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...

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

Comments

[callada]

Mmhmm. First person I met called it a tablet and showed me a little of how it works.

[He pulls the thing out from a pocket and unfolds it on the table in front of him where Gene can also see it. It lights up as it connects to the network, displaying its messages.]

It's like putting written messages out for people to find. Everything is signed with a name you choose, and you can say whatever you want and anyone can read it. I'm sure it does more than that too, but that's all I've got so far.

[preseance]

( gene's brow furrows the slightest bit at the words written and read. but it ain't enough to forestall him watchin' intently at the fella's demonstration. he fakes it well enough, that sense of understandin' that should only come from literacy. )

So it's like... sendin' a wire telegraph, almost?

[callada]

Uh... heh, I don't know what that is.

[He admits it with an embarrassed chuckle at the end of the statement, and scratches his chin. Who would have thought so many different worlds would have so many different ways to communicate?]

I've been thinking of it as a message board. In fact, I'm thinking I might set up one of those too, since not all of us are used to a thing like this and might not remember to check it. This is like that. One spot everyone knows to go and look to see what's written on it. Does that... help?

[Unsure, he keeps his gaze on Hicks, with a self-conscious little smile. He didn't really say anything different, did he? But how else can he describe it? It's simple, just made of light instead of paper and ink. More like notes on a board than messages sent by snail phone - for he hasn't discovered the voice option yet.]

[preseance]

( normally gene would give him a helpful explanation, but the truth is he's not sure he could begin to start explaining telegraphs. somethin' about transmittin' sound that translates to words? he knows morse code well enough, but the process of it all escapes him. he simply shrugs. )

I guess. Ain't nothin' like that in my time, though. Unless you're writin' on a slate in chalk.

( which was sometimes done for mission briefings at a command camp, but. mostly sand tables had replaced that by his age. )

An' you say this can reach everyone?

[callada]

Sure. Slate and chalk, ink and paper. Exactly like that, except somehow instead of you going to one spot to see what's written there, you can look at it from anywhere, and add to it any time.

[And indeed, as he pokes at the flat panel, it displays a number of messages. Mostly questions from others like themselves, wondering what the hell this place is and what they're supposed to do now, or how to get things like coffee.]

So, say, this person here wants to know if there's a room at this inn left. You could push the word "reply" here and write to them, and they'd see it and so would anyone else who wondered the same thing and hadn't asked it themselves.

[But he has no answer, so while he taps the button to show the blinking cursor prompting him to send a response, it remains otherwise blank, though the keyboard does slide up to display itself.]

You get to pick what you want to be called, which is nice, I guess.

[preseance]

( he can parse the occasional word. mostly tryin' to read 'em is a point of frustration, an' after a moment he blinks away, focuses on peelin' the label off his bottle of beer instead. )

Wouldn't it make the most sense just to use your name?

[callada]

Probably.

[His clearly says "silent" instead - well, clear to him, since he can read. What? It seemed way cooler than just going by his name. But he's also used to callsigns and codenames.]

I haven't figured out what all else it can do. I'm hoping I can figure out if I can maybe draw with it, like with a notebook. It'd be helpful for exploring if I could make maps without worrying about finding paper.

[preseance]

( ha ha, welp.

gene pulls out his own tablet in the interim, sets it out on the table. reggie's the one with the head for gadgets. hell, gene hadn't ever even used a telephone before he went to new york. reg' was the one what showed him how. in fact, every modern thing he'd ever used was on account of reggie, whether he was alive and it was the two of them in new york, or whether he was dead an' walkin' gene through somethin' on the streets of old london town. he'd take one look at this damn device an' have it sorted. )

I mean... if it can do all that other stuff, don't see why it wouldn't. Map-makin's... one of them fundamental human things, you know? We've been doin' it for better'n'a few thousand years. Seems like anythin' we did, technologically speakin', would facilitate it somehow.

[callada]

I'd hope so. Dunno how that would work, though, maybe just with my finger? But I don't know how to get it to realize I'm trying to draw.

[He's stuck in the messaging app and has not yet figured out how to close it or open up anything else. Man, this stuff is really different from what he's used to. On a whim he types up a new general post to this network nonsense - it reads "At the bar. Someone come teach us how to use this thing." Just on the off chance anyone is looking. Then, with a resigned shrug, he folds the tablet back up and pockets it again.]

I just put up a request for someone to show us how it works. Maybe it'll pan out. If not, I'll just keep working at it. Can't be harder than sailing a warship.