memesinthenight | Test Drive Meme #7

Entry tags:

!tdm

Test Drive Meme #7

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

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I got it. [ Gee whiz, he's as big as Sully was. He'll peer down and, double checking to make sure the coast is clear, he's going to slip off the edge of the roof, kicking off the walls on his way down. He'll land next to his rescuer in a way that's practiced, but also rather heavy? He's not a small person, but that's the thump of a larger person touching down.

He'll straighten and look up at this guy. Phew, he really is enormous. ]

Thanks. [ ... ] Why are you so wet? Aren't you cold? Let's go back to the bonfire.

Wind was blowing snow off the trees and into me. Soaks you slowly when it melts, I guess.

[Which, okay, that's probably true? But he'd rather not also talk about the number of times he slipped and fell and rolled through the snow on his way here. He's just lucky the river was a close call and not an actual plunge in or he wouldn't be here to talk about it.]

Bonfire sounds good. Or we can go inside, get something hot to drink. Even better, if you ask me. The bar's right over there.

[Like a couple hundred feet away, maybe, as he points to it. It looks like an old medieval-style tavern - or maybe a tourist's idea of what medieval architecture would look like were they visiting ye olde quaint towne. But the windows, noticeably, are all boarded up from the inside, and ruins of wooden barricades sit stacked outside the front door.]

[ Sora wrinkles his nose. Snow. He grew up with the stuff, but he also grew up on a tropical island. Lots of mixed feelings there. ] Sucks, man. Let's go.

[ He'll start walking toward ye olde tavern when indicated, moving when his new friend does, but he'll reach into his pocket and pull out his wallet. ] They don't card you or anything there, right? I mean, I guess we're all dead anyway, but I'm still not old enough to drink. Not in America, anyway. [ ... yeah, he's looking at his driver's license. ]

[Nearly six months in this godawful place and he still hasn't heard it all. What is that, some kind of ID card?]

No, it's just a - they have all kinds of drinks. No bartenders except ourselves and sometimes some bored spirits that live in the stockroom. What kind of place is America, anyway? I mean, I've heard about it, but you're too young to drink there?

[Crazy talk. Lots of kids discover ale by eight or so on the backwater islands, but surely by fifteen, anyone would be old enough, and this guy looks older than that.]

[ Yep! If Rosinante has sharp eyes (and can? Read English? I guess??), it'll say that Skyler Felipe Oozora y Veracruz is authorized to operate a motor vehicle with the state of New Jersey until August 14, 2017. Not that that would mean much to him.

Sora looks up at him. Oh, right. Not everyone here would be from Earth. Technically... he supposes part of him isn't from Earth, either. It shouldn't be that weird. It isn't! But somehow, a part of him thinks it should be. ]

Yeah, I'm 19. In America, the, uh, federal drinking age is 21. [ ... ] It's not really enforced, though? Like, I don't think you can go to jail for it. [ He shrugs. ] Anyway, I'm glad they have other drinks there!

[Spending too much time studying the ID would be obvious. He catches the name - not Sora - and the "New Jersey" and that's about it. Convenient that they come from worlds who use at least partially the same lettering system; doubly convenient that often, Beacon's strange translation system extends to written text if he hadn't recognized those letters.

As they draw up to the door of The Invincible, Rosinante opens the door for Skyler and enters after him. The interior is lit by a single torch at the bar's countertop, the tables and chairs are scuffed but mostly intact, and the walls are painted with murals in stark contrast to their surroundings outside - fields of green grass dotted with flowers, broad seas with white-sailed ships, brilliant blue skies, and here and there swirls of abstract color. In fact, it still smells a bit of fresh paint in here.]

Yeah, the coffee is all right by me but some people here get picky. Black tea is fine, green tastes like paper, though. If you see General Hughes around here ever, he's a damn good bartender if you want a cocktail.

[With a conspiratorial little smirk. Kid, 19 is more than old enough.]

[ Sora flips his wallet shut again as they walk in, putting it in his pocket. He's too distracted by the sudden warmth and the interior design to realize his ID technically just introduced him. It sure is pretty in here, after all. It kind of reminds him of Manila, or the Destiny Islands. Did the barkeep paint all of this? Even if there's still a world to save here, people still do need their hobbies, even if they happen to be dead.

He'll snag an empty stool at the bar, hopping up and turning himself so he's facing his new friend. He's already 100% down for a getting to know you session! ]

General Hughes... A cocktail, huh? [ Sora puts his chin on his hand and rests against the counter, thoughtful. He'll keep that name in mind! He's good with names. For right now, though, he'll shoot a grin back. ] Is that what you usually order? Somehow, I thought you'd go harder. [ This is a first glance observation, though. He also may be going tit for tat on the playful vibe. He is both teasing and also being very truthful! ]

Nah, whiskey for me. But it's fun to try something new every now and then.

[Mostly, he'd just figured Skyler being young might mean a cocktail was more his style. They tend toward sweeter than straight liquor, after all.

General Hughes is sadly not here at the moment, and so he waves over the spirits that are otherwise bouncing around, ready to make trouble. These have no armor, though one is currently wearing a strange mask - almost blank, plain, just a rough brown surface of what might be bark with holes poked into it for its four eyes. He used to find that sort of thing creepy but now it's just normal. He asks for whiskey by the name of the drink, but also points to the bottle he can see on the back shelf just in case.]

These ones usually understand drinks well enough. I don't really know why they're here serving them, but some of the spirits seem to prefer living around us instead of out in the woods. Looking for protection, I'd guess. A lot of them don't like the green-eyes much.

[ Sora whistles. ] Drink to forget, huh.

[ ... That brings up some uncomfortable memories. Not his, technically... but yeah, his too.

Mm. Right, enough of that.

He'll stare the spirit straight into two of its four eyemask holes, then say, with a completely straight face: ] Ginger ale and cherry grenadine, please. [ It's just a Shirley Temple. He's not really a drinker! ]

The green-eyes? You mentioned them before. What's that about? I don't think they were in the welcome message, right?

Didn't say that.

[He just likes the taste. And okay, yeah, it's strong stuff but at his bulk it takes something strong to even feel the effects. Even then, the few times here he's tried to get drunk and stop thinking about their immense and terrible problems, it just resulted in him getting even more depressed about the very bad reality of their situation, so that's enough of that.

As the spirits practically trip over themselves, chirping away as they assemble the drinks, Rosinante pulls a cigarette from the pack in his pocket, lights it on the torch beside them, then turns his attention back to the new guy as he takes a draw from it.]

Haven't looked at the welcome message in a while. I should do that, it probably needs updating. There are records in the town hall, though, if you want to get caught up. The green-eyed spirits, though, they're sort of the bosses of these guys, or at least the ones that live outside of town. They give the orders, the others follow, for whatever reasons. And every time we've run into them and their bands so far, they've tried to murder us. Usually successfully, actually. We've lost a lot of people to them.

[ Whoops, that definitely was a projection moment, then. Sora's gonna hum in reply, but he'll let that rest. There are more pressing, life-threatening concerns.

Sora did not know the records existed! He'll have to give them a onceover later. For right now, though he'll hang onto his every word, focusing on the mural to concentrate. Even if it's something he can go and read later, he prefers hearing it from someone else. It's easier to ask questions this way. ]

I'll look at it later, but to be honest, if it's any more complicated than that, I don't know if I can keep up. [ That's pretty grim... It's definitely different from what he's up against back at home, and it's certainly nothing he's ever done, either, besides the dying part. He's flying blind. ] So, they're the bad guys. Is there anyone else? Or is it just. [ He slams a fist into a palm to demonstrate. Then again... ] Although if it was that easy, I'm betting that you guys would have fixed things by now.

I'm starting to believe they're not actually "the bad guys." It's complicated. Cultural differences, language barriers. Nothing's all that straightforward here.

[Okay so he doesn't make air quotes or anything, but they're audible in how he repeats Skyler's words with a touch of emphasis. As the spirits stack on top of each other by hopping up onto their shoulders to form a little tower tall enough to deliver their drinks, Rosinante pulls his tablet from a coat pocket and sets it on the bar, then pages through the screens on the device until he pulls up an image, then pushes the tablet in Skyler's direction.]

Robin, the lighthouse keeper, says those are really what we're here for. She calls them world eaters. They devour light and life throughout the stars and they're headed our direction. They swing by every few years, I guess. She's estimating we have another year and a half until they find us. We have to figure out how to stop them.

[ Hmm. On first pass, it seems pretty straightforward to Sora. They hit the town, the town hits back, it goes back and forth until one goes down. On the other hand... He's made pretty fatal errors before on the assumption that the people he was fighting were the bad guys. He wonders if things would have been different if he'd just listened when people were trying to tell him the truth.

He'll take both their drinks from the spirits and set Rosinante's in front of him as he puts his eyes on the image, sipping slowly at his own. It's not really bringing back any memories at all, from anywhere - this isn't a Heartless Sora's seen or an animal like Wise Snake. Still... He's seen some of the writing on the wall by now. More importantly, he's seen Riku by now. He puts his drink down and stares into it. ]

It's not like anything I've seen before. [ ... Not looking up. ] You guys... have ruled out the Heartless by now, right?

I... don't know. I've never heard that term.

[At least, not as a title, not the way he says it. He knows what it is for a person to be heartless, of course, in the sense of them having no affection for anyone else, but that's clearly not what's being said here.

This most likely is not a helpful lead. Other assumptions people have brought from their own worlds have all turned out pretty worthless here in Beacon. But he takes his cigarette in his hand in order to have a sip of his drink, and he'll listen. Never know when someone might come from just the right corner of the universe. Maybe someone out there in the stars has faced these things before. They certainly do make their way across the night sky at a good pace. Maybe there are a few survivors out there somewhere.]

[ Sora laughs a little bitterly. Well. ] I guess if no one's brought it up by now, then that's probably not it. It just sounds the same. The stars going dark, the heart of the world getting eaten, the world getting swallowed by darkness. [ ... ] Where I came from... that's what happened, once. It was the end of the world.

[ ... He swirls around his drink a little. ] We fixed it, but it took a lot out of us that I don't think we can give again. And if these guys aren't the same thing, then I dunno if that's what's gonna fix it, anyway.

[Did someone already tell him about the stars here, or is it another remarkable parallel? Or simply a guess, based on his earlier statement - but the truth is the stars themselves are going black, completely. He studies the young man for a moment. Never know what you might learn from another world.]

Even if they're not the same, how did you fix the problem you had at home?

Edited 2020-01-05 01:07 (UTC)

[ It's definitely a remarkable parallel, and maybe a little bit of intuition. Sora may have grown up in a city, but he also grew up on a tiny cluster of tropical islands far away from any major cities. He knows what a star-filled sky, unblocked by light pollution, is supposed to look like. He also knows what it looks like with most of its stars missing - not blocked by anything, just simply... gone.

Sora rolls around the cup in his hands. ] We went to the source of the problem and smashed it. [ He grins. ] I mean, it was that, but it wasn't so simple. There was a person behind the entire thing, and we had to... kill him, I guess. He was a Heartless by then too, but. [ Does Ansem count as a person? He's not sure. He's definitely not certain if Sora had his mind made up about that. ]

Anyway... [ And here, Sora pauses and frowns. ] Sorry, it's just that. I know what happened right when we were trying to fix the problem - there was this door to the darkness, and it was made of the hearts of the worlds, I think? And it had to be locked from both sides, so I locked it from my side and -

[ He stops. Riku. He grips his glass hard. It comes out squeezed, like trying to fit the words through a hole that was a little too small. ]

And my best friend stayed on the other side and helped lock it there.

... After that, the hearts went back to their worlds. I think I... I needed to stay where the door disappeared so I could find another way to get my best friend from the other side, but... [ Kairi. ] There was a girl I liked, and I got to see her before the worlds started going back to normal. When I left her, the stars went back to where they belonged.

[ ... he taps the tips of his fingers on his glass. ] I... Sorry. You should probably ask someone else about that, if you think it'll help. I don't remember a lot of what happened.

[Yeah, somehow he has a feeling this isn't relevant after all. Which was sort of what he'd figured on, but it's always worth asking, just in case.]

Hard to say if it's helpful or not. We still don't really know enough about what these things even are. Something we found a month or two ago suggests they came to his place through the same portal we all come through, but that would mean somehow they'd left this world before they were able to finish the job, seeing as how we're all here now.

[The woman, the survivor Robin had spoken of, can't turn up too soon. She's left them all hanging for far too long. He shakes his head and has a sip of his whiskey, then offers a hand to shake.]

I'm Rosinante, by the way. Never got a good opportunity to introduce myself.

[ Sora frowns and nods. Yeah, that doesn't sound like the Heartless' MO. They're mindless zombies, mostly; if they haven't successfully found the heart of the world, they'd still be here. There are a few other options - Nobodies, for one, and if this planet happens to be asleep, then Nightmares would be likely - but they seem even less related than Heartless. Might as well shoot that bunny trail while they can.

Oh dear. Sorry, Rosinante, he's going to look down at that hand in some trepidation before shaking himself out of it. C'mon, it's a greeting. ]

Rosinante, nice to meet you. [ ... Name. Name. ] I've... been telling people to call me Sora. I might change it later.

[Well now, that's strange. There was something to him looking like Sora after all. A nickname, perhaps, while his legal name on his identification is Skyler? A fake ID, perhaps?

The whole scenario is strange and all he hopes for right now is that Skyler, Sora, whoever he is, might have an explanation.]

I thought you looked familiar. I knew a young man named Sora here before, but he wasn't quite the same. He vanished several months ago. Friends with Riku and Kairi. Do you know them?

[ Sorry, Rosinante, Part 2: The Electric Boogaloo. Several things will happen in the next few seconds.

First, before Sora can stop himself, his hand on his glass will squeeze so tightly that a fine spiderweb filigree of cracks will appear through it. He catches himself in time, looks down and lets go, not really seeing it. It doesn't seem to be in danger of falling apart, but it is unusable as a glass, now.

Second, he'll look a bit sick. Meeting Riku on the beach yesterday did help clarify a lot of things for Sora. He's pretty sure he knows where he stands on that front. It's just that where he stands hurts a bit more than he's willing to let on. Unfortunately, he's never been able to hide his feelings very well.

Third... That was Sora. The one Jason had mentioned the other day. That was him. The other him. The real him. ~~The real Sora?~~

... He vanished?

... It takes a hot second for him to register reality. He looks at his hand. The glass hadn't come apart, but it did leave small shards in his palm and fingers, pressed into his skin like tiny cut gems. ]

... Oh, the glass. I - that was my fault, I'm sorry -

[The look on Rosinante's face wavers, from concern to caution and back again. He doesn't exactly have first aid supplies on him or he'd offer them, but maybe he's all right, maybe he's not bleeding. He motions for the bartender spirits to remove the broken glass and one hops up onto the bar and chitters some sort of agitated chiding sound at Sora-Skyler while the others whisk the broken glass away. He'll have to do something nice for them later, it isn't exactly their job to clean up broken glass, but figuring out what the deal is here is slightly more of a pressing interest.]

Never mind the glass.

[He'll wait patiently for a real reply.]

[ Cyborg privileges - twice as tough as a human being, natch. He'll look around, find a napkin, and gently brush the little flecks off his hand, making sure most of it stays on the little square, giving the spirits an apologetic glance. (He's definitely going to have to look into this whole musical communication thing at some point. He'd at least like to be able to apologize whenever he messes up.) ] Thank you.

[ ... He's not sure where to start. Neither Sora nor Skyler were ever the type to tell someone their life's story - sure, it sometimes came out by accident, but it's not like they really had the wherewithal to do a lot of self reflection, organize the past into an order that makes sense. They just spent life in the moment, not really thinking about things too hard. Skyler had no one to think for him like that. Sora had Riku and Kairi.

With his glass gone, he doesn't really have anything to do with his hands, so he takes another napkin and spreads it out against the counter, purely for something to do. He doesn't want to look over at Rosinante while he says any of this. He thinks he'd probably lose his nerve. ]

I've. [ ... He says the next phrase as factually as he can, but it still doesn't sound like he means it. ] I've never met them. Kairi or Riku. [ A beat, and then, he continues, quietly. ] Sora and Kairi were here. Do you know what happened to them?

[Never met Kairi? But clearly knows who she is, at the very least, or he wouldn't be asking. The whole act, whatever this is, is so full of so many levels of wrong that he's not sure how to judge what's deception and what's just plain trauma. He might be able to sort it out at home, where he knows what to expect, but although he's not sure he believes in the whole alternate universe hypothesis some of these people have, at least he's heard of it - enough to accept that somewhere, somehow, this probably does make some sense.

No real good option right now but to continue to answer questions and hope he'll say more that clarifies things.]

I don't know specifics. I know Riku spent a lot of time and energy trying to find them. Both were here one day and gone the next, and Robin, the lighthouse keeper, included them in her weekly obituaries, meaning some of the spirits managed to verify that they had died and reported it to her.

[ There are many, many layers to this. So many that Sora knows that he can't explain this - not effectively, not for real. Alternate universes are involved, it's true... but in some ways, they aren't. And that's where the whole thing starts falling apart.

He almost gets angry at Rosinante for saying it like that, so casually - died and reported it to her, like it was just a rote thing, like the evening news - but he did just say that he didn't know them. He could handle news of his own death! He was here, obviously, and this isn't the first time he's died, and died again, and died again... but Kairi. Kairi, soul lost in a final death. He isn't sure where Robin's getting her information or how she got it, but it doesn't seem like Rosinante doubts it at all. It's too casual. Doubt is never casual.

Back where Sora is from, three years ago, in a fit of panic and anger, a girl in a magical glowing dress and a multicolored transformation sequence punched him square in the nose, sending him flying into a brick wall so hard that he felt like he'd died, briefly. He remembers that day fondly; he really ended up liking Harper, even if Skyler had been at odds with her. It had hurt a lot, even with his cybernetic enhancements. He left an impression in the brick shaped like his silhouette. She had an arm on her.

Sora may have told Rosinante that he'd never met Kairi, but he does feel like he's been knocked headlong into that wall again. All the air rushes out of him, his fist grips into the napkin as the rest of the joints in his body suddenly come undone. He looks away at another point on the counter. He doesn't know if there are tears and he doesn't want to find out. ]

Thanks. [ It's choked. This is too much of a reaction for someone hearing about the death of a stranger. ] A lot makes sense now. Thank you. [ So this is why Riku had looked like he'd seen a ghost. In a way, he did. ]

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