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Expiation Mods ([personal profile] expiationmods) wrote in [community profile] expiationmeme2023-10-08 10:33 am
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TEST DRIVE MEME #5

TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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 in a... forest?


 

NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS

ARRIVALS

     

New Chosen will find themselves in Pessiria Forest. There's a chill in the air and a strange rustling in the leaves. There's some sort of wailing noises that seem to echo through the trees, and occasionally, Chosen—new and old alike—can hear the sound of familiar voices. Maybe even impossible voices.
Was that a sound? The wind? Something else, maybe watching and waiting in the shadows?…

… Nah. That's probably all in their head.

Probably.

Making their way out of the forest, newcomers will find that Aldrip's local residents are a little wary of them. Maybe even a little cagey about welcoming them, especially since some locals are still missing. Luckily, there are plenty of others like them, other Chosen, who have been here long enough to know the ropes.






 

ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES

     

Aldrip has had a bountiful harvest this year. As a result of the surplus, lumpy and misshapen vegetables are being tossed out, thrown into compost, or given to animals as food.

They don't seem to like this.

Over the past few days and weeks, these poor things have been left to rot, watching their brethren become animal food as they waste away, their potential being ground into the dirt. But no more! Through sheer determination and the power of a good old-fashioned grudge, they begin to mutate, sprouting arms and legs and—uh oh, are those teeth? This could be bad.

Late into the night on October 9, the mutated vegetables begin to rise from their graves. Scorned squashes, contemptuous carrots, abused apples, and other cantankerous crops decide that enough is enough! The tables have turned, and now they would like to eat you! Be warned that their bite is definitely worse than their bark, and they have a taste for human blood. Take cover, or you might just find yourself becoming dinner. But they're not immortal! They can be burned, bludgeoned, or sliced to stop their assault.

Upon investigation, there may be a link to the water source and the mutated plants. Shut off that water source and find a new one, and maybe there will be less of the cranky creatures.

A few days after this onslaught of veggies, the locals decide to prepare a big vegetable feast. Are those still good to eat, do you think…?

(Note: while the bulk of these creatures won't last long, you will still be able to find occasional stragglers throughout the rest of the month.)






 

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU

CW: ANIMAL MISTREATMENT


Given tablets equipped with a camera feature, Chosen new and old are asked by some scientifically-minded locals to catalog creatures and animals of Aldrip and the surrounding areas. It seems new creatures are appearing almost daily, and as these local requestors say, it's important to know your neighbors! They'll offer a variety of rewards: money, goods, services. Doing favors for them might boost their opinion of the Chosen, as well.

Those who accept this task will find any manner of animals, new and old. They'll also find some…………weird things. Animals that seem to have been spliced together: Chocobos with elephant trunks, wolves with feathers, snakes with crab legs…the possibilities for these chimeras seem to have no limit.

Brave adventurers will find that following some of these animals for a while will lead them to a camouflaged bunker deep in the woods. Surrounded by an electric fence and automatic turrets, it seems that someone doesn't want you getting in there.

This may be as close as you can get, for now, but if you keep a low profile, you might be able to observe for a while.






 

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

     

Some strange new plants seem to be gaining sentience, to the point where they are taking requests. Some of them may be benign or even silly: water lilies asking Chosen to take a swim with them, thirsty ferns asking for water, venus fly traps who need help catching flies. Some ask for items, human food, or just a chance to chat. Still others would like to be entertained with song, dance, or jokes…weird.

Entertaining most of these requests just results in the plants not annoying you about them anymore. But some plants are asking for blood, too, either human or animal. When fed, these particular plants go wild wanting more, more, more! Eventually, they will only be satiated by eating people. More killer creatures?! Uh oh.

Maybe finding the source of where all this started will help…







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
Bungo Stray Dogs Jouno Saigiku
Bungo Stray Dogs Tetchou Suehiro
Dissidia NT Lightnig Farron
Fear & Hunger 2: Termina Levi
Final Fantasy XIV Noise Deathmouse
Horizon Forbidden West Beta
League of Legends Xayah
One Piece Tony Tony Chopper
Persona 3 Tohru Adachi
Persona 4 Shinjiro Aragaki
Persona 5 Yusuke Kitagawa
Reiwa no Dara Dara
Tokyo Revengers Mikey
Tokyo Revengers Takemichi Hanagaki
Urusei Yatsura Benten




baldrshand: Battle art from Heroes, looking surprised (A cold sound in the air.)

[personal profile] baldrshand 2023-12-04 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
Oh! I'm sorry, I--[Part of Ethlyn's brain starts kicking her here, yelling about not inflating this girl's ego any larger than it clearly is already! Because if she's what... twelve? Thirteen? And she's rocketing around acting with this kind of insolent impunity, Ethlyn should not talk about how astounding her powers are.]--I've never seen earthbending. And I've met people here who do look human but aren't. I thought that was the case with you.

You should know what you've been accused of--if only to know whether or not it's just. Could you get back to where you arrived, and I can find it with you?
fieldtrip: (66)

[personal profile] fieldtrip 2023-12-04 01:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Toph shrugs. ] Sure, I'm curious what they wrote me up for. I can find it, but I could use the assist on reading.

[ Normally it would be a little more like a needle in a haystack, but Toph has been actively scanning this whole area since she arrived, so she's built up a precise mental map of where she is now and where she'd woken up. Shouldn't be too hard to retrace her steps and find the piece of paper she came with.

Without further ado, she sets off walking. ]
Who've you met that looked human but wasn't? [ she asks curiously. ]
baldrshand: Concerned facial expression (It's okay to say you've got a weak spot.)

[personal profile] baldrshand 2023-12-10 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
There was a man I knew who looked entirely human except for having horse ears and a tail. And another who was some kind of dragon in human guise--no unusual features at all.

So when you came skimming across the fields like you had ice skates on, I thought the same might be true of you. I've never seen anyone with an ability like that. But if you're as young as you look, I can't imagine that you could be charged with anything too serious.

[Toph is close to adulthood, but she still looks younger than Ethlyn's cousin Oifey, and she remembers the argument that ended with him agreeing to be the tactician instead of a soldier.]
fieldtrip: (26)

[personal profile] fieldtrip 2023-12-10 12:11 pm (UTC)(link)
A dragon that looks human -- whoa.

[ Toph hadn't gotten to go on that little fieldtrip, but she'd heard all about it when Aang and Zuko got back, and she knows how big a deal dragons are.

Then Ethlyn implies Toph is too young to do anything important, and that sets her right off into grumpy. Her steps while walking become more like stomps. ]
Hey, my age has nothing to do with it, [ she insists stridently. ] I'm the best earthbender of all time. I taught the Avatar. I helped end the war. And for the record, I've committed plenty of crimes.

[ She does not sound at all apologetic. ]
baldrshand: In profile, eyes shut in INCREDIBLE PATIENCE (Feelings are just like the weather.)

[personal profile] baldrshand 2023-12-12 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
...You don't need to take such pride in that. [Now Ethlyn is reminded of Dew, the young thief who escaped from captivity alongside a friend of hers. Ethlyn won't deny that his skills came in handy more than once, but she never did approve of his cavalier attitude towards right and wrong.] I'm not saying you're not accomplished--I have a cousin your age whose tactical mind is better than mine or my brother's.

[She hopes that tactical mind has kept Oifey alive in the collapse of righteousness and justice that befell Jugdral in the wake of her family's failure. Sigurd was always very careful about Oifey's place in the army, namely that it was on the outside of it, so she can hope.]

...I'd advise you not to try adding to your criminal record here, on that topic. The locals are quite cool towards us right now.
fieldtrip: (66)

[personal profile] fieldtrip 2023-12-12 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not about pride, I just don't let anyone tell me what to do. Sometimes that means breaking the rules.

[ Toph is firmly in the chaotic side of the alignment spectrum. She doesn't set out to commit crimes, but, well, sometimes it just happens, and she doesn't sweat it. Of course, she'd also grown up in a country constantly at war, subject to nonstop propaganda and even brainwashing. Toph's concept of following the law is accordingly skewed: the law is often wrong. ]

What happened with the locals? [ That seems like pertinent information to know if she's going to be stuck here. ]
baldrshand: Watchful look (I may know the answers.)

[personal profile] baldrshand 2023-12-18 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
Some rules exist for good reason. [She's just putting that out there, as a concept that Toph might like to consider.] The locals--had actually welcomed us with open arms, back when we first began to arrive here. Unfortunately, some of us decided to take advantage of that. And then some other things have happened... people going missing, without any hint of what's happened to them.

So as you might imagine, they aren't so pleased to have us as neighbors anymore. Those of us with sense are trying to help with that, but it's uphill so far.
fieldtrip: (109)

[personal profile] fieldtrip 2023-12-18 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
If there's a good reason, it doesn't need to be a rule, [ Toph points out stubbornly, but she listens closely to the rest of what Ethlyn says.

She gains a frown as she walks. ]
How were people taking advantage? Maybe I can help find the missing people -- I'm really good at finding things.