atonementooc | 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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Laying around on the ground while other people are busy with their atoning or whatever - c'mon!"

He clucks his tongue, still bent over Rufus even as his eye twitches at the discomfort starting to prickle at his nerves. Apparently, human bodies weren't meant to stand like this.

"You just woke up here, right?"

None of what the little man just said makes sense, and there's something about his behavior that's off in a way Rufus can't place. But it could just be that he's... whatever he is at the moment.
Propping himself up on his elbows, he looks out at the door and then back up at the stranger. "What?" he asks helplessly, "who are you?"

Bill stands up straight now. Not once does he think to try and help this stranger to his feet.

"Name's Bill Cipher. Boy, you're pretty out of it still, huh?"

Feeling his throat again for the thousandth time, Rufus is forced to accept that there's nothing there. It's actually preferable, but it makes no sense.
"I don't..." he stammers, "what's going on?" Abruptly he realizes he's still sitting on the floor, and starts to stumble to his feet.
"Basco," he adds, still distracted, "Rufus Basco."

"Alright, Rufus. Wellllllll," he says, drawing it out for a while with an exaggerated grimace. "Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Not that the good news is very 'good'. Or maybe it is. I don't know your life."

Even as he stands, Rufus' head spins, and he has to catch himself on a nearby table. He's not a small or delicate person, so he knocks over a chair in doing so, clumsily trying to catch it before it clatters to the ground (he doesn't and it does).
"Um," he considers, "the bad news."

"So- whoa, careful. Might wanna sit down. Chairs feel agonizing pain when you sit on them, but what has it ever done for you lately?"

Either way, he waits for Rufus to re-situate before continuing. "So the bad news. You, buddy, are dead as a doornail. You kicked the bucket. Bought the farm. Et cetera, et cetera."

Doing as advised, Rufus sits down and looks out the kitchen window. None of the interior design is in a style he recognizes, and when he gets a good look at the street, his dark complexion goes a bit pale. That's....
.....not right.

He looks back at Bill, still listening, clearly not ready to formulate a question yet.

"Yeah, it's pretty weird-looking out there! So, good-ish news is that this place is called Penance, I guess? It's all about atoning and whatever."

He waves it off. Who cares about that part?

"Basically, you did some stuff that infringed on 'morals' or something to end up here." He does finger-quotes.

Things still aren't matching up. This person is still off. Rufus' look becomes a stare, his eyes roving over Bill in a vain attempt to explain anything at all.

"Are you in charge?" A strange one if he is, but there are stranger things. As Captain of his own guard, it begins to crawl into Rufus' mind that perhaps he's being held captive, and needs to sort out how to escape or negotiate.

"I wish! Nope. Just a sucker like you. Except you're probably gonna be out of here a lot faster than me."

He's used to that look, but he's not used to that look in this body. He shrugs. "There are other people here, too. Dunno about leaders or whatever. Probably better to go into town for that."

Poor Bill, having to explain everything-- truly everything, because Rufus is both in denial and still trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
"Why?" he asks, slightly on the defensive; is that to say he'll be killed faster? Or-- wait, how can he if he's already dead?

"That's where all the stuff is?"

Good thing Bill's always enjoyed knowing more than other people. Still, he knew people tended to go into denial about these sort of things, but this guy was super deep into it.

"Piece it together, buddy."

Though not all that dull, Rufus recognizes when someone is quicker than himself, and realizes the futility of trying to acquire straight answers from someone who clearly functions at a mile a minute.
Instead, he nods, and slowly stands from the chair, glancing absently at the sliver of a man before shuffling toward the door.

Bill just kind of quirks an eyebrow. He's walking away? That's new. Usually he's the one leaving someone hanging. He follows just a bit to watch him head off to town and calls, "Good talk!" before heading his own way, probably to snoop around or draw graffiti somewhere.

Test Drive 001

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