obsidianooc | test drive;

The game cap is 30 players. We currently have 22 players in game.

TDM Guidelines

1. We strongly encourage you to post to the AU Workshop before posting here, just to get your concept out there. Feel free to link to your workshop post in your tag for easy lookup purposes.

2. Threads can be game canon if both players agree to it.

3. No one is late! Consider this a permanent test drive (until captcha is hit, if that happens). We'll be tracking top-levels and drawing attention to new posts.

4. You don't have to use any of the prompts below; feel free to create your own!

5. Don't worry about cell block assignments for the purpose of the TDMm if you haven't chosen one - feel free to keep it vague or retcon the threads a bit later.

Prompt 1: Common Room

The common room has books, magazines, newspapers, cards, and board games. The television has been out of commission for a while, but oh! Look! It seems like a new TV has been mounted on the wall! And this one's a 32 inch flat screen, a nice substitute for the old broken tube TV someone broke over a Monopoly dispute turned violent.

If you decide to watch the TV, the screen cuts to static a few minutes after you start watching and a strange voice starts to speak. It's a soft voice, but with the occasional distortion as if spoken by a person standing too close too a microphone.

"Hello there! You must be [CHARACTER NAME]. I think it's about time you got to know somebody a little bit better. Why don't you..."

(Choose one of the following options:)

"Tell someone something you don't want them to know. It doesn't have to be terribly juicy, as long as you'd prefer not to have told them."

"Give one of your fellow inmates a nice hard slap across the cheek."

"Be nice. Ask somebody if there's anything you can do for them. Anything at all."

"Find someone with a snack, and take it away from them."

"Go up to someone you don't know, and ask them what they did."

"If you decide to ignore me, or you tell anyone you're not acting of your own free will, the guard beside the magazine stand will send you strait to the SHU for two weeks.. Your choice."

No one else in the common room seems to hear the voice except you - although the aforementioned guard sure seems to be staring you down. The other people watching TV continue to react to the show that was playing.

Prompt 2: Lockdown

Uh-oh. Something bad must have happened, because the entire prison has been put into lockdown without bothering to herd everyone back to their proper blocks. You've been herded into a cell with someone from ANY block, and who knows when you'll be let out.

You have a set of bunk beds, a table and chair, a toilet and sink, and two shelves where the inmates who actually reside in that cell have put anything that belongs to them.

Now's a good time to get to know your new temporary cellmate. Or pray that you're on good terms, if you already know them.

Prompt 3: The Yard

It's recreation time! Your daily opportunity for a couple hours of fresh air, if you choose to take it (or if the indoor guards are sick of you and decide you're going outside whether you like it or not). The guards here are primarily concerned with preventing your escape, so if you're not lingering around the fences you'll be watched less than if you were inside.

If you're new, weak, or don't have a solid group of allies yet, that also means it's less likely that anyone will help you if someone else decides to pick a fight. Be careful.

The outdoor guards to a careful, meticulous sweep of the entire area every night, trying to keep...something out. It seems they were slacking off a bit yesterday: the tiniest sliver of obsidian rock has made its way into the yard undetected and - ow - you've brushed up against it, embedding it somewhere on your body.

The shard has imbued you with one of the following effects:

The next person who makes eye contact with you can read your thoughts, and you can read theirs. Careful, it might get hard to tell who's who after a while.

You suddenly feel frightened and timid, as if everyone in the yard is bigger, stronger, and out to hurt you.

You are overcome with the urge to dig into the ground with your bare hands, looking for more of the rocks.

The next person you see fills you with rage, and you want to attack them.

You become exceptionally suggestible, and will do whatever you're told.

You feel a strange euphoria: regardless of how you felt before, the prison now feels like the very best place to be, as if you're at the center of the universe.

Regardless of the effect, the shard will slowly start to burn hotter and hotter, compelling you to remove it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They're from the library, dipshit.

[ He yawns, stretching out on his bunk as much as he can. Insulting Steve Harrington is practically second nature to him. He doesn't even realize what that means for few seconds. ]

Harrington?! [ He turns to look him in the eye. ] What are you doing in my cell?

With you, it's better not to assume.

[ Steve looks right back at him, his arms crossed. ]

Yeah, still me and not the figment of your imagination. Conjugal visit. [ He blows out an exasperated sigh. ] Why the hell do you think I'm here. It's definitely not because it's the fun, new thing to do.

Don't tell me they put us in the same cell.

[ He drags a hand down his face and groans. This day could not get any worse. Was this some kind of nightmare after all? ]

You better not snore.

I don't, but even if I did, you'd have to deal with it or put me out of my misery.

[ Tough shit, Billy. Though it doesn't exactly sound like the worst option right now. He makes himself comfortable, sitting on his bunk. ]

Been here long?

Good. I snore, bu the way.

[ Of course he does. Billy can't make anything easy. ]

A few days. I don't even think the jury fucking listened to me, they locked me up so fast. [ When the crime you're accused of is killing two dozen people and there were eye witnesses, people generally aren't sympathetic. ]

Peachy.

[ Billy has never been easy ever, in his entire life, according to Steve's memory. He rolls his eyes even if it can't be seen. ]

Huh.. I didn't know about that, sorry. I was dealing with my own shit at the time. [ He pauses for a beat. ] Was your jury distinctively Russian?

Russian? [ He snorts. ] No, just...a bunch of people who thought I was another violent bastard on a rampage.

[ And he hadn't done much with his life that would prove otherwise. ] Was yours all Russian?

[ Well, at least it's not a bigger conspiracy. He does not have the bandwidth to handle that. ]

Look, I can't say you're not a violent bastard on a rampage.. but you never came across as a guy who'd kill somebody. [ So take that however. ]

Yeah, pretty much. It was rigged from the start.

I didn't want to do any of that. But who'd ever believe me?

[ That he was possessed? That there was a shadow at the back of his mind making him bring all those people to the warehouse to be devoured? That sounded a lot less likely than 'boy with a history of violence became a killer'. ]

I know we're not friends. But I'm sorry you're in this shit too, I guess.

There's not really a whole lot of believing going on around here.

[ At the end of the day, did it really matter to anybody that they didn't have the full picture? If he'd heard about what Billy did on tv, he knows he wouldn't believe him. Not really. But stuck here with him now? He sounds earnest enough. ]

What happened? [ They're not friends, but if they're going to be bunking together, Steve can at least try. He makes a non-comital noise in his throat. ]

Pretty sure you didn't put me here, Hargrove.

I don't know. [ He rolls over on the bed, burying one side of his face in the pillow. ] There was something else inside of me. I wasn't myself.

[ If anyone else had told him a story like that, he wouldn't have believed it. He probably would have mocked them just for saying it. ]

That sounds nuts, doesn't it?

What do you mean by something else inside of you? ...Like something out of The Exorcist?

[ Yeah, it's nuts, but Billy sounds like he believes it's not. And with everything that happened with the mall? Maybe crazy things are a little more believable. Hell, they were both in prison. That's pretty damn crazy, too. ]

Dude, I swear to god if you start vomiting pea soup, I'm bailing.

Yeah. Something like that. It's gone now, though. I think.

[ It isn't completely gone - just weak and buried very far below his subconscious. ]

...Do you believe me?

[ It doesn't quell the uncertainty, but that just goes with the shitty territory of unanswered questions. He peeks over the side of the bed, looking up at Billy with a frown. ]

You okay after that? Do you feel like yourself?

[ He knows that doesn't really answer the question, but him asking more should at least show that he doesn't think Billy's a liar. ]

test drive;

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