4.0 Test Drive Meme

[wellie]

4.0 Test Drive Meme

Premise & Arrival ֍ FAQ ֍ Apply ֍ Navigation

Welcome to Well! This cycle is a little different, if you've visited us before—this TDM takes place in Well's updated setting. See the first prompt for how your characters arrive in Well. Your character arrives with only a handful of memories, clad in a mix of Old Western clothes and clothes that might fit in at a renaissance fair, and 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 November onward, and can happen concurrently with other events during November and December. This will be the only TDM for November, December, and January.

Applications are open October 27th until November 1st, and November 27th until December 1st. Invites are available for friends of current players.

Into the Maze

Content warnings: deadly traps, aggressive foliage, vines, potential drowning, spikes

You wake up surrounded by green. Thick, dark hedges as tall as two adult humans stretch all around you. They're thick, nigh-impenetrable. You don’t quite know who you are, but you’re pretty sure that here, right here? Is not where you want to be.

You’re at a crossing: paths stretch out between the hedges on four sides of you. Which path do you take?

The sprawling hedge maze is vast and complex, especially if you’re not even sure where you should be going. Along your way, you hear giggling, shouts, excited screaming, low murmurs, and, sometimes, the sound of radio static. You might see the faint outline of someone slipping around a corner, and hear them giggling, a long, white dress or robe following them as they move. But you never find whoever, or whatever, is making these noises.

If you follow them, you instead come across:

• Thorny vines laying on the ground, or hidden in the hedges, that slowly wrap themselves around your ankles or your wrists, pulling you back, trying to subsume you into the hedge.
• A dark pond stretching clear across the path, blocking your way. You can wade into it, but when you do those voices get louder, so much louder, screaming in your ears. The bottom drops away from your feet. Strange things brush your ankles, turning into hands pulling you down into the oily water. The more you panic, the more difficult it is to get to the other side. Staying calm keeps the water at about chest height.
• Pieces of the path fallen away, down into a pit full of spiny cacti. You might not want to test this one, and instead trust yourself to jump across. It’s just short enough a gap to be scalable by most, but it sure isn’t a comfortable distance to cross. If you do fall in, boy howdy do those things hurt. You’ll need some help getting out!
• The graveyard. There’s nothing getting in your way in the graveyard, but you may simply stumble upon it. The graves are overgrown and covered in moss. The ground is moist and springy. In the middle you may find an old mossy well filled with clear water.

Thankfully, at these obstacles, you might find another person, equally as lost as you. They may have been following the same person. Once you join forces with each other, the way out is easier to find. Not easy, but possible. If you continue to forge on on your own, the exit will never reveal itself to you.

When you do finally stumble out of the maze, you’re greeted with the site of Wellstone.

tl;dr:

• You wake up lost in a hedge maze! You hear strange voices around you, and a figure dressed in white runs away from you.
• You run into obstacles: spiky vines, a deadly pond, a pit full of cacti, or the graveyard. Work with another character (or not) to escape the maze!

Welcome home

Content warnings: disorientation, feelings of being lost

When you stumble your way into the run-down old town of Wellstone, the deadly peril of the maze seems to be over. It’s cold and damp, sure, but at least you’re not in danger, and you’re in luck: up a small hill beyond some gates, you can see an ornate house with golden windows, practically beaming warmth.

Staywell Manor is a grand place, with high ceilings and exposed, ornate beams, lush carpets and tapestries, beautifully upholstered furniture. A man dressed like a butler (the old hotel receptionist, for those who’ve met him) greets you with a bland smile:

“Welcome to Wellstone. We’re so glad you’re here with us! What’s the name on your reservation?”

You remember your name, and you give it to him, and he offers you a heavy brass key. No matter the number, your room does exist in the four-story manor, and is decked out with a four-poster bed, a nice settee, and a closet full of clothes that fit you like they were made for you. They’re a strange mixture, though, a mishmash of old American Western rhinestones and denim and medieval fabrics and silhouettes in bright colors. You might find a fringed tunic dyed bright red, or a pair of cowboy boots with the toes curled up like a jester’s slippers, bell-tipped and absurd. Are those pantaloons made of denim? Weird!

While the manor is lovely and inviting, and much warmer than the outdoors, it is also pretty big. Well, it must be, because you keep getting lost! It’s incredibly difficult to find your way to your room this month. You might find your way to the wrong floor, to the parlor, to someone else's room. Remember to knock!

tl;dr:

• You're in the town of Wellstone, where it's cold, damp, and rainy.
• Staywell Manor is warm and inviting, but hard to navigate, and you're prone to getting lost in its halls.

Warm Your Bones

Content warnings: alcohol, intoxication, accidental consumption of blood, hallucinations of demons and shadow people

The town of Wellstone has clearly seen better days and warmer seasons. Cobblestoned streets trace their way between crumbling buildings overgrown with moss and ivy. The early-fall nip in the air is enough to make your breath fog up in front of your face. Clouds hang low and sulky over the down, spitting out little bursts of rain here and there. Wind whistles between the close-crowded buildings, blowing a few leaves and the odd tumbleweed along the damp stone.

With the heavy chill in the air and fog drifting the streets at night, thick and cold enough to creep into even the warmest clothes, it’s tempting just to stay indoors.

Luckily for everyone tired of the damp, the golden light spilling from the Cactus Pad Pub beckons. Just walking inside hits you with a blast of warmth. A fire blazes at full strength in the hearth, snapping and crackling, but more than that, every single table is set resplendently with mismatched fancy china: cups, saucers, creamers, little pots of sugar, and of course, tea, steaming and hot.

It’ll be hard to resist the urge to sit down at one of these little tables, and the moment you do, you’re stuck there for at least an hour. Truly: your butt is glued to that chair. At least there's tea, and there are cards on the table with conversation starters on them. But these conversation starters are a little, ah... odd? Comment below to get a conversation starter for you and your tablemate!

May as well have some tea while you’re here, and hope that it is in fact tea. You have a one-in-three shot. The steaming liquid in that pot might be:

• Piping hot black tea, caffeinated and bracing. Drinking it makes you energetic and exciteable and very eager to talk to your neighbors. It also makes you feel extremely fancy! Put that pinky up and use the biggest words you know to impress everyone around you.
• Dark mulled wine, spiced with ginger and cloves. Drinking it fills you with unbridled confidence bordering on arrogance. You'll feel lordly in whatever way makes sense: condescending and snotty, benevolent and patrician, whatever you might be prone to.
• Something… else. It’s dark, hot, and sweet, but there’s an odd metallic tang that sits strangely on your tongue. Whatever it is, it’s addictive. The more you drink, the stranger the world around you becomes: you’ll see faces in the shadows and glowing red in the eyes of your companions. Shadowy figures seem to haunt the walls of the pub, moving toward you. You’re filled with fear and paranoia but rooted to the spot.

Each of these effects lasts from half an hour to an hour, and longer if you drink more of whatever is in your respective pot. Once you're free from the table, if you sit down at another one, you'll be trapped there, too.

Feel free to ask the mods to roll for you to decide which teapot your character gets, and for a conversation starter, just for you!

tl;dr:

• There's a fancy tea party happening in the Cactus Pad Pub. It's sort of mandatory.
• Sitting at a table traps you at the tea party for an hour, and you'll be drinking one of three random drinks, each with different effects.
• There are conversation starters on the tables to help you get to know your fellow tea partiers!
• Tea makes you social and fancy, mulled wine makes you lordly and a bit drunk, and the last hot, sweet liquid tastes weird and makes you see demons.
• Ask the mods to roll a random teapot type for you if you'd like!

Comments

Loki (Variant L1130) | MCU/Loki D+

[shiftedshape]

[[It's been a bit since I have played and I can't currently renew Loki's account for icon purposes so pls excuse my only using the one. Also might pop in with Mobius too??]]

i. Into the Maze

Of course. This place wasn't eerie enough, clearly.

[But it isn't as if he's had any luck walking the hedgerows, so Loki steps forward into the graveyard. It's...suitably unsettling, but whoever it is he's heard moving through the maze doesn't appear to be popping out of the less-than-manicured grass. Which isn't exactly encouraging, but it reaffirms his decision to move forward, at the least.

He's about ten feet in when, almost before he's actually heard anyone approaching, his body spins of its own accord to face whoever it is. Both hands fly up, palms out, in a fluid motion that comes so easily it nearly startles him. Not because it's a difficult defensive maneuver so much as it doesn't necessarily feel defensive at all. It takes an effort, when he realizes there's no threat, to lower his arms and relax his stance appropriately.]

Sorry. [Loki clears his throat, nods his chin at the scene around them.] Wasn't expecting company, here. I don't suppose you know where the exit is hiding?

ii. Warm your bones

[While he'd been expecting his teacup to contain tea, Loki finds he's not disappointed by the wine in the least. What he is disappointed by is the fact that he can't get to his feet to inject some life into this party. There isn't much point to drinking songs if you can't dance to them, after all. Not that he can seem to remember any, for some reason.

Apropos of nothing, Loki turns to the person seated to his right and declares:]

I've never been to a more boring pub. Please tell me you're a skilled conversationalist. [He narrows his eyes, considering.] Or a terrible singer. I'll take what entertainment I can get, at this point.

Warm your bones

[guidemyway]

[Ruby was doing her best to just sort of fit and and not draw any attention to herself, which fails miserably when the guy next to her turns her way and starts asking her questions.

She was getting better at conversations. Or at least she was making an effort over the last few months. ...But she just blurts out right away when the option comes her way.]

Terrible singer. Terrible singer all the way.

[shiftedshape]

[Sniff.]

Well, at least you're honest. And you'd better not start repeating yourself. I've had enough of that from the servants.

[He takes a long drink and sighs in a rather put-upon fashion.]

So. Are you a local, then? Can you tell me where the actual fun is around here?

[guidemyway]

[And because she has to.]

Terrible singer. Terri-

[And she stops herself mostly because she has started to laugh a little part way through.]

Kind of? At least I've been here for a few months. ...Except now everything is different than the last two times.

So honestly I don't know how much help I'm really going to be here.

[shiftedshape]

[Loki rolls his eyes.]

Different how, then? For those of us with no frame of reference whatsoever.

[guidemyway]

...Before this we were in desert. Just an old hotel in a ruined city. Then every couple months the world would kind of end. And we'd be back where we started. I watched it happen twice.

[shiftedshape]

[Loki lifts his wine glass again, peering into it thoughtfully before taking another swig.]

Sounds as if things have improved since I got here, then. Although, if I had my say, trick chairs wouldn't be part of the equation...

[He replaces his glass on the table, sighing.]

There isn't anyone who actually knows this place, then?

[guidemyway]

Yeah. I guess you could say that- Personally I'll take trick chairs over blood rain, or moving attack cacti any day. But that's just me.

[She does feel a world of sympathy for his position.]

Your best bet might be to reach out to Cecelia. She's been making notes of everything we've been through so far.

...But no. We're all a little lost.

[shiftedshape]

Wonderful. Lost and bored.

[Loki narrows his eyes, staring off into space in what he hopes is a mysteriously grand way.]

I can change that.

the maze

[necrolord]

[ To be fair, the man he's rounded on takes eerie up another notch: black waistcoat, black cape, each eye black from edge to edge beneath a burning ring of light. If Loki has any ability to sense divinity, the guy nearly has god of the undead stamped across his forehead.

Still, when Loki reacts, he splays his own hands like a guy trying haplessly to fend off a mugging. All clumsy and earnest, no threatening grace. ]

Whoa, easy. [ But he doesn't seem actually bothered, because he carries on: ] You know, they seem to move the exit every time. Want to join me?

[shiftedshape]

[Loki doesn't mind the black so much as the deliberate calm the man displays. Something in the back of his head rings an alarm, warning that it's easier to get what you want with friendly charm than with force. He's not suspicious, exactly, but without really recognizing it, Loki decides two can play at that game.

He shakes a finger in the air, eyes wide.]

I thought so. I was mapping it out in my head and the only other explanation would be a truly enormous garden, and who even has the time for that? [He glances around them, sweeping a hand at the graves.] Certainly not this lot.

[Loki approaches, hands dropping to his hips.]

But maybe the two of us can sort it out. Say, you don't happen to know how we got here, do you? [His eyebrows raise in innocent expectation, but should the stranger have any suspicions of him, it's clear this is bait.]

[necrolord]

[ John crooks a smile at the dead-people joke. He huffs out a breath that's nearly a laugh, at the wide-eyed performance of uncertainty, but just turns on his heel and waves Loki to join him. ]

How long a version do you want? I'm pretty new, myself. Three months. I think the real veterans have survived a whole nine.

[ Because that's comforting. ]

[shiftedshape]

[Loki follows, squinting at that response.]

Nine months in this maze? And you're still hoping to escape? I'm sure I look brilliant but you're putting an awful lot of faith in my abilities in assisting you if that's the case.

[necrolord]

Oh, nah, the maze is new. Don't sweat the maze. It's the [ and here he waves a hand, vaguely ] world in general we're stuck in. You know it was a desert until about a day ago? Now we're doing a woodland theme, apparently.

I've heard the phrase 'pocket dimension' thrown around. Or 'magical purgatory,' if you like the sound of that one more, though I think it raises a few more questions than we're prepared to answer.

Either way, about once a month, you wake up to some new gimmick. Like a giant maze.

[shiftedshape]

[Loki's mouth falls open as the man talks, brow furrowing in confusion.]

I-- what? Purgatory as in we're dead?!

[He comes to a full stop in the middle of the current lane of the maze they've entered, gesturing behind them even as he's fairly certain the path they'd taken out of the graveyard has, somehow, relocated.]

Then what was that? A graveyard full of especially dead people?

[Loki's mouth goes dry and his arms fall to his sides as realization hits him. The slightly theatrical volume he's been speaking at fades to something far softer.]

Is that why I can't remember...well, anything?

[necrolord]

[ John carries on another few paces before he realizes Loki has drawn up short. He turns back to face him, palms splayed again in that placating way. ]

Sorry, see, that's what I'm saying. The 'purgatory' angle is a whole can of worms, I should've just left it at 'pocket dimension.' [ He does look kind of apologetic, gone awkward in the face of actual alarm. ] I get the sense that some people think it's aliens, so really, the jury's out. I would personally put my money on us not being dead.

[ He steps forward, closes the distance between them so that he can speak more carefully. To this, there's an actual hesitation. A greater sense of weight. ]

The memories will come back over time. I wouldn't push it.

[ Because they're all probably shit, he doesn't say. ]

[shiftedshape]

[Loki presses his lips into a thin line. As...oddly lonely as it is, not remembering anything, he can see why someone might prefer it. It's frightening, not knowing, but so is imagining what you might find out.

And, assuming the man isn't lying out his arse, that grave tone seems to indicate that there's plenty worth forgetting. At least, there was for him. And so no, he won't push it. He nods, motioning for them to continue.

After a few steps, he offers with a small smirk:]

...Aliens according to who, though?

Warm those bones

[chickenchoicejudy]

[After everything that's happened in the last few weeks, Ryan was honestly hoping for something stronger than wine. But, he supposes he should just be glad it isn't blood at this point. He's so, so sick of blood water.

He's hands down one of the most interesting looking people in the pub, especially from a modern perspective. The base outfit is ren faire enough but it's the fact that he's combined it with a fringe leather jacket that makes him look out of place, or at least out of time. Luckily he's friendly too though, and more than happy to strike up a conversation with a stranger.]

Supposedly I'm a good singer actually, soooo, not gonna be much help there. [Wink!] But ugh, right? This is a bar! And do people seriously need little cards to chat with each other?

[Impulsively, Ryan reaches for the card closest to him and doesn't even look at the prompt - he just folds it up very small and then flicks it away from the table.]

So! You new? I don't think I've seen you around.

[shiftedshape]

[Loki looks like he's going to challenge the young man on his claim, but thinks better of it when he does, at least, make an attempt at conversation, which is more than he can say for some of the people here.]

Are you sure you ought to have thrown that away? Something tells me I'm going to have this particular discussion more times than I can count before the week is out.

[He sighs, deigning to answer mostly because, well, it is a necessary starting point, unfortunately.]

Yes. I woke up trapped in that moronic maze and now I'm trapped in a chair. If this is some sort of afterlife penance, you'd think there'd be more color to it. Have you been here long enough to come up with a better explanation?

[chickenchoicejudy]

I mean, there are other cards around, right? It'll probably be fine.

[Spoken like a young man who did not make sure there were more cards before getting rid of his own. Whoops! But it's fine; they can just talk without them.]

Actually this is already more colorful than the last time around. We were in a desert before, so it was a lot of, y'know. Beige. Buuuut I don't think we're dead? I want to think I'd remember more if I was dead.

[It occurs to Ryan that things are different enough that amnesia might not be a safe assumption. He tilts his head a little, looking at the guy across from him.]

That's what happened to you too, right? Can't remember much?

[shiftedshape]

[Loki lifts his chin defiantly, as if he's holding himself back from snapping back at this young man who dares to speak as if they're equals. They are equal on this count, though, and he's not exactly overflowing with information about this place. He forces a grin, head lolling to one side in a gesture just short of mocking.]

I'm afraid so. My name and a few-- [He waves a hand flippantly.] --flashes. Nothing I can nail down, of course. And nothing that clearly indicates I didn't die.

[Actually, there is the one memory that sort of leads him to believe he absolutely did. But he's trying not to dwell on that one.]

But I've heard I'll remember more the longer I'm here, yes? Have you?

[chickenchoicejudy]

[If Ryan notices this reaction, he doesn't act on it. As far as he's considered they are equals and this is just commiserating over an unfortunate experience they're stuck in together.]

You will, probably! That's how everyone starts here. Name, couple other things here and there-- I'm Ryan, by the way.

[He bounces from thing to thing to thing with practiced ease, but he does loop back around to the beginning.]

Careful though - if you try too hard to remember stuff on your own, it'll hurt like hell. I've gotten some things back here and there, but any time I go digging on my own it's like my brain's trying to explode inside my head.

[He makes an odd twiddly-fingered gesture on the sides of his face, as though that's supposed to indicate brain-exploding somehow.]

[shiftedshape]

Loki. [He offers, though Ryan carries on so quickly he's not sure he heard. His eyebrows raise at the imagery.]

How unpleasant. What have you done that's returned them without-- [He mimics Ryan's gesture.] That.

[chickenchoicejudy]

Nothing on purpose? Like, sometimes something will be happening and you go and check it out and something comes back to you. But, sometimes it doesn't? You can't really tell what will or won't without trying it first. And sometimes those hurt too, but the difference is it sticks afterwards.

[None of this is great news, but Ryan takes a swig of his wine as though this is normal conversation - and it sort of is, at this point.]

Sorry. I know it's a lot all at once. Loki, right? What do you remember?

[It doesn't have to be everything but it's a place to start at least.]

[shiftedshape]

[Loki's about to ask what he means by "something will be happening" but decides they can circle back to that if Ryan wants him to talk about himself instead, he's certainly happy to do that.

Only it's. Sort of difficult to do so.

Loki scrunches his face up in thought for a long moment before offering:] Do you know what a jetski is?