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

[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?

[catted]

It's really weak and inconclusive.

She probably is wrong, but since she's come here anyway... After a moment, she pulls out her phone, unlocks it and starts swiping until she hits wordery, just puts in "fairytales" and hits search, and then types in her number.

So anyone else should just see the bookshop webpage now, but if her mostly unfounded suspicion is right...

"I've been looking at books recently, and there was this one about fairytales..." She holds up the phone, turning the screen so that Feste can see it.

[fairfeste]

Feste gets up and moves over to her, peering over her should. Their curious expression turns puzzled, and they look up at her, assuming she's showing them the wrong thing. "That just looks like a blogging site or something."

[catted]

Her eyes narrow slightly.

"...Is that so.

Could you read the first sentence of the post on the top for me?"

[fairfeste]

Feste is now eyeing her suspiciously- what kind of weird thing are you doing, mom?- but they'll go along with it for now. "'My friends cute little doggy is being entered into the pet contest and I need help deciding on a costume.'"

[catted]

"Of course she didn't win." Which is for the better, after all that woman is from Folkton...

But, point being. "So you can access this Network thing, too. You-" and then she has to stop, because a familiar way of dizziness washes over her. And then she remembers... no. That makes no sense. She shakes her head, trying to lose the weird memory. She has no daughter called Tuuli. Why does she now remember that she has one? Who. Is a werewolf. Apparently. WHAT.

[fairfeste]

Oh. Feste has no idea what's going on, and now they are very concerned. "Mom? Are you ok??"

[catted]

"...Fine." She shakes her head, and tries to focus on her child who is present and right before her. "I'm fine. It's just... those things happen sometimes. Feeling hollow and hearing a loud thud and then feeling dizzy." She looks straight at Feste. "I assume you felt something similar earlier?"

[fairfeste]

They blink at her. How did she...? "Yeah. A few weeks ago... I thought I was just hungry." To be fair, that happens a lot.

[catted]

"Normally, I'd say that's probably what you were, but..." She sighs and puts her book away entirely, and then also pockets her phone. "If you're able to see the Network, you're clearly involved in whatever this is, too. Like Dad and Sky and Nel and me."

[fairfeste]

That is not helping Mom!! "What Network? What are you involved in? Why is Nel and everyone in it too?"

[catted]

"I wish I could answer any of those questions," she responds dryly and then raises a hand, counting off what little they know on her fingers. "Whatever it is, it seem to be local to Mossgate Council. There doesn't seem to be a system to who is involved - the youngest is a girl from Mossgate, and the oldest the head of the Oggs over in Folkton, and there's nothing else that we all have in common, either.

We can access this ...blogging space on pretty much anything available as long as we input our number, and when this feeling happens we get things. Items, memories, and apparently someonetimes magic abilities or better senses."

[fairfeste]

Somehow, the explanation is not getting this to make more sense. "...I don't understand," they say pretty lamely, glancing over to make sure their siblings haven't gotten themselves in trouble yet before looking back at her, "Memories? ...Magic?"

[catted]

"Magic. Like..." She picks the book back up and then focuses before determining a space right on front of her, solidly away from Feste. Then she shoves it into a crack in between that space and another...

...and lets it drop out on the other side. Which is twenty centimetres above Feste's head. The book falls down and hits them on the head.

One day she'll echo back paradox and its effects. Luckily that hasn't happened yet.

[fairfeste]

"Wha--" Feste is too focused on the fact that her book just disappeared to try and figure out where it's going. Which means it hits them hard and they yelp, reaching up to rub the spot with a wince. "Ow..."

[catted]

Mary Ann just grins. "The weather report isn't all that reliable these days it seems, they didn't announce any falling books..."

[fairfeste]

Feste just pouts at her. That's mean, mom. "How do you do that?" they ask, grumpily.

[catted]

"Beats me." The grin vanishes, and she shakes her head. "I mean, I know what I'm doing - I'm looking for connections between spaces, where the ...grid that makes up space overlaps. Something like that. It makes sense to me.

But I don't know why I can suddenly identify those, or push things through."

[fairfeste]

It doesn't make any sense to Feste, their expression just glazing over a bit as they try to figure out what any of that means. "And... this is happening to everyone on there?"

[catted]

"Not at all. Everyone gets entirely different things.

...I don't have any of the superior senses that Sky got, for example."

[fairfeste]

"Whoah." This is both... super cool and mildly terrifying! They don't think they like it. "...How weird does it get?"