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serendipitymemes2021-12-03 07:37 pm
serendipitymod) wrote in serendipitymemes2021-12-03 07:37 pm
Entry tags:
test drive meme #1
TEST DRIVE MEME #1
Welcome to Serendipity's first test drive meme!
☆ TDM threads can be considered game canon if everyone agrees to it.
☆ Any questions about the TDM can be asked in the mod questions thread.
☆ Questions about the general game mechanics, setting or locations, or magic can be asked on their respective pages.
It was a beautiful dream, complete with a sobering and tantalizing choice.
The awakening is just as beautiful, and you wake slowly, comfortably and completely on your own time, eyes blinking open to take in the surroundings. You are floating in the center of a pool of pink-tinted liquid, just a little thicker than water, just thick enough that the floating takes no effort. Dressed in a soft white cotton robe, you find yourself staring at the high domed ceiling of a round room lined with huge windows that let in the afternoon sunlight, a little pale and washed out with the cool midwinter temperature and the reflection of light snowfall outside.
Inside, it is warm, the liquid you float in close enough to your body temperature that you can barely feel it as it moves over your skin. Thick vines climb the walls, weaving in and out between the windows and occasionally over them, throwing thick organically-shaped stripes here and there across the room. Once you fully awaken and stand up and exit the water, you will find towels to dry yourself beside a neatly stacked bundle of your clothing (all very precisely mended) and any other items you might have had on your person when you made the decision to stay. You are left alone, given time to sort yourself out and get changed, and it is only when you decide to leave the antechamber with the pool through a single open arch and make your way into the courtyard of the castle that you will be approached.
The people who greet you are warm and welcoming, wearing robes of different colors depending on the House they're affiliated with - green for Life, blue for River, brown for Stone, and yellow for Sun. These representatives explain to you where you are and what you've agreed to and answer any questions you might have. After this conversation, you are given your tablet and walked through how to use it, then taken on a tour through the various House accommodations so you can choose which suits you best, and offered to be taken to the stables should you have a mount, large pet, or vehicle that's come through with you.
In honor of the first new arrivals to this empty little valley, the heads of the Houses have decided to set up a little party in the largest ballroom in the Castle. It's a simple gathering, primarily a feast with live music, dancing, and games. The ballroom is lit up with candles and strings of magical fairy lights, there is a large table lined with chairs and loaded with simple farm-to-table type foods - roast chicken and beef, baked and mashed potatoes, buttered and roasted vegetables, bread rolls and loaves of bread intricately braided into various shapes, several types of stews and curries made with goat, mutton, beef, and chicken served with flat fried breads, and an assortment of pastries, tarts, and cakes. To drink, there will be mulled wine and mead, beer and a few spirits, and a wide variety of juices and other non-alcoholic beverages. The crowning achievement is a small ice cream bar with various flavors of ice cream and chocolate and caramel sauces.
☆ a. CELEBRATIONS The rest of the room has been mostly cleared aside from some couches and armchairs set up around the edges of the room for people to rest in. Throughout the evening, several small bands play a variety of music meant for dancing and an entire large section of the room is dedicated to games - darts, tabletop sports games, cards, chess, and a game something like Pictionary or charades. Characters are welcome to mingle, dance, and play games with each other and with NPCs that will be more than willing to ask characters to dance or join them in a game.
☆ b. HOUSE PRESENTATIONS In a smaller room adjoining the ballroom, each of the Houses has set up a booth of sorts, meant to describe the interests and focus of each House as well as to demonstrate the types of magic that each house specializes in. Here, characters can observe mages from each House performing complicated spells or brewing potions and offering samples.
The spells performed will generally be complex, high-level spells intended to be impressive displays of what each House's magic can do. Characters can be temporarily changed into animals, have their worries erased for a few hours, become intangible, or be allowed to breathe underwater for a time, among many other types of fantastical spells. The samples of potions are good for an hour or so of effect and can cover a wide range of effects - intoxication and euphoria, enhanced luck, temporary infatuation, forced truth, the ability to speak to animals, and a host of other magical effects.
House booths are not recruiting, characters are not asked to join any of the Houses or ally with them, but they are showing off to try to tempt characters to sign up with their House to learn magic.
☆ c. SHARING IS CARING In another smaller room adjoining the ballroom, characters are invited to talk about their homes, show off their own abilities, or share something cultural from their own worlds. There will be a near-constant stream of interested NPCs as well as other characters who may watch or listen. Tell a folklore story from your country, perform a folk song, show off your superhuman abilities, or share anything else that reminds you of home in an enthusiastic sharing of culture.
Towards the middle of the evening, a 'game' is announced - the Secret Signs. A magic spell will be cast on the room at large, and characters will find a glowing inscription above their heads that reveals a minor but relatable secret of theirs, or functions as a sort of 'shaming sign' betraying a minor relatable misbehavior that the character indulges in. These inscriptions will remain for a few hours, and characters are encouraged to mingle, observe other people's inscriptions, and try to find common ground in these inconsequential secrets or guilty pleasures.
However, the spell isn't perfect, so some characters may have no inscriptions, or false accusations or untrue secrets displayed and have to deal with the fallout of that. Alternately, if players wish it, deeper secrets or wrongdoings may be exposed completely by accident.
On the day after the party, a call goes out on the tablets for the assistance of anyone who's able - the Greenhouses, which provide most of the food for the current population, are being invaded by pests! These pests are rodents about the size of very large rats that like to eat the ripened fruit and vegetables that have taken months of careful cultivation to grow. They are exceptionally good at climbing and the females of the species are capable of short flights using little 'wings' similar to those of a flying squirrel. When they're cornered, they have a nasty bite that can cause people trying to catch them to experience extremely strange surreal hallucinations.
It's very important that these pests be cleared out of the Greenhouses, because they are the source of most of the foods that characters will be eating, especially considering it's mid to late winter and growing things outdoors won't be happening for a while. It's your first opportunity to really contribute to your new community!
Each character's tablet will light up at some point during the first few days and open a new entry with a blinking prompt: Tell everyone something about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? What was your family like? What is your favorite food or color?
Or characters are welcome to post up their own network-based prompts.
NAVIGATION
☆ TDM threads can be considered game canon if everyone agrees to it.
☆ Any questions about the TDM can be asked in the mod questions thread.
☆ Questions about the general game mechanics, setting or locations, or magic can be asked on their respective pages.
i. ARRIVAL
It was a beautiful dream, complete with a sobering and tantalizing choice.
The awakening is just as beautiful, and you wake slowly, comfortably and completely on your own time, eyes blinking open to take in the surroundings. You are floating in the center of a pool of pink-tinted liquid, just a little thicker than water, just thick enough that the floating takes no effort. Dressed in a soft white cotton robe, you find yourself staring at the high domed ceiling of a round room lined with huge windows that let in the afternoon sunlight, a little pale and washed out with the cool midwinter temperature and the reflection of light snowfall outside.
Inside, it is warm, the liquid you float in close enough to your body temperature that you can barely feel it as it moves over your skin. Thick vines climb the walls, weaving in and out between the windows and occasionally over them, throwing thick organically-shaped stripes here and there across the room. Once you fully awaken and stand up and exit the water, you will find towels to dry yourself beside a neatly stacked bundle of your clothing (all very precisely mended) and any other items you might have had on your person when you made the decision to stay. You are left alone, given time to sort yourself out and get changed, and it is only when you decide to leave the antechamber with the pool through a single open arch and make your way into the courtyard of the castle that you will be approached.
The people who greet you are warm and welcoming, wearing robes of different colors depending on the House they're affiliated with - green for Life, blue for River, brown for Stone, and yellow for Sun. These representatives explain to you where you are and what you've agreed to and answer any questions you might have. After this conversation, you are given your tablet and walked through how to use it, then taken on a tour through the various House accommodations so you can choose which suits you best, and offered to be taken to the stables should you have a mount, large pet, or vehicle that's come through with you.
ii. WELCOME HOME
In honor of the first new arrivals to this empty little valley, the heads of the Houses have decided to set up a little party in the largest ballroom in the Castle. It's a simple gathering, primarily a feast with live music, dancing, and games. The ballroom is lit up with candles and strings of magical fairy lights, there is a large table lined with chairs and loaded with simple farm-to-table type foods - roast chicken and beef, baked and mashed potatoes, buttered and roasted vegetables, bread rolls and loaves of bread intricately braided into various shapes, several types of stews and curries made with goat, mutton, beef, and chicken served with flat fried breads, and an assortment of pastries, tarts, and cakes. To drink, there will be mulled wine and mead, beer and a few spirits, and a wide variety of juices and other non-alcoholic beverages. The crowning achievement is a small ice cream bar with various flavors of ice cream and chocolate and caramel sauces.
☆ a. CELEBRATIONS The rest of the room has been mostly cleared aside from some couches and armchairs set up around the edges of the room for people to rest in. Throughout the evening, several small bands play a variety of music meant for dancing and an entire large section of the room is dedicated to games - darts, tabletop sports games, cards, chess, and a game something like Pictionary or charades. Characters are welcome to mingle, dance, and play games with each other and with NPCs that will be more than willing to ask characters to dance or join them in a game.
☆ b. HOUSE PRESENTATIONS In a smaller room adjoining the ballroom, each of the Houses has set up a booth of sorts, meant to describe the interests and focus of each House as well as to demonstrate the types of magic that each house specializes in. Here, characters can observe mages from each House performing complicated spells or brewing potions and offering samples.
The spells performed will generally be complex, high-level spells intended to be impressive displays of what each House's magic can do. Characters can be temporarily changed into animals, have their worries erased for a few hours, become intangible, or be allowed to breathe underwater for a time, among many other types of fantastical spells. The samples of potions are good for an hour or so of effect and can cover a wide range of effects - intoxication and euphoria, enhanced luck, temporary infatuation, forced truth, the ability to speak to animals, and a host of other magical effects.
House booths are not recruiting, characters are not asked to join any of the Houses or ally with them, but they are showing off to try to tempt characters to sign up with their House to learn magic.
☆ c. SHARING IS CARING In another smaller room adjoining the ballroom, characters are invited to talk about their homes, show off their own abilities, or share something cultural from their own worlds. There will be a near-constant stream of interested NPCs as well as other characters who may watch or listen. Tell a folklore story from your country, perform a folk song, show off your superhuman abilities, or share anything else that reminds you of home in an enthusiastic sharing of culture.
iii. SECRET SIGNS
Towards the middle of the evening, a 'game' is announced - the Secret Signs. A magic spell will be cast on the room at large, and characters will find a glowing inscription above their heads that reveals a minor but relatable secret of theirs, or functions as a sort of 'shaming sign' betraying a minor relatable misbehavior that the character indulges in. These inscriptions will remain for a few hours, and characters are encouraged to mingle, observe other people's inscriptions, and try to find common ground in these inconsequential secrets or guilty pleasures.
However, the spell isn't perfect, so some characters may have no inscriptions, or false accusations or untrue secrets displayed and have to deal with the fallout of that. Alternately, if players wish it, deeper secrets or wrongdoings may be exposed completely by accident.
iv. GREENHOUSE INVASION
On the day after the party, a call goes out on the tablets for the assistance of anyone who's able - the Greenhouses, which provide most of the food for the current population, are being invaded by pests! These pests are rodents about the size of very large rats that like to eat the ripened fruit and vegetables that have taken months of careful cultivation to grow. They are exceptionally good at climbing and the females of the species are capable of short flights using little 'wings' similar to those of a flying squirrel. When they're cornered, they have a nasty bite that can cause people trying to catch them to experience extremely strange surreal hallucinations.
It's very important that these pests be cleared out of the Greenhouses, because they are the source of most of the foods that characters will be eating, especially considering it's mid to late winter and growing things outdoors won't be happening for a while. It's your first opportunity to really contribute to your new community!
v. NETWORK
Each character's tablet will light up at some point during the first few days and open a new entry with a blinking prompt: Tell everyone something about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? What was your family like? What is your favorite food or color?
Or characters are welcome to post up their own network-based prompts.
Celebrations
Besides, the dinner options look good. She won't say amazing, because that makes her think of the Capitol. But it looks good. It looks real, even if some dishes are unfamiliar. She herself has a bowl of what she's been told is 'curry', with flat bread, and a glass of cold lemonade.
There is - as always - the urge to reach out and touch Finnick. She doesn't. They can be friends - as always - which means she can touch, and she has. But nothing like what she wants, which in this case is a casual squeeze of his knee. Just because she could. Except, they are in public, and she can't, so she keeps her hands to herself.
no subject
"Mm. Better hope there's still some left for you."
There will be, because there was a lot of ice cream there and it seemed to be being kept cool at the bar. It looked good.
"That does smell good," he says, gesturing towards her plate and then leaning across to sniff at it. Terrible manners if this were a fancy event, but it's playful, and it gives him a chance to be closer to her, close enough to press his leg against hers under the table.
They can get away with that, as friends.
no subject
And leans across the table.
Which is fine. It's not some fancy, Capitol-mandated party. The air is more casual than that. And if they get into trouble, Finnick can talk his way out of things. He's good at that.
(Under the table, she presses her leg back against his.)
"It's, um, curry, apparently," Annie explains, then rattles off the explanation she was given. If she sounds slightly dubious, it's only about the meal's history - something with this many spices, being an everyday meal? That doesn't sound right.
But it IS very good.
no subject
A rakish Finnick Odair can lean across the table and smell his friend's food. He's famous as a flirt, so his flirtation doesn't have to mean anything to anyone, least of all a friend like Annie. That's what they can say, if anyone asks. All they need is that much cover and they can let assumptions do the rest, the assumptions that follow them both everywhere they go. Whether they still do that here is another matter, but until he knows more for sure he can play the games he's used to playing, and that means affection for Annie has to be silent.
"Do they think we don't know where spices come from?" he asks, after Annie repeats the explanation. He knows not everything in Panem is the same as it once was, but spice is a rare and precious thing, at least in the combinations he can smell in Annie's food. That's reserved for the Capitol and there's nothing everyday about their use of spice.
no subject
But she's good at patterns. She's at analysis and game-design, and she's trying to piece this place together.
It's not working that well at the moment.
"I'm not sure," Annie says, finally. Most people would have assumed she'd lost the thread of the conversation, but Finnick can usually follow her. It helps that she's started eating it, and the 'curry' is nice. "It's something I think you could make a lot of, easily?" Which to a pair of District folk, says it's a meal to feed a lot of people at once. Which implies a District-type meal. "But I don't understand the spices. Unless their districts have different rules?"
Like discounts.
no subject
He understands what she means. The information about the meal she'd been given had sounded like a lie, but Annie does have a point that meals that feed a lot of people at once are good for the large families that are common in the Districts. But he's also used to stews made with the finest of ingredients being saved only for the Capitol.
"I never learned enough about spices to know if that's possible," he muses. "I guess the only reason they're from District One is because that's where they're from. Do they have to be from ther?"
His voice is low, to keep the uncertainty in his tone from registering to anyone other than Annie. He doesn't know, and he doesn't think she knows, either. But she might have more suggestions.
no subject
Annie isn't going to believe much of what the Capitol tells her about how things are. Not in the sense of, 'this is the only way'. Not if fish are any indication.
And this isn't saying anything against the Capitol. She's not saying that the districts are bad, just that food can be from anywhere.
And speaking of food, Annie continues to eat her meal. It's food, it's good food, warm and filling, and this place may not feel like an arena, but food is food and food is important. She's not gonna eat enough to be sick, but if food is on offer, she's going to take advantage of it.
no subject
It might be worth thinking about, in a way he's never really had the opportunity to do before. He'd thought, of course, about a world after Snow, about what Panem might look like after the Capitol is overthrown, but that too had been vague. He'd never thought about what the Districts might do, how they might change their whole economies. But for now, it's something he'll need to come back around to. Whether the origin of curry is true or not, Annie looks like she's enjoying it, so once he's finished his ice cream, Finnick gets some curry for himself.
It really is good. Just as good as it smells.
"Notice anything else worth mentioning yet?" he asks her after he's had a few mouthfuls to savor the taste. Finnick has some thoughts about the people around them himself, but Annie's always had a usefully different perspective to his.
no subject
Yes. Lots of things. The accents. The style of clothes. The lack of fear in people's eyes and the lack of masking fear. The style of furniture, the nature of the tablet they were given, the lack of excess-
She doesn't mention them. She's not sure what they can talk about, yet.
Instead, she turns the question back at Finnick. It's also an answer.
"What do you think the magic they are using is?"
It doesn't look like any holo program she's seen, but then again, she hasn't really seen all that the Capitol can throw around. But she's been watching the residents of this strange place, trying to see where wires might be hidden by their soft clothes.
no subject
But her reply isn't direct; it's oblique, a question that addresses just one thing, but that one thing enough for him to realize that she's noticed others as well. Some things are less safe to talk about in public than others.
Finnick shrugs, one-shouldered and lopsided.
"I never understood half the tech in the Capitol. Guess some of the illusions could be holos. The other stuff, not sure. Didn't see any obvious tells of a trick, did you?"