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

[monochromatically]

“Um... I dunno if it’s a lot, mine ran out kinda fast.” He responded with a small frown. But it was still more money than he’d ever seen. Figuring out how to budget money was really weird! “I figured out some ways to make it last longer though, and some people are really nice and just give you good?”

Because, Mono, you guys are kids. Most decent people would feel bad if they thought a kid was going to go hungry.

“I can show you what costs less to help make sure you don’t run out as fast as me?”

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Well, yeah, that'd be helpful. Billy nodded eagerly, happy to hear any tips and tricks Mono's picked up.

"I can share? If you don't have a lot," he offered, thinking that was obviously the right thing to do, "I'll split what I have in here with you."

[monochromatically]

“That’s okay! I got enough food saved for now from stuff people gave me, the places they gave us to live have fridges to keep things fresher!” Even if budgeting money was an odd concept, he was rather proud of himself for getting good at making food last.

He does hold out his hand, fingers wiggling a bit for Billy to take it. It was… a habit, okay? You didn’t take chances with getting separated when you were on a mission! “Come on, there’s a really good stand with bread and stuff over this way! The baker sometimes gives me other things if he can’t sell them.”

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Billy hesitates a moment, glancing around like he's worried someone might call him a baby if he takes, but with a shy smile he dismisses that worry and takes hold of the offered hand.

"Okay," he agrees, letting the other boy lead the way, "I'm Billy," he offers finally.

[monochromatically]

Mono waited patiently, clearly unaware that anyone might think it would be seen as 'baby behaviour' to hold hands. In his world it had saved him and Six a few times, and the market could be pretty crowded here.

"Great! It's this way." He grinned once the hand was in his and starting off in the direction of the market. "Hi Billy," He responded to the late introduction with a light swing of his arm, "My name's Mono. I've been here for a few months, it's weird but it's not as bad as it could be." Mono rambled a little, trying to remember the helpful stuff that people had told him when he arrived.

The kid was pretty careful as they moved along. Another old habit of his was to move around the more crowded spaces of the city and find ways to slip closer to the stands he wanted.

[dorkasaurus_rex]

"A few months?" Billy frowned a bit anxiously. He'd tried to set in his heart to be brave and see this out as best he could, but it hadn't really properly occurred to him that he might be here without his family for that long.

"My mom'll figure out a way to come find me. Once she does we can help you get home too," he promised.

[monochromatically]

“Uh-huh, some people go home really fast too, though. I dunno why.” He responded, quickly noticing the rather anxious frown on Billy’s face. “And they give us places to live, so you don’t gotta find a place to sleep. I had a whole building until more people appeared to move in.”

The world didn’t seem to exactly be responsible with the placement of children to have given Mono the run of the grey building for almost two months.

Moving around another small crowd, he spotted the bread stand he was looking for and started to move towards it. Though he couldn’t help but pause a little, so he had a Mom, huh? That was kind of neat. Mono wasn’t sure he knew anyone with parents before. “Yeah? Does she have powers or something?” His own anxious frown crossed his face though. “It’d be good if she can come get you and take you home, I guess. I dunno if I should go home, unless she can get my friend out of trouble.”

'That was kind of neat.' :( Oh bb

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Mono made the place sound a little less daunting, if just by how he didn't seem to be too scared.

"Yeah," Billy nodded with a proud look, practically beaming while on the subject of his mother, "She can do anything." And then he fixed his new friend with a concerned but determined look. "She can help your friend too. What's happened?"

Yeaahhh... He's a sad, confused kid sometimes, but he's doing his best!

[monochromatically]

He would be pleased to know he helped the other to feel better about the world. Mono tried to be brave quite often, especially after what he’d seen happen when fear got the best of him.

That Billy sounded so confident, his expression so bright as he talked about his mother, was oddly comforting. It meant she was a good Mom, at least based on what he’d heard about Moms in general. “Like anything at all? She sounds really amazing!” He responded, drawing them to a halt to let a few people pass before he moved on.

It was still a little weird sometimes, to realize just how abnormal his world was compared to others... But maybe if Billy’s Mom didn’t mind, she could help his friend and he could still fix things? “There was a scary man in a hat that was chasing us, he caught her when we were hiding.”

[dorkasaurus_rex]

He nodded. "Anything. She really is." Not an uncommon thought among children, but Billy's mom was particularly amazing.

He frowned and gave a determined look. "Mom'll save her," he promised.

[monochromatically]

As they arrived at the first stand, he wanted to show Billy, he smiled a little under the brim of his hat. “Then I’ll ask her when she comes to get you. But first we gotta make sure you know where to get food and stuff till she does.”

Mono would undoubtedly offer to share some of the food he saved in his apartment though. He had someone bringing it to him regularly enough to make sure he didn’t go hungry and the kid tended to save the leftovers in case the man suddenly stopped.

But he waved to the person working the stand, waiting behind a cluster of other people who were making purchases. “This is a really great stand. If you come by later in the day before they close it up, the bread loaves are cheaper than they were in the morning.” He lowered his voice, as though the next bit were a secret. He was pretty sure it was, anyway. “And sometimes if they still have some of their apple turnovers left, they’ll give them to you for free!”

Mono had decided that he really liked apple pastries.

[dorkasaurus_rex]

All of this is information Billy's will eagerly store away. He's never actually been shopping, has he? There was so much he needed to learn.

He grinned at how Mono shared his tip in that conspiratorial whisper, and arched a dark brow.

"Really? That's awesome!"

[monochromatically]

“Yep, really!” Mono responded with a quick nod, “A lot of the stalls that sell fresh stuff every day are the same, but um… I dunno how to cook so it’s just easier to get stuff like this.” He hadn’t been anywhere near tall enough to reach the stove tops in his world, and he wasn’t really sure how they worked.