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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.
Jade Harley | Homestuck
Jade wakes to the sound of waves crashing upon the shore; the feeling of sand pressing between her fingers, sticking to her cheek. At first, she hardly reacts. She must be back on her island. She must have fallen asleep again. That happens sometimes!
Her brow furrows as she starts to wake up more. No... wait a second. That's not right. Her island doesn't exist anymore; it hasn't existed for three years. She and her friends played the game and-
Jade sits bolt upright. Her dark hair is an uncontrolled, sandy nest behind her, and her dog ears twitch and swivel as she takes in the sights and sounds around her. At first glance, this looks a lot like her island, but it's missing several notable landmarks. She must be somewhere else, then... maybe the new session?
As Jade scans the beach, she sees another person, and she perks up, a huge smile crossing her face as her fluffy white dog tail starts to wag behind her. The novelty of seeing somebody new overwhelms any anxiety over where she is.
"Hello over there! My name is Jade! Is this your island?"
ii.
"Hello? Is anybody there?"
The voice of a teenage girl can be heard over the radio. She's speaking a little louder than she needs to in order for the radio to pick her up, like she's never really learned about how to modulate the volume of her own voice for other people before.
"I don't know why I ended up here, but... I'm hoping that if I made it here, maybe my friends did too. Have you seen a boy with sunglasses or a girl with black lipstick? Oh, or anybody who has gray skin and orange horns? I'd like to find them again, if I could..."
JADE!!! (also ii)
Huh.
Well, of all the people to show up here, Dirk has perhaps the least amount of idea what to do with this one. His interactions with teen Grandma English had been limited to standing there when she popped up randomly and said some shit about having kissed Dave, and maybe a quick wave during the lilypad endgame reunion.
And, y'know, that time she was feral and zapped him off to the ass end of paradox space. But mind control and all that. Can't really hold it against her.
He almost responds with voice in return, but the awkwardness wins out. He pauses, and types out a message instead. The callsign attached to the text is HE412T.
There is in fact an incredibly rad guy with shades here.
But probably not the one you were hoping for.
Sorry to disappoint.
no subject
Still. There's someone new talking to her. That's a novelty she hasn't had in a long time. She will power through the disappointment.
well it is nice to meet you incredibly rad guy with shades!
(i am assuming you were talking about yourself because otherwise how would you know you were not the rad guy with shades i was looking for??)
have you seen any of the other people i talked about? the girl with lipstick? or the people with gray skin and horns?
i feel like trolls are pretty hard to miss!
no subject
So I can say with a fair amount of certainty that there aren't any here at the moment.
Nor anyone else you're looking for.
For reference, this is the other Strider.
We sort of met briefly.
What else is he supposed to say? Hey, I kind of dated your teen grandson-slash-grandfather and it ended badly? Jake's the most obvious connection here other than Dave, and he'd rather give that subject a wide berth.
no subject
But... he said Strider. So even if it isn't Dave, he has to know Dave! And the rest of her friends, if he knows enough to talk about experience with trolls. Though that only adds confusion to the mix.
other strider?
do you mean dave's older brother?
but he's dead!
unless you're davesprite but... i guess he's dead too ):
did i die before getting to the new session?
or is there some other strider i am forgetting???
Seems this Jade doesn't remember meeting Dirk, since she never even made it to his Sburb session.
no subject
Fuck.
This is some kind of time-y bullshit, isn't it?
Dirk sighs, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. Nothing is ever easy where the game is involved, huh?
Alright.
The answer to a few of those questions is both yes and no.
You were in contact with Jake, right?
I'm from the same universe as him.
no subject
this DOES sound like a lot of time-y bullshit!
But this is starting to make sense, and seeing Jake's name fills her with a rush of relief.
so if you know jake then that must mean you are also from his universe
and if you are a strider then...
HM.....
Jade had reasoned out that Jake was not her actual biological grandson like he had said, but instead an alternate universe form of her grandfather. It stands to reason that the same would be true of her friends and their guardians, right?
are you the teen version of daves brother from the new session?
and youve met me before??
that must mean that i make it there eventually!
...or at least a version of me does
did it seem like i recognized you when i met you? did i reference this conversation at all?
no subject
As to where this clusterfuck fits into the grand scheme of things, hell if I know.
We didn't exactly talk.
Lot of shit going on at the time, and I figure you were more interested in reuniting with your friends than chatting up the teen alternate universe version of a guy you didn't even know.
He's more acquainted with her fist than with her, but that probably wouldn't be productive to mention at this particular moment. She seems like the kind of person who'd feel all guilty if told about the time she punched him and then warped him to the middle of nowhere.
sorry for the delay life was kicking my butt
it did sound like we would be very busy in the new session
and now that youve said that i guess now if i DID go to talk to you it would create a doomed timeline or something stupid like that :/
so i am going to hope that the version of me you met is my future!
She doesn't actually have a lot of hope that it is. The game has been so cruel to her in the name of keeping paradox space in tact... but Dirk said the words "reuniting with your friends" and she has never wanted anything more.
what is it like in the future?
did we win?
no worries!
So, yeah.
We won.
I actually thought at first that this was supposed to be the new universe we created, given I woke up here right after we stepped through the door, but a number of factors have called that into question.
You included.
He already has no explanation for what would have dragged all these other people to Hellmurder Island 2.0 like like, especially from other universes – and of course he believes that part, they've been through too much nonsense to be skeptical of that kind of shit. But he has even less explanation for why they'd have gotten a Jade English (or whatever her alt universe self goes by) from some earlier point in the timeline.
The only thing that makes sense is that they're no different than anyone else pulled in here and the universe they made has nothing to do with it. And if that's true, then he'd like to speak to the fucking manager of reality.
no subject
It takes her a little bit to respond. She needs time to process some actually good news before she keeps chatting. She'd forgotten what relief felt like.
thinking this was the new universe would be a reasonable hypothesis!
i thought this place was your session at first too
though... i guess this place does not feel very much like a sburb planet
it just feels like a normal island
no imps or consorts or anything!
honestly... thats kind of a relief ._.
i was getting very sick of all of the consorts
they are not very good conversationalists but they sure can make a lot of noise
but if its not a session and its not the new universe... i wonder what it is?
no subject
For what it's worth, the planets in our session didn't have any consorts either.
Or anything living, really.
In contrast, this mystery island is very much full of extremely alive shit.
It'd probably be more exciting if it didn't come at the apparent cost of all our friends and powers and sick gear.
I mean, I can do without the Heart-specific powers honestly, but being able to fly would be really fucking handy right now.
no subject
i miss my space powers a lot :(
they would be so helpful here!
but now its like i am twelve again and i have to walk everywhere :/
i guess i will just try to look on the bright side though
what kind of extremely alive shit is here?
are there any cute animal friends to make?
no subject
Their cuteness and friendshipworthiness levels are debatable.
i.
There's a slightly snotty tone in Maddy's voice as she looks Jade up and down. Sorry, Jade; it's not you, she's just stressed. She has no idea how she got here, or where this even is, or who you even are.
In fact, Maddy herself seems to realize she's being a jerk, because she forces herself to relax. She takes a deep breath.
"...Sorry. I'm not trying to be a bitch or anything." She's still a little thrown by the insinuation that this could be her island, though, and it shows. Sure, she's always dreamed of being own-a-private-island rich, but that's not the reality for her (yet!). Or anyone she knows, even the people who would be considered well-off in her community. In a slightly dazed voice, trying to be as patient as she can, she says, "But no. It's not mine. Why? Do you know a lot of people who own private islands?"
She blinks at the fluffy white tie that wags behind Jade.
"Whoa. Cool tail." The ears are cool, too!
no subject
(Okay, and the tail compliment helps too. That tail wags juuust a little more.)
"Oh! It's okay. And thank you! I like my tail too. I guess I only really know one person who owned a private island, which was my Grandpa. Though I'm not sure if he actually owned it or if he just kind of decided he was going to start living there..." She trails off, cupping her chin in her hand as she thinks about that. Knowing him, it was probably the latter.
"Um- but anyways. If this isn't your island, then who are you? Did you just wake up here like I did?"