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returnjourneymemes2022-02-01 02:13 pm
returnjourney) wrote in returnjourneymemes2022-02-01 02:13 pm
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TEST DRIVE 002
RETURN JOURNEY: TEST DRIVE 002
Welcome to the Return Journey's test drive meme! We appreciate your interest. Our TDM features a small sample of events your character might encounter in game, which you're free to embellish or improvise with your own ideas as desired. Don't worry if you haven't read everything yet; while we recommend skimming our FAQ for relevant questions, critical information should be contained or linked within the prompts themselves!
TDM threads can be used as samples for applications. Players can mutually keep threads as game canon after being accepted into the game, though threads featuring non-canon squalls or events may need to be adjusted.
We suggest putting your character's name, canon, and potential role (warden or inmate) as the subject. If you're not sure which role you want to choose, feel free to try your hand at both!
If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask here.
1. Welcome Aboard!
Welcome aboard the SFS Peregrine, a ship in the Admiralty's Transformative and Penal Reparation Fleet. It is presently circling the outer perimeter of the Oos Ring Galaxy.
Wardens have been approached personally by the Navarch with a job offer: Come aboard the SFS Peregrine to assist in the redemption of an inmate, and receive a miracle known as a windfall as payment. Even if you don't ask as many questions as you should, every warden will be treated to a short Warden Orientation video explaining their expected duties and conduct.
Inmates have died and been placed aboard the SFS Peregrine as candidates for reformation. You may have come willingly, offered a choice between death or redemption, or you may have been collected against your will. Inmates are also treated to an Inmate Orientation; you'll find you have less privileges than a warden, but more motivation for...latitude. Violence? Chaos? Bribery? Blackmail? Well, no one said the path to redemption was without a few bumps along the way.
Given staff shortages, some wardens may be asked for a favor. Rather than leaving directly for the Peregrine, you've been asked to pick up an inmate from the limbo between death and redemption. During this mission, wardens will have clearance to enter a snapshot of sorts, where the inmate died (so devoid of other living beings). You either have to talk them into willingly coming along...or bring their unconscious, fresh-from-death not-corpse with you in the Avro provided. Better hope they don't wake up on the way!
Inmates, in this case, you'll be presented with the choice of death or redemption from a warden rather than the Navarch. Or possibly not provided with a choice at all, if death has rendered you unconscious. Good luck when you awaken to find yourself in a small ship, with someone you've never met. Try not to cause any trouble.
2. Pairings
Pairings are a critical aspect of the dynamic between warden and inmate. While interactions between wardens and inmates are not restricted to those in pairings, this relationship is a bit more...inescapable. Inmates test the limits of a warden, whether they take a more typical or unusual approach to matters; likewise, wardens learn what makes an inmate tick (and hopefully cooperate). Chances are, your values will clash.
A pairing of any sort is as varied as the individuals involved in them. And today, courtesy of the Navarch's monthly announcement, you and your sorry partner have been paired. Temporary or permanent, with a warden for an inmate or an inmate for a warden, it's your first day together — out of at least a month, so good luck setting some ground rules and figuring out each other's breaking points.
3. Life on the Peregrine
Hey, inmates! Ever gone to summer camp? Had a sibling? If so, you might see where this is going. If not, welcome to your first experience with shared sleeping arrangements!
The dorms are lined with bunks, though maybe they're better described as pods: futuresque capsules stacked two high, with sleek white paneling and cool blue LED lightning. Each bunk can be closed off with a sliding door privacy and boasts a bladeless fan for temperature control. Bedding is adequate. If such modest conditions do not appeal to you: consider not committing crimes against other people.
And just like with siblings or summer camp, you don't get a say in who your bunkmate is. Maybe you'll luck out and get a light sleeper who doesn't toss and turn in the night. Maybe you won't, and you'll end up with someone who will kill you if you snore. Whoever you get is who you're stuck with until further notice!
Wardens get much more hospitable quarters, but they may want to keep an eye out on the inmate dorms. Just in case an inmate does try to kill their bunkmate.
4. Squalls
Occasionally, the ship passes through squalls, the equivalent of cosmic turbulence that can mess with little things like, say...the fabric of reality. These are shipwide effects, though who they hit is variable. Sometimes you might fall victim; other times you might be the one standing by, exasperated, as you deal with those affected.
(In other words, it's up to player discretion. And feel free to make up your own squalls!)
This time around, the squall comes with an interesting side effect: whenever you lie or someone lies to you, you experience an immediate rush of anger — whether you consciously know someone is lying or not. Think of it as a temporary lie detector, but instead of being hooked up to a machine, you might punch someone in the face.
5. The Peregrine
The Peregrine's layout and protocols have been designed with its intended passengers in mind, who are primarily Earth humanoids and inclined towards certain social and cultural practices. If you're wondering why you are on a ship of Earth humanoids despite not being one yourself, please understand that all ships in the Admiralty have a population capacity. At times it may be necessary to assign other species to a ship of this type, based on availability.
As a warden, you have full run of the ship map. Inmates...less so, but that's nothing a little creativity can't fix, right? Just remember, if a warden catches an inmate somewhere that inmate shouldn't be, it falls on the warden to handle the matter. And if the warden turns a blind eye...well, let's hope neither of you get caught. While it won't result in anything as extreme as a demotion, wardens can expect to get a stern dressing down; inmates, meanwhile, will be reprimanded by the warden who found them.
6. Networking
Now that you've powered on your CommLink for the first time and sat through the short tutorial and appropriate orientation, you're ready to explore the wonders of messaging. Video, audio, or text, the world is your oyster and you surely have opinions on it.
There is no anonymous option and IDs must be some variation of your name. (IC, characters will have to try their luck and see what the communicator will or won't accept when they register; OOC, it's up to players to decide what name to use if the character has multiple names or aliases.)
Wardens have access to a group network filter, something that inmates lack, and can track inmates throughout the ship with their CommLink. Inmates, best avoid getting your device confiscated or monitored.
7. Wildcard
If it's in our game pages, you can use it as a prompt! The sky's the limit.
no i love it.
Guns.
There is a gun in the folds of her dress, and by the blessings of some foreign and grandiose technology only she can wield it. She shoots with a shaking hand, and misses, but quickly corrects herself, with what little time she has left. Thou wouldst shoot the master, and not his hound?
She shoots the gun at the armored wrist before her, the energy arcing onto metal, searching for some chink in the armor through which to strike. Joints, aim for the joints. She had heard as much from the Algonquin when she was young.
kill or stun?
That's fine. Bullets don't pierce bulwark skin. The other guard had shot too - aimed for its eye.
Wasn't a good enough shot.
This shot misses the wrist but hits the part of the armor's elbow that has to be cloth and mail so that the joint can bend - and for a futuristic gun, clothes aren't a problem.
The armored figure doesn't have time to grunt in surprise - it's more of a nervous system short-circuit than something that really causes pain.
It just ...teeters. Its gauntlet doesn't pop open, but also doesn't squeeze deeper; it locks up. The rest of the armor sags and drops with a tremendous, heavy bang as the knees buckle.
stun! all them words and i forgot to say 'stun'
She breathes. The air in this strange vessel is very sweet, very clean, and doubly so now that she's had cause to miss it.
She doesn't bother getting back up. That isn't the point. The point is to protect herself. She can hardly do her sworn duty if she's at the mercy of fools.
She holds the gun out before her in a warning, or perhaps a promise. She knows how, according to the orientation, one is expected to use it for killing. The thought of murder does not cross her mind. This creature before her is too a child of God.
"You-" her voice is hoarse in her ears. Dearly, she hopes it is not damaged. As the suit of armor has its strength, she has her voice. "What did you hope to gain? Expedience?"
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There's enough of a breath - enough of a rhythm - that the sound slowly turns into a laugh.
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She stands, keeping her distance, but not moving away. She waits for him to regain himself. Stupidly, childishly, she wants to hear the man inside the armor speak. She wants to see that he too has reason.
But she doesn't put away her gun.
"So glad I've entertained."
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That's a woman - or someone who sounds like one.
The stun isn't over. Shouldn't be. But the suit's knee trembles, struggling to stand.
Doesn't make it, of course. Can't. But god damn is the person in there fighting it.
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"Someone with a grandly inflated sense of reputation." Penitence summons up coldness for her voice. My dear lady disdain- it's her favorite role, and she takes it up willingly.
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its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer
"It's alright. You'll know soon. You didn't kill me, and you're not running. I can wait a long time."
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Killed. She doesn't say it. Beatrice wouldn't be afraid, so Penitence will not be either. But she doesn't say killed.
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Back to trembling and trying to stand. She's just going to exhaust herself over and over until she gets it. That's just how she does things.
"The living are temporary. The dead outnumber you. It's time for you to move aside to make way."
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She isn't one to brag, to grandstand-- it's not her nature. So she borrows the nature of another, when it suits her.
"I have seen enough of death to last a lifetime, and I shall see yet more before I am through. Do not presume to lecture me on matters of mortality. You have killed, surely. How many have you laid to rest? How many have you seen bouncing on the plague-cart? You know nothing of what you speak."
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"It's funny you should mention plague."
The warfare that the Unerathed wage is total. If she had her power uncapped, the cuts on Penitence's neck would already have gangrene, necrosis, living rot.
"My father, and my mother. My sister got away, but we'll find her soon. My kingdom. Ten million people. I thought I would avenge them. Doesn't everyone?"
She's delivering this like there's a punchline coming. She feels nothing when thinking of these things, now.
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"No," Penitence says. "Not everyone. Your sorrow is your own."
As is hers. Yet thou sought to use it as a weapon. Grief is not a cudgel, meant to batter others into submission. She is not truly Beatrice. Penitence relents. The fight does not flee from her, but the rage does.
For now, at least.