spherememing | March/April TDM

March/April TDM

MARCH/APRIL TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to Sphere's March/April Test Drive meme! This is a great place to get a feel for the game and how your characters might fit in here. Explore the setting, and get your samples and some starting CR all at the same time!

Applications and Reserves are always open!
Threads on the TDM are considered game canon if both parties agree to it!
Threads on the TDM may be considered for Activity Check if need be!

Spring has Sprung

So everything that’s happened, it’s just all water under the bridge right? I mean some people were infected and Annie had spread the rumors about the new people like spores but it’s all good now right? And the best way to get back into that? A good old fashioned party!

Even though the Sphere itself normally wouldn’t have seasons, according to the people here? It’s definitely spring! Spring has sprung and the apple, cherry and almond trees in the agricultural dome have burst into bloom! The blooms together give off a heady fragrance and the colors are only added to by the addition of pink, white, yellow and pastel green ribbons tied around their branches. At night, the blooms are highlighted by fairy lights, and the lights in the dome themselves have been transformed into star systems that the Sphere has dredged up from the files of people’s home worlds. No, it’s not enough to get people home but it’s definitely lovely isn’t it?

Scattered here and there in clearings are performers, each one of a different type. There’s a violinist, a pair of dancers, a storyteller, a magician and a juggler all giving shows as people stumble into their darkened corners of the domes. Each performance is an EVENT to them, and depending on the people involved, it can be intimate and romantic, or just a little bonkers. The shows are lit by fires that spark when people enter, and when they move on past, the lights dim and go out to create a personal atmosphere for people. It’s all about ambiance.

In the center of the trees, either day or night, there’s food going on. It’s a bit like a cross between a garden party and a tea provided by the Mad Hatter. Smaller tables lit with candles are the normal, having seating for two or four at their linen-covered circles. There’s a tea service on each one, filled with food that silent servers are bringing out in spades. The pastel themes from the trees themselves are in evidence here, with nearly every food being white, yellow, pink, pale purple and pastel green. There’s cucumber, egg salad, and cream cheese sandwiches cut into dainty crustless pieces, there’s small cakes and petit fours, decorated flower cookies and scones and other kinds of things covered in fondant. There’s white chocolate trifles and white berries and fruit.

But there’s also weirder things. There’s some kind of mousse that’s on the sandwich level but that definitely is an interesting shade of purple, isn’t it? And there’s something that looks a bit like a chicken pop, but is definitely green. That’s totally fine, I’m sure. It’s not like anything that shade could be absurdly spicy or anything like that. There are other pastel dishes that are difficult to identify so it all comes down to one thing: are you adventurous or not.

As for the tea itself, there’s a variety of it as well. Normal black teas with milk and sugar or honey and lemon, some varieties of green including jasmine, but there are more wild ones as well. There’s definitely one that shifts from blue to purple with the addition of lemon, which the servers take great delight in showing people. There’s also wine in white and rose, and sangria with a variety of spring fruits in it. All of these drinks are in abundance and free-flowing, and there does not seem to be an end in sight.

Oh aren't you a good egg?

Various times during the day during the Spring festival, there’s fun and games happening too. The people throwing the party have also announced an egg hunt that’s not only open to the younger members of the community (though that probably was the first reasons for it, but they’ve opened it up now) but to everyone who wishes to participate. The eggs are scattered high and low in the orchard, hidden in trees and the ground and anywhere else someone can think to hide an egg.

The eggs are in the same pastel shades, but they’re not actually eggs. Having real eggs on this scale might be difficult given how there’s not actually any animals here at all. Instead, the eggs are a shimmering and hollow plastic, and they are filled with things. There’s handmade chocolates, and small toys, there’s string friendship bracelets, and more expensive silver ones too, and charms to go along with them. Some of the eggs have riddles or sayings inside, not quite like a fortune cookie, but intended to make people smile.

The locals are living for this, so there’s actually a fair amount of competition for the eggs, and people hem and haw and fight over them but in a good natured sort of way. People will climb trees or dart in to steal eggs right under the nose of other people. If called on it, people will point that it’s in good fun and hand them over. Especially if the person appears angry at them.

A good old fashioned barn (school) raising!

So, the (remaining) members of the Council have decided that one of the best things that they could do in order to foster the Community spirit is to have a school raising in the rec dome. The school formerly had been occupied in one of the rooms in the community center, but given that there are enough both children and adults who have interest in it, they’ve decided to give it it’s own generous space. But there’s a catch: the people need to build it themselves.

The school house isn’t quite a one room building, but it’s small and will be sectioned off into five classrooms, a generalized sort of gym/cafeteria/auditorium sort of thing, and several offices and a larger breakroom for the teacher. All of the materials for both the school house and everything inside of it are provided by the council, and the wood is in large piles just over there. Unfortunately no one seems to be jumping in to be in charge quite yet (did you really think Max would do it?) but maybe that’s your character’s jam. Go nuts.

Like every good building raising, there's a pot luck with foods from all over the multiverse, as well as plenty of water, lemonade and beer. People who aren't helping with the actual building labor will be pressed into service, delivering drinks and food to folks who are. No matter how unwillingly. Max is good at that.

wildcard

This is a good place to test out something like the network or an idea of your own! Remember upon waking in The Sphere, each character is fitted with a small golden circle behind their right ear. This is how they are connected to the network through a neural link. Touch and hold the button to create a broadcast of one of three types:

Audio. Your character thinks audible words onto the network.
Writing: Your character thinks text into the network.
Video. Your character projects a broadcast of a video of themselves onto the network.

Replies are determined by the player. The network needs to be accessed by choice, so character broadcasts are not automatically beamed directly into people’s heads. The Sphere isn’t that rude.

Private messages are allowed by pressing and holding and pressing and holding again as you picture the person in your mind. This can be an image or a name, err more on the side of things being more accessible than less.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Feet on the ground, Natasha's first priority is to get her bearings, figure out what's going on. She's got the standard explanations, and all things considered, it's not the weirdest thing she's heard in the past couple of years, but that doesn't mean she trusts it. Even if she were the trusting type, she'd want to see for herself.

Her first move is to take a stroll. Hardly seems like spy work, but the best spy work usually doesn't. She wanders the domes she has access to, her gaze taking in everything from the blooming trees lit up with fairy lights to the jugglers and street musicians, to the egg hunts. At times, she can be caught drifting just a little. A tired look gets to her as she gazes up at the tiny, twinkling lights or the fake stars.

Eventually, she grows more bold and joins the tea. She might sit by yourself, pouring black tea and watching the people around her with a sly interest. Or if someone else seems like they might be amenable, she'll pull out a chair and invite herself to sit. "Hopefully you weren't expecting someone?"

WILD CARD: NETWORK AUDIO

un; thewidow

[The voice that comes through the network, for anyone checking, is calm and professional. Matter of fact. It would be hard to assign any particular emotional intonation to it, but there is a catch to it, a little roughness that would be hard to call neutral.]

This is Natasha Romanoff. [A pause as she wonders how much that name might mean to others here. There's always a trade off in making herself known, but it's been a while since she could count on anonymity.] Anyone willing to chat—I have questions.

[ There are several things that come to mind upon coming to this place. The first one being 'of course this fucking happened' the second was 'why this again?' Why under water? Space, at the very least, felt open. This? This made his skin crawl. Still, it's good to hear a familiar voice. More than friendly, even, and it makes his heart skip a beat. Still, he knows how to keep things neutral and not seem over-eager. ]

That chat involve coffee, or is this more of an interrogation?

[He's not the only one to have that reaction. It's not just the voice, which she knows, but hearing it like that... it's not the Soldier. For a brief moment, she isn't sure how to respond. She doesn't want to get her hopes up.]

That depends on if you remember me.

[All things considered, it's safe enough as an overture, but it asks a lot without asking the actual question.]

Couldn't forget.

[ Which they both know is a lie, but the half-truth says more than he does. ]

James...? [There’s a little freak of relief on her voice, hope she hadn’t let herself experience before. It’s there, then gone when she speaks again.] Where are you?

[ His relief is audible as he lets out a sigh. ]

Dome 306.

I’ll be there in ten minutes.

[There’s so much more to say, and none of it she wouldn’t rather say in person. Nothing that can’t wait until she can confirm with her own eyes that he’s here.]

Natasha Romanoff - MCU (Drift Fleet CRAU)

un: thesoldier

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audio; un: grimes

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audio un:pnwsalex

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