expiationlogs | TEST DRIVE MEME #8

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TEST DRIVE MEME #8

Test Drive Meme #8

Welcome to Expiation, a pan-fandom adventure game with elements of fantasy, science fiction, and some subtle horror.

TDM top-levels are open to all, whether you are already in-game or not. New characters, please put TDM in your subject header so we’ll know you’re trying things out! You can also put your top-level in the TDM DIRECTORY at the bottom of the post. New folks are welcome and encouraged to use TDM threads as samples in their application. Current players may use TDM threads as part of their AC proofs.

April's TDM is forward-dated to the end of Gogol, Dara, and Seimei's player plot on April 20th.

You can view our CALENDAR to keep important dates in mind. RESERVES open on April 20 and APPLICATIONS will open on April 23 After this, applications will next open in June 2024.

NEW FOR APRIL 2024: there is now a top level for everyone to post their TDM top levels into! This is for new characters only. Thank you!

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Arrival

You remember a room of blinding white light—so bright that you couldn't make out any details. You heard voices, speaking in muffled tones. It sounded an awful lot like they were talking about you. You were just on the verge of figuring out what they’re saying, you were so close...but what happened after that?

Ah–that's right. You fell into blackness.

New characters are most likely to wake in one of the following locations:

THE DOCKS
You wake to the gentle sound of waves, your body rocking with the movement of the water. Wait—water? Since when was there water beneath you?

Since now, apparently. You appear to be in the lower rooms of a boat…and you might not be alone. There are several of these crafts in the harbor, ranging from larger cruising vessels to small sailboats. The one thing they all have in common is this: they are all half-built, as if someone realized very recently that there is a whole ocean to explore. Wonder where they might be going? Either way, you’d better get out of here, before the construction crew finds you and brands you as a stowaway.

ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
When you come to, the first thing you hear is the commotion of distant voices and running feet. You feel a warm light on your face…it’s too bright to look at directly, so when you open your eyes, you have to look away. It’s probably for the best. Those stage lights can’t be good for your eyes.

… Stage lights?

That’s right, you seem to be just offstage in an entertainment venue. Someone is fussing with you, powdering your face with some last-minute touch-up makeup, vaguely coaching you on. “You’ll be great! Just get out there and have fun!”

With little room to argue or ask questions, you are immediately shoved out on stage, and find yourself in front of a sold-out crowd. What you find on the stage to help you perform is up to you: a microphone, musical instruments, magician’s tools, a full-blown play, the sky’s the limit.

Break a leg…?

CITY CENTER
“These new statues are so lifelike!” Click.
“I wonder which artist installed all of this? It’s almost eerie, isn’t it?”
“I feel like they could move at any second!” Click click.

You wake in a garden. Not just in a garden—amongst the flowers, almost as if you’re an installed piece of artwork. Are you alone, or posed with someone else? Up to you. You may even find yourself entwined with vines, half-buried in the ground, or subtly hidden beneath a large bush. A few hapless locals stand in front of you, taking pictures. Do they really believe you’re a statue? They’re in for a rude awakening whenever you finally move…

Well. Better dig yourself out of here and figure out what’s going on.

However you awaken, the next time you’re able to stand still and take in your surroundings, you’re approached by a small mechanical creature, which reveals a handheld tablet with a rolled-up parchment within it. Booting up the tablet for the first time brings you the following message:
WELCOME, CHOSEN.
WE ARE SO GLAD YOU ARE HERE.

So…now what?

These new familiar streets

The unexpected expansion of Aldrip means that there's suddenly a vast uptick in things to do. The locals don't seem to find any of this unusual or surprising at all, but the Chosen seem to remember that Aldrip wasn't always like this...how unusual! Well, whatever the case, the city is abuzz with activity…and wildlife, apparently. Thanks to some recent events, there seems to be a surplus of poisonous snakes slithering haplessly through the city, as well as, perhaps, a few lingering pockets of miasma. Best to watch your step…

i. This smells like a sidequest
Businesses and individuals all over town will be giving out quests ranging in size, scope, and request. Any of these will net you a prize from the right requestor. These prizes are mostly just silly little knick knacks, and they don’t seem to have any value, but the locals are adamant that they are quite important! At the same time, some locals may offer more useful rewards, such as money, clothing, food, or even a month’s rent at the local inn, especially for newcomers. Either way, you might have to team up to complete some of these challenges. Grab a partner!

Quests and requests can include, but are not limited to, ideas such as:
A local art collector looking for striking photographs of local flora and fauna
The neighborhood food cart owner on the hunt for new and interesting ingredients and recipes
Your neighbor’s search for their missing cat
Requests to clear monsters out of certain areas
Scavenger hunts to find local landmarks, such as murals on the side of buildings, a specific statue, or a hole-in-the-wall business

You're free to use your imagination, the setting, and local NPCs to come up with whatever ideas your heart desires.

ii. Should’ve waited for the patch
This sudden change is going fairly well, but it could be better. Some areas of town will be subject to something that seems like glitches. These effects could range from things going missing or suddenly changing (your favorite lipstick just changed from red to blue?? how odd!) to streets and doorways going into places they logically shouldn’t go to. Your front door isn’t supposed to be at the end of the dock, is it? Better watch your step, because strange things seem to be afoot.

Day and night life

While it’s not an official festival by any means, the beginning of spring is the cherished start of the planting season for the farmers outside of Aldrip, and the entire city comes together to promote it! Chosen are encouraged to take part in the planting process if they desire, but there’s plenty more to do, for those who don’t have a green thumb. Flyers can be found all over town for various competitions, shows, businesses, and events. Just be careful—the city has grown rapidly in a short period of time, and that means crime rates have grown as well. It’s unwise to linger alone after dark. Who knows what someone may find down a dark alleyway…or who knows, maybe they should be more afraid of you.

iii. Iron Chef: Aldrip
Fire up those pots and pans! The highlight of the town center is a huge cooking competition, where locals and Chosen alike are encouraged to bring their finest culinary skills to the table and create a spectacular dish. Those who would rather cheer from the sidelines, or even act as judges for the competition, are encouraged to do so as well. Anyone may enter—and we do mean anyone, so judge at your own risk.

iv. This is not Aldrip’s Best Friends Race
Many local businesses in the Commercial and Entertainment Districts are putting on all sorts of shows and competitions: talent contests, arm-wrestling competitions, fashion shows, dance exhibitions, the sky's the limit. Local business owners will tempt the Chosen into participating by offering rewards: free items, the option to keep costumes they put you in, trophies, all manner of comforts that could entice wary newcomers into volunteering.

Chosen who own or work at local businesses are also encouraged to participate by starting their own shows or contests. They’ll be rewarded with an uptick in business and free advertisement.

The Events Center will be hosting a lavish and well-advertised drag show and competition, and some locals will encourage participation from Chosen of all genders. Most of them will lay off if the Chosen are really not interested (they’re not putting their lives at risk for this!) but some of the more determined and charismatic ones might not take “no” for an answer.

Wildcard Just because it’s not in the prompts doesn’t mean it can’t happen. We encourage you to look at our new setting page for Aldrip, as well as the world map. Anything that looks interesting there is fair game, so have fun with it!

♡

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(oh, right, the plan. no, she just said 'fight' and 'monster' and the friendly neighborhood spiderman alert activated to friendly fight the neighborhood monsters. okay, okay, they're gonna have to pause for a second. he'll go for a branch, crawling to a higher location so they can talk and look at the terrain.)

Okay, define super tech.

[Okay, phew, he stopped. Gwen was right behind him, swinging to a different branch and landing near him.]

The request said we need to look for giant rat monsters in the outer part of town. They've been spotted around here, mostly come out at night, and have been causing a lot of damage to the crops outside of town, but also to the houses in this area.

[Gwen's just going to gesture to all of him, at that request.]

All that. The fancy suit. The brainiac AI helping you. I don't have any of that, so you don't get to use it. It's only fair.

Okay. Let's get them. We can wait till one comes, it's not like we have school or anything here.

(#priorities.

but first of all, fine, he'll retract all of it, leaving him in a plain outfit.)

First of all, the AI doesn't work here, everything is manual, alright? Second of all, I can't go like this, you know that! I don't have any other suit!

Yeah, and I'm still weirded out by that. School's just, hey, go if you want? They really don't care?

[she's not sure how she feels about that. Does this mean she's going to fall behind? If she ever gets out of here, how much time will she have missed?? Will this mess up her college admissions? She's only a Sophomore, but that's only two years away---

Right. Race. She's back and focused.]

Oh god-- [she shields her eyes when the suit starts peeling away, but phew, okay, thank god he's wearing something underneath it. She didn't think he's suddenly go commando on her, but she didn't know what to expect!!]

You can keep the suit on. Just don't use the tech. Just your Spidey-senses.

Man, I was gonna apply to MIT and everything.

(he will do something about it, it's called those ATROCIOUS POSTERS. also, please, they're gonna be called nerds immediately, but what else is new.

peter's palm expresses his indignation, hovering in the air as his face confirms the confusion. it's just a suit, GWEN, what did you THINK-- woah. no, good, fine, suit's back on, nothing happened.)

Fine. When's the stop line?

You would be a tech geek. [What, with his fancy suit and all.] ESU for me. Biochem.

[Empire State University was only the best Ivy League school for science, after all!! The famous Norman Osborn went there! It's any science geeks dream, and given Visions Academy was the school for science geeks, she has fierce competition.

She looks at him again when the suit is back in place, then points down the long road ahead of them, that cuts through most of the city.]

A good... eight blocks or so that way is the library. First to get there wins?

(you just said you are going for biochem so who's a geek now)

(both of them)

(still him)

Before anything, I gotta know. Are you gonna throw stuff at me. Is that, like, allowed? Cuz, you know, that's cheating.

(GROUND RULES, GWEN.)

What? No way! I'm winning this, fair and square. No cheating.

[does she look like a cheater!!!

okay sure she has a side buzz cut and an eye brow piercing but still!!

She's not that kind of punk!]

Then see you at the end of the line!

(hehehehe. bye, gwen! he'll get a headstart, you never said this is cheating, byeeeeeee)

-- Hey! Cheater!

[But Gwen's laughing as she takes off after him. It's been a while since she's swung around with another spider-person, and god did she miss it. There was nothing like it.]

Nope, you never said it was!

(but he's laughing, too. it's a first for him, after all - to share this type of freedom with someone else. it's fun, and it makes him a little more competitive than usual. he doesn't cheat, of course, even going further up the trees and retreating the mask to prove he is definitely not cheating until they reach the end of their track.

once she lands, she'll see him descending on a web upside down, and even if the mask is back on, there's that smug little smile that can definitely be felt.)

Hah!

[She's not that far behind him, and it's a close race. She doesn't have to be able to see his face to know how smug he is when she lands after him. Smug enough that she feels no guilt in walking right over to him and punching his shoulder. Not hard! Just enough to make a point.]

That's for being an ass. But nice moves. How long've you been doing this? I never asked.

(please don't break the cool armor, it still smells like a new car!! he can't stop laughing until that question hits him. one of the eye shapes look like he's closed it, as he thinks.)

Come on, it was fair! You too, you too. I've been Spiderman for... Well, 2016 was the Sokovian accords and I was there, and then... It's 2018 now, so around three years or some? How about you?

(he loves being upside down. :( )

You got a head start! [She's never going to let him forget his cheated, since he's clearly going to remind her he won their first race. Next time, it's on.]

Wow. Okay, so your dimension has a lot going on. But. Weirdly, I'm also from 2018? No idea what the Sokovian accords are. [Sokovia doesn't exactly exist in her world, either.

also no fair she wants to be upside down too. Since he just keeps on hanging there, she using her webbing to pull herself into the air, then flipping upside down so they're at the same eye level.]

It's been two years, for me.

(hope no one finds this upside-down conversation, because that'd be weird. he's swinging in place, just for the fun of it, while they're talking.)

Huh. You don't? It was big. It's weird that a lot happened for us, but you don't know anything, but you know my aunt? Real weird. Okay, time to get it all out. I'll tell you everything, you tell me everything, and we're on the same level of everything.

(a breath --)

Okay, so. In 2012, these aliens invaded New York. Then the Avengers, you're looking at one that wasn't one yet then, kicked their butts. Then, in Sokovia, this craaaaaaazy A.I. robot was going crazy! The Avengers created another Avenger, he's part robot, part human, has a thing on his forehead that is like, a super-powered stone. This is important, I'll go back to this. Then, uh, because of the destruction this fight caused, there was an accord, Mr. Stark wanted to sign so the Avengers would not just have autonomy because he felt real bad about the whole thing, but then Cap America was like, no, I'm not doing it. So, Mr. Stark found a video of me stopping a bus, and tracked me, and then we went to Germany to stop Cap America, it was crazy. There was a guy who was as big as a skyscraper but also tiny like an ant! Then, uh, I found these crazy dudes who were using this technology the aliens left when they attacked New York, right.

(OKAY, what happened from there... oh, yeah.)

I went after the boss, and, man, he was my girlfriend's dad, that blew real hard. Then, uh, it's kind of where I'm at right now. We were on a school trip to MOMA, and these aliens showed up to steal this wizard's necklace, right. Then Mr. Stark was like, follow and get the wizard back... So I kinda... Followed the wizard. To space. Turns out there's this guy who wants to wipe half the universe's populations, so he needed the stones, like in that guy's forehead. We fought him, and then he disappeared, and then we started turning to dust and disappearing because I guess we were on the unlucky half, then I woke up here.

Your turn.

[Gwen just hangs and listens, slow blinking as she tries to process it all.]

That is.. so much. And half of it sounds like it was even before you got bit.

[She's...honestly glad her dimension is not nearly that exciting. Geez.]

Honestly? You know the majority already. Got bit. Became Spider-woman. My Peter died. My dad is the cop in charge of hunting me down and blames me for Peter's death. Take on the villain of the week. Doc Ock, the Vulture, you know. All the big ones. Etc, etc, etc. The most exciting thing that's happened to me was getting pulled to Miles' dimension and meeting the other spider-people that got pulled there too.

Yeah, no, I got bit a little before Mr. Stark found me.

(yeah. it is a handful, and for a good part of that, he couldn't do much... like, he was a kid in the new york invasion.)

Your dad is a cop-- blames you or blames Spider-woman? Does he know?-- the VULTURE? That's... Ahahaha, that's-- my ex-girlfriend's dad. Ahahaha. Unbelievable. You didn't date her too, right? Wait, no, that's a weird question, nevermind, don't answer that. I mean, taking villains every week sounds pretty sweet. I usually mostly help people on the ground.

He blames Spider-Woman. He saw her over Peter's body, and just assumed-- He thinks she-- I-- killed him. But no. He doesn't know. There's no way I could tell him the truth, not now.

[oh boy, there goes Peter and his rambles. Bless him. At least it takes her off of talking about the bad parts of her home.]

I mostly do street level stuff too. Stop robberies, help with police chases. You know. But when the occasional super villain decides to pop up, I'm there. Also, weren't you just talking about fighting aliens in space or something? That's not exactly "on the ground" stuff.

... That sucks, holy-- woa. At least here, you get a little break, yeah? You can think about what you want to do.

(jesus christ. yeah, no, he doesn't have that much interpersonal drama, at least. may knows, it was bad, but she's fine with it now.)

Hey, yeah, but that's not every Tuesday, it just happened, I just... Tried to get the wizard. That's kinda it. I do most of what you do, too.

...Yeah. I guess so. [She's pretty confident she's not telling him, like, ever. She can leave for college and happily continue living her life without him knowing. Yep.]

Well, you've definitely had more crazy adventures than me. But it sounds like there's a lot more heroes in your dimension, which, if I had to guess, means a lot more bad guys to cause problems.

Yeah, a bunch. Possibly way more than I even know, people just pop. Kinda like we did.

(but minus the radioactive spider.)

It's weird, right? To think about how many of us are out there. Spider-people, I mean. I've met five, now six, counting you.

[It's so nice to not be alone. Even though she's alone in her own dimension.]

One of the Peters I met, he had already been Spider-man for twenty-two years. Twenty-two years! I can't even imagine doing this that long.

[of course, she isn't planning to quit anytime soon, but still!]

(well, naturally, he wanted to reach that. mr. stark is probably like, 50, and he's freaking iron man. rules of frozen time apply, but isn't captain around 100? to live this freedom would be a dream he could only hope to achieve - if he had lived.

it's not a subject he intends to bring up around her again, not with the trauma she has endured. he doesn't want her to look at him and just see another dead peter parker, regardless of the fact that he is one.

so, he laughs, a smile on his lips as he tries to picture what he would look like as he aged.)

I told you, I didn't think that was even a thing! The spider was dead last I saw! But, come on. You'll be a more experienced Spider, I'm sure you'll do it until your 80's. Some people are just like that, you know.

[Gwen opens her mouth to argue that he probably will too, but then she remembers what he told her, about half of his universe dying, him included. That's such a sensitive spot, given how much he's reminding her of her Peter, powers aside. But it has to be for him, too.

Still, that begs the question. If he died, how is he here. He shouldn't be able to cross dimensions if he's dead. There has to be more to the story.]

Hey, I'm sure you'll be one, too. That wizard of yours probably knew what he was doing. Maybe he'll pull the rabbit out of his hat at the last minute, and it'll work out.

[she's only got a brief summary of what the hell happened in his world, but she has to believe it's not the end for him. She can't think about losing another Peter.]

TEST DRIVE MEME #8

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