memesinthenight | TEST DRIVE MEME #4

Entry tags:

!tdm

TEST DRIVE MEME #4

Hello and welcome to the In the Night test drive meme for September! Thanks for your interest in our game! Reserves open on September 20, and applications open on September 22.

While you're here...
Take a look at our rules and faq pages to familiarize yourself with the game.
Note that we have a reserve cap of 20, and a (current) application cap of 13 apps this month for new players, as the game has a player cap of 60. An accurate count of current players will always be available on the taken page.
TDM threads can become game canon if both players wish. If the situation isn't something that could happen in-game, you're free to chalk it up to some strange hallucination, a shared dream, or other mysterious circumstance.
Note that this is not limited to new characters threading with characters already in-game. If current players wish to thread out the TDM prompts as canon events, they are welcome to do so. They are welcome to make posts in the main comms for TDM events as well. Please note, however, that actual plot clues or happenings will not occur in TDM prompts.
If you plan to apply, please keep in mind that we do require at least one sample thread on the application to be from our TDM (though it doesn't need to be the current TDM).
You're welcome to use the provided prompts or come up with something on your own, but we do ask that all threads take place in our game's setting.

Thank you again, and we hope you'll choose to join us!

log prompts

GATHER YE ROSEBUDS WHILE YE MAY

With a cloud of mourning having weighed heavy on Beacon over the last month, the Lighthouse Keeper has decided to try and rally the community with a game: a selfie scavenger hunt! With the promise of (secret) prizes for those who play along, she's provided a list of 25 different items to track down and take a picture with. And, of course, all submissions will be public for others to view and comment upon. A town forum, Instagram-style. How fun! Feel like teaming up? Finding a companion to go searching with could make the task go by faster, as there's nothing saying that you can't both submit the same pictures so long as you take them together. And what's a proper game without company?

This prompt is a mini version of this month's Gather Up event.

IT'S RAININ' SIDEWAYS

Overall, the weather has been mild lately. Since Autumn hit, the standard has been overcast darkness blotting the stars and little wind. The rumble of thunder sounds just before the downpour begins, as if a switch has been flipped up in the clouds. If you're in the Invincible, the houses in the village, or any of the other solid establishments, it isn't anything to worry about, really. Mostly, it just means hunkering down until the storm passes. However...it seems that someone opted to build themselves a structure in the square that's proven not to be able to withstand these harsher elements. Whether you're the unfortunate sap in the tent or you're merely a bystander, one way or another, you notice its roof cave in, the beams placed to support it buckling inward and trapping the inhabitant inside. It's not enough to crush someone, but it'll surely be difficult to gather oneself as the wind and the rain bears down without mercy. Call for help and maybe someone will hear you, or be the good Samaritan that runs to their aid.

network prompts

I CAN'T *PBBT* UNDERSTAND *PBBT* YOUR ACCENT

Something's wrong. The things that you type and the things that you speak are transforming themselves upon being posted to the network. Or maybe that's not quite accurate, because everything in your posts are certainly your own words...it's just that indiscernible static has descended upon the page and crept into your audio, blocking out pieces of your statements--just enough to change the overall meaning of what you were originally saying. Efforts to clarify don't seem to be improving the situation, and it's hard to say if there's any way of fixing this. Maybe it's a comfort that the problem isn't isolated on your end; after all, that effectively takes the issue out of your hands to solve. Or maybe it's just the opposite. Maybe knowing that the network is experiencing widespread failures, however mild, fills you with a sense of dread and unease. One thing's clear, at least: you'll need a bit of luck to get your point across for the time being.

THE TITLE EQUIVALENT FOR WHEN YOUR GRANDMA COMMENTS ON YOUR UNRELATED FB STATUS AS IF SHE'S WRITING YOU A PERSONAL LETTER

Sometime in the recent past you had a problem. Maybe it was a dire emergency advertised to the community at large, maybe you became overwhelmed with stress and needed the ear of a close friend, or maybe it was just something embarrassing you were sharing in confidence. Unfortunately, regardless of what the message was, it looks like it disappeared the moment you hit send, as if it had been eaten by the network itself. It's been long enough now that you've brushed it off; you've been able to solve your problem one way or another and moved on. That's when it appears, unprompted, on the network for all to see, regardless of how private it was meant to be. Well, now you might have a bit of explaining to do.

QUICKNAV
comms	\|	network • logs • memes • ooc
pages	\|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Sorry to hear that.

[ Offering hope that maybe they'll show up just doesn't... feel right? Not in a place like this anyways. ]

Not so sure I'm a fan of the constant darkness.

[ With his lantern held tight, he gives a quick look around, trying to gauge just where they are and what the best rout to take out of here is. Looking back to her, he nods with a bit of a smile. ]

Alright, El. What do you say we get ourselves out of here?

[ Because they've been standing around long enough in this downpour going on around them and the last thing either of them need is to lose their lanterns in this or, worse, have them break unexpectedly. ]

[When the wall had fallen and his father's strength had began to fail. All of Insomnia believed, foolishly, that such a fate could never befall them. They were protected. Kept safe behind thick walls made of stone and impenetrable shields formed by magic. Guarded by the Kingsglaive. Watched over by the Crownsguard. There was an heir. Another to wear the ring and pick up where the father had left off. Who would willingly give of their life force until it too was depleted.

His father had tried to end a war in which there was only ever going to be one outcome. And it wasn't in their favor. Even if they somehow managed to find the crystal, to bring it back. Even if they retook their home, opened the walls and tried to unite Lucis. The Empire would always be a threat. Crawling around like roaches who they would never quite be entirely rid of.

Noctis had never wanted to be king. Perhaps that made him selfish, never looking past his own failings and weaknesses to realize that there was a bigger picture. Those who had given and sacrificed everything just for a chance to see him upon that throne. He hadn't wanted that either.

There's no need for a shield here in this place. Protecting him is no longer worth anything, a task he can complete on his own. Doesn't need a glaive to stand by him. Honestly, the words sick and tired come to mind when he thinks about just how many people are in his life because they were paid to be there and not because they chose to be. Because that decision had been made for them long ago.

But Nyx speaks again and it catches his attention. Has him glancing up, taking in the pitiful sight of the uniform he wears. Torn and tattered and covered in ash, like the battered and singed skin that lays beneath. It's a choice that's being made. One powered by free will.]

I wasn't given a choice. [His father had just sent him on his merry way. On some road trip with his friends. Off to set sail for his wedding. No one had ever asked him if that was what he wanted. To leave his father and his home behind. To marry Luna.

To not be there when his father needed him most.

Was there even anything he could have done? Or would he have died along side everyone else? It was a choice that he hadn't been allowed to make. All because he apparently had some higher purpose.]

I never wanted this. For anyone to die for me. My dad. Ignis and Luna. Even you. King of kings, and I still couldn't protect anyone.

[No. No he never, ever tells anyone these things. Because even if he tried, he knows the exact thing that would happen. Gladio would tell him to get over it. That he was king now and this wasn't what kings did. Ignis would tell him that he should share his burdens with them, that he didn't have to carry them alone. But wasn't that exactly what he was trying to do? Prompto would try and make him feel better. Make him smile. And he would, just because he couldn't stand to see the look on his friends face when he didn't.]

Guess you took my offer seriously. [To be his new shield. Not that he entirely minds. Nyx had already earned his respect.

But he shifts, just a little bit closer. Like he's going to attempt healing those wounds again but hesitates.] I don't have a lot of magic here. But my armiger still works. If you want it.

Huh
That's not a bad idea
There are a bunch of board games in the general store
We could always have a game night

I sure hope so

Yes. Humans are... crafty. They also shoved a tomato sauce in a jar

Oh, that's all right.
Do you dislike the dark? Although I haven't been here long, I find myself already missing the light of day.

If we do, would you be willing to teach me how to play them? It won't hurt to get to know one another through something more relaxing than the usual.

If we did not, we would be destroyed. It may be a noble purpose, but it is also a necessary one.

There are several realms where I'm from, one in particular that is trying to merge with mine and take over. It cannot be allowed or all life would be conquered.

The dark itself isn't so bad. But the darkness is something we're fighting to prevent back where I'm from.

[ He looks a little worse for wear himself what with the tattered clothing, ashen skin on his left arm, and scars running up the side of his face. But hey, maybe the warm glow from the bonfire softens all that up a bit. ]

You a fighter then? A name like that doesn't really catch me as the type to be a baker or something.

[ He could, of course, be wrong. But still. ]

[ That description alone has his thoughts trail off to someone it could damn near perfectly match, save for the fact that she's speaking about a kid. But the small, blonde, pain in the ass parts... yeah, that definitely fits someone he knows. Someone who shouldn't be here.

Somehow, the wind isn't enough to tear him out of his thoughts but her suggesting he more or less move his ass lest he be left out here in this storm? Yeah, that sure does. ]

Not that much of an idiot.

[ He gives a shake of his head with just the faintest look of amusement on his face before he ducks himself inside along with her, lantern held close which is... certainly going to be a thing to figure out how to handle practically twenty-four seven. ]

[ Yeah he's definitely going to have his work cut out for him here. He can already tell.

He shrugs at the question, looking back to the crackling fire that dances and flickers in front of them. ]

Guess that's something you're gonna have to get used to. Looks like there's a lot about this place you're gonna have to get used to.

[ The perpetual darkness aside, for one thing. ]

You just get here or something?

[ Kettara nods. ]

There are monsters in my home as well. Monsters and great beasts. But we endure, because it is our home.

You likely would.

[ It's said simply. When the choice is fight or die, Kettara will always choose to fight. In that way, she understands why her mother and all the others took the blood when it was offered. They felt they had no other choice. Perhaps it was true at the time, but it doesn't matter now, when she knows how it ended.

She's still here, though. Dead and yet - not, somehow. Kettara flexes her hands, watching the strange fire. It feels like home to her, careful and warm in her hands. But it throws no light and there is no response when she reaches out to it with her mind. Perhaps this is how death is meant to be. ]

Is that how you died?

[ The scars are interesting, and strange because she cannot immediately tell the cause. But asking would imply some greater intimacy or understanding between them, and that feels unwise to start with a human.

Kettara shrugs. She feels angry and then she feels nothing in turns. One takes one over other without warning, and with great strength. Perhaps this is what dying does to you. ]

My mother was a great warrior.

[ Or so she's been told, at least. ]

I was a shaman. It was my duty to maintain balance between the elemental spirits.

No. One of the elder gods, Kronika the keeper of time, was attempting to reset the timeline and erase the protector of Earthrealm from existence in order to facilitate Earth's takeover by her son. We attacked her in her keep where she wields the sands of time.

I died in the battle to get to her. I'll never know if we were able to stop her or not.

[Something he thinks about often. He hopes they did, he knows that three of them got into the keep itself, but beyond that he'll never find out.]

And yourself?

[Bruce's lantern is very dim, but it isn't invisible entirely. He has to use his body to disguise it, to reach for the heavy cloth he's been hiding it beneath- and that's a process in and of itself. The footsteps are a little further off, in the square and nearer to the buildings. That's good. There are other people there- visible as lights bobbing back and forth through the night. Some voices carry, discussions about the scavenger hunt and some keep on going towards their destination. One of them doesn't move at all, paused in place.

He moves deliberately and quietly. Bruce slowly rises to his feet, reaching for the cloth tucked into his belt and in the process, his lantern appears as a dull, brief blink in an otherwise empty wood. The cloth comes down over it, bundled carefully around the shape of the owl. His pencil goes behind his ear. It's important to keep his hands free, just in case.]

[ As Noctis lets these thoughts out of both his heart and mind, Nyx remains silent once again, listening to the pains of the young King beside him. No one was dealt a favorable hand in all of this. Not a single one of them. Nyx accepted the consequences of wanting to give the future to those who wish to see it. But Luna, King Regis, Crowe.. they didn't deserve that hand. Didn't deserve to go out like that. Noctis even... to find him here, trapped within this perpetual night when he was to bring light to their world. Some kind of sick irony right there ~~Bahamut is that you??~~ if you ask him.

But he can imagine the guilt Noctis must feel- have felt. The pain that settles within his chest of not being good enough, not being able to save the people he cares about most. He can feel and taste that pain so strongly... because it's the very same pain which he's carried himself. Why he always wants to play the role of Big Damn Hero. So he gets it. He does. And it's why he can't really even say anything to that. Not because he doesn't know what to say. But because he knows that sometimes there's just nothing to say.

Though when he catches Noctis coming a little closer out of the corner of his eye, he turns his attention onto the young King and comes to smile a bit then. ]

Not gonna give me a hard time for it?

[ He jokes softly, but he'd do it again if he had to. Honestly. ]

I don't really know a lot of what this place has around here. But if it's anything like the Empire had, wouldn't say no to having a bit of a magic on me.

[ The truth is, he might not have even noticed if the light had acted in a way that was usual. If Gordon hadn't seen the brief wink of it from his periphery, the sort of fleeting movement that a trained eye can't help being drawn to, he might have just carried on toward the far end of the square. Instead, Jim lowers his lantern enough to be able to squint and cock his head, staring into the darkness.

Something like that could be any manner of things. The gloom is so heavy that Jim isn't sure that, at a distance, he'd be able to tell the difference between a spirit and a person without their lantern lighting the way. He doesn't know how dangerous those things could be, just like he doesn't know what might be out there in the woods— but that brief flicker, it had almost looked like a flame guttering.

And if there's a chance someone could be in danger, it will always outweigh the danger to his own person.

Still, Jim pulls his gun from his holster— just in case— as he advances on the position. When he's close enough that it's possible someone could jump out and tackle him, he raises his voice. ]

Hello? Someone there?

[ It's not a question, and Gordon didn't expect it to be. He understands the gravity of the situation, not just the threat on her life right now, but how crucial a moment like this is. She isn't just putting her life in his hands— however literally— but also in him as a person. A moment like this could make or break a young person for life. He's watched it happen. ]

I promise.

[ He says, taking the lantern from her, careful in his handling of it. He's afraid of letting the support beam go, but he twists around and stretches, reaching to put the lantern down next to his own in the mud. Not seconds later, he's back up in the gaping wound of the roof. ]

Okay, c'mere—

[ He reaches back in, this time for her. He has to put some of his weight on the structure, and it groans it's protest. ]

Hang on to me.

[ He just needs to get one arm around her, that's all he needs— ]

What gave me away?

[ He's being facetious, he knows full damn well that it's everything about him, from the questions to his outfit. Gordon certainly hasn't been around long enough to put his finger on the pulse of this town, but even he can tell which people have been around for longer than a few hours. Not just from the clothes they wear, but their comfort in their interaction with the environment.

Like the fact she'd been sitting there with a stack of papers in her lap, seemingly unbothered by the fact she's evidently dead and supposedly stuck in a village in the dark.

Jim gestures into the space she'd just cleared of the paper and takes a seat next to her on the log with a polite distance between them. ]

Good reading?

A good fight, then.

[ It sounds very complicated, though Kettara supposes most conflicts seem that way to outsiders. ]

A stranger came and offered to teach me a new way of speaking to the elements, to appease them when our own strength had failed. We--I was foolish and went with him. He betrayed us.

[ She shakes her head. ]

But my master survived. My death will be a lesson to him. He will do better with his next student.

[ She has no way of knowing that back on Azeroth, Muln Earthfury will never take another apprentice. ]

That one almost makes sense. But who makes pasta like this? It's hard!

you just pour it out of the box. don't cook the box

[Box is not pasta.

Thankfully, she arrives in the next minute or so, foregoing the door and jumping in through the open window. It's faster, really.]

Rakan? [Please, let the kitchen be in one piece.]

Edited 2019-09-23 17:47 (UTC)

To warm-up. After all, the bonfire is the only source of permanent light.

[And while she doesn't mind the dark, she does miss the sun. She's been here for two months now and it's finally starting to get to her. It's why she always keeps coming back to the bonfire to just stare at the dancing flames, at least once a day.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 18 of 24

TEST DRIVE MEME #4

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject