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

Questions

[newcomod]

Ask any questions about the TDM here!

Caleb Widogast | Critical Role

[zemnianjoy]

:ARRIVAL:

Caleb Widogast woke up on a park bench and with the siren's blazing all around him. A vauge disorientation wrapped around him as he searched for anything that he could use to get his bearings; his keen mind finally kicked in just underneath that knot sized lump on his forehead. A touch to the side of his head also revealed a tenderness that could only be a bruise. It felt like he had been kicked by two tons of aoerian automatii and then left for dead underneath the aegis of whatever this was. There was the scent of sulfer in the air as if heralding a curtain call, except this is what happened afterwards.

He pushed himself off of the bench and then searched around for a sign of anyone. Mainly the Nein, to see where they were except.

Nothing whatsoever.

A growing unease in the pit of his stomach started to void outward and then he glanced upward, a ball of light and then there was Frumpkin. Gods, he choked back some relief and then he struggled to grasp for a foothold, glancing over at a figure approaching. This figure was not friend-shaped, but then.. there was little that was friendshaped in this new world. But he was going to try. ] Hallo, can you tell me where I am?

:GOO:

The Wizard was naturally distrustful of people, even at the point in time where he was located-- he did not trust easily. When he trusted though, it was forever and he was like the parasite that had somehow lodged inside of his mind. He found that when he attempted to figure out the points at which directions existed, there was nothing. Time was equally superfluous; where minutes and seconds were easily calculated-- now, there was nothing and he was just like anyone else in that he struggled to seize upon a point at which he could pluck the threads of time.

That wasn't only it.

Magic was just as unreliable. He attempted to cast a flame and there was but a spark like matchsticks (unsuccessfully) rubbing against each other. The somatics, it was just a cantrip and should not have been a struggle at all and yet here he was, bereft of that which he had always prided himself on. Words for spells fled his mind, and when he opened up his spellbook to ascertain the information he would need to cast, the sigils swam across a sea of ink on parchment.

He was frustrated and it showed, someone passing by would hear him muttering in sharp zemnian underneath his breath, as he grasped for straws. "Verdammter Scheiß!, a lot of good this will do me, not being able to cast." and somewhere in the back of his mind, a little goo boy was cackling maniacally.

:TWO TRUTHS ONE LIE: [network]

a.) Cats are furry little cat gods and deserve to be worshipped.
b.) I murdered my own family because I thought that I was doing the right thing.
c.) Magic is something that the world would be better without, it causes more trouble than it is worth.

WILD CARD

Hello everyone, I'm Nia over at zauberdecke; feel free to add at will! I am fine with either brackets or prose and I'm always down to clown and be ridiculous. Also feel free to hit me with anything random and completely out of left field because we DIE LIKE BARBARIANS here! *Casts a ritual circle for more Crit-Role people*

Did I mention I'm friendly and I do not bite?

Steve Rogers ✪ MCU

[pursuitofcappiness]

ota

first✪train

Steve wakes up having fallen asleep in a traincar, on his way to the Academy. He blinks away the sleep and memories, which are sitting in his mind as if he'd had the strangest dream about being a soldier again, only with a ridiculous blue and red uniform that he's sure breaks every regulation, now that he's awake.

Something about all that feels off, as he reaches up to his chest to gently pat the letter folded up inside his pocket, splotches of iron gall still staining parts of his fingers from having written it earlier.

He looks outside the window and squints as the landscape rolls past. Sure, he doesn't expect that he's seen any of this before, but it's odd to him that he doesn't have a better orientation of his space. Before long, he gets up from his seat to go search for a dining car. Because he's so broad-shouldered and these car hallways are so small, he nearly bumps into your character as he comically tries to make himself flush against the wall.

As the train lurches, he braces himself against the wall, but the two of you might have a crash. "Sorry--!"

ota

first✪train✪ii

He gets thrown back during the crash, but quickly finds himself on his feet, running towards the point of collision. The adrenaline must make him stronger than he is, because he feels like he's lifting parts of the train that should be impossible, but then again, his dream had been so realistic. He finds it hard to shake the thoughts of it, as ridiculous as that all is.

Regardless of what he can sort through as reality or imagination, his instincts are to keep running into the train to mark casualties and pull out or help stabilize anyone else that he can for doctors to arrive.

Maybe he's pulling rubble off of your character, or maybe they have to work together to get someone out, or maybe yours is trying to stop a fire. "Does anyone know what the cargo was?" he asks, because he knows that this train was carrying more than just passengers, and if the fire gets to that car, it might be disastrous.

ota

fermii

1. I got rejected from the army four times.
2. I take my coffee black with two sugars.
3. Sometimes I don't wait to ask an owner to pet a dog if it runs up to me first.

ota

wild✪card

[ Hello I'm Xy! You can reach out via DM or assemble if you'd like a private starter, or just hit me with your own! Haven't decided what canon point for Steve yet so I might just have him have vague recollections until I do. Might also test drive other characters too, not sure yet. And don't worry, just like Nia, I don't bite!! ]

Re: Questions

[abit_ofboth]

Hi mods! Not so much a question, but in prompt 1 it says that the train is there for all of June, but disappears at midnight on the 31st, but there are only 30 days in June. Just thought you might want to know. Thanks!

castiel / supernatural

[messenger]

—arrival
cw: violence, injury, memory issues, memory alteration, brainwashing

The experience isn't entirely unfamiliar.

Hurtling through the atmosphere at breakneck speeds, crashing into the earth with such force as to knock up great plumes of dirt and dig long furrows in the ground— It's every bit like being banished. Even the delirious and painful aftermath isn't entirely unexpected, at least until Castiel gets his bearings and realizes he isn't at all where he's meant to be.

Which is— well.

That's the problem. He doesn't know. And he should.

When he climbs his way out of the crater of his impact site, digging his fingers into the loamy earth to drag himself up, it's with a broken leg and a broken arm. The pain flares through him like heat, traversing his body inside-out, and though he knows he'll heal once his powers recover, right now he doesn't have the strength to hide his injuries. Honestly, he's kind of a mess. He doesn't even remember what he was doing before he was banished. Confronting Raphael? Confronting Michael? Or was he running from the creatures in Purgatory, trying to draw them off? Wasn't that years ago? Or—

He clutches his head. The image of a small, fine-toothed drill enters his mind, and he doubles over in a full-body wince.

"Ugh."

—the crash
cw: injury, burns, fire

[ whilte recovering from the wreckage of his own arrival, castiel sets his eyes to the burning wreckage of the train. of course, to say he's given himself any time to recuperate would be a vast understatement, but he's bold enough to ignore his injuries— confident in the fact that they'll soon heal on their own.

but there are people in those train cars, and who better suited to help them but him? he rushes into the wreckage without a second thought to the licking fire, or the burns he'll quickly accumulate. he closes his hand around an arm and yanks, grabbing fistfuls of clothes, pulling who he's found free of the twisted metal frame of what was once a working train car until they're outside, beyond the heat of the wreck, breathing in the open air.

there are little embers smoldering in his hair and on his shoulders. ]

Are you okay?

—assimilation
cw: mental manipulation, mind control, violence, non-consensual touching

[ moving in and out of the train, it's inevitable he encounters it. he doesn't remember what it reminds him of at that particular moment in time— his past firmly lodged in the events of the biblical apocalypse he helped to avert. there are no purgatory souls, blessedly no leviathan, but when he sees the stuff on his arm, black and viscous, his reaction is instinctive and immediate. he scrapes at it with his fingernails, tries to burn it off with a power that hasn't yet returned to him—

and none of it helps.

when all else fails, his intention is to sequester himself. except, by then, it's already beyond the point he could have bucked the thing trying to influence his mind. a sort of calm comes over him as he wanders, instinctively toward the most popular areas, looking for some living being with the sort of mindless clarity common to all hungry predators. ]

prompt a. castiel becomes cruel/violent and attempts to start a fight. (à la leviathan!castiel)
prompt b. castiel becomes incredibly friendly and clingy. (à la honeybee!castiel)

—two truths & a lie
cw: forced honesty, suicidal ideation, discussion of mental illness, discussion of death and violence

1. I've been committed to a mental health facility before.
2. Every time I die, God resurrects me.
3. I'm glad my friends aren't here, so they don't have to see me like this.

( ooc: feel free to hit me up at plurk at chayot if you'd like to plot out something specific! )

[newcomod]

Hi!

The premise of our game is that the setting is stuck in a time loop during October. We will have to ask players to use their imaginations a little bit. Every TDM release will act as the "31st of October" so to speak. It is always going to be referred to as the 31st. Thank you though for your consideration!

Ajewen Cheris | Machineries of Empire

[everyspark]

ARRIVAL

The lassitude is not quite familiar. For a moment, Cheris is tempted to drift off again, though such crowded transports are not common in the colony; it's small enough that everyone walks or borrows a private flitter. A tour of one of the successfully terraformed areas, where familiar oxygen-breathing trees have replaced the stubby, thorned growths outside the dome? How did she end up on a tour without her class, though? A fuzzy spike of anxiety -- no, the children in her math class (how many? she should know this) are nowhere in sight.

Actually, nobody she knows in sight. And it's... hard, somehow, to wonder why.

That sensation is familiar indeed.

Her augment isn't working, either. What time is it? What day? Has she missed a required meditation? One lapse wouldn't be fatal to the dome's exotic technology, but if too many people miss their observances, calendrical rot could set in. There's something in her hands -- a backpack, unfamiliar or unremembered, with an air mask. Enough to filter the toxics in the air outside the dome. Is that why everything is so muzzy -- why the inside of her mind feels scoured? Some injury during an evacuation? But that wouldn't explain--

Then, everything upends.

When the car stops moving, she's jammed between two off-kilter seats. The smoke stings; she pulls her air mask on immediately and works her way free, bruised all over and unsure of several of her ribs. There are voices nearby, sounds of pain. The side of the car is flanged outward, warped wide with dangerous sharp edges not impeding freedom. The backpack looks like it might contain useful first-aid supplies; Cheris swings it over her shoulder, surprised at its light weight, and looks for the nearest person who might need medical care.

FERMII

She's not used to handheld phones. Why carry around an extra device when most communications can be transmitted to the local grid through one's augment? But her augment isn't working, and some field effect is allowing her to understand how the unfamiliar thing works, and a compulsion -- formation instinct? -- has her signing up as luckstone and making a very, very important post.

1. My kill count is classified.

2. I'm not fond of alcohol.

3. I helped to execute my best friend.

Some distant part of her is horrified, while another, wearily noting the old well-recognized feeling of being controlled by something she cannot resist, files the anger for another time and proceeds to hit send. Fire and ash, what is this, a trust exercise? It had better let me delete this later.

[[ooc: Hi, I'm Vik! DMs are open for any questions or suggestions; I'm getting back into rp after a break of several years, so please excuse any slowness that might occur.]]

TWO LIES AND TRUTH

[zemnianjoy]

Well, My friend, I would guess the coffee.

[ Because he has seen Steve around and that man is built like his father was, prime canidate for military service there. ]

[pursuitofcappiness]

You'd be right, I just take my coffee black with no sugar.

Why'd you guess that one? I'm just curious.

[abit_ofboth]

Ah, okay. That makes more sense. Thanks for clarifying!

Loki | MCU | OTA

[abit_ofboth]

Arrival

Though you would never know it from the look on his face, Loki actually quite likes train rides. In his opinion, it is the greatest form of transportation humans ever created, especially since none of them can teleport. It’s relaxing and provides a beautiful view.

A view that Loki is currently blind to.

His brother starts a war and his parents have lied to him his entire life, but he’s the one who’s punished. Sure, he had his hand in the start of the war as well, but it was only because Odin couldn’t see how unfit Thor was for rule. He had to do it! For the good of all of Asgard!

Those arguments had fallen on deaf ears though and now Loki finds himself bored and annoyed on a train to some boarding school with a bunch of humans. Apparently since Thor’s banishment worked so well, Odin thinks it will help Loki too. He’ll show him though. At very least he should be able to get himself kicked out pretty easily and then he’ll be free to do what he wants, which is most definitely not going back to Asgard.

Loki is pleasantly daydreaming about possible ways to get kicked out when all Hel breaks loose. The next few minutes as the train derails and combusts is typically the kind of chaos Loki revels in, but it is much less fun when he’s right in the middle of it and not simply watching from a distance. He has just enough time to think ‘perfect’ before he’s slammed into the window next to his seat and loses consciousness.

The next thing he knows, he’s lying on his back a few hundred metres from the crash site, staring up at the sky as his head starts to pound.


Goo

Once he’s managed to shake off the worst of his injuries, Loki finds himself wandering rather aimlessly through the wreckage feeling much more confused than he’s used to. As if things weren’t bad enough, this has to be the worst way to start his punishment.

It’s not long before he comes across the train car with the strange goo seeping out of it. Having no fear of physical harm (even after just being thrown from a train wreck) Loki bends and touches some of the sticky substances out of pure curiosity only to have it instantly stick firmly to his fingertips. A deeply disgusted frown appears on his face as he stands, shaking his hand as if that would rid the substance from his skin.

”What is this?” He asks no one in particular as he rubs at the tar-like substance ineffectively.


Two Truths, One Lie [Network]

I was adopted
I am a terrible liar
I am a prince


Wildcard

Hello all! I’m Lex and really I’m up to try anything if you have an idea you think you might want a God of Mischief for. Feel free to DM me or you can find me at prettyapathetic. I’m thinking of bringing Loki in from the end of the first Thor movie with the small change that he didn’t fall from the Bifrost, but was instead sent away to this school as punishment for his deeds in the rest of the movie.

Two Truths, One Lie

[abit_ofboth]

I sincerely hope the lie is c. Magic is wonderful and I do not understand those who do without.

Hata no Kokoro | Touhou Project

[nohproblem]

- First Train In -

[ Kokoro appears on the train just shortly before its crash, not having enough time to get her bearings before it derails. A new place, unfamiliar environs, and then it all explodes around her.

When the chaos ends, she's sprawled out on the floor, blinking blearily at what's left of the ceiling. After taking a moment to untangle her limbs, she pulls herself to her feet, quickly finding that one of her ankles can barely support any weight without shooting a spike of pain up her leg, leaving her leaning weakly against one of the seats. No problem, she can always fly... huh? Flight isn't working, either. That's a bigger problem. ]

Is anybody else alive? I need to get out, but I can't walk.

[ It's supposed to be a cry for help, but its vibes are left a bit confusing by its total deadpan delivery. Is she really in pain? ]


- Assimilation -

[ Fortunately, Kokoro heals quickly. Unfortunately, curiosity pulled her too close to that black goo, and it took the opportunity to attach itself as a dark splotch across one side of her face.

Unfortunately, Kokoro's emotions are a bit chaotic even under normal situations, and it's only destabilized further by the goop's influence. Mind filled with a dark haze, she wobbles unsteadily through the campus, not sure where she's going or what she's looking for. As she does, the mask on her face flickers unsteadily, disappearing every few seconds to be replaced with a different mask, in a different orientation. Each one has a wildly different expression, but the actual face behind them remains totally blank.

All in all, the campus is left with a mysterious pink-haired figure, drunkenly wobbling down the street as masks appear and disappear from her face. Sometimes, the wobbling gives way to outright dancing, spinning erratically but with an enthusiasm that doesn't match her bland expression. If approached, there's no telling how she might react. ]


- Two Truths & A Lie -

1. I once started a religious war!
2. Zeami, the great genius of Noh theater, is my father!
3. The thing on the front of my head is not my face!

[ Mysterious. ]

[zemnianjoy]

Ah, a man after my own heart; I find that black coffee goes well with sweet pastries.

As far as my other answers go, I cannot imagine that you would fail out of the military-- also you look like the type that would pet an animal if they begged you too; you have a kindness about you.

[ Hunted people-animals had a feeling of who could be trusted, though that instinct took a while to.. well trust. ]

peter maximoff | x-men movies

[antifastism]

First Train In: Busted
Content Warnings: Explicit leg injury, temporary loss of powers, debris, mild burns.

(The worst part wasn't how his mind felt like someone had stuffed it with cotton and sawdust. The worst part wasn't even the piece of metal lodged in the meat of his thigh. His other leg was partially trapped under some train seats that had flipped over. He didn't think that leg was broken, but he didn't want to think too hard about it either.

The worst part was that he should have been able to avoid all of this without a problem. But as soon as shit hit the fan, he found himself jogging at a pitiful pace and before long, he became a train kebab. The pain was a bitch, no lie there, but why the hell hadn't he been able to take off? He had his teeth grit, hands latched around his thigh as if it might actually help with the pain. It didn't.

At least he had been wearing his goggles when everything happened. Besides a few cuts on his face, his eyes were fine and nothing else on his body seemed too banged up. Just...his legs. The only part of his body that mattered.)

Oh, god damn it. (Huffing, he rests his head back.) This is- so lame. So lame. Holy shi-

(Deep breaths, Peter. He sucks in a slow breath between his teeth before exhaling. He needed help. As much as he hated to admit it...He needed help.)

Hey- uh? Hello? Anyone around? No rush or anything, but I could uh- use a hand. Or two.

First Train In: Helping Out
Content Warnings: Leg injury, whatever injuries he may come across, debris.

(As miserable as his injury was, having it wrapped up and set did wonders. Hobbling around using a piece of wood was a bit of a hit to his dignity as someone who could normally travel in the blink of an eye, but it was better than not being able to walk at all. He'd heal up and when he did...

Well, nothing would happen. It's not like he could seek revenge on a fucking train. For now, he was just trying to do what the losers at Xavier's School would do: help. Poorly. He uses his makeshift crutch to push over pieces of debris with all the enthusiasm of a rock.)

Anyone around? Anyone partially around?

(God, he had already seen some gruesome corpses along the way. He stomps his crutch impatiently and uselessly at a pile of burnt seats. It was torture having to move this s l o w.)

Goddamn it. (He's going to just...take his aggression out on these poor seats. He can go back to looking for survivors in a second.)

Two Truths, One Lie
username: peteroff

man this stupid game never ends well
okay okay

1. yes my hair is naturally silver
2. i stole from the pentagon and it was way too easy. 5/10 would do again
3. i never knew my mom she was a loser who ditched when me and my sisters were kids

[zemnianjoy]

You are correct, I actually do not know what I would do if not for magic. There is so much possibilities contained within, that millenia could be spent without uncovering but tip of the iceberg.

[ Caleb however would've traded the lie in C for the truth in B if he was being completely honest with himself. ]

Are you a wizard as well?

2 Truths 1 Lie

[nohproblem]

1 and 2 must both be true. If they're your friends, then surely the joy of seeing them again would be greater than the shame of whatever state they find you in?

Two Truths One Lie

[zemnianjoy]

It is clear to me that the lie is that you are a terrible liar. Which, if I'm being honest, is a masterful way to lie.

[ It's like lie-ception. ]

First Train II

[abit_ofboth]

One of the first things Loki notices when he comes to is someone who appears human running incredibly fast back towards the wreckage. He frowns and rubs at his sore head wondering just how injured he might be to start hallucinating.

Things only get stranger as the man starts to easily move, and even throw, parts of the broken train away as he searches for more injured. Loki stands and makes his way over towards him, much more curious about him than anything to do with any possible survivors or even the wreck itself at the moment. Clearly he did really know where it was Odin had decided to send him. It is starting to seem as if he only assumed it was Midgard because of Thor’s punishment.

“I have never seen anything quite like it. It smells quite terrible though.” He shrugs as he stands rather calmly, looking around the area with a neutral look on his face, though really he is quite interested in learning exactly who this man is. Though he wouldn’t mind finding out why the train had crashed either. He’s not too fond of the headache he has as a result. He’ll be even more upset when he finally sees his reflection and notices the rather large bump right over his left eye.

[abit_ofboth]

Not masterful enough if you picked it out so easily. May I ask what drew you to this conclusion?

[Lie-ception, he likes that. Or would if he’d ever seen the movie.]

holland vosijk | shades of magic

[summersaint]

✘ ⸻ first train in

The last thing that Holland remembers is-- dying.

He'd never thought that the trip to the afterlife would involve a train, but the vivid colors of the autumn leaves catch his eye and distract him for just long enough that he's not on guard when the violent jolt hits. Everything gets upended; metal screams as it warps, trees cracking and splintering, and the world seems to revolve around him, spinning. Something solid hits the back of his head.

He wakes on the shattered remains of a window, grass and torn soil. The cabin has fallen on its side. And for a long moment, his eyes hurt. The colors are too vivid. The red of the fire starting to rouse in one corner, the verdant grass, even the shining silver of the train walls opened up. So much more vivid than his home and its dying, withering, barely revitalizing colors. Pain hits, then. An old friend.

Holland climbs to his feet. It seems safe to assume that he's not dead. But where is he?

One thing at a time.

There's someone else nearby. Holland lifts a piece of luggage off of them, and stares downward, gaze assessing, one eye green, the other eye edge-to-edge black. Despite the visibly broken and bloody arm that hangs at his side, there's no pain on his face. Instead, he offers his other hand.

"Can you stand?" he asks, seemingly unruffled. "There's a fire starting, and I don't think I can do anything about it." He thinks he can feel it, but-- his magic should be gone. Sacrificed. "So if you don't want to die here, I suggest you move."

✘ ⸻ assimilation

Backpack slung over his good shoulder, Holland takes some time to adjust once he makes his way out of the crashed train. Everything is still so vivid, like the other worlds he's traveled through, but he doesn't think this is another version of London. The air is too different, the sense of magic unknown. The other people on the train are dressed too electically.

Besides. He didn't travel here. He died. And then woke up on a train. Wherever this is, it's not anywhere he knows.

Holland has kept a wide berth from the remnants of the crashed train, especially the one with the metal crates spilling out of it. But other people are apparantly more curious -- or stupider -- than he is, and are either looking through them or just standing near.

Something's moving through the grass.

He grabs the nearest person's arm and yanks them back. The motion sends ripples of pain through his broken arm, but that's the least of his issues. And it's then that he notices the black goo climbing up the person's hand.

"You might want to do something about that." Holland's voice is perfectly neutral. Like there's not a burning train car and people with injuries and black goo crawling over this person's skin. "I have a knife if you want to hack it off."

✘ ⸻ two truths & a lie

un: londoncalling

1. I killed a man by turning him into stone and shattering him.
2. I killed a man by breaking all his bones simultaneously.
3. I killed a man by forcing air into his veins until he exploded.

✘ ⸻ wildcard

[ ooc: also open to any wildcard prompt! holland is being taken from the end of the third book in the series (shades of magic by v.e. schwab) -- for the uninitiated, he's a magician that can do various types of blood-triggered magic and elemental control, and he's never had a good thing happen to him ever. i think he's smiled like once lmao ]

[abit_ofboth]

Well, that is a relief. People without magic simply do not know what they are missing. There is always more to discover and I will gladly spend the rest of my days learning as much as I can.

I prefer the term Mage, but yes.

[pursuitofcappiness]

I didn't always look like I do now. I used to be small and sickly.

And you're right. I don't think I could resist an animal if it came up to me looking for pets. Am I that obvious?

Assimilation~

[zemnianjoy]

[ There was absolutely no help for it, the girl who was wobbling precariously down the street. She looked in need of some coffee-- now, he was not one to judge, he'd had quite a few times when he was down on his luck and it really seemed to the wizard that everyone was pretty down on their luck. So he found himself finding a place for coffee and then once the cup was presented to him, he was stuffing sugar packets in his pocket and then wandering around.

He pspspsps'd for a moment, attempting to get her attention.

But very carefully, he was not very strong and by his own strength score even a young girl could easily take him out of she landed her punch hard enough. His voice would come out, quiet and methodical with a hint of accent to it. ]

Hallo.. Ja, I have coffee here. It's strong and black, might even set you to rights, but also there is sugar packets, I took twenty of them. [ He was not one to judge anyone's sugar intake ]

[messenger]

[ wow. saw right through him, didn't you? ]

Yes, you're right. If anything, I don't want them here because of the danger, but they're more than accustomed to dealing with these kinds of situations.