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nowandthenmemes2021-11-20 07:59 pm
nowandthen) wrote in nowandthenmemes2021-11-20 07:59 pm
Test Drive Meme.
I.
II.Ding! A notification from your PDA. Though, it's strange, the sender isn't listed at all. The only thing it says is "the quest board has been updated", with a convenient picture of said quest board attached. Though it wasn't exactly cleared of previous papers that were tacked on it, a new bright green paper catches the eye instantly.
Help clear Viasna of debris.
Reasonable enough, right? After all, Viasna could really use the help. However, doing so by hand is immensely dangerous, since most of the buildings are ready to collapse at a moment's notice. Hope you brought a helmet!
III.Festivals are all well and good. Fun for many, even. There are always fun quirks to every holiday or event, like, say, carving pumpkins. The cities here are no different, as all the homes around here seem to have carved pumpkins on their doorsteps. It would be charming, if there weren't one problem: they're all pretty rotten, and starting to smell just terrible.
The obvious solution is to start throwing them away. In theory, it would work. In practice? Well, the pumpkins aren't very happy about it. They still think they're cute! Trying to get near one will just cause it to bite you and do it's very best to try and roll away.
Winter is fast approaching this corner of Lyroa, and yet, for some reason, the ocean just outside of Zima seems to be less frozen over than usual. What is normally a fairly steady walk for ice is now a very risky trek, with the ice constantly threatening to break beneath you with the warning sounds of cracking. Ice floes have begun forming and bumping into each other. Perhaps the most alarming are the ships that usually sit atop the ice are beginning to slip and creak into the water. What's even more unsettling is you swear you can hear it screaming as it slips into the water. Is that how it's supposed to sound?
Investigations of these ships are not recommended, of course. After all, you'd risk yourself being caught between the ice floes. But for those of you simply too curious or worried... well, don't be surprised when ghostly hands reach from the ship to try and pull you into the icy depths below.
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Do keep in mind that the TDM is not game canon. This TDM is meant to throw you in the thick of things to get a feeling for the game, while we want characters actually in the world to have their arrival threads and such.
Do keep in mind that the TDM is not game canon. This TDM is meant to throw you in the thick of things to get a feeling for the game, while we want characters actually in the world to have their arrival threads and such.
TDM Questions
Nico Niiyama | Kiznaiver
[ The quest is simple enough. Just clean up a city! People should be doing that anyway, without incentive of rewards! Nico had already felt so drawn to this city to begin with, and it only made sense to help her new neighbors out where she could!! And-- Jesus Christ, did that building just topple over, oh my GOD. ]
But- wh- H- [ She immediately takes two very long strides back from the now pile of rubble. ] M-maybe... the quest wasn't specifically for Nico? [ It's a hopeful thought. It seems unlikely, though, and... she knows this, deep down. Ignore the look of despair on her face and pay attention to that very fake smile instead! ] Yeah, totally! Oh, hey, you! You shouldn't try to clean up these houses, either, okay?! You're going to get hurt...
Ib. And even sweeter
[ Alright. Plan B. If Nico can't clean up the hellscape that is Viasna's residencies, she can absolutely start working on the unsteady walkways. She had already begun pulling some of the bricks out to get to the weeds underneath, uprooting quite an impressive pile within an hour or so, and carefully placing the bricks back the best she could. It's... a very botched job, as the bricks now just wiggle when you walk over it, but it at least looks nicer. After a while, she's more than happy to give what she thinks is a well earned break.
She will more than happily wave down whoever happens to walk by pulling a sucker from her mouth to cheer out a loud greeting. ]
Hey! Have you been working hard, too?! [ Well, alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves, Nico. What you've done isn't exactly hard work... Still, she reaches into her pocket to hold out another lollipop to you. ] You should have one! Nico's treat!! You're doing a great job!
II. Not So Fast, Jack(-o-lantern)!
Wait!!! [ Whether or not her loud exclamation does it's job of startling you, she's still going to very quickly make her way over the pumpkin you reach for, very quickly stomping towards the pumpkin while whispering very soft "run away! Nico'll protect you!"
Once this manages to cause the pumpkin to scoot away from the scene, she beams a bit at her job well done... but that quickly fades to a look of revulsion. Rotting plants have the worst smell. She promptly plugs her nose, but still turns to address you. ]
Just what do you think you're doing! [ Her voice, of course, comes off as very nasally, but she's doing her best to look disappointed. ] These little guys totally have feelings, right?! It's rude to kick them out just cause their smell is... like, mega super terrible! [ Though, apparently, insulting them is totally fine. ]
III. Floe-no!
[ The ships that sit out in the water are already incredibly lonely to look at. There's just something so isolating looking at a frozen wasteland that doubled as a ship graveyard. But now that they are literally screaming as they slipped into the water... that's just plain mean. Is someone out there? Or is that just the metal of the ships scratching against the ice? Are the ships even metal???? It's too hard to tell in such low lighting!!!
But without much thought, Nico's already carefully making her away across the ice, holding her phone out for some semblance of light to guide her way. One, two, one, two. Just count your steps, Nico. You'll get there. Someone needs your help.
Or... well, that's just wishful thinking, isn't it? Nico doesn't find this out until it's far too late, and a ghastly hand reaches out to drag her to the freezing waters before she's even able to get out so much as a "Is anyone there?". Instead, all she's able to let out is a yelp as her phone clatters against the ice. Well. Hopefully she wasn't the only one drawn to this ship? ]
III. Floe-no!
If she hadn't cried for help, her shameful wails not unlike the cries emanating from the ships in front of her now, then she most certainly would have died.
Mozu stands unmoving, hands tightly gripping the floral blanket scarf around her shoulders, as she contemplates the ships and the helpless cries within them. Or rather, it’s almost as if the ships themselves are crying.
… Are they?
Mozu has learned by now not to poke her nose into every little oddity around here. But the faint glow of a single blue light catches her eye, and she watches its path with piqued interest. It illuminates the profile of a struggling girl who seemingly hasn't learned the same lesson. Her eyes widen, lips curl just ever-so-slightly with entertainment, but at the same time she moves closer to a comfortable shouting distance. If the girl weren't a child, she might have been content to let this scene play out. Just when she's about to call out some sense to her, the blue light abruptly drops and clatters onto the ice, and she hears that inevitable splash. Mozu pouts; this rescue mission just got very troublesome.
She moves without urgency, but it would be no good for anyone if she slipped and fell off the ice, too. She proceeds flat-footed on the wet, slippery floes while maintaining her center of gravity over her feet, methodically shuffling her way towards the beacon that is the girl's abandoned PDA. Once she reaches the bobbling sheet of ice on which the PDA slides with each precarious tilt, Mozu looks for a hint of any commotion in the water -- Is something weighing her down? -- before completely lowering her body so she's flat on her stomach. She rolls up her sleeve, takes a deep breath, and plunges her arm into the bitingly cold waters, hand waving and searching for any sign of a person.
There! Against the numbness, her grip locks around what feels like a skinny wrist, and she pulls up as hard as her strength will allow, rocking the ice floe. ]