bumfuckidaho | TEST DRIVE MEME, FEBRUARY 2017.

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TEST DRIVE MEME, FEBRUARY 2017.

TEST DRIVE MEME

There was an accident. That's basically the only thing you know for certain. Maybe a car wreck - metal and broken glass everywhere, and the sirens and the screaming. Or maybe there was an explosion. Maybe your bike hit a rock and you careened uncontrollably off a mountain path. You can't can't quite make out the details, not who was at fault or why. Try as you might, the chaos is all you can remember.

It's also the last thing you remember from before you wake up here.

When you open your eyes, the accident is gone. Instead, you're in a hospital bed – the nursing staff greets you with a cheerful smile.

Welcome to Wayward Pines, they tell you. You'll make a full recovery here.

option one WELCOME TO WAYWARD PINES

The hospital staff had seemed very friendly, but ultimately unhelpful when it came to answering your questions, insisting you shouldn't worry about such things, and that it was smarter to just rest until you'd fully recovered.

That was some time ago. You've since managed to leave the hospital – either via escape, or simply by waiting patiently and filling out paperwork until they finally agreed to release you. Now you've found yourself in the small but hearty town of Wayward Pines, Idaho. It's a charming little place, and the people there are all friendly enough, more than willing to greet you on the street, or give you directions if you need them.

Unless you're asking for directions out of town, of course.

Some will simply smile and give you a hearty pat on the shoulder and ask why you'd ever want to do a thing like that? Others will get quiet for a moment, and direct you to the nearest sign posted near the doorway of every building.

Don't bother taking the road, either. Whether you walk or get your hands on a vehicle, you won't get anywhere. The road simply takes you away from town for a short while before looping around and bringing you right back in.

There's no use questioning things, and it seems pretty useless to try to leave. So really, why not stay a while? Everyone's convinced that you'll find something to love in Wayward Pines.

(For the purposes of this test drive, you're welcome to handwave the existence of basically any local business or activity.)

option two INTO THE WOODS

You've just heard a scream from the woods.

I mean, it could've been an animal. There's bound to be some kind of wildlife amongst the trees, right? But then again, it did sound awfully... human.

Though all of the locals nearby conceal a flinch at the sound, they'll assure you it's nothing, if you ask them. Why, you're probably just hearing things! (But with an anxious undertone of stop asking questions.) If you're curious, though, and brave enough to go see, they won't make any move to stop you from going into the wooded area surrounding the town.

The trees are tall, and their branches are thick enough to block out a significant amount of sunlight from breaking through the canopy, leaving the forest floor a little dimmer and cooler than the streets of town.

Whatever the source of the scream was, you won't be able to find it out here. An experienced hunter might notice some signs of a struggle, and a few faint boot prints, but they don't really seem to lead anywhere in particular.

What you will find, if you walk far enough, is a fence. A big one - at least 30 feet tall, made of metal and concrete. It goes on quite a ways in either direction as well; follow the wall far enough, and you'll see that it connects with the steep, sheer cliffs that surround the rest of Wayward Pines, effectively boxing the town in.

In actuality, you'll probably feel it before you see it. A full 500 yards from the wall, when it's hardly a shadowy smudge through the trees, you start to feel a little bit tired, a little bit weak. Trouble is, the closer you get, the weaker you feel - like the wall itself is sapping the strength out of you, and the closer you get, the worse it feels. Any powers you may have had grow weaker in kind as you make your way to the fence, but even ordinary humans will find their strength sapping away. By the time you're close enough to read the signs and to feel the crackle of electricity radiating from the thick wires criss-crossing the wall's metal surface, you're too weak to stand.

Do you crawl closer still and risk electrocution, or do you crawl away and assess the situation once you're far enough from the fence to be able to stand?

option three IT'S A COUPLE OF FLAKES

There's nothing particularly insidious about the inch of snow that settles over the town one night while everyone sleeps. Kids run outside to have snowball fights and make snow angels, neighbors wave across to you as they shovel their driveway, the local coffee shop runs a 2 for 1 deal on hot cocoa. Snow crunches under your feet at your walk down the street and the cold bite in the air is revitalizing.

The next morning, there's a few more inches of snow. And then a few more the day after that. By the end of the week the snow is a good three feet deep and the entire experience has lost its novelty. Wayward Pines only has a single street plow to its name, and even when the streets are clear, surprise patches of black ice make travel downright dangerous if you aren't prepared. No special sale on hot cocoa can possibly be worth trudging through knee high snow drifts (even your most consciences neighbors can't keep up on the shoveling anymore).

And the power starts to fail in some of the houses. Sure, the repairman promises to stop by as soon as he can, but you're hardly to first person to call him today and he won't be able to pencil you in until tomorrow at the earliest, and what are you going to do about the cold until then? Maybe your neighbor's heat is still on, or maybe that trek to the coffee shop is looking more appealing by the second.

Either way it's time to layer your clothes, watch your step, and hope that Spring to comes early. And try to ignore that kid double dog daring you to lick a flagpole, it just won't end well.

option four ON THE NETWORK

Though it's not as high-tech as you might be used to (or hell, maybe you're ren faire and it's centuries beyond anything you've seen), but Wayward Pines does in fact have a network to accommodate its citizens.

Go ahead, post a network post! Just note that the network, at current, is audio-only and can only be accessed from the telephones in each character's home.

( a few notes )

Welcome to our second test drive here in The Pines! Just one important thing to note this time:

Upon arrival in Wayward Pines, characters find themselves struggling to remember entirely who they were or where they came from. Memories return progressively over the next two weeks. You're welcome to play with this mechanic in any of these prompts, but it's definitely not mandatory! For more details on this temporary memory loss, see our FAQ.

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[ ah, but she doesn't mind the looks, multiple though they are. everytime this guy looks back at her, her grin gets a little more slanted, a the tip of a fang peeking from under her lip. ]

Hmmmm? [ it's sing-song, and a thoughtful look then crosses eliza's face before she glances behind her. said extremity darts down behind the counter to hide itself, and the young girl gives a carefree shrug. the claws, however, are more difficult to hide. ] A tail? No, I don't think so.

[ eliza that's mean. don't be mean. but maybe if she's mean he'll pay more attention to her, and that's what she really wants. attention, even if it's just some small talk in an empty diner. ]

Maybe you're seeing things! Maybe this is all one big hallucination!

[ Sam sits back and closes his eyes, a blossom of worry growing in his stomach. Maybe something really is wrong with him, if he's hallucinating like this. Imagining people have tails and thinking he works for the President.

He hates being at the mercy of the people around him, but he might just have to deal with it until his memory gets better.

If it gets better. There's a nauseating thought. ]

My name is Sam Seaborn. [ He knows that much. He's going to cling to that crumb of absolute certainty for all he's worth. ] And you are too sadistically perky to be my hallucination.

[ Ha. That felt right too. ]

[ her ears (pointed, though barely visible under that mass of pink hair) perk up at that description, and eliza's face lights up. ]

"Sadistically perky"? I like the way that sounds! [ and yes, she just got even more perky with how much she has taken to that phrase. ] I will have to use it more often, it's a lot more cute than "Fresh Blood Demonness".

[ with that, she hops off the counter, giant frilly skirt swishing around her legs as she walks. her tail curls out from underneath those absurd layers of fabric, the end curling vertical much like a cobra's head. ]

Well, Sam Seaborn, you may call me [ and she places a hand over her chest, puffing it out ] Lancer! [ then just as quickly she points at him, her claw several inches from the tip of his nose. ] It's not my real name, but only my Master has that privilege, so you'll have to satisfy yourself with "Lancer".

[ He gazes at her claw, then at her face, with the serenity of someone who has decided that nothing matters any more. ]

I take it back. This is absolutely, one hundred percent a hallucination and I have lost my mind.

[ And then he toasts her with his coffee and takes a long drink. ] Nice to meet you, Lancer.

Edited 2017-03-18 18:33 (UTC)

That sounds absolutely awful! A mind is a terrible thing to lose, especially here.

[ she takes her seat on the booth opposite sam, but since she's not normal she can't just sit normally. no, she perches on the top of the booth, legs crossed and tail draping over her knees. ]

Ah, but if you're still suffering from your accident, Sam Seaborn, you should know that you must not get too complacent. Or do, I don't care.

The sheriff will, however.

[ He's getting more unsettled by the moment. Of course, there's the question still of how much of what he's seeing is real. Would they have let him leave the hospital if he was hallucinating? Should he go back?

He eases the coffee back onto the table, thoughts skipping to the signs all over town, his first burst of indignation and disgust, set aside for examination when he isn't being smiled at by half a very friendly, very watchful town. ]

I have often seen a cat without a grin, but never a grin without a cat. Are you trying to be helpful or confusing? I'm not really in the mood for the Cheshire routine.

[ eliza gasps in indignation, placing her hands on her hips ]

Do I look like a magic book to you!? Hah, I may sometimes be a Caster class Servant, but I'm bigger than that tiny frilly mouse!

[ well now she's just insulted, and eliza has to take a moment to let her dramatics subside. i'm so sorry for her. ]

Edited 2017-03-19 02:04 (UTC)

[ wait, he asked her a question. ]

I'm not trying to be anything! I'm "me"!

Magic... book.

[ He has that right. Right? ]

Are we speaking the same language? I mean, the sounds and syllables are all there, the sentence structure is decipherable, but the content. The content just does not-- It's not-- There's a certain something missing.

... Do you not know the story of Alice in her Wonderland?

[ ??? that was where the cheshire reference came from, right? ]

Yes, that's what I was--

[ Deep breath. Briefly closed eyes. ]

Okay, look. Let's start from the beginning.

[ He sets the coffee aside and offers her a hand. ] Hello, my name is Sam Seaborn. Please assume if you haven't already that I am an idiot. Because I have no idea what you're talking about with Lancers and Casters and Masters and everything else, and I feel like maybe I would know if it weren't for the whole head trauma thing, but let's work from the premise that I'm gonna need context for pretty much everything you say.

Edited 2017-03-19 02:52 (UTC)

[ ... a tip of eliza's head, and her tail slides off her lap to curl around her ankles ]

Hmmmm... Do you know anything about a Holy Grail War?

[ A brief flailing into the abyss of memory, because all he's coming up with is] Do you mean the Crusades?

Were they on the moon?

[ a beat ]

Did you know your moon is a giant supercomputer?

....No. No they were not on the moon.

[ He pinches the bridge of his nose. ] Are you just jerking me around?

Nope!

[ she puffs out her chest again. look at her, being all smart. ]

You are simply from another timeline where none of that's happened.

.....You're jerking me around. Okay, no, that's fine, that's. Totally fine. And a perfectly nice thing to do to someone with a head injury. Thank you.

[ He is going to aggressively stir sugar into his cup now. ]

[ and she leeeeeans forward, wings outstretched to keep her from falling face-down onto the table. ]

Don't you see? That's the big secret!

[ Sam leans back, severely unnerved by those wings and the prospect that he's imagining them.

Maybe he's acting out this entire one-sided drama, and someone will walk in to the diner and then call the cops to escort the crazy man back to the hospital. ] The big. Secret.

[ she reaches forward with the idea of taking sam's face in her ~~hands~~ claws and pushing his cheeks together. ]

You don't have a head injury.

[ Dottity dot dot. ]

And yet, I'm more sure than ever that I do.

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