1.0 Test Drive Meme

[wellie]

1.0 Test Drive Meme

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Welcome to Well! Characters arrive the same way every month. Your character arrives 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.

Applications open on January 20th, and the game opens on February 1st. Invites are available for members of the mods' plurk lists.

Put on your dancing shoes

Content warning: Alcohol, intoxication, altered mental state

Something’s happening at the Cactus Pad Saloon. It’s lit up bright against the growing night, and music spills out onto the street. Seems like a fun time that you should check out. In fact, it’s hard not to check it out: the closer you get, the stronger the urge to join the fun. If you’ve been spending a lot of time alone, you’ll feel even more compelled to come get a drink.

The bartender serves up anything you can think of: from whiskey to apple juice to blood, if that’s your preference. She doesn’t blink an eye, no matter what’s ordered. The funny thing is, no matter what you order, once you take a sip, the world feels a little easier to deal with, your worries seem to melt away. You’re flush with sudden confidence.

If you strike up a conversation with the person next to you, conversation flows like you’re talking to an old friend. You feel a sense of kinship, deep and meaningful, good or bad, that bonds you together.

The old record player is playing a fun ditty, and the longer you stick around, the more you’re tempted to join, or start, the dancing. Whether you’re a great dancer or you have two left feet, you find that you feel capable of dancing like no one’s watching. No one knows you here, after all. You barely know yourself, so why not draw a partner into the fray? A party’s better together!

If you end up staying there til closing time, the bartender kicks you out with a gruff “come back tomorrow,” leaving you to stumble home with your new best friend. What was their name again?

Sand trap

Content warning: Quick sand, potential drowning in sand

You step through a door into a room you didn’t mean to enter. You were trying to head into the saloon, or your hotel room, or the bathroom, and instead you’re here: in a small, tight, windowless room in a white-washed building. The air here is old, stale, and thick. Hazy gold light bounces off the walls, but you can’t tell where it’s coming from, since there’s no visible ceiling. The walls just stretch up and up into bright nothingness.

Someone else is there, too, coming through an identical door on the opposite wall. Both doors snap shut, and won’t open again, no matter how hard you try. They won’t even break.

This might not be so bad, except that a sound starts to fill the space: sand, trickling down the walls. It’s just a dusting to start. It comes sprinkling down above, seeping through the cracks in the door. The longer you stand there, the faster it comes: sand flows down the walls in massive torrents, building up on the floor, shifting and thick, trapping you in place.

The only way out is up. When you look again at the walls, you’ll notice it: about 10 feet up the wall hangs a flimsy rope ladder, half-hidden by the waterfall of sand. You’ll have to work together to even reach it, or maybe let the ever-growing pile of shifting, slippery sand lift you up? Be careful, because even if you manage to reach the rope, you both have to get out of here, and the longer you’re here, the faster and harder the sand falls. The ladder seems to go on forever, tens of feet up an endless wall. The better you work together, the closer the top seems. No matter how well you collaborate, they're at least 50 feet high.

When you’ve fought your way through the sand and reached the top of the ladder, you finally see it: the sand is coming in through the open windows of a steeple. You can’t see where it’s from, not really. You can’t see much of anything, but it’s clear: the only way out is, well, out. You have to jump, trusting that yourself and your companion will be safe.

Once free, you land together outside of one of the buildings or rooms you were trying to enter, like nothing happened at all. It’s a calm day, after all.

Memories of the living

Content warning: Cemetery, contemplating mortality

Dusk settles purple over Wellstone. Early stars are out, the moon is thin, and you find yourself inexplicably drawn to the graveyard. You can resist, but the more days you do, the harder it gets. The graveyard is calling to you in a voice you can’t hear.

While it seems small before you enter, once you start walking through the crumbling graves, it seems to stretch endlessly. You pass elaborate dust-covered crypts carved with strange angels; bleached wooden crosses overgrown with cacti; a crumbling old well, long gone dry; worn-down headstones jut at odd angles. Some graves have old offerings on them, brightly colored beads or candles or framed photos, sun-bleached beyond recognition.

You may have been walking for five minutes or fifty, but when you look around, you can’t see to find the exit. You hear howling, and see the flicker of lights from behind the graves, but you can never find their source, no matter how much you look. No matter how long you spend in the graveyard, the sun never seems to sink lower in the sky. An oppressive sense of being watched grows to the point that you whip around, expecting to find someone there until—

You do. You find each other. Others drawn here to the graveyard, walking among the crumbling stones, will end up by the same headstones. Exploring together eases the watchful feeling just a little, but it won’t help you get out. No, you’re looking for something. The exit? No, you’re sure there’s something more important than that.

If you follow your impulses, you may just find it: a gravestone, weathered, old, with a familiar name on it: yours. Your date of birth can be visible, but the date of death is too weathered to read. You may find an offering there, something small and meaningful to you, a small shiny coin or some bright beads.

Once you find your grave, when you look up, you’ll see the exit. You’re really not that far from it, after all, the rusted iron arch barely a stone's throw feet away. Your companion won’t see it yet. You can make a dash for it, get out of this awful place, or help your companion find their own gravestone. When your companion finds their stone, they will also be able to see the exit. Exiting together will alleviate the impulse to come back to this place. Leaving alone will only draw you back, making it more difficult to find your grave again.

You can take the offerings left on your grave if you want, but the sense of being watched will only grow greater until you’re compelled to return them, and leave another offering of your own.

Comments

Min-Gi Park | Infinity Train

[outofsynth]

A - PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES

[Min-Gi had spent a while at the Staywell selecting an outfit that had felt like him (whoever he might be). At the time he'd been happy with it. It had been less hot than the clothes he'd first found himself in. Less flashy. He hadn't minded the previous outfit, but he'd wondered if maybe it made him stand out too much. Now he's out and about... he can't help but notice he really doesn't fit in. It's not that there's no one wearing the same kinds of clothes, but the way they've paired them gives off a whole different vibe to the one he's got going now. He should at least have put on a hat. Should he go back and change again? Would that be weird? Maybe he shouldn't have come out at all...

In the end he decides that maybe one drink wouldn't hurt. There's something inviting about the place, something that makes it hard to want to leave.

It would be silly to have come all the way over here for no reason, right?

He has no idea what he likes, so he asks the bartender for a recommendation and finds himself with a straight whiskey in front of him that doesn't take him long to throw back. At first he thinks he's made a mistake. The way it burns as it goes down catches him by surprise and makes him splutter, but after...

Suddenly he feels a whole lot less stressed. It doesn't seem to matter what he's wearing anymore, or that he has no idea where he is, or barely any idea who he is. He stares down at the empty glass with wide eyes, still a little red in the face.]

Whoa. Is it supposed to make you feel like that...?

[He isn't speaking to anyone in particular. He's still staring into the empty glass as though he's experienced some kind of miracle.]

B - THE STAYWELL (BREAKFAST)

[The morning after his trip to the Saloon he's feeling a little worse for the wear. He was up way too late to be up as early as this, but his body has betrayed him and now he's sat with two mugs of coffee. One has milk, the other doesn't. He doesn't seem to be drinking either one of them, instead watching them both in misery as they grow tepid.

He's washed, dressed, and has spent at least some amount of time trying to make himself presentable, but there's no denying he looks awful. He's added a dark hat to his ensemble today, pulling it down low over his face as though that might somehow disguise how horrible he's feeling.

Please, someone, come and educate him on how to deal with a hangover.]

C - THE GENERAL STORE

[With so little information of who he is and where he comes from, Min-Gi worries about his few remaining memories. It doesn't seem like anyone is in much better shape than he is. What if it only gets worse from here? Which is why he's in the general store, clutching a novelty pencil capped with a little horse on a spring. He also has a notebook clearly designed to match it.]

Are you sure you don't have anything more standard?

[The owner barks out a laugh that makes Min jump, and replies: "You ever tried our special prickly pear jam? Really livens up your breakfast!"]

N-no. But I might. Later. I just want a normal notepad if...

["Nothing like a crystal to keep away those rattlers."

Poor Min has no idea how to respond to that. He just looks at him in a stunned silence, holding the pencil and notebook to his chest.]

A.

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Ryan's been frequenting the saloon probably more frequently than is strictly healthy, but he likes how liquor slows his brain down and how dancing with others makes him feel warm and free. He's trading the migraines from trying to figure out his past (or anything about this town really) for a hangover, and sometimes that's kind of worth the trouble.

Which is to say, Ryan's already at the bar when a handsome new face turns up there. He doesn't mean to stare, but after a couple of weeks he's gotten familiar with most of the people in this weird little amnesia town. But...this is someone new.

Huh. Someone new...

...Then the guy slugs a whiskey back like the whole experience is new to him (and it probably is - it was to Ryan when he arrived) and Ryan cracks. The reaction is so wholesome that Ryan laughs, finally calling attention to himself.]

Yeah, man. Nice, right?

[Despite the laughing, Ryan is all smiles and friendliness. He's slightly more dressed for the location, in high-waisted black pants with corset lacing on the sides that might as well be painted on him, and a red jacket with lots of western fringe. At a glance his gender is a little ambiguous.]

Here, if you thought that felt good, try this--

[He catches the bartender's attention and orders two Old Fashioneds, one for him and one for his new companion, and slides it over when it's ready.]

It's like that other thing, but it tastes way better.

[outofsynth]

[He should probably feel offended at being laughed at, but it doesn't feel as though it's meant to be meanspirited. It's still kind of embarrassing. The stranger's clothes point to a confidence Min's almost certain he's never had. Not to mention he's cute. So of course the first thing he does had to be make himself look like an idiot. If he hadn't been flushed already, he would've been by now.

He nods, offering up a bit of a smile in return until his new companion abruptly starts flagging down the bartender. Apparently to order him some kind of drink.]

Oh, you don't have to--

[Too late. He's speaking to the bartender already, and it feels rude to interrupt. So he just sits there. Silently. Until an Old Fashioned is slid in front of him, at which point he's honestly still not sure what to say.

The guy seems nice and he doesn't want to offend him, but he's pretty sure you aren't meant to accept drinks from people you don't know. ]

I don't know if I should drink this...

[Min-Gi, you literally just watched the bartender make this. What do you think the danger is here?]

[chickenchoicejudy]

Aw, come on! Let me treat you. Please? [An aside to the bartender, before he's actually responded--] Charge that to my room, okay?

[The bartender nods, though she doesn't seem to actually do anything in particular about it. It's fine, probably.]

Besides, you're new here, right? Consider it a welcome to Wellstone, from me.

[If it makes him feel any better, Ryan takes a sip of his own clearly not poisoned drink. It's sweet and bitter and a little easier to stomach than whiskey on its own.]

Do you remember your name? [A weird question, but phrased to be the Wellstone sense of polite. If he doesn't, he won't have to dig for it and hurt himself.] I'm Ryan.

[outofsynth]

[Oh... He's still unsure that accepting it's the right choice, but he sounds so sincere, and it is nice to have someone be friendly towards him when he has no idea what's going on.

The sip Ryan takes from his own drink does help reassure him. At least a little. He takes a small sip, and the Old Fashioned definitely goes down easier than the whiskey had on its own.]

Thanks...

[Like the whiskey before, the Old Fashioned makes him feel more comfortable. He feels a lot happier than he had when he'd first set foot in the saloon. Even so, the way Ryan introduces himself gives Min pause.]

It's Min-Gi. You know I can't remember things?

[His tone isn't accusatory, but there's uncertainty there. His lack of memory has been worrying him, and it seems odd a total stranger would just know.]

[chickenchoicejudy]

Uh-huh.

[He considers that answer over his drink though, and then changes his mind.]

Wait, sorry. That sounds super creepy. It's not like I know you specifically can't? Nobody staying in this town can. All of us just turned up at the hotel with no clue how we got here or who we are. I mean, aside from a couple things here and there.

[So it makes sense that Min-Gi would be the same. Min-Gi, with a hard G - that sticks out as important, for some reason.]

That's a good name though. It has a nice flow to it. Min-Gi~

[outofsynth]

[He's right. That does sound super creepy. Ryan's initial answer has Min looking very alarmed, so elaborating is probably a good call.

He lets out a relieved if still slightly nervous laugh when he explains how he knows. It sucks that he's not the only one who can't remember anything, but in some ways it's nice to know he's not alone.]

You too? I wouldn't have guessed. You seem like you fit right in here.

[He's finally starting to return to a normal colour when Ryan compliments his name and instantly ruins any chance of that happening anytime soon.]

You think? That's just what my parents called me. [There's a beat as he tries to work out if that's right.] Probably, anyway.

[He's painfully aware that he's being very weird right now. He's just. Going to take a bigger drink from that Old Fashioned. Maybe that will help him.]

B

[simplefarmboy]

[Clark on the other hand was looking fairly fresh for the early morning. There was something about rising with the sun that made him feel like he was ready to face a brand new day.

It might have something to do with the fact that he was solar powered.

But he catches sight of Min-Gi sitting there and there is a flash of concern on his face. He takes a step toward the table and let's his hand rest on it.]

Rough night?

[outofsynth]

[Min-Gi looks up with an unhappy squint, reluctantly pushing back the hat so he doesn't seem rude.

He has to think a moment before he can answer. Partly because his head is pounding, but also because he's reluctant to describe his night as rough even if this is the end result. In the end he settles for a shrug.]

Maybe.

C

[vibing]

[ Yuri's developed a habit. A jam habit. He has a spoon in his pocket, and he's picking up a jar of jam. To eat, right out of the jar. He sidles up by Min-Gi with a little smile on his face ]

Got one shaped like a snake the other day.

[ With the owner's words, though, Yuri's eyes flick over to the display of crystals, and he picks a purple one, and adds it to his total. ]

Put it on my tab. [ He tells the owner, who smiles at them and taps some keys ] Y'know, you can just remember stuff.

[ He laughs at his own joke. So funny! ]

[outofsynth]

[Min-Gi forces a small, not all that convincing laugh. It seems rude not to, but the joke hits so close to his reasons for buying one that it just makes him more nervous.]

Yeah... I guess I could remember stuff.

[But what if he can't? He already knows so little. He gives the open jar a bit of a judgemental look, but he refrains from commenting on it out loud.]

Was the snake at least curled up?

[Otherwise that seems like it would be a nightmare to write on. Maybe he should just get this one? For all he knows this might be the best option he gets for a while.]

[vibing]

[ Yuri shrugs, and opens his jam, taking a spoon out of his pocket and digging in. ]

Yeah, curled up. Haven't forgotten more stuff. Unless I have.

[ He considers that for a moment, then takes a bite of jam. ]

Guess I wouldn't know. That's kind of messed up.

[outofsynth]

[Okay, yeah. It is very hard not to keep looking at him like he's crazy if he's going to eat the jam right in front of him like that. He makes some attempt, but he's not good at hiding it.]

That's why I wanted to write it down. I already know barely anything. How do I already know I haven't forgotten more?

[The thought is terrifying, and strengthens his resolve to suck it up and just deal with the weird notebook. If he sees a better one later on he can always get it then. He puts it down next to the till along with his pencil, and tells the store owner his room number. It still seems weird they can keep buying things like that and they apparently don't ever really have to pay it. He doesn't trust that won't come back to haunt him eventually and he's trying to be conservative with his purchases, but these are necessities.]

[vibing]

[ Yuri made the joke, but now he's really thinking about it. His own notebook is mostly untouched, having written down a few things, then stopped, not really being one for the written word ]

Guess it's possible. I wonder--we all kinda showed up here. Would we know if someone died? There's that whole graveyard...

[outofsynth]

What?!

[That is horrifying and not something he had considered.]

I don't know. Has anyone made a list of everyone yet?

B

[thinkfirst]

Um,

[ Flynn should probably leave this guy alone. He's aware of that, of course: usually people with hats pulled low over their eyes aren't interested in friendly morning chats.

It's just that Flynn, freshly back from a sunrise run, has been curiously watching while he gets his own coffee and it... doesn't seem like he's moved, which is a little concerning.

So. In the interest of making sure he's alright, Flynn tells himself, and not unsquashable curiousity, he slips onto the bench beside the poor man with two fresh cups of coffee. ]

Are... you alright? It's, I think your coffee might... be cold.

[outofsynth]

[Min-Gi glances over, barely turning his head to look at him, but it's still some movement. He's alive, so there's that. He... also has two coffees? Is that a thing? He was just trying to figure out how he liked it, but maybe that's more normal than he thought.]

I'm fine.

[He doesn't sound fine, but he tips the hat back slightly so his vision isn't obscured. He's not a fan of the extra light let in because of that, but he's fine. He thinks. Hopefully. He can't feel this bad forever, right?]

It is cold, but it's okay. I don't think I'm going to drink it.

[He's been sat here for a while now and still doesn't feel like he can stomach anything.]

[thinkfirst]

Oh, is there something wrong with it?

[ Flynn doesn't mean to glance down at his own two cups—twice the coffee, twice the wake-up power, he figures, and he's really going to need it if he gets trapped in that awful room again—but he does with more than a little disappointment. ]

I was hoping to be a little more alert today... it was probably foolish to stay up so late. Are you sure you're alright? Some food wouldn't help? I could get you, um—cereal?

[outofsynth]

No, it's fine.

[He shakes his head at that, but it's an automatic response more than anything. He honestly has no idea how good or bad the coffee is. That would require... y'know, drinking it. Which he demonstrably has not.]

I'm okay. I was just... [Hngh. Admitting to a total stranger you were up all night drinking is not a great first impression, is it?] I was out late. I'll probably feel more like eating later.

[When his entire body hates him slightly less.]

[thinkfirst]

Ah.

[ Understanding: he's probably hungover, if he was at the same place as Flynn, which, well, considering how few places are actually open in this town... ]

I've found that the tea here helps settle my stomach, if you'd like a cup of that? Or perhaps some water? It's important to stay hydrated after a sleepless night!

B

[rottencactus]

[Min-Gi might eventually feel the presence of eyes on him from behind. Nothing menacing, just something watching.]

[It stays that way for several minutes until that presence decides to make itself known, and materializes out of the ether (he was probably just in a corner somewhere, but he's very good at being scenery.) Quietly, he approaches, dressed like a nervous manifestation of death, and places before him a singular glass of water.]

[Please hydrate, Min-Gi, he already has to fuss over Ryan.]

[outofsynth]

[He thinks he's imagining the feeling of being watched at first, but he's too sore and too tired to look around too thoroughly. It's not that weird he misses Mayoi.

He's convinced himself there's no one there by the time he does emerge and place a glass of water before him, so the sudden appearance makes him jump.

Min-Gi stares at the glass in front of him, then over to the stranger.]

Thank you...?

[Is it safe to drink this?]

[rottencactus]

Eek!

[Mayoi jumps when Ming-Gi jumps and he grabs the brim of his hat and pulls it down just slightly as if it will protect him.]

Y-You're welcome! I'm sorry for startling you! A-Ah ...you look like you might be dehydrated. Coffee will not fix that as well as water...

[outofsynth]

[Why are you screaming? You're the one creeping up on him!]

It's fine? Thank you. I'll drink the water.

[He knows he looks bad, but is he really that scary? He kind of feels bad now.]

[rottencactus]

[he's not screaming ur screamin- no he is definitely screaming.]

Ah, I am glad.

[A small, awkward but thoughtful pause.]

I have not seen you around before ...