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Piper 90: Mods ([personal profile] goneawaymod) wrote in [community profile] goneawaymemes2020-04-04 10:47 pm
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TDM #1


TEST DRIVE #1


So it's your first day at your new job! Welcome to the Jorgmund Family™! It's time to settle into your new workplace on the Piper 90 rig, the coziest place of employment this side of the Livable Zone. A leader in its industry, Jorgmund is excited to have you join them in enthusiastically envisioneering team-driven paradigms.  

The Piper 90 rig's mission is not only an impressive undertaking in terms of impactful customer-oriented deliverables, it's providing a vital backbone to the Livable Zone by creating a safe region for citizens to live, work, and play. Jorgmund's "outside the box" thinking means they understand the importance of wisely investing in their human capital - you! You'll soon find that you'll take pride in this vital work - and the benefits can't be beat.

Rest assured, Jorgmund's multidisciplinary approach to our world's period of recovery means we know how to keep it real when facing this opportunity for restructuring and growth. Jorgmund: Even if most of the world has gone away, we can make a world of difference!

Synergy!

USEFUL LINKS
It is recommended you check out the following links first for info on the rig, rig conditions, game mechanics, and the intro and slideshow your characters would have to endure that takes place chronologically before the Test Drive Meme: 

Welcome/Arrival  | Rig Weather & Hazards | Rig Setting Page | Game Mechanics


SCENARIO #1 - MOVE-IN DAY!

After the bewildering and unpleasant onboarding process, you've finally been unleashed on the rig. (Well. To places you're allowed to go on the rig.) It's time to get acquainted with your new surroundings, process some of All Of That™, and meet your fellow captives - err, coworkers!

a) A BIT OF A MESS
Perhaps you're hungry? The mess hall food isn't amazing, but it does the job. Characters that have higher metabolic needs than your average human might be left feeling a little hungry, though. The worst part is actually the electronic sliding door: a small sign helpfully informs you that if you want inside, you need to smile for the camera! In addition to being patronizing, this may be a problem for characters who refuse to play ball, or characters with sufficiently nonhuman faces the door sensor can't read them. Remember, if then company doesn't see people like you, it's not discriminatory -- it's just indifferent! And that isn't legally actionable!

b) GOING NOWHERE FAST
The rig's elevators are a little off-kilter today. Overhead announcements mention this, but downplay the severity and are easy to miss -- which means you and your threadmate are stuck in here, somewhere between the fifth and sixth floor. You can complain into the emergency intercomm, but it might take from a few minutes up to an hour before the elevator gets rolling again. How do you pass the time?

c) SHOULD'VE TAKEN THAT LEFT TURN
You're really just trying to get somewhere else on the rig, but you've gotten hopelessly lost. Oh well, at least you're not alone! Did you run into your threadmate here? Did you lead them astray? Are they at fault? Even worse, are you somewhere full of AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY signs, mysterious equipment, and a worrying number of security cameras?

d) NEED A HAND?
You've been assigned a room and some relatively spare possessions to put in it. Unfortunately, it seems that the staff assigned to help move in new hires are all busy at the moment. Unless you want to wait around, you're going to need to lug and assemble your new assigned foldable den furniture yourself. Do you team up with another newbie? Do you try it alone and find yourself needing help? Do you come to the rescue of someone else who did that?

e) SPECIAL DELIVERY
Somebody in processing decided to give you two a quick little errand: you're supposed to take a couple boxes of files up to the executive deck. Unfortunately, a skeptical security staffer is giving you a hard time on your way there, on account of your funny-looking face, insufficient ID or sketchy-looking package. How do you deal with this and accomplish your task?

f) BLOW OFF STEAM
You're likely still a bit sore from Jorgmund fitting you with the nanochain, but you were promised a gym and you are going to use that gym, dammit. It looks like you're not alone in deciding to try out the training area. Do you train together? Spar to let some frustration out? Or are you gonna argue about whose turn it is on which piece of equipment and resent your lost solitude? You'll also find you have to contend with the communal showers when you're done.

g) NO REST FOR THE WEARY
It's the middle of the night on the rig. You're displaced from home, it's not very warm, your door doesn't shut because privacy is a "privilege" nobody has earned yet, and occasional mysterious clanging noises ring through the rig. You can't sleep, not yet, and perhaps you're not the only insomniac wandering the crew deck?


SCENARIO #2 - YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO PANIC

Around dawn on the morning of Day Two, something goes wrong. (Wrong-er?) You awake to the sound of alarms, and a voice over the speakers telling you NOT TO PANIC! A Stuff storm has caused a brief and contained leak onto Piper 90. You may encounter strange sights or sounds. Any anomalies should be reported immediately to rig security. Thank you for your cooperation!

The nature of the problem isn't immediately clear, but over the next handful of hours you find yourself embroiled in a bizarre fracas: a Stuff leak has caused numerous inanimate objects on the rig to come to life. Furniture and appliances small and large are roaming the decks. Some of them are docile, but others are aggressive (or just troublesome due to their size). Some examples:
  • A rogue photocopier spewing paper and ink
  • A mahogany conference table with old clawed feet and a brand new gaping jaw
  • A water cooler that scuttles the halls, squirting people with jets in varying temperatures
  • Small office supplies like pencils and paperclips that swarm in large numbers
  • Dressers and drawers that spit their contents at high velocity
  • A room's worth of folding chairs that hunt as a pack
  • An emergency fire hose that attempts to ensnare crew members in its coils
  • The angriest coffee pot you have ever seen
The objects can be dangerous, but are more strange, troublesome, and determined than deadly. If a foe seems to be incapacitated or "plays dead," even the aggressive conference table or hose will leave them with bruises and move on. Crew members who get in over their heads will be bailed out by security personnel as the incident dies down. Jorgmund staff stresses that the leak has been contained (so no new anomalies will appear), but after the initial surprise it's everyone's job to help hunt down and dispose of the Stuff-altered... stuff. It's gonna be a long morning, and you haven't even been properly briefed yet!

h) GOOD MORNING, PIPER 90
Rise and shine! There are alarms going off, announcements blaring, and people are scrambling around trying to figure out what's going on. You're one of them. Freak out? Spring into action? Team up with someone to shake down a staffer for more details? Run into someone new, perhaps literally?

i) INTERIOR WRECKORATING
You've been ambushed by an animate object that seems to have it in for you, or you've heard the shouts of someone who has and come running to help. What's ruining your morning now, and what are you going to do about it?

j) ON THE RUN
The folding chairs from Presentation Room B operate as a unit, harrying their prey through the halls with much scrambling of legs and flapping of seats. They're after you, at the moment. Can you escape, or perhaps lead them into a trap? Or do you stand your ground?

k) HERE'S THE PLAN
You and your threadmate have found somewhere secure (for now) and are deciding how to deal with a larger enemy. Are you hunting it, or is it hunting you? Are you planning to take it out of commission, or just how to get away from it? Or are you just gonna hide here and lay low until this is over?

l) PROP HUNT
Things are getting back under control, thankfully. Large disturbances have been disposed of, but that leaves the little things like elusive chains of paperclips, a small but vicious stapler, pens and markers that write rude words on walls, and utensils from the mess hall. These anomalies are stealthier, but must still be dealt with, and it's up to you to flush them out.

m) CLEAN UP IN AISLE EVERYTHING
The chaos has passed, and now you've been instructed to clean up a mess. Ink or loose paper from the copier, coffee from the rampaging pot, mopping up after a water cooler, scrubbing marker off a wall, etc. You might get roped into contending with the Yuck Puddle, which is a permanent fixture and not a new development, but someone's always contending with the Yuck Puddle.


OOC DETAILS

Feel free to play around with powers. If your character has powers from canon you want to play around with, go for it. If you'd like to test out possibilities for game powers, also go for it. Feel free to change it up from thread to thread if you need to. This can be handwaved as exposure to Stuff making characters' powers shift a few times before settling.

Potential players may use test drive threads as their log samples. However, at least one post in their thread must fit the requirements for apps, both in length (200 words) and in quality. If you do plan on using a thread as a sample, please make sure the writing throughout your threads is a good example of your writing skills and has some solid examples of the character's voice.

Players can eventually count TDMs towards AC. They can only count towards comment-based AC proofs.

Potential players can opt to keep these threads as game canon when they app in, or start over fresh, based on preference. The Stuff bringing them to the game universe can fog their memories, if players don't want their character to remember TDM threads when introing into the game.

The game is invite-only. Players without invites are allowed to tdm since some of them may know someone in game to ask for one, and since some people enjoy TDMs just for fun in games they don't plan to app into. But an invite is required during the apping process.

The game is at a starting cap at 30 players. Right now the current number of invitees is likely to not exceed the game's 30 slots, but if we go a few over they will still be allowed to app during this first round. Future apps will be rolling apps and will have a wait queue if the cap has been exceeded.

The first game round will be apps only, no reserves. Apps open: Sat 4/11/20. Game start: Fri 4/17/20.


princesspower: (down in the dumps)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-04-06 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
Well, she wanted to avoid having a yelling match in the middle of the gym, but apparently that's not going to happen. Catra isn't going to let her. She clenches her jaw and listens, shifting out from under the bar and on to her feet. This is the same problem that Catra has always has - she keeps seeing it in terms of winning and losing. Like if Adora suffers, somehow Catra will be happy. Or at least that always seemed to be the running theme. Now she just sounds like she's at the end of her tether and ready to completely snap. Well, more than usual, anyway.

"I've never wanted it to be about me, Catra! It's never been about winning or losing or me wanting to see you crushed or anything like that! I don't think you're worthless!"

She doesn't want to do this here, but the words are spilling out.

"You've just - you've hurt so many people. You've hurt my friends, you've hurt innocent villagers, you've done all of these terrible things. You threw the switch on the portal because you just wanted to hurt me, even if it meant everything else got destroyed!" Adora is venting now, letting it all out.

"And you know what? Before that? I thought it was my job to try and save you. That it was up to me to somehow convince you to stop. That it really was my fault for not being good enough to convince you or stop you somehow. But that - that changed everything, Catra. I have never wanted to be your enemy. But you kept pushing. You kept hurting me. And I couldn't keep going back to you over and over again and hope that this time my best friend would finally understand and maybe this time she wouldn't try to kill someone else who mattered to me."

Adora trails off into silence.

"I never wanted any of this. I never wanted the sword or to be She-Ra or to fight you. And you know what? It in the end it turned out that being She-Ra was just another way for someone else to try and use me as a piece in their giant plan."
heterochrocatic: (023 » I hope we come up with a fail-safe)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2020-04-06 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
Good. Good. Finally Adora is responding and it... well, it doesn't feel great. In fact, Catra feels awkful. She can feel all the guilt and anger and pain sinking even deeper inside of her, working its way into the marrow of her bones. There's a vindication to it though. Confirmation that she is just as awful as she has been told her whole life, as awful as the princesses think her to be. She doesn't laugh this time, but she smiles a weary smile. She wants to cry but refuses to do it in front of Adora.

"That's what I'm saying. It's my fault," she says. "I did all of this. I threw that switch because I hated you. I betrayed Entrapta because I wanted you to feel like I did. Worthless and weak. I hurt you. I hurt the people you tried to protect, I hurt your friends. Because I was trying so hard to be the opposite of you, because I felt like I needed to be the villain--because I didn't have a choice." Catra shakes her head and raises her arms into a shrug. The last line from Adora is enough to check her confessional rambling and Catra freezes.

"What? Really? It was all just... what? The princesses? Or the First ones or something?" Catra is trying really hard not to be amused. At the least, a little vindicated? A little spiteful? She brings a hand up to run through the mess of her hair and shakes her head, seemingly amazed by the development.

"...So what you're saying is we're both just nothing now?" Catra does laugh now, unable to contain the spiteful mirth. "I mean, rotting away on this rig is probably better than rotting in a cell with Sparkles." A pause, then thoughtfully, quietly, she adds: "I hope Horde Prime isn't being too rough on her."
princesspower: (urrrrk)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-04-06 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Adora isn't sure she has the mental energy to have it all out with Catra like this. She rubs at her forehead with her hand as she tries to process all of this. It has not been a good. Or a good last few weeks, honestly. This is another level of stress. She wants to talk to Catra, really, but... this is just not helping her. At all.

"If you really want to know, it was because the First Ones wanted to turn Etheria into a giant super-weapon and She-Ra was basically the key to it."

Oh.

She frowns.

"Glimmer - Glimmer will be fine. And after we get out of here, we're going to go get her."

She still feels guilty. She didn't communicate with Glimmer. Didn't figure out how to not talk past her. Isn't that her fault?
Edited 2020-04-06 20:32 (UTC)
heterochrocatic: (035 » to this town again)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2020-04-06 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's..." Catra looks stunned. Adora had left because she didn't want to be usec by the Horde to hurt people, that much Catra knew, even if she hated that Adora had left her behind to do it. To have the thing that had become her identity, had become what she was turn out to be more of the same couldn't be easy. Sheflinches, looks away.

"That's hard," is all she can manage. It's sympathetic, at least. Not gloating. All she used to know for Adora was anger, white-hot seething anger mingled with grief and an an edge of hatred. Now she feels empty, like all of the emotion she had stored up around her friend had drained out of her and left her with nothing.

"I was... I wanted her to shut up. Because I don't think she knows how to deal with someone like Horde Prime. She doesn't know how to shut up and play along." Catra says quietly, her brow furrowing. Why is she concerned about Glimmer? She takes a breath.

"No one who didn't... we know." She awkwardly gestures between herself and Adora. It's strange, a rekindling of common ground. Not much, but it's something, she guesses? What is she doing? Why is she doing this?

"She doesn't know when it's safe to talk."
Edited 2020-04-06 21:12 (UTC)
princesspower: (i'm too much of a jock for this)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-04-07 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
Adora knows what Catra is talking about. That way they both knew when to stop talking and just let Shadow Weaver talk. Or try to, anyway. Most of the time that still ended up with someone in trouble (usually Catra), but at least it wasn't as bad as if you talked back. And GLimmer - well, she doesn't think Glimmer should just keep herself quiet, but when it was a matter of life or death...

She rubs her temple.

"...she'll be OK. Glimmer is smart. But... she still needs me. Us."

Weird to talk about "us" again.

"Right now we're here and I don't... I don't want to be fighting you right now."
heterochrocatic: (026 » Fall down beneath their own weight)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2020-04-07 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
Catra won't say it aloud, but she actually worries for Glimmer. They were enemies, yes, but leaving her alone to the attentions of Horde Prime? That just seemed cruel and pointless. Especially now, when Catra had nothing left to fight for. Her eyes drop away and she stares at the far wall for a long, quiet moment, trying to decide what she's going to say. They were both here, and that was that. What was up to them was how they dealt with it.

And Catra? Catra just feels tired.

"I don't want to fight you, either," she says finally, her voice hard and bitter. "Okay?"
princesspower: (cat wants attention)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-04-07 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Then we won't," Adora replies. Her voice isn't exactly hard, but it's firm. She's trying to set her boundaries. Catra hurt her and people she cared about a great deal. She still cares about Catra deeply, but she can't pretend things will be the same.

"Besides, they'd probably shock us or something."
heterochrocatic: (038 »  you were a good wife)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2020-04-07 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"We won't," Catra agrees. Her voice is not nearly as firm nor as sure. Just being around Adora makes her feel uncertain in herself. Maybe a little while ago, it would have made her angry. Made her want to fight harder. Now? She's not sure anymore. Everything in her world that makes sense has been turned upside down.

"Probably. Not like that's anything new for me, though," Catra says with a laconic drawl. She can't resist that dig. Or she doesn't want to, at least.
princesspower: (catra trolling again)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-04-07 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"Last time I checked, you were the one shocking me," Adora retorts with a hint of sharpness in her tone. Its not playful. She's hitting back.
heterochrocatic: (020 » I'll be your animal)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2020-04-07 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, then we both have experience, don't we?" Catra snaps in reply. She feels on edge, sharp and tense and wanting to strike at Adora. It wouldn't do any good, though. Not after they just agreed that neither of them wanted to fight. What is she supposed to say here? She pauses, then:

"Sorry. That was stupid. The thing I said... whatever." Catra clamps her mouth shut stubbornly.

"Are you just going to sit there or are you going to do the rest of your workout?"
princesspower: (cautiously confused)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-04-08 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
Wow. Catra actually said "sorry". That's impressive. Adora blinks at her for a moment before she sighs and settles back onto the bench.

"Yeah. Just - spot me."

She can figure out how she feels about all of this later. Right now she's just got a lot of weird emotions going on.
heterochrocatic: (016 » I like it when you take control)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2020-04-08 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Catra sinks into awkward silence, going through the motions of spotting Adora's repetitions. This is so weird. So weird. She has a roil of awkward, uncomfortable feelings in her and she doesn't want to talk about them. Not yet. Maybe not ever. This feels normal--she did this for Adora all the time! But also sharply abnormal. This isn't how things were anymore, and yet... here she was.

Maybe things could be this way again?

The next few days are going to be very strange.