TEST DRIVE MEME, APRIL 2017.

[officialnotice]

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.

Comments

jesse pinkman | breaking bad

[heisenbitch]

INTO THE WOODS

[ A skinny, scrawny guy with a buzzcut, dressed in dark jeans and drab shirt and dark hoodie is crawling with agonisingly slow and strenuous effort across the ground.

Behind him, through the thicket of trees beyond where he's struggling to move, is the mysterious giant fence, the sign clearly visible and readable from where he's collapsed.

Jesse is sweaty, pale, the dark circles that were already hanging heavy under his eyes before he'd taken off into the woods now even more pronounced. His hands slap at the ground, fingers digging into twigs and damp earth as he drags himself away from the wall, back in the direction of town. His breath rises and falls shallowly, and his frantic, fear-filled eyes, drooping constantly under the weight of lethargy and weakness, dart around him for some kind of help.

It's a long way back to the town from here, and the sun is already beginning to sink low in the sky. It will be dark soon. Who knows what is lurking in the shadows of these woods while the sun is still shining, let alone when night falls. ]

BAKE SALE

[ This same skinny, scrawny guy is standing behind one of the stalls at the bake sale.

In front of him on the table are misshapen cupcakes smothered in messy blue icing. Why cupcakes? Well, it's a bake sale, duh. And Jesse is a cook. A damn good cook, too. Not that Jesse remembers exactly what he's good at cooking. He assumes it's food; it's the most logical conclusion, after all. If these's cupcakes are anything to go by, however… Well, Jesse definitely ain't a good cook when it comes to baked goods.

And why are his cupcakes blue? Well, that's another thing that keeps ringing through Jesse's mind: the colour blue. Something to do with blue and cooking, but he can't place what the connection is. It disconcerts the shit out of him that he can't remember. It's like there are entire chunks of him missing, and he has no idea what those pieces are, so has no idea where to even begin searching for answers to fill in the gaps.

But anyway, look, it's not like he wants to be at this bake sale, but Jesse is playing his part. Fulfilling his duty as model citizen of Wayward Pines. Or, at the very least, giving the appearance of a model citizen, dressed casually but smartly. It's not simply the fact that Jesse, like the rest of the townsfolk, knows he's being constantly watched that Jesse is here. There's something else that's been niggling at him: an ingrained way of thinking, perhaps, about the importance of presenting oneself as a model citizen so as to not have people suspect that there might be something more insidious lurking beneath. Hiding in plain sight. Keeping your friends close but your enemies closer. A bake sale, however mundane and lame, is the perfect way for Jesse to hide in plain sight and ingratiate himself into the community, right?

After all, the bake sale is a community drive for the benefit of kids. Kids are a cause Jesse can always get behind. If there is anything Jesse will go out of way to help, it's kids.

So, here Jesse is, standing at his table, with plates of his shitty cupcakes in front of him. He's dying for a smoke. He can't wait for this to be over. But as yet another person passes by his stall, he ventures: ]

Interested in buying some super shitty ass cupcakes?

[ Offered with such a self-deprecating, boyishly charming little smile while squinting against the glare of the mid-morning sun. If Jesse is a shady character, which he most certainly is, he's doing a good job of blending in and seeming utterly harmless. The fact that he can't remember a good deal of why he's a shady sack of shit only makes the harmless, model citizen act he's got going on all the more convincing. ]

MESSAGE BOARD POST

Sup everyone. Got a small request. Currently pretty low on cash. Wondering if someone could spot a bro some cigarettes or whatever else people smoke to tide me over for a few days. [ "Whatever else people smoke" = intentionally vague because… what exactly is legal here, man? ] Will pay you back when I'm good for it.

*

(OOC: Feel free to WILDCARD a starter for Jesse! If you want to discuss anything first, hit me up via PM. :D )

bake sale

[sweariff]

[Why is he here again? Right, "for the kids" — or at least that's what the flyer slipped into his mailbox proclaimed this thing was for, and it's a— well, it's not a very good reason, but it's more valid than "for the hell of it", so Bigby will run with it. Not that he hates children. He actually rather enjoys being around them most of the time, or at least around the ones who don't go out of their way to be spiteful little shits, and so far the ones here have been pretty decent. There have been a lot of attempts made to shove free samples in his face, offers of little pre-cut brownie squares and chocolate pretzel rods, and he's starting to run out of ways to politely decline without outright admitting that chocolate is one of the few foods that doesn't agree with him.

Just when it starts to sink in that coming to an event where he can't even eat half of the food is sort of a tremendous waste of time, flimsy child guilt tripping be damned, the guy running the stall he walks past starts talking to him. And then Bigby gets a good look at what he's selling.

»(Buy cupcake)
»Those are cupcakes?
»How much?
»...]

You giving them away for free?