Opening Test Drive Meme

[trpmods]

TEST DRIVE
Application FAQ | Taken Characters | Reserves | Application

Welcome to the first Test Drive for The Revival Project!

For those who do not know, this game is a spin-off from The Drift Fleet game, which is shortly closing. For more information about what this game is about, please check out the FAQ here or the premise here.

The TDM for the first round of applications is NOT required but is highly recommended. Really this is to see the interest level in the game as well as to have everyone interact on the new planet and with the new experiences offered here. There will be a post in the TDM where questions can be asked regarding the prompts/settings. We're keeping this loose though so go ahead and have fun with it. Any questions about the game please direct to the comment section of the FAQ. 

If you are a Drift Fleet alumni, please label your character as 'DFAU' on your top level so we know. Also, keep in mind you have complete flexibility on how your character comes here. They could be taken before endgame, after endgame, two years after, one year before, etc. It's up to you! The only option not allowed is to completely restart your character (because then it's not DFAU, is it?) 

So go! Explore Agra 10! And, as always, HAVE FUN! 

*ATTENTION! RESERVES ARE NOW OPEN!*
*ATTENTION! APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!*
*GAME OPENS AUGUST 19th!*

WHALE COMB PARTY


In the square near your arrival point, one building seems to be in fairly good repair. It’s large and stark white on every wall. Unlike the other buildings, all the lights are on and the windows looking out are intact. That alone would make it remarkable but it’s hardly the most noticeable thing once you step inside the open doorway.

Hanging against one wall is a piece of fabric that has ‘WHALE COMB!’ painted on it in drippy, fluorescent pink letters. A smiley is painted underneath it right on the wall with three eyes and long fangs. The fangs drip down all the way to the floor and the eyes are just a blob of paint, but whoever left it seems to have been trying, here. ‘US THANK THEY!’ is written beside it, barely legible. On every other wall is ‘EAT’ in various sizes and colors. They thankfully don’t drip as much as the smiley since, beneath them, are tables upon tables of food.

There are meats, fruits, root vegetables, and even what might be a sweet dessert of some sort as well. Bowls are full of them, apparently a welcome dinner for the Agrii’s new heroes. At the very least it will give everyone a quick crash course on what is edible around here. But some of it might have … adverse effects:

- People chomping down on the striped meat all seem to get very drowsy a few minutes later.
- The red fruit that looks like a giant cherry is the equivalent of a few shots - the more consumed, the more drunken this party is getting.
- There is a bowl of weeds that have small, daisy-like flowers all along the stalks. This tastes like chicken and gives the eater a sudden burst of energy that will have them running around the room like they’re being chased.
-There are a collection of drinks, some made from the red fruit, some that are clearly water, some that taste like a less-sweet lemonade with no effects, and then there's a blue one that tastes like an especially dark beer. People drinking this will find themselves incapable of lying for a half hour.

Of course, no way to know any of this before you chow down. So dig in and enjoy the show!

 

LOST AND ALONE


They said don’t go into the forest. If the noises there weren’t deterrent enough then the thick trees and lack of paths should have been. Yes, you’ll need food. Yes, both meat and many fruits are in the forest. But maybe you should have gotten some more information before heading in.

Congratulations: you went into the forest and are now lost. You can’t hear the murmurings from town, nor can you see any of the lights that might be flickering on and off in the city. How are you going to get back into town? How do you make sure that the creatures here don’t attack you? You probably don’t have any weapons, so you’d better figure something out quick.

Or, maybe you’ll get lucky and run into another foolish person wandering around out here. Try not to attack them - unless they attack first.

 

MILES TO GO


The first thing every survivor needs to find is shelter. Not long after your arrival at the fountain, it’s getting darker now and, even if the night is short (you’re about to find out it’s not!), you don’t want to spend your first one out on an unfamiliar street. Distantly you can hear a sound like a wolf howling through an elephant’s trunk. It’s loud and alien. Maybe you want to find somewhere to sleep a little more quickly.

Right away there are two pretty solid options that will do nicely for the night: an abandoned hotel-like structure and some empty stores.

The hotel structure seems to be the most popular option for others. Its large, overgrown lobby leads you to the staircase and over a dozen floors of rooms in varying conditions. Despite it looking as though no one has set foot in here for decades, the stairs and floors all are secure. The rooms that have doors on them open up to dusty rooms that all have a bathroom (of sorts) attached and long, narrow bed frames. Figuring out a mattress will be a challenge but at least this is a safe place to sleep. As long as no animals laid claim to this room before you got in...

But let’s say the room in the hotel doesn’t work for you. Maybe the room is too small for you. Maybe you don’t like the stairs. Maybe you want someplace private to separate yourself from the rest of these strangers and to think quietly about what to do next. Either way, the other option is any number of abandoned stores lining the block where you arrived. The glass doors and windows of many are broken but there are just as many intact as well. The rooms are all large and empty, as whatever wares inside were either taken or dissolved over the years. There may be a counter or two that will get you off the ground, though. With all this space, you’re bound to find something to sleep on.

Unless someone else got there, first...


code bases by tricklet

Comments

B

[waterwhip]

Of all the people Clint might have crossed paths with, he was probably not expecting a lost little girl. She can't be any older than his daughter, in fact, and she's obviously surprised to see him.

Katara shrinks back when he turns to look at her, and though her hand rests on the lip of the waterskin that's slung around her shoulder, she seems harmless enough.

"Hi!" she says, laughing nervously. "I don't suppose you know the way back to the city, do you?"

[beenalongday]

No, he's definitely not expecting to come across any lost girls around here. This doesn't seem like the place for girls Katara's age; it doesn't seem like the place for any of them, if he's being honest, but for better or for worse, they're here. When he spots Katara, his brow knits together in something like concern, because she looks to be close in age to his own daughter, and that hits really close to home.

"Hey yourself." He gives her a quick looking over, just to make sure she's all right and not hurt or anything. "And yeah, it's back that way." He points over his shoulder, to indicate he's just come from there. "Did you get yourself turned around? It seems like it's easy to do around here, especially since there's no maps or signs."

He's happy to take her back to the city, because there's no way he's going to leave her here to wander around and run into who knows what. Just because it seems quiet doesn't mean it's not dangerous.

[waterwhip]

"I did get a little lost," Katara admits sheepishly. She and her friends are used to flying places, and anyway, Sokka is the map guy. Not that she has a map, mind, but he's better at reading them than she is.

"I'm sure I can find my way back as long as you point me in the right direction! Especially if you're busy," she adds, trailing off and trying to look more confident than she feels. Her hands absentmindedly grasp at the strap of her waterskin, tugging on it lightly.

"I'm Katara. What's your name?" It's only polite to make introductions in situations like this, right?

[beenalongday]

"Yeah, well, I think you're not alone there. We're all lost, pretty much. I haven't ran into anyone who says they're from here, so- Sounds like being lost is the popular option these days." He's trying to reassure her, but he knows he doesn't have a lot of optimistic things to say. There's no ignoring the fact that they're all pretty far from their respective homes.

"Me, busy? Nah." He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he just let her wander off alone, even with the right directions. "I'm not exactly brimming with things to do here, just kind of trying to get my bearings. We can do that together, if you want."

And then he smiles at the introduction, and comes back with one of his own. "I'm Clint. Not as pretty a name as yours, but it works." He grins a little lopsidedly at her, hoping to ease any lingering tensions by poking fun at himself. "Nice to meet you."

[waterwhip]

"Well, if it's not any trouble," Katara says, stepping forward out of the foliage. She's a petite girl dressed all in shades of blue. Her clothes look rustic, in a way, as if they were all stitched by hand with little embroidered details along the hems. She looks like she belongs in a National Geographic photoshoot, not on some alien world.

Clint's little quip about his name has her grinning sheepishly, obviously pleased with the praise. "It's nice to meet you, too. And thanks for helping me out--my brother was always the map guy in our group." She winces slightly and shakes her head. "Is, I mean. He's still the map guy."

But is he? How can she be sure that he survived? This was war, after all, and when they'd split up there was no guarantee that they would be reunited again. Facing even one firebender could be deadly, much less an army of them. Just thinking about it makes her stomach twist, and she has to force a smile to keep herself from blubbering about it.

"We don't have to go back to the city right now. It's so creepy back there. Exploring sounds much better to me."

[beenalongday]

When she steps out in full view, he gets a good look at her for the first time. She really does appear to be around the same age as his daughter, and that detail gives him a pang of regret, but he has to push past it. He can't do anything for his children, not while he's here, and as callous as it might seem, some things have to be compartmentalized.

What doesn't have to be pushed away is the fact that there's a lost girl right in front of him, and he's in a position to help her. At the very least, he can offer his friendship if she'll have it. "It's no trouble at all. I'm, uh- I'm kind of in the business of helping people, so-" He shrugs, but then he adds, "Not that I think you can't help yourself, but we're all kind of out of our element here, right? So why not work together?"

He can't help but smile at the way Katara refers to her brother as the map guy. "We really could use one of those around here. I mean, I know which way is north and all that, but a map guy? Those really come in handy." Clint does catch the way she winces when she talks about her brother, and it makes him feel a little concerned for her. He can't know what's going on back home for her, but if it's anything like the situation back in his own world, he supposes it's probably not good.

"I'm with you, though. I don't really like the city, from what I've seen of it. Out here might be dangerous, but as long as you're paying attention, it shouldn't be too bad." He pauses then, giving her another surveying look. "This is gonna sound weird, and I don't mean it to sound bad, but how good are you at self defense?"

[waterwhip]

If Katara is sure of anything, it's that she's not the naive little girl she was when she left the South Pole nine months ago. Her journey with Aang and the others has been the most formative experience of her life, and it's taught her that a smiling face isn't a guarantee of real friendship. Jet had taught her that. Hama had taught her that. But she had also learned that people could become better than they were, could learn and grow as she herself had.

Clint is still a stranger, but he seems like a well-meaning one, and she's not going to let a few bad experiences keep her from trusting new people. She'll need all the friends and allies she can get on this alien world, and if he really is in the business of helping people as he says he is, maybe he'll be a good one to have. So, when he suggests they work together, she bobs her head in a little nod. "Okay. We'll work together, then--I'll watch your back and you watch mine. My friends and I..." The melancholy she feels thinking of her friends hasn't dissipated yet, but she carries on smiling. "Well, we're also in the business of helping people. That's kind of our thing." And isn't that the understatement of the century?

"Sokka--my brother--is kind of a genius," Katara offers in response to Clint's gentle prompting. "Nobody can throw a boomerang like he can. He always comes up with the best plans, too, and he tells great jokes. I don't know what we would have done without him around." As she speaks, her smile shifts, loosening into something very fond, rather than the forced expression from earlier. "I know he felt kind of left out for a while because he can't bend like the rest of us, but he found a master to teach him to fight, and he made his own sword and everything!" Maybe it's too much information, but talking about Sokka makes her feel a little better, at least.

The question about self defense has Katara arching her brows, and she's reminded again that not everyone knows what bending is. Nobody here will, probably. Instead of trying to explain straight away, she nods. "I'm a master," she says, choosing to demonstrate instead. The cork pops off of her waterskin and she draws out a stream of water. It shimmers in the light, looping and separating into individual spheres and drops of water. Her fingers tighten, bent like claws, and each floating drop freezes into a jagged, icy dagger. "See?" She melts them again, confident that she's made her point.