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soddersays2018-09-30 12:01 am
sodder) wrote in soddersays2018-09-30 12:01 am
Entry tags:
October 2018 Test Drive Meme
OCTOBER 2018 TEST DRIVE MEME
Welcome to October’s Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: HALLOWEEN HORROR.
All Test Drive Memes contain at least one clue to the Deerington's upcoming in-game events for the month! Keep your eyes peeled! But...not literally.
Characters may die during TDMs, but you do not need to count it towards a game-canonical death unless you want to. Consider it a freebie. All TDMs can be considered game canon as TDMs introduce minor aspects about the world of Deerington that can be revisited by characters later on in the game. You may also use TDMs for your application writing sample as well as AC.
CW: Wet and rotting corpses/zombies, ghosts, violence, blood, knives, possessed dolls, options for underage drinking
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!
IT’S JUST A BUNCH OF HOCUS POCUS
It’s not Halloween if you don’t make a trip to a cheesy haunted house. At least, that’s what everyone in Deerington likes to say. The old Victorian stands at the top of a hill, rickety and in desperate need of a new paint job. The yard and porch have been decorated with what you’d expect for your typical haunted house; fake spider webs spread across the overhang, painted foam grave markers with cheesy names like “Here lies Richard Cranium” and “BEWARE!!” in creepy letter etchings. You can see the blinking of variously timed strobe lights in some windows and the shadow of what you’re pretty sure is a full-sized doll standing in the window, meant to look like someone staring out at you. The rocking chair on the porch near the door has a skeleton with a bowl of candy in his lap, and a sign is propped up against the wall next to him.Well that sounds promising.
The first few rooms you enter are appropriately cheesy. There’s the silly burst of air that you hear just before a plastic figuring pops out of a poorly constructed coffin, the clicking sound of the machinery inside echoing in the room when it starts to pull back and the lid closes once again. There’s fog machines trying to give the appropriately spooky air, stuffed sheets shaped to look like dead bodies wrapped up laying in piles on the floor with fake blood staining the white fabric, black lighting to show off words scribbled on doors like “TURN BACK NOW” and “SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.” Nothing you haven’t seen before. It might be even worse than things you’ve seen before, over the top cheesy, boring enough to give a yawn. Each door seems to open on its own so you don’t even have to touch the handles.
As you make your way through the next automatic door, the room you walk into is different than those before it. It’s a regular children’s room. A bed against the wall near the window, a dresser in the corner, a small desk with a chair. Nothing out of the ordinary, save for the lights not being on, and the strange flickering light in the closet. You step towards it, figuring you’re in for another jump scare, but the door doesn’t open. Whether you’re naturally the curious sort or not, something in the back of your mind makes you want to open the door and see what’s on the inside.
If you fight it and walk towards the next automatic door, you’ll find you’ve walked out to the backyard of the house, those same foam decorations and a dozen or more jack o’ lanterns lighting your way on a path back to the town.
If you choose to pull the door open, however, it’ll take you into yet another room, with a flickering television playing nothing but static. Once you step past the doors of the closet, they slam shut behind you and whoever else dared to enter. The doors won’t lock no matter what you do, no matter how strong the person shaking the handles or pushing against the wood may be. You realize you broke the one rule; you’ve touched something. But can things now really touch you?
The only light source in the whole room is that television and it’s not lighting up much inside the room around it. If you squint when the TV is at its brightest setting, you can just make out another door. Your exit, you hope. But as you make your way towards the door, the flickering suddenly stops, the TV steadily bright, a low humming noise coming from the screen, and suddenly the door seems several more feet away from you than it was a second ago. Before you can reach the door, there’s the sound of trickling water from behind you. If you choose to look back, you’ll see something coming out from the screen - a girl with soaked clothing and pale, rotted skin. She emerges fully from the glass and starts to move towards you. You know it’s best to start running for that door. If you stay and try to fight, you’ll find that no regular weapons work on her, though special weapons and powers that are effective against spirits will definitely do the trick. For those who don’t have any of these at their disposal, however, there is one more hope besides just trying to run; two old school VHS tape sit on the table near by, a fancy machine between them that is meant to copy one to the other. Work as a team and have one distract her while the other records, and you’ll find that she disappears as quickly as she flickered on the screen and the TV will return to static.
Regardless of what you choose before carrying on, the next room you come to as the door slams and locks behind you is entirely different. Brightly lit and filled with what seems like hundreds of porcelain dolls, it’s almost hard to tell where there could possibly be another exit hidden among the massive shelves. You can start to wind your way through them, but before long, you start to hear the sound of running feet, the jingling of bells, the swish of satin, and most eerily the sounds of children giggling - but there’s nothing that sounds save about them. Some of the dolls you saw on the last shelf seem like they’ve moved and are sitting in the corner or laying in a new position on a new shelf. Sometimes you swear you can see their heads turn to watch you pass, but it has to be a trick of the light, doesn’t it?
That is until one of those dolls runs by you, brandishing something shiny in their hands - something sharp. A knife, you realize too late, as it tries to slice at your legs and knock you down. You can kick them away and they’ll go flying, and when the porcelain smashes, the doll will scream in agony. You notice there’s blood pouring from the hole that formed, spreading quickly across the ground. The dolls are easy to kill, but are they really just dolls? You can take your time to contemplate that later, as now you have to fight your way through the violent and armed toys to reach the door at the end of the maze of shelves. Hopefully you can get out without too many severe injuries.
When (or if) you do manage to get to the next room, you seem to have a chance to take a breath and tend to any wounds. It’s decorated like the room of a small cottage, a large pot over the fireplace that isn’t lit, and several jars full of (possibly rotting) food and herbs on the shelves. You see a book on the stand in the center, latched shut and covered in dust. You can open it, if you want, but remember the warning you ignored that got you in trouble in the first place. It’s probably better to carry on to the next room.
If you do choose to open the book, though, there will be eerily glowing text lining the pages, the light will seem to poor out and fill the room, and you’ll be transported back out in front of the house.
Those who continued through the door will find themselves out in the backyard. Just like for those who got out sooner, there are dozens of jack o lanterns, but the graves don’t look like they’re made of foam this time. They’re real stone, engraved with real names and real dates this time. And the ground underneath them seems to be moving, like someone’s trying to crawl out of there. Better not to wait around. Soon as you start to move down the path, you’ll start to hear the sounds of groans as the undead start to crawl from their own graves, pulling themselves up through the dirt, and determined to get to the only food source they see - you. The zombies seem like they’re never ending, coming from every inch of the yard, but at least they’re just like normal zombies - completely incapable of being killed unless you cut off the head. There are shovels lying next to a few graves if you need a quick weapon, but there’s also still always the option to run as fast as you can up the stone path to the front of the house and back towards the street.
When you do finally manage to get back to the front, there’s a momentary blinding flash of light, disorienting anyone near it for a few seconds. When it finally fades, any leftover zombies chasing you have disappeared and the house looks like the same, cheesy haunted house you walked up to in the first place. If for some reason you decide to go and explore the backyard again, the grass will be back to normal, and the graves will all be replaced by cheaply painted foam once more.
Was that all in your head? Who knows. But maybe it’s best to just get out of here.
WE DID THE MASH
Somehow the street lamps have all been converted to oil based flames, the Authority are in witch hats, and every where you go there is music that seems to be playing from faintly glowing bats hanging upside down from telephone wires. The bats will open their mouths in succession, seeming somehow capable of producing the sounds of instruments and singers alike of popular Halloween songs.
Yards are decorated as thoroughly as the front of stores. Maybe you haven't bothered to decorate, but your neighbor sure has! Fake gravestones are propped up in yards, giant fake spiders in trees, and no matter where you walk, the ground seems covered in thick, rolling fog from machines. Or at least you hope it's coming from machines. Hell, you can't even find it in yourself to be too worried! Everyone around you is having way too good of a time! And God, there is food everywhere! Might as well grab a bite while you're out, huh?
It's tempting to break loose and dance. Jack-O-Lanterns absolutely crowd the streets. There's more than you can even begin to count, and all of them are lit all throughout the night. Even if you accidentally trip over some, they don't seem to catch fire to anything or go out! Some neighbors have camp fires set up with marshmallows to roast, while others have...are those broomsticks? Well that's kinda cool, you guess. Correction: it's really cool since you can actually pick one up and take it for a fly! Make sure to attach a little lamp to the front though because God knows it's dangerous flying at night. The brooms only work if you wear the appropriately provided hats, of course, but you can keep both the broom and hat indefinitely and have a readily available means of flight in Deerington after! Be forewarned though: the brooms are as easily broken as regular brooms and the hats easily blown away in the wind.
TRICK OR TREATS
At any of the events, especially the nighttime partying, you can find any number of the following treats (and their potential side effects):Donuts (Will make you deliriously happy. Everything is amazing to you. May cause a lot of affection. A lot of affection.)
Character Arrival
You can read how all characters arrive in Deerington here.There is not a collective "all these characters showed up at the exact same moment" occurrence in Deerington. Since characters fall asleep, die, or pass out at various times throughout all their worlds, it wouldn't make too much sense if they arrived in game all at the exact same time. There should be some discrepancy between character arrival, whether by a couple minutes, hours, or even days up to a week.
The players are entirely in control of how/when they want to play their characters arriving in Deerington. For TDMs, you can play it like your character has just arrived and that can be maintained as your game canon, or you can wait until game events for that moment. Or you don't need to acknowledge it at all. The flexibility for character allows a bit more of an organic feel to the character arrival situation, so please play it to whatever feels right for you.
If you are interested in having an "arrival" introduction for one of your TDM prompts, you are more than welcome to explore that option.
no subject
Where did you wake up? We should talk there.
[Because there’s too much to say, too much to explain and the locals staring at you from across the road never stops being unnerving. They stare enough when he’s at work in short sleeves.]
Allura, Keith and Krolia are here too. [He pauses.] Keith’s mother. [Said by way of explanation. Just in case that hasn’t come up for Lance. It sure hadn’t yet for him, before he’d met the woman in person.]
It’ll be easier to explain everything off the street.
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He looks over to the house he'd just stepped out of and gestures to it.] I woke up in there. [He rubs the back of his neck, looking deep in consideration at the building, then over at Shiro again.]
And I've met Keith's mom, you were there when I did. [sort of. He frowns slightly, looking Shiro over. Then he sighs and starts heading over to the door with slumped shoulders, waving Shiro to follow.] Jeeze, I got like a million questions, might as well get inside already.
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[There's the basket thing they need to find, for starters. They've got to figure out the whole timeline thing -- if it's messed up for Allura, for Keith, then, why would it be any different here? Why would their luck be any better?]
I... was? [Well, that did explain how Krolia knew him on sight. But he'd chalked that up to Keith more than anything.] I'll answer as much as I can, but I can't promise it's going to make a lot of sense, either.
[Once they're inside, and he can close the door, some of the tension in his shoulders eases out.]
The town's called "Deerington", for starters. And nothing here is as normal as it looks.
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Well that sort of explains the weird deer dream I had... if that was a dream. [He's tense, though and decides to backtrack a little back to the matter of Shiro's memory.] But why don't you remember meeting Krolia?
[He holds back the more obvious concern of 'why do you have an arm again and why did your hair go back to oreo-colored'. This Shiro could be another clone or something, and he doesn't know what he should and shouldn't say. Even if Shiro hadn't gotten that memory from his clone when Allura "combined" them yet, Krolia had been traveling with them not too long ago.]
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[When this many people have the same dream? Or a similar one? It's probably not a coincidence.]
[Lance's question has him blowing out a breath, hanging his head a bit. This is going to be hard to answer. And not for the reasons Lance is thinking. At least he's already been through this with Allura.]
Because the last thing I remember is you, Pidge and I on the mission to pick up Slav. [He looks up, then, meeting his teammate's eyes. Tired and honest. There's no deception there -- even though he knows how wild this sounds.] We just left, and... then I woke up here.
I don't know how. I don't know why. But I've been here for months. And I'm going to guess you just saw me.
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Oh, like time slippage. [His hand goes up to his chin as he concentrates on remembering what he understood of Pidge's explanation.] It's probably a totally different situation here, but yeah it's not as weird as I would've thought like several months ago.
[He visibly relaxes and uncrosses his arms with a sigh. Okay, this is their Shiro, just from an earlier point in time.] That's such a relief. I mean, yeah I just saw you like yesterday from my perspective, but that was future you. Tooootally different guy.
no subject
Yeah, close enough, man. [A brief, weary smile.] Close enough.
[A smile that fades as soon as Lance continues on. He actually grimaces. Allura said he'd ... chewed Lance out for some reason. That he'd suddenly been more snappish. More controlling. He's still trying to figure out why that would be.]
Allura mentioned a few things. [Namely just the sudden change in attitude.] But yeah, that's about what I figured. She and Keith said about the same thing.
First though -- did you find a basket when you woke up? [They can talk about timelines later. Once they're sure the arrival things are handled.]
no subject
But the basket question gives him pause, as he tries to recall.] Uh, no. I didn't. But I didn't exactly look around the house much. [He brightens a little as a possibility occurs to him.] Ooooh, is it like a gift basket?
[He's aware the notion is on the preposterous side, but says it anyway just for the sake of lightening the mood since Shiro's seemed weary as heck throughout this whole conversation. Tryna help him in his usual Lance way.]
no subject
[Lance isn't wrong. It's pretty much a gift basket. An occasionally creepy one, but still. The last bit of tension leaves his face, and he steps a little further into the house. The kitchen's got to be around here somewhere...]
There's a letter with more information. And food. [A beat, as he opens a door, confronted with a broom closet.] I know it sounds crazy, but you need to eat something. Soon as you can.
Apparently, if you don't? You disappear. Someone tried it.
no subject
[It really is a gift basket? He watches as Shiro steps further into the house and opens doors, explaining more about the purpose of said gift basket. And the craziness and weirdness increases when Shiro reveals he'll disappear if he doesn't eat?]
Seriously? [He repeats more urgently, following Shiro as he starts opening doors looking for either the basket or the kitchen, Lance figures one of the two.] Like I'll just fade away into nothing?? How long until that happens?!
[Don't scare him like this, Shiro!]
no subject
[Specifically? That Bruce watched his hand flicker out of existence entirely. But that little gem won't actually help anything. Instead, he'll pull open another door, confronted with a tiny kitchen.]
Lance -- here! [Said with no small amount of relief. There it is -- sitting on the counter. The unsuspecting jar of food waiting and ready.] You'll be fine. Just try some of whatever's in the jar.
[As... weird as that had been.]
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He makes a face, but takes a bite of one anyway. The grossed out face just increases as he chews and then quickly swallows it down and he sticks his tongue out and pushes the jar away from himself on the counter.] Gross dude. Is all the food in this place like that?
[At least he's not gonna vanish, now.]
no subject
No, no, it's not. Don't worry about that one. We have Oreos here, man.
[Which is clearly important information Lance needs to hear. Like immediately. But also, it's information implying things aren't as horrible as they seem. They have some comforts here.]
Do you want to see the letter now, or later? After we get you settled... [Full disclosure, he intends to move Lance into the tiny apartment with Allura and Kieth.]
no subject
[Then he snaps out of his fantasies about oreos and looks around the kitchen they're standing in, considering the two options Shiro just gave him. On the one hand, he'd really like to go with Shiro somewhere else... ideally where he's keeping these oreos and whatever amazing earth foods are here. On the other, he still has a lot of questions and his curiosity is eating at him. He sighs.]
I'll read the letter and get it over with. But you owe me an oreo. [He looks around again.] Was it with the jar? Don't tell me we gotta go hunting for that basket.
no subject
[When he'd been recovering from the incident leaving him with a lovely new face scar.]
[He pauses. Then starts poking around the kitchen. In cabinets and everything. This isn't the apartment, so... where things are is anyone's guess. His included. Eventually he pulls a covered basket out of a cabinet.]
Here -- check in here.
[And he'll pass it over to Lance to do the honors. It's his basket, after all.]
no subject
[Lance asks before he also goes to poke around the cabinets. When Shiro finds the basket, he grins and goes to take it off of his hands, placing it down on the counter to rifle through it. It's not long before he finds the letter inside the envelope and he blinks.]
Huh, it's warm.
no subject
I had an incident in a corn maze.
[Like it's no big deal. And, maybe it isn't, in the face of everything else. He's still standing, after all. Still functional. Grimacing a little as Lance notices the letter.]
Yeah... yeah, it's gross.
no subject
... You're kidding. We're dreaming? That's not the same as time slippage at all! Or pocket realities, or whatever else Pidge goes on about all the time.
[There's more to the letter that bothers him, but that's the big one. He lets out a breath and drops the letter to the counter so he can reach in and pull out other items mentioned in the letter.]
no subject
It could be. It also could be both. Time slips affecting dreams. I do know, though, that sometimes the dreams here are more like nightmares.
[Also important to tell him. To warn him. Just in case it happens sooner than later.]
no subject
N-nightmares, huh? No kidding. That thing is straight out of a horror movie! [He points at the offending card laying face-down on the counter, and looks back at Shiro.] So... what? We're just sleeping and our souls are stuck in this place and we can't wake up? That's it?
no subject
[He really does hate to say it aloud. But, also? It's better Lance hears it now. Instead of finding out down the road.] But we've come through everything so far. As long as we stick together, we can keep doing it.
[Well, you know, if you drop a bombshell you may as well try and clean it up a bit. With some inspirational speech.]
Essentially, yeah. And whoever wrote that note is somehow on our side.
no subject
Well, I don't suppose you have any ideas as to why we're stuck in this place? [Technically, it's not the first time he's been transported via his dreams to some strange plane of reality to be messed with by a mystical being. But this is totally different from Bob, and Shiro's been here for months now.] Like... are we being judged or tested or something?
no subject
[He pushes his hand through his hair. Thoughtful. Pulling through the words he wants to say. How to explain what they've seen without going too deeply into nightmare territory.]
You really can trust the deer, though. And yeah, I know, it sounds more than crazy. Whatever they are... they're connected to the person who sent us this note.
We've done digging. But nothing seems to get any clearer.
no subject
Well, like you said, at least we've got each other. [He glances at the phone face for a moment before pocketing that too and then giving the keys and the attached antler accessory an odd look.] ... but man, this is just a lot to take in. Our souls trapped in a freaky nightmare town and our best allies are deer?
[His shoulders slump and he looks back up at Shiro.] I think I'd like that Oreo now.
no subject
[Said like it literally just occurred to him. Which it did. With Krolia coming and going, it had been three people there, usually. Plus Keith's wolf. He shakes it off, looking apologetic.]
I'm sorry. But I didn't want to have you find out the hard way. I know it's a lot to ask you to believe.
[As if in further apology, he sets a hand on Lance's shoulder.] Come on. I'll take you over there -- where the Oreos are.
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