wildermemes | TEST DRIVE ※ 2

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test drive meme

TEST DRIVE ※ 2

TEST DRIVE ※ 2
The spirit of the Green needs defenders but the game of fate it must play makes it so that its plans are like a garden, always in need of careful pruning. Only certain individuals are capable of living a life of adventure -- and even many who are capable may not be the heroes the Wilderlands needs.

The only way for the Green to be sure is by providing a test -- and as far as tests go, this one's a doozy, because the situation is real. There are countless conflicts all over the Wilderlands that are in need of intervention, so the Green tosses you head first into one of them with no warning or explanation. During it, you may perhaps run into others like yourself, thrown in over their heads -- or into others that came to the Wilderlands before you. Either way, your only chance of getting through it is to work together with whatever other unfortunates you find.

Welcome to the wilds, hero. Good luck with that whole 'deadly peril' thing.

MICKEY, YOU HAD ONE JOB!
A powerful Sorcerer left his apprentice in charge of his lair, but the apprentice has made a mess of things. He enchanted a broom and animated it to do some of his chores, like filling a basin with buckets of water. After the broom went out of control and overfilled the basin, he was forced to destroy it, but the shards only turned into more anthropomorphic brooms.

Now, hundreds of brooms are pouring water into the Sorcerer's lair, the Sorcerer's apprentice has run away (and magically locked the door, because he's a coward) and you're stuck in the middle of it all as the brooms keep pouring more and more water down the stairs into the Sorcerers' stronghold.

This room is filled with the requisite wizarding accouterments (like a stuffed alligator hanging from the ceiling) and most of it is just replaceable magical tchotchkes, but some of the books here are priceless and one of a kind. The Sorcerer is a force for good and his careless apprentice has made it so important ancient books may be destroyed before he returns, ones that could help turn the tide against evil in the Wilderlands.

The Green whispers to you that the brooms must be stopped and the books must be saved. The voices tell you that the magic in them is needed to save lives.

Also, you kinda need to not drown. Because the water's up to your knees and drowning's definitely a thing that might be happening if this keeps carrying on. The door is magically locked and the windows are magically warded so that while water can be poured out through them, people can't travel in or out of them. You're trapped.

Time to start bailing water and working together. Things are starting to look a little damp.

STUFF YOU CAN DO
A. FIGHT A HOUSEHOLD CLEANING IMPLEMENT

The brooms can probably be destroyed permanently! Maybe. Possibly.

It's worth a shot, right? Aside from the destructive magic you might find yourself now possessing (or superpowers or magic weapons...) The Sorcerer seems to have been doing some experimentation with gunpowder, among other things. The lair has firewood, flint and other firemaking supplies. Also axes and other tools.

The brooms can potentially reproduce from the shards if destroyed but if burned to ash or if the pieces are fine enough it may be possible to stop them once and for all. But if you fail, well, you may find your problem multiplying.

B. MESS WITH MAGIC

The Sorcerer has a lot of interesting-looking books on magic. Maybe you can find something useful within one of them that can stop the brooms and help make some of the water disappear?

Or you may just accidentally curse yourself. Good luck with that.

(OOC: All magic within the books can potentially help somewhat but only a little. Otherwise, characters can god any kind of curse effects they like for their character that occur from reading the books or trying to cast magic: legs turning to jelly, their voices turning squeaky, characters shrinking, characters growing in height, etc. etc. Feel free to get creative!)

C. BAIL A BUDDY OUT

Sometimes the best thing to do is push up your sleeves, grab a bucket, and get to work. While you can't climb out the warded windows, the water can be poured out of them and there are plenty of buckets to use to bail water. Grab a new friend and try to form a bucket brigade for a very work-intensive and awkward first introduction.

D. THE FLOOR IS LAVA

Well, not necessarily lava, but as the room starts filling with water, the floating furniture might be the only thing keeping you and the people around you alive. Help the people around you perch on furniture and stay afloat. Save the important books if you can, too, but you may want to make not drowning and preventing others from drowning a priority until the crisis is over.

G. FREESTYLE

The situation is pretty silly, with wild magic, gunpowder, anthropomorphic brooms, and flooding going on. Feel free to make something up! It's a big lair with a lot going on.

OOC INFO
✦ This TDM is open to everyone. However, top-levels should be made for potential new characters only. Characters currently in the game should only tag top-levels.

✦ Potential players may use test drive threads as their log samples. However, at least one post in their thread must fit the requirements for apps, both in length (200 words) and in quality. If you do plan on using a thread as a sample, please make sure the writing throughout your threads is a good example of your writing skills and has some solid examples of the character's voice.

✦ Current players can count TDMs towards AC. They can only count towards comment-based AC proofs.

✦ Potential players can opt to keep these threads as game canon when they app in, or start over fresh, based on preference. The magic bringing them to the game universe can fog their memories, if players don't want their character to remember TDM threads when introing into the game.

✦ Apps open: 4/1/18

✦ The game has limited slots. Please keep this in mind! We've had a lot of replurks in the announcement plurk, but the game is meant to be a very small game, with only 25 slots total, and many of these were already filled in the game's beta test round. There may be only around 10 or so open slots when apps open to everyone. The game will have a wait queue if the game hits cap during the app round but please be prepared for potential disappointment if we happen to hit cap you wind up not getting a player slot immediately. It's not personal; we'd love to accommodate everyone but the nature of the kind of campaign we're trying to run wouldn't work with a larger game.

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Sirius had been testing out his new power by holding a broomstick in the air. When he heard a familiar voice, he dropped it immediately.

"Remus?" First the ghost of a smile crossed his lips, then a genuine one. Even soaking wet, Remus was the best thing he'd seen in days, weeks even. "Oh Merlin, I'm glad to see you."

He was working under the assumption that Remus was from his time, after everything had been sorted out and not, say, moments before. He really should have learned not to assume things by now.

Even though he'd seen the name on the Murauder's Map (and weren't the memories that THAT brought back bad enough?), somehow Remus hadn't expected to hear that voice. Not here.

Wherever here is.

His hand twitches in a way that's pretty obvious for anybody who knows wizards and knows wandless magic: halfway through a hex before he stops himself.

"Sirius," Remus finally says. "I...it's..."

He can't say it's good to see him, even if it is. His heart has never quite stopped being Sirius's, after all.

The death of Sirius's smile was swift but not painless. Twelve years and he still hadn't lost some instincts. His body tensed when Remus's hand began to form the hex.

He didn't think they would go back to normal after Sirius convinced him of his innocence, but he thought they were past this. Had Remus taken a few weeks to process the news then decided he hated Sirius after all? No-- it was probably vanishing without a trace while waiting for the Dementor's Kiss. That had to be it.

"I didn't expect to be here either. I would've wrote you, but--" He spread his arms out to call attention to the situation. "I haven't found a way out of this mission we're on." Then, because an obsession was hard to drop, he asked in a harsher tone "Did you find him?"

"Mission?" Remus blinks, head tilting ever so slightly in confusion. It's not a habit that he thinks about much, though it does make him look ever so slightly like a dog.

If pushed, he'll blame it on the full moon. The one that was in the sky before he arrived here.

"I don't know anything about a mission. And who am I supposed to be finding?"

“That rat! Peter.” Sirius felt it important to address Remus’s questions in order of his own priorities. “I thought Dumbledore would send someone.”

Peter was the proof he was innocent. But more importantly, Sirius wanted him rotting in Azkaban in his place. He knew the odds were slim but he still hoped he’d been caught— or Remus ate him that night. It was best not to voice that last part out loud.

There was a memory, somewhere deep in the back of Remus's mind. One that reminded him that Sirius had always said that it was Peter who had been the secret keeper, that he'd been the one to betray James and Lily.

Nobody had believed him, of course. Everybody in the wizarding world knew that Sirius was James's best friend. Why would the Potters use anybody else as their secret keeper?

But now, combined with the information he'd already seen on the Maurauder's Map that night? Remus went absolutely white. "It...it really was him that I saw on the Map, then? That wasn't just some...fit of fancy?"

Wasn't just his mind trying to give credence to what Sirius had said all those years ago, trying to find some reason to believe the man that he'd once loved.

Sirius staggered as if he'd been struck.

"You don't remember?" They wouldn't have used a memory charm on him, no one would be so careless as to let him remember seeing Peter's name. But how else could he explain this?

He took a closer look at Remus. He looked just like he had that night in the Shrieking Shack. In fact, the only difference was he was wet instead of dusty.

"What were you doing before you were brought here?" he asked carefully.

"On my way to the Whomping Willow." He didn't even try to dissemble. It had never been Remus's way, anyway. "I thought I'd gotten hit in the head when I arrived here, honestly."

It made more sense, honestly. "I should have stayed in, considering the night and all. But...I needed to know."

"Before I was taken, I was--" On second thought, telling Remus exactly where he'd been would not be comforting. "It was after that. I found him. You caught up with us and I showed you and Harry-- Pettigrew, he's alive. He cut off his finger before blowing himself up, then he turned into a rat and disappeared into the sewers."

He was keenly aware of the fact that this time, he didn't have Peter with him to show as proof. He only had to rely on Remus's trust in the map they'd made. And-- well, whatever trust he might have in Sirius. There must have been at least a spark somewhere for him to accept it before.

No, it wouldn't be comforting at all. It had been hard enough, these past twelve years, knowing that Sirius was in Azkaban, no matter how much he may have thought at the time that Sirius deserved it.

He looked away, trying to think. Entirely aware that the water is rising, that he's still very damp. When he looked back, Remus's expression was wary. Though his eyes held at least a bit of hope. "I want to believe you."

The look on Sirius's face turned desperate. It gave him a wild look to his eyes. He was not so far removed from the man he'd been that night. Half mad, half dead, driven only by two powerful urges: to protect and to avenge. He was dressed up nicer now, with shorter hair and a healthier look, but the damage wouldn't be undone in a single night or month.

"You have to," he said quickly, stepping closer. "I convinced James and Lily to switch. He was their Secret Keeper. He's spent all these years as a rat. He was hiding at Hogwarts. The last time Fudge visited, I asked for his paper and there was Pettigrew in a picture as a family pet. He's been hiding with that boy-- Ron? Remus, he was at Hogwarts. If Voldemort ever came back, he would have been in the perfect position. I had to get to him before he hurt Harry." He couldn't get the words out fast enough so that at times they almost blended together.

Remus knew that look. The Black blood told true and there'd always been a little madness to Sirius. This wasn't the good-natured madness of their school days, though. This was something far more potent. Far more dangerous.

Something that his traitor heart wanted to reach out and soothe as best he could.

Though it made some amount of sense. Because what he'd seen on the Map was Sirius taking Ron down the tunnel...but Peter's name had been with them. And he knew that Ron had a pet rat, though it seemed to go missing quite often the past year. And asking somebody else to be the Secret Keeper, somebody that nobody else would expect...

It made sense. But Remus just wasn't certain if it was the truth or if he just really wanted to believe that he hadn't been wrong about Sirius.

He reached out, finally, laying his hands against Sirius's arms. "Breathe, Padfoot."

And if his heart twisted in his chest at the nickname? Well, certainly he could be forgiven that.

The name was what finally got Sirius to pause and catch his breath. He stared at Remus, allowing himself to be hopeful. He'd come around before. Of course he just needed some time to process it-- again-- for the first time.

"You believe me?" he asked.

Sirius, who had faith in so few things, had to have it in that. Fate wouldn't be that cruel to him. Hand him over to the Dementors, but at least let the people he loved know he was innocent.

The hesitation was pretty telling, though Remus wished it was less so. After a moment, he lets out a breath. "Your story makes sense," he admitted. "I don't...not believe you."

He definitely wanted to believe Sirius. "It's going to take time for me to get my head around it."

Sirius reminded himself that he should have expected this. Without Peter, what proof did he have? Just the Marauder's Map. If Remus hadn't looked at it today and seen Peter's name, he might never have believed.

He took a step back and stared at Remus.

"It's been twelve years," he finally said. "I can wait a while longer."

Maybe if he said it firmly enough, he'd believe it.

Remus's expression was caught in almost a grimace of pain as Sirius pulled away. It was the closest that they'd been in those twelve years. "Well. At the moment, I suppose we should deal with some of this water." He patted himself down. "Though. I seem to have misplaced my wand."

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TEST DRIVE ※ 2

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