test drive meme: april 2020

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Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

▶ Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.

▶ All TDM threads can be considered game canon, and current players are welcome to either top-level on the TDM so prospective players can tag them, or use the prompts for logs or network posts on the communities. All threads on the TDM can be used for Activity Check.

▶ SPECIAL NOTE: We're only a month off from the 1 year anniversary of the first TDM, and we received this request for a fancy dress ball, so we thought it would be funny fun to run with it! This TDM will only have one prompt/event, as the monthly log with a bit more plot-related stuff will be going up on Friday May 1st.

a. an invitation.

There are ears everywhere in Anchor. A maintenance bot here, a surveillance AI there. SINI, restlessly pacing the dark digital hallways as she watches over the things that still matter to her. It doesn't take long for word to get out about Starscream's expedition plans. It takes an even shorter time for that news to circulate amongst Anchor's robo-population.

They know when you're unhappy. They always know.

It's why residents will start waking up one fine day to find gorgeous clothes laid out for them to wear and an invitation to a formal dinner taking place down at the plaza at Anchor’s base. The clothes aren't particularly specific to a character's gender, species, or culture - it's all about what the bots think your character would like best. Even if they're wildly off the mark, the clothes are still made to fit and fashioned beautifully. The invitations are marked "TOMORROW, STARTING AT 6PM LOCAL TIME." A smaller note underneath instructs attendees to see the tailor bot adjacent to the spa if they are unsatisfied with their assigned clothing, and also that the spa bots are on high alert, prepared to beautify anyone who wants some extra pampering and a dash of makeup.

Just be careful. Some of the makeover bots are really fond of glitter.

b. quite the spread.

True to the word of the invitation, the plaza is closed off under large white tents and guarded by bots who encouragingly steer you elsewhere should you try to get inside. They're nice, polite, all the things they've been programmed to be whether they like it or not, but there will be no sneaking by them into the party area.

At 6pm on the dot the day after the clothes arrive, characters will find music playing on all levels of Anchor, broadcast from the musical robots who have been practicing ever since that first tiny party almost a year ago.

Invitations will be taken by a bot in an impeccably tailored suit, and characters will be welcomed onto the red carpet that curves around the edge of the park and into the area cordoned off for festivities. The flashbulbs and cheering of bots that line the carpet echo through Anchor, broadcast along with the music until it sounds like the entire place is full of faintly electronic cheering. Each arrival is greeted with a fresh wave of enthusiasm, their image projected larger than life against the interior of Anchor's dome.

The sides of the tents have been rolled up, revealing the absolutely decadent set-up within.

Rows upon rows of buffet tables laid out with the most extravagant and strange dishes for residents to try. All of it delicious, though not all of it will appeal to every palate. There are sweet dishes, savory, spicy, whatever you can imagine. Appetizers of a hundred different kinds. Fruit plates formed into works of art, showing places and events from around Anchor. There are spun sugar reindire. Tiny plates of hors d'oeuvres that depict the faces of residents, both current and former. One particularly large dish is sculpted in the shape of what looks like an explosion emanating from Anchor's base, near where the locked and flooded rooms were found.

There's a cake near the middle of it all, frosting painting an image of a young, smiling man. Anyone who's seen him will, after a moment, recognize the whole and handsome features of a much younger Creepy Joe - the words on the cake say LET'S CELEBRATE OUR OLDEST LIVING RESIDENT!

While most of the food is at least recognizably from the general stores and from the agricultural level, there are other plants and garnishes that look entirely foreign. If asked where they came from, the bots will simply insist they're part of Anchor’s available resources.

There is also a full-service bar, but...not manned by the usual bartender (for anyone who might ask, the other bots will kindly inform them that the usual bartender is on sabbatical for stress). Instead there's a freshly-built bot serving drinks of all kinds, taking requests for old favorites and mixing up new cocktails based on guests' stated tastes.

The only thing not on the menu is a tequila sunrise.

There's a table full of hookahs and little treats that have various light, pleasant effects. These range from simple mood lifts to treats that will leave characters blissed out and relaxed.

c. dance, our residents, dance!

After people have finished arriving, the band picks up and guests' attention is directed upward toward Anchor's dome, where there's a truly magnificent light show being projected with musical accompaniment. It's spectacular, haunting and beautiful...and it shows more than just lights. It also shows celestial bodies in motion across the planet's dusk-red sky, meteor showers, strange northern lights. The show itself is almost an hour long, and ends with words unfurling across the apex of the dome.


HAPPY ∞ +1 ANNIVERSARY ANCHOR #3, THE LONGEST RUNNING COLONY.

STAY HERE, STAY HAPPY!


The show fades away and the music picks up again, encouraging guests to dance.

Go on, dance.

It’s a party after all.

d. the network.

Need to get hold of someone, call for help, ask the city at large a question? Need to ask a friend to back you up to take out the toothy voids? Maybe you need to hold your sat phone up to whatever crazy thing you're seeing and send out a recording to double-check if your eyes are deceiving you and what you're looking at is real?

Whatever the reason, the network is going strong, so feel free to include a post to it in your top-levels.

Navigation.

Comments

Cloud Strife | Final Fantasy VII Remake

[aintyourbro]

[in which i avoid major spoilers because i'm a cool cat that way. just lmk if you don't mind spoils /insert thumbs up emoji here]

Arrival

Cloud wakes with a start, instinct taking over as he leaps to his feet and reaches for the massive sword that's... actually nowhere near him. That's inconvenient. By the time he spots it on the other side of the room, he's also realized that there is no immediate danger, just some guy on a screen spewing some nonsense. Whatever, it's not his problem, he's just going to collect his sword and open up this here door -- except that he's not going to open up this here door. It's right about here where the recording reaches that 'the doors will open as soon as this recording is complete' part, and he realizes that this all very much is his problem now. With a frustrated sigh and a slight roll of his eyes, he fixes his sword to his back and crosses his arms, turning his full attention to the recording.

Said recording doesn't actually answer many of his more pressing questions, like 'where is my rolling crew', so he grabs a communicator and makes his way through decontamination, and from there immediately sets off to find the rest of his party. Unfortunately, the squad is nowhere in the immediate area, and they're not popping up in the same place Cloud did, because that would just be too convenient if they were, wouldn't it.

The ol' 'here's a confused new person' hook isn't the most interesting thing in the world, but that's about all Cloud has going for him at the moment. He's not shy about pulling someone over to ask questions, though. "I'm looking for someone, you got a minute?" and shit like that, though his approach probably isn't as polite as he was trying to go for. He's doing his best, ok. Tifa's not here to tell him to be nice.



An Invitation

Sorry robots of Anchor, Cloud has absolutely zero interest in your fancy party. He's double not interested in dressing up and he's triple not interested in dancing. Is that even math? I don't know, but he's not fucking going. He already got his fill of this shit in Wall Market, and by God if one more robot comes up to him trying to get him to 'put on this fancy-ass dress it will totally make your eyes pop', he's going to start cutting robots in half.

not right away, at least. They aren't being hostile or anything, just super annoying. Especially the two that insist on following him around everywhere with that dress and a box of makeup and glitter in tow. It's hard to explore the place when Beckytron and CyberSuzie are hell bent on giving you a makeover, and by the time they manage to corner him in the bar, he's decided he's had enough. Since the piss offs and get losts haven't worked so far, he's reaching for the hilt of his giant fuckoff buster sword. Save the robots, or just like, don't. Or help with the makeover, that's fine too. Choose your own adventure I'm not the boss of you.


Party Pooper

No really Cloud's not going to your big weird party, but what he is doing is assuming that all the rest of this place's population did go to it. Which means it's time for some good old fashioned breaking and entering. Not into like, private rooms, he's not that much of a dick, but he's definitely taking the opportunity to poke around in places that might hold useful equipment or information. The library, the garage, some of the R&D labs, places like that. He just kinda swoops in, makes a mess while poking around at stuff, and leaves without bothering to clean up after himself because this is not his goddamn problem. Assuming he can get past whatever security is set up, anyway. He's not going to risk forcing his way in, seeing as he only just got here like yesterday, but you bet your ass he's taking notes.

He can be caught in the act of being a nosy asshole either inside a place or trying to get into a place, or leaning against the railing on some random walkway and looking down at your crazy party. The light show is cool, but like, dude. The whole STAY HERE, STAY HAPPY! theme in this robot infested space colony is kinda Fucking Creepy and totally feels like some weird robo-cult brainwashing junk to someone who just got here and has no fucking idea what's going on. Needless to say, it makes him want to leave just that much more. Y'all are weird, okay.

Wildcard

[maybe someone wants to convince him to go the the party in that fabulous dress after all, or maybe you have better ideas than I do (five bucks says you do). HIT ME i'm like the most flexible person ever.]

An invitation

[towhatmatters]

Even from a bit of a distance and without a good look at Cloud's back, Arthur can see just how fuckoff big that sword is. And while he is momentarily stunned by it, he also quickly realises that these idiot robots are about to be the victims of it and ...

Look, he doesn't know what he thinks about whether or not robots are alive at all. What he does know is that there's a lot of stuff around Anchor that no one really knows about, and he's not sure how kindly it would take to someone ruining its property. Does he usually care about this? Well. When he doesn't have the option to run anywhere else should everything go to hell, yeah, he kind of does. A little, at least.

"Now, now," he says, hands in the air as he walks over to them. "Let's not be hasty, gentlemen."

Are the robots men? Doesn't matter. Either way, they turn around, excitedly asking if he's also come for a makeover.

[aintyourbro]

Cloud grips the hilt of his sword, but stops short of whipping it out when he hears someone else approaching. The robots seem just as excited about making this cowboy buddy look fabulous, but if they're focused on him they're not focused on Cloud, which means he doesn't need to chop them in half just yet. He slowly drops his hand, crossing his arms while he gives Arthur a little nod.

"These belong to you?"

He has a feeling that the answer is 'no', but maybe this guy knows who did program them to be so annoying.

[towhatmatters]

He chuckles quietly, shaking his head.

"No way." The bots are getting closer to Arthur now, and he holds up a hand. "No makeover for me, thanks. I already got mine."

Little but a shave and a trim, and he managed to get out of any makeup. He didn't, however, stop that bot from trying to cover his chest in glitter, and his throat still has some traces of it, because as we know glitter just doesn't go away.

"But you could be so much prettier!" one of the bots tries to insist.

[aintyourbro]

Cloud watches this for a moment, maybe a little amused even if it's not evident in his expression. Still, he's pretty done with this robobullshit and slowly reaches for his sword again, nodding over his shoulder at said sword while raising his brows as if to say 'it's not too late for me to chop these things in half'.

"So is this normal around here, or...?"

[towhatmatters]

"From my understanding, yeah. More or less." He narrows his eyes a little at the bots, and makes a shooing motion. "Don't think you lot's meant to force this stuff on us. We don't want your help. Now scram."

The bots start muttering about how Arthur and Cloud seriously need a makeover, but they do finally leave. Maybe it was the glitter as proof that Arthur has very much already received his makeover that did it.

party pooper

[seaboard]

She never really like this many people, mot for extended periods of time. Because truth be told, she would rather be in the solar, making the best of the morning sunlight, stitching her brother's clothes up.

But that wasn't to be there, any more than it was here. They had been invited, and it would be so dreadfully rude to turn down an invitation, she could hear her Mother's lecture if she did. So she goes, and does her best for as long as she can, but she needs a break when everything is so painful new - because rather foolishly, she does take everything at face value. It is so very thoughtful for them to take such care of them. What an honour, too, no doubt.

Just - wanted a second, on this nice piece of railing in the half light to take off this very heavy headpiece.

When she finds herself suddenly with company, she yelps like a mouse someone didn't happen to notice on the floor. Oh, Spirits, what was a woman to do?

And she feels dreadfully exposed like this. She snatches up the hat, and holds it in front of the lower part of her face as she steps back from him, wide-eyed.

"Forgive me, I did not mean to intrude."

[aintyourbro]

He hears her before he sees her, his hand instinctively shooting up toward the hilt of his sword. He's quick to realize that it's just some fancy lady and not like, some kind of killer robot or whatever though, but then he's left with his hand awkwardly hovering in the air for a moment before he attempts to save it by running his fingers through his hair instead. Nailed it, she's totally convinced that he's not about to cleave her in half, right? Whatever.

"No, it's okay. Pretty sure you were here first, anyway."

Even if she wasn't, it's not like this area was private. Still, he takes a couple steps back of his own, his gaze falling on the massive headpiece she's holding. Is now a weird time to strike up a conversation? I mean, probably, but maybe she knows something about this place, who knows.

"That looks like it weighs a ton. Did the robots make you wear it?"

[seaboard]

Why were so many people so scary?

She missed home.

But his hand goes back to his side, away from that truly impressive sword with an uneasy sigh and rolls her shoulders back into a more comfortable posture - which isn't really. She is still held like a sculpture, back straight, head back, gaze averted from direct contact.

"It was provided to me as dress for this evening, yes, and I am most grateful for their generosity. My Mother's Mother had a piece much like it."

[aintyourbro]

He can't help it, he's just got one of those resting bitch faces. And a giant sword.

She's looking a little awkward averting her gaze like that, so Cloud's just going to make this a little easier and look over the side of the railing at the party below.

"Generosity, right," he says, sounding just a bit skeptical. He can't imagine these robots or whoever runs this place is doing all this out of the goodness of their hearts, there has to be some kind of ulterior motive. Unfortunately, he hasn't been here nearly long enough to even begin to piece together what that might be.

"Looks like they dressed everyone up," except for him, anyway. He wasn't even a little bit interested. "Any idea what this party's actually for?"

[seaboard]

Gilia looks down and then back up - well the party was a party, wasn't that the reason for it all by itself? People liked parties, and it's nice to have things that people like.

But it is relieving that this man looks away, her breath easing someone without direct scrutiny, her hands settled to smooth the dress over the tops of her thighs. It doesn't quite bring her to raise her eyes, but she is comfortable like that.

"Is this dressing up? This is how my people... I thought it was a gift of welcoming..." What was he suggesting? That there might be another purpose other than simple kindness?

Her gaze darts up in alarm before she fixes it back to the ground.

"To celebrate their continual habitation of this place. Perhaps this his how the spirits of this place like their pact honoured?"

Party Pooper

[nothinglikefather]

Jacob isn't exactly a fan of big parties. He's a fan of drinking, and the company of a select few. But as things go on, he retreats away from the noise and the music, and goes back to the upper levels where he can watch the party without having to be in the centre of it.

Or rather, he would watch the party, if the noise of breaking boxes didn't distract him. He didn't think he'd be the only one skipping out on the festivities, but he didn't think there'd be many who would use the opportunity and the darkness over the rest of the colony to do any exploring. Especially over these more well-travelled areas, where during a normal day there's a number of residents about.

He follows the source of the noise, his footsteps silent, and his vision changing to grey tones as he focuses on the figure in the labs. The place looks like a mess, but Jacob can't identify what the figure is searching for. Nothing glows, nothing sparkles enough for him to see the reason for all this destruction.

"Lost your invitation?" He asks. He's never subtle, despite all the assassin training and his sister's chiding. There's no point sneaking and spying when he can just thump people and find out what you want that way.

[aintyourbro]

Honestly, Cloud had expected a lot more resistance while sneaking into this place than he'd encountered, which is to say like, any resistance. He'd run into a roomba or two, but there weren't any wall mounted turrets or guard bots ready to kick him out. There was nothing keeping him out of anywhere aside from a couple of locked doors that, from what he guessed, lead to maybe someone's private labs. Maybe he'd try to break into those later, but for now, he's focused on a computer screen. At least he is up until he hears a voice behind him, and he waists no time whipping around to find the source while pulling that massive sword off his back.

"That's a good way to get yourself killed," he says, totally ignoring the question for now. If Jacob wasn't half way across the room, he might have caught a buster sword to the chops. Or not, someone not afraid to announce their presence like that was either an idiot, or skilled enough to gain the upper hand in this sort of situation.

[nothinglikefather]

Whatever security was once here probably stopped working due to neglect a long time ago, or was disconnected by the people who arrived before. Jacob doesn't really care. The best sort of security is some big guys on the door and a few on the roof with guns as far as he's concerned, but he's also pretty good at avoiding that.

The big sword, when it's aimed at him, only makes him raise an eyebrow. "Compensating?"

"And I'm not the one sneaking around in the dark. Don't start telling me what's likely to get me killed around here." He moves forwards, or rather, moves in an arc that's out of reach of the sword's blade, watching the other watch him.

"What are you looking for, Cinderella?"

[aintyourbro]

Ah yes, a dick joke. All things considered, it's a bit surprising that Cloud hasn't heard more of them in response to his giant fuckoff sword. Either way he's only mildly annoyed by it, responding with a huff and a slight narrowing of his eyes as he tightens his grip on the hilt.

"That depends, you in charge here?"

He has no idea who Cinderella is, so he's just gonna not address that part. He does keep his eyes locked on this guy, though, following his path with the end of his blade.

[nothinglikefather]

With a sword like that in tow, a few dick jokes have got to be par the course and if Cinderella couldn't just roll with them, then he doesn't deserve the sword in the first place.

"Do I look like a mad scientist to you?" Jacob asks. He is, after all, in a suit right now. Not a lab coat. But maybe even mad scientists take those off sometimes. "Truth is, no one is really in charge here. You can think of it as a democracy. Or a bloody mess. I know which one it looks like to me."

He continues to move, watching the sword. It doesn't shake, doesn't wobble. Even though Cinderella has been holding it up for a good minute or so. Impressive.

"You know how to use that butter knife?"

Arrival

[livingdeadgirl]

Despite the size of the facility, there aren't many people to pull over. But the cavernous halls are only mostly deserted. Not far from the Agricultural Zone, a teenage girl dressed in black can be found running an errand.

A lot of what Ami does around Anchor from day to day falls under "Odd Jobs." At the moment, that means hauling a large plastic basket full of weird alien produce down from the A.Z. to the kitchen. It's significantly more loaded down than she meant it to be, though, and she's visibly having some trouble with it. In hindsight, a cart probably would have been a good idea, huh?

She struggles a few more steps before setting it heavily on the floor and stopping to catch her breath. One of these days, she thinks, she will have her telekinesis back, or maybe a video game inventory, and then this shit will be absolutely trivial.

That's when she notices a stranger approaching. She perks up immediately. Strangers are rare birds around here lately, so he earns her full attention just because he's unfamiliar.

... Or is he? Come to think of it, she might have seen him somewhere before. Back home, maybe? She isn't sure. It's kind of immaterial, though, since she wouldn't mention it to him either way.

"Oh! Hi there," she says, smiling brightly. It's been a while since she played Welcoming Committee, but it's an easy role to slip back into nonetheless.

[aintyourbro]

Video game inventories are the tits, don't ask how many giant fuckoff swords Cloud was carting around at any given time.

Cloud is no stranger to cheerful girls, so he takes Ami's greeting in stride, giving her a nod and a "hey" in greeting. He has about half a million questions, but seeing as she's obviously in the middle of something, maybe now isn't the best time for that. Might be a good opportunity to start getting in good with the locals, though, so he nods towards the basket she's set down.

"Need a hand with that?"

[livingdeadgirl]

Ami follows his eyes to the basket and laughs sheepishly. "Yes please, that would be great."

Having grown a few inches over the past few months, she's only an inch or two shorter than him, so it wouldn't be that awkward to take one end of it herself - but she hovers and lets him take the lead on that. If he's good to carry the whole thing, then far be it from her to stop him.

"Thanks a bunch," she adds. "And sorry to put you to work right away. You just got here, right?" She thinks so, since she hasn't seen him here before, but then you get someone like Rey who managed to hide from everyone for a month...

[aintyourbro]

He wouldn't protest if she wanted to take the other end, but he's totally fine hoisting it up himself. So he does, and gives Ami a nod to lead the way.

"Yep, just got out of decontamination a little while ago," he says, and indeed his doofy anime hair is still a bit soggy from the shower. "And it's fine, I'm a mercenary, so I'm used to taking odd jobs."

Tell your friends, tell your coworkers, the best way to advertise is by word of mouth. Not that he knows if this place even has money, but you never know.

[livingdeadgirl]

Welp, if he doesn't need help with it, then we're good to go. Although, granted, the biceps and giant fuckoff sword probably could have told her he was STRONG.

"Mercenary, huh?" she says, starting them down the hall at a comfortable pace. "Well, we don't exactly do money here, per se, but I can pay you back in information, how's that sound? I'm sure you must have a lot of questions! I'm Ami, by the way. Ami Aihara."

An Invitation

[redwinekindofgirl]

So she might be watching the blond man being chased around by the two bots because it's hilarious and she wants to see if they actually manage to get him into that dress. So far, Julie's been persuaded into a simple black dress with pockets (pockets!!) and some subtle smokey-eye makeup, but she hasn't gone anywhere near the party yet.

The dress is nice, but she doesn't know if she wants company.

"Have you tried telling them you want to put on something else?" she calls out, watching his hand reaching for his sword. "Might get them out of the way for long enough to make a run for it."

[aintyourbro]

He glances up briefly, eyes narrowing a bit while he considers this lady's advice, and turns his attention back to the robots. It's worth a shot, nothing else he's tried has worked so far, so here' goes nothing.

"If I have to wear something, I'd rather it be a suit. I don't do dresses."

One of the robots seems to listen at least, and starts dragging the other robot away despite it's protests. It just wants someone to wear this cool glow in the dark dress so bad okay, it worked so hard on it. In the end the bots leave, and Cloud heaves a small sigh of relief before turning to this super helpful lady.

"Good advice, thanks for you help."

[redwinekindofgirl]

She shrugs, watching the bots as they trundle away.

"Sure, but they'll be back."

They'll be back, and they'll probably track him down and try and force him into something else if he doesn't find a really good place to hide. Sometimes she'd like to find whoever programmed the things and give them a good smack in the head.

"Got anywhere to go?"

[aintyourbro]

Cloud isn't planning on being here when they get back, and he's already turned to head for the exit. He pauses though, since this lady is still talking to him and he doesn't want to be too rude, especially not after she'd helped him out. So, he pauses and turns back in her direction, giving her a small shrug.

"Nope. Not here, anyway, but from what I've heard there's no way to just leave."