bumfuckidaho | TEST DRIVE MEME, APRIL 2017.

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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.

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"Be nice. He could bring friends."

There's a girl nearby. She's sitting in the grass, a spiral notebook open in front of her. The pencil in her hand's stopped moving across the page, but she doesn't drop it. She just watches the man on the bike.

[ He hisses in a breath, tensing for a hairsbreadth moment. He hadn't noticed her there when he stopped, which is a blow to his perception of readiness. A quick glance past her at the neighborhood at least confirms that there aren't any more impending surprises. The air is quiet, too, except for the bird. ]

Could be a she. Or a they. I try not to assume.

True. [She grits her teeth, making one of those oops expressions. Her shoulders hunch.] Could be a she. Or a they. I guess that's pretty rude of me...

[She frowns a bit, then lets out a sigh as she redirects her attention back down to the notebook in front of her.] You still scared my model away, though...

[She had been sketching her surroundings prior to his arrival, including the crow that had been perched on the wire close by.]

[ He drops a friendly wink before powering down-- turning off the bike. ] I won't hold it against you.

[ He scans the sky, looking for shapes that don't belong, listening for sounds he would know if he heard them. ] Sorry. I'll try to race quietly next time.

[ It's a joke, not sarcasm, and the way he says it makes that clear enough. ] You an artist?

[There's the briefest flash of a smile when he winks at her.] Thanks.

[The pencil starts to move. She busies herself with shading while they talk.]

It's okay. There's plenty of other birds in the sky.

[She nods when he asks her.] Mmhm. [Tucking the pencil behind her ear, she picks up the notebook and awkwardly turns it in her hand, holding it up in front of her for him to look at. She does all of this with her right hand.] A bit.

[There's a lot going on on the page. Birds flying, a few close-ups of beady eyes and sharp beaks. Sky and clouds. Lawns. Buildings in the distance. No trees or branches though. She's taken to sketching practically everything around her except for those.]

[ He's no artist, unless you count what he does in the air (what does he do in the air?), but she seems good, from what he can judge.

He's more interested in the way she turns the notebook, doing it all one-handed. He won't comment on it, but he notices. ] Better than I could do. You live here?

[ He jerks his chin toward the house behind her. ]

[She's good. She knows this much.

It takes a bit of awkward maneuvering on her part, but - yeah. She does everything with the one hand. If he pays attention, he'll notice how glaringly obvious it is. If he gets closer to her, he'll understand why.]

Aw - thanks. I'm out of practice.

[She drops it to her lap, shaking her head.]

Nah. I'm not from here.

[ He kicks down the side stand on the motorcycle before dismounting, ignoring the sense of oddity that comes with having to keep the bike upright. It seems to him like it should just happen, that it's something these kinds of vehicles do on their own.]

Yeah? Where you from, then?

[ He drags a hand through his hair, though weather it straightens his curls of tousles them further is impossible to say.]

Michigan. [She remembered that one yesterday, actually. Everything else is spotty, but it's coming back.] You?

Yavin 4. [ He says it like it's the most natural thing in the world, even though he had no idea how to answer that question until she asked it and the words were half out of his mouth. He blinks, surprised, then grins. ] That's right. I forgot.

The what now?

[She's staring at him - just a little. She's never heard of such a place.]

Where the hell is that?

Yavin 4. [ It comes back as he talks, so he keeps talking. ] Jungle moon in orbit around the red gas giant Yavin, near the Outer Rim. Where's Michigan?

[He's got to be kidding.] ...America. The planet Earth?

[She straightens up considerably, then plucks the pencil from behind her ear and points it towards him.] Are you an alien? 'Cuz you don't look like one to me.

Everyone's an alien. [ SHRUG.

It's true, really. Nearly everyone he knows is from somewhere else. ] I'm human, though.

N-No no - like alien alien. X-Files. Spock. [The slightest exhale.] You... probably don't know what those are. Never mind.

[She gestures towards herself.] I'm human too. A hundred percent.

[ He grins. ] Okay. I don't know if I'm a hundred percent, but I'm enough to classify.

[ Who knows who did what with who, beyond a few generations back? ALSO, who really cares? ...Not Poe, obviously. ] And I have no idea what X-Files or Spock are, but that might just be.

[ A gesture toward his head. Memories. ]

[She mouths an oh and nods her head with understanding. The whole fuzzy head thing. Right.]

...Do you have TV in space? Even if you do - you might not get our reruns.

[ He shrugs. ] Don't know what TV or reruns are, either.

[ SORRY MIA. ]

[She's frowning and shaking her head. The poor man!] ...I'm so so sorry for you. You're really missing out. Granted - reality shows suck. So you're not missing anything there. But there's some really quality programming on the planet Earth.

[Here she is. Rambling about stupid shit that doesn't matter.

She finally catches herself - even though the damage has most likely already been done.]

What's your name? I feel like a jerk.

[ He laughs, amused both by her ramble and her question. Knowledge comes to him as she talks, what TV is, what reality shows are.

That they aren't his memories, not his knowledge, turns his stomach. ]

You're not if I'm not. Poe Dameron. You?

Poe Dameron. [When she repeats his name, it's slowly and carefully.]

Huh. Sounds pretty spacey. [She smiles just a bit, amused by it.]

Mia Allen. That's me.

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