TEST DRIVE MEME #4

[expiationmods]

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.

navigation page

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

Comments

[ticket218]

--Huh?

[ Huh?? ]

Wait, what are you talking about? What do you mean how Gods are born?

[foxically]

Woa-- you really don't know anything. Ignorant as a human. If there's a river that washes away children, humans build a shrine to protect it, and a god is born out of that worship. Out of nothing, no family, no home-- ah, aside from the shrine, of course, I suppose that's home. No father, no mother, no nothing. Duh.

[ticket218]

I've never heard of anything like that, no. Worship is all it takes to make a god...?

[ There's arguments to be made for false idols, he guesses, but like. Tomoe means actual deities here, right? ]

[foxically]

Born out of necessity, I guess. My Lady is the land God. Other Gods, other jurisdiction, but anyway. Stop trying to be human, it doesn't suit you. To me, you're completely normal, just weak.

[ticket218]

You've known me for a few minutes of my worst behavior. You don't know what "suits me".

[foxically]

Ah, then by all means, continue being puny-- that was your worst behavior?

[ticket218]

Maybe not worst, [ He did try to scramble a child's brain like an egg once. ] but bad enough of an impression, I'm sure you'll agree.

Does your Mistress know you go around calling people puny?

[foxically]

... It felt normal to me. Better than some preppy idiot demons I've known.

(yokai being yokai, etc. he's so tired, though, so that means he'll find a spot to sit, his tail moving side by side impatiently.)

... Yes. ...

(... well, maybe he should just say it. this guy might help, after all. he can always threaten him again.)

... My Mistress is human, so I tell it to her face, too.

[ticket218]

You speak to her the same way you've been speaking to me?

[ TALKING LIKE THAT TO A GO--wait. ]

I thought you said she was the land god?

[foxically]

(ignoring that first part.)

... Yes. It's an exception. Will you help me find her or not?

[ticket218]

[ Weird exception, but...like he said, Sigma really doesn't know much of anything. Especially not concerning this, apparently, so maybe saving those questions for later.

And they did just have an embarrassingly aggressive tussle, but somehow after all that he doesn't feel nearly as hostile anymore. Will also be saving those questions for later, to ask himself. ]

Fine, fine. If she's here, I'll help you find her.

[foxically]

...

(it takes him a long while to say anything. in the meantime, he's taking his kiseru out, setting the tobacco, lighting it with his own ability fire-- blue, purple, and spirily, taking a drag, exhaling the smoke--)

... Thank you.

[ticket218]

[ Well that's an unexpectedly melancholy shift in the atmosphere. He won't push on that, but take a seat on the ground himself so they can be on a little more equal footing in this discussion. ]

What sort of things should I be looking out for? What does she look like?

[foxically]

-- Average.

(he could call his mistress beautiful or anything but NO... his lungs fill with the smoke, ears moving towards sound.)

Brown long hair. Average face. Average body. Loud. Doesn't think before she does things.

( :( )

[ticket218]

A woman with long, brown hair. Helpful.

[ "Loud" does help, though, if Tomoe's being honest. Means he can keep an ear out along with an eye. ]

[foxically]

... A teenage girl with long hair. Is that better? She has kind eyes and she will be nice to you if you're nice to her. She'll be very adamant, too.

[ticket218]

It is, actually.

[ She's already sounding like one of the nicer gods he's heard about. "Kind eyes", huh... ]

I'll be sure to be on my best behavior for her.

[foxically]

If you don't, she'll kick your ass and scold you until you are, anyway.

(nanami doesn't take shit from anyone, thank goodness. it's more work for him, but still. she's each and every day more fearless.)

... Are we the only... Different ones?

[ticket218]

[ A thoughtful noise. ]

I'm not sure. Everyone I've met so far has been human, though a handful seem aware that other things exist.

There are fairies, but they're natives here so I'm not sure if that's what you mean.

[foxically]

... Did the fairies say anything at all? That's what I meant - non-human beings. You, me, and the servants of this place?

(his face might be able to hide the anxiety, but not the tail.)

[ticket218]

The fairies don't say much of anything, not to us at least. Literally.

But I've a friend or two in their numbers--we could ask if they've seen any hint of her if you'd like?

[foxically]

... That'd be good. I'm starting to think this place works differently.

[ticket218]

[ Good natured, ] Only starting to?

It'd be best if you have a gift for them in exchange. We can think of something on our way.

[foxically]

... Gifts are fine. If they eat, I can make whatever human food they'd like. My hair itself is also a gift.


... You promise to help me?

[ticket218]

[ Hair?? Never thought of that, seems oddly personal but also somehow appropriate for fairies. ]

Mm, I promise. I'll help find her as much as I can.