test drive meme #1

[historiadores]

TDM #1

LA LLEGADA

The Museum of Art and History is the largest and oldest in Llave, and contains a grand collection spanning from the time the first humans landed on its shores to the modern day. The building encircles an open courtyard where an art installation sits amidst many of the plants important to the settlers of Llave. Behind the museum is a wide, shallow field of hard-packed dirt lined by large stones, the petroglyphs on their surface worn by time—the earliest known playing field in all of the Caribbean. And further out are the areas where excavations are ongoing, uncovering the pottery, jewelry and artifacts of the ancestors.

After awakening, things move quickly. The museum is closed, and the characters ushered into the courtyard to wait. Any needing emergency medical attention are kept in one of the air conditioned galleries until the paramedics arrive. A group of women with a military bearing take charge of the situation; identified as the Bajari Bara, they question the healthy and able. They cede authority only to the Prime Minister when she arrives. Two more of their group flank the nation's leader, though they step aside when she begins to walk among the new arrivals to speak with them.

Each side has many questions and few answers. Characters are informed they are in Llave. It's October 2020. And efforts will be made to return them to their homes. But how they came to be here and why remain mysteries…as does how they’ll find their way back.

A hurricane shelter nearby is activated for use by the recent arrivals. There, characters are provided with food and clothing, a cot and other basic supplies. No one is allowed out, but through the windows they can see the lush green of the their surroundings. At night, coquí sing them to sleep. Those taken to a hospital will remain there until they are discharged. Each patient is allowed one visitor to stay with them overnight.

Over the next several days, all characters undergo physical and mental evaluations; are provided with their first immunizations; have the next legal steps explained to them; and are taught about Llave. Every character, regardless of age, has a caseworker who checks in with them daily. None have been arrested, they are assured. But they must also complete the quarantine process. To enforce quarantine, at both the hospital and the shelter, the Bajari Bara guard every entrance and exit.

Welcome to Llave.

EL AREYTO

As luck would have it, around the time quarantine ends, all of Llave is in the midst of celebration. Today is the Day of Heroes, celebrated every last weekend in October, which this year happens to fall on the eve of All Saints’ Day. So when the new arrivals venture out for the first time, Nona, the capital, welcomes them with color and music.

The people of Llave have a special love for music and dance, and it shows. All day, groups gather to play, and many more to dance. The songs center around heroes of Llave with the chief of these being Nuna, a beloved figure who is said to have led her people here to freedom. Those performing wear traditional clothes: guayaberas, long circle skirts, palm hats and headwraps, all brightly colored.

From early morning, artisans have set up under tents tables laden with goods. Clothing, jewelry, musical instruments, paintings, and more made from leather and wood, seashells and fish scales, aluminum and copper. Many create right at the table. Most popular are those working on cemís: sculptural objects, said to house the spirits of ancestors. Many carry them as amulets especially on this the eve to the days of the dead.

The food is equally rich and one of the cooks takes an interest in the new arrivals. Those who eat his food find their mood changing depending on what they ate. The tostones he prepared while speaking of his childhood home in Santa Cecilia bring on feelings of joy and contentment. The alcapurrias fried while arguing with a customer about last night’s wrestling match cause those who eat them to feel irritated. And the casabe, a flatbread made of cassava, that he explains he learned to make from his wife who passed, induces a profound nostalgia for lost loves. His wife, recognizable from the photo he keeps on the wall, sits beside those most affected and comforts them until the melancholy passes.

More dead can be found. An old man in a fine guayabera recalls composing the lyrics to a particular song. He points out the man playing the congas and proudly says his great-grandson will soon outplay him. When characters look back to the old man, he’s gone. Those with a sense for it will recognize many dead walking among the living. These next few days honor and celebrate the departed, and the dead have seized the rare opportunity to join the festivities once more.

For those who prefer the sea, the impossibly blue waters of the Caribbean are just a short walk away. Cobblestone and concrete paths line La Bahía de Nona. On one of the larger rock outcroppings jutting into the bay sits a silver-white dog. If called, he will trot over. Up close, one can see his color is due to the sand and salt that has collected on its coat. Though he allows himself to be petted, he does not step off the rocks. A passerby comments that the dog has been waiting for his master to return. How long? The man shrugs. When he was a boy, the dog was keeping watch; now he’s forty-three, and the dog is still there.

EL TRAVIESO

Or perhaps the characters were more distracted by how clean the water was, how clear. Enough so that the sight of a bottle bobbing in the waves seems offensively out of place. Anyone who chooses to snag it out of the water will find it’s a corked bottle of rum, apparently empty.

From a nearby restaurant, someone yells and waves their hands—too late. By uncorking it, they have freed the bacoo. Immediately, everyone backs away. Two cross themselves.

Only one stays long enough to warn, “You have to trick it back into the bottle. It likes milk and bananas. Don’t ask it for anything.”

Turn around, and the bacoo is there.

Short and rugged with large eyes, long arms and legs, covered in unkempt hair and its fingers and toes ending in claws, the bacoo is a strange little creature. Stranger still, it can grant any wish—so long as it is kept appeased with a steady diet of milk and bananas.

A hungry bacoo will pelt walls with stones, move objects, keep its owner up at night, and otherwise wreak havoc until it is fed. A shapeshifter, they can be difficult to locate, much less trap. And a starving bacoo will turn vicious and its pranks malicious.

Best find a way to trick it into the bottle. Fast.

---

OOC NOTES

This TDM covers from mid-to-end of October. The first prompt lasts approximately two weeks; the second, a day. For now, all characters are restricted to Nona. Any attempting to leave will be gently, but firmly escorted back.

The TDM will also double as the first IC post of the game. Threads between any two or more characters who were all apped and approved will be considered game canon. As such, actions characters take in this TDM will impact the game once it opens. How characters behave will shape the inhabitants’ first impressions of them. Make it count.

Questions regarding this TDM can be asked below, while questions regarding the game at large should be directed to the FAQ.

Thank you for your interest and we hope to have you join!

NAVIGATION • IC COMM • OOC COMM • MEME COMM

Comments

hellboy | hellboy

[hellnah]

LA LLEGADA

[ One of the new arrivals sticks out like a sore, 6'11'' red thumb; you'd be forgiven for first assuming he's in a particularly elaborate costume— so did the Bajari Bara— but more than a cursory examination will quickly confirm otherwise. Which leads, unsurprisingly, to a more thorough examination by their new hosts.

Hellboy weathers the attention patiently, for the most part, if wearily. He's taken to the hospital, though his wounds have already healed, and he cooperates with noninvasive tests, and answers most of their questions plainly. At least, the ones that aren't too personal.

After they've satisfied their curiosity to such a degree that he's released into the shelter, he makes a single attempt to march past the posted guard. When it proves unsuccessful, he lets it be. He can see how they regard him, and he's not interested in doing anything that might confirm whatever assumptions some have made about him. It's only a few days in quarantine anyway, and to be honest, restless as he feels, it's probably not a terrible idea for him to take advantage of this weird little intermission. Been a hot second since anything's tried to kill him.

So, he naps, and he eats. And whenever he's not doing that, or answering his caseworker's many questions, or learning what he can about the island, he's helping out around the shelter. Got an issue and need a mediator? Or some big red muscle? Trying to reach something on a high shelf? Looking for someone to lend an ear, and you don't mind if it's a bit pointy? He's your guy.

At night, he leans on a window and listens to the choir of little frogs, expression as impassable as ever. If you happen to be up late as well, feel free to join him. If a mutual silence begins to feel a bit awkward, he'll fill the void himself, ]

Pretty noisy out there. Wonder what they're talking about.

[ When he speaks, he has an accent distinct from the locals— he was raised first in New Mexico, and then, everywhere else. ]

EL AREYTO

[ He attracts a different sort of attention during the celebration. It starts with a couple compliments on his "costume", but it soon snowballs into small crowds of admirers trailing after him. He's much more interested in perusing amulets and finding something stiff to drink than attempting to explain that no, he really can't tell you how he 'made' the hand, or got the tail to move like that for the dozenth time, but, well. It's a nice festival, and he does at least agree to feature in a few selfies. Especially with any children who weren't immediately scared off by his presence.

He hasn't got a face built for smiles, but he does his best.

Come, see what the fuss is about. Or maybe help rescue him. ]

[ When he's able, he finds a quiet spot at the edge of the festivities to hang with a couple old dead folk and smoke. It says something about him, probably, that he keeps ending up in the company of ghosts. He's not interested in examining it, though. ]

Wanna hear about the time I fought a sea-witch?

EL TRAVIESO

Cut that out.

[ A rock bounces off Hellboy's horn, thrown from a nearby tree. He can neither see nor hear it, but he's pretty damn sure the bacoo is laughing at him. At least it's not raining trash down on him (kinyamkela.)

Hellboy didn't get this far in life by ignoring locals' advice about their resident spirits, though. So he asks absolutely nothing of the bacoo, and turns to you instead, ]

Hey. You got any bananas or milk?

[ He knows how he looks, having just admonished a tree a moment ago, empty rum bottle in hand. But you better not start laughing at him too, alright? This is embarrassing enough.

Another rock smacks his ear. Ow. ] —Geez!

WILDCARD

[ come at me bro!! ]

el areyto

[inkings]

Only if we can compare notes.

[ mal wanders by holding a cup of shaved ice flavored with a syrup that has already stained her lips and tongue bright red. still not as bright as hellboy, though, with her purple-blue hair and purple sleeveless dress reaching her ankles, she is drawing plenty of attention by herself.

she takes a seat nearby without fear. her mother was the scarier one. just one morning with maleficent was enough to make anyone lose their fear to all else. but it's her dad she has to thank for her current awareness of the dead. once she's comfortable, she holds up her cup to them, ] Santé, [ and takes a sip through her straw. ]

[hellnah]

[ Hellboy regards the girl with mild curiosity, pulling the cigar from his lips. ]

You too, huh?

[ Does he actually believe this candy-colored child fought a sea-witch?

I mean, who the hell is he to judge. ]

...Wasn't a great big fish lady, was she?

[inkings]

Squid, actually. [ a beat. ] Technically, she's the daughter of a sea witch.

[ and unfortunately no calamari was had that day 😔 ]

[hellnah]

[ Don't eat squid people, Mal! ]

Dunno about daughters, but mine had granddaughters. [ Two of which she violently murdered.

We don't need to go into that actually, though. ]

So why were you fighting the squid daughter of a sea-witch?

[inkings]

[ she wasn't going to eat uma for real!!

just slow roast her with dragonfire. as one does. ]

Because she enchanted my then-boyfriend and lashed with a tentacle at my best friend. [ it's said in the matter-of-fact tone that follows when events like this become so common one can almost schedule around them. ]

[hellnah]

Geez.

[ It's a tone he's well-acquainted with. But while enchantments and tentacle'd beasts are both firmly within Hellboy's purview, it's not the sort of thing he imagines most teenagers regularly deal with.

I mean, not that he keeps up with what teens these days are into. ]

That kinda thing happen to you a lot?

[inkings]

Annoyingly, yes. Turns out there really is no rest for the wicked.

[ she holds her hand up as if to say what can you do. an engagement ring sits on her finger, the stone a beautiful and incredibly rare purple diamond because her fiancé knows what his future wife is about.

despite mal's careless front, the furrowed brow and curl to her mouth give away that she is more bothered by what had preceded her arrival than she is willing to verbalize to a stranger. ]

[hellnah]

[ That's. Concerning. Though things seem to have turned out alright for the kid, at least.

That ring looks expensive. ]

So I've heard.

[ Hellboy takes a puff of his cigar. ]

Know what. Tell me if any other sea-witches give you trouble here, and I'll take care of 'em for you. [ He holds up the giant hunk of stone that is his right hand, ] Took out the last one with one punch.

[ It's a joke, in the sense that (one would hope) it's highly unlikely to happen, and entirely serious in the sense that he would, in fact, gladly do that, if it did. ]

[inkings]

[ that prompts a smile. reaching over, she lightly brofists him because she doesn't feel like reporting to the hospital with a broken hand. ]

Appreciated, big guy. But I can't let you have all the fun.

[ she pauses. ]

Even if that had to be a sight to see.

EL AREYTO

[quietroom]

[ No, Lan Wangji does not want to hear about a fight with a sea-witch from a 6'11" humanoid-shape that looks like something he should be exorcising. But so far, none of the dead have held resentful energy and he's not exactly in a position to ask people if they're demons. They're both standing at the edge of the festivities and Lan Wangji isn't always outright rude, especially to strangers.

Besides, he'd rather stand there and listen than venture back into the crowd. One person is much easier than a crowd. ] Mn.

[hellnah]

[ Wow, try to contain your enthusiasm, Lan Wangji!!

He wasn't even talking to this guy, but the wind's been snatched right out of his sails. ]

You can say no.

[quietroom]

[ This is what enthusiasm looks like! Stoic and impassive. Look, he hasn't walked away yet, that counts for something. ] I am aware. Share your story.

[ It's going to be better than the crowds. And he hasn't heard of a sea witch before. Is that a thing they might see here? It would be useful to determine how one might fight a sea witch.

Which is to say: he's a little curious. ]

[hellnah]

[ He stares at Wangji for a moment, stone-faced.

But he does then launch into his story, directing it primarily at the two old ghosts flanking him, ]

So there I was, chained up at the bottom of the ocean, and this giant old fish lady appears outta the shadows like a cartoon villain. It's real cliché stuff, flapping her gums about prophecies and dreams and all that bullshit. 'Course, I'm just waiting for the part where she tries to kill me...

but it's taking her a damn lifetime. And I was already real pissed, not just 'cause of the chains, but 'cause she had these three granddaughters, right? Three little mermaids. Her own family, and guess what she does to them?

[ Stop him if you're getting bored. ]

[quietroom]

[ Stone-face Lan Wangji can deal with. Stone-faced is great, actually. Stories not so much, but he's mostly patient. As long as it isn't dragged out too long.

But there's a trap there: three granddaughters. Children, and he's reminded of the son he's left behind. Now he's actually more than a little curious. ] What?

[ He does not guess. ]

[hellnah]

[ Hellboy doesn't have family, not really. The closest thing he had to a father died years back, and if any of his blood relatives still live, he wants absolutely nothing to do with them.

But that doesn't matter. He doesn't need a family of his own to be enraged by how others choose to treat the one they do have. ]

Promised 'em she'd reward them if they caught me. So after they did her dirty work for her, she asked what they wished for.

First one wanted to see her lost lover again. But the witch twisted her words up. Brought him back, but he was a corpse, and killed the girl. Second one wanted to breathe air so she could join her lover on land. So the witch drowned her right there at the bottom of the sea.

I wasn't just gonna sit there and let her kill the third.

[quietroom]

[ Lan Wangji's family is small, but he loves them dearly. An adopted child he sees once a month, a brother, an uncle. He'd do anything for them.

The idea of tricking and betraying family. Well. It doesn't sit right, making Lan Wangji's face shift the slightest bit, a tiny frown, and a nod of approval at his actions. So this person might look like a demon, but there's a nobility to his actions. ]

How did you stop her?

el travieso

[wolfchild]

[ the child he turns to has a long solemn face and grey eyes incredibly old on her face. despite her age, she does not appear given much to laughter or smiles. and she is not surprised to see someone speaking to a tree.

she is surprised to see a tree flinging rocks.

but even that isn't her present concern. ]

What's a banana?

[hellnah]

[ There's a half-second, right after he meets her eyes, when he's sure he's looking at another ghost.

But no— no, that's a real kid. Instinct has him hunching a bit, but the effect on his stature is marginal. ]

Uh.

[ Damn. Okay. He's been asked some weird questions since arriving here, but somehow, this one takes the cake. ]

A fruit. Yellow, kinda long? [ He indicates the size of your average Cavendish with his hands. Adding lamely, ] They're pretty good.

[wolfchild]

[ the description provides clarity. sort of. at least she remembers one day at the shelter when she asked what the sweet honey yellow slices paired with the rice and beans and meat had been. ]

I thought those were… [ she wrinkles her nose as she tries to recall the name the woman had used when she drew a picture of them on a napkin, ] plant tins?

[ "plantains." ]

[hellnah]

[ . . . Plant tins. Tins, for plants...?

Oh. ]

Plantains. You're right, those're a kind of banana. There's smaller, sweeter ones, too.

[ Another rock whizzes past, narrowly missing Hellboy's temple. He doesn't flinch. ]

Apparently I need to find 'em for my pal up there, before he gives me a concussion. You want some, too?

[wolfchild]

[ she looks from the red demon to the tree still throwing stones and back. ]

Where do you find them? [ translation: she's coming along. ]

[hellnah]

[ Let's get you some fruit. ]

A store, I guess. Or a market. Let's look around.

[ He waves for her to follow as he starts walking. There's movement in the tree, an indistinct shape dropping from the branches and skittering along the top of a wall running alongside their path. The bacoo's coming, too, of course. ]

[wolfchild]

[ she has to take two steps for every one of his, but she manages to keep up. out the corner of her eye, she notices their shadow. small, she thinks. and quick. ]

What is that?

[hellnah]

[ His face can be difficult to read, but from the relaxed slope of his shoulders and the lazy swish of his tail, Hellboy's clearly none too bothered by the thing. ]

A bacoo. Think he's just cranky and hungry 'cause I accidentally woke him up. Don't worry, he's not gonna hurt you.

[ That's as much a pointed threat at the bacoo as it is a reassurance to the kid.

He may have heard the name of the creature before in his travels, he thinks, decades back... but nothing more than that. He's not sure if it's inclined towards anything more than petty mischief, but he's spent a lifetime crisscrossing the globe, encountering countless beings of this ilk — and they all quickly discover that starting shit with him around is a poor choice. ]

Looked like a weird, hairy little guy at first, kinda like an imp or goblin, though this one's a shape-changer. That's always fun. [ Indeed, if she looks up at it now, she may see the flash of green of an anole crawling atop the wall. ] Dunno if you've got anything like that where you're from.