expiationmeme | TEST DRIVE MEME #2

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TEST DRIVE MEME #2

TEST DRIVE MEME #2

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. 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

BE OUR GUEST

You may possess any number of questioning thoughts as you traverse the blindingly white room and are dropped into a darkness beneath your feet, but perhaps those same thoughts will be replaced with an awe and curiosity as you come to. Expiation has you now and you have joined the ranks of the Chosen, a seemingly select number of individuals who have arrived with parchment either in-hand or near them, detailing physical and mental statistics in addition to a particular crime to which you have been accused.

How you choose to spend your time here is largely up to you...

IT'S A WINDMILL, NOT A GIANT

As you begin to acquaint yourself with the lay of the land about you, you'll find that not too far from where you've woken there's a rather grandiose tower windmill. Its blades rotate at a casual pace as it faces the ocean and its accompanying shoreline. It appears to be in relatively pristine condition, implying that it is cared for well and often, likely by the locals of the town of Aldrip, which can be easily spied from the elevated level of land upon which the windmill sits.

Outside of the main structure is a collection of wooden crates in various display. Some of these are closed. Some are open. If you observe for long enough, you'll eventually find that a few relatively muscular sorts arrive on the scene to retrieve some of these crates and take them back the distance toward the town that lingers at the base of the mountains. If you choose to inspect the crates, you'll find some of them filled with heavy canvas sacks that contain flour. If you choose to ask the town locals retrieving them about this, they will explain that the windmill companion you have woken near is just one of the many implements that the locals use to provide sustenance to dining tables, festivities, and more.

You have the option to help the locals carry crates back, potentially to curry some favour with them, or simply take some sacks of flour yourself. Crates require more than one person to carry due to the weight, but two able-bodied adults should be able to handle the job quite well. A sack of flour can generally be carried by one, but perhaps you'll find yourself needing some assistance anyway. Maybe ask one of the others who've woken up near you. It certainly seems you're not alone in this new endeavour.

WHERE ONLY THE BRAVE MAY GO

If windmills and manual labour aren't your thing, you may find yourself drawn to the seemingly mysterious cave at the foot of the mountains, not far from the windmill in question.

The locals refer to this cave as Lorentia. Jagged rocks poke out around the entrance and have been sculpted and shaped to resemble what appears to be the massive sharp-toothed mouth of a dragon. It is possible you may be momentarily stopped by one of said locals who will explain that the Lorentia Cave is a passage system that leads through the interior of the mountains, though due to some collapse of the inside, the passageway does not go in far and is currently blocked off for the safety of local citizenry. In other words, proceed with caution.

If you're still feeling brave and care to take a peek inside, by all means. No one's going to stop you.

The interior of Lorentia Cave consists of both narrow passageways and some larger, more cavernous like rooms. There are assorted mining implements scattered along the ground, propped up against the walls, and carts that are filled with various ores, rocks, crystals, and more. The locals of Aldrip use Lorentia Cave for largely mining purposes and many of the things that are retrieved can be used for the smithing forges, the crafting of weaponry, or fashioning into jewellery and other accessories that are sold locally and taken to other towns on the continent.

There are some crudely designed signs that note to take care and depict simple skull drawings, indicating that certain paths may be a little more dangerous to traverse than others. If you are especially lucky (or unlucky, as the case may be), you may even spot some skeletal remains from some less-than-fortunate souls who got caught in a dead-end path and simply never made it out again.

If you listen closely, sometimes you hear the flutter of wings and a distant roar. Maybe it's best not to linger...

NO SOMETHING FOR NOTHING

MAXWELL'S SILVER ROCK-HAMMER

The townsfolk are welcoming to newly-arrived, something that has largely been met with a fair amount of scepticism and wariness from prior arrivals. That said, they continue to be hospitable, eager to share stories and songs about their land, their people, and their traditions.

A jewelcrafter is displaying their work today, putting their various wares out for locals and members of the Chosen to admire, or perhaps to purchase. Part of their demonstration is opening geodes with rock-hammers and showing off the impressive inside of colour and masterful natural works of art gifted to them by the land's bounty. They may choose to speak a little on how they revere the land, the resources they've been given, and how all of this has been bestowed upon them by the very gracious Those Who Were There, a mysterious and seemingly celestial higher power.

For those who are interested, they have the opportunity to offer some assistance to the jewelcrafter by opening some geodes as well. There's plenty of rock-hammers to go around and the most recent retrieval from Lorentia Cave's mining appears to have been very successful. The jewelcrafter is so moved by the offer of help that he's more than happy to let those who aid him keep one opened geode for themselves at no cost.

Congratulations on your new piece of decor!

FORGING BONDS IN THE FIRES OF PASSION

If you were a brave soul who made visit to the Lorentia Cave and came back with some weapon or armour crafting materials (including skeletal remains), you'll find that the smithies of Aldrip are eager to do business and many of them enjoy their craft for the sake of being passionate about what they do.

They'll waste no time in starting the forge and should you have a specific piece in mind you are requesting, as long as they have the materials on hand, they'll even be willing to show you the general process from start to finish on a rough draft of the piece in question. If you're feeling especially keen to help, they may offer to let you work directly on your project, though they will express apprehension and a wary eye for those who fail to have prior experience with such gruelling tasks.

Once your piece is finished, you can either wear it immediately, learn the best way to maintain and keep your equipment, or put it out on public display to show the rest of Aldrip and its residents, new and old alike. If you choose to let the smithies keep your piece, they'll pay you the cost of the materials you've brought them, plus a small percentage markup depending on how much personal effort you put into the craftsmanship personally.

Better yet, you may have just come out of the situation with a permanent bond. The smithies have an appreciation for those who share similar interests and may be willing to provide future discounts to those who purchase their wares.

FEEDING THE MASSES

YOU'RE A REEL CATCH

Aldrip locals always have a need for food and with many Chosen having recently arrived, that need has increased exponentially, for now they have a larger number of mouths to keep fed and stomachs to keep happy. To help inspire this retrieval of food, Aldrip is hosting a fishing competition and anyone who's interested in participating may do so, provided that they follow the guidelines set in place.

All participants must use local fishing equipment and this will be provided by the various merchants in town free of charge, save for those who wish to keep their fishing tackle. All fish caught within the local rivers, ponds, and the nearby ocean are acceptable for submission. Citizens (local or Chosen) are forbidden from using magic or technology as a means to catch their quarry. Anyone found breaking these rules will be disqualified and will be fish'd (that is, they will have raw flopping fish thrown at them).

The winner of the competition is chosen by having caught the largest fish (determined by size and weight) and will be announced at the end of the competition. The applicable winner may keep their fishing tackle free of charge and have their winning fish cooked in the style of their choice by the locals, which can then be shared amongst the people if they so choose (a fantastic way to make friends). The winner will also have a mediocre fish sculpture awarded to them with their name chiselled into the details in honour of their glorious victory.

OOC Notes:
Both TDM participants and characters already in the game may participate in the fishing competition. Please use the designated comment if you wish to partake. On the 13th of March (after applications have closed for the cycle), the winner will be announced and drawn by RNG. We will announce who the winner is on this TDM post (in these notes), the moderator plurk, and the OOC community.

I'M A [X], NOT A FISHER

If you're not a fishing kind of individual yourself, there's still plenty for you to get involved with.

Aldrip has need of people who are capable of preparing meals, especially seafood. It is probable that many participants of the fishing competition will end up fishing up things that are not fish or eligible for submission, but still edible. These include crabs, lobsters, jellyfish, octopuses, clams, and other related sea life. If you have experience with cooking or simply want to help out, the Aldrip locals will welcome you with open arms and may even pay you for your assistance.

If cooking isn't your forte, you'll find that some of the Aldrip citizens enjoy a betting pool from time to time. If you have some coins or something else you don't mind putting up for gamble, you might just come out with the whole pot if you put your currency on the winning fisher. Anyone found to be attempting to rig the betting pool and competition, however, will be returned their bet. We don't take kindly to cheaters here.

At least not openly.

Fishing can be a sometimes dangerous pastime. You may find a fisher who has gotten themselves accidentally hooked on their line or perhaps when they were freeing a fish, the hook got lodged into their thumb. Aldrip welcomes those who have healing abilities to help assist those more unfortunate situations, so fishers can go back to casting out their lines to make the most of the competition. That said, there's nothing in it for potential healers, just the notion that you've done a good deed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Waking Up to a Windmill

[The last thing Zack remembered was looking up at the sky as his eyesight failed. It was a comforting sight. So blue, so warm, so forgiving. A part of him had resented that he'd never see his parents in Gongaga again or Aerith or even see Cloud safely to Midgar, but he was sure that his friend would be okay. And he knew that Tseng would watch over Aerith, if push came to shove.

The warmth of a late spring sun seems to hit him and he feels his face scrunch up. Was there a sun in the afterlife? He hadn't thought about it. Maybe? Would he get to see Angeal? Or maybe Genesis? Slowly, he opens his eyes and sees some weird structure overhead that sort of remind him of Kalm. Gingerly, he stands up, but it's obvious that he's hurt still. Not as bad, but still hurt. He pats down his belongings, noticing the warm, sticky, congealing liquid on his clothes, until he finds what he's looking for: Cure Materia.

After using it on himself, Zack still feels achy and sore—not unlike it feels when he exercises a bit too much—but it's liveable. (Can you get body aches when you're dead?) Then he takes a good look around.]

Uh, this is new. Did I somehow get near Kalm?

[He spends a few more minutes looking around until he sees the crates.]

Huh. Flour. Guess that makes sense. [He spots someone else nearby and asks questions, getting the lowdown on the mill and the flour.] Yeah, if you need a hand, I'd be willing to lend it.

[What else does he have to do in the afterlife, right?]

Getting Lost in a Cave

[Eventually all of the crates are taking to the village at the foot of the mountains and his curiosity gets the better of him when he sees all of the caves. He's never been one to back down from a challenge. He's lived his whole life wanting to be a hero and doing everything he could to reach the levels of Sephiroth and the other SOLDIER First Class members. He was the last to reach that rank, but he's always wanted to be the best. So, there's no way he's backing down from exploring some strange cave.

In a way, it's sort of like the caves in the mountains of Wutai. He's never really been to them, but he's heard enough about them from the whispers of the soldiers during the war to figure that there's got to be something in there worth checking out.

As he stands at the entrance, Zack looks over to the person beside him and grins.]

Think we can find some jewels and riches in there? That would be pretty cool.

Wild card

[OOC: This is a voice test and hopeful way to app in Zack to the game. If there's something that you want to do that I haven't put up here, feel free to write it up or contact me on Plurk at

makochan so we can hammer something out. I'm easy. ;)]

[She is adept at meddling in the affairs of others, whether they wish for her to or not. Some of the Aldrip locals have probably found this trait of hers endearing, while others perhaps not so much. It does, however, guarantee that she's likely to help out around the town as much as she possibly can.

It's a good way of occupying herself. It's an even better way to use a lot of that time to observe the people. To listen to their conversations. To understand their way of life and how to better appeal to them and what they might need. A good rapport might give all of them, those like her, the information they so dearly covet.

When Zack addresses her, it's as she's leaned over the side of a wooden crate, hands on a sack of flour, probably with the intention to lift it right up. That's obviously not something she'll be able to do on her own, but evidently she is a brave enough soul to try.]

Hm? Oh, that'd be—

[A nagging voice in the back of her mind prods at her. There's recognition there. A voice she knows quite well. A voice she feels intimately familiar with. Relenting her hold on the flour sack, Aerith looses a sigh, lifting a hand to sweep back across her forehead.

She's pooped!

But when she gets an eyeful of him, her breath lightly catches. At first, she isn't quite sure what to say. He's the loveliest thing to see in those moments. Could she really be so fortunate? First Cloud, now—]

—great. [She manages to say, not quite breathless, but on the verge of it.] That'd be great.

[Zack remembers a time where she was reluctant to do anything but grow her flowers in her church. If she's gone beyond that and expanded her world outside of the slums of Midgar, he'll be pleased. The world is so big and Sector 5 is so small, that the former deserves to bathe in her inner sunshine more than the latter.

Besides, he'd know that hair, that pink ribbon, those grass green eyes, that easy, cheerful smile anywhere. He's dreamed of her for years, missed her every time he was dragged to some corner of Gaia that didn't include her.

He sees the way she stops and stares, and there's a pang there because it's been so long since he went on his last mission and never returned. And thanks to Tseng, he knows that it's been long enough for her to send 88 letters that he never got until the very end of them. He'd been on his way to find her, tell her he loved her, run away from SOLDIER and ShinRa so that he could be with her when the cleanup crew found him and Cloud and he never quite made it all the way back to Midgar. So close, and yet so very far away from the one person he'd ever wanted.

And even though he feels that pain, he gives her an easy smile that he reserves just for her.]

Well, how can I say no to that? I'm your guy if you need something heavy lifted. [He curls his bicep, showing off all those lovely muscles he gained going up the ranks of SOLDIER to become First Class. If he's lucky, she'll play along and laugh, lightening up the mood and earning him her beautiful smile again.] Point me where you want me, Aerith.

[She has nothing but questions.

How.
Why.
When.

A plethora of them that sit upon the tongue and she is either unwilling to give them voice, or she simply understands that now is not the time. It hadn't been so long before that she had that gentle realisation. That she could feel when he wouldn't be coming home to her. Or his mother in Gongaga. She thinks of the younger version of herself that was so uncertain about the world. The version of herself that didn't think admiring a real blue sky was necessary. The world had seemed so very small in comparison to what she really grew to understand.

She has Zack to thank for so much of that. She is the way she is now, in large part, due to him and his influence in her life. He has defined parts of her in so many ways that there is simply no denying that. To see him in the flesh, her heart is both bittersweet in its happiness and aching. A part of her wants to reach out to touch him. Just to see if he's real. Another part of her is too cowardly to do any such thing.

And yet when he speaks, when he jokes around with her, he still sounds like the same member of Soldier who came crashing into the roof atop her flowers. She stills all of the uncertainty that wants to creep into her voice and issues soft laughter. Maybe it won't hurt so much if she can laugh. Maybe, if he's simply a daydream, she can look back on memories made instead of promises unfulfilled.]

I'll make it up to you somehow. However you'd like. [She grins through it all, her insides not fully representative of what she wears on the outside. Gently her teeth hold her bottom lip for just a moment as she moves aside for him and beckons him over.] I was trying to get this out. Help me take it back to town. I can show you around. Or we... can get something to eat? Or we can just talk.

[She isn't sure what he might want to do. If he wants to do any of those things at all.]

[He's got a lot of questions too. Like, is this the afterlife and if it is, what happened to her? There's some hesitancy between them both that he can feel. He wants to reach out and pull her to him in a big hug, soak in all her sunshine and life and sweetness, never let her go. But there's something in her eyes that tells him that she knows he died.

His arm falls down to his side and he hesitates. He's nearly never been so unsure around her.... No, that's not true. She's always kinda thrown him off his game, but she's also made his world brighter. He rubs at the back of his head and then gives her an awkward smile.]

What do you have to make up? I'm the one who didn't come back. [The urge to touch her is back and he pulls at the short hairs at the nape of his neck. How do you talk to your girlfriend that you were forced to stay away from for five years and who has probably moved on?] I... Uh.. I'd like all of that, but let's first get this done. You can wait here and I'll take care of it.

[He picks up one of the massive crates with one arm easily. All that experimentation by ShinRa is worth it if he can show off a bit for Aerith and get this done quickly.]

["I'm the one who didn't come back."

There it is. It's worthy to call into question how Aerith has felt about any of that. A younger, bright-eyed version of herself writing letters to a guy who never actually wrote back. Wondering if he was too busy to. Wondering if maybe he never saw them. Five years is a long time not to see someone. She's certainly not the same girl she was back then. She can't imagine that he's the same guy either.

There is so much that he doesn't know. About her. Her circumstances. About the things she's seen, heard, and experienced. Maybe she's kept so much about herself a secret from him. She can remember so many times trying to learn more about him and the world he'd come from. How he came to be the man she knew him as. Charmed by how much he just wanted to truly help others.

A light in a world where there was so much darkness. A breath of fresh air where she'd not known she needed it.

Aerith shakes her head. She won't address that. Not now. Again, it's just not the time. She doesn't know when the time will be, but now is not it.]

What, you're just going to do it without me? No, no, no. I can help!

[Indicatively, she lifts her arms and she flexes. She's not nearly impressive, but maybe it's the spirit that counts.]

I'm pretty strong! I can't carry one by myself, I could probably help! [Probably. Although the way he just lifts it and makes it look so easy is enough to coerce a laugh out of her.] Or you can just do that and I'll come with you as pretty decoration or something.

[He's not the same guy, no, but he still loves her. He's only ever loved her. The fact that he's realized that he's been gone for five years hurts. It's why he tried so hard to get back to Midgar. Her letters.... He only ever got that last one, the one telling him goodbye.

He smiles through the pain as he watches her try to mimic him, but that comment about her being a pretty decoration has him setting the crate down so that he can pull her in a hug. It takes him a while before he can let her go. He doesn't really want to, and, yeah, they probably need to talk, but going without touching her again was never going to work for him.]

Y-yeah, let's get this moved. [He picks the crate of flour up and just starts walking, trying really hard not to think about what he just did.]

[Maybe there's a part of her that's expected it. When he takes her into that hug, short-lived and fleeting though it may be, she feels the same warmth all the way down to her core. She has thought about that hug for a very long time. Wanting to greet him when he came back. If she'd been given that opportunity to. Instead, what she got was a 'greeting' of a different kind.

A sombre understanding of reality and just how cruel it could be. How she could not let everything he'd been to her stand for nothing.

As quickly as it's there, however, it's gone just as quickly. She doesn't have the time to utter more than a minutely surprised 'oh—' and little else. But he reaches back down for the crate and with a little pink flush in her features, Aerith's smile turns soft. Not quite sheepish, but perhaps something akin to.]

Gosh, that was nice.

[Because it was. They've both probably been overdue. She doubts either of them ever expected to see the other.]

Are you sure I can't help?

Zack Fair 🌟 Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core 🌟 OTA

Windmill!

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windmill

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windmill adjacent

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Getting Lost

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