newcombers | May 2024 Test Drive Meme: The First of Many to Come

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May 2024 Test Drive Meme: The First of Many to Come

"When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.”

Welcome to our first meme!

We will officially be opening our game June 1st at 12:01 AM EST.
Reserves will open on May 28th at 12:01 AM EST.
Applications will open on the 1st at 12:01 AM EST.
Applications will close on the 5th at 11:59 PM EST.

Please follow our Plurk

newcomb for updates regarding the opening of our game.

Our memes are open to current and prospective players alike.
All Test Drive memes are game canon and serve as a lead-up to the following month's event. The first prompt in each TDM will always coincide with the disastrous circumstances of Penumbra's collision.

This disaster will leave unique supplies or conditions for the following month until the reset in time occurs and a new collision invokes new circumstances.

Most characters upon initial arrival may suffer mild amnesia, fatigue, and diminished powers. Memories, energy, and powers will eventually return. Per player choice, this can be quickly or slowly.

You can use your TDM threads for writing samples on your application.
If you are applying for a new character, you can choose to keep your TDM threads canon to your character or not.

Even if our current players do not engage with the TDM, we strongly recommend they read each TDM to be aware of how Penumbra strikes Newcomb every month. We encourage characters to react to this via network or log posts in the community spaces.

Prompt 1 Prompt 2 Prompt 3 Questions

Premise Taken Applications Navigation

Image Descriptions from left to right: First image is a red train pictured along raised tracks set against pine trees in sunlight, second image is a gif of a train explosion as people flee from the destruction, third image is of a dark sky with orange lightning.

First Train In

Content Warnings.

Violent train crash, fire, explosions, burning, and injuries from such conditions.

Summary

Characters appear in a train that is crashing through the reality rip left behind by the meteor, Penumbra. The train falls onto the campus fields and mostly implodes.

Prompt

Once upon a time, Newcomb had its very own train station that was used by students and staff alike. Most students would arrive at campus via the train and supplies were often shipped in through the train. This very train station used to be located by Fitch End and was one of the first out-of-campus locations to be destroyed by Penumbra.

This month, it seems as if the reset has brought the train back. For a moment, anyway. One may awaken from a deep slumber in one of the passenger cars, groggy and nearly jetlagged. You will be surrounded by other characters waking up, just as disoriented and confused as you are.

The train ride itself isn't so bad though. The scenery beyond the windows is filled with gorgeous sprawling woods, already tinged with the golds and reds of autumn. The smell of pine and old leather fills the train and you will find your backpack in a cubby just above your head or on the seat beside you.

There is no way to exit the train at this point, no matter how one might try. What is the point anyway? Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Something is soothing about a train ride, after all. You may even feel tempted to fall back asleep. Maybe things will make more sense when you wake up again.

You won't have peace for long. The train jolts violently as if being struck by something, and after, everything descends into chaos. Cars begin to slam together, some smashing upward, shattering glass and doors, crushing seats. Explosions burst from the front of the train, and as it pivots onto campus, it scorches the ground.

Cars break apart, sliding into their destruction here and there against buildings or trees. It feels as though it happens both slowly and rapidly, defying time itself, the sound of a ticking clock somehow overwhelming the symphony of metal scraping against metal.

Oil from the train catches fire across campus grounds. While the buildings are fireproof and resilient, the rest of the campus is not and neither are some characters who may be wandering about perchance. As the disaster comes to a screeching halt, characters will have to help each other from the wreckage and help put out the fires.

The train will remain on campus for June. It can be broken apart for metal parts and explored for small, sentimental items or important weapons that belong to a character. The train will vanish in the blink of an eye as midnight hits on the 31st. The Penumbric siren alerts the campus of the reset and the incoming meteor and its potential new disaster.

You will have to brace yourself for what happens next.

Note on Penumbric Collision Prompts: Characters do not need to arrive in this prompt. You may opt-out entirely by having your character fall through the sky or wake up incredibly disoriented randomly on campus. Arrival to Newcomb should be somewhat physically and/or mentally draining or damaging. Even characters resistant to pain or injury will be temporarily vulnerable to the arrival.

Image Descriptions from left to right: First image is a shadowy humanoid with a black and gray smudge effect concealing the face, second image is a pair of hands covered in a black goopy substance, third image has several clear vials containing a smoky, goopy black substance.

Assimilation

Content Warnings.

Mysterious goo-like substance with parasitic qualities, manipulation of behavior, forced uncharacteristic behavior, very mild body horror.

Summary

A mysterious black goo escapes from a frozen boxcar on the train. This goo attaches to living organisms and begins to influence their behavior. The goo will either naturally slide off after some time or can be rubbed off the skin with freezing water.

Prompt

A curious boxcar can be discovered among the wreckage of the train. This boxcar was carefully sealed off and kept at freezing temperatures. Inside were metal crates filled with test tubes and Petri dishes containing a mysterious black goo.

During the fall, the boxcar's front end was ripped away. Between the raging fires from the crash and the exposure to higher temperatures, the vials and petri dishes thawed. Vials and Petri dishes began to break apart as the mysterious goo essentially "woke up" from its cryogenic state and escaped from the glass containers.

This mysterious goo seeks out living organisms and will subtly attach itself to character bodies. This can be as subtle as a dime-sized speck of mysterious goo behind a character's ear or consume half a character's body. The goo's attachment is painless. It has a tarlike odor and causes a strange prickling sensation the longer it remains attached to a character.

After some time, the goo will naturally slide off a character. Alternatively, a character can apply freezing water or ice to the goo and this will essentially "kill" the goo and slough it off in broken chunks.

While the goo is attached to characters, it will cause uncontrollable, unusual behavior. On a less severe end, symptoms may include disorientation, difficulty walking, slurred speech, confusion, and clinginess even to strangers. On a more extreme end, the goo may cause characters to act in ways contradictory to who they typically are: they may be prone to fits of violence, hysteria, flirtation, cruelty, or even for some, abundant kindness and outgoing friendliness.

The goo will automatically make characters want to interact with other characters whether positively or negatively. It uses these interactions as a way to migrate from one host to the next.

Image Descriptions from left to right: First image has a playing card and two white dice, second image has a text bubble that reads, "I'm not a Soft Gay I'm an Anger Gay. I love dogs and burning things." Third image shows a field of grass and wildflowers with a free-standing picture frame with torn canvas, the torn spot revealing a city scape image.

Two Truths & A Lie

Content Warnings.

Forced honesty and deciet via parasitic mind control. Implanted knowledge. Potential forced vulnerability.

Summary

Characters are forced to break in their Fermii accounts by publicly posting two truths and a lie for other characters to figure out. This is a network prompt.

Prompt.

Who isn't familiar with the bizarre urge to overshare to total strangers online? It would appear that the mysterious goo has an intimate understanding of this instinct and intends to capitalize on it.

In other words, the mysterious goo's influence is not limited to in-person interactions. Even characters unfamiliar with technology will have the burning desire to get out their new phone and create a public post to all Fermii users containing two truths and a lie about themselves.

These can range from embarrassing and silly to serious and incriminating. Characters will continue to feel an itch to respond transparently to those who correctly guess which is which. Even the most sophisticated and chronic liars cannot resist the force of the mysterious goo's presence.

The urge to overshare will ebb away the more truth is exposed.

Ironically, this may be a minor blessing to those unfamiliar with smartphone technology. It would seem that the mysterious goo has managed to assimilate the knowledge of how smartphones work and helpfully pass it into the mind of its host. However, the price of exposure might not be worth the shortcut to knowledge.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Alfred approaches the man who spoke, he doesn't look too badly injured but he is clutching at his head which means he could be concussed.

"You all right, sunshine?" He asks and hunkers down so that they are at eye level, his own eyes are a steel blue color but they aren't cold, in fact they hold quite a bit of compassion even for a stranger like Loki.

"You feeling dizzy at all?"

Now that greeting takes him by surprise. A confused and slightly startled look crosses Loki’s face as he opens his mouth to speak, but says nothing, snapping it closed again. He tilts his head then, eyebrow furrowed as he takes a beat to let it set in. “My apologies, but did you just call me… sunshine?”

Normally he might take some offence in a name like that. Scratch that, no might, definitely would. But somehow this man has enough charm that Loki is only surprised and somewhat confused. When was the last time someone cared about his injuries?

He’s surprised enough that he has to think about the question for a moment. “Perhaps a little. I do feel rather odd.” But that might just be from being well out of his comfort zone.

A faint smile appears at the corners of Alfred's mouth and he tilts his head, "It's just a figure of speech, mate."

He reaches out and tilts Loki's chin up a bit so he can study the other man's pupils, his hand is well worn and calloused from years of work but his touch is gentle.

"You could have a concussion but it's hard to be sure in this light, either way we've got to get a move on. There's fires all over the place and it's not safe so c'mon, sling an arm around me and I'll give you a hand."

“I have been hearing that phrase a lot lately. I am starting to feel like I am the only person to not have heard them before.” Wherever this school is, it’s not on a realm he’s overly familiar with, that’s for sure.

There’s a moment where Loki almost flinches away from the touch. He’s really only used to his mother touching him in such a way and he suddenly misses her fiercely, though he pushes that feeling down and out of the way. He’s mad at her, isn’t he? Loki’s memories seem to be going in and out of focus and he’s feeling too tired to concentrate much on how or why that might be happening.

He’s torn from his half thoughts when the man speaks again. Loki blinks up at him, wondering what a concussion entails. He’s certainly taken a few bumps to the head in his time, more than a few actually, but he’s never felt quite so off before. It’s a testament to how out of sorts he feels at the moment that he takes the offered arm and allows the man to help him to his feet.

“Thank you.” His voice is rather quiet as he speaks. Loki is rather unaccustomed to such aid. Usually he’s being told to brush himself off, or he’s busy tending to his brother’s wounds after some sparring or a true battle. The man helping him should take note, it’s unlikely he’ll hear anything of the sort from Loki again any time soon.

Alfred puts an arm around Loki's slim waist and together they slowly head away from the main crash site and towards the school buildings that stretch out in front of them.

"So I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you weren't headed here originally, were you?" He asks after a moment, one of his grey eyebrows lifting up as he glances at Loki.

It’s oddly nice, having someone help him after a battle. Not that this was really a battle, but he feels about the same either way. He grips onto the man in return, feeling rather unsteady, though part of him thinks that might be more due to being surprised by the help rather than any real physical issues.

“I… I don’t think so? Part of me has this memory of my parents sending me here as punishment, but that doesn’t really sound like something they would do either.” That and just about everything feels a little foggy from one moment to the next. “Is this not where you were heading either?”

"Punishment?" Alfred asks, "You and your parents argue a lot then do you?"

"And no. I was..." He trails off for a moment, looking confused and he shakes his head a little. "Last thing I remember I think I was seeing my boy off on a trip. He was leaving, not me."

“More so recently.” Loki frowns then. Why is he being honest with this stranger? He’s sure he hardly cares about the inner workings of his home life.

Loki hums slightly, his frown deepening. If he’s not the only one having strange memories and brain fog, which is what he’s assuming from what he’s being told now, then whatever is going on here is bigger than he initially thought. “What is the first thing you remember when you found yourself on the train then?”

"Sorry to hear that." Alfred says, his tone sincere. "Family relationships can be hard, can't they?"

Another pause as Alfred thinks back to the train, before it all went tits up. "I was thinking about travel, how I used to enjoy taking the train with my folks when we went on holiday."

"What about you?"

“I would say that is an understatement.” Is that a bit of a smile on Loki’s face? It’s a rare exception that anyone seems to give him the benefit of the doubt, but of course, this man has no idea who he is. That must be the only reason. Loki suddenly finds himself confused as he feels charmed when he thinks he should be using this display of kindness for some sort of gain. For once though, he decides to let it go and just relax. He didn’t need to make enemies of everyone after all. And really, this is hardly the time to cause problems.

“I was also thinking about how I tend to enjoy train travel. It is my favourite of your people’s kind of travel. I find it quite relaxing. Though I was also thinking of my family and how annoyed I am that they sent me away. Though now I think about it, I’m not entirely sure that’s true. I feel like I’m not sure what is real currently.”

Alfred catches the small smile and returns it, his own is a bit lopsided but always genuine. "Let me guess, you don't get along with your old man?" He asks and then nods. "Same here. I cared about my father sure but I'd be lying if there weren't times I didn't think about punching his lights out."

He lifts a brow at Loki, "Your people's? What do you mean by that?"

Alfred’s rather accurate guess about Loki’s relationship with Odin really shouldn’t be surprising, but it is. Loki glances away and shrugs, trying to regain his mask and stop himself from talking too much to a complete stranger. “Let’s just say that is another understatement.”

Happy with the change of topic, he looks back at the man and smirks. “Well, you are human, aren’t you?”

He decides to drop the topic, perhaps they can talk more about it another time when they aren't injured and when there's a pint of lager around.

"I am. Aren't you?"

Though Loki rarely thinks about timing or really anything much beyond what he wants or thinks is best at any given moment, he happily lets this drop. He’s still not sure why he started talking about it at all. Perhaps this man has some sort of ability to get people to open up against their wills. He’ll have to keep an eye on him.

“I am not actually. This is a glamour enforced upon me by my father to hid who I truly am.” Again with all the truth. At least he manages to stop before he goes on about how he’s really from a breed of evil monsters who tried to kill who he thought were his people. No one needs to know that here. Not if Loki wants to get anything accomplished (or at least, so he believes).

"So what do you actually look like?" Alfred asks with a raise of one eyebrow, "You some kind of giant bug creature or something?"

Loki glowers slightly. He’s still quite tetchy about his true skin, considering he was raised to think of his people as monsters. When he does answer, his tone shows his anger and annoyance and makes it clear he expects Alfred’s response to be horrified. “My skin is blue with raised markings all over. And my eyes are blood red, otherwise I still have this face and body.”

Alfred's reaction is to look at Loki for a moment as if he is imagining what he has described and then nods.

"Well that's not so bad, is it? I can certainly think of far stranger."

Loki doesn’t like it, but Alfred makes a good point. He pouts slightly in response and just narrowly avoids crossing his arms over his chest. “Yes, well, tell that to my family who told me my whole life that the people I came from are monsters who wanted nothing more than to destroy us all. And lied to me about being one of them.”

"People can be monsters and look like everyone else." Alfred remarks softly, "And I'm sure your family would say they lied to you to protect you but that doesn't really work does it?"

"It's still a lie and it's obvious you wound up hurt from it."

In all his life, this is the first time anyone has really said anything like this to Loki. From the moment he found out about himself, he’s been nothing but angry. All Odin really told him was that he hoped keeping him would help keep the peace with Laufey, but that hardly made Loki feel any better. No one wants to hear from who you thought of as your father that you were nothing but a tool for political means. “I am sure my mother thinks that way, but not my f- Odin. He only meant to use me to keep the peace with my true people.”

Loki has to look away then. How did this human read him so easily? He knows that his mother could’ve seen through him in this state, but he feels like he really needs to work on his mask if some random, human stranger could read him so easily. “I will be fine, thank you. I am sure I was sent here to try and keep me from exacting my revenge, but I am not so easy to stop. I will feel much better when they know exactly how I feel about what happened.”

Alfred's eyebrow goes up at the mention of the name 'Odin' and he wonders if it's just a coincidence or if this fellow really is talking about the Norse God.

"Careful there, mate. Revenge is something you can't come back from."

There might be the smallest eye twitch at Alfred’s reaction to Odin’s name. Because of course he’s heard of Odin. Who hasn’t? And it always rubs Loki the wrong way.

“Oh? Is that so? I thought it was best served cold.” And yes, he sounds very petulant now. It’s really nothing personal though.

"That's how the saying goes but it's a lousy one if you ask me because it's not true." He says, seemingly unaffected by Loki's petulant tone.

"Not many people can exact revenge and not have it effect them in some way."

“I’m guessing you have a lot of experience in revenge then.” Loki’s tone is flat, disbelieving and a little annoyed, but he’s also finding himself begrudgingly interested in this man. He does not seem annoyed with Loki’s petulance, which is something he’s very much not used to.

Almost hesitantly, while he continues to attempt to keep an air of nonchalance. “But it could affect them in a good way, couldn’t it? If it only ever made things worse, people would not seek it out.”

"I suppose I do." He says thoughtfully but does not expand on it, instead he shrugs and shakes his head.

"I don't think so, mate. It's been my experience that nothing good comes out of revenge, justice on the other hand can help people gain closure."

May 2024 Test Drive Meme: The First of Many to Come

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