You cannot connect to a network and there’s no signal for a connection to grapple onto. That said, programmes that don’t require a connection to be of use (note taking applications, calculators, games), are still operable.
You may find, however, in the use of these programmes that perhaps images are not displaying properly. The colouration may be inverted. There may be unexplainable lines drawn across graphics. Text may not accurately be presented, instead a jumble and tangle of letters, forming what looks more like a mass of verbal tendrils across your screen.
Bizarre and strange sounds may emerge from your device, sometimes a low hum that may be indiscernible to others. Sometimes a high frequency that lingers in the air. It may be just a flash of sound. It may be several seconds long.
Furthermore, it is possible that you may find strange imagery imprinted on the screen temporarily, even where there should be no graphic at all. It’s there for a moment or two before it fades away, almost as if it’s subliminal messaging. The strange imagery is difficult to make out—a highly detailed eye, or perhaps what appears to be an angular face. No two images will be the same, though some may hold some eerily similar depictions.
This strange happenstance will occur periodically until the festival reaches its conclusion.
STATIC BUZZING
Don’t think if you didn’t arrive with a mobile device or related that you’re free from some of the strange electronic phenomena. Devices that are native to Expiation will experience similar errors. The difference is that the devices as a collective (personal computers, printers, cameras, the platforms for charging devices, and more) will emit a fluctuating and repeating frequency of sound cycling from high to low. Some will be able to hear it, some will not, but for those who do, it will come accompanied with a static buzzing sound, as if a connection somewhere is on its last proverbial legs.
There isn’t a means to stop the sound from emerging without depowering the device in question and even the locals don’t seem to know what to do. There are several devices strewn about Aldrip, however, so even if you should unplug one, there will be others expressing the same assault on the ears. Aldrip’s people don’t seem particularly alarmed, however, explaining to those who ask that this sort of thing simply happens every so often, and should they but have faith, Those Who Were There will handle all things ‘in good time.’
Unlike the personal devices brought in by newly-arrived, the electronic devices of Expiation will not display incorrect / jumbled graphics, text, or bizarre flashing images, which may be considered a blessing in disguise, despite having to experience the potentially annoying hum. This strange occurrence, too, will mysteriously end once the festivities have drawn to a close.
no subject
[she's a little shocked. more than shocked. she's completely and utterly floored. she's never seen so much green in her life, and the way it smells?
she'd been about to tear up the piece of paper that had come with her, but this had completely taken her whole attention.]
Holy shit.
[it comes out in a quiet breath as she takes in the smell of the greenery around her. is this what fresh air actually smelled like?
she turns to someone, too surprised to play it cool for right now.]
You're seeing this too, right? I'm not hallucinating or something, am I?
b. festival.
[still stunned, Vi makes her way into the town. she's still so shocked about how clean everything was around her, which made her kind of feel like she was on the topside again. but she wasn't. she was somewhere else completely, and she knows it for a fact because none of these people looked like topsiders.
at all.
she'll grab the first alcoholic drink she can get her hands on though, drinking it all in only a few gulps before passing it off to someone who hands her another one.
even the alcohol tastes different.
she stops the next person who walks by her by the elbow, not taking a drink yet because she's not sure she's not already drunk.]
Hey, do you know what the hell is going on here? This looks like a setup from the stone ages or something.
[or something.]
c. sentimental offerings.
[after a while, she's got to go sit down against a wall in the next quiet spot. she's possibly a little bit buzzed, but she's not going to let it get to her -- she just needs quiet. what had happened to Powder? Caitlyn? was she even alive after all of that?
she's sitting in a sort of shadows so she might not immediately be seen if someone comes up to set down the offering.
but she will comment if she sees someone placing something down.]
Do you even know what you're sacrificing to here?
a. first impressions
I... I almost wish we were hallucinating.
[Izuku's paper is scrunched in his hand. He looks like he's been stuck in the rain and mud for days so he's pretty grateful for the fresh air and sunlight too.]
But I... I think this is actually happening.
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even though Izuku's there and assuring her that it's real, she's still not entirely convinced. she blinks a couple more times, before finally looking down at her paper.]
Huh. Remind me to commit more crimes, then.
[she crumbles it back up and shoves it into her back pocket.]
You wanna go look?
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Wait- No, don't do that?
[Don't commit more crimes?! Especially not in a weird world they all just appeared in?!]
I think it's best if we don't cause any more trouble until we've figured out exactly what's going on right now... Yes, we should go together.
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[she's going to start walking off, putting her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she looks around as if she's completely relaxed.]
Do more crimes, and who knows? Heaven might be next.
[she's very obviously joking and/or sarcastic at this point.]
b. festival
Who, naturally, had gathered here, obvious if not by expression than by attire. Despite the congregating, the streets weren't so packed that the people brushed against one another — making the deliberate, halting grab a surprise. Not it shows (much), as Nanami just stops, looking toward the girl, making no move to retrieve his elbow. ]
I'd have gone with the Middle Ages. Stone would have been far more primitive.
[ And even the Middle Ages isn't quite right, given a near local, identifiable by dress and demeaner, directing what looks like a camera at a beaming group.
But, that had addressed the unimportant part of her statement, so he continues. ]
What's going on here, meaning the revelry in this town, seems to be a festival for their gods.
[ One song he'd listened to the whole of, a sweeping and epic ballad. ]
What's going on here, meaning the situation where people with different origins have been taken here for judgment, I also don't know.
no subject
at the mention of gods though, she scoffs while she takes a sip of her drink.]
Gods. Right. Like those even exist.
[she shuffles the ground with her boot briefly before she lets go of the stranger, shaking her head.]
Good to know we're all fucking clueless here. We could've at least got a welcome package.
no subject
[ Please don't mistake him — that nuance irritates him plenty. He keeps that from his voice, for the most part, but something in the stress on "gods" might show his hand. Or, half-a-corner of a single card.
At its release, his elbow drops back to his side. Nanami then takes the opportunity to shift toward a gap between stalls, just enough to be less in the path of those moving through the festivities. ]
That seems to be the case, but I'm not speaking for all of us. Rather than a package, we received presumptuous parchments and an open festival.
[ Once things settle, someone or someones should get on organization, collecting data, pooling knowledge. The obvious, constructive course, but he needs to stamp down a wave, scrape off the crest, of exhaustion at the thought. Pausing, he glances, eyes obscured behind green lenses, from the drink in her hand to the near stalls, to the vendors, to the thrown back head and open mouth producing hearty laughter. Then, lifting a hand to push at those sunglasses, ]
If you do make inquiries of the townspeople, I recommend not questioning the existence of their gods.
no subject
[she knew plenty of people who thought they might be gods, if that sort of thing is what he's referring to. most of them are now dead or...
??? she's not sure.
she stops from taking another drink, thinking about the bomb that Powder had unleashed. of Caitlyn screaming in her ear in horror as the missile goes towards where her mother was holding a meeting with the rest of the bigwigs on topside--
she grits her teeth and finishes off her other drink, handing it off to some random person who's skipping by. this time, another one doesn't get shoved into her hand, but she does look at him as he shifts out of the way.
she steps closer, but she really doesn't care too much to be out of the way -- just close enough to him that they could talk without her having to raise her voice.]
I dunno, they look like they're more used to parties than stirring things up. Maybe we should be questioning the existence of their gods.
[or maybe she's just looking to beat the shit out of someone, now that she'd remembered her situation at home again.]
Sometimes you get your best info when you add stress to someone.
no subject
That doesn't mean, however, that the intensity of the belief here on display is without effect.
Besides, unless this was a world of extreme inequality in technology, the fact he's even standing here suggests something of great power. The impossibility of it is only partly due to the unexplained, science fiction/fantasy-esque transport.
Regardless, her frustration is palpable, well before she suggests antagonizing the revelers. Their situation is enough to rile anyone up, and if there's more to it — importance or crisis left behind — it's none of his business.
It's only marginally more his business whether she starts trouble, as it would be in some part a result of this conversation. Raising his eyebrows, ]
Sometimes. Other times, when you would have received the same information whether you asked politely or aggressively, you'll have put yourself in a difficult position without anything to show for it.
[ When a buoyant local now tries to push a drink at him, there might be a flicker of reluctance, of hesitation, when he declines.
His sigh relates less to wanting a damn drink, but knowing better, and more to this: ]
Frankly, given our position, I find this frivolity extremely irritating. I could be underestimating them by believing them largely ignorant. For my part, today, adding stress would just be tiring.
But, neither you nor their peace of mind is my responsibility. I won't stop you if you want to start off on an abrasive foot.
no subject
Better than to find out then never know...abrasiveness is my specialty.
[she plucks the drink out of the hands of the local after it gets turned down, for all her want to beat the shit out of someone, she's not going to go after just anyone. it'd be after someone shifty or bitchy, not someone who was otherwise just going about their day unless she had genuine reason to think they might know something.
that sort of person might be few and far in between here, and she looks around, as if trying to pick someone out from the crowd that might meet her criteria.]
No way that they don't know what's going on. They've all gotta be in on it...a bunch of random people just stumbling into their city? What if we all just got violent? They're not even remotely worried about that, especially if we're all in jail or something? It doesn't make sense otherwise.
[or maybe she's lived too on edge and in the worst places in town to not think something like this would be weird. the guy she's talking to sounds like a topsider, yet he isn't really regarding her with suspicion or disgust. or even trying to deter her for basically admitting to beat the shit out of someone.
weird. there's no way there's that many bleeding hearts out there. Caitlyn's just a fluke.]
brushes BIC® wite-out over date...
i see nothing
work really be making me use up my wite-out
same...same let's just cancel irl
i'll draft the amicus brief now
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a
Honestly, he's kind of glad he's not the only one surprised by this.]
If you are, then so am I. But it seems real enough to me.
no subject
she'd been locked up for a long time, after all.]
Man, the last time I committed a crime I ended up fighting and getting the shit beat out of me for six years or whatever.
[no big deal]
This is going to be a cakewalk in comparison.
[...........maybe]
no subject
Here's hoping it won't be a repeat. I could stand to have a quieter experience than that.
[The way she words that is interesting, though -- as if she's not surprised to be charged for something. He pulls out the parchment he'd shoved into a pocket (hey, it may be indestructible, but that doesn't mean he can't let it know how he feels about it).]
Did you get one of these, too? It's starting to feel like everybody did.
no subject
Vi shrugs at the first comment, before letting her gaze roam to the parchment in his hands. she takes her own out, which is probably as beat up as it could be, and regards it for a minute.]
Yep. So what, did they set a bunch of criminals out to get some fresh air and touch grass?
[it honestly doesn't make sense.]
no subject
Whatever it is, I doubt it's that simple. Starting out by calling us "worthy" and "chosen", only to follow it up with a criminal charge?
[The tone shift in the letter is so abrupt that it makes the whole thing even more puzzling, not less.]
If they really think we're criminals, it doesn't make much sense to let us all loose in this place.
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festival
So are some people's manners too, apparently.
[ As if his own manners are pristine and anything to write home about. ]
Is celebrating, eating and drinking not a thing where you're from?
no subject
[she doesn't really sound remorseful about the fact that he'd dropped his food...
she glances at him, curious at his clothes to see if he's like some of the locals or the newly arrived.]
Did you get dumped here too, or are you a local?
no subject
You have about a fifty percent chance of guessing it correctly. What do you think?
no subject
Probably fresh meat. It seems like a bunch of us are roaming around here all of a sudden.
c. sentimental offerings
[Still, a moment's conversation couldn't hurt.]
Funny thing, that. I've nothing to lose and nothing to offer, much less something of sufficient sentimental value.
Unless these "gods" desire a performance, they've caught me at a rather bad time.
no subject
I've never had much of sentimental value.
[but then she tilts her head, considering.]
They might think that we're puppets on a string, though. They brought in the wrong person for that.
no subject
[Someone with a little fire in them. He appreciates such a trait, actually. It keeps things from becoming dull and boring.]
I confess I've no interest in dancing to someone else's tune. Only my own. Nevertheless, it would be remiss of me not to learn what I can about our "hosts" before their requested audience.
["Requested". That's certainly a laugh.]
no subject
[except for her stuffed animal that she'd given to Jinx. that was the last of it, but...thinking of it still hurt.
Vi snorts.]
Trying to find someone's heads to knock together is harder than I thought. I'm not going to go after just anyone.
[she's feisty, but she's not cruel. a lot of these people just look like they're living, at least to her.]
no subject
How very reasonable of you. A pity they won't come out and receive their offerings in person.
[His eyes flick towards the individual who has just placed what looks to be a time-keeping instrument there upon the altar. Although Emet-Selch cannot detect anything unduly strange about the item, when the man who left it turns around, he lifts one arm, spying an unusual (and apparently felicitous) marking there upon his exposed flesh.]
The wave. I presume it has some religious significance to these people. Perhaps it symbolizes continuity, hope despite one's deepest troubles. Or mayhap power and strength.
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