seasonsgreetings | Test Drive Meme #7

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Test Drive Meme #7

Test Drive Meme #7
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Arrival

Part 1

You arrive in an unknown space, dressed in white clothes (player choice what kind of clothes, as long as they cover everything). Whatever was happening to you before no longer happens. It's like everything was put on a pause and you were transferred away from the situation without you realizing it happened.

The space that you find yourself in is one of these four options:

An empty landscape filled with snow and ice, almost like a blank canvas.
A field with cherry blossom trees and spring flowers.
A sunny beach near an ocean that seems never ending.
A quiet forest with falling autumn leaves.

All of the spaces seem to continue endlessly. No matter where or how far you walk it almost seems like you're not moving at all. There are no animals here - just those who happened to wake up there at the same time, in the same place. Everyone is wearing the same kind of plain, white clothes.

Despite the possible rollercoaster of emotions you might be feeling, the place somehow feels familiar. Like somehow you belong there.

And it looks like you're not alone.

Part 2

After half an hour has passed the surroundings change as everyone is teleported into a room with all the other new arrivals, no matter what space they woke up in. It's a large place with plenty of seats to sit in and beverages to enjoy. Medical attention is offered to those who need it and the doctors here are very prepared for any challenging situations.

Here, in this room, everyone gets an answer to where they are and why. A hologram of a man appears at the center of the room, waiting to be heard. He brings a message on behalf of the leaders of Ellipsa.

The Message [ Click to Expand ]

Hello, my name is Olwen. I'm one of the leaders of Ellipsa as it currently is. I'm also one of the four who summoned you here.

Our world is in trouble and we need your help. I apologize for tearing you away from your world and forcing you to come here but I hope you understand. The magic we used doesn't let us ask in advance, nor does it let us choose who we bring here.

This world is composed of four Seasonal Segments. All of them represent one of the seasons. They were the places we used to get our resources from, but now they're dangerous places no one should go into unless they have the power to fight back. All of them have their own sets of powerful monsters and natural catastrophes.

We used to have plenty of people here who could control the powers of the four Seasons. We called them Seasonal Power Holders. Unfortunately, due to a tragedy you can read about later, we lost almost all of them. Now only four of us remain and the world is in chaos. We have done our best to protect the world, but we need more power holders to do that.

That's where you come in.

All of you have been assigned to one of the seasons. Whatever space you were in just now is what season you represent. You will learn different skills based on the season and those skills are going to help you save this world.

These powers don't interfere with your own natural powers. They use a new energy that has formed inside of you. It's harmless to your health, but it's vital to your seasonal powers. Your own powers should still work, even if the dark energy outside the city might interfere with them.

Unfortunately bringing you here wasn't as simple as it sounds. We couldn't do anything about how to keep you anchored to this world other than making a simple spell that helps with it. That is, you need to touch someone else who is not from this world ideally at least once a day. It will help you stay in control of your powers and boost your magical energy. If you don't, the consequences aren't very good. But as long as you hold someone's hand or give someone a handshake, you should be fine.

That's all I have to say about the situation. The staff of the Research Center will give you more information about housing and other necessary things. I will, however, promise that you will be sent home once the situation becomes better. That's the least we can do.

The hologram can be viewed in private in a separate room later, should someone wish to look at it again. For now, the staff of the Research Center hands everyone their new smartphones with their small flower lucky charms (the flower is anything the player decides). They're also told that the building next door is where everyone can find a room assigned to them with some of their belongings there and possibly even any animal companions. Those concerned about their mount-sizes companions are welcomed to the stables downstairs to see if their friends are there. The mounts are allowed to stay there until you find a place more suitable for them.

In the Arrival's hall there are also several stands with information pamphlets.

First type of stand is for the local Guilds and about the benefits or joining one.

Second type of stands is for the Welcome Center that aim to show otherworlders what the world is like and help guide people in the beginning of the journey and helps in getting settled into the new world. They even have people to help if you're unfamiliar with the new phones.

Third type of the stands is for The In Touch Support Group that is led by the Otherwordly Ambassador, Kamisato Ayato. The pamphlets have contact information for businesses looking to help Otherworlders. They also focus more on the lore of the World and what they have discovered so far, as well as a guide on what to think about when preparing to venture out to the Segments.

Once you get your smartphone and necessary information, you're urged to go out and find your apartment. After that whatever you want to do is up to you.

Part 3

The building next door is where everyone can find their new apartments. As you enter, you're told by a friendly native that for the first two months you can live anywhere rent-free and five meals a day are paid for you. After that they get a monthly payment that helps with some of their living expenses, but otherwise they have to have a job to support themselves.

All of the apartments are comfortable, two bedroom apartments with all necessary utilities. They are also completely soundproof. Sometimes the magic system, however, does glitch and you might find yourself rooming with a stranger. This is not the intention and the staff will immediately prepare you your own room if you ask them. But maybe having a roommate isn't all that bad?

Near, Far, Wherever You War

Part 1

Nightwake City is now full of posters for a new place that has been opened recently. The Titanic Dome is accessible with a teleport crystal from any of the Guilds. It's specifically made for those who want a safe place to fight with their powers without worrying about harming their surroundings or others. It also has enough room for giant transformations to fit comfortably.

There are two different arenas. One of them is a private one that needs to be reserved beforehand, but the other one is a public one that has audience seats for those who don't mind people watching. It's here where there's an event going on to celebrate the opening of the dome.

Riki's Rewards has provided a free single dose of the Enlarge potions for anyone to use. These potions give the user a temporary boost in height and general body size (including clothes). Abilities will work the same as in "normal" size, but may appear bigger. When the potion is consumed, all the person has to think about is how large they want to become and that will happen. This limited version of the potion has a limit of 60 meters / 196'10 feet and only lasts for one hour at a time.

Using these potions, people are challenged to a giant pillow fight. All the pillows are very soft and fluffy and won't do any actual harm, but if someone is "defeated" by a pillow they will gain a bunch of feathers all over their body and hair for the next five hours as a silly punishment.

Part 2

There's a scenic route you can also take from or to the Titanic Dome. It's a longer hike: the journey takes three days in one direction on foot (less with horses or snowmobile). The whole route is protected by barriers, so even natives sometimes find joy in just taking the longer route in the wilderness. There are even small gazebos for taking a break and dedicated spots where you can set up a tent.

Of course, sometimes natives do get out of the paths and might need rescuing from wayward winter monsters or wild fauna. Usually it's because something looks shiny and they go to investigate because "what could go wrong with a little visit outside the safe route".

Some of the "shiny things" the natives see are various frozen flowers that shine in different colors. The closer someone gets, the more tempted they are to touch the flower. All of the flowers give a different effect. Red flowers boost the feelings of love and will make someone show more affection towards people, platonic or otherwise, purple flowers make someone want to show their feelings through physical means (even negative, so a punch would also be included) within character's boundaries, yellow flowers will make someone (temporary) fall in love with the first person they see and orange flowers will make someone more giggly and more likely to make jokes, with the possibility to make others laugh with them. All the effects last 1-3 hours.

The flowers will melt after they're touched, only to grow back somewhere else later. They will also melt if they're brought to a warmer atmosphere. If one manages to put them in a potion there and then, they work as a highly potent ingredient in long term love potions.

Flour, Sugar, Egg, Magic

Part 1

All around Nightwake, a special festival is taking place. Even if the seasons are very fixed in all of the districts, they still want to host celebrations according to calendar, like this time: it's a festival to say goodbye to winter and to say hello to spring.

All of the districts have set up bonfires here and there that will be constantly burning. They're not at the centers of the districts, so they're easy to avoid, if someone wishes to. These bonfires are gathering places, where people come to dance and celebrate in costumes that are inspired by both winter and spring. Various masks are sold at the booths, for those who want to get into the mood but don't want to dress up. The masks represent devils, witches, goats, swamp fae, and other joyful and frightening characters.

Otherworlders new and old are also asked to act out the battle between winter and spring. One of them will be dressed up as winter: big sized (additional pillows stuffed in clothes if necessary), wrapped in various furs. The other one will be dressed up a spring: a scrawny person in much lighter looking clothes. The only advice they're given is: make it dramatic and let the spring win in the end!

Part 2

Another important part of the celebrations is the pancakes. All districts have booths where people can either make their own pancakes or buy from others. There are various different toppings and fillings that can be added, as well as warm and cold drinks to enjoy them with.

Some of the districts may have slightly different views on how to make a proper pancake and what can and cannot be added to it. Especially the winter and spring related districts are constantly bickering over whose pancakes are better and will shamelessly promote theirs in the others' district. It seems Coldreach is the only one that falls in between their silly argument, considering it's in between the two seasons (and the alcohol they serve there might also have something to do with the peace).

Inspired by the friendly (?) competitions, a new mini event has appeared! It's called the Pancake Tours! The goal is to visit each and every district to taste each of their pancakes and rank them. This all doesn't need to be done on the same day, at least. Those who complete the tour and bring the results to the Research Center will get a spell that will make anything taste good, even things they would normally hate the taste of and 2000 Moon Coins.

Part 3

Attracted by the smell of pancakes, a new creature has appeared in the city. These relatively small creatures are called jellycats, due to looking like cats that have jelly-like shells protecting them. The shells wiggle everytime they purr and they can retreat back into them whenever they're uncomfortable. Despite their appearance and name, they're not edible.

Jellycats come in a variety of colors and smell different to each person. A yellow jellycat, for example, may smell like lemons to someone, but flowers to another, depending on preferences. The scent becomes stronger the more a jellycat likes and trusts a person.

Befriending these creatures is rather easy: they really like anything and everything sweet, which is why the pancakes attract them so much. It is also likely for a jellycat to follow someone home.

OOC TIPS

- Ask your questions related to the TDM here.

- The TDM is available only to friends of the mods and their friends. If you want to play in the TDM, please leave a note here to inform us who invited you over. We will get to you as soon as possible.

- Test Drive is open for current characters to make a top level as well. New characters can add TDM on their subject line to indicate they're new!

- Current characters cannot access the starting area again to meet new arrivals. They can, however, be at the Research Center when the newbies are teleported in.

- The TDM is game canon so anything in the TDM can happen for your character(s) in the game as well.

- Smut is not allowed on the TDM. You can play situations leading to it, but if the thread is turning into smut, please move it to a private space such a post in your character's journal, or a locked post in the game's log community if you decide to app!

- Check Locations: City to find more areas to explore inside the city. Every place in the districts are open.

- Similarly, Locations: Segments is useful for outdoors adventures.

- You can find monsters to encounter on Beastiary.

- FAQ has information on characters' smartphones as well as general things about the world that might be handy.

code bases by tricklet

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, no way! I literally need chili dogs to function! Seems to be a universal constant between me and other Sonic's I've heard about. Which is kind of weird, now that I think about it...

[so he'll just stop thinking about it, takes too much energy anyway.]

But yeah, sorry bud. Like I said, I don't have any family. This hedgehog is a one man show.

Well that's a relief, I guess. At least you're not an alien. Or a robot or something. Not that I'd put it past Doc Buttnik.

[He's gonna try to roll with this, but also to pry a bit.]

Truth is all three of us were until you found us. So you a true solo act then? No resistance, no Uncle Chuck either?

Nah, but 'ol Eggman has made about a dozen robot clones of me-- what'd you call him? Buttnik?? As in Robotnik, right? Amazing, I'm taking that one home with me.

[he's always on the prowl for new ways to antagonize Eggman. Immature nicknames are one of Sonic's favorite strategies.]

No uncles either. There was the Resistance during the war, but I was never officially part of it. After the war they became the 'Restoration', they mostly just clean up after Eggman now and I do my own thing.

Wait wait wait. Clean up after? You say that like he's already been dethroned..

[He loves using the immature nicknames too, but that's gonna need to wait a minute because you're not saying what he thinks you are. There's no way.]

...You say that like he's ever held power for more than six months. Which he only managed to do because he got the jump on me once and locked me up in a space station until some buddies broke me out.

[hey bro your world sounds like it sucks maybe????]

That's because he's been in charge basically our whole life. Evil dictator, Roboticizer, the works. Sounds like your Robotnik is a real pushover or something.

[It kinda does. Hence a resistance.]

I wouldn't call him a pushover per se, he's just super shortsighted. He's come close to accidentally destroying the world more times than I can remember. Seein' as his goal is to take over the world, not destroy it, that doesn't really work for him either. One tine he summoned an ancient water god called Chaos that turned on him, another time there was a giant lizard that fused with a space station that tried to blow up the Earth. His most recent big bonehead move was unleashing a virus on the world that turned everything organic that it came in contact with into a machine-- didn't love that one, personally. He didn't even make a cure because he didn't feel like it.

[he pauses, realizing he's been rambling, and sighs. Man its a lot, yeah? Eggman sucks balls.]

Sorry, went off on a tangent there. Roboti-what, now? That doesn't sound familiar.

Not cool. At least Robuttnik's only nearly destroyed the world once, when he got his hands on a chaos emerald. I'd hate to think if it happened more than that.

[Sounds like he sucks, because wow. That's so much yikes, he doesn't know what to do with that.]

So, take that virus you mentioned, then turn it into a big machine that he shoves his prisoners into. That's a Roboticizer. You go in, you come out an obedient bot. And there's no coming back from it.

Wait, this goofball almost destroyed your world with one Chaos Emerald? Color me impressed, Eggman usually has to do something stupid with all seven before something that catastrophic happens.

[clearly they need to start a hedgehog support group.]

Speakin' of, the only way we were able to get rid of the Metal Virus was with the Chaos Emeralds. You're sayin' this Roboticizer thing is permanent?

Seven?! That's a big no from me. We've only seen like two. A guy I know said they're really rare...the first one's making his island fly.

[Are there jackets?]

Yeah. Our medallions can break the programming for a couple minutes, but it takes all three just for that. And these babies can combat chaos energy on the loose.

Angel Island? Where I'm from, it's not a Chaos Emerald keeping it up, it's the Master Emerald. There's only one of those, though. my buddy Knuckles lives up there and guards it, which seems super boring, but duty calls I guess.

[ABSOLUTELY and also fun keychains!]

So your medallions are like, magic or somethin'?

Yeah, the floating island. You have a Knuckles, too? Anyway, it's just called a chaos emerald. Least that's what he says. Buttnik had him fighting us while he had it stolen by his stooges once. That didn't work though, so I guess he tracked down another one.

[And group meetups!]

Pretty much. They do a lot. But we mostly use 'em for music since...well it's illegal since it speaks to people. And it's fun, which is also illegal.

[oh god FINALLY, something that sounds familiar! Kinda. Mostly?]

Yeah! Knux is one of my best friends! Started off as enemies, though. Come to think of it, a lot of my friends started as enemies...

[Funny how that works out. He's just got one of those personalities?]

Music and fun are illegal? That's literally insane. Even Eggman likes to build the occasional carnival themed deathtrap, complete with grating clown music.

I don't know if he thinks of us as friends, but he's a nice enough guy. I can't say I see why you'd start as enemies with so many people though. You're a cool dude. My bro has lots of friends in the resistance.

[Brace yourself for grossness.]

Yeeeah, your Robotnik'd be in jail. The closest ours got to that was a trap where he announced he was marrying our mom to be the rightful queen. He allowed music to make sure we'd sneak in, but he was really planning to adopt, Sis for the same reason...so that was the trap.

Starting off as enemies usually makes sense from their point of view, I guess. With Knuckles, Eggman had tricked him into thinking Tails and I were his enemies. That was ages ago, though.

[Oh man though he was NOT PREPARED for this grossness?? Or anything else about that lets be real.]

That's uh... that's a lot to take in. Your Robotnik sounds like a straight up creep. Alsooooo, your mom's a queen, and you have a sister too?

Edited 2024-03-05 02:24 (UTC)

So literally same story, except I don't know any Tails.

[What, you couldn't tell you're in the presence of royalty? Doesn't he look the part, and not like he crawled out of a sewer the other day?]

Yeah, I said there are three of us. You, me, and Sonia. You kinda need three to have triplets. And yeah, mom's queen of Mobius.

Ah. Tails is my best bud from back home, basically my little bro. He's a fox with two tails, and when he spins 'em real fast he can fly with his butt! And he's easily as smart as Eggman, kid's a real genius.

[there is a thing called a rat king and THAT sounds kinda sewer-y but uuuuuh.]

And I'm assuming that means the three of you are royalty too? ...No offense, but this is the most insane part of everything you've told me so far.

[Mostly because he can't see himself as royalty, it's weird to think that there's a him out there in the multiverse that's a legit prince. Weird. Weird!!]

Sounds like a happenin' dude. Kinda makes me wish you had him back home. Any good guy that's as smart as Robotnik is someone I'd want as a friend.

[He does get called a sewer rat and is a proud graduate from the Mouse Patrol.]

Well if you think it's weird hearing it from me, imagine being in my shoes and hearing it for the first time. I grew up on the lowest rung in society. Lost my silver spoon before I got my first tooth.

There's one here! Uh, technically two, but neither of them are from my world so... it's been a little awkward.

[Surely Manic is getting a taste of that kind of awkward first hand right now, what with this weirdo AU Sonic ha haaa]

So you guys didn't grow up together?

You're just meeting everything you don't know then. Sounds like you might be the weird one.

[He might be enjoying it, actually. Don't judge him.]

If we had, our bro wouldn't have been the one to tell us we're related, since three hedgehogs and three medallions and all.

You say that... and yeah, you might be right. So far I'm the only person here from my world.

[Which is kind of a bummer! A bummer he tries not to think about too often because he's not the kind of person who likes to dwell on bummers!]

Yeah, makes sense. This is just a lot to wrap my brain around. I don't even have your name yet, dude.

We've got that in common then. So there's that. Name's Manic, by the way.

[The perfect name for a mostly chill dude like him.]

Nice to meet you, weird as that still is.

Definitely weird, still nice to meet you. Manic, huh? What's your sister's name? Or did you already say it and I missed it because this is all blowing my mind right now?

You are still Sonic. Listening's not always your strong point. Her name's Sonia.

I've known you for five minutes, and you're already calling me out! Wow!

[he's impressed with your speed BUT STILL!!!!]

Test Drive Meme #7

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