aurorastation | TEST DRIVE MEME (4)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[... okay, no, she'll take it. If nothing else, she's extremely good at rolling with this and pretending it was her plan all along.]

If you don't have conscious memories, I'll have to rely on your unconscious ones. I don't have either, unfortunately, but you look organic, so you should.

[and that... also tips the scales a bit? not much, considering 'robot' was pretty easy to guess just from the glowing blue lines across her skin, but.]

[To be fair, Lucien even with his memories is the emperor of a magical-edging-into-magitech empire; he's not used to robots that aren't basically very fancy golems. So that does surprise him.]

Oh, you're some manner of-- oh. Fascinating.

[But now he's back to looking at the floor still giving way.]

Ah, damn it all, we need perhaps one or two more. We must think.

[She folds her arms up in front of her, raised in an X in front of her head. As she does this, sparks of bright blue light travel up those lines on her arms, all the way up to her fingertips. Then she throws her arms wide, blue sparks trailing from her fingers, leaving her with several floating holographic screens in front of her, following the arc left by her arms.]

Personal memories- Archive corrupted. Shared memories- Archive corrupted. Project history- Archive corrupted. Other units- Archive corrupted.

[The screens are scrolling very quickly as she's listing these off.]

Story library- Archive corrupted. Group chats- Archive corrupted. Blackmail folder- Archive corrupted. Dog photos- Why the hell did that survive intact?

Functional memory- Intact. Combat routines, intact. Writing to memory, intact. Self-diagnostic, all green. Magic routines, intact. Magic routines- Currently disabled due to administrator override?

[Each single one only tips the scales a little bit. A single drop in the scale. But with how many she's rattling off, the scale is gradually tipping, enough drops to make a much greater whole.]

Dog-- Dog photos? Dog photos.

[Yeah, he too is a bit confused why that survived of all things.]

I suppose if that is the one memory you have kept intact, then perhaps it is a blessing? I am fond of dogs. Great creatures, and quite loyal.

[Wait. That shifted the scales? What kind of bizarre and censored upbringing makes "I like dogs" into a secret?]

[the best part is, she doesn't even like dogs. but one of her friends does. so the secret isn't 'i like dogs' but 'i collect things that will make my friends happy so i can be nice to them'.

not that she knows that.]

I don't think that counts as a memory? But if it works... That's all I've got, so if you have anything left, now's the time to start taking risks. Or else plan 'pin you to a wall by your clothing' is our only option.

[No, the scale shifted because he likes dogs, and apparently for a prince the idea of having interests that aren't the betterment of society or the empire have to be kept on the down-low.]

I-- I really am considering this, but unfortunately my memories are just as lost to me as yours are to you. I think we might be doomed, stranger, and for that you have my apologies. I wish I was yet a better leader in times of crisis such as this....

[Click. The scales just balanced out and tipped in their favor.]

[eVEN BETTER]

...

Okay, uh. That... worked? I am not going to question it let's get out of here right now.

[she's booking it for the exit.]

Yes! Yes, good idea.

[To be fair, she can't answer his questions, and he doesn't have any for her, so it is time to get out of this place anyways. Run for the exit!]

[Outside, she puts her hands on her knees and leans over, breathing hard... despite the fact that she doesn't need to breathe.]

Now, how do we never do that again?

Were it that I knew how I found myself in situations like this, miss, believe me, I would stop.

[He leans back against the wall to catch his own breath. It's not long, the throne did make him rather close to peak physical condition, but he still needs to calm down.]

[She sighs deeply, and stands up straight.]

Administrator override deactivated... Magic online. Engaging power save mode.

[And like that, blue light seems to dissipate. The rabbit ears on her head, and the blue lines across her body, all fade away, leaving her looking like a perfectly normal human.]

That's a hell of a first memory to make.

TEST DRIVE MEME (4)

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