notasstrange | Round 2 Test Drive Meme

15 STRANGERS ROUND 2
TEST DRIVE
There are 15 strangers in this place. Someone knows why. And its clear the odds are stacked against you.

1. ARRIVAL
You're here, in the Mall. Wherever the Mall might be, right? And what happened to your powers? Your memories? Who else has been so unlucky as to be brought in with you? Also, why are the rules littered with emojis!?

2. POWER
You have been, er, "blessed" with a power. Its not a power you want or care for, but its yours now. You might want to try an control it, lest you hurt someone else. That is...unless you want to. Just don't blow up any public property while you're at it!

3. HOME
So now you live in a mall! All right! Modern conveniences galore! And hey, there's a cat cafe and a bar! Maybe living here forever won't be so bad. Unless you're looking for a way out, but surely, you wouldn't do that, right?

4. MINIGAME
The Life Coach has decided to do 'games'. Those who win the games will get prizes, the Life Coach has promised. The Test Drive Meme's minigame: a costume contest! The best costume made in five hours wins! Work alone, or in teams - the Life Coach is ok with either~!

5. MOTIVE
The Life Coach has announced the motive for the week. Clearly someone really wants to give you a reason to kill someone. How will you react? Will you stand against such an insult and help others to fight the temptation? Or perhaps, you yourself are tempted...?

6. DEATH
One of your own has died - no, been killed. The Inquisition has started. The body lies before you, and now you must discern the truth from the clues before you. But can you when you mourn? Or, perhaps you don't mourn the dead. Perhaps you're only playing along because you know more than you let on.

7. TRIAL
Well, it looks like the Life Coach wasn't kidding when they said there would be a trial. So now you're here, looking to condemn the responsible killer. If you do, they die. If you don't, you die. Whatever happens, you have to figure out what happened. Can you?

8. WILDCARD
Anything not mentioned above. Go wild!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Huh? Oh, this is vir--this is non-alcoholic. Trust me, I've seen what alcohol does to people and I want nooo part of that. I don't think this store even has a liquor license...

[Wait.]

Hold on. Familiars? Witches? Those are things, too?

[ ... Have you looked at how she's dressed, Joey. Does she look like the kind of person that would bullshit about that thing. ]

Oh, well if it's non-alcoholic, that's fine--

[ Pause. ]

Well, of course they are! Are you from a non-magic family, then?

Yeah, I'm...

[A pause to think about the sheer number of mummies sitting around her house.]

I'm pretty sure I am. I'm also pretty sure magic was just something made up and in my babysitter's original fiction she thinks I don't know about. Are you telling me it's real?

... Yes? Granted, they took my wand from me and we're probably not very close to a ley line to use magic to begin with, but since Professor Croix is also here and she might have her magic router, that might be able to do something. I'm not sure. I know they let her keep her wand, which is her phone, I believe?

[ So, y'know. ]

But she can't access the magical apps on it. I'm a more... traditional witch. Proper wand, proper spells.

Yeah, I don't know what any of those words are except "wand" and "spells". I mean, I know what a phone is, but I talked to Ms. Croix earlier and she and I seem to have very different ideas of what that means. If she's used to magic phones that actually makes a lot more sense...

[ Does Ursula sound almost disdainful here? 'Cause she is. But there's a smile on her face anyway, because Ursula doesn't badmouth people. Not even to their back. ]

... That's Professor Croix for you. She... has a very... unique understanding of the world. Of technology, and of magic. She's someone that believes they should be used in unison, rather than separated. And while I certainly agree with her... I can't say I understand everything she gets up to.

You should see her "broom". I'm not sure you can even call it that, really.

Is it like a flying motorcycle or something?

[It's not an anachronistic reference, it's just a coincidence.]

... No, but close. It's this odd, circular little vacuum cleaner... I think it's called a roomba? I've seen her stand and sit on the thing while it flies, but I've also seen them clean things up. And I suppose it IS important to establish a cleaning relationship with your broom, so I guess it works well enough for her?

[ Croix's roomba thing is really weird and she doesn't get it. ]

I guess I have seen witches on vacuum cleaners before, but I still have no idea what a "roomba" is.

[Cautious, strawless daiquiri sip. Wow that's cold.]

I think I like the cat-familiars and wands stuff better. I've at least heard of that.

[ She pulls a small notebook out of her robe's pocket. How? ... She's got deep pockets and also she takes notes a lot. She'll make a little drawing of a circular disk looking object sucking up some dirt. It's red and has a little shark fin on the back. It's big enough to stand on, which she illustrates drawing... well, a very poor doodle of Croix on top of it. ]

Here you go. This is what it looks like. Hers is red.

[ And then she'll doodle a crow with one eye closed and a little sparkle-looking mark on its chest (not too different from the symbol on your shirt, actually, Joey, although it's light blue.) ]

My familiar's a crow, actually. Although, I do know some witches who have cats. One of my students even has a barn owl.

Ha. That's some great artwork there. And a very fashionable crow.

[She thinks for a second, sloshing her drink a bit. She considers herself a skeptic, but she also hates accusing people of lying. Also, everything else that's happened in the last few days.]

I don't know if I believe the whole magic thing yet, but I'm not going to rule it out, either. It'd be nice if you were able to use it and we could maybe get out of here, though.

His name is Alcor!

[ She smiles gently. It's okay if she doesn't believe fully. That's fine. ]

It's understandable if you're having trouble believing, though... that's sadly commonplace nowadays. If only they allowed me to have my wand, I could do something. Or some potion ingredients... anything, really. But if I did have it, I could certainly get us out of here, as long as I had access to magic.

Using the Ley Line would be quite simple!

I'm going to guess that they took all of that to make it harder for you to do anything about the situation. I'm not the hostage-situation expert in my family, but that seems pretty obvious, right?

[One of the cats comes back over and deigns to let Joey pet her thoughtfully.]

What's a leyline?

They're the branches of the former great magic tree, Yggdrasil. They're the energy that makes all magic possible. Without the Ley Lines, we wouldn't be able to fly, do magic at the school, or even anywhere else. It's why most places, like the school I work at, have an object to harness the Ley Lines' power and feed it to everyone.

[ The cat she's had nearby her hasn't left, it seems quite content. It is also black. Big surprise. ]

Long ago, the Ley Lines used to be connected all over the world by the tree Yggdrasil. But once the Golden Age of Magic ended and belief in that power faded, the tree died out, leaving only its roots behind. Those are the Ley Lines.

[This is starting to reach school levels of Proper Nouns. It all sounds pretty interesting, though...]

That's cool and sad at the same time. Definitely something I'd expect more from a cartoon than reality still, but...a whole magic school, huh? Sounds like a big improvement over not-magic school just by default.

Oh, Luna Nova is a wonderful school!

[ ... She, uh. Sorry. She's gushing a little. She has to place a hand back over her mouth and clear her throat. ]

I-I mean, it's certainly one of the best. I can't think of a magical school with more prestige and a better staff. I'm sure you'd love it! We've had plenty of students from non-witching families before; my main pupil comes to mind, since I mentor her.

I teach Magical Astronomy there. It's not a required class, of course...

About anything would beat regular non-magic high school. It does sound really nice...

Oh, but education is important, no matter where you go. ... Just between you and me, though, you're right. Normal school is completely boring.

[ She winks. ]

Round 2 Test Drive Meme

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