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tabularasa_memes2020-06-24 08:34 pm
tabularasa_mods) wrote in tabularasa_memes2020-06-24 08:34 pm
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June Test Drive Meme
Test Drive Meme #2
New Locations ▲ Scenarios ▼ CommentsPlease note that none of the locations and changes described below will be included in the game when it opens. To help create an accurate impression of the game, we have included several imprints suggested by prospective players from the TDM Imprints Submissions. These prompts and locations are only for the TDM. A new arrangement of imprints will be picked when the game opens, which will likely look completely different from the TDM. Please keep this in mind when applying to the game in the future.
As this is our second TDM, you can find more detailed descriptions of the TDM-only locations on TDM #1. Feel free to use prompts from the previous TDM as well if you missed out on it!
Threads from the TDM may be used as samples on your application. TDM samples must be 2 threads with different characters, each with at least 5 comments from your character. Responding to other players on the TDM will also be part of an AC bonus, so we encourage anyone who plans to app to tag out to other players as well.
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New Location: The Fendt Hope Library
Across from the USJ dome stands an enormous six-floor castle. The entrance boasts a large open room decorated with hanging bird cages, colorful teddy bears of varying sizes, and books. Many, many books, filling shelves that line every wall of the room. Traveling further within, there are hundreds of rooms and hallways arranged almost like a hotel, except every room is its own miniature library. Each room has the same layout, including a desk with a lamp, a round table with chairs in the center, a ladder, and rows of shelves on every wall. Teddy bears have been placed around each room, some of them sitting in chairs or on top of shelves and stacks of books. Many of the rooms feature large square windows with gold curtains drawn.
On the first floor near the entrance is a small tavern-like area with a bar, also surrounded by bookshelves on all sides. There are several wooden tables with chairs for guests to sit, though teddy bears have been placed in some of the seats. A large person-sized bear is seated behind the bar. The only shelf that isn't full of books is instead filled with old wine bottles.
There is a staircase that goes down to the basement, where more hallways and library rooms can be found. The basement rooms are much dingier with gray stone walls and no windows, though otherwise look the same as the other library rooms. Notably, the doors in the basement rooms can only be locked from the outside.
Scenario A: Think Positive!
The world has been filled with many things - animals, plants, people, objects... and among those objects, something has stood out. Objects that demand a greater purpose, to be filled with energy that they cannot themselves create. They have not gone unnoticed, and so, too, does the world notice. Machines are more complex than blocks of metal and plastic. Lights are more than wire and glass. What is it that breathes the life into them that people have come to expect?
Finally, the answer has become clear. Anger, disappointment, frustration: these are all feelings that have been poured into these lifeless objects. Energy, such as electricity, must surely come from those emotions.
That isn't to say making electricity is a simple task, or one that can be so easily controlled. A strong emotion can be quite shocking, but that strength must be maintained to power something for more than a few seconds. But you don't want to be electrocuting everyone you come into contact with, either, so with a bit of coordination, a group of people will have much better luck than one person by themselves.
A crowd in the Heavenly Blanc is enough to make the lights flicker, and you might even be able to get the jukebox going. The music sounds a bit strange, with titles and lyrics that almost seem jumbled together from several different songs, but a tune is still a tune. The lighthouse arcade is especially lively, machines buzzing and blaring with noise the moment anyone steps in, though you'll need a friend or two to play along if you want it to get the game to start. The games, too, seem like a bit of a jumbled mess - or maybe Initial DANCE Taikoaster Versus is just ahead of its time.
Most electronics will now function, provided they have the energy source to do so. More advanced functions may not work correctly, such as long-distance connections. The more complex the device, the more emotional power you'll need to use it.
Scenario B: Take A Look, It's In A Book
With the addition of a another library, books have become an important feature to the world's landscape. Words that were once a jumbled mess have been reformed, arranged into something that can now be understood. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of content to fill every book in the world - most of them are identical copies of the same few books, though there may be slight variations between copies.
Geography contains an accurate map of the known world, including detailed descriptions and sketches of important landmarks and buildings. Any observations that people have made thus far have been noted here, including a few direct quotes. It also describes some of the flora and fauna, though it doesn't go into much detail beyond where they can be found. Each copy has a chapter at the end titled "The Rest Of The World" containing hundreds of blank pages.
Regional Pokédex is a bestiary of all the creatures currently residing in the world. There are only 5 entries, with the rest of the book filled with the same image of a large question mark in a circle at the center of each page. Some of the copies of the book use different names for the same creatures, but the first four entries in each copy describes fireys, jellyrabbits, ghowls, and the Eiffel Tower in the style of short observational notes. The average height, weight, and footprint shape of each creature is also listed. The fifth entry has no title, but lists the average height, weight, and approximate footprint shape of every single person in the world as if they were a single species. The descriptions on this page are much more disjointed and contain wildly different information across copies, but all of the entries list observations and physical details of individuals that have arrived in the world.
Questions Vol.1 is a book of questions. Every question about the world that someone has voiced thus far has been listed somewhere in this book. Some questions are detailed and specific, while others are single word questions like "sleep?" There are no answers provided, but some of the pages have handwritten theories underneath that vary between copies. All of the theories match what people have discussed among themselves so far.
Drinks is a recipe book. It lists several recipes for simple drinks one can make with water, alcohol, coffee beans, and tea leaves. Nearly all of the recipes have an alcoholic variant, even when it doesn't make sense. Each recipe includes step by step instructions on how to prepare the ingredients without electricity. This book also details everything people have observed about the world's water supply and its relaxing properties.
Scenario C: Lucky Buns
Luck might seem a simple idea on the surface: if you have good luck, good things happen to you, and if you have bad luck then bad things happen. Where, however, does luck come from? Everyone has different ideas and different superstitions surrounding the concept. One such superstition is tied to rabbits, which is like a fluffy, tentacled creature that swims quietly through the air. A rabbit's luck is tied to its feet. However, touching this particular creature's feet tends to sting and hurt people. On that basis, then, touching the jellyrabbit's feet is clearly bad luck, and so anyone who has felt that sting will experience other forms of bad luck. Whether this comes in the form of trips, falls, getting lost or similar kinds of misfortune relies entirely upon what one's individual idea of bad luck is.
Conversely, touching other parts of the creature must be tied to good luck. Many people do quite like to pet soft and fluffy creatures, after all, so it's only natural that doing so would gift them with good luck. Perhaps they might find things more easily, meet people with similar interests, win games of chance more often, or find a $100 note in their back pocket - money might have no meaning here, but if this is what people consider 'good luck', then that is what will happen.
Once a streak of luck, good or bad, is triggered, it does not wear off on its own. It can only be replaced by luck of an opposing nature, or removed entirely by touching one of the other local creatures.
The creatures' tie to luck is not immediately apparent. Once people learn and understand, however, the information will soon find its way into a copy of the library's Regional Pokédex.
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😩😩😩
A pity you weren't one of my fans, Ren, or you'd know that I was seventeen when I started my third year, but my birthday was just before we met in June. If you'd bothered to do your homework, you'd know I'm eighteen.
[Ah, but Tifa is looking stern, so he gently pushes the glass back to her if she insists on taking it. There's really only one conclusion to draw from that comment about his age and Tifa's stern disappointment.]
Ah, I apologize... may I assume from that scary look that there's alcohol in this? I didn't realize.
[That, at least, is honest, and he could kick himself for not assuming a drink offered freely in a bar was. He's too used to the mocktails in Jazz Jin.]
where's akechi's oscar thats what we wanna know
It is true that he doesn't partake in the high statistic of fans the other has, but still. Underage is underage and he doesn't waver - his smile is not fading anytime soon.)
He wanted to ask you a few questions, Tifa-san. I'll make some coffee for us.
(LeBlanc being of their cognition and 7th Heaven being of hers, maybe brainstorming what is different could shine some light onto their situation, specially on when cognition comes into play. Whether they'll let her in on what they know it's a different story, but it felt important to have this conversation - Akechi was as versed on the Metaverse as Ren was, after all.)
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Of course there's alcohol in it! Except...
[She falters a bit there, because she's been noticing some odd properties to the alcohol. Not so much the taste – it all tastes normal and like alcohol – but in the way people behave after drinking it. She's been having a hard time pinpointing what it is that seems so strange about it, but she's keeping a close eye on the customers who've had their fair share of drinks here.
Her head shakes, brushing the thought aside.]
Never mind... [She'll move out of Ren's way so he can make the coffee, all while accepting the glass back from Akechi.] What questions would those be?
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Sometimes he really does hate Ren.]
Still, I apologize. I should have been upfront about my age when you gave it to me. Perhaps you could make a version without alcohol in the future? As I said, it was quite delicious.
[Fuck you Ren! Maybe he doesn't want your coffee! But as for his questions, he reaches for the notebook he'd closed and set beside his current volume of Questions Vol. 1, reopening it and drawing the pen from within.]
As for my questions... perhaps you could tell me a little about the original state of your bar? As compared to this odd amalgam, I mean.
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He sits back next to Tifa, his (probation) notebook within reach on the table in case something interesting comes up. Not the one he'd like to use, but he makes do with what he has.)
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[But he's right, in some respects, Tifa will give him that, so she merely concedes with a sigh. There's no point in arguing when she's already let him off with a warning, but she will tuck that idea away for later. There were some recipes in the book that Cloud had given her, so she'll have to come up with ways to spice them up for the minors around here.
For now, her posture tenses ever so slightly when Ren sits next to her and she finds herself between the two of them, this odd stiffness still lingering in the air. Her gaze flicks between Ren's book and Akechi's pen.]
There's a lot... [She doesn't know where to start.] I think the first thing I noticed was the sign outside. It's like it took parts of Seventh Heaven's and mixed it with something else.
[Another sigh.]
My bar has—had a jukebox and the exact same pinball machine. And... upstairs?
[Tifa's expression drops, her eyes falling to her hands clasped together on the counter. It's a lot harder talking about Seventh Heaven than she thought it would be.]
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But at the very least he can play the part. His expression morphs from interrogating detective to something more sympathetic, the set of his eyes just a little less harsh.]
I'm sorry, I know this must be difficult for you, [he says because it sounds like the right thing that someone who cares would say in this kind of situation. He even sets his pen down to try to take some of the pressure off, wraps his gloved hands around the warm cup of coffee instead.] Please, take your time.
[And then, he tries for a smile, tries to lighten the mood just a little.]
I'm sure it was better than that mess of an attic the original Leblanc had.
[-Lighten the mood, and drag Ren at the same time, though his smile is nothing but innocent. As if he didn't wish he'd had something like Leblanc's attic for himself.]
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Himself, he puts away the notebook with no intention of reaching back to it. There are definitely other people he can ask these things to and his major, more immediate concern was Tifa's well-being. "The bar had" doesn't go unnoticed either, with the information that it had been destroyed playing back in his mind.
With a hand on Tifa's shoulder, Ren is dropping it there if she deems necessary. There's no reason to poke at this at the expense of his friend being upset, no immediate threat to solve when there are other much mysterious locations that perhaps have more relevance than this.)
You don't have to talk about it.
(The attic comment didn't raise much of a reaction - he tried to make do with what he had!! It was way worse before and at least he had a bed when he moved... Regardless of it being basically a mattress on top of milk crates. It's still there, by the way.)
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[Her expression warms when she feels Ren's hand rest on her shoulder, and she shakes her head at Akechi, apologetic. It's silly to get sentimental about things she isn't even completely sure about, and things that have no relevance to the other two. It's just difficult to talk about without a lump forming in her throat, or her chest feeling tight at the memories she had of spending time in the hideout beneath the bar, with Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge...
She should be talking about them, anyway. About AVALANCHE. It's the only way to preserve those memories and honour them, after all.
Tifa continues on, her shoulders squaring.]
The attic has some parts of the hideout we kept under the bar. It was secret, and we had our meetings down there. The metal grate floor, the table, TV, that whiteboard on the wall? I know it sounds crazy, but I'm sure those are ours.
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His hand leaves the coffee cup to come to his chin again as he listens, nodding once in acknowledgement to her continuing to speak in spite of how difficult it seems to be. She's possessed of some amount of resolve, at least.
His eyes flick briefly to Ren's, eyebrows quirking at the revelation that their two hideouts were combined together, before looking back to Tifa again.]
Interesting that what was the basement has become the attic, [is all he says, though -- it's Ren's secret to reveal that his attic was also a hideout, not his.] I don't intend to pry into what, exactly, you needed to keep secret, but is it safe to say that only you and those you trusted knew its location?
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His gaze goes straight to Akechi, meeting his halfway. They were both thinking the same thing, surely. It can't be a coincidence that the two hideouts were joined, could it? Whatever put this world together, does it know about that similarity between the two places? He shows surprise for a second with his sight dropping to the cup and slight adjust in posture as the gears turn in his head - that perhaps could go unnoticed to Tifa, but it surely speaks volumes to Akechi.
Ren notices that the other didn't add any information on the attic as they know it. He decides not to put any information out on their end - at least not until she asks for it. After all, maybe she isn't as interested in trying to put the pieces together as they are.)
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She isn't sure why she beat around the bush so much in her original answer – it isn't like she's got anything to hide here, so she nods, going on to elaborate further.]
Mm-hm. Only the people part of AVALANCHE knew about it.
[Another nod, this time gesturing to the pinball machine against the wall.]
We'd use that to get down there, but I gave it a shot and it doesn't do anything now. Just a regular pinball machine!
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[He doesn't open his notebook again, nor reach for his pen, but instead takes the coffee cup to busy his hands. He's normally very, very good at keeping himself from fidgeting or anything else unnecessary, but he wants to talk far more than he usually does. It can't be the alcohol, he hadn't had nearly enough for it to affect him. There had been something in the books about the water... damn. His gloved fingers squeeze the sides of the cup briefly as he turns over what Tifa has said in his mind.]
And are there others here from your group as well? Those who would share the cognition of both this bar, and its function as a hideout, I should say.
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The thought comes by and leaves as quick as it arrived. More important is the fact that Tifa is opening up - sharing pieces of information that help him put the puzzle together. A hideout, her sadness upon remembering it... What could she be doing that needed a meeting spot so elaborate and complex to access?
Akechi is restless, Ren notices, and he doesn't address the elephant in the room either... So Ren does.)
Why did you need a hideout?
(It's not demanding an answer in anyway in his tone, more curious than interrogating. Who has he been working alongside, after all, he wonders.
On top of that, he's not quite in the best position of demanding, anyways, seen that the only pieces of information he gave her were her name, age and the connection to Leblanc.)
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Um, sort of...? [To Akechi's question. Her gaze moves up, and then around as she thinks back.] Cloud for sure, but he hasn't been down to the hideout. I don't think Aerith was in Seventh Heaven for very long, so I'm not sure how much she knew.
[She thinks, anyway. Tifa has no idea how long had passed when Aerith had gotten to Marlene and when the plate had crashed, so there might not have been much time for her to take a good enough look. Cloud, on the other hand, would have the same memory of the bar that she would, but with less of the smaller details.
But when Ren asks his question, Tifa shifts in her seat. How much does she want to divulge here...?]
There was a power company—the Shinra Electric Power Company... they were harming the planet. [That's as simple as she can make it.] We were part of an anti-Shinra group called AVALANCHE. Operating in the city under Shinra's control... you kinda need a safe place to meet, yeah?
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[He taps his fingertips against his lips as she answers Ren's question. It did need to be asked, though perhaps not yet. Tifa has no reason to trust him, after all; it's the kind of question that would have been better saved for when it was only her and Ren. But it's out in the open now, and she is answering it, so he isn't about to stop her.
While he can appreciate wanting to fight back against those who are in power, his picture of a power company is undoubtedly very different from her reality. So he chooses his words carefully to keep from offending.]
Yes, I can imagine such a group would need a safe place to meet. I'm curious to find out if things discussed here also find their way into the books that seem to be recording us, or if this could be considered something like a safe room.
[He consciously doesn't look at Ren when he calls it a safe room. No need to draw attention to that specific turn of phrase, though he's certain the other will understand. If the cognition of their hideouts being secret is strong enough, it's possible.]
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The other is definitely speaking in codes and Ren can pick up, it's obvious to him. From their understanding, it should be possible, shouldn't it? But then again, this is not the Metaverse. They've been through this already. Weapons don't work as expected and surely his casual outfit doesn't compare to what he wears there, their Personas are impossible to access as of now.
His back meets the cushion, a hand to his hair, curling a tip as he listened. Tifa being linked to an organization that steps up against what one could argue is evil does make him curious about what else do they share.)
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[Sure, one could say that this place is "safe", considering who tends to frequent the bar, but that's an odd way of putting it. And the way that they continue to exchange glances across her... don't think she hasn't been noticing that!
And as if she wasn't already uneasy about this new and growing universe, the newly added suspicion that they're being listened to or watched by something certainly isn't helping to put her mind at ease. She exhales with a loud sigh, and looks to Ren just as his eyes shift at the other boy, and that's just about enough of that!
Her finger points to Ren, then to Akechi, with her expression going from confused to stern once more.]
If you two have something to say, then share it.
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[Goro just waves a hand carelessly, ceding the metaphorical floor to him. It's entirely the other boy's call if he wants to fill her in on their suspicions, and to what extent. Considering everything they've spoken about thus far, it's obvious that Tifa doesn't have anything to do with what the two of them have been involved in; the puzzled curiosity and lack of reaction to things such as cognition and safe rooms indicate that she doesn't know anything about the Metaverse, and isn't a threat in that way.
Ren already decided to help her. It's up to him if he wants to trust her, too. He just picks up his coffee cup and takes a sip, watching the two of them.]
f you akechi
Akechi!? He's been quiet! Just! Listening! You were the one being weird, using their terms that mean nothing to nobody else... Ren exhales the tension that had built up in his shoulders when the ball was thrown to him. He taps the table two times as he gathers his thoughts.)
Upstairs was my hideout.
(Which is not as cool as her own - it was literally just his room, but anyways. He decides to let Akechi make the decision on what to share on his end, so he completely erases the idea of them working together in his speech.)
I operated in a reality made of the collective unconcious. It responds to people's cognitive impressions, so we thought this place was similar.
(Does it make sense? Probably... Not. He'll know soon enough if she has any questions about it.)
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The collective unconscious...?
[She knows what the words he's saying means, but past that, it's all very puzzling. She'll still try to piece it together.]
You're telling me that you think these two merged because they were both hideouts...?
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That world isn't known to the general public, so please forgive us for being cagey. [He offers a smile, a hint of the charm from before Ren had interrupted resurfacing once again.] While I don't think this place operates according to the same rules, it isn't a bad idea to gather as much information as possible, don't you think?
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Everything they were saying, however, is only educated speculation from their own experiences. This world seems to not react as such. The only thing they can do is try to put the pieces together and come up with a survival strategy in an ever-changing world. Much like the lights being activated by emotion when they weren't before, there's no telling how things will go. All they can do is be prepared.)
It's not the same, we have tested.
(His handgun in his inner pocket performs the way it should - a realistic model gun. He poked the heart at the tower, nothing happened. The creatures roaming around are not like the enemies they have encountered in their path.)
We're just trying to understand how similar or how different it is.
(He mentally celebrates, apparently him having a hideout seemed to have been completely overshadowed by the explanation of the Metaverse.)
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Things were much easier when it was just a cute little café and bar hybrid, but she isn't going to give up on these two just because it's a little difficult to wrap her head around and fully understand.]
This place doesn't operate by any rules.
[Her hand idly wraps around her wrist, where her materias shimmer in the light. She's tested them, and to no one's surprise, they were useless. To her, that isn't normal.
At any rate...]
If you two are gonna be going around gathering info, then you need to quit being so cagey.
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"Doesn't operate by any rules," you say? I don't think that's correct. They're merely not the rules we're used to having as indisputable fact.
For example, gravity is still a constant force, but fire doesn't burn or cause pain. Most bodily necessities seem to have paused, for lack of a better word, and yet physical injuries can still be inflicted, and appear to heal normally.
[He holds out one hand, palm up, as if offering Tifa his evidence.]
Just because they're not the laws of our world doesn't mean this place is lawless.
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