rubimemes | TEST DRIVE MEME 001

Entry tags:

!test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME 001

⚰︎ ⍢ ⌲ ⍚ TEST DRIVE MEME:

CONTENT WARNINGS for this game include: monsters, body horror, dub-con, non-con, religion, blood/violence, and marking/branding, loss of autonomy/self, and mental influences.

This log additionally has warnings for: nudity, spiders, waxplay, character death, and references to children in proximity to sexual situations.

✧ ✧ ✧

Welcome to RUBILYKSKOYE — a dark, horror-smut game where player choices will drive a mod-run storyline about the world and its NPCs. For the first round, this test drive serves as characters' arrival into game.

THESE THREADS CAN BE GAME CANON if both players are accepted into the game and agree to it. However, if players who'd prefer to start fresh are welcome to reuse these prompts in their own personal logs upon acceptance into the communities.

If you have QUESTIONS about the test drive prompts, please ask HERE. Questions about the game itself or the general setting should be directed to the FAQ.

FAQ ✧ SETTING ✧ CALENDAR ✧ RESERVES ✧ APPLICATIONS

AWAKENING IN PAJAK WOOD

The chirping of partridges in the treetops rouses you. Light barely filters through the canopy, just enough to suggest warmth of the sun. By the time it reaches the forest floor, the daylight has taken on a sickly green tinge. You lie amongst the mosses and ferns, the soil cold and just a little damp on your bare skin. Wherever you were before this moment, whatever you were doing or wearing, when you awaken in this forest, you find yourself naked and helpless as the day you were born.

Fortunately, you seem to be alone. The birdsong continues as you sit up and get your bearings — aside from a brief wave of disoriented nausea, you seem to be no worse for wear than you last remember. Amongst gnarled oaks and moss, you see nothing around. No sign of civilization or sentient life. Movement flickers at the corner of your eye, but it's just a curious animal — brave squirrels or lizards who have come to see what stirs in their home.

Then, like the rippling of the horizon at noontime, the ash-gray soil around you undulates. Sea, not earth. Something else has come to greet you — their grey bodies blended in so easily with the floor, but as you stagger to your feet, you see them. Thousands of spiders roll like waves underfoot. They crawl towards you from the darker edge of the forest.

attack

Individuals who attack the spiders will find the small spiders are easy to kill, but the pheromones released by their corpses draw larger spiders in their place. Huge, blood-red spiders the size of hunting dogs drop from the treetops. In addition to their venomous bite, which contains a fast-acting paralytic, these creatures are clever: they will attempt to use their webbing to handicap any trespassers, binding limbs together or to trees. If you're unfortunate to become fully cocooned, you don't have long before this forest will be the last thing you see.

FAQ: DEATH RULES

hunt

Any aspiring monster-hunters enterprising enough to try to follow the spiders to their nest will move eastward. This way, the forest grows darker and darker — though the sun never grows warm red-gold with sunset.

In the void, the birdsong is replaced by the click of mandibles and the skitter of many legs, but soon it is impossible to see. Even with the brightest magical light does not reach further than a few inches. The air grows heavy and thick, as if it were not air at all but some more solid mass. Almost like liquid-smoke, it presses down upon you. Slowing your movements. Soon, you cannot move at all.

Turn back while you still can — collapsing out here is dangerous. The void can play tricks on your senses. You may find yourself reliving unhappy memories or hallucinating your worst nightmares.

SETTING: THE VOID

But flee the spiders westward and you will discover that the wood is well-populated with the survival resources that someone might seek — berries bushes and trees bearing stone fruits; sticks and dry leaves to aid in the building of a fire; rocks big enough to fashion into crude weapons; small animals that can be hunted or caught; hike long enough, and you might just find the freshwater stream that runs north-to-south, populated by both poisonous toads and delicious crawdads.

What's more, you may run into others with stories just like yours. Some may have already formed clumsy nudist hiking parties, others may still be naked and confused and processing how they have no memory of how they got here. They all stagger vaguely, as you do, with only the sun for a waymarker — and even that won't last long.

Now is a good time to overcome any hang-ups you have about modesty, as it's going to be a long hike. If you sneak a good look at your new companions, you may four varietals of marks on their bodies. Maybe someone will even point out that you have one, too.

FAQ: CURSE MARKS

EVERY DAY LIKE THE ONE BEFORE

Hike far enough — or long enough that the sun does go down — and signs of life come into view. The glow of fires and lights, the smooth curve of a stone wall. A town sits at the edge of this wood, a reward to the survivors.

The fifty-foot wall of beige stone protecting the town's perimeter has only a single entrance — an iron gate positioned on the southern edge. When you arrive, the gate is already open, welcoming people into town from the winding dirt road. Attentive eyes may note that the road itself bears the mark of many wagon wheels and horse hoofs, but not cars.

guards

The guards grant entry to anyone who attempts a conversation with them. However, if your character is more likely to attempt to sneak in, overcome the guards, or attack them, please reach out HERE.

Inside the wall lies a quaint, historic town with a population around five thousand. The streets are cobbled, and their signs are lit by gas lamp. Wooden shutters protect otherwise open-air windows on the buildings, which are all under three stories with gabled roofs. A number of businesses hug the main street — a clockmaker, a cobbler, a bank — while residential homes sprawl outwards towards the wall. At the far end of the main street, visible about a mile to the north now that the trees and the enormous wall is out of the way, sits a castle with three towers.

No matter what time you pass through the gate, the streets are full of people. The climate of the bustle befits a night market or a busy friday downtown — plenty of people to ogle at your exposed body. But despite any efforts on your part to hide or make excuses, the locals don't seem offended by your nakedness. Even families with children don't gawk or look twice. In fact, the further into town you go, the more you may notice that they all wear revealing clothing that, to your sensibilities, may seem sexually suggestive. Some individuals openly expose their breasts and nipples, while some others may incidentally reveal when they turn around to tend to their errands that their dress is backless — entirely! If anything, they seem to be under the impression that you're naked to participate in the evening's events with the rest of them.

Those still determined to find proper clothing will find that modern clothing stores aren't a thing here. The closest this town has is a tailor's shop, which is closed for religious observance, and a stand in the central marketplace selling scarves and blankets.

Fortunately, the people of the town are very generous! The locals will gladly share what they have with those who ask politely — but those items are as revealing as what they're wearing. You might get a mesh bodysuit or drape outfit. Remember not to be ungracious! it's only appropriate for the occasion.

steal clothing

Anyone unwilling to ask nicely for help could break into someone's house or yard to steal some of their clean laundry. Notably, inside their homes, the people of the town also appear to own some more modest apparel. Be sure to alert us HERE if your character pursues this option.

SETTING: CRIME

And what is the occasion? The locals are excited and flattered by any interest in their ordinary weekly prayer: the folks dancing and selling their wares are all offering their energies to give thanks and ask for their god's patronage! The abstractions are all familiar — fertility, harvest, peace. Smalltalk makes them eager to chat and draw you into those festivities — including some ceremonial wax-dripping on the exposed parts of your body!

Anyone who chats at length with the townspeople will gather that the locals feel it's better for the newcomers to dive into the deep-end because, since you'll be settling in here, they expect you'll want to participate down the line. They seem to be under the impression that the new arrivals are a boon from their god.

In addition, many of the locals' choice of clothes reveal the same four types of marks on their bodies as the folx who were wandering out in the wood!

ROOM AND BOARD

Once you're tired out, the locals will help you find a place to stay. The boarding house is several stories tall and spacious, accessible through an embellished iron garden gate and obscured by hanging plants, trees, and vines.

Beyond the overgrown yard is a bright red door, which opens into a spacious cottage.

The house has clearly been empty for some time — dust has gathered on various furnishings — bedding, sofas, curtains, wooden tables. According to the locals, it has remained empty since its last occupant passed away, and that's all they'll say about that!

Each floor of the house has a shared sitting room, but only the first floor has a kitchen — large enough to support feeding the entire household. Here, a few of the townspeople will help out — they stock the kitchen and help make dinner for the new arrivals.

finding roommates

Don't spend too much time in the dining room going for seconds, though. You'll want to claim a bedroom quickly because each one only has two full-size beds, and there aren't enough spaces for everyone. The last people upstairs will need to double up to squeeze in. Roommates will not be mod-assigned; players should coordinate directly with one another to determine their living arrangements.

Get a good night's rest. By the light of day, locals will help get the new arrivals set up on the coal stove with breakfast. You may notice they're dressed in a way you would almost call normal — at least, in a manner befitting 19th century Eastern Europe. As you find your way around town to get your bearings, folks are eager to help you find a place to apply your skills so you can contribute to your new home.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ even when wanda closes her eyes against the bright light, she's still blinded. it's nothing like being blipped. that had been disintegration and darkness. she remembers blackness and nothing else. but this, this is something else. it's hot and striking and she feels as though she's staring stupidly into the sun despite being told to look away.

she holds her hand up against her eyes. even though she blinks rapidly, her vision still doesn't settle. but wanda maximoff has never needed to see to be able to sense a threat coming. her own anxieties have always been a second pair of eyes for her.

she thrusts her hand toward the girl, but not to shoot her with any magic. she combusts one of the spiders hanging high above her head on a thin webbing. ]

We need to go. [ she's still blinking as her vision slowly seems to come back. she waves her hand toward her left. ] I think we're either in a nest or close to one.

[ yes, but go where? every direction of the forest is as unknowable as the next. but alina has a rough sense of common features of landscapes. trends. she's made and studied enough maps to have some sense of what you might find — like how caves, the kind of places spiders like this might nest, are going to be found in the grooves and cracks of a hill or mountain.

the ground has a slight slope, so she points. ]

This way. [ and off she goes, hustling away from the spiders in the appointed direction. the ground does indeed level upwards a bit there. if there's some kind of plateau, or a peak, they might even be able to get their bearings and survey what else is around, even through the trees.

but as alina runs, the wood only gets darker, denser. and the skittering of spiders still seems like it's everywhere around them. ]

[ with her vision snapping back into place in spots, wanda follows. the ground's uncomfortable beneath her bare feet. she's forgotten what it's like to run in the woods on the outskirts of sokovia or the gravel of crater-like roads without shoes on. but she keeps pace, even as the woods grow darker.

slowing slightly, she peers up at the dark canopy before she lifts her hand to try and peel the leaves apart to bring in some of the sunlight. it's hardly bright enough, but the red magic that outlines the leaves gives the pathway a dull red glow. she could create the sun, but she hesitates. this place is strange—the creatures are odd—and she's tampered with enough magic and energy in another universe to almost create an incursion. she has to be sensible and smart. she has to approach it like vision would—with an analytical eye, rather than an impulsive one like pietro. ]

Watch out!

[ rather than blast a spider swinging sharply from a tree, wanda stops it, paralysing it as scarlet covers its body and it squirms within the cocoon of magic. its scream is piercing and ugly; she can feel how angry it is to be trapped when it's so used to moving freely. it's big and ugly and its red almost matches her shade. ]

I've never seen spiders this big before.

[ she yelps, drawing away from it just as wanda freezes it. the red energy is confusing. she's never seen anything like it. if baghra were here, or genya ...

she doesn't want to think about genya. she doesn't want to acknowledge that genya had probably been just as culpable in keeping her hostage in the little palace as anyone. ]

Volcra. They remind me of volcra. [ but this isn't the fold. nothing can live in the fold but volcra, and there are trees, and — she looks back at wanda. ] There are probably more. We should keep moving.

[ she nods. with a flick of her wrist, the spider explodes. thankfully, they seem to be far away enough to avoid getting any gut splatter.

keeping near her, wanda glances around, disliking how dark the woods are. even if she was to try and light it up, it's remain blanketed in darkness. she does her best, though, sending vines of red before them as though they're on an airport's tarmac at night. it at least helps them avoid any uproots. perhaps the sight of another red entity will deter the red spiders from following after them.

she furrows her brows. ]

What's a volcra?

[ alina keeps moving, but only because they're being pursued. an incredulous huff of breath escapes her that would have been a laugh in other circumstances. ]

This isn't really the time for jokes, is it?

Many people I know would say this is the perfect time for jokes.

[ a sam wilson comes to mind. even thor, although can she say she knows him? not the time. definitely not the time. ]

Although, I'm not very funny. [ and in the same breath: ] Spider coming from one o'clock. Step back.

[ wanda flicks her wrist in that direction to send a ball of red to collide with the spider and make it explode. so gross. ]

[ alina sidesteps, clearing wanda's path. she looks over her shoulder, watching the spider burst. it's disgusting. she flinches, at first, but that melts away pretty quickly into awe.

she's so much faster at this and more precise than most of the grisha that alina's seen. whatever power she's summoning is practically invisible — inferni, alina finally decides. it has to be, with that red energy, but it's like it's not even becoming real fire before it touches the spiders.

her fingers itch to help, but — there's no way of knowing, yet, whether this stranger is on with the darkling, or with the people who'd tried to kidnap her, or the fjerdans, or any of the other many, many forces who might turn suddenly cruel when faced with the sun summoner. so instead she just hopes that the stranger hadn't noticed the first time she'd summoned the light.

that does enough to shake her admiration loose. she grabs wanda's wrist and pulls ]

We have to get out of here. [ the longer they stop to fight, the more likely it is they'll be overwhelmed. and alina's flight response is much stronger than the urge to fight. ]

[ she doesn't need to say that twice.

although wanda suspects anywhere they go will be crowded with spiders, she lets herself be pulled away. she doesn't fight her. while wanda can make do with a map to guide her around scotland, she's not someone who knows the ins and outs of how to navigate a dark and unpredictable terrain like this. for all she knows, wanda could have been leading them into the thick of the nest… or off a cliff.

following is easy. it's what sam had trained her to do best; turn her feet into wings and let the person who knows better or has an idea sweep her along for the ride. ]

There has to be a town or building somewhere close. [ wanda lets her guide her while she tries to focus on what's around her. perhaps she can feel something other than the spiders' minds. she shakes her head as her eyes glow a dull red. ] Not in the way I was going. That was too far away.

[ she doesn't have a direction at first. moving quickly rather than purposefully. but her eyes strain against the darkness, searching the limits of the wood.

there, to their left — ]

Is that a light?

[ she points. it's far off. dimmed by the wood, but it does look like it's winking through the trees somewhere far off. ]

Yes.

[ wanda furrows her brows as she scrutinises the light. it could be anything, couldn't it? but when was the last time she saw a monster with glowing eyes? when she focuses, she thinks she can sense other people—or beings. it's nothing like the spiders.

glancing over her shoulder, she moves her hand to grip the other woman's so she's no longer being dragged along. ]

We'll need to be careful. We wouldn't want to bring the spiders with us.

[ wanda can easily erect a wall—and she considers it, creating a small dome to keep the spiders in—but she regards the other woman curiously instead. she has an idea. ]

How did you blind me before?

[ for a few seconds, alina just goes quiet, staring dumbly at wanda. her footsteps slow. then, when she decides it's time for gaslight gatekeep girlbossing her way out of this, she picks back up speed and draws a deep breath that straightens her back. ]

I don't know what you mean.

[ it'd be so easy to simply make her answer her truthfully. the puppet strings are easy to tug. considering the woman's still here and working with her despite what she's seen, wanda figures using that would be better than taking the easier (and messier) way.

she draws her brows together. she doesn't appear angry. she's not. she remembers being cagey. ]

I've trusted you with what I am. You won't do the same?

I'm not going to tell anyone that you're Grisha.

[ she says it quietly, continuing to hurry away from where the spiders had been. she has a sense, now, for the landscape, and though she wishes she had mal here to point them in the right direction, she feels certain they're moving towards something, and away from the darkness. ]

[ grisha? she thinks to ask what that means, but she thinks it has to be obvious by now. her powers. her magic. when hydra called her weird and the united states government declared she was a weapon of mass destruction, this woman calls her grisha. it sounds a lot nicer.

perhaps her hesitation works in her favour. someone wishing to hide would give pause before answering. ]

Thank you. And for not being afraid. A lot of people are afraid of me.

[ wand doesn't try to overtake navigating. her companion seems to be comfortable handling that. she does keep an ear out for a spider, though. ]

I've seen worse.

[ nothing wanda has done can measure up to the volcra on the fold, the things that aleksander had somehow made, lifetimes ago. there are reasons to fear grisha, but not the kind like wanda, who would save a total stranger from monsters, not knowing that she was the sun summoner.

acknowledging this doesn't mean alina is any more eager to explain what wanda had seen. she doesn't want to give her reason to behave any differently than she is. ]

[ as comfortable as she often is in doom and gloom, wanda's trying to look at the glass as though it's half full. it's a perspective she used to hold before pietro's death had shattered that glass. maybe she can try again.

she glances down at herself before cracking a smile. ]

Like a naked stranger?

Believe it or not, that doesn't quite rank. Certainly the weirdest.

[ she laughs. it's a nice feeling, honestly, being able to laugh at a time like this. that reminds her of mal, and how they'd been able to find a little levity in the dark corners of the orphanage in keramzin.

saints, she misses him. she rubs at the side of her neck. ]

I don't know who I'd tell, anyway. I don't even know where we are. I think I was close to Tsibeya, before I woke up, but these woods ...

[ wanda smiles when she laughs, grateful that the woods don't have to be so dense in tension and worry, even if it's only alleviated for a few seconds.

tsibeya. it's not a town she recognises the name of, but wanda, despite having travelled with vision during her time on the run, still hasn't seen the world in its entirety. perhaps it's a location hidden away somewhere. or perhaps it's of another universe. ]

It's been a long time since I've been in the woods. [ she exhales roughly, glancing around. the woods aren't silent, not in the way it often is in the movies. leaves crunch beneath their feet and other weights in the distance. the branches move lightly as if disturbed by a soft breeze. wanda could mistake it easily for the woods of sokovia, but she suspects those woods are now a crater thanks to ultron. ] There were no large and scary scarlet spiders. [ just bombs and hope and a fortress beyond the thick trees. ]

We seem to be getting further away from the spider's nest, but maybe closer to something else. Look for a big tree branch. We might need something to defend ourselves with just in case.

You didn't really seem like you needed a tree branch.

[ isn't it a little absurd, then, to pretend? to gather a stick just for the look of it, when wanda had whatever summoning she'd demonstrated at her disposal? it was certainly stronger than almost anything alina had seen.

maybe even stronger than the darkling. ]

You'd be surprised.

[ she says that with a smile. wanda's entirely too dependent on her powers and she knows it. being in a strange world like this means she has to be on guard. steve once told her that sometimes it wasn't all about the super strength or durability. sometimes it's about the smaller things, the things people overlook. ]

Sometimes it's useful to have a stick around. What if the next insect we come across likes magic? Sometimes it's good to hit someone with something they don't expect from you.

What do you mean, "likes magic"?

[ that's incredibly fucking ominous. alina walks slower, uneasy with the thought. not just of some nebulously threatening beast, but with the use of magic to apply to Grisha power. magic was something else, the kind of heresy that created the Fold. ]

[ wanda considers her words for a moment. when she speaks, her tone's easy and calm. perhaps she shouldn't have said anything about the potential monsters that are lurking in the shadows. ]

Some creatures feed off of power. I've met some that like magic.

[ agatha harkness. herself. wanda's still coming to terms with embodying the monster she used to be afraid was under her bed. ]

You know a lot about monsters.

[ that can't be a good thing, can it? for alina, the monsters of the world began and ended with the volcra on the fold. saints, the world ended at the fold. wanda's world seems much bigger than that. ]

[ she only lifts a shoulder, looking ahead. she's resigned. from billionaires to serpents to robots and aliens and fucking alien stones, wanda's pretty sure she could fill a whole book on monsters and still not be done. ]

There was a lot where I'm from. I found it was better to know about them than to remain in the dark. It got tiring being surprised all the time.

TEST DRIVE MEME 001

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)