TEST DRIVE MEME #1

[inthenightmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

Hello and welcome to the In the Night test drive meme for June! Thanks for your interest in our game! Reserves open on June 20, and applications open on June 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/application cap of 20 apps per month (this has been waived for the first month!).
  
• 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.
  
• Though threads can become canon, they cannot count toward AC.
  
• 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

YOU'RE DEAD, JIM

You haven't been in Beacon long when you find yourself in Bonfire Square, staring into the flames and thinking about how you ended up here. Maybe it was an accident, a sudden freak thing that you never saw coming until you woke up on the ferry, or maybe it's a miracle you made it as long as you did. Maybe death was a relief. Maybe it was just your time. Whatever the case, you can't help but reflect on your final moments as you linger in the firelight.

But however you died, it's behind you now, and you're here, stuck in this little town with just a few buildings and a smattering of other people. You're going to be here a while, so you may as well get to know your neighbors, but... Would it be cathartic to commiserate about your deaths? Or is your time better spent stocking up at the general store? Then again, you've got plenty of time, so why not catch a drink or two (or three) at the Invincible? Pretend you're unaffected by your death, and, well. Fake it 'til you make it, perhaps.

Point is, you have options. You're dead, you died, and this is your "life" now. Better get used to it.

AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES

Currently, there's only one place to live (technically speaking) in Beacon: the Invincible, a tavern and inn located in Bonfire Square. Luckily, the place has working amenities (minus light), and the forest spirits don't charge anything for your stay. Unfortunately, it seems there may not be enough rooms for everyone. Guess you'll have to get cozy!

Maybe you'll try to pick a roommate from around town or in the bar downstairs, or maybe you'll just walk into the first room you see and choose that way. Want a room all to yourself? Get ready to fend off any potential intruders. And the fun doesn't end there.

The Invincible's rooms aren't all created equal. Some may have had their furniture stolen or become a dumping ground for unwanted pieces, resulting in a single bed, five dressers, and other equally distressing situations. Will someone sleep on the floor? Will you nail two beds together to form bunk beds? Maybe you just want to make this room into something more like home— potentially to your roommate's chagrin. Whatever you decide, this is where you're staying for now, so you might as well get comfortable.

network prompts

HACKER VOICE: I'M IN

In order to use the network, you have to register a username. Er, at least, that's how it's supposed to work. For some reason, new users have recently been able to bypass that requirement, allowing them to post anonymously. Time to troll strangers on the magical internet!

Eventually though, you'll need a username in order to use the tablet's other functions, like the direct messaging system. So hey, why not take advantage of the ability to source opinions, and workshop your potential usernames on the network? Share ideas, get feedback, steal ideas, critique others, and figure out what you want everyone to call you.

TURN ON YOUR LOCATION

When you wake up, you're in the woods. An iron shackle complete with a chain leashes you to a tree, and the only light you have is your lantern. You've never seen this area of the woods before. You certainly didn't go to sleep here.

Hm.

But, all is not lost. You find your phone in your pocket, as well as a scrap of paper covered back to front in cryptic scribbles. Are these clues to your location? They must be. You also spot a key dangling from a branch, though it's hanging from a tree you'll never be able to reach from here. Perhaps someone on the network will be able to lend you a hand...

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Comments

[withsadness]

[He's not a nay-sayer! Finally tearing her eyes away from her task, Mary gives Riku a bright smile.]

Yes! Once I have a circle all the way around the fire, it'll know that that's where its home is and that it isn't allowed to go any farther, because if it does, it might hurt somebody!

[equinoctials]

[ The smile doesn't exactly leave Riku taken aback so much as quietly touches him; in the time it takes for him to glance away from her and back again, he might just be smiling a little, himself. ]

Like a fence?

[ It's not about to stand up on these cobblestones. But Riku can't help but be reminded of a sign he saw hanging from the front gate of someone's house, on the walk to school back on the islands.

It showed a frightening looking dog, warning those who passed by from trespassing onto the property. Owner had a small papillon, a fact Riku became very aware of one night when he decided to act on a dare.

Strange how he keeps remembering these things. It's not even the really weird stuff, just the mundane details of living on a tiny world surrounded by water. Maybe being dead involves a touch of homesickness. ]

[withsadness]

Yes! Or...a wall! A great big tall one, too!

[Mary hums thoughtfully as she turns a stick over in her hands.]

Oh, but I'm not so tall, so that part's just pretend.

[equinoctials]

Don't make it too tall, we still need the light.

[ He goes from sitting on his heels to sitting on the cobblestone, remarking not on the part that's just pretend. It wasn't that long ago that he was a kid, too, playing games on the beach with the people who mattered the most. He remembers some of that magic, not the type he wields with the Keyblade, but the way everything new had a certain spark of potential.

How saying certain things and believing them made himself feel better, and in some cases, made his friends feel better. Maybe someone might say that once you're dead you don't have to bother. Riku disagrees. Just let a kid be a kid. ]

If you're worried the fire's gonna jump out and get you, make sure you come visit it with someone you trust. You can watch each other's backs, and protect what's important.

[withsadness]

Right...I don't like it when it's dark, either. It makes me feel all alone.

[She's really torn here between a mutual hatred for both major aspects of this reality.]

Will you visit with me?

this is so soft

[equinoctials]

[ That's valid, to be honest. Lots of people are afraid of the dark. And Riku? He knows how awful loneliness is, the honesty of a child puts that to words with a refreshing lack of guile.

But her request, coming on the heels of how he said it should be someone she trusts, someone who will watch her back and protect what's important to them, and Riku's a little endeared by the implication.

Sora and Kairi trusted readily too, at her (apparent) age. ]

Wait up. That's a big ask for a stranger.

[ What would Kairi say? What would Sora do?
He thinks... they would have given their names, because he remembers what it was like to trust so readily, and thinks the best thing a person can do is protect that innocence for as long as it lasts. ]

...I'm Riku.

ikr i'll cry

[withsadness]

[For just a moment, Mary's face falls in disappointment, fearing rejection. But then he gives her his name, and she can't help but grin from ear to ear. Standing up straight, she puts on her best, most polite expression, and gives him a sweeping curtsy.]

My name is Mary! How do you do?

[equinoctials]

[ That her disappointment is so short-lived... well, Riku hopes that's a sign he's made the right choice, because he's never been possessed of Kairi's endless capacity for shining a light on every corner of her world, or Sora's keen understanding of how others feel.

His experiences make him different, and in the parts where he is weak, they are strong.
So he returns her curtsy with an awkward little bow at his waist, sitting where he is, smiling a little for the exchange.

She's... classically cute, he thinks, in the way that kids are in story books. Maybe that's just how people see them once they've grown up, and the wonder of youth has started to wear off. ]

See? Guess that makes us friends. So yeah, I'll visit the fire with you.

[withsadness]

We're friends now! Hooray!

[So, of course, she throws her arms right around him.]

My friend Riku, who makes sure the fire doesn't play any tricks!

[equinoctials]

[ And Riku, of course, doesn't really know what he should do with this. For a moment as she throws her arms around him and exclaims happily, Riku's hands paw at the empty air in indecision.

Please don't take it personally, Mary. He's like this whenever Sora does this too. Or when Kairi tries to get a rise out of him in some similar fashion. ]

Wha? Hang on-

[ He's not the bonfire whisperer! ]

[withsadness]

[It's fine, Riku. She won't take it personally because she won't even notice, because she's just so happy!]

I'm gonna draw you a pretty picture. What should I draw? What do you think?

[equinoctials]

[ And it's that fact - that she's so happy, in spite of the circumstances - that make him so loath to burst that bubble. Riku relents with a little sag of his shoulders, but that's not to say he's displeased.

A little chagrined, perhaps.
A little reminded of another golden-haired girl who liked to draw pictures, too, in a twist in his chest that isn't exactly the bad kind of painful. ]

A drawing... hmm.

[ At a loss for what to suggest, Riku decides after a moment to indulge both her request and his own curiosity. ]

We're all from different places, right? What about something from your home?

Something that makes wherever you came from... special to you.

[withsadness]

There's nothing special about where I came from.

[Mary takes another moment to bury her face against Riku's stomach, and then releases him from her childishly-iron grip. When she raises her head, the grimness with which she initially spoke has faded once more.]

What made your home special? Tell me, tell me!

[equinoctials]

[ His hand hovers, an indecisive gesture that makes no progress either in advance or retreat. Instead his fingers curl into his palm.

There's nothing special about where I came from. Once, maybe Riku might have echoed that sentiment, yearning for something greater beyond the small boundaries of his little world, a small, idyllic archipelago surrounded by water.

Now he knows just how special it is. For the people who were in it, for the memories he keeps in his heart, treasures for himself alone. ]

...

[ Riku realizes that he isn't sure if she has a frame of reference for things like islands, for the ocean. He doesn't know anything about her, so he considers how he would have tried to express what the Destiny Islands were like to someone like Namine, if she hadn't already the ability to perceive and manipulate the memories of those hearts that were connected to Sora. ]

Have you ever been to the beach?

[withsadness]

[Mary looks surprised at the question, and as her mouth opens, she shakes her head.]

No, I haven't! But I read all about them in books, and I always wanted to go see for myself!

[equinoctials]

[ Undaunted, Riku considers how else he could describe his home. Not everyone has seen the ocean, as he thinks about some of the landlocked worlds he's visited (and even those that consisted of anything but an actual planet...)

The closest he can get to is this: ]

What's the most water you've ever seen, Mary?

[withsadness]

I suppose...I've seen little raindrops!

[Like, weird, but okay.]

[equinoctials]

[ Riku would definitely have found that weird a few years ago, but he's been to many worlds, there are some composed entirely of data, worlds no bigger than a whale migrating through the sea of stars, vast desert wastelands that never see rain. It's possible.

It also makes describing this a little harder. ]

I guess it's too much to ask if you know what an island is, huh.

[withsadness]

It's okay, I read about them in a book! They're little places surrounded by water, right?

[She's at least decently well-learned.]

[equinoctials]

[ To the heart seeking freedom, even an idyllic tropical paradise surrounded on all sides by seemingly endless ocean can feel like a prison.

Riku puts aside that memory - or would it be more accurate to describe it as a mark? Something left like a stain on his heart, not exactly belonging to him, but not incorrect either. ]

Uh huh. That's what my home was like. It's called the Destiny Islands.