justhugalready | Test Drive Meme!

Welcome to the Rekindle Test Drive!
Trying to see if a character will fit or work in the setting? Need some interaction samples? Well this meme is for you!

Make a post, tag around, and most importantly, have fun! Here's the setting page for those who want to learn a little more about the city itself.

~~Then don't forget to go reserve your character in a week when they open.~~

Here's some prompts to help you get started, if you need it:

Option 1

[While the days grow longer and warmer and the older, oriental-style of the city would normally make one think that the interiors would not be much in the way of relief from the hot sun, it may surprise the guest to see that the apartments the natives have allocated for them are surprisingly comfortable. In fact, the only modern convenience they may be missing is a television set! At least, outside the media floor on the first floor of Building One - the first of four inter-connected buildings.

In fact, each apartment building seems to have at least one different amenity on the first floor. In Building Two they seemed to even spare a library in another that seems to have the basics and some information packets that are otherwise found in the Welcome Center in District 2. There are even a few restaurants and common dining areas in the Building Three that are open until late at night, and meeting areas and a ballroom on the first floor in Building Four, perfect for setting up small parties or big events.

With the locals gone save those who work in the restaurants and the one librarian, leaving you to your own devices, what will you do? What mysteries could be left to discover in this place?]

Option 2

[With summer coming, the water level in the river is starting to go down, exposing some of the beach. The Riverside Shack is open late, and its restaurant is pulling out all the stops and offering seafood specials (even though a river is a far cry from an ocean). The rental store, meanwhile, is finally bringing out more of its swimming supplies, inner tubes and pool noodles, and a calmer stretch of the river has been roped off with buoys for swimming. They even have lifeguards chairs set up. Clearly this sort of thing used to be an annual event.

It's not quite an ocean beach (quite different actually), but there's still plenty of chance to have fun in the water. Or teach someone to swim, perhaps.]

Option 3

[If you're more inclined to explore or learn, the City's Learning Center might be more to your tastes. There certainly seems to be a lot going on here - there's laboratories and libraries and workshops, and plenty of communal areas where you can meet and talk with people. The natives seem pretty absorbed with their studies and work, though they're polite in brushing you off, at least.

Perhaps you'll have more luck seeing what other Guests such as yourself have discovered?]

Option 4

[Whoops. Looks like you haven't taken the cautionary words of the other NPCs to heart, or maybe you just wanted to take your chances. Either way, the withdrawal symptoms have started and you need to find someone to hug quickly before you get even more sick.]

Option 5

[If there's something else you wanted to play with, that you didn't see here, then have fun with that. You've just arrived in a strange city, after all. There's got to be plenty to explore out and about, not to mention people to meet.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If this is a drug-induced hallucination I'll be so impressed. [ Hello, blonde teen standing to you, nbd. ]

I don't even have dreams this detailed.

!

[He takes in a startled breath through his teeth, but quickly composes himself. More or less. The notebook, however, hurriedly snaps shut in his hands.]

I hadn't considered that. Are you suggesting that, not only the withdrawl symptoms, but the entire city is a drug-fueled hallucination?

...It would explain why so many people here don't seem to care that their health is at risk. Not if their brains are addled.

The last thing I remember is walking down the street. As far as I know I could be dead.

[ She considers this possibility. ]

I don't feel dead, but I guess I wouldn't know, would I?

Hm. If you were d--

[He sharply trails off and bites his lip, before continuing as normal.]

What do you recall upon arriving here? Do you remember... awakening, for lack of a better term?

I guess you could call it that.

[ She hangs her thumbs in her pockets and frowns at the sky as she considers her arrival. It was more like... she was in Gotham, and then she was here. The spaces in between are kind of fuzzy. ]

Is it important?

It might grant me insight into how and when the proprietors of this city are drugging us, if that's indeed the cause. Or, if not drugs, it might grant me insight into the real source of those symptoms. Any information is useful to me.

[He doesn't bother to hide the sneer in his voice as he speaks of the city, but it seems the thought of applying cool, rational logic to his predicament is calming. Beep beep, scientist alert.]

Besides, you seem to be one of the few residents who weren't immediately mollified by the promise of fancy houses and a beach or two. [Not that he's searched very hard.] Common sense appears to be a rarity here.

[ Right, yes, that makes sense. But she keeps her gaze on the sky, because she's really trying to think here. Plus he doesn't seem bothered by her lack of attention, and he seems like an older guy so there's no need to impress him with her stunning (lack of) social skills. ]

Oh yeah, I'm just brimming with common sense. But it doesn't do you much good when you've been sucked into another universe, now does it? Maybe they're right. Maybe the laws of physics are different here. [ She shrugs, finally turning her eyes back on him. Her expression is one of bemused acceptance.

Her life is weird, man. ]

[Sounds like they've both seem some things, man.]

I disagree. Common sense is a rare gift, and a particularly beneficial one at that. Being aware of your surroundings and acting with prudence is an asset no matter where...

[He catches her gaze, and then looks away. There's a wrinkle between his eyebrows, and he frowns.]

...Oh. Were you being sarcastic?

[ Well. ] Depends on your definition of 'common sense'. [ By most conventional definitions she has none. Why else would she be Batgirl? ]

But I meant the rest of it. Things that were common sense back home might not be common sense in Chinese Wonderland. [ She has hereby officially dubbed this place Chinese Wonderland. ]

"Chinese Wonderland"... [He takes a moment to digest this.] I suppose we are down the proverbial rabbit hole.

You may be right, but surely that can't apply to everyone here, can it? I've observed a staggering variety of people here that suggest we aren't the only ones displaced whence we came. They can't all be insensible drones, eagerly swallowing whatever pablum the city proprietors shovel at them. It's improbable. [And terrifying. Mostly terrifying.]

...

[He sits back and takes a moment to actually observe her; he's been a bit on-guard since the beginning of the conversation.]

You're rather more... sedate than other young women I've met.

[ She raises an eyebrow incredulously at him. 'Sedate'. That's a new one. ]

What kind of girls have you been hanging out with?

[ She's picturing bouncy high school freshmen with serious ADHD problems. ]

[He opens his mouth to speak, pauses, and shuts it again.

He doesn't hide the grimace very well.]

I wouldn't call it "hanging out". It's more that we share a... "regrettable acquaintance". One can't choose their workmates.

[He takes a moment to ponder things over. One can't be too forthcoming with strangers, after all. Who knows what secrets they hide?]

...Let's just say they are the sworn enemies of peace, quiet, and anyone who has the audacity to be over thirty years of age.

[ She stifles a laugh at his grimace. Definitely the hyper sort. ]

That whole aging thing is just plain rude, you know?

["Hyper" doesn't even begin to cover it. The stories he has...]

[He speaks through gritted teeth.]

Yes, it most certainly is. It's as if they're blind to the fact that someday they'll be my age, too. Blind, or in denial.

I suppose the one good thing about this city is that I might actually make it through a week without being called "old man".

[Sometimes his frowns teeter on the brink of a pout... but I wouldn't tell him that.]

[ She grins outright. It's hard not to smile when he's being a more or less good sport about it. ]

News Flash: Not everyone is like that. Some of us are sane and have social skills. [ She pauses for effect. ] And some of us are just weird, like me.

Hmm. [For a moment he speaks quieter, as if ruminating to himself.] Sanity and social skills don't always go hand in hand. But then, "sanity" itself is relative.

...

[Slowly, he turns his head and looks up at her, peering through his spectacles. It's tricky for him to reconcile who the grin is directed towards.]

"Weird", like you?

[Scrutiny levels up.]

...In what way, precisely?

[ She shrugs, her grin turning amused with herself. ]

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

[He tilts his head contemplatively, before his expression changes to something that might be considered understanding.]

[He nods slightly. Everything about him seems curiously neutral.]

Would it surprise you if I said I'm not surprised at all?

Test Drive Meme!

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