test drive meme, june 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

FOURTH OF JULY

If there's one thing to be said for Wayward Pines it's the town's resilience and staunch refusal to give up on the image of a picturesque little town, and July 4th this year has the community putting it's best foot forward in this regard with its annual 4th of July picnic and fireworks spectacular.

To hear anyone (Linda) familiar with the town talk (complain), this year is a much more sedate affair than any of the years prior, but in a lot of ways today is a very good opportunity for people to reconnect with their neighbors; chat quietly at a table, share a recipe, play some catch, or argue with Jerry over the proper way too cook a burger. Jerry never listens, of course, but thankfully the whole event is a pot luck so there are plenty of other, far more edible options for those with a more... discerning palate.

The day passes pleasantly, and the night? The night brings the fireworks. A beautiful cascade of bright colors and lights in the sky. Sparklers are handed out like party favors while everyone is strongly encouraged to play safe by a long-suffering and weary looking sheriff. After all, the town has had quite enough excitement by this point, don't you think?

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 fifth 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

[fortunefavored]

Yeah, I can, actually. And I will, since you called me Bill Nye and that is the highest of compliments. First off, avocados contain a high amount of beta-sitosterol, which (along with other plant sterols) helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels. There's also lutein and zeaxanthin which help repair and maintain eye tissue and the fatty acids help absorb antioxidants like beta-carotine which helps prevent mucular degeneration, and all three of which I was using in my studies of cloning eye tissue for possible reconstruction before Tresspasser hit. Avocados also contain about a fourth of the amount of vitamin K that you need per day, which is just as important as calcium and vitamin D for bone health, but a lot of times people don't get enough of it. Then there's folate, which helps protect against various forms of cancer by preventing mutations in DNA and RNA during cell division, as well as prevents a build up of homocysteine which can decrease circulation and can also decrease the amount of seratonin and dopamine, which have an effect on mood. It's also a good source of fiber which helps regulate your immune system and intenstinal cycle and therefore helps with detoxifying the body on a regular basis, in addition to being generally good for your body in terms of preventing various health issues like heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, and gastro-intestinal diseases. Fiber also helps lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol.

So yeah. Avocados. They're awesome.


Then idk what studies you were reading, but they've gotta been from eons ago or from someone who was for corporal punishment. I'd love to see the data on those because I'm willing to bet a good chunk of change that there was some horseshit in the data and how it was collected. Also, my dude, you turned out fine in spite of the hide tanning, not because of. People that live through abuse have the ability to turn out fine and better than the people that abused them. It doesn't change the fact that abuse is abuse. Though I gotta agree with you re: people gotta start thinking twice about procreating. And by that I also mean that safe abortions should be more readily available and affordable because we probably wouldn't have half the problems we do if people with a uterus were just allowed to safely get abortions.

Yeah up to no good like actually protesting against things that are bs. I mean idk about the situation you came from, but in my world we're getting close to the apocalypse and on our last legs because a bunch of 60-70 year old suits in the government decided that building a wall is going to keep out a 2500+ ton alien creature. Which is some massive amounts of horseshit.

[infligere]

Before we continue this enlightening and absolutely fascinating conversation, I do have to ask: how much lockers were you pushed into as a teenager? You sound like the type that probably met with a fair share of jock-testosterone aggression. I mean, nothing wrong with info-dumping when asked, but it does make you look like a know-it-all jackass.

Still, I have seen the light! Hallelujah! Avocados will keep me alive longer, prevent cancer (ha ha ha...), and allow me to be an all around better human being. Where have all these avocados been all my life where I missed all of these ground-breaking innovations stuffed into one green organic creature! However, you forget to break it down for us dumb-asses that avocado fiber just makes you have better shits. Sorry, aids in formed and normal frequency defecation.

Oh no, daddy taught me all of my life lessons with a good slamming around. Dog eat, dog world and I better be a strong SOB or I'd be chewed up and spat out. Also, I'd be more than happy to provide links to the studies that I had read, but the internet is super borked here. But you know, what does that matter? We have you as an organic source of internet knowledge?

Wow, your government is as useless as mine. Network fist-bump.