TEST DRIVE MEME #4

[inthenightmods]

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

Comments

[callada]

[Yikes, that's... one way to put what happened just now.]

Yeah. There are rooms here upstairs. It was the only place we knew about when we first got here. Some have spread out, but I've stayed. Easier to help in a catastrophe if I'm near the center.

[Yeah, sorry guy, catastrophes apparently happen. Often enough where considering them is practical.]

Speaking of which, I need to head up and get cleaned up. I think there are a few empty rooms though, if you want to claim one and dry off.

[mellowyellow]

[The guy says "catastrophe" like it means "street fair." Masaomi is too tired, wet, and dead to unpack that one just yet. He just drips onto the entrance dispassionately.]

What do I do? Just start knocking on doors and asking where the nearest water heater is?

[callada]

If that's your style. But I think one of the ones at the end of the upper hall is still completely empty, unless someone else grabbed it before you in the last hour or so. Even if you're not staying there, you could use the shower.

[He shrugs, then waves a hand for the guy to follow toward the stairs.]

I'm Rosinante, by the way. And you?

[mellowyellow]

[Despite a million more important things to be surprised about, Masaomi can't help but focus on the unexpected fact that Rosinante can fit in the stairwell. Dude's a magician.

With that thought, Masaomi swallows, tightens his fists at his sides, and stomps after him.]

Masaomi. Just Masaomi's cool. No point in getting formal when we're already chatting over communal showers.

[callada]

Right. Well, there's enough to go around without doing too much sharing, I bet.

[It really is something of a wonder. He has to duck his head and skip steps, but he doesn't seem overly uncomfortable doing it - mostly because he's been at this for a few months now.

But his mastery of the staircase hasn't improved much since the first time he used it and before he makes it to the second floor he misses a step, his foot doesn't quite land, and he goes down with a muffled yelp and a sprawl of limbs as he rides his coat like an upside-down toboggan back down the stairs, then flops limply in a heap. A moment later he sits up and combs fingers through his hair, then hoists himself back onto his feet with the banister for assistance.]

[mellowyellow]

[This ridiculous stunt would have earned Rosinante a barking laugh if Masaomi hadn't been following him up the stairwell. Instead, the clumsy pirate gets a startled curse as Masaomi grabs the railing and leaps it, landing much softer than Rosinante on the other side. He blinks down at his savior, watching the dude pull himself back up like nothing happened.]

...Careful. Floor's wet.

[He comments with a helpful monotone.]

[callada]

[Very funny.

It's probably for the best that he's gotten very used to just completely disregarding snide commentary like that. He just restarts walking up the stairs as if the guy hadn't said anything and if it hadn't happened at all, once he's had a second first to check over his lantern and make sure it's all still together, which it thankfully is. It makes the falls worse - each time the flame's housing is jarred, he feels it in his chest. The casing is sturdy and yet, as he learned in that first month, sometimes not sturdy enough.

By sheer luck he makes it up the two flights without further incident, then gestures at a nearby door.]

Think that one's empty. Should have a shower, but I make no promises about it having any other furniture. Or hell, who knows. When I got here, the room I ended up in started with something like twelve chairs all crammed in there. Makes me wonder what the last residents were even up to.

[mellowyellow]

[Masaomi can give the guy props for not getting flustered, but it's kind of dull that way. Oh well. All that means is that next time, he'll have to come up with something even better.

Once Rosinante has passed him again, he climbs back over the railing and this time makes it to the correct floor. He takes the guy's helpful warning with a wave of his hand and a cheery grin.]

Got it. If I see anything that looks like it belongs in a cheap-o horror flick, I'm leaving it in front of your door.