Test Drive for November 2014 Apps

[highseasmods]

Welcome to your monthly Test Drive for high_seas! Here is where new players can test out their characters' voices, old players can try out new muses, and everyone can help each other get some threads for their applications! Feel free to use one of the prompts below, or come up with something on your own! Comment around, have fun, and remember that any CR formed here does not carry over to the game!

See you during the application round!

♦ So you're new to this world and have just woken up in the Town Square. How do you react? What do you do?

♦ You're lost at sea. Maybe you got separated from your crew. Or perhaps you're on an abandoned island. You need help!

♦ "Pirates off the starboard bow!" It's an enemy ship! Attack!!

♦ You and your crew are hanging out on your ship. Just another day at sea!

♦ "LAND, HO!" Hey look, a new island! How about you go explore it? Tell us what you find!

♦ Arrr, here be buried treasure, but not all that glitters is gold! Will ye be telling your mateys what ye found, or keeping it for yourselves?

Comments

Elder Kevin Price | The Book of Mormon

[mostly_me]

Town Square- Isle Empieza

It's Orlando. It's Disney World! It has to be! The cobblestone streets, the quaintly dressed people- they were hiding their employee badges quite well- he had to be in Adventureland, or Frontierland, or where-ever the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was. It had been so long, he barely remembered.

[A tall, impeccably-dressed teenager in a white dress shirt, tie, and black slacks is pondering passerby, a slightly strained smile on his face and a book tucked under his arm.]

[bygraceofgod]

[There's something of a bit of a snicker from a boy who looks to be about seventeen, leaning against a pole as he watches him.]

Sorry kid, not Orlando.

[mostly_me]

There was something a bit off-putting about being called "kid" by someone obviously younger than him. But Kevin pushed it aside in favor of confusion.

"...Excuse me?" He turned to face the speaker, the book moving to cover his stomach like some sort of shield, laughing a little sheepishly. "What did you say? I didn't quite hear you."

[bygraceofgod]

"I think you were thinking aloud. You're in a strange other world. Don't freak out too much." Alis offered with a small smile. "Can't do much to change it."

[mostly_me]

"Still-?" Kevin gaped at him for a moment before he realized what he'd said aloud- again. He cleared his throat, a fist covering his mouth, then closed his eyes briefly to compose himself.

Then he turned back to him with a dazzling smile. "A strange world? These days, any world can seem strange. You can seem lost even knowing exactly where you are. Isn't that right?"

[bygraceofgod]

That was an unexpected change. Alis tilted his head a little curiously at what this boy was rambling on about. "This world is strange. I'd say I am lost, but once I find a way out of here, I'll be back Class 3-4. I alwasy end up back there."

[mostly_me]

"So no matter where you go, you still find your way back..." Kevin held out a hand. "Home. Is that what your school is for you? Home?"

If this was Orlando- or even if it wasn't, as the young man had said- he was here for a purpose. Right now, everywhere he was had a purpose. That was the only way he could think, if he was to get through this. He had to redeem himself.

[bygraceofgod]

"I suppose in a way it is, since I'm trapped there."

What on Earth was this strange kid getting at? Alis just looked him up and down, wondering. "I get out as much as I can, but I have a time limit."

[mostly_me]

Kevin shook his head, wincing a little. "If you feel like you're trapped..." There it was. There was his in.

"What if I told you that there was another way?"

[bygraceofgod]

Alis stared at him a moment. Maybe this boy was the type of person he could bring back to the loop.

"If you have any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them."

[mostly_me]

Kevin smiled- beamed, really- and took a step closer to him.

"Your home- it doesn't have to be a physical place on this, or any other world. It could be a place within your spirit, that you carry with you always. A place you go to feel peace and eternal love. It doesn't have to be a place to be trapped."

[bygraceofgod]

Alis stared at him a moment and then he threw his head back and laughed.

"You're kidding me, right? First of all, eternal anything is a bad idea. I'm already stuck in an eternal hell. That's what happens when God answers your prayers."

[mostly_me]

Kevin didn't look offended at the laughter. In fact, he'd expected it.

"Did you pray for Hell?" he asked earnestly. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I have a hard time believing anyone would do that. I've been to Hell, you see- just recently, actually- and it's not the best of places."

[bygraceofgod]

"It's not my prayer that was answered. Mine was answered, before God abandoned my world. I had this huge basketball game and I had practiced really hard. During that game I prayed and asked Him to make it so I can make the shot. I haven't been able to miss a shot since and I don't just mean with the basketball." Alis exhaled. "The Hell I'm in wasn't my prayer, but the class of 3-4's prayer."

[mostly_me]

"...Your class prayed for you to be in Hell?" He held up a hand, trying to parse through the story. "But... you can't miss now, because you reached out to the Lord and He answered you. But He also answered the rest of your class, and now-" He stopped himself. No- he couldn't lose control of the conversation.

"The more important question here is, though... why is this Hell?" Kevin indicated their surroundings. "What about your life now means you're living in Hell?"

[bygraceofgod]

"Nothing here actually, this isn't my home though. I'm a visitor, just like you." Alis explained. He pushed his hair out of his eyes and sighed softly.

"There was a tragic incident. Class 3-4 wished they could turn back time so it didn't happen. So the ever benevolent God makes us relive the year. Again and again. Until that day. The day comes close to the end and then our loop resets, back to the beginning. It's been fourteen years since that incident."

[mostly_me]

Kevin just fell quiet and listened for a moment, a faint frown on his face. It was a sad story, to be sure, but it didn't make any sense to him. There wasn't any internal consistency- unless something was missing.

"Has anyone tried to avert the incident?" he suggested, folding his arms. "There has to be a reason that the loop continually resets. Heavenly Father must be trying to teach you something. He would never just torture a group of people for no reason."

[bygraceofgod]

"I've tried all kinds of things to break the cycle. My friend Dee is actively trying to stop me."

Alis sighed softly. "The lesson is that you shouldn't pray in case it comes true. It's not the kind of incident you can avoid. There was an accident where a student fell out of the third floor classroom window and died. Then, for the people outside of class 3-4, the students all vanished. They're stuck in this loop."

[mostly_me]

Kevin shook his head emphatically. "That's not true, and I'm so sorry that things have happened to make you feel that way. Prayer- if you ask the Heavenly Father in full faith, He will answer you, and not in some kind of 'phrase your wish perfectly correctly or you'll be tricked' sort of way. He answers the wish in your heart."

He tapped a finger against his lips, brow furrowed, then shook his head. "They must have done something wrong. That's the only answer." He turned to him, holding up the finger with a hopeful smile. "But- the good news is- it can be fixed! You just have to believe that it can be!"

[bygraceofgod]

"He's abandoned our world. He told the world that Heaven and Hell were full and he couldn't take anyone anymore. There have been no babies since then, people can't procreate. If they happen to die, they just rise up again and keep living, until the Gravekeepers come." Alis shook his head. It was a crazy world.

"I'm not sure what they could have done wrong to be subjected to that, but they are oblivious. They remember nothing so how can they change things? Every reset, their memories of the past year vanish. I want this to end. There are things I want to do, I'm tired of being seventeen forever." He paused and snorted. "Granted, I would still be seventeen."

[mostly_me]

Kevin's hand slowly crumpled back down to his side as he spoke. He just listened, horror slowly dawning over his features, the hand holding the book falling down to his side.

He opened his mouth, and for a moment words didn't come out. Then it was just a simple "What?", shocked, completely blown away.

[bygraceofgod]

"As I said, He has left humanity to exist on its own in my world." Alis answered. "He answered my prayer but truth be told, it's not what I wanted either. Basketball got really boring when I could never miss again."

[mostly_me]

"This... This is Hell." Kevin patted himself down frantically, looking around as though expecting flames to burst from the sky any second. "I- I never left. I'm still in Hell. I haven't-"

He slapped himself on both cheeks, letting out a shallow breath, then closed his eyes. This was no time for a panic attack. He'd already done that. He turned to Alis, eyes a little wild and frantic. "How- how long did you say you'd been here?"