Prompt 1:
 he forest looms as ever, colorless but not at all dead. The leaves are full, fluttering in the silence, but there's no scent to them, no color. The effect is eerily hard to navigate, almost like an optical illusion, leaves, branches and trunk blending together with the small path -- which already disappears and reappears at a whim.
But even so...
If you brave the path, it seems as though there is something leading you onwards. A trail of... something, crumbs, maybe, the same shade of colorless as everything else, almost impossible to see. Following those might be a bad idea -- your chances of getting lost, tangled in random underbrush, or wandering aimlessly for hours are pretty high... to say nothing of what you might encounter if you stray too far (hint: even the small, fuzzy things have nasty bites).
Still, it's there, and if you follow them... eventually you will come to a small house. It's decrepit, falling apart and in shambles... do you really want to go inside? Perhaps armed with one of the many convenient tree branches that have probably smacked you thus far?
Prompt 2:
 hould you enter the house, you'll be greeted with a creepy, creepy doorman. Aw, how cute! And in that doll's hand, there's...a message.
On a slip of paper, it reads, simply and plainly:
The more you take, the more you leave behind.
Curious! (And yeah, you can destroy the doll. It's just a normal doll. You may even come across said doll already crushed by an intrepid explorer.)
Of course, it's a riddle, and the answer's a warning -- the longer you walk around and about the house, the less you'll remember about yourself, until you forget why you were there and why you should leave, and who you are at all, doomed to wander forever.
Or someone saves you, that's fine too.
Prompt 3:
 roblem: There are no fresh eggs in the Town.
Solution: Catch a feral chicken, and keep it for eggs. That seems simple enough, right? You're totally up for the task... right?
But why do all of the animals look so strange in the forest? Mutated, with teeth, or wings that don't belong, or claws. That's... a chicken, right?
Catching it will allow you to get some eggs, but that beak looks pretty nasty -- it might be harder than it looks. But you're intrepid and clever, right? Why not demonstrate your Chicken Wrangling Skills that won you the championship so many years ago? Or try to serenade the savage beast? Or wuss out and form a coalition with which you draw lots to see who has to do battle with the chicken? There's safety in numbers! But the prize will surely be worth a bit of blood loss and fowl-related trauma.
Do it for the eggs.
Prompt 4:
here's a new quest on the forum today, and it looks awfully easy! It's listed simply as:
Quest XXII.
Talk to someone you've never met about their childhood.
Quest will be completed when you have reached an acceptable level of knowledge.
On the other hand, that's a little vague, isn't it... ? How will you even know when you've completed a quest like that?
Still, it looks easy! Maybe go give it a try. You could respond to the forum post to try to find people, or just go on outside, go harass someone about their past. If you're lucky, you'll drag it out of them with very little hassle and it won't take you a good chunk of the day. If you're unlucky, that's what highly persistent stalking is for! But don't forget, you'll likely have to return the favor.
And your new friend might not be the only one listening.
Extra:
Got something in mind? Want to play with the setting more? The sky's the limit, so feel free and make up your own prompts to play with!
Welcome to Awash's first Test Drive Meme! Please check out the FAQ and rules as you test your characters out. The setting is yours to play with, so be creative and have a good time with it!
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If you have any questions about the TDM, feel free to ask us here. If there are any other questions, you can catch us via PM, the FAQ or the contact page. Thank you for your interest in Awash! |
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no subject
Could it actually be a floating city?] No. Only some of us.
[Dammit. Now he has to come up with "nice" ways to put the profession of Batman and... assassin guild leader. Batman is easy:]
My father runs a corporation that oversees many industries in our city. He tries to make it a better place to live. He also works in protective services to ensure the safety of the people he helps live better.
[Talia is... not so easy:]
My mother works for an organization that believes a better world will be made when we cleanse this one. [Tmw your father is Lawful Good and your mother is Lawful Evil.]
The place you live--describe it. Is it in the sky? You said it seceded. Do you know why?
no subject
Oh... [ It's all she says at first, since she's sympathetic, but he continuation comes out more biting, since it's familiar. ] It sounds like your mother would probably get along with Comstock.
[ What he wants—what he wants for her to do—is hardly that different. But rather than talk about that, she answers the simpler question, first starting with a nod. ]
It is, and I do. At least... Some. I know more about how the city floats than why is seceded.
[ She'd had more to read about the first subject, after all, and she had voraciously devoured that information, since it was far more interesting to her than the biased accounts of the Boxer Rebellion. ]
Columbia was made because of the Lutece particle. It's— Well, it's amazing. Ms. Lutece is a brilliant physicist. I've read all her books and papers. Or, I think so? It was whatever was in my library. The particle allows for quantum levitation, and Comstock supported her research enough that they were able to make a city in the sky. But it seceded after Comstock decided to intervene in the Boxer Rebellion. Columbia destroyed Peking without ever talking to Washington. I think rather than listen to the United States' government, they decided to just leave. [ She shrugs ] It's the convenience of having a city no one can get to, I guess. You don't have to listen to anyone.
no subject
Anyway, as hilarious as it is, Damian of course understands quantum levitation out of the whole equation.] I see.
[Interesting. Why give a girl you locked in a tower access to knowledge? History, no less, rather than propaganda? Or maybe--this is the propaganda. How could he know whether what she says is the truth or a lie, and not for her own ignorance. That's merely all she knew.]
If you father had this kind of political power--enough to build a city in the sky--why would he keep you locked in a tower?
no subject
[ She doesn't think he does, but that's also about all she can explain of that part of Columbia's history. She'd had her biased, propaganda version of events, and it was only in visiting that wretched "museum" with Booker that she'd gotten another perspective and realized that the glorified version was just that. The truth was far harsher. But she only knew that truth in summary, since everything that had taken place down below after Columbia seceded had surely been matters of the world of Sodom that the people of Columbia didn't have to concern themselves with. Or at least she would bet that's the justification.
His question is a natural one, but more than any of the other questions, this one seems to make her the most uncomfortable. The pause of silence is longer, the twisting of the thimble around her pinky more pronounced, but she speaks eventually, though bitterly. ]
I always thought it was because of what I can do. But... [ She trails off again, and her frown deepens ] He wants me to take his place.
[ It's more complicated than that in many respects, but she finds that she doesn't really want to talk about it. Not right now. ]
But that's not my childhood. Let's talk about something else.
no subject
To take her place.
Then she hecked up and gave him to his dad. So maybe him and Elizabeth actually aren't that different after all.] It's a part of what would one day become your childhood.
What do you mean by "because of what you can do"?
no subject
[ or whenever DON'T ASK ME TO DO TIMELINES FOR RP GAMES!! ]
[ At least the Tears are easier, in a way. They're difficult to explain, since it's far easier to just show someone when she's not completely sure what they are herself. But she hasn't seen a tear here yet. There's no way to open one without first seeing that distinct distortion. ]
It's— complicated. I can open these things—I call them Tears—and they're like a window. It's a window to another world, but what's different is usually boring. It's no different from the children's puzzle of looking for differences between two drawings. But I can still open the Tears and take things out of them or sometimes bring them here. It just depends on what's in the Tear.