bopbay | 004 ⟡ JULY TEST DRIVE

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004 ⟡ JULY TEST DRIVE

⋆✩ test drive 04 ✩⋆

The day begins like any other.

Routines, eventful scenes, and boring errands — no matter what you were in the middle of, there's a moment where everything begins to feel wrong. A searing pain tears through your body, so intense that it feels like every nerve has been struck at once. Muscles spasm, joints scream in protest, and as you double over, you find yourself clawing or clinging at anything within your reach. As your attempts to maintain composure fail you, your bones begin to twist with an agonizing force, the pain rising in a crescendo until it becomes unbearable to even breathe. Then, as quickly as it began, everything stops.

For a single, terrifying moment, there's nothing. No sight, no sound, no touch, no taste, no smell — just the weight of nothingness swallowing you whole. The absence of sensation might even be worse than the pain, leaving you adrift in a void you can't escape. Hopelessness threatens every fiber of your existence, and try as you might to fight it, your darkest thoughts begin to surface, flooding your mind in an onslaught of suffocating feelings and ideas.

In the darkness, you hear a voice.

It's faint, a gentle flashing of something warm along the edges of your mind, like sunlight itself. It's a voice, but you can't identify who or what it comes from, how it sounds, or what it means — still, you know it's directed at you. Something tugs at your heart, a powerful ache that throbs once and ripples outwards. You can feel the aches again, like fresh sores throughout your body. You feel off, like something isn't quite right, like you're not where you should be, or who you should be. But the voice continues, whispered just beyond your understanding. The sound is warm like hope, and it wraps around you, distant yet intent, before you wake up.

i. arrivals

STRANDED ON A BEACH

Beneath your body is wet, thick, sand. In the early dawn hours, one would think all color drained from the world. Eyes open to the shadows of distant buildings, with massive cliffs looming ever closely in the faint twinkling of sunlight. Water, for those particularly unlucky, laps at the body to leave a persisting chill — sinking into bones that no longer feel familiar.

It’s impossible to tell how you got here. All you have is those last moments before it felt as if your entire being was being broken down and stretched into this uncanny shape, this thing that doesn’t feel like you. Even the ground itself seems to agree. It shifts, and rumbles. Gathers into mounds, rising up and over with the sounds of dying gasps. But wait.

That isn’t normal sand. That sand is alive. That sand, gathering into shades of pink, of blue, of green, it all forms faces before your very eyes. An enemy, you may think? A monster? A threat?

“OhhhHHhHH…What has happened to us..?”

Or perhaps, someone in the same predicament as you?

“Someone…Someone get Mightyena!!”

Albeit someone who clearly knows more than you do here, on this beach that slowly regains its color.

CASTLES OF SAND⟡ Severity of dysphoria and disorientation symptoms are entirely up to the player, as is the duration of time these symptoms last.

⟡ The Sandygasts on the beach of Bottlecap Bay are in fact residents of the town by proxy. They are at their most active during the summer, and can thus act as helpful NPCs to help player characters toward the town.

⟡ These Sandygasts are very strange in color. The colors they appear in include — Pink with lilac stones and a blue shovel; Moss green with brown stones and a black shovel; Deep red with black stones and a cyan shovel; Dark purple with white stones and a black shovel. They don’t know how their colors changed either, but they certainly remember being normal Sandygast before everyone arrived.

ii. see the sunset

COPPERAJAH-TONE

With newly arrived Pokemon settling in from the beach, the town quickly moves to adjust existing plans until they’re certain the shores are clear. It only takes a few days before they’re back on schedule however, and every Pokemon including those same arrivals will find themselves with an open invitation to the shoreline.

With the recent successes of Bottlecap Bay, public opinion is at an all time high, which is reflected in the activities pulled together in response. Through much of the Summer season, the beach of Bottlecap Bay becomes a literal hotspot of activity. Beach activities that many will find familiar take part at all hours, with equipment set up at small stands for public use.

A volleyball net is a particularly popular feature of the beach, with a particularly spooky form of gameplay spotted in the evening hours where Ghost types reign. Multicolored buoys float out to section off a safe zone of the water for Pokemon capable of it to swim at their leisure as well, with Bottlecap’s very own Dondozo and Tatsugiri acting as lifeguard.

The most popular game by far however is sand sculpting. Tools of wood and stone can be gathered up to shape the sand into any number of shapes, and some Pokemon may even offer small rewards to those who make especially impressive ones.

Be sure not to accidentally use the sand of one of those colorful Sandygasts however.

Beach Day Breakdown⟡ During the entirety of July, beginning on the 15th, the beach is open for public summer games.

⟡ While examples listed above are available, Players are encouraged to include their own Beach traditions within reason. If you are unsure, please ask under questions.

⟡ Beach fun will happen during the day and night alike. During the day, the beach is far more active; Pokemon are livelier, and enjoy much more cheerful activities. At night, while many Ghost and Dark type Pokemon enjoy the games, there are also often small campfires where quieter traditions such as apple roasting and scary stories happen.

⟡ Alcohol may be present at the campfires of the evening. Please be sure to mark threads including alcohol with a warning, and remember that characters under the age of 21 may not partake.

iii. mentorship methods

BUDDY SYSTEMS

A whole host of new Pokemon arriving is no longer a fully unanticipated scenario for Bottlecap Bay. While the town has persistently done their best to seek a solution to so many displaced new citizens, they have also come to recognize a growing pattern in their arrival. Every other month, these new Pokemon have appeared.

Therefore, the combination of their recent peace and the local nature of these particular arrivals has given them an easy option for guiding these lost new souls. Rather than any of the Guild leaders seeking out ideal Pokemon among their ranks, those who have arrived from other worlds themselves are tasked with a new assignment. Help their fellow interlopers!

At minimum, each Guild Leader suggests a few basics to cover, but the methods with which they do this is ultimately left up to them. A tour of the local sights? A chance to test their mettle with brand new powers? Or perhaps simply a listening ear from one who understands the strangeness of these new bodies. The world is truly their Cloyster.

A MENTOR MINDSET⟡ Each of the Guild Leaders will offer to their existing members few points they consider most vital to teach to the newcomers. Mightyena focuses on making sure the new Pokemon have a place to sleep, and insists that they be taught how best to fight. Ribombee emphasizes a need to show the necessary work ethic of the community, so that an understanding of how much they need to work together is understood. Polteageist in turn, gives a list of necessary establishments to familiarize themselves with, beginning with the Clinic, Archives, and Questboard.

⟡ During much of the month, various Pokemon maintaining stores and eateries within Bottlecap Bay will be offering their own helpful advice to guides and their charges. This trivia is minor, but typically focused on what the food is like, or what the benefits of certain articles of clothing might be.

⟡ Any Pokemon who helps another newcomer will earn 50 points for their Guild! As well, newly arrived Pokemon who put up with the guidance will receive a voucher for a custom, non-magical accessory, such as a hat or scarf.

ADVANCE TRAINING

After considerable research and effort, Polteageist has once again teamed up with Dr. Denne to craft a series of ever popular escape rooms, hinting that participating in them will be very useful in the future. Joining the effort is none other than Cheri and Oran's own Ribombee and Mightyena as well, making it a truly unified project. With so much investment going into these exercises, it's no wonder that every Pokemon from another world, new and old alike, is offered the chance to try at least one when they have the chance.

THE NORTH⟡ Located just between the Canopy and the beginnings of Bottlecap Bay’s southern coastline, the lush greenery of the Northern Forest's entry has been sectioned off into a training ground. Pokemon are grouped into random pairs, and tasked with finding the end of a hand-crafted maze within this early area of woods.

⟡ While many threats within the Northern Forest are well documented, some may still come as a surprise. Wild Pokemon such as Bug and Grass Types may still be encountered, as well as mushrooms releasing rage spores.

⟡ The Forest itself is also a threat — though it seems to understand these Pokemon mean no true harm, vines and plants will move when not directly looked at, creating added navigational challenges.

⟡ Pokemon who show no signs of escaping on their own after a certain point will find themselves retrieved by a local Grafaiai or Mankey, as enlisted by Bottlecap Bay.

THE MIDDLE⟡ Located a good distance down the southern coastline of the Bay, a section of the Middle Forest's entry has been carefully sectioned for a training ground. Supervised in part by a recently recruited Bloodmoon Usaluna, Pokemon will be grouped into random pairs, and tasked with finding the end of a hand-crafted maze in this early area of woods.

⟡ Due to the presence of heavy supernatural fog, Pokemon participants are warned heavily in advance of what to expect. The fog is known to literally reach into others, creating visions and hallucinations, as well as a deep loss of identity the longer they're exposed.

⟡ The end of the maze does not lead out of the Middle Forest. Instead, Pokemon must find their way back from the uniquely marked bone pile; because of the fog, this return is far shorter than the journey in.

⟡ Pokemon who spend too long within the Middle Forest while showing no signs of successfully escaping will quickly be retrieved by Ursaluna, whose Mind's Eye grants relative immunity to the Fog's effects.

THE SOUTH⟡ Far to the south of Bottlecap Bay, beyond the farthest stretch of wooded coastline, the Southern Forest lies shrouded in darkness. While there is no longer a thick haze of fog, its unique dangers mean that numerous Ghost Pokemon have been recruited to monitor a simple challenge within the woods. Specifically, two Pokemon will be paired at random, led a short ways in, and told to find their way out.

⟡ Due to the mechanics of the Southern Forest, nothing within this 'maze' has been crafted personally. Pokemon are sufficiently disoriented by the forest's own ability to alter its surroundings when none are looking directly at them, as well as the significant time dilation that occurs here.

⟡ Local Ghosts who have entered an agreement with Bottlecap's recently recruited Spiritomb will be available as both obstacles, and guides. As obstacles, they will intentionally lead Pokemon astray by joining the team in disguise, playing on the Forest's ability to create inconsistencies in memory and experience both.

⟡ Any Pokemon who spend too long within the Southern Forest with no signs of being able to return on their own will be led home by Ghost Pokemon acting as guides. These Pokemon take care to not shapeshift into anything other than themselves.

✩ OOC NOTES.

⟡ TDM CWS: Disorientation, Dissociation (Escape Room Prompts), Body Dysmorphia, Possible Pokemon Injury

⟡ TDMs are game canon and act as events for the month they are posted.

⟡ New characters can link to their top level beneath the NEWBIE DIRECTORY

⟡ All new arrivals are not assigned to any one guild. However, they may assume themselves to share rooms within any one of them during the course of the TDM.

⟡ Remember that at least one thread for your application must come from the TDM! There is no comment minimum, but we will be looking for engagement, as well as for players and characters who take the time to delve into things like character thoughts, emotions, morality, and other deep themes. Take this time to engage with the setting as you would in game!

⟡ As a reminder, reserves and applications are permanently opened. Please see their respective pages for details on processing time.

⟡ Have any questions related to the TDM? Ask here! If your question is more general for the game, please make sure to direct it to the FAQ page instead. Thank you, and happy threading!

FULL NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[When the night falls is when the bonfires begin, and where there are bonfires, there are snacks, and tales, and laughter and shrieks of delight. Some people, after all, enjoy being scared, and Firoza doesn't mind listening, though the tales don't stir much in her. No, there are new arrivals, and they are unused to their bodies and likely nervous - as a Nidoran, she can help turn apples on sticks as they roast over the fire, and that's enough.

But that one there...the one still apart from everyone. A Ghost type, maybe? As much as they had caused trouble for herself and others, the undead in any form hold no terror for her. She's seen too many to be phased. And here, after all, the ghosts still eat. Once one of the apples is nice and soft but not too soft, she plucks the stick from the sand and carries it in her mouth over to the Yamask, humming to acknowledge their greeting as she situates it back into the sand again - apple on top, as an offering.]

I actually thought to see if you might need something. You're all alone. [She sits, head tilted, moonlight catching the barest outline of the wispy scar on one of her cheeks.] I can leave if you prefer, but you ought to have a snack, at least. We bite the apples - they do not bite back.

[A pause.]

That I know of.

[sweetie is that a joke]

That you know of!

[ They do seem to be a little— surprised? curious?— at her singling them out to approach, but it's also somewhat hard to tell, given their expression keeps that smile regardless. ]

Well then, hopefully tonight is not the night that surprises you in that regard. It would be a shame for all your hard work to be wasted.

[ They've been watching, after all, so they're aware of how much this rabbit has been helping to make sure there's enough food for everyone present. How diligent of her. In any case, they'll drift toward that stick she planted in the ground, then take a nibble out of the apple stuck there, just like that.

What do you know, the apples aren't biting back... (Yet?) ]

Ah, success. No malevolent apples.

[So it was her trying to make a joke. Hard to tell with that tone, too soft and frank.]

Forgive me for prying, but, have you arrived recently? It's alright if you have. There are a fair number of us.

[ The attempt is noted, at least. There's a place for earnestness even if fumbling, after all. It does make for a certain sort of not-quite-deadpan delivery. That can be refined.

But that is beside the point. ]

I suppose I have. But if you also count yourself as a recent arrival...

How long has it been since you arrived, I must ask?

Some moons yet. Er, months, I mean. [Just in case one term is more familiar than the other.] We came from the sea in a storm...and I heard many of you washed up on the beach this time. At least it wasn't the forest.

Sounds like there's a story behind that. And what, exactly, is so bad about this forest?

I would hesitate to call it "bad"...more troublesome than anything. There was a terrible fog that muddled the senses, some time ago, and made it difficult to traverse very deeply inside. We would get lost, or other creatures of this world would accost us, or we would fall into sinkholes...I will admit to having done the last of those. It is not fun. And no one new to this should have to suffer such harrowing ordeals, yet...whatever deigns to bring us here this way does not seem to care.

[Such can be the way of things.]

Monsters challenging each other to FIGHTs seem normal enough to me.

But... Whatever deigns to bring us here, indeed. I take it that no progress has been made regarding its identity, in that case.

[ Or what it wants, it sounds like. The intentionality behind them being brought here, or not. ]

'Tis a natural thing, of course. But the creatures who live in this town are peaceful. The ones beyond...there is no reasoning with them. Even a beastkin can be made to see reason if you put the effort into it.

[Alpacas are ungovernable, though. That's something she's seen. But like, sometimes you don't have to kill a monster. Sometimes you can dissuade it. Sometimes you can send it running.

Sometimes.]

There are bits and pieces of answers, surely, but I am not the one who can put them together. That is beyond me.

That is fine. I am not expecting you to have all of the answers. In truth, I am somewhat surprised that you chose to approach at all. There was no reason for you to, after all.

[ Advice someone they knew once offered to another echoes in their mind...

* When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT.
* While you are in a FIGHT, strike up a friendly conversation. ]

A FIGHT with a monster can be defused more often than not, yes. Which is why I need to inquire about what you mean by saying that there is no reasoning with the ones beyond the limits of the town. Are they affected by something? Do they have a meaningful grudge against the inhabitants here?

[ Did they all wind up in the middle of something? This settlement, they have managed to gather, is relatively new, and made primarily up of those seeking refuge from something still not entirely known to them— have they offended others with their presence? ]

Do I need a reason other than an offer of kindness?

[Like. Why not just. Be nice. It costs nothing.]

That I'm not sure of...'tis one of the mysteries. But from what I've seen and heard, it seems they cannot understand those of us who reside here. Not natives, not outsiders. The rare few will communicate, but that is usually in order to trick those of us who wander into the wood.

Kindness freely given is not always the most common of things.

[ Stated bluntly. It is especially not so from those who presumably were once human. ]

Interesting. Will they make incursions into town, then, or will they keep to themselves if left alone?

[ They suspect one over the other, given some of the defenses they've seen— but might as well properly confirm. ]

[Her smile flickers to a sad thing.] I am well aware. Thus, I make the effort.

[Oh so she's one of those people, then.]

I do recall some few instances of attacks on the town, of the smaller scale...it might be seen as territorial disputes, but we can't properly know without the means to communicate.

[ Oh, so she's one of those people, then. ]

Well. The apple is appreciated.

[ Their mom didn't raise them to not have manners. ]

But do you mean to say that there is a language barrier, or that they simply will not listen?

It feels like a bit of both.

[Oh yes, she's one of those. But is that all she is, or is there more beneath the surface? Curious.]

Hmmm.

[ They will note her when she yet proves herself. One act of alleged generosity is but that. How well do such tendencies hold up under duress?

For now, they withhold any hasty judgments. ]

And what are this place's current plans regarding such attacks, then? To defend themselves until a breaking point is reached?

To defend ourselves, of course. But to what sort of breaking point do you mean?

Any number of things. You do not think tensions will come to the point where the attacks will grow more severe? Or that the town will instead choose to attempt to go to the source and do something about it?

...The possiblity is always present. I cannot argue that. But for what path will be taken...I do not think that is for me to decide, let alone speculate with any certainty.

I see. Perhaps that is prudent, to not speak on the behalf of others when it is not our say that matters.

[ They float slowly in a lazy half circle around her, examining her as they do. ]

What do you believe your role here to be, then?

[She'll watch their floating, curious.]

My role...? Well. It is as it ever is. To help, to protect, and to see what is yet to be seen. That will never change.

[It's what drives her forward, ever onward. To seek adventure, and to reach out her hand. The place or her form don't make that any different.]

And you always let yourself be utilized in this manner? You work for them, to protect them, and do not mind not being able to offer your own say?

But it is my own say. I choose it.

[And it took some time to grapple with what this lil ghost child is laying down but she DOES recognize it.]

In times past, yes, I have been told to my face that I'm just...clearly a weapon that others use to point at any enemy they wish. But I'm not, because I do not draw steel at anyone's whim but my own. If that comparison makes sense.

Edited 2025-07-29 17:37 (UTC)

You allow yourself to be wielded. You allow others to direct you, but only so much.

[ Like the Royal Guard, but not quite...

That said, there is something about the brief speech there, and the shape of the one talking to them. ]

I must say, however. I'm sure you were quite formidable wherever you came from. But of the monsters I've seen here, which do seem to trend fluffier than the ones I've known... you are not exactly the most intimidating I've seen yet.

[Oh kiddo, is that supposed to be an insult? Firoza's eyes go big and sparkly, and her smile is bright.]

I know! I am cute for once.

[Honey you are cute always...! But here she's quite proud of it.]

And one's outward appearance need not match their inner strength. I've known full many diminutive peoples who could send grown men of the largest of the star's races running for the hills.

[You respect Lalafells. They are smaller, and therefore closer to the hells and all their fury. Also oh gods, they will go for the kneecaps. They're at the ideal height.]

Copperajah-tone

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