atonementooc | Test Drive 001

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Test Drive 001

Test Drive #001

Welcome to Atonement's first test drive, and thank you very much for stopping by! Please refer to the prompts below for ideas, or simply make up your own, whichever is easiest for you.

Prompts

Arrival: You don't quite remember how you arrived here. It appears that you're suddenly in a dead land with eerily red skies. The grass is dead, the trees are dying, and there's absolutely no sounds of life beyond your own footsteps, even if it feels like you're being watched somehow. Eventually along the narrow path you follow, you walk through gates that seem to guard a quiet, abandoned town and a sinking feeling starts to settle in that you are far from home and there may not be an easy way back.

The sign hanging above the gates simply says "Welcome to Penance: Home Between Homes" and nothing more.

Within the gates, there are the leftovers of what may have once been a lively, welcoming little town, if it didn't look as if people either fled or somehow vanished in the blink of an eye. There are dusty shops that are still stocked with supplies, many with their doors busted out or left open. There are homes that haven't been touched in what feels like an eternity but they still have furniture and the remnants of the people who lived there previously. Cars and bikes are littering the streets that are in varying shapes of usability. The more you look, the more unsettling everything becomes...

First Punishment: As a show of good will, your hosts will give you a very easy, albeit potentially embarrassing, task to carry out for your punishment this month.

First: There will as few secrets in Penance as possible. Transparency is key to atonement. You will reveal at least one sin in a way that will be permanent, which means via tattoo, scarring, branding, or other permanent means somewhere on your person. For those who are unable to be injured or scarred, there will be enchanted items that will be able to pierce even the toughest skin, cut deeper than even increased healing can recover from. All necessary items will be available at the tattoo parlor in town. If desired, characters may also make an announcement on the network listing their sin(s) for judgement from their peers.

Please note that if the character insists they are free of sin, they will be provided a list of what they're guilty of by their hosts.

Settling: It's time to settle into a home in Penance, either alone or with roommates. There is comfort and safety in numbers after all...

Do try not to fight over housing if you've both accidentally chosen the same home... Your hosts will be very unhappy if you start a fight this early on over such a silly thing.

If settling down isn't something you feel like doing, you may go and explore anywhere that you'd like, including outside the gates. Please be aware that there may be demonic forms of all types of common animals living outside them that move swiftly and silently. They will vary in aggressiveness and tamability, so please keep this in mind.

As a note, all threads may be considered game canon if all parties agree. Hope you have fun and thank you! Game is set to officially open February 1st or when we reach a minimum of 10 players.

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[He's quiet approaching the room he can hear someone in, sneaking as best he can just in case it's someone he doesn't actually want to talk to, and ends up watching the scene from the door for a moment. He needs to double-check he's not seeing what he wants to see. Honestly, he'd never figured Dionysus for the hell-bound type- not like himself, anyway, so he wouldn't be surprised if he's just hallucinating the familiar tattoo.

But eventually he interrupts, aiming for loud, not sure he really achieves it.]

...Do any of us?

[The sound gives him a start, Dionysus twisting around to see who it is, even if he already knows. He couldn't forget that voice.]

Baph--

[Whatever he's about to say is forgotten with the realization of what it means to see him here. He's dead. He died. His shoulders slouch a bit and he lets out a breath.]

What happened?

Hell if I know.

[It's not a great play on words, but it's a start, right? He gives Dionysus a grin, because it's been a while and their last conversation wasn't great, as parting conversations go. He's even a little relieved that it wasn't, even if it's a case of Situation Normal, All Fucked Up.]

One minute I'm sat around waiting for Marian to get back, the next I'm here. Heard something happened to you, though.

[It's a terrible play on words, but he can't quite bring himself to complain about it right now. It's not as horrible as some of his puns after all--

And really. Their last conversation wasn't a particularly good one and they're reuniting in a way he would really prefer not to.]

I think I died. [Obviously, and there are details that Baphomet needs to know, but... maybe not right now. Not here.] They say we get a second chance if we're good.

Not quite, last I heard. Body's still there, just you aren't really in it any more.

[Everyone dies on him in the end, it's not even news any more, and if he sounds callous about it he probably is being. Dionysus knows what he's like, and is also ludicrously forgiving, so it will probably be fine. He ventures further in the room, eventually leaning against the wall just behind Dionysus, looking down.]

That should be easy for you, but their idea of good is about as fucked up as mine.

I'm not. I'm here instead, which means dead, doesn't it?

[It doesn't matter what his body is doing up there if he's not in it. But maybe he can be--

Or maybe it's all a big lie and they're stuck here forever.]

I have to mark myself soon... it's what I was about to do.

[So if Baphomet doesn't want to stay... or if he does. He's not telling him to leave, but he feels like he should get it over with soon.]

I don't know. Haven't tried to talk to you yet.

[For all he knows, Dionysus still counts as alive back home, and something else happens later. He could have tried, but the dead never talk back...]

No-one said you had to do it to yourself. I could do it for you, if that's easier.

[As much a punishment for himself as Dionysus, that way.]

There's no reason to...

[Because he knew it was probably the end of the line for him the minute he forced himself to stand back up. It's the last thing he remembers... and now he's here. It's--

Well, not fine, but it happened.

And now he's here, so maybe he can try to make the best of it for others at least. For Baphomet and anyone else who needs it.]

I wouldn't ask that. [Baphomet might be mad at him right now, but he doesn't think he'd find that much joy in doing-- that, all the same.] Did you do yours?

I never asked you for anything except a lift. Besides, you know I'm good at ruining things.

[He didn't ask to be friends, he didn't ask for Dionysus to get hurt just to talk to him, and he definitely didn't ask him to die. So yes, he is a little angry, and a little unhappy under that.]

Some of it. No-one said it had to all be done at once.

That feels like forever now. [Since he picked him up that night in pouring rain. He lets out a sigh, bringing up a hand to idly rub over the top of his head, thinking.] Is that what you're trying to do here? Ruin things?

[Because it isn't going to be that easy. Baph can be angry with him all he wants, but he's not leaving him down here to suffer alone.]

Do you want to get out? You're right, no one said it had to be right now... I could use-- something. Sugar, maybe. If they've got it.

I'm not trying to do anything. You know me better than that.

[He's not trying to get out, he's not trying to ruin things, he's not trying to make things easier for Dionysus. Some of that's happening anyway, but that's not deliberate.]

Are you coming with me, or just trying to get rid of me?

Why would I want to get rid of you?

[It's a genuine question. However they left things, however angry Baphomet is at him, he's still a friend. He's still someone Dionysus cares about. He doesn't want to be rid of him, especially in a place like this.]

I'm coming. Let's find food?

Some people don't appreciate my sparkling personality and conversation.

[Dionysus has always been a little more tolerant than most, though, even when he'd picked up a damp stranger and put up with a few dozen miles of awful puns. After a moment he holds a hand out, offering it for Dio to get up, if he wants it.]

Sure. There's got to be something around here worth eating, I guess.

I like you.

[He always has, even during the frustrating parts. He takes the hand offered and climbs to his feet.]

Do you think they have soda in Hell?

We can find out. They almost certainly have booze...

[If the challenge is to overcome what put them here, then they must have put traps in place. Baphomet intends to trigger a few, although hopefully Dionysus' thing with soda doesn't actually count.

He maybe takes a few moments to let go of Dio's hand once he's up, still checking he's at least that real. Maybe Dionysus is a trap too, but that might even be better; a real Dionysus should get out of here. A trap wouldn't be able to. Selfish, but that's Baphomet.]

Are you actually going to get some beauty sleep in now? You might need it.

I'm fine. I just need something to eat...

[Or you know, in other words, a lot of sugar. He's not interested in sleeping. Too much going on in his head and around them, as far as that goes.]

I think I saw a shop...

Fine isn't the word I'd use, either way.

[He looks sideways at Dionysus. Telling him to stay close for his own safety is never going to work, and not in Baphomet's style either, so time to be selfish.]

Better stay close to me. You never know what might start jumping out at me down here.

[He's very fine, thank you. Perfectly fine. Dead for sure, but that's fine too. They'll figure it out, Hellscape or not.

He gives a look at Baph at the suggestion, eyes squinting slightly.]

You'll be fine. Nothing got us on the way in here, did it?

[Dead is not fine. Not that Baphomet thinks Dionysus will listen on that front, but he's allowed an opinion.]

Not yet. Nothing to say there won't be in the future, right?

[He really wouldn't put it past this place.]

[You could say he finally got that rest everyone was always suggesting he take? Or that some suggested he take, at least.]

... Did you mean you want me to stick close in the future too?

[Honestly, he's not sure what he wants right now. Alcohol and not thinking, mostly. But he does owe Dionysus something, and he's never been the worst company in the world, so...]

Why not? What's the worst that could happen if you do?

[He gives an idle shrug of his shoulders at that. He wants to stick with Baph, as close as he possibly can and for as long as they're here.

So he'll try, at least.]

I didn't want to assume you wanted me around constantly. [Not when Baph hadn't seemed the most welcoming when they first bumped into each other here.]

Have I ever said no to you being around?

[He hates being alone. He's just really good at making himself that way. And Dio, in particular, he has a soft spot for- which is why he's so angry.]

No, but our last talk didn't end on a positive note, did it?

[And their meeting here, as far as that matters.]

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Test Drive 001

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