cityofcoba | TESTDRIVE #1

TESTDRIVE #1

There's a number of ways it could happen, but regardless you find yourself standing on the outskirts of a city. A beautiful city, as familiar to you as any from your world, with all manner of buildings within sight. A sign on the side of the road greets you, saying WELCOME TO COBA You're already part of the family! It's practically inviting you to step into the city limits. Why don't you?

As soon as you do, you'll find a pamphlet in your hand, almost eager to tell you all about what this mysterious Coba has to offer. And eager seems to be the impression you get about almost everything - the sun seems to brighten, the flowers seem to perk up - it's almost as if everything about Coba is welcoming you as an honored guest.

And you are. Though hopefully, only temporarily. Coba would love nothing more for you to become an honored member of her precious community.

Welcome to Coba, visitor, and we hope you enjoy your stay!

PREMISE | RULES | FAQ & QUESTIONS | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS
Please read the FAQ before commenting! ♥

Welcome to the City of Coba Testdrive! Your character has found themselves in Coba, and are welcome to do any of the following:

● As you enter the city, you hear some bustle about a homecoming party! Following the signs will find yourself at a plaza with food, drink and live music, of all sorts and types. Why don't you stay awhile and indulge?

● Or, if you're not the party type, maybe you'd like to check out the city's cultural center! There's art, books, and other things to keep your mind occupied. And, maybe you'll meet other like-minded people there.

● Not in the mood for any of the above? There's always the beach! It's a lovely day, the waves are beautiful and the stores along the boardwalk all have signs up that read "TAKE WHAT YOU NEED". Maybe you need a surf board.

● Or maybe you have something else you want to do? Go for it! You're more than welcome to come up with your own prompts.

In addition to the above, we would love to encourage anyone taking part in the testdrive to world build with us! Whether it be a street name or an entire neighborhood, whatever you come up with will become part of the game's canon. All we ask is that you pop over here to link us so we can see what you've done!

Finally, ENJOY YOURSELVES. Seriously, this is meant to be a laid back, enjoyable game. We welcome any questions, critiques, and ideas, so always feel welcome to approach us about any and everything.

We hope you decide to stay here in Coba!

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At one side of the party is a small figure in plaid pants a blue jacket, and a blue hat. Naoto is sipping a punch, leaning against a wall, and watching everything carefully. Every so often, she rubs the side of her neck thoughtfully.

There's an analytical look on her face, curious, but still approachable.

[it's not that Ray doesn't like parties, it's more that the cultural center of a city that doesn't appear on Google maps sounds like a more productive place to spend his time in than surrounded by drunk frat boys.

So he's at the center, looking at a map of the city on the computers.]

... Yeah okay, but this doesn't say where we are?

[while he is the party type, he isn't sure he's this party-type—these people were far too friendly, and while he's absolutely a friendly guy himself, he couldn't help but be a little . . . wary. There was friendly, and then there was this, and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to take it.

So, he grabs a drink and a corner, the best to people watch from, until he's had some time to get used to things. Because it looks like even more people were showing up, and it was becoming more along the lines of a damned festival than a bloody party]

[What person, upon arriving in an overly friendly, unheard of city - with really no idea how they even ended up there he was on the train to Chicago, this is not Chicago - would not immediately try to find out more information about exactly where they've ended up? And what better place to do that than the library.

The pamphlet already had a map, but Mordecai wants other maps. Maps to correlate. Books about this history of this place because he is absolutely sure there is no city between St. Louis and Chicago this large named Coba, there just isn't. He's currently sitting at one of the tables, with multiple books stacked next to him.

So, if you are similarly interested in research and come into the library, you may find yourself faced with a set up something like this (though possibly more grand). Or...maybe you're already in the library, working at a computer, when this asshole walks in, and suddenly...you seem to find yourself sitting in front of a typewriter? Hope you weren't working on anything important.]

(ooc: I'm perfectly happy to do shorter-style tags! Also, restating the PSA in my journal: Mordecai is not actually a cat. Please interpret cat icons according to human icons.)

[Well, the welcome wagon could always be worse. Like alien-level worse. Still, a party seemed as good of a place as any to start, so he made his way over after pocketing the pamphlet that had suddenly appeared in his hand.

Matt lingers near the drinks, a glass of punch in one hand, and glances around at people as they gather at the party. After a few moments, he pulls the pamphlet out of his pocket with his free hand and begins to slowly pour through it, furrowing his brows. He occasionally glances up, looking for anyone that may just seem out of place in the city.]

Excuse me—!

[immediately, he'd found bourbon - which okay, lived up to the "anything you want" hype the pamphlet stated, so that was a point. And the party was sort of like the kind he'd see in Mystic Falls, which earned it half a point because he was in a good enough mood to give it that.

But now he was deducting points because it was a little too Mystic Falls-like for him, even down to what looked like a hand-made sign welcoming their "lovely honored guests". For real? It's like they'd taken a page right out of the little town's book]

Honored guests my ass. [he mutters, and takes a sip of his drink]

Wait, you mean there's a beach that doesn't have a pissy god lurking in the water? Kanji is so there.

It's not home - that much was obvious even before the shopping district blurred away into something else. The right people weren't out there (that loud asshole who hangs out by the shrine and calls him a degenerate youth, for one). But it also ain't Atia, and for now - if he doesn't think too hard about what that means for the friends he had there - that's more than good enough.

The party is what draws him and the scenery is familiar enough to bring a smile to his face as he drains the glass in his hand, gaze moving over the crowd as he listens to the conversations, singling out one, and then another.

Best way to learn about a place and people, after all. And right now, he needs the distraction.

"Not bad, really."

[Well everyone, it's time for your first experience with how weird Coba can be. By which I mean, suddenly the homecoming live music band is... playing J-pop? Why is there a random idol at a homecoming party?

And then, presumably, whoever else is here isn't from a world of idols, so it'll probably change back to something more normal after a few minutes.]

Edited 2015-06-05 05:28 (UTC)

Cultural Center

Call it being paranoid but Yukiko didn't trust the party happening in the new city she found herself in. Perhaps it was a part of Pavlov's experiments except replace the scientist with a vindictive goddess who enjoyed playing with people and not care about their feelings. So she decided to explore around the city until she went into a place where it seemed peaceful...enough for the young woman to sit somewhere and set down her case and draw.

As to what she was drawing? Well...people were around. Just don't mind her being quiet and focused on her work.

[if you're walking along the beach today, it's certainly beachy -- blue sky, salt air, and probably one of the spots that's a little more stable in its reality. after all, a lot of worlds have waves and sun and sand, don't they?

still, you might get a surprise -- in the shallows, there's a squat robot about four feet tall and nearly as wide, planted waist-deep in the shallows with a seagull perched nonchalantly on its head. its jaunty red cape is flapping, and a pamphlet is clutched in one outspread mitt. for a moment you might think it's a promotional display for one of the shops, or something left over from another passerby's reality shift, but . . . it certainly doesn't warp or disappear as you approach.

if you get too near, its head will swivel slowly in your direction, eyes lighting up round and yellow.]

[ Watch out, here comes the ~~Spider-Man~~, er unruly teenager skateboarding by and missing you by an inch. . . if you're lucky. If not . . . he's very sorry. Really ]

Oops.

[Patchouli was hardly a party person. On the one hand, she didn't want to refuse the city's hospitality, but on the other, it seemed like there were other ways to not do that, given the presence of the cultural center. That sounded like a much quieter place, all told.

Inside, she found a wide array of books. She's taken quite a few of these and retreated to a (comparatively) isolated table. ~~This is her own form of party.~~ Maybe some of them will be informative.

Go ahead and interrupt her. ~~Or talk behind her back about what a square she is.~~]

Edited 2015-06-05 20:34 (UTC)

[Wanting the ground to open up and swallow you rarely brings on the actual event, but finding herself in a strange city actually has Kira more relaxed than she should be. The party is a draw for a while, but she eventually wanders off, disappears into the library to see what it has to offer. ]

Curiosity drew Erik to the party in the plaza, more than any desire for levity. The city was strange, yet somehow familiar. He glanced around, not immediately spotting any familiar faces. He did notice there was no consistent style of dress. Like the city, everything was both strange and familiar.

Edited 2015-06-05 13:44 (UTC)

A beach.

There is a beach here, with real, actual, genuine water.

A woman with a very elaborate, geometric black full body tattoo, wearing only shorts, is standing at the very limit of where the waves roll onto the sand, holding her sports shoes in one hand. She looks stunned, as if she had never seen a body of water before. Each time the water touch her toes, she takes a little step back, but the tide is rising, so she keeps having to step back. She is torn between a deep visceral fear of drowning and the very real desire to throw herself in the sea just to feel her skin be wet from something other than sweat and blood.

Now I know I made a right here so I ought to be... um.

[Wow, none of this looks familiar at all. Maggey was trying to navigate her way to a new business and a new job interview on a side of town she wasn't around much so getting lost was understandable.

Then again... she turns, looking at the sign next to her. And then she reads it aloud.]

Welcome to Coba. You're already part of the family.

[A beat as she glances out to the city itself.]

... This is a little big for a subdivision though.

[And there's a party going on it looks like, once she passes the main sign anyhow. Not to mention that pamphlet just sort of appearing. She physically starts at that.]

WOAH! HOLD ON HERE A MINUTE, PAL! WHERE'D THIS COME FROM?!

[Zhu Li was not one to normally attend parties, especially one as loud as this. Still, large gatherings like this were ideal places to learn who was important and what was going on. But unlike social events back home, there was absolutely no one here she felt bothered to spend time with.

For the majority of the event, she sits off to the side observing others, getting up once in a while to grab a plate of food. As she searches the table for anything familiar, she keeps an ear out for anything important being discussed by other guests.

At one point, you might notice her standing there silently, looking in your general direction. But if you're too slow to notice, you'll only see a woman turning to walk in any direction that's not towards you.]

It's just like Anytown...

[Fond memories of an older place and time - one had she hadn't enjoyed since her nascent youth. It wasn't aggressively pushing people together in a romantic sense like Anytown had, though...simply an invitation for people to come along and enjoy themselves.]

[Well, why not? She had no reason to refuse.]

[So she'll begin her trek toward the city, though at her distance it'll be a good few minutes before she's in Coba proper.]

[On the boardwalk, there is a conveniently situated bench beneath a palm tree that is being occupied by one (1) young man, one (1) spread out map, one (1) pamphlet, and several (7, if you really wanted to count them) coupons. There's even more coupons in his hands, and he's setting them down on the bench as he finishes reading them.

At this rate, there soon won't be much space left on this prime bench real estate.]

Edited 2015-06-05 15:20 (UTC)

[...this must have been what the city was like before it died. The memories she'd peered into seemed to match up with it.]

[Without a doubt, though, it's a different city. That could mean different dangers, different challenges...but also different experiences. That could be valuable, especially after he long she remembers being cooped up...]

[Soft seems to particularly like the stores and malls; she'll spend a lot of her time windowshopping.]

[what]

[the shit]

[is this.]

[She's looking around, but can't manage any sentiment beyond the above at the moment. (There may well be a grimy checkerboard pattern beginning to overlay the terrain around her, but she certainly isn't noticing.)]

[If anything, it's the beach that captures her attention after a while. She's not actually on it, but it's within her sight.]

[The hustle and bustle of the party is not quite something Nagi is used to. Tsukigata may have it's affairs but none of them are quite as large or quite as boisterous as this one. She does wander through though, her High Pixie perched on her shoulder and commenting brightly - if one can see her, of course. Spirits and demons aren't so easily picked out unless one has a penchant for it or is trained.

The live music draws her attention for a bit as does the food, particularly anything of a more Western variety.

In the end though Nagi makes for the boardwalk's shops, curious over the clothing there. The more modern bathing suits draw a good bit of interest and one will find her musing over them with her Pixie commenting:]

Woah, these are a little risque!

[Considering what standard beach fare in Nagi's era is like, well...

Eventually their path curves onto the beach itself. She didn't go very often at home despite not being that far off from the waterfront herself. High tide is coming up but otherwise the sea looks fairly calm.]

It's a very nice view.

Definitely. Kind of romantic, right?

In theory, yes.

[Huh.]

[Well...another new place, right? That can't be a bad thing. And there's all this food...he doesn't need to eat, being a robot, and food still feels good. There's pizza, right?

[...everyone looks merry, too. It's a good atmosphere.]

[So what Len will do is just weave among the crowds, not really bothering anyone - it's all about the food and drink. Modest amounts, of course, leisurely enjoyed - but still. You'll probably have to speak to him first.]

[PARTY PARTY PARTY]

[LEMME AT IT]

[Like her brother, but with +3 gusto and abandon, plus she'll ~~flirt with any ladies~~ chat people up if they look interesting.]

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