Test Drive Meme #7

[inthenightmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME #7

Hello and welcome to the In the Night test drive meme for November! Thanks for your interest in our game! Reserves open on December 20, and applications open on December 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 2 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

MAGIC CASTLE IN THE LAND OF SWEETS

You wake up one morning to find that The Night Market has come to Beacon, rising from the depths of the lake to set up booths and stalls all around the square. As a market, they offer a variety of goods and services typically unavailable to the good people of Beacon. Lantern charms that grant special and boosted abilities? Check. Magical potions to imbue the imbiber with fun but temporary effects? Got 'em. Specialty goods from home? Can do. Cigarettes? You bet your buns. The only catch? It all comes at a price.

Accepted currencies at the Night Market include: Building and scrap materials, old tablets, old lanterns, captured forest spirits, torches, information, and most importantly... Plutonium. Of course, attempting to barter is always an option... but these currencies are your best bet for dealing with the various vendors offered by the Night Market.

And finally, if bartering isn't your speed, The Night Market has also brought with it a host of activities akin to a street festival. Warm up with a hot toddy or gourmet latte from the pop-up coffee booth, sample a treat from the candy shop, or win your bae a stuffed forest spirit or mechanical goldfish from the carnival games. Above all? Have fun!

This prompt is a mini version of the game's Pleader event.

BATTLE WITH THE (RAT) KING

Throughout the month, the residents of Beacon will discover that a familiar and not particularly wanted visitor has returned. Strangely, the creature appears to be incised by the holiday decorations that have been put up by those so inclined. It goes after any decoration it can, intent to rip them down, tear them, sometimes even run off in a tangle of garland. In particular, the Rat King goes into a frenzy any time it spies a nutcracker, and won't stop until it sinks its teeth into the wooden soldiers. It could be worse, you suppose. The thing doesn't seem to be paying mind to people unless they get in its way. Still, there are some residents that went to a lot of trouble to put this all together. Maybe you should help?

Or maybe you're scrooge and just want to watch the Rat King do its business. That's also fair. Just expect to get some coal in the secret santa exchange.

network prompts

MARCH OF THE TOY SOLDIERS

At some point while you were out and about, minding your own business, you find yourself in quite the troubling situation. All of a sudden, you're surrounded by what appears to be a small army of tin soldiers. The reality, of course, is that they're all somewhat small forest spirits that have decked themselves out in pieces of scrap that act as army-like uniforms, and not real toys at all...but still, the effect is unsettling. They're not all that threatening, really, aside from being creepy, but there are so many of them, and they hold sharpened, bite-sized spears that they keep trying to jab into you any time you try to move out of the circle they've made to sequester you.

Ultimately, you're able to more or less make out what they want: a ransom, of which they do not have the ability to properly communicate. They won't rest or let you go until you post of your plight on the network and give them what they want. You know, just, who knows what they actually want. That's still up for debate.

CHILDREN'S GALLOP

RINGLE DANGLE JINGLE JANGLE!

This is the nosie that greets you on an endless loop from the Bonfire Square. A small group of spirits have gathered there and set up what appears to be a donation pan, which they keep smacking and rattling as they provide all of Beacon with a rousing and unending set of holiday caroling. Unfortunately for everyone who isn't a spirit, this basically just sounds like coordinated screaming. And the screaming does not stop. Maybe for some of you, this would be easy enough to ignore in one capacity or the other, but it seems the spirits have accounted for this, and are very insistent on being given the attention their cheery efforts deserve.

Which is to say: throughout the day, everyone receives what is effectively spam emails to their tablet in the form of...very loudly written words. The emails pour in, over and over:

WE WON'T GO UNTIL WE GET SOME WE WON'T GO UNTIL WE GET SOME WE WON'T GO UNTIL WE GET SOME WE WON'T GO UNTIL WE GET SOME

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

Comments

[maisel]

I'm not barking up any tree, I just want to dance.

[ A cigarette it is, though--she reaches into her purse, pulling out a silver cigarette holder and a lighter. ]

You have to invite me to dance, those are the rules. So--go on.

[ You've got your cigarette now, Eliot. Midge gestures theatrically, half a royal wave and half a bow. ]

[endlessflask]

Telling someone to ask you to dance sounds a bit like tree barking.

[ But she did present a cigarette, and he lights it before handing the lighter back over. He takes a puff and looks at her, brows knit together a bit. ]

Sure, why not. Wanna dance? Great, let's go.

[maisel]

No bark on this tree. Treeless bark. Smooth as a baby's bottom. Not that you wouldn't be blessed to have me hang around in a romantic fashion, by the way. Just for the record.

[ But Eliot agrees to it, so it's a moot point. Midge smiles, pleased she has her way, and then looks scrutinizingly at him. ]

...You're going to dance with a cigarette?

[endlessflask]

You said you just wanted a dance. You didn't say shit about not smoking during it.

[ He sets the cigarette between his lips and holds his hand, because if he's going to do this, he's going to be a gentleman and lead her to the most prime of dancing spots. ]

So, the whole retro Betty Crocker look really works for you.

[maisel]

Betty Crocker doesn't have shit on me. [ She wants to make that very, very clear as she takes his hand. One of hers goes to his shoulder--oh, he's tall, but a skinny little thing, she keeps forgetting--and another to his hand as they dance. ]

Haven't seen you in a while. Was getting worried I might be the best-looking person here, lack of competition really makes things boring.

[endlessflask]

I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, but I think you just called me good looking, so thanks.

[ Eliot's not thrown off by the height difference. He dances with Margo all the time, so he's used to this. ]

[maisel]

I could never forget a good concierge. Thanks again, by the way, for helping with my luggage. I don't think I ever properly thanked you. Or tipped you--I owe you gougères or something.

[ Her smile is bright. Finally she thinks, she's beginning to feel just a little bit normal. ]

[endlessflask]

I still have no idea what you're talking about but I'll take credit for it if it means I'm getting gougères. I wonder if I can find a decent wine around here to pair them with.

[ Eliot flashes her an amused smile in return. People here are weird. It's understandable, really, all things considered. But Eliot likes someone with a certain degree of boldness, and he especially likes someone with good fashion sense and appreciation of nice things. If nothing else, he thinks he'll get along well with this woman. ]

I'm Eliot. And your name is?

[maisel]

Madam Lutece gave me two bottles of wine for christmas--I'm not opposed to cracking one open. After dinner? Ignis can join us. You know--tall, glasses, British-but-not. Maybe Sarissa. She could use a exposure to classy people.

[ She's smiling pleasantly to herself, looking up at Eliot, and it's a little silly, but with a man's arms around her she feels safe, barking up the wrong tree or not. Wait-- ]

Midge. [ The pleasant smile twists into confusion. ] I told you when we first met.

[endlessflask]

[ She's saying a bunch of names like Eliot should know who they are. He smiles a little, mostly to be polite. It even lingers a bit when her smile falls. ]

No, when we first met, you demanded that I dance with you.

[maisel]

Okay--you've either really, really hit your head or you're not who I think you are, and there is no way I would forget someone with as immaculate taste in clothes as you.

[ She stops dancing now, not bothering to hide the worry on her face. Her hand even moves up to cup at his jaw, gently urging him to look at her in a surprisingly intimate gesture, like she's deciding if he has a fever or not. ]

[endlessflask]

[ Maybe she's just mistaken him. He assumes it's easy to forget people when it's dark all the time, and the lanterns create unflattering shadows everywhere. But there's a familiarity there that Eliot is very aware of, even if he doesn't know what she's talking about.

His brow knits together and he presses his lips into a line. ]

Again, I'm incredibly flattered, but I honestly have no idea who you are. I just got here.