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

[ Chloe wasn't usually the kind of person who approached obvious newbies, but this was different. Particularly because she recognized that face, even if she knew that she probably wasn't going to remember her in turn. Maybe they hadn't exactly been besties, but Ellie had been cool when they'd shared the studio apartment when she'd first arrived, and she didn't want her to be wandering around on her own when who the fuck knew what was in store in Deerington on a regular basis.

Luckily, it's not the first time she's had a gun pulled on her (or the second, or...), but none of those times really ended well and so it makes her stop in her tracks fairly quickly, holding her hands up just as fast. She tries to ignore the way it makes her heart practically stick in her throat, clearing it roughly so she can actually speak. ]

A maybe doesn't sound like a real even exchange, y'know.

[Ellie hesitates a moment when she sees that Chloe's raised her hands and looks thoroughly intimidated. She also doesn't look to be much older than her or seem to have any weapons. So slowly, she lowers her gun down to waist high so that it's pointing at the ground between them instead. Still guarded, but open to talking without hostility.]

... No, I guess it doesn't. [She shifts her stance a bit and looks down the street uneasily.] Look, my friend's really badly hurt and I need to get back to him. So... will you please tell me what's actually going on and how I can do that?

[ She's visibly relieved when she watches her lower the gun, letting her hands drop and releasing a breath she hadn't probably been fully aware she was holding in the first place. There's an awkward pause after her statement, and Chloe reaches a hand up to rub the back of her head - a nervous tick she never could quite shake. ]

Uh - yeah. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but f your friend is back wherever you call home, getting back to him is probably not going to happen any too quickly. Did you read the welcome letter? Fucking nuts, I know, but -- ... Shit's honest about the situation.

[She just looks at Chloe incredulously for a moment, then lets out a frustrated sigh, throwing her head back.]

Yeah, I read the stupid letter. And I'm gonna need more proof than the word of a few strangers. So far all it looks like to me is some asswipe perv drugged me, took a picture of me while I slept to print on a creepy card in a basket with a bunch of weird and suspicious looking crap in it... and my gun...

[Her expression shifts as she realizes that doesn't seem right at all.] Okay, that part's the only thing that doesn't fit, if I was kidnapped leavening me a gun would be pretty stupid... but still, the rest is all nuts!

[If she knew what a smart phone looked like or how it worked, she'd probably add the fluid to her list of stuff that doesn't fit within reality as she understands it. The letter mentioned a phone, but to her the fluid just looks like a useless hunk of plastic. But she pocketed it in case she found a way to open it up and make something useful out of its parts.]

[ She nods because honestly that's fair. Her shoulders shrug up and down once, hands finding their way to her pockets to take protection from the bitterly cold air. ]

Well, I don't mean the whole dream bullshit, I don't know if any of that is true - no one does for sure, though a lot of people believe it. But the basic info it gave - the tattoo, the importance of that creepy card, the freak deer. And the whole 'you can't leave' bit. You can walk out past the edge of town, sure, but there's nothing out there, and it... hurts. A lot. High on my 'do not recommend' list, honestly, unless you're fond of not remembering who you are and coughing up blood for a few days.

[ She pulls one hand out of her pocket and holds up her own Fluid waving it a bit in her hand. ]

If you look through the DeerFeed app you can get a handful of other tidbits about the town that people have figured out while we've all been stuck here. But none of the other Dreamers or whatever we're supposed to call ourselves are gonna be able to tell you how to get back to your friend. [ A beat. ] Sorry. [ It sounds like she at least means that, despite the flatness of it. ]

[She scrunches up her nose and makes a grossed out face at the notion of coughing up blood for a few days and losing memories. But she doesn't look convinced enough not to risk it. That is until Chloe pulls out her fluid and her brows draw together in confusion.]

Wait, you mean that thing's not just a hunk of junk? [She pulls her own out of her pocket and pokes at it in a couple places and it lights up. Her expression is that of someone who is seeing a smart phone for the fist time in her life. She's seen radios and T.V.s, but nothing fancy like this.] Woah nelly... is this a phone?? I've never seen one before...

[She keeps poking at random touch screen functions. Might be a good idea to reign her in before she sends a keysmash text to some random person.]

[ Having friends from the 50s and also having been too poor as a kid to ever have a touch screen phone herself, Chloe isn't exactly surprised by the reaction. She might not have learned a lot about Ellie's world the last time that she was here, but she had at least gotten the impression that technology like that was not the Top Priority by a long shot, if it was even an option anymore. ]

Slow down there, McFly. You're gonna end up embarrassing yourself. [ She goes to move a little closer, pulling up the DeerFeed on her own device. ] It's pretty straightforward on how to use it. It's not just a phone, it's more like a little mini-computer you can carry around in your pocket. It's the quickest way to get in contact with other Dreamers around here.