TEST DRIVE MEME 001

[larkers]

> TEST DRIVE MEME #001

Welcome to the Meadowlark test drive meme! After waking up in strange and rather worrisome conditions, characters will need to begin to live their lives in this new world. All TDM threads take place after the arrival process, so please assume that the initial adjustment period has passed. Now it's time to see the bright sights and sounds that New Amsterdam – and beyond – has to offer. All Meadowlark test drive memes will not be game canon. Please feel free to carry on relationships that make sense, but if your character is off on a colony researching terraforming or in jail because they vandalized corporation signage with Morningstar's emblem, that will be a little harder to transfer into game. All applicants can use threads from the TDM for their samples.

> RESOLUTION DAY FESTIVAL

One day a year, everyone the whole system over participates in the annual celebration of Resolution Day. It's not explicitly stated what Resolution Day actually is; there's no reason to declare what everyone already knows, and characters may find themselves experiencing some intense culture shock as they stumble into the festivities. The celebration starts early and finishes late – very late – so whether you choose to join in the fun, learn more about the history of the festival, or take advantage of the revelry for other, more nefarious goals, you'll have plenty of time.

> NEW AMSTERDAM

The festival sprawls wildly throughout the streets of New Amsterdam, giving even the most desolate parts of the city new life with bright lights, noise, and plenty of food. Most businesses are shut for the day, giving their workers the time to enjoy the celebration, but some might consider this one of their most profitable days of the year – if you've gotten yourself a restaurant, rickshawing or corporate PR job, you might find yourself stuck on a double shift. Better snatch what small moments of enjoyment you can! > 001: ENJOY THE FESTIVITIES Anything you'd think it would be at a festival in the year 2511 is definitely at this festival. Care to play a game? All attendees can play for free. Some games – like the hoverblade racing, the augmented reality fightboxes and the street-wide bouts of laser tag – involve a partner or a competitor, so you better hope someone's willing to do you a solid or bring out your competitive side. Or maybe it's time to try the delicacies of New Amsterdam. Hundreds of food trucks have turned out today in droves with high hopes that they'll come away turning a profit. Down for some Mexi-German fusion? Or perhaps you're hoping that pad Thai still tastes the same with grasshoppers? Share your food – or give away whatever you don't like. Food trucks are the hub of activity, and the busiest ones might be worth the time, but you'll be standing in line for a while. > 002: HISTORY LESSONS Aside from your typical booths of free samples, charitable causes, volunteer applications, and white chocolate-covered beetles, you'll find an opportunity to learn about Resolution Day’s history. There are various stands available where you can view video about the origins of the festival, and what, exactly, everyone's celebrating. Take a moment or two at any of these stands, and you'll soon learn that this is the day that the humans successfully put down the AI uprising. If you'd like to feel like a hero, the UNA are running several virtual reality simulations where you can be taken to the battlefield to fight alongside fellow soldiers, working to bring the AI to submission. The virtual reality simulation interacts with your neural implant to give you the most realistic experience possible. If you don't ground yourself enough, you'll be certain that the sights, sounds, and smells around you are real as you march in formation toward the brutality waiting up ahead. Feel free to team up with a partner on a side mission, or maybe try to keep someone from plugging in for what could be a traumatic experience. Eerie, heart-wrenching music plays when you die, but is promptly followed by the image of several corporate logos reminding you that they sponsored this day and this event. If you're uncomfortable with this information, no one will understand why. AI sympathizers are not present among the native population. Will you risk trying to change their minds? > 003: USING DISTRACTIONS There are other opportunities in the city being flooded with festival-goers. It's a time for everyone to come together, after all, and in all the crowds you may be able to find that one elusive corporate exec you've been wanting some time with for weeks. Whether you're hoping to pitch an idea for some new tech or are more interested in seducing – or squeezing – some information out of them, following them into the next bar or karaoke booth may give you the perfect chance. But you might want a lookout to watch your back, a co-conspirator to keep them plied with drinks, or maybe you'll need a voice of reason to stop you from squeezing too hard. Just remember that whatever you pitch won't have a contract attached. Whatever exec you pin down may not have your best interests in mind.

> THE LOWER LEVELS

The festival's reach is wide, spreading through the whole city, but traveling down from the hectic main city streets reveals a different side from the gloss and promise of New Amsterdam. Economic disparity runs rampant throughout the city, and while you won't find any festival streamers or booths in these streets, people still have their own ways to celebrate. Some neighborhoods have spilled out from the doors of their cramped apartments, holding noisy street parties between their homes. Some quieter corners and unused doorways have become temporary shrines commemorating the many lives lost in the war. And from darker shadows, the illegal activities which plague the city respond to the celebration by spreading, taking advantage of the countless distractions available to operate in plain sight. Whether you're here exploring, working a favor for Morningstar, or following up on something for your own piece of mind, you'll find that Resolution Day may be the best time to explore the less glamorous parts of New Amsterdam. > 004: CRIMINAL ACTIVITY Organized crime still has a strong foothold in the world, with gangs and more established families working drugs, weapons, property and black market cybernetics, to name a few. These organizations are sprawling units that regularly recruit new members into their ranks, so long as they can prove themselves by passing the intensive hazing. Maybe you'd like to have a role in such a powerful organization. Or maybe you'd like to use your relative anonymity to burn it all down. One way to get an in is through their numerous clubs and illegal gambling dens, where to get past the door you have to know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy. Don't know a guy? Feel free to try to use brute force or some chicanery to make them believe that you belong among their numbers. Just don't get caught doing anything they don't like – which could be breathing the wrong way, if you're unlucky enough. Best to have an escape plan in place, like perhaps stealing one of the many hovercars or hoverbikes parked outside the establishment. If you've got the skills, you'll be able to weave through the chaos of Resolution Day and make a clean getaway – just don't let the chase run for too long, or you'll have law enforcement on your ass as well. > 005: FIGHT CLUB No matter the occasion outside, New Amsterdam's fight club events are held every evening. The bouncers at the door don't have too many scruples on who they let inside. All they care about is whether someone has the money to pay the cover charge. The interior of the fight club reveals the sophistication of a business that's used to uprooting itself regularly. All the fights take place in a fighting cage in the center, and you remain on your feet while you enjoy the show. There is a special VIP section if you've been lucky enough to receive an invite or bribe your way in. Regardless of where you end up, there is one rule: what happens in the fight club stays in the fight club. This tenant is law, and everyone's heard stories of the different (and sometimes extreme) lengths which have been taken to maintain it. Maybe you're here to sign up and test your chops against other fighters. Everyone's fired up from the Resolution Day celebrations, and many of the fighters boast illegal cybernetic enhancements, so it would be a really good idea to have someone on hand who knows some first aid. Maybe you'd prefer to just enjoy the show, or take the opportunity to grill the bartenders for information. Just be careful not to make a fool of yourself. Asking too many questions might catch the wrong kind of attention – the kind that might find you being thrown into the ring, whether you wanted to be there or not. For all the blood spilled, these fight clubs thrive on discretion, so whatever you do, try to keep it quiet.

> SPACE

Humanity isn't limited to only Earth in this new universe. Whether you'd already made your way off planet, or are now looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of the megacities – and the truth about Resolution Day – all you need to get out and explore space is the means. You probably don't have them from the start, but you can improvise, right? > 006: STOWAWAY Trips out in space are monitored and regulated, and unless you've signed up on the government's incentive scheme, passenger tickets aren't going cheap. Want to get off planet untracked, or don't give a damn about proper regulation and insurance? Freight flights are many and plentiful, and in all the excitement (and lingering intoxication), it just got a lot easier to slip past one crew or another. Of course, you'll be catching a ride with stacks of water containers, or fermented beans and canned pickles. Better hope that they keep everything secure, or it might get a little smelly – or cramped – in there before long. But most importantly, don't get caught. If you do, you better make sure you have a damn good story, or perhaps just knocking out whoever caught you would be safer than risking a quick flight out of the nearest airlock. That's not saying that sneaking on board is the only option. Perhaps stealing a ship for yourself would be more to your tastes. It won't be easy – all spaceships are monitored and carefully regulated – but there's plenty of rarely used fancy private shuttles parked up at the space port. Evading the guards, breaking past security and piloting out of there is all a bit much for one person, so you'd better have brought a buddy to help you with the wild ride ahead. > 007: THE COLONIES Coming to space might have seemed like an escape from the mess of society contained in the megacities of Earth, but it turns out the colonies aren't the shining new frontier all the advertisements and billboards made them out to be. Whatever brave new world you'd come out here hoping for, waste management probably wasn't at the top of the list. That's the job of a greenie, though, and it means you won't be getting any time off while everyone else sneaks away to join in on the festival fun. You and your current partner in custodial engineering have to clean up the mess. With everyone... "preoccupied," waste management takes on a whole new meaning. Without anyone else to tag in, you're the only two left to respond when one of the now all too familiar warning sirens start wailing. The problem this time? Yet another part of the colony's water reclamation systems is breaking down. It may be worth trying to fix it yourselves – god knows you've seen it done enough times in the couple of weeks since you started here – but the mechanisms are dangerous, and you could potentially drown or lose a limb or two in the process. Hesitation is understandable, but the work needs to get done. Your job is on the line, and if you fail, the lives of the people in the colonies could be at stake. On the other hand, failure – or doing nothing – may appeal to you. Chaos begets change, doesn't it? It's clear something needs to happen.

> THE WILDCARDS

> 008: POWER AND CONTROL For some people, getting a new power is just a day ending in Y. But even if you've had a power before, you haven't had this power. Without a good idea of precisely what's now inside of your body, you might find yourself wishing that you'd been making more of an effort to find out exactly what happened. These powers can either lie dormant or come out at moments of high emotion, and as the Resolution Day festival fills the streets with a crush of bodies, noise and lights, it might be very easy to get stressed, confused, scared, or maybe even angry. To get things under wraps, you'll want to duck away to somewhere more private or hidden. Thankfully, there are numerous underpasses, dark corners, and currently-empty shops, but you'll need to be quick to avoid raising any eyebrows – or avoid hurting anyone. You might want to see if there's any friendly faces nearby, as a helping hand to get away quietly and get things back under control might very well be necessary. > 009: GO NUTS Resolution Day isn't all there is to explore, so feel free to branch out! Visit a doctor about some advanced cybernetics (on a day that isn't a holiday, of course). Get used to the technology. Make a bold declaration to set out into the wilderness and become a llama farmer. Use the SETTING for inspiration and choose your own adventure. Of course, you may just want to reach out: physically or technologically. Perhaps an accidental brush of hands has brought the new EMPATHY BOND to light, or you want to use the NETWORK to make sure everyone knows how you're feeling about these new discoveries. Surely everyone will care about your thoughts on cricket chowder soup, right?

> NAVIGATION

Comments

tony stark ⊛ mcu

[hyperverbose]

𝑵𝑬𝑾 ⊛ 𝑨𝑴𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑫𝑨𝑴

002

[ tony stands in front of a screen, ripping open the package of a chocolate covered beetle with his teeth, riveted to the screen. there's something about the droning sonorous voice narrating the triumph of humans over villainous artificial intelligence run amok that's got this guy rooted in place, a furrowed line between his brows that is ascribable to some kind of personal cord being struck.

sort of a sore spot, still.

he doesn't even seem to notice your character drawing near, so focused is he on the little history lesson. ]

𝑺𝑷𝑨𝑪𝑬

006

[ maybe you thought you were brilliant stowing away on this ship, but apparently, you aren't the only one. you've finally made it into the storage hold, held your breath and listened for the guards to walk by, and breathed a sigh of relief... only to have a voice speak up casually from behind you. ]

For the record, these aren't great straight out of the jar.

[ tony is sitting there, against the back wall between two crates, with a jar of canned pickles open in his lap, and one in his hand with a large bite mark out of it. he seems awfully calm for a likely other stowaway. he takes another bite with a crunch that seems to echo through the hold. ]

𝑵𝑬𝑻𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑲

009

who else has come up with a catchy name for the little perma-spy in our skulls? i was thinking 'orwell', but that might be a little too on the nose. there's always 'hoover'.

𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑫𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑫

[ pick your poison ]

009

[expatriates]

I've been calling it Tony.

[hyperverbose]

[ RUDE ]

last i checked, i wasn't injecting anybody with pentium processors while they sleep. [ yet ]

[expatriates]

At this point I know better than to underestimate you.

[hyperverbose]

i'm choosing to take that as a compliment.

but ftr this one's 100% not on me

[expatriates]

Are you sure? I've been hearing talk of a squashed AI uprising.

I don't mean to point fingers, Tony, but it has your brushwork.

[hyperverbose]

that sounds like a finger

oo6 (sorry, hit delete by accident!)

[armistices]

( he seems to split his time equally between exfiltrating ships and infiltrating them. no guard rotations to memorize here. no lions, no voltron. no galra arm. just him. a guy gone grey before his time, missing an arm. up here on a wing and a prayer.

and a guy chewing on pickles, apparently.

shiro raises an eyebrow. human. not one he knows. it's naive to trust on the basis of species, but he's been away from earth a long, long time. the instinct is always to reach out. he could be a crewmate aboard the ship. shiro is poised to do violence, but he can't do it. can't bring himself to that edge. not unless he needs to. )

Maybe they just need a little seasoning.

( still wary. he's perfectly aware this guy could sound the alarm on him. but his tone is passably friendly. )

<3 no worries!

[hyperverbose]

I don't suppose you packed any. [ again, he seems so conversational about it that there doesn't seem to be any cause for immediate alarm, at least. ] But you're welcome to share. They say space on an empty stomach is a bad call.

[armistices]

( he has a bag slung over his shoulder, tucked in close against his side where his right arm used to be. he pulls it off by its strap over his head and approaches tony with a light step. still ready for a fight. the bag's held out as a peace offering, implicit permission to rummage through. )

No spices, but I brought my own food.

( he's savvy in the way of stowing, as it were. he knew he could be caught up here for weeks and he has a strong preference for not starving.

but he'll share. )

If you're looking for a five course meal, you're out of luck. I've got you covered for all your granola and freeze-dried ice cream cravings.

( light, easy to pack, enough protein to get by. there are other things but it mostly falls under the category of things an astronaut would pack for a space flight. bland, with dense caloric content. )

[hyperverbose]

Someone earned his Boy Scouts of America badge. [ he takes one last bite, before dropping the pickle over his shoulder with a look of distaste ] Tony Stark. Who're you?

[armistices]

( shiro just. raises an eyebrow. normally he'd offer his name in conjunction with a handshake, but that's a right-handed thing and he's. a little lacking in a right arm at the moment. tony gets a nod instead. )

Most people call me Shiro.

( his tone's just the faintest bit dry. )

[hyperverbose]

[ ok, he can't let that pass ] And what do the rest call you?

» 009

[differentiate]

orwell? might as well call it skynet, if we're going for overused.
try lint.
as in jack.

[hyperverbose]

to each their own devious governmental busybody, i suppose.

[differentiate]

waiting for my lobotomy. any day now.
you going to name the other fun thing they gave us?

[hyperverbose]

i'm guessing you don't mean the haircut

002

[cobweb]

[Oh, hey so-

So when Peter stopped by to get in some research on the history of a place that seems to have kidnapped him (still getting used to that concept, by the way, still not fully sure he's not just going to wake up at some point and wow Ned with the most epic and terrifying dream ever) actually recognizing someone in there was kind of the last thing he expected.

There have been a couple other people, faces in the crowd he remembers from when he was dumped here. People he suggested sticking together with, but nobody who stuck.

But this is

This

...

Peter stands behind Tony for a long time, staring at the too-familiar silhouette until his eyes have stopped stinging and he's almost sure his voice won't come out choked and squeaky. Pretty crazy how being reminded of home's probably the worst thing that's happened since being stolen away from it.

But Iron Man's here. Tony Stark. And back home when Tony shows up it usually means things are going to be ok. Sometimes only after everything goes all the way to hell but - you know. In the end. At any rate, Tony means safety and strength in Peter's book. And now he means home, and a thousand and one things Peter misses, and he's going to have to bite the bullet on this or he'll never manage to speak at all so - ]

Oh, hey Mister Stark. [It's as light as it always is, somehow, as though he last saw him last week. As though things aren't crazy now.] I watched this one earlier, it's kind of messed up.

[That's not what he wants to say, and one look at his face shows the floodgates are probably going to break any minute, but right now it's all he's got.]

[hyperverbose]

[ the last time tony heard that voice wasn't actually all that long ago - peter was, after all, one of the last people he had seen before finding himself here, in this place, or world, or time - whatever it was. he'd certainly wondered what had become of the young, earnest hero-in-training (as he inevitably still saw him), but part of him had come to believe that he'd been left on that spaceship alone, which had left him with enough guilty feelings to grapple with.

he's not sure whether it's solely relief or not that he's feeling, but it's definitely in that neighborhood as he turns and sets eyes on the boy.

he registers the look on his face, the emotions rising to the surface there, and feels a swell of something wash through him, that feels a great deal like responsibility. he reaches out to squeeze peter's shoulder, the only concession he makes towards real sentiment lest the kid let his own emotions get the better of him here in this alien place. ] You know, new rule. We wind up separated on an alternate Earth, you're allowed to call me.

( 002 )

[mannerism]

[ The videos themselves are biased, of course they are but they're not a complete waste of time. She has watched them all, taken in whatever information she thought necessary ( an uprising of sentient machines? bloody hell ) and she wouldn't have paid that particular screen any attention if it weren't for the man watching it.

A stranger, by all means. Only - only he reminds her of someone in a rather striking way. Something about his posture, something about his features. It brings about a tinge of longing - what would he make of it? lord knows how attached howard was to the idea of flying cars.

It takes her a moment to understand that she's staring. ]

Not entirely unlike War of the Worlds, is it?

[hyperverbose]

[ there's the slightest of doubletakes on tony's end as well as he glances back at the woman.

it's not merely because she's striking - there's something about her face that niggles at his own memory, but it's distant enough that he's left unable to put his finger on it. his voice is cautious as he cynically replies:] Right down to the paranoia propaganda.

Human nature hasn't changed much, apparently.

[mannerism]

Nor shall it ever, I wager.

[ prone to conflict, to wars. Is she one to judge, doing what she does, the work she does? so much of what she did was meant to keep the world safe but the best attempts at securing the world could, at times, lead to such disasters. Howard Stark taught her that. ]

Still. Gives them a reason to celebrate.

[hyperverbose]

And something to hate. [ he's not great at disguising the cynicism in his voice. ] Nothing brings people together more, after all.

[mannerism]

A realistic man.

[ She is painfully realistic, too, she cannot fault him his cynicism. They're one and the same, in that. There were only few moment when Peggy Carter found it terribly easy to be an idealist, and they were all spent in Steve's company. ]

Take the videos with a grain of salt, then? would that be your advice?

[hyperverbose]

Recognize that there's two sides to every story, and we seem pretty firmly bombarded by one side.