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. BASICSYou 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.
PROMPTSONE ✗ 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 EPISODEOne 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 NETWORKThere 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 ADVENTUREYou 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). |
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futurologists) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
thirstology2016-09-24 10:21 pm
LOOK.........
For all his valiant efforts to not draw attention to this (mildly embarrassing) predicament, however, it looks like he's caught somebody's attention anyway. The girl speaks up, and Mob looks over her way as she settles in a closer seat now. At the indicated spoons his stare drops back down to them instead; his shoulders roll in a slight, almost imperceptible shrug.]
...Well, it's a bad habit... [Or so his mom tends to say, anyway, and Mob is somewhat inclined to agree. It's pretty inconvenient, at the very least.] I guess I've got it pretty bad right now, so I shouldn't try any more spoons. But that's okay. I don't think I'm very hungry right now...
is this really the matrix because she's seen how that goes (no she didn't)
You looked like you really wanted your bowl. So I thought...
[ There might be an alternative to simply giving up on a simple meal. ]
MAYBE IT IS MAN, YOU NEVER KNOW (this kid in shades and a long coat tho, can you imagine...)
But then there's footsteps pattering back, and Mob looks up to find a pair of chopsticks being politely offered his way.]
Huh?
[Really nice ones...the sort with little decorations and everything? Mob stares at them.
This is the kindest gesture anyone in this castle has given him all day.
38% ]
Oh, thank you... [Mob carefully accepts the chopsticks, rolling them between his fingers with a faint air of something like--surprise? No, there's some gratitude in there too. An almost disproportionate amount, actually...] Yeah, chopsticks should be okay. It's usually only spoons. But I hadn't thought about using something else...this is really nice of you. [Mob settles back down in his seat, fitting the chopsticks into a proper grip before he addresses his rice again. And he waits until the girl has gotten seated again, too, before breaking his appreciative silence.] You found these really fast, too...have you been in this kitchen a lot?
mob is apparently the neo we deserve
Good. She'd been hoping he might be familiar with chopsticks. She covertly watches for him to take a proper grip before really relaxing, smile returning with a pleased sort of air. Small things like this are the ones she can manage without needing to rely too heavily on others. Her brief time temporally rifted back to Oska away from the desert has made her all the more aware of how much she has relied on the kindness of relative strangers.
It's nice to pay it forward in turn. ]
Mm, I guess? It's more like... before the most recent mission, I was only here in Oska for a few weeks. I got used to making stuff on my own, so I learned where a lot of stuff was in the kitchens. I can show you where these are kept after we're done, if you want!
[ She pauses, chopsticks poised over her own bowl, giving him an openly hopeful look.
... Maybe she's been realising a bit too much that there are things she's really not equipped for being required out in the field. (Or maybe she's that thankful to be away from the threat of live bullet fire for the time being, until she's properly sorted and sent right on back.) ]
no subject
He pauses before he can lift anything to his mouth, though, briefly sidetracked by surprise at Chihiro's words.]
Weeks--you've been here for that long already? [Something in Mob's stomach drops very uncomfortably, at this idea. A prospect he hadn't been thinking on--a possibility he hadn't tried to consider yet. He'd just sort of assumed, that he'd be out of here at some point...even if nobody's actually said it would really be that easy.
It's troubling. Mob pauses to get his food the rest of the way to his mouth, taking a moment to chew both on this and the new possibility that's cropped up here. ...But Chihiro's still watching him hopefully over her bowl now, and he remembers she'd said a few other things too. Ah, right...he should try to read the mood here....asking about heavy things already probably wouldn't make things very cheerful right now. Mob wants to repay her for the chopsticks at least a little better than that...so he nods instead.
(It really is a good thing he's using chopsticks instead of spoons now. He'd have bent a spoon right in half at this point.)]
If you wouldn't mind...yes, I think that'd be nice to know. [He hesitates slightly as he prods around in his bowl some more.] ...Do you get permission from the chefs in here, to make things? I haven't--seen them, but I'd like to apologize to them a little later too. For messing up their spoons...
no subject
She brushes the thought to the side. Her homesickness doesn't get better so much as sidelined and sidetracked, allowing her to stay functional when otherwise it's been trying enough simply getting by. ]
People have been on my team for months... eight? More? Not everyone, since people can go back or transfer or go on different missions.
[ She stares down into her bowl, trying to sort out the bits and pieces of information she's heard. She doesn't understand it all enough to have properly sorted it out, but she's done what she can. There's just been so much... ]
If you work hard, they're supposed to try and send you home sooner.
[ It's the worst kind of bribery to offer a straightforward young girl well on her way to being a young woman. She holds to that, in spite of all the frightening things that have made this place anything but home-like since she first arrived and found herself speaking with someone in antiquated Japanese. Then he accepts her offer, and she glances up again, shoulders relaxing as she nods her head. Good. She can help another kid (the term being relative) out, and this one probably won't end up being twenty-five next week.
Probably. ]
Mm, I don't know who to ask. There's never anyone here. It's... magic? The food, and everything like that. The dishes even do themselves if you ignore them for too long, but I try to make sure I clean up after myself.
[ She says the word magic like she's still trying to make sense of what it means here. She doesn't doubt the reality, but she wants to understand the logic and rules. Eventually, it might make her feel more inclined to eat what's prepared for them. For now she still knee-jerks away from all but the whole fruits or raw vegetables. Accidentally healthy when she was feeling lazy. ]
You can probably apologise to the seniors about the spoons. Or see if someone can bend them back in shape for you.
no subject
He's still not sure what to make of the prospect, honestly. Different worlds, different "timelines"...it sounds like a movie, and he already knows he's nothing like the main character of such a movie ought to be. He doesn't even have a lot of normal job experience to start with...does he even have any skills to be helpful, in a place like this? Spirit exorcising can't possibly be enough to count for very much, he doesn't think...
But something about the fact that this statement is coming from the little girl opposite of him is--sort of grounding. She's even younger than he is, as far as Mob can tell...surely still only an elementary schooler, or maybe a first-year middle schooler at best. And elementary schoolers shouldn't be needing to worry about anything like work at all. But she's been here for such a long time already...the thought tugs at something in his chest a little, makes his own troubles seem a little less large. Mob nods again, a slight frown slipping into place.]
...I guess that's how it is, then. I'll try my best... [That's about all he can do now, anyway, unless another way back suddenly crops up. But until then...well, that's that. About as subdued as he was before now, Mob resumes chewing on a few more mouthfuls of rice as he listens to the rest of what Chihiro has to say, trying to line it all up in his head.]
'Magic'? That does sort of sound like spirits or something....things cleaning up by themselves. [Either that or somebody's doing it from a distance, telekinetically...Mob's almost curious enough at the prospect to reach out and try to find something, but it's a thought he slots away for later. Besides, this kitchen--and this entire castle, honestly--have all been constantly humming with a backdrop of odd energy anyway, faint and strange to his senses. He's not sure he'd even be able to pick out anything very well right now, with all the interference all over the place...] But cleaning up anyway is a good idea. We should be polite...
I'll also have to find the seniors, then. Okay... [With a free hand, Mob prods at one of the bent spoons on the table, faint chagrin seeping into his expression.] Do you really think they wouldn't mind bending them back? I'd try to do it myself, but I can't do it with my hands...and the other way, I usually just end up bending them in another direction instead... [Embarrassing.............]
the worst part here is going "chihiro would rec shizuo or haise for this tbh"
Humans have that capacity for love that the spirits don't, not in the ways that most would recognise. It was such a uniquely human gift to give, a love that could call one back from death and save them even while it's little more than a voice echoing in the dark, calling them home. It's a magic she would never call magic, and nothing she truly knows about. To her, the magic had been her apologies and her remembrance of what gave a friend she loved their freedom. That was magic. Paying someone back for a service rendered and a friendship fostered when it hadn't been offered on any contractual agreement.
It's something she remembers now, even while she nods. ]
It may be a kind of spirit. Or some other kind of magic. I'm not really familiar with all of that.
[ She can admit, feeling less of an appetite in this moment. ]
Hn... I can show you the easy to use sink. With the spoons... maybe we should ask Haise-san if he can help us first.
[ She also considers Shizuo, but it's more his temperament that she doesn't know if she wants to introduce a more timid Mob to,
and not at all playercest concerns. Ironically. ACCIDENTALLY GOOD FOR META REASONS.so her mind slides to the more polite and level headed strong man she knows. It would likely be easier on her newest friend to deal with someone calmer. She didn't want any of her friends to be unnecessarily uncomfortable.Decision made in her mind, she fixes a bright look on Mob. ]
Haise-san is very strong, so he can probably bend the spoons back. If we fix it then, we won't need to trouble any of our senior's seniors. [ Being less of a hassle altogether, and also less of a probable embarrassment, she hopes. ] Though, um. How are you bending the spoons in the first place?
[ Are you the One? No; more her look is openly curious, eyes flicking from the bent spoons to Mob's face, then politely away again. It's nothing worth staring over. ]