Glencola Reef Mod Account (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
glencolans) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
glencolaaa2023-05-01 03:59 pm
glencolans) wrote in glencolaaa2023-05-01 03:59 pm
Entry tags:
TDM #1
TEST DRIVE MEME #1
Welcome to Glencola Reef's first Test Drive Meme! This is a place where anyone interested in applying a character - or just curious to see how their characters might interact with the setting and others in the game - can mingle with one another. General prompts are provided below for inspiration.
TDM GUIDELINES
- Please read the rules before posting to the TDM. These still apply here and will be enforced, up to and including deleting tags/toplevels and prebanning.
- Posts from a TDM are required to apply. At least three tags across any number of threads within a TDM, posted within the last 6 months, must be provided in every application.
- TDM threads can be used for AC. Note that new characters only need to check in for their first AC cycle, but established characters can use TDM tags for their AC.
- TDMs are not considered game canon by default. This is mostly for logistics reasons - due to how characters travel on the map, it's unlikely that non-network threads that take place here will actually happen in-game. However, I won't stop anyone from working out how to make parts of threads game canon if they really want to.
- New TDMs will be posted every three months. Keep checking back into the current TDM for new toplevels!
I. ARRIVAL
You awaken on a tropical island beach, soaking wet, powerless, and without any idea how you got here. Were you carrying something important, or wearing powerful armor? How unfortunate - it looks like only the most basic clothes, items in your pockets, and simple weapons managed to make the trip with you. Are you even physically the same as you remember? If you had superhuman abilities tied to your physiology, you might be stuck in a completely different body that lacks your usual senses. You might've been whisked away from a tense battle or a near-death experience and wake up delirious, or even injured.Thankfully, against overwhelming odds, you're not the only one to wake up on this particular stretch of beach. You and your companion have a lot of puzzling out to do.
II. NETWORK
Even if you weren't lucky enough to wake up near someone else, at least you've arrived with a military-grade radio transceiver gripped tightly in your hand (or mouth, or other vaguely opposable appendage of choice). The clunky walkie-talkie will start buzzing and crackling for every public message that starts coming your way. Answering them back is as easy as pressing the "talk" button on the side of the device and either speaking into the receiver, or using the keypad to type into the message box that appears on the screen, then pressing the button again to send. A list of ongoing conversations with responses that are less than 24 hours old can be found by scrolling through the menu, identified by the callsigns that are participating in them. It seems that you've been assigned a callsign, too - it shows up in the top right side of the screen, format AB123C. The letters and numbers picked are...probably random.
This is your easiest avenue to communicating, or coordinating with, or complaining at the other people stuck on this island; how you decide to use this tool is up to you.
III. EXPLORING
For a place that appears, by all signs, to be an equatorial island in the middle of a tropical ocean, the local environments are surprisingly diverse. Beaches range from idyllic white sand to storm-swept pebble crags to cliffs with waterfalls cascading off the edges; the interior forests can be thinned from sandy soil or dense jungles full of prickly underbrush and with towering canopies; and the central mountain peaks, perilous enough to climb on their own, terminate in ravines and sinkholes that are hidden by thick foliage until you already have one foot over the edge.The animals that make their homes here are equally as varied, and sometimes just as dangerous. The standard Earth fare of tropical fish swim right up to most shores, especially where reefs have grown, and a multitude of seafaring and jungle birds make their homes in ocean-facing cliffs and trees. Any one of these creatures would make for an easy snack. But you're not the only opportunistic hunters here; sharks prowl the waters, big cats stalk the jungles, and feral boars raid any camps that smell enticing. And that's just the stuff that looks like it came from modern Earth. Your improvised fishing rod might have captured a trilobite, or maybe that deer you were stalking has rounded on you with a set of alien mandibles full of sharp teeth. Or maybe, among the plants and animals completely foreign to you, you've stumbled across one that's strangely familiar to your home and no one else's.
There's a lot to figure out about this place. At least, in this instance, you aren't doing it alone.
The Disreputable Dog | Old Kingdom
She is a medium sized looking black and tan mutt, a maroon coloured collar around her neck, although said collar is completely still. It usually isn't. One that seems more than a little confused. Not because she is wet, as she had been romping around in death before her arrival, but for a variety of other reasons, but this is certainly not before the first gate. No, there is no sand or pleasant weather. Death is death, where one must be careful lest you get dragged by the waters all the way to the final gate, or meet something quite unpleasant.
It is a bark. Loud. Sharp. Not aggressive though, but almost as if she is testing something. And yet not doing what it is supposed to. There is another. Then another. Perhaps that is what draws your attention. If a dog can look quizzical, she certainly does. It's a lower woof instead, head cocking to one side, listening. It still doesn't seem to be right, whatever it is, so she tried again. There is nothing mean or hostile in her actions, and she barks a few more times before sitting down on her haunches. It's almost a look of concentration now, as if she might be willing herself to do something, but there she is, a dog sitting on the beach, staring down at her paws.
III. EXPLORING
It is most inconvenient, as it seems that she is even less than she had previously been. Not that it has stopped the Dog in the slightest. She'd been bound to a soap stone statue for years beyond count, and at least she can move and bark and eat. Will she actually need to eat? It's not like she's really needed to do anything before. She'd done them because she could do them and not because she needed to do them. Then again, that summed the Dog up perfectly. She had to live up to the Disreputable part of her name, after all.
It might pose a challenge for reading, she thinks, as she trots through the sand. She can't exactly alter her body shape at the moment. No more getting thinner. No more growing wings- which had been quite fun. No more growing her legs longer so that her body didn't drag in the water. Yet they are small thoughts, trivial thoughts, for one such as her. She frolics along the beach, nipping at waves as they come in, dancing away as the water touches her toes. Anyone that she does witness, she alters her course, slowly making her way towards them with tail wagging and tongue lolling out the side of her mouth.
Later, she does approach the edge of the jungle, head tilted up as she sniffs. So many new scents for her nose. It is a pity she couldn't share it with her mistress, but Lirael has her own life to live now. Head dropping, she does give a little whuffle on the grass, slowly stepping forward as she follows a particularly intriguing scent deeper in.
ooc; will match writing style if you prefer something different.
III
Martin's whole demeanor melts as he drops to one knee and beckons the dog. When he speaks it's in the babying tones that some people use for animals. Martin is a large, heavyset man who looks like he's been through the wringer recently. Clothes torn in places and stained, hair unkempt and face unshaved. He's wearing a look of excitement, though. It's a dog. A real, normal-looking dog! "Hey! Hey, there! Who are you, little one? Where did you come from?"
no subject
Her trot slows though, but he seems social enough as he drops to one knee, coaxing her. She pads until she is standing before him, sniffing a little to see if he has any hidden treats on his person. That little bit of business done, she sits back on her haunches. She does look a completely normal dog, albeit with a now still maroon collar that has frozen marks upon it, but she grins. It's a wide doggy expression that seems almost a little too sentient for a normal dog.
no subject
A pause.
"Um... are you?" He eyes the dog a little more critically. She seems to have a collar, though, so that means she must have an owner... somewhere.
I. ARRIVAL
But it doesn't look aggressive at all. In fact, it's just sitting there, staring at its own paws. It's... cute, honestly. Maddy, who had been crying in frustration and confusion and the deep certainty that she's either going insane or on some kind of bad trip or will die here, alone on this island, is briefly and temporarily soothed by the sight of a docile-looking animal. She has no fucking idea how she even got here, let alone what to do next, but who can stay distraught when faced with a dog?
The presence of a dog helps momentarily chase away those thoughts! Maddy takes a deep breath and forces herself to stop sniffling. She wipes away her tears with the heels of her hands. Slowly, she approaches the dog. She's smiling genuinely, though the edges of her eyes are red and puffy.
"Hi, puppy," she coos, reaching out a hand, but not about to touch unless the dog gives her an indication that it wants to be touched. Her voice is deliberately high-pitched and singsongy compared to how she usually speaks. You know, the way people talk to dogs. "Can I pet you?"
Not like it could answer - it's just a dog, she knows that! - but she hopes it'll find the friendliness in her voice soothing and comforting. Maybe enough to come closer.
no subject
She does have the grace to look a little sheepish at the reaction that she gets in return, glancing to the female. In her defence, her bark is not going what her bark is supposed to be doing. The only walking currently happening happens to be on their own accord and not through anything from herself. She'd been but a small piece of herself when Lirael had found her, and she appears to be an even smaller piece now.
Does that seem to be bothering her? Not at all. She does step forward, bopping her hand with her nose before moving so that her hand rests just by her ears. Ear scritches are always nice, and the Dog is a ham for attention. Although she isn't a fool and does note that the female seems to be a little distressed. Whereas she might have nipped at her mistress to break her out of her funk, the time for nipping is not here. Instead, she pushes her head up into her hand and wags her tail. Her nose, of course, seeks, but she doesn't pick up any hidden food sources on her.
no subject
Even the sniffing nose makes her smile. "Sorry... I don't have any food on me," Maddy tells the dog, like she's talking to a person. She tries to check for a collar or a tag, but there's nothing. But this doesn't seem like a wild dog either. She's too friendly, too unafraid of people.
"Where's your owner?" Maddy asks, despite knowing she won't get a real answer. She buries her face in the dog's fur, enjoying the softness of the animal's fur against her cheek. One hand keeps playing with an ear; the other seeks the length of the dog's back.
"You probably don't know why you're here either. Do you?" Pet, pet. The sniffly wet nose and the soft fur help bolster Maddy's spirits. "You look pretty clean... did you just get here, too? We can try to find your owner." After all, if they find an owner, then maybe Maddy won't be alone out here by herself. There's strength in numbers, right?
She wipes away tears with one arm before continuing to pet the dog.
III
[ Levi did consider it might attract some animals, though it was a gamble he was willing to make at this point, having not found much in the way of food so far. Meat wasn't exactly his go-to, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and the thing had practically walked into his camp. It would have been silly not to take the chance. ]
[ What he doesn't expect is an actual dog to trot up to him like he's in the middle of the farmlands, or -- somewhere that is not a deadly deserted island. Did it belong to someone? Were the people friendly or not? ]
[ He sort of just sits there calmly and watches the dog. He doesn't intend to let it steal his dinner, but he's not opposed to sharing, presuming the animal isn't feral and won't try to bite his throat out the next moment. ]
no subject
Without a seeming care in the world, she does approach, only slowing as she got a little closer. Her ears perk up and her tongue licks at her lips. There's a look between the meal being prepared and the man sitting there.
Manners. She can have some, sometimes. Other times she simply hoovers her food and others without a second thought. She steps a little closer and takes a seated position. Thump thump thump goes her tail and she offers a paw to shake. See? Friendly.]
no subject
[ Just a friendly dog thwapping the ground with its tail. ]
[ He regards the paw for a moment. Normally he wouldn't, but he's been touching plenty of questionable things recently and it's not like he had disinfectant on hand, so at this point is rather moot. He still feels silly as he reaches out, sort of bumping his fingers against the paw rather than taking it. ]
Almost done, [ he assures for some reason, even if logically there's no way the creature can understand that concept. Right? ]