wellcome | 3.0 Test Drive Meme

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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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

o1 is for the newcomers.

Come here, this way--

[those unfamiliar figures who shamble out of the desert, who have all their limbs and a proper heartbeat, are ones Cecelia finds herself on the lookout for. there's apprehensive hope in each sharp-eyed sighting that one of those will be a familiar face...

so many are still missing since she woke.

that doesn't mean she can abandon the new lost souls.

she's not strong, but she's dependable. she'll approach with a handkerchief to wipe sweat-soaked brows and a bottle of water in her satchel to share.]

[for those already in town, who have made it to the diner in particular, they may find her already seated in a booth with iced tea for herself and a couple spiral-bound novelty notepads stacked up - one of which she has open to a half-finished page.

make eye contact with her while she's mid-sip? no escape now. she'll keep her gaze fixed and, once she can, speak up:]

New, yes? Spare a moment? [she'll gesture across from her.]

o2 is for the regulars.

[first thing's first: calm down.

the panic of the abrupt shift from doomsday to Tuesday isn't easy to adjust to, and honestly? Cecelia's glad for that - that seems to be the kind of thing one would consider correct, as far as reactions go. to become numb to this process just two times in would be disturbing, she thinks.

still, she at least has a better checklist in mind as she comes down from trembling and short breaths.

after a quick shower, change of clothes, and a bit of time braiding back her hair - enough time to take stock of herself, the events that transpired, and what she needs to do moving forward - she searches around her room, doing cursory checks for things that are present or absent or downright new (the wardrobe never does suit her tastes, unfortunately), she grabs the satchel Darin crafted for her, grateful to find it already stocked with her regular supplies.

she opens her door at the far end of the fourth floor and looks about, ears focused on searching out the sounds of survivors.]

...Anyone?

[Bueller?]

[much of her time is in the hotel this first week taking stock of people and items, so she's an easy find. she knows she should investigate the other buildings at some point, but doing so alone makes it feel more the troublesome chore than it truly is...

(she just hates the musical ambiance; it's so loud to her ears! how does anyone focus?)

that said, she's not so lost in her own lists and investigations as to miss someone in her peripheral; her attention is easy to grab.]

Mm-? Oh--

I am. [The tall man in the doorway lingers until he spots the notebooks. His green eyes light up but the calm tone of his voice doesn't change.] You have data on this town.

[He crosses from the door to sit before her, his hands settled before him in what could be taken as a formal pose. But the totality of his focus is on her.] I have more for your collection.

[if she hadn't looked up, she'd have mistaken that dark-haired figure for Noah. good thing she looked twice before opening her mouth.

that said, she's quiet as he approaches, scanning him over.]

My name is Cecelia Ardenbury. [her eyes fix back on his face.] I've been logging as much as I can about this place: What changes, what doesn't, who arrives...who disappears.

[Dan Heng, like anyone dumped in this town is dressed like he dropped out of a western. A long black coat not unlike the one Molly once wore. A grey shirt with fringe on the shoulders and edges. His hands are half-gloved and he looks at her silently as she scans him over.

He speaks once she finishes.] My name is Dan Heng. As far as I can tell, I was a guard.

My clearest memory is walking in the desert. The sun didn't move. The wind didn't blow. The sand I passed was the same. Until I met someone else. Then a breeze began and the sun started to move. My surroundings also began to change.

[Dan Heng is written down quickly, followed by a few abbreviations for her own use. DaHe, Dan, AnHe, in different lettering.

another note: he didn't wake in the hotel. that's been one of the biggest pivots so far.

endless sand is familiar enough, horizon aside.]

Gravestones anywhere?

No. I assume it is well known the cacti that appear closer to nightfall are hostile. [Hostile is one way to put it. They had enough intelligence to react like-

He rubs the side of his head.] ...Am I correct that we're intentionally blocked from remembering anything important?

[her nose crinkles a little at mention of the cactus plants; that's an aspect she's not happy to hear may be back...]

Mm. Yes, that's been the case for everyone so far. Things have been changing gradually, so perhaps those who follow us will not be similarly afflicted.

[her eyes flick up briefly.] I advise not trying to chase after those nostalgic threads too earnestly once the pain becomes debilitating; memories will find their way to cement themselves back to mind without the extra strain.

Chasing them means death, doesn't it? [The statement hangs in the air as he looks at the desert. He sighs.] With how fast I was punished for even a stray thought, I assumed fighting it could lead to that.

[Dan Heng looks back at her and rubs his chin.] Is it common that the more important something might be, the swifter and harder the pain hits?

That part isn't totally clear, I'm afraid. We don't have a full accounting of every type of memory restored after blistering pain - typically sixty seconds' worth - but...from what I've witnessed and experienced myself, it's something of import. A primary piece of identity, a core ability or role...

You said a guard of sorts, yes? You'll find yourself in similar types of company, I think.

some other ota wildcards c:

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HERE HE COMES

THERE HE IS

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