test drive meme: november 2019

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Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

▶ Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.

▶ All TDM threads can be considered game canon, and current players are welcome to either top-level on the TDM so prospective players can tag them, or use the prompts for logs or network posts on the communities. All threads on the TDM can be used for Activity Check.

a. the truth hurts.

As though everything happening in the past month wasn't enough, there's been a minor explosion in one of the labs. No one hurt, if you don't count the hapless maintenance bot that caused the explosion in the first place.

But there are gases drifting through the laboratories, some of them making their way into the air vents, invisible to the purifiers in the system thanks to the explosion. And those gases are leaking into the air around Anchor, little pockets of danger waiting to be breathed in.

Those who breathe the gasses in might be the unluckiest Anchorites of all.

They're stuck telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth for the next five hours, give or take. Good luck with that!

b. retromedia.

Oblivious to what's going on inside Anchor, the shift rages outside, bringing shadows of things and places from other worlds, those things flickering into existence and out of it again.

The bad news is that the Whole Foods is gone.

The good news is the shift left something behind in its place.

A long, squat building, with cement walls painted over with stucco and punctuated by big windows. A flat roof with slanted sides, painted a deep blue. In bold yellow letters bolted to the roof, a sign:

BLOCKBUSTER
The sliding doors are broken, bouncing open and shut steadily, but the inside is clean and well-stocked with rack upon rack upon row upon row of VHS tapes, all of them neatly packaged in plastic boxes. Some of them have the movie covers on them, but most bear the Blockbuster logo and tiny labels running down the back, declaring the box's contents. There's a giant, somewhat busted up standee of Tim Allen as The Santa Clause, flickering holiday lights strung unevenly from the ceiling, and symbols of various seasonal holidays stuck up along the walls and windows.

Any movie you could possibly want lies within, or at least any movie you could possibly want that was released on Earth during or before 1994. And don’t worry if you can't find a VHS player in Anchor! There are whole shelves of VCRs tucked into one of the closets, apparently part of an aborted plan to rent out VCRs along with movies.

Poor Blockbuster. They were innovators. And now they're lost to the sands of the red shift.

c. sweet sweet self-care.

While sickness persists inside Anchor's walls, those in recovery seem to be getting better every day. And while the health bots have been working overtime, some of their processes have gotten a little borked up from all the work they've been doing.

Along with medical care, they're now administering lectures to their captive audiences about the value of diet and exercise, the importance of personal hygiene, and the healing properties of massage. Some of them are forcing massages on people just to prove their point, which, y'know, could be a lot worse. At least they're good at massages?

The spa bots are getting in on the action, nagging the healthy to come for relaxation and decontamination in one gloriously bubbly swoop. They've converted several of their spa pools into sweet-smelling antibacterial baths, so you can make extra-sure you got those visiting-a-sick-friend cooties off!

No, seriously, go with them. Before they drag you there and make you take a bath like an unruly two-year-old.

Believe them, it's worth it. If you complete a circuit of the spa, including the antibacterial baths and the fresh and zesty decontamination shower, you get a shiny sparkly holographic sticker that says "YOU ARE FREE OF DISEASE" in little cheerful bubble-letters. They designed them all by themselves, totally from scratch. Are you proud?

d. the network.

Need to get hold of someone, call for help, ask the city at large a question? Need to ask a friend which 1980s teen movie classic to watch at movie night? Maybe you need to hold your sat phone up to whatever crazy thing you're seeing and send out a recording to double-check if your eyes are deceiving you and what you're looking at is real?

Whatever the reason, the network is going strong, so feel free to include a post to it in your top-levels.

Navigation.

Comments

B

[redwinekindofgirl]

[The response to a question of whether or not she wants to watch a VHS is a resounding 'what the fuck, hell yes?'. It's been actual years, since before she was a teenager, since she saw a tape that wasn't some shitty pieced together rerun of twelve different soccer matches or outdated news pieced together to look like it was something new.

How could she possibly turn down an offer like that? And, hey, it's just Ben.

She shows up armed with two bags of toffee popcorn, and she tosses one unceremoniously to Ben as soon as he's in front of her.]

Think fast. [Julie grins, then bounces slightly on her heels.] So, what are we watching? One request - no zombie movies?

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben catches that toffee popcorn automatically, just as a reflex, before he even sees what it is, but then grins. Hell yes, snacks. Now this girl is speaking his language.

He's made up a little cozy watching area in the shared living quarters - just a few extra blankets and pillows stolen from here and there. He'd even gone to the trouble of dimming the light by throwing a sweater over it, enough to block most but not all of the light. He's being a good host, right? Ben has no idea how to do this sort of thing. But he figures the best way to learn is just to try.

And it's become more and more clear as time has gone on that Julie is becoming just a regular feature of his life, by virtue of her relationship with his brother. So Ben wants to see if he can't make her feel a bit more welcome in the family - the least he can do considering how poorly he'd reacted to first meeting her.

When she vetoes zombie films Ben scoffs, shaking his head: ]

Oh, don't worry. I haven't got anything remotely scary in there. Horror's not really my thing.

[ Said with just a hint of amusement, because get it? He had been The Horror while he was with the Academy.

The pile of VHSes includes:

Speed
The Lion King
Much Ado About Nothing
Kindergarten Cop
The Secret Garden

Orrrr any other options you'd want to pick for the thread. ]

What do you think? I've never seen any of these so I can't really speak to the quality.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[Hah. She gets it.

A wry smile lingers on her face as she browses the selection of tapes. She picks one up, opens the case, touches the tape itself as if it's something that she barely remembers. Damn, it's been a long time since she saw an actual movie.

There are a couple that catch her eye, until she spots one that makes her expression light up.]

Ohhh, my god, Casper? We have to watch this.

[She holds up the VHS case, her eyes large and blue as she holds it in front of her chest and bounces on her heels.]

Let's watch this one. Pleeeeeeeeease.

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben rolls his eyes, but honestly, it's kind of nice seeing Julie this happy and excited. Most of the time when Ben's seen her, she's been sort of stressed or uneasy. No way he could say no to that. ]

You realize Klaus added that one to the pile just to fuck with me, right?

[ But he drops the popcorn and holds out a hand to take the VHS from her. ]

Alright, alright. No reason not to I guess.

[ Ben heads over to the player that they have connected to the TV. This film will make for some easy joke fodder about ghosts at the very least. And considering that the cover makes it look like it's a kid's movie, the chances of anything coming up in it that might be genuinely upsetting to either one of them are limited, thank god. ]

For all I know it'll end up being the best movie ever.

[ He pops the thing in and it starts playing, halfway through a scene, and he quickly hits the pause. ]

Shit, somebody didn't rewind this? Seriously?

[ Ben hits the button to reverse the film back to the start, waving Julie towards the nest of pillows and blankets. ]

Make yourself comfy.

[redwinekindofgirl]

What-- oh. Oh, my god.

[She doesn't hand him the tape right away, but uses it to hide half of her face as mortification overtakes her and a rosy blush rises straight to her cheekbones. There's a grimace on her face when she offers it out, but at least he doesn't look offended.]

I guess, I mean, I don't think of you as a ghost or anything.

[Is that good enough? She drops herself happily into the pillow nest and wriggles her small form around to get comfortable.]

So, have you just been doing private movie showings or something?

[benhargreeves]

[ After fourteen years of Klaus, Ben is completely, utterly immune to being offended by ghost jokes. He just smiles at Julie's obviously genuine reaction of embarrassment, shaking his head and then shrugging as if to say what are you gonna do?. ]

Don't beat yourself up about it. It's kinda flattering, actually. Makes me feel like all the other living kids.

[ Once the tape is back to the beginning, Ben sets it to playing and settles in. He drapes a blanket around himself but sits all balled up, hugging his knees to his chest, chin propped on one of them. It's good, so far? This is going good? He hopes so. ]

I - guess? 'Private movie showings' sounds, like, so formal. I'm not selling tickets! There's not gonna be a quiz!

[ In a slightly more serious tone, Ben shrugs and answers: ]

I never got to go to go over to a friend's house to watch movies when I was growing up, so I figured... might as well make up for that, now. Spend some time with people I wanted to spend time with and see some stuff I never got the chance to see. Even... Casper.

[ The tape is still playing advertisements for other movies, and Ben glances over at Julie, curious: ]

Did you pick this one because it was one of your favorites, or is it new for you, too?

[redwinekindofgirl]

What, no quiz? Could have told me that before I brought a pen.

[There is no pen. No paper, for that matter, either. The question makes her look away from him, focusing on the adverts flitting across the screen, and when she smiles it's a small and wistful expression.]

I've seen it before, when I was a kid. It's one of the last movies that came out before it was all zombie flicks.

[Her lips purse for a moment and she shifts again to make herself more comfortable. She shakes her head and huffs out a soft, self-conscious laugh.]

Guess we have to try and reclaim lost childhoods where we can, right?

[benhargreeves]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[ Ben knows it might be a bit of a risk, watching this movie that will remind Julie of a happy time before everything went so awfully wrong. He wonders if, in a way, he's lucky. He'd never had a time like that. Things had started wrong, and he hadn't had anything to compare them to. So really, it had taken quite a while for him to realize that better was even an option. Not for Julie, though. She'd had safety and happiness, and then they'd been taken from her.

Still, if it dredges anything up, they'll deal with that when it happens. She wants to watch this movie and Ben is happy to be the one watching with her.

And he finds himself immediately laughing at the cheesiness of the initial scene, the ludicrous appearance of the ghosts themselves as they try to terrorize some children away from an old house. But it is not a mean laughter - just startled, full of enjoyment. Ben doesn't laugh often, but it is a very infectious one. ]

Oh my god, is it all like this?

[redwinekindofgirl]

[When Julie thinks about it now, from her 'older and wiser' point of view, things weren't all roses back then. It's not normal to have country-wide media blackouts, armies in the streets and a penpal who sends a nine year old vicodin in the mail. But... her parents were both alive, and happier, and she hadn't known any better.

But she doesn't think too much about her past. There are many good reasons for that.]

Uh-- haha, yeah, pretty much. [Julie replies with a laugh of her own, grabbing her bag of popcorn and opening it.]

I dunno, felt like you were the kind of guy who'd appreciate cheesy nineties humour.

[benhargreeves]

I so am that guy.

[ And a little part of Ben can't help being delighted that she thinks of him as that sort of guy. Someone who would appreciate cheesy humor. Not as a terrifying inhuman weirdo. Not as an uptight creep. Not as scary or stern or any of that. But as someone who would laugh at stupid, stupid jokes from a kids' movie.

And Ben does laugh. He laughs a lot. And scoffs, every time one of the ghosts moves some physical object, gesturing at the screen before shoving some popcorn in his mouth and insisting: ]

This is total slander. This is totally inaccurate! It's like they didn't even hire a ghost to consult on the script or anything!

[redwinekindofgirl]

[He could have had her convinced, really, if they hadn't made some effort to talk to one another after that somewhat disastrous first meeting. Maybe she should have been more sober for that, and the first impression could have been better.

All in the past, now, though.

Julie laughs at the movie, too, though she finds she's far more fascinated with how much Ben laughs. It looks like her estimation of his sense of humour had been right on the money.]

Oh my god, Ben. [She snickers.] Do ghosts just hang around a ouija board on the off-chance they can make it in Hollywood?

[benhargreeves]

Wouldn't surprise me. You just know there's gotta be some aspiring screenwriter who died in a tragic accident waiting tables while angling for his big break in Hollywood, who hung around out of sheer stubbornness and spite. They should have hired that guy to co-write this.

[ It's nice, hanging with Julie like this, being able to joke like this. A lot of the time Ben isn't sure people in this place will appreciate his somewhat morbid sense of humor. But Julie gets it.

So he keeps on munching on that popcorn, laughing at the movie and occasionally mocking it, though in a rather gentle way. This is a film that Julie remembers from before things went wrong, after all. Ben doesn't want to ruin the fun. Even if it is very silly at times. ]

Seriously, though, this girl has serrrriously got a thing for a ghost. How's she think that's gonna end, huh?

[redwinekindofgirl]

Nah, it's that guy she goes to school with that she has a thing for.

[Called it from the first time they bumped into each other. Julie roots around in the bag for another few pieces of popcorn and tosses one up into the air before (just barely) catching it in her mouth.

Then she grins and nudges her elbow lightly against Ben's side.]

Dead guys can be charming too. Speaking from experience.

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben doesn't contradict her, but he makes a skeptical face that seems to indicate he's going to stick to his own headcanon for why things are going the way they are going, regardless of whether the movie explicitly supports it or not.

Then, when Julie says dead guys can be charming, Ben laughs: ]

Do... you - mean me? Or are you friends with some other dead guy I don't know about?

[ Honestly, considering how many of the people in the Anchor seem to have died or be dying back home, Ben wouldn't be all that surprised. It's difficult to tell if Julie is teasing him, or referring to someone else, or maybe a bit of both.

He could call himself a lot of things, but he's pretty damn sure that 'charming' isn't one of them. ]

[redwinekindofgirl]

There could be loads of dead guys I've been friends with, you don't know. [She teases gently, then settles back into the comfortable nest with a half smile-half smirk dancing around on her lips.]

You know there's a zombie thing where I'm from, yeah? Did I tell you that?

[God, she forgets who does and doesn't know. Always taking for granted that everyone knows already, because it's easy to forget, too, that not all of them come from the same place.]

Except, we're fixing it now. Some of them are getting better. Some of the personalities that come out when they start to get back to who they used to be... [She shakes her head, smiling slightly.]

It's weird. But cool.