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serendipitymemes2022-01-14 08:33 pm
serendipitymod) wrote in serendipitymemes2022-01-14 08:33 pm
test drive meme #2
TEST DRIVE MEME #2
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.
☆ Current characters in the game are welcome to post top-levels, especially if they would host a booth in the Community Fair.
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.
This month, rather than a festival, new arrivals are invited to attend a community fair! The fair is set up in the largest ballroom in the castle, and there are a wide variety of booths set up to showcase both magic and more mundane wares offered by various artisans, cooks, and other community members. Any current resident is welcome to set up a booth to showcase their skills, abilities, or anything else they have to offer the community, and the booths set up by NPCs range from House booths to show off their specific brands of magic to a contest for the largest fruits and vegetables from the Greenhouses to handmade soaps to a little petting zoo of a few of the recently tamed creatures that are starting to become more common.
Browse the booths, haggle for the wares on offer, or just go around to get free samples and swag. It's up to you!
☆ a. MAGIC BOOTHS Each House has a booth set up to showcase their magic in hopes of luring in new arrivals to sign up to learn magic from them. Every House has a few specialties and they are all on display. Visit the House Life booth to learn how to manipulate plant life by creating beautiful pieces of art from vines and flowers, or have someone conjure you a snack or a small trinket based on your personality from thin air. Visit the House Stone booth to have someone create you a small stone carving with a few touches of fingers, test out a barrier by having people throw things at it, or watch a performance by a fire or air dancer. Visit the House River booth to witness beautiful living water art, have your fortune read by a professional diviner, or have an item on your person transmuted into something different (or fixed, if it's broken!). Visit the House Sun booth to hold and interact with a tiny cyclone in a bottle, experience the temporary high of an euphoria enchantment, or watch illusory plays with tiny actors on the surface of a table.
☆ b. FOOD STALLS There are a wide variety of food booths where current residents have cooked a wide variety of special dishes, all made from fresh ingredients. Most of them are currently vegetarian, as taming the animals in the valley is still a work in progress, but they are deliciously prepared and spiced to perfection. So find a new favorite, revisit an old one, or just fill up on the generous free samples all the houses are offering. Currently these are running on a barter system, and NPCs will be very interested in any small trinkets or coins from characters' worlds and trade generously.
☆ c. GOODS & SERVICES STALLS There are a wide variety of goods and services on offer. From handmade soaps to candles to a massage booth, the current residents are offering anything they can to new arrivals. As with the food stalls, they're running on a barter system, and NPCs will offer a good deal in exchange for anything interesting from characters' worlds.
☆ d. PETTING ZOO Over the past month, a few animals from the wild expanses of the valley have been tamed, including a couple of horses, some goats and sheep, cows, chickens, and a strange breed of tiny dog-sized elephant. The animals aren't exactly like the ones that characters may be used to - the cows have large horns, the goats are just a little smaller than usual, and the chickens are covered in fur instead of feathers. A pen is set up across half of the ballroom in which these animals are being fed, cared for, and characters are welcome to learn about them and interact with them.
There's been a significant amount of progress on working to gather building supplies and creating barns and pens in preparation for the taming of various wild animals in the valley. New arrivals are invited to help with gathering building supplies - cutting down some of the trees in the lush forests, digging up and transporting stones, or helping to build barns and pens. The atmosphere of the work is very positive, with almost a party vibe going on as people work together to start on the infrastructure that is so desperately needed in this place.
And it isn't just creating places for tamed animals to live either. Roaming in the valley are various large herds of wild horses and wild cattle. These animals, while wild, are not terribly afraid of humans or other sentient races. With a careful approach and a bit of gentle touch (and maybe a little bit of animal magic), these animals may be persuaded to spend some time with characters. And after a bit of time is spent, they might even be willing to bond with characters and come to live in barns or animal pens that characters have built.
Does your character have a special skillset? Did you keep a garden, study magic, know how to build structures or fences, cook, knit, sew, or do anything else that might be useful for other characters to know? Now is your time to share that knowledge!
Space has been set up in a few of the smaller ballrooms for characters to teach skill classes on any topic they're well-versed in. Think up a little curriculum or demonstration, and NPCs will be happy to provide any supplies necessary to teach a little class on your skill of choice. Now to just get out there, advertise your class, and drum up a few pupils to teach!
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 us two truths and a lie, let us guess which is which.
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.
☆ Current characters in the game are welcome to post top-levels, especially if they would host a booth in the Community Fair.
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. COMMUNITY FAIR
This month, rather than a festival, new arrivals are invited to attend a community fair! The fair is set up in the largest ballroom in the castle, and there are a wide variety of booths set up to showcase both magic and more mundane wares offered by various artisans, cooks, and other community members. Any current resident is welcome to set up a booth to showcase their skills, abilities, or anything else they have to offer the community, and the booths set up by NPCs range from House booths to show off their specific brands of magic to a contest for the largest fruits and vegetables from the Greenhouses to handmade soaps to a little petting zoo of a few of the recently tamed creatures that are starting to become more common.
Browse the booths, haggle for the wares on offer, or just go around to get free samples and swag. It's up to you!
☆ a. MAGIC BOOTHS Each House has a booth set up to showcase their magic in hopes of luring in new arrivals to sign up to learn magic from them. Every House has a few specialties and they are all on display. Visit the House Life booth to learn how to manipulate plant life by creating beautiful pieces of art from vines and flowers, or have someone conjure you a snack or a small trinket based on your personality from thin air. Visit the House Stone booth to have someone create you a small stone carving with a few touches of fingers, test out a barrier by having people throw things at it, or watch a performance by a fire or air dancer. Visit the House River booth to witness beautiful living water art, have your fortune read by a professional diviner, or have an item on your person transmuted into something different (or fixed, if it's broken!). Visit the House Sun booth to hold and interact with a tiny cyclone in a bottle, experience the temporary high of an euphoria enchantment, or watch illusory plays with tiny actors on the surface of a table.
☆ b. FOOD STALLS There are a wide variety of food booths where current residents have cooked a wide variety of special dishes, all made from fresh ingredients. Most of them are currently vegetarian, as taming the animals in the valley is still a work in progress, but they are deliciously prepared and spiced to perfection. So find a new favorite, revisit an old one, or just fill up on the generous free samples all the houses are offering. Currently these are running on a barter system, and NPCs will be very interested in any small trinkets or coins from characters' worlds and trade generously.
☆ c. GOODS & SERVICES STALLS There are a wide variety of goods and services on offer. From handmade soaps to candles to a massage booth, the current residents are offering anything they can to new arrivals. As with the food stalls, they're running on a barter system, and NPCs will offer a good deal in exchange for anything interesting from characters' worlds.
☆ d. PETTING ZOO Over the past month, a few animals from the wild expanses of the valley have been tamed, including a couple of horses, some goats and sheep, cows, chickens, and a strange breed of tiny dog-sized elephant. The animals aren't exactly like the ones that characters may be used to - the cows have large horns, the goats are just a little smaller than usual, and the chickens are covered in fur instead of feathers. A pen is set up across half of the ballroom in which these animals are being fed, cared for, and characters are welcome to learn about them and interact with them.
iii. IF WISHES WERE HORSES
There's been a significant amount of progress on working to gather building supplies and creating barns and pens in preparation for the taming of various wild animals in the valley. New arrivals are invited to help with gathering building supplies - cutting down some of the trees in the lush forests, digging up and transporting stones, or helping to build barns and pens. The atmosphere of the work is very positive, with almost a party vibe going on as people work together to start on the infrastructure that is so desperately needed in this place.
And it isn't just creating places for tamed animals to live either. Roaming in the valley are various large herds of wild horses and wild cattle. These animals, while wild, are not terribly afraid of humans or other sentient races. With a careful approach and a bit of gentle touch (and maybe a little bit of animal magic), these animals may be persuaded to spend some time with characters. And after a bit of time is spent, they might even be willing to bond with characters and come to live in barns or animal pens that characters have built.
iv. SKILLSHARE
Does your character have a special skillset? Did you keep a garden, study magic, know how to build structures or fences, cook, knit, sew, or do anything else that might be useful for other characters to know? Now is your time to share that knowledge!
Space has been set up in a few of the smaller ballrooms for characters to teach skill classes on any topic they're well-versed in. Think up a little curriculum or demonstration, and NPCs will be happy to provide any supplies necessary to teach a little class on your skill of choice. Now to just get out there, advertise your class, and drum up a few pupils to teach!
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 us two truths and a lie, let us guess which is which.
Or characters are welcome to post up their own network-based prompts.
no subject
[Sure, a lot of people had strong opinions about food, but being so hostile to the concept was something else entirely. Vash chomps another bite off of the food in question, which was now half gone. He was a big eater, and not near as picky about his eggs... or any other food, really. With the kind of lifestyle he lived, he couldn't afford to be.]
See, I was right! You do eat the same thing every day. But wait... you're a religious guy?
[Vash leans in a little closer, his expression now one of pure curiosity.]
Is helping the colony here part of your pilgrimage?
no subject
[While that's honestly debatable, Jingyi does have a fair point. Nevertheless, he's not about to argue with this peculiar fellow any further. Not about eggs, at the very least. The two of them are like oil and vinegar, they don't mix well.]
Religious?
[The question catches him off guard but it's the sudden scrutiny that bothers him. On instinct, he brings out his ornate fan to conceal his face. While he doubts this fellow possesses any spiritual awareness, he's not about to take the chance. His fan has a lesser concealment talisman woven into it, one to ward off those who can see past his human form.]
I suppose you could say that. Though, my duties aren't fixated on this colony alone.
[Jingyi doesn't plan on divulging much info about himself but he seems willing to humor a conversation.]
I was originally tasked with more...pressing matters before my arrival.
no subject
As perceptive as Vash might be, spiritual realms are totally outside of both his abilities and his experience. Still, his natural reaction to Jingyi's discomfort is to put on a big, somewhat doofy smile.]
Well, take it from a seasoned wanderer, it's hard to be picky when you're on the move. And you shouldn't put your nose up at the local delicacies! Trying new things is part of the fun.
[And that fancy food he liked probably wouldn't be easy to get here, Vash had to imagine. He hadn't seen any indication that they had a Plant to produce those things... though how else could they have had the resources to build such an impressive castle?]
Whatever your duties are, I'm sure we're both going to be busy. Maybe we can convince them to start growing rice. They seem to have more than enough water for it.
no subject
Trust me, I already know. [He comments from behind his fan before gingerly taking a step away from the mortal.] I've had the displeasure of feasting upon wild rabbits and boars before my arrival.
[Jingyi likes rabbits well enough but he finds the taste of boar to be too repugnant for his liking.
He's the pickiest eater on Pang Gu!]Oh? [He can't help but arch his brow at the mention of grains, especially rice.] There's no rice here?
[Who the hell eats all this food without an ounce of rice? What the hell is going on here? Jingyi is starting to feel like he's trapped here among savages.]
I suppose that explains some of the meager samplings here.
[He's talking about the appetizers on display.]
Growing rice is a difficult process that I barely know much about but I'm willing to try.
no subject
[There was just no native population of animals to make hunting viable, and Thomases were far more useful for travel to be eaten on a universal scale. And yet, Vash had a feeling he'd start craving even stringy Thomas meat if veggies were going to be the only thing on the menu here.]
They have greenhouses, but I don't know if they have any actual farms going yet. I can't say I know much about growing rice, either, but if we want to eat it then we'll have to put in the effort! Getting a colony started isn't easy, or else we wouldn't be here.
My name's Vash, [he offered then, shifting his food containers to his other arm to offer the man a handshake. It was something of a gamble, but it's clear enough that they're not from the same planet.] We'd better get to know each other if we're going to be working together, right?
no subject
[Sorry but that completely caught Jingyi off guard. Even though he's currently sick of rabbit meat, he can't picture living in a place where he can't hunt. Hunting is a fundamental necessity for all creatures. While it's better to cultivate a farm instead, hunting is a natural right of every animal that exists. That's why he looks so surprised.]
Ah, maybe I shouldn't complain so much. [He mutters briefly to himself.] I've always been rather picky.
[He falls quiet for a time as the man speaks, dutifully listening to every word with a hint of worry. They're going to have to grow and make everything themselves, aren't they? Oh hells...!]
I'm better with scalpels than I am with physical labor.
[An unfortunate truth but Jingyi will do his best to assist however he may. Though, he refuses to get his clothes dirty. Mentioning getting dirty, what's this handshake nonsense. Jingyi stares at the offered hand with a look of confusion as he snaps his fan shut. ]
I suppose we should get a bit familiar with each other.
[He states with a hint of mirth before deciding to bow instead. Physical contact is typically frowned upon as a greeting. Hopefully, this bow will suffice.]
Well met, Vash. I'm Jingyi Song, a humble physician hailing from the Celestial Vale.
[He's also the current Heavenly Seeker but Jingyi is omitting a few things.]
no subject
Nice to meet you! A physician, huh? That's great! I can be a real klutz sometimes, so I'm sure I'll get to see you at work.
[Though hopefully it'd be much, much later in the future. Vash could already imagine how uncomfortable a conversation about his health might be. No, he's putting off that one for as long as was feasibly possible.]
Have you seen the whole bunch of nothing out there past the grass they have growing? I'm from a planet just like that - it's all sand and rock and not much else. There's not much to hunt that can reliably feed a person, not unless you like the taste of lizard.
no subject
Clumsy? [He smirks.] You don't say? You seem as poised as a one-legged rooster.
[Sarcasm aside, Jingyi seems a little warmer now. He's not as frigid as he was earlier now that he can put a face to a name.]
No, I haven't wandered too far but I'm too surprised to hear it.
[Jingyi mumbles with a hint of concern within his tone.]
The lack of provisions proves that truth well enough but I'm uncertain as to how we can cultivate this land quickly enough to provide enough food for all.
[The thought of eating lizards is somewhat unappealing to Jingyi but he's just picky.]
How do your people survive without fertilized land? I trust that lizard meat isn't enough to sustain a community nevertheless cities.
no subject
See, I was wondering about that, too! But we'd better sit down first. It's not easy to explain.
[Vash jerks his head towards the seating area before leading the way there, finally able to set down all the food he's been carrying before he plops down in the chair across from Jingyi.]
Okay! To start with, the population of my planet never meant to end up on No Man's Land. We crashed in the wrong place, and so many ships were lost that terraforming was out of the question. But from out of the wreckage the survivors salvaged the Plants - a lost technology from Earth that can make practically any material you ask it to. Plants produce water, electricity, building materials, and even most of the food we eat. Any real city had at least one Plant, or else supporting that many people would've be impossible.
And they look like this! [From one of his food trays Vash snatches up a veggie bun, holding it by the tips of his outstretched fingers, trying to mimic the shape of a lightbulb.] But much bigger.
no subject
Everything except for the eggs, of course. Ick!]
No Man’s land? [He can’t help but arch his brow at the name but he doesn’t ask for further clarification. Besides, it seems that Vash has a long story to tell.]
Crashed landed upon foreign soil, doomed to die. My, that sounds vaguely familiar.
[Jingyi notes before allowing Vash to continue. He listens intently with great scrutiny before suddenly snatching the veggie bun out of his hand with just the flick of his wrist. It happened so fast! One minute Vash was demonstrating what those Plant Bulbs look like, the next minute Jingyi is taking dainty bites out of veggie bun.]
I see. I doubt these Plants are half as delicious as this morsel here.
no subject
Gee doc, you're a lot faster than you look, [he mutters ruefully, before reaching out to scooch his various trays of food closer to himself. It was a good thing he hadn't stopped to get dessert yet, or there'd be fightin' words over stealing his food for sure.]
I was thinking my desert experience could be why they asked me here. Honestly, this settlement is off to a good start if they already have things growing. That's a lot better than we could do without the help of a Geo Plant!
Though... [Vash pauses momentarily to chomp through a couple of fries, looking thoughtful.] D'you think this magic of theirs has something to do with it?