progress city test drive #3

[progressmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Here You Leave Today And Enter The World Of Yesterday, Tomorrow And Fantasy. Welcome to Progress City's second test drive meme! This game is a panfandom jamjar set in a flux dimension inspired by Disney Theme Parks (particularly Walt Disney World in Florida) and the original concept for EPCOT (a city that would connect to the theme parks). Whether you're looking to join us or are just here to play around for a little bit, we have a few prompts below for you - but you're also free to come up with your own! Reserves are always open!

Prompt A Whatever you're doing, wherever you are, you find a vintage-looking ticket. The next time you blink or close your eyes for any reason, you open them and find yourself somewhere else - Progress City's Ticket and Transportation Center. You have no idea how you got here, and definitely don't know how you got this weird thing on your wrist... You'll learn, eventually, that Progress City and it's world-class themeparks are a popular tourist dimension across this universe. People can get in here very easily, but for some reason, that unremovable band on your wrist isn't allowing you to use their transporters to get home. To compensate, you'll be offered a job in the parks and free housing for the duration of your stay. Is that something you're willing to take?

Prompt B While you're here, you might as well spend some time around the theme parks in your downtime. It's easy enough to get to them - the city offers free 24/7 monorail and peoplemover transportation to each park, and you also get a free annual pass for yourself with your stay (lucky you)! If you're at all familiar with Walt Disney World, these four parks will seem...remarkably familiar to you. But there's little subtle differences here and there that that make this seem different - and the ones in charge will seem confused by the concept of a "Walt Disney World". Must be a thing about different dimensions. Nevertheless, you're still going to have the occasional bit of free time here, so there's plenty to see and do here across all four areas. Go ride some rides and eat some Dole Whip, you crazy kids.

Prompt C With the housing, you also get offered a job by Progress City's mayor. Maybe you decide to take it, maybe you don't, he's not gonna kick you out of your apartment unless you deserve it. But this poses a good way to get some actual money. You'll be matched to a job around the resort - hopefully one you enjoy. You could end up working in the parks as a ride operator, serving food, managing a shop, working security, or ending up as a pool lifeguard. There are a number of possibilities here, and you can always change your job later on if you find one that may suit you more.

Prompt D Over time, the thing on your wrist changes. Namely, it'll start taking on new colors, designs and occasionally icons that reflect your character's personality and appearance. You'll find that by concentrating you'll be able to utilize your band to... cast magic spells, of all things. These also seem tailored to your character - summoning weapons, creating projectiles, putting foes to sleep? It seems that no two bands are alike when it comes to this. ...Occasionally, you'll spot one or two small ink blot-like creatures scurrying about the city or the parks, creating an inky mess and leaving a small amount of chaos in it's wake. Those don't seem advertised. Perhaps they'd be good to try out your new abilities on, or maybe you'd prefer to practice a little bit first.

Prompt E Every now and again, the city will host a Festival! Progress City prides itself in making festivals with great food and drink, and will happily let its citizens enjoy it for a nice discount! You can either look up examples of Disney festival treats or make up some yourself, but rest assured, everything you order will be simply amazing. If you're not too busy getting drunk to stand, there are also other events you can participate in! There are also small events your character can participate in! In this hypothetical festival, your character can take a cooking class, attend a seminar to learn basic magic tricks (with real magic!), or try out a fancy new VR game where you fight against other players as giant robots.

Wildcard As always, feel free to come up with your own scenario if none of these inspire you!

Comments

[twoswordsmaybemore]

[fingerguns and a wink]

[stinkypete]

They certainly do! And if they don't, I'll make them adore me!

[Said with a strained smile. This guy's really getting on his nerves, not to mention the fact that Pete's essentially been backed into a corner.

Easy, Pete. You've got this. You've swindled your way out of too many places to be trapped by this weirdo.]

Listen, buster, I don't make the rules, I just enforce 'em. So if you don't gimme your cards right now, you'll be drinkin' out of a straw for the next month, see?

[...Is this guy a toon? He can't actually tell, and it's frankly creeping him out a little.]

[ur_1]

I think you do make the rules- that is to say, make them up. Even if you are a police officer, you have absolutely no right or authority to arrest me for standing, and should you dare lay a finger on me, my sword will find its way to your heart.

... Barring that, I will bury you with enough legal trouble to ruin whatever life you may have in this place.

Now, let me go into this shop,, and let me buy that toy hawk.

[stinkypete]

[...He feels like he ought to feel threatened by this man, but instead he just crosses his arms and just lets out a booming laugh. Peg-Leg Pete moves for no one, and he certainly won't let himself be moved by this emo little man.]

Hah! I'd like to see you just try to take down the mighty Peg-Leg Pete!

[ur_1]

To war it is, then.

[Sadly, Blackquill doesn't actually have his blade. That was a bluff. He's also not really feeling up to fighting a giant cat man right now, especially since its immediately after learning that creatures like giant cat men exist.

But Blackquill is gonna rear his arms up and bring them down on Pete's head, smashing the chains of his handcuffs. He grins wildly, stretching out his newly-freed hands.

... And then he's going to try to dodge past Pete.]

[stinkypete]

WHAM!

[The word appears above Pete's head, letters quaking in mid-air before disappearing. Several spirals and stars seem to radiate out from the impact. Pete staggers backwards--he hadn't been expecting that. By the time he clears his head, Blackquill has already slipped past him.]

HEY!

[He storms inside. Any trace of false kindness has been wiped from his face, replaced with an expression of sheer fury.]

Why, when I get my hands on you, you'll regret the day you ever decided to buy that stupid toy! C'mere, you--!

[He barrels towards the man, fully intending to body slam him into the shelves. Screw these shopkeepers--they can complain to Mayor Serling about the damages later.]

[ur_1]

[Hey Uh What The Fuck Was That

Simon would take a minute to try to comprehend that cartoonish bullshit, but he's a bit busy trying to survive the fury of Pete.

He let his anger get the best of him, he knows that, especially when he feels himself slammed into the nearest shelf and toppling to the ground. The shelf collapses as well, trinkets shattering all over the floor. Blackquill winces for the sake of the shopkeep.

Speaking of-]

You there- call the bloody cops, or whatever counts as such in this town.

[He shouts that at the nearest employee, before kneeing Pete in the gut and wrenching himself free of the other's grip.

Simon has a few plans in mind, and none of them are particularly good. But this is the best one he's got.]

[stinkypete]

Oof!

[Pete doubles over for a second, trying to keep his grip on Blackquill but failing. Snarling, he scoops up a shattered trinket and throws it at him, hoping to catch him off guard.]

Why, you @#!$-- [how did he do that with his mouth] --I'll wring your neck out!

[He charges blindly back towards Blackquill, hands outstretched. The ground practically shakes as he runs.]

[ur_1]

[Blackquill takes getting hit with broken shards of glass in stride, only wincing a little as the trinket crashes into his shoulder. He'll be picking broken glass out of his hair for weeks.

Simon has the advantage of speed and smaller size, and he ducks past Pete again, kicking his leg out to trip Pete up as he does so.]

[stinkypete]

AGH--! [Pete stumbles forward and loses his balance, tumbling head over heels into a revolving merchandise display. The display topples over with a CRASH and begins to roll away with Pete running on top of it. This shouldn't be possible within the laws of physics, but when have toons ever cared about that? Pete sticks out his hand to catch himself on a nearby pillar. He swings back around and grabs a conveniently-placed fake swordfish off the wall, pointing it threateningly towards Simon as he advances.]

[ur_1]

Oh- a swordfight, is it?

[Blackquill grabs the nearest sword-like object to him.

... Not very useful.

But he still brandishes it like a proper sword, prepared to fight Pete off while backing closer to the door.]

[stinkypete]

HAH! You think you can defeat me with that toy?

[Pete makes a mental note to "encourage" the local shopkeepers to stop selling so much Mickey Mouse merchandise. As he rolls by, he thrusts the swordfish at Blackquill's head with unusual finesse.]

Take THAT!

C

[not_over_yet]

[ Master Shake may or may not notice the scent of tobacco. The designated smoking areas are in fact far off enough that a single pipe could be noticeable... buuut this particular pipe is also very small. Like, belongs-to-a-mouse small. ]

Given we don't manufacture cars in this place, can't say that's much of a threat. Have you tried insulting its parentage?

[ Basil is currently bored enough that this qualifies as an acceptable pastime. ]

[ur_1]

Says the man fighting with a fish.

[Blackquill is trained enough with swords to fight back with ferocity, the broken chains of his handcuffs clinking as he swings his shitty toy sword. He blocks, parries, and jabs with a speed that's hard to keep up with, and he still has enough of a grip on the situation to keep an eye out for any bystanders. Simon continues to back up as he fights.

He's almost at the door.]

[stinkypete]

[It seems that Pete has met his match. As much as he tries to jab at Blackquill, his attacks don't seem to land, being parried by this stupid toy sword. As the fight continues, Pete's face become contorted with frustration and rage.] ENOUGH! I'm endin' this stupid fight, once and for all! [In a last resort, he throws the swordfish at Simon like a javelin, snarling.]

[ur_1]

[Simon dodges one last time, but he doesn't go for the door. Instead, he grabs the fucking toy hawk, and cradles it in one hand while pointing his terrible toy sword with the other.]

It appears you've thrown your blade, and with it, the match. Pity.

[And NOW he makes a run for it out the door.]

Henrietta Biggle | South Park: The Fractured But Whole

[noncomformist]

Prompt A

[What the hell is this?

At first she was just looking at some lame piece of garbage, next she was standing here in this barf-inducing crapsack. She has to admit, it is kind of shocking just how awful where she's been brought is, and for a moment Henrietta is slack-jawed in shock at it, cigarette holder drooping between her fingers.]

Oh my god.

[The words are spoken with a mixture of shock and disgust. Perhaps, even a little bit of terror. Not the reaction you'd really expect from most ten year olds.]

It's like a fiefdom of conformists.

[And she just takes an angry drag off her cigarette, smoke billowing between her clenched teeth.]

This is so lame.

Prompt B

[There had to be something or somewhere in this place that was not just utterly fucking awful. Henrietta, at least, didn't plan to just stalk the streets of this hellhole all day without any kind of direction. Her ego couldn't take it, having to pass each one of the stupid attractions in this place knowing she couldn't spit on each and every fucking one of them.

Then she comes to the Haunted Mansion. Even if it still looks like the dumb happy shit here, it's still the closest thing to looking kind of goth in this place. Who knows. There has to be something decent in this place.

Of course, she's disappointed almost immediately in it. By the time the ride gets to the portrait gallery, she's already smoking again, leaning against the side of the cart as bored as possible, rolling her eyes.]

It's like a gallery for the shitty demons who couldn't cut it in hell.

[This sucks. What an affront to everything goth.]

Prompt E

[This place even has its own stupid horrid conformist festivals. At least at home she could fully avoid all the dumb festivals or at least have her clique to hang out with, but here there's just nothing else to do but go to them. Go to them and talk about how fucking stupid and awful they are.

She decided she'd take a look at this wussy 'magic' class. Surprise. It's the most eye rolling thing she has ever seen, and at this point she is just leaning back in her chair.]

This is so fucking boring.

[She doesn't bother to whisper that either. Let everyone know how much this sucks. They deserve to know.]

B

[supoorhero]

[This is so cool. He's never even been to Disneyland. Or is this Disney World? Who cares. Same rides, same food, same shitty haunted house. Regardless, as you would expect from a kid without any adult supervision, Kenny's having a pretty good time. He's also not following any stay-in-the-queue rules. Fuck that.

This is why one of the portraits (the one with the zombie guy) seems to have gained a life of its own by floating off the wall and towards Henrietta. Just kidding, he took it off the wall. He holds it in front of his face like a mask and wiggles it at Henrietta.]

BOO!

[noncomformist]

[Okay. Henrietta was too busy discouraging and bitching about how non-goth everything was to completely ignore Kenny's initial shenanigans. She gives a small huffing yelp of surprise at the painting, moving slightly away from it at first. Then she just goes back to her usual dour look, eyes maybe a little more arched in annoyance.]

Oh my god. It's so much lamer up close.

[You didn't surprise her Kenny. You totally didn't, she's just taken aback by how utterly fucking lame the painting truly is.]

[supoorhero]

No it's not! It's gross and scary. [wiggle wiggle] Look, you can see his bones poking out of his face.

[What could be more goth than that???]

[noncomformist]

[Just still frowning Kenny. She thinks, briefly, about putting her cigarette out on it to show just how non-scary it is, but decides not to. This place isn't THAT lame it deserve burning. It's not a Hot Topic after all.]

It's only sorta goth. The real souls of the damned are way grodier.

[supoorhero]

[He doesn't have the heart to correct her on that; some of the damned souls and demons he's met were scary, but most of them just seemed like they were trying to do their best with what they had. Kenny lowers the portrait and considers it with a vaguely disappointed look.]

I thought it was cool. [huff] And who says he's not real? Maybe the mansion's for real haunted.

[noncomformist]

No way.

[She says that in full confidence as she flicks her cigarette out the other side of the cart and behind them.]

Haunting spirits would be way more goth than this. If this were a for real haunting, you might come in here with a soul but you won't be leaving with one.

[supoorhero]

Then what's that mean for us when we're already in here?

[The idea isn't really exciting because living without a soul just sounds like another way of dying, but it is funny to see her so mad about it.]

It's Disney, but really magic. So that means that this could be a haunted mansion, but really haunted. Annnd... If I was a soul-stealing ghost...

[He creeps up closer to her.]

[noncomformist]

Means we're going to find out. Or you are.

[She sounds as non-chalant about it as possible. Disney is some poser, fru-fru dumb magic. It totally undersold the power of darkness. But Kenny is right; there is real magic here. She doesn't know what to think of that. Sometimes there's a sense of wonder about it, but she remembers that's just a cheap reaction to how she had been. Before she became truly dead and wise to the world. Before she became goth.]

Well if you were a soul stealing ghost-

[She emphasizes the point by lightly jabbing a finger in Kenny's direction.]

I'd say you were shit out of luck when it comes to a meal. My soul is on lock to darker powers.

[She keeps an eye on Kenny as he creeps towards her. Just try and spook her again you goober. She dares you.]