Spring Test Drive Meme!

[trpmods]

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:

- Explore the city! There's a map here 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. The hotel seems to be the most crowded, but you might want into what appears to be an abandoned storefront and find someone else scavenging or even sleeping.

- There are spaceships! That's right, there are currently several small spaceships grounded in the hangar. They appear to have power, but only one ship will let you enter. (For test drive purposes, the ship that will let you enter is up to you, so just pick whichever name appeals, and go for it!) The other ships won't open for you, but it might be worth poking around the one that will...

- Do you hear a storm? A giant, power-altering storm has been ravaging part of the planet for a month. It shows 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? More information can be found  here.

- Can you hear me now? 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.

- 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...



code bases by tricklet

Comments

[waterwhip]

[ She seems to consider the question for a moment, and knows enough at least not to say something like 'a grain of sand.' ]

I know that mist and clouds are made of water, but... drops that are so small that you can't see them individually.

[ As if to demonstrate, she makes a sweeping, circular gesture with her hand. Water condensed out of thin air into droplets first, then into an amorphous sphere floating above her upturned palm. ]

Maybe that?

[in_extremis]

Fantastically well put, stellar logic-- [That's not a trick you see every day. The implications, should it be real, of that little bubble were profound-- a power on the level of Storm. There's no way this one is from Earth, that wouldn't be an easy secret to keep] Did you make that? Or just like... [He makes a similar gesture, like he's trying to mimic her, but closer to scooping the water out of the air to form it]

[waterwhip]

I didn't make it. Only firebenders can make their element from nothing. Airbenders, earthbenders, and waterbenders like me all have to use our elements as they exist in the environment around us. This water was in the air around me, so I used my chi to pull it together.

[ She streams the water into a pouch at her side. ]

I did use my sweat once when my friend and I were locked up, but... I'd rather not make a habit of that.

[in_extremis]

[A whole culture of omega level mutants. How wonderfully terrifying.]

That's a beautiful talent you have, and clever problem solving, too. Absolutely enthralling stuff to a physicist, since you asked. That's the study of nature, how and why things happen-- why running water can create canyons, or hold its tension to balance on a leaf. Why different forces-- your chi, maybe, or gravity, or friction, act the way they do, and how they act on each other. So particle physics focuses on the building blocks of nature. If a cloud is made of small drops, what are those small drops made of? And are those tiny parts made of something even smaller? And can that question be asked infinitely, or is everything made of the same impossibly small element, and if so...why did some of it decide to be the cloud, or a sunflower, or you? Why can you pull water together, but not air?

Isn't that fantastic?

[waterwhip]

[ Naturally, when Tony phrases it in such an engaging way, it sparks her imagination. She's enthralled by the possibilities, and she wonders for a moment why it never occurred to her to ask those sorts of question back home.

Well. The war, and being too occupied with survival on a daily basis to put much energy into asking a million questions about the world, about how and why it works the way it does. Still, now that she's thinking about it, she really does want to know more. ]

That really is amazing! People don't really study things like that where I'm from. We've been at war for a long time. But there are people who can manipulate air--or... there were. I have a friend who can--he's an airbender, but he's the only one left. I'm the last waterbender from my tribe, but there are more in our sister tribe.

[ And since he brought it up... ]

What is the smallest thing, then? Do you actually know?

[in_extremis]

[The pieces were fitting together-- there is something so familiar in her demeanor, that for a second Tony is pressing the heel of his hand to his chest.]

We have some guesses, but we're sure we haven't seen the smallest thing yet-- not by a long shot. Kind of like Bigfoot. We know he's out there, but he's camera shy. [That might not be a very universal reference.] Do you know Bigfoot? Like, uh, sasquatch? [Suddenly, he is not so eloquent. He's an engineer, not a cryptozoologist.]

[waterwhip]

[ He gets a little shrug in answer to his question. ]

I don't know what sasquatch is. Is it an animal? Maybe they don't exist in my world. We have things like platypus-bears and saber-tooth moose lions. Oh, there are dragons! But I don't know if there are more than two. And there's Appa--he's a flying bison, and if there are more of them I haven't seen any.

[in_extremis]

[Tony didn't mean to ask for a whole menagerie compendium, but the language is interesting. A creature that is platypus and bear, but she doesn't give it its own name. Are they speaking the same language, or is this a babelfish interpretation that he would understand? He'll focus in just one second, honest.]

Kind of like that! He's something there's only one of, so he's incredibly mysterious and most people don't think he's real. At least, I think so. We haven't talked much. I have talked to a couple of dragons, though, and, let me tell you, I hope they are much nicer where you come from. Very disrespectful animals. Is that racist?

[waterwhip]

I'm... I don't think it's racist if they aren't human? And I'm not sure, I didn't meet them personally. My friends went to them to revitalize their firebending, and apparently the dragons taught them an ancient bending form that also happened to look like a dance.

I didn't know dragons existed on other worlds too, though! Maybe there is a sasquatch back home and we don't know about it, especially if there's only one. That seems very lonely, though, to be the only one of anything.

[in_extremis]

Maybe you got the rude sasquatch, we got the rude dragons.

Do you think you friend is lonely, the only airbender? He's got you, hasn't he? [It can be exhaustingly isolating, though, being different. Kids younger than this one already knew that, surely, but that's not really language Tony wants to put in her head.]

[waterwhip]

I know he misses the other airbenders, but you're right that he has us. We're like a family now. [ Though Aang made it clear to her that he wanted a different kind of relationship with her, but this newcomer doesn't need all those messy details. ] If he ever has a family, maybe his children will be airbenders, too. Or maybe not--no one else in my family is a bender, but I am.

[in_extremis]

[Oh no, why did that make her look so sad? Quick, you asshole, vamp a little]

I'm sure it took plenty of effort to come up with something as exquisite as you, sweetheart, and no one's been able to imagine something better yet. That's something to celebrate. You know, you haven't told me your name yet...

[waterwhip]

[ Genocide is why, Tony. Not your fault, though. The praise makes Katara grin, though, and she shakes her head, recognizing it for flattery but not minding at all. ]

I'm Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. I'm from the South Pole, but I was traveling with my friends until I was brought here.

And you were Tony, right? Where are you from?

[in_extremis]

Uh, Manhattan. [Why does he feel so bad that he doesn't sound like a princess, too?]

The South Pole? Like, penguins, icebergs and...penguins? South Pole? I didn't know anyone could live there.

[waterwhip]

[ Not a princess. The chief's daughter. ]

Yeah, the South Pole! Like penguins, and icebergs, and more penguins. We have plenty of other animals, too, like tiger seals and polar bear-dogs. We've lived there for generations. You're not the first person who's seemed surprised about it. I guess my world is pretty different from yours. What's Manhattan like?

[in_extremis]

[It certainly sounded like a South Pole Tony would recognize, with some distinct but minor variations, but maybe Katara's people were just heartier Terrans.]

Not so much local wildlife in Manhattan. Rats, mostly. [Why are they talking about animals so much? Is she an animal person? Tony keeps bringing it up. Kids like animals, it's safe territory.] Best place on Earth, though. Too many people, smells like garbage, traffic is a nightmare. I miss it already. [He is smiling, as though he really does like the garbage smell.]

[waterwhip]

That sounds kind of like Ba Sing Se. It's the largest city in the world with these huge walls. There are parts that are really beautiful, but some parts... not so much.

The Earth King lived there before the Fire Nation conquered the city, but even before then it was controlled by secret police called the Dai Li. The King didn't even know there had been a war going on for a hundred years. [ Judging by her tone, that's the kind of thing that's pretty hard to miss the memo about. ]

[in_extremis]

Kitty-Kat, we might honestly be talking about the same place. Ba Sing Se, born and raised. [Maybe not so fantastically put, the Fire Nation sounded way cooler than the Hand or AIM, but what were men in power of any title but willfully ignorant Kings, letting SHIELD give them the run around?] Is everyone here from Earth?

[waterwhip]

Kitty-Kat? [ She arches her brows, laughing and shaking her head. No one's ever given her a nickname quite like that, but it's... kind of cute. She doesn't mind it.

In response to his question, she gives a little shake of the head. ]

No. There are lots of people here from different planets. There's at least one man I've seen who's entirely blue.