test drive meme, may 2017

[officialnotice]

TEST DRIVE MEME

There was an accident. The details are hazy and obscure, but it's still the first thing you remember. Maybe a car wreck — metal and broken glass everywhere, and the sirens and the screaming. Maybe your bike hit a rock and you careened uncontrollably off a mountain path. Maybe something less mundane, even impossible seems to have happened to you. You can't quite make out the details, not who was at fault or why. Try as you might, the chaos is all you can truly remember.

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

When you open your eyes, the accident is gone. Instead, you're in a hospital bed, and the nursing staff greet you with cheerful smiles.

Don't worry, they tell you. You'll make a full recovery here. Where is here? Why, home in Wayward Pines, of course!

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

TRACK AND FIELD DAY

With the current school semester coming to a close and summer vacation on the horizon, school administrators have elected to end the year on a high note with an invigorating Track and Field Day at the park, in order to better foster fitness and health in the children (outside of their government mandated physical education classes, anyway).

The event is, of course, open to the community at large, whether you have a current affiliation with the school or not. Because, well, everyone could stand to get up off their couches for an afternoon of running around in the sun. Or, in the case of residents with a particular sun allergy, under the shaded tarp canopies that dot the field here and there with healthy snacks, drinks, and some of the less expansive games available today (such as, oh, a nice sedate beanbag toss).

Wayward Pines thrives on the inclusion of all varieties of people, after all. Even those that aren't, strictly speaking, people at all.

All of the most recognizable games are available, of course: sack races, relay races, three-legged races, any sort of race you can think of, really; flag football and dodgeball with soft spongy balls to keep anyone from getting too competitive (the school nurse is on hand just in case though); a massive tug-of-war rope that spans nearly the entire field; and water balloon and blanket tosses. If you're not too sure what the latter is you can ask Linda at the makeshift juice bar and she'll be all too glad to explain for you.

Actually, on second thought, don't ask Linda anything. Don't give her the satisfaction.

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), 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!

( a few notes )

Welcome to our fourth 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

[aeturnus]

[ He just looks back, curious but not intense or searching. He's taking him in without trying to analyze him too much; those movements say a lot for the kid already. Shifting, he sets the grocery bag at his feet, big closer to the opposite edge of the bench, and pats the empty space. ]

Got your coke in that bag if you want. Other stuff, too.

[bird_thing]

[another long pause as tobias' eyes dart from cain to the bag then back again with no discernible expression on his face before slowly, very slowly, closing the rest of the distance between them and perching himself just on the edge of the bench.

like he's ready to take flight at any moment, wings or no wings.

he reaches for the coke without taking an eye off of cain, twists off the top and takes a big drink. and while his face muscles still barely twitch, there's a clear level of overwhelming delight visible in his eyes the moment the sugar hits his tongue.

he takes a moment to savor it before finally speaking aloud, sharp eyes darting to the book in cain's lap this time and both hands wrapped tight around the coke bottle like he's afraid someone might try to take it away.] What book did you bring.

[aeturnus]

[ He's quiet the whole time, letting the kid get as comfortable as he feels is safe. Stays still. Smiles when the kid's gotten a drink of the soda, the look he can see hidden in his eyes where his face doesn't know how to emote. He shifts his attention to the book when the kid does and closes it enough to show off the cover. ]

Harry Potter. Pretty sure I read it a while ago, but it looked fun. Probably good to reread it.

[bird_thing]

[tobias takes another, smaller sip of the coke, savoring it now, and stares at the cover with no real reaction (it's colorful and exciting looking but ultimately entirely foreign to him).]

Never heard of it. What's it about.

[aeturnus]

About an ordinary kid with a sucky life who turns out to be magic.

[ He opens it back up again, tilting the book so they can both see the first page. ]

Opens up a whole new world for him.

[bird_thing]

[tobias slowly turns to give cain the most piercing, blank faced look he's probably ever seen from a kid. or people twice tobias' age, even.]

Magic? [he sounds oh so dubious on the subject right now. coming from a kid that just turned from a hawk five minutes ago. it's not hypocrisy, alright, it's science.]

[aeturnus]

[ He's not so sure about that, there's a lot he's probably seen that he doesn't recall, but the impressiveness of it isn't lost on him. He just shrugs, smiles gently. ]

Yeah. It's a fantasy, but... that doesn't make it less good. Everyone needs a fantasy sometimes.

[bird_thing]

If you say so. [still dubious. he's all too aware of how poorly 'a whole new world' can end for someone, after all.

but more importantly he turns his head to stare pointedly at the bad cain set down earlier.] What else did you bring?

[he can read just as easily as a hawk after all, perhaps better even with his eyesight, but human food has to be eaten with a human mouth and it's the only reason he bothered to grow legs today at all.]

[aeturnus]

[ He smiles, shifts to lean back into the seat. Nonthreatening stance so the kid can move on the bag if he wants. ]

You said cinnamon bun, so I brought a cinnamon bun. Fries are in there too, but the bun gets hard and gross fairly fast.

i like that this is tobias' smiling icon, like does it even count

[bird_thing]

[between the words and the space cain gives him tobias takes that as an open invitation to dig into the bag with his super useful human hands and unearth the mentioned cinnamon bun.

he stills for a moment to just. savor the smell of it, eyes closing in something akin to rapture. when he finally does bring himself to take a bite it's a small one, and the faintest edges of a smile manage to find traction on his face as he chews. several more small, darting bites quickly follow.

in no time at all the only thing left of the cinnamon bun is the sticky residue of the frosting on tobias' fingers.]

it counts if you ~~~believe~~~

[aeturnus]

[ There's no extraneous movements from him while he watches the kid. Clearly this isn't something he's used to getting, even less than he's used to being human for various mundane tasks you can't handle with claws. He'll take whatever he can give the kid, and that small smile makes it pretty much totally worth it. ]

I'll bring another one next time. Two? That might be too many at once.

[bird_thing]

[tobias stills in the act of carefully licking his fingers clean to stare at cain, forefinger still pressed to his bottom lip when he answers.]

Next time?

[aeturnus]

If you want there to be.

[ He shrugs, turns his attention to the rest of the park and stretches himself out pretty languidly from where he sits. ]

It's nice to get out every now and then, and company's nicer besides. But if you don't feel like a snack every time, that's cool, too.

[bird_thing]

[does he want there to be a next time? tobias is unsure, really. cain hasn't been pushy or cruel yet, and the lure of human food and potentially getting to actually finish a book for once is a pretty strong one.

he misses those quiet moments with ax and rachel too, and while this guy definitely isn't either of them he's hardly the worst human tobias has come into contact with either.]

... maybe. [is the quiet answer he eventually settles on.] If the book's any good, I guess.

[aeturnus]

Oh, right. I mean, that's important. If it's not good, I can grab a different one, too.

[ He can read on his own time, but whatever he brings out here isn't going to be for him. Not directly. ]

You wanna start?

[bird_thing]

[another pause. another consideration. and then tobias is nodding slowly and returning to licking his fingers clean, scooting just close enough to be able to read the words on the page himself (stupid human eyesight).]

I'll have to turn back into a bird soon though. [just in case cain forgot about the whole two hour time limit.]

[aeturnus]

[ No, he remembers something like that mentioned. He shifts and once they're in a fairly comfortable spot, lets Tobias read the page. He already went over this one while he was waiting. Several times. ]

That's fine. You can still read like that.

[bird_thing]

[tobias squints a little irritably at the book page being offered to him and leans just a little bit closer, fingers curling around the bottom edge of the bench to keep him steady as he reads.

after a moment he hums, takes a sip of his drink and tells cain:] Done.

[aeturnus]

[ He doesn't move himself at the motion but adjusts how he's holding the book. Turns the page and starts reading alongside him again. ]

You can turn the page yourself when you're done if you want.

[bird_thing]

[tobias doesn't say anything at first, just reads, but soon enough he's humming:
] done. [and then reaching down to fish out the fries that cain brought, quickly settling into eating those as well with an admirable sort of single-mindedness.]

I don't want to get any food on the book. [tobias says between bites.] I read pretty quickly anyway, it's not like I had any control over how quickly people turned pages when I would fly overhead.

Human eyes make it a little bit harder but I'm fine. [he also doesn't want to push his trust into reaching across cain just yet, this is more than close enough for now.]

[aeturnus]

[ That's fine, but now the kid knows the offer is there. Cain's okay with that, and turns the page obediently. It all starts out kind of cheerfully horrible, apparently, but the writing is engaging and he'll keep going with it. Until the kid has to run off or they finish, if they collectively read fast enough. ]

I bought it, so you won't be damaging anything worth anything. Not like a library book or something. Fair about the flying, though, that must have been tough.

[bird_thing]

You get used to it. [is all tobias says at first while he's reading the page, blandly dismissive because honestly in the broad scope of things his reading opportunities were hardly the hardest part about being a hawk.

but then he gets to the end of the page and can't help frowning at some of the narrative points of the opening that manage to hit just a little too close to home.]

Are all aunts and uncles like this. [he demands, a touch irritably.]

[aeturnus]

Nope. { He says it pretty nonchalant, not letting on any reaction to the sharpness of the tone. It's not something to pick apart right now. ]

They're supposed to be terrible. He'll be leaving them behind soon.

[bird_thing]

Do they not notice that he's gone too?

[it's such a simple question, really, but oh so revealing nonetheless.]

[aeturnus]

Not to spoil anything, but... I think he ends up going away and they're all glad they don't have to live together anymore. There's a lot tied up into it.

[ Pretty good storytelling, but the question itself is absolutely revealing. He's only remembering bits and pieces of the story and intuiting the rest but hopefully Harry's improving life is considered a good thing by this kid. ]