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

Feste | OC | University student

[fairfeste]

I

Feste may have lived around Mossgate for most of their life, but that doesn't mean there aren't always things to do and see and explore. The cliffs aren't new, but they always forget how pretty they are. Today they're trying to remind themselves, sitting a bit back from the edge with a sketchbook, alternating between trying to draw the scene in front of them and just doodling cats and doofy cartoons when they inevitably get distracted.

But something catches their eye, and they look up, swiveling their head in the direction. They thought-- but... no.

"If you focus it'll just make it harder to see..." they murmur, more to themselves, but... even they're not sure what they're talking about exactly.

II

History is not Feste's favorite topic, but that doesn't mean they don't like it and it certainly doesn't mean they won't show up at the museum and see the updates and improvements. Their eyes are wide as they look over an artifact, some scrap of a story or something with a picture they can't really interpret. But that's why other people are around. "Excuse me!" they say, politely but perhaps a bit over loud or excited, "Do you know what this is?"

V

Feste still doesn't really know what's happening with their dreams and memories, but they're trying not to let it bother them. They do have a bit of a problem though, which is mostly that they seem to have picked up an absurd fascination with anything shiny. Not even like jewelry things- right now they're crouched down in a parking lot, trying to decide which of these rocks is the best because they can't take all of them, that's just silly...

[ooc: Family/friend plotting post over here~]

V

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Found something interesting?"

Here comes grandpa, peering over Feste's shoulder at the... ground? What is the kid even looking at? If this were one of the little ones, he wouldn't be surprised, but Feste is in college. Usually college students aren't fixated on the ground for no apparent reason.

[fairfeste]

Feste looks up, their very cheerful smile a little bit sheepish in this particular instance. "Hi Grandpa," they say, staying crouched but craning their neck to see him, "There were some things that kind of caught my eye..." They don't quite want to admit that what it was is rocks.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I don't see anything," Sam says. "But maybe my eyesight's going. Only got one left, after all." He drops to a crouch beside him, to hopefully get a better look. ... still just the ground. Some pebbles. A bit of grass peeking through a crack in the asphalt.

[fairfeste]

...Now they feel a bit bad for making Grandpa bend down. They pick up a couple of the smoother, shinier rocks. "...They're sparkly?" they say, meekly, aware that this is probably not a thing that should be fascinating them so much right now.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Sam blinks, pauses, then says, "Yeah. I guess they are." He didn't expect his grandson to suddenly decide he likes rocks after twenty some-odd years of not caring about geology in the slightest. (He may not quite have reasoned out that it's just "shiny" that he cares about.) "Probably got washed up from the shore at some point and carried out this far during a storm, or in the wheels of somebody's car."

[fairfeste]

They cared about geology!! ...Briefly. In like, third grade. To be fair they mostly cared about whether or not the rocks were shiny then, too.

They'll just... pocket these ones, straightening up. "What are you doing around here, Grandpa?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Going to the grocery store," Sam answers, gesturing at the building this is the parking lot to as he stretches back up to full height, himself, trying not to groan at his knees protesting. "I'd ask you the same thing, except I can guess that the answer probably isn't that different from mine."

[fairfeste]

"Yeah, pretty much. Needed to pick up some things for mum." And got... distracted. But really, that's just kind of to be expected with them.

I

[catted]

"Makes what harder to see?" They'd come together - Mary Ann, two of the younger kids, and Feste. The younger kids so they can run around and climb the ruins and hopefully not break anything, Feste to sketch, and Mary Ann to make sure that nobody falls off the cliffs.

And also to spend a nice day out.

She's sitting a little distance off from Feste, reading a book and looking up every once in a while, when her eldest speaks up, just so loudly enough for her to hear.

[fairfeste]

"I'm not sure," they answer honestly, cocking their head to the side as they think, "I thought I saw something, and that's what I thought. Maybe from a book?" It feels like the sort of thing one would pick up from a book, like a ghost story or something.

[catted]

"...maybe."

She studies her eldest thoughtfully. It could, of course, be nothing important. Just a thought, a half-remembered line, but... She's still reeling from finding that network, finding out about her dad and her dad-in-law, about Nel. She can't but keep a close eye on the rest of her family, looking for signs.

"What book would you have read it in, though?"

[fairfeste]

"I don't remember." They wouldn't have been terribly bothered by it, if Mom didn't seem a bit... focused on it. "Maybe some fairy tale thing? But not, like, kid fairy tales."

[catted]

"What, no gruesome butchering of wolves to fill their stomach with rocks and throw them into the well?"

For some reasons, that seem to be the details that always interested her children the most in the Red Riding Hood picture book that somehow ended up on their bookshelf when Feste was little and never left.

[fairfeste]

Feste just grins. Yeah, they remember asking a lot of fascinated questions at that bit. "I guess maybe like some of those. But not that one." They think ones that actually involve fairies, maybe?

[catted]

"Did you read a lot of fairytales recently?" She puts the book down in her lap, thoroughly distracted from its contents. A quick glance towards the ruins assures her that nobody has managed to break anything yet over there, and then her eyes are back on Feste.

[fairfeste]

They blink at her, increasingly puzzled by this attention. "No? I was thinking about it, to get some ideas on things though." That's... probably all this is, right?

VIII

[vernal_miss]

Mistakes had been made. Specifically speaking, Nel had ended up accidentally observing a rather unpleasant portion of a horror movie that a pair of her elder siblings were watching on the telly. While she had denied being bothered by it at the time, wide eyed as she stayed for a moment after, the images were not the kind to sit well with her. Hours ago, she had settled into bed and managed to convince herself to sleep. Mere minutes ago, that sleep had ended with a frightened jolt awake from a nightmare.

Awful images and sounds still lingering in her head from the nightmare, she slips from her bed with both arms squeezing tight to her stuffed animal. Tiptoeing carefully to avoid her younger sibling with whom she shares a room, she heads out into the darkened hallway. Unwilling to release her desperate hold on her plush companion, she blindly relies on her memory to carry her to other bedrooms, seeking signs of light with her first destination being that of her eldest sibling's space. They were often up late, and at a quarter to one in the morning, possibly still awake. At the doorway, one of the cats trailing after her will be the one to nudge it open as she hovers outside it, and Nel leans to the door with her elbow to push it open far enough to peer inside cautiously.

[fairfeste]

Feste was still up, albeit it with headphones on and playing music as they work on a paper for one of their classes, humming along quietly as they wrap up the section they're working. It's not great, but they kind of don't need it to be, they get the concepts well enough and they can prove it so it's probably fine...

They don't notice their little sister for a minute, not until they take the glass that was on their desk and turn towards the door to go get some water. They blink when they see it pushed open, and pull the headphones off their head as they see the girl in the doorway.

"Nel? Why are you up?"

[vernal_miss]

Face half burrowed into her toy with her head bowed, she lifts it when Feste takes notice of her presence and asks for an explanation. She promised not to tell about the movie, but those are not the only causes of nightmares, right? A flicker of hesitation, then she'll reply timidly, "I had a bad dream..."

Fidgeting, she waits at the doorway for an indication she can enter further, feeling as though she's encroaching on what time Feste has on their own.

[fairfeste]

Feste had seen bits and pieces of the movie when they came home, so... they have a guess. "Come on," they say, putting the glass back before crouching down and opening their arms for hug. Hugs are the best way to deal with nightmares.

[vernal_miss]

Clearance granted, she scurries right into their waiting arms with the plush finally shifted to the grip of only one hand in order to keep it out of the way when she makes contact with her sibling. Arms wrapping over their shoulders, she shuts her eyes as she curls into the hug and pushes eagerly close in a lean. Her long hair is a little tangled from the efforts of tossing and turning, but a quick finger combing would be sufficient later.

[fairfeste]

Feste wraps her up tight in their arms- they give very good hugs, if they don't say so themselves- pulling her in close and rubbing her back, trying to soothe her. "It's ok," they say, giving her a little squeeze, "It's just a dream. It can't hurt you."

[vernal_miss]

Nel can attest to the proficiency of her eldest sibling in hugging, and that snug hold promises security that keeps her close. Hand moving across her back, the muscles there begin to release slowly, her heart still audible to her own ears as she starts the process of calming down from the surge of adrenaline left behind. It had been disorienting to wake from the dream, having forgotten her existence here while in its grasp, "It felt like it tried..."

[fairfeste]

"I know," Feste says, still rubbing against her back and tilting their head against hers, "Dreams are pretty mean like that, sometimes. But you woke up! That means it can't follow you any more, unless you let it. So we'll just have to make sure you think of nicer things."