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

🏹 Exploration is Good For the Soul 🏹

[Fran has scoffed and ignored the letter found among her belongings. It takes her a while to find her bow in the tall grasses, but the strange windmills in the distance catch her attention soon enough. However, she doesn't really care about them. They're not important to her at this point. Finding someone or something to help her navigate is, since her senses are completely off with the disconnection to Ivalice and the Mists that guide everything.

All she sees is people in the strange world and Balthier is definitely the more talkative betwixt the two of them, so she ignores the groups near the windmills and stalks towards the town to try and listen in on others as they speak so she can find out where she really is and what's going on.

There's some conversations about what could possibly be going on in the caves and she feels a familiar tingle down her spine that says she should point her attention that way. As she steps in and looks around, she's reminded of the cave system underneath Archades and she frowns before attempting to reach out once again with all of her senses. Only to be met with full silence on all fronts but the natural smells and sounds of a cave and lots of human pheromones.]

The Occuria seem to be reveling in removing me from the land of my foremothers.

🏹 Time to Cash In 🏹

[After her time in the caves is done, Fran has a very nice collection of raw gems, geodes, and ore that she figures will fetch som gil and help her pay for information. It's not exactly what she would like to do, but the stirrings of her stomach and the setting of the sun means she has to find some food and shelter for the evening before starting anew.

So, she heads into the town where she can hear the sound of hammers on anvils and billows keeping furnaces alive. She stops in front of one such, and begins negotiation with the woman who is running the shop and places a few items on the tables.]

I would like to trade this in. [She is surprised when the woman looks her up and down and offers to let her use some of the items to craft better armor. It's true that she's wearing light leather items, but they help her move faster in battle. However, it's not that she's insulted. No, in fact, the Viera is amused at the offer.] We do not have these things where I am from, but I am happy to learn something new.

[Who knew that at nearly a hundred years old, Fran would learn the finer details of... blacksmithing?]

🏹 Fish For Dinner 🏹

[Things seem so peaceful here, reminding her a bit of a few of the outer villages of Ivalice. So when one of the competition promoters approaches her, she looks down at him before nodding and signing up.]

I see no harm in doing so.

[A girl has to eat. And with no one else around, she has to find a way to make a living as well.]

🏹 Wildcard 🏹

[OOC: If you want something with Fran that's not here, please hit me up on plurk at

makochan for something and I can write you a starter, or feel free to have inspiration take you to strange places!]

[Takemichi has already been planted in the corner for a while when Fran begins her negotiations. Just watching the blacksmith do her work had been mesmerizing enough, but the arrival of a real live bunny girl in leather is almost too stimulating for him to handle. Excitement combined with the heat of the furnace means that he's beet red in a matter of minutes.

A smarter guy would have cooled off before saying anything to his newfound company. Takemichi is not a smarter guy. He's downright giddy as he hop-steps closer, leans over a workbench next to her.]

It's cool, right? [He beams.] I'm getting shoes! Metal toe boots. Kinda lost my old shoes my first day here.

[Fran turns her head and lets her red eyes take in the hume nearly bouncing up and down closeby. She has seen different reactions to the Viera that leave the Warren and decide to deal with the rest of the races of Ivalice. Excitement does seem to be high amongst them, especially when they find a newly arrived Viera attractive.

Her eyes are cool and accessing, taking in every feature, including smell. Yes, her senses of smell and hearing are a little under assault because of the area they are in, but that doesn't mean she doesn't take in anything at all.

Quickly, she slots him into the same space as she would Vaan and his young friends of Rabanastre: young, foolish, excitable, and dangerous to himself mostly.]

How does one lose one's shoes upon arrival? [She spares a glance down at her own footwear, firmly attached to her clawed feet.] It seems most foolish to do so.

[Between the smell of sweat, the oversized sandals he's borrowing, and the terribly honest way every emotion he experiences crosses his face without filter, this is a hilariously apt analysis]

Yeah, well... [He laughs a little self-deprecating laugh.] There was a festival, and the people living around here were taking offerings. I didn't have anything else, and it felt like everybody was staring at me, y'know? So I just... strung 'em up!

[He mimes the act of tossing something into a tree. Definitely foolish over here.]

It's cool though. These boots are gonna be way nicer.

[Fran has been in worse situations. Do you know what the slums of Archades smell like for someone who has such sensitive senses? The absolute worse. Of course, most coastal regions are also bad. She's just sort of grown used to her senses being assaulted when dealing with areas that have a lot of people.

And since she's a pirate, she has to be in areas with lots of people a great deal of the time. The Strahl has to make berth somewhere, after all.]

You gave them as an offering to gods you do not worship? [She cocks her head in confusion, wondering if this hume has hit his head or is just more special than she is used to dealing with.]

Have you contributed anything to the making of your new footwear or have you only offered gil in trade?

You're pretty new, right? After waking up in this weird place, no idea where you are or why somebody hates you enough to give you that crazy rap sheet, you'd offer something to anyone who'd take it if you thought it'd keep you from getting smited.

[He looks up at her like he's expecting her to reject the notion, but he can't help hoping for a bit of vindication anyway.]

Wouldn't you?

[Fran's face is inscrutible as she considers what he is saying. She has a good idea of who sent her here, considering the crime she's been accused of, but she can see that someone would take this sort of option.]

Not I. Those who have sent me here have made their disdain for myself very obvious. This may be a nice prison, but I have no illusions as to what I am here for.

[She pierces him with her bright red eyes.]

This is not the case for you. What I would do matters not.

[He would know her anywhere, of course— Fran has always stood out among the humes and other more prominent peoples of Ivalice, and here she stands head and shoulders above many. It's her ears that he spots from a distance, en route to the inn after a day of trying to see what further information he can glean from the locals, and the momentary surprise of seeing his partner after weeks apart is swiftly replaced with something far warmer.

Though he knows he has no chance of taking her by surprise the way he'd like, he still approaches her from behind as she parts ways with the young man promoting the fishing competition. She'll hear his footsteps before he even speaks, he's certain, but he lets his hands come to settle on his hips all the same, smiling broadly.]

Fashionably late, I see. Stylish as ever, Fran.

[She smells and hears him long before he reaches her. It would be difficult for her to really express how frustrating it was to wake up here alone and to be accused of crimes right away without him by her side. She has spent years with Balthier as her partner, the one who deals with the others while she does what's necessary, including distracting people in their way of a payout.

When he gets closer, she slowly turns to look over her shoulder at the familiar face, her relief not showing at all on her face or in her body movement.]

I have learned from you to make a momentarily dramatic entrance. [It is one of the things they've done together without even really talking about it.] I would say that you are late, as I have been here all day.

All a matter of perspective, hm?

[He's learned a great deal from her over the years, but if he's been able to teach her anything, it is certainly theatrics— something he's always had a knack for, even before his turn to piracy.

Fran may not show her relief outwardly, but he's certain she's as glad to see him as he is her, and would be even without the decidedly worrisome welcome this place has to offer.]

It's been weeks, by my count, though being grounded has made it feel longer yet. It is good to see you, regardless of the timing— though I wish the circumstances were different.

[That said, he's quite curious to hear her initial impressions of this place.]

[She turns slowly, her eyes narrowing in a questioning gesture that she's sure that Balthier probably understands more that she's really comfortable thinking about. She's spent so much time with him, watching him go from Ffamran to Balthier, that she hasn't thought that while she was categorizing everything about him that he's been doing the same with her.

And, yes, she is glad to see him, but the words are not comforting. At all.]

You do not make sense. You and I were only just helping the Little Queen and the others leave the Bahamut as it fell. [She looks down to where she has a fresh burn on her stomach, under the gauze of her outerwear. She's healed herself, but the burn is still there as a nice little scar that she won't be getting away from any time soon.] I was expecting Rabanastre. Not this.

[He exhales steadily, just this side of a whistle, and his expression shifts to something rather more somber— neither one of them will be forgetting that particular bout of dashing heroics anytime soon, he's certain, though he's glad to see that Fran is in decent shape, all things considering. He'd been a proper mess for ages, afterwards, even with the aid of healing magicks.]

It's been some time since that particular stunt of ours, from where I stand, though much of that time was spent in Ivalice.

[Recovering. Waiting for the right moment to reclaim their ship from their young friends.]

That is curious, even moreso than the fact that I arrived here some weeks before you did. You're quite right— it makes little sense.

[She's not inclined to repeat it, no, but she doubts there will be another occasion to go up against the Archadian Empire if Larsa takes over. The dead emperor and Vayne weren't really men to be trusted, but the young princeling is a different story.

And it will take more than just a crashing airship into a city to take her down. Her healing magic was adequate enough to keep her alive, but the scar adds to her reputation as a dashing sky pirate, yes?

She turns her head and looks him over, making sure there is nothing wrong with him. She can feel the faint traces of the Mist that cling to the two of them, but there is no greater connection to the powers of Ivalice that she's known her whole life.]

There is no Mist here. [She tries to think of how to put it.] It feels empty, but alive. There is some power that is keeping this world alive, but it is not what we are used to.

Mm.

[He makes a small noise of assent as he agrees with her, nodding as his arms come to fold across his chest. He does not have a Viera's keen senses, of course, but he had suspected as much.]

Even to a hume, this place feels different, though Mist or no, I can confirm that our magicks still work. Whatever power does hold this world together seems to be sufficient enough for that. I'm interested to know what else that sharp nose of yours might reveal to us— but if you've been wandering all day, I'm certain you've discovered all sorts of things.

[Fran was always quite good at that. Observant, sharp.]

Of course, I would be remiss not to see to my dearest partner's comfort, first. Are you hungry?

[Balthier is the only person she has had a connection with since leaving the comfort of Wood and Warren. He doesn't push her for answers and always listens when she speaks, even if he doesn't understand what she's saying right away. She appreciates her time with him as partners.

It's no surprise that he understands her.]

Tis good to know that we are not completely cut off from what we are on Ivalice. [Although, a part of her thinks that she would know if she was unable to use any of her technics or magicks. When he asks her about what else she senses, she frowns.] Humes, sweat, rotted food, desperation, despair, all the smells of populated areas outside the Wood and desert.

[So much desperation.]

Many appear to be very concerned that we are here suddenly. I cannot say that I disagree. [But she's not the type to complain about it like that.]

I would not say no to food, but I have been told that I am now in this fishing contest.

Quite a combination, isn't it?

[Even he can pick up some of that— the more overt smells that even a hume nose can detect— but her ability to note things such as despair, desperation, that will always be uniquely Fran.

Desperation. Yes, he can't say he's surprised to hear there's a fair amount of that here.]

The locals do seem quite keen on making us feel at home. No doubt the tournament has something to do with that. I'll not try to dissuade you should you wish to accept the invitation— if it could even be called that. If you plan to participate, I'll gladly keep you company. I've some working theories about what's at play, and given that fishing is largely waiting, we would have ample opportunity to talk.

[That said, they're both quick to break rules when it suits them. If she'd rather skip and join him for dinner, he would be glad to speak with her there, as well. The where is not important— he's only grateful that she's here.]

Fran 🐇 FF12 🏹 OTA

time to cash in;

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fish for dinner/wildcard combo

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exploration

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