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3.0 Test Drive Meme
3.0 Test Drive Meme
Premise & Arrival ֍ FAQ ֍ Apply ֍ Navigation
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:
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:
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:
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.
no subject
The sudden movement turns the cacti shuffle into a full dash. Time to get moving!]
no subject
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. ]
no subject
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.]
no subject
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. ]
no subject
[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.
no subject
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. ]
no subject
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.]
no subject
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?
no subject
...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.]
no subject
[ 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. ]
no subject
[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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
[ 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?
no subject
[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.
no subject
He doesn't get it, frankly. The two concepts don't sound opposed to him. ]
So? Somebody has to deal with the space aliens, or whatever it is you're guarding against.
[ He doesn't really care about Dan's self-esteem, but being friendly with the guy inexplicably protecting you is just good sense. ]
no subject
[He doesn’t seem bothered. There is a direct kind of focus of someone who looks ahead. And only ahead. He shakes his head then closes his eyes.]
We’ll see about the future.
no subject
If we don't get killed by cacti breaking down the walls.
[ Alec says, and has the even odder notion that it's not the possibility of imminent death that's even the reason he doesn't feel that comfortable in the moment.
Well. That's probably enough odd revelations. ]
Mind if I try to get some sleep? Since it looks like you've got first watch covered.
no subject
[He turns slightly, settling so he can resting but he has an ear out for trouble. The gesture is so automatic he doesn’t realize he’s done it until he has.
He nods to Alec.]
no subject
[ Alec scoots over to the far wall of the shed to lie down, his back pressed against the wood as he curls up on his side.
There's something about how Dan sets himself up that nudges at that sense of familiarity one last time. Alec closes his eyes and thinks he actually might let himself sleep instead of just pretending to.
He's out in less than five minutes, one arm tucked under his head as a cushion and the other cocked up to end in a loose fist under his chin. ]