aurorastation | TEST DRIVE MEME (9)

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TEST DRIVE MEME (9)

test drive meme

Your character wakes up in a neat bedroom in their team carriage, in nondescript underwear. They might be missing their memories, or their special abilities, or they may just feel a little queasy. Next to them is what seems to be a smartphone, which they know how to use even if they never had before, even if they don't know if they have before. On the screen is a simple message:

Welcome aboard the Aurora!

You have been selected by the Star Prince as a potential hero, tasked with saving the universe from Malice. As a passenger I, your Construct and Conductor, will attempt to provide you with quality lodgings and safety. In return, we ask that you join your fellows in making bonds and doing your utmost to bring joy back to the Stars.

Due to the process of restoring your body, you may find some things are missing. We apologise for the inconvenience and hope to return them to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.

★ One
Upon investigation, you'll find some basic clothes matching your team's theme in the storage provided in your room. Or, perhaps, you're wandering out of the room still undressed. Either way, downstairs you'll find someone has left a tray of cups of hot tea on the living room table. Drinking it may be simply pleasant, or it may cause you to feel a sudden need to warm up to the others in your carriage -- emotionally or physically. Welcome to the team, newbie!

☆ Two
Shortly after your arrival, you find yourself wrapped up in some monster NPC's Game. You're inside what appears to be a stone temple, with a massive golden scale on one wall. Suddenly, on one side, a heavy metal weight is dropped. As the scales tip out of balance, the floor begins to slowly disappear, brick by brick, ready to drop you -- and whoever is with you -- into an abyss. Your only hope comes in the form of an inscription on the altar:

How much do your secrets weigh?

Every secret you tell causes a weight to fall onto the other side of the scale. The bigger the secret, the bigger the weight. If you can collectively tip the scales, the floor will quit dropping bricks and a door will appear to allow you back to the train. If you can't, you'll fall, seemingly forever, til you pass out. When you wake up you'll find yourself unable to lie.

★ Three
You've been on the Aurora for awhile, but you've never heard this kind of noise. It's just dawn, and the backdrop of chirping insects and singing birds is smashed through by the screeching of microphone feedback and the twang of an electric guitar being thoughtlessly strummed. After a moment it goes silent, but when you exit the game you find yourself facing a trial. The setting: a dirty dive bar. The goal: serenade the next person to pass in front of you. You have a stage full of rock instruments, and sparks on the line. The more you emotionally affect your target (any kind of emotion -- laughter included) the closer your team gets to winning!

☆ Four
Wildcard. Make up your own prompt! Check out the setting and team pages for info on the train. If you have any questions, ask on the q&a page. Otherwise, apps open on August 8! In the meantime you're free to join us on Discord.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He shuffles a few steps to the side as he watches a floor brick disappear.]

Did the growling help? Other than making you feel better, that is.

[Voice is rough, a growly edge to it.] Does the sarcasm help you feel better?

[She's still looking, making more chittering sounds as she moves along the wall.]

If you have secrets, tell them. I don't.

It absolutely does. I would have not said it otherwise.

Now there is a bold faced lie if I ever did hear one. No secrets to tell? Not a one?

Very helpful.

I don't remember anything. I can't have secrets.

If you want to help, find a loose brick along the wall. I can get us out, but I need loose dirt. Or a bug.

'Tis a cruel game they've placed us in if only one can participate.

[He does check the nearest wall for a loose brick. The action doesn't have much vigor to it --- half-assed at best --- but he does attempt. After scanning a few bricks, he rubs his fingers together smearing the dust that had collected on them.]

Dirt I can provide you with though I hope you weren't looking for large quantities.

People who play games like this are never fair.

[She glances back and she huffs.]

Digging. I can dig us out quickly. But I need to see it.

Jaded already?

If you can dig us out, might I recommend grinding one of these less sturdier bricks on the wall to pulverize to dust. Or a section of the floor. It will be a lost cause soon anyway.

It will be must faster than any dust you or I could collect.

Humanoids make things complicated and get tricky. If that's what I think, there must be a reason for it.

It's not about strength. The Earth listens to me. But I can't get to it through the wall.

You remember not a wit about yourself, but you can recall how to talk to the earth by instinct? Commendable, really. Though I'm afraid we might be at a bit of stumbling point concerning the wall beyond. Old as this place might be, it is sound in its construction.

I could feel it as soon as I touched it.

You're too calm about dying. You could at least put in some effort.

I am not ignoring the gravity of our situation. But using your words, those running this are 'tricky'. What a sorry state would I be in to divulge my secrets only to find myself thrown into the pit regardless. There are no assurances.

So do continue with your efforts. While not in unlimited abundance, there still is time.

[Growling and slams a hand against the wall.] I do not care for your secrets. Tell one and see if the thing shifts. If it does not, then it does not matter, but you can investigate instead of being a condescending lump.

[Then there's smoke as acid forms on her claws as they elongate and she digs into the stone.] More...need more strength....someone will help....come to me, I know you're there....

Edited 2019-08-04 09:02 (UTC)

Very well, but only because you asked so politely.

[What a curious creature that can change her shape and speak to stone. No time to ponder that at the moment as he turns, arms outstretched, to address the scales.]

Despite being the broken and fractured things as they are, I always silently wish for my heirs to be something I could admire. To rebuild with them for only a moment. My grandson, Varis, being no exception. Truth be told, I even saw a spark here and there. Had high hopes. Even to this day I respect his begrudging tenacity. But he failed me like all the rest. I would like to say the hope no longer remains, but it does tend to linger like a bad cold.

[It isn't much of a secret unless the grandson in question was also in the room. Also he doesn't look quite old enough to have grand children, but eh. And thus did the scales tip ever so slightly.]

[It'd have been more amazing if she could have found a bug. She knows this form isn't all that's hers. She can feel it in the same way she can feel the earth move to her will.]

[She glances back at the scale.]

[And her voice is suddenly less growly, more normal. ~~Because she's switched away from infernal being auto-translated.~~] It's shifting. [At least she can see that much.] Keep going. I think I might have something, but I need to....find....it.

[Turning back to the stone wall, digging her claws in, her feet braced on the wall as she tries pulling, closing her eyes.] Come to me, come to me, guide me so I may find the path, I know you're there....

Of course it is shifting. To not give some sort of treat for playing would drop morale making the game meaningless. The question still remains if our offerings will ever be enough.

[He tilts his head slightly as the switch of auto-translation. He can tell something is off, and he's trying to listen to it.]

Though I am truly surprised by your willingness to help a stranger so readily. I would expect you to simply save your own skin at the earliest convenience. If such positions were reversed... Hm. With memories intact, I can easily say I wouldn't be as kind as you.

[Does telling the other person you are trapped in the room with, you'd leave them to die a secret? Maybe. Possibly? Do the scales tip?]

Needless cruelty has no point. If I escape, there is no reason to abandon you.

[Not really, no. She's chaotic neutral who currently has a poor opinion of his character. She just saves cruelty when there's something to be gained from it.]

And besides, it's...ah...ah, yes, there you are!

[And now there's a flickering around her, growling again, lower, rougher, as light dances around her. Before settling in the form of a bear beside her, translucent, but very much there. And with it, there's a sudden feeling of vitality and strength in the air and she grits her teeth, pulling harder on the rock and it's starting to shift in its spot.]

And you accused me of being to calm about certain subjects.

You seem to have gotten what you needed. Let me know if you need more to be fed to these scales.

[He slouches his posture and watches her weave here magic with no small amount of interest.]

Edited 2019-08-04 10:02 (UTC)

Death is not one to be calm about.

Get over here and help me pull, he can only help so much!

[She keeps getting 13s on her strength checks okayokay.]

Panic and fear in the face of death can cause much greater complications.

[He does come over and kneel next to the both of them and attempts to help. Physical labor is not his forte though! Hope you are blessed with a natural 20 soon, my friend.]

[Listen, this is why she has the bear. Bear is advantage.]

[Also more hitpoints to take the fall if it doesn't work.]

There is a difference between calm and dismissiveness.

[....also still takes like ten rounds for twenty and like five for anything above a fifteen, so question is, do they have a minute before the bricks get them.]

[Probably not.]

As clever and resourceful as you are, time doesn't appear to be on our side.

[He stands turning to the scales again without being theatrical this time. He's actually pretty slouched forward.]

Ah, what is a secret someone who would set up such a trap like to hear? One's true fear can provide some advantageous knowledge while providing a little twisted perversion.

As for one of mine, I fear that which my new companion has been inflicted with it. Memory loss. Not the forgetful pieces of time to time, but truly losing everything you are and starting with a slate left raw and bare. 'Tis truly a fate worse than death. To forget all.

[Looking at his new companion.]

I do believe this a question you can answer here and now even without your memories. And I do pity you for having to suffer through this affliction.

[She's still trying. Trying to come up with anything else while she pulls because she has to. She has to figure out a way, to not do so means death and-]

[She looks at him, snarling a bit because that's really rubbing her the wrong way.]

It's not fear that I feel. It's frustration. It's anger. And it's a driving will to survive. Memories don't mean anything if you're dead. [It's the first words in her head when she woke up. Deep and certain, almost as if the infernal words were scarred onto her soul.]

I don't need pity. We need a way out because I can make new memories. And I need this brick. Out! [Almost there, but that hole is getting real close.]

[Being forced to crowd her as more of the floor falls out beneath them. The scales did tilt at his declaration, but they need maybe just one more good push.]

You must fear something. Dig and speak at the same time.

I fear death. [But that's hardly a secret.]

[And the bear vanishes now because it only lasts a minute.]

[Does she fear anything else? It's mostly been frustration, not understanding things, not understanding why she knew and felt what she did, but it's hard to put all that into words so what-]

I fear not seeing the trees again.

[Which might be kind of a secret, but it's not a terribly big one.]

[Perhaps it was the combination of declarations. Or maybe it was having her dig somewhere deep inside her to get that second declaration out.

Whatever it was, the floor stops collapsing, and the door back to the train appears.

The tricky part. There is a big yawning hole to the abyss between them and the door. Rude!]

Two

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