wellcome | 3.0 Test Drive Meme

Entry tags:

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:

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 is. I don't know how or when it started but...you've been such a constant in my life here. Maybe I was used to going it alone where I come from because every time you'd come to see me and check on me I just felt so...

Elated.

I felt important. Like I matter. You make me feel like I matter. And since I started to feel that way I realized...

Just how much you meant to me. As a person.

[her chest tightens, ears burning with those words. they make her want to cry, but she'll fight that to the last hiccuping breath to avoid - she's so exhausted of crying, be it out of misery or otherwise. her head tilts in against his shoulder, under the chin, her hand curling against his clavicle at the hem of his tank top.]

I, I-I don't think I'd...be doing even half as well without you, Darin. And I know that--somehow, you mattered before. Because it'll hurt, sometimes...in that way something out of reach hurts. And because you were the one who appeared... That dance, right? Other people saw figments of people they missed...

[quietly:] I saw you.

[Amazingly, it's Darin's turn to blush. It's so intense, she can feel the heat from his cheeks from where she's resting her head. And her keen ears can pick up the strong thumpthumps of his heart as it beats out of his chest.]

[She saw me?]

[There's a million jumbled thoughts knocking around in his brain but above all else he's soaring. She really cared about him that much? Was it...more than just caring?]

...You won't have to miss me anymore. Because I'm going to be here for you and with you. And if something happens like last loop, I'll come back. And when this is all over...I won't leave.

...I'm yours forever.

[there's no way she can stand to look him in the eye at that; she'll burst right into tears, she knows it. instead, she snakes her arm around his shoulders and hides her face. the terrifying elation of his words and knowing they're true is only undercut by the echo of her own voice in her head.]

Even if...the past you find is horrible. Right?

If the past is horrible then that's where we'll leave it. Because right now, the only thing I have eyes for are the future...

[Sorry, Cecelia. But he's going to shift enough to tilt her head up by her chin; just enough for her eyes to meet him.]

...And you.

[He's not going to give her the chance to chide him on such earnest and powerful promises. He's going to kiss her again and this time it's stronger. A reassurance. Sealing a promise. If she can find the words to rebuke him after a kiss like that, then she'll have her chance.]

[he'll find her eyes wide and wet and her face as ruddy as before, and her expression starts to crumble with emotion before she's saved by a kiss. there's a desperation in the whimpering way she reciprocates, her arm hugging him tighter, as if doing so made it more true and real.

if she can impress herself more prominently here, it keeps the fear of being forgotten a bit further away. and closer, she can recognize that it's not just her heart that's drumming out of control; she's grateful for that on top of everything else.]

Then I mean to keep you. [she nuzzles her cheek against his in lieu of having a free hand to wipe stray tears away.

thickly:] Dragons and hording and...and whatnot. [gah.]

Does that make me your treasure, then...?

[He's holding her against him with no intention of letting go. At this distance, he keeps his voice just a notch above a whisper; a rumbling baritone right in her ear to drown out their combined heartbeats.]

Because I like the idea of you being so protective of me...

[she exhales lightly, mouth twitching into a secret smile; she matches move for move to keep from being properly looked at. her punishment for that is the tickle against her ear that gives her an incredible shiver.]

Treasure. Hmh. Yes. That sounds right. I treasure you very much, Darin.

Do you now...

[She can feel the smile spreading into that smirk of his. A smirk that has no right being as confident or attractive as it portrays him as.]

Then...I treasure you too, Cecelia.

[There's no question what word he's substituting 'treasure' for.]

[she may just perish and float away for how giddy she feels; there's going to be a loud bang and she'll suddenly wake up on the floor, having fallen out of bed, right?

maybe?]

Oh-- [not again! she sniffles.] I, I believe you, just--just don't...say it so much, or all I'll do is cry, and you hate that anyway, so-!

[He laughs softly, a gentle rumble in his chest.]

I’ll do my best. But…I treasure you so much it’s hard to contain.

So, we’ll just have to work on it. Little by little until you can stand it. Because you’re definitely someone who deserves to feel treasured.

[she utters a whining sound because every time he says treasure she feels herself crumble. it's like if torture were fun but also torture.

she fidgets and lifts her head, kissing him before he can KO her with those syllables. a brusque kiss takes the place of brusque words, but she's so quickly soft all over again - just as she is in conversation, so she is now: all bluster with softness underneath.]

[He can’t help but chuckle at how cute she is. Now that he can better feel the kindness and love behind the sharp words, he finds himself falling for her in all new and exciting ways.]

[With one oversized arm around her, keeping her pressed into his body, he lets the other lovingly pet the back of her head.]

I think I need to amend my statement from before. I’m not just hopeful. I’m happy too.

[she finds she very much likes being so securely held; she'd had a suspicion that was so, given all the times she'd been yanked around, carried, lifted out of danger by him and others. the circumstances here are far better, so naturally she can accept the conclusion easier.

she finds, too, that she's pleased that she can be the cause for happiness in this way. perhaps it'd be easy to dismiss it, scoff and make light of the notion...but she promised herself to take him at his word. he's yet to lie, and yet to break a promise. it's very heartening.]

Good. Given all you've been through today...you deserve a break.

I sure hope that’s not the whole reason why you’re being so sweet and affectionate. I’d like to think this is making you happy too.

[Who knew that cuddling could feel so wonderful? This closeness and warmth were filling his heart close to bursting. When she leaves to go back to her own room for bed, he won’t know what to do with himself.]

But…I admit. It’s nice. Having affection shown to me. I think…when I remember Dromas’ words to me. I can’t help but feel I had a pretty lonely life.

I-it's not! [she shrinks a little, feeling a beat of shame. that's what it seems like when she dances around with her words as she does, doesn't it? gads.]

I, I don't know about lonely, but...but every true kindness is...it almost feels like a test. And I don't know the rules or what constitutes a pass or fail, or...if I was to be presented with it at all.

[she bites her lip, a little unnerved by how fast she could speak to that.]

If I...delight too much, it. Feels as though there are...unseen consequences. And I don't know why, especially if...if I'm truly meant to be forgotten. In general.

It...sounds like you've been burned or let down. A lot.

[He pauses thoughtfully.]

But...I think it's a testament to how much you've grown that you're able to trust me to not do that to you...

[a touch flat:] Or how much I've forgot.

[beat.]

I like your notion better.

...I do too.

You're worried, aren't you. That this...what we have. That it won't last.

I can't not worry, Darin. It's pretty baked-in to...all of me. And seeing how Flynn and Yuri--

[she hesitates. that's not really her business to go on about.

she sighs.]

I'll just have to mind it. My worry. Temper it, lest it color all of my judgments. As with anything. What little I have control of, versus everything here out of my control.

...Cecelia.

This isn't a "you only" scenario.

[He cranes looks down at her and cranes his head to try and get her to look at him.]

You don't have to temper it alone. I'm a blacksmith. Tempering things is literally in my job description.

[He gives her a little smile before he continues.]

All joking aside, you wouldn't leave me to fight my demons and insecurities alone. What makes you think I'd let you do it?

...Look, you've chided me before about making sweeping, unrealistic promises. So I won't. Because you're the type who favors real, tangible results. Actions you can see and experience. Solutions you can witness. So I'll promise this:

For as long as we are together? I want to sooth your worries. I can't take away the burns but I can make it so that you don't mind them.

Partners. Remember?

[she reflexively turns her head to try and hide him in her peripheral, but that'd mean moving entirely, and she's not keen to that. instead, she can't help but see him and gradually look up, her brow knit with unease.

her expression softens after a bit of a wince at the end of that reminder. don't cry again, Ardenbury.]

...I remember. [she's just afraid it's too much. a little late to worry NOW, gads.

squinting:] How are you more eloquent aloud now than I am on paper?

What, me? Eloquent?

I wouldn't go that far.

I just speak honestly. What's the sense in lying to someone you care for?

Mm. [her head relaxes back against the pillow while she scans his face.]

It's still...profound enough to merit note. Given you were baking in the sun mere hours ago.

[Now that draws a hearty guffaw out of him.]

Look, maybe whatever drinking that milkshake so fast did to my brain helped me gain some kinda clarity.

[If his two braincells freeze, they slow down long enough to connect.]

It wasn't especially dignified though. I can't believe you still want to be seen in public with me.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject