ＴＲＡＮＱＵＩＬＩＺＥＲＳ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
robbies) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
memesville2020-10-25 11:03 pm
robbies) wrote in memesville2020-10-25 11:03 pm
Entry tags:
TDM - OCTOBER 2020
TEST DRIVE MEME - OCTOBER 2020
Everyone's entitled to one good scare.
CW: Violence, death, mouth trauma, vomiting, needles, razors
“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 baseball 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 baseball outside of it carrying faintly, it all becomes very clear—
Something is horribly wrong.
OCTOBER 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, a cartoon pack of cigarettes and accompanying cigarette dancers prance around a black and white pumpkin patch, joined by dancing skeletons, ghosts and witches as a cheerful little earworm blares: ”Thirty days til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, thirty days til Halloween—“ |
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. AUNT MYRNA'S PARTY CHEESE SALAD.Over the course of the week, your neighbors will come by unannounced, each with a new homecooked meal to welcome you to their cozy little side of town. Meatloaf, potato salad, lamb chops. Gelatin molds — lots of gelatin molds.Someone even comes by to drop off a gelatinous yellow lump of pineapple, green peppers, celery and yellow cheese swimming in a soupy mixture of sour and whipped cream. “It’s my aunt Myrna’s recipe!” they gush once they drop the casserole tin into your hands, proceeding to rattle off every ingredient. Well, at least you won’t be starving anytime soon. When you bring it back in to your kitchen - and its cheery wallpaper and its floral patterned Pyrex dishware, you and your new...family(?) all stare at the cheese salad, the gelatin, the curiously frosted meatloaf spread. A smorgasbord courtesy of the insistent generosity! Who will take the first bite? |
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/veal-jello-59e76ccf685fbe00113ff77e.jpg){kind=link}
B. DON'T BE A SQUARE!
You can only avoid the cheer and the neighbors for so long, even as you sit inside enjoying all the amenities of your new home. The television can only turn its volume up to five, after all! One bright and sunny Saturday, the weather crisp and clear, news broadcasts and reruns of The Ed Sullivan Show are drowned out by the music in the neighborhood. Eventually it’s too much to bear — you simply must put on your shoes and go discover the source of that infernal racket.Why, it’s the block party! Haven’t you seen the invitation — with instructions — sitting in your mailbox, silly? Wear a badge so everyone on the block can know you’re new and welcome you to their extended family!
Well! Each neighbor was supposed to set up a table with snacks and drinks and entertainment on their front lawn. Carter Mayhew, one of your Robbie neighbors, has a whole ring toss obstacle course set up for boys to play with, and his wife is cheerfully and blandly instructing a group of girls on jump rope rhymes. Colorful streamers hang from every lamppost and mailbox, balloons and party favors galore. Like you, there are even a few newcomers to Santa Rosita that are caught just as unaware of this event — though others are being welcomed in by husbands and wives and children, caught in conversations about building decks and the upcoming Halloween festivities.
Before you can decide if returning home or joining the party is your choice, a plate with chips and dips and yes, more gelatin is shoved into your hands and a party hat snapped on to your head.
“The guest of honor has arrived! Come and meet your neighbors, neighbor!”
THROUGHOUT OCTOBER.
|
Life falls into a peaceful haze for the next several days. Dull, unassuming, tranquil. As the month drags on, the spirit of Halloween begins to manifest in Santa Rosita, from the pumpkins people start putting out on their doorsteps to the smiling faces of paper skeletons pressed against their windows. And then, towards the end of the month, something terrible happens. You hear it first through word of mouth, rippling through Santa Rosita like a wave, dark murmurs accompanied by sad sighs and downturned eyes. Soon, you start to read about it. Grim business, they say. A tragedy. How could something like this happen. People stop talking about it by the end of the week. Best just to forget about it. Every day, that cigarette commercial comes on. It’s impossible to escape it. And every day, the number of days in the song changes, counting down. ”Thirteen days till Halloween—” “Eight more days til Halloween—” “Three more days til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween…” |
HALLOWEEN.
CW: Violence, death, mouth trauma, vomiting, needles, razors
|
October 31st. It sneaks up on you whether you like it or not. When dawn breaks on Halloween day, things are as serene as they’ve ever been as men do yard work, raking leaves as their wives bake fresh pie and cookies in the house, the spicy scent of cinnamon, apple and pumpkin wafting through the neighborhood on chilly October wind. There’s a smile on every child’s face as they skip off the school bus in the afternoon, running into their houses to get their costumes ready. As it begins to get dark, the residents of Santa Rosita start lighting their jack-o-lanterns. One by one, little balls of light flicker to life on every porch and doorstep, jagged smiles grinning in the dark. For the entire night, nobody blows the candle inside their pumpkins out. It’s a tradition, a very old one, and traditions are just another way of saying rules. And Halloween in Santa Rosita, as it turns out, lives and dies by the rules. |
A. ALWAYS CHECK YOUR CANDY.
Halloween isn’t just for the kids, although they certainly make up the bulk of who you’ll see out and about on the streets. Walking through Santa Rosita, your neighbors are as generous with handing out treats as they are with handing out gelatin molds and pot roasts, and they don’t discriminate. Adults are received just as warmly as children; the worst one can expect is a quirked eyebrow if they show up to a house without a costume.Apples, packs of gum, homemade cookies. Chocolate bars, nickels, popcorn balls. Your neighbors hand out all sorts of treats, most of them homemade. The Robbies are no exception, and it’s their treats that seem a bit more high quality than most, some of the candy they hand out being obviously expensive, brand names. The good stuff. They drop each treat into your bag with those same pleasant, mild expressions and too-tight smiles you’ve grown used to in your short time here.
Eventually, as everyone winds up doing at some point in the night, you decide to start digging into your treat bag to sample some of your well-earned goods — maybe in the comfort of your home, maybe outside on the streets. And that’s when the fun begins.
Maybe you bite into metal, the razor sharp end of a blade embedded into the apple or candy bar you’ve picked out burying itself in your gums, or splitting your tongue. Maybe it’s a needle, impaling itself straight through the roof of your mouth or a cheek. Or maybe it’s nothing that obvious. Maybe the realization that something is wrong comes moments after you’ve devoured that chocolate bar or cookie, the bitter aftertaste of rat poison hitting the back of your throat along with bile and the rest of the contents of your stomach as they rise up and out of your mouth.
Or maybe you’ll bite into plain, sweet chocolate or fresh fruit. That’s also part of the surprise. You really don’t know what you’ll get until you start eating.
B. ALWAYS RESPECT THE DEAD.
At ten o’clock, all the television sets in the neighborhood turn on, blaring to life right in the middle of that omnipresent cigarette commercial. The volume begins to rise of its own accord as your television starts to pick up interference, bursts of static squealing amidst the rising, screaming chorus of ”HAPPY HAPPY HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN!”Breaking through the static, garbled and tinny, a child’s voice cries out.
“Can’t— I can’t hold them— back— Pumpkin— don’t blow the— out—”
And just as quickly as it cut in, the voice cuts back out. Commercial jingle notwithstanding, you’re alone once more. But not for long.
The doorbell rings. You can see them outside from your window: costumed children. Their masks and clothes are grimy and ragged from the muddy, slimy water they’ve been decomposing in for over a week. When they come to your door, squelching wetly as they shamble up the porch steps, they ring the bell or knock, as all polite children do. If you don’t let them in, they’ll find their own way, always by force. And once they find you, all they can gurgle in their reedy, waterlogged voices is, ”Trick or treat.”
From there, they attack.
With superhuman strength and speed, they tear and rip at anything they can get their hands on — clothing, skin, muscle, face, eyes. Being short and small, despite their strength, they're at a distinct disadvantage. They can even be thrown off, with some effort. But they don’t stay down for long, and attempting to hurt or mortally wound them only stalls them for a few moments, if that. How can you kill something that’s already dead?
Some in the neighborhood are willing to try and find out.
The only houses they seem to ignore completely are the ones with lit jack-o-lanterns still outside. They’ll loiter outside these houses, staring straight ahead at your door or window like they can see exactly where you are. But sooner or later, they’ll pass by and move onto the next house.
As long as the candles in carved pumpkins stay lit.
OOC INFO
Hello, and welcome to We're Still Here's first TDM! Here's a few things we'd like you to keep in mind:
The TDM is canon. You can treat this as the game's first real 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. Upon awakening from it, characters will find that time has jumped ahead to December 1st. You may also feel free to use similar reality and/or time distortions to explain why the family members your characters have in the TDM aren't the same as the ones they may be assigned to in the game proper.
If you would like to have Halloween content in your relaxed housing prompts, please feel free! You are not beholden to follow our prompts exactly so long as the spirit is maintained.
There is no Network prompt listed, but feel free to wildcard one for your characters anyway.
Although the TDM is canon in the sense that characters are free to remember its events when they app into the game, it does not count as an official plot heavy event, meaning that characters will not receive regains from participating in it.
With regards to the dead trick-or-treaters: you may NPC them however you'd like, but keep the details we've listed in their prompt in mind. They are supernaturally fast and strong, will ignore houses as long as they have a lit pumpkin on the porch outside, and will try to enter each house the moment the candle in the pumpkin goes out. Additionally, they can't be killed, but they can be momentarily stalled by injuring them. By November 1st, 6AM, they will disappear the moment the sun comes out.
The TDM is canon. You can treat this as the game's first real 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. Upon awakening from it, characters will find that time has jumped ahead to December 1st. You may also feel free to use similar reality and/or time distortions to explain why the family members your characters have in the TDM aren't the same as the ones they may be assigned to in the game proper.
If you would like to have Halloween content in your relaxed housing prompts, please feel free! You are not beholden to follow our prompts exactly so long as the spirit is maintained.
There is no Network prompt listed, but feel free to wildcard one for your characters anyway.
Although the TDM is canon in the sense that characters are free to remember its events when they app into the game, it does not count as an official plot heavy event, meaning that characters will not receive regains from participating in it.
With regards to the dead trick-or-treaters: you may NPC them however you'd like, but keep the details we've listed in their prompt in mind. They are supernaturally fast and strong, will ignore houses as long as they have a lit pumpkin on the porch outside, and will try to enter each house the moment the candle in the pumpkin goes out. Additionally, they can't be killed, but they can be momentarily stalled by injuring them. By November 1st, 6AM, they will disappear the moment the sun comes out.
no subject
I'm no one's Commander here.
[Except that's not true anymore, is it? Levi is here now, so maybe he's a commander of one.]
It's different. A good number of people in the town got pulled here from somewhere else, like we did. The locals are friendly, but there's something off about them. There's something off about the whole situation.
[A pause.]
There are pictures of you on my walls, in the house they put me in. They're war pictures, like we fought together in this World War II event.
There are... other members of the Survey Corps in the pictures too.
[Dead members of the Survey Corps, which led Erwin to believe Levi was dead too.]
no subject
The look he gives Erwin is just skeptical enough to clearly communicates he’s not accepting that ‘no one’s Commander’ thing. He’s been relieved of the burden of command for the Survey Corps now, but that won’t change the fact that Levi’s going to follow him. He might have to put up with that much for a while longer.
But then he glances away, takes a moment to give their surroundings a quick sweep. ]
Yeah, I’ve got photographs, too. Weird shit. [ That he doesn’t expand on exactly who he saw in some of them is probably telling. He’s going to be shoving those in drawers and leaving them there. ] And I keep expecting one of those ‘locals’ is going to pull something. Like I’ll get a knife in the back.
[ Sure, that’s a normal reaction to extremely friendly people. ]
no subject
[Erwin doesn't really want to talk about who he saw in the photographs either--although the one he found of his father and mother continues to be a source of deep, painful fascination, and that one, he left out--so he lets that topic lie.]
It doesn't make any sense. They're too friendly. It's as if they want something from us, but won't come right out and say what it is.
[Abruptly, Erwin sighs and leans back, propping himself up with his remaining hand. He hadn't realized how tense he'd gotten until he could talk to someone who doesn't require any subterfuge. With Levi, he can just say what's on his mind.]
I've missed you, Levi. I'm glad you're here.
no subject
[ He shifts to face Erwin more fully, leaning in ever so slightly, and his voice is low and intent in a way it hadn’t been before. ]
So don’t get so caught up trying to figure this out that you start taking stupid risks. Play these games, wear the stupid hats, and do just what you need to. I’ll take your orders, so there’s no reason for you to make unnecessary moves.
no subject
[That's one thing Erwin has never doubted, not since they sorted out their differences and Levi stopped trying to shank him at every opportunity.]
I don't make unnecessary moves.
[Excuse you! The stupid risks thing is a lot harder to argue, so Erwin is going to ignore that for now.]
I know exactly what I'm doing when I do it. [Even when that's leading a suicide charge.] There hasn't been anything openly hostile here--not yet--so for now I'm just trying to blend it and gather intel.
no subject
Levi doesn’t particularly care that he’s probably being unreasonable here. He’s allowed to make demands of a man that’s been dead for four years. ]
All I’m saying is stick to that. Just gather your intel, dammit, and stick to using your head. Plan to fall back when we’re in the shit.
[ Because he’s just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Things are going to get bad. They always do. ]
no subject
All right, all right.
[Fine, Erwin will try to stick to just gathering intel, and he doesn't even care that he's taking this with ill grace.]
Have you seen the cars people use to travel around the town?
[What a completely innocent change of topic that definitely has nothing to do with a gambling scheme Erwin has been concocting!]
no subject
You just— [ He’s not surprised? He’s just exasperated. Erwin is the most intelligent man he’s ever known, and whatever this is certainly tracks. He’s going to get into so much shit.
Well, Levi is going to be right behind him the whole way. ] Yes, Erwin, I’ve got eyes. I’ve seen ‘em.
no subject
[This is nostalgic, and for all that they're bickering, Erwin is starting to enjoy himself. The last time they talked, everything had been so serious, so solemn, and it's kind of nice to verbally spar with each other over things like silly hats and cars.]
They move a lot faster than horses. If we could learn how to operate one, we could cover more ground.
[You know, for intel! As he schemes, Erwin reaches across Levi to try and steal some of his chips.]
no subject
They had, hadn’t they?
He can’t think too hard on it right then. All this surreal bullshit is easier in a way, and maybe that’s why he’s handling it this well. Absently, he moves the plate of chips closer to Erwin when he starts going for his food. ]
You can’t trust cars like horses. [ He’ll always prefer a well-trained horse under him, and he’s comfortable being grumpy and recalcitrant on that topic forever. The alternative was fickle and high risk. That said, it’s not like they have a convenient technologically talented ally to handle everything for them, and he already suspects where Erwin is going with this. ] And you’re already down one arm. I don’t think ‘we’ are learning shit.
no subject
I've been looking for horses. I haven't seen any. [Erwin munches thoughtfully on a chip.] Although, if we learned how to use a car, we could go out further looking for horses.
[All right, fine, he's been called out, Levi will probably have to learn how to drive first. But that doesn't mean Erwin has been sitting on his ass and not figuring things out!]
I have a camera. I've been learning how to use it. I think it would be wise to drive around the city and take pictures of it, and then date those photos.
no subject
Of course, it’s natural he’d just jump right to using all this new technology strategically. ]
Don’t pretend to humor me. I get it. [ He clicks his tongue in a disapproving sort of manner at that, though he reluctantly sees the humor in it and he’s sure Erwin knows it. He’s already aware his preferences are entirely impractical in these conditions, especially given the fact that they had to apparently blend in. ] Give me a couple days, and we’ll get started on your new weird hobby.
no subject
[Erwin gestures at his empty sleeve.]
I can still manage with a horse. I don't know if I'd be able to drive a car.
[But he's going to find out!]
Would you let me take some pictures of you?
[Erwin means for it to sound glib, almost teasing, but that's not how it comes out. It comes out plaintive, and needy, not at all like how he intended. If this place is going to give them the means to record images, then Erwin wants as many of Levi as he can have, and ones that he's taken himself, not ones this place made for them, putting them together in World War II.]
no subject
Just saying whatever you want to say over there. [ It’s been so long since he’s had to deal with Erwin getting weird on him about something completely inconsequential. Maybe once this starts feeling real, he’ll work himself up to being vaguely irritated. ]
Ah, hey, with all that blending in you’re doing... [ Is he changing the subject in an extremely awkward way? Absolutely. He pulls out a folding knife he’d gotten picky about, nothing someone might not carry for the utility of it, and opens it one-handed in a practiced gesture. Casually, he flips it in the air to catch it in his customary reverse grip before snapping it closed and holding it out. ] Here, it’s subtle.
no subject
Thank you.
[Erwin accepts both the knife and the change of subject; he's faintly embarrassed at how needy he'd sounded about the pictures, and he'll let the topic drop for the time being. It will be revisited later; Erwin wants photos of Levi from times he can remember, not photos of the two of them fighting in a war that they never really experienced. He wants photos of Levi at peace, or as peaceful as Levi is able to be, and more than anything, he wants pictures of the two of them together. Maybe Cortana can help him take those.]
No one has bothered you, have they? [Erwin tucks the knife into his pocket, assuming that there's more where that came from and he's not leaving Levi defenseless.] The people here are strange, but no one has been aggressive so far.
no subject
Bothered me— [ He has to scoff at the euphemism. Everything about the people here bothered him, and they both had to expect that. He’s unsettled and on edge no matter how outwardly calm he might present himself.
His voice goes soft, thoughtful as he assesses the situation. ] Nothing you’d call enemy action, it’s just... I’ve had the damndest sense of being a cornered rat. I can’t say my instincts are right on this. Maybe it’s just been that way for a while now and I can’t tell anymore.
no subject
[But it's the last thing Levi says that really catches his attention, and Erwin shifts himself around, turning so he can face Levi more fully. When he's looking directly at him like this, he can see how tired Levi looks, more than his usual insomniac exhaustion, something bone-deep and all encompassing. Erwin has to stop himself from reaching out and touching Levi's face, or brushing his hair out of his eyes.]
Has it been that bad? [Erwin's voice is soft, and he leans in closer. No one is paying any attention to them right now, but there's still that feeling of someone watching.] It didn't end with retaking Wall Maria?
no subject
He’s only got so much momentum left from that day, and it has only been been because of that vow he’d made. He couldn’t even know if he fulfilled it, he hadn’t even meant to like that, and now Erwin was right here and looking at him in askance. As for how well they’d done protecting what had once been their incredibly limited understanding of ‘humanity?’ What could he say? ]
It’s been a long time. [ Then he sighs, inclining his head. ] What happened... that’s mine to carry now, isn’t it? You shouldn’t start making it needlessly difficult on yourself.
no subject
[Erwin had hoped it would, or at least get easier, but that was evidently a fool's dream. Closing the hole in the wall had just been the beginning, and he'd gone and left everyone else to pick up after him, to solve the problems he'd created.]
Don't, Levi. [Erwin scoots a little closer, and his knee bumps against Levi's. When no one appears to notice or care, he reaches out and touches Levi's arm.] Don't shut me out. I gave you that burden and then left you behind to carry it. Now we're here, and... and I'm here. You don't have to carry everything by yourself anymore.
no subject
Hey, you can’t think you’re going to take that from me. I made those choices.
[ He sighs, his expression going unreadably blank. ] I’ll tell you about that idiot’s basement later, alright? But there’s bullshit enough for us to deal with right now.
no subject
[But Levi clearly doesn't want to talk about it, and Erwin takes his hand away. He leaves their knees touching, though.]
All right, Levi. I trust your judgment. We'll focus on the here and now.
[A pause.]
And things like driving cars.