bumfuckidaho | TEST DRIVE MEME, JANUARY 2017.

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TEST DRIVE MEME, JANUARY 2017.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

| Helga sticks with her, applying the old "four eyes see more than two" principle, sort of intertwined with "you can't leave that one alone, can you". |

There is no blood.

| That's both a good and a bad sign right there. Speaking of signs: they ran out in that direction, so Helga motions for them to double back to the original site. Of course, she doesn't know that this will be a pattern they can follow in all directions: for a bit, you still see signs of someone coming through, of someone fighting, and then nothing. |

I'm no crime investigator or a...a tracker...

[ She frowns a little as she pokes delicately at a boot track with the toe of her shoe. ]

At least I don't think I am, but doesn't it look as if all these traces sort of just... go nowhere?

[ Yes she is very much aware of the fact that this statement makes very little sense, but tell her she's wrong! You can't, can you? ]

I'm no investigator, either. | She can say that much with certainty. | But I have to agree, this doesn't add up. Even if the perpetrator knew the victim and lured them here, we should have come across some tracks that indicate their arrival, for instance. Their departure even more so, since one of them was likely incapacitated. That either means heavy lifting or very fast digging.

| She crouches down, squinting, trying to find anything that could pass for blood among the shade and earth. | No one is that good. I don't have a watch on me, but it hasn't been that long since we heard the scream. If they left by conventional means, wouldn't we have noticed?

| She scoffs. | Or someone is just messing with us.

You mean, someone just made a bit of a mess and then screamed their head off? Why would anyone do such a thing?

[ It seems very rude to prey on people's kindness like that.

Then again the world is full of very rude and sometimes downright naughty people so perhaps it isn't such an unlikely thing to happen after all. ]

None of the locals seemed to want to investigate. My guess is as good as yours | though she definitely falls into the ~~naughty~~ opportunist category | but I assume this could be an easy way to target some of us new arrivals.

Do you think there is anything out here at all? Apart from the local flora and fauna, that is...

[ They are in... Idaho, right? Honestly she has absolutely no idea what sort of flora and fauna one should expect here. Hopefully nothing too dangerous. ]

I don't think it's an animal, if that is what you mean.

| That being said, she doesn't believe it's just a trick, either. The locals hadn't at all seemed at ease, which has the exact same effect on Helga, if she's entirely honest. She gets back on her feet and looks around the "scene". |

Do you want to keep on searching?

Well, why not I suppose.

[ It's not as if there is much else to do in this place, really since asking questions and doing anything but pretend that everything is fine seems to be completely off the menu.

Speaking of that... ]

Do you think we might get in trouble for it? People don't seem to be too keen on inquisitiveness around here.

| It isn't the first time Helga looks at her, but it's the first time Helga looks at her, up and down, like she has never encountered a librarian in the wild before. |

If there is going to be trouble, I am sure our little discovery has already gotten us into it.

| Smirking | If you ask me, I am just taking a very nice walk. But you don't have to join me.

[ Evey isn't too sure that she likes being looked at like that at all! It does feel vaguely familiar somehow. Maybe she used to know someone a bit like Helga before.

She straightens her back a little, and gives Helga a somewhat defiant look.

It isn't very impressive, but give her at least half a point for trying. ]

I think a walk sounds like a lovely idea.

| In that case, Helga will cease her inappropriate staring and march off into a direction that can be best described as "away from the town", as that seems to be about as specific as they can get, really. |

I reckon we might need a... walking stick.

| Just in case. A big stick's better than no weapon at all. |

Might be best if we had one each. Just so we don't trip.

[ What with being delicate ladywomen and all. Surely no one would object to them wanting to support their frail selves on something that can also be used to whack someone over the head should the occasion call for it? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only