Test Drive Meme (11)

[trainmasters]

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 a while, maybe you've even started to grow used to it. Used to the train, used to used to the slow but steady revival of the world around you into something less hostile, used to the trials, maybe even used to the people. The singing tree, however, is new. You're pretty sure that tree wasn't there yesterday. You know the singing wasn't. But it's here now. And it's LOUD. Almost unbearably so, enough to come seeping through if you cover your ears. Somehow it even seems to come through if you somehow have the ability (whether mechanical or magical) to seal off your hearing...? If you compliment the tree, however, it stops singing for five minutes. It may even stop altogether if you hug it. But are you willing to risk looking that silly?.

☆ 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.

Comments

[firstworldproblem]

I can only assume the Light rages within you even though I can't see it currently. Unless ----

Monster. Hero. You have many titles. All well deserved.

[Sighs.]

If a promise you can't make, then I'm afraid our cooperation ends here.

[nhaamasblessing]

[Light?? She doesn't know what that means. But hearing him call her a hero and a monster in the same breath is deeply confusing.]

I don't want to be someone deserving of being called a monster, to be considered with such hatred. If a promise is what you want, then you shall have it: I shan't become the same person I was before, this I swear.

[firstworldproblem]

If I could make some adjustments.

If you would swear not to get in the way of my life's work I would forever grateful.

[nhaamasblessing]

What is your life's work...?

[firstworldproblem]

A terribly raw subject.

Will you give your word or not?

[nhaamasblessing]

[mmmmmmmmmm it didn't feel quite right to make a promise about something she had no information about or context for, but minus the whole trying to stab her thing, this man didn't seem like a terribly bad person, just someone deeply hurt. she didn't see any reason for him to try to lead her astray, especially with something as simple as a promise. it was a show of good faith, not a legally binding action.]

You have my word, then.

[firstworldproblem]

I will hold you to that.

As a show of good faith in return, I will answer truthfully one question of your choosing. However, if you ask anything terribly broad I'm revoking your right to ask that one question.

Please think carefully, Hero.

youre fine! <3

[nhaamasblessing]

[There's so many options at her disposal, so many questions she had that were swirling around her mind constantly. Things like, what is her real name? What kind of person was she? And now, what had she done to this man? It's hard to decide.]

What was I like to be such a monster, yet a hero in the same breath?

[That kind of combined two of her questions, hopefully.]

[firstworldproblem]

[Motioning for her to sit again.]

One does lead into another. You've never wanted for handing out kindness. For providing succor and aide to those in need. While I can't read your mind, I have high suspicions you'd do it without the reputation it gives you, the fame, the recognition --- that is just the type of person you are.

How ironic then that your kindness, your desire to save, would lead you to absorb a great deal of aether that would change you. You were becoming a literal monster, body and soul twisted and shaped from the inside. A failing on your part but not of your own fault. Simply the reality of the situation.

[nhaamasblessing]

[she is NOT sure if she wants to get back into stabbing distance, thank you very much. it seems as though they've worked it out, but... ugh. curse her for being too trusting and wanting to see the best in people. she picks up the discarded chair and sets it back upright, sitting back down, though there is a hint of wariness as she does so.]

A literal monster...

[so she went from being someone that helped to someone that hurt, then? how very ironic.]

And I suppose you're among the number that I hurt in the process.

[firstworldproblem]

Yes, but not in the way you think.

[nhaamasblessing]

I don't know what I think. This is a lot to process.

[firstworldproblem]

On the matter of remembering, you'll receive no sympathy from me.

[nhaamasblessing]

I don't expect you to offer me any sympathy, from what you say.

[firstworldproblem]

While ire is the prominent emotion I feel for your, there are deeply buried undertones of respect.

Very deeply buried.

[nhaamasblessing]

While not remembering certainly doesn't absolve me of the things that I've done, be they good or bad, mayhap we can work to change that.

...If you're willing to give me a second chance, of course.

[firstworldproblem]

[Sighs.]

This is more akin to the fifth or sixth time.

[Is he exaggerating, the world may never know.]

I only have so much patience so please do keep your word.

[nhaamasblessing]

[fifth or sixth........]

I will.

[you're only as good as your word, after all.]

You still haven't told me your name, though.

[firstworldproblem]

Emet-Selch.

[Gosh, did he just make this complicated? Should he just have buried the body? No one would know, right?

Sigh.]

[nhaamasblessing]

Well, it's nice to meet you again, Emet-Selch.

[if only things were ever that easy.]

I suppose you already know my name, though I certainly don't. I've been using "Selene" in the meanwhile.

[firstworldproblem]

Selene will do fine for now. Perhaps when I'm feeling more generous I'll grace you with your real name.

[nhaamasblessing]

Fair enough.

[He doesn't really owe her anything, after all — he said one free answer, not two.]

Should I expect to have to dodge any more knifes in the future, or are we all square with that?

[firstworldproblem]

If I am to be truthful, it is equally likely to swing in either direction.

[nhaamasblessing]

I suppose I will have to watch my back, then.

[firstworldproblem]

I'm sure it will pass soon. Would you like to handle the preparations until it does?

[Handing the knife to her handle first.]