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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[It's not like Wren is without caution, but it's not at all the same kind common in a post-apocalyptic zombie world. It's the caution of not wanting to accidentally upset someone who has clearly been through enough already rather than the caution of 'I'm trying to avoid being bitten'. They watch as Daryl tosses the slurpee cup towards the garbage, and since they're closer anyway reach out and tip it into the actual basket. Don't need to give other careless people more excuses to not care about getting their garbage in the proper place.]

Um. Okay. Dealing with the weirdness of being here, but at least where I'm from isn't too different in the ways that matter. Uh … what about you? What's your name?

[ Yeah, he's used to being looked at like he's a feral animal. Before and after the turn, for a variety of reasons, but always along the same spectrum of 'that guy looks homeless and terrifying'. So he gets it, even if he also doesn't really notice it. ]

This don't seem different to you?

[ Weird, man.

His pizza order is up, meanwhile, and he accepts a bright plastic plate with two gigantic slices of pepperoni pizza. The cheese looks neon, and revolting. ]

Daryl. Who're you?

[Wren gives a little shrug and a wavy hand motion to indicate 'a little different'. Sure Wren's world has superheroes, but society is largely the same. No plague of undead, anyway.

Wren takes a seat at the table too because no need to stand on ceremony, and while their eyebrows raise at the color of the cheese - well, it's mall pizza. For when you absolutely want pizza, and have no other options.]

Wren. Like the bird.

[ A suspicious shrug, but not enough that Daryl's actually put on guard. He's not sure how he should be behaving here, or if he should be treating any of it like it's real— at least in terms of lasting consequences. Disoriented, but then, he might also be disoriented in a nice, middle-America mall back home, minus zombies. ]

Wren, like the bird, [ he echoes, wondering about the kid. Pizza is distracting, though, and he begins to eat it before it loses its nuclear hot temperature. It's both disgusting and euphoric. Only disgusting, meanwhile, are Daryl's table manners. Consuming greasy, gooey pizza with no regard for the increasing carnage of mess. He doesn't appear to have been taught how to do this by a human being.

Still— ]

Want any?

[Oh yeah it's vaguely horrifying to witness, but it's also just ... worrying? Sad? It makes Wren want to ask if he's some nuclear holocaust survivor except you can't just come out and ask something like that-]

Uh - no, I'm good. I already ate. Thank you though.

[He could just be a crazy stand at the street corner and scream at the sky type. Though, would that make him any less worthy of compassion? No. Be a hero, Wren, this is what you do, even if you can't punch a truck and win anymore.]

I guess I was just wondering what ... your world was like. The one you were in before here.

[ Daryl grunts something that might be 'suit yourself' and returns to chowing down on man's greatest achievement. In truth, he's not a dedicated pizza fanatic by any means, but it's so beyond what's normally available to him that it possessed him entirely. He can try for a sensible cheeseburger later.

A nightmare of grease and specks of escaped pizza sauce, he grabs the aluminum napkin dispenser with one dirty hand and pries a wad of them out from one side. Meanwhile, a glance to Wren. ]

Maybe I was just raised in the woods, [ he says dryly. ] Why? What's your world like?

[Yeah okay, Wren has to give another shrug like 'fair enough'. Daryl doesn't even look THAT different from some of the people at the trailer park where Wren grew up. Admittedly, the people you generally kept your kids away from if only because their trailers were the kind of safety hazard that even 80's parents took notice of.

But even those types usually had a passing familiarity with a shower if they needed to go out into public if only because not doing so would make you an even bigger target for the cops because you looked homeless. Daryl also doesn't seem like he's actually on anything either. Meth's a hell of a drug, but there's signs to set apart from all natural mental illness.]

Ten years later down the line than this one which is kinda weird. Also there don't seem to be any masks here- uh, masked vigilantes with powers, fight crime - which sounds a little silly when sad aloud.

[ Quiet falls on the small table, then, buffered by the slightly echo-distorted sound of 80s pop music playing over the food court speakers, and the wet sounds of Daryl chewing. Impressive, that he manages to sound this gross without actually chewing with his mouth open. A skill.

He just stares at Wren for a bit. Digesting both pizza and words. ]

You've got superheroes, [ he says at length, ] but you asked where I'm from?

[ Maybe Daryl's not the one having a breakdown after all! ]

[Okay point taken but Wren has to add, quietly-]

I'm not the one sticking out like a sore thumb in the middle of a normie mall looking like I come from some place where indoor plumbing and food security aren't a given.

If that's a personal choice - great. More power to you. Can't say I haven't thought of running away to live in the woods like a hermit myself sometimes. But - I just. Had to make sure.

... Even if we're all from different places, we're kinda outsiders together here. We should try to help each other.

[ Daryl could probably fire something back - You're the one who looks carefully curated to be nothing in particular, what's that about - but he doesn't actually like bullying kids. Or anyone, really. And it's not like he cares about shit like that.

So he's quiet for another minute, weighing the pros and cons in his head of being forthcoming. Ultimately he decides that discussing the end of the world isn't wise; it's horror and drama, it's dredging up emotions in him that might make it harder to cope with being here without his hard-won family. And he's experienced with people judging him as-is. That's all it was before the fall. No problem going back to it. ]

Didn't run away, [ he says with a shrug. ] Just how shit is.

[ These are the clothes he has, this is the mall they've been ushered to. He's hungry, he's not going to starve just so he can use the stipend on looking fancy. ]

You need help?

Okay.

[Quiet, sincere. Wren doesn't always succeed at not seeming judgemental but they try, are trying, and they have to remind themself of how often they've told others that the trying is what matters most.

Of course, being asked that in return does visibly make Wren double-take. If only because they can't recall the last time anyone has asked them that - because, yeah, they do look rather forgettable in a crowd by intention. The person you don't need to worry about, who isn't worth a second glance.]

... Yeah. I've been taking care of myself for a while. I've got this. Uh, thank you, though.

[ Everyone struggles with instincts to be judgmental. Daryl is no exception— when he tries, with other people, it's about trying not to be bitter towards people who've had it easier, or trying not to be dismissive of those who haven't sucked it up and learned to adapt in his horrible world. Petty shit, especially for somebody his age. But humans are humans, and they've all got to work on something.

Interesting, that pause. How old is Wren?

Daryl's quiet for a moment. ]

I remember those days, [ he remarks eventually, and shrugs. He took care of himself, too, as a kid, even before the fire. ] You got yourself sorted out here?

Yeah - yeah.

[Maybe not fair, but it is what it is, and there are plenty that couldn't handle this so it's good it fell to Wren, actually, isn't it? Someone who could handle it.]

Seems like we're set up with free room and board, polite as far as cross-reality kidnapping really. Better than the dorms at college even if it's a little ... dated.

I ain't never been in a hotel that wasn't twenty years out of date, [ he says, and if you squint (with your ears) you might detect something like humor. ] Looks fine to me.

[ The motel is, as far as Daryl's concerned, one of the nicer places he's ever stayed. He's already experiencing an itch to strike out on his own and find somewhere more solitary and defensible (against what?), but it's pushed up against reluctance to leave the place where cursed people appear. The thought of one of his people showing up and not knowing right away makes him uncomfortable. ]

So what do you think? I stand out that bad?

[ Coming back around, conversationally. ]

[It's a questionable choice to make between those options - stay where you can see everyone who comes and goes? Go to someplace more in your control? At the moment the matter of resources is what stops Wren. They need more info. Always more info.

They give Daryl an apologetic kind of grimace.]

A shower would go a long way. Most hotels have laundry services you can use too, but even a rinse in a sink would probably help. Lot of excuses for stains that aren't worth a second glance as long as you don't look like you just did it.

[... Wren might have first hand experience with excusing away bloodstains.]

[ Logically, of course, he knows he looks like shit, but between the surreal distance he's felt since arriving and being used to standing out for just plain looking poor, it's carelessly slipped down the priority ladder. Some part of him passively believed he'd eventually hit a literal wall in this own, and there'd be walkers on the other side of it.

Nope.

Kids (he doesn't even know how old Wren is) (but that's a very youthful face!!) always have the most honest insight. Daryl should laugh. Take a shower, you weirdo. ]

You ain't wrong. [ And he'll wash all this, but he knows his shirt, at least, isn't worth keeping. Won't hurt to pick up a few things while he's here, and then go clean up ... after he's sat awake turning this whole situation over and over in his head for another few hours, probably, but still. ] Guess I'll say 'dirt bike accident'.

That's a good one. Low enough speeds that it's unlikely to require hospitalization for average wipe-out injuries but definitely will mess up your clothes and leave you banged up.

[Most people methodically consider what lies to tell to cover up mysterious injuries or damaged clothing, right? Right. Totally normal.]

[ Excuses are part of the human experience! Also, lies for why he looks like shit are old hat; just the way things are when you grow up violently poor with criminals and drug dealers in your family. Somewhat less glamorous than Batman pretending to play polo. ]

Ayup. [ Daryl knows his offroad vehicle accidents.

... And then, he simply falls awkwardly quiet, having run out of anything to say. What a weirdo. ]

[Someday someone could probably make a study on the venn diagram that is all the places where 'children from abusive households' and 'teenage superheroes/sidekicks' crossover, except it's definitely not going to look good for one of those groups. Then again, Wren walked away from that life for a reason. They aren't under any illusions of it being a healthy lifestyle that can be maintained with proper mental health.]

Well, give a shout if mall security tries to hassle you and you need backup to prove you're not homeless.

[It's fine to run out of things to talk about. All Wren had wanted to do was to confirm Daryl was okay, and they had managed that. As okay as any of them were, really. They stand and give a nod. They're very good at lying to authority figures.

Another thing to put on that diagram. If Daryl doesn't call out, they'll head on back to their own business at the mall.]

[ A busybody teen is not an unfamiliar presence in Daryl's life, at this point; he's reminded a little of Carl, against his will, and the boy's exasperation while dealing handily with things Rick would rather shield him from. He doesn't want to think about home— where do they think I've gone, what's happening—

So it gets shut out. Instead, he grunts an amused sound of assent. Sure, kid, he'll keep you on speed dial.

Later gator. ]

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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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