TEST DRIVE MEME, JANUARY 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          YOU DONE HECKED UP

It's hard to say what it was, exactly, that crossed the line.

It might have been all those questions you've been asking about the town and the people within it. It might be all that talking you've been doing, about your life outside and the family you miss. It might have been the number of times you've not-so-subtly referenced the fence in the woods.

In any case, the Sheriff has taken notice of it, and you've been charged with disturbing the peace. It's his hope that a few days in a jail cell will teach you that such things aren't appreciated in Wayward Pines.

Until such a time that he deems to let you out, you and your cellmate have some time to kill.

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, at current, is audio-only and can only be accessed from the telephones in each character's home.

( a few notes )

Welcome to our first test drive here in The Pines! Just a couple of things to note:

( 1 ) 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.

( 2 ) The above link to the FAQ won't actually load for the first few hours this is up - we're sorry about that, we just have to port the FAQ into HTML. The FAQ is now live! We'll also be tossing up a few more vital pages over the next 24 hours, then opening reserves at 12:01 AM EST on the 17th. Keep an eye on thepines for updates.

Comments

the witness | original | more prompts to come on the new tdm, i swear

[bearswitness]

[ He's had a terrible day, and there's someone out there that dearly wants for yelling at. Unfortunately, Eshkol is not really the man for that particular job. But he can't just let the wrongs he's suffered go unpunished!

So that's why he's on the hunt today, stalking down the street with his scarf pulled up to his nose (the locals don't seem to mind his particular missing feature, but old habits die hard), orange eyes raking the surrounding area. All he needs is a person. A warm body. Hands that can dial numbers and a voice that works. Just that, and justice is within his grasp.

Do him a favor for once, universe. ]

[crosschecking]

[ The universe provides, in the form of a towering gentleman striding only slightly less purposefully in the direction opposite, albeit for a much less nobler cause than the business suit suggests. (It's groceries. If you could do him a solid while you're at it, universe, just let him settle in before he goes full throttle on investigation.) ]

[ No such luck, apparently, though he might not know it just yet. Meeting the hawkish man posted smack in the middle of the sidewalk as he rounds the corner, Amon does his best to unobtrusively sidestep him. It's sort of hard when this guy's just like. Right there. ]

[bearswitness]

[ This poor man will have no such luck: Eshkol is not moving. In fact, he's staring straight at the man — glaring, one could even say, with fiery orange eyes and pupils that are too horizontal to look right.

He thrusts out a hand with no warning whatsoever, closed palm headed straight for Amon's chest — but rather than a punch or a shove, instead he just presses a small square of paper into the front of his shirt, impossible to ignore. It's been ripped from a spiral notebook, on lined paper, with beautiful, looping cursive in a prewritten note: ]

I need your help.

[crosschecking]

[ Alright, so much for collision avoidance on autopilot. Amon's about to utter a quick "excuse me" as he looks up to better dodge around the man, only to catch sight of an incoming fist. Instinctively he tenses, pulling back and grabbing the man round his bony wrist with reflexes not quite expected of someone his size. After all, being punched in the chest point blank by folks with obscured faces and not-quite-right eyes is an occupational hazard, and a mistake one usually only gets to make once. ]

[ This, however, has no such force behind it in the slightest. Only a tiny note being proffered, that Amon takes after lowering his guard several notches. Not much of a read, but his brow knits together before he glances back up. ]

What is it?

[bearswitness]

[ He doesn't seem to mind his wrist having been snatched in the slightest. In fact, it was kind of expected. It would be concerning if this guy had no survival instincts. In lieu of an answer (he's a quick writer, but somethings just take too long), he twists his hand around to snatch up Amon's wrist in turn, and jerks to pull him forward and back the way he'd come. His strength is nothing special, but his persistence is legendary. ]

Prokopenko | The Raven Cycle

[chortling]

Option One

[The only thing that Prokopenko knows for sure is that he should be dead. He's not exactly sure where that knowledge comes from. Maybe the reason is that he woke up in a hospital with just barely any recollection of who he is, no idea where he is or if he should be there at all. He's antsy, like something important isn't quite there. Maybe that's how he usually feels. He wanders aimlessly around town, feeling tempted to graffiti vulgarities on every one of those stupid signs he sees everywhere. It makes him angry -- again, he's not sure why, though. Maybe it's just becuase this is all so inconvenient and annoying.

He knows he wants a hit of something but this doesn't seem like the town that has anything even if he was going to go around asking.]

Fucking bullshit. [ The words are only sort of appropriately sulky for how he feels, crossing his arms as he drops down onto a bench outside of one of the restaurants. Maybe he should get some food since it's actually smelling good enough to make him well aware of the fact he's hungry. ]

Wildcard

[ Hit me with something different if you want. ]