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

[zemnianjoy]

[ Immediately the knife was paused, because Iggy sounded so very plaintive. Yes, it was clear that this Goo was responsible to quite a few things but he was completely susceptible toward the other man's pleas. ]

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?

[dead_tongue]

Yours too? Jeez, I thought it was just me, like maybe I was still kinda fucked up from last night...

[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.

[zemnianjoy]

Maybe a flower, or a tree--

[ 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.

[dead_tongue]

[Iggy turns along with Caleb, looking around for plants that aren't just grass.]

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.

[zemnianjoy]

[ Caleb had already ground himself, and also Iggy was a slight thing so he was not going to be barrowed down by him-- which was a plus since Caleb's strength score was terrible without the assisted gravity magic that Essek had taught him. They were both stuck here and it was to their advantage to make the best of it until at which the goo decided it was bored with them.

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?

[dead_tongue]

Not yet? You seem awfully nice, I can't imagine why you'd have enemies at all.

[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.

[zemnianjoy]

There is a phrase that I am fond of, 'do not mistake my kindness for weakness'; the enemies I have made, their is a marked reason why they are enemies.

[ 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. ]

[dead_tongue]

Oh. ...I like that saying.

[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?

[zemnianjoy]

Do goo's have gender, I wonder?

[ 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. ]

[dead_tongue]

[Iggy giggles silently.]

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.

[zemnianjoy]

[ Well pronouns were an interesting thing but he respected whatever it was that people choose to identify with, he remembers Mollymauk, his favorite they/them. ] Ja, I am definitely the Herr-type.

[ 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.

[dead_tongue]

An intellectual, huh? Yeah, we'd be a terrible match. I'm so dumb.

[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.]

[zemnianjoy]

Highly intellectual, which also makes me a bit of an overthinker-- so ja, I am glad we have agreed that we would be so much better as friends.

[ 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. ]

[dead_tongue]

[Iggy beams.]

Thank you! I try.

[He primps his curls.]

You single? We can make out if we're not married.

[He's just... like this.]

[zemnianjoy]

[ Wait.. what?

This bluescreens Caleb, it is a very perceivable thing because his redheaded colouring (Iggy knows the feeling probbably) turns Caleb a shade of pink that probably was criminal in some countries, therefore absolutely clashing with the hair on the top of his head and yes his facial hair to boot. ]

Ah, well ja, I am but I ah... perhaps we can put a pin in that, and see how we feel later about it.

[ Really, it was more like how Iggy felt later about it after getting to know the loser nerd that Caleb was, because the disaster that he was right at this point in time? He would not say no. ]

[dead_tongue]

Okay! [Not in the least bit put off or offended.

Iggy stretches (this makes him look quite a bit like a human daddy-longlegs) and looks around.]

Well. I feel like as far as introductions go, we've had a very strange one. And you know what strangeness merits? Cigarettes. I'm gonna go see if I can't find some. You can come if you want, otherwise I'll find you later.

[An impish smile.] I can't just ignore a man I've proposed to, after all.