expiationmeme | TEST DRIVE MEME #4

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TEST DRIVE MEME #4

TEST DRIVE MEME #4

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.

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

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AS OF AUGUST 2023: We have decided to reduce the waiting period for new updates / canons to two months. So if your canon is two months old, your character is appable as of now.

The last thing you recall is waking in a room of blinding white light. You hear voices around you, speaking in muffled tones; you get the distinct impression that they’re talking about you. And you’re on the verge of figuring out what they’re saying, you’re so close...but then the floor drops out from under you. You’re falling into blackness.

You come to after falling through this dark void, and when your vision clears, you find yourself on a…beach? Many wake up covered in sand, but some wake in the shallows of the ocean, too. Surf’s up!

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN...

SAND AND SALT (ARRIVALS)

After dusting off the sand (or drying off with a towel, if they had a really rude awakening), newcomers to the area find themselves greeted by the locals and directed to the city of Aldrip, where they can find food, shelter, and dry clothing, should they need it. There's mention of an inn, though some mutter that it's getting a little crowded, so maybe characters should find a roommate or make nice with the locals so they can crash on their floor—at least temporarily. Once they're in town, they'll notice that there is plenty of construction going on: building materials everywhere, half-finished structures waiting to be finished. Maybe you won't be sleeping on the floor for too long, after all.

Those who choose to remain on the beach will find the locals setting up for something that looks like a festival. Colorful tents are anchored in the sand, filling with strange-looking goods, delicious-smelling food, games, and other activities. Locals call this the "Festival of the Sun," a celebration of the hottest days of the summer, where crops begin to swell bountifully and the seas become warm and refreshing. The festival has not yet begun, of course, and there is plenty of opportunity to help out. Chosen who wish to lend a hand will find themselves enlisted to help set up or decorate tents—or even to run some of them, if they're so inclined. Grab the balloons and streamers! (Or…colored scarves and flowers, maybe.)

FESTIVAL OF THE SUN

The festival kicks into gear in the afternoon, and there are plenty of activities to draw attention. There are boat racing competitions and a sandcastle contest, as well as a grand seashell hunt taking place on the beach. All of these are free to enter, and the contests offer prizes both for participation and for winning. Participation prizes are small tokens of memorabilia: seashells, shark teeth, dried flowers, things like that. Contest winners will find themselves gifted a refreshing treat or a free meal.

Other tents boast all sorts of different games, food, and trinkets for purchase. Merchants will accept coins or other goods in exchange, but if you find your pockets empty, they may also have to help work the booths if they need a well-earned break. Better get to work, and don't forget to give your most winning smile!

Later in the evening, the locals light a bonfire and host traditional songs and dances as the sun begins to set. All clean-up work will be left until the morning; according to Those Who Were There—the locals' patron deities, apparently, though they offer little information about them—it's bad luck to work this evening after the sun sets.

THIS IS ECOLOGY

MAKE A FRIEND

It seems there have been new additions to Aldrip and the surrounding areas. Even the locals are surprised to see large, flightless warking birds now charging around the meadowlands in packs, not to mention the cute piglets with bunny ears and other strange animals that seem to have appeared. There’s even something that looks like it’s made of rock roaming around–its bark is worse than its bite, though. You may even find that if you befriend them, you can ride on them.

Most are harmless, but Chosen may find a few more monsters than usual roaming the area, too. It seems best to be careful—especially after dark and in the forest, when some of these creatures feel emboldened to roam a little closer to civilization.

[[WILDCARD: Players can use anything from this post to interact with! It doesn’t even have to be the ones we mentioned in the prompts.]]

STOP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS

It's not just animals that have begun to appear in the area, either. Strange new flowers and plants seem to be cropping up everywhere, as if this is a normal habitat for them. Most of them don't seem harmful, although some of the vines can be a little…aggressive. However, getting too close to some of the flowers and mushrooms could give someone a nasty surprise. This is particularly unfortunate because the locals seem quite interested in the new additions to their town, encouraging the Chosen to investigate and acquire samples.

The pollen from these new flowers isn't normal, so Chosen won't find themselves sneezing too much. Unfortunately, they may find it has some other effect on them, such as sleeping, confusion, temporary loss of sense (sight, touch, taste, etc), powerlessness, forgetfulness, or inability to speak. While these are all examples of effects the pollen might have, this is certainly not a limitation. Just about anything you can come up with—within reason—is fair game.

STRANGE MACHINATIONS

A PILE OF JUNK

Ask the locals, and they'll tell you all about the recent trip to the desert, including how several of them were rescued and owe the Chosen a debt of gratitude. While they're repaying this debt mostly by way of helping with building projects, they've also brought back piles and piles of…broken technology. Mostly tablets: dirty, sandy, scratched up, and missing critical components like batteries and chargers. They've very kindly piled all of these things in the eating hall at the inn, and anyone who wants to check them out is welcome to do so. It's possible that cleaning them up and matching them up with their missing components will activate them, but you may have to sift through a whole pile to do so.

But activation does not necessarily mean they're in perfect working order. They may randomly beep, as if pinging off of certain locations, or make strange static sounds if they're turned on for too long. Some of them seem to ping off of each other, too, beeping more quickly as they're brought nearer to the other tablet they seem to be paired with. When connected to the pair, they seem to stabilize a bit more. Not enough to find anything of value in the system itself, but characters might find that they can now text each other, play one of the games, or send pictures on a local network.. After about ten feet of distance, they fail again and aren’t able to be used on the local network.

GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

Whatever happened to the locals at the beginning of the month seems to have passed—mostly. Every so often, Chosen might notice the locals acting a little strangely, stopping what they're doing for a second as if they've forgotten something, repeating something they've already said, or even flickering in and out of existence.

These experiences are minor, but Chosen might notice some other oddities popping up occasionally. Some animals seem very…odd, at a glance, like a fox that has two tails or a deer with three eyes. Look again, and you might think your eyes were playing tricks on you, because they appear normal. Fish with transparent scales, plants that change color—these are examples of the occasional oddities Chosen might encounter.

They might also sometimes hear strange noises, particularly at night. Beeping or static like the sounds coming from the tablets could easily wake a person in the night—as can the sound of a voice, perhaps even a familiar one, luring Chosen out of their beds and away from the town. The source of these voices is a mystery, and they always seem to stop before characters get too far, but you'd do well to be careful after dark.

WILDCARD

You know the drill–this is the wildcard one. Just because it’s not listed in the prompts above does not mean it’s unavailable as an option. We encourage you to do whatever you’d like to utilize the setting to its full potential. If you have any questions about what is and is not possible, please don’t hesitate to ask!

TOP LEVEL DIRECTORY

Click to view:

CANON	CHARACTER/TOP LEVEL

Arcane	Ekko
Arcane	Silco
Critical Role	Mollymauk Tealeaf
Digimon	Mimi Tachikawa
Final Fantasy X-2	Paine
Fullmetal Alchemist: Broherhood	Pride
Honkai: Star Rail	Dan Heng
Land of the Lustrous	Phosphophyllite
Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story	Mitama Yakumo
Marvel 616	Quentin Quire
Omnicient Reader's Viewpoint	Han Sooyoung
Persona 1	Naoya Toudou
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment	Kei Nanjo
Persona 4	Yu Narukami
Persona 4	Yosuke Hanamura

last updated: 8/16/23, 10:55PM

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ As the wolves hungrily lunge, as if they're fighting over the boy, Mizuki's instincts kick in. She knows she can make it. A gust of wind can be heard as Pride's shadows come to life, and within seconds, she has her customized metal pipe raised over her head, ready to come down over the pack leader with incredible force.

Before that can happen, however, Pride's shadow slice through it like a spear. Momentum has her watching the scene, as if in slow motion as she lands on her feet, sliding in the dirt as the whimper of pain echoes in her mind.

Someone beat her to it?

Before she can think too hard about this though, the other wolves haven't run off just yet, their low growls and aggressive barking acting like background noise. She is staring at Pride, though the darkness obscures most of his features, and finally snaps out of it when another wolf lunges at him from behind. ]

Hey—!

[ Mizuki disappears in another flash—she's fast—and in the next moment she is soaring over the boy, tackling the wolf to the ground. ]

[...Did she see? The shadows retreat, blending into the natural darkness around him now that another ~~challenger~~ person has joined the fray. It might already be too late, but she isn't doing anything besides knocking down another wolf that was lunging at him. She's fast.]

Whoa! [She's fast. Maybe comparable to Sloth. He staggers backwards to give her space. He just barely has his bearings when another wolf jumps in from the side. Thankfully his short stature made it easy enough for him to duck and avoid the beast.] Watch out!

[ As Mizuki tussles with the first wolf, she is forced into a defensive position. The wolf is too smart to bite down on her pipe, but she can definitely feel its weight as it tries to get at her face. Its snarl is loud and threatening, and she can practically smell its breath.

She is holding back, but when the second wolf comes after his warning, she has to up her game. Killing wolves is not what she wants, which only annoys her more. ]

Knock—

[ Damn. One nearly got her finger there! There's a low growl from Mizuki, almost matching the wolves' before she finally jumps back to create some distance. Without hesitating or allowing the wolves to react, she pulls her pipe back like a baseball bat, then swings with all her might in an arc that creates yet another strong wind with a mighty woosh. ]

Knock it off already!

[ The wolves go flying. The two that perceived her as a thread were most important of course, but probably any others in the pack, too. Pride might feet lift ever-so-slightly off the ground just from being in the vicinity; his hair, ruffled. Trees sway dangerously, creating a cacophony of leaves rustling before everything seems to go quiet all at once. ]

...Jeez. What a pain. [ Are wolves normally that aggressive...? ] You okay?

[The wolves weren't the only ones flying. A child's body is still a child's body and windforce knocks him backwards.] Whoa! [Thankfully he rolls into a tree to stop from getting completely blown away. Fast, and strong. All that's missing is being lazy.]

Ah...y-yea. [He pretends the roll hurt a little, hand rubbing his head. His hair is a mess with twigs and leaves stuck in it, isn't it?] You're really strong!

[ Oops. First she caught sight of his hair (short as it was) kind of being blown back, which was fine, but then his feet start to hover, which was admittedly less fine. She flinches somewhat, reaching out a hand to grab him, or at least be prepared if he needs it. ]

Hah. [ Well, a compliment's a compliment. She smiles, reaching forward to gently swat some leaves out of his hair before ruffling it all back into place. ] Thanks. I get that a lot. Helps me help people like you.

[He bashfully tries to brush the remaining bits in his hair. Man, he had to get knocked off like that so easily. If he could have used his shadows, which--it looks like he's in the clear? Doesn't look like she made the connection to what happened earlier.]

Well you definitely helped, so thank you very much! [He sees the hand be offered, accepting it to get back on his feet.] I didn't mean to walk into the forest, I just...I heard a voice.

Yeah?

[ He probably shouldn't be so relieved yet. Even without Aiba, Mizuki is still an ABIS-trained invesigator, and the first wolf isn't easily forgotten. She pauses, as if trying to hear the voice too, and there's almost a...

A whisper. Or is it? ]

Was someone with you? I thought—

[ ...... ]

Seemed like somebody beat me to the punch with that first one.

[He blinks, looking around. He frowns, shaking his head.] I didn't see anyone else, but I definitely saw something attacked that wolf. [Unless she starts suspecting him, he's just going to keep playing pretend.]

...Does this place have ghost?

[ Mizuki doesn't really have any reason to question it, so he'll be able to play this song and dance for a little while longer. It really doesn't make sense, though... If something else attacked that wolf, why wouldn't they stick around? Did she scare them off? Was it the other wolves?

...She looks thoughtful, pondering, as she scans the area once more. Her gaze falls to the floor, though it's hard to notice any footprints or anything.

Oh well. The boy's safe, and that's what's important. She looks at him with a soft expression, answering his question with one of her own. ]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Um, not really... [Spoilers, he's usually the ghost. A murder ghost.] Sometimes I hear about haunted places from the other kids at school, but it always turns out to be some animal or something that can be explained. [He looks around.]

But, I don't think this place is like home. So maybe ghost can be a possibility here, is what I thought.

Hmm. [ He definitely doesn't give off any murder ghost vibes! In fact, just on he surface, he seems like a kid who is trying to give a grown-up answer. But why is here? Certainly the youngest Chosen she's ever met. He just doesn't look like any of the locals she's see around here. ]

Well, you don't have to worry. If there are any, they probably just hang out in the Pessiria forest. [ She nods her head, indicating how close they'd gotten. ] So we should head back before they catch onto us.

[ She could probably beat up a ghost anyway okay but STILL. ]

I'm Mizuki, by the way. Can I help you find someone, or...?

[He looks in the direction she indicates.] There's really ghost...? [He says quietly, meant to be to himself.] Ah, right!

And I'm Selim! It's nice to meet you, Miss Mizuki. [Polite boy too.] And well...I thought I heard my father. [A frown.] I might have been imagining it, though.

[ Polite boy. No one ever calls her 'miss.' She's not sure she really likes it, but maybe she does relish in the authority a little. It might grow on her. ]

Were you together when you woke up? You seem a little young for...

[ You have been charged with mass homicide. Mizuki pauses, remembering her own parchment all too clearly, but of course, that's not the only crime ever to exist. Is he even Chosen? ]

For whatever they could put on that parchment.

[He shakes his head, looking pretty down.] I woke up by myself. [Is it terrible to think it's probably for the best? For himself? Or for Father to continue with his plans? Then again...he alraedy knows how that plays out, doesn't he?]

You got a weird parchment too?

[ He's not scared at all? ...Well, he did go looking for his father. Mizuki doesn't linger on that too much though, instead nodding to answer his question. ]

Yeah. That makes you Chosen, like me. Actually, when I first got here, I didn't even believe it.

I tried to bury it.

A Chosen... [Interesting title when they appear to be accused for a crime upon arrival. His hand is in his pocket, where he had crumpled up the parchment.]

It doesn't feel that special to be called that. Especially when we're being accussed as criminals. [A moment's hesistence, wondering if he should ask.] Did...did you have something really bad written on yours?

[ For a while Mizuki is just... quiet. As they finally draw away from the forest and toward town, she can be seen looking back every once and a while, as if she might've seen something, but she always turns forward again. ]

Yeah.

[ It's worse now in light of everything that's happened since, but Mizuki doesn't elaborate. Whether Pride wants to play up the curious child angle despite this is up to him. ]

But it's okay. It doesn't mean it's true. [ Is "Selim" worried about his? Maybe she's just telling herself that. ]

[Her not answering still gives him a bit of information. It is something that clearly bothers her. Perhaps something personal?

He gets the sense she was trying to assure him, but perhaps she was talking to herself. But he'll play along. His crime isn't exactly wrong, but he doesn't feel upset over it. The sentencing part has him pondering what it could mean though.]

So...if it's not true, what happens when you're sentenced?

[ That is something that's been on Mizuki's mind as well. No matter many times she's had to look at the dang thing, though, no date ever appears where there's clearly meant to be one. She shakes her head. ]

I still dunno. Guess I'm still waiting for my turn.

Yours doesn't have a date or anything, does it?

[He shakes his head.] Nope. Yours doesn't have one? [That's weird and confusing.]

If there's no date, has anyone actually been sentenced?

Mmm. [ She shakes her head, seeming no more satisfied than he does. All these months, and nothing about her parchment has changed, and no one's come forward. ] Don't know what they're waiting for exactly.

But don't let it keep you up at night or anything, okay?

[They've been accused of a crime, but no one has been sentenced. According to this girl anyway. Is it some kind of red herring? That there's really no sentence and they're here for something else?]

Okay...I'll try not to. [Speaking of being up all night-] Should we go back into town then?

Yeah. We're not far.

[ Mizuki has already been steering them back toward Aldrip, though it had been at a casual, kid-friendly pace. She walks with more purpose now, but then ends up stopping to allow him to keep pace. ]

H-Hey, where are you staying anyway? ...Did you manage to get a room at the inn?

Oh, um, yea. [Maybe?] Can I actually get a place for myself? [The prospect of owning a place sounds cool to a "kid".]

Oh, actually what happened to the town? When I was exploring earlier today, there were places that looked like there was some big battle!

TEST DRIVE MEME #4

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