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!

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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

[kyley_b]

"Oh. So then it's like, do we try this, orrrrr..."

He shakes his head. "Dude, a rubber monster trying to kidnap you is actually way, way less complicated."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Way, way less complicated," David agreed, preferring that observation to the suggestion that, well, he think about the failures of his love life.

Because mostly he'd been talking about Damian, and he didn't want to think about the stranger he'd never know again.

"So, you've been here a while, what can you tell me about these Isles, and whether we can get home or not?"

[kyley_b]

Kyle cracks a grin. "Did you wanna go back? Get Flupper's number?" he teases.

"Well. I can tell you there's a bunch of superpowered and magic people, some actual geniuses, and I heard a rumour there might be gods even, and yet nobody has figured a way off yet. So 'home' seems a bit impossible at the moment.

"Almost everybody I've met, their watch is yellow. Mine hasn't changed yet, which I guess isn't amazing. They SEEM to be tracking our self development, is what I understand from the stupid pamphlet they gave us.

"I haven't noticed a pattern to anything yet besides 'make people SUPER uncomfortable.'"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Oh fuck you no I don't want his number," David groans. He hates that idea a lot thank you. How can you call yourself his friend like that, Kyle?

"Speaking as a super powered genius, I'm not surprised there is no way out for us. It's like the last place. Someone has their sick game in mind for us."

[kyley_b]

Kyle's a bit of a dick, David. Best to find that out now.

"Pretty much." He kicks at the sand and watches it go flying. "On the plus side, it seems like they're good about keeping us fed and sheltered. Although you can totally die, I think. I got injured and it wasn't magically fixed or anything. Well, not by like... whoever's doing this. So maybe don't go getting yourself into any serious trouble."

[helpdesk_hero]

Too bad he already knows, and has dated, assholes.

"But getting into serious trouble is something X-Men do," David offered with the driest voice ever. He hates that it was true, but it really was.

[kyley_b]

"Is that what you call people who work for X-Factors?" He snorts. "Well. I mean, go nus, I guess. Maybe you can regrow your parts like one guy here, I dunno."

[helpdesk_hero]

"No, mutants associated with the X-Men team are that. Also, I need you to clarify on regrowing parts. Are we talking a mutant? Maybe Quire knows them?"

Which fucking Wolverine? Or was it Teddy? Josh? Someone else?

[kyley_b]

Kyle shrugs. "Well, it was the guy who LOOKED like Ryan Reynolds for a while. Uh, he said his name was Deadpool?"

So, SO much worse.

"He was just a head for a while."

[helpdesk_hero]

The guy that looked like Ryan Reynolds for a while? But not? Ouch. Still, David is left staring in shock. Deadpool?

"Fuck, you're kidding? DP is here? And he's still going on that he looked like Ryan Reynolds? I thought he'd gotten over that stupid statement."

Just a head? Sounds about right.

[kyley_b]

"I am not kidding," he assures him. "But he really did look like Reynolds. Like I thought it was him for a month." Because for Kyle, a celebrity doing something like regenerating his body parts was not that unusual seeming.

"I guess we're friends. He's weird, though."

[helpdesk_hero]

How could someone just take that in stride? Though with multiverse theory, David supposed it was possible there was a universe where Ryan Reynolds to have regenerative powers.

"Talks about things that don't make sense, right?"

[kyley_b]

"Exactly! And stuff that I dunno how he knows it."

He sighs and shakes his head. "This whole thing has been pretty wild. And I can't say I'm stoked about it. But what can you do?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Yeah, it's something he always does. I don't know him personally, but I've heard plenty of stories," he answered.

What can they do? BUild a portal to get out? But David hadn't seen tech complex enough for him to deal with.

[kyley_b]

"He saved my life. But then nearly got me killed, so. ...which is pretty normal for me, I guess."

He gives David a bright smile. "Some of it's cool, though. Like at least it's sunny here. Unless you hate the sun."

[helpdesk_hero]

Saved and nearly killed? That scans.

"I live on an island almost like this. But a lot closer to cliche 'tropical paradise'. So the sun isn't a problem."

Though he could do with a shade.

[kyley_b]

"Really? That sounds pretty sweet." He gestures at his arms. "I do okay, but I can't push it TOO much. They got a bunch of like, tent things set up at least. I've bene kinda wondering if there's vampires around so I admit I've looked at everyone who stays in the shade all day to see if they have fangs."

[helpdesk_hero]

Tent things sounds nice.

"Are vampires really a threat? And not all vamps are bad. My friend Jubilee was a vamp for a while, and she was polite."

[kyley_b]

"I dunno. I haven't met any confirmed ones, yet. Just a werewolf. She was cool, though, so I bet vampires can also be totally nice."

He looks over at David. "You're really chill about all of this. Like, I guess that makes sense, but it's kinda nice. Some people, you tell them something weird and they get really uncomfortable."

[helpdesk_hero]

Werewolves. David grimaced at that. He didn' think those were so great.

"I'm a detective that investigates the disappearances and deaths of mutants in my world for the purpose of making sure they're dead before they are revived. This? This isnt' as weird as it could be."

[kyley_b]

"Really!" Because he feels the need to defend the girl, even if she's not present.

"...okay, when you put it like THAT... Dude, you look like, my age. That's a heavy job to have."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Might well be your age, or near it. Mostly though, mutant lives are never easy. And between my world and what I went through in the imPort world, I've got even more weirdness that I've dealt with. But when it comes to X-Factor, I'm not even the youngest member."

Trevor, one of his best friends. David misses the kid.

[kyley_b]

"I'm twenty-four." Just barely, at that. "That's kinda fucked up," he opines. "Well. I guess at least here you might not have to solve any murders, and you're not going to get mobbed for an autograph. Unless somebody mistakes you for a movie star, I guess." Which seems possible - this guy is really good looking.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Same," David offered with a shrug. Age meant a lot less when one considered all he'd gone through, not that older X-Men agreed.

"No autographs and people asking me to do psychometric readings without a shirt on? Bless, I'm so done with that shit."

[kyley_b]

Kyle stops and stares. "I'm sorry, what?"