TEST DRIVE MEME (1)

[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
Outside the train, a large, strangely spinning cube floats over a pedestal, hissing discordantly and shedding strange black light onto the surrounding area. Beyond lies only shadows and slithering noises, a landscape of tangley thorns and eyes that glow in the dark. Your phone says it's noon, but out here it's midnight under a starless sky. As you step into the dark, an alarm blares -- your phone is sending you an alert.

"Goal: clear the area of snakes," it says. "Remember to use the buddy system!"

Soon you realise that the ground just a few feet away is actually writhing in black snakes with crimson eyes. They'll bite if you approach alone, but as long as you're touching another passenger, they're totally docile. You could easily move them away from the clearing, or toss them into the spooky-looking pit at the edge of it.

★ Three
You've been here awhile -- at least, long enough to have made some friends. Currently the TV in the public lounge is playing a weird puppet show, where all the puppets look and act like exaggerated versions of you and other passengers. What kind of person do the puppets think you are? Dramatic? Over-affectionate? Surly?It's all in good fun but it's definitely painting you in a light that, if not unpleasant, is certainly embarrassing.

☆ Four
Wildcard. Make up your own prompt! Check out the setting and team pages for info on the train. If you have any questions you'd like to ask before the game starts, ask on the q&a page. Otherwise, apps open on November 8! In the meantime you're free to join us on Discord.

Comments

[oorah]

[ he gives her a LOOK. like this is his choice of outfit!!!! get out. frank does as he's told though, used to being bossed around in the field by medics and not about to let someone suffer because he wasn't listening. ]

Frank. [ he says without thinking, though he probably should've said 'pete.' this place is just screaming "TRAP" to him atm. ] You're a doctor?

[cadeuces]

( Is it not? The tilt of her head in exchange to that LOOK seems to ask it even if it never leaves her lips. He had to have willingly put it on, after all! 2076 is not the year to be judging these things, however. It simply didn't suit his aesthetic and seemed jarring because of it.

And she said "please", so it isn't bossing, is it? )

It's a pleasure then, Frank. ( He does exactly as instructed, as she massages down the patient's leg in long strokes with a firm grip, skin turning white in her wake before slowly regaining color. She can't be sure if they're venomous snakes or not, what the side effects may be, how long it may take to show— but there is no congealing and no feverish sweating. That was a good start. ) I am, to keep it simple. I'm a few other things too. And you?

Marine, aren't you?

( She knows her soldiers. Their demeanors. )

[oorah]

[ a few other things too. he makes a face before snorting softly at her assumption. ]

Once.

[ a lifetime ago, now. at least. ]

[cadeuces]

( He doesn't seem too put off with the reply, at least. That was good. He's steady. She shoos his hand from the wound once she's finished and reaches across for a clean gauze pad to press over the punctures, taping it down in short enough order and getting the kid upright. She checks their eyes, floats a finger in front of their face, checks their pulse with steady fingertips at their neck, and gives them some departing advice for side effects to look out for.

And no more snakes.

She turns to Frank properly this time, getting a good look at him. )

Not too long ago, it seems. Isn't the saying "once a Marine, always a Marine"? It's in the way you present yourself.

( Her accent is soft, but still there— something Germanic, playful in the way it twists her words up at the end, as if he wouldn't already be able to guess she's nowhere near American. )

I have worked with too many soldiers in my time. I'm a combat medic and trauma surgeon, would be those "few other things". As well as a researcher.

Was there something that I could assist you with? I don't imagine you appeared just in time to help me with my patient.

[oorah]

[ it's not like he has any illusions on the way he "presents himself." but he still doesn't want to be a soldier anymore, as much as he can't exactly cook it out of the man he's become now. he lifts his hands in a mock-surrender. ]

I can go. Looks like you've got your work cut out for you here.

[cadeuces]

Please. ( It's a gently pleading little thing, offering the raise of her own hand in apology and the pinch of her brows. ) I don't imagine you came just in the nick of time to hold a piece of gauze.

You came here for a reason. Are you hurt? Did you need something? Supplies...?

( The last thing she meant to do was chase him off with the psychic doctor routine. She's not psychic, for one. )

I wouldn't mind the company, and I've scraped up some coffee.

[oorah]

I was being nosy. Is that a crime now?

[ C H I L L even though he's probably not telling her the whole truth. he looks ready to get dramatic over it until she mentions the c-word. ]

...Where'd you get that? [ it should be obvious from his tone that he's in. is it obvious yet why he's licorice??? ]

[cadeuces]

It isn't, no. I just wanted to be sure you weren't in need of medical assistance or knew someone who might be. I'm not looking to chase anyone off. I was trying to make sense of the inventory here in the first place and establish some small bit of order to things, as I haven't seen any other doctors milling about.

( So long as no one is hurt and in need of help, she's relaxing visibly. And returning to that little thermos she'd scrounged up, filled with coffee and her own lukewarm cup heavy on the cream. Now, let's see if we can find another cup-like vessel... )

The galley. It was tucked away on a higher shelf, but I'm not to be dissuaded. Do you take cream or sugar?

( She found the extra mugs she'd stashed, turning one over to set on the counter and begin to pour. )