TEST DRIVE MEME #05

[nextnightmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME #05

Hello and welcome to the The Next Night's test drive meme for December-January! Thanks for your interest in this GPSL! We operate on a rolling application system. Applications are always open and will be judged on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Next Night is currently set to end in spring of 2021, so this will be the last TDM posted - but don't let that dissuade you! There are plenty of opportunities for new characters to get involved in current game events as the community of Beacon unites to deal with a world-ending foe.

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 10 apps for new players, and that 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 top-leveling is not limited to new characters! If current players wish to post a starter, they are welcome and encouraged to do treat the TDM like any other game-wide event. Current players are welcome to post logs or network posts using TDM prompts as desired.


• 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

the walls, the walls are coming down

After Dr. Solis' disappearance, the people operating the portal have occasionally struggled with bringing in new people. So they widen the parameters. Select all target sectors of the multiverse. Surely, this has to be better, right?

For some of you, the last thing you remember is dying. Maybe it feels like a moment ago, maybe a lifetime. But now you awake in darkness, with a lantern your only source of light, and a tablet that prompts you to sign on to a network at your side. The locals must be these strange thing surrounding you - some humanoid, some animal-like, others something else entirely, but they encircle you, masked faces pressing closer, until one shrieks and squeaks and takes you by the hand, or shoves you, or simply tries to herd you to the large bonfire in the center of an open square.

For others, you're quite sure you were just recently alive, and possibly in the middle of something important. And when the forest spirits try to haul you off, their hands pass right through you. Your lantern flickers. The network prompt blinks, but entering a username doesn't seem to get it to go anywhere until it finally lets you on as an anonymous guest user. Strange. But while you're here, you might as well enjoy the sights, right? Hopefully this is just some strange mistake and you'll wake up shortly with nothing more than a headache to show for it.

Note: for characters who are not dead, they will function as "ghosts" for this TDM - however you want to interpret that! If you decide to app them to the game, they will have to end up dead as part of their arrival in Beacon, but are allowed to remember the events of this TDM once they have died and wound up here.

As this is a fourth wall-style prompt, feel free to play any character you like for a brief visit to Beacon, but keep in mind that if you later decide to app them they will need to fit within the rules for appable characters. For situations involving characters previously in Beacon returning for this mini-event, any memory of previously being in Beacon is allowed but will automatically render the threads non-canon (or some strange hallucination).

Questions? Feel free to ask on the December Gameplan.

rat nicholas

Did you all forget the Rat King? Because the Rat King hasn't forgotten you. Just as you're picking up the monthly supplies and greeting the strangest round of newcomers yet, there's a thundering of paws, shrill little squeaks, and the glint of torchlight on sharp teeth. A wall of rats overtakes the town, threatening to trample anyone and anything in their path.

But if you manage to stay out of their way, you'll see a strange sight - the Rat King, body composed of hundreds of fleshy, furry rat bodies writhing and swaying, is being pulled on a large piece of scrap metal across the snow. And as they swarm, the King tosses gifts to and fro! Try not to get bonked in the head by a shrunken apple doll, or trip over a very pungent cheese rind. Among the strange rat-favored junk you might even find a few treasures in the form of actual sweets, or some lovely spirit-made garlands, though you might have to beat the rats to the good ones!

network prompts

Q&A

WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE
TO SEE THEM AGAIN

WHAT WILL YOU GIVE
TO KEEP THEM SAFE

KNOWING YOU GET NOTHING IN RETURN?

[The words appear on the network - sometimes when you go to make a post, sometimes interrupting what you were trying to type.

Maybe this place is just like that, or maybe there's someone looking for an answer?]

shivers

The brutal cold drags its teeth across your flesh with every biting gust of wind. You just want to get indoors, to safety - but the snow spirals thickly around you, blocking all vision, reflecting light from your lantern onto shards of ice that seek to dig in to any part of your exposed skin. You close your eyes, cover them with a hand, while branches crack and snap in the forest around you.

When you open them, you aren't where you were, and you are very alone. But the tablet in your pocket still has a signal. Maybe you can ask for help? Maybe someone knows how to guide you back?

(This is a mini-version of our upcoming event, Shivers (I've Got 'Em)!)

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Comments

[sunborne]

You guys are still using the lessons I uploaded?

[ he's pretty touched to hear that. he didn't think it would prove so vital to the others, long after he vanished ]

Glad to see grandma's lessons on language paid off. [ he looks down at the star maps again, looking at his name on it with a little bit of awe. ] I- I'm surprised.

It was just... An off-the-cuff decision, to be honest. I thought it would be nice to speak with the spirits more, to better understand them so we could help each other out.

[callada]

That's exactly it. We need their help, or at least their cooperation. And with a little conversation, most of them are willing to cooperate. I guess a lot of them still feel... Well, I'd say human, but other types of person, too. They're us, it turns out. People who were here in Beacon before it went dark, but also everyone who has come here and vanished since.

[Mary's still out there somewhere. Winters, too, and Robin, and all the rest of them. But they don't remember who they are now, not anymore.

He sighs as he looks at all the names on the charts, then frowns.]

Same with the green-eyes.

[sunborne]

[ ah. the green-eyed spirits.

he hasn't thought of them in a long, long while. they were mostly brought up during his therapy sessions with quickswitch, in their attempts to figure out the root of his relationship dependency issues.

he crosses his arms, expression becoming more thoughtful. ]

Damn, I haven't thought of them for a long while. [ he tilts his helm, expression thoughtful as he takes in the bombshell of the spirits being former people. it's a lot to take in but there's something he knows he wants to immediately ask: ] Can I ask what was the difference or quality that separated the people who turned into spirits and the people who were turned into green-eyed ones?

[callada]

I'd tell you if I knew. It seems like spirits can become green-eyes, maybe because they're already violent or maybe doing violent things causes it. Maybe it's random. And when we were in the mines, trying to track down the Wild Hunt - well, you know what happened to us at the hospital? It was like that all over again. There's a big green-eyed spirit that was trying to change them. Some of the things that resulted were some kind of mix, not quite green-eyed but halfway there. And now it seems like we see a lot more of them around, out there in the woods.

[He debates going into more detail, but holds back. A lot happened in the mines, and a lot happened to those poor people who had once tried to save them, even if they disagreed on Beacon's future. But thinking of the hospital still makes him feel sick, and the mines were even worse, rampant with hallucinations alongside the gore.

He steels himself mentally to explain better if Daylight asks, but outwardly he glances at his tablet again as if just casually distracted by something more interesting than that particular topic.]

[sunborne]

[ daylight has lived long enough and learned enough hard lessons to tell when a topic needs to be dropped. not only for the other person's sake but his sake as well.

he can chase the answers at some other time. last thing he wants to do is sour the happy reunion he's having with rosinante. ] Glad you guys are doing okay. Sounds like you've made a lot of progress since the flood and I'm glad for you guys. I really am.

If there's a group that deserves to kick some ass and take names, it's you.

[callada]

[He fights back the urge to shake his head, to say they don't deserve any such thing. It's not fair to the rest of them. They do deserve to benefit from all the hard work that's been done, even if he believes he doesn't.

Instead, he smiles a little and sets the tablet down.]

Thanks. Everyone here has been through so much, and has worked so hard to not only survive but to keep pushing forward. You know it, from your time here before. These people are all hard-working. Stubborn in the best way. I wouldn't want to be stuck with anyone else at the end of the world.

[sunborne]

[ daylight can't help but smile at the comment, nodding in agreement. ] Yeah. Stubborn is definitely the best way to describe you guys.

[ he really does wish the guys the best.

whatever happens next, if he's involved with it or not, he wants them to succeed and get out of this winning. whatever the form is 'winning' for them right now. because when you're dead and on a dead planet, what can be done, feasibly? anything if you're the ones setting the rules. ]

So— You think we have time to do some mural painting? I’d love to see what you and the others chipped in because it looks great.

[callada]

[Trust Daylight to come up with a great way to kill some time and put a smile on his face. He chuckles at the suggestion and turns toward the door, ready to head back downstairs.]

Yeah, let's do that. We can catch Law later. Come on.

we can wrap up here if you want. it was such a joy to tag rosinante again with day. ; u ;

[sunborne]

Awesome! [ daylight stretches out his limbs, standing up much as he can while he tries (and fails) to keep his excitement over doing some art now. ] I’ve been itching to do a mural painting for a while. Was planning to do it with Emer but you know—

[ daylight is more than happy to fill the air with friendly chatter when they make their way to the mural. at the end of the day, day is happy that he’s back here.

it’s a little strange, definitely surreal, but he doesn’t regret that this is happening. ]