soddersays | MAY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

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MAY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to May's Test Drive Meme! This is our first Test Drive ever so let's make it a good one. This month's Test Drive's theme is: SUPERNATURAL 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: Sin related things? There's not much this month, actually.
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

VISION OF A WORLD

Everyone knows that people with special powers who show up in Deerington always seem to end up having them altered. Healers can't quite fix people the way they used to, teleportation can't ever seem to get you out beyond the town lines, resurrection ends up a little... messy. Whatever the case may be, people should be pretty used to the idea of their powers never being quite right.

That seems to have gone to an extreme. While some powers seemed to work just fine before, anyone with any kind of special ability will find that there's some sort of glitch occurring whenever they try to use them these days. Even those with technology-based powers that are usually left alone will find that their tech just isn't functioning the way it's supposed to. Some will find their powers have gone into complete overdrive, unable to control them in any manner - maybe you just meant to use your fire abilities to light a cigarette and instead you burnt down an entire tree, or if you're usually a strong telepath, you're suddenly unable to filter out anyone's thoughts.

On the opposite end, powers may cease to function at all. Maybe your super strength disappears and you're suddenly as weak as a child, or your self-healing no longer heals, leaving you vulnerable and capable of extreme injuries you've never felt before. Ever wondered what it was like to be "normal"? Now's your chance - hopefully you don't end up in any tricky situations where your powers may have come in handy after all.

Stranger still, people who have never had powers may find they're suddenly able to do incredible things. Those scrawny arms can suddenly lift cars over your head, or your usually slow and clumsy feet can now move faster than the speed of sound. Anything can happen - but now you're stuck trying to learn how to control powers you've never tried to use before. Maybe you'll be lucky and won't hurt yourself (or someone else) too badly...

NO SINNER LIKE A YOUNG SAINT

What's a better way to welcome the coming end of the school year than with a music festival? The record store has set up a nice party for everyone to attend outside their store, closing off the whole street so that everyone can have plenty of space to attend! Vendors are set up along the sidewalks with food of all kind (no negative side effects, honest!), clothes ranging over a vast number of styles, and merchandise for bands that people have probably never heard of. Maybe you can find their record inside and give it a listen!

Most importantly, they're trying to focus on the tunes. Record players are set up with headphones if you want to try out an album you've never heard before. Otherwise there's a nice mix of different genres that play throughout the day, cycling through in a random loop. If you don't like what you're listening to one minute, just come back in a few and you'll probably hear your favorite song coming through the speakers instead!

Each genre of music seems to cause a unique effect to those who are listening. Whether it's the records in private or the music flowing out into the streets, characters will find themselves acting a little differently throughout the course of each song.

Classic Rock will entice people to act a bit more prideful. Boasting about your greatest experiences, telling everyone about your greatest success stories from home, showing off your awesome skillset that you think is entirely unique to you. You're feeling good about your own abilities and accomplishments and you want everyone to know about it.

Metal will have people acting more wrathful. Anger will sky rocket and the desire to get into a fight will be high. Maybe you just verbally attack someone else, or your anger gets great enough that you start to physically lash out. Hopefully someone is around to calm your rage before someone else gets hurt.

Country will bring people a feeling of envy. Suddenly everyone around you has something you want but don't have. Anything from a haircut you wish you could rock to a significant other you wish was yours or a personality trait you want to possess. You'll find yourself wishing you had what everyone else did. It might sink you into a deep depression or it might even make you try and take what they have - at any cost.

Pop music will fill you with a sense of greed. You want anything and everything, whether it's something you would normal try and possess or not. A person, a food, a piece of jewelry, one of the records that's in the store, clothing -- you want all of it. It doesn't matter if you have the funds or if the person you've got your eye on wants to be near you, you're going to get what you want and no one is going to stop you.*

Jazz music will bring about a suddenly make you feel a little bit lazy and sloth-like. Everything has slowed down for you and you're not wanting to really try and speed them up. You're ready to lounge and forget about responsibilities. Just chill in the corner with your records - who cares about fun or work or eating when you can just listen to the smooth notes from Coltrane?

Punk suddenly makes you feel gluttonous. Your stomach won't stop growling, your throat feels parched, and you're trying to buy everything those vendors and local restaurants and cafes are trying to sell in order to satisfy your belly. It doesn't matter if your stomach keeps feeling uncomfortably stuffed or you're slowly getting to a point well beyond wasted, you're going to keep eating and drinking everything in sight until you feel better.

Blues will make people feel a great amount of lust. Is there someone you've been wanting for a long time but never had the guts to make a move on? Or maybe you're desire for a complete stranger hits you out of nowhere. Regardless, you want to feel close to them in any way you can, your body aching and your mind only able to focus on feeling your body against theirs.*

All effects of the music will last as long as the tracks are playing, changing the moment a new genre is playing. If you are pulled out of earshot of the music or take the headphones off your ears, there will be a lingering effect for five to ten minutes before it will finally start to fade off. Let's hope you're strong enough to fight it - or that you at least don't make too many mistakes you might regret by the time the track changes.

*Please remember that there is no non-consensual sex in this game. Do not use these prompts to try and maneuver around this rule.

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.

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No, I uh.

Must've missed the letter.

[ He calms down a little bit. ]

I'm Steve. Steve Rogers.

[ He extends a hand to her, because regardless of where they are and what horrors they might face, he won't forgo his manners. ]

Have you been here long, Skye?

[Skye shakes his hand briefly before her hand falls back to her side.]

I know who you are.

[God, she regrets saying that as soon as she does, but there’s no point in pretending she doesn’t.]

Sorry, just, you know. Not every day Captain America is right in front of you and witnessing you make a fool of yourself.

[Shut. Up. Skye shuts her eyes briefly, as if that will somehow make her embarrassment disappear.]

Eight months. You should probably eat because, if you don’t, you’ll disappear.

What?

[ Never mind, he probably shouldn't be asking that. ]

Alright, let's eat, I've got more questions to ask over breakfast.

[ He checks his pocket and procures a card that somehow managed to get slotted in one. ]

Guess it's on me. Your choice.

[Relieved that he didn’t even acknowledge the fact that she just looked like a complete idiot in front of him, Skye watches him pull out a card.]

Don’t worry about it, I got it. There’s a diner a few blocks over.

[Nodding her head in the direction of it, Skye starts to walk.]

We’re basically in a collective dreamscape. Which I know sounds insane, but I think it’s the truth.

[Not that he would know it but her saying that she even possibly believes its true, it’s a big deal.]

[ He follows along, and honestly even if he didn't have a higher priority, he wouldn't be judging too hard. It's okay Skye, he used to act like that around all women.

Okay, he still has trouble sometimes. ]

So if we're in a dreamscape, we have to find out how we got here and why.

[ But thinking about The Matrix, which someone has already sort of explained to him and I can't remember what threads go in which order... ]

--Do we know what it looks like outside of the dreamscape?

Trust me, you’re not the first person to make that a priority. Some people have been here for a year already, some have left and come back. Others have just disappeared completely. We still don’t have most of the answers.

[When they arrive at the diner, Skye reaches for the door and holds it open for him.]

As far as I know? No. Only what this town looks like, and even then, sometimes this place looks different.

[ Right, okay, this is going to be like one of those matryoshka things, the more he unpacks the more there is to unpack and the less space he's got on his proverbial table. ]

Thanks.

[ He walks right in and asks the waitress for a booth and two coffees. ]

What happens to the people who leave and come back? Why haven't they given a description of the outside?

[Taking a seat at one of the open booths, Skye reaches for the sugar packets and takes out three of them to fidget with while they wait for their coffee.]

If it were that simple to leave, none of us would be here.

[It’s a complicated question and she doesn’t have all of the answers, but she knows enough that it’s too dangerous to try and leave.]

Anyone who tries to leave ends up back here, and there isn’t much to see. Just endless trees and an empty road.

[The waitress brings over their mugs and fills them with coffee, which Skye thanks her for before adding the packets of sugar to hers. Ordering her food, Skye looks to Steve in the hopes that he’ll order something too. Once the waitress is gone, Skye lifts her mug and carefully blows on it before taking a sip.]

I can almost guarantee you that most logical way of thinking around here won’t actually help when it comes to figuring this place out. You’ve got to think outside the box sometimes.

[ Well, that's going to be a problem. But at least he knows they tried most things - some of them having been here for so long, he supposes that's inevitable. But there are just so many unopened doors left. ]

Yeah. Guess we don't have another choice.

[ But he's got plenty of time to do that later. Right now all he wants is this coffee that's sitting in front of him, fresh and steaming hot. ]

This place looks like it hasn't been updated in a long time. Do you think that's part of it?

I mean, it probably does, but no one here knows what year it actually is. Some stuff is clearly from the early 21st century at least, like flat screen TVs. Probably just another way to keep us confused.

[Skye is a conspiracy theorist at heart. Leaning back in her seat, Skye plays with empty packet of sugar as she figures out if she should just tell him about Bucky, and well, she’d like to know if someone she cared about was here. She doesn’t want to send him into a panic either, because this place is scary and honestly? She’d be concerned if her friends showed up here. Still...]

Bucky is here.

[Skye quickly follows up with something that will calm him down, if hearing that information freaks him out.]

He’s okay.

--Oh. Oh, thank God.

[ He really appreciates that that's the first thing that Skye wants to say about him, that he's okay. ]

Are you two friends?

[ He says this hopefully, like he's anticipating that maybe Bucky didn't make a whole lot of friends, but that he's hoping that he has. ]

[It’s pretty much impossible to not smile at that question.]

Yeah, we are. He’s actually the first person I met when I arrived here.

[On death’s door and thinking he was literally Jesus, but, you know...]

Oh.

[ He sees that smile and. "Friends." Right. Okay. Well, Bucky's always been handsome and she is very pretty so-- ]

Good. I'm glad. Buck could use more people like you in his life.

[ He returns her smile and, then. ]

So. How long have you been. An item?

Oh, no. We’re not...

[Not an item? Not putting a label on it? ~~Maybe just a little afraid of commitment?~~ Yeah.]

It’s not like that.

[They just, you know, really like each other and maybe have gone out on a date. Skye is relieved when the waitress breaks up this conversation by placing their food on the table.]

[ Huh. ]

Well, if you were wondering if you should ask him out--

[ The waitress comes over and Steve is definitely looking down his pancakes like a starved dog. Wait, hold on-- ]

--You should.

That smells amazing.

[Captain America is giving her dating advice. Is this real life? It’s not like the idea of dating Bucky was so horrible, it’s just that actually dating someone was not something she’s done in a while. Sure she had been with Miles for a while, but it wasn’t like it was totally monogamous. Not when they were across the country from each other, and both dealing with their own lives. Plus, commitment issues was something Skye has been dealing with for a long time and the fear of something going so well and then blowing up in her face? Yeah, it’s happened more times than she cares to count.]

He already beat me to the punch.

[And it was a great date, amazing even. Grabbing the ketchup, Skye drizzles it over her eggs and home fries.]

I guess this isn’t the weirdest thing you’ve experienced?

[Skye just assumes that because he’s Captain America, he’s dealt with crazier things.]

What, Bucky dating? No, not remotely weird.

[ Captain America apparently likes his pancakes smothered in butter and maple syrup. Good thing his health is in good order because his arteries are about to get clogged. ]

As for the rest of this... I can't say it's happened before, but. Things were much simpler back then, you know, before I went under the ice. No aliens, no robots, no Norse gods.

Guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm taking it day by day.

[Skye smiles at the joke, but she won’t correct him in saying they aren’t dating. Just, you know, have gone on a date.]

Yeah, I can imagine that had to be so weird. I mean before that attack happened, I would’ve never believed aliens were real. Or superheroes.

[Digging into her own food, Skye briefly looks at him as he inhales his pancakes.]

Is your stomach basically a bottomless pit?

Basically. It's the metabolism, I consume energy like a teenager.

[ Yeah, as demonstrated by him scarfing all this food down. ]

These last few years have been... weird, things are just getting weirder as they go.

I guess that's something I miss.

Well then you’re in luck, because this place is in a constant state of weird.

[She says it an almost joking tone, but she’s 100% serious.]

I was kinda hoping it'd slow down.

Change of pace.

[ He looks sad for a moment as it sinks in that they're stuck in this reality and he'd finally gotten settled at home; this sort of invasive thought just comes back in vengeant waves if he doesn't actively ward them off. He clears his throat. ]

So what do you do here?

[Skye was going to make a joke, but seeing how disappointed he seems to be, she decides to just not comment on it. Reaching for her drink again, Skye looks up at him when he asks what her job is.]

I work for this organization called F.E.A.R. I help in the tech department.

[She hesitates for a second before explaining...]

It’s kind of like S.H.I.E.L.D.

[Except she’s on the books here as opposed to back home.]

SHIELD without all the HYDRA stuff, you mean?

[ Unless she's from prior to that. Hopefully not. He doesn't want to have to explain this. ]

[She is, but Bruce already spoiled that lovely tidbit of info for her. Still, it’s difficult for her to side the sudden feeling of dread as she’s reminded of what happens to the place she finally felt like she belonged in. This always happens to her.]

As far as I know, yeah, without the HYDRA stuff.

Okay.

Count me in.

[ He can always deal with the fallout in case it happened again. FEAR is much smaller anyway. ]

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morethan084 - 2019-06-06 10:24 (UTC) - Expand

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