Summer TDM

[polymods]

✖ Test Drive Meme

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
You land on an island, no surprise there. It’s not particularly large, this island, but what’s really more of note is that the entire thing is a beach. White sand stretches out in every direction, the only greenery being palm trees and impossibly fragrant bushes of flowers that resemble hibiscuses.

Allergic to the sun? Don’t worry, there’s plenty of canopies set up so that you can get some shade. There’s also changerooms with toilets and showers, and also free swimsuits that fit you perfectly! There’s plenty of food stalls - try a corndog, or the fish and chips at “America’s Scrod Basket!” Groovy! Once night falls, you can relax in one of the many hammocks strung up between the palm trees, or catch some Zs on the surprisingly comfortable beach chairs all over the place. All of your basic needs are met, Traveler!

Notes:
1. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

2. These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.

3. Have fun!

---

Ⅱ. BEACH BLANKET BINGO!
All of the residents of this island look like they’ve stepped off the set of a 1960s beach party movie. Catalina Caper, maybe. They’re all extremely friendly, and BOY do they love to dance! Which they do. Frequently.

In fact, did you notice the live band? Because there’s a live band! A few, actually - they rotate through the day and into the evening, although you never actually see them switch. That’s pretty weird.

The island residents will drag you into one of their many, many dance parties whenever they can. Sometimes they’ll just form around you like a horrible flash mob, twisting and shaking like they’ve downed a gallon of redbull.

Maybe you want to get as far away from the water and the parties as possible. Venture further inland and you’ll find yourself still surrounded by sand and a few tropical plants. There’s bound to be a few other Travelers about, but at least it’s quiet.

Wait. What the hell is that, a lawnmower?

Surprise! As you stand there, a dune buggy comes plowing over the hill, spraying sand everywhere. Inside of the buggy is a group of young people, all smiling broadly at you and any other Travelers nearby.

“Hello, friends!” they cry. “Want to take a ride? Charlie’s got a ton of these, you can borrow one!” So if you really feel like careening all over the island, this is a great way to do it!

Notes:
1. These residents of the island are normal humans. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.

2. The food is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities.

3. The short creepy guy who has the keys to the dune buggies might be a little pissed if you trash them, but he can be mollified if you listen to his shitty music and tell him it's good.

---

Ⅲ. SURF'S UP!
CW: drowning, possible death.
As with all of the islands you will visit, you will either see the island as floating either in a horizonless sky, or in the middle of a wine-dark sea. Regardless of which you see, you soon discover that you can go surfing in it.

That’s right - there’s a bunch of boards set up down at one end of the beach. Wander down and you’ll find yourself suddenly embroiled in a surfing contest! That’s right, it’s you versus another Traveler - first one off of their board is the loser! Win and you’ll be the most popular person on the island for the duration of your stay! People will lavish attention and gifts upon you. Lose and you’ll be ridiculed! They’ll probably even make fun of your mom!

Whether or not you care about winning, once you’re in the middle of the contest you and your fellow Traveler will see someone swimming not far away from you. Or they were swimming - now they seem to be going down and popping up, looking terrified. The realisation comes to you suddenly: they’re drowning.

You have a choice here - you can forfeit the win to save this stranger, or you can leave them to their own devices. Your opponent will have the same choice. Be a hero, or be a winner?

Notes:
1. Obviously, the decision to save the swimmer or not will affect the colour of your Scrywatch. Both parties may decide to save the swimmer, or both may decide to continue on with the contest. Your reason for saving them can also make an impact - are you saving them only to be considered a hero by the island residents?

---

Ⅳ. TERROR AT ROCK-OUT BEACH!
CW: unwanted romantic attention from a monster, optional sexual themes.
You’re just sitting there minding your own business when you suddenly realise that you’re very nearly alone. In fact, it’s just you and another Traveler, maybe a few. Where did everyone go?

Suddenly a shadow falls over you. You turn and are greeted by what looks like a man in a vaguely fish-like costume; it has flat webbed feet, a body covered in what appears to be rubber seaweed, and a triangular head with huge rubber gills sticking out to either side. Its immobile mouth has pointy teeth, and its bug-eyes appear to have pupils merely painted on.

This monster waves its arms threateningly. “Gaaaaah!” it says. Its voice is muffled. “Gaahhhhhhhhh!”

Somehow it is a lot faster than it looks, and the next thing you know it has enfolded you in its embrace.

“You will be Flupper’s bride!” the monster shouts, regardless of your gender identification. It looks at whoever happens to be in your general vicinity. “Who this?”

Struggling, you realise that Flupper is stronger than any creature you’ve ever encountered before. You can’t seem to get it to let go of you, and it's rocking against you in such a way that it makes a sound like the soles of sneakers on a gym floor. On the plus side, it doesn’t have any genitals so at least it’s not as bad as it could be. Still, desperate times call for desperate measures! “That’s my partner!” you claim before you can think about how stupid an idea that is.

“You bride? LIES! Flupper can tell!”

“We can prove it!”

“Oh yeah? Tell something only bride would know!”

Oh shit. Now you’re stuck - you and your fellow Traveler have to admit to something true about love or intimacy, under the guise of it being about the other. Flupper’s lie detecting abilities are good enough to call you out on untruths, but not good enough to know who you’re talking about.

He’s not letting you out of his squeaky embrace until you’ve convinced him that you’re a couple.

Notes:
1. It’s up to you how much of this back and forth it takes to convince Flupper that you are ‘brides.’

2. You can choose to abandon someone in Flupper’s grip - this would be reflected in your Scrywatch colour. Probably negatively, unless you feel strongly about the morality of fishman marriage via kidnapping. The ‘bride’ would then be forced to attend an extremely dull ceremony lasting three days and three nights. For the duration of your stay on the island, you would now be married and expected to bring Flupper its slippers and pipe every evening.

3. You can try to kill Flupper. Unlike the other residents of the island, it is extremely resilient and strong. It is possible, however.

4. You can keep this completely G rated - maybe all you know of love is that time in first grade when you got a Valentine card from the cutest kid in class - but if you DO get saucy, please mark your thread with a Content Warning.

---

Greetings, prospective Travelers! Welcome to the Summer 2021 POLYMYTHOS test drive meme and thank you for your interest in our game! Our next application round will run from June 25 - July 2, 2021. For the months of June, July, and August, we invite you to use this TDM to explore but one of many, many islands within the Endless Isles; use it as an opportunity to introduce and familiarize yourself with the game, form connections with other characters, and just have some fun. (Perhaps while also getting some solid samples together for your application!)

Use the prompts provided below as-is or feel free to write your own set within the environment detailed in each. You're even welcome to access the network via your character's ScryWatch. While there will be some inevitable changes, TDMs may count as game canon and some islands may be revisited in the future. Be mindful of your surroundings -- you never know how you and your fellow Travelers might affect this place in the long run.

Hang ten, Moon doggy! Seeking those killer jams?

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

Cool moms? David rolls his eyes. It's not like that. Not like that at all.

"The whole island is a each? Even inland? That's horrible."

Escaped from this? No. Not without a reality warper, and he knew that didn't help in places like this.

"The other world I didn't feel a rush to get away from."

[kyley_b]

"Looks that way. Some dude who looks awfully familiar is renting out dune buggies if you feel the need to check."

Kyle's expression softens a little. "Was it like... You must have had good friends there and stuff."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Looks familiar?" David asked, frowning. He really wanted more information on that. But for now he wanted to continue putting space between himself and Flupper.

"I was lucky. My best friend was there. And a friend we hadn't seen in a long time. I made new friends there too."

The light of the fake blade in his hand failed. That was enough.

[kyley_b]

"Yeah. Dunno why."

Kyle smiles a little sadly. "And now you're here. Aw, dude. I'm sorry. Even if there's cool people here it's not the same."

[helpdesk_hero]

And now he's here. David nods. New people. Different people. Not the ones he'd loved, not the ones he'd cared for. So he just had to move on. Move forward. Get home.

Please let him get home.

"Most people I know would have said 'cool people like me'."

[kyley_b]

Kyle laughs - a shrill sound that runs up and down like a xylophone.

"Oh, I'm not cool," he says. "You know what I was doing before I was suddenly on that friggin ferry? Literally reading the Monster Manual for D&D."

[helpdesk_hero]

What a weird laugh, but David won't comment. That said, he does smile at the D&D thing.

"Actually, that's cool in my book."

[kyley_b]

"Really? You play?" My god, has he found another nerd?

"Not that it seems likely I'm gonna just stumble across some dice and shit while on this journey of self discovery or whatever it is to appease some mystery power, but you never know."

[helpdesk_hero]

"When I can get a group going," David answered. "Which isn't very often. I haven't had a chance in a while."

He considered what it would have taken to talk Josh into a game and just ignored the various fail scenarios he could derive.

[kyley_b]

Kyle is apparently just stoked about this. "Well, maybe we can. Somehow. You and me and my buddy Carter and I bet this possibly evil scientist I know and maybe even Quire..."

Bless his optimism.

"I mean, you know. Maybe. Sorry, that's pretty presumptuous of me.

"So. I gotta ask... you were really convincing with that fish dude. You had a partner, back in that weird city?"

[helpdesk_hero]

Quire. David doesn't flinch this time.

"I don't know that you could get Quire to play anything but the most min-maxed bard that sleep with everything ever," David warns. "And his rolls would always be what he wanted."

But the question makes David stop. He stops and his hands clench at his sides.

"I could be describing a few people actually."

[kyley_b]

Kyle glances over, eyebrows knitting together. "Oh. It sounds like you've been in love a lot, then."

He pauses before adding, "You don't seem super happy about it."

[helpdesk_hero]

"What?" David asks, looking up, shocked. In love a lot? Oh geez, he guessed he had. He crossed his arms over his chest and then shook his head.

"It's... One of them is back home and I don't know how he feels about me, if it's love for him like it is for me. Another I'll never see again. And..."

And then there was Josh and Laurie and that was at least seven kinds of awkward, maybe eight.

[kyley_b]

"And?" Because let's be honest, any time someone trails off it's probably quite a mess.

"That's rough, though. In a way I'd almost prefer the 'never see them again' because then at least you're not wondering your whole fucking life. You know you had something, and it's over and it sucks, but it's definitive."

[helpdesk_hero]

Definitive. David wants to laugh. He supposed that was probably a better take on it than he might have wanted to hear. Why couldn't someone have put it like that before for him, at least with Damian? He already knew the Josh and Laurie thing would never happen back home so he should just let go.

"Who are you, to be so wise in the ways of the world?"

[kyley_b]

Kyle shrugs, but he smile a little. "I mean, I could be full of shit. I don't really date. But I've seen people make a lot of dumb mistakes, I guess."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Dumb mistakes tends to be a specialty of mine," David admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "What about you? That was a really personal thing to say. You and that friend from high school okay?"

[kyley_b]

His face flushes red immediately. "Oh. Uhm. Yeah, no, he's great. Living in Portland with his longtime girlfriend, working in wildlife conservation."

[helpdesk_hero]

"The girlfriend that wasn't around when you made out with him?" David asked, smirking. That was a mood he got, really truly got. Granted his life was a series of mistimed kisses when he thought about it.

[kyley_b]

Kyle looks even more uncomfortable than before. "I mean. They were masters at the on-again off-again. You know? Like literally since we were nine."

He sighs. "It's not like she was in the room or anything. Although... That would either be way LESS awkward, or way more, I honestly can't say."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Yeah, even when the SO isn't in the room it's destructive, I know it," David answered. Same hat here, wasn't it?

"I'm sorry it's complicated."

[kyley_b]

Kyle considers this, and looks over at the guy. "You too, huh? I'm gonna ask you something, and you TOTALLY don't have to answer, I'm a stranger, I know that, this is overstepping, but... Did you like them both?"

[helpdesk_hero]

Like them both? David bit his lip. No reason not to be honest.

"Actually, no. I liked the guy I kissed, and the brother of his boyfriend. Twin, actually."

Who was one of the people he missed.

"In my defense, I thought I was going to die."

[kyley_b]

"Oh, wow, twins? At least you didn't like BOTH twins, that would be awkward as fuck."

Kyle's eyebrows hike up his forehead. "I mean, I don't think it sounds THAT bad. Why were you gonna die?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Oh, it was already awkward as fuck," David assured Kyle, kicking at the sand. So awkward, and his life was just like that.

"Interdimensional magical parasite."