TEST DRIVE MEME #1

[inthenightmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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

While you're here...

• Take a look at our rules and faq pages to familiarize yourself with the game.
  
• Note that we have a reserve/application cap of 20 apps per month (this has been waived for the first month!).
  
• 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.
  
• Though threads can become canon, they cannot count toward 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

YOU'RE DEAD, JIM

You haven't been in Beacon long when you find yourself in Bonfire Square, staring into the flames and thinking about how you ended up here. Maybe it was an accident, a sudden freak thing that you never saw coming until you woke up on the ferry, or maybe it's a miracle you made it as long as you did. Maybe death was a relief. Maybe it was just your time. Whatever the case, you can't help but reflect on your final moments as you linger in the firelight.

But however you died, it's behind you now, and you're here, stuck in this little town with just a few buildings and a smattering of other people. You're going to be here a while, so you may as well get to know your neighbors, but... Would it be cathartic to commiserate about your deaths? Or is your time better spent stocking up at the general store? Then again, you've got plenty of time, so why not catch a drink or two (or three) at the Invincible? Pretend you're unaffected by your death, and, well. Fake it 'til you make it, perhaps.

Point is, you have options. You're dead, you died, and this is your "life" now. Better get used to it.

AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES

Currently, there's only one place to live (technically speaking) in Beacon: the Invincible, a tavern and inn located in Bonfire Square. Luckily, the place has working amenities (minus light), and the forest spirits don't charge anything for your stay. Unfortunately, it seems there may not be enough rooms for everyone. Guess you'll have to get cozy!

Maybe you'll try to pick a roommate from around town or in the bar downstairs, or maybe you'll just walk into the first room you see and choose that way. Want a room all to yourself? Get ready to fend off any potential intruders. And the fun doesn't end there.

The Invincible's rooms aren't all created equal. Some may have had their furniture stolen or become a dumping ground for unwanted pieces, resulting in a single bed, five dressers, and other equally distressing situations. Will someone sleep on the floor? Will you nail two beds together to form bunk beds? Maybe you just want to make this room into something more like home— potentially to your roommate's chagrin. Whatever you decide, this is where you're staying for now, so you might as well get comfortable.

network prompts

HACKER VOICE: I'M IN

In order to use the network, you have to register a username. Er, at least, that's how it's supposed to work. For some reason, new users have recently been able to bypass that requirement, allowing them to post anonymously. Time to troll strangers on the magical internet!

Eventually though, you'll need a username in order to use the tablet's other functions, like the direct messaging system. So hey, why not take advantage of the ability to source opinions, and workshop your potential usernames on the network? Share ideas, get feedback, steal ideas, critique others, and figure out what you want everyone to call you.

TURN ON YOUR LOCATION

When you wake up, you're in the woods. An iron shackle complete with a chain leashes you to a tree, and the only light you have is your lantern. You've never seen this area of the woods before. You certainly didn't go to sleep here.

Hm.

But, all is not lost. You find your phone in your pocket, as well as a scrap of paper covered back to front in cryptic scribbles. Are these clues to your location? They must be. You also spot a key dangling from a branch, though it's hanging from a tree you'll never be able to reach from here. Perhaps someone on the network will be able to lend you a hand...

QUICKNAV
comms	|	network • logs • memes • ooc
pages	|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Comments

Mary | Ib | ota

[withsadness]

one

[Mary can be found in a room in the Invincible, jumping merrily on one of the beds and laughing. She stops abruptly, though, hiding her face behind a pillow, as a stranger enters. Clearly, she realizes that she shouldn't have been jumping on the bed...but she doesn't make a move to stop standing on top of it.]

How...how do you do?

two

[Mary hates it here. Not because it's a particularly bad place. In fact, there are a lot of good things about it: like new friends, and new places to see. But there isn't really much that can be seen truly, not with the way that Beacon currently is. That's the problem. It's just so...so dark. It reminds her of emptiness.

What's worse is the only thing that keeps out the darkness is the only thing that could possibly be worse: fire.

For once, however, Mary has emerged to confront the, er, the day with renewed vigor! Because she has...a pile of sticks! These sticks are her grand plan to, to, well, to make improvements on the issue at hand. She starts straightaway, setting about a wide circle around the fire pit. They'll probably slide against the cobblestones but you know what one thing at a time.]

three

missprincessmary; voice

I would like to draw a very pretty picture, but I can't decide what to draw. Would anybody like a nice picture? I'll give it to you as a present!

( prompt one! )

[sunborne]

Hey there!

That's a nice offer of you to make. :D Do you want to do an art trade, maybe? I don't feel like it's fair that you do all the hard work and I get something cool in return without giving something back.

[withsadness]

O...okay! That sounds like fun! I don't have any crayons so it won't be a very colorful picture...but is that okay?

[Mary hesitates before adding:]

I'm not so good at spelling, I hope you don't mind if I talk.

[sunborne]

[ there's hesitation on daylight's end but, soon enough, he switches over to voice.

when daylight speaks, there's a weird tinniness to his words. almost like there's a buzzing echo that can't really be explained away by the tablets' function. but hey! he sounds friendly enough. maybe a teenger, give or take...? ]

Not at all! [ he laughs, sounding sheepish at this point. ] Sorry for not considering that.

I'm Daylight, by the way. And yeah! That's cool with me. I'm sure you're going to make something awesome no matter what. [ buuut- ] If you ever need art supplies, let me know? I happen to have some of my art supplies with me.

[withsadness]

It's okay! I can read really well, I love reading!

[It's just the writing part that needs work.]

Oh! That's amazing! Where did you get them? Did you have a special pocket? That's so lucky!

3 - @username

[dualikey]

can't decide what to draw huh?

then that means you've got lots of different ideas, right?

[withsadness]

Oh, um! Ummm...

[Does she? Does she have ideas?]

I could draw flowers, or little animals, or my friends, or, um...the sun! Or a pretty house, or a family...or...I could draw sweet treats, or the beach!

[dualikey]

well... all of those sound like good ideas

but maybe you should draw your friends
then its kinda like they're here too

[withsadness]

You don't think I'll miss them more?

[But...she can picture them so clearly, it wouldn't be hard to draw them.]

Do you miss your friends, too?

prompt two

[branded_with_spite]

[Adam wasn't particularly fond of this place himself. Sure he was alive and there was that, but everything else about the situation wasn't to his liking. It was dark, there weren't a lot of answers and he was separated from everything he ever knew.

Still he couldn't just stay idle and happened to move towards the bonfire when he noticed the girl. She seemed like a human, that would normally draw his ire, but just about everyone seemed to be human. If he wanted to talk to anyone it was most likely going to be a human.

So he walked up to Mary, some dark material covering his eyes like a blindfold.]

If you're looking to make torches you're going to need to wrap them in cloth and treat them with something.

[withsadness]

[Mary shakes her head as she looks up at Adam. Her gaze lingers on the blindfold, but doesn't seem to strike her as odd enough to ask any questions about it. She just looks back down at her sticks again.]

Not torches!

[branded_with_spite]

What're you doing then?

[A kid's easy enough to talk to Adam figures. If Mary looked at him now that they were in the light of the bonfire she would see the hole in the chest of his shirt. It painted a grisly enough picture of how he went out.]

[withsadness]

I'm making a barrier. It's gonna go all the way around, so people know that it's dangerous!

[Looking back up from her task once more, she can't help staring, this time.]

Did that hurt?

two

[survivaltricks]

[Akira thinks the only thing that's worse than being here in the first place (and the set of circumstances that brought him here), is seeing someone as young as Mary here as well. death is never pleasant, but the death of a young child who can't be any more than ten years old? that's painful]

[nevertheless! she seems to be in good spirits, so. . .]

Are you building something?

[he will engage. he is also holding a rather nice stick!! one slung over his shoulder, onto the end of which hangs his lantern. it's way easier to carry it this way]

[withsadness]

Ah!

[When Mary looks over at Akira, she points almost excitedly at his lantern.]

That's smart! I should do that, so I never have to carry it ever again!

[The thought seems to have put her in better spirits, and she smiles as she goes back to placing her sticks.]

I'm building a safety circle, so the fire won't cross it!

[survivaltricks]

[her comment about his lantern draws a smile out of Akira, and he gives the stick a little shake, as though to demonstrate how cool of an idea this is. he's clever!1]

[but he's farm more interested in her project than how he's chosen to cart around his lantern, so. . .]

Hm? Is it an enchanted safety circle?

[wags his fingers at her playfully]

Is that how you're going to keep the fire away?

[withsadness]

Enchanted...

[Mary looks surprised, putting a hand to her mouth as she looks at her work-thus-far.]

I don't know any enchantments! I was just going to tell the fire...to be polite and listen!

three; @rockstar

[completelycrazy]

Oh, uh... Sure. What kind of stuff do you like to draw?

[withsadness]

I like to draw anything, but my favorite thing to draw are my friends and flowers!

[Embrace the beauty of nature, Newt.]

two

[equinoctials]

[ Does that even occur to most people? That the very thing holding back this preternatural darkness is something that inspires fear in some of them, even after they've died? She's right on that and another front: there isn't much exploring to be done with a single lantern when the area around Beacon is so impenetrably dark.

Riku focuses his energy on what he can do to help around here.
It means he's been pushing around a lot of furniture in the Invincible, helping people make something more comfortable of rooms that in some cases seemed more like storage than living quarters.

Maybe he's even seen the girl jumping on beds, only to say nothing and continue on his way. If he's saddened to see someone so young here, where everyone he sees is as deceased as he is, it doesn't show. But neither does he object to a child doing what a child does best: play.

He treads carefully, stepping over where she'd placed a stick, and turns his attention towards the bonfire. No real reason to, other than to bask in that warmth, to shut his eyes for a moment and remind himself of what the sun had felt like from the shores of the islands he called home.

It doesn't smell the same.

Riku turns his attention to the young girl as she places her collection of sticks. ]

Building something?

[withsadness]

Uh-huh!

[Determined, Mary continues to work as she speaks, shuffling one foot at a time as she lines and re-adjusts her stick-ends.]

I'm making a way to make sure the fire doesn't jump out and burn anybody.

[equinoctials]

Yeah? You wanna keep us all safe?

[ There's a seeming innocence about that, like how they used to draw lines in the sand of the beach and pretend as children it was a magical barrier that would keep them safe from the imaginary slings and arrows of their friends. It didn't matter if the barrier was just a bundle of kindling.

It was the hearts of children and their memories of the light, according to legend, that brought the worlds out of the dark. Underestimate their determination at one's own peril.

Riku stoops for a better look, setting his lantern down at is side. ]

It pays to be prepared. So how's it work?

1

[callada]

[Finally, he's made time to visit that general store - though as far as he can tell there's no store involved in the sense that there's no way to pay. He feels a little bad, walking out with things without offering anything in exchange, but maybe he'll go back later and find someone there to talk to. The place looked like it could use some work and he doesn't mind helping out to get it back into shape.

As he makes his way back to his room to get changed - for he's still wearing his blood-soaked clothing and has the few fitting items draped over an arm - he hears someone inside. Hm. As he ducks under the doorframe, he misses slightly and bonks his forehead into it anyway, then shakes his head, seeing stars momentarily, before he tries again and enters and there is a child on one of the two mattresses he's lugged in there for himself, given the beds weren't big enough. Huh. Shit. If they're all here because they're dead... she went way too early. He frowns, not bothering to hide his concern. Poor thing.]

Hey there. Uh, I'm good. Do you mind not standing on my bed?

[withsadness]

Oh, I'm sorry!

[In an easy jump, Mary plops down, smoothing her skirt as the mattress bounces under her just slightly.]

I didn't know it belonged to anybody...I just thought it looked very big and lovely.

[callada]

Good to know it's got your approval.

[She is tiny next to him. Makes him miss Baby 5, just a little. They look about the same age. Instantly he feels a pang of guilt.

So he offers a smile, and steps into the room farther and sets his lantern down, then crouches down into a squat and holds out a hand to her.]

I'm Rosinante.