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

[desirestruth]

[LOUD DISTRESSED YIPPING?!

He woke her up at least. For comedy's sake, the memory he's picking up off this is, well, a running montage of this keeps fucking happening to her.

Also there's a white-haired girl there where the jackal was???]

Owwwwwww...

[newmodelblade]

[The memory that she got is of another time Lucien was exhausted -- he was a young man, scarcely more than a boy. It is the early hours of the morning. He appears to be on the mustering grounds of a fort or redoubt, though it is clearly a time of peace given how the primary feelings at the moment were more of irritation at the lack of sleep, and the want to return to bed where it was warm and soft. Then, from seeming nowhere, a sharp pain in his collarbone, enough to make him see starbursts and immediately have to blink back a few tears. His eyes refocus; an older man man now stands before him, holding the cane as if it were a sword at en garde.

"Sleeping, your highness? That will not do! The enemy is always ready to take advantage of your weakness. Perhaps... a morning jog will do you good?"]

Mmngh...

[It is a tossup as to whether this situation is better, down here at face-dirt central junction.]

[desirestruth]

...Lucien?

[She knows that sleepy grumble. Something is familiar about that older man, too, but she sets that aside, even as she's rubbing hard at the phantom pain in her shoulder.

She's struggling to stay sitting up in the drowsiness, but she is squinting at this disaster and his dirt nap.]

[newmodelblade]

Yes... That is me. I am Lucien.

[Oh boy, maybe he dazed himself, or maybe the fog is just playing havoc on him, if that is what he managed to get out of all of it. He does seem to be considering further words though, given the memory.]

Sorry for, uh, stepping on you?

[desirestruth]

[...there's a lot to unpack in that response but right now she's going to be concerned about the potential concussion.]

Mmmmm...don't worry about that. We need to...get back to the train.

[She's already fighting not just passing back out though. Oh god.]

[newmodelblade]

[He nods, and pulls himself up slowly, from the push-up position, back to sitting, and then ultimately back up to his feet. He reaches for her, but he also makes the mistake of breathing too deeply, setting off a coughing fit as he does.]

What-- what is this foulness?

[desirestruth]

I don't know...but the train is clear.

[She's. She's trying to stand. Makes it but she's wobbling.]

It's not far, but we need to hurry...

[newmodelblade]

[He nods, still coughing, but reaches out with the hand not pressed to his mouth to grab her by the crook of her arm and begin to move as quickly as he could for safety. It wasn't fast, given the circumstances, but the determination behind it was genuine.]

[desirestruth]

[She wobbles on her feet, but she can keep up, struggling to stay awake...but. He touched her arm, and that is enough.

The forest is so thick that sunlight doesn't pierce the canopy, which suits the nocturnal inhabitants just fine. The thick foliage, twisted and warped to look somewhat, uh, combative, is so dense that the place is silent.

But she knows it well. Every single beat of every single thing in it is connected to her by the magic. It is there in the back of her mind, as it's been since childhood...and so she knows the man who approaches her in the clearing before he ever makes a sound.

"You're late again, Costin." The man snorts--tall, barrel-chested and long-haired, yet still somehow his face retains a certain skeletal gauntness.

"Should have thought of that before you called me back from across the world. What's so important you had to see me in person, Naeva?"

She's run the conversation through in her head so many times. She knows he won't like this any better than her advisors and counselors. But she's never figured out any other alternative...

"...I'm going to ask the Golden Empire for a peace treaty." She pauses, and sucks in air to continue the sentence. "...With a marriage alliance."]

[newmodelblade]

[He wasn't expecting another memory, so he staggers at it hits him, but he's got purchase on the train platform and a hand on the railing. Freedom is nearly there.

But for her, she sees it plainly. Lucien stands on the balcony of the royal promenade. His sister, the current interrim ruler, has taken ill, and Lucien was the royal heir most connected to the military of the Golden Empire. The men and women on the field are professionals, dressed in finery normally reserved for celebration -- but the occasion is somber, the atmosphere oppressive.

Lucien had not wanted for parental figures in his life, but the old Grand Marshall had been chief among them. He had taught the young prince what he knew of warfare; not logistics and tactics, but of battlefield realities. And with the fatal nature of The Throne, the man had been what Lucien imagined a grandfather was like.

"I will speak briefly, as the Grand Marshall was not a man for speeches. For over a century, we have stood at the precipice of war with our neighbors, another conflict like the one my Great-Grandfather led us through. The Grand Marshall told me in great detail of those days. Despite being our army's commander, he had no desire to return to them. As such, we honor that. We have relayed word of his passing to our enemies; as you know, The Grand Marshall once served as the Knight Commander of the Black Forest. We hope that, in honoring his death, they will join us in accords, and there may be peace in our time."

The crowd broke into a bit of a restless murmur at that, only quieting when Lucien waved to bid the Commandant to begin the funeral procession. He stood, watching them walk past, and hoped he and his sister had made the right choice.]

[desirestruth]

Almost...

[She winces though, and uses the growing unease in her stomach for a last desperate burst of strength, bodily yanking him into the train with her.

I mean, they're probably going to fall over, she didn't consider the landing, but at least they're inside.]

[newmodelblade]

[He manages to reach out and grab onto the railings as they fall inside, so he doesn't collapse entirely and thus crush the poor jackal again. He is still reeling though, breath short, mind dazed at the memories he is now seeing. He needs a moment, clearly, to sort through what it is that he knows now, having seen what he has; his expression is deeply troubled.]

[desirestruth]

[She is a bit sprawled from the tumble, but, well, dhampir are a durable lot, and Naeva manages to get herself farther into...whatever car they're in.]

...We should probably get to the actual seats, Lucien.

[Like. That's more comfortable.]

[newmodelblade]

[He nods and follows her, eventually finding a seat that he can skin down into, and slow his breathing. The tiredness has faded, but he is now a bit drained from extending himself so.]

This is quite the predicament, isn't it, Naeva?

[desirestruth]

More than somewhat...we'll have to remain in the train cars until this miasma passes or we move on, best I can tell.

[She's quiet for a moment, and then--]

How's your, er, face? You fell pretty hard.

[newmodelblade]

Thankfully, I've only injured my pride, it seems.

[It does earn a bit of a smile out of him, but it is fleeting.]

And you? You seemed to be having quite a difficult time out there, and I did trip over you.

[desirestruth]

I'm fortunately much sturdier than I look. And your shoes here aren't armored.

[Lucien, don't smile like that, you are killing her.]

[newmodelblade]

It is true! I've rather come to like it, in fact. I am not held to the same rigors here, so in some ways it is quite liberating.

[Oh, it is a chain reaction. He can't help but smile if she returns the favor.]

[desirestruth]

[NOW HE'S GONE AND MADE HER BLUSH. LUCIEN. LUCIEN SHE HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG. WHY ARE YOU MURDERING HER.]

'Liberating', is it...? Well, I can understand that.

I just wish they'd serve actual tea instead of dish soap.

[newmodelblade]

Oh, do not even tempt me to start! All these mysteries, all of this infinite unknowable possibilities around us, and the greatest question I have to ask is why it is impossible for anyone here to provide a decent cup of tea!

[He huffs indignantly, and then laughs.]

Still, if that is the most prevalent concern...

[desirestruth]

I mean, there's also the ever-encroaching darkness and the loss of all of my natural abilities, but, one problem at a time.

[She considers this tea problem, though. This is comfortable. Easier than trying to figure out what else he remembers.]

...Perhaps if I used sparks, I could buy something decent.

[newmodelblade]

Do you not need those for your natural abilities? I recall hearing as such that they are important for that...

[He nods to her though, and considers the situation for what it is. His memory isn't going to come back any faster, and he has at least made peace with that.]

[desirestruth]

Those are cumulative. Besides, I'll sacrifice my strength a while later if I can teach people how to brew a proper cup.

[It's rough on her, but she's been fairly determined not to let him know how rough. She may have...neglected to mention the engagement until he remembered, determined. he's the amnesiac, he doesn't need her making it weirder!

But there's something else, about that last memory...]

...The Grand Marshall. You...said you knew him well?

[newmodelblade]

More perhaps that he knew me well. Of all my advisors and tutors, he treated me like another student. I had to earn his respect, and prove I was worthy of it. I do not think I would be the same person or perhaps not even alive, were it not for him.

[Well, he is quite fond of the old man. That's not going to make this awkward.]

[desirestruth]

...[She sighs a little. Drags her hands down his face.]

His name--if you remember--it was Isao Kuzuki, right? A westerner who'd made a name for himself?

[Maybe she's wrong and this is a different guy???]