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

[skelters]

[ it's involuntary, the half-scream that vash lets out as charles' hand lands against his shoulder. at any other time, he'd have thought nothing of it - it is far gentler than anything he's ever gotten used to from others - but right now? it burns through the fabric of his shoulder, the black-rot flesh stretched over bone. it's a faceless body that stares back at him in the reflection of the mirror, the empty eye sockets accusing, the gaping mouth screaming murder.

run, run, run, run.

his body moves without thinking, jumping away from the other's touch, stumbling forward (his eyes full of the burning fire, the heat of the chemical, the high triumphant flush on his brother's face) --

-- and straight up bashes his nose squarely against the surface of the mirror, so hard that he thinks he hears something go crunch. and it's not the mirror, which is apparently much stronger than what it appears. ]

[incorrigibles]

Sorry, [ charles says immediately, ] I'm so sorry, didn't hurt you, did I?

[ he sounds terrified of the possibility; and when vash doesn't seem to even hear him, he wonders whether he should just turn and leave. maybe that would be best... and yet, he can't. he can't just leave him here like this — a fact driven home even more by vash trying to bolt and running straight into the mirror. ]

Shit. You okay? [ he doesn't have much hope that he's going to be heard this time either, but he moves closer regardless, thinking of simply grabbing the other and starting to haul him out of the house of mirrors. ]

[skelters]

Ahaha...

[ he can only laugh weakly, clutching at his throbbing nose with a gloved hand and flapping the other towards charles as though to reassure him that it's okay, everything's okay, really!!

the impact was hard enough that his head is still ringing, and as vash takes a deep breath and tips his head back, he can feel the hot trickle of blood from his nose - but at least it's helped with one thing; breaking him out of whatever stupor he was in, watching the way the ships fall like glittering stars from the burning sky. he can still feel the heat of it on the side of his head facing the large swath of the mirror, and vash whirls around hastily to put his back towards it, facing the other man entirely. ]

Sorry, sorry-- I'm alright now! [ the bloody nose would say differently, to be honest ... ]

Um, did I startle you??

[incorrigibles]

[ the weak laughter does nothing to alleviate the look of concern on charles' face — but he is also familiar with the art of trying to assure others you are doing just fine... and so instead of saying anything, he digs into his coat pocket and produces a folded handkerchief. ]

Here, [ he says with compassion in his eyes and the corners of his mouth tilted slightly downwards in concern. ]

Don't worry about it. Wasn't your fault. It's these bloody things, [ he nods his head towards the mirrors. ] And don't worry about all that either. I mean, if you wanna talk about it, sure, but whatever that was, well. None of my business, is it?

[ finally, he offers vash a small smile — he's not going to pry, because he gets it. if his worst memories were thrown up for show like that, he would want people to be considerate about it, no matter how curious they were. maybe one day, he can ask about the falling stars, ask about who this nai is... but not now. not with this guy laughing quite literally through his pain. ]

[skelters]

[ vash stares down at the neatly folded square of cloth as though he doesn't quite know what it is - though the look of curious confusion only lasts for a moment, before he beams wide enough to show a flash of eyeteeth as he takes it from the other's hands. he doesn't immediately bring it to his face, though, keeping it loosely clutched in the curl of his fingers, rubbing the edge of his thumb against the fabric as though in some unconscious way, he is a little shy about actually using it. ]

... Thank you!

[ as charles tips his head towards the mirrors, he might catch the glimpse of fires burning on the surface still - though it seems to be dying away, flickers of pale blue fuel-fire obscured by rising waves of dust cloud, fine sand beginning to swirl across the surface as it slowly starts to fade back to nothing, seemingly innocent as though nothing has happened at all.

vash hunches his shoulders anyway, regardless of how kindly and reassuring the other's tone is - almost drawing up to his ears before letting go with a sharp exhale with an edge of a laugh caught against it. ]

Uh, yeah, [ with a jerk, he seems to come back to himself, remembering that he's holding the handkerchief - so thankfully he could cautiously dab at the running blood with it, and hide his face at the same time from any scrutiny. ] It's ... nothing. Sorry!

[incorrigibles]

Anytime, mate.

[ the handkerchief is the least he can do — it's hardly something to thank him for, not when he feels so inadequate, so like he's doing absolutely nothing helpful. vash might as well be one of his clients from home, and he is so used to being good with people that all of his attempts deflecting off like this is... well. it sure is.

he sighs, runs a hand through the curls on his head. ]

That's the thing though, innit? It's not nothing. You don't have to pretend. I told you, I'm not gonna ask. Just — I know what it's like, yeah? For shit you don't want others to see to just... be there. Feels bloody terrible. And I know what it's like, to want to reassure people, too, that it's all fine, even when it's not. So... you don't have to. Don't say sorry, either. I get it.

[ he pauses. and then, with a small smile, ] So, anyway, don't think I know you. What's your name? I'm Charles.

[skelters]

[ too bad that over a century of conditioning himself to apologise and run (and rinse and repeat, patch and paint, grin and bear it) is a hard habit to break - if he knew how charles were feeling vash would make more of an effort with trying to dispel the other's misgivings - to sound more appreciative maybe, to make him feel like he's helped, but ... well, he's having a hard time with it right now, feeling like his stomach is still storm-tied into knots. ]

Ah, well ... [ there's the stooping of his spine again, vash ducking his head as though he could find a hole in the ground to open and swallow him up with enough effort. ] I'm still sorry you had to see that. It's not really, uh, a nice thing to see though? Even if you say that it's - fine. Just,

[ he's babbling, and vash has to cut it off and force the words down, crushing them into a garbled sort of laugh again with his eyes crinkling again once more with the effort of it.

thankfully, the small talk that charles is attempting seems to do the trick in distraction - or maybe it's ringing a faint memory of a past conversation with a certain other person. ]

Charles? Um, are you - I think Junpei mentioned you before! [ it is a common name, but he thinks he has more than a fair chance in guessing this might be the right 'charles'. ]

I'm Vash!

[incorrigibles]

Most of us have got something like that, though, yeah? Not nice things to see.

[ that's just how it is — everyone has their own skeletons, the ugly parts of them they don't want anyone else to see. and there's — there's nothing to be ashamed of, in that, he thinks, as vash's laughter splinters into something sharp and painful.

luckily, though, the distraction comes in the strangest form possible; or, well, perhaps not strange, but rather unexpected. and even now, even here, with the broken shards of the memory laying at their feet, the simple mention of junpei is enough to make charles smile, sweet and luminous and quite obviously besotted. ]

Did he? [ so, yes, that is him indeed, ] Vash, right. Good to meet you, mate. Any friend of Junpei's is my friend, too.

[skelters]

[ oh, how cute -

you'd expect someone like vash to make a commentary on the smile and put his foot right in his mouth, probably - but vash decides, ultimately, to gloss over it instead of drawing attention to that ... but also, he won't promise to not bring it up to junpei next time to embarrass him???

getting out of this weird maze is the priority, anyway. even if charles isn't divulging any details, the way he's been speaking to him - quietly, as though he understands - is something that doesn't get missed in all of the chaos. and if that's true, then vash really doesn't want charles to have to be confronted with anything like what he'd just seen.

so with that, vash will scramble up to his feet, reaching his hand out to the other. ]

Sorry, I know it's a bit strange ... but we probably shouldn't get separated, right?

[incorrigibles]

[ he offers an easy smile back — and yeah, it's not that he hasn't thought of the fact that he might... well, see things in the mirrors, but also thinking about it might make it more likely for it to happen, and so; not thinking about it is the way to go!

charles takes the offered hand with a grateful nod. ]

Nah, it's fine. I agree, best go against this whole thing together, yeah?