wellie: (Default)
Well Mod ([personal profile] wellie) wrote in [community profile] wellcome2023-04-20 02:05 pm
Entry tags:

2.0 Test Drive Meme

2.0 Test Drive Meme

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. This month, there is a strong possibility that those old west style clothes include a pair of jorts or daisy dukes.

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 May onward, and can happen concurrently with other events during May and June. This will be the only TDM for April, May, and June.

Applications are open April 26th until May 1st, and May 27th until June 1st. Invites are available for friends of current players.

All-Night Diner
Content warnings: feelings of euphoria and mild intoxication, exhaustion

There’s banner over the diner's doorway reading Welcome!, with colorful flags drooping in the heat. Inside, the waiter greets you with a wide smile and an announcement:

“Welcome to the Stardust Diner! Pie’s on the house today. Have a seat.”

During the day, the diner is just that: a diner. You can get anything on the very extensive menu, including prickly pear lemonade. The pie is free, and everything else is put on the tab for your room that will never come due, probably. It seems like a shame to eat that pie all alone! Accepting a piece of pie makes you feel like you should share this moment with someone. Luckily all the booths are plush and open, and it’s easy to plop down with a stranger to share this special moment.

At night, the mood shifts. The diner’s neon sign is a beacon against the thick darkness, beckoning you in with blinking lights and a line of text reading FORGET YOUR WORRIES. Inside, country-swing music rolls in time with throbbing red lights. The tables have been pushed aside to make room for a makeshift sticky dance floor, and the atmosphere is intoxicating.

It’s as easy as anything to be swept along with the vibes, the dancing, the intensity of it all. When you start dancing, you really do forget your worries. You forget that you don’t know how you got here and that you don’t may not even know the person beside you; you forget that you’re supposed to be anywhere else except here. Everything feels briefly perfect and beautiful, meant to be, no matter what else is happening to you.

When you stumble outside, it will be dawn, no matter how long you think you’ve been there, and you’ll be exhausted enough to simply curl up right there in the sand and fall asleep. Hope you made a friend kind enough to drag you home, or that someone wakes you up!

tl;dr:
  • The diner is open and the pie is free.
  • If you get a slice of pie, you feel compelled to share it with someone.
  • At night, the diner transforms into essentially a nightclub. The vibes are intoxicating and you can forget all your worries and dance the night away.
  • You can only leave at dawn, and your body will be exhausted. Better get help getting back to your room!

Something’s Coming
Content warnings: blood, blood-sucking, monsters

A few hours after dusk, strange creatures begin to scurry from shadow to shadow, chasing after anything that moves: chupacabras. Large ones. They’re big creatures, the size of large dogs with spikes down their spines and tails, dark and hairless with fearsome teeth. They are everywhere, and they are hungry.

They are indiscriminate in who they try to bite: the biggest among you is just as at risk as the smallest, but the bigger you are, the more of them might come for the fight. No matter where you are, there’s a risk: they seem adept at making their way into buildings. You might find one looming over your bed, resting on your chest, getting ready to bite; one might slip into the diner while you’re dancing and latch on when you’ve forgotten to be concerned.

If a chupacabra manages to bite you, it will suck your blood, and it won’t stop until you’re completely drained unless you do something about it. Having your blood sucked by one is not a pleasant experience, it’s excruciatingly painful and the creatures will do their best to keep you prone while eating their fill. The more they drink, the more exhausted you’ll get, until it’s very difficult to fight them off.

They can be killed or scared off, but the further they are into a fight or into their meal, the harder they are to get rid of. If a chupacabra has latched on to you, you’ll need help escaping!

tl;dr:
  • Chupacabras strike the town at dusk.
  • They want to suck your blood, and are indiscriminate in who they attack. They will try and drain you completely.
  • They can be fought or scared off. It's easier to get rid of them if you have a pal.



The Walls Have Eyes
Content warnings: eyes, trypophobia

There are eyes everywhere. They peer out of cracks in walls, the floor, the grout in your shower, an open cut in your skin. There are even eyes in the craters on the moon, staring down at you unblinking.

These eyes seem familiar, even if you don’t remember them. You feel like you do. You feel a heavy weight settle over you when you look at them, guilt curdling in the pit of your gut.

The eyes belong to someone, or someones, who you’ve hurt or let down. They belong to your greatest mistake, to someone who you left behind, to someone who you regret. The same eyes over and over again, or the eyes of many who you’ve hurt, watching you, judging you, pleading for you to save them or apologize or make up for the mistakes you may not even remember making. You just know that you made them. They eyes don't lie.

The more you ignore these eyes, the more they seem to encroach on you: appearing in the walls, following you around corners, in the creases of your knuckles, the fold of your sheets. They replace the eyes of the people around you, the same eyes staring at you from everywhere you look.

Your skin itches with the constant feeling of being watched. Your head feels tight, and your own eyes feel too full, like there’s too much of you inside your skin. You’d do anything to get away from this feeling.

Soon enough, the mounting pressure explodes: you have to confront them and your guilt and your mistakes, and beg for the forgiveness they’re asking of you. Even if you don’t remember what those mistakes were, or why you should feel guilty, you have to tell someone. If you don't, the feeling will only mount, until all you can see are eyes. Eyes, just eyes.

tl;dr:
  • The eyes of someone(s) who embodies your regret appear in the cracks of the world around you.
  • The more you ignore the eyes, the more of them appear, and the more you feel an intense, heavy sense of guilt.
  • The guilt you feel can be based on things you remember, or things you don't. If it's based on things you don't know, your head will also hurt.
  • The eyes will ease if you admit your guilt, to the best of your ability. Tell someone your guilt, and the eyes will recede.
  • If you don't, your whole world will become eyes.



thinkfirst: (what | come on | hand)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2023-04-28 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Flynn shifts uncomfortably on the squeaky vinyl, running careful fingers along the tabletop. ]

Well, just a few days ago, this place was... gone. There was a massive storm, and we were hit with earthquakes strong enough to crack the ground open. The diner disappeared into one of them. Sitting in it now is.... a little like waking up in the lobby without a clue why you're there. It's strange. A little wrong.
rustedknight: (Default)

[personal profile] rustedknight 2023-04-28 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well, the guy does have a knife. If he thinks he can handle it, Jaune's not opposed to some teamwork. ]

If you -

[ Another chupacabra leaps. Jaune brings his 'shield' up to turn its path, sending it careening off to the side Yuri isn't occupying, and follows through with a heavy downward blow on the creature's back. It yelp-snarls and skitters away, joining its fellows to regroup. ]

- hit hard enough -

[ He spins into his own momentum and readies for another attack, eyes gleaming with set, confident readiness. ]

- it seems to do the trick.

So. What's the plan? You want to get out of here, or you want to take these things down?
thinkfirst: (talking | neutral | worried)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2023-04-28 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Running away is going to hurt more! I promise, I can handle it, just let me–!

[ Probably Flynn should let her alone but guilt tears heavy at his heels: he has a duty, he has to help, and he's been neglecting it, he knows that, he knows. He can't let someone else try to handle everything alone, not after that.

A staircase is in fact coming up, down to the open stone of the lobby.
]
vibing: (smile | proud | fight | cocky)

cw: hurting the monster guys

[personal profile] vibing 2023-04-28 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
And leave these to someone else? Nah, man. [ A grin crosses his face, and he takes the opportunity the next time Jaune hits one of them to step in and kick it in the face, before bringing the knife down on one of its leg joints. It screams, and Yuri shoves it back with a foot, bringing the knife up again. It's still alive, but severely injured, limping back with a growl ]

I think we've got this. If you guys want some more.

[ He tosses the knife and catches it again, feeling the exhilaration of the fight coursing through him. ]
thinkfirst: (talking | neutral | worried)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2023-04-28 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It means almost too much to him, is the thing. It means enough that maybe Flynn will cling to those words later, alone in the darkness of his room when he's swinging a stick and trying to remember how to make it dangerous. That he is free to re-learn those skills— that just because he can't use a sword doesn't mean it's a permanent state, that the lack of it doesn't have to define him— it means everything.

He clings to them, a little selfishly and a little desperately, and swallows back the part of him that wants to ask this perfect stranger are you sure and how do you know and can you teach me.

It isn't the time. He can be useful now, in other ways, and so his back straightens up and his stance evens out and he says, like a military report,
]

They're varied. That's part of the problem: it's impossible to predict from month to month what the next threat will be. At first, we were simply threatened by creatures under sheets and a vague sense of dread, but it has escalated. Last month, there were... versions of everyone in town, like seeing a copy of yourself. Those copies were trying very hard to kill us. Not having a weapon made it very... difficult. To survive.
rustedknight: (rusted - 005)

cw: hurting the monster guys

[personal profile] rustedknight 2023-04-28 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ And the guy knows how to use the knife. Better and better.

(Yuri may be equipped to notice what Jaune does not: how smoothly Jaune cooperates with Yuri's lunge, clearing a path for him readily while taking up a position to cover his back.) ]


That's the spirit.

[ Jaune smiles tightly over the edge of his already cracking 'shield', never taking his eyes from their opponents. ]

I'll open them up, you take them down. We start at the left and work in.

Just say when.
hasapoint: an old scarred woman considers (by Anna Akhmatova)

[personal profile] hasapoint 2023-04-28 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[The desperation in this boy's eyes... Poor thing is in a period of loss and uncertainty and wants something to be sure and true. Lashan takes a couple steps closer, offering the remains of his sword back to him in an open palm. If he doesn't shy away from her reach she puts her other hand heavy on his shoulder for a moment, her black-eyed gaze steady.

She is sympathetic, and glad that he's trying to move forwards instead of lying in the grief of it. There's also a 'but' there which, she doesn't know what it is. It's not a malevolent one. Maybe just that she's reserved and it doesn't feel right to show too much of that sympathy.]


Good lad. [She considers the news.] How long have you and others been here? I'm going to assume no one's appeared to tell you why any of this is happening.

Do you think these were close reflections of the people they mirrored? Did they know things you didn't?
hasapoint: an old scarred woman considers (by Anna Akhmatova)

[personal profile] hasapoint 2023-04-29 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
[A man in black! How dramatic, Lashan thinks with a bit of amusement, and that must take a lot of stamina in this heat. She wonders if, before she was ancient - a lot older than she looks, not that she knows how old - there was something like that in her. He's got a poise to him, despite the weariness she senses. This is clearly a fighter.]

I wouldn't turn down help, lad. What do you have in mind?

[Is he armed? The lack of real weapons here itches at her.]
searingwing: Art pixiv-user-4853142 (pic#16246870)

[personal profile] searingwing 2023-04-29 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
I can heat the edge and adjust it. [Blades and magic, they're what he knows. It's...comforting in a way to assist with familiar things. Things filled with nostalgia.]

No forge necessary.
vibing: (wave | come at me | sword | fight)

[personal profile] vibing 2023-04-29 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
Hell yeah, man. These things won't know what hit 'em.

[ His grin grows, glad that this guy is down. Well, it makes sense, since he came in so hot with that tray. A tray and a steak knife, the weapons of champions.

The creatures are pacing, even if the injured one looks like it doesn't want to be here anymore. Maybe it doesn't. That'll make this easier.

The other one crouches, ready to pounce, and Yuri watches it until it's ready and nearly leaping at him, when he yells:
]

When!
rustedknight: (Default)

[personal profile] rustedknight 2023-04-29 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
[ Jaune launches himself like a wrecking ball into the chupacabras. Without the need to follow through his blows, leaving that to Yuri, he's free to focus on battering them down into submission instead of balancing it with pushing them back.

The serving tray breaks completely on the next hit. Jaune muscles through it with a shoulder check to one of the beasts, and from that point on his grip switches to a two handed hold of the plank. He wields it with more grace than such an unwieldy weapon deserves, and if Yuri can keep up - and at this point, Jaune assumes he can - he thinks they can have this taken care of in two minutes or less. ]
vibing: (fight | hurt | smile | sword)

[personal profile] vibing 2023-04-29 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ This is fun, is the thing. Yuri follows after Jaune with a wide grin, wielding the knife like he was made for it. He's more comfortable with a sword, but a knife isn't completely foreign to him. It's sharp, it's metal, so what if it's a little short. He follows up Jaune's blows with punches of his own to put the chupacabras in the right place, and then take then out. He slits a throat, and stabs heart, going for the most sensitive areas of monsters like it's second nature to him. Maybe it is.

It really doesn't take that long. By the end, Yuri is panting, and the creatures are dead, and he holds up his free hand for a high five
]

That was awesome!
sighsheavily: (pic#16420019)

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2023-04-29 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
[she gently shakes her head while he talks, not ready to let herself off the hook.]

Even so. Even so... I need to be better than that. For everyone's sake, not just my own.
masculinitea: (Default)

[personal profile] masculinitea 2023-04-29 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
[Excuse him, not throwing! Gesturing, and then red splashes appear above the creatures and fall. (It's basically throwing.)]

None of you little creeps lift!

[look he has zero points in witty combat dialogue and is just letting the tension of the moment run without filter through his mouth.

Vic pivots on his forelegs, swishing his tail, and raises a hind leg in what anyone who works with horses knows is a pretty serious warning. The spined creature doing the rushing doesn't work with horses and catches a hoof to the body. The chupacabra is launched off its feet with the force of that kick and tumbles to the ground, where it writhes. It would've been dramatic if it hadn't happened so quickly. Maybe if it was dramatic that'd be enough to scare the others off right now!

He has basically horse limitations on kicking - straight back like that is like being hit by a car, a sideways kick from his hind feet is still nasty, front hooves can't kick as well - but also the added centaur limitation that he's got a human field of view and if his head's not turned he can't see behind him. The manifesting boiling tea, fine, tisane is also limited by having to see where to put it unless he gets drastic and also he doesn't want to do it where someone can see. Vic looks around, trying to point his butt where a flying kick will do the most good.]


Bro... thanks, but might be time to get out of here instead.
masculinitea: (Default)

[personal profile] masculinitea 2023-04-29 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
But how big is big? Is there a gym?

[suddenly, wait, muscles might not be enough to create a bond.]

...aw no is he gonna make fun of me for not being jacked enough?
masculinitea: (Default)

[personal profile] masculinitea 2023-04-29 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
[Vic gives a long, heartfelt groan. Truly there's never been anyone as woeful as he.]

Aw man. Why do you have to be right?

[His mouth is dry. Vic just barely stops himself from doing something about that, there's a guy watching. Everything is terrible!

Slowly he starts the process of getting to his feet, too weary to do it all in one surging motion. Vic pulls in all four legs and gets them positioned, then heaves up, and up! It's a very equine motion, his hands and arms aren't involved much if at all. He is a good eight feet tall and already sweat-streaked.]


Think I partied too hard, bro.
rustedknight: (rusted - 005)

[personal profile] rustedknight 2023-04-29 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ On his own devices, Jaune was holding back from the more final measures Yuri takes. He didn't have a reason for this, at least not one he thought about, and when he considers the bodies around him - maybe it is something he should have thought about.

And he will, later. Right now, Jaune is blinking at Yuri's hand, aware he should be doing something but briefly unsure of wh-

Oh. Right. ]


We did all right.

[ Jaune says, with awkward, flattered modesty. He brings his hand up to meet Yuri's high five a little hesitantly, but still manages to produce a satisfying slap of palm to palm. It's...nice. ]

You were impressive. How are you feeling?
vibing: (neutral | look | concerned)

[personal profile] vibing 2023-04-29 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ He gets that, he really does, but it doesn't stand, not with what she went through. ]

No one could be prepared for what happened. No one could be prepared to have to face themselves. You aren't that person, just like I'm not that asshole getting trashed every day.

You're better prepared for if something like that happens again. You can do better next time, but that doesn't mean that you didn't do your best, for what you had.

[ He remembers her devastation, her break down, how it broke his heart, when he was already reeling from Flynn's death.

He reaches across the table, offering her a hand.
]

You're strong, and you're smart, and you got outsmarted by yourself, 'cause she started with the upperhand.
hasapoint: annoyed and amused (It is such pain and yet such ecstasy)

[personal profile] hasapoint 2023-04-29 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
Can you! A useful talent. How hot, and can you maintain a consistent temperature? Or can you control metal directly?

[She feels like she should know something about any given magic or powers but that kind of information is not within her grasp now and she'd better not hurt herself reaching. Whatever Lashan is usually capable of, if doing these things with magic is among that, she mainly remembers how to keep it all locked down and that not doing so is dangerous.]

I'm a swordsmith. [She quirks her thin-lipped mouth in a self-deprecating smile or slight grimace.] Or rather, I was, but it's been a terribly long time. Long enough I suspect I would've forgotten a lot of it even without this new difficulty.
vibing: (smile | tease | proud | cocky | skit)

[personal profile] vibing 2023-04-29 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Great! Man, honestly, it's good to get to fight something that's that simple. See a monster, you gotta kill it.

[ It is a good high five. Nice job, Jaune. Yuri's still grinning broadly. This is his happy place. It could only be improved with a sword in his hand ]

You set 'em up, I took 'em down. Hell yeah.

[ He surveys the damage he caused without any regrets. Yeah, he'll probably clean up the bodies, get them out of the street, but that's just part of the job.

He glances back at Jaune
]

You're new here, right?
thinkfirst: (skit | quiet | soft | smile)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2023-04-29 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
Cecelia—!

[ It's an alarmed little yelp, followed by Flynn's arms going up, hands curled into confused fists, until he gets his bearings—hugging, she's hugging him, or something close to it, do something, Scifo—and drops them first to her arms and then to her shoulders because that's stupid but that doesn't work, either, so no, let's just—

He wraps his arms around her, first careful and then, as her apology comes spilling out, fierce.
]

You don't have anything to be sorry for, either. I don't know why I'm here, or why I've been given this chance, or... anything else, but I know that.
rustedknight: (rusted - 005)

[personal profile] rustedknight 2023-04-29 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
How could you tell?

[ His grin widens as he pops a hand behind his head. The town isn't exactly the largest imaginable place; he assumes newcomers stand out. ]

Woke up here this morning. The name's Jaune Arc...the rest, I'm a little hazier on - except I'm pretty sure I usually don't do this with a plank. [ He drops his hand and opens it in front of him, inspecting his abraded palm. ] Not a fan of the splinters.
hollow_man: (purple)

[personal profile] hollow_man 2023-04-29 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
[A gym bro centaur. Even if he could remember all the weird shit he's seen, this would be a new one on Jono.

Like the totally awesome winner he is, Jono gives Vic a quick thumbs up when he's saved by that honestly impressive kick. He moves closer, being very sure not to be on the kicking end.]


~I think you're absolutely right.~

[He grabs hold of Vic and swings gracefully up onto his back... in his mind. In reality he's never ridden a horse in his life, so he sort of stares and awkwardly tries to clamber up. One of the chupacabras takes this opportunity to dart forward and take a bite at his calf. Luckily, Jono manages to haul himself up onto Vic's back - backwards - before the creature can do more than get a quick bite in. It hurts (in a dim sort of way) but it's not serious.

The chupacabra, for its part, hacks for a moment and then lunges for Vic instead. Apparently the centaur is much tastier.]
toteninsel: (11)

something's coming

[personal profile] toteninsel 2023-04-29 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ No one will ever believe her, but Ariane is certain that the night sky looks much better from a planet's surface than it ever will in space.

She spends as little time inside as possible, even though she doesn't tend to make it very far from the hotel. Tonight, she's sitting on a bench outside the general store, and it does not occur to her that she is unnervingly still.

That is, until something jumps out at her. Ariane ducks, knowing she's not fast enough to outrun it, bracing for certain - ]


S̷T̸I̴R̴B̵

[ - and there is someone in front of her, holding a...shield? No, that isn't right. ]

No! No, you've got to run!
toteninsel: (15)

[personal profile] toteninsel 2023-04-29 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ None of them do. The news isn't surprising, but Ariane is disappointed all the same. She shoots the very unhelpful receptionist a look, then joins this person who seems to be far more helpful near the stairs. She's not especially steady on her feet, and leans against the base of the railing when she reaches him, but if that bothers her, Ariane tries not to let it show. The eules back home would be proud. ]

Fair enough. You're probably right. [ She relaxes a little. ] Thanks for getting me out of there. The tea's with the breakfast?

Page 25 of 40