cursedcontent | TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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.

[ All of this could have been avoided with a cut in line. Then everyone — everyone being Rodney — would be happy and safe and not in the crash zone of Billy Hargrove. The anger still feels good, still feels sweet and syrupy, like something he could drown on. And it makes him want to act. ]

Second chances my ass —

[ And then he's stepping forward, ignores what Rodney says as he moves further into his space, because fuck it, he's pretty sure he's just going to kick this guys ass. Who's going to stop him? Maybe he'll get to hear from the Mayor again. Learn something new, let off some steam that tastes like fire in his throat.

When he grabs Rodney by the collar, he notices his hand. The black of the veins, the souring of the skin, and it is briefly enough to save Rodney from his other hand, balled into a fist and ready to strike. It kinda reminds him of — being body-hijacked.

The anger bubbles up again, but this time it tastes like... bleach. Bleach and fertilizer and rot and all that shit that pooled to create that monster. And all that muck bubbles over his lips and it's fetid and gross and his words sound like they're under water. ]

What the fu-hk?

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

no subject

tw: vomit (sorry this is happening to you rodney!)