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newcombers2024-05-23 02:01 am
newcomod) wrote in newcombers2024-05-23 02:01 am
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May 2024 Test Drive Meme: The First of Many to Come
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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Marr-iage? [ Alright so Iggy has managed to completely short-circuit the wizard, a blue-screen has appeared and it is flashing along with quite a bit of confusion. Was this normal? Was this a head-injury? Yes, he had already noticed that everyone was reacting to their head injury a little bit differently, but he'd not been proposed to yet? Was he being proposed to or was he supposed to propose to this very clingy man?
He did not notice the goo creeping down the sleeve and touching the wrist.
What a way to get off of one bus and onto the other. ]
We've just.. met? I mean ja you are an extremely attractive man but..
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He looks at Caleb expectantly. At the compliment he gasps.]
I am?! Oh, thank you! You've got the most beautiful eyes, Caleb. I think we'll make a very stunning couple.
[He hooks his arm through Caleb's and with his free hand gestures at the grounds.]
I bet there's a chapel around here somewhere. This looks all old-timey and shit. Uhm. Do you know where we are by any chance, my darling?
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Old-timey?
[ He is blinking now as he glances around, and then his gaze hits Iggy, finally allowing whatever it said to compute. ]
This is so soon, we do not even have rings? [ Helpful really was that one vine was attempting to curl around his ring finger in mockery of a wedding ring, he lifted his hand, well both their hands up and then he squints. ]
Alright, a wierd non-contextual question but-- is this normal for you?
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You can buy me diamonds later. [As if this is a foregone conclusion.
But then Caleb is holding up their hands and that little curl of ichor is unusual. Iggy's face twists into an expression of startled disgust.]
Oh, ew! No! What is that?! Get it off!
[He starts trying to shake the goo off, which doesn't accomplish anything except forcing Caleb to move his hand too.]
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[ Now there was quite a bit of shaking and since now their hands and arms were firmly and irrevocably linked, one's movement was causing the other. It was like flapping wings except there was no just picking up and going flight-bound. ]
Hold on, keep still! Let me see if I can get it off?
[ Even though the Ichor thought that they should be hand-hold fun friends forever.
Prestidigitate, he had that so perhaps it would work to remove it-- like some magical goo-be-gone. What Caleb did not anticipate was that because of the instability of his own magic due to the black tarish goo-- this may result in the unexpected. Such as bright red blossoms popping up from the ichor. Okay so embellishments were also in the spell's descriptions. ]
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And then... flowers.]
Oh, how pretty!
[But they're still joined together.]
Did you do that?
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[ Did he have a knife? Ah yes, he had one for gutting fish.. perhaps he could but, fuck it was attached to his thigh closest to where their arms were conjoined. ] So, I do have a knife but it's small and I am going to have to reach, that may put us in closer and more awkward proximity?
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He looks at the spreading goo, then at Caleb. His gaze is frankly pleading.]
That's fine. I don't know what this is but it's scary. Maybe just like, warn me if you need to grab my balls or something.
[Because that's likely?]
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It appeared that the bisexual disaster in Caleb was strong, but his panic in making a misstep was far stronger. ]
Well Freund, I promise to only enjoy it if you're enjoying it.
[ And so came his slight of hand check; to be fair this was a middling feat which perhaps was only insofar as much coloured by his nervousness that he did not grab Iggy's jewel pouch, but he had to twist himself and there was a brief pop as something, he felt, burst out of place-- likely his shoulder. He really was not the most dexterous type. But while his fingers did brush the front of Iggy's thigh, he finally found his own pouch which was the struggle to get it open one handed, then he reached inside to pull out the small paring knife. ]
Mein Gott, I have it.. [ No fear for the knife, he was pulling it back and away from Iggy's valuables, and then he brandished it. ] Thank you for the trust, now I'm going to need a little bit more while I see if this works against the goo.
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Iggy just stays still, trusting Caleb completely. (Whether or not he should has not even occurred to him.) At his words he nods enthusiastically. The goo is making him feel woozy, he thinks.]
If it doesn't I dunno what we're gonna do.
[Cry. He'll cry.]
thank you for your patience, weekends and mondays are tetchy for me
Even if he doesn't, well with the force at which he'd pulled the knife out and away, it likely would've knicked Caleb before it even touched Iggy. He could be very decisive when it came down to stress; but then he'd learned from a young age that you struck first, struck fast, struck hard and left the enemy no time to blink.
Yeah, perhaps he wasn't proficient with the knife, but he knew how to make stabbing motions with it, or at least slip it underneath a tendril to sever it; the cut was a bit awkward but certain, as he slid the blade underneath the flower-bloomed goo, and it cut with a bit of a forceful pull. The goo let out a miniscule scream as if it was being caused pain and it struggled to clamber away from the source of pain, toward their hands.
Right now it absolutely resembled the sentient being it was.
He cut again, another scream as the flowers on it started to wilt. ]
Okay, ja.. this is working, sehr gut--
absolutely never a rush
Iggy does his best to stay still but at the little scream he looks distressed. His free hand raises, moving to hover over the goo.]
Oh, no, we're hurting it! Stop! We can't hurtit!
[The fact that it was some sort of parasite or symbiote or something didn't matter to Iggy. He was a man who had a hard time killing moths.]
There has to be another way!
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There probably is, it is that my mind is fuzzy and preventing me from thinking clearly.
[ He stored the knife, tucking it away in a place that made more sense and with far easier scope for access. ]
[ It could also be the symbiote that was speaking through Iggy but he did not feel like analyzing this too closely. ] It is very sticky, and I think that if we attempt to push it off with our hands-- it will just spread.
[ Think think think, Widogast. ]
I suppose we could attempt to push it off on someone or something else?
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[Because, really, the events of the previous evening are pretty fuzzy. This is not unusual for Iggy.]
Oh! Yes! Like putting a bug outside! That's a great idea. Uhm. Okay, it likes us because we're sexy, I guess. I wonder...
[He hums thoughtfully as he looks around.] ...flowers? Would it like flowers? I always like flowers. Or an animal, I guess. But it's not like we can just make animals come to us.
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[ Caleb starts to turn them around in a circle though this would have to be largely in time, for the mere fact that if they were not in time then they could fumble and trip over each other; and oh, wouldn't that be a shame. ]
I would find one that looked old and had enough vitality to spare.
[ Not a young tree, but an old one-- thus the circle of life would be retained. ] At home, there are a few people that I would not mind unleashing a symbiotic goo-friend on, but that is neither here nor there.
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Oh yeah? Do you have many enemies?
Oh! Oh, that tree over there! Closer to those buildings. Is that one big enough?
[As he stumbles and falls against Caleb briefly.]
Oops, sorry.
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His eyes scanned the distance as he considered how to answer Iggy's words. ] Not here, not yet--
[ He finally spotted a tree stump with moss growing atop it-- that may work. ] Over there.. [ He pointed both their hands in that direction. ] Let's see if we can get our little icky friend to decide that's the best home ever?
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[Iggy nods and trots alongside Caleb like an enthusiastic puppy.]
Good idea! This poor goo. Maybe it's just lonely. I understand that. I grew up terribly lonely, too.
You know, I've never seen sentient goo before. Not like this. You seem chill with it, though.
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[ Mein gott, could this man be any more adorable; it was like Iggy needed to be protected at all costs, from the hardships of life. Lucky for Iggy, Caleb had it fairly rough so he could understand-- his childhood hadn't been lonely per se, but there was a period that started during his teens and ending at his early 30s that had been very dark. ]
I have seen much-- [ There was a gentleness to Caleb as he guided Iggy toward the moss-filled plant and then once there, he knelt down and then very quickly tugged at their conjoined arms. ] Sentient goo is perhaps the least strange? [ A wry smile. ] You seem like the encouraging sort, do you have any kind words for this goo that inspire this Goo to go forth and explore the world? [.. that wasn't their arms and possibly consciousness. ]
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[Iggy is easily guided - he takes direction extremely well.
He kneels and thinks, trying to think of some encouraging words. After a moment, he bursts instead into song.]
Borrrrrrrrrrn freeeeeeee! As free as the wind blows... free as the grass grows!
...that's all I know.
[The goo is either encouraged, or finds this display too cringey to bear. It slithers off of them and onto the moss. Iggy gasps.]
There she goes! Goodbye, goo!
[As it leaves, what little common sense Iggy possesses returns.]
Whoa. I feel... less fuzzy. How are you?
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[ The goo slides off their arms and for the first time in perhaps a half an hour, the two of them are separate of each other, and Caleb would like to think that the two of them did pretty well all things told.
At Iggy's next remark, Caleb sits back and assumes a cross-legged position in the grass. ]
I feel a bit like ah, my head is empty? Or at least very much full of cobwebs.. but ah, I don't know what the Goo will do with her newfound freedom, but I wish her well.
[ Guess the goo was a girl now. ]
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I meant like... a non-gendered she. That goo can identify as whatever it likes!
[He studies Caleb with clear eyes.]
You identify as a guy, yeah? I do. Oh, sorry for trying to marry you! I'm an awful housewife.
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[ A brief clearing of his throat. ] Well that is good because I am not sure that I would be the greatest husband either, I would have to be forced away from my books likely.
[ He'd really not make a terrible husband, just right now he thought that he would especially just coming from a timeline where he was dealing with the end of the world, in essence.. so-- sorta like this. ] And also, do not be so hard on yourself, you'd probably find a system that worked for you in regards to like being married-- it's not the same answer for anyone, ja.
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[He's not lying.]
Awww! You're so sweet! And hey, at least we'd have looked super hot at the wedding. Look at you, you're sexy!
[He just says whatever he thinks. It's terrible.]
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[ Well that is not going to help Caleb's further disastering, thank you very much Iggy. For one there was a bump on the bridge of his nose and he he was much too freckled-- so the fact that someone called him sexy, oh no-- oh no. He was turning red. ]
Kind of you to say so, you're rather cute yourself--
[ It was that babygirl energy, it's fine; he's notorious for thinking artistic types are cute. Perhaps he should scoot along before he ends up making a fool of himself, ja-- that'd be just great. ]
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