TEST DRIVE ∞ May 2025

[thediadem]

Test Drive ∞ May 2025

The First Collision

©

Jump ⇅ :: Arrival — Panorama — Fringes — Invite Request

The Diadem is an invite-only panfandom game set in a retro-futuristic world where uprooted souls find themselves deep within an eerie wasteland of roads and highways frequently assailed by cosmic storms. Three united strongholds keep the population. Its capital is Panorama, a large metropolis at the planet's center.

Soon, you realize you aren't alone. Calling themselves fluxdrifts, the "locals" have similar stories to you, either for themselves or their ancestry. You speak to an old woman who claims she hailed from another star. You meet a young man who says his great-great-grandfather knew a strange language everybody spoke "back home." As you explore, you stumble across a coin you recognize or your sister's locket. How did it get here? What does this mean? That's for you to discover.

But first, you need to find a ride.

No invites needed to play on the TDM. Everyone's welcome! Use the Invite Request thread below to request an invite from another player.

∞ Summary ∞

IC-wise, arrivals are scattered throughout the month. Events described on the TDM are also ongoing throughout the month. If you'd rather jump right into the action, you're free to begin in media res with your character having already been on the planet for several days.

Post-impact, characters will wake up in a med tent by the Scrapyard. From there, they must accept a vehicle on loan and make the 2-hour drive to the nearest city, Panorama. If they refuse the car because they don't want the loan, they'll be in debt for medical bills instead...so just take the car. It'll come in handy.

Some things to keep in mind when bringing in your character:

• Pick an injury. At minimum, they got knocked out; at most, whatever they can recover from. Medicine is decently advanced so they'll heal faster if not painlessly.
• Decide items kept. Reasonable items on their person only: photos, keys, clothes, costumes. No pets or animal companions. Wildly out-of-place tech and personal cell phones will be damaged beyond repair.
• Select a weapon. Do this only if eligible. Guidelines about weapons and powers are on the FAQ.
• Choose a vehicle. Decide whether your character gets 2-3 options or if they're stuck with something they hate. Players can pick directly from our collection or source their own images. Anything under a similar aesthetic will work. If your character needs accommodations for driving, they can have them. Ask us for details.
• Get a phone. Characters have to obtain a phone (and a SIM card) themselves. If they've got one from home, it's damaged beyond repair. Phones are cheap. It'll only take a couple of weeks to afford one. You need to know the number before you text or call anyone. Read about phones and the Forum before you hop on it.

TDM threads can be canon if characters are accepted. Top-levels made to the TDM should be open to all.

TDM Questions? Here — Game Questions? FAQ

Setting — Taken — Reserves — Applications ::: ⇅ Top

Fluxdrift

Arrival & Introduction

Date: Throughout May

You've tumbled over a cliff. You were fighting for your life. You're on the cusp of death. You slipped in the shower. Whatever the catalyst, you struggle to cling to consciousness. As darkness overtakes you, a swirling vortex warps light and shadow in a way that defies all physics. A dark wail etches into your very bones. You couldn't describe it if you tried. You can barely comprehend what it is.

Then you open your eyes.

Through the figure's mask ©, you swear the face is grinning down at you. The tent you're in smells of antiseptic, and scratchy blankets line your cot. Injuries you've sustained have been bandaged. In the corner, you spot a MedBot that's fixed you up. Depending on the extent of your injuries, the doctor on duty might give you some painkillers before you go. Thankfully, your belongings are by the exit. Sorry if anything's damaged. Your landing was pretty rough.

You follow the figure outside. They are Yom Crook, here to lend a hand to fellow fluxdrifts like yourself. Their car's parked beside them. Actually, there are lots of cars around, but Yom Crook's stands out with its painted shark mouth. They explain they found you, unconscious, in a diffusion zone and brought you here. The nearest city is a 2-hour drive northeast. Forget about walking. You'll never make it. Also, you owe the doctor a lot of money for patching you up. But you're in luck: they've got some wheels for you and if you accept the vehicle on loan, Yom Crook will cover your medical bills. That's a good deal, right? It's not the shiniest car or motorcycle, but it'll do. If fortune favors, you'll get to choose between two or three options. Plus, if you need accommodations to drive—like adjustments to your seat height or modified controls—you'll receive all that for free.

Take the vehicle. (And the loan.) Yom Crook assures you that you'll have six months before collectors come around. Any time you're ready to pay a part of it down, return here to the Scrapyard. You'll get a receipt and everything. Paying off the loan in six months isn't impossible, but it will take a lot of work. Just don't get too lax. There's a good chance you'll be juggling multiple loans as you try to get by.

You either know how to drive, or you'll have a bare-bones manual to get you started. Road rules are more a suggestion than enforced, so just hit the pedal and go. The car has some basic features. The built-in compass will help you navigate.

OPTIONAL PROMPTS: a flat tire; a body on the road (is it a trap?); a fender bender

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Panorama

Explore & Settle In

Conditions: Warm spring temperatures, light showers

After 2 hours on the road, you find civilization. The largest of the strongholds, Panorama is where the economy thrives. Massive power plants glowing red make it visible from a distance. The city is divided into three districts. For now, you can access the Pavilion and the Blocks. Don't worry about the Sanctum; they're not letting you in.

You only need to know two things about Panorama: 1) it's big, the size of a modern metropolis, and you'll need your car to get around; 2) anything goes as long as you don't pick a fight with the wrong person. Street smarts will get you far. Despite its geographical size, the population isn't huge. With roughly a million people in a city designed for over twice that number, Panorama is far from deserted, but nor is it overcrowded. It's a good thing. Resources are limited as it is.

The Pavilion: Free Samples

©

Like any large city, Panorama features a couple of supermarkets. The stock's not as consistent as a proper supermarket. On occasion, shelves can remain cleaned out for a week or two. Regardless, the long tradition of free samples remains. If you're not already shopping, you'll notice the crowded parking lot and clusters of lines inside.

Try samples, push through the crowds as you shop, or give yourself a five-finger discount. If you're cautious, you can pocket a few small items without consequences. The Pavillion doesn't have the infrastructure for surveillance; unless someone sees you, you won't be caught. Steal from the store or pilfer someone's wallet. Maybe you even make a new friend if you bump into another fluxdrift. Or, start a fight with somebody who cut you off in the cheese line. Don't make too much of a ruckus, or you'll be thrown out.

As you look around, you'll see posters advertising temporary positions for the cash register or graveyard shifts in the warehouse. Seems they might've lost several employees recently (how'd that happen?), which is good for you! It's just a 6-week position, but it'll get you on your feet. The city has temporary positions like this all over. Permanent ones are harder to come by when you're new.

Samples include: steamed cabbage dumplings, synthetic cherry juice, cheddar cheese, and chocolate-covered alien eggs (it's crunchy and weirdly tasty). They're served in the usual throwaway paper cups with little toothpicks.

The Blocks: Power Outage

©

Power's finicky in Panorama, especially in the Blocks. Saint Margery's Hospital, located in the same area, has priority for power so the first to go are the motels. Maybe you've been in your room for a couple of weeks, maybe you just got here—and by the way, every motel desk is happy to put the fee on your tab if you don't have the money upfront—but all the motels on the east side are in a blackout, leaving only the west side motels up and running.

What do you do? You have three choices:

• Risk leaving your room and head to the other side where there's power. Knock on some doors and negotiate with another to share the room. They might shut the door in your face, ask for a favor in return, or be nice enough to help you with no strings attached. There's no guarantee your unattended room will be untouched, though, and you'll be on the hook for any damages an intruder causes.
• Sit in the dark and deal. It's not the worst idea, but the TV's down, the vending machines are powered down, and with the entire place plunged into darkness, you risk getting robbed. If you struggle with defending yourself, you might want to find some trustworthy company. You can also sneak out of there and let them take your leftover pizza. It's not like you've got a ton of valuables, right? Plus, clobbering someone in the face with a frying pan sounds great until you realize you've gotta do something with the body. And what if this person's got a friend waiting?
• Get in your car and drive (or grab a friend for a road trip). If you scroll the Forum, you might notice reports on diffusion zones southward. Besides, these motels are hardly your forever home. The city can only provide so much. Why not go for a ride and see what you can find out there?

OPTIONAL PROMPTS: clean up on aisle 3 (what is that goo?); a knock at your door but no one's there; you hear screaming or a commotion down the hall

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©

The Fringes

Quad 3: Lockdown

Conditions: Stormy, with flooding roads

Felix Bjurstrom
> Date: 125-05-17
> Time: 02:15:57

> Emergency road lights have been reported in Quadrant 3! Please, can someone go see what's there? When last we chasers investigated emergency lights, a whole truck filled with sour candy had tipped over. Our stores were stocked for weeks! Oh, be careful - reception looks bad in that zone.

Whether you end up here on your own or you were following a tip on the Forum, the outcome is the same: you come to a stop in front of a 2-story office building that's flooded several inches deep. Emergency lights from a roadblock flicker through the stormy night. Stepping out of your car, you're soaked within seconds. When you check your phone, you don't have any bars. No calls in or out.

Through the open windows, a computer awakens and displays a cheerful smile. The lights inside switch on.

Pick your scenario role below. Your thread partner doesn't need to take the opposite role! They can join you in the same scenario (i.e. trapped together). Players are also free to create a generic NPC for the other side to facilitate the thread.

After characters escape, they'll find one bottle of antibiotics in their pocket or car, whether they remember taking it or not.

A: Sealed In
As you peer through the windows, you see crates of medicine floating around. Antibiotics in the diadem are valuable. Hospitals and doctors are always buying. You can keep it for yourself or make a quick buck. Or maybe you're compelled to help somebody back in the city who's in need. Whatever the reason, you decide to take the risk and step inside.

Water splashes around your ankles. The lock buzzes behind you. If you try to break the windows, you discover they're unnaturally resistant to shattering. With the whole place locked tight, the water begins to churn. Then the computer lights up again.

Warning, it flashes in large, bold text. Quarantine in progress. Release code required for exit.

• To find the code, you'll have to search. Duck under the water, go through sopping envelopes and sticky notes or pick the locks on the filing cabinets and desk drawers. You can also try hacking the computers. Use your computer knowledge or fall back on the age-old trick of seeing who wrote down their password.
• The files, notepads, and emails start innocuous, but as you look through them, disturbing phrases jump out at you—a dark thought you've had or a cruel taunt from someone in your past. The longer you're fixed on the terrible words, the higher the water begins to rise. Only another can break you out of your trance.
• With the rising water comes fear. And the more you're afraid, the more the water also rises. You begin to see faces in the water, bobbing like balloon heads. Do you recognize them? If you move to take a closer look, they will sink back beneath the surface as if never there.
• If you manage to swallow your panic, you can eventually find a triple-laminated binder with the release code and instructions. Bad news: you need someone on the outside to punch in the 6 strange symbols in order. The instructions explain that the code panel is located at the back of the building.

Let's hope a friendly face comes along.

B: Set Free
As you peer through the windows, you see not just the crates of medicine but someone trapped inside. They look like they might be in trouble, and from your vantage point, you notice that the water is bubbling strangely. It's definitely not normal rainwater. As you watch, the water rises unnaturally, stopping and starting. It's as if the water level is responding to an external stimulus.

• The glass is soundproof. You can't hear what the person inside is saying, so you'll have to communicate with each other another way. Try charades, typing on your phone, or whatever you think of. Eventually, you determine that they're stuck and that you need to enter some sort of code onto a pad located—according to your trapped partner—at the back of the building.
• Around the back, shadows swallow your surroundings. The panel must be pried open, but a slippery substance makes it hard to get a good grip. Each time the substance touches you, you grow uneasy. You swear you see eyes watching you, though when you turn around, nothing's there.
• You can't seem to keep the instructions in your mind. And those symbols...they burn into your retinas. Through them, you glimpse an incomprehensibly massive figure unfurling in the darkness, pulsing as if in a deep sleep. When you snap back to reality, you realize you've injured yourself, slicing your hand on a sharp edge or a bruise you can't remember getting.
• Once you manage to release the doors, the water inside the office drains upward into the sky as though sucked out by a giant hose. The darkness spreads. Get out of there fast before the shadows drag you or your partner into the void.

Of course, you don't have to help anyone. You can leave the individual there, make a deal, or outright extort them. But remember, you're not the only person on these roads. You might want to play your cards carefully, even if altruism isn't your first instinct.

Main Navigation ::: ⇅ Top

Comments

joel miller ▣ hbo tlou

[kidproof]

[ all prompts are ota - emp link here - also open to wildcard responses and hot-takes on my listed open prompts depending on what tickles fancy.
also feel free to reach out to me on this account or at doggos ]

PANORAMA, ota

[kidproof]

[ The old blue and white chevy s-10 has seen better days. With a conspicuous men's health magazine still on the floorboard and dust, debris, and the wear of time on her the flatbed beauty is as battle-weary as Joel feels himself.

When he finds civilization, his first thought isn't food, rest, or sustenance but a stiff drink. His second thought is a map, something to make sense of all this senselessness.

Two hours of driving and not one single infected sighting, no visible tells of the cordyceps, just a brand new blight to deal with and fewer answers than before. ]

FREE SAMPLES

Yeah, thanks...

[ Alien eggs? Cabbage rolls? Joel takes them both and looks at them with the suspicion of a man tricked by false hospitality more than once despite his Southern upbringing.

The grease leaks through the paper cups and onto his hands and his stomach groans with contempt for his discernment. It's been days since he's had anything decent. Days since he's filled the hump, he's managed a discarded bag of stale pork rinds and some juice that tasted all kinds of unholy but he's been riding through with barely any sleep and any food for long enough that even the chorus of his bodies disdain ain't gonna make him eat it any sooner.

The cabbage dumplings feel like a bad idea, and the alien eggs by name alone are already a hard pass given the current state of things. Joel grabs a passerby who is heading into the line for samples and foists his cups at them with the urgency of a man who has better things to do than idly inspect their idea of local cuisine. ]

Here. Take mine.

PAVILION PETTY THEFT

[ After the smell of hot food and the droves of people waiting for their share like a herd of cattle Joel's rational brain segues into the store along with him looking for sealed packages of food made by robots in a tempered setting.

That was easier to trust.

He's looking fresh off the road, mud still on his jeans and boots from roadside stops and his hair windblown despite the moisture in the air and the cool climate around them.

He's got all the raw energy of a man ready to fight at a moment's notice, and so when he pushes a pack of beef jerky and a half-pint of cheap bourbon into the inner pocket of his thick canvas jacket he does it while locking eyes with the unfortunate soul in the aisle along with him.

Snitches get stitches. ]

petty theft

[punctually]

[ before joel reaches for the beef jerky, peter already knows what's in store. he can't read thoughts or peer into futures or time travel, but he has spent his teenage years dabbling in petty theft so, you know, like recognizes like. he has his own stash of string cheese in the pocket of his supermarket issued work apron; it's fine. he gets it.

which means while joel is staring him down as he pockets his jerky and bourbon, peter meets his gaze directly across the aisle. ]

You good? [ he leans against his mop and bucket, pointing to the small puddle of goo near joel's feet. ] I'm just trying to mop up that spill.

clint and pietro in an alternate universe be like

[kidproof]

[ Siri, play Been Caught Stealing by Jane's Addiction.

Joel's had to live on leftovers for long enough, and a former "smuggler," he's never been tongue in cheek about things with a price tag. Game recognizes game, though, and after a long hard look at the ki,d he drops his gaze down to the gooey residue and steps back with disdain.

The fact that he hadn't noticed it means that all this trouble with the car, the driving, and the new environment has him off kilter. He's supposed to be the one that covers his bases and his ass. ]

What is that?

free samples

[healbuff]

[River's eyes light up at the offer.]

Really? Freakin' sweet, thanks.

[He's about to eagerly accept the offer, but something about Joel makes him pause and examine him for a more careful minute. It's probably the natural doctor-instincts that makes him do a quick scan and then remark.]

You absolutely need more grub than I do though.

[kidproof]

Yeah, don't mention it.

[ Joel clears the rest of the greasy residue off on his flannel shirt with a screwed-up face. He's not interested in any of the handouts, not unless his hunger gets worse, and only after he does the light recon work of watching other people for any strange side effects. ]

Oh, do I? Saying thank you and then insulting the guy forking over the free meal in the same breath ain't cordial.

[healbuff]

[River shrugs.]

I says it how I sees it. That said I won't push questionable eggs on you since you gave 'em to me.

[See, he'll even quickly pop them into his mouth and proceed to eat them all. When he's done chewing and swallowing, he continues.]

Seriously though, when's the last time you saw a doctor?

[kidproof]

Wow. Thanks for the charity.

[ It's said in the same gruff tone as his original insolence had implied when he'd shoved the food his way to get a sense of the cuisine and his new surroundings and the pitfalls with them both.

Candid's not the word for it, the guy has no filter, but he's come to like that in a person despite his response because fewer tells meant a lot less to hide. ]

See 'em all the time.

[ As in, he's laid eyes on a few doctors but that's apparent in the look he's leveled the guy with: equal parts unimpressed and amused. ]

Need me to bend and cough?

free samples

[messenger]

Um.

[ is this the line for the free samples? actually, he'd just intended to hover. see how they do things around here. there's no use wasting food on him, but now how does he tell this man his hospitality has been wasted?

honesty, right.

he looks down at the little cups he's now holding. ]

I can't eat.

[kidproof]

[ Joel wouldn't even reply, shouldn't even reply, but the undertones being as awkward as they are become a thing too loud to ignore.

The guy could've said just about anything and Joel wouldn't have cared, and in truth, he still didn't but whatever uncertainty hung around them fell like some damning blanket and Joel rolls his eyes with irate indignance. ]

Then double it and give it to the next guy. Maybe it'll buy you some good will.

[messenger]

Why don't you want it?

[ he doesn't try to give his newfound treasures back, though, so at least there's that. ]

[kidproof]

Because I'd rather get my food myself.

[ It's in part not wanting to rely on the market here and in part not trusting the shit being shoved at them. So far nobody's had any adverse reactions but generally, people don't tend to give things out for free. Not where he's from. ]

free samples

[pse]

[ And just like that, Kimiko finds herself juggling two handfuls of free food.

They're just samples, but she's gone hungry in the past and isn't about to look a gift cabbage dumpling in the, uh, wherever you look to make eye contact with a cabbage dumpling. This is where things are going to get weird for Joel, though. Rather than say thanks like a normal person, Kimiko balances the cups precariously between her elbow and the corner of her ribs. With both hands free, she's able to cycle through a few slips of paper she has folded up in her coat pocket—opening one, scanning it quickly, tucking it back into her pocket, moving onto the next—until she finds the right one and offers it to Joel. He's left waiting a few seconds.

It says: Thank you!, with a rightside-up smile to punctuate, like so: 😊 ]

[kidproof]

[ Joel's already on his way toward the supermarket and to scout the rest of the place out when he's stopped by the antics of her juggling the food cups and what looks like scrap paper.

He knows better than to ask, but he takes the paper despite his intentions of ditching with bewilderment clear on his face.

His eyes fall on the words, and with genuine concern he slides the paper back to her, hoping it doesn't begin another circus routine. With the varying surprises he's had since arriving, this one is on the other side of good, and despite his present annoyance at his circumstances, he can appreciate the gesture. ]


Yeah, don't mention it.

THE BLOCKS, ota

[kidproof]

OUTSIDE THE HOTEL

[ When the power goes out, Joel doesn't worry, he's not stressed — he walks past raucous screams in the hallway of the hotel with a not my monkeys, not my circus, sense of indifference in the width of his shoulders and knit to his brow. He hesitates, only long enough to pinpoint the area it's coming from and he purposefully heads away from that to the outside of the Motel.

He knows better than to ask the staff for any pittance, he doesn't trust him worth a damn anyway. It's all too convenient, the city and its set up, and some of the enforcers he's seen around smack too much of FEDRA for him to give them so much as a second glance.

Outside, the sky is a brilliant glittery sheet of the unknown and Joel squints up at it from beneath the motel neon light trying to place constellations he knew from school and get an idea of just where the hell he was in the grand scheme of things.

It always comes up goose egg. He should've figured.

Joel stands there under the open sky with his hands on his hips, maybe for too long, but with all the lights gone he can see the sky overhead clearer than he had on the drive over and since being in the city.

There's something to that. Something worth thinking about, despite the circumstances. ]

B:

[ After his abysmal attempt at star charting Joel grabs an old oil drum from the nearby alley and rolls it a few feet away from the entrance of the motel a loud thundering of dented metal on the pavement announces his plan before he has a chance to exact it.

Kindling in a city this size is easy to come by and so Joel starts tearing posters off walls and fliers off street posts for the making of his beacon. Using what he had left of camping provisions from the truck to ignite the blaze in the bin.

He warms his hands over the open flame and pulls out some easy cooking for over the flame with skewers and an old grate to use as the surface of the barbecue.

He might know where the hell he was or what any of it might mean but he knew how to survive, and how to look out for himself. That much is evidenced by the sizzling thin cuts of meat on his crap trap cooking set-up.

The smoke and the flame are enough to draw unwanted attention, so he has his piece on him and his boot, but if he doesn't have to kill someone he won't. Not in such uncertain terrain. ]

What? Never seen a hobo hibachi set up before?

the blocks (b)

[yeahmagnets]

[ Jesse rounds the corner from the motel after giving up on the busted vending machine inside. He finds firelight flickering up against the alley wall, throwing dancing shadows across a hunched figure and a dented oil drum. The smell hits him first: woodsmoke, maybe paper, and something sizzling. Something meaty. His stomach lurches. Not in disgust. Hunger. A bone-deep, tight-in-the-ribs kind of hunger. Then he hears the voice, dry as a matchstick: What? Never seen a hobo hibachi set up before?

Jesse lets out a short huff of laughter. He squints at the figure. Looks like an older guy, all grit and no bullshit. Jesse steps closer, cautious but not unfriendly. His eyes settle on the skewers lined up over the makeshift grate. Whatever it is, it’s cooking fast. Jesse leans in slightly, eyeing the cuts but not getting too close. ]

Yo, yeah, I’ve seen plenty of ghetto grills, alright. But what I haven’t seen is whatever the hell that is. [ He gestures vaguely at the mystery meat, half-grimacing, half-intrigued. ] Smells kinda bomb, I'll give you that.

[ His eyes flick toward the flames, then back to the man, trying to gauge whether this dude’s the kind to shoot first or maybe share a bite if you don’t piss him off. Jesse tugs at the collar of his hoodie, voice dry. ]

I got some booze and a couple protein bars if you, I dunno, might be up for trading for a piece, maybe? But I kinda need your word that I'm not eating somebody's weird pet ferret. Or y'know...people.

[kidproof]

[ The vending machines were surprisingly durable and the one on its side still fully intact is thanks to Joel losing his temper with the damn thing back when the power worked and everything wasn't shut down and embossed by shadow.

The flame light gives just enough glow that Joel can see around him for a few feet and distinguish the darkness around him. It's an added benefit to the situation even if the meat and shit he's got sizzling wasn't his first choice. He'd eaten a lot worse just to make it through the night before.

The kid, though, came stepping out of the night like a sign from times before the outbreak and the collapse of civilization. He looks like any other guy he'd see at the Tom Thumb on his way home from a job tired and looking for electrolytes. It's a nostalgia Joel didn't realize he even had, his brows knit heavily over the bridge of his nose. ]

It's just cold cuts from the supermarket. Probably not people. Not unless we've got people farms around here and I dunno how much meat you could get from a ferret but I reckon that's not sustainable either way.

[yeahmagnets]

[ Jesse lets out a low, surprised chuckle, head tipping back just slightly, the tension bleeding out of his shoulders for the first time in what feels like hours. There’s something about the deadpan delivery that disarms him, the dry cadence slicing clean through the grime of this place. He steps a little closer to the barrel fire, hesitantly, the heat licking at his arms through threadbare sleeves. Sparks float up like fireflies and vanish into the night. The scent hits him again: salty, smoky, vaguely synthetic, but compared to the chemical reek of the scrapyard, it smells like home. Or what he remembers of it, anyway. Feels like worlds away, now.

Jesse glances sideways at the man, trying to read him under the flicker of firelight. He doesn’t look soft, but there’s nothing sharp and malicious there either, unlike he's used to. He's become adept at analyzing his surroundings and reading body language. It's a life-or-death matter in the world and the lifestyle he comes from. This guy looks like he’s survived things Jesse doesn’t have names for. He sees it in the way he moves. Efficiently. Measured. Like someone who knows what a second too slow can cost. Reminds him a little of Saul's guy, Mike. Maybe that's what makes him stick around. He swipes a hand under his nose, sniffs once, then exhales hard through his teeth like he’s trying to blow out whatever ghosts have hitched a ride on his shoulders. ]

Alright. Long as it ain’t people or possum, I guess I’m in.

[ Digging into his impossibly deep pockets, thanks to all of his clothes being a few sizes too big, Jesse pulls out a half-pint of whiskey and a protein bar that's a little squished, but still intact. He holds them out for inspection, brows raised to see if the offer's accepted. It's probably more than the meat's worth, but some warm food sounds better than the vending machine stuff he's been getting by on. ]

Wanna trade? These for a little bit of the, uh, Not Ferret?

[kidproof]

[ Joel grabs the half pint and passes back the ugly protein bar with disinterest. Better the guy keeps it for himself, emergency rations. These days Joel didn't need much to get by. His company is familiar in a way a lot of this place hasn't been so far, but like a long-held memory, not so much the present sense of nostalgia he didn't seek to find. ]

I can't promise you it's not possum, or some kind of roadkill but it's not bad. Had some earlier. Definitely pairs well with this.

[ Whiskey had an oaky earth taste when it was store-bought and cheaply made and so did the meat. If nothing else, it was some fuel to get them through the rolling blackouts and to the next thing this place saw fit to hurdle at them. ]

the blocks - b

[tataille]

[ Benny smells the smoke before he sees it. It hangs heavy in the air like old perfume, burned paper and oil and something sizzling that might actually be meat (which is more than he can say for most of what he's sniffed out lately). He rounds the corner nice and slow, no sudden moves, his whole body still aching, posture lazy on purpose. It sure seems like a lotta people here are jumpy, himself included, and the last thing he wants to do is startle someone into putting a bullet in him.

It smarts, dammit.

He spots the fire, the guy tending it, and the unmistakable look of someone who’s been through hell and just decided to start barbecuing on the ashes. That's fair, he thinks.

Only after a long beat does he finally speak, voice low and dry as desert gravel. ]

Only on Tuesdays. Sure smells good, brother.

[kidproof]

Cajun?

[There were a couple of things that remain true no matter how old someone is or when they were raised. Men from the South grow up surrounded by all their counterparts. The Gulf Coast is a bible belt that young men yo-yo back and forth around and that went all the way from Texas to North Carolina, and back again.

There's also no point in pleasantries, politeness, or pulling punches. Joel's sideways smirk betrays the tension in his jaw, but he pushes the meat around and doesn't bother meeting the guy's gaze or being any friendlier than necessary. ]

Feel free to pop a squat. I ain't stopping you. We're all stuck in this situation.

[tataille]

Yessir, born and raised. [ Benny huffs a soft laugh; low, dry. The rasp from his injury is mostly gone by now, so he's grateful for small favors.

Benny's not exactly used to warm welcomes, but this ain’t one, so he feels right at home.

He takes a few steps closer to the barrel, hands still visible, movements deliberate. He's not not cautious, not exactly, just... aware. Kinda like a man who knows how fast things can go south even when the meat’s still cookin’. ]

Well, ain’t that the most generous offer I’ve had all day. Thank ya kindly.

[ He settles into a crouch near the edge of the barrel, careful not to get too close too quick. The firelight flickers, dancing over his features, making the lines on his face sharper, older. Real damn tired. He watches the fire for a beat, then gives Joel a sidelong glance. ]

You from the Gulf?

Outside the Hotel

[fuckinabucket]

No Light but Darkness Visible

[ Mutters the small woman standing a few feet to Joel's west. She doesn't seem much distressed by the chaotic state of the power outage, in fact she almost has the smooth steely aura of a lady about to go and cause trouble. ]

... Sorry, you just looked so distinguished there. So dramatically thoughtful. Thought it deserved an epic underscore.

[ She wonders if he knows The Bible, if that rubbish made it all the way to this godforsaken place, too. ]

[kidproof]

[ Paradise Lost? It's been a while since Joel's sat down with a book let alone an old classic but he was still raised like any other kid, went to school, and that one was a reading fundamental. He turns toward the voice once he's able to place the quote and it takes him longer than he's willing to admit aloud. ]

I ain't some blank canvas for you to paint some meaning on.

[ But he was, he was thinking about something personal though and that wasn't on the table for discussion. ]

[fuckinabucket]

Did I say you look blank? Actually you look tired, and a little lost. Aren't we all?

[ Her tone does a dodgy dance between friendly and sarcastic, like she's on the razor's edge between warmth for Joel and making fun of him. The last bit is purely genuine though, they've all had a rough day swapping one familiar dystopia for a brand new flavor. ]

Did I catch you missing home? Apparently that's a common thing among newcomers

[ She talks with the light sarcasm of someone who doesn't miss home too terribly. ]