Test Drive

[snowblindmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

If you'd like to apply to Snowblind and would like to test the waters first or get a sample set up for your application, this meme is for you! We've even provided some prompts for you to use if you want (but feel free to make up your own). Here's how it works. ✭ Reply to this entry with a character you're considering apping into the game. You can include the name of your character and the fandom in your subject line. ✭ Comment around to others on the meme, whether you're in the game already or not. ✭ Now you have a sample ready for your application! ✭ So go reserve and apply when reservations and applications are open. ✭ Seriously, do it. Network Prompts ONE: SPAM IS MEANT FOR A CAN You awoke today to find a private message in your inbox full of glitchy text from an unreadable username. It doesn't seem to be from @ADMIN, and it's doubtful that any of your fellow unfortunate survivalists have the ability to send a bunch of garbage text from a dummy username. Any attempts to contact the sender of the message only yield silence. Perhaps your friends on the network will have a better idea of what's going on. TWO: DING DONG PING PONG You found an app on an SD card that lets you play a game--the app simply refers to it as "game," but those who are familiar with Earth's gaming history will recognize it as Pong. The graphics have been updated, but the mechanics are as simple as ever. Just bounce the ball back and forth and try to hit it past your opponent. This version lets you play with a friend over the network and supports chat simultaneously, so you can video or voice chat while playing with someone! Or you can use text, but that would probably be inconvenient while you're trying to play. Action Prompts THREE: BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE The blizzard has been raging worse than usual for nearly a week now, making travel incredibly dangerous. You and your travelling companion have been stuck in the same house since the weather went out of control, and it's starting to have an effect. While you've not yet succumb to the dangerous fugue that would lead you out into the snow, cabin fever is definitely starting to set in for you...and whoever you're stuck with. As long as you keep telling yourself the eyes on the walls aren't real. You're the only one who can see them, after all. FOUR: A TENT-ATIVE FRIENDSHIP Everything has locked down for the night, and it looks like you're trapped outside. This almost certainly means death, but maybe you don't have to take it lying down. You walk for a while, and--what's that? Through the snow, the light of your tablet faintly illuminates the shape of a tent. It seems someone else is stuck out here, too, but they've been luckier in their searches than you. Time to go see if they'll take pity on you for the night. You probably don't have much longer otherwise...

Comments

Vriska Serket | Homestuck

[fairygodtroll]

Network - Two;
@arachnidsGrip; video;

Uggghhhhhhhh. Is this lamey-lame dumbass game for wigglers seriously what passes for entertainment around here? Because in my incredibly sophisticated and expert opinion, it's junk. Garbage! Trash. The only people who could eeeeeeeever derive any enjoyment from this incredible festival of failure are people who had their thinkpans forcibly removed shortly after hatching.

[ Vriska tilts her head back so she can look down her nose at the feed, huffing loudly. She looks far more buttmad than this situation warrants - sure, she tends to be overdramatic about pretty much everything, but still... ]

And also it cheats.

[ Oh. ]

Each and every single one of you tools that are up there on the so-called [fingerquotes:] 'leaderboard?' I am onto you. I am calling you out! You are getting the most public of shamings. Because there is no grubfucking way that those scores are legit! I call hacks. Hacks and bots and cheaty-cheat cheaters. This is bullshit!

[ Only she gets to cheat, you guys! GOD. ]



Action - four;
[ Well. This is pretty fucking stupid.

It isn't the thought of dying that's bothering Vriska so much as everybody knowing about it. She's going to die, which sucks globes, and the stupid dumb admin is going to post a stupid dumb obituary on the stupid dumb network and everybody is going to see it. And then they'll all know that she was moronic enough to get locked out like a mouthbreathing grubfondling scrub! They're going to gloat at her so hard when she comes back. Sure, some of them will pretend to be concerned and junk, but that'll just make her look even more weak and lame and urgrrhgghhhhhhh she hates everything in the entire universe.

Everything in all of the universes.

All of them.

She's about to lie down and bury herself in the snow in a massive self-pitying tantrum when she spots the tent. Her slouched, sulky walk quickly turns into a skittery, twiggy-legged run that covers the remaining distance between the tent and herself in a matter of seconds. She's safe!

If she can get the person inside to let her in, anyway, but whatever. No problem! ]

Hey! Guy hogging the tent! Are you going to open up, or do I have to chew my way in there? Because I will do it. I will fucking do it. I haven't eaten in like a whole day and your cute little makeshift hive is looking incredibly delicious right now.

two, nerd

[winquisition]

@cadash; video

I wouldn't know how to cheat at this thing even if I wanted to.

[She totally would cheat if she knew how, lbr. She loves to win.]

I'm just really good at it.

[Which is why she has been holding the top position on the leaderboard ever since discovering the app. The Inquisitor does not lose.]

4

[iustitia]

[holy shit. holy shit who in the fucking world is making that awful, raucous noise. it's bad enough she wandered far enough away from shelter that she has to use up the tent she was planning on saving for later, but now some asshole is screaming at her??? terezi didn't ask for this. terezi doesn't deserve this. she just wants to survive the rest of the night and not freeze to death in quiet peace. is that too much to ask for???

(yes.)

she pokes her head out of the flap and is immediately the least surprised she's ever been in her entire life. of course. of course it's vriska. she really should have known.]

Oh my god? Are you capable of asking for literally anything without sounding like an entitled wriggler?

2 [video, @Haseo]

[betterlogoutand]

Sounds like someone is being a sore loser.

[Hey. Vriska. Hey. Look at those scoreboards again.

Guess who just claimed the #1 spot? This guy.]

Maybe you should stop making up excuses and get good.

Two, @twinArmageddons

[thii2ii22tupiid]

can't get up there your2elf, huh?

two - a mysterious challenger appears

[scruffy_mcjackass]

text - @qa

So you're wasting time calling out some random chucklefucks with elementary programming capabilities on this game you're definitely not invested in instead of actually looking for something worthwhile around here?

Yeah, you're just as useless as the rest of them.

4

[rampager]

[He had been asleep. Bone-tired and half-frozen, lost and confused, baffled by Norfinbury in ways both big and small, Vorin had finally managed to drift off. Almost managed to dream, too, and perhaps it would have been a nice dream for once.....only for the strident, obnoxious din of Vriska's voice to ruin it.

Which means.

A massive, armored hand belonging to a massive, armored goat man is now shooting out of the tent flaps to scruff Vriska and drag her inside.]

The Joker | DC New Earth

[harlequinofhate]

Network: One

@gwynplaine; voice

Got a jumble of nonsense in my inbox this morning. Anyone want to talk about that? Hm?

I'm gonna guess it's not a Nigerian prince trying to wire me money so either the system glitched out or someone's clowning with me!

So who was it, eh?

A new fan?

Admin trying to send me a love note?

....I don't have a virus or something do I? I hate those.

Action: Four

[The Joker hugs himself against the chill wind and laughs at his own misfortune. He wandered too far and now he's going to die alone and unmourned in Alaska. It's hardly a fitting end for the greatest showman who's ever lived. Who will build his monument now? Who will-oh, hold on!

He squints into the distance and grins when he makes out the figure of a tent. Not the plushiest digs he's ever had but, well, any port in a storm as they say.

He walks up and starts prodding at the entrance with his firepoker.]

Hey! Open up, will ya neighbor?

Can't do it, can't leave the Clown Prince hanging; let's go with Four

[starsandtights]

[Steve's eating rations by the faint light of his tablet and trawling the network when all of a sudden SOMETHING PAWING AT THE TENT, LOUD VOICE AAAAAHHH. He jumps violently and almost chokes on his food. He takes a moment to will the adrenaline away before shoving his food aside and diving for the door, unzipping it.]

Cripes, you got stuck out here too? Hurry, c'mon in!

[He scoots back, making room for the stranger.]

Cloud Strife || Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

[meteorrains]

Two; Network; Video;
@fenrir

[Night fall. A time to find shelter, to put away the worries and stresses of the day and allow yourself to rest.

Or, in Cloud's case, a time to find a dark corner and continue to play pong until his fingers were so frozen they could very well fall off on their own accord. As it turned out, leather wasn't exactly the best choice for sub-zero temperatures.

All of his concentration is centered on the screen, brow furrowing slightly with each movement. Until a loud, melodic sound erupts from the device, signalling his victory. And a moment later -

Play Again?

Yes or No]

Is that... is that it? That's the whole game?

[It sounds almost disappointed, as if he was somehow hoping for something far more fantastic than what he had received. There's a soft shrug of his shoulders, fingers moving over the screen, tapping on gently on the bright green "yes" and waiting to be matched with another random opponent.

It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Counting the cracks in the ceiling could only be entertaining for so long.]

Three; Action

[It was almost comical, in a way, how something as simple as being locked within four walls could effect someone so greatly. Especially when one was being faced with such equally simple choices; stay inside the protective shelter those four walls provided, or go out into the elements and die. It should have been easy. Dying didn't sound like a particularity inviting experience. Then again, staying contained for another minute didn't seem especially enjoyable either.

Shadows crept along the walls, edging eagerly towards the light, seeking to snuff it out, taking the last dregs of warmth and sanity with it. Paranoia had set in so deeply it could almost be felt in the bones, like a thousand tiny pinpricks, creeping over chilled skin, causing the spine to tingle and the heart to beat rapidly.

Keeping it at bay was becoming an increasingly impossible task, each moment a new thought entering his mind, causing bright eyes to leave the crackling fire, searching out the source. Each sound was a new threat, a new possibility for something to go wrong. Iron raked over amber embers, shifting them until they were evenly dispersed, new logs rolling into place a moment later. Temptation to simply stop moving, to stop trying, to wander off into the snow flickered up inside of him as the flames flickers back to life. Heat was the only thing that stopped him, that brought him back into himself. Doing so would be ridiculous with a hefty side of stupidity. It could only snow for so long.]

Should be daylight soon. [He's not even sure who he's talking to anymore - himself, his companion, or someone who's not even there.] Maybe it'll stop long enough to get more supplies.

3; HELLO HOW ARE YOU

[powersouls]

[Tifa doesn't think she's really been warm since her arrival a few weeks ago. The fire is a luxury, and she's doing her best to focus on it, to keep positive about something. That's difficult when they're rapidly running out of food and she constantly feels like she's being watched.

At the moment, she's crouched in front of the fireplace, her knees drawn up to her chest as she struggles against the urge to glance over her shoulder. There was nothing there the last million times she checked, and she knows there won't be anything there this time. Still...

Get it together, Tifa. She sighs, rubbing her hands up and down her arms in a desperate attempt to distract herself. She glances up at Cloud when he speaks, and though she smiles, it's a little forced.]

I hope so. This place is starting to give me the creeps.

[And she was really hoping to go through her time here without hallucinating. Dream big, right?]

Spark | Original (Werewolf the apocalypse)

[spiritofthefluff]

Network - 2

@Spark ; video


[it's probably the sixth or seventh time by now, but she didn't count. Also it made no difference. She still didn't get it.

New game

Touch screen to start

so she touches the screen. Again. Things start moving on their own. again. Soon it's gonna say the game is over. AGAIN. And she still hasn't played anything. AGAIN!

Spark looks down at the screen, her ears fall to both sides in confusion. Once or twice each round a paw would touch the screen with a distinct *klank* sound. Other than that, the pup has been sitting mostly still for a while.

No. Don't know yet. Game not working. Or me not working. Sure this is game? Moving thing on screen is not a ball. Definitely not.

@guardian; video

[phaseshifter]

You're a PUPPY.

 

 

I mean - oh my gosh a puppy A PUPPY - um, it's not a real ball. You can't chase it - that's what puppies do, right? This is a different game.

Puppy.

Gaige | Borderlands 2

[talkshitcanthit]

one;
@MissCorrosion, video;

[well, the girl on the feed sure doesn't look happy.]

Are you kidding me with this? I spend all this time setting up a freakin' web of filters intricate enough to come out of a spiderant's butt and you still find a way to bomb me with spam? Ugh, that's it. Where's the IT guy around here? ...We have one, right?

I bet we don't even have an IT guy. Awesome. All right. I don't think I could be a full-on sysadmin or anything, but I know enough to poke around and see why this stuff is happening. Probably. I only crashed one ECHOnet database, like, one time. Your data's safe with me. Just give me the keys for, like, five minutes.

three;

Gaige pounds on the door of the house from the inside for the forty-seventh time in the past two hours. She's been counting. There's nothing to do anymore, and even the network has gotten completely boring. She doesn't even have any tools in here to build something with, which would usually be how she kept her hands busy.

She's probably pissing off whichever sad sack got stuck in here with her, but she doesn't care. There's only so much she can do without feeling like she's going crazy, and not the good kind. Though, well, maybe she'll end up feeling a bit more anarchistic as the night goes on. She doesn't even know what cabin fever is going to do for that. Or even, really, why it happens.

She turns around and slams her whole body against the door. Forty-eight, technically.

"So what do you do when this crap happens, anyway?"

three, NERD

[phaseshifter]

"Oh? Um, the last time it happened for this long, I mostly just stared at the wall. Because I was stuck in a basement. Wwwwwith no tablet."

And also her hands were tied and it was Handsome Freaking Jack who put her there, but. These are details that don't really seem like they're going to help this situation at all. Best to just calmly gloss over that part.

"I think I still have some beads left, if you'd like to make friendship bracelets or... something?"

Darn. Friendship bracelets in pretty pastel colours aren't exactly punk, are they. Make it sound more appealing.

"...Hardcore friendship bracelets?"

Haseo | .hack//G.U.

[betterlogoutand]

[ 2 // text, @Haseo ]

Doesn't anyone have any better games around here? You can only play Pong so many times before it gets old. I feel like I'm going to die from boredom.

Seriously, what kind of messed up place is this? We have modern tablets but can't even get a game more recent than the seventies?? Can't we at least have Tetris?

[ 4 ]

[Why the hell did he wait so long to find shelter?! Haseo silently curses himself as he trudges through the snow, hugging himself tightly to try and ignore the biting cold of several dozen belt buckles pressed against bare skin. Even the coat can only do so much. He really needs to get a new outfit.

He's in such a daze from the cold that he doesn't actually notice the tent. Instead, he walks right into it. Hope you weren't keeping anything fragile in there. At least he stops and backs up once he realizes he's literally stomping all over his only chance of salvation.]

Crap, sorry! I-is someone in there?

2! @lockhart; text (also HASEOOOO)

[powersouls]

That would be nice, wouldn't it? My friend has a different game, but I'm not sure what it's called. You control a yellow circle with a mouth and eat dots. I'm not very good at it.

[Great description, Tifa.]

detective jake peralta | brooklyn nine nine

[smort]

one
@awesomedetectivegenius

sooooooooo anyone else got some ass mail with unreadable text from a user who refuses calls to friendship??

not even a link to a trojan horse i mean
this is some pretty pointless spam right here

two
@awesomedetectivegenius; video

You guys know what's ten times better than tennis? [Pause for obvious dramatic effect.] Computer tennis! Yeah, I'm talking about Pong.

[He grins.] Okay, it's not exactly Portal or World of Warcraft, but I have it right here and I think it might break the crushing monotony of boredom in this place. Who wants to play?

[Please someone play with him, he's so bored. There's only so many times you can read over posts for evidence before your whole brain combusts.]

four

[Jake has actually thought about how he might die. Preferably it would be something memorable and cool, maybe saving a bunch of people. Possibly it would include explosions, probably it would be via gunshot, almost definitely it would be from some sort of altercation with a very dangerous criminal. He'd take said criminal down in the process, of course. He'd prefer not to die. But if he had to die, dying a cool hero would be a preference.

Freezing to death is neither heroic nor cool. It's cold, and slow, and extremely uncomfortable.

Not that Jake has entirely resigned himself to death; he's been spending the last hour or so wandering the snow, desperately seeking some kind of shelter. And what do you know, soon his luck turns up.

A tent. Yes. He knocks, of course. It would be rude not to. Hopefully the pattering isn't just mistaken for the wind.]

Hey, anyone home in there? Any chance you really love company?

one; @guardian; text

[phaseshifter]

Ummm, it isn't from @totheark, is it?
Because he does that sometimes, I wouldn't worry too much about it (－‸ლ)

aigis | persona 3

[athenashand]

one.
@Aigis, text;

I am concerned about the origins of this message. In my experience, this is not a usual function of these machines. I am worried that it might be a message seeking help that has been corrupted by poor transmission, but I am unable to connect to the tablet, so I cannot determine the source.

four.

[Aigis has never experienced cold the way other people do. Her experience with sensation is different from that of a human's; she can feel the cold, but it's rare that she feels cold.

Now, though, she does. Her processors feel lagged and her joints are locking up, even though they were made to endure much worse. Maybe she's been here so long that her hardware is beginning to degrade? She's never been exposed to the elements of Norfinbury for this long before, so it's hard to tell, plus she's noticed that some of her other functions have been disabled. Maybe it's just one more thing this place has done to her.

Occasional visual discrepancies included. She's witnessed some of the bizarre hallucinations here, so at first, she thinks that's what the tent must be. No one survives overnight, right? She's pretty sure that's what she read.

But as she gets closer, it doesn't disappear. The shape of the tent only becomes more solid, and she feels a faint whir of anticipation in her chest. She raises her voice a little, hoping to be heard over the wind, but her cadence is as polite as ever.] Excuse me. Is someone in there?

four!

[averytinyparticle]

[Quark's glad he found this tent, for the obvious reason that he'd probably already be nearly frozen. Granted, it's been hard to lug around and even harder to set up when he realized he wasn't going to get anywhere close to a shelter by nightfall...but in the end, he managed. Necessity makes you pretty crafty. Part of him isn't sure that the tent's even going to be enough of a shelter to last him through the night, but it's the best he has, so he's trying not to panic as he lays on his side, bundled up as best as he can be.

When he hears a voice, he thinks, at first, he must have imagined it. He's feeling pretty crummy and lonely, so it must just be that he wants someone to be there. But then, to be sure, he crawls forward and zips open the tent flap to find...there's someone there! His eyes go wide.]

You're stuck out here too? Oh no! You can come inside, Miss!

[They can get through the night together! It'll be...maybe not great, but...a bit less awful!]

sasha | tales from the borderlands

[mugger]

PROMPT ONE/ text
@Sasha

[ So, okay, she doesn't have a fancy username or anything. Mainly because she couldn't think of one clever enough. Also part because she's too frantic to even correctly read through the endless amounts of spam to pinpoint where it was coming from. ]

okay, not to ask the obvious but how do you block messages? i have a grade A weirdo sending me stuff and no matter what happens, it won't go to the filter i assigned.

i promise i'm not this helpless.

PROMPT FOUR

[ Okay, it was the coldest she ever felt. Not even when Scooter put some Cool-As-Ice-But-Hot-As-Tits A/C unit in their caravan. Sasha was a trembling mess, even if she had packed on the sweaters, jackets and wool socks! Come on, the wool socks should have been a win.

Her boots had trudged through the snow, leading towards the only light visible on her tablet. The beacon of hope which will most likely be a dumb snow illusion. Kind of like when people in the desert hallucinate? Sasha expects the worst, honestly. A gust of wind smacks against her face and she is totally for putting her eggs in one basket at this point. Hope was a warm feeling, so let's keep going with that.

It's not until she saw a tent pitched (haha) in the distance that her slowness becomes more of a scramble. ]

Hey! Is anyone there?

[ Her voice calls out over the whistle of the night. Trying not to make too much of a ruckus in case something decides to find her tasty looking. ]

I'm cold and friendly - mostly cold, but -!

one; @guardian; text; SASHA OMG

[phaseshifter]

Oh geez. What username? I mean - which weirdo?
 

 

 

I really hate that I even have to ask that. (>﹏<)

Ecks | OC

[ecks]

Network - One
@437 | Voice

[The female voice that comes across the network is flat, expressionless. One might almost suspect it of being robotic apart from the smoothness of the cadence.]

Has anyone else received an encoded message today?

If you have not received an encoded message, I haven't either and you should forget this message. [There. Perfect cover story. She's good at this!]


Action - Four

[She didn't mean to wander so far from shelter so late in the day. She's well aware of what it means to be trapped outside, and logically there's no purpose to her continued motion. She will succumb, and she will die. For all her pragmatism, though, Ecks has never been one to quit trying. There is always a chance that she will find some angle on the puzzle that others have not, and there is nothing to be lost by going on.

Her footsteps quicken when she recognizes the shape ahead of her, until she comes to stand next to the tent, a hand stiff with cold outstretched to scratch at the fabric and announce her presence. Even now there's no expression on her patchwork face, no particular urgency to her toneless voice apart from the way she stutters from the cold.]

Are y-you alive? L-let-t me in.

P-p-please.

action

[rampager]

[Even tucked into the tightest ball he can manage, armored knees drawn up and broad shoulders hunched, the tent is not quite large enough to properly accommodate Vorin. His bulk presses against the fabric of the walls, curved horns pushing up into the canvas ceiling. As to be expected, really, considering it was built for humans and not Beasts. But in these conditions, Vorin will take it, and gladly.

At first, her plea is met with silence. He had heard the crunch of her footsteps from some distance away, muscles coiling into tighter knots with her approach. Too used to being followed, hunted, attacked, the close quarters of the tent putting his wind up even further. But this is not his world, not a place with any sign of other Beasts at all, and while she might be a foe, the opposite might also prove to be true.

Vorin hesitates. His blood snarls for a fight, would welcome an attempt on his life. His better side calls for mercy.

....

Then, the slow yet unmistakable grind of the tent flaps being unzipped.]

Hurry up, then, before you freeze where you stand.

Kyle Hyde ; Hotel Dusk: Room 215

[215]

[2 ; Video]

[The video opens to Kyle looking rather rough. He's been wracking his brain for awhile trying to figure out how this stupid game works. He's never really used a computer before coming to Norfinbury, just a few arcade machines in the rare instances they'd been around. Pong is a completely different beast.]

[That, and he set the computer to Hard mode. Easy is for children, right.]

Anyone know how to work this damn game?


[3 ; Action]

Sure, Kyle had heard the rumors and warnings for sticking in one place for too long - and sticking in one place wasn't really something Kyle liked to do to begin with. But as the blizzard roared and the sickening quiet of the town pounded the walls, now, for the seventh night in a row, he was beginning to understand what they had meant.

It started slow, like they'd said. He noticed his own paranoia, his own distrust of the one with him grow stronger than it had when they'd first met. He hadn't noticed it for a couple days, had figured it was just because he was, well, himself. He didn't usually believe the first word out of anyone's mouth, let alone someone else stuck in this shit town, but now he was doubting the very sincerity of common fact. 'Wonder if things will clear up soon.' Do you really wonder that? I'll bet you want me to freeze. 'Beans sound good for dinner?' I don't know, what did you put in them? Those sort of quick, pointless distractions plagued his mind. He wanted to be left alone, and every response or attempt at conversation from the other made him even more frustrated.

Then things got freaky. There were shadows on the corner of his eyes, moving slowly at first and getting stronger. After enough jerks around to see that there was nothing there and the strange look the other gave him, he figured they were the hallucinatory parts that had been mentioned. Easy enough to ignore for now, but Kyle couldn't help but wonder if they, too, would get worse as the blizzard prevented their movement.

"Hey." He said it suddenly, a little too suddenly to surprise even himself. "What do you think? We could probably book it once the sun's higher." Probably foolish, he thought, but he wanted to see what they would have to say about the idea.

3

[jinrai]

Killua had never trusted Kyle to begin with. Beyond that, there was little need to actually keep the man alive. Their supplies had slowly dwindled, and with no end to the storm in sight, Killua was swiftly approaching the point where a decision had to be made.

Given time, Killua had narrowed it down to two options– Either keep the man alive and hope the storm subsides or kill him and save the rest of the supplies for himself. With the howling winds shaking the building’s walls and the snow falling thick all around them, the latter is starting to look like the more valid choice.

He hasn’t had a full night’s sleep in days. If he’s thinking about offing his travel companion, the thought can’t be too far from their mind either. If he lets Kyle out of his sight, there’s no telling what he might pull. Kyle has the advantage of size and age behind him. If he can’t outwit him, Killua knows he’s a goner.

Huddled, or rather slumped over in one corner of the room, Killua nearly jumps when Kyle addresses him.

“Ah–” rubbing one hand against a cheek to try and wake himself up, Killua can barely focus on what the man’s saying. “What about the storm? If it doesn’t die down, we’re not gonna get very far.”

More importantly, if they leave, Killua might not get another chance to put Kyle down quickly and easily. If they can't make it through this storm, they're both as good as dead.

1; text/video, @gnorlands | 3; action

[rampager]

ONE :: NETWORK

[It's not that Vorin has no experience with computers, or keyboards in general. The aircraft he flew with Merk and Gruntos used an interface that was similar enough for Vorin to grasp the gist of this one. However, unlike the tablet he's now attempting to use, that console had been made for Beasts and their much larger hands.]

akfsk dyuwb lqaar dktfkr zydgnr cbtxap tjjqkwf

[And then, when he finally gives up and uses the video function:]

Are these strange messages intended to be some type of code, or just gibberish?

THREE :: ACTION

[This stage of cabin fever has got Vorin twitchy and ready for action, any action. Being dogged at every turn by those who wanted his head on a platter had never felt as suffocating as this. Stale air, close quarters, nothing to do except sleep and train and think and wait. The monotony was grinding away at him like the wheels of some terrible machine.

By the time that eyes seemed to sprout from the very walls, Vorin's control has been whittled down to the quick. With a snarl of equal parts anger and challenge, he starts punching said walls with his armored fists.]

1; voice @gwynplaine

[harlequinofhate]

It's the Network, big guy. Most messages are just gibberish.

....Say, can I ask you a question?

Julia Silverstein | Blood+

[scienceandblood]

Action (4)

[Well, she had a problem. Worst of all, it was her own fault.
Julia liked to consider herself a person who, at worst, solved problems.
She hasn't been that nervous about missing curfew since she was 16 and still had no idea what real trouble was, but she'd been in some real trouble before and survived.
It's about staying calm, thinking fast and finding a solution...

...and a few well-trained soldiers. She's going to have to do without them this time.
Who'd ever think she'd miss this part of home?

She'd been walking in the snow for a while now, approaching a small shape that turned out to be a tent. That was luck, really, which was nowhere as good as a plan. You can't count on luck.
It was, however, a whole lot better then death.

Being polite is probably the better way to go about it.]

Evening. May I come in?

[bookofnope]

[The tent is safe, at least - that is the only positive thing Beckett can say for it. It does not otherwise feel much different than just being outside, at the mercy of the elements. He'd been cold every single moment since arriving at Norfinbury, but now he is colder. He huddles in his blanket and tries to look on the positive side: he wasn't planning to sleep, anyway, so it must be good that he would probably not be able to.

He'd set out to observe the town at night; the one thing he wasn't expecting was company, especially not company that announced itself by any means other than help, I'm dying. His immediate conclusion at hearing an unknown voice is, therefore, one that makes perfect sense under the circumstances.]

I have very little patience for hallucinations right now. Go away.

Maki Nishikino | Love Live!

[barcarola]

Network; 2
@nishikino, voice

[ It takes a moment for the girl on the other end of the communication device to speak. ]

H-hey. Play this game with me. Okay?

[ The reason for why exactly she wants to play it sound a bit flimsy, but it seems to be something she does legitimately want to do, the question followed by a small huff. ]

--

Outside; 4

[ Being outside at night is terrifying, and Maki isn't exactly comfortable with wandering around in the snow, knowing she's going to die. It isn't something a teenager really wants to think about.

But she's stubborn -- she marches forward in the snow, almost tripping over the tent. It takes her a brief second to realize what this means, before she bangs her fists against the flap. ]

Let me in! Please!

[ There is an inkling of desperation in her voice, but otherwise she just sounds cold and like she's a little grumpy. ]

2 | @Rdua , Voice

[blessedmaiden]

[Oh, Maki, Rydia would play with you if she had any idea of how to do it. There's a sigh from her, the summoner spent far too long trying to poke the moving ball, but...]

Of course, would you be so kind to explain me how to... play, thought? I don't really get it.

Undine Wells | Sleepless Domain

[alchemicalwater]

one:

[text, @waterwells]

I hate to send a message out to everyone about this, but the person isn't responding to me so I don't have much of a choice.

Someone keeps sending me spam, and it keeps filling up my inbox. Filters don't seem to stop it either. Does anyone know how to get it to stop? I don't want to be a bother, but I don't want to miss any important messages because of it either.


Four

[Undine had taken too many risks. She had thought she could hurry and make it just a little farther that day, and she had tried her best to reach the shelter she had been aiming for, only for the door to lock just as she had reached it.

Normally she is the rational one who can bring her teammates around when they are panicking, but she is alone and death will be coming for her soon. Admittedly, she wouldn't be scared at all if she had her powers, but without them she had no way to protect herself.

Her breaths come in quick spurts now, nearing hyperventilation as she runs down the street, looking for someplace to hide for the night. Even if a house is destroyed, surely she can shove herself into a corner that is only half-destroyed, right? But in her panic she isn't thinking clearly, and those little nooks and crannies go unnoticed.

That is when she sees the tent. It's hard to miss something out in the middle of the street like that, and she heads right towards it. Whoever is inside might hear her long before she reaches it, as her breath is very ragged by now. But when she does reach the tent, she stops herself from diving in long enough to look around and make sure the coast is clear. With no monsters in sight (as far as she can see, it is pretty dark after all), she decides to speak up first.]

H-hello? Is there anyone in there?

Four.

[dragonsfang]

[ The Dragoon isn't asleep, honestly he finds it hard to be. It feels like at anytime something will come for him. His well being is hardly assured, but its better than being outside. Much better. In here the chances seemed viable. Kain is huddled up on the far side when a voice calls him from his thoughts.

It sounded... scared. Was it some trick by this world, or a person? A real person? He hesitated a moment then let out a sigh. He couldn't leave people out there, possibly dying. It was a risk worth taking. ]

I am, yes. Who are you?

Kain Highwind || Final Fantasy IV

[dragonsfang]

Network - Two
@Highwind, Video

[ One seeks enjoyment where they can, and he'd not expected to find something that would allow him to take his mind off the current situation. Game. A strange title for anything, quite direct, to the point. ]

...

[ His silence held as he turned on the game. A ball came flying at the screen, though he found no buttons to press so it flew past. Blue eyes widened, confused, but soon the ball came flying again. He could swear there were sounds coming from the device, but he assumes them from the game itself. ]

Thunk!

[ He tried swinging the device this time, to no avail. Instead it slipped from his hands and fell a bit before him. Something told the Dragoon that was not what he was supposed to do, either.]

Damn.

[ He picks it up again, he still isn't too sure of what he's doing. This time he decides to try and touch the screen, watching the ball fly back to the other side.]

So this is how it is played-


Action Four

[ Locked out. Honestly, he realized it would happen. Kain understood the need to get inside, but apparently he misjudged the amount of time he had left. Embarrassing, truly. Here he was, Captain of Baron's Red Wings, and he was already going to die. Cold. Alone. This was nothing like Mount Ordeals, he'd dealt with that, he could battle those monsters. What he'd heard, what he'd been told; whatever monsters hunt the area here he could only hope to escape from. Not to mention the cold.

It was so cold...

The temptation to lie down and die was fairly strong, the sooner he keeled over the less time he'd need to spend in this godforsaken cold. Still, he'd driven survival instinct into himself, his mind wished to give in but his body refused. So he continued the trek until he caught sight of something. A tent? Well... the point of this place seemed to be survival... Renewed strength allowed the Dragoon to run forward until he reached the tent.

Is someone here?

[ He lowers himself to the ground a bit, glancing at the tent and hoping to make out the shape of another person. ]

I've been locked out, I need a place to stay if it would not be too much to ask.

How dare you to be better at 'tablet' than her?

[blessedmaiden]

@Rdua - Audio

[Seems like she's no longer the only person stuck in technology Hell, isn't she? Rydia spent a lot trying to figure out how to play, traveling alone wasn't something she enjoyed too much and as soon as an opportunity for distraction presented itself... the summoner grabbed it. And it certainly kept her intertained while she tried to figure out how to play this... game. Clayton explained her certain devices allowed people to live a fake life inside them, something like that, but she could see no man, no clown and... no hide and seek forest.]

... I-

[Thunk! Kain's tablet is probably on the floor now and she isn't surprised, this whole thing is annoying and frustrating, even if she tried to grab the dot touching the screen it kept moving and running away leaving the room from one of the four exits on the wall! Maybe- oh.]

Wait. Waitwaitwait... did you just move one of the walls? HOW?

[What is this sorcery, dragoon?]

Sora | Kingdom Hearts

[seekthelight]

Three

[Those eyes had to be fake. There was absolutely no way that they were real and staring at him like that. There was no way that they were eerily similar to Riku's or Kairi's or--

No. He had to stop thinking about it.

Sora forced himself to look away, scrubbing at his eyes as he sat on the floor with his back against the wall. He didn't even know how long they'd be stuck inside; he knew it was getting close to a week straight but it was all starting to blur together. They hadn't heard from anyone else, they hadn't seen anyone else and the snow just wouldn't stop. Honestly, being stuck like this? It was driving Sora crazy. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been stuck in one place for so long and--]

Stop looking at me!

[Having pulled his hands away from his face, Sora had glanced at the wall to find several golden eyes staring at him. It was unnerving and sparked a bit of fear inside him which had him wishing, yet again, for his keyblade.

The eyes just kept staring though and Sora quickly pushed himself up, keeping his gaze on the floor as he made his way towards the other end of the cabin.

Maybe he'd find something distracting over there.]


Four

The snow's a lot less fun when Santa isn't around.

[He hadn't meant to get locked outside. He really hadn't. There had just been someone else out there and it didn't seem like they were aware that lockdown was coming. So he'd darted out to drag them inside and...had gotten locked outside himself.

Figures.

Rubbing at his arms, tablet tucked under his arm, Sora could feel his limbs starting to go numb and his energy draining. A shaky breath escaped him, visible in the air before him and his steps came to a halt despite his brain screaming at him that it was a bad idea. Staying still meant freezing and freezing meant..meant..things he didn't want to think about.

But wait!

Sora's eyes narrowed slightly before widening in surprise and the young man scrambled to hold his tablet up and turn the light on.

A tent!

Relief flooded him and he resumed trudging through the snow, forcing himself to move faster as he stumbled on.]

Hey! Hey I need help! Please!

Action Four

[dragonsfang]

Who are you?

[ He didn't recognize the voice, wary eyes raising to the side of the tent from where the voice came. He decided not to open the tent, not yet. Not until he got some answer. ]

What are you doing out here?

[ Honestly, he knew that answer. Exactly what Kain himself was doing out here. Locked out and trying to survive. Well, if this was a person. Here, one could never be too careful... ]

Borderlands| Tiny Tina

[ratherastory]

Prompt 1:

@crumpetqueen

SWEEEEEEEET, a fairy tale! I loooooove fairy tales. This one's the best kind, too. Badass princesses and dragons and deep dark dungeons. "Once upon a time, there was a badass princess who rode a pony made of diamonds into battle..."

[Tina settles in to read the message, then scowls at it a few minutes later.]

Cliffhanger? I hate cliffhangers! I gotta know how it eeeends! Does the princess blow up the dragon? Do they become BFFs? TELL ME! Anyone else around here got the next part of the story?


Prompt 4:

[Tina trudges through the cold, hugging a glass jar to her chest. She affects a really bad British accent.]

Come along Sir Reginald. I told you it was a bad idea to come out here so close to dark. Now we shan't be able to have our tea party, as we'd planned.

[She reverts back to her usual accent.]

Aaaaanyway, now we're stuck out here, and it's your fault. Rescuing people is hard work, yo! You can't do it on your own, you need help. Like, if Roland were here, he'd totally have rescued everyone by now. Bet you I can make shapes in the air with my breath.

[She exhales sharply, making a cloud of vapour appear in front of her mouth.]

See? That's totally a sheep. See its horns? Horns. Horns are badass, Sir Reginald, you know that. What's that? Find shelter? Of course we need to find shelter, that is obvious! Oh, you mean you found shelter? That's the first useful thing you've said today. I take it back about you being a Momma's boy. Where did you see it?

[Tina squints into the night. The jar in her hands glows briefly, though not enough to do anything except provide a tiny spot of light in the darkness.]

Okay, then! Let's go see who's in that tent. HEY! Hello? Anyone in there?

1; @guardian; video;

[phaseshifter]

Perhaps you're supposed to make up your own ending. One with as many explosions and... dragon BFFs as you want there to be? The possibilities are endless.

[ Endless and awesome, but that part really goes without saying. ]

Zach Spencer | Lazer Team

[majorlazer]

Network; One; video

[Zach flicks his thumb at the table, his screen coming back up to life, showing him a string of letters and numbers, none of it making any sense. Zach does realize that he might not be the brightest crayon in the box on the best of days, but this? This isn't making sense, and he's getting frustrated by it.

Grunting, he blows on his fingers in an effort to try and warm them up a little, the tips feeling numb. Crouched and immobile, staring at his screen - it's neither the safest nor the warmest way to keep himself going, but there's something fascinating about the message.]

Well, this is dumb. Anyone knows what the hell this is supposed to mean? Are we getting aliens on top of everything else, or what?

-----

Action; Three;

[Clenching his jaw, Zach walks around the living-room once again, tracking down his steps, unsure they're not wearing out the hardwood floors by now. It squeaks under his steps, or maybe it's his shoes that make the noise. Or maybe it comes out of his mouth, it's hard to tell.

He stops, grinding his teeth a little as he looks outside, yearning for it. It's weird; he hates everything about this place, definitely hates how cold it is, and yet right now, he'd give anything to be walking in the snow, not inside anymore. There's a vase on a table by the window, empty.

Zach lets his feelings take over; he grabs the vase and throws it against the opposite wall, a cry of anger and frustration escaping him. ]

Goddamnit!

[He keeps pacing.]

three

[unwillingdoll]

Are you quite done?

[Rella's not at all happy with this situation, either. Cooped up in this damn house with some insolent boy throwing a temper tantrum. Not that she's much one to point fingers about temper tantrums, but that's neither here nor there. She's been feeling slightly tilted, in a violent sort of way, like the entire slope of her vision is beginning to slip toward the malicious. It only becomes harder to ignore the more that Zach circles.

When the vase shatters to pieces across the floor, she puts her tablet down in a sharp, annoyed fashion, and fixes him with an icy stare. It's not as if she's going to get much idle reading in. And it's not as if anyone's posting anything interesting to begin with. How can there be news when no one can go outside?]

Or do you you suppose the blizzard will simply decide to stop if you destroy enough of the furniture?

[She's done playing nice. How can Rella expected to be sweet and charming when the lines in the walls have been laughing at her? Too much to think about. Too much to worry about. Zach's pulled the short straw.]