Special Edition TDM

[sixthiteration]

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Special Edition Test Drive!

In April, Sixth Iteration will be making the transition from simulation to real life on a new, uninhabited planet. While the Observers have gone to great lengths to choose a suitable planet and terraform the area our intrepid characters live in, there will be a great deal of unpredictability and increased risk.

This TDM focuses on the NEW, POST-SIMULATOR environment, and is open to EVERYONE, whether your character is in the game or not — It's a chance for everybody to try out some of the new scenarios coming our way in April. (Yes, that means characters in the game can make top-levels!) Use one of the prompts below, or make one of your own.

There's ONLY ONE RULE, but it's important:

Your threads here should NOT be about your character's arrival on the planet. We want to save that for the actual event!

Environment Prompts

The Observers have terraformed the area approximately represented within the boundaries on this map, but outside of the sim, there are no canyon walls keeping characters inside... or native plants and animals outside. Perhaps you have adventured past the edges of the map, excited to have somewhere new to explore. Or maybe you've just gotten unlucky within the safer boundaries of the created habitat. Either way, you've come into contact with a native plant or animal, and your body's reaction isn't exactly normal:

1. Brown, skunk-like mammal, brown with cream-colored stripes and extremely bushy tail - Spray smells sweet but makes the target drowsy; Adult humans doze off for apx. 2 minutes, and wake up with libido increased 200% for apx. 5 hours.


2. Small, glassy green ant-like insect - A bite leaves a red welt about the size of a quarter and the sudden ability to lift 10x your body weight. The welt and strength gradually fade over 12 hours, leaving you loose limbed. People typically feel weak after, but that may simply be psychological.


3. Purplish seeds about the size of a walnut - They are protected by hard seed pods that are either bright green or brown depending on age. Opening the pods can be very difficult, but one of the native birds has a specialized hook beak to pop them open, so the seeds can sometimes be found already shucked. Eating one seed provides a sudden burst of energy for about 20 minutes that allows (among other things) running at speeds up to 60 MPH. The after effects can be brutal, though, particularly if your body isn't used to it, and can include vomiting, dizziness and exhaustion.

Texting Prompt

All characters will bit fitted with a smart watch-like device on their left wrist. They cannot remove the device no matter what they do to it. It looks similar in design to this. (The functions shown in that picture are not necessarily included.) Functions include automatic distress signal when danger is perceived as well manual SOS that send your location to all watch wearers, digital clock, and text messaging to all or select watch wearers.

- Texts may only be 140 characters long
- No video or voice, text only
- No usernames, everyone is listed by their name

Please list your CHARACTER NAME, CANON & PROMPT in your SUBJECT LINE, even if your character is already in the game.

Comments

Phryne Fisher | Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries | Texting

[fishingfortrouble]

I would have preferred a typewriter, to be perfectly honest.

1/5 - Rapidfire

[fwips]

oh wow u must be rly old

[fwips]

omg thats not wut I meant

[fwips]

I meant u must b from olden times

[fwips]

idk if ur old or not

[fwips]

I'm just stopping now

eeeeeeeee phryne!!

[warriorborn]

What's wrong with good old-fashioned pen and paper, that's my question. This contraption takes forever to spell out anything.

[ex_assertiveness90]

We've technology like this where I'm from. It has its advantages and disadvantages.

[ maybe this will be less obnoxious and more purposeful. maybe people won't start treating it like village twitter. she can hope. ]

[fishermansweater]

But you couldn't have used a typewriter to talk to us, unless you got very creative.

[ It's perhaps fortunate that the medium of text doesn't alow for tone of voice, because if it did, Finnick would be sounding a little more flirty than is entirely appropriate for a married man. It's nothing personal. ]

Mark Watney | The Martian | Text - Broadcast to all

[markwatney]

DO NOT eat the purple nuts. I repeat, DO NOT EAT THE PURPLE NUTS.

[enterprisingheart]

I presume the effects are less than pleasant?

Jean-Luc Picard | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Text

[enterprisingheart]

I know we might not have the best tools for it, but has anyone thought about doing a geological survey of the area?

[ex_redwine146]

I would think that would be difficult, considering the natural hazards involved.

But I'm hardly a geologist.

[markwatney]

Sign me up.

Karen Page | Marvel | Text - Distress Signal

[digging]

[Presses the button for the manual distress signal]

Have climbed into a washout like a genius & cannot get out. Pls bring rope.

hannah wells | designated survivor | text

[covertoperative]

So anyone remember living somewhere that wasn't Earth, before you got here? Just curious.

[ she thinks it seems like a good question, y'know, considering. Hannah is used to dealing with bizarre shit, but more along the lines of anti-government terrorist conspiracies, not — whatever this is. ]

[enterprisingheart]

Yes, actually. Although I was born on Earth, if that makes a difference.

bedelia du maurier | hannibal | text

[ex_redwine146]

If anyone should require a therapist, I'd like to make myself available.

See me in person or respond here privately, please.

[ this is totally out of a desire to help and not out of self-interest. of course. why would you think otherwise... ]

[borneinblood]

Not the sort of offer one sees everyday.

[This is not to say that Druitt is necessarily interested in what she's offering, for all that it might be something he could use (if not something he'll admit to potentially needing), but it's not an offer that he would expect many people would be inclined to make.]

Moana - Text

[chosenbytheocean]

[You can either find Moana standing in the middle of the inn staring at the watch on her wrist or receive the following texts.]

klsadkj;lk alskjfieh;a ksdlajf as;kjf

Wait. Whefs-wha--

Where is the back button?

[enterprisingheart]

Back as in cancel, or back as in delete?

Veronica Sawyer | Heathers | Text

[teen_angst_bullshit]

Definitely did not expect to come back from the woods able to uproot a tree. Really sorry if it ended up in your house.

Poe Dameron | Star Wars

[hellofarebel]

i. what's small, green, and just caused a bruise on my chin?

Poe wouldn't go so far to say that he's the kind of guy who sees an animal and thinks to himself that he ought to pay attention to it, because for the most part, they're just creatures the same as him and everyone else in the galaxy. Maybe he ought to rethink that, though, because he's pretty sure that the little green bug that bit him did something to him.

After all, when he'd reaches down to haul some of the nets he'd been fishing with, they'd come up way too quickly, which meant he'd smacked himself in the face, went staggering backwards, and took a disappointingly long minute to collect himself (now doused with water from the nets, bruised on his chin from the scrape of rough rope, and embarrassed to kriff about it). That kind of strength is weird, but that kind of strength after you get bug-bit is making him wonder what they feed the insects on this planet.

No one saw, though, so that's something going for him, right?

At least, he'd sort of hoped that he'd managed to get away with it, but seeing as he can hear rustling nearby, he's starting to doubt that. Running a hand through his now-slick hair, he sighs and turns to face whoever is probably about to be laughing at him, hoping that it's just another strange wild animal. Though, given what the ant might have done to him (because he's not that strong, not ever), maybe he should be more wary about the local wildlife.

ii. textual healing

BB-8, you on this frequency? Cuz, buddy, this place is gonna blow your circuits when you see it.

[digging]

To her credit, Karen doesn't laugh. It's a really close-run thing, and when she steps out of the underbrush, her lips are definitely pressed together in the sort of expression that makes it clear suppressing her laughter isn't that easy, but hey, at least she's trying, right? She could have revealed herself with the golf clap this moment obviously deserves.

"Did it get caught on something?" she asks, the most neutral question she can think to lead with.

Dirk Gently | Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency | Texting

[flyingtooclose]

Is this my new case? Is that an ant? Is that ant trying to bite me? Wait, no, it's not trying to...Todd? Farah, are you seeing this? What el

[flyingtooclose]

Oh, now that's frankly rude to cut someone off mid-sentence. How am I supposed to figure this out if it won't let me ask the necessary quest

Matthew Crawley | Downton Abbey

[thecat_thatwalks]

Prompt 2

Matthew is quite sure what's driven him outdoors so early in the morning. Perhaps it's an inability to garner long, restful nights of sleep, or perhaps it's the glaring blade of sun currently driving its way through his eyelids. He really should look ingo finding curtains or drapery of some kind in order to help prevent that.

Whatever the reason, he finds himself taking in a long breath through his nose as he exits his cabin, setting out for nowhere in particular. Not .. that he's got all that many places to go in the first place. The village itself is comparable to the village at Downton, and yet, it feels far more restrictive than Matthew could've imagined. Perhaps it's because it's foreign, unfamiliar. Perhaps it's the uncharted territory that looms in the distance that makes him feel foolishly afraid.

He gets caught up in his thoughts when he feels a pinch on his ankle. With a small exclamation and a swat at the area, he inspects his hand to see the crumpled body of a small, green insect. Something like an ant, he thinks. He glances about the ground to see if he has stumbled upon a nest, but there's nothing and no other insects to see. He lifts up the pant leg of his (still bizarre) trousers to see a welt about the size of a halfpenny. He lets out a bit of a grunt, displeased with his current situation, before starting to feel ...

Strange. Incredibly powerful. And in dire need of something to do.

------

Text

It seems I've stumbled upon what is called "text message," though I've no real idea what such a thing might be. Does that mean that there's

text

[greatseerbob]

yes got it in one thats exactly what it means!

Bob | Heartstrikers | OTA

[greatseerbob]

Prompt 2

Bob was pretty unimpressed with the super strength. It wasn't all that out of line with his normal state of being. He's never been much of a bruiser by his family's standards, but he's over a thousand, a Fang of the Heartstrikers, and prone to making very big dragons very angry every so often. Even his littlest siblings could probably manage five or six times their body weight. He threw a few big rocks just to remind himself what being stuck in a body that isn't flimsy and human was like and then lost interest.

The aftermath, though? That's weird. His normal metabolism resists pretty much any chemical alteration with extreme prejudice. His favorite sister has to lace vodka with basilisk venom to get a buzz going. A little wobbly isn't much of an effect, but it's pretty novel to him, and feeling weak is par for the course when he's been stuck being transformed into a human for so long.

Which is why passers by might find a six and a half foot man leaning bonelessly against a tree and giggling quietly to himself. This is fun!

[underpinnings]

It's odd enough to find another person out this far, at this hour; Owen's clock hasn't settled since his arrival, and wasn't very exacting to begin with. Infected had about the same visibility day or night, so his schedule had always adjusted around human sentries and patrols--an avoided confrontation was the only good kind.

He's unsure what this exactly is: unwanted company? A straggler?

Whatever he is, Owen doesn't love the way the man slouches to eye level. It's an advantage he's used to securing himself in, at least mentally. At least he isn't using local flora to hold himself up. "Are you--drunk," he asks, snapping an assessment down and back up the man's posture.

Owen Prichard | The Last of Us (OC) | Original prompt; hunting

[underpinnings]

Noah's ark is a story that survives well in the post-CBI world. His mother told it often enough that year on the ship; researchers echoed it in Utah; some far-flung settlements made it their mission statement. Preserve life through the cataclysm. Wait through the storms for the doves to come home.

The observers seem to at least make a token effort against inbreeding, one or two family units notwithstanding. Maybe they're here to show them how it's done.

If social engineering were the real purview of most Fireflies, they'd have won and held more zones. Owen's surmised this: there's a point where the rabbits stop foraging outward from the village, where the pines are just a little more blue than green, and he isn't sure they're the first population to be ushered two by two onto the soil. Given enough time, grass cracks asphalt; whatever can put down roots in this place, has.

And people don't exactly cover it like weeds.

It isn't his first time out of the recognizable trees; walk through an area enough times with a bow, animals start to move out of it. He tries to start where the ferns give way to plants with thicker leaves, heavier scents, stalking the perimeter until it seems all the more dangerous to cross. If they can keep the wildlife penned in naturally, exploration might stay a choice, rather than a necessity. Keeping low, his remaining fingers keep an arrow notched and ready, his good hand steadying the simple bow at a slight angle to the ground.

A deepening quiet of the space gives him pause, and a break in that quiet turns him; Owen points the arrow at a heavy rustle of leaves, sighting down its length to his target.

Finding another person in the brush doesn't quite have him lowering it.