awoosh | test drive meme 1.

Her Pa committed suicide
By biting off his head.
Her mother saw her uncle's ghost
And died of fright, she said.
So her unpleasant habits
Seem most curious to me,
Because she seems to come from such
A happy family.

Prompt 1:

he forest looms as ever, colorless but not at all dead. The leaves are full, fluttering in the silence, but there's no scent to them, no color. The effect is eerily hard to navigate, almost like an optical illusion, leaves, branches and trunk blending together with the small path -- which already disappears and reappears at a whim.

But even so...

If you brave the path, it seems as though there is something leading you onwards. A trail of... something, crumbs, maybe, the same shade of colorless as everything else, almost impossible to see. Following those might be a bad idea -- your chances of getting lost, tangled in random underbrush, or wandering aimlessly for hours are pretty high... to say nothing of what you might encounter if you stray too far (hint: even the small, fuzzy things have nasty bites).

Still, it's there, and if you follow them... eventually you will come to a small house. It's decrepit, falling apart and in shambles... do you really want to go inside? Perhaps armed with one of the many convenient tree branches that have probably smacked you thus far?

Prompt 2:

hould you enter the house, you'll be greeted with a creepy, creepy doorman. Aw, how cute! And in that doll's hand, there's...a message.

On a slip of paper, it reads, simply and plainly:

The more you take, the more you leave behind.

Curious! (And yeah, you can destroy the doll. It's just a normal doll. You may even come across said doll already crushed by an intrepid explorer.)

Of course, it's a riddle, and the answer's a warning -- the longer you walk around and about the house, the less you'll remember about yourself, until you forget why you were there and why you should leave, and who you are at all, doomed to wander forever.

Or someone saves you, that's fine too.

Prompt 3:

roblem: There are no fresh eggs in the Town.

Solution: Catch a feral chicken, and keep it for eggs. That seems simple enough, right? You're totally up for the task... right?

But why do all of the animals look so strange in the forest? Mutated, with teeth, or wings that don't belong, or claws. That's... a chicken, right?

Catching it will allow you to get some eggs, but that beak looks pretty nasty -- it might be harder than it looks. But you're intrepid and clever, right? Why not demonstrate your Chicken Wrangling Skills that won you the championship so many years ago? Or try to serenade the savage beast? Or wuss out and form a coalition with which you draw lots to see who has to do battle with the chicken? There's safety in numbers! But the prize will surely be worth a bit of blood loss and fowl-related trauma.

Do it for the eggs.

Prompt 4:

here's a new quest on the forum today, and it looks awfully easy! It's listed simply as:

Quest XXII.
Talk to someone you've never met about their childhood.
Quest will be completed when you have reached an acceptable level of knowledge.

On the other hand, that's a little vague, isn't it... ? How will you even know when you've completed a quest like that?

Still, it looks easy! Maybe go give it a try. You could respond to the forum post to try to find people, or just go on outside, go harass someone about their past. If you're lucky, you'll drag it out of them with very little hassle and it won't take you a good chunk of the day. If you're unlucky, that's what highly persistent stalking is for! But don't forget, you'll likely have to return the favor.

And your new friend might not be the only one listening.

Extra:

Got something in mind? Want to play with the setting more? The sky's the limit, so feel free and make up your own prompts to play with!

Welcome to Awash's first Test Drive Meme! Please check out the FAQ and rules as you test your characters out. The setting is yours to play with, so be creative and have a good time with it!

Important dates to remember are March 1st, 9 PM EST, when Reserves will open, and March 7th, 9 PM EST when Applications will open. Keep an eye out for it!

If you have any questions about the TDM, feel free to ask us here. If there are any other questions, you can catch us via PM, the FAQ or the contact page. Thank you for your interest in Awash!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You're not asking anything that needs it.

I'm asking what the hell you are.

Is having powers so unusual where you're from?

[casually sidesteps the question]

I can use enchantments and wield a demon blade, but it's the appearance of yours that's different.

Yours don't look like anything I've seen before either.

So? I'm human. Are you, or are you not?

Not that it's any of your business, but yes.

[This is a lie, but whatever!!]

[He stares at him for a long moment, but decides that he's not going to get any more out of him in words. If anything, he'll see what happens and learn like that.]

Whatever. [Snotty kid. He just starts moving to walk around this house, instead.]

[...

As much as he'd rather not be anywhere near this guy, there's really only one way to go (besides outside), and that's unfortunately in the same direction as him.

So, inadvertently, he ends up following him in silence.]

[Guren is quiet for a little while, picking up things, moving them aside, peeking in corners... But eventually, he turns with a hand on his hip, the other one pointing at the kid with a laugh.]

You're like a puppy. Why are you following me around?

[insert annoyed twitch here.]

I'm not following you.

Uh huh.

[He doesn't buy it! And so, after another moment, he points down a hall.]

You can check those out. I'm heading upstairs.

[...]

Why should I listen to you?

[From the bottom step of the stairway:]

Because otherwise you'll be following me again.

[And with that argument, up he goes...]

[... Yeah, you know what, his desire to get away from this guy outweighs his distaste for following other people's orders, so sure. After shooting Guren one more glare, he'll head down the hall.]

[YEAH THAT'S RIGHT PUNK...

But Guren never comes down. Maybe he found something?? Or something happened? He's suspiciously quiet up there.]

[...

What the hell is that guy (not) doing up there? After searching through his area, Ouni waits for a while. Then—out of curiosity, and not because he's at all concerned for some rude asshole he just met—he heads up the stairs.]

[Guren can be found in one of the rooms, sitting in a dusty old chair trying to read some old book that's too faded out. He blinks when he hears someone entering, and though it might be expected to see him with some smug grin or comment on him following him anyway— he doesn't.

He's forgotten what he's doing here, really.]

Hm?

[.............]

What are you even doing?

[WHY ARE YOU BEING USELESS.]

[He blinks at the guy, then down at the faded book, frowning to himself. He... doesn't know what he was doing. He was doing something, right? He had to have been. He was thinking of someone... Or multiple someones.]

These books are so dirty the text bleeds into the pages when there's no color. [That's an I don't know, but the hard part is he doesn't admit these things.]

[Flatly,]

You sat down to read.

[Frankly, as someone who can't even read that well, that sounds ridiculous.]

[He sat down to read... Why does that sound off? Guren doesn't look back at the guy, closing the book in his hands and staring at it, instead. Something's missing here, but the more he can't grasp onto it, the more he wants to let go.

And that in itself is an alarm that's barely registering. He drops the book to the side.]

I don't remember doing that. [If that helps,]

So, you're losing your mind.

[If, you know, he's blanking out???]

Or someone's taking it.

[After saying that, he remembers... something about that. A statement, a warning... what was it again? Either way, he's pushing himself up and out of the chair, pressing a hand to his head. What was it, what was it...]

... What do you mean?

[Likewise, something stirs in the back of Ouni's mind—but he can't quite grasp it.]

(no subject)

swordfucker - 2018-03-01 21:15 (UTC) - Expand