saveournumbers | Third Permanent Test Drive Meme

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Third Permanent Test Drive Meme

Third Permanent 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. The mighty cat spawn

One of your fellow Numbered echoed the ability to spawn cats. They don't know how or why, and they have very little control over it. The problem is that all those cats are a little magic, and all of them like to escape directly after they spawned. So all Numbered have been recruited to find the cats and bring them back to their home.

Find a cat and bring it home really sounds a lot easier than it is... At least they are easily recognisable by the little gemstones set into their foreheads.

2. Winter Wonderland

This far to the south, in the very maritime climate of England, there rarely is snow. And if, it isn't much, and it doesn't stick for long. Not so this Christmas. Snow as thick as on Christmas postcards covers Mossgate Council. Public transport has shut down, the roads are impossible to drive on, stores have closed down, and electricity is down in many places.

In Folkton and Moss Manor, the church halls are heated and offer mingling spaces. In Mossgate, people go sledding on the Greens. And in Tarwich, whole roads are covered in giant snowmen. All corners of the council area are in a special state of existence, and to be missing it, you'd have to be in deep hibernation.

3. Halloween is a bit extra this year

As in, very extra. Not only does every household wake up to a bucket of water on their doorsteps in which scary apples are floating, complete with a sign attacked to the bucket that reads: Have fun bobbing!

No, the whole of the council area is also covered in cobwebs, and the graveyards are covered with the skeletons of those that should normally lie buried under their soil.

4. Summer summer SUMMER!

There is a summer fête and a Pride to enjoy during the summer months. But one can also just lie at the beach, wade through the rock pools at the bottom of the cliffs to catch starfish, tiny shrimp, tiny fish, shellfish, and anemones. Or you can take a ride on one of the attractions on the Pleasure Pier. Or enjoy a concert on the greens. ...Or return from a trip to Spain and suddenly have all echoes come back to one at once. That's also an option, but probably less pleasurable.

5. Past tdm prompts

Feel free to use a prompt from an earlier tdm!

6. Wildcard

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Two different kinds of people... well, there was the binary joke, but all the same it would be more fair to say there were much more than two kinds.

"Thanks," Walter says, ducking slightly because the wind is blowing from behind him, and he really hates getting hair in his face.

Even when it's become less possible in recent years.

"You'd think it would be part of a sale, given the season, but it wasn't. We should probably keep moving," he adds, stepping on ahead himself.

"Didn't want to lose you," he explains.

It isn't really a binary world, that's true. People come in all different kinds, and they can't always be put into one or the other category. Thank goodness.

"I got mine on sale. But I guess it would pay a seller to offer rainbow t-shirts on sale, since so many of us like to make a blatant statement. Maybe the stores don't think like that when it's a more subtle product."

And he nods, looking around and shoving his hair back away from his face. It was a bit windy.

"Where do you want to walk? I'd certainly go with you." It was a nice conversation, and Curufin would be happy to continue it.

"Just keeping up with the crowd," he explains, stepping carefully around someone's dropped ice cream.

"And there may well have been intent behind it, somewhere back along the production line. Doesn't mean everyone was in on it, however," Walter verbally backtracks.

Curufn hops lightly over the crushed cone and the splashed ice cream. "Okay, we'll follow the crowd!" he agrees.

"You seem to be knowledgeable about production," he adds. "Are you in business?"

Walter shakes his head, smiling.

"No, I'm an IT Contractor. I just happen to look into learning many things."

Keeping pace with the crowd is no hard task, though Jan may notice that Walter just moves faster than most people, unless he's deliberately trying to be slow.

"I see. An interesting profession, I have no doubt! And if you have the mind for that, then you'd have the kind of mind that is curious about all sorts of things. I myself am a hardware guy. Maritime engineer. I keep a ship's engines running. I'm currently working for a ferry line that serves the U.K. and conveniently docks a boat couple of times a week in Mossgate Harbour."

Jan does notice Walter's speed. And being speedy himself, it's not hard to keep up with Walter.

"By the way, my name's Jan Karczmarek."

"That is convenient, Jan."

And it's nice that someone else is keeping up with him, for all that Walter doesn't know him.

"As long as you're allowed to look above decks, too. And I'm Walter Weekes, just so we keep this fair."

Jan laughs. "Yes, it is convenient. Also, it solves a problem I haven't talked about with many people. About a year ago, I came here on a different ship, not the ferry boat. Something very strange happened to me the minute I walked out onto the dock. I had a vision. I can't explain it, and it would sound like some awful science fiction movie or psychic thriller novel if I described it. But I don't think it was my imagination, and I don't think it was a hallucination, either. And it's the reason I decided I had to have access to this town, to have a job that would bring me here often and give me an excuse to rent a flat. In case that strange thing every happened again."

He chuckles again. "Yes, I'm allowed to go up on deck and enjoy the sea view during my breaks. And I'm pleased to meet you, Walter!"

When Jan first dives into his explanation, Walter briefly feels like his blood's run cold.

It's odd for him to mention it on first meeting. But then, maybe that's just the lives of the Numbered, now; running into each other at an increasing rate, an increased below-consciousness sensitivity to others who've had Echoes...

"I believe you," he ends up saying. "And you're right, it is like science fiction. I couldn't tell you what was causing it, though."

Someone, in their enthusiasm, shoves an entire mug of beer in Walter's direction; spotting it, he deftly avoids the slosh, maneuvering to keep Jan away from it as well.

"Your pardon," he says, then, turning back to the engineer, "Thanks."

And maybe that was it, a below-consciousness sensitivity to others who have experienced the strange and the inexplicable. Or possibly it was that Jan is a creative person and is open to the unusual, and therefore doesn't think it is off-limits in a conversation with a chance-met stranger whom he might run into again, this not being an immense city.

It is nice to be believed, though.

"I wonder if it will happen again? I've even thought it might help if I started living here full-time instead of popping in and out. But. . . I like my job. It would be hard to give it up for a shore gig."

And he grins at the ease with which Walter avoids the flying beer foam and somehow manages to shield Jan from it as well. "You're agile."

"The odds are increasing," Walter admits - but he sounds dubious or, more accurately, malcontent.

"But I wouldn't want to give up my job for this, either. I like helping people the way I do, and I suspect you're the same way."

Nodding, Walter starts them again forward.

"It's a recent development. Somewhat of a hassle to handle, admittedly, but it has its moments."

Jan turns his head to look at Walter. "The odds of what? Of such visions happening? It sounds as though you know something about it. Have you had visions, too?" OMG, what if this was a geographical thing???

And he answers Walter's second comment. "I'll bet you have lots of opportunities to help others, in your job? Yes, I'm the same way. Taking people across the ocean is fun, and it's helpful to them. It allows them to travel for their work, or visit family and friends, or just to get a way for a bit and see some part of the world they don't see often or maybe have never seen before."

He moves to start walking by Walter's side again.

"You became agile recently? How did that happen? Did you start exercising or studying a martial art?"

Edited 2019-06-09 21:15 (UTC)

Walter is more hesitant to answer, now - partly because they're in public, but also because he only knows so much just yet.

"... Yes."

He nods at Jan's second point, but he only barely glances at the other man once the questions start back up again.

"Not so much agile as extremely aware of the passage of time. My reaction time has sped up because my perception of time has slowed down."

Something goes a little odd about his cadance as he speaks; almost as if the mouth placements are rushed.

It's deliberate, of course.

"Being in shape has nothing to do with it."

Jan can see that Walter is hesitant to speak of his own experience with respect to the vision. Much as Jan wants to know, he isn't going to insist, as that would be rude. No sense in sacrificing the friendliness of this conversation for the sake of curiosity.

Likewise with Walter's work.

But what an interesting reply, as regards the agility! "I guess that makes sense. If time slows down for you, then you can fit more actions into the same time."

"At first, it was just my mind that sped up, and I couldn't move my body to keep up," Walter confides, ducking back slightly to minimize potential overhearing distance.

"But then that changed, and it became more bearable."

"Your were alarmed at that change, when it first happened?"

"Absolutely."

Walter starts moving forward again.

"If you were here for the aurora this past June - well, that's when it happened. I was already in a crowd, even though I'd gone off some ways by myself, but not being able to make myself react properly-

Walter shudders.

"It was like dissociation. And I know dissociation."

"June the fifteenth? Yes, I was. That's when I had my vision. I was standing on the dock at Mossgate harbour, looking up at the aurora, and. . . WHAM! Everything changed."

He looks at Walter with concern.

"Dissociation? How so?"

Edited 2019-06-13 06:26 (UTC)

"At least you weren't on the Greens when it happened."

Aaand there's the reaction Walter hadn't been looking forward to, even if the negative anticipation had only existed for a few seconds.

"A natural consequence of feeling detached from your own body. Not 'just for a second', but continuously."

"Why? What happened on the Greens?"

Something about Walter's answer makes him feel sympathetic.

"You've had to deal with that state of dissociation before June 15th?" He's curious, but he won't press the matter if Walter doesn't want to talk about it. Still, it's something that Walter has trusted him enough to tell him this. Jan is conscious that that sort of trust is an honor.

"That was where they'd gathered for the fireworks."

It was just the matter of there being more people.

"And that wasn't what I was implying, but yes. Long before I'd ever come back to Mossgate."

The day around them sharply contrasts the memory ghosts Walter can feel himself casting - fortunately he's not reliving them just because of this talk with Jan.

"Ah, I see. I thought of going up there, but I was so riveted by my hallucination or vision or whatever it was, that I didn't do anything that night except haul my ass back to the ship and roll into my bunk and stare at the ceiling."

He gazes at Walter. He doesn't know exactly what to say, but then, maybe not much needs to be said.

"Strange world, isn't it?" he says, quietly. "And it's strange being a human being in it. Don't you find it so?"

That draws some measure of amusement from Walter.

"I was the same way, almost. Couldn't get back to my flat fast enough, in more than one sense."

Continuing to move forward, he nods where Jan can see.

"I learned that long before that first dissociation, even."

Jan chuckles. He gets the joke.

"Only one safe place to be while contemplating the fact that the universe isn't what we thought it was. On a horizontal surface!"

He looks back at Walter with amusement, but under the humor there's a flash of the feelings he had in June. Fear, wonder, and a sense of acute dislocation.

"I'm sure you did. Maybe everybody does? Can a person be conscious at all and not see how beautiful and how precarious our situation is? Just because we're alive?"

"Exactly."

There's some cheering going on behind them - maybe someone on a float proposed? - but Walter doesn't look to check on the source of the noise this time.

"Most people don't linger on those thoughts for long, even when they have them. Being able to multitask like that isn't a trait most think to cultivate."

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Given the dates, this would be the parade where there's inexplicable large cake at the end.

I'll bet our characters don't mind. XD

Re: I'll bet our characters don't mind. XD

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Funnily enough, someone manifested a lightsaber at this very parade. XD

Oh, and who was that person? XD

Sky, aka our Luke Skywalker. He's not here now, though.

Ah, what a pity! XD

Re: Ah, what a pity! XD

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