3.0 Test Drive Meme

[wellie]

3.0 Test Drive Meme

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Welcome to Well! Characters arrive a little differently this month (see the first prompt). Your character arrives this month in the middle of the formless desert with only a handful of memories, clad in old west style clothes of your choosing, with no items from home.

Anyone is free to play on the TDM, but you need an invite to apply. Feel free to use these prompts, and interact with the arrival or locations. NPCs are around, but only say a certain set of phrases. TDMs can be considered game canon.

This TDM takes place from the first week of August onward, and can happen concurrently with other events during August and September. This will be the only TDM for August, September, and October.

Applications are open July 26th until August 1st, and August 27th until September 1st. Invites are available for friends of current players.

A Little Lost

Content warnings: heat exhaustion, feelings of unreality

You wake up in a sea of sand. It’s hot, and dry, and it seems to go on forever. You don’t remember much about yourself except your name and a handful of memories that most likely aren’t useful right now.

The sand slip-slides under your feet with every step. Sun beats down heavy and hot on your neck and your head. You’re so thirsty. How did you get here? How long have you been walking? Where are you headed? You can’t know. You feel like you’ve been walking forever, but the sun stays high above you, like it’s always noon. It may have been hours, it may have been mere minutes. What are those things circling in the sky above you? Vultures? That can't mean anything good.

Eventually, you find someone else, another new arrival, maybe, or a resident of the town who may have wandered a little too far into the desert. Maybe they have some water on them? Either way, company is exactly what you need right now, because there sure isn’t anything else in this desolate place. Not a cactus, not an animal, not even hints of a town.

Once you’re together, it seems a little easier to move forward. Time starts to move, too. The sun dips in the sky, your feet tread through the sand, and together, eventually you find the town.

If you take too long after you find one another, and the sun sets, be careful. Cacti sprout up closer to town, and after the sun sets, the cacti start to move, and they seem hungry for blood.

tl;dr:

• This time, new arrivals wake up lost in the middle of a vast desert.
• There's too much sun, too much sand, vultures circling and too little water.
• Finding each other makes time start again, and lets you find the town.
• If you don't make it back to town before nightfall, vicious living cacti appear to attack you.

Face Your Fears

Content warnings: hallucinations, reality shifts

In this town, fear soaks the hot, dry air. It lurks in shadows and the corners of rooms, waiting for their moment. What is it that you fear? Monsters? Disappointing your parents? Maybe you’re afraid that everyone you love will leave you, or that you’ll end up alone. Whatever it is, right now, there’s a chance of becoming very real.

It happens suddenly. Your mind drifts. You lose focus on what you were doing, and when you look up again, the world around you has shifted. What was a nice lunch with a new friend or a fun visit to the saloon becomes a nightmare. What fear manifests is totally up to you, and it can be different every time. The person beside you could become a monster you think is trying to attack you, or you could be suddenly alone in a cold dark space, desolate and empty.

Whatever horror your mind conjures up for you, it will feel real in all ways and with all senses including, of course, your perception of pain. As far as you know, you’re trapped in a nightmare with no way out.

Except, of course, there is a way out: you just need to figure out that it isn’t real. Maybe you’re strong enough to do that on your own; maybe you’ll need help from a friend or a new pal, reaching through the illusion to pull you back. After all, these hallucinations are entirely in the mind of the beholder: to everyone around you, it sure just looks like you’re yelling at your pancakes!

tl;dr:

• You start hallucinating that the things you fear most are actually happening to you.
• These fears feel like real, concrete sensory experiences, even though they're only happening in your head.
• You can escape by recognizing that what's happening isn't real, either on your own or with help.

Bullrider

Content warnings: mild bovine coercion, alcohol

Come on, hot stuff. You know you want to.

Bet you can’t stay on for more than half a minute.

You don’t look too tough.

You think you can tame me?

In the saloon, you hear a voice in your head. It calls to you, the words seductive and enticing: you want to prove it wrong, you want to find out what it’s promising, you hate to lose. Whatever the motivation, you find yourself abandoning your drink and making your way to the new attraction at the back of the saloon: the bull.

It’s a big boy: a massive mechanical bull. Covered in spotted cowhide, with a bull head and big horns, this thing sits on a massive pedestal like a challenge. Around it is spread... relatively thin padding and a flimsy rope to keep the audience back an appropriate distance.

The compulsion keeps a hold on you until you’re on the bull. Maybe you’re on it with a friend, or a stranger, and it starts up with a mechanical buzzing. It starts to sway under you, and now you have just one job: stay on.

It starts easy, but gets harder as it goes along. It’s incredibly difficult to stay on for more than a minute. But during that minute, you feel amazing. You feel hot as hell, in whatever way that works for you: sexy, powerful, bold, in control.

Until he throws you off onto the padding or into the crowd! When you get thrown, there's a good chance you'll go flying into the crowd. Hopefully they're ready to catch you!

If by some miracle you manage to stay on for more than a minute and a half, the bartender slides you a bullrider special: a spicy whiskey cocktail with a hint of lime. Feel free to leave it up to pure chance, and have the mods roll a die for you to see whether you manage to stay on or not.


tl;dr:

• There's a mechanical bull in the back of the saloon!
• There's a strange deep voice in your head, coercing you into giving it a shot.
• It's hard to stay on, but when you're on it, you feel powerful, bold and in control.
• The padding's pretty thin and you'll get thrown hard when you do. You might hit someone!
• If you stay on for more than a minute and a half, you'll get a fun little drink as a reward.

Comments

[forgeabettertomorrow]

IS SOMETHING HAPPENING TO YOUR BRAIN TOO?!

[sighsheavily]

STOP YELLING!

1/2

[forgeabettertomorrow]

WHY THE HELL IS MY HEAD HURTING SO—

[... ... ...]

...huh...

It...it stopped.

2/2

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[He starts chugging the other milkshake.]

[sighsheavily]

...

[Cecelia's eyelid twitches as she straightens back up, her jaw clenched and eyes stinging.

while he's chugging, she's stomping (as much as a petite lady like her even can stomp) over to where he's at, fists clenching and unclenching.

she winds up a hand and slaps his idle arm as hard as she can.

which isn't much because her STR is 12 so instead of a dramatic soap opera slap, it's more like a tiny 'smek' sound that stings more to her than anything.]

You! Stupid-! Stupid man!

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Hey, have you ever been slapped with sunburn? It still hurts. And while he'll heal far faster than a normal human, he still chokes and winces.]

Ow! What the hell?! Why are you calling me stupid?! I almost died! Again! In the desert! Do you know how much that sucks?! It's not like I planned to be out there!

[sighsheavily]

[he's complaining and running her mouth, and she's wearing a snarl out of a desperate effort to not cry - an wasted effort, really.

with a crack in her voice:] I know that! [hiccup.] I know. You were already-- [hiccup. sniffle. she groans, clapping her hands onto her face as the dam breaks.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

... ... ...

[Darin finishes the milkshake.]

[But THEN he grabs a towel from the counter wipes his mouth and chest, tosses it aside and lowers himself a bit to place his hands on her shoulders and his forehead near hers.]

It's alright. Cece, I'm here. I'm back now. See? It's all good! I'm still me!

[He smiles through the burgeoning brain freeze and while his face is flushed from heat and exhaustion he's still the same old idiot.]

[sighsheavily]

[she smothers a despondent sound in the midst of her weeping because she would very much like to stop. but she'd been keeping it together for so long and she must've hit a threshold or tripped a wire in her brain and...oh well.

it's not like she gave up so much as...was accepting what passed for facts right now. he wasn't in the hotel!

once she can catch a breath she wipes at her face and frees her hands up so she can hug him, sunburn be damned.]

You weren't back! Like before!

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I know. I know.

[He hugs her back, pulling her tight so that her chin rests in the crook of the neck where it meets the shoulder. His large hands find her back and he braces her there, doing his best to comfort her.]

I don't know what happened. I...I was fighting my double and. And neither of us made it and the next thing I knew I wake up in the desert yesterday and...

...I came back. I had to come back to you. I'm here now.

I'm sorry I scared you.

[sighsheavily]

[stop blubbering, Ardenbury. she bites her breath back to force herself to stop, but it does take a minute or two before she can calm down without having to nearly black out from breath-holding.

after a gulp, she reluctantly withdraws and wipes at her eyes again, ponytail bobbing with her nod.]

Y-you're still good. On keeping your promises. I don't mind crying if that's so.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Well...I still don't want to see you cry.

But...I really...really would like a shower. And food. Maybe...food first? I don't know.

I've been walking through the desert for a day and a half because I was afraid if I laid down to sleep I'd just die again so.

I'm a little...disoriented.

[It's rare that someone like Darin needs help but...well, he's telling her this because he she's always been the one to take charge of things that require actual brain power.]

[sighsheavily]

[her expression scrunches a bit - sympathy and concern mixed.]

And...and very red. [it does make the blue pop more, but maybe that's not the best thing.]

But yes. You...you should...well, no, you shouldn't overdo it if you've been taxed like that already. Maybe just--sit down for a little while? Here, [she gestures toward the seating on the other side of the counter.] while I get you something to eat? I like that better than the idea of you collapsing in the shower.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I...yeah. Yes. Thank you. Something to eat and something cold.

[He moves towards a booth but...before he moves too far, he gives her a quick peck on the cheek. It's subtle (for him) but he doesn't want her to worry about him. He knows he'll be fine. Doubly so now that she's there to help him. He just needs to find his bearings and she's always been invaluable at helping to guide him.]

[Onlookers be damned, they both deserve at least that base level of affection.]

[sighsheavily]

I can-- [a--

oh.

she's halted mid-thought and mid-sentence by the kiss, stuck in reset mode for a few beats before she can blink, exhale, and recover.

what was she doing again?

...something cold. who's cold? wait--]

R...right.

[instead of trying to fix something up herself (she learned her lesson during the storm), she just solicits something from the waiter (who was so very generous in letting them just be all up in the work area somehow) and arrives at the booth with a plate of standard breakfast foods and a glass of ice water (because diners don't care about time of day - any time is good for eggs and hash browns).]

Here... Take it slow. The storm is over, so there's no urgency right now.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Heat exhaustion is apparently something Darin can still feel despite his superhuman endurance. And while he's more tired than hungry, he knows he needs some form of protein in his body.]

[Given his stamina and metabolism and the fact he doesn't know when the last time was that he ate 'slow' isn't really in the cards. At the very least, he doesn't choke, but he eats the food like it was a banquet prepared special for him. A little kindness in this unforgiving hellscape. He downs the plate and is already asking the waiter for a second plate, this time heavy on the bacon. And a pitcher of ice water is definitely going to go a long way.]

[He looks far from dignified while he eats. He looks like a man who may have been lost at sea with the way he's both red and bronzed from the sun. But with the first plate polished off and a second incoming, he lays back into the booth and just...sprawls.]

Gods that might have been the best thing I've ever eaten...thanks, Cece...

[sighsheavily]

[in different circumstances, Cecelia would be berating him for eating like an animal, and while she does have the compulsion to ask him to slow down so he doesn't choke, she fights it back and just watches, sat tensely across from him, ready to spring up at a moment's notice.

something in her had been so very rattled by this happening - more than she can properly define. she was never supposed to see him again, once upon a time, but she did. he'd forgotten her then, because that's how it was supposed to work. but here, he remembers. the profoundness of that is lost to her, so she just chalks up stray tears to an excess of relief and leave it at that.

she relaxes just a bit at that thank-you, though her fingers are still tightly gripping the edge of the table in front of her.]

You'll not get sick from eating so much so fast, will you?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

If I do, it's my own fault. I'm just...I'm so damn hungry.

[His second plate arrives and he just lays there across the booth seat. He'll get to it soon enough.]

...I think we both have questions for each other so...who should go first?

[sighsheavily]

[she bites her lip, looking at what she can see of him from where she's sat. a bit of blue hair, arm, knee...

hesitantly:] I...I can answer what I can. Since I was there to the last.

[...]

Everything...was ripped apart again.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Was it like the last time? Everything fell apart?

[A beat.]

I think...I think I missed that entire last week. I don't know. Time is fuzzy.

[sighsheavily]

I think so. I don't...remember the first time very well. The sound was deafening. Wind and the building...voices...

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Voices? I don't remember voices.

[sighsheavily]

Mingled in the wind, yes. Indistinct, no words, just... [she looks at the empty water glass.] Sound.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Was it...yelling? Pain?

[He sits up then to look at her.]

...Chanting maybe?

[sighsheavily]

[her mouth opens and closes without an answer right away, head shaking.]

I...I don't know. For certain. I didn't focus hard enough on it. I'll...have to try harder. Next time.

[next time. her stomach clenches.]