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TEST DRIVE 01
⋆✩ test drive 01 ✩⋆
ECHOES IN THE STORM
( CWS: BODY HORROR AND RISK OF DROWNING )
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.
You gasp for breath, and water spills into your lungs, causing your new form to flail out. An assortment of different appendages hinder your ability to swim, if you even had one in the first place, and every sensation returns to you at once in an overwhelming sensory bang.
You are now a Pokemon. But that's hardly the thing to be focusing on right now, as you are also currently drowning in a stormy sea. If you can manage to squint through the pouring rain and the pounding waves, you might spot the beach of Bottlecap Bay, or the cliffs just north of it. An assortment of Pokemon are there, along the shores, shouting at one another.
But as another wave threatens to knock you beneath the sea for good, you recognize just how many of you are stuck out here. Lightning flashes above with an immediate boom of thunder, and something in your chest tells you they are the same as you.
Those who are able to gain a quicker grasp on their new bodies may be able to help with the rescue efforts of their fellow new arrivals. The rest of you will just have to survive.
FOR THE WEARY
( JANUARY 19TH—JANUARY 31ST )
After everyone that can be found is rescued from the stormy seas, Mightyena is quick to offer the Oran Berries base as a place of rest for all new characters while their arrival is being looked into. Pokemon are shoved into any of the room styles without regard for ranking because this is temporary Housing, but will have to share their rooms. All Oran Berry guild amenities will be available to them during this time.
After arranging that, and having each new arrival stop by the Pokeclinic for their own health, characters will be met with a very fair and kind welcome: they are free to explore Bottlecap Bay, make themselves at home, and get used to their new bodies. Dr. Denne loudly and excitedly proclaims that he will be looking into this new, strange phenomenon immediately, and every Pokemon of the city seems to be in agreement: they're afraid and wary of humans, but they're not ones to turn away someone in need. They are willing to trust these characters, and hope their trust will not be broken.
For the time being, shop keepers throughout the city will be offering things to new arrivals free of charge to help them get on their feet.
A. ⟡ SWEETS AND TREATS
One of the best things about Bottlecap Bay is the assortment of delicious food, made for Pokemon, by Pokemon! Now, this might sound intimidating at first, but not to fret — Pokemon food tastes so delicious it's almost hard to believe! Of course, each Pokemon has their own tastes, so some may prefer the sweet while others search for spicy, but rest assured, there's something for everyone.
Unfortunately, as characters are still adjusting to their new bodies, these little snacks are causing trouble around the city with a number of strange, new effects. Some characters may experience the activation of their new abilities upon eating their favorite flavor of food! Try to dodge any stray thunderbolts while you're enjoying the poffins, and beware of bubble at the malasada stand's tables! In addition to this, some new arrivals have mentioned their moods being affected, with some suddenly becoming gloomy, excited, angry, or anything in between.
B. ⟡ AN ATTEMPT AT COMFORT
Various Pokemon clothing shop owners in Bottlecap Bay have noticed that the new arrivals seem very shy about their appearances. Hiding behind walls, covering themselves... It's not like anyone minds if you go around as you are, but they have a solution! New arrivals may have one item for free! That means that they may have one item of clothing without needing to barter for it. This is a rare chance, so make sure you take advantage of it!
However, a naughty little Impidimp has hexed the clothing items, unbeknownst to shopkeepers! Though not every piece of clothing is affected, many shops were hit, and each type of clothing has a different hex to go along with it. When Pokemon put on the item in question, they may experience the following:
HEADWEAR (hats, ear accessories, etc) ⟡ Have the strong urge to overshare about themselves to others. Lying feels difficult.
NECKWEAR (scarves, necklaces, etc) ⟡ Become incredibly cold, and will only be comforted by contact with others. Cuddle time!
TOPS (shirts, hoodies, capes, etc) ⟡ Suddenly become obsessed with their new abilities, and want to battle everything that moves.
BOTTOMS (pants, skirts, leggings, etc) ⟡ Overwhelmed with the desire to make more animalistic noises based on their Pokemon. Meow!
SHOES (booties or anything on the feet) ⟡ Become incredibly clumsy, dropping things, tripping and falling all over the place.
MISC (anything that does not apply to the other categories) ⟡ Some of their thoughts will be spoken aloud on accident. Hope you weren't thinking something mean!
C. ⟡ ALL CLEANED UP
Does it feel a little awkward, sitting around and watching all the other Pokemon clean up after this storm? The guild base you're staying in is damaged and dealing with periodic leaks, the storefronts closest to the beach have suffered water damage, and the intense winds have damaged structures throughout the city. Streets are being swept and tidied from blown in debris, injured Pokemon are taking up a majority of the hospital beds, and there's an endless need for construction assistance in both stone and wood parts of structures.
Characters will not be forced or even encouraged to help out, but if they offer, their help will be gratefully accepted! Those who take part in a lot of the cleanup will certainly be remembered by those with more prominent positions in the clean up efforts, such as the guild leaders.
While you have free reign of the city, the guild leaders and Dr. Denne are hard at work looking into solutions and explanations for your sudden arrival. They promise to update you as soon as they have more information, but in the meantime... there's a whole city to explore, and a new body to do it in! Feel free to use the Locations page to come up with different prompts using available locations, if you'd like.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
( FEBRUARY 1ST—FEBRUARY 8TH )
With the large storm past and the clean up and repairs complete, all of Bottlecap Bay can now focus on the upcoming festival! Now, this is a rather small affair, lasting for only one day and night, but to the Pokemon of Bottlecap Bay, it's important. Each year, there is an expected meteor shower, and psychic Pokemon have recently received the date for this year's. Known simply as Starfall, this festival centers around wishes, the unknown, and the future!
Legend says that if you close your eyes and wish upon a falling star, there's a strong Pokemon that can make it come true. The stronger your heart, the more your wish will be heard, though there are additional small superstitions about what you should do in order to better be heard.
For the week leading up to Starfall (which falls on the night of the 9th of February), the city will be decorated in a starry theme, with food and clothing to match! The night life of the city becomes that much more active, with games that you'd expect to find at any festival being played in Pokemon form, friendly sparring battles held on the beach, and fortunes! Farigiraf Fortunes are one-time fortunes that Pokemon pull during the week leading up to the festival to show your luck for the following year. Bad fortunes should be tied on festival decorations around the city in order to dispel the ill fortune. With your new bodies, though, you may just need some help to tie those off.
Throughout the week, feel free to make up your own festival games to participate in for top levels. For the festival food, some of it may make you feel sparkly or warm, reminding you of something distant yet oh-so-close... What could it be?
SOMETHING TWISTING IN MY HEART
( BEGINNING FEBRUARY 1ST )
The city has moved on from the storm, but the truth of the matter is that you haven't. Even if you think you have, can you really say as much? After all, your body still aches at night, your mind still spins when you try to recall that voice, and that void, and you don't belong here. Beginning February 1st, characters may begin to have intermittent nightmares.
These nightmares vary from person to person, but their core is the same: your inner doubts, your worries about the future, the present, and the past all come to a head here. Nightmares cause you to lose sleep at night and lose focus during the day. The more you lose yourself to these fears and feelings, the more you begin to change, your darker traits becoming more emphasized as your ability to talk yourself through situations becomes weaker. You can't do this alone.
Nightmares will slowly increase in frequency and intensity until hallucinations begin to occur even during the daytime. Characters might believe that those around them are out to get them, or are adding to those self-doubting and criticizing feelings. Worries pile on and begin to affect you physically, leading to more body aches and pains, loss of control, and occasional rampages.
In order to break free from this worsening condition, you must share these doubts or feelings with another. Surface level admissions won't count for this. All characters who do not manage this task by the 10th of February, just after Starfall, will find themselves automatically freed from the horrible nightmares. How strange was that? It's like as soon as everyone made their wishes, that horrible feeling melted away completely.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Characters who experience nightmares but do not have them cured by another character, and instead just "time out" at the end of the event, will have plot relevance in a future event. They may experience emotional or light physical harm in the future, so feel free to handwave an NPC helping them out if you'd like to opt out of that.
NOTES.
⟡ TDMs are game canon and act as events for the month they are posted.
⟡ We will normally have a newbie directory for new characters only! However, since this is our first TDM and everyone will be new, there will be no directory.
⟡ All characters on this TDM are unassigned to any guild as of yet!
⟡ 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!
⟡ Dates listed beneath prompts are meant to be helpful guides for the more time-sensitive aspects (cleaning up from the storm, nightmares beginning, etc), but general city exploration and other ideas like that can be done at any time.
⟡ Farigiraf Fortunes will just be little omikuji fortunes with an included lucky Pokemon and lucky color. You can make up your own, but if you'd like one randomly generated for you, reply here!
⟡ Please be sure to mark for any content warnings in your threads when applicable, such as with the nightmare prompt.
⟡ 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!
⟡ TDMs are game canon and act as events for the month they are posted.
⟡ We will normally have a newbie directory for new characters only! However, since this is our first TDM and everyone will be new, there will be no directory.
⟡ All characters on this TDM are unassigned to any guild as of yet!
⟡ 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!
⟡ Dates listed beneath prompts are meant to be helpful guides for the more time-sensitive aspects (cleaning up from the storm, nightmares beginning, etc), but general city exploration and other ideas like that can be done at any time.
⟡ Farigiraf Fortunes will just be little omikuji fortunes with an included lucky Pokemon and lucky color. You can make up your own, but if you'd like one randomly generated for you, reply here!
⟡ Please be sure to mark for any content warnings in your threads when applicable, such as with the nightmare prompt.
⟡ 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!
for the weary
Wow. Overdramatic much?
[She—the Mimikyu—almost looks like she could pass for actually decent prey. Like a rabbit, almost, or an especially large and long-eared mouse... But there's definitely something off about her prey-like shape. There's not a hint of fur on her, and her eyes and mouth are eerily unmoving.
To his question, she replies cheekily,] Uh, you mean good?
no subject
This is good to you? [He spits out a little hiss, and with it another small ember.] It made- fire come out of me!
no subject
[In fact, she was planning on going back for seconds. As a cat person, she'd just been momentarily distracted by watching him instead.]
Pretty sure the fire's just a you thing, though... Seen some other 'mons out here cough up lightning instead, hah. [Fire-breathing cats... What will this place come up with next?] Guess you really have a cat's tongue—in more ways than one.
no subject
Since whe- huh?
[Why is everything in this world so weird?]
no subject
[Setting things on fire with her mind, on the other hand... But she needed psychs for that.]
Congrats, Sparky! Just try not to get carried away and torch the whole city, all right?
no subject
[He should probably stop trying to breathe fire. He sits down, and starts grooming his paw to cover up how much he wants to keep flicking his tongue.]
You can have the rest of this if you want. I think I'm gonna stick to eating mice.
no subject
[Well... at least it suits him? To his gracious offering of what remains of his malasada, she gives a derisive snort.]
Yeah... hard pass. I am not eating your leftovers off the floor.
[It's bad enough that she basically has to crawl around on it all the time!
His last sentence earns another snort—amused this time.]
You know, just because you're some kinda cat doesn't mean you have to eat mice... In fact, some 'mons around here might not take too kindly to that. Like the ones that are mice, for example? [She definitely hasn't seen anyone hunting each other... Yet?] If you're not into spice, what kind of flavors do you like?
no subject
My name is my first step toward being a warrior of ThunderClan. I know that doesn't mean much to you, but it's a big deal. One day when I go back there, I'm going to earn my full warrior name.
[Although... he really hadn't considered that there might not be real mice around. He hasn't seen any since he got here, and maybe there are only mouse Pokemon.]
...I like mice, and squirrels and birds. [Those are flavors, in his head.]
no subject
[It's obvious now that the world he's from must be very different from her own, and she's also started to suspect that he might have been something other than human before. She's just not sure what exactly yet.
So, trying to pin an answer down:]
So close, buddy! Those are animals, not flavors.
no subject
Well, kibble is flavored like duck and rabbits and fish, and none of those are good. The only good flavors I know about are freshkill.
no subject
If Shoka still had her face, she'd be gawking at him right now, almost like she just realized she's been talking to a celebrity—but she doesn't, so there's just a long moment of stillness from her before she speaks again, gentler this time:]
... Well, that's just sad, so... Tell you what. Stay here for a sec and I'll come back with some other actual flavors for you to try.
no subject
Firepaw's ears swivel back forward - he can't help being curious.]
Oh... sure. I guess.
[He can't imagine they'll be better than mice, but who knows when he'll get to eat those again.]
no subject
[With that, she scurries off back to the malasada stall. The upright, shambling gait she moves with is unlike that of any prey animal Firepaw is familiar with—and when she returns a short while later, carrying a small platter in the hands she's suddenly sprouted, he'll find that part of her is more like a predator. The hands seem to be composed only of shadow, but they're five-fingered like a human's and have savagely hooked claws almost like a cat's.
They look a bit out of place, delicately balancing the platter, which holds a neatly arranged assortment of smaller malasadas—something like a sampling plate. She deposits it carefully before Firepaw before pointing to the one nearest to him.]
Okay, so—that one's sweet. Give it a try.
[Cats generally like milk and cream, right? Shoka knows it's not good for them, but he's a Pokémon cat now, and the malasadas are perfectly safe for Pokémon consumption; maybe it'll be all the sweet taste without the nasty drawbacks.]
no subject
Oh, but he should probably try the food or something. He crouches down in front of the plate, takes a bite and... well, cats can't taste sweet things, but Littens sure can. So his first reaction is a jolt of Flavor(tm) that he has no way to properly conceptualize. But it is good!]
Woah! That's... wow!
[He's going to eat the whole sample, making that growly little 'nomnomnom' sound.]
no subject
I know, right?
[She's never had pets of her own, but she'd spent plenty of time watching cat videos and the city's street cats from the UG. She waits patiently as Firepaw enjoys his malasada, seeming content just to watch him, and when he's done, she'll belatedly continue on with the tasting exercise, as if she'd forgotten for a moment that he was even real.]
Oh—right. This one's spicy, like the one you had before, so that'll be mine. [She nabs it off the platter with one set of claws, then uses her other to point to each malasada remaining.] Then we have... Bitter. Dry. And sour. Go on, expand that palate!
no subject
He takes a tentative bite out of each of them, and makes a strong face each time. They're not making him breathe fire, but they all taste medicinal.]
Why do Pokemon eat these? [He wrinkles his nose.] Ugh.... um... I mean, thanks for getting these. And trying to help. You can have the rest if you want them.
no subject
Maybe I should've saved the sweet one for last, huh?
[In the end, he doesn't like any of the other flavors. Maybe she should have expected that, but it was worth a try.]
No big. At least you know one thing you can ask for from the stalls around here now, right? [She's apparently much less picky than him, because now that they're on a plate, she doesn't hesitate to claim his leftovers for herself.] Don't mind if I do.
[Her claws pluck the bitter malasada off the plate, then pull it under her disguise rag. There's a brief pause (though it's unseen, the process of eating is apparently happening somewhere under that rag) before she continues:]
I bet you'd like something salty... Or umami. Guess these things don't come in those flavors, though... But there's gotta be more than this on offer. I mean, they call this a city! If this is all they've got, that's tragic.
no subject
I do like salty things. Except for the big lake... uh, the ocean. [Grooming the salt out of his fur took so long.] But... yes, now I can get sweet things at least. And maybe I can find someone selling meat. Uh.... what is a city, by the way?
no subject
[If she keeps hanging out with him, she's going to hear a lot of questions like that, isn't she? Even so, the complaint is halfhearted; now that she knows why he needs to ask, she finds it far more amusing than annoying.]
A city's... [She gestures to their surroundings—the food stands, shopfronts, and throngs of Pokémon passing by—with a vague gesture of her claws.] Well, this, pretty much. A place where a lot of people—or Pokémon, in this case—live. Since a city's got so many people living in it, it's also pretty much guaranteed to have plenty of shops, places to eat, sights to see...
[Her eyes watch him through the holes in the cloth covering her body, trying to gauge his understanding. He mentioned kibble, so he must know what people are at least, right?]
I'm from a city that's way bigger than this one. It's mostly just people there... But there are loads of cats, too. Either living with their people or just out on the streets.
no subject
I see. The cats in the forest called them a Twolegplace - Twolegs are what we call humans. I'd never been to a shop before... my housefolk let me leave their den, but I didn't want to go into anyone else's. I had some housecat friends, but we only hung out in our gardens.
[The "Twolegplace" which his old home was at the edge of, was really just a small town. Even at that, his humans lived at the rural edge near a few farms. Visiting a real city would honestly terrify him, even now.]
cw: animal death mention
[Twolegplace earns an amused little snrrk—but she's listening (and completely fascinated, honestly). Sounds like he was from someplace pretty rural, with owners unconcerned by the possibility of him getting gobbled up by a predator or flattened under a passing car. Shameful.]
So how'd you wind up in a forest anyway? Was the kibble really that bad? Or... did your housefolk decide to get rid of you?
no subject
[He put some serious thought into his answer - it is, after all, something that he never feels like others truly understand.]
One day I went in there to explore, just out of curiosity, and I met the cats in ThunderClan. I saw what true freedom looked like, being able to come and go as they pleased and eating fresh food every day. Life in the forest is difficult, but I'd rather struggle than have nothing interesting ever happen to me. I liked my housefolk, but being in ThunderClan just feels right.
no subject
Being a housecat seems like a pretty sweet deal to me. Free food, a cozy place to sleep, you get to lie around and play all day every day...
[Maybe if Firepaw just had a catio, some puzzle feeders, and an exercise wheel, he wouldn't have to yearn for a warrior's lifestyle so much. Still, in her own, human way, she can definitely understand boredom, powerlessness, and the thrill of fighting.]
I guess I get it though. I'd rather just do as I please, too. Sounds like your housefolk weren't the most responsible people either, if they couldn't even manage to keep you entertained. [She takes the sour malasada from the plate, more for something to do with her hands than out of hunger.] But I bet some of the strays I knew still would've killed for that housecat life... Not that I could actually talk to them. Always kinda wished I could've...