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

For the record, all I'm saying is that you don't have enough information to put the whole picture together yet. If you settle on one thing now, you'll close yourself to other options. Best not to jump to conclusions.

Regardless, mine's a purely academic interest. I don't actually care.

That is why I said it was the leading theory. Our first was I was ex-military cop who had a rivalry with her vigilante fight club.

Also because you're an infirmation is power sort.

Can't imagine why you'd think that.

[ Does he mean it or is he sarcastic, you decide ]

Well, I see little reason to hide stuff like that anyway. Either the train rides together or dies together, whether or not the powers that be are using us. Cooperation is how people survive when shit goes bad.

[And gonna put his eggs in some bread.] So, tour?

No, I'll take a look around on my own. I want to take my time with it, and there's things I need to check first.

Besides. You literally just took a pain killer.

Oh? Like what?

For a headache. Happens on and off, got a bunch of stuff in my brain. Plus the whole point of pain killers is to make sure you can function when pain is being inconvenient. [In his opinion.]

What do you care?

Because you're my teammate and that basically gets you a crazy amount of loyalty because someone has to make the first move on bonding and that ends up being me a lot.

And fuck it, if regret it, I'll deal with it then.

You don't know me. Declaring you'll be loyal to me just because I happen to be wearing a pink unicorn onesie right now is a terrible choice.

That's how it is when you're facing the threat of extinction.

You either trust the people beside you are invested in at least not hindering the continuing survival of your numbers or you handicap yourself.

And if they do wish to hinder continued survival, you make sure they can't.

And loyalty isn't like I'll do everything you say. It means I'm invested in your wellbeing and will do what I can to help with that, regardless of whatever past sins you might have committed or whatever other reasons you think I'd have to change my mind.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

[ this is very much a moment in which he's annoyed he can't use his powers because he'd totally just blink in his personal space right now. Instead, he has to get up and walk to get, like, all up in his face.

You know. Like a normal person. ]

I haven't just faced the threat of extinction, I've lived forty-five years well past it. Save your inspirational speeches about what I'm supposed to do to survive for yourself. I don't need them.

And here's a reason for you to change your mind. I don't want your help.

....

[Well, that sure does explain a lot.]

It's called Glassing. The practice of orbital plasma bombardment to incinerate swathes of land and kicking enough debris to blot the sun and make the air unbreathable. Do it to enough of a planet's surface and nothing can hope to survive on the planet after a few weeks.

The only thing that stops the Covenant from doing that to a planet is if there's a piece of ancient technology that they want. They won't make a deal, they don't accept surrender. They will fight to take it and once they have it, they kill everyone. Man, woman, and child. For whatever fucked up reason they had, they wanted humanity dead.

I learned that when I remembered being on a mining colony. I had a reputation for keeping people alive even if the rest of the mission was a disaster. My CO told me our options were either to destroy the tech because we couldn't let the enemy have it and doom everyone to death, or keep them away long enough for back up to arrive and buy time and protection enough to exacerbate the planet.

My CO told me to buy time and that's what I did. That's what I always do. I agreed to buy to time, I agreed to experiments, I agreed to have someone else shoved into my head to become a better, more effective killing machine.

I didn't live through extinction, but I've lived through someone trying real fucking hard to make it happen.

A human can survive on their own, but that's it. You don't get anything more. That's not how it works. That's why I offer that much. Because if it means preventing extinction, saving people then, yeah, I'm going to agree to that too.

[ This is not going well and the more Dusk talks, the more it's setting him off. Normally, he'd just blink away. Now he can't, and that's adding more reasons to be upset about to a whole burrito of terribleness ]

Stop talking. I don't care. I don't care about your thought process, or how your world got destroyed, or whatever you think will make for a fun bonding experience. You should have kept it at the eggs.

You're the one who played the tragedy card. You don't get to complain when someone can respond.

[ there's a laugh at that, and it's bitter and absolutely meant to be derisive ]

You think I was playing the tragedy card. We're clearly having miscommunication problems here, you know, due to the fact you're absolutely incapable of putting two and two together. Which for the record, isn't surprising in any way whatsoever.

But if I have to spell it out for you, I will.

We're both strangers. And unlike you, I'm not in any hurry to change that. All I wanted to do was be on my merry way, and then you start going on about extinction and survival as if I couldn't possibly understand what you have to do under those circumstances.

You should be able to understand just how insulting that is, given your own experiences.

I don't need nor want your pity. I'm really just royally pissed off.

And running on fear and trauma.

[He's looking at him with a completely calm and unimpressed look.]

[ He doesn't have a quick comeback to that, and his expression changes, actually showing all that anger. He very obviously hit the nail on the head ]

Like I said. You don't know me.

[ It's a weak come back and he knows it, so he'll smoothly change the subject ]

If you're worried that I'll be an hindrance to our survival, you can rest easy. I want to save people as much as you do.

Now. I'd say we've had enough talking.

You're not a hard read.

Then you get the loyalty. Even if you're a dick.

Coffee's usually there. There's a TV in the living room, DVDs are a hundred sparks each from the store though I've got a few already there. Coca's in there. [Knocks his hand on a cabinet.] Most everything else just kind of appears so pays to check cabinets. Your room is the one you woke up in.

Malice is on an island in the water and only way to drive it off is bonds otherwise it turns things into hostile monsters.

[Then taking a big bite of his sandwich.]

[ Screw coca he wants to go straight for alcohol. But he's had enough and he can tell this is not an argument he came on top of, so he's not going to address any of that. Instead he'll just storm out. Walking. Like a normal person.

Hating every minute of that. ]

[He just sighs after he leaves.]

[Why is the friendship train FULL OF SO MANY PRICKLY PEOPLE.]

[Well, at least there's real eggs.]

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TEST DRIVE MEME (9)

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