Second Test Drive Meme

[ourearth]

Second Test Drive Meme



Welcome to the SoE TDM!

Due to the premise of the game, everyone on this testdrive must be the modern day reincarnation of the characters we all know and love. Please take a quick look at our navigation to familiarize yourself with the concept and setting of the game before you jump in.

If you have a relationship plotting post comment for your character (which is NOT mandatory to play in this tdm), please link to it when putting up a toplevel on the TDM. That way, other players can easily get an idea of what kind of character they will be tagging.

Other than that, you know the tdm drill - when commenting, please put your character's name and canon in the subject line, and write one or more threadstarters so others can tag you easily. Below, you'll find some prompts that you can use or discard at will to write those threadstarters.

1. A ghostly apparition

There are many places in Mossgate Council where one may spot ghosts, but the place that yields such sightings most frequently is the ruins at the top of the cliffs. So one beautiful night, you're up there - for a date? To smoke weed? To watch the stars with a bottle of whiskey? - as you suddenly notice something out of the corner of your eye. Perhaps it is a bearded man in a long cloak, or a woman in historical clothes, or something much more outlandish... What do you do?

2. Old ships

A new exhibit at the museum has opened! ...Or rather an old exhibit has reopened after some repairs and an overhaul of the presentation. So now the old pre-Roman-times ship that is the pride of the museum can be visited by the public again, and of course there are all kinds of advertisement around town, and a large sign in the entrance are of the building guiding visitors towards the correct room. The ship sits elevated on a platform in the middle of the room and other items and explanations are placed along the walls. A volunteer guide is always close by to explain more about the ship (if your character is the volunteer guide - just make something up!).

3. Moss Manor gathers

In Moss Manor, there is reason for curiosity, gossip and free drinking. Wait. No. Of course it's just that the village gathers to warmly welcome the new vicar of the local church, and since that church is so important locally, even those who aren't directly related to it show up to say hi.

But while they're there, why not take advantage of the free food and drink and the opportunity to talk to everyone else at the welcome festivity?

4. Water activities

In Folkton, summer has begun. People are boating on the little river, sitting near the water while studying or take an afternoon nap there, older relatives try to keep children from falling into the water or at least not going in without supervision, and occasionally someone is yelling at a dog that just took a leap into the cool waters and splashed them at everyone in the general surroundings. An ice cream van is parked near the river, and some kids play football near the river.

5. The wonderful everyday

Being people living in our regular, modern world, people need to work or study, eat and commute, shop and relax... Just that all those regular, normal tasks can hold unexpected difficulties if you were just sitting at the tills at Tesco's, and this noseless customer suddenly made you remember the day you lost your parents. Or maybe you were getting some exercise, and running down the street you developed superspeed and have no idea how to control it yet...

6. How many times will they have to tell you?

Twice a year, there are guided tours through the tunnels under the cliffs east of Mossgate. Those tunnels, dug into the chalk throughout centuries or perhaps millenia, were built without a general plan, so their layout is an absolute confusing mess. On top of that, there are cave-ins and unsafe areas. It is strictly advised to not stray from your group, as people have been harmed because they got lost in them before. But you just had to get distracted, or perhaps think that it would be more fun to explore on your own, and now you are lost without a blip of signal to call for help with...

7. Fun, fun fun!

At Mossgate's seaside, a Victorian pleasure pier extends about 40 metres into the sea. The platform at the end of the pier holds fairground rides such as a merry-go-round, a small rollercoaster and a helter skelter and along the pier kiosks sell candy floss, rock candy, roasted nuts and other goodies. A small distance down the street, a minigolf site can be found and on the street along the coast there are fish and chips shops, family-friendly arcades and souvenir shops. Maybe you are actually here for the fun, or maybe you just work here or are trying to track down a wayward friend...

8. Wildcard

And, of course, the obligatory do-what-you-want option.

Comments

Kethel | Books the the Raksura | Park Ranger

[kethel]

[Zhiwei Kuan is a relatively new arrival (though his recently deceased grandfather was a longtime resident) employed by the UK Forestry Commission to make sure all the majestic nature is properly respected. On weekends, he's a volunteer Scouts leader.]

1.

Zhiwei doesn't believe in ghosts. You don't need to believe in things that exist. Mountains don't care if you believe in them and, presumably, neither do ghosts. That said, he doesn't really have mysterious specters in mind as he approaches the ruins. Despite his childhood visits, he doesn't really have a local's appreciation for the lay of the land yet. It's just a pretty bit of cliffs. And suspicious lights look to him a lot more like teenagers who are probably going to hurt themselves and may need to be growled at. He's not on the clock or anything, but he is wearing his uniform jacket because he's too lazy to change. Might be able to convince them to clear off. For their own good. And to restore proper tranquility to his walk, of course.

5.

It's a summer weekend, busy day for tourists and Zhiwei has his hands full with variously daft questions and a few good ones. Fortunately most of them are in a good mood and easy to impress, until he tries to point out a handful of harbour porpoises to a group of untalented birders in the hopes of making them feel better about not spotting much but a few gulls all day. People go nuts for anything cetacean, who knows why. Seals are cuter. But not a one of them seems to be able to see them. Eventually the slightly perplexed crowd of old ladies tells him he must have very good eyes and moves on.

Thing is, he didn't see them. Well, maybe a brief glimpse of a squat little dorsal fin, but he... smelled them. A few healthy adults, good sized, actually quite good news in such a busy area. That's what he tries to focus on as he stares distractedly out over the water, because otherwise he might have to think about the fact that they smell absolutely delicious.

8.

Zhiwei isn't the friendliest guy. He manages when he has to deal with visitors to the park, but when he's not in professional shill for nature mode, his natural expression is a bit of a scowl. But that's for things like crowds, and adults, and expectations that he behave like a respectable member of a civilized society. Not so much with kids.

It's an archery day for the scouts, mixed ages so that the setup can get maximum use and everyone who needs it can get their badge with maximum efficiency. He's not even a particularly good archer, just capable of a unique brand of enthusiasm. It's the little Beaver scouts that seem especially determined to follow him around, and he often has multiple children dangling off his arms while he tries to give stern directions and snaps at anyone not observing safety protocols.

He is also wearing a Robin Hood hat that doesn't fit at all and regaling his hangers on with a few stories that didn't make the movies. He's rather particular about them, too.

"No, Robin Hood isn't an earl, that's Will Scarlett's thing. The whole thing falls apart otherwise. Now, the wedding was to take place on the morrow--it just means in the morning, keep up, and so Robin and Little John..."

5.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"And I thought my long-distance vision was good," comments a lingering member of the old-people group, this one not a lady, but a tall and lanky man with shaggy hair, one bad eye, and an American accent. He has the definite air that he wants an excuse not to keep following the gaggle of his feminine cohort that has snared him for the afternoon.

[kethel]

Zhiwei by contrast sounds more or less English with a slight lilt from his Taimwanese family. Tonally, he aims for perfectly neutral and not at all distracted by the fact that he feels like he could map the sea to the horizon at the moment. A few concentrations of whitefish, a shark somewhere out deeper, a few gannets out in quest of the aforementioned fish, but they haven't found them yet. He could point them in the right direction, but today's weirdness is all about scent and not speaking to seabirds. Which is good. That would be weird. Weirder.

Right, he's being normal. "You, uh, you get used to spotting the little tells. Bit of a... wake." Most people don't really know what a wake is. It sounds at least a bit plausible.

yay canon echoes XD

[scarsolderthanyou]

Sam actually looks the fellow up and down, and-- pauses. There's that feeling. That hollow echoey feeling that every time now has left him groping for some kind of support-- this time, the railing on the pier. What the hell.

And then he's certain he knows this guy, only this guy without a shirt and with his hair in braids, sitting on the ground looking up at him expectantly. And he's equally sure has a weird hate-affection-disgust thing for him. What the double hell.

"A wake," he says, a bit blankly, trying to recover from the moment of whatever-these-are. "Right. Hard to see a wake in the bay from something that small, so I'll say again, you've got good eyesight."

aw, Stone, one out of three of those is a positive feeling

[kethel]

Still dabbling a bit in denial, Zhiwei notices the bit of a stumble but decides to attribute it to the man's age. He's pretty good at shaking those off when they happen. He's young and a bit of a fitness nut. "I eat a lot of carrots." That was WWII era propaganda and it's dumb, but he doesn't care that much at the moment. There are seals now, out in the bay, getting closer. Seals are nature's most perfect creation and he loves them. He's a vegetarian, dammit.

it's awful, don't talk to him about it

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Guess you do." Sam blinks another couple times, then says, "I'm Sam Stone. Not actually new, no matter what the rest of the town has to say about it. Don't think we've met before." Except the have, and he doesn't know what to do with that. His things so far have been pretty benign, interesting even, but not all that challenging.

This? This is something else entirely.

that's okay, Kethel can't identify feelings in the first place

[kethel]

He's glad to be back on familiar ground. It's a small-ish town, at least to his mostly London sensibilities, and he's still fresh enough to be charmed by the sort of performative friendliness. "No, um, I actually am pretty new. Sort of. My grandfather lived here and I mostly lived with him until I was seven. I've visited a bit. Zhiwei Kuan." And he extends a hand to shake.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Sam makes sure he's not going to do something stupid like fall over or miss the boy's hand, then accepts it with a good shake. If Zhiwei tries to crush his fingers, he's going to be displeased. "Think I might've known your grandfather. The name's familiar. What brings you back?"

[kethel]

He has his faults, but machismo isn't one of them. It's a very polite handshake. "You probably did. He knew everybody." He glances away for a moment, looking to the ocean for a bit of peaceful comfort out of habit. Still smells like dinner. Dammit. "My parents couldn't get time off to deal with funeral stuff, so I took over. And remembered how much I always liked it here." And a lot of other things that came back to him once he crossed a certain border. "Forestry was hiring, so..."

[scarsolderthanyou]

What a good young man. The big ones always seem to either go to one extreme or the other. "Welcome back, then. Sorry to hear about old Kuan, though, I must've missed the funeral." There's a lot, when you're his age, and he's only recently started actually being social again after his wife died. Funerals are still right out. "Was it a good one?"

[kethel]

"He'd have liked it." He has no idea how to gauge the success of a funeral. A few stabs were made at being traditional. Some snacks were served at the house afterward. Some kind of balance was struck to honor the man who was both a fairly observant Buddhist and a small-town English retiree. Zhiwei doesn't think he messed it up, anyway. "It was small." In case his new acquaintance and his grandfather's old one feels bad about missing.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"That's the important part, whether he'd have liked it," Sam assures him. "So I'm sure you did great. How old are you now?" Because that "I know this kid" feeling hasn't gone away, but he's really not sure he was here when he was here, at seven. (And even then, that image he got in his head was not of a child.)

[kethel]

This is such a nice, pleasant interaction and he can't figure out why it keeps feeling so... fraught. He's not great with people (you wouldn't choose "wandering around the woods" as a career if you were), but he doesn't usually read them so badly. "Twenty-three." Almost twenty-four, but he doesn't really want to call attention to how long it took him to really get started after he finished school.

Sort of annoying that it's that little hitch of somewhat petulant defensiveness that triggers one of those memories that don't quite make sense, even allowing for the fact that they're not real. The scene isn't too different, the empty sky above, an old man that mostly looks like Sam, but giving him a much less charitable look, and a swell of desire to prove... something.

Younger and perhaps a bit sturdier, he doesn't physically reel, but it's still a punch in both the metaphorica; and physical gut when that happens. Dammit.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Younger than he thought, so he might have known him as a kid... but that still doesn't explain the mental image of an adult, or almost adult.

Then the boy's expression changes to something a little like what he thinks he looks like when he gets those strange vision things, and he's starting to wonder. There's no other reason for someone to look flabbergasted like that when just telling someone their age. "You all right?" he asks first.