TEST DRIVE MEME #2

[inthenightmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME #2

Hello and welcome to the In the Night test drive meme for July! Thanks for your interest in our game! Reserves open on July 20, and applications open on July 22.

While you're here...

• Take a look at our rules and faq pages to familiarize yourself with the game.
  
• Note that, for this month, we have an application cap of 9 apps for new players, as we are raising the game cap to 60.
  
• Current players may app a second character this round if they wish, which will not count against the app cap of 9.
  
• TDM threads can become game canon if both players wish. If the situation isn't something that could happen in-game, you're free to chalk it up to some strange hallucination, a shared dream, or other mysterious circumstance.
  
• Note that this is not limited to new characters threading with characters already in-game. If current players wish to thread out the TDM prompts as canon events, they are welcome to do so. They are welcome to make posts in the main comms for TDM events as well. Please note, however, that actual plot clues or happenings will not occur in TDM prompts.
  
• TDM threads can count as network threads for AC.
  
• If you plan to apply, please keep in mind that we do require at least one sample thread on the application to be from our TDM (though it doesn't need to be the current TDM).
  
• You're welcome to use the provided prompts or come up with something on your own, but we do ask that all threads take place in our game's setting.

Thank you again, and we hope you'll choose to join us!

log prompts

HERE LIES PEPERONY AND CHEASE

It happens when no one is looking, when most of the town is asleep and the rest are inside. Dozens of shrines, altars, and other memorials appear seemingly out of nowhere, lined up in rows like a haphazard cemetery. Each one is covered in candles, and each bears an image or a name (or in some cases, both,) of a current resident of the town. The air around these monuments is solemn and reverent, and it instills in visitors an urge to pay respects.

Doing so, however, may have surprising results; it causes one to experience the death of the person whose grave they've honored.

Whether you resist the compulsion or give in willingly (or something in between), you'll also have to wrestle with the fact that a grave exists for you. Will you let your death be known, or try your best to keep it secret? Destroying it sure won't work, as it will return (along with a duplicate somewhere else in town). However you choose to deal with this, one thing is hard to ignore—this a tangible reminder of your death, and the fact that it's probably permanent.

This is a mini version of our July event, Graves.

WHAT'S WITH THIS SASSY... LOST CHILD?

There's something in the woods. You can hear it, faintly: the sounds of a living creature. What manner of creature, of course, is unclear. It may be safest not to venture out alone. Whether or not you travel forth with your companion willingly or not, as you tiptoe through the foliage, the sound grows louder. It becomes clear that something...something is crying. Get close enough, and the sobbing softens to fearful whimpering. But what is it that you've found?

The spirit would be easy to overlook of they weren't shivering in their hiding place where they cling to a tree. They're small, with the vague humanoid figure of a child, though their arms and legs taper into tangled roots. The hair on their head is nothing but leaves and moss, and the tears that stick to their cheeks shimmer like sap.

Get too close, and it cries out in fear, causing your head to spin in vertigo. It's clear that it'll be best to err on the side of caution, but decide to leave it to its own devices and you'll find yourself with a weeping tag-along. It looks like one way or another, you're going to have to deal with this.

network prompts

HEY, I JUST MET YOU

It happens when you're sleeping, or trying your best to relax, or simply staring off into space. Your tablet flickers to life of its own accord and begins to display some rather odd messages. They might be in the form of text, though the meaning is a bit muddled, to say the least, seeing as how they're nothing but strings of numbers. Or maybe you're especially unlucky and get the audio version, crackling out of your tablet's speakers.

Where are these messages coming from? Who's sending them, and how? And most importantly: why? Maybe it's a good idea to hop on the network and see if anyone else has any insight.

KHAJIIT HAS WARES IF YOU HAVE COIN

The general store is exactly what it sounds like: A general store. Its products are basic, standard, boring staples. Its stock works well enough for getting by on the day to day, but anything really worth having needs to be ordered from Rastus, and then you're stuck waiting until the next ferry shows up.

Or so you thought.

You're digging through the shelves one day when you find... it. Maybe it's the last bag of coffee beans. Maybe it's a multitool. Maybe it's a particular size of pants you know someone was looking for. Either way, it's useful, it's a great find, but not for you. These pants won't fit you, you've already got a multitool, and you quit the bean juice years ago.

But, hey, there's a good chance someone else in town does have something you could use. Whether you know someone's been asking around for what you've found or you just want to toss up an ad to the whole town, your best bet is taking to the network. Maybe someone's up for tradesies.

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Comments

it's too late now this pizza is ruined

[nonscriptum]

[ He's like that same stupid kid, so easily swayed by a convincing story from his older brother even after stiffening his back, trying to say no. Nate feels twelve again with a spine of steel and a will of iron and a furrowed brow that can't decide whether its impetus is anger, or fear. It settles somewhere between the two, an agony that stares wide-eyed into Sam's face as his brother shifts his attention elsewhere, focusing on something less intense. Less challenging.

Nate doesn't even know what he might challenge him with - they're gone, after all, digna factis recipimus - and squarely in the hereafter with one another.

No matter what I try, you seem insistent on going down the same, sad road as your brother.
What a waste.

Sister Catherine hadn't been wrong, in the end. Life after death wasn't a short meeting with Saint Peter before the Pearly Gates, so her appraisal of the beyond is hardly accurate, but the road there? Dragged in each other's nets?

Sam was never very good at apologizing. It's part of why Nate didn't learn how until later in life, because he'd never had to ask forgiveness. There was a sense of entitlement to their shared childhood that he appreciated, even reveled in, because they deserved things after having so little. With the luxury of these last weeks and the notion that he made his own bed, he trusted, he would reap what he sowed, the fists at Nate's sides loosen and the fight goes out of him. ]

I know, Sam.

[ His voice is hoarse, tired. The hurt is still palpable, digging into the pit of his stomach but Nate pinches the bridge of his nose, tension sagging out of his shoulders. He can't hold onto it here with the same violence and acknowledging as much, even mentally, takes its toll. ]

I know, I- I get it.

[seekingmyfortune]

[Nathan knows and gets it because he always does. Because he always had to. Sam could never fool Nathan for long. He was always too aware of his brother's comings and goings, always keeping a sharp eye on the one other person in his life who hadn't died or abandoned him. Sam was the same way, clinging to what their futures could hold, always keenly aware of just how short of a straw they drew in their early lives. It's always been them against the world, and screw anyone who got in their way.

"Why are you here, Victor?"
"Because somebody's gotta keep an eye out for him."

Sam used to think it was him. How many times did he go hungry himself just so his little brother could have a little more? The blood on his left arm is still drying against his skin from the bullet he took for him, and he'd do it all again in a heartbeat if he needed to. But now, standing in the darkness, in front of his grave and the knowledge that Nathan's is out there somewhere too, he's not so sure where he stands. Nathan knows and he gets it, but it's not forgiveness. Not this time.

Sam shifts, leaning his weight back onto the heel of his right leg as he looks at their surroundings. The bonfire glows in the distance, the fire flickering against a backdrop of black, but he doesn't feel warmth from anything here.]

...Gotta say, I was hoping for something a little...brighter.

[Sam offers the diversion quietly--a subdued peace offering in an attempt to get things back to a somewhat normal level between them. Whatever that means here.]

Pretty sure Father Duffy didn't mention this in his lectures.

[nonscriptum]

[ Under any other circumstances, Nate might take the out. Leap for it, grab it with both hands, refuse to let go for fear of having to tread uncharted waters. The immediacy - the urgency - of his anger and hurt has dulled with the time he's spent here and because of that he doesn't have the energy to jump every time Sam tries to rest a hand on his shoulder, doesn't have the strength to fight him.

His brother makes a stunted, stilted attempt at conversation and Nate hangs his head, hands on his hips. He doesn't know if he even has the wherewithal to execute niceties.

Nate wants to punch his teeth right down his goddamn throat but he's so relieved that someone who knows him - really knows him - is here, and it's proving difficult to reconcile those feelings. ]

Just, uh. [ Nate wars with something for a moment, then- ] Just shut up a minute, okay?

[ He swallows it down. Forces it, knows what he's risking, and steps in anyway to pull Sam into a tight hug. ]