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singillppl2023-10-09 11:52 pm
singmod) wrote in singillppl2023-10-09 11:52 pm
Entry tags:
October 2023 Test Drive Meme
OCTOBER 2023 TDM
PROMPT ONE — ARRIVAL: METHUSELAH'S FEAST: A new group of arrivals find themselves lost in the frozen wilds and vulnerable to the dangers of nature. With luck, they make it to the town of Milton, and to a friendly face offering food, warmth and shelter — not to mention the fact they are not the first to come here.
PROMPT TWO — GUILTY PARTY: Interlopers are kidnapped and held captive by a being and forced to confess their wrong doings, or face fatal consequences.
PROMPT THREE — OFF THE BEATEN TRACK: Interlopers get more than they bargained for when a mysterious albeit friendly dog comes across them and persuades them to follow them into the wilds.
ARRIVAL: METHUSELAH'S FEAST
WHEN: Mid-October.
WHERE: Milton, Milton Outskirts.
CONTENT WARNINGS: potential animal attacks, potential injuries, potential cold injuries/hyperthermia risk.
'You are the Interloper. You are not part of nature’s design.'
It’s the last thing you hear. A dark, deep voice. Impossibly ancient. You feel afraid. Maybe you’re dreaming, maybe you’re wide awake. You saw the lights, and then your world went dark. But you hear it in the blackness, you won’t forget those words.
You awaken. You are not where you were before. It’s different for everyone, there doesn’t seem to be much of a pattern in where you find yourself. You may open your eyes to find yourself in a cold, dim and dank cabin. The air is stale, dust hangs in the rays of weak sunlight that shine through the tiny windows. Someone lived here once, but they aren’t to be found. You look around, it seems like no one has been here in several weeks, maybe longer. The fire is stone cold, the dishes in the sink are mouldy — it's possible the place has been ransacked, as if they've gone through the drawers and cupboards looking for something. It is quiet. The wood creaks around you. Or perhaps you may awaken to find yourself shivering in the yawning maw of a cave, the freezing stone below you. Or maybe you’re unfortunate enough to sit up to find yourself lying in the snow, in the middle of the wilderness. Snow lies thick around you. It’s freezing out. You haven’t felt a cold like this before in your entire life. Cruel and biting. You have no idea where you are, and what’s worse — you are completely alone.
You may feel different, too. Any powers or magics you may have feel... absent. Disconnected. Things that may not have affected you previously now do. Something in you has changed.
You know you can’t stay where you are. You’ll need to move, try to work out where you are and how you came to be here. So you walk, head out into the unknown, in hope of finding a trail or a road. You’ll find one soon enough. It’s here you may find someone else in the same boat as yourself, equally freezing and confused. You’ll both need to keep going. It won’t be easy. You hear howls of wolves around you, and the terrain is difficult: slips and falls are likely. You’re completely vulnerable out here in the open.
Or it’s possible you may come across someone else here. Someone who looks far better prepared to deal with the freezing cold and frozen landscape, out hunting or gathering. They’ll likely offer help and get you into town. However, for the unlucky ones who don’t come across anyone, you’ll carry on until you see it: the lazy trail of smoke rising in the air. Fire. Not just one, but several. Civilization...?
Follow it, and soon enough the way you’ve taken will certainly become a path or road. Unfolding before you in the mountainous forests, you’ll see the most welcome of sights: a small mining town tucked up in the valley. Battered, rusted road signs will direct to “MILTON, POP. 947”. You’re almost there, you keep going, and it looks like other people have had the same idea as you. In fact, you’ll hear the muffled sounds of life. People! In the town!
As you head into the outskirts and then further into town, you’ll find it’s a little easier to walk but the cold has gripped you hard. You’ll find the buildings, both shops and homes, some are dark and lifeless, some of them are boarded up, some of them are occupied. People are going about their business, or stood watching from their tiny porches of their small, timber homes. For a town this big, there doesn’t seem to be many people. Several dozen at most, but no more.
Towards the center of town, you’ll find the building from which the biggest of the smoke trail rises: a school-house of sorts, or some kind of community hall. Perhaps both. You’ll find more and more people all drawn to this place, each and every one of them in the same position as yourself (and your companion, if you’ve found one). Some are in worse states than others: some are bloodied, nursing bite wounds or cuts; others might have some other kind of injury sustained in the journey here from falls. Others may look as if they could faint from the cold at any second.
The door opens, and you’re greeted by the gnarled, wizened face of an elderly man, dressed in thick furs. He has a kind face. He smiles warmly, and with pity, ushering you in with haste.
“Ah, more of you have come.” he nods, just as he suspected you might. “I am Methuselah. I welcome you Newcomer, although I’m sorry for how you’ve come to find yourself here. You are not the only one, the lights are changing things. Come. Mother Nature has not been kind to you, but there are plenty here to help.”
The room is dim, lit only by natural daylight through the windows. A roaring fire sits at one end of the huge hall. It crackles, bright and cheerful... and warm. Even as big as this place is, the room is pleasantly warm. You’ll also find basic cots set up down one side of the hall, and while it seems there's a few people already living here, there's enough space for those in need of them. There's places to rest for a moment and get your bearings, or just trying to recover from the cold. Down the other side are tables and chairs, and long tables laden with food, drinks and bottled water similar to one might find at a soup kitchen. Once again, Methuselah offers a feast, aided by some of the other Interlopers.
There are canisters with hot herbal teas and coffee, along with soup and stew and trays of charred deer and rabbit meats, plus some grilled fish, instant mashed potatoes, and tinned vegetables. It’s very basic, but it’s hot and filling. A feast. The old man has been busy. And Methuselah will continue to busy himself, still; there is plenty to do. He will fetch blankets, tend to wounds, serve food and drinks. He does not have much time to talk. More and more people seem to be coming in from the cold. He will not stop to sit and rest until everyone is seen to, taking up a place by the fire to gaze silently into its flames. He is troubled, thoughtful. The arrival of so many is not something that sits well with him. The others from town will eventually trail in too, to eat and warm themselves, and search amongst the new faces.
He will encourage newcomers to get warm and eat, and when they are ready to — they can explore the town and find one of the many empty homes to call their own. He will not speak much, but perhaps you might be able to get some answers from those fellow arrivals who’ve been in this place for some time now.
GUILTY PARTY
WHEN: Over the next month.
WHERE: Paradise Farm Outbuildings.
CONTENT WARNINGS: forced imprisonment; forced honesty; supernatural beings; confessional themes; threat of death; possible character death; possible death by throat injury.
You don’t remember how you came to be here. The air is cold and damp, the rot of wood is strong, and… blood. Why does it smell of so much blood? You can’t seem to see all that much in the gloom, but you think you’re in some kind of outbuilding of sorts. You find yourself chained to a chair, the metal is heavy and cold against you and no matter whatever you seem to do, you can’t seem to free yourself from them. No struggling can ease their hold, and there’s no lock to unpick or break. They weigh you down in your seat, you can't even seem to tip yourself over.
But you’re not the only one here. Across from you in the dark is someone else. One of your fellow Interlopers is trapped here with you, too. They too don’t remember anything either, they’re equally as confused and uncertain as you. Perhaps frightened. Not only this, they’re also sat chained up just as tightly. You have a little time to talk before you realise the two of you aren’t alone.
There's a glooming green light, the feeling of a presence. A huge figure steps into view, cloaked in black. It’s hard to tell whether it’s a man or a woman, and it’s difficult to make out much detail of them. Their face is obscured by a stone mask in the shape of a monstrous, horned and fanged Jackal. Green light glows from behind it, foreboding in the dark. It will not answer you if you try to speak with it.
“WICKEDNESS LIES WITHIN YOU.” The voice is a fierce chorus of whispers, but yet so loud. It sends a shiver down your spine. “I HAVE SEEN IT.”
... You can’t help but know it to be true. Something inside you knows what they speak of is true. Any misdeed or wrongdoing done by your hand, any cruel word you spoke, any life you took or heart you broke. You feel exposed, seen. The figure knows what you have done.
“CONFESS.” the figure demands. “UNBURDEN YOUR HEART AND BE FREE. BE SILENT AND CARRY IT TO THE GRAVE.”
The figure holds an item in its hand, something that glints in the light that glows from its mask. Now you realise why there’s so much blood in the air: it’s a sickle, dripping with blood. You are not the first to be brought here. You will not be the last.
Speak, unburden yourself, and if the figure is satisfied — you will, in fact, go free. Refuse, or not take the demand seriously, and the figure will deem you unworthy. They will move within the blink of an eye, striking you with the sickle in the neck — let it be a mercy that they kill you quickly.
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
WHEN: Over the next month.
WHERE: Milton / Milton Outskirts.
CONTENT WARNINGS: supernatural creature; trickster creature; themes of peril; possible character injury; possible dead body discoveries; potential cold injuries/hyperthermia risk; possible character death.
The weather will continue to prove difficult for all who try to navigate this world, but with the current footfall in and around Milton, it’s at least helped to keep paths and roads somewhat clear despite the snow’s best efforts to cover up these walkways. Still, it’s a pain to get around, especially on particularly snowy days. Unfortunately, it’s sometimes necessary to go out on such days — survival doesn’t stop for the weather to pass.
And so journeys must be made, hunting must be done, forageables must be collected. You try to keep to the paths and trails, where the terrain yields before you for an easier journey.
… Until you hear barking through the trees, the sound of paws through the snow. Given the recent wolf activity of the last month, it’s understandable to be on edge. However, it isn’t a wolf that comes into view: it’s a large dog, bigger than any dog you’ve seen before. Coated in thick and shaggy black fur, this animal doesn’t seem to be like the wolves that have been found so far in this world. While the wildlife has certainly been altered, this dog remains very much like anyone would expect a dog to act in terms of behaviour. It’s playful with some, certainly friendly, constantly trying to play chase with you as it loops around in circles with a wagging tail.
However, there’s an insistence with this dog. It wants you to follow it. It will bark incessantly, trying to pull you from the path to go after it into the woods. It wants to show you something, take you somewhere. It will even try to gently pull at a coat-sleeve or trouser-leg to coax your forwards before heading off, keeping just in sight for you to go after it.
You’ll find it increasingly difficult to keep up, even if you pick up the pace as you head further into the woods. There’s less snow here, but the forest floor is filled with holes and tree roots that will trip you up. Falls are likely. But even worse is when before you know it, the ground simply gives way beneath you, sending you tumbling into a small valley or getting you stuck deep into soft, muddy earth. With it, perhaps, twisted ankles or worse. Or perhaps simply battered and bruised and unable to climb out of trench of earth. Maybe you come face to face with the body of some other poor Interloper who'd met their own end in similar manner — trapped and injured in the ditch.
Or worse still, the dog might just have you stumbling over a cliff face and tumbling into the Basin. Whatever fate befalls you, it’s as if the dog simply led you into it. And said dog, however, will be nowhere to be seen. It will have left you stuck, hurt, lost in the woods.
You’re sure you can hear some dark chuckling on the wind. Maybe it’s just the trees.
FAQs
1. Arrival threads can be treated as game canon.
2. Items characters have brought from home can be found either strewn around them when they awaken, or in the community hall — as if someone left them out for them to collect. Methuselah will not know how they got there, and will be quite bemused by the happenings.
3. Reminder that all characters are now depowered upon arrival. They can choose not to notice it at first, or can immediately sense something is different about them.
4. If asked any personal questions, Methuselah will smile and say "Oh, you don't want to know about an old man like me. But I have lived all over in these parts for all my life." He will be more concerned with trying to help Newcomers, and is genuinely concerned for them and their well-being. Other Interlopers will say much of the same — there's little to know about him.
5. More information about Milton can be found here.
1. Characters will find that once they have confessed, they will pass out. When they awaken, they will find themselves lying or sitting on the floor — the being, chairs and chains have gone. They are free to leave.
2. Attempts to search the outbuildings at later dates will prove fruitless. There is no sign of the being, nor the chairs or chains that held characters, but there will be blood on the floor that can be found.
3. One character can confess, or both. Player choice! As long as someone's doing some confessing.
1. Gyests, sometimes called Ghests or Bargyests are evil creatures from Northumberland, UK folklore. They seek to lure travelers away from a known and safe road to their miry and marshy demise, or perhaps lead them to walk in the darkness of a Cheviot night over the edge of a precipice. Often taking the shape of horses, donkeys or large dogs, Gyests could also shape-shift to appear as men, or even stacks of hay. But always their intention was to trick humans, for their own amusement, and lure them to their doom.
2. Attempts to lure or trap the Gyest will not work.
no subject
The singular word has a bit of a sigh to it - like it's almost more breath than a word being exhaled as Bigby moves up. It's not the smoothest movement, since Louis on his back is quite a bit of weight, but Bigby can handle it. He just has to get used to it. It's been a bit since he's carried anything this big - most of the wildlife is a whole lot smaller than Louis, after all.
But Bigby does start to move. Without any real complaint, other than to follow that sighed 'okay' up with--
"I think we're gonna need a little bit less complaining going on here while I'm doing this."
Is Bigby good enough to carry an injured person back to town, even if he doesn't know them very well?
Sure.
But he's not a good enough person to endure whining the entire way back, alright. You can't do that to him. Don't make him drop you like a sack of potatoes, Louis.
"If you want to talk, at least.. I dunno, tell me something about yourself, or whatever." That's what.. normal people do when talking, right.. Probably..
Not like Bigby's had a whole lot of socialisation in his life, let alone human socialisation.
no subject
"Sure," he says, rolling his eyes just because he knows Bigby can't see that. He's cutting his dourness with humor, but it's a fine edge. "I was just about to thank you, gallant knight, brave soldier. What is the name of my savior?"
He spots his things sunk in the snow and adds, "I've found my hat and cane." Not like he could have grabbed them on his own without crawling--or worse, hopping.
no subject
Not a very long one, but it's definitely a sign the man is thinking about something, right before he finally speaks up with: "How attached to those things are you?"
He may be weighing the trouble of having to try and balance the other guy on his back while trying to grab said things from the snow versus the trouble of having to carry Louis all the way back to town while the other will most likely continue to complain about the things having been left behind. The second one sure is starting to feel worse, especially with how much complaining tends to wear on Bigby's mind..
Maybe he'll give you his name in a moment, Louis. Or maybe he's decided to ignore that question altogether, given how stupidly dramatic it's asked.
Either way, seems like he's focused on this question for now. Practical things first.
no subject
"Very," is his sure answer, and he heckles him no more. Unlike Lestat, Louis knows when the limits of another's patience have been pushed enough. Lestat doesn't care about pushing through people. He moves through the world like a predator, and humans his prey. Louis must care.
"If you lower us, I can grab them with my hands. They still work fine." Since Bigby's are currently occupied. Louis uses the practical voice he was accustomed to using at work.
no subject
Better hold onto them, Louis, because Bigby is already moving to walk once more after he's sure the other has grabbed them. He isn't going to waste more time out here in the cold when he could be back in the village.
"I sure hope you don't have other requests, princess."
Please, Bigby.. Is sass your only way of coping with the current situation..
im dying lol
"Nothing I can think of. You call every man you pick up in the snow 'princess'?"
It doesn't count as sass, he's just repeating what Bigby said! (It counts as sass.)
isn't it just the most lovely compliment you've ever received, louis.... (◕‿◕)♡
.. in another context, this might actually be a compliment. Especially since Bigby knows princesses! Hell, he's actually terribly in love with one! They're all great and lovely and beautiful.
Except that's definitely not the kind of princess Bigby is talking about, considering his tone here. No, it might be relating to the entire other side of royalty he's gotten to know very, very well ever since he stopped being a wolf roaming around in nature and started being a guy who had to solve their shit most days.
This doesn't feel too different from that, as he's stomping through the snow with Louis on his back.
"You think I'm wrong about that one?"
(✿◡‿◡)
Louis says wisely, "You know as well as I do that to call the man carryin' me 'wrong' is to invite catastrophe," in the form of a face full of snow. "If you want to be Prince Charming that badly, who am I to stop you? Or the merciful Huntsman in the woods, or whatever else strikes your fancy..."
Bigby is clearly an expert on charm, surely. However, Louis is not completely immune to being swept away by a large muscular man. Pain in his ankle aside, it's a silver lining.
no subject
After all, why - of all possible examples - did Louis have to manage those two. Really? Snow's shitty ex and then Woody on top of it? If Bigby didn't know any better, he'd say Louis was doing it on purpose just to piss him off. The only reason he doesn't just drop the other into the snow and leave him there is the fact that Bigby knows all people here are just damn mundies.
"You think the Huntsman was merciful?"
Is this a weird thing to complain about to a mundy who clearly doesn't have context?
Yes.
But Bigby is so annoyed by the idea that he stops giving a damn, just saying it anyway.
no subject
He figures it's polite to ask, given Bigby's response. For all he knows, there could be. Louis clearly doesn't share Bigby's intensity about this. He doesn't see why he should. Louis is in for a rude awakening when he finds out that not only is everyone around here from different times, but also different species.
no subject
Bitter? Bigby? W-What do you mean, he isn't bitter whatsoever! That is clearly why he's going on the absolutely dumbest rant possible at the absolutely dumbest time possible for it.
Because he's not bitter. Because he's not carrying any grudges or anything!!
"He probably just wanted to get it on with her, or had some other kinda self-interest going on. Most of the time those types just wander the woods looking for people to rob. Never trust 'em."
no subject
He flexes his fingers against the cold, but also to loosen them up in case he needs to defend himself from the dangers of the woods.
"So, of course, you're just wanderin' the woods out of selflessness, not lookin' for people to rob?"
Bigby just left himself wide open for that one.
no subject
Sure, Bigby might have left himself wide open, but apparently he's not above just directly throwing that ball straight back at Louis. Even as he's still carrying the other on his back, Bigby's heavy footsteps against the snow echoing between sentences.
"I was looking for that dog."
no subject
"You did seem very interested, yes... But the opportunity to steal a man's possessions can cross one's path. Thieving is easier when it's convenient."
He should know. He ran a business, and while he didn't exactly steal, he did take advantage of the circumstances of both his employees and his clients, all within easy reach. Supply, demand, and he started out with cutting corners. Eventually he did better, but is he not still a thief of life, stealing it from the people he kills?
"What were you goin' do when you caught up to it?"
no subject
But he'll refrain from calling the other that. For now, anyway. Bigby will just do it in his head-- while still carrying Louis, yes.
Sometimes it's hard when your heart wants to do the right thing, while your head mostly just really hates other people.
"What do you think? Eat it?" .. to be fair, Bigby might have, quite literally once upon a time. "I wanted to know why it's around here. No dog could survive out in the wilds by itself like this. It could have been important."
no subject
"Owned by an important person?" That's the only thing Louis thinks of when Bigby says "important". "Who out here is important enough to have a beautiful huntin' dog like that?"
Louis has more faith in the survivability of dogs. Even one kicked out of its path knows more about survival than Louis. Hunting animals like that come equipped with everything they need: warm coat, fangs, and a good nose. Louis was once like that, but not any longer. He can hardly believe something as silly as a sprained ankle has incapacitated him. He would have healed immediately if he had his vampire powers.
no subject
"Not important in that way," he instead replies, a little more serious. "Do they not have stories where you come from, or are you just that materialistic?"
BIGBY.. My dude, slow down just a little bit, pal.. Let Louis live..
"It could be a sign or something. Plenty of stories out there about animals that are signs of something yet to come, or who are trying to lead people to places."
no subject
"Stories about... weird dogs? Well, you get the occasional rabid one in the paper... Wait. You don't actually believe in fairytales, do you? Shapeshifters, mystical portents? Really?"
He's a vampire, but Lestat's refusal to tell him the secrets of their origins left him in the dark. There is no vampire myth that he knows of.
"It's not so common. I suppose if I ran into a really superstitious person... We do have some folk practices... But I'm from a modern time. I was raised Catholic."
It occurs to him that he hasn't asked Bigby when he's from, but his clothes don't look too out of place. He thought he was from his time.
"...All right, well, the death and rising of Christ, the angels, and the Holy Spirit sound just as strange and fantastical as a weird dog. But I am from a scientific time. We try to prove things with that first. For the most part."
Louis is also partly lying. There is something creepy about the powder left on his doorstep when locals started suspecting his family of having made a deal with the Devil. Something that speaks to his unsettled spirit that yearns for knowledge and purpose when his church, family, even Lestat could give him none.
no subject
It's the kind of hum a parent gives to a kid when said parent believes the kid is talking total nonsense, but is pretending to listen to it anyway.
After all-- none of this is particularly offensive to Bigby, since none of it is particularly new. He's had to interact more with mundies than most of the Fables, considering he was one of the main people tasked with keeping their secret from coming out. He knows exactly the way mundies tend to think about this stuff, the kind of things they say about it. Pretty much the exact same thing Louis is saying right now.
It's just a little more strange to hear it from someone under the current circumstances, but still not completely out of left field.
"So how does science prove how all of us ended up here then?" Bigby's tone as he asks the question is already very much implying he thinks it can't - there's no need to even see his facial expression for it, the tone is thick enough.
no subject
He lilts his voice as he quotes something. "'There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Philosophy, in this case, meaning the natural sciences of Shakespeare's day. I have seen things, strange things, that I cannot explain. Even some I can, but I don't know where they come from."
no subject
.. it's still obvious Louis is quoting something though, and Bigby doesn't need to be a book nerd to know how pretentious that is. Thankfully no one can see his eyeroll, especially not the guy on his back.
"What's the strangest thing you've seen?"
Might as well try to figure out what the other is and isn't willing to believe. Because if Louis sticks to science a little too hard-- well, that's the exact sort of thing that might get a person killed out here.
no subject
"Best not to say."
Does Louis perhaps entertain some sort of superstition that speaking of it will bring harm? Or is there a more mundane reason of being perceived as crazy? Or perhaps he has something to hide... He adjusts slightly, as he does every so often, so that he is settled a bit better on Bigby's back.
"Be careful when you go out after sunset. I'd hate to find out somethin' got you after your good deed... There's the town now, I can just see it."
that's a wrap! <3
That's a strange and oddly specific thing to say - especially after Louis doesn't want to admit what the strangest thing he's ever seen was. Bigby doubts it's anything stranger than anything he has ever seen, anyway.
A part of him wants to dig into it deeper, but he figures that Louis isn't going to bother telling him if he's so cagey about it in the first place. So rather than going down a part that involves putting effort into something he knows won't return anything for him, he just hums, letting out a, "Sure," before carrying the other back to town.