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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What he was thinking was ‘I hope that’s true’ with all the healthy skepticism you’d expect from someone in law enforcement. It was just way too early to assume that in his mind and they knew very little about what was going on here. What he says is …

“You’re probably right.”

He couldn’t think of a good reason to worry Joyce about this place anymore than she might be already. “I haven’t seen any of them yet, either.”

[And now there's a push in the mix and that's not good, none of that is good because Rodney so does not want to fight this guy. Why did he engage in the first place? Why couldn't he keep his big mouth shut, why didn't he just let him cut the stupid line, like one more person would have made a difference, really? Maybe he can just walk away and come back later.

Except.]

So what, you died and the first thing you thought you should do after coming back is antagonize everyone around you?

[Him. He is everyone, apparently.]

That's great. Talk about making the most of second chances. You're gonna have a great time, what with--

[Oh, what in the hell is that? Rodney stops and stares at his skin changing, finger pointing him up and down.]

You, uh. There's something happening to your... everything.

As a matter of fact, it does. Thank you.

[Rodney scowls and crosses his arms, huffing. He's in a bad mood; it's been a long day and he knows that this long day will turn into an even longer days, weeks, months, depending on what they are dealing with here.]

So. You're from... not here, I take it.

[That is so utterly unpragmatic for the kind of situation they find himself in, so after a long good thought, all that Rodney has is,] What?

[He blinks, shakes his head, tries to shake the whole damn situation off.]

Look. Just don't... stick your hand into electronic devices. It usually ends bad, especially when you don't know what you're doing.

[Which clearly you don't.]

( he makes a noise of loose, vague agreement at wanda's concern about why it has to be blood, and he looks over towards the discarded letter, mentally running back through the contents. there was nothing in it that indicated the why of anything, and he likes it about as much as wanda seems to, but it's easier to pretend he's not really bothered by it. ) I dunno, ( he responds mildly, pushing himself off and away from the sink and towards wanda. ) Atmosphere? Ambience? ( magic has never really been his thing and he's always preferred to leave the details and the intricacies of anything magic-adjacent to literally anyone else. )

This place is probably just run by a bunch of creeps, you know? ( "nothing more and nothing less to it". he's not discounting that that's probably part of it — what absolute psycho can't resist being weird and unsettling about everything? — but he'd bet money on it being a whole lot more than that. )

Here, ( he says, holding the damp wash cloth out to her. ) You don't know who else has touched that door.

( he toes the door curiously, giving the door frame a cursory once over. there's nothing visible, nothing that jumps out as an explanation for — absolutely anything. the hallway is as brown and beige and walnut as the room, and he shoots wanda a look, expectant, and then— )

Hello? ( directed down the hallway at a whole load of nothing and closed doors. )

Oh, the looks. Definitely the looks. This joint looks like somewhere that'd fit right into my shitty little hometown, but I've never seen anybody who looks like you do.

[ The tattoos, the brightly colored hair - maybe they'd be less eye-catching somewhere like New York or L.A, but they still wouldn't be anywhere close to the norm. It's pretty fucking cool, Eddie thinks. Not exactly his style, but he can appreciate it for how different it is.

They skate along the outside edge of the rink ever so slowly, but it's a lot better not being alone. ]

Cool, man. Metal's like - basically my whole life, so I don't think either of us are gonna be able to get any requests in. Apparently the mall's got a record shop, though.

[ It hits Eddie for the first time exactly how much he's left behind in Hawkins. Maybe he should be more grateful that he's not just straight-up dead, but what's life without his band, his guitar, Dungeons and Dragons?

Skating around in a big circle to get the privilege of a Walkman, apparently. ]

Apparently you get a tape with it. I hope I don't get some Madonna bullshit.

Yeah. Better than nothing, I guess.

[ So Eddie heads over to run water over the cut, grimacing at the pain. At least the bleeding has slowed somewhat, but that doesn't mean he can't still get a nasty infection. That'd be just his fucking luck. He dries it carefully with one of the hand towels in the bathroom, leaving a red streak through the fluffy terrycloth. Whatever, that's what bleach is for, right?

When he returns to Wanda, he holds his hand out again, but there's something else on his mind, too. ]

So... Can I ask what you were trying to do back there? With the door?

❰ think a combo of both — robin, weak at the knees, initially grasps onto wanda for dear life, survival instincts kicking in. since they're close enough to the wall, however, one struggling hand grabs onto the rail as she almost jams her finger from force. ❱

Sorry, sorry. I— ❰ robin quickly swaps the hand grasping onto wanda for clamping back onto the railing, legs rolling back and forth beneath her until she gains her balance — somewhat. ❱ It's not so much a 'watching' issue as it is...well, Bambi probably has more coordination than I do. Leg wise. ❰ which is evident by how hard it is for her to just stand up now, body full of nerves and inertia. ❱ I didn't think I would be this bad at this.

That might be easier said than done.

[Nothing about this is normal or right, and Wanda suspects that means leaving won't be easy.]

❰ for as freaked out as she feels, robin is still doing a better job at hiding it than this newly awakened girl — which only serves to startle her more, potentially locked in a room with someone who will only heighten her own anxiety. ❱

Okay, just...hold on. ❰ her hands are out, one palm slanted downward in a sign to "hold up, now, let's be reasonable about this." ❱ I would love to leave and let you have all the privacy in the world, but I can't.

❰ the hand that holds her letter shakes it, hopefully enough proof that she is neither a perpetrator or intruder. ❱ And in an effort to both try and keep us as mellow as possible, I'm Robin. So for captive bonding purposes, you are...?

[A pillow case isn't exactly sterile, and who knows how the cleaning service is here, but it's better than nothing. Wanda folds it over a few times before wrapping it around his hands, eyes flicking up to his at his question.]

Doors don't tend to stand in the way of my magic.

[Might as well be upfront about it since they're in a place that demands blood to open doors. Not too strange, right?]

Something here is preventing me from using it.

[ No shit. He could be overly literal and point out that neither is anyone else here, but he knows that's not what's being alluded to. He stands out, even unintentionally, especially in a place like this at a time like this, and it's natural that they're going to be curious. He expects that as much as he expected his most recent bloodwork results to be a balm—reading people still comes easily to him, even if they're from another culture entirely. Some things are pretty universal. ]

No. St. Petersburg.

[ A renaming he hates—Leningrad had been fine, had been a logical change from the Petrograd he grew up in, but to un-name Leningrad had been an erasure of history.

Vasiliy moves the handles of the shopping bag to his forearm and uses his dry hand to fumble through the folded uniform within until he manages to open the velcro flaps of a leg pocket and produce a small roll of gauze, which he proceeds to start wrapping the bloody palm with. It's more awkward, doing the same familiar movement without a hand to keep the tail of the strip in place. The best he manages is to pin it with his thumb and move his knuckle out of the way when he comes back around. ]

You?

❰ in one of her standard moments of spacing out, being spoken to makes robin jump, especially as she's already on edge. when she turns to see who's talking to her, her eyes visibly widen and a mixture of fear and confusion is visible on her face. ❱

Chrissy...? ❰ this is bizarre for more reasons than her brain can reasonably process at once. she's standing in an alternative clothing store, one NOT in hawkins, after having to bloodlet to get out of her hotel room. and she's standing there with dead cheer squad captain, chrissy cunningham. what the fuck. ❱ I— Thanks.

❰ as much as she'd like to marinate in the compliment, that seems the last thing she should be thinking about with regards to this interaction right now. robin cocks her head, still obviously confused though incapable of truly voicing why immediately. ❱ This...I wouldn't expect to see you here. In a store like this, I mean. Or, you know, here at all...? This super weird mayor place.

❰ she can start on the micro level and maybe? work up to the macro. ❱

[ Eddie just hopes the bleeding will completely stop and he won't lose his hand from the first trial this place has to offer them. He might be getting a little paranoid about that, now. He scrunches his nose up as Wanda wraps it up with the pillowcase, meeting her eyes as she speaks. ]

Oh. Huh.

[ Despite his deep appreciation for the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, Eddie was never the type to believe any of that shit was real. It was just that: fiction and fantasy.

Then a cheerleader levitated up to his living room ceiling and he watched all her limbs snap before her eyes were sucked into her skull. And that's not even half of the shit he's seen since then.

So sure. Wanda could very well have magical powers, for all he knows. That El girl was supposed to have powers, too. ]

What kinda magic? Like... telekinesis and shit? Sorry, this is all pretty new stuff for me.

[Seeming normal and being normal were two entirely different things. After years of dealing with the fallout of Despair, she's been duped too many times to take a single thing for granted.

Fukawa's eyes narrow and turn back to her feet. There's a clumsy rhythm going now, she's been able to let go of his sleeve and so does not need to watch herself so close. She just needs a second to review. There's a grunt of dissatisfaction —] The eighties. [— before she takes a slight pause. Let her mull the implications over.]

This is so r-ridiculous. Maybe...it's some kind of simulation? [She looks to him for affirmation.] We could have had our consciousness uploaded into a program, our memories tampered with. It would explain how they're p-pulling all this bullshit off.

[Fukawa may be white knuckling the covers, eyes nearly as wide as the broad glasses sitting over them, but she does still.

All right. All right then. There's a letter, there's another girl, there's a second bed, and nothing familiar in sight. She can still feel the holster tight against her thigh, which means she's still armed.

That doesn't mean much. They left her armed the last time too. Probably wanted it that way, how's a hidden set of scissors for a smoking gun? Whoever set this up might be expecting a bloody show too.

Cautiously, she peels off of the bed, hunched at the shoulders and eying the girl with mighty suspicion. Her tattered clothes still hide the blades, but they do nothing to make her look trustworthy. She keeps square on her side of the room, wary as a wild animal.]

F-Fukawa. [Her lips purse.] Wh-what's on that paper? Don't be stingy. If... if you're hiding something I'll f-find out anyway!

Edited 2022-08-28 20:37 (UTC)

( peter's found himself displaced in time once or twice, and whilst it's never his favourite experience, it's only ever been something he's experienced as an adult and after being through enough weird and wonderful experiences that he can put it — roughly — down to just being another day that ends in 'y'.

what he can remember, though, is being a teenager-slash-young adult-slash-totally not as grown up as he believed himself to be at the time in space, light years from home and with nothing to return to. everything was strange and unfamiliar, and he'd been desperate to prove himself. to take control of his destiny rather than have himself pulled about by chance.

(his ego had been wild.)

whilst he doesn't think the same of nancy, he gets the feeling of being displaced, of having to try and think quickly on your feet so that you're not letting people know that you don't know half as much as you're pretending you do.

or maybe that last bit was still just him. )

It's an album by Bowie. It — kind of — tells a story. ( he gestures at aladdin sane. ) You can listen to that one after you've listened to Ziggy.

—But it doesn't really matter what I think is good. Half the fun is finding something and not having any idea who or what it is, and taking it home because you like the name or the picture on the front.

❰ suddenly the pants don't matter all that much. sloppily putting them back on the wrack, robin turns and looks steve up and down. not that she needs to; she'd know that ridiculously manicured mop of hair anywhere. ❱

Steve. ❰ she grabs his clothes on his chest, intensity heightened now that she has someone to complain to, someone who gets it. her tone is meant to be a harsh whisper, but comes out as little more than a dull scream. ❱ Can you believe this crazy shit? I had to help cut someone's hand open and now I'm just at the mall! Like it's no big deal!

❰ letting him go, her hands continue to punctuate the air, moving almost as fast as her mouth does. ❱ All this is is a better smelling Upside Down in some other town and I have no idea what kind of fucked up hole we fell through to take us here to this place, but it really wants me to buy pants for some reason.

[Cursed blood opens doors in more than one way, maybe, though Wanda is reluctant to say it aloud. Magical sorts tend to be dramatic--don't ask her how she knows--so it really could just be for show. Who knows.]

Thanks.

[She wipes her hand clean as she watches Peter look over the door, pressing the cloth to the cut as he calls out. She's not going to be much of a help if things go south, but she has some hope that maybe outside this room, outside this building, her magic will be available to her.

Slim hope, but some.]

Let's see how far we get.

[Before shit hits the fan, she means, but she doesn't think she needs to tell him that.]

After you.

[Between the two of them they seem to manage to escape anyone eating the floor, and Wanda regains enough of her balance to help make sure Robin can remain upright, wobbily as it is. She keeps a hand out ready to grab her just in case.]

First time? Never would have guessed.

[There's not too much bite to the words, and they're further softened when Wanda looks her over.]

Are you okay?

[ Vasiliy's no stranger to incredibly bizarre turns of fate, subversion of what he thought were very solid rules of the universe—but even to him, a dead man in the strictest sense, that sounds like a stretch. It seems far more likely that they've been transplanted back in time through some mechanism similar to what brought him forward. People haven't reached anywhere near the level of advancement they'd need to do what she's talking about in 2019, and it sounds more like something from a science fiction movie. ]

Maybe, but that does not seem likely. I think we are really here. Where I am from, technology is not so advanced. 2018.

[By virtue of experiencing other universes now, she isn't insulted. Maybe he's not from a world where there's magic or heroes or forces beyond nature that can take out half the population within the blink of an eye.

She's not about to say chaos magic to someone who is blissfully ignorant about its existence, though. Wanda smiles wryly as she finishes up his hand.]

Like telekinesis and shit. Got it in one. Do I sound crazy?

[She's been a little crazy, now and then.]

Or am I fitting the theme, here?

You've probably got a point. There are a lot of ways to say opulence, but nothing quite like man-made water features.

[ Fountains? As it turns out, very fun. Big attention-grabber. Weirdly coin-filled.

Nothing says opulence quite like the big carousel either, but he thinks the fountain is cooler. ]

And I'll have you know I'm normally an incredible barterer! [ Citation needed. ] Now I get landlocked out here where it's obsolete? There's nothing hilarious about that at all, mate! If it's anything, it's inconsiderate.

[ Inconsiderate to Stede specifically! And how he personally thinks about shopping!! Which obviously takes emotional precedent over "the rules of the established society in which he's been told to mesh" or whatever!!! ]

Edited 2022-08-29 01:00 (UTC)

Alright. [She keeps Aladdin Sane in her small pile, and Ziggy once she finds it.] So it's a bit like an opera, yeah?

[She looks at him and nods, considering.] Alright. Then- [She picks up The Smiths again.] I could do with something a bit sad.

[She was, though she did her best to hide it, a sad girl]

I just don't want to waste money on something I'm not going to like.

She'd given them up after she'd met Tom, more pointedly Tom had insisted she give them up. He had his ways of being insistent. The bruises she bore now were evidence of his ways. She'd finally mustered up the courage to leave after the phone call from a place he called home once had shattered her illusionary bubble of life.

She'd expected to go back to Derry, instead, here she was in a place that looked a lot like places when she was growing up, decades ago. A sentiment this guy didn't seem to share.

"Oh, I heard about this, everyone here is from different places." She nodded, only now getting the whole picture that the place could also be a time.

"You just get here?" She took a lungful of smoke and exhaled slowly. "I'm Bev by the way, Bev Marsh."

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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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Excellent ty ty

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