TEST DRIVE #1

[collectedmods]

TEST DRIVE #1

Hi shoppers! Welcome to the first Test Drive Meme for COLLECTED. A few things before we get started:

» For the time being, our TDM’s are closed to those eligible to apply based on our invite system. This means that you must be on one of the mod’s plurklists, or invited as a +1 by someone on those lists. Thanks for understanding!

» TDM Threads will NOT be canon.

» Because of that, feel free to assume/handwave CR, and assume your character has been in the setting for a little bit.

» When the game opens, characters will be able to try their hand at going outside. But, during the TDM, all doors and windows to the outside will be locked, and characters will be unable to venture out there.

» These prompts are not exhaustive - feel free to make up your own within the setting of the mall! Anywhere on the Second Floor of the mall is free game. And if you have any questions about what you can and can’t do (or about anything else) reply to the QUESTIONS comment below, and we’ll get back to you soon.

Most importantly, have fun! And thank you so much for your interest in Collected; we’ve been so stoked over the turnout!! 🧡

PROMPTS

I.

There’s one big problem about getting around the Mall - and no, it’s not the bottom floor that’s flooded.

The other huge problem that the dilapidated infrastructure causes aside from making everything smell weird and leaving tons of crumbled debris around is that at some points in the mall, it’s impossible to get across large gaps in the flooring where it’s fallen through to the waters below. In fact, to access the side of the mall across from where you are right now, there are no paths that are safe for walking across. But there is one way.

One attraction of the mall has stayed (mildly) in tact - and that’s a Hi Wire Bicycle. The one way across to the other side of the Mall is this rusty, dusty bicycle attached to a thick wire, with signs around the attraction describing how much the fare used to be to ride across - if you were daring enough, that is! Obviously, no one’s ridden across this thing in years - much less for the overpriced payment required.

More than that, it seems a little… less than safe. The net that probably provided mall-goers with some degree of self-assurance has aged, sagging and unraveling at the junctures of some of the knots. If you were to fall onto it, would it still catch you…? The wire affixed to the bike doesn’t seem too steady, either, not to mention how hard you’ll have to push against the rusted pedals to get them to move. As it stands, though, it’s the only way across to get to the Second Floor’s other half of stores. Luckily (or maybe unluckily?) there’s a seat for you and a friend. So, at least you won’t go down alone.

To make it across, you’ll have to be brave, be creative, and most of all, be lucky!

II.

A.

Near the heart of the food court, decorations for what used to be Santa’s village are still laid about. How many Christmases ago were these left here? By the looks of things, a lot. A thick coating of dust has settled on the nooks and crannies of what is supposed to be the elves workshop, alongside the seat where Santa must have sat to take pictures with children.

In the Elves’ Workshop, you’ll find a massive amount of animatronic elves. They’re all positioned to be working on toys, putting up decorations, or singing from carol books - it looks like these little guys were put here to perform for kids, not unlike an interactive (and more Christmas-y) version of It’s a Small World. There’s even un-opened (and therefore okay-to-eat!) boxes of chocolate chip cookies that must have been for the Mall-goers around Christmastime stashed inside an open cabinet, which was most definitely only for employees to access.

The only problem is that once you enter and make your way inside the workshop… something strange happens. Is something grabbing onto your clothes? Your hair? Maybe a stray finger? It’s the little wooden hands of one of the elves. Your first thought is that you just brushed past it and got caught on it - but, on the second thought, it’s not letting go. In fact, it’s grip is getting tighter. Painful, even. All while it smiles blankly ahead, eerily still aside from it’s tiny hand squeezing you. Take your eyes off these cheery boys and girls for too long, and you’ll realize they’re not staying put like good little elves - they’re moving closer to you only when they’re out of sight.

If you’re unlucky enough for several to latch onto you, you’d better ho-ho-hope someone can break you free.

B.

Outside the Workshop, more towards where the line to meet Santa would be, there’s a big snow machine. Unluckily for you, the machine’s sensors, which would have known to start putting out snow whenever people walk by, seem to still be working despite the Mall’s run-down state. As soon as you get near the thing, it starts spewing out tons of fake snow. It’s completely unlike the delicate sprinkling you’d find in a shopping center: it’s plain blasting you with the stuff, more like a hose than anything else. Too bad that the part of the machine that broke was whatever controlled the volume and speed of the snow instead of the sensors, right?

The fake snow is sticky and old, and will stick to you and the floor the more you get caught in it - better hurry and stop that machine!

C.

There’s a huge, luxurious chair that was most certainly reserved for the Santa employee in the center of the village area - tall and wide enough for at least a few people to clamber onto. Even though the paint is chipping off parts of the throne, and the wood is decaying in places - it still doesn’t look too bad, all things considered. Even the camera is still sitting in front of the chair, balanced on a tripod as though there were kids coming to take pictures with Santa today.

You’ll find that walking into the frame of the camera with more than one person causes the camera to go off. The camera will even print your picture, and never seems to run out of film - no matter how many times it fires. Did it catch your bad side, the first time? Feel free to try again! Dress up, find props, take pictures with your newfound companions to your heart’s content!

The only thing to be wary of is that in every few photos, someone else is in the photo. It’s a smiling, bright-eyed child, despite their transparency compared to you and your companion in the image. Judging by the sitting pose, and the performative smile, the added kid is none other than a reflection of a child who had taken pictures here with Santa long, long ago.

III.

With the size of the mall, and the variety of the stores inside, it’s only natural to think to forage for items that might be of use - there’s got to be something left behind here that will help you, right? Or a portal home?

Not too far from the department store you’d wandered in from, there’s a clothing store with an… interesting problem, for lack of a better word. The store has been overrun with rats. Big ones, too, scurrying about the floors and what’s left of the shelves, gnawing on what remains of the carpet and the remnants of cardboard packaging. Anyone sane would steer clear of this mess!

But, there’s something off about this store. Not only do all the rats somehow stay mysteriously contained within the walls of the store, never scurrying out of it, and with no signs of other stores being infested at all, but there’s also something that’s very familiar to you in this store. It could be a weapon, an item of clothing, or something as simple as your most favorite phone charm - point of the matter is, the rats have a hoard akin to a dragon’s behind the cashier’s counter, full of trinkets and belongings to all who have come through this place. They’ll work to keep their paws on what they have, too.

If you want your special something back, you’ll have to brave the vermin.



NAVIGATION

Comments

[prison]

I just figured that - [ the horse is now in his hands, and he holds it rather awkwardly. apparently, their child now. who knew he would make a passable father to a toy horse? ] - I should suit the theme. [ pause. that's quite a backstory, too. what the hell is going on in this boy's head? ]

What's our child's name?

[ the question probably comes a little too late. he eyes the camera as it's being set up, and the countdown barely gives him enough time to decide on a pose. it's not like he's ever been great at taking pictures, and within this intricate set up that this boy has come up with, he feels quite inadequate in that he's not dressed as the 'old horse father', married to young horse mother, together with their tiny toy horse child. he blinks the flash out of his eyes, and rubs it idly. ]

How did it turn out?

[regale]

[ A family can be an old horse father, a young horse mother, and their child, the horse, which is named: ]

Jasper, of course. Named after a horse of the olden days, and the story of how we first met.

[ That's absolute nonsense, by the way.

But he's only answering that one and not the second question, even though he's saying the name after the second question comes and the photo has been printed. It's because he's gotten up, caught the photo as it tipped out of the camera, and is in the process of being waved between his fingers as if to speed up the process.

It's... interesting! To say the least! There's Young Horse Mother, Old Horse Father, and where their Horse Child, Jasper, would be is... a real child. After a moment, he's holding it out to Old Horse Father to inspect. ]

Quite a lovely holiday portrait, wouldn't you say? ☆

[prison]

Oh, Jasper. How could I forget. Maybe I am getting a little too old?

[ because, yes, he will now have to also remain in character. it's absolute nonsense, but nonsense that ren can follow. not to mention that his life leading up to this point was peppered with all sorts of nonsense anyway, so this isn't too out of the realm of possibility of weird shit that happens to ren amamiya.

the photo is waved and handed his way. ren notices something awfully wrong with this right off the bat, and he eyes the 'mother' inquisitively, expectantly, as though to see if he notices also. surely he did? why is he still calling this a lovely holiday portrait? is this man fucking blind?? ]

Jasper... looks different. [ he hands the photo back, feeling the hair on his arm stand on its ends. it's really creepy, actually. ] Honey, [ he can call his wife that, right. ] Maybe he's sick.

i just realized my tag never sent. fuq

[regale]

[ He gets acting points for calling him a term of endearment! Not many are so bold to go for it without prompting!

Wataru is taking the photo back, tapping the side of it with a fingernail, thoughtful. "Sick," he says. Wataru, while a clown, isn't stupid in this sense (don't @ him about emotional smarts) so he's aware that the both of them are seeing something that is mostly definitely not the illness of a small horse child. ]

He does, doesn't he? But when we look at our beloved child right now, he seems as healthy as a horse. [ He really manages to say that with a straight face. ] I heard whispers before coming here, that the photographs would reveal something interesting—I told you that was my reasoning for dragging our small family out here, correct? Ah, I wonder if it's showing us his soul? Should we consider that he's come down with an illness that is turning him into a real boy?

Or perhaps... something else?

:pensive:

[prison]

[ ren knows that all of this is for the sake of the "scene." it's all an act. he doesn't mind going along with it because, actually, it's creepier to acknowledge something awfully off about the picture and their "child." but his wife is correct - he had said something about photos revealing something interesting. ren doesn't want to look at the picture any longer, though, because looking into the soulless eyes of the phantom child is creepier than he bargained for. even jasper looks more alive than what is shown in the photo, and that says a lot.

'healthy as a horse.' ren doesn't know how he feels about this guy, but you know, he's similar enough that he can't even be mad. ]

Whatever his reasoning, we have to support our child. If he's turning human, I guess we have to continue seeing him as our son. [ like kafka and gregor samsa's fate. ] Did the rumors say anything about how to... fix this?

[ or, more accurately, how to save this child. he assumes it has to do something with the camera. ]