spaalonebabuguuscooties | ♠ | OPEN MEME

Entry tags:

open meme

♠ | OPEN MEME | MULTI-PURPOSE JAMJAR

the multi-purpose jamjar meme

it's fun, it's easy, and it's free. top-level with your preferences and then roll or pick from the settings/prompts listed below. fly with assumed cross-canon cr or toss some canon cr into some new and rocky situations. go hog wild.

I - SETTING

i. horror: you've been yoinked from your own world and thrown into a new and terrifying situation. roll with horrible monster transformations, hostile set-pieces, sadistic npcs, and more. all that matters is making it through the night.

ii. survival: through some twist of fate or another, you've been allocated into a resource-poor environment. basic amenities like food, water, and shelter that you might have once taken for granted are suddenly either outright absent or require significant labor to attain. you're not just a stranger in a strange land - you're a stranger in a strange land with only your own wits to help you survive.

iii. slice-of-life: ordinary cityscapes and peaceful suburbias are all very well and good, if you weren't stuck in them without a clear means of escape. the most you can do now is try to adapt to a peaceful life that you might have never had. you've been given a chance at normalcy, but not everyone's cut out to acquiesce to the ordinary day-to-day demands of schools, jobs, picnics, and what have you. relaxing can be tough, but here, you've got all the time in the world for it.

iv. fantasy: not only are you stuck in a pre-industrial revolution hell, but now you've got these fancy new magic powers and special weapons, maybe even at the cost of whatever abilities you might have once had. now go forth and destroy the one ring or kill some giants or something.

v. sci-fi: maybe you're trapped on a spaceship or on some newly colonized planet in the far-flung, distant future. maybe you're being drafted into a corrupt army, or trying to escape the nigh-omniscient artificial intelligence that monitors everything in a dystopian future-opolis. the setting's whatever you want it to be.

vi. au / memory regain: your name's not the one you had and your life's not the one you lived...but it's not like you know that. maybe you're plagued by strange dreams of who you actually are, or someone from your world's been dropped into your new life to try and jog your memory. either way, you've always felt that something was off about this world and this life you've had. you could never tell what until now.

vii. prison: some all-knowing or interdimensional or corrupt law enforcement has finally snagged you, and decided that you are unquestionably guilty. of what? who knows. maybe you're a legitimate criminal, or maybe you're genuinely innocent and imprisoned under false pretenses. no matter what the case is, you're being kept under lock and key and put under heavy surveillance. plot an escape with fellow inmates or sway a security guard to your cause - or maybe a friend of yours has managed to sneak their way in to try and break you out.

viii. merc-work: you've been snatched from your home so you can do some high-quality work for some higher power. you're an assassin, a spy, a thief, or some other shady agent. tormented by the moral quandaries of your work? in it for the money? salty that your captors are responsible for forcing you into this? but then again, maybe playing along is your best chance of getting home...

ix. wildcard: idk man do what you want i'm not a cop

II - SITUATION

i. first impressions: hey, i just met you, and this is crazy, but where the FUCK are we (so handle my stress-induced breakdown maybe)?

ii. second impressions: hey, remember when we first met? nostalgia's really a trip, huh? when you're in a brand new world, you've got to hold onto whatever familiarity you can get.

iii. an Event™: SOMETHING is happening and y'all have to deal with it. how are you coping? have you run into each other by chance, have you buddied up willingly, or are you stuck together in the middle of some hellish happenstance?

iv. living conditions: congratulations, you're now being housed with a complete stranger. or maybe not. maybe you're friends back home or you've met before. regardless of how you generally get along with your new roomie, the stress of adapting to a new situation doesn't always make for a fun teething period.

v. mysteries & conspiracies: what's a jamjar anyway? you're not about to take this lying down. whatever's going on here, whoever's abducting people from their worlds and whisking them away again, you're going to get to the bottom of it. no matter what it takes.

vi. crau hijinks: hey, don't i know you? what, you don't remember? what are you talking about? we were best buds in that [unrelated previous game experience wherein you confessed your love or some shit]! don't you remember me?

vii. grudging teamwork: for whatever reason, you're being forced to work with someone you don't know or can't stand. fight a monster, solve a puzzle, break out of confinement, find your way home, get unstuck or unlost, etc. you just have to work together to do it.

viii. violent ends, violent means: got stuck facing each other in gladiatorial combat? facing off against a violent threat together? or maybe you ran into this absolute dipshit on the streets and decided you didn't like their face or whatever. look, i'll save you some time and just say that this is either going to be a magnet for some prime angst or hurt/comfort.

ix. play the hero: swoop in and save the day from...whatever the heck's going on here. play the hero or the damsel, whether wanted or otherwise.

x. network tomfoolery: idly commenting on proceedings, bored and spamming people's inboxes, figuring out what the heck this shiny thing and all the buttons do, etc. maybe there's an internet here. maybe you can send someone airbrushed ted cruz. i'm not going to say what you can and can't do.

xi. inbox'd: leave a message after the beep! just kidding, they picked up. what'd you wanna chat about in private, champ?

xii. wildcard: once again i ask do i look like a cop

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Racto generally assumes that most people are younger than them. It is, generally, not an unsafe assumption. They look like someone in their late forties or early fifties, even if they're in actuality quite a bit older than that. Thin, lean, wiry, a walking billboard for the dangers of self-neglect and sleep debt, with most of their skin surface area consumed by scar tissue, Vale Racto tends to looks very much like someone you'd rather not have approaching you out of nowhere.]

[But if there's a kid that needs help, they're going to help, regardless of what it means for themself.]

[When they speak, their voice is rough and gravelly. Might have something to do with that scar that snakes up around their throat like a choker. Don't recognize this girl, but they don't recognize this place at all, so...you know, it's just one of those days.]

Hey. Hey, kid. You all good, there?

[ The transition from home to here happens as if between blinks, far too quick for Rin to really process it. She'd just finished dressing for the morning, was ready to settle down and draw and then... here she was, in a place completely unfamiliar with absolutely no awareness of how she'd gotten from A to B. It takes a second for what she's seeing to click, but when it does, she starts hard enough to stagger back a few steps. If it wasn't for the familiar, comforting shape of her tablet in her hands, she's not altogether sure if she wouldn't have followed through with a swoon of shock as well.

Her breath is catching hard in her throat and she can tell she's halfway to not being able to breathe at all when the sound of someone's voice brings her back down to earth with a hard bump. She spins on her heel so quickly that she almost throws herself off-balance and holds out her tablet a little protectively like she thinks that might protect her from attack. Her entire body language can basically be summed up as Cringe. ]

W... what...

[ There's... another person here. But that can't be right. For all the things she's made and drawn for the VR, she's never seen another person. ]

W–what is this place?! What's going on?

[ Despite her attempt to sound at least a little braver than she feels, her voice cracks. ]

[Shit. This is a hell of an adjustment for her, then. Right away, Racto stops, gives her some space. Hands up, palms out, the universal gesture for "easy, there." They keep their voice as steady as they can. Can't do a whole lot about looking all scarred-up to hell, but she already seems pretty spooked by just about everything else.]

I think you got tossed into a new world, same as me. You were minding your own business and then...found yourself here, right?

[That's kinda what happened to them less than an hour ago. They're still adjusting. There's sunlight here, which is weird, 'cause Racto's lived most of their life in a completely nocturnal state by necessity. There wasn't a sun where they came from.]

[Still. Looks like it's an adjustment for just about everyone.]

A new... a new world?

[ She parrots their words back, like repeating them will make her understand them better somehow, but no. It still sounds absolutely ridiculous, even hearing it in her own voice and she's startled to hear herself let out a soft laugh, overwhelmed and disbelieving all at once. This is such a ludicrous situation that she has no idea what to do but laugh. ]

But that's... how is something like that even possible? It's like a movie, or a game, or...

[ She trails off. Despite her protests, Rin knows full well that this world feels too real and solid and present to be fake. But she isn't quite sure she wants to believe in its realness quite yet. ]

Trust me, I don't get it either.

[They've seen a lot of shit in their day, but this? Yeah, this is new. Not sure how to handle it, and pretty sure the kid here doesn't know either. She laughs. One corner of their mouth twists in a vague smile, more out of reflex than anything else. Pretty damn sure that neither of them have a lot of humor for the situation.]

I'd say...yeah, feels kinda too much like a game or something to be real. But I'm pretty sure I'm real. [Not to get all existential, but, you know. They hold up a scarred hand and rub at their chin for a minute.]

You need a minute?

[ Rin pulls in a breath and holds it for a second, trying to make her heart slow its pounding, even if it's just a bit. It doesn't exactly work, but trying to make herself slow down finally makes her head stop turning over this at a hundred miles a minute, so it's... something, at least.

There's other people here. No matter what else might happen, that means she's not alone. And Rin knows that as long as she's not alone, she can survive anything. ]

I think... if I take a minute, then I'll keep finding excuses to take another one.

[ She gives them a wobbly, barely-there smile and then squares her shoulders as best she can. ]

Even if this is all a little scary, staying here won't do me any good.

That's the spirit.

[Racto keeps their smile small but something in it solidifies.]

I'm Vale. Or - most people call me Racto. [Start by handing her the power first. Not gonna ask for a name unless she feels like offering it under her own power. Scared kid, but taking it in stride so far. Impressively well. Might mean there's a breakdown just around the corner, but there's no reason to believe she can't handle herself.]

[ Rin nods, just barely. Though her posture still speaks to all sorts of unhappy tension that's keeping her stiff she's relaxed enough that she no longer looks to be in danger of snapping her poor tablet in half. ]

I'm Rin.

[ That much she's certain of, at least. She thinks at one point she might have had a surname, but whatever it was, she's forgotten it now. ]

Is... is there anyone else in this place? Or is it just the two of us?

I honestly don't know yet. Just got here myself. [And it's so goddamn bright. The sunlight's already starting to hurt their eyes a bit, but there's not a whole lot they can do about it now.]

I guess I could always see - [They dig around in the pocket of their coat for a second before withdrawing a small, rectangular phone. It lights up at their touch, but when they squint at it, their expression is one of dry resignation.] ...nah. No service. Guess I shouldn't be surprised.

If anyone else is here, I guess we're gonna have to find out the old fashioned way.

[ Even though she knows there won't be a message – there's never any messages – Rin finds herself instinctively glancing down at her tablet as well. If there were ever a time she'd think she was certain to get a message from someone, anyone, it would be now, but the notifs are stubbornly blank. Even when she clicks into the messages app to see if there's anything there, it just displays the same message as usual.

It shouldn't be a surprise. But still, it makes her shoulders sag with disappointment all the same. ]

There's nothing on mine, either. But I guess I'm not surprised, either.

[ She manages to give them a weak smile, though. ]

Um... maybe we could get up somewhere high, and see if there's any landmarks or anything around? It'd give us a good idea of where we could head to.

[Racto smiles a bit in return, a reflexive pull to one corner of their mouth. Smiling comes easy. Always has.]

Good idea. I've got no clue where this place is, or...god it's bright.

[They squint, shading their eyes against the sun as they peer around at the landscape in the vicinity. Mostly woodland, it looks like, though there are some distant shapes of what appears to be a mountain range of some kind. It's hard to gauge how far away that might be.]

[They're completely out of their element here. This is the first time they've been somewhere with a daytime cycle.]

Looks like there might be some mountains we could get to? Might be a bit of a walk, though.

A bit of a walk...

[ Rin fidgets with her feet for a moment, digging her toes into the soft, cool undergrowth. She's barefoot, as she is all the time, and while that's fine here where the ground is soft, she worries about how she might fare when it begins to dry out and harden. By all means, her feet should be calloused and tough as anything but thanks to the wonders of VR technology, she could just as well be a princess who'd never set foot outside of her tower.

But regardless of her worries... she can't stay here. It's as simple as that – not even a choice. So instead of voicing her concerns, Rin simply nods and squares her shoulders, pulling herself up as tall as she can manage. ]

That'll be fine. So long as I take it slow.

[Barefoot. Does this kid have anything on hand? A tablet. Clothes. Nothing else they can tell is distinctly hers.]

[She sounds sure about it. They're not about to question that - not yet, anyway. They take that into consideration, quietly, before groaning, rolling their shoulders in their joints. It's not gonna be an easy climb on their joints either. For all that they might not look as much their age, they certainly feel it.]

You and me both. I'm way too old to be climbing mountains all the time.

[Maybe they could manage it all in one shot if they pushed it. But...they really don't feel like pushing it just now.]

How 'bout we both take it slow?

[ Her thin smile grows a little fuller and warmer. ]

That's probably a good bet. Maybe we'll get lucky and meet someone on the way there before we have to start climbing.

[ But she doubts it. She's already been lucky enough to not land here alone, wherever they are, so she's not going to push it. The rest, they'll have to do themselves. ]

We can always take breaks if the going gets a little too hard.

Maybe there's a gondola. That'd be nice. We'd get to see the sights, the scenic route, and we'd save ourselves the trouble of climbing.

[Not exactly optimistic of this, but hey. A hollow can always hope.]

[Racto squints at the distant peak, shading their eyes for a moment as they regard it, then sigh. No putting it off any longer. It's time to start walking.]

Damn, it's bright. Hope this kinda light doesn't last forever.

[ And Rin falls into step alongside them, doing her best to keep pace. It'll be a tough trip, but Rin likes to think that she's good at pretending to be tough, and that's almost as good as the real thing. ]

Bright?

[ She sounds a little doubtful as she parrots their words back to them, but then Rin tilts her head back a little and squints at the sky overhead. To her, it simply seems like an average sunny day... but then again, she has sunshine and bright blue skies every day, so long as that's what she wants. So maybe she's not the best judge.

She looks down at her tablet in thought then after a moment of hesitation, she holds it out to Racto. Loathe as she is to let go of her tablet for even a moment, it's not as though it's going to be much help to her right now. ]

Um... I know it's not really much, but I thought... well, there's not really anything else to use for shade, so...

[ At least the tablet could shade their eyes a bit? Their head??? It had sounded like such a good idea, but now she actually makes the offer, she feels her cheeks burn with the embarrassment of having said Something Deeply Dumb. ]

[That takes them off guard a minute, evidenced solely by their blink and the moment it takes for them to respond. Does she have anything else on her? It looks like a data pad or a tablet of some kind, though they're not sure why that's all she's got.]

[They can't talk. They've got nothing but the clothes on their back and whatever's in their pockets.]

Ah, you don't have to. I'll get used to it, no trouble.

[They try for a smile that they hope comes across as self-effacing and apologetic, and not unsettling.]

[They're too accustomed to their smiles being unsettling.]

[ After a moment, Rin's own hesitant smile slowly returns and she gives them a little nod. You can get used to anything, so long as you spend enough time with it, she thinks, though she certainly hopes they won't be here long enough to start getting used to much of anything.

But that sounds ominous as all get out. So she'll keep the thought to herself for now. ]

It's just a shame that we'll have to, I guess. [ There. That sounds slightly less like a veiled threat. ] I'm sure we can't be the only ones here, but... it's still a really empty kind of place to end up in.

Might be we can run into someone else if we find a landmark. Civilization, or something. Maybe a town.

[They're not sure how reasonable this is. This certainly feels like a big drop in the middle of the wilderness, though they're doing their best to tamp down just how much they're out of their element here. The wilderness where they're from is comprised of vast wastelands and harsh weather conditions and megafauna - not this quiet, peaceful woodland and a distant mountain range that's feasibly reachable.]

[No point in panicking. Even if they were, Racto's panic and concern generally doesn't assume a recognizable shape. They remain more or less as placid as ever, even now.]

Not sure how likely that is out here. More used to big cities, myself.

Mmm.

[ Her monosyllabic response is the result of her almost saying something else and then catching it at the last second. The words she'd almost spoken had been I've never seen other people around, so I don't know where they'd be likely to be and she'd realized a fraction of a second before actually saying them that... well, that was a little ominous sounding too. It's true, though. This is the first time she's spoken to anyone for... well, as long as she can remember and she's floundering, just a bit. ]

I'm... more used to places like this. But I never really see people in them.

[ There. Nailed it. ]

Live all alone, huh?

[Sounds a bit too much like fishing for information, maybe. They adjust the route they're taking. They dunno this kid, and they dunno how liable she is to take being pried at all that well. From a logistical standpoint, it'd be...easy. It'd be way the hell too easy. They know that the way they know how to slit a hollow's throat from behind.]

[They also don't got any call to go prying just now.]

You don't have to say if you don't wanna. Just making conversation. I get it if it's...y'know, stuff you don't wanna talk about with somebody you just met.

It's okay.

[ The answer comes a bit too quick, because – well, there's not really much they can pry into, is there? It's not like she has many interesting answers to give. It's only a fraction of a second after she says it that she realizes... hm, that's probably a bit weird, right? You wouldn't want to spill all your personal details to a stranger you just met. Even in a situation like this. She's pretty sure that would be a bad call. ]

Um, what I mean is... it's not like we really have a whole lot else to talk about right now. [ She says it with a rueful smile. ] Nothing that's not "wow, a tree... hey, look, another one"... you know?

[ It's a weak attempt at humor, but she's doing her best. ]

Hey, where I'm from, trees're on the rarer side of things.

[But Racto laughs a little, a short huff of sound that leaves them shaking their head. Maybe not very helpful in the way of lightening the mood, they don't think.]

All pretty new to me. Guessing that's a sun up there. Never seen one before. And look at all this - normal-sized trees that aren't megaflora? If I weren't in a hurry to figure out what's going on I'd have way more questions about this kinda thing, trust me.

[ Rin's initial response is a slightly suspicious little squint. For a second, she wonders if maybe they're making a joke to break the ice a bit, but after a second, she decides... probably not. Maybe it's a bit presumptuous of her to make a judgment like this so early, but Racto just doesn't come across like the sort of person to make a joke like that.

So it's probably not a joke. But that's kind of worrying. ]

Have you really never seen trees like this? [ There, that sounds like a safer way of approaching the topic. ] They're not that small.

Maybe not where you're from. Back home, most anything that isn't big gets wiped out by these massive dust storms.

[It's a little bit like opening up, even if they're not really talking about themself. They're talking about where they're from, which is far from the same thing. Easier. Also, hopefully, more likely to help this kid ease up a little and feel like they're a bit less of a stranger.]

You see anything like this where you're from?

time to ADOPT A CHILDE how do you feel about survival or sol setting

give me sol........ IN a survival setting. Galaxy Brain.

oh hoHO HOHO

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject