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Test Drive - 001

TEST DRIVE 001

Welcome to Aterat!

Here is our first ever 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!

NOTE: While you do need an invite to apply to the game, you do NOT need one to tag or top level on the Test Drive!

Helpful Links to Get Started

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

A. Welcome to the Jungle

The URBAN jungle, that is. 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, see what you can waste your meager starter coin on in the Market District, or maybe just meet the neighbors.

B. We've Got Fun and Games

At least there's entertainment. In various parts of the city, there are street performers, slight of hand tricksters, and probably a game or two of poker in one tavern or another (there are several to be found, after all). Start up a game of darts, or just sit broodily in a corner and watch the others coming and going.

C. You can have anything you want but you better not take it for free

The Harbor District is a rough joint. There are pickpockets, swindlers, but also hardworking folk and more than a few buildings that seem to be locked. It sure would be a shame if someone were to go about performing some casual Breaking & Entering...you know, as long as you don't get caught. There are guards around, though not nearly as many here as in the other districts. It's almost as though they like to avoid the place. People talk about wererats in the shadows at night and it's not unheard of for the unaware to go missing when they're traveling around here after dark...

D. What's that smell?

As if being carted off to what looks like a city out of a video game weren't bad enough, there's an entire district to the northeast that seems to be walled off, warded, and in all ways inaccessible. According to the sign, it's the cemetery...and boy does it smell.

E. Speaking Crystal

You could always take a look at the instructions that came with your crystal and see who else is listening. Remember, though, these devices are Voice Only and cannot be filtered. If you speak, anyone with a crystal can and will hear you. Now, whether or not they choose to respond is another thing entirely.

If you have any questions at all about setting or what is or isn't acceptable, please submit it on the FAQ!

If you would like to explore any aspect of the setting more indepth, please PM the mod account OR comment here! All comments are screened!

» N A V I G A T I O N

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“I suppose revisiting old hobbies might be a good diversion to help adjust to this rather unique situation we’ve all found ourselves in?” He responded thoughtfully, he could only encourage musical endeavours. After all, music made people happy, brought life to the quiet moments, and in turn it often inspired other forms of art.

Caelan found himself smiling again, his fingers resuming their absentminded tapping in time with the song’s rhythm. “And surely they got their instruments somewhere, there must be more around to make use of. Especially where we find ourselves so inspired, would be a shame to let that good to waste.”

Jacob's head lifted, his eyes focused on those playing. He was fairly tall and was able to see over a great deal of the crowd. "Looks like they have stringed instruments." He paused thoughtfully and then added. "Might be a lot but you're right." He shoves his hands into his pockets. "I'll have to save up if I want to buy a guitar. Not sure how long that'll take." He wasn't used to making a lot of money or having a lot of possessions and he liked it that way.

But this... this might be worth doing.

"I haven't seen a shop yet."

While money wasn’t an entirely foreign concept to Caelan, it was more that it wasn’t really something he worried a whole lot about beyond some of the odd larger purchases he’d made for the sake of his team and their organization. Those had been... special cases where said money had largely been gained through abnormal means than working a daily job by the hour. As it was, his instruments were largely gained through thieving from marks that he had found exceptionally annoying who he doubted appreciated them as much as he did.

Getting his hands on some here might be a little trickier, he did try to keep his thieving limited to those who deserved it in some way after all. “I haven’t seen one as of yet myself, but surely there must be a place.”

Then again... “Unless, of course, they made them from scratch or purchased them before whatever happened to this world happened.” A problem for the Caelan of the future, he supposed. “I’m Caelan, by the way.” He added, attention back on the show as he tried to pick out what was being played. There were definitely some stringed instruments of varying sorts, small wind instruments, and possibly a few others that he was missing.

"Oh. Right. Just call me Jake. It's nice to meet you Caelan." He was going to turn to offer the man his hand but this wasn't really the best place for a handshake. So instead he just kept watching the show. There wasn't a lot to watch, it was music... meant to be listened too but there was something in the players expressions that Jake found distracting.

"We better start looking. Maybe after they're done we could ask." He had no idea when that would be but it was an idea.

Jacob really didn't know what he was doing and it was moments like these where that showed the most.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance then, Jake.” He’d agree, too many people milling about in the crowd to really turn and make a proper greeting of it. It also would take their attention away from the show. Music was something for the ears as Jake thought, but to Caelan it was a little more than that. It was art, expression, something to throw oneself into entirely and enjoy the power it brought. In short, it was magic.

Sometimes literally, depending on whom you were.

He glanced at Jake once more at the idea, “Probably a good idea, if they’re agreeable to it. It’d save us a decent amount of time just wandering the city.” Not that he minded wandering, Caelan expected they’d have to get to know these streets anyway. “If not, a walk is a good way to get our land legs in a new world.”

Jake would find that Caelan was an easy sort to just... go with the flow. Unless he was faced with something that had needed time and effort to put together, he sometimes just made a plan up as he went.

Jacob was similarly a go-with-the-flow kind of person. It made things easier than constantly putting up resistances against other people. "I think they'll be playing for a bit. We can always wonder around and come back. I've done some wandering but-" It'd all been for the sake of finding a job. "Not too much."

He scratched the back of his head thoughtfully.

"I guess, whatever works. I like walking." He had a bike when he lived in the city but he rarely drove it. It didn't feel like it belonged to him since his sister had purchased it for him.

“Given how caught up in the performance that they are, I would agree.” He’s still wistful over that, the pull to join is almost as strong as the pull of the ocean and that was saying something. Probably the need for familiarity at work on a very abnormal day.

He finally turned away, looking for a good path out of the crowd. If he were being honest, he preferred swimming to walking, but he wasn’t feeling that open yet. Jake was still very much a stranger, a pleasant one, but a stranger nonetheless. “Then do walk with me? It will be good to have someone to talk to, I’m accustomed to having company and I was disappointed to find that I arrived here on my own.”

Caeland finally gestured in the direction of what appeared to be a natural break in the crowd, a path to move back into the main streets and away from the musicians.

"Huh?" He turned and looked over at his new friend. "Yeah. Sure. It's better than talking to myself... not that I do that."

Jacob tossed one last glance at the players and then followed behind Caelan, letting this charming stranger lead the way. He didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do and it was nice to have company. Not that Jake needed company, he spent a lot of time alone, but he didn't like being alone. It was just what he was used too.

"You um... walk in this direction yet?"

He grinned over his shoulder before letting Jacob fall into step next to him. “No? That’s a pity, sometimes you have the best realizations when having a little chat with yourself.”

On the contrary, Caelan was not used to being properly alone anymore. He always had a member of his crew around, never far. They were practically a family at this point, and the fact that he didn’t even have his little hermit crab companion was something that was going to bother him for quite some time while he adjusted to this place. He wouldn’t really make it apparent, but he would go out of his way to be social with those who seemed interesting.

Jake definitely seemed interesting.

Glancing around the street they had turned down, noting the finer details as he sought out a familiar landmark, he shook his head. “No, I don’t believe I have. Probably a lot of directions and roads I haven’t been down yet, that any of us have.” Of course, as long as he was close to the canals that flowed out into the ocean he would stand a better chance at not getting too lost.

"I'll try it sometime but I'm usually listening to music or something." He glanced around the technologically stunted city. "I guess that won't be as easy here..." He didn't have his phone or his boombox... not that people used boomboxes in his century but Jacob liked the things he had managed to keep from his childhood.

He was going to miss those small reminders of home.

"I haven't either. I know the docks are down that way and a shadier part of the city and I think we came from where there are a lot of restaurants. This might be... like a shopping area?" That made sense... right? Really Jacob didn't know but he felt compelled to politely attempt to answer since he had asked the question.

It didn't make a lot of sense when he thought about it but it seemed impolite to ask someone a question that they didn't know the answer too.

“Depends on whether or not you have a musician nearby, I’d think.” He responded, gesturing the way they had come to indicate the entertainers they had just left behind. “Might also be able to find yourself one of those fancy phonographs. Though I don’t believe we were granted enough currency for that sort of luxury to start.”

All in all, they were stuck in a situation that meant a lot of searching and hoping that such things would be available to them. Basic comforts seemed to be the most they were given as of yet and he expected that was meant to be an incentive to follow through with rebuilding the city and assimilating to the society here.

“I expect your right, it’s not far from the open air market and it definitely has the right feel.” Still, the shops seemed a bit sparse. So many open spots, waiting for one of the arrivals to open up shop. “I get the distinct feeling that they’re in the market for new businesses though.” He added with a wry little grin, nodding at one of the abandoned shopfronts.

"I was talking about-" Jacob waved a hand. "Never mind." He didn't really know how to explain what a boombox was and he wasn't sure it was worth getting into now. At least he had a pretty good idea of the kind of place that this guy was from.

"Looks like it." He rubbed the back of his head. "I was kinda hoping there was more to see but I guess they really want us to rebuild and everything."

Jacob wasn't really sure what to do with himself. He was a mechanic by trade but there weren't any cars here. He was also a carpenter and could open up a place like that but he was more interested in working for someone than he was owning his own business. That sounded like a lot of responsibility and attention that he was never interested in.

"Would you want to open a business?"

Careful, Jacob. Caelan was a curious sort when it came to music, he’d probably circle around to this again when he had a chance, especially after an answer like that. Luckily for him, the man was still focused on the empty shopfronts they were walking by. “Open a business?” He hummed a little, smile turning a little wry. “I’m not sure... Don’t know if I’d be cut out for that kind of work?”

He continued, with a small huff, “Not really sure why they thought it’d be a good idea to bring me here in the first place.” Did he look like the kind of person built for construction? Nope. “What about you?”

Jake needed curious people to poke and prod him. Otherwise he'd be stuck in the same routines day in and day out. He'd always been a creature of habit and weird shit happening never changed that.

"I don't know. I don't really want to own anything but I don't mind working. I was a mechanic and carpenter back home." There didn't seem to be many mechanical systems around the city but at least Jake had woodworking to fall back on. "I'd like to do that again but not owning a place." He didn't feel comfortable drawing that much attention to himself.

"Not really sure what to do but I'll figure it out. We have too."

Jake was right, they did have to figure something out. It didn’t really seem like they had much choice in the matter, and the welcoming party had seemed quite confident that everyone’s presence was necessary... Some sort of participation might even be the only way to get home.

Caelan supposed he might fall back on his music, the entertainers had seemed like they were doing well enough... And of course he did some intricate work with sea glass now and again, though it was more of a hobby than anything. Thieving was... Well it was his life, but he didn’t just steal for the sake of stealing, so he doubted that would be useful here.

He tilted his head at Jake again when the man explained what his thoughts were, “Perhaps someone will have a place for you to fit with your talents then? I expect carpentry will be quite the sought after talent if what I’ve seen so far is anything to go by.”

"Maybe." Jacob rolled his shoulders in a lazy shrug. "I'll figure it out. I'm used to town hoping and I sorta do something different in each place. We don't have to worry about rent so, it's really just food and they gave us some to start off." It really wasn't that bad of a situation and Jacob tried his best to go with the flow.

"Oh. It looks like there is a music shop there." He pointed at the a sign though it looked like there was only one person manning the store and not a lot of instruments. Everything that was there was handmade and subsequently priced.

“A drifter then, are you? That should at least help with adapting to all this absurdity, at least I hope it should.” He responded with some interest, he’d definitely been a bit of a roamer because of what he did back in his own world. Of course, he also had that one specific place that he always had to return. A necessary constant, in a way. “Expenses are surprisingly small here, I admit. In my own world, places to live tend to cost money and I admit our accommodations look nice enough.”

Food wasn’t even really an issue for him, not unless he got a craving for something a little fancier and of human invention. “If you ever need a hand on food, I can probably bring you some fish by. I may not look it, but I’m quite good at fishing.” He added with a little grin, just don’t ask him to cook it, he has no clue.

Caelan’s attention shifted immediately, his eyes leaving Jacob to look up at the building before them with eager interest. Now this was the first truly good thing to happen today, meeting Jacob and other interesting people aside. “So it does! Seems like you brought me a little luck, I hadn’t found anything like this before now.” He added with a bright little grin, moving with a light step towards the door.

"Sorta. I'd call myself more of a follower." His situation was unusual and because of it, he usually ended up following his family. That wasn't the case now but this was also technically his second kidnapping, so it was easy to not freak out about it.

He'd be found. Eventually.

"Oh? Then you should let me cook some fish for you. As like, a thank you." Jacob didn't know how to cook fish but he assumed he could probably figure it out. Hopefully there were 'how too' books in that ridiculously large library.

His attention was pulled back towards the magic shop as he followed Caelan forward, mumbling beneath his breath. "Just call me your lucky charm."

The man at the shop was older and it didn't look like had had too much to sell but he was constructing something on a wooden work bench that Jacob assumed would one day be an instrument.

“Yeah?” He responded with a little curious expression, “I might have to take you up on that,” He responded with a little smile as he pulled open the door to the shop to enter. It was always vaguely amusing when humans wanted to cook fish for him, it made sense but... There was just something about it that made him laugh, considering how he generally ate his fish.

The comment Jake mumbles isn’t missed, of course. Caelan has decent enough ears, and he was paying close attention to his companion. So he responded with a small smirk over his shoulder, “As you wish. Let’s see what we can find then, Lucky Charm.”

Caelan’s attention finally shifted entirely upon entering the shop, wandering here and there with interest. There were too few instruments for purchase at the moment, and none of them were the sort that he had any experience in playing. Not surprising, considering what had possibly happened in this world. The appropriate materials might be hard to come by for a while... He could try to pick something new up, that was always fun, but he was craving something a little more familiar right now.

Of course, he could use some blank sheet music as well, something to doodle and jot down his composition ideas. He wandered closer to where the shop keeper was working, eyes running over the instrument he was working on curiously.

Jake felt his face flush when he realized that Caelan had heard him. He was used to the people around him picking up on his mumbled whispers and yet he couldn't quite shake the habit of letting his mouth move without checking in with his brain first.

It was always embarrassing.

Jacob stepped a bit behind Caelan, composing himself and taking in the odd small shop. It was clear to Jake that the shop hadn't been there long but the old man at the counter was hard at work. He had a tuft of white hair at the top of his head with impressive sprouts of hair tracing down his jaw to his chin. If Jacob hadn't known better, he'd assume it was some sort of wig.

The man looked busy but as the pair stepped in closer he stopped his work and turned to look at them. He was wearing a pair of goggles that made him look a little bug-eyed. "Young men, yes, yes. What are you looking for? Are you purveyors of music? The craft? The art? Tell me what brought you in here."

Jake would do well to try to curb that around Caelan, he is prone to teasing if there’s a chance to tease. It’s never meant to be malicious, only in good fun. Unless, of course, someone had earned his annoyance. Jacob hadn’t displayed any behaviours or expressed any opinions to suggest that he had yet, so it was definitely more of a friendly tease than anything.

Caelan needed a moment when the shop keep turned and started talking to them. Oh wow, those goggles definitely made him a wee bit intense. Still, he grins excitedly. “We’re here to see what you had to choose from for instruments. Musicians without something to play, it seems. I don’t see anything that I’m particularly skilled with at a glance, you wouldn’t happen to know how I might get my hands on a violin?” He then gestured at Jake a moment later, “and my friend here is considering a guitar.”

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Test Drive - 001

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