// TEST DRIVE MEME_

[eluviomods]

// TEST DRIVE_ Welcome to Eluvio's Test Drive Meme! Whether you'd like to try out a character in the setting, get some samples for your application, or just mess around and have fun, this is the place to do it. If you're getting samples together, remember that you need at least four comments made by you in the thread for it to count. Pick any of the scenarios below or make up any of your own. This is space! There are infinite worlds and possibilities. If you'd like to thread out hijacking a ship, do it! If you'd like to get stuck on a remote planet with only one other person for company, do it! Take the wheel and guide your own adventure! The most important thing is to have fun! ➣ SCENARIO 001. It's a normal day aboard the Eluvio. Maybe you're on your way to work. Maybe you're hanging out with friends. You can even be up to nefarious misdeeds. Whatever the case, you're having a relatively uneventful day. And then you see it. From a distance, it looks like a ball of fur. Up close, it looks like a ball of fur. If you touch it, it will chitter at you. It will vibrate and purr. Where this is coming from is anyone's guess because even if you turn it over, there's nothing to see but more fur. It's pretty harmless, though. Leave it there. Take it with you. The choice is yours. As you continue about your day, you'll begin to notice more of these little furballs. On the ground. Sitting on tables. Here and there at random intervals. By the end of the day, they're fucking everywhere. Good luck! If you get overwhelmed, maybe go talk to that bald starship captain who showed up last week. He might know something about the furry invaders. ➣ SCENARIO 002. Congratulations! You've been selected to be part of the team being sent down to the planet around which the fleet is currently orbiting. Initial scans of the surface show that oxygen is in abundance, temperatures support carbon-based life-forms, and there aren't any large quantities of poisonous gases that might pose problems. Your mission is to secure a landing site, set up a camp, and locate edible flora and fauna. Stores aboard ship are running a bit low on food and it's projected to be another three weeks before the fleet reaches a station large enough to replenish supplies. Once identified, larger parties will be sent to the surface to help hunt and gather. The good news is, scans show fruits, vegetables, and animals are plentiful. The bad news is that once your ship lands on the planet, everything goes sideways. An unexpected ion storm sweeps through the solar system, shorting out communications between the fleet and the team. It wreaks havoc with the electronics planet-side too, temporarily shorting out the smaller craft's navigational array. Until it passes, about six standard days, you're stuck down there. And the bountiful harvest isn't without its dangers. Even the most docile looking animal will attack. Sampling the fruits and vegetables will cause temporary paralysis, hallucinations, and psychosis. Inhaling pollen will bring out a person's baser instincts. The planet itself is predatory, you see. Everything on it has evolved to entice visitors from nearby systems and kill them. And the fleet's unwittingly taken the bait. ➣ SCENARIO 003. It's been a rough day. Everything's going wrong. Machines are breaking down everywhere. The owner of your favorite business wasn't there today and the store was closed when you stopped by to pick something up. A coworker didn't show up for work, leaving you with an interested workload. And now it feels like you're being watched. It started about ten minutes ago, but whenever you turn to look, there's no one there. The feeling doesn't go away, though. No matter where you are, it feels like eyes are watching. Did you hear something? A quiet, scuffling scratching sound just for a second? Maybe you did. Maybe you didn't. But it came from the misshapen monstrosity that just punched a hole through the bulkhead right beside you. The creature makes a low, wet gargling noises and darts toward you: six to seven feet tall, vaguely humanoid, and covered in strange growths over which is stretched bubbling grayish-brown skin. Maybe you notice tatters of familiar clothing hanging off of it. Or there's enough left of its eyes to recognize the shape and color. Or maybe something about the noises it's making sound familiar. It's your missing coworker and it looks like the unfortunate soul ran afoul of that weird slimy creature the science team brought back from that jungle planet a month ago. The good news: you can kill it. The bad news: it can kill you. It's fast, it's hungry, and it reproduces at an alarming rate. A single bite can transfer the parasites in its bloodstream to you. Then you'll be just like your buddy. And that shop owner you like so much. And all of the people on Level 12. And... ➣ SCENARIO 004. You're welcomed and encouraged to make up your own scenarios. As you can see, there will be a wide variety of the types of things your character will encounter in this game. So feel free to make your starters as horrific, sexy, lighthearted, action-packed, or slice of life as you'd like. Make up a planet, make up a location on the Eluvio, make up a ship in the fleet, fight off a zombie alien invasion, NPC Captain Picard, there's no limit to what you can do on the TDM.

Comments

[bird_boy]

[ Lando seems a little jumpy, but overall his reaction to the presence of a talking bird is pretty damn chill. Tobias appreciates that. It's easier not to feel like a freak when people don't run away screaming the moment they meet you. ]

<It's called thought-speak. I can't actually talk.>

[ Which doesn't mean he is totally silent; Tobias lets out a long, happy, high-pitched cry. He doubts there are any other hawks on this planet who might hear it, but just in case, doesn't hurt to proclaim his presence. If the shuttle landed in anyone's territory, better to know it now rather than find out later. He flies ahead of Lando, turning in midair and making sure he doesn't get too far ahead, staying visible. Once the man has come close enough to the stream that there's no missing it, Tobias drops down, between the trees, and lands neatly on the ground.

He has to be on guard, but hawks need water, too. Cautiously, his yellow eyes never leaving Lando, he dips his curved beak into the water and takes a drink. ]

<I'm guessing they haven't got talking hawks where you come from?>

[bespin]

Close enough.

[ He closes the rest of the distance to the stream, keeping watch while the bird drinks. Once he's done, he'll kneel down to fill his canteen. ]

No, I can for sure say that the hawks where I'm from do not talk, or think-speak.

[bird_boy]

<Thought not.>

[ Tobias has gotten used to being one of a kind. On bad days, he thought it made him a freak, a creature with no place in the universe. But today isn't a bad day, so he just accepts it and moves on. ]

<I'm Tobias. From Earth. I was thinking->

[ But whatever Tobias had been thinking, Lando was never going to find out. Tobias's head lifted quickly out of the water, eyes peering past Lando and into the dense trees. Without another word, Tobias was flapping hard. The ground was no place for a bird, and he could have sworn he saw movement. But he isn't abandoning the man - just getting to an altitude where he can be useful. ]

<Are you armed?>

[ The way he speaks is completely different - his voice in Lando's head is just as young, but the tone is efficient, tense. Ready for trouble. ]