TEST DRIVE MEME #11

[expiationmods]

Test Drive Meme #11

Welcome to Expiation, a pan-fandom adventure game with elements of fantasy, science fiction, and some subtle horror.

THE STORY SO FAR (click to expand!)

Characters have arrived in Expiation, a seemingly idyllic fantasy world where they have been told they will be judged and sentenced for crimes they were charged with upon arrival.

Every two months, several characters are chosen for sentencing, where they’re brought to City Hall and told to perform a task related to their assigned crime.

Their only contact at City Hall is a mysterious and long-suffering man called Jerry.

Over time, characters have begun to realize that not all is as it seems in Expiation: as it turns out, the entire world is a simulation that seems to be run by an artificial intelligence.
This AI claims that its purpose, and thus the purpose of Expiation, is rehabilitating the Chosen after their crimes.

In March 2024, after the destruction of City Hall, the city of Aldrip was forced into an upgrade status. While this upgrade was being implemented, characters were pulled into a false reality where they believed they were natives to the city of Aldrip.

Aldrip has been a bit of a glitchy place for many, many months. However, in Summer 2024, these glitches became difficult to ignore, and pointed at evidence of a catastrophic systems failure. For several months, characters experienced chaotic effects as elements from their worlds and many others were thrown into the setting without warning, even going so far as to import a Gnosia infection.

The AI in charge of Expiation believed that performing a system reset might be the only way to stop the glitches before they could impact the world as a whole.

In September 2024, characters complied with the AI’s request and performed a reset. Although this set the AI back to a default state where it felt more neutral–rather than affectionate–toward the Chosen, several people created a system backup that they hope will return some of the data that has made the AI more sympathetic toward the Chosen.

When Aldrip was reset, City Hall became a Courthouse, and this is the new building where Chosen are now sent for sentencing.

TDM top-levels are open to all, whether you are already in-game or not. New characters, please put TDM in your subject header so we’ll know you’re trying things out! You can also put your top-level in the TDM DIRECTORY at the bottom of the post. New folks are welcome and encouraged to use TDM threads as samples in their application. Current players may use TDM threads as part of their AC proofs.

October's TDM takes place on October 21st.

You can view our CALENDAR to keep important dates in mind. RESERVES open on October 21 and APPLICATIONS will open on October 24. After this, applications will next open in December 2024.

Full Navigation

Arrival

Spooky season has come to Aldrip in full force! City and outskirts gardens are full of pumpkins to harvest, trees begin turning red and orange, and there’s a chill in the air that’d have anyone reaching for a cozy sweater. The wind picks up occasionally, howling through the trees, especially near the forest… While the seasonal weather is welcoming, the locals are anything but: they send disapproving glances and keep a wide distance. Unfortunately, this may only be heightened by the new arrivals to the city…

Newcomers to Aldrip face a rude awakening this month. Strange iron cages have appeared on surfaces all over town, short and tall alike, and this is where new Chosen find themselves upon arrival. The cages themselves aren’t terribly hard to open, honestly; the latch is on the outside, and it’s a bit finicky, but it’s not locked or anything. That said, some of these cages are quite high up. They’re sometimes near ledges and windows, but not always, and some new Chosen might need a helping hand to get down.

Yeah. The optics aren’t great. No wonder the locals are a little nervous!

The fall carnival

On the morning of October 21st, a Fall carnival pops up, seemingly out of nowhere. It hasn’t been well-advertised–maybe a flyer or two around town–but luckily for the Chosen, those who work there don’t seem to have the same opinion of them as the locals do. Costumes are not required for the carnival, but they’re definitely encouraged! There is a large tent near the entrance with lots of costumes to choose from, and changing rooms as well, should the Chosen decide they’d like to give it a try. The tent workers will be so excited to help with this process–but they might find some very unexpected choices for the Chosen!

There are plenty of rides, games, and food stalls, so come on down! Some special attractions the Chosen may take note of include:

The Funhouse
Billed as a standard house of mirrors, the Chosen are encouraged to try to get through the maze as quickly as they can. Push your limits! Test yourself!

Inside the mirror maze, the Chosen will find more of a test than they might have expected, at first. As they go deeper into the maze, the mirror reflections seem to change. At first, it’s just little things: your reflection might look in a different direction, or move when you stand still. But deeper within the maze, these mirrors begin to show things about the Chosen that they might not be ready to admit just yet. Some reflections may try to confess to the character’s crime to anyone who may be in the funhouse, even going into detail about it. Some may even show the crime as it happened, or a warped version of that crime. Anyone present can see and hear these reflections.

The reflections will follow Chosen until they find their way out of the funhouse. Unfortunately, that could take quite a bit longer, since those reflections are so very vocal and distracting.

Pumpkin Pick-up
You know those duck games at a fair where you pick up a rubber duck and the bottom of the toy has a prize written on it? Well, we know better than to pick up a duck in a dungeon carnival here in Expiation, so for extra spooky flair, these are small pumpkins instead, with painted jack-o-lantern faces! Picking up a pumpkin should reveal a prize…but what’s this? It’s a challenge instead? Interesting.

Written on the underside of each pumpkin is a truth-or-dare style directive. Players are free to make up any challenge they want, here! If you’re looking for some ideas, we’ve provided some examples in the details cut below.

Click here for a list of example challenges!

Tell someone your biggest regret
Tell someone about the scariest moment you’ve ever had
Confess your deepest shame to a stranger
Take someone’s shoes
Attempt to pickpocket someone without them noticing
Find a stranger and show off a secret talent
Tell someone about the thing you hate most, deep down
Kiss or hug a stranger
Eat something that doesn’t look like food
Tell someone about the cruelest thing you have ever done
Start dancing in the middle of a crowd, but only if there’s no music playing
Tell a stranger about the worst lie you ever told
Ask a stranger out on a date
Set off a small firework without warning
Give away your shirt and do not replace it
Confess your greatest weakness
Put on an extra silly costume
Exchange clothes with a stranger

You get the idea! Feel free to use these as a jumping off point and make up your own–there are no limits to what the pumpkins might say. Once the task has been completed, Chosen may turn the pumpkins in at one of the prize booths for whatever prize they would like. There’s no visible indication on the pumpkin as to whether the task is done or not, so you’re welcome to try bluffing, if you don’t want to complete it…but somehow, the booth worker always seems to know.

Dueling Potions
One of the stalls is a game of chance: two identical potions sit before you on a table. The carnie claims that one is a luck potion, and that choosing that potion will give you excellent luck for the whole day…but how do you tell which is which? By drinking the potion, of course!

There’s a 50% chance of victory, here. One vial does indeed contain a good luck potion, and if you choose that vial, your luck will be incredible for the next 24 hours. Unfortunately, the other bottle contains a bad luck potion, and that will have the opposite effect: for 24 hours, you’ll be plagued by disaster, bad happenstance, and maybe even some extra clumsiness. Does it seem a bit like you need to have good luck to get good luck, here? What, is this a commentary on something? Hmm.

Fortune Teller
Want some woo in your spooky season? A midnight-blue tent covered in stars seems to invite you in. You’ll find a bonafide fortune teller within, complete with crystal ball and heady incense. How fun! They’ll give you a cursory reading, either by palm or with strange-looking cards. You get the feeling that this reading is fairly accurate, but strangely…it’s hard to recite details later, if you try to tell someone else about what they told you. How odd. Maybe it was the incense.

It’s not just a hazy fortune and a nose full of frankincense that Chosen leave this booth with: they also feel a compulsion to speak their minds more than they might otherwise. Whether this is telling secrets usually kept close to the vest, expressing their opinions more readily, readily admitting to crimes they’ve been charged with or other wrongdoings, or some other manifestation of this effect is up to players!

There are plenty of other games, rides, and booths to explore, many of which have perfectly standard fare for events like these. Characters can use these booths to win tickets and get prizes: many booths offer cute stuffies and kitschy toys, of course, but Chosen can also find useful items like weapons, food, clothing, accessories, and things like that.

Witch hunt

Last year’s Witch Hunt was metaphorical in nature–this year, it’s much more literal. A limited number of witch hats are placed on a table in front of the carnival. As soon as the clock strikes noon, the Chosen may grab one and try to keep it out of the hands of fellow competitors. These hats are first-come, first-served, but it really doesn’t matter who starts out with one–it’s who ends the hunt with one that counts!

It seems to be like a city-wide game of tag. The Chosen’s job is simple: obtain and keep a witch hat on their head until the clock strikes midnight. If a “witch” is caught by another Chosen (by way of being tagged), they must hand over their hat, or they’ll be disqualified.

There’s no official sign-up for the hunt, so characters can join in whenever they’d like, or may decide not to join at all. So, what’s this all for? Anyone who manages to have a witch hat on by the time the clock strikes midnight is guaranteed a prize! OOCly, this prize is any small non-magical item from home, either personal or not; ICly, Chosen will not know what this prize is before entering. How do you obtain this prize? There’s an RNG for those who would like a chance to sign up to win an item. Sign-up is optional, and TDMers are welcome to join in! New items will be delivered at the start of November, so any new applicants who win the hunt will be able to obtain their items as well.

Wildcard

Make your own fun! Just because it’s not in the prompts doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Have at it! Go crazy! Try not to break anything (too much)!

♡

Comments

[laserguy]

[Wait, the door's been open this entire time?? Scott's face scrunches, about ready to complain, but naked guy is continuing to talk and he seems utterly unsurprised by the fact that Scott has powers. Well, okay...? Although he's not fond of how he said 'people like him,' but Scott does his best to hold back that irritation, only allowing himself to frown up at Tony.]

Yeah, so it's a good thing I'm really creative.

[Maybe he should just blast the cage, but he's not that petty. He still doesn't want to actually harm the guy, even if he's kind of a dick. Not to mention...] Wait, do you have powers of your own?

[liverletdie]

[ Don't worry bud, it aint even a mutant thing. He just talks down (not as literally most of the time) to everyone. ]

Nope.

[ A lie, but eh. It's Complicated. ]

I'm an inventor. Well, CEO most days now, but I spend a good amount of time in the workshop still. I don't feel comfortable unless I've had my hands in the guts of an electronic device for at least half of my day.

Unfortunately... [ His leg swings, idly. ] I'm also not used to being trapped in a cage all that much anymore.

[ Anymore??? ]

[laserguy]

[Oh, so he's a smart guy. Supposedly. From his own words, he gets captured or trapped a lot and really, how smart can you be if this happens to you on a regular basis? Well, guess he did just admit that this doesn't occur as much anymore, but still. How many times has this happened to him???

Scott continues to squint upward.]

Great, you'll be a shoe-in for Stem Club.

[He can already imagine him and Quentin getting along so well. Actually, that might be fun to actually witness.]

Alright, either hold onto that cage and maybe you'll only get a mild concussion when it falls, or sit back and wait for me to grab something that might cushion your naked ass.

[liverletdie]

[ It's a really good question to ask Scott. Really, the answer here is........ That Iron Man Comics are bad............... Really. Really. Bad. ]

Oh? Something soft? Hey, you find that, and I'll call you my best friend, how about that?

[ I mean, alright, Scott's a good cookie anyway. At least what he knows about him, but he's so used to dealing with Xavier, or Emma, and let's be honest, he's...fond of Emma for Other Reasons. Ho4Ho ]

Don't worry, I won't move a muscle.

[laserguy]

Wow, what I always wanted. [...] Don't move too far, I won't be gone long.

[But hey, despite all the sarcasm, Scott (perhaps unfortunately) believes naked man up there, at least when it comes to staying put. He's already turning and walking off to find something to help Tony from his current predicament. He may have also realized that dragging like 8 mattresses to where the inventor is at will be annoying as hell.

So instead, after about 20 minutes or so, the mutant will come back with a ladder. Where did he get it? He 'borrowed' it from a local. Don't worry about it. They hate the Chosen anyway right now. Now, Tony's definitely still up in that cage, right...]

[liverletdie]

Some people would pay for that, you know!

[ He called after him, but hey, he actually does stay there. It's not like he wants to deal with crashing to the ground, and he really doesn't want to deal with walking around naked either.

He has some decorum.

So yes, when Scott comes back, he's still up there. Mostly, it looks like he's staring into the distance, as if he's concentrating on something else. Far away?

Anyway, as soon as Scott shows up, he smiled. ]

Hey, my new best friend, looks like you were successful.

[laserguy]

Don't call me that man.

[Scott briefly stops in trying to set the ladder up just to give Tony another one of those scrunched faces. This guy is really kind of annoying, like does he seriously have to comment about everything-- but honestly, he is pretty relieved to still see him up there with nothing bad happening to him in the mean time.

Huh, come to think of it, he probably should've let his little bird friend watch over him while he was gone. But. Next time, Summers. Besides, he's still not wholly comfortable with that whole thing.

Nonetheless, after a few more seconds, he straightens out the ladder in a proper position and it luckily just manages to reach the cage Tony's trapped in. Time to climb your naked ass down.]

Not afraid of heights, right? You should be used to this anyway. [At the very least, Scott will help hold the ladder steady too.]

[liverletdie]

No, I'm not afraid of heights, don't worry.

[ He said, with a laugh that says, very clearly, that his question is very funny.

He does not clarify, though. ]

So, ah, mind diverting your eyes? No offense, but...

[ He's going down. As soon as Scott looks away, he will start climbing down. He's fairly quick about it too, and light on his feet. ]

There, ah, that's much better. Thanks.

[laserguy]

[Yeah, Tony doesn't need to tell him again to avert his eyes as he starts to climb down. Even if his world is just a cluster of different shades of red, he still doesn't need to watch his pasty ass go down a ladder. If he falls at this point, then that's his own damn fault, even if Scott would genuinely be upset--

But no worries there! Because he hears Tony and it's-- right up close to him, no longer being heard from far away. It's the only cue Scott needs to reopen his eyes, the mutant not holding back his relief or that stupid little smile as he looks up at the naked guy. Look, he's just going to say that he's only teasing him. Or whatever.]

Yeah, welcome to the ground. It's normally better here, especially if you didn't have to fall 20 feet to meet it.

[liverletdie]

Oh, I agree. I much prefer solid ground when I can get it.

[ Does he? ] Though it's not always as accessible, what with these cages and the kidnapping...

[ A long beat. ]

Do you have any pants?

[laserguy]

No, because I was busy grabbing the ladder. Remember all that?

[Keep up, old man. Granted, Scott really doesn't want to wander around with a naked guy tailing him, so ugh fine he'll grab something for him. Just another thing to add to his tab that he definitely owes Scott. A tab that the mutant will definitely come and collect later, 100%.

Tony will probably notice him rolling his eyes this time, even with the sunglasses still.]

By the way, am I getting a name from you? Because you've just been 'naked guy' in my mind this entire time.

[Naked dude, naked asshole--]

[liverletdie]

[ So, that confirms something. ]

Odd, I thought you'd recognize me, Scott. Even though you're... [ A squint. ] Clearly younger.

I'm Tony Stark, and we know each other fairly well when I'm from.

[ via a one Emma Frost. ]

[laserguy]

[. . .

Oh my god this guy knows him-- this fucking asshole. Just like Quentin, like all the other mutants here, they share the same world. Probably different timeline, but still. Scott stares at Tony for few seconds, before reaching up to lightly punch him in the arm.

Yeah that's right, he doesn't care he's hitting a naked man. Scott thinks it's well-deserved!!]

You didn't think to mention that before?! [HUFF old man-- Tony here probably just did it to mess with him. He can see it now.] So, you're a mutant, huh?

[Everyone else that knows him is a mutant so.]