memesinthenight | TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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!tdm

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...

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I certainly did. Asshai lies by the Jade Sea, I used to love watching the ships come in, but I was a woman grown by the time I boarded one again.

[ And there is a lot of time in between, when she had learned the arts of shadowbinding, of blood magic, and had little else on her mind but darkness. After, she had given herself wholly to scripture, even though it was the Temple who'd made her what she was to begin with. ]

It must be strange to be so far from the sea now, if it most of what you have known. Have you ever seen a kraken? Or a leviathan? Forgive me if I ask too many questions.

No, it's fine. I don't mind.

[It helps that the questions are things he's happy to talk about. The sea is treacherous, but it's also the path to freedom. He's spent so much time in some parts of it that he feels he knows it well - the sort of familiarity he doesn't even share with most people.]

We call them Sea Kings. Enormous monsters, right? Big enough to eat a ship, or a whale. Yeah, I've seen one. Had to pass through their territories more than once with a ship and it's always something you try to outrun, because if you stay and fight, you're dead. Usually if you see one at all, it's already too late for you. We got lucky, that's all. There were two close to each other, not that we knew that at first, but they ended up fighting each other and we rode the waves north.

[With a snapped mast, two of his men gone and left to the sea, himself bleeding from where that razor-sharp tail had whipped past him and left a deep gash in his side. He's had too many close calls with death.]

[ He is pleasant to listen to, and besides, she has not had much time for stories in recent years. Hasn't had much time for stories in most all her life, unless one counts scripture, which she does not. ]

Sometimes luck is all one can ask for. I have only seen creatures like these in paintings or on tapestries, or in bits and pieces at the Temple.

[ Waste not, want not, and so much alchemy relies on rare ingredients. ]

Be glad that's all you've seen, then. I guess we're probably all right here, though who knows what's in that lake.

[Nothing. Right? Lakes aren't big enough for the Sea Kings. The worst they'll likely see is a crocodile. Maybe they're still not far from the sea, though. It's hard to know in all this darkness. He doesn't smell sea breeze, doesn't hear waves, and the buildings, though worn, don't seem salt-corroded. But sometimes, lakes have a stream at the low end that heads seaward and that's where he'll go once he figures out how to get his hands on a boat.]

On your one trip over the water, what did you think of it? What kind of ship were you on?

It was exciting, though my God is one of fire and not given to the seas, and I knew nothing of ships, safe for it being a large vessel.

[ She tilts her head. ] I have spent more time on ships since. The last one was the king's own, a war galley. I believe I was the only person to enjoy the journey, but then, the cold does not touch me.

[ That being said, now she's worried of something otherworldly and betentacled in the lake, which, considering the horrors she's birthed, should not really concern her that much. The devil you know, and all that. ]

You must miss the sea already, if you are so close to it.

A little. I'm thinking I want to get out on that lake, though, once I figure out exactly how. You feel the wind coming off the water? It's big enough to make weather, and I don't mind sailing in the dark.

[May as well spread word around. He doesn't really want to sail with these people. He's used to traveling alone and while he doesn't trust any of them yet to watch his back, it's safer to have more than one on board in any journey. But he's got to figure out how to get a boat, first, and that won't be easy.]

Well, if you follow a god of fire, maybe you're in good hands here. That's just about the one thing we know we have.

A risk, until you know what lies inside.

[ But then, it's for him to decide, and it sounds adventurous enough. It can't be said that she sounds opposed, merely intrigued. ]

No, this is not a holy place. Things will not burn here, and how else can they be cleansed? The Hall R'hllor resides in is one of Light, not pure darkness. I am not rejecting the gift [ she gestures to the lantern, the bonfire ] but if it is purely God's doing, I cannot say.

[He shrugs. It's a risk he'll take, because how else will anyone find out what's out there? He's survived all kinds of monsters; battled large numbers of pirates with their guns and their cutlasses. There are few things he has much confidence in himself in, but sailing and handling the challenges of unknown waters is one of them.

Religion, however? Not his area of expertise. What exactly was all that she just said?]

Huh, well, you would know more than I do. And you said you were following some sort of savior to your... Westeros?

[What kind of religion is this where burning is cleansing? Sure, he kind of gets where that can come from, but blame being nearly burned to death as a child for his skepticism. His question sounds neutral enough, even open-minded, and he accepts that other worlds are different from his own, but there is just the smallest bit of concern underneath the calm demeanor.]

Not quite. I saw the saviour in my flames, and I crossed the sea to meet him, in Westeros, the land of the seven kingdoms, the Wall, and... what lurks beyond. He did not believe me at first, but the Lord of Light does more than listen.

[ She sounds eerily cheerful about the entire thing, as if she is talking of something most people would aspire or experience in their own life. ]

Even a man as godless as he was at first came to see the truth.

[ There's a moment's pause. ]

What do you believe in?

[Well he's certainly not going to just state his godlessness outright after that comment, is he? As if nonbelief made someone by default untrustworthy or somehow otherwise flawed. Lesser. All kinds of things about her demeanor on these topics are pinging him right now as untrustworthy, and yet she's the one claiming to follow a deity.

Apparently untroubled, though, he shrugs.]

Humanity, I suppose. There's a spirit to people that I find pretty powerful. We can do anything we set our minds to - good or bad, but I'd like to think most people prefer to cooperate when possible. It ends up being self-correcting.

[In reality he is not in the slightest bit that optimistic, but it's not really a lie. He believes in humanity and love and good, in justice and peace. It's damn hard work keeping that faith sometimes, though.]

[ If there has ever been an uncomfortably zealous person, it's Melisandre. There's rhyme and reason to it: she had been born into slavery, and what she considers her 'salvation' was... being bought by the Red Temple. Not a place where dissent thrives, nor the concept of atheism.

And that's not even touching the arts she learned. ]

Humanity. I like the sound of it. [ And she does, this is a cornerstone of her faith, even as her concept of 'good' has become utterly distorted. ] It does not do well at war. I can imagine it different at sea. Or perhaps if one is far away from lordlings.

[It does all right at war, he thinks. Not everyone is perfect. Doesn't mean the entire race is to be cast aside as hopeless. Really, he should have said he believed in something more expansive, thinking on it again - but what word would include not just humans, but minks and fishmen and all the other sapient tribes? Justice - probably that, but even then, there are many definitions and interpretations, most of them not particularly spiritual.

Oh well. He'll let her be right, because he doesn't know her well enough to want to argue the point. There's plenty to learn from people if you appear to agree with them, and he does want to know more about what she believes in, because it sounds utterly foreign to him.]

Yeah, I suppose it might be different from place to place, and it's not always easy. What about you? Your Lord of Light - what does he stand for?

[What gets cleansed, and how?]

He is the God of Light and Shadow, of Fire, of Justice and the Truth. He stands between us and the terrors of the night, and it is his flame that gives us life.

[ She knows he is an unbeliever – what else could he be, in this world? It mattered more to her once, unbelievers, just this past morn, but this world requires something else, this much she has gathered. That, and even unbelievers carry good in them. Davos Seaworth, another sailor, a former smuggler, now a knight, with land of his own, makes for a perfect example: he mistrusts her, more so than her god, he loathes her, he would kill her, she's certain, and yet, the king could not ask for a man more loyal in his service. ]

He can cleanse us from our sins, from the evils we have done. [ Even the most convinced heathen can be cleansed and lead to his Hall of Light, and isn't there beauty in that? ] And he will be all we have to defeat the Other, he who makes the dead walk in his army.

[On the one hand, he's very into things like justice and truth. Well, maybe justice more than truth, because truth and lies are tools, while justice is a pursuit; an ideal worth living for.

On the other hand, she sounds off her rocker just a little, but no more than most religious zealots, he supposes. Still better off than some he knows of. Terrors of the night? Walking dead? Sounds like a bunch of nonsense, but so is being here in this place.]

Your world must be incredibly dangerous. People make things hard enough on each other. An army of the dead?

[ Melisandre has about all the stability of an ikea chair someone set up only to find five extra screws rolling around the floor once it was done. It's... best to be a bit wary. ]

The Great Other commands both his creatures of ice and terror, and all those who are touched by them fall prey to him as well. If one does not burn the dead, they will rise and fight more ferociously than they ever did in life.

[ She blinks. ]

Your world does not have them? They must still be sleeping.

With any luck, they'll stay that way.

[There are too many who are dead and gone who really shouldn't come back, especially if they become stronger and more monstrous the second time around. If there are people working in the shadows who seek to make this sort of thing a reality in his world, he doesn't know it. Let the dead stay dead. He's joined them too, now, and the idea of his corpse rising to try and kill people is all too disturbing.

But speculation aside, it all sounds like a big fairytale, so. Oh well.]

The Great Other, is that another god?

[ She inclines her head – it's a good wish, that. To let the dead stay dead. ]

In his way. [ There is a pause, a look into the fire, as if she's hoping for something, and dreading it at the same time. She has acknowledged the Other, this could be a cue for him to whisper, if this is some of his domain.

The fire stays silent, however. ] Land and sea, fire and ice. Where there is a God of Light, of Life, of Truth, there must be one of Darkness, of Death, and of Lies. He would thrive here. Lord knows, he thrives well enough in a world R'hllor can reach.

[A sort of duality, then. Symmetry. He's no student of religion but it makes a sort of sense that a society believing in a god of all things good and light would associate the darkness with all the opposite meanings. That's the sort of black and white thinking that crops up in stories all the time, but almost never in reality.]

I think it's a little early to say something like that. We have light here, even if it's not much. And from the little I've seen, these people are generally good and kind and willing to help each other out. Maybe death isn't as strong a force as we all thought.

[He doesn't fear the darkness. Hopefully they'll all learn to work within it.]

We are not yet lacking anything but light. As long as this lasts, we may take on the shape of some form of society.

[ Melisandre is just ripe with optimism tonight, isn't she? She has seen people rip each other apart, people who are so rich they need not fight, not battle, for anything at all. And yet, it's not stopped them. ]

I have asked you of your life and told you of my God, and yet, you must forgive me, I did not yet ask your name. Mine own is Melisandre.

[Ah, right, names. He has no problem with anonymity, and in some sense prefers it. But it's just not going to be possible or needed here - and not really even wanted, if they're going to do any sort of cooperation toward a common goal. The least he can do is give them a name to call him by. His actual name, this time.]

Rosinante. I should have introduced myself earlier anyway, I'm sorry.

[He smiles a little, seeming apologetic enough. He has some decisions to make now that he's here - and it's going to be a rough road. How can he decide who he is to all of them if he's not sure yet who he is to himself? Everything changed in the last day and his mind is still spinning in the aftermath.]

Hopefully everyone here is of the same mind. A society, that is. There are always a few who want to make things harder for the rest.

[ There is power in names, she knows that quite well – there are names that speak of power, of control, of high birth, and there are names that mark you as a slave, as undesired, unnoticeable. Never would she fault anyone for keeping theirs to themselves, until the hierarchies settle into place. ]

You must have encountered kings and queens.

[ It's like an attempt at joke, in its way – her sense of humour is not the best, and no one has told her everyone needs to be in on the jest for it to be funny. ]

Something like that. You get 'em from all levels of society, though.

[Which is to say, most of the legitimate rulers of the world do seem to care about their people. Those kings and queens hold peace and prosperity in high regard; they work actively toward maintaining a stable future for the children of their island nations.

But there are those exceptions who would profit off of suffering, who think only of themselves. Some are rulers, some wish to be rulers, and others are something else entirely.]

Not a fan of monarchy?

I serve God above all, but his chosen one is a King. He is just, his claim is true, and he would not lie.

[ Not even when it would be for the better. He lacks mercy, but then, that is a trade they share, and his honesty no longer extends all the way to his wife, but that matters little, considering it's all R'hllor's will. She's not corrupted him, she'd say. She has merely given him advantages he could not have without her. ]

Most all the other claimants are greed-ridden, foolish, or both. [ She tilts her head. Is she blind to some of what Stannis is? Perhaps. ] Though I suppose riches and corruption go hand in hand, don't they?

Yeah. Seems that way.

[Except for when it doesn't. It's a generalization, and as far as those go, it's pretty solid. The more you have, the more you fight to keep it and the more you fear losing it - whether money, power, or privilege. But there are exceptions. His parents, who gave away most of their possessions in order to live a simpler life. Even in death, they lead by example. They, among others he has met since, give him hope that not all who sit in seats of power are destined to be selfish.

He doesn't like that her line of questioning has gotten to him. Even if he's not showing it in an obvious way, his responses have become terse. He's tired, and letting his guard slip just slightly. At least it makes for a good and legitimate excuse, he thinks, as he reaches up to rub at his face as if to keep himself awake, and comes away with a hand scattered still with flakes of dried blood here and there.]

Sorry. Been a long day. Can we meet up again sometime later? I'm interested in all this, but I need some sleep before I can really weigh in.

We will have little choice in the matter. This is where we are now.

[ She won't sleep tonight, like most all nights, as many nights as she can manage. Still, he moves like a tired man, and she won't curse him for his blessings – if sleep will aid him, it's all the better for him. ]

May rest find you easily.

[ And that is that, as far as she's concerned. She returns to what she did before – staring into the fire as if she is hoping to unlock the secret of this world by it. ]

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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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