APRIL 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to April’s Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: SPRING 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: Violent urges, violent furries, hallucinations, paranoia.

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

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

SPRING TIME'S FAVORITE TROPE

Despite the slightest of chills still lingering in the air, Deerington's spring seems to pop up all at once. It'd be easy to assume every flower and every tree has gone into bloom overnight! Along with all the beautiful foliage, there's another wonderful thing about all the new flowers; pollen. And it's everywhere.

The pollen settles on top of every car, every road, sticks to every screen; a thin layer of yellow that gets in your eyes and fills your lungs. Hopefully you're not allergic. No matter what, there will be one interesting side effect you may end up exposing yourself to. Those who spend too much time outside may find they suddenly have the urge to cuddle, to be close to another person, and to maybe even fall in love, even if you normally wouldn't be interested in any of it. It may be with a complete stranger or it may be with someone who you've known a long time. Regardless, whoever is on your mind will end up becoming like your new obsession.

If the person is also interested in you, you're in luck! Get in your snuggle sessions (or more, you crazy animal). If they don't return your feelings, though... You'll find yourself not handling the rejection very well. The obsessive thoughts will come even worse, turning troublesome quickly, and you'll find your head filed with violent urges. You can take them out on the person who rejected you or on a complete stranger, or you can do your best to fight them off entirely.

All the urges, positive and negative, will go away once you get covered in water, either through a shower or jumping in the lake.

GAZING AT THE PURPLES AND PINKS

The only place that doesn't seem to be covered in pollen for whatever reason is the Spring Festival at the Staggering Heights Theme Park. The usual $20 entrance fee is waived for the day and everyone is encouraged to come have fun on the rides, listen to live music, and grab a partner to dance if you feel like it! Special foods on top of the usual carnival fair can be found around the park; lavender and maple ice cream, maple cotton candy, lavender sorbet, and maple candies.

At first, it will seem like none of these foods have any ill effects. After about half an hour, however, anyone who had any of these special desserts will start to see and hear things. It will start off mild - you may think you hear someone walking behind you or you'll be sure you saw someone from home out of the corner of your eye. As time goes on, they'll become more heavily intense. You'll become actively convinced someone is out to get you, even turning on friends who you are sure are part of some elaborate plan to bring you some sort of harm. You'll begin to see enemies from home - or friends who are now acting like enemies, even if you've never done them any harm. You'll feel more on edge, ready to defend yourself at any cost, and it will be particularly hard to calm you down when you're not trusting anyone to get near you. Effects from the desserts will disappear after three to four hours - or if you get a slice of freshly baked bread from one of the vendors.

The usual 9 PM closing time seems to have been extended until midnight, but people may still find that the familiar creepy elements start to sneak their way in even with the park open. The rabbit mascots are still following you with their eyes, and the closer it gets to midnight, the more obvious it gets. By the time it hits 11 PM, the rabbits will actually pull themselves up from their seated positions and start to follow you around the park. Some of them have weapons in their hands - golf clubs, steal pipes, and knives seem to be a favorite. If you get out of the park, they won't follow beyond the edges. If you try to stand your ground, however, they will attack. If you knock off the head, the mascot will crumple to the ground; and you'll find out that they're still completely empty.

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

( being followed was one thing, something that quill could believe though the end of that sentence? it wasn't the most reassuring thing.

still, she isn't backing away, looking behind felicia instead )

Describe it.

( she couldn't get a glimpse of them but maybe she'd gotten something else )

Tall, bulky. In suits. [ There's a few images she's not too keen on reliving. Too keen on thinking we here with her even. ] And a chubby old guy with some metal arms.

[ Octopus arms, actually. She may have completely made up the vision — she knows it sounds crazy. But... ]

I thought they said this place was safe from that pollen...

I haven't seen anyone like that.

( and quill doesn't just mean here but anywhere in the town. there'd been no men in suits, no metal arms. and, as quill looked to the ground she couldn't find any traces of the pollen that had been everywhere else in town )

And I don't see any pollen.

They were right there — I swear to it. You couldn't miss these guys!

[ She gets a bit more testy, as if she's trying to prove her own sanity. It eats at her, like the eyes were still on her. ]

I've been feeling weird for hours, just like... like with the pollen. It makes no sense.

Then it affected you before you got here.

( if she'd been through the pollen already there was a likelihood of that happening, more so than there being people there that quill couldn't see )

There's no one here.

[ Felicia had her odd share of happenings with the pollen, but this? There’s an unnerved crack of fear that shoots down her spine. Both of her hands go through her hair, as if trying to calm herself down casually. ]

I don’t understand this place, how the hell is it playing mindgames this badly? Look - sorry for running into you...