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memesinthenight2020-05-20 03:24 pm
nextnightmods) wrote in memesinthenight2020-05-20 03:24 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME #01
TEST DRIVE MEME #01
Hello and welcome to the The Next Night's test drive meme for May-June! Thanks for your interest in this GPSL! In an effort to streamline our application process and avoid future confusion between incoming and existing players, we do not have a reservation period. Applications will be judged on a first-come, first-served basis.
At this point in time, characters have not yet ICly unlocked the ability to bring in new people. However, we hope that will change in June! As soon as we set a date for applications to open, we will post an update to the OOC community as well as to plurk.
While you're here...
- Take a look at our rules and faq pages to familiarize yourself with The Next Night.
- Note that we will have an application cap of 20 apps for new players for this upcoming round only, and that the game has a player cap of 60. In future months we expect to limit this to 10 apps per round. 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.
- Threads with new arrivals must ICly take place after the mechanism for bringing in new characters has been re-enabled in order to be kept canon. We understand this makes keeping track of dates a bit tricky and may require some timey-wimey handwaving but please try to keep this in mind when deciding if a thread can be canon or not.
- Note that top-leveling is not limited to new characters! If current players wish to post a starter, 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. In addition, any threads from the TDM will be forward dated to when these mechanics are restored.
- 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.
- As we no longer plan to have a bimonthly game-wide HMD meme, we will require all new applications going forward to have a HMD post somewhere on the journal and we will ask for this as part of the application process.
Thank you again, and we hope you'll choose to join us!
log prompts
EMERGENCY LANDING.
You've arrived.
Where, exactly? Well, that's quite hard to say. All around you is darkness. Even the stars above seem dimmed, as if it were possible to turn down the brightness on the sky. The only light immediately apparent is a lantern placed directly beside you. The handy-dandy tablet also provides light, but not enough to help much. Seems like you're going to have to find your way in the darkness.
Whether you find yourself in a dusted, rusted old amusement park, a spectacularly creepy abandoned orphanage, or what seems to be a museum with a very abrupt water feature in the middle of it, it's very clear you're not where you were when you closed your eyes. If you look back, what do you remember? Your death could be vivid, complete with the injuries that brought it, or a distant memory that almost seems like a dream. Either way it sticks to the back of your mind, whether you want it to or not.
And it might not be the best of ideas to worry about how you died or how you got here alone in the dark. Because turns out, maybe you aren't so alone after all. It might be a feeling, a crawl up your spine. Or sounds, bumps and wheezes and scratches hidden in the dark. Or it might be eyes, shining out in the shadows. It might be a good idea to start running, and hope you aren't the only one that found yourself stranded in this strange place.
Whatever you do, make sure you bring that lantern with you. Diverting too far from it makes you feel faint, and pushing past that feeling is not advised.
Turns out, it's not just new Beaconites that are turning up all over the place. The automated system is doing its best, but, there's some kinks to work out. The good news is, there's supplies coming into Beacon after almost two months of nothing! The bad news is, the supplies are showing up all over the place, with no rhyme or reason.
There are blankets and clothing items scattered on the dilapidated track of the Euthanasia coaster. There's a pile of food in the midst of the mostly destroyed sculpture garden, almost looking like an artistic statement on consumerism. Need some new tools? Hope you like climbing, because they seem to be precariously balanced in the branches of trees. There's a fax machine settled by the Bonfire, and nobody really knows what that's about.
Whatever it is you find, it's all helpful things that the residents of town could probably use. Though, admittedly, it'd be more helpful if it were in a place it could be used. Just like cargo off the ferry, it'd be a good idea to haul all this stuff from its landing place to the store, or wherever else it might be helpful. Or for those feeling less charitable, just grab what looks good and squirrel it away. Surely nobody is around to mind that you're helping yourself to more than your fair share!
As a final warning — tread with caution. Because with everything appearing at relative random, the next place it appears could be directly above you. And nobody wants to be under a pile of building materials when it ultimately lands.
KATAKLYSMOS.
All around you are signs of a devastating flood. Debris is still washed up against trees and buildings, walls have been knocked over, roofs caved in, and there's even a massive sinkhole in the Town Hall. Sandbags and trenches decorate the salvaged buildings.
And to the forest spirits, this seems to be cause for celebration! Are they excited that everything flooded? Are they just trying to cheer people up? Is this some festive holiday they've adopted from previous Beacon residents? Hard to say. But little pop-up booths reminiscent of a street market start to take shape around town, made out of collapsed homes and downed trees. The spirits offer snacks and drinks (probably pilfered from whatever was left of the sorry supplies, so think sliced spam and Tang), and "souvenirs" of people's ruined personal belongings that had washed out of their homes.
The best part, though? Water-based activities, fun for the whole family! Yes, the spirits are running around with buckets full of water to dump on everyone! Congrats, you survived the flood, here's more water! Watch out - if they can't find buckets they might just steal your shoes or hat and fill those with water instead!
As with most forest spirit prompts, feel free to NPC them yourselves - they're of slightly above animal intelligence and will come up with inventive ways to get you soaking wet when you least expect it.
network prompts
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES.
So you've found yourself in Beacon's eternal darkness. Well done! One of the first things most do here is check out the folding tablet they arrived with. On opening it, a prompt requests that you enter a network username.
But the instant you hit "OK", the screen redirects you to a welcome app. Which seems like it should be a good thing! But whether you select that you'd like it to be read aloud or if you would rather read it yourself, it seems to be a completely glitchy, bizarre mess. Parts are barely readable, but some parts look perhaps intentionally altered. Surely this isn't how the people of Beacon intended to welcome you, right?
Once it finishes, or once you manage to close out of it (a challenge, perhaps, since finding the right button on the screen to touch is difficult - the X shifts, the screen gets covered in static, and what is that sound) the network opens, prompting you to read the latest posts or make a post of your own.
WHISPERS IN THE DARK.
It's late. Or it feels late, it's always hard to tell in Beacon. Something pulled you from sleep, or whatever you were working on. A whisper, just nearby. A familiar voice, quiet and distant, and getting increasingly louder.
After some investigation, it becomes apparent the voice is coming from the tablet. There's a cryptic post, asking simply Do you hear me? And any time that particular post is pulled up, the voices won't stop.
The voices are distinctly ones that seem familiar. Maybe someone you've met in Beacon. Maybe someone you knew before then. Maybe it's someone you shouldn't be able to hear at all, and yet, you do.
There's no chance at actual conversation, though — the voice is simply asking if it can be heard. Softly, at first. A tinge confused, in some cases. The confusion escalates and is tainted by panic, as the voice keeps calling for an answer, an acknowledgment, that seems impossible to give. Even as the voice begs to be heard, please, please just say you can hear me, even as it fades into screams of frustration or terrified tears, no amount of response seems to break through.
The comments are open — maybe you can get your answers that way?
| QUICKNAV | |||
| comms | | | network β’ logs β’ memes β’ ooc | |
| pages | | | rules β’ faq β’ taken β’ mod contact β’ player contact β’ calendar β’ setting β’ exploration β’ item requests β’ full nav | |
no subject
[ So she taps into the private message and nods with a complete lack of surprise. ]
I suppose we do. Given that we're both here, at any rate.
[ The last thing she wants is to be dragged back into her family's bad decisions when she's already died for them, but she has no idea where Pudding will be coming from in this. ]
[ And as she composes her message, she wracks her mind, trying to remember if she learned anything of her would-be sister-in-law's fate at the end of that chaotic mess of a battle. ]
no subject
[ Pudding stares at this message, too, for a long few minutes. The thunder of her heart is subsiding, leaving her feeling... drained. There's so much. ]
[ She's certainly not angry. ]
[ ...Well, maybe at the portal. ]
There's not really an apology that covers everything, is there?
[ Sorry I shot you in the leg, ripped out your memories, left you in a near-death state before the day of your unannounced death sentence, and intended to shoot your little brother in the face and have the rest of you wiped out by my murderously insane family members! Yeah, no. ]
no subject
[ She regards that message thoughtfully, contemplating what might be behind it. Text on a screen tells her very little -- even having this conversation by denden, let alone face to face, would give her a great deal more information about Pudding's current state. ]
[ Not that that would necessarily be reliable, of course. A consummate actress, this one. ]
[ Still. It's at least an approximation of an olive branch. She can accept it without being wholly credulous. ]
"Everything" is a broad category to tackle all at once.
[ But she does want to make sure Pudding knows she's open to hearing it. In person, she'd simply nod and signal her openness in posture and expression, waiting for a continuation. Can't do that like this. ]
... How much of what happened was you acting under orders, and how much was your initiative?
[ Not an interrogation, but -- perhaps -- Pudding will understand the thrust of her question, that she does not feel particularly minded to take Big Mom's orders personally, regardless of who carried them out. ]
no subject
[ But it's Sanji-san's sister. The sibling who seems to have something resembling a heart. ]
[ Still, though... She's not used to being forthright. And hell, to say nothing of... ]
I don't think I actually know the answer to that.
no subject
I'm not bearing grudges.
[ An olive branch of her own, there. It doesn't mean trust or that the past is forgotten -- but that she's willing to leave it in its place. ]
no subject
[ No, damn it - not. Not acting like she's done all her life. A more... a more genuine wait-and-see. Maybe she can do that. Maybe. ]
I'm trying to be better.
Sanji-san believed I could be better.
no subject
[ But she catches herself. How much does Pudding actually know of the history between Reiju and Sanji? Is it that likely that she knows how strongly someone who makes you want to be good resonates in Reiju's soul? ]
[ No. She doesn't think Sanji would have opened up so deeply to Pudding during the few days between his arrival and the aborted wedding. This... this is likely to be at the worst an ordinary sort of manipulation. And it might even be honest - knowing the impact a genuinely good and selfless person can have in a world of selfishness. ]
[ (If Reiju could remember Pudding unmasked, snarling the same vicious insults the Vinsmokes had poured into Sanji's young ears - worthless, failure, trash - her calculations might be different. But while Sanji told her the upshot of that discussion, the Charlotte plans for the wedding, he did not convey the personal insults. Those memories are, as far as she's concerned, quite gone.) ]
He has that way about him, doesn't he?
[ Just like Sora. He really is their mother's true child. ]
I guess it's that much easier away from everyone, isn't it?
no subject
He does.
[ He does. He's so good. He was so good to her, better to her over the course of a few short hours than anyone else had ever been for the whole of her life... ]
[ She has to wipe at all of her eyes with the back of one hand. ]
[ The second question, though? God. That's loaded. And she already knows... she's well aware that every single thing she says here could (should, probably, if Reiju has any sense) be taken as a lie. And just as aware that Reiju is under no obligation to keep any of her secrets. ]
[ She blows out a breath before sending a second message. ]
I'm not using Mama's name here. No one has to know.
I have friends.
no subject
[ And oh, she understands. To be free of a name that defines your life and role and worth, to have friends rather than allies of convenience... oh, she understands. ]
[ She is wary, but beginning to thaw. Provisionally, anyway. It's entirely possible to read Pudding's last line as a warning as well. She has friends here. Reiju does not. Thus the power lies. ]
[ But. She isn't using her family name. She isn't Charlotte, with all the power and connection that implies. And Reiju can choose not to be Vinsmoke here. ]
You're free.
[ And the extension to that statement, unsaid but deeply felt. I'm free. ]
no subject
You understand!
[ Maybe every word she actually writes down is calculated - has to be - but the exclamation point... she feels it as strongly as she uses it with intent. ]
I don't have to be who I was at home. I don't have to do what Mama wants. I cook breakfast for everybody. Nobody knows I'm anybody's daughter and they come and eat just because they like my food.
There's someone else here who used to be an assassin, and he gets to be kind and gentle and make lunch.
It's so good here.
[ ...That all got away from her a little. But none of it's... dangerous to send. Right? ]
[ ]
[ Fuck it. She sends the whole thing. ]
no subject
[ But. How would Pudding know to craft it like this, if it is? They know so little of each other. ]
[ ... Unless that strange ability of hers, the one that edited Reiju's memory, let her see all of who Reiju is as a person...? But down that mental road lies an unending morass of paranoia. ]
Yes. I understand.
[ Who would think to call a place like this 'good'? But seeing it through Pudding's description... Reiju can believe it. ]
It's a chance to start over.
no subject
[ Reiju, likewise, could be drawing so many threads around her. She knows that. After sixteen and a half years at home, oh, she knows that. ]
[ Trust no one. Not even Mama. ]
[ But Mama isn't here. ]
[ And she's become... close? Can she say that after three short months? (Well, when nearly three weeks involved being trapped in three upper floors of a single building with the same people...) ]
I meant what I said. I don't know how much of anything I did was because Mama said and how much was me being me.
[ Or what she thought was "me." ]
Sanji-san said I was fooling myself, too, same as everyone else. I think he was right.
[ Is she just unloading on Reiju because she's someone Pudding doesn't have to explain her whole existence to, someone who already knows what she's talking about? Probably. But Reiju can just stop talking to her anytime, over the tablet. And if she doesn't talk to the newest arrival, there's so much Reiju could spill about her to everyone else. It makes sense to defuse god knows how much, right? So... why not? ]
no subject
[ Sanji. She hopes he never learns of her death. What it would do to him, knowing that she died safeguarding his escape... no. He doesn't deserve to carry that burden, and she knows he will carry it. ]
[ Pudding's too, for that matter. For all she had plotted to kill him, Sanji would still have so much regret. ]
[ He's so good. ]
And now you've had the time to get your head clear? It can't have been that long, surely...
[ But, long enough that Pudding has made friends. ]
no subject
I've been here since April in Beacon's calendar. There are a lot of people here from different versions of a place called Earth, and they all come from different years in their calendar. But the last reset only happened a year ago here.
[ That's going to be a lot to explain all by itself, with the intro message damaged... but, later. ]
It's [ She pauses for so long trying to find the right word. ] difficult. Sometimes I don't know what I really want, and what's something I wanted to want [ wait. she erases to make Mama happy ] before.
There's nothing I can say to you that'll fix anything. But Sanji-kun likes you. So I'd like to not be enemies.
[ She'd like to be, maybe, friends. But that would be pushing it. ]
no subject
[ What will it feel like, when her own death is months behind her? ]
[ Sanji-kun likes you. It says so much about him -- and so much about Pudding, too -- that even in the short time they knew each other, she adopted his judgment so strongly. She wants to make peace with Reiju because Sanji would want it. ]
[ Funny, isn't it? Reiju feels almost the same way. Despite Pudding's open intent to kill him, Sanji forgave her wholeheartedly. (He does everything with his whole heart.) ]
Whatever needs to be fixed... that was there. I think we can consider this place a fresh start.
pretend I used "Sanji-san" like I know which version of the character I'm playing
[ The rushing instincts that follow that burst of joyous disbelief are it's a trap and no, this is good, whether it's a trap or not play along and she'll trust you - ]
[ She cuts them both off. Old habits die hard. ]
[ Trusting people remains nerve-wracking, if not downright terrifying. Even the people here, so few and so carefully bound together, protecting each other for common cause if not out of care, are difficult to just let in. Pudding's contacts are many, but her friends... ]
[ (Then again... she has friends. At all.) ]
Thank you! Thank you so much!
I'm trying. I'm bad at it but I'm trying.
Can I make you dinner? We can talk in person.
ffffff I didn't even catch that
[ But. She is not someone else. She is -- for all the thought of leaving behind the name Vinsmoke is compelling beyond all reason -- still Poison Pink, and she has faith in her own abilities. If there is anything she does not need to fear, it is food prepared by someone who could be an enemy. ]
I would enjoy that. Whenever it is convenient for you, I am pleased to accept.
[ Pudding is a cook -- not, she thinks, in the same way Sanji is, but all the same. It is a gesture toward peace on the girl's part, and one that Reiju assesses holds little likelihood of being an avenue to cause harm. Even if this is all a feint and Pudding means to poison her... well, she's welcome to try. ]
no subject
[ So the thought of poisoning Reiju? Didn't even occur to her. Doesn't occur to her now, as she closes the network window and opens up one of her recipe pads instead next to the window of their private chat, easy as breathing, feather-stylus in hand. ]
I don't have any obligations tomorrow. Do you have any allergies? Anything you particularly like?