TEST DRIVE MEME (4)

[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 in aurora for awhile -- long enough to have recovered a memory/power or two, if you lost any. And it's lucky for you: today, the area around the train has been surrounded in a strange mist that makes you feel dizzy and overly warm. Left alone, your condition will slowly degrade, with increasing lethargy and shortness of breath until you lose consciousness. The cure is easy enough, though -- touch another person and they'll see one of your memories, experiencing it as if it's their own. The effect is mutual -- you now have a piece of eachother, and you're safe from the illness... at least until you take another big breath. Good thing there's no mist inside the train!

☆ 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 February 8! In the meantime you're free to join us on Discord.

Comments

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

- As if there is something amiss with my taste - [ it's not that she doesn't think that's what he was trying to say, but she knows this one is kind of different. they're not at that point yet, so she just huffs. ] Well then, what is it that you want?

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

What do I want . . .

. . .

What do I want . . .

[ thinking on it

and just sort of meandering around ]

I don't want these anymore. . .

[ as he wanders, the cups start sliming out of his body, leaving behind trails of china ]

I want . . . something . . .

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

Yes, yes. And what is it?

1/2

[monodeleteism]

. . . .

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

I don't remember . . .

[ . . . ]

Come to think of it, who are you. . .

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

I see. Well, then - with consideration given to the state of that body I suppose a fracture in your memory, as had been speculated, is likewise to be expected. Yes, loathsome though it may be it is regardless as I thought. As you shall recall in time, this Elaine is your younger sister.

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

I see, I see.

What is a "sister"?

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

Are you - [ she already knows the answer to that question. ] A sister - one of the female gender with whom immediate consanguineous or sentimental relation is shared, though lacking in the culpability for existence possessed by a "mother." You, a man somewhat more aged than my own self, yet bound to me through our blood, yet not so that you may be spoken of as the chief architect of this body, are my elder brother.

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

So I am not mother, nor am I sister, but I am brother. I see. Elder, younger, a mark to denote the passage of time. So we share blood, but not sentiment.

Yes, yes. I understand. It is nice to meet you, Sister.

[ with a yawn, sluggish ]

Then, I shall learn from you. Then, I shall rely on you. Sister, for what purpose were you born?

1/2

[debrided]

[ >I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you.
>I shall rely on you. ]

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

Ah, it is rather something quite - other than that, yes. Yes, to claim such is itself somewhat improper, though your rudiments have been lost, regardless... Very well. I suppose I shall concede this once. That one could exist solely to the exclusion of its other is scarcely accurate - between us lies blood as well as sentiment in its fullest measure. Consider momentarily the head and tail of the beast. The head and tail of the coin, forged through heat as fervent - for you the pit I suppose, or else the blade, or an embrace for my own self - no, rather, for us both it is perhaps nothing more than a kiln. Scarlet crushed underfoot, refined and distilled by flame - such that this alone remains. [ at "this," she extends a hand to press into the ooze where he's still forming, to illustrate ] Such is "our" circumstance. Hearth-warmed quicksilver, or else aged blood, or else putrefied tissue.

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

[ absorbed like 5% of that ]

Yours and who else's?

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

Dearest brother, do pay attention. To whom do you believe I am speaking?

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

If you would like me to pay attention you should speak plainly.

1/2

[debrided]

[ so acerbic! ]

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

Honestly! If it is your hope that I speak plainly, is the onus not instead upon your own self, to listen with greater care?

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

There is no greater care that I have exerted in my existence than to listen to your words. Speak plainly or do not speak at all.

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

My. Is that so? I do wonder - what is it that you intend to do, should I refuse?

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

[ looks around ]

. . .

I will find someone else to speak to.

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

[ . . .

. . .

. . . ]

Is that so. Very well. Further still, I suppose, for the sake of my dearest elder brother, his rudiments neglected, I shall concede.

What is it that you've failed to understand?

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

You spoke many words yet I do not know what your purpose for existence is.

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

It's no different from your own. Yourself and I - as claimed, are as the sides of a coin.

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

[ squints ]

And what would that purpose be?

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[debrided]

Perhaps it would be simpler to show you. Brother, a bit closer.

Re: cw self-harm for anyone following along

[monodeleteism]

[ gloops closer like a chump ]