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
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pages	|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Comments

[arsarcanum]

We sure have a lot. It kind of phases out during the summer, except for the Fourth of July, but... [ He counts on his fingers. (Okay, yes, he knows, but he's got a sinus headache on the horizon, let him live). ] Yeah, they won't come in July.

[ You know what? That's fair, and Sora wouldn't correct him. If they only have two years left on this world, possibly, what's the point in splitting hairs? ]

Well, we'll have to keep you alive, huh? [ Sora rolls the bottom of his glass around on the counter. ] I'm down for that if you are. [ He won't ask for the same back, but he did hear Rosinante's speeches about solidarity and keeping each other propped up. He's into it. He'll keep anyone alive! His standards are pretty easy to meet. ]

[callada]

Heh. Usually the other way around, with me and a few others working our asses off to keep everyone safe. Which isn't a complaint. Not everyone's great in a fight. We've all got our skills.

[But sure, he'll take it as an offer of assistance.]

Are you trained in any kind of combat?

[arsarcanum]

[ In Sora's experience, even the most incredible heroes he knew needed help sometimes. It's good that Rosinante's taking the offer, but Sora does mean for it to refer to him specifically! Rosinante may not know it, but he's gained himself an ally.

So Rosinante is the fighting type? Sora expected as much, hearing about how he's in the military, but it's good to know that they'd have that in common. ] Count me in, then. I'm pretty good at watching other peoples' backs.

Trained? [ Sora smiles wryly. ] Nah. There was a soldier here who said they'd train me with a knife, and those'll be the first real fighting lessons I've ever had. I'm good in a fight though.

[callada]

Oh, Soldat? Metal arm? That's helpful of them. You can also try Captain Javert. He runs combat training classes over in the village all the time. Used to be part of the police in his world.

[Hell, kid, do both. He's all for it. Sora is more than old enough to be able to fight as far as he's concerned. Rosinante enlisted at thirteen and saw naval combat by fifteen - pretty standard stuff where he's from. By nineteen, Sora's surely plenty capable.]

[arsarcanum]

Captain Javert... Yeah, I think they mentioned him. [ One of their handlers, they'd called him. Seems like a good place to start. Sora hadn't thought he'd start getting real training in combat after it'd matter, theoretically, but better late than never, right?

Sora drains his water. He'd probably better start moving out into the night - he still needs to set up his cot in the library and make sure the Librarian isn't too annoyed at his sudden appearance. He does have one last question, though. ]

You've been here a while. Do you think we're going to make it through all this alive? [ Not really... emotional about this question, this time. He's all cried out. This is just thoughtful. ] Like. I... remember dying before. [ This phrasing is very precise. ] He died. I remember that. It wasn't like this. Do we have a shot?

[callada]

[A question he's debated the answer to with Kuai - which is to say, not the real answer, but the answer they should give people. Is it better to be honest, or to inspire some optimism? He tends to think the latter. They can't guess realistically, anyway. Might as well aim to keep morale up.]

There's a lot we still don't know, I'll admit. It's hard to say our chances for certain. But we've heard some of what past groups tried, how they fared, and I know that we're more cohesive than most. More promising than many. We've accomplished things past groups failed to do already - even just simple things, like earning enough trust from Pluto for her and her people to visit. We have a long way to go, but I do think we have a shot. We just have to keep focused.

[arsarcanum]

[ Cohesion, trust, focus. Sora nods. If this is a situation that requires those things... he may not be the Sora that Riku needs, but he's a Sora that believes in those sorts of things. So long as that's what's needed, he knows that his heart will be in it, at least. That's enough direction for him for now. He'll just have to keep going with a little less of his heart intact. That's never killed him before.

(That has definitely killed him before.)

He pushes back from the counter, nodding firmly. ]

That's good enough for me. [ He'll aim a grin at Rosi. This one's the sunniest one he's got right now, which is actually pretty solid, given the circumstances. ] Hey, if you ever get the exact odds, do me a favor and don't tell me? I do a lot better when I don't understand if we're screwed or not.

[callada]

[Rosinante smiles back, pleasant enough though it's nowhere near as bright. He remains reserved with nearly everyone here. But he appreciates that attitude - it's useful. Mirrors his thoughts exactly. People need optimism more than realism in order to motivate them. Hope is a powerful tool.]

I'll keep that in mind. Good luck out there, try not to get cornered by so many spirits this time.

[arsarcanum]

[ He laughs. ] I'll do my best. Take care of yourself.

[ And he'll aim one last thank you to the bartending spirits (who still seem a bit grumbly about his theatrics today), then mosey on out. Thanks, Rosinante. He really did need this entire outing! ]