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

[newcomod]

"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.

code

Comments

dracule mihawk | opla

[swordlord]

First Train In: Post Crash

(Mihawk was not what one would consider to be the charitable sort. He didn't go out of his way to help people and even in this situation, he wasn't doing anything for the public good. The man stood tall, staring down the flames dancing across the oil spoil as they began to consume more and more of the surroundings. He noticed the resilience of the buildings, filed that information away, and proceeded to pull his obnoxiously large sword from behind his back.

He cuts it just once through the air and it causes a massive sharp wave of wind to snuff the fires out completely. It was one of many, but at least this section was contained for now. He starts to move about, cutting down other patches of fire. If he comes across another person, whether injured or not, he merely stops to look at them, an irritated look growing on his face.)

Do step aside. You will only get in the way. (And he's already dealing with a bad enough headache. Which, to be fair, he's....covered in blood from being hauled through one of the train's windows. He might have some broken ribs too, but if Mihawk's in pain, he certainly doesn't show it. But maybe someone can convince this freak behemoth of a man to sit down and nurse a juice box or something.)

Unless, of course, you want to catch on fire. Then by all means, be an inconvenience. (Actually, maybe don't offer him help. He's a dick.)

Assimilation/Arrivals

(Not to overstate the point, but Mihawk truly was not the helping sort. He'd killed more people than he cared to remember and left even more to die during perilous circumstances.

But that mysterious black goo found its way to his lower back without Mihawk even realizing it, and with his dramatic ass jacket, there's no real way of anyone seeing the goo to know he's been claimed. So now? Now he's acting completely different than usual.

By helping people. If he sees a character falling from the sky, he's bounding forward and using nearby train debris to jump off of and catch people. It's effortless enough for him, and when he lands, he will set people down carefully.)

Take a breath, now. It won't do you any good to panic. (He still delivers everything in the same drawling, bitchy tone, but there's something unusually soft in his typically frigid gaze. He was going to vomit over this later.

If he comes across an injured character, he'll even stop and offer a hand or ask if they need help. How embarrassing.)

Two Truths & A Lie (UN: Mihawk)

1. I don't believe in the point of maintaining close relationships.

2. I don't even know how much my bounty is anymore.

3. I don't believe there is any point in trying anything if you do not intend to be the best.

post crash because i needed them being immediately bitchy to each other

[kobes]

[Koby's a creature of the ocean, of tides and waves and undercurrents. He knows those things with a bone-deep assurance that would serve him very well if, say, the train was in danger of being submerged underwater. In that case, Koby would be able to look at the slowly-rising waterline and know exactly when to start panicking. Fire, though...not so much.

Case in point -- the flames get very close while he's busy binding up wounds or setting dislocated shoulders, and it's only when there's a sudden gust of wind (?) that Koby actually realizes how much imminent danger he'd been in. He nudges his glasses up with a knuckle, looking up -- and up and up and.

Oh. That's. That certainly is Dracule Mihawk, standing right there. Covered in blood. Interesting.]

You should worry about yourself first. [That -- isn't what he'd meant to say at all. He'd meant to make some sort of deflective remark and sidle away, escape from the situation before Mihawk clocks him as a) a Marine, b) a Marine under Garp. And yet, instead: that.]

Hell Yes

[swordlord]

(Mihawk was familiar just the same with oceanic threats. Even total disasters and the boom of canons, but those fires were always quick to be snuffed by waves or rain. He's not afraid though. He's just deeply and genuinely annoyed and seeing a marine sitting there with a dumbfounded look on his face...

It just pisses Mihawk off even more. Regardless of his temporary allegiance with the Marines, it doesn't change his general distaste for them. The last thing he wants to deal with is-- snark? Mihawk gazes sharply at the Marine and immediately stalks toward him.

He doesn't stop when he gets to him. Just reaches a hand out, scrunches the front of that ridiculous uniform up into his hands, and yanks the Marine right up off the ground and into the air.)

Is that so? Perhaps you should follow your own advice.

[kobes]

[The reach, the grab, the yank -- it all comes right when Koby's rational mind is starting to catch up, starting to register that no, it's not a good idea to antagonize a Warlord of the Seas in the middle of an active crisis. But what's done is done, and Koby is jerked up, to his feet and then clear off them with a sharp gasp, hands coming up to grip at Mihawk's (incredibly thick, powerful, deadly) wrist.

His head reels, the barely-clotted gash across one temple throbbing and sending Koby's vision starry and jittering. There's an urge to throw up, to pass out, to burst into tears, but he manages not to do any of those. Instead he swallows hard, lifts his chin and meets Mihawk's steely golden gaze.]

You're bleeding. We don't know anything about this place, it's better not to attempt to navigate it while injured. Don't you think?

[swordlord]

(There's a split second where he contemplates cutting Koby down right then and there. So what if it ruffled some feathers? He was irritated enough with the situation that he could write it off as letting out some steam. If he were younger, he probably would have. Added another dead Marine to his impressive stack.

He squeezes his fist tighter, his eyes cold and measuring each fraction of movement, right down to the pink hairs on Koby's head. The splatter of blood, and he does expect tears. Lord knew how many Marines had begged for their lives in front of him before.

Nothing of the sort happens though. Worse yet is that Koby insists Mihawk is bleeding and that makes him grit his teeth and lift Koby up a bit higher. He's not used to being injured and some part of him feels a flush of humiliation to even be seen in such a way by a goddamn cadet.

He wrenches Koby closer, bringing up his other hand to close it tightly around Koby's throat. He squeezes hard, his eyes blazing, because how dare this Marine try and lecture him, try and be so damn bold?

But at the end of the day, it's...annoyingly admirable. He has to begrudgingly respect someone who has enough of a spine to be mouthy under the circumstances. He lets go of both Koby's throat and uniform, dropping him completely.)

I'm completely fine to navigate. I wouldn't exactly call myself injured. You, on the other hand, must have hit your head quite hard.

[kobes]

[Koby steels himself for -- for whatever comes, whatever the ultimate outcome is. His head aches, his toes are multiple inches off the ground, and when the huge hand comes up around his throat, he doesn't cringe back from it, though the grip makes him wince. He thinks of Garp giving commands, thinks of standing up and defying the Vice-Admiral and wonders if Mihawk is scarier. Probably. Definitely. But again: head injury.

A heartbeat of that bruising, choking grip -- and then Mihawk is releasing Koby, leaving him to stumble back, very nearly losing his footing, head spinning. One hand grips hard at an ejected seat, fingers digging into the bloodstained fabric of it to keep him upright.]

I won't -- argue with that. [The cut across his temple is bleeding again, and Koby presses the heel of his hand to the wound, willing it to stop.] But you're covered in blood too. Either you've been stabbing people here, or it's yours.

I cant believe I had 2 wait 2 get to this

[swordlord]

(There's a biting remark burning the tip of his tongue. The urge to kill is still brewing in his gut like an oncoming hurricane. Then again, it could just be the injuries pissing him off. Getting injured in such a humiliatingly humble way was aggravating. Only to come across a Marine cadet in the same situation?

His pride detested the idea of being seen as injured or weak in any way by anyone, but especially a bloody cadet.)

Perhaps it is a mix.

(He sighs loudly, pinching his brow and squeezing his eyes shut. He was trying to think about the last thing he even remembered. He thought it had been Shanks, but if he's here with Garp's little pink shadow, then perhaps...But did that mean Garp was skulking about somewhere? Did that bastard get them into - whatever this was?

No, he thought. Garp didn't have the skill or influence for this.

No one in their world did. To bring the Greatest Swordsman to his knees and actually cause injury? His ego might be excessive, but it wasn't made up of lies either. He drops his hand, staring at the cadet.)

It is none of your concern in either case. (He turns about, flipping his jacket with a flourish, making to stride away and leave the cadet to his own devices. But then his sight goes black with spots and before he knows it, he's facedown on the ground, dazed.

He did not just pass out in front of a Marine cadet, did he?

Unfortunately, he did.)

g o d same!!!

[kobes]

[It would've been a very impactful, dramatic way to leave, one that would've left Koby cautious and annoyed, the way he usually was around pirates -- but then there's a stumble, a dull thud and Dracula Mihawk, Ocean Warlord is on the ground.

The mental image sears itself as both impossible and absurd, and maybe Koby would've laughed in any other situation, at Mihawk being in such an undignified position. But there was a lot of blood, and for whatever reason, Mihawk didn't have the stamina he did in the real world, and there was a risk, however vague, of him being seriously injured. Dying, even.

He wasn't an ally, but he wasn't an outright enemy. He worked with -- for? -- Garp, at least once or twice, and he hadn't fully throttled Koby for mouthing off. At the moment, he was the one familiar touchstone in this bizarre world. He was all Koby had.

So he hurries over, exhaling in frustration and crouching down next to Mihawk.] Don't sit up too fast, you'll pass out again. Do you have any idea where you're bleeding from? [If it's a gash, it'll need to be wrapped, if there's some sort of debris that had stabbed itself into Mihawk, if it was a head injury -- each potential layered itself in Koby's mind, but he was acting, not thinking, he was doing what he was so damn good at: helping. Nevermind that it was a pirate he was helping, at least it was better than sitting useless.]

un: badgirlcoven

[hootlem]

what's the point in having a bounty if you don't flaunt it? 2

[swordlord]

Incorrect.

Bounties are incredibly common in our world, and eventually, you stop paying attention to them.

I suppose for a lesser sort, it might be a point of arrogance, but I like to think my actions speak well enough for me without the poster.

[hootlem]

well don't you sound like you think you're too cool for a bounty. sounds like the kind of person too cool for other people. 3 then

[And then, a bit later, and completely unsolicited, is a picture of a crumpled piece of paper. Because she doesn't have the concept of shame.]

assimilation/arrivals!

[iluso]

[While Luffy could have survived pancaking on the ground just thanks to his weird Rubber Man body, it definitely would have been a deeply unpleasant way to finish waking up after dozing off what felt like a few minutes ago on the Going Merry's sun-warmed figurehead. He's mostly panicking because he was convinced he was about to fall into the ocean (which is probably why Nami keeps telling him to stop sitting up there), but as he looks up at Mihawk and then down at their feet firmly planted on the campus lawn, and then around at the fiery chaos surrounding them, he starts to realize that he's very much not about to drown.

Even though he still sorta feels like he just got doused in seawater: achy and disoriented, more lethargic than usual. It takes him another few seconds on solid ground to even think to release his instinctual death grip on the lapels of Mihawk's ludicrously open shirt, and he doesn't even have the good graces to look appropriately embarrassed about it either.

Or wary in general, which is probably the more ridiculous thing. You know... considering exactly who Mihawk is, and what happened the last time Luffy saw him.]

I'm not— [Well...] Okay. [He takes a deep breath as ordered, a touch begrudgingly, and finds it does actually help in the end. Wow, Mihawk is way nicer than he'd been expecting! (Good luck living this down, new pal.)] Okay. Thanks. [Luffy still looks a bit wobbly, but that doesn't mean he doesn't dig deep and find the energy to gush:] Did you just jump that high? How'd you do that? [Zoro is still his favorite swordsman!!! And he's definitely gonna win someday!! But that wasn't not cool as hell...]

?! a wonderful gift?!

[swordlord]

(Drowning would have been preferable to this. However, later on, he'd realize how annoyingly appropriate it would be that he should grab onto Luffy of all people. Somewhere buried deep down in Mihawk's gut was the tiniest, smallest amount of fondness for the boy Shanks had handed his hat off to. These bright, new pirates with their abundance of potential and creativity and gull...

The goo takes that speck of feeling and makes it flourish. His own body is riddled with injuries, but between the goo and a lifelong's worth of training meant that it would be a problem for when he was finally alone.

He quirks a brow at Luffy's initial refusal. A look of Oh, please.

Tragically, he's never going to live this down. He's going to die humiliated. Truly one of his worst sins ever committed. Being nice.)

No need to thank me. (That at least comes out somewhat genuine.)

Can't say I would want to see what Shanks would do if something were to happen to you. (Shut up!!! Stop talking! Stop looking sentimental!

He steadies Luffy a bit, hand firm on his arm. He gives Luffy a long, hard look at the question and proceeds to quip possibly his first-ever real attempt at a joke:)

I used to skip everywhere as a child.

hello I love Mihawk!!! I got so excited when I spotted him

[iluso]

Ah! So you do know Shanks! [Luffy sorta assumed so from his offhand comment back at the Baratie, but Mihawk had been a touch more subtle and dignified about it than Buggy was during his hat-based meltdown in the middle of trying (and mostly failing) to torture Luffy, so he hadn't been totally sure.

Someday, Luffy will figure out that the pirate world is way bigger than he could ever have dreamed from beneath the rock he'd lived under on Dawn Island, and that recognizing Shanks doesn't necessarily mean someone knows him. Granted, in this case he really did randomly end up running into two of Shanks' exes former allies/rivals (exes) while puttering around in the kiddie pool of the East Blue, but that's a minor detail.

Either way he sounds way too stoked when he asks:] Are you two friends?? [He can see that goo-induced sentimental look!! Truly, Mihawk is only digging himself a deeper hole here, especially when he follows up with a joke. It startles a genuine laugh out of Luffy, who is delighted by whimsy any day of the week, but especially if it comes flying out of someone like Mihawk. He decides then and there:] You know, you're not so bad! [Listen. He never hated Mihawk or anything, even though normally the fastest way to flip Luffy's Vengeful Little Maniac switch (from its Friendly Idiot default position) is to hurt anyone on his crew. Even before suffering the indignities of magically induced friendliness, though, Mihawk had sorta been exempt from that. After all, beating Mihawk is Zoro's goal—his dream—and there was always going to be danger in that, just like there's danger in Luffy's ambitions to be the Pirate King. They've both purposefully made the choice to walk a path that will in all likelihood get them grievously harmed or killed before the end, so he can't justifiably get angry over it like he did over what happened to Nami, or Usopp and Kaya.

Besides, Zoro is alright now, and that means Luffy does not have to think about any of that, or about what it felt like to watch his first mate lying pale and almost lifeless in Nami's bed, unable to wake up while Luffy's world imploded in his absence. It's fine! He's fine!! Don't worry about it!!!

Speaking of injuries, though, it turns out that Mihawk's flashy ensemble doesn't do much to hide how banged up he is from his own spill into this weird new world, and once Luffy rallies under his steadying touch he finally notices.] Oh— you're hurt! [Sorry, Mihawk, there will be no suffering in silence and privacy here. Luffy even has the nerve to sound genuinely concerned, like Mihawk isn't a terrifying, nigh-uncontrollable Warlord of the Sea that even his Grandpa avoided throwing down with when provoked.]