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test drive meme
Hello, and welcome to Vella's TDM! As a reminder, this game is invite-only and open to anyone on the mods' timelines: Cocoamplitude , Avery
- A Mysterious Gift
Good morning! Today’s shaping up to be a bright, sunny day on the island. The weather is balmy but not too hot, and there’s a gentle, cool breeze. It’s as idyllic and perfect as you could want… but there seems to be something being carried by the wind. It won’t take you long to notice because it’s so out of place - it’s bright and colorful and definitely not something normal. It’s a balloon floating towards the island at a leisurely pace, and hanging from the balloon is what looks to be a… wrapped present? It’s a white box with a red ribbon, and it doesn’t seem to be weighing down the balloon at all. How odd...
If you happen to be armed with a slingshot, you can use it to pop the balloon. When the balloon is popped, the present will fall to the ground - but be careful where you’re shooting! There’s a river running through the island, and your gift could easily end up swept away if it falls just above the water… And if you don’t have a slingshot, feel free to get creative! Or you can make one and be ready for the next mysterious package - because there will be one just a few minutes later, drifting along.
Should you choose to unwrap the present, one of two things will happen: Maybe you'll get something small in size but no less valuable: a shiny, pristine crown that looks like it might cost a fortune. Whether or not you take care of it is up to you, but hey, you run this island now! (Not really.) Alternatively, you might get a very large red double sofa; when you unwrap the present, it suddenly springs out and lands with a loud thunk onto the ground. Pray that it doesn't smash your toes! How something so big squeezed inside a box so small is a mystery, but hey...congrats?
Gotta Catch 'em All (cw: Scorpions)
The island has tons of natural resources. There are the apple fruit trees dotted around the island and plenty of flowers that you can see up on the cliffs, but beyond that are the rivers threading through the island and the beaches themselves. They seem to be filled to bursting with fish - you can see their dark shadows in the water clear as day, and the fish seem to come in a variety of sizes. Make yourself a fishing pole and go for it! The fish are not only good for cooking and eating, but you can also sell them off for bells. Or keep them as pets, that’s fine too.
But if you’re not a fan of fishing, there’s still plenty to catch. The island is also completely filled with… Well. Bugs. The island is filled with bugs. Butterflies flutter around, and you can get some bells for selling them off...and don't count out the dragonflies, grasshoppers, and mantises, either! You'll need a bug net to nab these critters, but once they're yours, you're free to do what you'd like with them.
When it gets dark, though, be careful! That’s when scorpions come out, and they’re known for their sting. They're far and few between, but when you find them, try not to panic. If you don't have your net out, they'll leave you alone and stay at the edges of your general vicinity. If you bring your net out, though, they'll raise their legs and shake their tails defensively at you. Get too close too fast, and they'll chase after you. They're fast.
Henry's Quest
Henry the frog has been living on the island with you, and today he has a request! He wants to make some hedges to put around his house (or maybe he just wants to tidy up the island), and for that he needs weeds. Twenty of them, in fact. More is fine, but less is just unacceptable. If you choose to accept the task, he’ll give you a reward for helping him: ten iron nuggets! It’s all he has though, so whether you choose to do this solo or with some friends, you’re only getting ten iron nuggets total. Still, while it’s not exactly a rare resource, it’s certainly a limited one, so you may find the reward enticing. Or perhaps you just want to help him out of sheer kindness. Whatever the reason may be, it’s time to get to work.
The island has plenty of weeds, so it shouldn’t be too hard to pick the ones you need. If someone happens to be plucking in the same spot as you, maybe you can work together! After all, more hands means more weeding, which means you can all make Henry happy even faster.
For those who are less teamwork-oriented, you’re free to do this solo, but where’s the fun in that? … Ah, you’re thinking of hogging all of the nuggets for yourself, aren’t you? Well in that case, maybe you should consider sabotaging the competition...though do you really want to draw the ire of the people you’ll be spending at least the next few weeks with?
(OOC Note: We will not be NPCing Henry on this TDM.)
Winding Down
Another day at the island has come and gone. The night sky is clear and the stars are out -- the perfect way to wind down after a day’s worth of hard work. Someone - maybe you! - has built a campfire on the beach, and it’s as good a time as any to get to know the people you’re living with. You’re stuck here, after all.
Sit around, chat, maybe tell some spooky (or not so spooky) stories. Enjoy yourself! You’ve got many more days ahead of you, but for tonight you can just rest and enjoy the peace of the island you now get to call home.
no subject
Even more rude is the fact that most of the ghost stories he knows aren't spooky at all... Well, she's really back him into a corner, huh? He hunches his shoulders, desperately trying to think of something dumb that one of his classmates might have given as a story in middle school while he was busy chatting with a tomato plant, Godzilla at his side.
Hmm...]
You ever hear about the Red Tegu that Roams?
[aaaa this had the chance of going terribly, but maybe he could still pull out ahead of this one.]
no subject
She watches him quietly, smile still in place as he thinks. She's not expecting the worlds spookiest story, but she is expecting something. And it seems like he actually has a story, so that's exciting.]
The Red Tegu that Roams...? [Hm.] No, that's a new one to me.
no animals were harmed in the creation of this stupid story, but animal cruelty/death
Yeah, think it's a regional thing. [The region being out his ass, and all.] But, uh... It's a common thing for tegu to be seen as an invasive species -- Florida's got a problem with 'em, where they even cause problems for gators. People got more of a worry for animals that gotta be protected... I mean, as they should, but this is about fucking, uh, the ones that take it too far.
There was this photographer that went out to see the sea turtle nests. He was looking forward to the day the eggs would hatch and the babies began their march down over to the water, and he didn't think there was gonna be any problems, with disturbing the nests being illegal, but he still wanted to see how progress was goin'. [He's stalling a little, brain scrambling to find a way to make this natural event...more of a supernatural one.] His hopes were high -- but then they were dashed away when one day he got there and this argentine black and white tegu was digging up and feasting on the eggs.
Guy was filled with a rage. It was something he looked forward to every year, and he had a growing collection of photos that he would show to others to help spread awareness and the, like, beauty of it.
[Convincing. Theo clears his throat and runs his fingers through his teal hair, nails dragging against his scalp. Well, if nothing else, he got to talk about cool reptiles, today.]
So he just...got out of control, you know? Grabbed the lizard and bashed it against the ground until it didn't struggle anymore, and took a picture to remember the time he had to find his beauty in revenge, instead. Felt accomplished, even if he didn't really feel better. Kept chasing that feeling whenever he went out looking for more shots and found tegu instead, first stompin' on 'em, then starting to carry a knife with him so he could take back any eggs the tegu stole from the world and get more...personal pictures. Nearby cities thought it was great -- those protected species were doing good that year, without so many predators around...but then all the blood that got spilled was obvious. Trails of it started following the photographer back to his home, even when he made sure his shoes were clean before heading there. Deciding to be more careful, he took a break from his vigilantism to focus on bolstering the sea turtle side of things.
Next year when he went out with his camera to watch the hatchlings speed down along the sand, things seemed like they were going good. The turtles dug their way free and found their way to the water, and he filled up his memory card with, well, memories. Things were back to normal.
[Theo lowers his voice conspiratorially, the round bear ears on top of his head flicking back.]
Until he got back home and looked through the files. The trails left behind by the turtles weren't just little paths through the sand anymore, but trails of blood like what used to follow him. The more turtles that had gone by, the more red the beach got, and when he reached the picture of where the eggs hatched, it was like a sea in its own right. There weren't any of the baby turtles he'd seen scrambling earlier in the day, just a big tegu, carved up and bleeding, looking right into the camera.
[...Wait, this was about some traveling tegu. Shit.]
Guy booked it! What else was he supposed to do? He couldn't show anyone what had happened to the pictures, and the spirits of all the tegu he'd slaughtered clearly remembered him. He went out to pursue a new photography spot, finding peace with those animals until it started happening again. Whenever he was there too long, bloody lizard footprints would make their way through his photographs, and if he looked hard enough he'd find it sooner or later. The tegu. It was following him, invading his space and the thing he loved doing most. Even when he gave up his camera, he swore he could still see the trails... They always. Led back. To him.
[Awh yeah, smoking had given him a convincing, conspiratorial whisper, at least. That was probably enough to make a shiver go down some girl's spine!]
no subject
She leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. She manages to not look bored, because she is at least engaged with the story he's telling even if it's not spooky at all. Maybe it would be spookier if it wasn't her? It's hard to be scared of a vengeful lizard when you've met vampires and other real monsters. And, again, the guy deserves it.]
Well, can't say he didn't get what's coming to him.
[A beat.]
But you're pretty good at this story thing. You've got a nice voice. Very sexy.
[Sighs...]
no subject
...They really didn't.]
You makin' fun of me?
no subject
[Why would you assume she's making fun of you! She's just sharing her opinion, man, she's not the sort of person to make fun of people for no reason.
...Though, she supposes he has no reason to believe that.]
No, of course not! [Geez.] I'm just sayin', it's all... Gravely and stuff!
no subject
Heh. You're right and you should say it. Thanks for proving that not everyone here is just gonna be some annoying airhead. Some of these idiots can't even tell a weed from a flower just because it isn't grown up yet.
no subject
Well, I can't say I know a whole lot about plants, but glad I can prove you wrong. [She beams at him.] And that I can boost your ego.