TEST DRIVE MEME #9

[expiationmods]

Test Drive Meme #9

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.

June's's TDM is forward-dated to June 20th.

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

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?

Summer Solstice (June 20th)

The summer solstice, also known as the longest day of the year. Aldrip may have received a big upgrade in size recently, but this special day still calls for celebration amongst the locals, who have a long tradition of celebrating various celestial phenomena. For this occasion, the entire city will be throwing a Midsummer celebration! The festival itself takes place from June 20-24, with the solstice happening the evening of June 20. There will be celebrations before, during, and after the festival as well!

On the shortest day of the year in December, the Chosen were told to stay indoors until sunrise. The opposite holds true for the summer solstice: all are encouraged to remain outside from dusk until dawn, and locals throw a festival to keep everyone entertained through the wee hours of the morning!

The streets of the commercial district are lined with sun-painted lanterns, lit as dusk starts to fall and kept glowing until sunrise the next day. Those lanterns illuminate a lively street bazaar featuring exotic food and drink, curious wares, and lawn/party games of all kinds. The Chosen are encouraged to either participate, or occasionally wager bets on other people who may be competing against one another. May the odds be ever in your favor?

As the sun begins to set, locals light large bonfires. There will be music and dancing—Chosen are encouraged to participate in whatever way they’d like, whether they want to perform or lead a line dance. If they’re not inclined to join in, the fires and music still provide a perfect backdrop for a little relaxing conversation and meeting new friends.

After dark, a large fireworks show begins. All in attendance are encouraged to bring (or find!) blankets to lay out so they can watch the show. Clinking glasses with good friends at the height of the show is considered good luck, so it’s not uncommon to see some folks having a drink during this time. As Aldrip is so close to the ocean, some locals even offer discounted boat rides to get a different view of these fireworks.

At dawn, the locals finally tuck in for a few hours of rest. But don’t worry—the Midsummer festival continues even after the solstice is done!

Midsummer Festival (june 20-june 24)

Locals begin prepping for the festival days in advance, and while they won’t drag others in to help the same way they have in the past, they still won’t turn down an extra set of hands. You’ll even get paid for your troubles, either in money or in favors (free meal vouchers, rent at the inn, etc). There’s no shortage of work to be done, from dragging tables around to stringing lanterns or even collecting sticks for bonfires. Just be careful, locals tell of strange whispers coming from Pessiria Forest at odd times of day and night…

The festival itself has different activities and happenings depending on what area you visit. Most of these activities can be done on any day of the festival. Most of the games and contests outlined here are examples—you’re free to make up others if you feel so inclined!

BEACH EPISODE!!
The beach is a prime location in the month of June, and locals really go all out for this particular occasion, setting up a large beach party with food, drink, and brightly-colored umbrellas to provide some shade.

There are various sporting activities such as beach volleyball, windboarding, surfing, and a large, built-up dune for sand surfing. Most of these are just for fun, but if locals see some really good contenders, they might urge a competition between them.

For those less sporting, there are all sorts of activities and challenges. Kite flying, sandcastle building, and scavenger hunts are particularly popular with the locals. Maybe they’ll ask you to bring back a certain number of round seashells, or to make friends with someone sitting under a pink umbrella…the possibilities are endless, really. There will also be official competitions for kite flying and sandcastle building, so put your best foot (or shovel) forward!

Some enterprising locals have also set up boat tours to take locals and Chosen through the nearby waves. In some places, the light makes it seem almost like you can see something in the distance…but it’s not on the map, right? Maybe it’s just your imagination. Hmm.

HAVE A FIELD DAY
The rolling hills outside of the city make a perfect place for various races and games. Bring your competitive spirit, because there will be medals awarded for winning races! Some common games include: bag races, “wife” carrying (gender, spousehood, and pre-existing relationship not required, of course!), three-legged races, relays, baton passes, and foot races.

It’s not all sporty competitions, though! Some older locals will lead more relaxing activities, such as stretching, meditation, and recreational group dances. These are volunteer-led groups, of course, so if those volunteers have to sit down or step away for a bit…well, they’ll have to ask someone to take over for them.

Those with good animal handling stats are not forgotten either, of course! There will be animal races, as well, on horses or even chocobos. There may or may not even be a petting zoo, pony rides, or other fun, relaxing activities with animals. Sometimes you just need to sit in a pen full of bunnies, okay.

Please do be careful, though: increased activity could make some of the monsters roaming outside the city a little bit curious about what’s going on this close to town…

WHEN YOU’RE DOWNTOWN
The green spaces of Aldrip have been decked out in their very finest, and floral season is in full bloom. Some enterprising gardeners will be unveiling new garden designs in honor of the festival: hedge mazes, giant sculpted topiaries, and elaborate fountains.

While it doesn’t hold a candle to the Ketsoran diplomatic masquerade, the event center will also be hosting several nights of dining and dancing during the festival. It may be a little less lavish, but it’ll nonetheless be quite glamorous—and the food will probably be good, too.

The bazaar from the day of the solstice continues throughout the festival. Additionally, various shops and businesses may choose to provide specials, discounts, and other offers to entice new and current Chosen alike.

THE SPIRE
One of the taller buildings in town has installed a large spire near one of the garden squares. They claim that, as the sun rises to its midday point, light passing through the spire will create an incredible light show. They’re right, as a matter of fact: the light reflects and refracts, scattering rainbows across the square. It’s a dazzling display. When the sun passes its midday point, however, the beautiful color show suddenly turns into white light. Anyone looking at this light will find that they are no longer able to keep track of how long they’re watching it. Your mind may begin to go blank, almost as if it refuses to accept something, some deep truth that the world is trying to tell you…

…

No, that must be your imagination. The light vanishes shortly thereafter—or was it ever there to begin with? The unsettling feeling may remain, but it’ll be harder and harder to be certain of what caused it.

This is fine and also normal.

Wildcard

Make your own fun! Just because it’s not in the prompts doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Have at it! Go crazy! Try not to break anything (too much)!

♡

Comments

[southernchere]

[ worst case scenario... — well, the worst thing she can think of is only she and morph survived the explosion and the rest could be presumably dead. and the thought of that being a possibility has her throat tightening in a lump (even though jean had been resurrected before).

rogue is definitely not the leader type, that was more cyclops' role (magnus and the professor), but if it's just the two of them... maybe she has to be the one to step up to the plate. who knows. ]

If we are alone, then we oughta try and lie low, get all the info we need, then high tail it outta here.

[ rogue gives another glance to the citizens strolling by them in smiles, laughter, and meals in their hands. they look so carefree with their way of life that she almost feels envious of them. ]

This place and people might be hunky-dory and all, but... this ain't where we belong. We can't stay here.

[mightymorphin]

[Morph's been gone from the team for so many long stretches of time that there was no question that Rogue has the most mission experience out of the two of them, period. It was just natural to ask her, and besides, they both needed to be on the same page if they were going to have anything resembling a plan.]

I'm with you on that one. I don't care about a vacation, we have to get home and figure out what happened to the others.

[They knew that whether the other X-Men survived was an open question. Morph wanted to think that the team had to be alive, but they had nothing to back it up - just blind optimism, really, and that was hard at times for them to retain.]

Lying low won't be hard, but getting information might. We'll have to make nice with the locals, and get our hands on a map. There's no gas stations! What is this place, a weirdo Mackinac Island?

[southernchere]

[ she nods in agreement and even snort at their own little description of their "new home". again, rogue didn't check the entire perimeter, but so far when it comes to transportation, she has seen horses, wagons, and giant birds with saddles on their backs. ]

A dang freakin' resorted island, but I'm willin' to bet my daddy's mudfest trophies it's all hogwash.

[ because no city can be this happy-go-lucky without facing trials and tribulations. the mutant tears her gaze back to her friend with a solemn expression wearing heavy on her face. ]

Here's what I reckon we oughta do right now: let's just... take a breather today. Find a place to stay for the time being, get water and some food in us, freshener up, maybe some new clothes, and some shut eye. We can start asking the people for details in the mornin'.

'Cause being half dead ain't gonna do us a lick of good.

[mightymorphin]

Yeah, we could really use that breather. If a fight breaks out somehow, I'm not sure I could hold it together at this point.

[And they meant that literally. Morph had already fought a bunch of sentinels and used a couple of other powerful forms in the last twenty-four hours... a brief fight might be okay, but they were at a real risk of getting all melty if they didn't give it a break for a while. Their human look was, at least, not doing anything intensive enough to wear them out.

After a brief pause, they speak up again,]

Soooo... should I bring up the whole 'defecting to Magneto' thing, are we just keeping that one brushed under the rug?

[southernchere]

[ the feelings are definitely mutual on the battling front. if she really has to, she will tighten up and do what needs to be done. but even the greatest fighters have their limits, and rogue is steadily reaching her crucial point. she won't make it easy on her opponent, but given her current state, she might be out after a few good punches.

with the plan set and onward to the next topic at hand, rogue stares at her companion silently as she rolls her tongue behind her lips. somehow, she knew this was coming in due time, and she slouches more in her seat while crossing her leg over the other. ]

Ya got some words about it?

[ because she doesn't regret her decision at all, and if she could be honest... her opinions hadn't changed either. not completely, anyway. ]

[mightymorphin]

I think I'd understand it better if Magneto hadn't gone completely nutso.

[Morph really wasn't the type to give a lecture, and they didn't have any words of wisdom, either. It was pretty obvious that what happened at Genosha had made Magneto snap, and they could even understand why Rogue chose to follow him... but the guy had been ready to completely wreck the planet. That was far above and beyond your typical bad-guy plot.]

... Magneto was awake, you know. Before whatever happened to the asteroid. I saw him fly right out of the jet.

[southernchere]

He didn't go bonkers, Morph. He tried it the Professor's way, and it didn't work out. Sometimes goin' by the playbook don't fit with what's happenin', and you gotta rearrange your strategy.

[ but ending the planet and do a complete reset? well... maybe it would have been for the better to start everything from scratch and rebuild the world again.

if one screws up on a drawing or a project, why try to save it when it's easy to take it from the top? second or third times a charm, as they say. despite rouge's harsh words, her tone is at least calm and civil. the very last thing the two of them need is for them to split up and having to fed for themselves alone. ]

... I had no idea if it was him or the Professor liftin' that giant rock, but... I'm glad he isn't gone forever.

[ at least she hopes so. ]

[mightymorphin]

Does a new strategy involve us all trying to kill each other?

[If Morph sounds a little bitter, who could blame them? They hadn't been there to see Blue Team face off against Magneto, but they had seen the aftermath. It was obvious enough that the kid gloves had come off, but in the end only one of them had been on his feet - or floating, but close enough.]

Yeah, Magneto saved our bacon. Again. I'm surprised he didn't take off and let the asteroid fall, but he must've thought a major extinction event was worse than whatever post-apocalyptic wasteland he wanted to make out of a world without power. Lucky for us, huh?

[Or maybe not so lucky. Morph has no idea what happened after that. They hadn't even tried to look out the windows, just felt the sensation of the asteroid lurching hard in the opposite direction, like being on a massive elevator. Shortly after that was when Morph blacked out and woke up here.]

[southernchere]

[ anger blows through her nostrils, but still, rogue continues to keep her cool. and the only reasons she is doing so because a) morph wasn't there during the whole battle and b) having a cow and splitting up would be the worst thing they can do right now. but in spite of it, it doesn't stop her voice from raising in capacity and sounding more mouthy.]

We didn't want to kill anybody. Ya'll were the ones who came in swingin'. I told Wolverine to simmer down with his claws, but that fat head never did came with brakes.

[ the mutant sighs in defeat as she combs her gloved fingers through her white bangs. she... doesn't want to sound as if she's putting all the blame on wolverine for what happened, after all, a lot of things were going on at once. the truth is, everyone on that asteroid was a fault. it was a group effort. when she speaks again, her tone softens —— the cheeky edge now smoothed over: ]

Look, Hon. I... I don't feel proud about what happened with Logan. I don't think none of us do. But he was tryin' to kill Erik by stabbing him, and Erik... well, Erik reacted. It don't make it right, but...

[ she isn't too sure what else to say on the matter, because in the end, she can't be in the minds of magneto or wolverine and pretend to know she knew what they were thinking during the whole incident. that's what charles and jean are for. ]

— I don't wanna say it don't amount to a hill of beans, 'cause it does. But... we shouldn't lose our heads too much about this, and focus on the now.

[mightymorphin]

[They understand that Rogue doesn't want to argue, but there's no way Morph can just take that at face value. It just doesn't make sense. Yeah, saying Logan had a temper would be an understatement, but it still wasn't like him to just go off the rails like that.]

Look, Logan knew the mission. He couldn't just kill Magneto. Then Blue Team wouldn't have been able to reverse the damage he did to the planet. So unless we went berserk, I can't imagine he was actually trying to off the guy. And do I really have to point out that only one of them ended up in a hospital bed?

I get it, Rogue. We can't do anything to make things right while we're stuck here. I... I just wish Cyke hadn't put me on the other team.

[Morph just can't shake the feeling that they should've been there. It might not have mattered much as far as the fighting went, but they still could've been there for Logan instead of a hundred miles away. It makes them feel a little sick to their stomach to think about it.]

[southernchere]

[ her lips thin as they express their opinion, and again, the anger bubbles its way to the surface. maybe they're right about logan not being able to kill magneto, but he damn near tried to from her prospective.

and before she could spit out just how insane wolverine was to do what he did, morph's heart wrenching tone cools her flame. she knows how it feels in wishing they could have done more or if they were in a better place at a better time, things might have made a tiny bit of difference. the mutant can relate to that when it comes to remy and the thousands of people they've lost in genosha. before she can part her lips to speak again, a local strolls by to their table to interrupt their conversation. the stranger greets them both with a smile and hands the duo each a flyer.

rogue grants them a weak smile as they scurry off to the next occupied table, and the woman lifts the sheet of paper to read over. the sheet reads in bold letters: "COME TO ALDRIP'S INN. FREE MEALS AND FREE BEDS AVAILABLE FOR NEWCOMERS FOR THIS MONTH ONLY!"]

Well, lookie here. Guess a solution to half our problems came to us.

[ although morph has a flyer of their own, she flips hers around to show it off with a bigger grin on her face. ]

Whaddya think, Sugah? I betcha we gotta put some kind of down payment for it to be free for us.

[mightymorphin]

[Morph manages to smooth their expression to something pleasantly neutral as the two of them are given flyers, looking between theirs and the one Rogue was given curiously. It's something else to focus on, at least. Dealing with their immediate problems was better than worrying over that one particular elephant that was in the room.]

I think if we act extra pitiful we can maybe get around that. I don't know about you, but all I have on me is my comm badge.

[The two of them might not even need to put on much of an act. Rogue's outfit already has a lot of battle damage, and Morph could always mess up their hair and try to play along with it.]

It'll give us plenty of time to rest and get our bearings around here. And who knows, if the rest of the team is anywhere nearby they might see this same ad and end up at the inn, too.

[After all, free food and beds were bound to lure in a lot of people. Particularly the ones that couldn't fit a wallet into all the spandex they were wearing.]

[southernchere]

And definitely don't give that up. It's the only thing we got that'll tie us to the team.

[ since... she is without hers, in which, rogue is beginning to regret leaving the comm behind in her damaged bedroom. but heading to this inn might be their best bet in finding their comrades, and who knows, more thorough information (even if she recommended doing that tomorrow). exhaling out a big sigh, rogue hoists herself up from her seat with the flyer still in hand. ]

Well, let's not burn daylight! Let's go ask where to find this place.

[ because funny enough, the flyer says nothing about directions to where this establishment being kept. ]

[mightymorphin]

Yeah, you're right. And a call could come in any minute.

[It's a hopeful suggestion, but they both needed it right now. Morph liked to try to think positive, when they could. It was a little tougher to do at the moment, but the alternative was way worse. Just the fact that they had survived the asteroid's fall to Earth had to be something.

With that in mind, Morph stands from their seat, grabbing their flyer to take along with them.]

I won't even care if it's a roach motel. I think I'd do just about anything for a shower and a nap right now.

[southernchere]

It's a shower, a big mac, a large fry, and coke from Mickey D's for me. I know it ain't ladylike, but I might can go for a twofer.

[ but given what she has seen so far of this place, it doesn't seem as if any of the restaurants they have back home are established here. Continuing on with their plan, rogue strolls along with her companion instead of taking flight or hovering. it's better to appear as ordinary as possible until they can get to this hotel and be more exclusive.

the mutant approaches the first local she spots to ask further specifics about this aldrip inn. the local happily provides it by telling them both the quickest way is to take a wagon where a driver can escort them to that part of aldrip, again, free of charge. she thanks the stranger, then exchange a look back to morph. ]

Guess a wagon is this place's taxi. Let's try and hop on one.