bumfuckidaho | TEST DRIVE MEME, APRIL 2017.

Skip to Main Content

Entry tags:

!tdm

TEST DRIVE MEME, APRIL 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
PTA BAKE SALE

It's that time of year again. The time when everyone digs into their wallet, ignores their diet, and spends a little time supporting the local school bake fair. You know, for the good of the children. And it doesn't hurt that Linda's Blondie recipe is honestly to die for. The school PTA has pulled out all the stops this year in the hopes of encouraging a good community turn out, posters advertising the sale plastering every street corner and stuffed into every mailbox for a solid week leading up to the event, and today is finally the day.

There's at least two dozen different tables set up with all manner of delectable treats, even one or two offering vegan alternatives for those inclined, not to mention a few others catering to some of the townspeople's more... unique palates.

Maybe you've got your own table set up with your wares, or maybe you were simply lured to the park today by the appetizing scents wafting through the air. Either way it seems like the whole town has come out to show their support today and why wouldn't they? Children are our future, aren't they? Or maybe it's just Linda's Blondie recipe.

Yeah, that's probably it.

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 currently has two basic functions. The first is audio-only and can be accessed from the telephones in each character's home. If an audio-based medium doesn't suit your needs (or aesthetics), be sure to take advantage of the Wayward Pines Message Board from your brand new laptop for the chance to communicate with your fellow townspeople in a text-based format instead!

( a few notes )

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

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.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Not like the resistance effort here is organized. A little difficult, when so much hinges on what we remember ourselves to be.

[ Okay, that does get a real smile out of Cassian. Take the spy out of the war, but can you take the war out of the spy? ]

Cassian Andor.

Me? Just enjoying a cup of coffee at a tea shop. Go Ask Alice. Main street. It's hard to miss, trust me.

What is it, first of all?

He's not that great at reading body language, okay? When you're used to everyone you talk to wearing bulky suits and huge helmets, you tend to lose a lot of subtlety in gestures and movements.

Astronauts, am I right? Because that's what he remembers. Working at... Nasa. Not. Not anything weird like a state of the art, deadly, interplanetary, megaton weapon or a spacecraft or whatever. Just normal, run of the mill, regular... Earth stuff.

Cassian earns an icing-covered, closed-mouth grin because Finn's face is currently full of cupcake. What a nice guy! Free baked goods, a place to sit, he is so glad he ran into him. Especially if he makes these things all day. That means Finn now knows where to get sweet treats on the regular. Cupcakes. He-- ... he means the cupcakes.

"Yeah. Actually, the Sheriff's station and then the hospital. Haven't been home yet. Not exactly sure where home is. I'm Finn!"

Coffee? What's that? And don't say it's a drink.

[Because you already said it comes in a cup and he knows you're kind of a smartass sometimes. Which is fair considering Finn's also a smartass. BUT STILL! He doesn't need any of your smartassery currently, Dameron.]

I'll head over and find you.

Can I type it?

See you soon, buddy.

[ If he weren't already hyper from too much caffeine the prospect of seeing a friend would be more than enough to make him so. ]

Edited 2017-04-19 04:35 (UTC)

There's step one.

[ Organize. His eyes are practically sparkling with the electric desire to run off and start recruiting, but that's hardly a sensible way to go about things. There's groundwork to lay first. Scouting. Seeing if any fledgling organized resistance actually exists. ]

Poe Dameron. Good to meet you.

[ Hang on-- ] What we remember ourselves to be?

Edited 2017-04-19 04:37 (UTC)

She shrugs. "I am." If he was expecting modesty, he was expecting wrong, but the compliment does manage to soften, like, one of her rough edges.

"I hope he writes a strongly worded letter to whomever decided to outsource her job to me because obvious that was a bad idea." Honestly, just looking at her and that is apparent. She doesn't look like a PTA member, she looks like a street urchin college student who is morally opposed to hair brushes.

Guess you got a point.

But it'd be nice to get a ballpark about how long my heads gonna be twisted up.

"I like you." He never makes a secret of that fact, when it's true. He likes her humor, he likes her confidence. For someone so young she seems completely self-possessed.

(This is where, in his best old man voice, he says she reminds him of himself, but the truth is that she doesn't at all. It's the spirit that catches his attention.)

"Poe Dameron. Pretty sure none of these actually have my name on them. What d'you say we outsource them to somebody else?"

Cassian opens his mouth at the touch, closes it, debates saying nothing and then goes: to hell with it. He spent an entire lifetime being shut off and lying about everything and besides, he knows that she didn't really mean it. Obviously. Because now she's reaching out and trying. So he gives her an awkward half smile, more honest than most expressions, and sighs.

"It's weird, actually. My boss is this bizarre eccentric with anxiety issues and my coworker can turn into a raven. And there's family. Then people keep getting hurt, and forgetting things, and I hate not knowing what's really going on."

A child approaches this time, and Cassian slips into the Wayward Pines persona again, like wearing a mask.

I'd say give it a month and see where you are then, but everyone's different.

This isn't an exact science. I probably shouldn't be trying to look for ways to rush it. Or cut corners.

It's just starting to get frustrating. And spooky.

A little difficult, considering the various other strange happenings and the constant surveillance. But you're right. It's where things need to start.

Just maybe not right this instance. [ AKA slow down, Cowboy. ]

It's how people define themselves, isn't it? What they remember, the lives they've lived.

You got any close friends in town?

I'll let you know as soon as I remember.

A few. But I can't shake the feeling I'm missing something. Big somethings.

[ Like a wife and three kids. But he doesn't know that. ]

Any other time that joke wouldn't be funny. But here it kills.

[ Poe chuckles, giving the throttle of his bike a little twist so the engine rumbles abruptly. ] Can't help it. I like to go fast.

[ And hey, he remembers a bit. Enough, for now. Then he's serious again, the back and forth between humor and gravity as natural as breathing. ] The memory thing happens a lot, huh. It's something they do to us. But it's not perfect, either, lucky us.

It's okay Finn, Cassian will just have to adapt. Maybe even emote (heaven forbid). As it is he can't quite help the little smile that spreads across his face at Finn's obvious joy at the cupcakes. He's always liked cooking for people it's just that he hasn't been able too, much. Considering...his life. Up until the point that he managed to come here, anyway.

"The sheriff probably gave you a key." One thing they're good for, over there at the sheriff's station: setting up the assimilation process. "It'll have a number on it, and the blocks are all -" he gestures in a particular direction. "But I have to take all this apart when the event is over and go back to the tea shop, would you mind helping me out first? Then I can show you where the houses are."

A beat. "Ah, I'm Cassian."

Jyn watches him put on his spy face and her gut twists for some distant reason she can't articulate. The child is all that stops her from questioning him immediately -- people don't turn into birds, Andor, don't be absurd. She waits until he has wandered off with his pink frosted cupcakes for himself and his sister before she reaches out again.

This time to move that red velvet cupcake away from the for sale ones.

"What do you mean family? How's that weird? Everyone's got one, that's sort of how the biology of humans works. Birds and the bees and all that." Granted, she is an only child turned orphan so she doesn't have much by way of family herself, but the way he put it in with all the rest makes her curious.

Homicidally funny.

[ Look beyond that impulse reply he hadn't really thought a conversation through. ]

You new to our little outpost too?

[ While he's watching the brunette, someone else watches him. She knows his face. She actually knows him, unless it's another wisp of memory laced into her head with the rest of the lies.

Sharon makes her way casually closer, pausing here and there to look at wares and buy herself snacks. She telegraphs the movements, stays in his line of sight, and waits to see if he'll notice her before she makes a move of her own.

Maybe the recognition is mutual. ]

"None of these are going to who they belong to," she tells him blithely, unashamed, practically daring him to challenge her. "They're going directly into my fridge because that is what happens when you shove a job off on someone without asking. I don't work for free which means these were clearly a gift and I'll accept that happily."

She looks like she doesn't know what a smile is, much less that she knows what happiness is.

She also doesn't tell him her name.

Edited 2017-04-19 05:31 (UTC)

I'm sure I will be sooner or later.

[ It's both a joke and not. She raises her eyebrows, this time not in any significant way. ] And that was terrible too. Also stating for the record. You've lived here for a while?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 18 of 60

«

»