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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A. A Blood Offering -

He's been through a lot of things. Things that one would consider impossible. So it's not entirely out of the ordinary that he does wake up after a weird dream where someone tells him he's trapped in some place under a Curse.

Waking up in a weird old motel and not safe at home in Atlantis makes him wonder if this is the curse.

"You've got to be kidding me," John rubs his face, sitting up, taking in the rather...unfortunate decor. Did he get captured by aliens again? Aliens who have reached the developmental level of...1980, perhaps.

It takes him another second to realize that there's someone in the room with him.

There's a very long pause, as he stares at the other person.

"Hi."

He waves, like it's any old day.

B. Roller Rink -

So John Sheppard has learned a few things.

One, there's no gate here and no direct way home.

Two, it's very possible that they are actually cursed and therefore, probably do need to stay here until they're no longer affected by it. He's been through enough of these scenarios that he will stay here as long as he needs to, even if he had a choice otherwise. He couldn't risk bringing something like this back to Atlantis.

Three, he hasn't roller skated in ages and he doesn't want to fall and look like an idiot. But a mystery walkman sounds nice (or possibly also cursed) and he needs to get one just in case it's important.

So here is John Sheppard, fighter pilot, proficient in many flying aircraft, eeking his way across the skating rink.

He's fine. A little wobbly. Just don't break his concentration.

C. Mallrats -

Considering most of his teenage years were during the heyday of mall life, this is all very familiar to him. And admittedly, it's kind of nostalgic and all that.

So he's got an ice cream in one hand as he peruses the music selection at La Pointe Music Shop, making plans to maybe go see a movie later. Word on the street was it's chock full of 80's movies so he's gonna take this nostalgia train to the station.

Plus, he can actually buy some cassettes, vinyl and players for them? Score!

"Do they sell posters here?" he asks the nearest person to him absently, while searching through the Johnny Cash cassettes.

D. Cursed - cw: body horror, ptsd

He noticed it when he was playing pinball at the arcade.

It's something that's haunted his nightmares ever since he experienced it, the loss of control, the fear of hurting his friends--his family, and yeah, the actual experience sucked, but what he could have done to them...it's not something that leaves you lightly.

It was an itch at first. He slams his fist against the pinball machine and it buzzes loudly, the TILT, and he reaches up to pull the sleeve of his jacket up.

And then it's there. Just like in his nightmares, just like when it happened.

A scattering of blue and purple around his arm, and a patch of what is literally exoskeleton sitting where he'd gotten bitten the first time.

No. No, that can't be--he's imagining things.

He rushes to a brighter part of the arcade, scrubbing at his arm, his eyes wide.

E. Wildcard - Anything goes!

Edited 2022-08-21 01:05 (UTC)

"Sheppard!"

Oh, finally! His torment is over.

Rodney gestures for him agitatedly, then reaches. One hand is still clinging to the boards while the other windmills and then attaches itself to John's tactical vest. Once he has his claws in for support, the other lets go to grip at his shoulder, too, hanging on for dear life.

"Very good. Now get us around that thing."

While he will just. Cling. Angrily.

"Can you believe they make us do this? That walkman better comes batteries included."

...he's not sure what he expected with Rodney on a pair of roller skates but this is also exactly what he expected with Rodney on a pair of roller skates.

Who is now. Clinging to him for dear life.

"You're gonna make me fall!"

He wobbles with the extra weight, almost windmilling himself, and it's only by sheer luck that he was close enough to a wall to catch himself. Themselves.

"I'm not rolling around this thing with you attached to me like a baby koala!"

"Well, don't fall?"

Simple as that!

"Look, do you want that technology or not? Because you are going to start complaining about getting out of here before that day is over and I have no way to do so if I don't get my hands on something at least remotely electric."

One hand starts coming up to gesture agitatedly but that almost throws him off balance, so back to clinging it is.

"So skate."

"Wow, I never realized it was that simple! Just don't fall!"

He glares at Rodney, trying to regain his balance as he tentatively lets go of the wall.

And starts moving. Very slowly.

"You know, it's really annoying when you're right."

He takes a few wibbly wobbly steps.

"I hope you realize that none of us is coming out of this with uninjured ankles."

"I'm always right."

A disgruntled huff as he holds on to his midsection.

"Just... pull me along and we'll be fine."

Maybe. Possibly. But leaving the actual physical exercise to Sheppard helps him free his mind and let it wander and before long, he pipes up again.

"I think it's safe to say that this isn't Pegasus. Even if there was a planet that someone managed to evolve to this technological state? It's too similar. I'm pretty sure this is Earth. Some Earth. Some strange, alternate, messed up, cursed Earth."

At least that's his working theory right now.

"Says the man that blew up most of a solar system."

And no, he will never let you live that one down.

It's slow going, and John feels like he's about to fall with every other step, but they're actually starting to make progress.

"Alternate earth. All right, we can deal with that. If there was a way to get us here, there's a way back. Except for all that curse business."

"Uninhabited solar system," comes the snarky reply like clockwork. Will you give it a rest already.

"Except for all that curse business, yeah. Unless of course it's this place that curses us and getting out of here is actually what would save us. If the curse is even real."

But of course it's too early too tell. They need more information, on this world, on the Mayor, on the ominous Curse itself. And instead here they are, sliding around the room like they're trapped in some bizarre nostalgia show on late night TV.

"This is humiliating."

"Still a solar system."

So no, he won't give it a rest.

"There is that." It's something he thought about already, maybe the whole curse business is a proximity thing. If it's even real.

"You're telling me. Come on, why not just try? Listen--"

He reaches over and attempts to pry one of his hands off his vest. Thing is, he's not entirely sure that even he could loosen Rodney's death grip.

"Just stand to the side of me, and do what I do."

"Do I have to?"

Rodney pulls a face, his voice taking on a whiny tone as he is forced upwards. When Sheppard finally gets his hand off the vest, he clings to his wrist instead, pulling on his arm for balance.

"What do you mean do what you do, I don't know what you do! What do I do?"

"Yes. Now you move your feet like you're pushing forwards, like you're shuffling your feet. If you feel like you're gonna fall, bend your knees and squat."

And don't yank him down with you. He holds onto his hand securely when he clings to him.

"Look, I won't let you fall, okay? Try to use your own balance instead of depending on mine."

Which isn't all that great on skates.

There's a sound emanating from the back of Rodney's throat, part indignation, part reluctance, part exertion. This is hard.

But he actually listens, trying to follow John's instructions and shuffles. Shuffles. Shuffles. Granted, it looks like someone on socks shimmying over soapy ground but somehow he manages to keep upright... ish. With some windmilling and swaying back and forth. And a lot - a lot - of knee bending.

"Hey, uh, here's a thought. How about we keep this..."

He starts gesturing between them, almost falls and quickly stops until he regains balance again.

"... between ourselves. It just. Seems like a very unnecessary detail that will only bloat the mission reports..."

"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!"

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."

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Wren had only woken up a bit before John. Just enough time to cope with being awake, stand, see the door is indeed locked, and return to their bed and take up the note they were left with. Much as they considered shaking their roommate awake, there were so many other what ifs to process...

They look up when John stirs though, a bit tense on principle, but it seems like he's just as much an unfortunate prisoner here as Wren is.

"Hi," they echo. "... Don't suppose you have any clear memories of ending up here beyond weird dreams? This was on the table." Wren said, holding out the letter for John to take.

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)

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."

"Nice to meet you, Wren. I'm Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. You can call me Sheppard. Or John. Or Lieutenant Colonel. There's lots of options."

It's a lot easier to talk about this than to talk about being cursed.

He peers at the door, halfway listening.

"You think this is real and not like, a prank?"

That's a lot of name. It is, however, much easier to talk about that than the whole curse thing.

"What makes you think it can't be both?" Wren asked, crossing their arms and stepping back to start searching the room for something sharp. Then again maybe only people who knew sorcerers and witches would think someone would pull a prank that involved some kind of blood magic lock. It wasn't Wren's area, but they knew people.

Ronon opts to not say 'hi' back. He makes an elective decision to not do that, while he's having himself a pace of the room. He just absorbs that it's been said.

Awake, check, not hurt, check, personality? Seemingly intact, check. If there are gonna be issues, there's nothing he can do about it anyway. For now he'll just try to be grateful that it's Sheppard he's stuck in here with and not some stranger. That leaves him ever so slightly less on-edge. If not any less cursed or trapped, apparently.

"I'm gonna take the door off its hinges," is what he offers in return instead.

Look. He may have knives on his person at all times, but he's not bleeding all over some door without trying to just get rid of the door first.

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?"

Awesome. All the permission he needed. Ronon gives John a nod and turns to start giving the door a quick little assessment.

Usually pretty quick work, a door. Run of the mill. It would be easier if he had his gun and could just blast the entire knob and lock mechanism out, but apparently beggars can't be choosers. They have to try to unscrew hinges with a knife instead.

He'll escalate to kicking if that doesn't get him anywhere. All part of the plan.

"I did." He makes a little grunt of effort. "If we had the same one, I don't think it's a dream anymore. Just something getting into our heads."

Something he can, ideally, put into a chokehold to solve all their problems.

"Unless you're feeling more cursed than usual."

"Great. That's all we need, a bad guy that can get into our heads."

There's a beat.

"I don't know, with the decor in here and the fact that we apparently need to open the door with blood, I'd say that's fairly cursed."

He shakes the letter at Ronon.

"You know in the movies, the person that does blood sacrifices this usually gets haunted. Or winds up accidentally losing their soul."

Edited 2022-08-26 15:48 (UTC)

It had been a dumb impulse. Seeing the arcade had made him think of Ellie and the arcade game she'd been so enamored with, so Joel had braved the small crowd inside, hoping but not really expecting to find his kid here.

The room is pretty dark and very loud, filled with an overwhelming number of people, but he makes quick work of it. First walking the narrow alleys between the machines, after his first pass around the room he finds a spot in a corner to gather himself. To think of a plan. And to keep watching the doorway, still hoping.

Someone closer to his age than the rest rushes past, grabbing Joel's attention. He watches the other man start investigating his own arm with urgency beneath a spotlight just a few steps away, close enough that he can spot something there. A bite?

Alarmed, he straightens from his slouch against the wall.

"Y'alright?"

Edited 2022-08-27 05:20 (UTC)

Oh, crap.

Someone saw.

Well, it's not like he can keep it secret for long if this is gonna do the same thing as it did last time, and without Carson's inhibitor, this is gonna be a lot shorter and more brutal, probably.

"I'm, uh, fine."

He is so very far from fine. He tries to pull down his sleeve, unsure of how much he saw.

"Ran into some poison ivy earlier. Poison ivy sucks."

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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

Lt. Col. John Sheppard | Stargate: Atlantis - OTA, will match format!

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blood offering

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A

best username

thank u 👏

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cursed

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