DECEMBER 2018 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to December’s Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: WINTER 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: Possible drowning, deformed monsters, body horror, violence

Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

YOUR HANDS ARE JUST LIKE ICE

Just here those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too... There's plenty of sounds of obnoxious carols that seem to be playing from speakers that are set up around the town. In shops, at restaurants, even on street corners it can be a little hard to escape them. It's not just the music that's gotten festive either; covered in a thick blanket of snow, Deerington has decked it's halls and prepared for a cheerful December. There are garlands around lamp posts, wreaths hanging from almost every door. There's even a Christmas tree in the center of the now frozen pond! People have pulled on their ice skates and children play in the snow by the banks, throwing snow balls and building snowmen, making snow angels and shaking the flakes off of their hair when they get up.

It might be fun to join in. There's a booth to rent skates if you want to give it a go, even, and hot cocoa is being sold for cheap at another stand right beside if you need to warm your hands. It could, all in all, be a very relaxing afternoon if all goes well.

As you skate around the tree, though, eventually things may start to seem off. The crowds start to disperse too quickly and the sound around you seems to muffle itself. You look around and eventually you notice you're out on the lake all by yourself now. You can't see the children - hell, you can't even really see the shoreline. You try to skate back the way you came and a gust of wind seems to blow you backwards.

That's when you see a lady with long dark hair. Her skin looks pale as the snow around you, her lips such a cold blue that you think maybe she's caught hypothermia from being out here too long. She looks lost, bewildered, afraid, and as unsure as you probably feel. She reaches out to you, eyes begging for help, though she doesn't try to move closer.

If you skate towards her, if you take her hand, you'll feel a rush of cold through your entire body. You'll shiver from head to toe, your throat will dry so quickly and feel like it's on fire, and you're sure you can't feel your fingers anymore. Yet the look on the woman's face is one of thanks, one of relief that someone has finally come to guide her away from here. The snow will rush around you both, enveloping you, and when it settles... You'll be right back by the Christmas tree and the same people will still skate around you. You're stuck with a terrible cold all of a sudden, but hey... It could be worse.

If you chose to run away, a shriek of sorrow will pierce through the air, cracking the ice underneath her, cracks that grow quickly and head straight for you. If you're not careful, you might fall in, and... well, unless someone saw and was able to come rescue you, you'll have to struggle to find the hole you fell through. No matter how hard you pound at the ice, it just won't break. If you manage to dodge the cracks, the lady will rush at you, trying to grab for you, and you'll notice that her teeth and nails are sharp as razors. You were going to abandon her, just like the rest, and now she wants to make you suffer.

Luckily, it seems that you're not in this alone. Someone is on the ice with you, someone who can maybe help you fight. There's not much that can kill her, but if you've got some source of heat, or are quick enough on your feet, you might be able to get to the woods at the edge of the pond before she can grab you. She's bound to the ice and the trees are going to be your only source of refuge. The moment you're on land, she'll shriek once more, but it will die off in a slow echo, leaving you and your fighting partner alone in deafening silence.

TO WATCH HIS WOODS FILL UP WITH SNOW

If you decide to explore the woods for any reason, you'll find it eerily quiet. Maybe it's that chill snowfall that's muffled the sounds of wildlife, or the fact that everything in winter dies off or curls itself up in some cave to sleep the season away. Regardless, the only sound you hear is the crunch of your steps against the snow as you follow the path with whoever might have come along beside you.

The trees overlap, making the sunlight only come in tiny patches, shimmering against the ice particles, and blinding to look at. There's something that's beautifully peaceful about the walk you're taking, and yet you can't help but get the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that something isn't quite right. That feeling fills you up inside, puts you so on edge you might even show small ticks like picking at your nails or pulling at your hair or scratching at your skin.

When that feeling becomes overwhelming and you're not sure if you're going to burst, you finally hear something else; the sound of hoofs against the ground, smashing against the snow and clearly galloping, getting louder and louder showing whatever it is is coming in your direction.

A large creature bursts into view a moment later. A deformed horse with an equally deformed man growing out the middle, like it's riding itself. It lets out a terrifying roar and no matter what weapons you have on you, no matter what powers you possess, nothing seems to slow it down or even injure it. You can forget about killing it. All you can do is hope to outrun it - and you've got to be fast. You can dodge around trees and use the fallen ones for leverage, the giant boulders to maybe block the creatures path. Splitting up might confuse it enough, but it would also mean that you would have to outrun it on your own after.

Eventually, if you manage to get the fresh water river, the moment you cross over it, the beast will rear, screeching in frustration, and pacing by the riverbed but never crossing. It'll stomp its hooves and use its arms to throw things across the way at you, but it seems you've found the only weakness that the monster possesses. It eventually rides off in a huff, leaving you in that same peaceful quiet. There aren't even any prints in the snow for proof of what you just saw. Maybe it was all in your head.

But it might be best to stick by the river on your walk out. Just in case.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That's something new. What did she just do with that weapon? He'll ask later since she's apologizing for the moment. He shakes his head before introducing himself.]

It's okay. I'm Roxas. [He smiles before he thinks about something.] Did you eat any of the food, Ellie?

[Ellie scrunches her nose at that question.]

Uh, no? Eating food out of a basket because some letter tells me I have to after I was kidnapped in the middle of the night isn't what I'd call a smart move. [Then she looks concerned.] Did you?

[Roxas' eyebrows shoot up at that.]

But you'll disappear if you don't!

[You're making him panic!!!!!!]

[Ellie doesn't know what to do with this degree of blind trusting innocence. After a moment she just goes with her usual snark.]

... Oh yeah? Says who? Some guy calling himself Sodder who took a picture of me while I was sleeping and printed it on a creepy card with blood on it? Yeah, no thanks.

It doesn't matter what he did! I've been in worlds with magic, and magic food always helps!

[Even if help means getting shrunk, growing into a giant, or going back the right size.]

You should listen to it.

[She looks at him like he's grown a second head.]

Worlds of magic? Pshh. Dude, are you high on pills or something? There's no such thing as magic.

.....

[He holds his hand out and summons a strange blade.]

Magic is real.

[She stumbles back a few steps in shock.]

Woah nelly! What the fuck? How-

[Her hand holding the gun has also instinctively raised up, but she's not fully pointing it at Roxas, just preparing to defend herself on reflex since that's a big blade that appeared out of fat fucking air.]

[He looks a little confused as to why she's raised the gun again. He wasn't planning on attacking? Does it make her feel better if he lowers it?]

It's called a Keyblade. I have another one, but... I can't seem to summon both at once right now. When I try, one of them turns into a stick, so I just summon one at a time.

[It does make her feel a little better, but mostly her reaction is from the suddenness of it and being shown that magic exists for the first time.]

... Uh, excuse me, summon? Where the hell is a thing like that being summoned from? Your ass?

[Wow this is a crude girl.

He pats his chest, right over his heart.]

From here. It's tied to my heart.

[A crude girl from a crude world. She shakes her head disbelieving at the correction he gives.]

Man, I need to sit down. [And she backs up a few steps until her heels hit the stoop of the house, and she sits.] That's some serious fairy tale crap if I've ever heard it.

[This........ is probably the strangest reaction Roxas has ever gotten when it comes to the Keyblade. He lets it disappear as he watches her.]

Fairy tale?