Test Drive - 004

[ateratmods]

TEST DRIVE 004

Welcome to Aterat!

Here is our forth Test Drive Meme! There are a lot of areas of the city to explore, so please have a look around! In case you need a little help getting started, I've included a few prompts below, or feel free to start your own! Exploration and player initiative are the names of the game here!

Helpful Links to Get Started

Arrival & General Information | Locations & Bestiary | Residences & Housing Info | Businesses | Rules & FAQ (ask questions here!)

A. Crash into Me

Not exactly, but close enough. You have just arrived and received a strange satchel from a tiny, strange little man and are left more or less to your own devices (more information on what to expect upon arrival can be found here)! Follow directions to the north and check out the housing, or maybe have a look around the Historium and try to get some information from that giant glowing ball, see what you can waste your meager starter coin on in the Market District, or maybe just meet the neighbors.

B. A Winter's Ball

What brand new ballroom would be complete without a fancy new winter's ball to break it in? Things are a little strange at the ballroom (check the prompts) with mistletoe that traps you for a kiss with a random passerby, strange gray meringue that makes you willing to overshare, not to mention the fact that one of your strange possible overlords funded the whole thing. What's the worst that could happen?

C. We're all hanging out at the park, right?

The park near the Complex has become a glittering expanse of show! Children and adults alike build snowmen and even sled down some of the higher hills in the area. There are stands around the park selling hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and cider, as well as sweets and wrapped snacks for the day in the park. Speckling the park at regular intervals are standing fire pits designed to ward away the cold and allow for gatherings and conversation.

The pond in the park has frozen over as well, affording the abilities to ice skate as the ever-industrious Raimon is renting skates, and maybe even challenge people to a hockey game. How hard could it be to find some makeshift pucks and other accoutrements in order to play a game?

Tell Phone

The Tell Phones everyone are provided when they arrive are capable of voice transmission and texting as well and photo texts!

NAVIGATION

Comments

[doubled_speed]

[Tommy wants to sigh. Because of course the powers that be here are fucking shit up, a lot even.]

So basically they're children with power and fuck shit up a lot."

[gadaboutdetective]

[He wished there were a better way to put it, but he's still more than a little annoyed with Athony's response to his questions concerning their most recent mistake.]

Unfortunately? Yes, that sums it up well. They seem to have an accident... once every few months, starting from when they apparently broke the portal that controls people coming and going.

[doubled_speed]

[Tommy just groans. This is a mess, a mess and a half, seven hundred percent mess.]

So our lives are again dancing at whims.

[gadaboutdetective]

[It is a mess, and he wished he could say someone had come up with something other than the suggestion of 'stop letting the Aspects do things.']

Yup... On the bright side, we're doing so above sea-level and don't have to worry about some systems shutting down at the bottom of the ocean.

[doubled_speed]

I noticed.

[His hand waves to take in the air above them.]

Trust me, I noticed that part.

[gadaboutdetective]

Suppose it's a little hard to miss. [He responded with a lighter grin.] There's a lot more to see, of course. Actual animals too, beyond your little Speedy.

[Pulling open the door to the establishment he shrugged though,] But first you eat, and you can ask me about anything else that comes to mind I might've missed. I do uh get forgetful still.

[doubled_speed]

Yeah, animals.

[He smiled. The sound of birds was fucking amazing.]

Dude, you buying me a meal? That little husband of yours might get jealous.

[gadaboutdetective]

Mm... Then I'll have to beg his forgiveness and find a way to make it up to him. Lucky for me, I know a place to get some excellent desserts to apologize with. [He grinned a little, as if he didn't intend to bring something home for them at the end of the day, anyway.] But to be quite honest? If he knew someone else from that world had arrived and hadn't eaten recently? I'm sure he'd insist.

[doubled_speed]

[Tommy rolled his eyes. Did the guy's husband know that Tommy was a bottomless pit?]

I'll just keep it to a light snack."

[gadaboutdetective]

[That was a good question. Llewellyn was feeling confident that the answer wouldn't change.]

As long as it's a light snack by your standards and not the rest of us, Tommy.

[He responded with a grin, gesturing to the list of the day's specials for his friend to choose from.]

Besides, I could use something to eat myself.

[He could always eat, even if he didn't have a super-powered metabolism.]

[doubled_speed]

[Dude, Watts, he's not eating you out of house and home, there you have it. But he does look at the specials. He liked the look of that catch of the day. It was nice.]

Wow, now it seems like I'm wining and dining you.

[gadaboutdetective]

[Excuse him, Tommy. He knows you need to eat and you just got here. Besides, Tommy had to stay in good condition to take care of his little sloth buddy. Think of Speedy!

A brow rose at that, and he couldn't help but shake his head a little.]

Mm... I'm a bit expensive when it comes to wine, Tommy. Now what is it you wanted?

[doubled_speed]

[He often thinks about Speedy, thanks.]

Dude, wine isn't worth the drinking, but the fish looks good.

[gadaboutdetective]

I believe we'll have to agree to disagree on that. [He and Rhy liked their wine, thank you. But he nodded,] The fish here is good. Everything is very fresh, it's nice to know where the food is actually coming from in this world.

Find a place to sit with Speed, and I'll uh- be right over.

[doubled_speed]

Where it's actually coming from. Huh.

[Tommy nods and moves off to find a table to rest himself at. This was going to be a whole nwe experience wasn't it?]

[gadaboutdetective]

[He watched Tommy go before he took care of getting an order of 'the catch of the day' for them both before moving over to the table to sit with his usual slouch.]

There now, while we wait... Is there anything I might not have covered that you wanted to know about?

[doubled_speed]

[Wow man, don't slouch. Not good for you.]

Yeah. How likely is it that this place is actively trying to kill us?

[gadaboutdetective]

[It’s a bad habit, but not his worst, so he’ll continue to slouch.]

In the couple of months that I’ve been here, I haven’t found any evidence of that being some sort of end goal. There have been some unfortunate situations thanks to the Aspects...

Some kind of nightmare-demonic bear came through the portal they broke according to one person I spoke to, and then there was the hoard of angry spirits that they were keeping as... a directory in the historium that broke free. So, uh- stuff like that?

[doubled_speed]

Oh man, not angry spirits again. That shit was messed up enough in the Sphere.

[He wants to bang his head into the table. He doesn't.]

Okay, next, we buy everything here, right? But you said housing is provided?"

[gadaboutdetective]

Afraid so. I missed the ones at the sphere though...

[He supposed that meant he had been due for it here, but he moved on to the next question quickly enough.]

Yes, there should be a key in that satchel Raimon would have giving you when you arrived. There are four apartment buildings, everyone has their own unit pre-assigned to them. We seem to be allowed to move freely between them as we please, though.

[doubled_speed]

[Move around freely? Tommy grinned.]

Shacking up with the husband?

[gadaboutdetective]

Well- They don't seem to have taken people wanting to live together into account when they started bringing us here...? And we were hardly going to live separately just because this world decided to assign us living spaces!

[And unless someone put up a fuss, he was happy to continue to do so. Llewellyn had his fill of people having a say in who stayed with him and who he slept with to last a lifetime in his own world.]

[doubled_speed]

Have you talked to these powers about cohabitation? Maybe they are nice.

[gadaboutdetective]

I keep meaning to, but the first opportunity I had was when one of them was reporting that they accidentally destroyed something. I got rather preoccupied, and it slipped my mind- though I’m not sure that Athony would be interested in that particular conversation. He’s a bit serious, to the point... I haven’t had an opportunity to see what Lady Halcyn is like yet, though.

[doubled_speed]

Tell me about them. If I'm going to get on their bad side, I need to know what they are like.