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Serendipity Mod Journal ([personal profile] serendipitymod) wrote in [community profile] 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.

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.

NAVIGATION








stampeded: (pic#15451282)

[personal profile] stampeded 2022-02-08 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
[As poised as a-? Vash's expression is completely clueless, but the further questions distract him from asking about that odd expression.]

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.
Edited 2022-02-08 01:48 (UTC)
whiteplume: (Being a bit thoughtful helps)

[personal profile] whiteplume 2022-02-09 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Jingyi might be a good guy, but he can’t help but laugh up his sleeve once he sees Vash’s bewildered expression. Despite his terrible culinary tastes, Vash seems like a rather decent fellow. That’s why Jingyi follows him. He takes a seat across the table, his blue gaze focused upon all the various snacks Vash brought with him. While Jingyi is notoriously picky about food, some of the snacks that Vash found look quite appealing.

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.
stampeded: (pic#15454611)

[personal profile] stampeded 2022-02-09 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
[Taken by surprise by the sudden bun-napping, Vash looks between his hand and Jingyi a few times, eyes gone wide and his mouth hanging open.]

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?