spherememing | 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.

photo inspiration

main navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Enis sighs softly as she allows the communication to loop back both ways. Her eyes are vibrant blue with short black hair cut around her shoulders. Her skin is pale though it looks as if it's because she hasn't seen the sun over any natural beauty. She's cute but her brow is furrowed in annoyance. Behind her is a nondescript section of the sphere.]

Great.

Seems we have something in common.

[Hence her worry.]

[Rhys can't help perking up at that. Even at Hyperion, where cybernetic enhancements were somewhat common, he felt out of place having hardware in his head. Most people opted for less invasive upgrades.]

You're a cyborg, too? One of my coworkers used to call me a robot because of that. Joke's on him, though. I'm on top, and he's six feet under.

[Figuratively speaking.]

Yeah. It looks like it. [She looks annoyed but the reason why is very unclear. Everything about this situation is annoying.

She might have mentioned coworkers or friends but Enis doesn't have any of those.]

I take it that cyborgs are more common wherever your from?

Pretty common, yeah. There was even a mercenary that worked for my old boss who almost completely turned himself into a robot! I think his head was the only human part left by the time he was killed.

[There's a small note of admiration in there, though Rhys would never go that far himself.]

And that was a good thing?

[She's never considered her augmentations to be a good thing. They'd been painful and she'd been a test doll since she was in preschool.]

I mean, he almost achieved his goal. That's pretty awesome in my book. He went further than anyone with his cybernetic enhancements, and if he'd succeeded, he would've done the impossible.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

[She exhales a heavy sigh.]

What's the point of it?

The point is to live forever, I guess? Or try to. You wouldn't die of something stupid like old age.

I already have that curse. I don't see what's so great about it.

Living forever means watching everyone you love die.

[Super negative out look on life.]

I don't think he really had anyone he loved? He was loyal to our CEO, kind of his right-hand man, really. But I wouldn't call that love.

What he loved was fighting and killing.

[She considers that point of view and then nods.]

Okay. I see it. [It makes sense, even if its something that makes Enis marginally uncomfortable.] So. Now that we've bonding, are you going to give me the grand tour?

Grand tour? What, of the Sphere?

[Not that he would mind. Enis is cute and easy to talk to. Plus, they've got the cyborg thing in common.]

I can, if you want.

That was the idea. Unless you have something better you'd rather do.

[She'll pause and give him a moment to think about it.]

March/April TDM

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video

Video