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

subaru sumeragi | x/1999 | taking some potentially inaccurate creative liberties post-june plot

[hangedman]

around town; (warning: ghosts)

[ People died. He'd heard rumors of the creatures, of the battle that had ripped this small community apart, from which they were still rebuilding, but Subaru hadn't needed to be told to know there had been casualties. He could feel them, death painting the walls of the hospital he'd woken up in, staining the concrete of the sidewalk he'd walked down after, casting a shadow over his new home.

But not just there. Pain radiates from points all over Wayward Pines, and Subaru navigates it like a hawk on the wind. To a house, one that used to be filled with a collection of smiling faces and isn't anymore. He stops outside the front gate and just stands, boots flat against the concrete, coat billowing in the slight breeze. Watching. Breathing. Feeling. ]

Did you know them? [ he asks the first of his neighbors to happen by. ]

at the fence; (cw: blood/injury)

[ Whether or not the human race deserves to survive, the fact is they are surviving, and Subaru has never been as good at apathy as he wishes he was. As soon as he's well enough to do it, he takes a trip out to the fence, his coat on his shoulders despite the heat, and ofuda in his pockets.

The first ward presses flat to the fence with a small rush of air, like a leaf hitting water. For a moment it hangs there, just beyond Subaru's outstretched hand, easy as a flyer nailed to a light post.

Then, it's as if an invisible knife slices the post in two. The ward floats to the ground in two neat pieces. Blood drips into the dirt. Subaru turns his palm to look, to watch the blood trickle down the fresh gash and curve over a rise of muscle, to follow the drops of red as they plummet toward the earth. The pain doesn't seem to have registered.

That's probably not a good sign, though. ]

beyond the wall;

[ It had taken time to convince the Sheriff to let him go out beyond the wall. It made sense; they were concerned about keeping people alive, about keeping humanity alive, and while Subaru isn't sure if that goal is worthwhile in the end (Is this the future Kamui wished for?), he understands their survival is a numbers game now as much as anything else. They want to be sure he won't get killed before they send him out. The fact that he doesn't have much talent with firearms hadn't improved his chances, but yesterday he had shown the Sheriff something that had convinced him all the same, and he'd been approved for a small mission.

(And none too soon. He's felt it for days, an ache that started behind his right eye and grew like a vine, wrapping around his mind and tightening. At first it'd been almost good, just to feel something, anything — but it would need to be handled. )

Today, he's dressed for travel if not for combat, in jeans and a t-shirt, armed only with a knife strapped to his belt and a small satchel he seems loathe to let swing too abruptly. To the magically attuned, for a moment it might seem like he's carrying a black hole around in his side-bag, a seeping darkness gently leeching the life out of everything around it — or maybe it's nothing. Just a bag.

At the gate in the fence, he hesitates. His eyes slide to his assigned partner. ]

There's no need for you to escort me.

[ ...says the guy who looks like a stiff wind could do him in, as he heads out into the flesh-eating mutant territory. Probably fine. ]

network;

Onmyouji
Psychic Investigator and Spiritual Medium
Available for cleansing, wards, exorcisms,
and quelling spiritual disturbances.

1

[misandrism]

[ He isn't the only one that's felt the restless dead. None of them are particularly violent — though the violent deaths they must of have incurred are in no way helping that. There's been a handful that Rei has encountered that she's had to dispel with more... pyromantic methods, but for the most part, a simple ofuda has been enough. It's what she's doing now, going from house to house and leaving the talisman, a gentle request for the people within, if they're still around, to go into the light, so to speak.

She's not expecting anyone else, let alone someone who radiates psychic energy the way she does, and she actually hesitates before approaching, one of her ofuda held between her index and middle fingers. Protection — for herself? Or for the spirits within the house? ] No. Did you?