thirstology | TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME #5

test drive 5.0

The world has shifted. Or maybe you’ve shifted? Either way, things have changed, and it’s going to be quite a while before you see them change back again.

BASICS

You were going about your business as usual until the world went white around you, and when the fog cleared: Oska. You've arrived in a snag of reality between worlds, the full extent of which can be read about here. But in essence, you’ve arrived in a grand, magical, almost empty castle. Outside the castle is an empty, long-abandoned village, partially in ruin. Past that, the world simply fades out into white mist. Your best bet is probably to stick to the castle and its grounds.

Suits of armor patrol the quiet hallways, but good luck getting them to speak or answer any questions. There’s absolutely nothing inside them, they move under their own power. They don’t talk, but they also go out of their way not to hurt you. You can even attack one, it will just patiently wait for you to give up and leave. If, however, you ask one for directions, it will dutifully turn and lead the way to wherever you’ve requested.

Librarians lurk in the halls of the enormous, well-stocked library, in which you can find nearly any book from nearly any world. The librarians are tall, wide, and very muscular, but they’re also not out to hurt you. Provided you play nice, of course. The usual rules apply: be respectful of the books, keep your voice lowered, and never bring any source of flame into the library. That last one might make the librarians reconsider their nonviolent natures.

Outside, there's a greenhouse with every type of flora you can imagine (and more, since they're from all over the universe) — be careful, though, because not all of them are friendly. If you'd like to take a dip, you can check out the lake; just be friendly to the fish. You can catch sight of almost any animal you'd like in the stables, real-world or fantasy. Most of them have been tamed, and won't do any real harm. However, some of them can be a bit testy. Stay away from the unicorns unless you have perfect manners — they hate impoliteness.

Current characters in game can assume that the Timeline glitched and sent them temporarily back to Oska. You are welcome to take any threads that happen here as game canon, should both parties arrive in game. Threads done here by prospective players may be used as application samples, and threads done by current players may be used as Bonus AC.

PROMPTS

ONE ✗ THE KITCHEN
The kitchen is always stocked with food, freshly cooked and ready to be eaten — although there was no one to do the cooking, and it might just be you to do the eating. That doesn’t seem to discourage the kitchen in the slightest, which is constantly churning out new, fresh courses. Some of them are more innocent than others today.

That tart you just ate? It was harpfruit, native to Cendiares, and has a pesky side effect of making the eater blurt out everything that pops into their head. The completely average-looking salad actually has flakes of Raphian wildflowers, which cause a bit of dancing fever — it isn't contagious, but it does make the sufferer want to dance with everyone they can. The choices and effects are endless and up to you, and don't worry; ALASTAIR is working on getting the kitchen under control as we speak.

TWO ✗ THE TRAINING CENTER
Maybe you find your way into the Training Center. A lot of work went into setting this room up, and it can construct nearly any scenario that you can imagine. All it takes to activate this room, still and featureless until it comes to life, is the brush of a finger against one of the glowing pads on the wall. The magitek will take it from there.

Just envision the setting and any enemies you’d like to train against, and they’ll instantly materialize. Would you rather go sightseeing, without worrying about a fight? No problem! The room is eager to provide you with a sparring partner, but it can be convinced to hold off -- just don’t think of getting into any fights. The Training Center also offers any games you can think of: soccer, basketball, literal freeze tag, etc. Every supply you need will be simulated for you.

Additionally, the following scenarios are also preloaded into the system for user convenience, each coming with a small summary of mission objectives:

ANWICK: A ruined little village with a massive, dead dragon skewered in the center of it. The goal is to protect her young in a nearby cave. The terrain is treacherous, the wyrmlings are squirmy and unhelpful, and the townsfolk are furious. But for good reason -- it seems dragons have been plaguing them for decades. Even the simulation’s enemies are programmed to say as much, and will do their best to convince you to their side.

CHANTES: Chantes, Audentes' first mission, is a typical medieval town cloaked in darkness and surrounded by a winding forest. It comes in two default flavors and difficulty settings. Fairies are the easier enemy; the objective is to collect three jars of unpleasant, glowing sap from their nests without getting your eyes poked out. The fairy goop can also cause disturbances with magical powers, unwanted levitation, and unfortunate cosmetic effects.

Demons are the more difficult setting. The task is to clear ominous runes off of various town structures, but when approached, each one releases a red, misty spirit. It will fight tooth and nail to protect its ‘home,’ but is largely invulnerable short of destroying its rune. To prevent this, it may resort to spells, violence, and possessing someone else in the simulation -- consider this a lesson in PvP. (NOTE: You’re also welcome to use anything from the previous events from Chantes as well.)

OSKA TRAINING: The goal in this simulation is simple: outlast the timer. It’s exactly the same castle, but after it’s been pelted by a firestorm, architecture ruined to rubble and ash. Navigating the half-destroyed castle is hard enough, and the earthquakes and fireballs raining from the sky will continue until characters survive for a certain amount of time (from an hour to a day) or find a full bushel’s worth of food. And just to rub salt in the wound, all the dirt, grime, and mud in this simulation will last outside of it, so you might need a shower after.

NALAWI: An island nation populated by diminutive deer people. The first setting is a mini version of the Gilligan's Island event -- it's less action-packed and more focused on survival. Marooned on the drowned island of Dakal, it's up to you to figure out where to find food and shelter. You might also want to avoid the hungry sea creatures that have made their way up on the island, too.

The second setting involves lava monsters erupting out of Nalalona, the largest volcano on the Nalawi islands. Lava imps will do their best to hypnotize recruits into following them back into the volcano, and can be defeated the normal way or non-violently lured into the water. Next comes the fire golems, hulking but fast. Their weak spot is their glowing core, but it will require some cleverness to reach. (NOTE: You're welcome to use any scenarios based on other Nalawi events as well!)

ZETA-12: Oh boy, a whole planet to explore! The objective here is simple: protect your delicate goo baby at all costs. Luckily for you, the simulation has seen fit to skip over the frozen wastes! Your first challenge is crossing the deep forest: carnivorous plants try to get a bite out of you, but that isn't the worst part. Eventually, you come to a deep chasm, and have to choose between forcing your wailing, distressed squidge across, or soothing it for several hours until it's willing to go with you.

Scenario two is a thick bog inhabited by an aggressive plant monster. It spits a crippling neurotoxin, so anyone attempting to fight it should be wary. Outsmarting or avoiding it would be best for the squidges' well-being, but some people are too hot-blooded for that. What will you do?

Finally, there's the desert; it's picturesque, but only if you can ignore the dehydration and punishing heat. There's a cave network for you to seek shelter in, but make no mistake: pretty soon a freak meteor shower causes a cave-in and leaves you trapped inside with an increasingly aggressive squidge. Are you out there dodging meteors or navigating caverns?

THREE ✗ HOT SPRINGS EPISODE
One of ALASTAIR's teams extracted an enormous, very hot core from a sentient and murderous AI. What better way to put it to use than to heat up the springs? It's a nice place to get some much needed R&R or just hang out. Some enterprising recruits have built wooden decks and stairs around and through the whole affair. It's a little bit of a hike to get there from the castle, but anyone who has visited can agree: it's worth it.

FOUR ✗ THE NETWORK
There is some good news, along with all these bizarre and fantastical new sights: you’ve arrived with a new piece of jewelry which, if examined, gives you access to anyone else that might be currently inhabiting Oska. You can speak into the jewelry and be heard, you can get it to project moving images of yourself and others, you can even think a message into it and have it arrive as written word to whoever you’re communicating with. It’s a useful little trinket, provided you can get it to work.

FIVE ✗ CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
You are free to use any of these settings, or anything from the Settings Page. You may use any virtually created setting you can think of in the Training Center, even scenes from your character’s world (although they’ll be devoid of people, unless they’re brought in as opponents).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kitchen;

[There's quite a commotion going on in the kitchen today. The sound of shelf doors banging open and closed, a squishy noise as if food's being disturbed, pots clambering together -- was that a plate breaking, oh my-- followed by a high-pitched shriek and what sounds like a person hastily scrambling down off of a counter.]

[Should anyone choose to investigate this kerfuffle, they will catch one teenage girl, red-handed (literally, as her hands are stained with ... some kind of jam)]

-WOAH! I knew this place was haunted!! [She stares directly at you, eyes wide--- wait, what? Apparently, you're a ghost. This may be news to you, but Maya somehow predicted (??) this)] Er, I-- I'm sorry, Ghost of Dinner Past!! That plate was broken when I got here, don't curse with me two hundred years of vegetable stew!

[One may notice, to the left of her, a desecrated pie is lying on the counter. As if someone (huh, who could it have been!) put their hands inside of it and rooted around. Like a weirdo.] I-It wasn't me!! I was framed by a pietergeist!

[Maya Fey: Ace Liar]

Castle;

[One would think most new arrivals would be put off, but this girl seems to be totally enamoured with the spooky, empty castle. She's peeking around every corner and into any room, even stopping to stare at the suits of armor patrolling around (though she keeps a bit of distance, there). She's easy enough to spot, even with the uniform she's an odd-looking figure and far too excited for that's going on here. She also seems to have no problem talking to strangers]

This is seriously awesome! [She half-whispers to anyone unfortunate enough to be in earshot -- that is, you] How do you think they see in those things? Like... cameras, or tiny little eyeholes? Do you think there's a king and queen and everything? Oh, oh, what about knights around a rectangle table? [Swing and a miss, Maya] Hey-- you're not a court jester or something, are you? [Well, that was rude.]

Training Hall;

[After much fiddling and tapping (which is sad, as all it takes is a light touch to start up the simulation), Maya's managing to fire up up the training simulation. As she concentrates hard, the room morphs into a mountain scene, a grand, gushing waterfall overhead, leading into a river. It's peaceful enough, the air is crisp, the waterfall making the only sound in the room as the girl wades through it to stand just underneath the waterfall, clasping her hands together and bowing her head down in meditation---]

[This lasts for about thirty seconds.]

Sooo.... Wait a second.... [She cracks an eye open, as she says to no one in particular:] I can imagine anything, can't I?

[And all at once, this serene mountain scene completely disappears, being replaced with.... a courtroom? An old man with an outfit made purely of exaggerated cravats appears at the prosecution's bench, while an even older man with a beard that's three feet long (someone may or may not be overusing their imagination for this) materializes at the judge's bench. Maya herself pops up behind the defense's bench, pinning a comically oversized lawyer's badge to her chest. She slams her hands on the desk]

OBJECTION!!! Call the parrot to the stand!

[This could be your grand debut as an Ace Attorney witness, if you answer to 'parrot'. Of if you have a parrot. Or if you just want to get on the witness stand, period. Alternatively, hang around and just judge her instead. Or maybe remind her to take this a little more seriously, as it's supposed to be for training and not Maya's Wild Courtroom Fantasies]

Geez, being a lawyer is easy. I don't know what Nick's been sweating about this whole time!

[Truly, this is the lawyer life.]

Wildcard;

[Hit me with anything!! Alternatively, if you want another prompt, I can provide]

[ ....... ]

Really now.

[ Testament had been in here because, well. He wanted some cooked potatoes, but what he didn't expect was this whole mess. On another note, Maya can't be blamed for mistaking Testament as a ghost, considering his deathly pale appearance. ]

...And what exactly did this pietergeist look like?

[Testament came for cooked potatoes... but alas, it was not to be. Instead, he encounters a berry-handed easily spooked spirit medium (in training!) with an overactive imagination. In terms of ghosts, Tempest does look the part.... the ghost of gothmas present, maybe?]

[But there's no escaping now.]

Well--- you know!! Like that dough-y guy who makes weird noises when you poke his stomach! Probably full of haunted berry filling, light as a spirit crust, hauntingly delicious!

....

Now I'm hungry again.

[not that she ransacked this place looking for food or anything, right. It was definitely the pietergeist.]

[ What is he going to do with you.... ]

...We're pushing the matter of 'ghosts' aside, since I'm beginning to doubt there's a 'pietergeist' at all. This bit of mess couldn't interfered with all the food that's been already prepared, so I imagine you could still pick out something to eat.

[ Thereby solving her hunger dilemma... possibly. Is it ever that easy? ]

Maya Fey | Ace Attorney

kitchen;

1/2

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kitchen.....amazing

:D

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kitchen

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kitchen

1/2

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castle!

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training hall...

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I thought I hit post on this already

kitchen...

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training hall

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