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memesville2021-03-10 05:07 pm
robbies) wrote in memesville2021-03-10 05:07 pm
Entry tags:
TDM - MARCH/APRIL 2021
TEST DRIVE MEME - MARCH/APRIL 2021
It's the day the devil in us gets released.
“Help me. Please, help me…”
A child’s voice, calling out for aid. There’s no rhyme or reason for when it comes to you. It’s so quiet, a whisper in the deepest, darkest corners of your mind. Were it not for the sharp, stabbing pain it pulls out of you, you could ignore it. You could even pretend it’s just your imagination.
It all happens so quickly and powerfully. Left in the dust, your brain struggles to process it all. Blacking out is the least it can do, but it’s also all it can do, and it does so before you even have a chance to fully register just how young the voice is, and how deeply, heartbreakingly lost it sounds.
When you finally awaken with your bare feet tangled in soft sheets, a layer of fuzzy fleece or slinky silk clinging to your body like another layer of skin, the sunlight pouring in from the window next to your bed momentarily blinding you, and the cries of happy children playing outside of it carrying faintly, it all becomes very clear—
Something is horribly wrong.
A child’s voice, calling out for aid. There’s no rhyme or reason for when it comes to you. It’s so quiet, a whisper in the deepest, darkest corners of your mind. Were it not for the sharp, stabbing pain it pulls out of you, you could ignore it. You could even pretend it’s just your imagination.
It all happens so quickly and powerfully. Left in the dust, your brain struggles to process it all. Blacking out is the least it can do, but it’s also all it can do, and it does so before you even have a chance to fully register just how young the voice is, and how deeply, heartbreakingly lost it sounds.
When you finally awaken with your bare feet tangled in soft sheets, a layer of fuzzy fleece or slinky silk clinging to your body like another layer of skin, the sunlight pouring in from the window next to your bed momentarily blinding you, and the cries of happy children playing outside of it carrying faintly, it all becomes very clear—
Something is horribly wrong.
MARCH 1st.
 |
It becomes very clear very quickly that this isn’t a simple kidnapping.
By the time you make it down to the living room, you’ll notice that the television is on; someone must have forgotten to turn it off before they went to bed. On it, the morning news is playing. “With their charity luncheon a rousing success, the Happy Home Association later donated all of their proceeds to the Santa Rosita Planning Commission. Debra, a member of the HHA, said the amount they donated more than ensures that 1961 will be an eventful year for us here in our fair town…” |
GETTING TO KNOW THE NEIGHBORS.
| As you get acclimated, you gradually begin to learn more about this strange new world you’ve found yourself in. You’re in a neighborhood on the east side of a town called Santa Rosita located… somewhere in California (wherever or whatever that might be). The year is 1961. If it wasn’t clear enough, your neighbors are more than willing to humor you if you ask. Even if you accost them with questions and demands. Sure, you and your family are a little kooky, and you have a very overactive imagination, but the key to any good joke is playing along! And how could something like “I’m from the future, from another world” be anything but a joke? A. DRINK UP.With March incoming, spring is in the air and everybody seems to be excited to get out of their house and enjoy the good weather. Birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and guys and gals alike are out to take a brisk walk and socialize! Wanting to make sure you’re feeling truly welcome to the town, whether you’re brand new or went through such a wild winter with them, your neighbors will be on their way with gifts aplenty. Delicacies such as tomato aspic and potato salad and bologna cake will ensure that your fridge is full to bursting, and no matter how you try to demur, they’re insistent that you accept their offerings.March also brings with it St. Patrick’s Day, and some of your neighbors are feeling festive! A knock at the door, and you’ll find yourself confronted with a plate full of 7-Up Cheese Aspic, wiggling and bright. “I saw this recipe and just knew I had to try it!” the beaming cook says, pushing it into your hands. “And with St. Patrick’s Day coming up, we should all be getting in the spirit, right?” The combination of cheese cubes, raw onions, and green olives in a mixture of lime jello and fizzy 7-Up might be a bit off-putting to some. But you never know until you try! Go on, give it a whirl! |
 |
B. SPRING CLEANING.
It’s a beautiful, picturesque Saturday in the neighborhood—the sun rising, banishing the dark shadows of night, the birds beginning to peep and tweet, the morning dew sparkling on the grass…“Morning, neighbor!”
“Hello, pal!”
“Time to brush off the cobwebs, huh, fellows?”
“You said it!”
And as one, several lawn mowers come to life with a synchronized roar, breaking the peace of your quiet Saturday morning.
All over the neighborhood, windows are being thrown wide and the mops and brooms, hedge clippers and lawn mowers, gardening and carpentry tools alike are being brought out as the townsfolk set to combing every inch of their house and yard (and in Mr. Martin’s case, literally!) to bring it to order after a long winter. Everybody has a job, from the oldest old man to the youngest child, and everybody’s pitching in to do their part and ensure Santa Rosita enjoys another beautiful year.
And don’t think they’ll leave you, their new neighbor and best friend, out of the picture! You might emerge from your house one day to pick up the paper and find there’s a Robbie in your front yard, whistling cheerfully as he prunes your front hedges. One of your neighbors might make a cracking joke about how they can’t have you feeling left out as he rolls his lawn mower into your yard, or you might receive some new gifts in the form of seedlings and sprouts all ready to be hardened off and planted (you do know what that means and how to do it, don’t you?). Careful—if you let that salt linger too long on your car, one of the well-meaning neighbor kids might take some initiative and wash it for you! Watch out—first they’ll come for you with the hose for a laugh, but then they’ll come for your wallet when they beam and hint that, “Oh, it was nothing… I was happy to do it…”
HAPPY FAMILIES.
 |
It becomes very clear very quickly that this isn’t a simple kidnapping… Hey, hold on a second—haven’t we been through this already? When your eyes open to the sound of your alarm, there’s something pinging at the back of your mind—you might not be able to place what it is right away, but something’s wrong. Maybe it’s the feeling of your pajamas, or maybe the sheets are a slightly greener shade of blue, or maybe your alarm is a tiny bit shriller than it usually is… but whatever it is, it’s got all your senses on alert. Getting up and out of bed, it may become immediately obvious—or maybe not, if your “spouse” has already woken up and gone downstairs for the day. But sooner or later, you’ll find that your loving family is no longer your loving family. Something weird is going on with Santa Rosita, and whatever force brought you here seems to be on the fritz. Your “family” can change by the day—you might go to bed in your home on Mockingbird Lane and wake up in an entirely new family on Loomis Drive. Curiously, your belongings seem to travel with you… most of the time. Sometimes they’ll be lost in transit, and that lovely little black dress you bought at Honeybee’s has somehow ended up in one of your neighbors’ closets. Hopefully you’re on good terms with your neighbors so that you can get your stuff back! Your neighbors seem entirely nonplussed by the frequent swapping of households. Ask any of them and they’ll say you’ve always lived there, that your son has always been your son, and you’ve never had a daughter, silly! As all the photos in your house seem to change along with them, it’ll be hard to find anything that might prove them wrong. |
TOPSY-TURVY.
While your families are constantly shifting, that doesn’t seem to be the only thing going sideways. The entire city of Santa Rosita seems to be in a state of flux—days might go from mild at dawn to scorching by noon and back to December snow by dusk. Winds howl in single gusts before dying down, and rain falls such that you can stand on one side of the curtain of rain and stay dry while you stick your hand into the deluge two feet away.
Doors in your home cannot be trusted; similar to December, it’s possible for them to open up to entirely different locations. However, unlike December, the doors don’t all lead to a singular place—where they’ll lead at any given moment is anyone’s guess! You might find yourself on the other side of town, back at the site of the now-gone Christmas village, or even in one of your neighbors’ houses. Maybe you can use your bedroom for a quick commute to work or school if you get lucky or are persistent enough? Curiously, locations like city hall and the police department never pop up when you find somewhere new on the other side of your door; neither will NPC households.
As if that wasn’t enough, ghosts and goblins seem to appear and disappear with the changing of the hour. Paranormal activity of all types run rampant, ranging from innocuous to intense. You may return home to find that everything in your kitchen has been shifted by two inches… or you may wake up to find your dresser floating midair and coming back down to the ground with a resounding crash! Ghosts appear, dressed in any style and fashion up through those of 1961 (or sometimes, strangely, in clothing that’s odd and futuristic for Santa Rosita’s quaint streets), and it might be possible to find other mythical creatures around the town from time to time, though the storybook unicorns and witches seem to disappear whenever you get too close. Further, there’s something that seems to have taken up residence under your bed, though it’s never there when you try to look or catch it. But how else do you explain its cold, withered, knobbly fingers as they lock around your ankle if your leg hangs off the bed at night? Its sharp nails scratching at your heels as it tries to grab you when you get out of bed in the middle of the night? The sound of breathing that fills your room at night and the faint clammy breath on your face in the instant before you open your eyes?
Wandering packs of zombie children may show up in your neighborhoods in the night—surely you’ve stocked up on pumpkins to make a new jack-o’-lantern, right? Doppelgangers and ferthurs appear and disappear in shifts; you may be looking out the window when it happens: A slight shift in the air, almost like a video ripping, and they’re gone, transported back to wherever they came from. Maybe they were chasing you when they disappeared; you might turn around to find that nothing is there (was it ever?).
Still other are the mysterious figures you might see around town. You’ll find that no matter how often you see them, you’ll never be able to describe them to someone else; the words will escape you every time. Are they short? Tall? Stout? Petite? Dark hair? Light hair? Smiling? Frowning? Nobody who sees them can agree, but one thing is for sure: They’re watching you, and they’ll appear at random, whether that’s standing in your corner watching you sleep or trailing after you through the grocer’s. None of the NPCs will notice these figures, though they do seem to give them a wide berth if possible—almost like they can unconsciously sense the prospect of danger.
The only respite from the chaos seems to be that not everything happens at once, and at other times of the month the city is downright peaceful. There’s no reason or rhyme to the starts and stops of the monsters, the figures, the doors or the weather; check the almanacs and mark the night skies (when it isn’t hidden behind snowfall or turbulent clouds), but try as you might, you won’t be able to find a pattern.
All you can do is hope that this passes quickly.
Doors in your home cannot be trusted; similar to December, it’s possible for them to open up to entirely different locations. However, unlike December, the doors don’t all lead to a singular place—where they’ll lead at any given moment is anyone’s guess! You might find yourself on the other side of town, back at the site of the now-gone Christmas village, or even in one of your neighbors’ houses. Maybe you can use your bedroom for a quick commute to work or school if you get lucky or are persistent enough? Curiously, locations like city hall and the police department never pop up when you find somewhere new on the other side of your door; neither will NPC households.
As if that wasn’t enough, ghosts and goblins seem to appear and disappear with the changing of the hour. Paranormal activity of all types run rampant, ranging from innocuous to intense. You may return home to find that everything in your kitchen has been shifted by two inches… or you may wake up to find your dresser floating midair and coming back down to the ground with a resounding crash! Ghosts appear, dressed in any style and fashion up through those of 1961 (or sometimes, strangely, in clothing that’s odd and futuristic for Santa Rosita’s quaint streets), and it might be possible to find other mythical creatures around the town from time to time, though the storybook unicorns and witches seem to disappear whenever you get too close. Further, there’s something that seems to have taken up residence under your bed, though it’s never there when you try to look or catch it. But how else do you explain its cold, withered, knobbly fingers as they lock around your ankle if your leg hangs off the bed at night? Its sharp nails scratching at your heels as it tries to grab you when you get out of bed in the middle of the night? The sound of breathing that fills your room at night and the faint clammy breath on your face in the instant before you open your eyes?
Wandering packs of zombie children may show up in your neighborhoods in the night—surely you’ve stocked up on pumpkins to make a new jack-o’-lantern, right? Doppelgangers and ferthurs appear and disappear in shifts; you may be looking out the window when it happens: A slight shift in the air, almost like a video ripping, and they’re gone, transported back to wherever they came from. Maybe they were chasing you when they disappeared; you might turn around to find that nothing is there (was it ever?).
Still other are the mysterious figures you might see around town. You’ll find that no matter how often you see them, you’ll never be able to describe them to someone else; the words will escape you every time. Are they short? Tall? Stout? Petite? Dark hair? Light hair? Smiling? Frowning? Nobody who sees them can agree, but one thing is for sure: They’re watching you, and they’ll appear at random, whether that’s standing in your corner watching you sleep or trailing after you through the grocer’s. None of the NPCs will notice these figures, though they do seem to give them a wide berth if possible—almost like they can unconsciously sense the prospect of danger.
The only respite from the chaos seems to be that not everything happens at once, and at other times of the month the city is downright peaceful. There’s no reason or rhyme to the starts and stops of the monsters, the figures, the doors or the weather; check the almanacs and mark the night skies (when it isn’t hidden behind snowfall or turbulent clouds), but try as you might, you won’t be able to find a pattern.
All you can do is hope that this passes quickly.
OOC INFO
Hello, and welcome to We're Still Here's third TDM! Here's a few things we'd like you to keep in mind:
We’re Still Here is taking a short pause for the months of March and April. This TDM will span both months and we encourage everybody to tag out, tag in, backtag, and start new threads as you please! Apps will reopen in May.
The TDM is canon. You can treat this as a real game-wide event and pick and choose what threads you would like your character to remember when they enter the game. For characters who app into the game, the events of the TDM will be treated like a dream.
Please note that there is a lot going on in this TDM — this is intentional! We wanted to give you, the players, a full world and event to play with that could last beyond the usual event or TDM cycle. You may cherry-pick from the above prompts as you please and take reasonable liberties as you would like; if you have any questions, you may use the mod top-level below to ask them.
For current players, the Housing page has been updated with new assignments! These assignments are temporary and will be subject to shuffling once more at the end of the pause. As detailed in the above prompts, you may play with shifting housing as often as you would please; for those of you who do not want to make use of this prompt, the new Housing assignments are there for your convenience.
There is no Network prompt listed, but feel free to wildcard one for your characters anyway.
Please be sure to label any threads with relevant content warnings as necessary. Any questions for the mods can be asked in the mod top-level below (please note that due to the pause, these questions may be answered more slowly than normal!). For new and prospective players, please make use of the Prospective Rolodex!
We’re Still Here is taking a short pause for the months of March and April. This TDM will span both months and we encourage everybody to tag out, tag in, backtag, and start new threads as you please! Apps will reopen in May.
The TDM is canon. You can treat this as a real game-wide event and pick and choose what threads you would like your character to remember when they enter the game. For characters who app into the game, the events of the TDM will be treated like a dream.
Please note that there is a lot going on in this TDM — this is intentional! We wanted to give you, the players, a full world and event to play with that could last beyond the usual event or TDM cycle. You may cherry-pick from the above prompts as you please and take reasonable liberties as you would like; if you have any questions, you may use the mod top-level below to ask them.
For current players, the Housing page has been updated with new assignments! These assignments are temporary and will be subject to shuffling once more at the end of the pause. As detailed in the above prompts, you may play with shifting housing as often as you would please; for those of you who do not want to make use of this prompt, the new Housing assignments are there for your convenience.
There is no Network prompt listed, but feel free to wildcard one for your characters anyway.
Please be sure to label any threads with relevant content warnings as necessary. Any questions for the mods can be asked in the mod top-level below (please note that due to the pause, these questions may be answered more slowly than normal!). For new and prospective players, please make use of the Prospective Rolodex!
trial and execution of the witch box
Huaisang himself doesn't quite fit in here or anywhere. His long black hair topped with intricate braids is straight out of his own culture, but here he wears strange short skirts that show off a scandalous amount of his calves and arms, and he's perfectly content in the role he's been given of 'wife'. Or at least he was yesterday. This is not his beautiful husband!] What are you doing! That's important.
Wei-xiong! Wei-xiong! [He looks around desperately, but his best friend and pretend husband does not appear.]
no subject
yes, that sounds about right. it's so nice when you can jam scary, unfamiliar new scenarios into a grinder and have them come out familiar. like sausages.]
You'd better not be callin' any of your other witch friends, lad! They'll fare about as well as your damned box did.
apparently I can't read...
Though it isn't untrue about him being a witch, in a manner of speaking, the destruction of house and property and the disappearance of his friend Wuxian only to be replaced by this roaring oaf is more than he can bear.
Blinking unhappily, his lower lip quivers for a moment before he bursts into tears.] How could you be so cruel!
[Their little domestic disaster is quickly drawing an audience as neighbors draw around to see what's going on. A passing man with a briefcase stops to scold:] For shame, Mr. Baratheon, you've gone and made your wife cry! You'll be in the dog house now.
no don't worry i'm sure bobby will say it out loud in like five minutes
wife. quite possibly, the worst word in the common tongue. there had been a time when "wife" had been a word of potential, and a much longer time where it had meant bitterness and anger. and now it is a word meaning... a beardless boy crying like a maid over being called a witch.]
... I haven't got nearly enough wine in my blood to deal with this. [and so, trundling off back towards the house.] Come along, "wife." And quit the damned blubbering! Give you something to cry about...
no subject
The entire month has been a whirlwind of portals and swapped families, with his 'son' disappearing as if he'd never been, vanished from the portraits, only to return that same afternoon. Now there's this strange new oaf. Huaisang wants to go for help, but he knows how important it is to seem to be fitting in, to pretend that all is well.
As if that's possible with the shattered front window.
Trailing after his new 'husband', Huaisang heads for the kitchen and takes down two glasses and a bottle of wine, pouring for them both. This definitely isn't anything he wants to deal with sober.] We've all been kidnapped and brought to this place. If you don't play along, the... leaders of this place and their enforcers will cast a spell on your mind to make you behave.
no subject
What a fool I was, to think dying meant no longer having to bother with the petty schemes of men. It never ends.
I've never been the sort to "play along." And, no offense to you, lad, but I've had all the wife a man could stand in one lifetime. [beat] You're a sight prettier than her, though.
[and then he just laughs, because he's now on his third glass, and thus about one and a half away from his brain reaching baseline functionality.]
no subject
I am Nie Huaisang of Qinghe, a province leader in my homeland, but here I am expected to play wife. I... had a different husband this morning. Your fury was a very alarming surprise.
no subject
If you're to be a Baratheon, you'll have to learn to deal with fury! [chuckles] You've got a bit of my brother about you, I think. A bit more doe than stag, but fierce, when he must be. It can be a blessing, to be underestimated.
no subject
The comparison to this Barathon's brother earns a tiny smile from him, and this description is very accurate.] It is often a blessing to be underestimated.
You too have a bit of my brother about you. A fearsome warrior and general, respected for his justice and righteousness.
no subject
In my younger years, perhaps, in my younger years... [he's getting tired of the pretense he's just going to take the rest of the bottle.] Now, justice and righteousness? Can't say I've ever been accused of that. That's all Ned... And, if the gods are merciful, my son.
[spoiler: they aren't.]
Never thought I'd have to worry about that again... Suppose it's part of the punishment, aye? [holds out the bottle c'mon bro cheers back]
no subject
There are different kinds of justice.
[This is why he got a second bottle, so there's still one for himself. And for Baratheon's next round, by the rate he's drinking. Picking up the bottle, he taps it against his 'husband's' bottle, then drinks.]
What are your virtues now, if you're no longer the warrior of your younger years?
no subject
I've never burned anyone alive. That might not count for much, wherever you're from... I'm a fine huntsman. Except for right at the end. And I left more women pleased than I didn't. Put that on my crypt.
no subject
Huaisang's world is a dark one, and he's seen plenty of dark things. Never burned anyone alive still leaves room for plenty of horrors.]
Some days I think what I miss most from home is the decent pornography and good whorehouses. [Perhaps that's a strange statement for a pretty young man in pearls and silk. By the standards of this world, he's dressed like a chaste housewife. By the standards of his own world--and Baratheon's, from the sound of it--he's dressed like a shocking whore.]
1/2
[if Robert knew what a record scratch was, one would have happened here]
no subject
oh. this is definitely a hell.]
no subject
He gets it. Though the differences between them may be vast, Huaisang understands the importance of a decent whorehouse.]
Do you have a religion or cult or scholastic following in your world that disapproves of liquor, rowdiness, lechery, all those fun things in life? This is a place run by those sort of people.
If you're known to participate in any of those things, you risk being ensorcelled into becoming one of them.
no subject
gonna. put his head on the table. for a bit.
give him a moment.]
... A whole town of bloody Stannises! [and then he's back up and he slams his fist on the table.] Who've I got to kill to free myself of this nightmare? I'll send them home to their mothers in a coin purse!
no subject
Remember what I said, though. The ensorcellment. If you aren't careful, if you don't behave, they'll change your mind. You have to learn how to do things quietly.
[Quieter, at least.]
no subject
So, I take it that finding my hammer and smashing this "mayor's" chest like a gourd would not be quiet enough.
[and this does mean he is literally entirely out of ideas]
I'm not a man for intrigue and subterfuge. I'm a man for hitting things, very hard, with weapons. [shrugs] The time always comes when those who prefer the former need the services of the latter. You'll see.
no subject
I'm all for you attempting to smash the mayor, I simply would advise a quiet approach, so that he does not ensorcel you before you get the chance.
[Huaisang doesn't necessarily expect Baratheon to survive this attempt, but hey, the guy smashed his front window. If he doesn't survive, Huaisang expects he'll just wake up with a different husband. And if he does... well, if there's any one good smash around here that will make a difference, it's the mayor.
Even though Huaisang doubts whether he can be killed with ordinary weapons.]
no subject
[but, he's not. and as completely confident in his abilities to crack sorcerer like an egg, even now, as he is... well, he doesn't have his war hammer, either. he just has this glass of whiskey he's pouring, and very weird smallclothes.]
They're not gods, at least. They clearly make mistakes. [pointed goddamn look]
no subject
Gods make mistakes, too. He knows that for certain. The gods from his world are disinterested at best, and sometimes he even wonders if they exist at all. The nearest things to gods that he's encountered were dumb, savage things that tried to kill his friends.]
That's true. And they are not all-knowing. Secrets can be kept from them.
[Huaisang wants recompense for his window and television, especially if he's going to be stuck with this new 'husband' for long, but he's definitely of the impression that Baratheon is not going to like the suggestion that he get a damn job. It has to be his own idea.]
In the meantime, until we find an escape from this place or to destroy those enemies who are keeping us here, we must survive. There may not be whorehouses, but I am an artist, and I would be happy to create pornographic paintings for you, if you are able to pay me for them.
no subject
Even if there aren't women for sale, lad, there's always women. I've no reason yet to be like a perverted old maester, stealing glances at shapes drawn on parchment. [because robert? robert Fucks.]
no subject
Be careful. The women here... like I said. The locals are very prim and disapproving. And there are threats. The broken window at the front, we'll need to have it repaired so that nothing can climb in, but I don't know who can do that and I don't have the money to pay for it.
[Eyes wide and brow furrowed with worry, he gazes at Baratheon in hopes that he'll offer solutions--or at least recognize the problem.]
no subject
Here's the thing, lad. I like to consider myself a rather forthright sort of man. [maybe not honest, but direct, always.] Never had time for intrigue, for courtly games. How much easier life would be, I've always thought, if we merely said what we meant, rather than feigning and fawning like damned eunuchs.
You've got something on your mind. I can see it in your eyes. Now, say it with your tongue.
(no subject)