Test Drive Meme #4: Season of Ripening

[royaldecreemods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to the Royal Decree Test Drive Meme!

If you're new here – hi, hello, welcome! This is your chance to give your potential character a little test run and see how they might fit into the world of Rosavelle. You can find all the relevant info over on our Navigation Page, so take a peek if you need to get caught up on the setting, rules, or just want to gnaw on the worldbuilding a bit.

This TDM is non-canon to the game overall, but feel free to treat individual threads or CR as canon between characters if everyone involved agrees. We've included some prompts and locations below to help spark ideas, but as always, feel free to go off-script and go ham!

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The shift in weather Ripening brings to Rosavelle is impossible to ignore. The air grows heavy and thick with humidity that clings to basically everything and unlike the passing showers of earlier seasons, rain now arrives in frequent and stormy bursts - sudden downpours that sweep through the streets and canals with little warning, soaking everything in their path. It rarely rains without pause, but clear skies offer little relief. As the weeks pass, the rising heat turns each shower into lingering mugginess, leaving the whole island feeling stifling. Hope you enjoy being overhheated and damp all the time!!!

It's not all doom and gloom, thankfully. True to the season’s name, fruits begin to swell and sweeten on their branches, with the first harvests ready by midseason - a sure sign that Ripening is well underway.

By now you've likely found your footing in the ebb and flow of island life and you know how things go around here: when someone needs a little warmth, a little effort, or a little magic, the people of Rosavelle come together - and that includes you!

PROMPTS

Honey Downpour

The beekeepers of Primavain are in a panic: the relentless rain has driven their hives into overproduction and now thick, golden honey is starting to pour from the combs in a tremendous waste of hard work and delicious treats! The bees themselves are docile (if a bit reluctant to exit their homes), but the situation is rapidly getting out of hand. Volunteers are needed to help harvest excess honey, redirect curious crowds and maybe convince a few stubborn bees to relocate. Or, if you're less helpful, you could always sample a bit… purely for quality control purposes, of course.

The Drip-Drop Duel

Somewhere in the Castle Grounds, an extremely niche and equally petty disagreement has escalated. Two scholars, both convinced they have perfected the superior rain-deflection Bloomcraft, have taken to demonstrating their work in increasingly dramatic fashion. And now there’s a localized "dueling" ground where rain refuses to fall normally, instead redirecting itself in arcs, spirals, or suspiciously targeted torrents. Spectators are gathering, bets are being placed, and volunteers are being roped in to test the limits of each spell. Step in to assist, sabotage, or simply survive the increasingly creative ways water is being weaponized.

Puddle Predictions

Something odd is happening in the streets of Bellvine Hill: certain rain puddles have started reflecting things that aren't actually there. A clear sky where there should be clouds, a stranger standing just behind you when you’re quite certain you’re alone or fleeting glimpses of moments that haven’t happened yet but will do in just a few moments. Naturally, this has drawn a crowd. Some are treating it like a game, trying to find the strangest reflections, while others are attempting to interpret what they see. Pair up to compare visions, test which puddles are the most reliable (if any) or dare each other to act on what you glimpse. It’s probably harmless. Probably.

Runoff Relay

With the heavy rains feeding into the canals, the water flow through Marelys has picked up speed, carrying with it all sorts of debris from upriver-driftwood, stray fishing gear, and the occasional very confused fish. The dockhands have organized a cooperative effort to intercept anything useful before it's swept out to sea, forming a chain of volunteers along the canal's edge to catch, grab, and pass things along. It's efficient! It's practical! It's also turned into a slightly competitive relay, with different teams trying to outdo each other in speed and quantity. The victor doesn't seem to get anything more than bragging rights, but isn't that what competition is really about at the end of the day?

Canal Critter Convoy

The rising waters have displaced more than just goods - small canal creatures have started turning up in all the wrong places. Tiny fish in fountains, curious crustaceans in market stalls and at least one very indignant waterbird refusing to vacate a bakery doorway. A coordinated effort is underway to gently relocate these wayward critters back to their proper habitats. You can help catch and carry them, guide them along flooded pathways, or simply keep them calm (easier said than done) until more help arrives.

Leaky Greenhouse Blues

The Everbloom's Greenhouse is not supposed to leak. It is, in fact, famously not supposed to leak. And yet, with the relentless rains of Ripening bearing down on the glasswork overhead, a series of suspicious drips have begun appearing in the most inconvenient places possible. Now the gardeners alike scrambling to catch the leaks before delicate plants get overwatered (or worse, offended). Volunteers are welcome to help patch things up, hold buckets in increasingly awkward positions, or attempt to soothe particularly dramatic flora that have decided this is a personal slight. Just try not to track mud everywhere - some of these plants hold grudges.

The Overripe Affair

The Season of Ripening means abundance but someone may have gotten a little too enthusiastic. A Primavain orchard has produced fruit so perfectly ripe that it's started to… burst. Not rot, not spoil - just gently (and sometimes not so gently) popping open under the pressure, releasing sticky-sweet juice and an almost intoxicating fragrance into the air. It's drawing crowds, insects, and more than a few opportunistic snackers, and the orchard keeper is at their wit's end. Help harvest the fruit before it explodes, find creative ways to contain the mess, or just brave the chaos and see how many you can catch mid-pop. Fair warning: you will get sticky. There is no avoiding it.

(CODE)

Comments

[nightwild]

I guess... There's the fountains to get the hair, but would you rather just hit the hot springs?

[It still feels really, really, REALLY awkward to just invite girls there, but.... what else can she do for hair like that?]

I've got some things I wanna ask about, anyway.

[greatactor]

Is that okay? There were still fruits left on the trees.

[ She even looks back toward the basket she knocked onto the ground. There's still some good, unsullied fruits inside! ]

I guess that's enough to take back for the day...

[nightwild]

Yeah, it's fine. I'll just tell the guy in charge we're taking off.

[She shrugs.]

Or would you rather stay sticky like that?

[greatactor]

I wouldn't prefer that at all, but-

[ She hates leaving a job undone. Still, Yayoi has a point. ]

I'll be more vigilant for tomorrow's picking.

[nightwild]

Forget vigilance, we need a damn hazmat suit for it.

[girl HATES being sticky. but.

Yayoi goes and talks to whoever in charge for a minute, and then they're off!]

[greatactor]

[ An excellent point. While she's still reeling from having the sickly sweet scent of fruit all over her face and hair, McQueen has gotten the stuff all over her clothes before this. It's been hard to avoid. ]

Thank you, Yayoi-san. I do appreciate you looking out for me.

[nightwild]

Don't worry about it. Besides, I have my own reasons for wanting to talk to you.

Would you rather hit the fountains for it or the hot springs to get it off?

[greatactor]

I couldn't ever say no to visiting a hot spring.

[ She perks up considerably at the thought! ]

Was there something you wanted to discuss, though? We can talk while we walk.

[nightwild]

There was.

[let's walking!]

Are you friends with Gold Ship?

1/?

[greatactor]

[ ...huh?

Surely she misheard her for a second there- ]

2/?

[greatactor]

[ Oh she knows Gold Ship! ]

3/?

[greatactor]

[ Oh she knows Gold Ship... ]

4/?

[greatactor]

[ Wait so Gold Ship is here?? ]

5/?

[greatactor]

6/6

[greatactor]

[ She hesitates to use "friend" with her because their relationship is very...hard to put into words. Friendly but teasing and coordinated. Is that friendship? ]

Yes, I'm very well acquainted with her.

[nightwild]

"Very well acquainted"... Is this a rival thing, then? Or enemies? I don't know how umamusume work with that whole thing. I freaked out when I saw Gold Ship licking a guy's blood as a 'rival' thing.

[greatactor]

...I beg your pardon?

[ She had to be hearing that wrong because WHAT? ]

[nightwild]

Yeah, it was freaky. Do umamusume really go crazy without a rival?

[NORMAL THINGS]

[greatactor]

[ The deepest sigh. The Marianas Trench of sighs! ]

I can assure you that's certainly more of a Gold Ship thing than an umamusume thing, Yayoi-san.

[nightwild]

Really?

She's been... kinda having a rough time here. I want to help, but... I don't understand what's an umamusume thing, and what's a Gold Ship thing. I thought I understood, but that Oguri told me I was wrong?

[greatactor]

[ "Gold Ship" and "a rough time" seem like they should be mutually exclusive. Sure, Gold Ship is a handful, but she's always the one lighting up a room with her smile. Others feel better when she's around because she breathes a breath of fresh air into a situation. ]

W-Why don't you, um...start at the beginning, Yayoi-san? So I can better understand.

[nightwild]

Um...

[Where does she start. How does she start.]

... Has anyone told you what horses are yet?

[greatactor]

[ Ah, right. Horses. The quadrupedal creatures that bear the namesake of umamusume. As bizarre as it is to think about, she supposes it's not as strange as a cat girl or a dog girl from an anime discovering that cats or dogs exist. Rosavelle isn't exactly the same as her birth world. ]

I meant to start at the beginning of Gold Ship's issues here, please.

[nightwild]

They kind of are related.

Apparently, there's a ghost horse named Gold Ship following her around. They're the same thing, from different worlds? And that's true for all umamusume? It's something like shared karma...?

... Basically, it sounds like she's trapped by fate. And she made it sound like umamusume are basically just discarded and no one cares once they stop being profitable for humans to watch.

[greatactor]

[ There's...a lot for her to unpack there.

A horse creature bearing her name, haunting her like a spirit from a fairy tale. Gold Ship herself being trapped by fate. Little more than a fun pastime for the masses to be thrown away when she's no longer fun to watch.

McQueen would be lying if she said such assertions are wrong. Anyone who performs in the public eye is subject to being adored and then abandoned. It doesn't matter if you're a movie star, a singer, a comedian, or a racer like herself and Gold Ship and all their friends. Fame is fleeting. That's part of its appeal. You either shine brightly or fade away into obscurity. ]

Don't tell me...she's become so focused on others that she's lost sight of her own goal...