polymeme | Summer TDM

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! test drive meme

Summer TDM

✖ 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

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Ouch. David has to wince. He has other people's memories of getting pistol whipped and he doesn't like that at all.

"Sort of psionic. It's completely tied to my mental focus and power," he said, drawing his fingers up to the shades and pulling at them with his fingers, and the thing shifted into a feather. "Good for weapons or defenses or just fashion. As for technopathy, it's like telepathy but for machines.'

Carter watches with interest as the glasses morph into a shimmering feather, smiling at the idea of using psionic energy for fashion.

"Telepathy for machines? Woah that's interesting, what do machines think like? All code or is it like human thoughts but with a different tone?"

"It's more like technopaths touch and talk to machines like telepaths do minds. I can code with a thought, I can hack by touching something and wanting in the system," David explained. "And... Well, have you ever seen that anime Ghost in the Shell?"

"Of course I've seen Ghost in the Shell! Dude that's awesome! If we wind up on an island that like, has technology you will have to show me."

David smiles. "So the stuff in that where the Major plugs in to chat rooms and stuff and dives into it? That's how I see things like that, if I want."

And, theoretically, he might be able to pull someone along with him, if they were something like a telepath. So he'd have to try that out.

"Oh yeah, that's a great way to visualize it. Man that movie is so good." He pauses and then laughs, "Although now I'm just going to imagine you doing that naked free fall scene right at the beginning."

"The anime weren't half bad too," David agrees with a grin. Then Carter keeps going. Imagining him naked? Wow.

"Dude, it's weird to imagine another person naked most of the time."

"I don't mean in a sexual sense, like in like a theatrical movie type sense." He tries to explain. "Like re-casting you as the lead in that movie would be cool."

He really isn't trying to imagine David naked, he's just a film nerd who has an active imagination.

"I've never done acting, so who knows," David answered with a shrug. But film nerds are welcomed.

"Can you imagine some artful blurring that doesn't leave me looking like a Ken doll?"

He snort laughs, "Yeah sure, consider it done."

Carter pauses, thinking about what he knows about acting.

"Could you technically learn acting by using your powers? Or does it get tricky with art stuff because a lot of times people are using emotions to fuel it?"

"I mean, yes, it's a skill. In fact, I can do a lot of 'art stuff'. That doesn't mean I can express things well. Technical skill, like how well I play a guitar? Yep, I can do that. Write a piece of music? Yep, that too. But make a GOOD song? Not guaranteed, even if I have the skills of the best wrong writer ever. I wouldn't have the heart aspect."

So yeah, Carter had that one right.

"Huhn... that makes sense." He says and pauses for a moment, "It's interesting because I have like the opposite. I can feel emotions or put them into art really easily but really have to work at the technical stuff."

"That's the way it should be," David points out. "My path isn't exactly he most honest."

Cheating. David had often equated it to cheating when he was a kid. Now, though, he's more practical about it. It's just a change. A difference.

Carter shrugs, "I mean neither is mine in a way if I happen to hear/feel how someone else is feeling and use it for a song."

"Besides, at least you're honest about it and how it won't have that same emotion behind it. Like you aren't using it to become like...the most technically prestigious violin player for fame and fortune."

"I mean, I could totally be the most technically skillful, but the thing is that I'd reproduce the same performance, because my skill would be copying the talent, but not the performance, the heart. The inspiration, the unique twists... I can't do that."

"So if you were to say use your powers to learn violin could you look at a complicated piece and just play it perfectly, or do you have to find someone who can already play that piece and get that information from them?"

"I could read and play the music from being near a violinist. But unless I work at the skill and grow it, only with the level of skill of the violinist I met. I could play pieces they'd never played too, just like they could, but it would take practice."

THe muscle memory would be there for some things, of course, the ones played so often that you didn't have to think about playing them.'

"Huhn..." He muses, thinking over all the skills one could learn just by being near someone. It opens a whole can of worms the more he thinks about it.

"Have you ever like, accidentally picked up a skill from someone you didn't want? Or didn't like?"

"Of course. I had no control growing up, Carter. None. I picked up everything from everyone tha wasn't actively shielding against it."

And it meant bad things.

"I know how ot kiss like Emma Frost does. That's not fun. I know how to tie my shoes like Scott Summer. I know too many things in too mnay ways."

Carter's expression softens, "I'm sorry. That's really crappy, I mean...yeah I understand. It's hard being able to pick up everything in like a ten foot radius..."

He's silent for a moment, not wanting to even touch the topic of one of the Summers brothers so instead he moves towards a slightly easier topic.

"When did you first get your powers?"

"When I was fifteen," David answered, sighing. He hated that it had come so young, when he wasn't wise. When he didnt' know what to do with himself.

"Ten foot was actually my limits at home."

"Fifteen...Huhn. I got mine when I was eight." He says and then shrugs, "Which looking back on it I don't know if that made it easier or harder to understand what was happening."

Eight? David gasped.

"That's got to be hard," he said. But there's no pity. But he doesn't envy it either.

"At least by the time I got them, I KNEW what it meant to have them."

Carter raises an eyebrow at David's reaction, "It was confusing but honestly I think it was harder on my mother. Neither of us knew what it meant but at least I could have fun with it you know?"

He remembers being able to telekinetically float his toys around his bedroom, making them bob and sway in front of his eyes when he was bored.

"Meanwhile my poor mom thought she was stuck in the Shinning or something."

He utters a small snort of cynical laughter and pokes his index finger up out of the water, curling it up and down as he croaks.

"Redrummmm, Redrum...."

"The Shining? Ouch, that's particularly bad."

The joke has him rolling his eyes and he send a small splash at Cater, enough of one to make a point but not enough to really get Carter wet.

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extrasensory_problems - 2021-07-03 04:38 (UTC) - Expand

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