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: 3

[unaffective]

Ah - no, it's quite alright. My apologies... [ what she saw could only have been a memory of his. there's a point to be made of how losing something makes it hard to pin down whether or not it's actually been lost, so she could never say for certain whether or not it truly wasn't something of hers, somehow, but. that's ridiculous. who does she think she is? either way - either way, she knows by now it'd be impolite to pry, but the premise of the train encourages it. there's no other reason she would've seen it, and there is the smallest bit of genuine curiosity on her end, for the insight into another person's life as a brother, his relationship with his sister - so she might as well.] Though, if I must say... ah, rather - that was your elder sister?

Re: 3

[newmodelblade]

Oh? Oh yes. That was. One of the two, the eldest among them. As the rulers of our nation, we are called to make sacrifices in the name of stability. Euphrosinia -- Renee, as she was called before her brief reign as empress -- was always too conflicted about whether she was strong enough to lead us as a people. And yet, she seemed to pass the test to ascend flawlessly. Only later did we realize that she had done so by losing her sense of self. The throne took it, splitting her into an Empress and a young woman; one retained her will and the other her memories. But I still love them both as my sister.

[He shakes his head, then. If she saw his memory plainly, then what he was exposed to was not some illusion from whatever was outside. It was something she recalled clearly.]

If you do not mind my asking return: what manner of being was that, then?

Re: 3

[unaffective]

... No one of any importance, particularly. [ but the smile she says it with is razor-thin, frayed at the edges with bitterness and apprehension. you know, sometimes there's just that one ex, right? ] At any rate - it's wonderful to know that they remained so cared for. I'm certain that they were very happy.