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returnjourneymemes2022-06-01 12:12 am
returnjourney) wrote in returnjourneymemes2022-06-01 12:12 am
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TEST DRIVE 006
RETURN JOURNEY: TEST DRIVE 006
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 ports 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. Dorm Life
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. 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.
5. 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.
6. Wildcard
If it's in our game pages, you can use it as a prompt! The sky's the limit.
Caitlyn Kiramman | Arcane | warden
[Caitlyn has seen dead bodies before. Well, yesterday. She saw her first dead bodies yesterday. A few days ago, she might have thought such an experience would make her more worldly and tough. Now she knows that being so close to death is nothing more than horrifying.
The horror she feels doesn't deter her, though. This person she's been tasked with picking up may have been deemed villainous - they may, in fact, be villainous - but right now they're somebody who has gone through one of the worst experiences a person can, and they shouldn't have to go through it alone.
Whether they want it or not, they'll find a kind hand on their shoulder. The concern in Caitlyn's voice is genuine when she says,] Here, let me help you.
2. Pairings.
[The file is thick, but Caitlyn's read it so many times she practically has it memorized. It's filled with her own scribbles in the margins, small notes pinned or pasted to the pages - all the detritus of an overactive analytical mind running headfirst into a problem to be solved.
An inmate, of course, isn't a 'problem,' but the file is. And Caitlyn's convinced that if she goes over it enough times, she can work it out. Or at least not be so intimidated by the prospect of meeting her new inmate. She very valiantly refrains from nervously tapping her fingers against the pages as she straightens her back, squares her shoulders, puts on her best serious face, and tries to infuse enough authority into her tone to hide how unsure she is.]
I'd like to discuss your file.
3. The Peregrine
[Caitlyn's first stop is the athletics department, looking for a shooting range. She is, naturally, disappointed by the lack of facilities for her preferred sport. Shooting's the thing she's best at, after all; in the space between shouldering a rifle and pulling the trigger, the world is quiet and ordered. It brings her comfort in a way nothing else quite can. She thinks briefly about Vi and wonders whether she should try one of the punching bags, but ultimately decides not to.
The food in the mess hall is similarly disappointing. It tastes alright, if she doesn't think about it too much, but when you've grown up eating the finest meals cooked by the finest chefs, an imitation will never be the same. Find her sitting alone, by herself, in a corner, with a vaguely repulsed look on her face.
The library, at least, is not disappointing. Documents, not just from Runeterra, but from everywhere.. Solving cold cases isn't the same as an active investigation, but perhaps she can do something useful while waiting to be assigned an inmate. A vast collection of historical documents pertaining to unsolved murders? What more could a girl ask for.]
4. Wild Card, Bitches! Yeeeeeee-haw!
[Come talk to her about her boxes full of Pepe Silvia, or anything else that strikes your fancy.]
3
She's smiling, but her tone is blunt:]
When commissary opens next, do yourself a favour and spend some tickets on a bottle of ketchup or something.
no subject
She puts on her best tight, awkward approximation of a polite smile.]
Yes. Ketchup. Of course. [An awkward pause.] I've never tried it before, is it good?
no subject
It's like a tomato sauce. Staple of picky eaters everywhere. [Takes one to know one.] You coming from somewhere worse than this, or just different?
no subject
Quite different. [Her tone makes it clear she means "better," but she's trying not to be uncharitable.
As she starts to settle into the idea that maybe this woman is trying to be genuinely friendly rather than hurtful, her natural curiosity starts to overtake the inherent discomfiture of making small talk with strangers.] And yourself? Where do you come from?
no subject
Somewhere worse than this. Lived off rations for twenty years, that kind of thing. I've been a few places since, but this thing [a thumb jerked towards the automat] is most reliable.
no subject
Of course some of the people here would be coming from more difficult situations. She should have realized that. And what does one say when one is faced with the uncomfortable truth that some people live off rations while others are accustomed to a five course meal every evening? Caitlyn awkwardly shifts her food around a little with her fork. She can almost hear her mother's voice snapping at her about playing with her food, and her posture - already impeccable - straightens that much more.]
Surely there must be something good to be said about the place you came from? There must have been more to it than rations.
no subject
I was in my element. I was really good at surviving there. I knew exactly what I could handle.
[A beat.]
It was a whole doomsday thing. I'm sure if you stick around here long enough, you'll get to experience one for yourself.
no subject
[She knows what she signed up for. Well, more or less. And she isn't frightened by the prospect. Not exactly. Not more than a person ought to be.
She frowns down at her food, figertips tapping nervously against the fork now. It's been a long few days. She's tired of watching people die.]
no subject
Maybe not the end of the world, but sometimes the end of a world as we know it. Not every port we visit is going to be a nice place to stretch our legs. You think you can handle that?
no subject
!!! option 3 suboption library;
A girl could request this and receive a facsimile thereof, in foam.
A girl could also be like this boy over here, who mourned the lack of paper for a minute, and then became more or less inseparable from the little trifold slab he was assigned.
This boy, whose presence is unintentionally announced through a brief series of coughs from another section of the library.
It's been months now since Viktor first came aboard, and his increasing fluency with the technology is apparent in the crisp certainty of his fingers on the surface of the library terminal. After the last peck his hand snaps away—gracefully positioned, almost a flourish, like he's playing an instrument that happens to grant access to an intergalactic wiki—and then hangs there in the air while he reads, on standby. His other hand, grasping the terminal's edge, is in a plain black glove. That distinctive crutch is leaning next to him, he's still wearing that vest with the tails, and his hair is giving the same cry for help it was probably giving the last time she saw him... however long ago that was. Increasing laboratory hermitude and all.]
I'm busy,
[he says, without looking up to see who belongs to those footfalls.]
Ask someone else.
no subject
Another trip to the library, another few dozen documents downloaded clumsily onto a contraption she's pretending to be more skilled with than she is. And the familiar sight of a man hunched over, engrossed in his work.
She takes a moment just to observe him. There's always been a certain grace in Viktor's hands - she's spent enough time in Jayce's lab to get a sense for how he works. But this is entirely new technology and it's as though he's used it his whole life. How long could he have been here? Hadn't she seen him... a week ago? Two weeks? She's seen less of him lately, but it couldn't have been that long.
The brusque tone hasn't changed, at least.]
Viktor?
no subject
Caitlyn?
[His hovering hand's finally dropping to the terminal, he's turning toward her,]
You're here. [Yes. Clearly.] I, I mean, when did you arrive? Are you... [Among the excited flicks of his yellow eyes, his attention briefly moves past her shoulder.] Did you come by yourself?
no subject
[She glances over her shoulder, wondering for a split second if there's someone he's looking at. But no, there's no one there. If he's asking, there must be an answer he wants, someone who's not here that he was perhaps hoping to see behind her. Who would he care about other than Jayce? The woman in the lab, was he close with her? How many years has she known him, and she's never asked if he had other friends.
Her thumbs tap awkwardly against the folded CommLink that she's hugging to her chest as her brain whirs rapidly towards the conclusion that Jayce isn't here.]
no subject
[Just as open as Viktor's surprise is this flicker of disappointment—and something like relief, entangled and trailing after it. He releases the shallow breath he'd held through her answer, relaxes into the natural slope of his posture. (Well spotted, brain.)]
That makes sense. We've had no group arrivals so far.
[Whatever this cold glimmer thinks it's doing in his belly, it can vacate any time, thank you very much. Maybe this will provide material enough to smother it:]
I boarded four months ago. It's... been an adjustment.
no subject
Four months? How is that possible? You were in the lab when I visited... must've been last week. [Her posture remains impeccable, but there is a distinct tightening of her shoulders.]
3
The person attached to that arm is holding a cup of coffee, and was heading out after finishing up his own meal on the other side of the cafeteria. He can relate to that expression.]
Ain't much, but it's better than nothin'.
no subject
Mm. Thank you. [She's never had nothing, so she wouldn't know if this is, in fact, better than nothing.] One might assume with the vast resources available to our host that proper food would be made available.