soddersays | JUNE 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Entry tags:

JUNE 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to June's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: PSYCHOLOGICAL 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: Altered personalities, potential physical violence, character death
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

Welcome to the theater! No one knows when they held auditions, or when they held practice, or even when they started advertising, but there's suddenly flyers in every home, every shop, ever restaurant, and the locals seem to just be dying for a night of real culture. Whether or not you're usually a person who enjoys plays of any sort, once you see one of the posters, you'll find it hard to get it out of your mind. You'll find that your schedule lines up just perfectly for one of the plays and the tickets are free, so... Why not?

Strangely enough, none of the performances seem to be the same, so multiple visits to the theater will get you a variety of shows. It could just be a night of fun - a performance, maybe you go to dinner with a friend, and you get to have a night of pure enjoyment, especially if you really do love the theater. It could seem harmless the first time, maybe even the second, and maybe you'll walk away without ever experiencing the strange occurrences you hear other people going on about.

If you weren't so lucky, people attending the various performances will find that each show brings its own unique horrors, and they all seem to personally catered to you. The players seem to be broadcasting people's darkest secrets, their worst fears, and the most violent and terrifying personality traits that so many try to keep hidden about themselves. Monologues will be run that sound a lot like the critical voices inside of your head - maybe it's your mother talking about how worthless you are, or your best friend saying how they truly hated you all along, or the person you're deeply in love with making sure you know how pathetic they find you, or maybe you even see a player who looks like someone you lost, come back to tell you how it's your fault their gone, how you let them die. Or maybe even how you killed them.

The shows will leave you feeling dark and empty, depressed and maybe even angry. You'll find that you're more prone to lashing out, to getting violent, and you're more than ready to take it out on the people around you. Strangers, friends, it doesn't matter; someone needs to feel the same pain you are and you're happy to be the one to put them in it.

NOTE: None of the scenes put on in the plays will be actual memories. While background information or secrets may get brought up, they are primarily broadcasting exaggerated insecurities and fears.

RING AROUND THE ROSIE

A carousel has popped up in town, just nearby the ice cream shop! It seems like it has just pop up over night strangely, but that's the nature of things in Deerington, isn't it? The kids seem to love it, going to get sundaes, and then hopping on to one of the classic wooden horses for a ride. There's a tug of nostalgia that will hit you as you watch them laugh and play, even if you've never been on a carousel, or ever even seen one before today.

What's the harm in one ride? When it comes to a stop and the most recent group of kids runs off, you might find yourself compelled to hop on. The cheesy, mechanical music will fill your ears as the carousel starts to spin and for the first couple of turns, you're actually kind of having fun! No wonder the kids were laughing and clapping. There's something almost relaxing about this.

Until it's not. Things start to get strange quickly - the lights on the carousel flicker, until they go dead entirely, and it's like the entire world has gone dark with them. The music is still playing, but it's slowly warping into something less comforting. Eventually, you'll start to see things - terrible things that might make you regret having gone on the ride in the first place.

Whether it's occurred at home or not, some character's on the carousel will start to see detailed visions of their own deaths. They'll experience them as if it were truly happening and there seems to be little you can do to stop it. If you're lucky enough to not see your own death, you might get sucked into the vision of the person near you. Can you help to save them? Or will you only be able to do your best to comfort them through it?

Once a character is dead, the vision will end, the lights will return, and the music will be back to normal. You'll still be sitting on your horse as if nothing had happened at all. No physical reminder is present, but that doesn't mean the memories are going to fade any time soon.

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

[ Just. The most unimpressed look ever. ]

You could just get your own. They're free. [ He says it like Billy would listen to him, and like that's even important right now.

And god damn his life even more because he's compelled to ask if Billy fucking Hargrove is getting on okay in this nightmare town]

You been here long?

I like the stuff you have. [ The food might be free but annoying Steve is priceless. He takes another big bite just to let Steve know he's enjoying that fine, stolen food.

The second question gives him pause. He just saw Steve a couple days ago. Didn't they all show up at the same time?

And how long was he going to be stuck here? Somehow, it's worse than Hawkins. ]

Just got here. [ Another bite of the apple. ] It fucking sucks. [ That's one way to put it, yeah. ]

[ a s s h o l e

Time to swallow that frustration and step around Billy to put the goods in his car.

Why couldn't it be Nancy? Or Jonathan? Hell, he'd take his own parents over Billy Hargrove.]

It's kind of useless telling you this since you're like, incapable of doing something someone tells you not to-- but don't try driving out of town. If you do, let someone know so they can come find you after you pass out.

No one needs to know where I'm going.

[ Yep, he's absolutely planning on driving out as soon as he recovers from the initial shock of waking up here in the first place. Good luck convincing him otherwise, Billy's an absolute master of ignoring sensible advice, especially when the sensible person is someone he dislikes. ]

And why the hell would I pass out? [ He frowns, stepping uncomfortably close to Steve just in case he's forgotten that Billy is, in fact, physically intimidating. ] I'm not delicate like you, Harrington.

[Steve takes a moment more arranging the groceries in his car so he can roll his eyes out of his head so Billy won't notice.]

Because this town is fucked up, Hargrove. No matter which direction you go, you end up on the same road. Keep on driving down it and you'll go crazy. [He shuts the car door and leans against it, arms folded against himself.]

I tried it. Just driving out a bit to see if everyone here was bullshitting me. I thought I'd been gone all day, but when I got back it hadn't even been three hours. Even then I was puking blood for a week.

[ He stares the guy down, trying to hide how fucked up and terrified Steve feels about it. ] So when you go, let someone know so they can come drag you back.

[ He scoffs. He doesn't believe any of that, even for a second. What happened was: Steve went driving out on his own and got lost and scared of the dark. Yeah, that seems right, so that's the story Billy's going with. ]

I don't need anyone to drag me anywhere. [ He drags his own damn self wherever he needs to be. Who would he tell, anyways? Certainly not Steve Harrington. So, what, some stranger? Psh.

He walks by Steve, bumping him with his shoulder on purpose. It's not subtle, either; more of a shove than a bump. He's scared, too, and he's compensating by turning his aggression all the way up. ] Maybe you can't get out of here, but I can.

[Steve takes the shove but doesn't move off the car] There's like a hundred people stuck here, dumbass. More than that, maybe. Most of them are way smarter than you and me.

[ Honestly, he doesn't know why he's bothering. Maybe Billy deserves to wind up out there, going crazy and slowly dying on a long road surrounded by pines.

But maybe no one deserves that. ]

If there was a way out, they'd have found it.

Are you saying I'm stupid? [ He doesn't care that Steve included himself in that statement about most people being smarter, he's ready to take offense at anything.

But something about this doesn't sit quite right with him. That dream he had, the way he woke up here...everything's pointing to Steve maybe, just maybe, being right.

That doesn't make sense, either. The last time he saw Steve he beat him senseless, so why would he be giving out helpful advice now? There are a ton of possibilities swirling through his mind and none of them involve Steve just being a decent guy. People aren't nice for no reason in Billy's world. ] What's your game, Harrington? [ His tone is less confident now, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. ]

[Arms still folded across himself, Steve looks away across the parking lot. Now that it doesn't seem like Billy's going to either beat him up or try to drive off into the sunset he feels he can be a bit calmer.]

Before you woke up here, you had a crazy dream right? Getting dragged through the forest and then that deer was there. Then you woke up in a bed in a house in town somewhere, with some stuff that belongs to you on the countertop.

[ He looks over, just to see if Billy's still listening. ] This place is fucked up, Hargrove.

Yeah? [ He still regards Steve with some suspicion. That was the dream he'd had - exactly, in fact - so it's not that part that he doubts.

It's Steve's motive for telling him any of this. ]

So let it fuck me up, Harrington. [ Because of course Steve would enjoy watching him suffer, at least a little, after everything he's done. ] Why wouldn't you?

[Steve hasn't got an easy answer to that. Since last year, since getting caught up in the drama with the kids and monsters--

since he'd decided to run back into the Byers house and play whack-a-mole with the demogorgon. Things just haven't been the same.]

What, you think because you beat me up once I'm just gonna let you get yourself killed for fun? This isn't high school here, Hargrove. Just because you're a fucking asshole doesn't mean I'm not going to warn you about it.

[ Is he about to get beat up again? Probably. Oh well. Something new and different, right? ]

What's out here that's gonna kill me, huh? [ Billy knows nothing of monsters and other dimensions and real peril like that. If he did, he might've taken this more seriously.

As is, his biggest concerns are getting his ass kicked or being humiliated. Sure, Steve wouldn't kill him, but he'd totally set him up for one of those two things.

He lunges forward slightly. It's a fake-out, he just wants Steve to know that he's on thin ice. ] You better not be messing with me, or I might decide I'm not done with you.

[ Done fighting him, anyways. He'll never be done bothering him. ]

[ Steve flinches a little at the fakeout, because who wouldn't, but he doesn't move from where he's leaning on the car. ]

Jesus, would you fucking chill, Hargrove? No one cares about your California swagger here.

[ And since he is d o n e being gentle about it, he points across the carpark to a shop with it's windows still boarded up. ] Two weeks ago people in this town started going crazy. Like, crazier than when you at the Byers house. Roaming the streets and beating up people and breaking into their houses. I'm pretty sure a few people got killed getting caught up in that.

[ He ignores being told to 'chill'. Everyone cares about his California swagger, thank you very much.

While Billy's never been involved in such an incident himself, he's not too shocked by the idea of people roaming around breaking into houses and beating people up. It wasn't uncommon back home, in the shadier parts of the city at least. There wasn't really anything like that in Hawkins, though. Now Billy's thinking Steve might just be a little bit sheltered. ]

You mean like a gang or something? [ He shrugs. ] That's why you put bars on your windows.

[ Billy's in for a very rude awakening as soon as anything bad starts happening here. ]

[ With increasing frustration- ] I mean like half the people in this fucking town.

[ What's even the point of explaining it? Hargrove doesn't even seem to be really listening.

He pushes off the side of the car, getting ready to leave.]

Whatever. You'll figure it out soon enough. I gotta get this stuff home.

Home? [ Billy woke up in a house, but he'd hardly call it home. He takes one last bite of the apple and tosses the core on the ground, because who needs to use trash cans? ]

Shit, you've really resigned yourself to staying here, huh? [ He pulls a cigarette out of his pocket and lights it. ] Well, guess I won't be seeing you, then.

[ Because he's leaving. He's definitely leaving. ]

[ Steve shakes his head. ] I knew you were an idiot, Hargove, but wow. You're really going for first place.

[ Because this will help?? ]

[ Alright, that's it. He can skip town later, right now Steve Harrington needs to learn a lesson.

Without warning (other than a brief, displeased grunt), Billy takes a swing at his face. Yeah, that's right, who's the idiot now? ]

[ Steve kind of expects it, but let's be real: he's not a fighter. He times his dodge wrong and ends up with a fist to the side of the head. Dazed, he tries to shove Billy back he shoves the shoulder instead of the chest.

This is just going to go so well. Steve already knows.]

[ It hurts when his knuckles make contact with Steve's face. It always does, such is the risk of brawling with your bare hands, but both giving and receiving pain are worthy distractions in Billy's eyes.

As long as he gives more than he receives, anyway.

He stumbles back a little at the shove, and then he charges like an angry bull, fists flying. ] No one's here to rescue you this time.

[ ...And Billy's also not quite as furious, so he's less likely to give that much of a beatdown, but he can't let Steve insult him and walk away. ]

[ Steve puts up the best fight he can, but it's hard to block punches or punch back when your head's already spinning. And he still hasn't learned to plant his feet.

A few punches in and he's already unbalanced, landing on his ass.]

[ Christ, Harrington, how many times do you have to learn to plant your feet? Billy doesn't even bother pointing it out this time. If it's a weakness he can exploit over and over, he'll do it. ]

So who's the idiot? [ He aims a swift kick to Steve's side. Of course, being beaten in a fight has nothing to do with how smart or stupid anyone is being, and Billy's still very much the idiot for thinking that leaving town is a good idea.

But that's way too logical a train of thought for Billy to have on his own. He's winning, so Steve's the idiot. ]

[ The kick has him curling up. Yup. This went exactly how he expected. ]

Fuck you. [ And honestly? Steve's the idiot. He should just have let Billy have the apple and pointed him to the nearest road out of town. ] Go on. Get the hell out of here.

That's what I thought. Have fun living in this shithole, Harrington. [ He smiles that smug, insufferable smile of his.

And gives one more kick, just for good measure, before he turns and leaves. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

JUNE 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

JUNE 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

RING AROUND THE ROSIE

Character Arrival

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject