TEST DRIVE #1

[collectedmods]

TEST DRIVE #1

Hi shoppers! Welcome to the first Test Drive Meme for COLLECTED. A few things before we get started:

» For the time being, our TDM’s are closed to those eligible to apply based on our invite system. This means that you must be on one of the mod’s plurklists, or invited as a +1 by someone on those lists. Thanks for understanding!

» TDM Threads will NOT be canon.

» Because of that, feel free to assume/handwave CR, and assume your character has been in the setting for a little bit.

» When the game opens, characters will be able to try their hand at going outside. But, during the TDM, all doors and windows to the outside will be locked, and characters will be unable to venture out there.

» These prompts are not exhaustive - feel free to make up your own within the setting of the mall! Anywhere on the Second Floor of the mall is free game. And if you have any questions about what you can and can’t do (or about anything else) reply to the QUESTIONS comment below, and we’ll get back to you soon.

Most importantly, have fun! And thank you so much for your interest in Collected; we’ve been so stoked over the turnout!! 🧡

PROMPTS

I.

There’s one big problem about getting around the Mall - and no, it’s not the bottom floor that’s flooded.

The other huge problem that the dilapidated infrastructure causes aside from making everything smell weird and leaving tons of crumbled debris around is that at some points in the mall, it’s impossible to get across large gaps in the flooring where it’s fallen through to the waters below. In fact, to access the side of the mall across from where you are right now, there are no paths that are safe for walking across. But there is one way.

One attraction of the mall has stayed (mildly) in tact - and that’s a Hi Wire Bicycle. The one way across to the other side of the Mall is this rusty, dusty bicycle attached to a thick wire, with signs around the attraction describing how much the fare used to be to ride across - if you were daring enough, that is! Obviously, no one’s ridden across this thing in years - much less for the overpriced payment required.

More than that, it seems a little… less than safe. The net that probably provided mall-goers with some degree of self-assurance has aged, sagging and unraveling at the junctures of some of the knots. If you were to fall onto it, would it still catch you…? The wire affixed to the bike doesn’t seem too steady, either, not to mention how hard you’ll have to push against the rusted pedals to get them to move. As it stands, though, it’s the only way across to get to the Second Floor’s other half of stores. Luckily (or maybe unluckily?) there’s a seat for you and a friend. So, at least you won’t go down alone.

To make it across, you’ll have to be brave, be creative, and most of all, be lucky!

II.

A.

Near the heart of the food court, decorations for what used to be Santa’s village are still laid about. How many Christmases ago were these left here? By the looks of things, a lot. A thick coating of dust has settled on the nooks and crannies of what is supposed to be the elves workshop, alongside the seat where Santa must have sat to take pictures with children.

In the Elves’ Workshop, you’ll find a massive amount of animatronic elves. They’re all positioned to be working on toys, putting up decorations, or singing from carol books - it looks like these little guys were put here to perform for kids, not unlike an interactive (and more Christmas-y) version of It’s a Small World. There’s even un-opened (and therefore okay-to-eat!) boxes of chocolate chip cookies that must have been for the Mall-goers around Christmastime stashed inside an open cabinet, which was most definitely only for employees to access.

The only problem is that once you enter and make your way inside the workshop… something strange happens. Is something grabbing onto your clothes? Your hair? Maybe a stray finger? It’s the little wooden hands of one of the elves. Your first thought is that you just brushed past it and got caught on it - but, on the second thought, it’s not letting go. In fact, it’s grip is getting tighter. Painful, even. All while it smiles blankly ahead, eerily still aside from it’s tiny hand squeezing you. Take your eyes off these cheery boys and girls for too long, and you’ll realize they’re not staying put like good little elves - they’re moving closer to you only when they’re out of sight.

If you’re unlucky enough for several to latch onto you, you’d better ho-ho-hope someone can break you free.

B.

Outside the Workshop, more towards where the line to meet Santa would be, there’s a big snow machine. Unluckily for you, the machine’s sensors, which would have known to start putting out snow whenever people walk by, seem to still be working despite the Mall’s run-down state. As soon as you get near the thing, it starts spewing out tons of fake snow. It’s completely unlike the delicate sprinkling you’d find in a shopping center: it’s plain blasting you with the stuff, more like a hose than anything else. Too bad that the part of the machine that broke was whatever controlled the volume and speed of the snow instead of the sensors, right?

The fake snow is sticky and old, and will stick to you and the floor the more you get caught in it - better hurry and stop that machine!

C.

There’s a huge, luxurious chair that was most certainly reserved for the Santa employee in the center of the village area - tall and wide enough for at least a few people to clamber onto. Even though the paint is chipping off parts of the throne, and the wood is decaying in places - it still doesn’t look too bad, all things considered. Even the camera is still sitting in front of the chair, balanced on a tripod as though there were kids coming to take pictures with Santa today.

You’ll find that walking into the frame of the camera with more than one person causes the camera to go off. The camera will even print your picture, and never seems to run out of film - no matter how many times it fires. Did it catch your bad side, the first time? Feel free to try again! Dress up, find props, take pictures with your newfound companions to your heart’s content!

The only thing to be wary of is that in every few photos, someone else is in the photo. It’s a smiling, bright-eyed child, despite their transparency compared to you and your companion in the image. Judging by the sitting pose, and the performative smile, the added kid is none other than a reflection of a child who had taken pictures here with Santa long, long ago.

III.

With the size of the mall, and the variety of the stores inside, it’s only natural to think to forage for items that might be of use - there’s got to be something left behind here that will help you, right? Or a portal home?

Not too far from the department store you’d wandered in from, there’s a clothing store with an… interesting problem, for lack of a better word. The store has been overrun with rats. Big ones, too, scurrying about the floors and what’s left of the shelves, gnawing on what remains of the carpet and the remnants of cardboard packaging. Anyone sane would steer clear of this mess!

But, there’s something off about this store. Not only do all the rats somehow stay mysteriously contained within the walls of the store, never scurrying out of it, and with no signs of other stores being infested at all, but there’s also something that’s very familiar to you in this store. It could be a weapon, an item of clothing, or something as simple as your most favorite phone charm - point of the matter is, the rats have a hoard akin to a dragon’s behind the cashier’s counter, full of trinkets and belongings to all who have come through this place. They’ll work to keep their paws on what they have, too.

If you want your special something back, you’ll have to brave the vermin.



NAVIGATION

Comments

d

[prison]

[ okay, so this place has a little bit of a rat problem. that should be no problem, because ren has been a scurrying, meddling, cheese-eating rat himself, once upon a time- if you could believe it, in the deep subconscious of a corrupt politician looking to become japan's next prime minister. it's a long story. and despite the fact that he hadn't remained a rat for that long, in half-hour intervals at most, he thinks the very fact that he transformed into one once gives him the honorary title of rat king, thereby granting him limitless rat-whispering powers to use and abuse as he may please.

the swarm of them is only a little intimidating, but ren can only think about how adorable they all had been trapped inside rat traps, still gleefully chewing on cheese to replenish their vitality. he thinks, the box they're chewing on now must be a reflection of that. ren's been a rat before, so he knows biology inspires them to get through anything that may resemble food, or resemble a protective outside shell of food. they're just doing what what's necessary to survive. at least, that's how he justifies it when he sees the individual up on a piece of concrete, helpless to stop their tireless work against the rustic wooden box. ren walks up to them rather casually, hand in pocket, and peering first at the swarm, and then to the individual on the concrete. ]

Something important? [ color him intrigued. ] I can help you get it back, but...

[ he wants to know what's inside. ]

[globs]

[ the worst part of this is that the box is, in fact, stuffed to the brim with precious jewels - not that Cinnabar plans on telling him that. Or anyone, really. It was supposed to be a secret. Frankly, the fact that it's even here is a huge problem, and Cinnabar doesn't know what to do about it yet -- they just know that it's going to be more of a problem if the rats have it and not them. Their crystalline eyes turn on him, narrowing in a combination of suspicion and nerves. ]

I don't need your help.

[ they obviously need some help ]

[prison]

[ treasure, then. his absolute favorite. ren doesn't need to know what's inside to know it's valuable, though; it's in their mannerisms: propped on top of a crumbled pedestal, almost willing to go through a swarm of rodents in order to retrieve it back. it's fear holding them back, and ren intends to exploit that. ]

Then I could just take that box for myself, right? If you're not gonna get it yourself.

[ there's a teasing quirk of his lips. he doesn't really mean it, but rather testing their resolve. ]

[globs]

[ now that makes their hackles rise. The nerves and suspicion from before solidify into downright distrust, and they glare at him. Though they've largely been inert, the small blobs of metallic goo hovering in the air around them become agitated in tandem with Cinnabar's expression. ]

Don't make me have to hurt you. I don't want to.

[ but that box can't end up with someone random! it's too important for that. As if to prove their intent, they take a single step down from the fallen concrete block, trying to look as menacing as they can manage. ]

[prison]

[ oh, now that's scary. ren's gaze flickers over to the hovering metallic goo, wondering what they can be. part of their unique powers, surely, and meanwhile, ren considers his options. for one, he still wants to maintain his front as a regular teenager- not for any reason other than the fact that he doesn't know who or what he's dealing with yet. he doesn't consider this person an enemy; the enemy is the one who had brought them all here in the first place. thus, he doesn't want to fight them and their admittedly interesting powers of... floating goo.

ren backs up slightly when they step down from their concrete block, holding his hands up in mild surrender. ]

I don't want you to hurt me either. [ his hands lower, gesturing towards the swarm of rats. ] We can deal with them together, if that's what you'd prefer?

[ still curious about the box. but his intention had been to help them in the first place, so...!! ]