TDM #1

[glencolans]

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.

NAVIGATION

Comments

I. ARRIVAL

[somethingintangible]

The bark startles Maddy at first. No, not just startles. She pretty much almost jumps out of her skin, not realizing there was another living being anywhere near her, and then - already on edge, unsure if she's going crazy, feeling like this might be a dream or a bad trip or or or something - the sound of a dog barking makes her fear for the worst. Like maybe it's aggressive, or a guard dog, or it's got that foaming at the mouth thing, like it's... rabid or whatever?

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.

[standformyself]

Try as she might, her paws remain her paws. Nothing grows or shrinks. No little suction cups sprout- although she wouldn't need them here. The sand is easy enough for her to walk upon. If anything, she would prefer them a little wider and flatter, which would allow her to dig better. Holes are fun, after all, but she's not quite there yet.

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.

[somethingintangible]

It turns out, that's exactly the right thing to do. "Aww..." Maddy murmurs, when the dog pushes her head against Maddy's hand. The friendly wag of a tail helps, too.

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.