thequaranmeme | test drive meme: august 2019

about the tdm

Welcome to The Quarantine's first test drive meme! Just a few quick reminders and important dates:

○ The monthly test drive memes are considered game canon, so anything in the TDM is actually happening in the game setting. All Test Drive Meme threads are eligible to be used for activity check.

○ While writing prompts are provided, the Quarantine's setting is very flexible, so feel free to head in different directions. If you're planning on doing something big, please contact me so I can help out!

○ There are currently 100 character spots available.
○ RESERVES are currently OPEN.
○ APPLICATIONS will open on September 1, 2019, at 9:00 PM PST.

[header image by Michael Smith]

prompts

i. hungry & tired

You could have been anywhere when it happened - asleep and lost in dreams, packing up to head home from a trip, fighting the biggest battle of your life, drunk and dancing at the club - but wherever you were, you felt...out of place. Like you didn't belong. Whether it was a flash of a feeling after a friend doesn't pick up your phone call, or a lifelong ache borne of being the last of your species, the Portal heard you, felt you. And in the space of a blink, you find yourself stumbling out of a glowing circle of light that moves like living liquid, at the top of a set of slate steps.

First, the heat and humidity hits you in the face like a brick, so heavy it's almost tangible in the air, and the smell of petrichor lingers in your nostrils. A moment later, it hits you that you're hungry, absolutely ravenous, and your limbs are heavy with exhaustion, as if you've been walking for days. There's the sounds of life all around you, birdsong, the chirping of insects, and...voices?

You're not the only one to have just arrived in this alien jungle, and if you manage to make it down the natural slate steps without falling, you'll find yourself walking toward a heavy-duty metal trunk with a busted lock and a well-worn path at the edge of the clearing that winds off into the jungle. Looking behind yourself, you see the portal, glowing blue, surrounded by what looks like bone, with tendrils of ectoplasmic nerve endings winding into the stone and plantlife around it. Then the portal flashes almost blindingly bright for a moment, and someone else is stumbling out of it. Will you help them? Leave them to their own devices? And what's in that box...?

ii. the monsoon & the shrine

About halfway through your walk from the portal down that path that leads to the settlement area, the humidity breaks and the petrichor delivers on its promise - as if the sky opened up above you, rain starts to fall in thick sheets that drench you in minutes.

Continuing down the path will lead to the edge of the river, where a relatively sturdy wooden bridge crosses the river to a large island, where the top of a stone structure is barely visible through the sheets of greenish-grey rain. Considering the only other shelter is the large leaves of some nearby plants, it looks like the best option to get out of the rain, dried off, and to regroup. And maybe, hopefully, find some food?

This is the Shrine: a stone group dwelling where characters will find the remains of a communal garden with some edible vegetables and berries available to partially sate their hunger, a pond, and circular staircase leading up into the home units, where the rock furniture and floor are heated and perfect to dry clothing on while characters regroup. Feel free to look around and see what you can find...it's obvious the original residents aren't here to care about you invading their homes.

iii. shadow knows

Curious about why there were no people here, and then suddenly an influx? Characters might not know it yet, but this is what happens when the Portal has a nightmare - a burst of new arrivals, torrential rainfall, and crazy winds. Anyone seeking shelter in the Shrine will hear the howling wind, though the structure stands firm, protected by the ledges of stone around it and the thick stone walls.

Anyone hunkering down in the Shrine, or even anyone still out braving the rain, will start to notice that the shadows seem oddly deep and thick. Out of the corners of their eyes, characters might see movement in a dark corner, and when they turn to really look at it, there's nothing there. Nothing but the shadows. As the day goes on, though, and the rainstorm keeps up, the shadows start to get thicker and deeper, and characters will start to notice flickers of movement much more often. Soon, they notice that the shadows are creeping in, twisting tendrils of darkness that creep across floors and along walls until they've closed in only a few feet from the nearest source of light. Anyone brave enough to put part of their body into the shadows will see that part of themselves disappear almost completely into the darkness, impossible to see - and impossible to feel. Who knows if your body would even still exist if you fell into the shadows, and could you find your way home?

Characters will quickly discover that the safest way to cut through the darkness, to push it back, to keep themselves from being swallowed whole is to make physical skin-to-skin contact with another person. Whoever's nearby, better grab them by the hand, because they've now become your safety blanket.

iv. the book of life

Once the shadows dispel at the break of dawn, characters can feel safe enough to explore the Shrine a little more freely now that their clothing is dry and they've got a bit of food in their bellies. Rifling through the rooms will be mostly unfruitful. They'll find clothing that falls to dust as soon as it's touched and little personal knick-nacks from the previous residents of the Shrine.

But exploring and rifling around isn't entirely useless, because someone is sure to find a strangely heavy, leatherbound book in the drawer of one of dwellings in the upper inner ring of the Shrine that miraculously doesn't crumble to dust when touched. The cover has strange symbols on it, but characters will find they're able to read it through translation magic - The Book of Life. While it might seem from the outside like some kind of religious text or something, when it's opened, characters will find the messy scribbled notes of a previous resident who was obviously a naturalist. The book details some of the resident plant and animal life, and (very fortunately for these new arrivals) includes which plants are poisonous, edible, or good to use for medicine. Likewise, it explains which of the common creatures around are good to hunt and eat, or will attack at random, or can be carefully tamed into a pet.

Of course, the book is old and probably out-of-date, since the Portal has opened and shut to a lot of worlds since then, but it's a great place to start.

[Mod Note: The Book of Life will contain whatever information is put up in the Bestiary and Flora pages, which should be up and running later tonight with some initial info. The book will need to be updated as characters discover new plants and animals and learn about them.]

v. is anyone there?

The box that residents ran into near the Portal contained a variety of walkie-talkie radios that characters could power up and create a username on, which broadcast audio only with no privacy settings.

Looking for someone to explore with? Calling for help? Need someone to talk to or to find someone to touch in the shadows? That's what the radios are for! Give them a try.

navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

001. LA COSTAÑITA

[ It could have happened anytime. Any fucking time. The feeling began all the way back when she was just a girl, cooped up in a blown out old building that had been decimated by Omnics with sixteen orphans just like her. Together, but alone. No Mark Twain bullshit; real do or die shit that made her alliances, not friends.

It could have happened then, but it happens now. For once, she has a stable roof over her head that isn't leaking or crawling with toxic mold. She's sitting in her computer chair, criss-cross apple sauce, munching on a bowl of chicharrones, zoning out to the telenovela streaming in the front and center of her HUD. Sure, she has important tasks running in the background: she's downloading classified files from a government server in one tab, keeping an eye on a stow-away cam over in Moscow in the other, but it's hard to give them much of her attention when Innocencia is finally waking up from her brain surgery, only to discover that her lover and father of her child is in love with very woman who swore to bring his family to ruin. Qué triste.

The feeling hits her when Sergio and Marimar climb into their tent, the backlit silhouette of the lovers intertwining until it becomes unclear where one ends and the other begins. To Sombra, the feeling comes and goes always; it is the aching of a phantom limb, the absence of some fundamentally human part of her that remains no matter how much tech she shoves under her skin. She gets sad for just a second, then eats another chip, and moves on to the next episode.

But her hand does not land upon the databoard as it should. Instead, she finds herself clawing through bright blue space. The chair falls out from under her, and she only has half a second to roll on to her feet like a cat, back arched and ready for a fight. (She knows Kung Fu, it's all good.)

But all she sees is jungle. All she feels is the thick-as-molasses atmosphere enveloping her. And the smell, that fragrance of flora living uncontested lives, feeding gluttonously upon the fertile soil. Only one thing can be said for all of it: ]

¡Hijo de PUTA!

[ This is not the best case scenario. She's barefoot on the rocky steps, slumming it in an old pair of boxers and an ancient, faded band tee. She's not even wearing a bra. All she has to her name is the chip in her hand and a litany of expletives to yell until she's breathless.

Nice to meet you, this is Sombra. ]

002. DAME, DAME REFUGIO

[ Está lloviendo,

Diluviando,

El viejito está roncando.

The rain doesn't really bother Sombra. Not as much as being stuck in a jungle with no pants and some seriously lived-in hair does, at least. It's just not her first time walking home in the rain—even though she has no home to go to. She's used to that too.

Sombra didn't get this far in life without a lot of patience for situations like these, pants or no pants. Every step is a Russian roulette of sharp stones and pokey twigs beneath her bare feet. She's soaked to the bone and shivering, and on top of that? Hungry. She can't remember being this hungry in her entire life, and that's saying something. They didn't exactly roll out the buffet for the orphans back in the day. Somehow, this is worse.

When she finally gets to the shrine, she's shivering so hard that she practically vibrates across the threshold. Her lips are turning blue. Her feet are all nicked up and bleeding. She feels very small and very pitiable when she stands before the milling crowd already assembled within the shrine, hugging herself, teeth chattering. But.

But none of that keeps her from being Sombra. ]

Knock knock! ¿Qué onda? Anybody want to tell me who is in charge here? ... Are those tomatillos?

005. UN NÓMADA SIN RUMBO

[ Sombra online. ]

¡Holaaa! Look. I don't mean to kill the party here, but some of us lucked out more than others. We need all the resources we can scrape together, and we need them quick, because something's... happening out there. Ay!

[ There's a hiss of pain, and when Sombra comes back on the line, her voice is a little strained. Still just as jovial and smooth as ever, though. ]

Especially shoes. Please, somebody tell me they got an extra pair. I'll trade ya.

Edited 2019-08-19 23:59 (UTC)

Goodness gracious! Language, young lady!!

[The voice is oddly chipper and full of good humour despite the dire circumstances, though there is a very distinct, very tired undertone to it. A moment later, Klaus pops out from behind a tree to the side of the path, wearing a battered military jacket with the arms torn off, leather pants that lace up the sides, and a pair of floral Doc Martens that look like they've been through a war.

And he's zipping up the front of his pants.

Hey, being in the middle of a weird alien jungle isn't exactly new to him (this is what, the third time, including Nam? yikes) and he had to take a piss, okay? Slinging a black backpack over his shoulder, he raises a brow as he sees what she's wearing, and snorts.]

Wow. Wow. I guess we weren't all so lucky as to arrive with our things, were we?

[He shakes his head sadly and jogs his way up the steps, holds out his hand for a shake (the palm conspicuously tattooed with 'goodbye') smiling at her.]

Hey there. I'm Klaus.

[ Sombra is expecting a lot of shit. Shadowy figures with machine guns, maybe. Guerilla fighters leaping at her from the trees with big bowie knives. Omnics shooting pulse grenades. Fucking faeries. But what she gets instead is a stern talking-to from...

Instinctively, she begins to back away when she hears the voice. This mystery speaker is invisible, so it only makes sense that she should be too. Just a little farther and she can slip behind some trees, she thinks, lose her assailant in a hot second with all this foliage around.

Luckily, she hesitates long enough to catch a glimpse of those floral Docs. Nobody murders anyone in floral shoes. She thinks she'll be okay, so she stands her ground, watching silently as Klaus extends a hand.

Her eyes narrow. Her gaze flicks, back and forth, from Klaus's offered hand to his recently-zipped leathers and then back again. ]

Mmmm...

[ Her nose scrunches in mock repulsion. ]

Lemme take a raincheck on that, papito. And call me Sombra.

[ In lieu of the handshake, she gives him a swift curtsey with a little shimmy in it. Can't do anything without a little flash, or what's the point? ]

You got any idea where the hell we are?

Edited 2019-08-21 03:50 (UTC)

test drive meme: august 2019

sombra | overwatch

001.

no subject