revivalprojectooc | Winter Test Drive Meme

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Winter Test Drive Meme

WINTER TEST DRIVE MEME
Application FAQ | Taken Characters | Reserves | Application

Welcome to the Current Test Drive for The Revival Project!

This game is a spin-off from the closed The Drift Fleet game. For more information about the game, including more details on the setting, please check out the FAQ here or the premise here.

A thread on the TDM will be required for all applications. Please view the FAQ for information about how this works. Any questions about the game please direct to the comment section of the FAQ as well.

If you are a Drift Fleet alumni bringing your character from the game, please label your character as 'DFAU' on your top level. 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! If you want to completely restart your character, they're not considered DFAU anymore and won't need the label.

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

Thread ideas:

Winter in Temba and Sh'Ka

Winter has arrived on Agra 10 and with it its cold temperatures, sharp winds and, you guessed it, snow. It starts slow and gentle in Temba, but even such gentle snowfall tends to build up and over the course of a few days of constant snowfall, the city has been covered with a white, roughly knee-deep blanket - Unless someone actually remembered to keep some of the paths clear.

And it still keeps snowing. The cold is also causing some of the Shadowpaws to be drawn to the inhabited buildings of Temba in search for shelter. The further away from the library one is, the more likely it gets that they may share one's living space and bless anyone else living there with nightmares. The area around the library remains free of the shadowpaws thanks to the mothcats residing there.

Over in Sh'Ka, a similar picture has been painted. But being situated within all these tall trees paints a somewhat different picture. A more icy one. All the by now leaf-free trees are covered in a thick layer of ice, as are Sh'Ka's stone-carved buildings. The wind here is harsher than it is in Temba, which has been comparably wind-free.

Please try not to slip and hurt yourself while marveling at either city.

Explore ~~the city~~ Temba!

Here's a map of Temba and a bit more description of some of the buildings here.

Most of the buildings are run down and have clearly been abandoned for years; fortunately, the water treatment center appears to be working, but power is intermittent and unreliable. What used to be stores or places to live in lies in ruins, but there may still be something to scavenge among the rubble. Do you want to risk a swim in the flooded area that has turned into a deep lake that has yet to be fully explored; or does it draw you to some of the more prominent and partially restored buildings, such as the hotel, the hospital or the amphitheater.

If you are lucky, you might even stumble over The Deep End, the bar located on one of the mid-levels of the tower residences in one of the residence towers. Unfortunately no bright neon signs can lead you there, but it does exist.

Visit the spaceships!

That's right, there are currently several small spaceships sitting in the hangar. Not all of them may be around when you check out the building, as one of the pilots may be using one of them to fly over to Sh'Ka. But there should still enough of them around for you to inspect and maybe wonder about. However, only one of them will open its doors for you. Do you dare to step inside? Check out the protein paste or maybe even meet one of your crew mates?

The two currently crewless ships are open for anyone to step inside and have a look around, maybe even use for a nap.

Try the network!

Upon arrival, your character will have on their person a small, handheld communications device. Maybe they know exactly how to use a computer, smartphone, or tablet, and immediately blast out a text or video trying to figure out what's going on. Or maybe they're not so tech-savvy after all, and everyone is about to get a lovely shot right up your character's left nostril.

There be storms...

These power-altering storms keep ravaging parts of the planet every once in a while. No one truly knows where they come from or what to do about them yet, but one of them appears to be approaching. You have the option to find shelter in one of the buildings to wait for it to pass. Unless, of course, you rather feel drawn to investigate.

Should you step inside the storm, or even get lost in it, it will show ghosts of people you know and those you don't. It drains you of any super-human abilities and tries its best to keep you from getting to its origin. Are you going to try anyways? Or are you going to chase the whispers of people from your past? Maybe you will simply find yourself calling for help or stumble across another lost soul in need of assistance.

More information can be found here.

Wildcard!

You're welcome to use any previous test drive scenarios or previous game events as a basis for a thread/situation, or simply make up your own! Keep in mind that you're currently stranded on a planet with only basic necessities, but there is enough food and fresh water. Creature comforts, however, seem to be distinctly lacking. Quite unlike a gathering of potentially dangerous creatures to encounter. The setting is yours to explore and have fun with!

✧ Premise ✧ FAQ ✧ Rules ✧ Test Drive ✧ Taken ✧ Reserves ✧ Application ✧
✧ Map ✧ Devices & Network ✧ Data Points ✧ Ships ✧ Flora ✧ Fauna ✧ Supply Requests ✧ Calendar ✧
✧ Activity Check ✧ Player Plot Suggestion ✧ Player Contacts ✧ Player Permission Code ✧ Hiatus ✧ Drop ✧
✧ Navigation ✧

code bases by tricklet

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I wasn't asking for an active demonstration," Dustin huffs, face growing hot. Curiosity has definitely been satisfied; now he's too busy trying to soothe his bruised ego to care about much else. He turns on a heel and continues, stomping agitatedly into the snow. "You don't just prime weapons on people--I'm allowed to be angry about that."

Or so he tells himself. Maybe it'll help him sleep better if he thinks he's right.

The turtle teen snorts. "It wasn't at you, don't take it so personally." He's been smacked by his own weapon plenty of times so he feels Dustin's taking this far too seriously.

Since he's got the staff extended, Donatello uses it as a walking stick as he tries to keep up with the human. His top half may be warm but the rest of him is still in the snow.

"Man, whatever," Dustin huffs, clearly taking it personally. He keeps trudging ahead in silence for a couple long, tense minutes after that, stewing in his own self-conscious irritation while he creates a small divot in the snowdrifts for Donatello to walk in. At least he's not too difficult to match pace with; Dustin's stride isn't terribly long on his best days, and he's not taking the direct path across the plaza anyway, seeming to weave at random while he avoids the obstacles he knows are hidden under the deep blanket of white.

Eventually curiosity again wins out over sulking. "What's the deal with that, anyway?" Dustin asks, in a tone that suggests that he's not nearly as interested in the answer as he actually is. "Why do you have it?"

The silence to follow is a little unnerving, punctuated by the unwelcoming chill that still very much surrounds them. Donatello tries not to look too petulant himself as he continues after Dustin, thankful that at the very least he's got a slightly clearer path to walk along because of the other.

He lifts his head, brightening perhaps just the slightest bit. "Well, it's mine, obviously. It seems like the only tech that made it with me," he says, glancing behind him despite the fact that his shell's covered in the warmth of the borrowed coat.

Dustin rolls his eyes. "No shit it's yours," he drones, still obviously in a foul enough mood to be a little shit. "Everyone shows up with at least one thing. And clothes, usually."

He pauses, casting a dubious glance at Donatello from over his shoulder.

"Unless they don't normally wear them, I guess."

That look makes him terribly self-conscious. The turtle pulls his arms in front of him even though he's already covered in a coat. "Hey, I've got shorts on! And if I knew I was going to be mingling with humans I'd have put on my hoodie," he sniffs. "...just as I would have worn my snowgear if I'd known I was going to get dropped off by aliens in the middle of winter."

Those are all perfectly reasonable points, so naturally Dustin ignores them in favor of the one thing that doesn't immediate make sense to him.

"You're already familiar with humans, then?" he asks. This seems to be the norm, but it can't be assumed. Neither can the planet. "Earth?"

"Well yeah, they kind of make up the majority of the planet's population." Donatello nods. "Yes, Earth. New York, -city, specifically, if you wish to further narrow down my stomping grounds."

Dustin blinks in surprise. This is a possibility he'd considered, but for whatever reason he had assumed that, if Donatello was from Earth, he'd be from some strange, alternate version of it, so far removed that it would be nearly unrecognizable. The fact that New York City also exists and that a humanoid, sapient turtle lives in it feels somehow stranger than the alternatives.

"Huh," he mumbles - his best attempt at voicing all of those thoughts, apparently. "And you're...from...there?"

The turtle directs a dry look at the back of Dustin's head. "Yes, born and raised. Well, assumedly born, definitely raised." He waves a three-digited hand.

"Don't worry, New York and Earth so far as I know is still very much human-ruled. My family and I are an unnatural exception on the account that we were genetically mutated by a warrior alchemist who was bent on creating a perfect army of mutants for his plans to destroy humanity."

"Oh, and there's a hidden city beneath New York full of yōkai, I guess that might be a little weird."

Well, at least now he knows for sure. Dustin opens his mouth to follow up for details, except Donatello beats him to the punch - by quite a lot. His mouth clicks shut, listening in silence, save the steady shuffle and crunch of his legs through the deep snow.

There was a time when Dustin would have called bullshit on this whole story. That point passed a while ago. "...From Japanese mythology?" he asks after a moment, picking the part of everything Donatello's told him that seems the easiest to dissect first. "The fuck are they doing in New York?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that. For all I know, they've borrowed off the name or are some extension." Donatello sounds a little reluctant to admit it, he'd rather have an answer to offer than saying he didn't know.

"I've never been outside of New York either so I'm not sure if it's just a local thing or how widespread, really." Going to Jersey clearly doesn't count.

Dustin grunts his acceptance of this explanation; it's as good as anything he could've come up with, all things considered.

"Could've been present in my universe's version of New York, too," he shrugs, casually glossing over the 'separate universes' topic. It's become such a staple of living here that he barely even notices how weird it is anymore. "I've never been."

"Your universe's version?" Surely one cannot expect him to overlook that. Donatello tries to pick the pace to close the distance between them a bit. "You saying as much suggests that this- that alternate versions- exist. Do you have proof?"

His tone implies he is truly curious and eager to hear what Dustin might have to say on that, not accusatory.

"Never been...to New York? It's about as loud and busy as it's commonly portrayed to be, so depending on how you feel on that, you're not missing out too much on things. But it's home."

There it is. Dustin looks momentarily surprised - not at the question itself, but at the fact that he recognizes Donatello's response. He's basically having his first conversation with Tommy in reverse.

"Regrettably little," Dustin admits, not bothering to slow down even after he notices that the turtle is trying to walk alongside him. "Hearsay from people that have been here longer than me and personal comparisons, mostly. People show up from the same planets but with entirely different timelines. For example--"

The boy twists to face Donatello and starts getting his hands involved, making sharp, pointed gestures with gloved fingers.

"--We're both from a version of Earth where New York exists. Since I can't prove or disprove if there's a secret yōkai population underneath New York City where I'm from, nor that you and your family of mutants live there, the easiest way to confirm if we're roughly from the same universe would be to compare Earth histories, yeah?" He pauses for a moment. "What year is it?"

Donatello nods. People just stating such things didn't make them fact. Divergences of planetary origins was easier to track. Timelines... He hadn't even considered that, an added layer of possibility that had him raise his brows.

"Yeah," he agrees as Dustin starts to spin his thoughts. "It's twenty-nineteen, last I left," he replies then.

"Two thousand seven for me," Dustin answers back with a curt nod. "So, it's still possible that you and I could be from the same version of Earth, just yanked from different points in the timeline. We'd have to compare important historical events - things that we both agree should have happened in our world's recent past - to at least estimate a convergence."

He ponders for a moment. This is an exercise he's done a few times, although never quite so formally as he is now, and there's always a certain aspect of his version of Earth that no one else seems to agree exists. Might as well start with the big one, then.

"What do you know about the founding of the Global Trade Protectorate?"

"So I'd be about...two in your timeframe," Donnie calculates, frowning thoughtfully. Not that he disagrees with Dustin's wonderfully methodical reasoning in how to get to the bottom of things. He's glad to have someone else processing at the same pace for a change.

...which is why when Dustin finally settles on something to use for a reference point, he doesn't scoff at it. The turtle's brow furrows as he tries to think of anything that would ping him in regards to the name, slowly starting to shake his head.

"Not a phrase I am familiar with," he admits. And unlike his brothers he keeps up to date with more than just comic books.

Dustin does some similar mental calculations of his own. Fourteen years old. He arcs an eyebrow. ...Really fucking built for a fourteen-year-old. Comparative physiology might not be suitable here.

But that isn't important right now. "Then I would say that our universes are divergent," Dustin concludes with an affirmative point in Donatello's direction. "The name is accurate - they're global. Been sticking their fingers in everybody's pies since the 1940's. If your secret underground city of yōkai exists in my world, I wouldn't be surprised if they had dealings with the GTP."

"Hmm. I take it they're not exactly secretive either, if by your implications it's almost a household name. From what I can tell, the yōkai prefer to keep to themselves for the most part and prefer to keep their business apart from human business." Well, except for the one that was convinced humanity was going to be the downfall of yōkai-kind.

"It's only one datapoint to reference off of but if it's that major a thing from when you are, there'd be no reason I wouldn't have at least heard of or read about it at some point when I'm from. Perhaps my own offered references may not be as widespread so much as particular of American pop culture, not to mention specific to tastes, but I don't suppose you are familiar with the Jupiter Jim film franchise or the martial arts action star icon Lou Jitsu?"

Dustin frowns ahead of him, his eyes twitching oddly as he checks his memory. It only takes a couple of seconds.

"...Nothing." He shakes his head. "Unless Lou Jitsu became famous outside the 1928 to 2007 range, anyway."

Donatello tilts his head at him, nodding thoughtfully then. "That would be a negative on both counts. And dad isn't that old. So yes, it is probably safe to confirm your earlier conclusion," he says with the air of a professor acknowledging a student. It all vanishes into pure glee as he mashes his hands against his face.

"Ohmigosh alternate universes, this is amazing! I mean, so is being on an alien planet but I'm still sore on key points in regards to that."

Dustin sighs, quiet but deep and gently exasperated. He wants to be just as excited as Donatello is - and there was a point, not terribly long ago, where he definitely was - but he has a hard time mustering enthusiasm about anything related to being trapped here, nowadays.

"I guess," he murmurs with a clipped voice, staring straight ahead at the Agriculture Center dominating their field of view. "Different universes, same people, same bullshit. The shine wears off pretty quickly."

The clear lack of enthusiasm is difficult not to notice, the turtle dropping his own excitement with an almost disappointed look at Dustin. He quickly schools it into a more appropriately neutral look as he also turns his attention forward.

"So...how long have you been here?" he asks hesitantly.

Dustin, oblivious from being stuck in his own head, answers earnestly. "Five-thousand seven hundred and eighty-five hours, fifteen minutes," he says after a short pause, blithely. "I'd give it in days, but that would be unrealistic - day lengths vary between planets."

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