cursedcontent | TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

A Blood Offering

You wake up cozy in bed at the Saturn Motel. As you observe the room you may realize that it looks a little dated. Or, perhaps from your point of view the lamp and TV are wildly futuristic. Or, like Goldilocks, it may seem just right: close to the world you just left behind. Either way, you just had a very strange dream (see the arrival scenario) and now you're here. And you're not alone: there's a bed next to yours and someone else is waking up just like you are.

You can chat for a while if you like, but if you try to leave you'll find the door is firmly locked and no amount of kicking, punching, or hitting it with an object will do you any good. Instead, there's a letter on the nightstand which reads:

"Good morning and welcome to your new home!

You may be wondering why you're trapped in this room. Fear not, the door will open easily if you offer a bit of blood. More than a few drops but not enough to be a serious wound. A handprint's worth will do, let's say, and it only needs to come from one of you.

I'll let you sort that out yourselves. See you on the other side.

Sincerely,
The Mayor"

And indeed, a handprint's worth of blood pressed against the door will unlock it and let you out into the world. Do you volunteer your own blood? Do you take it from the other person by force? It's up to you! But there's no food in here, so you better figure it out eventually.

Roller Rink

As a celebration of your new lives here (and an apology for the whole blood offering thing - they were just testing something out, really) the Mayor has invited everyone to the Crazy Eight Roller Rink for a private, after-hours party.

Attendance isn't mandatory, but it is heavily encouraged so that you can meet your fellow Cursed and know who's in on the whole secret. It'll help you down the line at some point if your Curse gets out of control and you need someone to wrangle you.

As a reward, everyone who shows up and completes at least one lap around the roller rink (you must be wearing skates, but you can crawl the lap if you can't get the hang of them) will receive a free walkman with a mystery tape inside. The color, style, and mystery tape your character gets are up to you.

Mallrats

Everyone loves the mall! Right? Right! And this group of newcomers is lucky enough to be here for the White Pines Mall Grand Opening celebration! Feel free to walk around the mall and partake in sales galore, check out the attractions, or just get to know the layout of the place.

The Mayor has given everyone a gift card for $100 that can be used anywhere in the mall as long as they attend the Grand Opening.

They also strongly suggest that you familiarize yourself with the mall and its layout, just in case you ever get stuck there for a while and have to compete with others for food and resources. But that probably won't happen.

Extra Info

The test drive meme and the IC intro log will have the same prompts, and threads between two accepted characters can count as game canon.

The first prompt is flexible: technically you're supposed to be with one other person, but if you want to do larger groups that's fine.

Rooms at the Saturn Motel initially contain two beds for the prompt, but upon leaving and returning characters will find that they all have their own rooms with one bed. If you want a roommate, someone better be ready to sleep on the floor or snuggle up! The room doesn't have to look exactly like the reference image as long as it's not too fancy and suitably dated.

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"Don't worry. I'll make sure to only include the important parts. Like how you have the grace of a baby giraffe. Or that your top speed is .00000000001 miles per hour."

Please don't gesture so wildly and fall over, buddy.

"You're doing great, Rodney. And I'm not just saying that. Look, remaining upright is half the battle there!"

Oh please, it's probably going to be a sexy demon in demon lingerie [whatever that is] and you're going to live your best enslaved life being fed hell grapes while I'm going to be working day and night trying to uncurse us...

[But that's a lot of blood on the door now and Rodney sobers, taking a step towards John, reaching that point where it's not fun and games anymore but starting to genuinely worry him.]

Maybe you should let me take a...

[And then the door makes a soft clicking sound, unlocking, and he trails off before he can voice the rest of his concerns. Not that he was concerned. Because he doesn't do concerned.]

... well. I guess that's that.

[Still, his eyes dart over at Sheppard's hand and he clears his throat, uncomfortable.]

You, uh, you okay?

Edited 2022-08-22 16:41 (UTC)

John nods and takes the letter, scanning it quickly.

"Guess we've both been kidnapped by someone who's seen too many horror movies," he says lightly, almost jokingly, even though his face looks deadly serious. He has no idea if this is real or not, but he's pretty sure this means they're in some kind of danger if this is the person who's trapped them here.

And then there's the dreams.

"What kinda weird dreams have you had, exactly?" He swings his legs off of the bed, going to the door to inspect it himself. His tone suggests that he absolutely believes that they may have had similar weird dreams, because that kind of thing happens where he's from on occasion.

Edited 2022-08-22 16:42 (UTC)

Well, at least Ronon seems fine. There's a sigh of relief that he secretly lets out, because the one thing that would be worse than being trapped in some kind of creepy 80's motel is being trapped in here, alone.

And he's pretty sure that Ronon can take the door off its hinges, if there isn't some kind of mechanism locking them in place on the other side.

And he agrees.

"Why don't you give it a whirl?"

He swings his legs off of the bed, getting up to inspect the letter on the nightstand, holding it up to the light.

"Listen, you didn't have any...weird dreams, did you?"

Oh! Oh!

[Never mind the aggravation of people stopping in the middle of his path - which is very high on the very long list of Things That Annoy Him™ - but now there's also blood in the mix. Rodney's indignation is fueled by an innate need for hygiene and hypochondriac panic and he takes a step back, rising his hands, mouth agape as he stutters in surprise and disgust.

Not that any of that blood actually touched him. But it could have?!]

Are you kidding me? Look, point your sacrificial hand somewhere else or get it fixed like the rest of us!

That earns him a Glare™.

"I would yank your face into this rink if it didn't mean I'd break my collarbone."

Rodney grumbles, only slightly placated by the follow-up compliment.

"Yeah? Funny. I am more interested in the battle of propulsion which would increase the speed with which this would be over."

It hasn't never happened in Wren's world, so even if it isn't exactly common it's not beyond the pale to believe possible.

"Some entity calling itself 'the mayor' saying this is called White Pines and I'm here because I'm 'cursed'," and further errata, but that's the most salient points of the whole thing. Where they are, why they're here. They get up off their bed as well to watch as John makes his own inspection of the door. Maybe he'll see something Wren missed.

"My name's Wren, by the way. Like the bird."

<font face="courier>Home planets? Do people live on different planets here? Yes, but I prefer tea. Or gin.</font>

[Sitting on the bed, she looks at the other woman. Older than her, she wouldn't doubt. Absolutely beautiful. With a strange accent she can't quite place.]

'M Nancy, [she says] Never had a last name, so I took Sikes as my own. [Why didn't she just say Nancy Sikes? Good lord.

Rubbing her throbbing head, Nancy looks around the room.] This place isn't... Are we in hell?

[Rodney frowns, taking in Peter's general appearance. For a moment he wonders; the black T and the cargo pants aren't unfamiliar and he searches his memory for the military personnel on base. But there are so many people on Atlantis and he definitely doesn't bother memorizing all their faces. Especially not of the grunts that he files away under people who prevent me from getting shot.

And now he's reading the letter which is so fifteen minutes ago. Rodney tilts his head back, staring at the ceiling, his hand making an impatient, circular gesture along with the tapping. Come on, come on, come on.]

Unknown entity called the Mayor has us trapped in this room, probably a simulation, maybe traveled through space and time, door doesn't open until we Rorschach our erythrocytes on it.

[There, does that speed things up?

Except then Peter mentions murder and that stops him short. His mouth opens, closes.]

You could but seeing as I am your best bet at figuring out what is actually going on here, that would be incredibly stupid and short-sighted.

[There's a pause, a hesitation as his eyes dart over at him again. He knows that tone and not-actually-serious-threat from his team and he thinks he'll be fine but...]

So don't. Murder me. It's very counter-productive.

Wow, okay, you know what? That sounds great, being fed hell grapes, so maybe I should thank you!

[Also that is very specific, Rodney.

But his attention turns towards the door.

It worked.

Somehow it worked.

He's seen enough technology that looks like magic to be pretty certain that it's technology, but for a moment there he is...unsettled.

If there is such thing as magic, it would look an awful lot like that.]

I'm, uh. I'm fine.

[His hand is bleeding quite a bit and he reaches into his vest, pulling out a gauze roll, and starts wrapping his hand. Rodney sounds concerned and that's making him worried.]

We should get outta here.

((Also if you'd rather have her saner half just say the word, PM me or reply here and I'll swap her in. It's no trouble to me!))

[What a colossal mistake they've made. Oh, sure, she's retired. It's been ages since Syo's dabbled in old habits, there's a few promises there she intends to keep. An ordinary life seems like a swell adventure, and she's been such a good girl so far! Like hell she'll blow her shot now.

But locking her in a room with a total cutie? No chaperones in sight, no witnesses? Might as well dangle steak into a lion's den.

Syo catches the pillow, one brow quirked and a creeping grin cutting across her cheeks. As he passes by she returns the volley, nailing him square on the ass.]

Don't dish it out if you can't take it!

[But no matter. They have a job to do. And the quicker they get out, the quicker she's away from temptation. Syo vaults off her bed and beelines to the closet. She flings it open and bends into the cavity.]

Hmm...no skeletons in the closet. Not yet anyway. [She roots around on the top shelf, standing on tip toe.] Saaaay, what was on that little note you had? Did someone leave you a love letter?

[They better not have. It'd spoil her fun, even if she's got to keep it in the realm of fantasy. Count your lucky stars little man.]

That is quite the Glare™, Rodney.

"Oh, so what you're saying is that you don't want me to help you anymore?"

He grins playfully, letting go of his hand.

"All good things must come to an end eventually."

"What--"

Rodney's eyes widen when the supporting weight is suddenly replaced with empty space and he lets out a yelp (maybe bordering on a shriek).

You did not just!

"Whatareyoudoingwhatareyoudoinggetbackhere!!"

The windmilling turns more into a crawling motion as he tries to launch himself back at John.

( peter makes a noise that's part scoff, part exhale, part sigh — he's positive that rodney is not, in fact, his best bet of figuring out what's going on here, but it's fine. rodney can have his ego if that's what it's going to take to get him through this. )

Uh-huh, ( he murmurs disinterestedly. quill doesn't seem to have rung any bells with rodney which — it's not exactly a blow to peter, per se, but he's not sure if he's relieved or disappointed. he's pleased he doesn't have to go through the 'no, please don't call me star-lord, that's not where I am in my life right now' conversation for, like, the fiftieth time this month, but there's a certain comfort and ease that comes with at least being recognised.

he drops the letter down on his bed, turning on his heels to face the door. he wants to try the door, but based on rodney's attitude and general everythingness, peter's pretty sure he'll just make himself look like an idiot. so he doesn't. he stands there and he considers his options, and he wonders if he's as old as he feels right now.

he glances back towards rodney. )

—Look, ( he says after a moment, irritation all but dissipating. ) I'm, like, definitely not as hungover as I should be right now, but that doesn't mean— ( he waves a hand at the motel room, then at rodney. ) I don't kinda want to just crawl back into that bed and go back to sleep and hopefully wake back up on my ship, so if you could just ( he motions with his hands as if to say, 'just be smaller and quieter in literally every respect', ), that'd be really great. Thank you.

( a beat. ) If you want to try the blood thing, fine, whatever, I've been through weirder. I mean, it's not like you're going to be offering yourself up, right?

Right.

[Rodney stares at the door, similarly creeped out (but in an annoyed way, because he, too, thinks there's a mechanism - one that he hasn't found and that is just unacceptable?), and then his attention is back on Sheppard.

He watches him for a moment, fingers opening and closing nervously and occasionally playing with his sleeve before he takes another step towards him.]

Look, just-- just give me that.

[He plucks the gauze from his fingers, applying pressure on the sterile compress as he wraps the rest of his hand.]

Come from different planets is probably more accurate, seeing as we live here now.

Apparently.

I haven't had Earth booze in years. Mother's ruin or something like that, right?

That's what they call gin, yeah.

What planet are you from? I'm from Earth. Though it's a very different Earth from whatever this one is.

[Okay. What do you want to hear from an absolute stranger after you have been abducted from your homeworld and dumped in creepy Nostalgialand?

Not that.

Rodney turns around, giving Billy a weird look as he seizes him up. It starts in a stare and ends in a frown. Maybe half a step back to bring some distance between them.]

What, like, literally, or are you just trying to cut in line?

[Because he is starving and he's weighing his options here. Yes, there is mortal peril but there is also the prospect of junk food - and right now hunger trumps potentially murderous person?]

That...

...that is hilarious but also Rodney is coming at him way too fast for him to catch with his meager rollering skills--

"Hey--wait--hold on--"

But it's too late, the moment Rodney gets to him his feet slip out from underneath and he falls flat on his back.

Ow.

Edited 2022-08-22 17:52 (UTC)

...Earth.

( now bear with him because he knows how that sounds. )

I just haven't lived there for like 25 years.

But this is pretty similar to when I grew up, actually.

I'm fine, it's not even that bad a cut.

[It is actually a pretty bad cut, and he doesn't protest when Rodney starts wrapping his hand.]

So, uh.

[He looks awkwardly down at his hand, feeling the need to make conversation about it. He doesn't want Rodney to worry.]

You think the demons are on their way?

Edited 2022-08-22 17:55 (UTC)

Ah. You've been on another planet since. This is all so bizarre to me. I'm over 100 years and across the ocean from my home.

I'm from London, if you know it.

Ship, actually.

( peter doesn't stay still very well, and though he occasionally dreams about settling down, maybe having a kid or two, he's not sure if it's on the cards now. it's never felt quite right, and the idea of staying in once place just feels odd, like he'd be missing a piece of himself. )

Heard of London, never been. I'm from Colorado, America, originally. Grew up in the 80s, so this is a bit like coming home.

( it's weird — so far, peter's spoken to a lot of people that are thrown by it, by their situation, by the era they find themselves in, but for peter? it's actually not that bad.

it's almost a pleasant distraction from everything else that had been going on. )

100 years which direction?

[Does she need to say she's imagining a pirate ship in the sky? No. No she does not.]

That's incredible!

Well, I've never been to America. So we're evenly matched, I suppose.

100 years in the past. It's 1838 where I come from.

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