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

[It hits him a second time but he walks through it as he lets the thread of thought go the moment it enters his head. He shakes his head once and there is an odd ripple in the air.

The air is damp and the scent of the sea rolls around before he shakes it off.] We’re being blocked from remembering anything.

Or at least, important things. One moment. [He focuses on the red eyes and the figure that chases him in memory. He reaches out to pull it through and the pain hits him so hard and so fast that he barely registers hitting the sand. He takes a moment, breathing hard as he lets it go.]

…I’m right. [He pushes himself up, breathing in.]

[ This time, Alec is anticipating a reaction. He doesn't flinch when Dan falls. He doesn't step in to try to help, either. If he wanted Alec's help, he'd have said something, wouldn't he?

Besides. Alec is preoccupied by a memory that swims up to the surface cleanly and painlessly, a memory that's nestled into his grasp of his own special set of tricks. ]

Fuck. [ He says, very sincerely, eyes wide and huge. ] Fuck.

Yeah. You're right. And we shouldn't go into that town just yet.

Do the words 'master-stranger protocols' mean anything to you?

No. [He looks off at the town then back at Alec. He pivots to keep watch on their surroundings as he says,] Does a train traveling the stars mean anything to you?

[Words drift up to the surface of his mind, too blurred to grasp. He doesn't grab for them. He waits. It feels like he has waited for things many, many times.]

No. But we've established that doesn't mean anything.

[ Alec is more visibly unhappy at this point than he's been since the two of them met. He paces back and forth a few steps, digging his fingers into his hair. He probes at the void of his memories tentatively, like a tongue exploring the edge of an empty socket, but he doesn't press hard. He likes his brain as unscrambled as possible. ]

Okay. So we're under a stranger type effect, and what that means is that someone is fucking with us, and that means we can't trust anything we think we can trust. Shit.

You got a name over there, Star Train?

Dan Heng. I serve as a guard. You? [He knows down to his bones that the glimpses he has seen mean something. And the sense of a sin committed is like a chain, shackling him to something he can't and won't name. There's no doubt that if he tries, he will bleed again.

When haven't I bled for it?

The question hangs in his head as he brings a hand to his chin.] Whoever or whatever is messing with us has to have a plan behind their actions. And the only way to know that is to play along.

[For now, his eyes say. The sun is starting to reach the sands, and the day is almost done.] If we can't trust anything we think we know. We can at least trust we both want to figure out who we were.

Alec. No idea what I do.

[ There's a hint in the shape of the knowledge bubbling up in him, the direction that it's aimed in, but Alec doesn't think he needs to muddle the situation with it. He could be wrong, anyway. ]

You can't trust that either. Not saying it's not a workable call, because it is, but you don't know that's actually what you want. It's what 'you' want, right now, but for all you know, you're in on this. I could be in on this.

Ugh. [ He groans and tips his head back, dropping his hands to his sides. ] This mindfuck stuff blows. Everything I can think of we should've done before we got hit, and for all we fucking know, we did! But if you can't remember the stupid passwords, what's the point?

So - fuck it, I guess. Playing along works. We're probably screwed, we might as well not be screwed dry. Let's go to stranger-town and get bent over a goddamn water barrel, at least.

[You could be in on this.

Sin. The guilt. The red eyes in the darkness. The sense of being hunted...

He stares off into the desert as he drops his hand from his face. ...could that be true? He walks on towards the distant town.] Whether we're involved in this or not, the only option for now is to seek shelter and answers. Time felt like it was holding still before.

It's possible it was. If that's what happens when we try to run... [Then what options are there?]

[ Alec kicks the sand before he starts walking after Dan again with hunched shoulders and a sour expression. This whole thing is annoying. Being stranded in the desert to maybe die, getting his head severely messed with, whatever is waiting for them in the increasingly less inviting looking town - he really would rather not, actually.

At least Dan still isn't being a dick about the whole thing. ]

We're stuck here. [ He sighs, loudly. ] With probably multiple people in on it, trying to work out a stranger effect from the inside, and I think I'm getting blisters from these boots.

This sucks.

It isn't ideal. [He agrees. After a moment he glances back out at the desert. Whatever he's looking for - even he doesn't know - he doesn't find it. The town gets closer as he says,]

Hopefully, whatever supplies the town has can help with those blisters. [He spots something out of the corner of his eye but he keeps moving. He slows enough to walk side by side with Alec. His voice goes low, the calm dropping away into seriousness.] To the left, don't look directly at it. What do you see?

[To the left on top of a sand dune where they hadn't been before are a group of cacti. They sway in the now evening breeze. They seem to be moving bit by bit, sharp needles turned towards them.]

[ There's a tiny perverse part of Alec that wants to look directly just because he was told not to. There's a much larger, less stupid part that tells him to relax his shoulders and keep his expression neutral as he checks the periphery of his vision.

Well. Great. Just wonderful. ]

Just some stupid scenery. [ He says, casually. ] It's funny how that stuff can look like it's coming closer, huh? Tricks of the light.

Completely unrelated, but I have a funny feeling we're supposed to be walking to town faster. Do you have a funny feeling like that, Dan?

[Dan Heng moves his hand, but the weapon he'd been reaching for isn't there. There is a sense of loss and panic in his head. Why was it missing? It couldn't be missing! If it was- He grabs the side of his head as pain stabs him.

The sudden movement turns the cacti shuffle into a full dash. Time to get moving!]

[ Alec spits out another curse and grabs Dan's free elbow to give him a nice, friendly, hard shake. ]

You can get back to giving yourself brain damage in a minute!

[ He waits for Dan to get on board with running before he starts, which isn't exactly out of altruism. He might need someone close at hand to shove into the cacti if they catch up, which they very well might. Running on sand is a pain in the ass. ]

[The world turns sharp and crystal clear as he forces himself to let go of everything but now. He can worry later. Trouble is afoot and he is a protector.

There is a sense of nostalgia in more than one way as he surges forward. He runs, keeping pace with Alec as the cacti sprint towards them.

Alec could get a reprieve if he shoved Dan Heng into their path. But all choices have consequences.]

[ The thought does reoccur to Alec as the cacti continue their course of interception and the town barely seems to get closer. Alec discovers quickly that his slender limbs are not hiding secret wiry running muscle, at least not of the calibre required for this.

He's the worse runner between them. Dan will probably think of pushing him first, or just peel off and leave him behind, and Alec doesn't want to find out what a pack of roving needle studded assholes have in store for tender human bodies.

He doesn't even need to touch him. All he has to do is reach out and push on the back of his knee, and Dan wouldn't even know it was Alec who did it. If he made it somehow, he wouldn't be able to pin it on him.

Except Alec still doesn't do it, and isn't that a bitch to realize just before he trips for real? ]

Shit! Shit, shit, shit -

[ Alec catches himself on his palms and starts trying to scramble back up, his sides heaving with exertion. Dan's definitely long gone, and now Alec is going to die, like an idiot, because he felt sort of uncomfortable about leaving some random guy he just met to the mercy of rogue botany. ]

[The moment he hears Alec fall, Dan Heng changes direction. He whips around, coming about to impose himself between the Cacti and his companion. He takes one look at the trouble.] Hold on.

[And picks him up, sprinting away. The Cacti are gaining, but Dan keeps ahead of them. He focuses on his goal. Life or death is almost comforting. He's doing what feels right.]

If I get caught, keep moving. Don't stop.

[ There is a lot that could be unpacked here, if there was any time, and if Alec had the presence of mind to do it. All he manages to muster up when Dan plucks him off the sand is a baffled internal what?

So, because he doesn't have anything better, and Dan seems to know what he's doing, Alec just nods. He's unaware of how much blank confusion is in his wide eyes as he turns them to the town. ]

There - !

[ He points at what's little more than a tumble down shack at the edge of town, but it's a building he can't look right through to the other side, and he can see a sagging door hanging off its hinges. ]

[Dan Hen does what feels natural. He pours on the speed. His lungs burn. His muscles ache, and he plows on regardless. The cacti are trying to get closer. As night fully falls he dashes into town and something makes the cacti turn back.

He doesn't bother to wonder. He keeps moving, kicking the door open just in time to dart inside and shove his weight against it once they're through.

He lets Alec down and sliding down, putting all his weight against the door to hold it shut.] ...well, that could have gone better.

[He closes his eyes and wipes the sweat from his brow.]

[ Alec flops gracelessly onto the sandy floor when Dan sets him down. They end up sitting facing each other, Alec still staring at him with perfect incomprehension as his chest heaves. ]

Why did you...

[ He licks his dry lips and swallows thickly, vaguely remembering his thirst. For some reason, it's not the first thing on his mind. ]

Why did you do that?

It was faster to pick you up. [He leans back the door is fitted back into place. Yet, he has a feeling that's not what is being asked.]

...I'm not the sort to leave a companion behind. Even if they asked me to. [He pats his sides and takes out a water flash. He holds it out.]

Okay.

[ Alec accepts the offering, his eyebrows tugged together to form a faint, perplexed creased between his eyes. He lifts the water to his mouth and drinks, one needy gulp that makes his stomach buck a little in surprise before he extends it back to Dan. ]

We're not 'companions', though. [ The crease deepens. ] And you told me to leave you if they caught up.

[ There's something not clicking. Something that's supposed to be obvious, the way Dan is talking about it. ]

[He takes a sip of water and recaps the flask. He only needs a little bit after a run like that. He makes himself a little more comfortable on the floor of the shack.] I did. I would have been fine.

[There's a certainty there he isn't bothering with poking at. Whatever the hell is going on with him can wait.] I don't know why I know that. But I do.

[ Alec nods at that. He believes it too, like a lot of the things Dan has said so far. It's as though Dan believes so steadily in what he's saying that it takes other people along for the ride.

Alec should be suspicious of that, under the circumstances. He'll get on that when he's less hot and tired. ]

...good news for you, because I wouldn't have been able to do much. Guess we're lucky you can run.

[ Alec glances down at the sand. ]

Thanks.

You’re welcome. …I don’t know how much either of us could have done. I don’t know what I can do.

And those plants looked to be trying to ram us. [He looks back at the door. He gets up and shifts the door a bit. It is night outside. He can spot some of the cacti shuffling about. He slips the door back over the hole.] We’re trapped right now.

We’ll have to wait this out.

I don't know. You seem like a guy who has his shit together. You'd have probably figured it out.

[ Alec says most of that to his left boot as he works it off his foot and drops it on the sandy floor, then swaps to the right. Some annoying little voice in the back of his head quibbles that he should leave them on in case he has to run again, but he reminds that voice that if the bloodthirsty cacti bash down the door there's not going to be a lot of running options available. ]

Waiting works for me. [ He drops his right boot and leans over his socked feet, digging his thumbs into their arches with a sigh. ] So you're a guard, huh?

Yes, I think I’m a guard of the star train. That feels correct.

[He leaves his boots on. He braces himself against the door to keep it up. He sets his hands on either side of him.]

I’m not sure I would call myself ‘someone with their shit together’. More combat is the only memories I have.

3.0 Test Drive Meme

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