Test Drive Meme - Autumn 2018

[thelostmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

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I. Dragon Catch

You step out of your house, letter in hand to find what Zephyr laid out neatly in written word for you. Dragons, saddles and a brief explanation Zephyr was interested in a cool new book about people befriending dragons! The little godling had set up a corral, some stables and encouraged everyone to try befriending a dragon to ride. Snippets of the book are included for aid. All in all it seems like a lot of fun!

Well, until you look over the Meadous village proper.

Dragons of varying shapes, colors and sizes are meandering about the meadous, clearly having escaped the corral they had been kept in. One dragon has perched itself atop your neighbor’s home taking a nice nap in the sunshine. A gaggle of cat sized dragons have taken up digging up another neighbors garden. A few dragons hang from the beer tree, more than a bit… blasted.

One or two people you recognize are attempting to catch up to the dragons with mixed results. One person is at least hanging off of a saddle looking rather perturbed.

Do you help or merely let the dragon based chaos ensue by going back inside where you’re less likely to get involved?

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II. Be Careful What You Wish For

Well, that... that wasn't quite to plan. You stare down at the crayon drawing from Zephyr showing you exactly what you wished for. Except you hadn't meant it literally. Or you hadn't meant it quite like that, even if your wording had been vague. Now you're stuck with something you didn't want. Or perhaps you made a big mistake and now you're a different species. Or have extra appendages you can't get rid of. Not without making the walk of shame back to the Wishing Pond to wish away the changes. Why this? Why? If only you had been more clear or if only Zephyr understood subtly a bit more clearly.

Hopefully, no one will catch you as you steal forth to undo your mistake. Now that would be quite embarrassing if they saw you like this!

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III. Pumpkin Maze Frights

Fall has settled over the landscape nicely, with that comes a rather customary pumpkin patch maze. A tradition long standing that comes as the seasons shift with the Meadous.

Even long time residents seem surprised at the new heights the maze has taken on, not to mention a new sign warning its extra scary this year! The sign also advises there will be a cool prize to anyone brave enough to venture forth!

A few residents are gathered at the opening, talking amongst themselves over the newly scary-ified pumpkin maze. The maze walls are composed of pumpkins of varying shapes, sizes, colors and carvings. One or two snatch a pumpkin to turn into a pie.

Everything is fairly whimsical all in all until one steps into the maze itself to follow the dirt pathway within.

The dirt path under foot is easy to follow, but offers some minor startles at the occasional loose leaf crunching underfoot.The mixed in carved pumpkins that make up the maze walls provide some shallow lighting along with floating string lights in a light bulb shape hang over head. It is oddly darker in the maze than it ever has been before. It’s almost a little scary. The unnatural quiet of the maze doesn’t help matters any. Walking deeper into the maze only leads to less lights here and there.

Zephyr has maybe gone a bit over zealous with this scary thing.

A wind whips up, making the candle light within the pumpkins flicker and lanterns bobble overhead. A few candles flicker out completely for a long moment before sputtering back to life.

Is that a shadow on a maze wall ahead of you? Will you call out or duck behind a TDM convenient hay bale stacks?

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IV. Bulletin Board

Each month, Zephyr clears away most of the notes from their Bulletin Board and adjusts the decorations, leaving it fresh and open for anyone who might wish to post something new. The Meadous is a fairly rural place with minimal technology. Those used to a network may find the Bulletin Board is the closest they can come to something like that again. Who wants to actually talk to the neighbors when you can post a passive aggressive note about someone making a racket at 2 AM, instead? There's also some measure of anonymity afforded. Just be sure to only post up your notes when no one else is around and can catch you at it.

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V. Choose Your Own Adventure

Whether it's just waking up in the Meadous or exploring some other part of the Setting, you're striking out with your own prompts to get some action started.

Comments

Harley Quinn | DC Comics | Snowblind

[clowngirl]

III. Pumpkin Maze Frights

Mazes are always fun. For the first five minutes or so, and then you're stuck with a task that's almost become a chore. Left, straight, right, right, left, left, right. It's ridiculous how easy one can get hopelessly lost, and not the good kind of ridiculous that Harley finds amusing.

Harley would be bored by now if this particular maze wasn't so darn creepy, the flickering lights giving her a little bit of the shivers as she makes her way through. Why didn't she just go bobbing for apples? She wonders if it's too late to turn around and try to backtrack her steps when she suddenly catches sight of a shadow on the wall ahead.

What luck! Another undoubtedly lost reveler to compare directions with. Someone to act as a guiding light in the darkness. Someone to lend her a hand. Someone to... JUMPSCARE THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF WITH A LOUD "BOO!!" AS SHE HOPS OUT INTO THEIR PATH.

Because let's face it, funny is funny and funny takes precedence over the little things like safety and sense of place. She'll ask the other person if they know the way out in just a second, if they haven't ended up wetting themselves.

[poisoninmypocket]

There's no wetting, but the noise that issues forth from Monty is not, perhaps, the most manful sound he's ever made. The young gentleman shrieks and leaps back more than a few feet, arms coming up to defend himself. When he sees it's nothing more than a petite blonde woman, fear turns to horrified embarrassment.

"I-I do beg your pardon, miss. I- whatever are you doing?" He's going to make an effort to smooth himself out. He's wearing a full, old-fashioned suit and cravat and his accent says upper crust and British.

[clowngirl]

There could have been no better victim of Harley's scaring than a fancy British gentleman, of that she is sure. She looks at him for a moment, as if readying to answer him, but instead just bursts into a fit of giggles. Thanks, Monty.

"Oh, I was just havin' some fun," she says eventually, wiping at her eyes. "Relax, Max, you'll live longer."

She leans to one side, trying to catch a glimpse of the way the stranger has come.

"Speakin' of, I'd like to get outta this thing by the time I'm a gazillion years old. You seen the way out yet?"

[poisoninmypocket]

"Montague, miss. My name is Montague." Not Max. "I, ah... do not recall having the pleasure of your acquaintance, but if you're seeking a means of egress, I believe there was a convenient exit just around the bend in the path here." There's a certain something in the way he says that that might come off as suspicious.

Particularly when he glances back that way for a long moment before turning back to Harley.

[clowngirl]

"I'm Harley Quinn. Pleasedta meetcha." Her eyes move from him, to the path, back to him. She is suspicious, sure, but she also wants to believe Mr. Fancy British Man. "Wouldja show me the way? I'm sure you prob'ly don't wanna be here any more than I do."

[poisoninmypocket]

"Ms. Quinn. Lord Montague D'Ysquith Navarro, Ninth Earl of Highhurst. But please call me Monty." Because her tone and her antics say she's going to call him by some sort of nickname and he'd rather get out in front of that. "I should be delighted to show you the way out." He finishes settling himself and takes a few steps toward her, offering his arm for her to hold onto. Even under difficult circumstances, a gentleman ought to be gallant.

"Have you been lost in here for very long? It's been some twenty minutes I've been trying to find the center."

[clowngirl]

She knew she should have introduced herself as Doctor Harleen Frances Quinzel, First Lady of Mirth and Mayhem. Oh, well. Missed opportunities. She'll pepper it in next time. She appreciates his manners, even if her own are a little cruder. Harley takes his arm, perhaps a bit more jovially than he's used to, and gives him a little tug to get going.

"It feels like forever, Monty," she explains dramatically. It's been about ten minutes total. "I was just about to see if the walls were flammable."

[aigue]

Renart is mostly in the maze to see what this supposed grand prize is rather than out of any interest in being in a maze. Specifically, she's hoping the grand prize is a pumpkin pie, because she could really go for some pie right now. Other pumpkin-based pastry would also be acceptable, because her stomach is starting to growl.

She pokes around the maze, not bothered by the gradually dimming lights thanks to foxes having very catlike night vision. Her interested is drawn to the pumpkins themselves - they smell tasty and bring back memories of hunting in farmer fields, in Europe and the Americas - and the noises of crickets and other bugs scrabbling around.

So she isn't really prepared for an ambush. At all. She lets out a shriek that's more akin to a woman getting murdered, the fur on her ears and tail standing on end, and proceeds to try and tackle whoever it is that thought this was a good idea.

[clowngirl]

She yelps as the other woman lunges forward. This may not have been the brightest idea Harley's ever had. Caught off guard, she goes down, wrestling to get out from under her tackler.

"Hold off! Hold off! I'm a kook, not a spook!" she yells out, desperately. Although hopefully by now it's apparent that the blonde isn't some sort of pumpkin monster or angry ghost, she feels she could use all the help she can get to get herself out of this situation.

[aigue]

At least it doesn't take much for Renart to realize this isn't some kind of spooky Halloween monster, but an actual person. A fellow lady, no less. Her chittering is cut off as she blinks at the yelling.

"Wh - oh," she says, responding like an actual (French) person and not an animal. Holding her hands up, she sits back to show that, now that she realizes what's going on, she isn't a threat. "You shouldn't sneak up on me."

[clowngirl]

Harley brushes herself off a bit. "Yeah, I'm gettin' that. You got crazy good reflexes."

She's actually pretty impressed, now that she's not fending the woman off.

"I like your costume, too!" The ears and tails haven't gone unnoticed. "I'm still workin' on mine. I was thinkin' about goin' as Wondergirl but then I was like, does anyone around here even know Wondergirl? So maybe I'll be some sort of sexy dinosaur. Whaddya think?"

Yeah, she's just going to chatter away like she didn't try to give you a heart attack five seconds ago.

[aigue]

Renart will climb off of the other woman, even offering her a hand to help her up. It's the least she can do.

She's also mildly bemused at the chatter but hey, she can roll with it. "I'm not sure who Wondergirl is so I can't help you there, but if you're going the sexy route I'm far more partial to foxes rather than dinosaurs."

She smiles and flicks her tail back and forth. "I'm biased, though. This isn't a costume."

[clowngirl]

Harley takes her hand with a smile, then stands in front of Renart with a look of curiosity on her face. "Really? No foolin'?

Save for Killer Croc and a few others, most of the animal-themed folks she knows keep to costumes.

Her finger is slowly going towards one of the woman's fox ears, where it will get a soft boop if not stopped.

[roomed]

Henry is pretty sure he should never have checked this maze out. He's getting himself worried for nothing- maybe it's a little darker in here, but that probably doesn't mean anything, right? But he keeps expecting some part of this practically candy-coated world will turn around and show its teeth.

He's certain that's what's happening as soon as he hears the loud noise. It makes him jump about a foot in the air and then whirl in place. His expression...well, that doesn't change much from his usual dazed look, although his eyes do widen a bit.

Unfortunately for Harley's hopes and dreams, he relaxes almost immediately when he sees Harley. "Oh...." he says quietly. "Hello. Are you okay?" As if she hadn't been trying to scare the crap out of him.

[clowngirl]

Harley deflates. The jump was nice, sure, but it wasn't a particular amusing reaction. And he recovers too quickly. 4/10, would not scare again.

"Right as rain. But I'm lost," she admits. Two can ignore the fail-scare. "You ain't found the way outta here yet, have you?"

[roomed]

Hey, he got a four! Sorry, Harley, looks like you're stuck with the Least Interesting Man in the World for the moment.

Henry looks left and right, then shakes his head. "No. I'd be out of here if I did. Does this place seem bigger than it did from the outside...?" It's not just him, right?

[clowngirl]

"It totally does!" she replies, looking about.

"Isn't that just the heebiest? --I know!" She doesn't give him to respond. "Let's team up! That way we can get outta here a whole lot faster, and if there's anything here spookier than me, it'll be no match."

[roomed]

He doesn't know if he'd say it's the heebiest, anyway. "Okay," he replies, with a small nod. "Let me know if you see anything weird. Like ghosts." He is 100% serious about this.

For right now, though, there's only pumpkins and the flickering of candlelight. One of the candles is actually in a portable candleholder and Henry reaches down immediately for that. They'll have a light source while they're on their way, unreliable though it may be.

[clowngirl]

"You got it, Shaggy!" Ghosts. Right. She's certainly seen things weirder than ghosts, which is more what she's worried about, but it's enough to keep her guard up either way.

"After you," she decides. He's the one with the candle. And Harley always feels better playing follow the leader.

[exequies]

The intended victim here doesn't scare easily but he does freeze up in this instance, a sharp inhale accompanying the shock of Harley's appearance. He's an odd looking fellow with very long, silver-grey hair and messy bangs that obscure a good half of his face, including the trail of a scar that peeks out from where they fall over his right cheek. For a heartbeat or two he remains as still as a statue before suddenly...

He gives a sputter of a laugh. It grows, turning into a wilder giggle that ends in a cackle before he regains the ability to speak.

"Weeeeelllll~ Well, well! You did get me with that." His voice carries a British accent, but it's far from posh. Closer to Cockney but not quite as thick.

He raises his hands and gives a few claps. "Good job."

[clowngirl]

Harley is so pleased by all the laughter and then-- wow, applause!-- that she doesn't even mind the lack of a really good scare. She grins broadly, and gives a bow with a little flourish.

"Thank you, thank you! Harley Quinn: Mistress of Sillyness and Suspense. I hopefully won't be here all day!"

[exequies]

It might be her accent, but he doesn't immediately catch the pun of her name even though he'd normally find it amusing. Once he thinks about it harder or sees it written down, it'll hit him. But he still appreciates her style and gives a little cock and a bow of his head back to her, the single braid on his right side slipping past his shoulder to hang down his front.

"Undertaker; the pleasure's mine. Are you lost in here, as well?" Because he's been wandering around for a while, but not necessarily looking for a way out.

[clowngirl]

"Pretty darn lost but not quite enough to need your services, if you know what I mean." She isn't sure if Undertaker is a literal title or more of a bit of villainous creativity (like his flair seems to suggest), but she isn't taking any chances.

"I think I been goin' in circles, mostly. Wanna backtrack with me and see where that last left leads?"

[exequies]

It's a mystery for now.

"Oh, I do. Of course, I have buried someone alive before, but that was only the once. ^Hee hee~" It's probably a joke, given the giggle tacked on to the end. Probably.

He could also very easily get them out of this maze in mere seconds, but what would the fun in that be? His newfound companion's personality seems to be an interesting sort, so he nods genially.

"Why not? A bit of company never hurts, as long as you don't mind some conversation with it."

[clowngirl]

It's a good joke. Whether or not if it's a joke like one her Mr. J would tell... that's another mystery.

"I'm all about conversation. Oh! And I, Spy. I'm the best at that. Of course, the last place I played that in, the answer was almost always "snow", but..." she prattles on. "I guess here it would be pumpkins. Not here, but here-here in the maze. I kinda like it here though I ain't met a lot of the folks yet. You been here long?"