JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to July's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: DREAM 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: Violence, Freddie Kreuger references, fire, forced sleep with some drug-like references, stabbing, nightmares, monsters, possibility for extreme alcohol consumption, and lobster festivals
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Prompt Three
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN

It’s July and July in Maine means lobster! The Lobster Festival springs up seemingly overnight down near Koji Pond. In the morning, there’s a large parade that makes its way through town, starting from the top of East Main Street and all the way down through West Main St until they hit the festival. There are tents, a few rides, games, arts and crafts, and most importantly, food pretty much everywhere behind the hotel and you can help yourself to free ice cream at the ice cream shop! Lobster ice cream and Blueberry ice cream are pushed to the forefront, but you can get just about any flavor you could possibly dream of in the long run.

You can hear live music playing and a stage has been set up on the roof of the arcade. Live bands play everything from folk music to jazz to classic rock that you may or may not have heard in your lifetime. There’s a tent where local artists (including sleepers) are selling art, a craft tent where people are selling goods they’ve made such as pottery and homemade fudge, and a Do It Yourself tent where people are teaching you how to make your own buoy decoration for your front yard or how to weave your own baskets!

A seafood cooking contest is held for anyone who may want to show off their culinary skills. Any kind of seafood dishes are allowed, but they highly encourage showing your abilities to cook with lobster! Think you can beat the longstanding champions from Deerington? It’s pretty unlikely, especially since it looks like the townspeople keep trying to sabotage your meal as you’re making it. Did you mean to put in an entire half cup of salt to your stew? Oops. Guess you better figure out how to work with it anyway.

Across Koji Pond, there are floating crates set up for the great crate race! See if you can make it across the lake fastest – challenge a friend! These lobster crates wobble pretty heavily, but each runner is given a life vest for when they might inevitably fall in. Be careful if you do! Some of those strange looking fish in there definitely bite.

Each morning at the festival there will be an all you can eat blueberry pancake breakfast. Surprisingly, nothing drastic seems to happen, so have as many pancakes as your body can hold! They’re delicious, after all. Through the rest of the day, it’s easy to get your hands on lobster rolls of varying sizes, full steamed lobster meals (with corn on the cob and a buttered dinner roll), lobster salad, steamed mussels, scallops, haddock (baked or fried), fried clams, lobster stuffed risotto balls, blueberry cobbler, and strawberry shortcake are all available at any of the food stands. All the food seems perfectly safe. But you’re gonna need something to wash it down with…

The drink stand has a great deal to offer, but every drink seems to come with a particularly strange side effect to it. People who enjoy the hand crafted beers will find that it gets them drunk twice as fast and can even make people who would normally never drink completely wasted after just a glass or two. Every glass you have makes you thirstier than the last and it can be easy to want to reach for another beer to try and get yourself together. In fact, it’s particularly hard to reach for anything else. Urges to drink the beer will last for at least one full hour or can be cut short by being responsible and going to drink some water instead.

So maybe beer isn’t your thing; that’s okay! There’s also blueberry lemonade which will turn you the color of blueberries from head to toe! Fresh iced tea will make you feel particularly sarcastic, prone to mocking even your closest friends and gossiping with complete strangers about the things you may or may not have heard about the town. Got a juicy secret you were trying to keep for someone? Well, it’s out in the open now. Cream sodas will make you extremely cuddly, wanting to cozy up next to the closest person to you for a little while. The more you drink, the more touchy-feely you may get, so maybe try and stick to just one or two unless you’re looking for some afternoon delight. Hot tea will make you feel calm and relaxed to an extent you never have before. To the point where you might even want to just go lay down on one of the docks and take a quick catnap in the middle of the afternoon sun. Hopefully you wore sunscreen.

Effects from any drink will last for one to three hours or until you have some strawberry shortcake from one of the food vendors.

BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL

So maybe the lobster festival isn’t your thing or you got tired of all the crowds and wanted to go and do something else fun. Strangely enough, some of the fields out near the farmhouses apparently have a bunch of blueberry bushes that no one’s ever noticed before! They’re in full bloom and the berries look ripe for the picking. Perfectly round, juicy, warm from the sun – you could eat a whole handful of these and maybe never feel more satisfied. They’re deliciously sweet, perfect for pies and cobblers. And a whole basket seems to be reasonably priced, so why not go out and pick as many as you can!

The longer you’re out in the fields, the more you’ll start to feel a little groggy. It’s easy to shake off as just being from the sun at first and you might think about heading back, but something in you wants to keep picking. So you trudge in deeper into the fields, and that sleepy feeling becomes more and more difficult to ignore. Eventually, you might find that you’re ready to just lay down and take a nap in the shade of a particularly large blueberry bush. It seems like a good a spot as any – the ground is nice and soft. Just curl up for a little while and close your eyes. Even people who are normally not prone to sleeping will find that they are compelled and even capable of taking a quick nap in these fields.

Any dreams you may have while sleeping will feel more vivid than normal – to the point where it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. Did you actually manage to find your way out of Deerington and back home? You can pinch yourself, but you won’t wake up, and it’ll hurt like a bitch, so it’s hard to be sure. Dreams seem to mostly be pleasant ones, but the occasional nightmare might find its way in to your otherwise restful sleep. Anyone who stumbles on you asleep in the fields might even hear you talking in your sleep, rambling out conversations and feelings you might normally have kept quiet. Got feelings for someone you were trying to bury? They might just hear you mutter them out loud if they’ve found you there in the dirt. Wanted to make sure no one in Deerington found out you had no home to go back to? That sucks, it sounds like you might have just spilled the beans without even knowing.

The real question is if the person who finds you will wake you up or just keep listening to find out more of your secrets without having to pry for them.

NINE, TEN, NEVER SLEEP AGAIN

It’s not just in the blueberry fields that sleepiness seems to be catching. Throughout Deerington, people seem to be having a harder and harder time staying awake for long stretches. The desire for a quick nap or even a long snooze becomes harder to fight as each day passes and you might find yourself nodding off in places you normally wouldn’t – behind the wheel of a car, in the middle of a store, at work… Hopefully no one gets too hurt or loses a job during these strange episodes.

Only unlike in the fields, when you do give in to sleep, the dreams you have are now far from pleasant. Nightmares are running amok in your mind, but that vivid realism? That inability to tell when you’re awake or asleep? That has definitely not changed. You might not have even realized you’ve fallen asleep at all – most of the scenery around you seems to be Deerington itself, but something just seems off. You don’t have time to think about it though because it’s then that things start to get scary. Whether it’s reliving your most traumatic experiences, running in to your worst enemies, or seeing monster of your own creation popping up and chasing you, danger and fear are permeating every corner of these dreams. Horror movie fans might find they’re being chased by Freddie Kreuger, hunted down by Jason, cornered by the aliens from Alien. Or maybe there are terrifying monsters from your own world that have started to come for you and are trying to tear you limb from limb. It feels impossible to outrun, and maybe in the end, you don’t. But if you die in your dreams, you don’t really die in real life, right? So you might just snap awake with a particularly frightening jolt.

You think when you wake up that everything is fine. That sense of fear is gone and you’re able to just breathe. But as you go about your day, you start to see images from your nightmares out of the corner of your eyes. Was that Freddie’s claws scratching against the blackboard? Did you just hear the strange clicking of alien feet against the tiles? You hope it’s in your imagination, but this is Deerington. When does anything ever stay normal?

The danger from your nightmares is definitely invading your personal space and it will try to kill you. Anyone else can see these images just as plain as day as you can and they are welcome to either sit and watch or help you fight. Whatever is trying to kill you will go down in the same manner it would have back home – that means that it could be as easy as a bullet between the eyes or it could be as complex as an intense ritual. Guess you’ll have to figure it out for yourself before it really does kill you.

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.

Comments

[recurser]

[ Jonas doubts he's an angel by any definition of the word. Angels aren't real. There are just people who should exist and people - like him - who shouldn't. But she seems so overwhelmed by the idea that he can't bear to correct her. ]

Where's your door?

[ Undoubtedly different from the one he came through, he's realizing. Which may be good news for her, considering his door is all the way in Germany. ]

[unantichristly]

[ he's probably right, at that. adam's sure his hellish father is making special arrangements to punish crowley for what he'd done. unfortunately for him, crowley is adam's godfather--despite the relatively recent revelation--and adam protects his own. crowley and aziraphale are, without a doubt, some of the most well-protected beings in all of creation.

he brightens abruptly at the suggestion, practically sparkling with delight. ] With your real wings? That would be amazing! [ and his mum and dad not knowing is basically the best part. they never let him get away with anything.

he sobers a moment later, though, glancing over to dog with a thoughtful tilt of his head. ] What, Dog? Nah, it takes a lot to upset him. I reckon he's like me a bit, being made for me an' all.

[1926]

[Crowley watched her warily, moving back just slightly as she tried to sit up. He thought to help her, but right now, he feared she might actually fight him if he did such a thing while she had the strength to. He didn't miracle away some of her exhaustion onto himself just to have her waste that energy fighting him.]

Gave you some of your strength back.

[He answered truthfully and brushed the back of his knuckles under his nose, wiping the blood away. He looked down at it on the back of his hand. That was an odd thing. Very odd.]

I apparently can't take much of the strain from your body without it killing-- inconveniently discorporating me. No, I suppose killing is accurate here. No Hell for me to return to if this body dies.

[revenante]

[ It's not a stupid name. It's her true name. It's what she is. No one else seemed to have a problem with it.

She doesn't expect him to lead her here. She was expecting maybe a tall building in town, or maybe he knew where there'd be a body of water she could drown in. But this... is not that. What relief in her face is gone and she looks at him suspiciously. This is not what she asked for-- he's wasting her time.

She stays standing, her brow furrowing. ]

What is this?

[crawfordstone]

[ Without explanation, he moved around the bar. In rapid succession, he pulled out a glass for her and planted it on the bar. He then pulled down a bottle of decent vodka, and poured several fingers worth into the glass. He then pushed the glass toward her. ]

Closest thing to a way out.

[revenante]

It's not really in any place-- it's just... everywhere. Wherever you are when the movements are done.

[ It's what OA believes they are. What she was told they were. She doesn't have any other explanation other than that and if someone else has a similar ability, they must be an angel too. He must be an angel.

They are doing impossible things - a gift hidden from humanity. ]

It's not so much something you move through physically - more... I don't know, your soul, perhaps? I could feel myself leaving my body. I'm not exactly sure - this is my first time.

You move through an actual door? You have a physical portal?

[revenante]

[ She watches him curiously, her eyes glancing down to the glass on the bar, watches him fill it a decent amount of liquid. Is this a bad time to mention she's never had alcohol before?

She still doesn't move though, she remains standing, still frowning. ]

Is it poisoned?

[ She really hopes it's poisoned. Although she doubts it and she doesn't want to quite face that truth: he's planning on letting her get drunk. ]

[recurser]

There's a cave. If you go into it, you'll come out in a different time. That's how I was doing it before they caught me.

[A fumbling journey, to say the least.]

But the last time I went through, two men were waiting for me. They knocked me out and put me in a room. A bunker, I think. That's the first time I saw an actual portal. It was like a window in the air. There was a little boy on the other side, in some other time. I tried to reach him, then the next thing I knew, I woke up here.

XD Fair point!

[1926]

[She didn't even need to utter an 'I told you so'. He could almost feel it in the entirety of their unspoken conversation about standing. So, he just gave in and flopped back in place like a good little demon.

His face screwed up at the mention of a mortgage. That was an awful, horrible, unsavoury thought. But the words that followed nearly knocked him over. You promised in Hell. What? No, excuse him, What the actual Heaven was going on here?]

In Hell? [Crowley began incredulously, because she wasn't a demon. He could sense that quite well. He might be drunk, but he would know if he'd dragged a damned soul from Hell and if he had, oh he was so royally buggered. In for a penny, in for a pound, perhaps?]

Didn't know I was lookin' fer anyone??? [Oh, if he could just sober up that would be fabulous right about now!] What? No, seriously, what?

Last thing I remember is the Ritz with an angel. [He scrubbed at his head in mild frustration. His thoughts were all muddled. Was it just the alcohol or was something else going on here? Still, he couldn't shed that one detail.] We were in Hell together?

[magija]

[ she doesn’t know the girl, but even if the town remains relatively small as it is, it isn’t as though she’s expected to know much of its residents, especially considering how often she resorts to concealing herself away from most of it.

still, she watches her curiously, a bit of concern in her eyes, because with the dangers that constantly lurk on the corners, even a display of drunkenness seems to be something worth being cautious of, even a little. ]

You know, if there’s something I’ve learned in this town, it’s that you should be careful about taking in too much of what they’re offering you. [ because enough experiences have been sufficient lessons of what it could all do.

but then she peers down at her own hands, the cup of ice cream situated between them and she gives a small smile, giving a light bite of her lip. ] Of course, I’m not very good at following that advice, either.

[zwhack]

Oh, uh, great. [ she gives a fairly bashful smile as she holds up the fork-pierced pancake, almost in the way of cheers before she gives it another bite, smaller and more in control of herself this time around. she’s still starving but she also knows decency when it counts.

but who knows when she might have a meal like this again. because she’s been through this before a fair number of times — settling down into a setting that’s comfortable, something that may appear a bit long term for extended survival while riding out the rest of the apocalypse, only to have it all crumbling apart. chances are she wasn’t going to be in this town for long before the next obstacle came around to push her forward.

besides, she still needed to reunite with the others.

even so, she does chuckle at the girl’s question, nodding her head with a focused look feigning seriousness. ] Totally. Yeah, usually all you need to do in order to get that flavor is add a small dose of actual chicken and you nail it everytime. But hey, on the bright side, you can eat as many as you want and you never even gain a pound. Anyone who said you can never have too much of a good thing clearly never had crickets.

[ sarcasm, of course. because, well, crickets. ]

[revenante]

[ It's extraordinary - travelling through time rather than dimensions. Although-- dangerous, she wonders. An actual door, this cave, sounds dangerous, unprotected -- and they found him. Locked him away. She actually looks pained. ]

So there are other Angel Hunters. I hoped there was only one-- he's enough. He's terrible enough. I'm sorry they took you, sorry you ended up here instead.

[ It resonates with her, it hurts her. She wrings her hands. His way of travelling is so different to hers. Here he is, another angel, and perhaps they are only passing - she doesn't want to leave him here. It doesn't seem right, as much as she has to go. She smiles wistfully. ]

I don't know if I can take you with me. I don't know if it will work-- I had people perform the movements for me so I could travel-- but it's not just that for me. I'm dying. [ She gestures to the blood on her hoodie. ] Or perhaps already dead. I think that's how it works for me.

[sathan]

You'll return.

( it's said with a confidence despite the quiet of her voice, lilith just about managing to toe off her shoes, heels by her feet at the end of the couch )

Everyone does.

( and she'd end up having to banish his ghost. eventually.

she sighs, resting her head against the couch )

This is my price. I may have my full power but this place weakens me for it.

( just so he knows that mom isn't normally like this. usually it's not noticeable, spells smaller and not requiring much but lucifer had taken a lot of magic in sheer effort and size of her spell, having to battle something with even greater powers )

[borntolove]

There's a pointed face at the other - that smell. It's not something he's smelled for a very long time and isn't sure if he believes on what his nose is telling him. Best to be alert on any case.

"That's interesting isn't it? Things need maintenance. Why isn't thar a hardware store?"

A mouth pop, "Thar is the junkyard."

[recurser]

[ How strange. All this undeserved empathy for him. He offers as some consolation in return: ]

It looks like you left your death behind you.

[ As she no longer appears to be bleeding and she certainly isn't a corpse. ]

If you want, you could teach me the movements. Maybe I can help you go, at least.

[sathan]

( she shouldn't be surprised that a child who had a hellhound and a little of hell in him would believe in witches. ir know one, if that was true )

Whilst those magazines may not be accurate what they wrote about is true. Dreamwalking is possible though it's not how we were brought here.

( she pauses briefly )

What else did this witch tell you?

[bigbadrose]

Krop Tor. [Shrug.]

[And then a weird sort of expression as she mouths it out again and grabs a seat across from him, glad he flopped back down, and makes an anagram on a napkin with a pen from her pocket and--]

[Head tilt.] Proctor? Izzat German or... some alien language? You didn't mention it when we there. Not that I'm expecting some sort of... Lord Voldemort thing, but still. We do have a weird habit of showin' up places we shouldn't. And the rest of it was all pretty intense. [Shrug.] To be expected for Hell. But we haven't seen any Bad Wolf since...

[Rose trailed off again. If the Doctor wasn't even as far as Hell yet, then it was definitely too soon to bring up Bad Wolf Bay, so better to just let him think it was how he regenerated. But at the mention of an angel in the Ritz, Rose's eyes go flinty, and she immediately jumps to her usual reflexive defense of, "I'm not jealous, why would I be jealous? Ain't nothin' to be jealous of!" and casually looks anywhere but at him.]

So tell me about the angel?

[She wouldn't be fooling anyone, except the Doctor who was pretty good at being oblivious.]

How're the chips here?

[See casual. Completely casual and not at all jealous enough to stab him with the pen. NOPE. NOT EVEN CROSSING HER MIND!]

[unantichristly]

[ if they weren’t brought here that way, then.. he’s tempted to let himself wonder that way, but he shuffles the thought aside. it’s fine learning about it the long way— it’s no fun if he cheats.

the question makes him puff out his chest, lighting up excitedly. ] Oh! All kinds of stuff, about whales and leylines an’ about how magic’s nothin’ like what’s on the telly!

[ a beat, and he sticks out his hand. ] I’m Adam, by the way.

mia smoak ★ dctv

[smoakshow]

WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN

I. ( when the shock of arrival has dulled and she stops wanting to fight literally everyone that crosses her path, she stumbles right into the festival. initially, she doesn’t want to be there. it’s loud and bright, and people are everywhere. those three reasons are also why she’s smiling because wow, this is like the glades .. only, you know, without the kill everyone not like us plan. or well, she hopes so anyway. she hopes that’s not the case here.

in the meantime, there’s ice cream. there’s so much ice cream. she’s basically going to get a sugar high here and go for seconds, don’t judge. she’s breaking off pieces of her waffle cone and popping them into her mouth on a bench, sitting cross-legged outside of the storefront. she stops chomping long enough to suggest: ) You should try the blueberry. I’m on my third scoop. You won’t regret it.

II. ( later on in the day, she winds up at koji pond, strapped into a life vest that she raises both eyebrows at because yeah, no, she’s not going to need that. she can’t blame them. they haven’t seen her balance game. it’s on point. once it’s her turn to approach the starting point, she gets a running head start and lands with a practiced precision even as the crates bob beneath her. she rights herself and keeps going like they’re nothing more than stepping stones. she makes it across on the first try.

she gets greedy and way too boastful. mia wants to make it there and back. not only does she want to win, she wants to be the best.

naturally, she gets distracted. it won't be as simple as the sun getting in her eyes but it can be almost anything else: a hot guy, a cute trick, a puppy. most likely, it'll be that someone's crossing from the opposite direction on the lobster crates and they look like they're going to fall in. the world she comes from is sink or swim, lie or be lied to. she was raised better than that. before she can think about it too hard, she's reaching out to stabilize a total stranger because those fish do not look like they want to sing a happy little tune and continue on an adventure. )

Watch it! ( she snaps. ) I'm trying to help you.

( which is a no good, very bad, incredibly dumb thing she decides when they both go for a nosedive into the pond. )

NINE, TEN, NEVER SLEEP AGAIN

III. ( that fragile line between dreaming and waking has been blurry for far too long. she knows what happens to vigilantes in star city just as she knows what happens to star city because of vigilantes. it’s a vicious cycle, some of which she now believes is propaganda — although, not all of it. she knows now that her parents were the kind of people that did whatever they had to for the world, for their city and while it may have helped some things, it also made other things worse. all of that knowledge knocking around in her head and she still has a bow and a quiver at the ready ( the only thing she has from home ) once she starts seeing stuff.

people.

and not people.

super soldiers that run on a program her mother designed, for instance, with dna marking technology that help them predict the next move of anyone in the system. so yeah, that’s pretty spectacular. go ahead, ask her about her day. she has some scrapes and blooming bruises by the time she crosses paths with someone; her hair is loose, past her shoulders, and about as wild as her erratic behavior. )

You need to get out of here. Go. Run. ( because in about .003 seconds, that soldier utilizing the archer program is kicking in the front door. )

[borntolove]

[Guess who walks into the bar. Just guess. The first two don't count. First thing he hears is about being in Hell together in a questioned sense and then hears Rose's voice]

Yes, we were in Hell together.

[The Doctor only stands very tall and dramatically in the doorway. Softly at Rose but very hard pinned look at the double face with ginger hair. A very well defined 'who the hell are you' and more importantly]

Get the Hell away from Rose.

[With a low growl]

[1926]

Of course. They're not good for much else now. Travelling the world is more fun with wings, anyway, yeah?

[Perhaps, somehow, Crowley did feel much safer knowing the wise-beyond-his-years Adam Young was around. It didn't make him feel less protective of the boy who could essentially protect them all. He hoped it wasn't in any way an insult to Adam that thought that way. Godfather perks, and all.]

It's that special connection you two share. He was to be just as you willed him to be, and you willed him to be unique. Like you. The best of both worlds, yeah? Hellhound and not in one small package. [Crowley knelt down, watching Dog. He certainly was not what Hell had wanted and Crowley couldn't be more proud of Adam for that.]

Lunch! [Yes, that might've been a bit of an odd interjection, but he was an odd sort of demon.] Have you eaten? That's a thing, food. [Because he ate for pleasure in most cases back home, but the young Antichrist was still human of a sort and food was a necessity for him.]

lobster fest

[smoakshow]

( she’s never seen a puppet show in real life before. she doesn’t actually remember if she’s seen one on television or not. sure, she watched things, but growing up her life had been much more disciplined than being camped in front of a singalong with a pb&j sandwich while her mom did her own thing, happy to have a live-in babysitter. after much wandering, she ends up in front of the tiny stage, not exactly by her own choosing. she meets a kid outside the ice cream shop that got separated from his parents and by sheer coincidence, his name is will. it’s too freaky to not be the universe laughing at her. she promises to help him out and the rest is history.

flash forward to now, with mia perched on her knees with her legs folded under her, staring blankly ahead. did the puppeteer forget their lines? she glances around skeptically, assessing whether this is normal or not. when she’s met with blank and questioning faces in turn, she rolls her eyes. )

Lobster Festival. ( she deadpans, voice raised to carry, though there’s a kind of grating, annoyed tone attached to it. a sidelong glance at her young friend and she turns that frown upside down, amending her prior statment with: ) A magical lobster festival.

( oh my god, this is painful. )

[1926]

[Crowley was so very lost. Krop Tor? Alien languages? At least the Lord Voldemort thing made sense to him in that he knew the films.

Then she was on about his angel and... was that jealousy? Who in Satan's name are you? ]

Aziraphale is his name. He's, well, I've known him almost my entire long life--

[And that was when another with a voice strikingly similar to his brusquely entered with barley contained threats in his tone. He'd never heard his own voice so angry before. And who was Rose? Oh, wait. Oh. Wait. Absolutely pissed, he still had his deductive reasoning and all the puzzle pieces just fell into place. Every last one of them.

Oh bloody Hel-- For the love of-- God bless it! She thinks I'm you? I thought I was losing my bleeding mind! [Note, he was neither angry, afraid, nor currently humouring his enraged demand to move. He was here first, good sir. She sat beside him.] Why d'you look like me, anyway?

[The demon shifted slightly, directing his attention back to Rose.]

Rose, was it? Crowley. Now that I know I'm not insane.

Freddy Krueger | A Nightmare on Elm Street

[springwoodslasher]

[ OOC/CW: For...potentially a lot of things depending on what you wanna do. It's Freddy--in canon there's violence, nightmares, gore, body horror, general assholery. He's a serial killer from an 80s slasher franchise. And a literal demon.

So I am willing to have this be as absolutely terrible as possible, but PLEASE let me know in a subject or OOC note how awful he can be. Freddy preys on your fears and completely perverts and sabotages your sense of being. The reality he makes is distorted and potentially gruesome. I am happy to provide just a few jump scares or eeriness or go full tilt boogie Freddy-style. Whatever is within your comfort level! ]

Nine, Ten, Never Sleep Again

[ It starts out as a regular street on the Deerington main drag. Nothing particularly exciting. You were just here, weren't you? Getting groceries? Maybe going to work? Pretending this place wasn't such a fuckfest of emotional whiplash and discontent? Then you fit right in. That's what a world like this is for, after all, coming to terms with the ugly.

Maybe you don't even realize you're asleep. But aren't you always asleep in Deerington? That makes this all his domain.

The locals are generally inattentive and faceless, but as you walk down the street, you start to feel as if there are eyes on you. Whether you choose to power through the feeling and keep on marching or try to figure out why you feel so on the spot, you will eventually come to notice...

A.) A small child in a red and green sweater, staring at you unblinking from the sidewalk.
B.) A loved one from home suddenly walking in front of you. But you only see their back...it has to be them, though, doesn't it?
C.) A series of deep slash marks on the ground--four, to be exact. Where did those come from? And is that a scratching sound?

]

[bigbadrose]

Blimey, speaking of intense...

[All the hairs on the back of her neck were on end in alarm purely at the tone of voice coming from the Doctor. It was the kind of voice before whole galaxies could be destroyed!]

[She scrambled out of her seat, to his side, took him in with some bewilderment and took his hand. Even if he was a fake...]

Rose Tyler. [An apologetic awkward as hell handshake with her right hand to Crowley, as her left was still holding the Doctor's hand.]

[And she nods up at the angry TimeLord.] It's true. I never gave him time to catch up. I just thought --

[She closes her eyes and lets go of his hand. She wanted so desperately to find the Doctor and for everything to be okay with the multiverse again that she ignored the ginger hair and clothes as part of this dimension. But that didn't mean this one was real.]

[She put her hand up over his heart, and peered into his eyes.] How do I know you're you?

[Alive. Dimension. Where were they?!]

[Rose shook her head sadly.] He shouldn't be possible, right? You said TimeLords don't splinter. [She tensed all over again. If he was real... then she still had to be careful about time.]

[Sideglance to Crowley, and an apologetic broad grin.] Sorry, mate. You said you didn't recognize the term, but I thought it was just him bein' cagey about--

[Face scrunch and an accusing face to the Doctor!] You do act all weird and cagey a lot!! And there's bein' rude, and then there's just plum overcompensatin' for not bein' ginger! [Face scrunch and a giggle she hoped disarmed some of the Doctor's fierce rage.] I just thought he'd done the opposite.

[To Crowley:] Were you really born with that hair???

[Back to the Doctor:] See? Aren't you glad you're not ginger now!? [Gestures as if to say, "It's hideous."]