soddersays | JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

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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.

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Arrival

It wasn't so much the waking up in a strange place that alerted him to something being wrong, but rather the simple fact that he woke up. The last think he could recall was the searing pain of the sun's rays and the agony of wood piercing his heart. And then...nothing but pure darkness. This was no afterlife, as the faint light filtering through the curtains was enough to make his eyes burn. No, this was regular life. A new chance? He wasn't going to question it.

After nightfall he ventured out into the town. Exploring. Feeling out its borders. Observing. Several nights in a row, he just watched from the shadows. Then, one night, just after the sun dipped below the horizon so the summer sky was still tinged pink, he made himself known.

With his most charming, working man smile, he approached the first person he came across that smelled different from the locals. "Excuse me," he said, his American accented voice a little on the huskier side. "You wouldn't happen to know if there's a hardware store in town, would you?"

Never Sleep Again

Jerry missed out on most of the fun, as he couldn't venture out in the daylight. Which was a real shame. It would be so easy to pick up someone who'd passed out in a field and walk away with them. Instead, he found himself with dreams of his own. A very odd experience of its own, as he hadn't had a dream in over 400 years. It didn't help matters that he didn't exactly have the capacity to feel fear, but he was not entirely immune to something similar.

The dreams left him paranoid. Thinking he saw those faces everywhere he went. The kid and that hack. It didn't help matters that there were two others in town who bore an uncanny resemblance to Peter Vincent. One even had his penchant for ridiculous clothes. But it wasn't the paranoia of a man stalked by the past. It was that of a predator intent upon survival.

Having suspected someone--perhaps a nightmare brought to life--was following him, he ducked into the shadows and the next thing they knew, he'd managed to scale the wall and drop silently behind them. It was quiet possible they were merely walking the same direction on a dark street, but that didn't matter. He leaned close and said in a rather menacing voice, "Give me one reason I shouldn't rip your throat out."

The Doctor is out and might get caught with his sonic screwdriver on and making a weird buzzing, as The Doctor is looking in corners for weak points to test a theory.

Don't mind the rather familiar looking face with sideburns, in a blue pinstripe suit, red tie and red sandshoes and wearing a long brown coat. Sort of just came out of the shadowns. However, the demeanor if focused on isn't the same. In fact, it may be even scarier.

There's a pleasant neutral look at the question, "Haven't seen one. Why?" Then a gentle, "Hallo."

The face did give him pause, but the clothes were all wrong. Something fundamentally different in the face, too. The face of a man prone to smiling, rather than one who pickled himself in alcohol. He smelled different too. Something Jerry had never smelled before. Well, wasn't that interesting. It had been far too long since he'd found something new.

He maintained his general air of friendliness, hands in his pockets. "The house I got dropped into is...well, it's a mess. Thought I'd keep myself busy fixing it up. Can't do that without tools." But then he tilted his head slightly, as if only now realizing that what the other man had said was a bit off. "Why else?"

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."

Gwen's on her way home from her shift at the comic book shop, a little brown paper bag of new selections in hand. She's humming some cartoon theme song or another, but stops when a man approaches her with a question.

"Uh. You'll want to try Stacey's, the department store. They sell just about everything." She blew all her starter money there buying all the red dye they had, a few months ago. "You might want to hurry, though, I dunno how late they stay open."

Honestly, he'd picked her because she seemed like an easy target. An oblivious teenage girl? That was the best there was. Now if only she had an irritating boyfriend to torment, as well.

He looked a little disappointed at her answer. "Already tried there, I'm afraid. I need a bit more than what they've got. The place I got dropped into...I'm surprised it's not collapsed under its own weight."

Gwen just shrugs. "Then move? There's plenty of places to stay that aren't all run-down."

She has an irritating (sort of) boyfriend, but unfortunately for Jerry, he's in another dimension. She does, however, have a gun in her backpack so proceed with caution.

Adam was not a stranger to nightmares, but it had been a few centuries since he'd dreamed about being hunted. Usually his dreams foretold glimpses of the future, and he wasn't overly pleased with the implication. Restless and brooding was not an unusual state for Adam, but the ever growing paranoia was new. He didn't like it.

But he couldn't stay cooped up forever. He would eventually need to find something with which to sustain himself, and he couldn't very well do that from a derelict house on the edge of town. Besides, his dreams hinted that there might be a younger vampire around, and Adam wasn't one to politely share territory.

Who spotted who first was up for debate, but the sudden invasion of his personal space raised a quiet anger in him. "The attempt would not end well for you." At this distance, there was no denying the nature of the other.

It had been far too long since he'd smelled another like him. He'd missed it at first, because it didn't seem possible. They'd all been wiped out. All but those he'd created. And he most certainly hadn't created this one.

"So certain...." he said, any semblance of humanity dropping out of his voice. "Why don't we find out if there's at least one exit left in this world?" As he spoke, he dragged one wickedly sharp claw down Adam's spine. Making no move to actually attack just yet. He'd get no sustenance out of this one, but reclaiming his territory would still be worth it.

Only the stupid, careless ones were wiped out. Living so far under the radar as to practically not exist, Adam and Eve were not stupid, and they'd survived into modern civilization. He'd known vampires like this one in the past, based simply on their brief interaction so far. Apex predator types had mostly died out in the 15th century because they were too obvious in their movements. This one must have been damn clever to have escaped, and Adam didn't like the combination of aggressive and clever.

Adam darted away from the other vampire in a movement so fast he seemed to simply reappear a few steps away, now turned to face him. Any vampire worth his salt could follow the moment, but Adam was banking on the fact that the challenger wouldn't immediately follow his retreat. "I liked this jacket. Now I fear you've ruined it."

His eyes narrowed, deep with suspicion but not answering the challenge posed. "You're clearly not one of Kit's. Who are you?"

Well, Rose hadn't been expecting that. She wasn't stalking him, but rather trying to run from her own nightmares; who had a very different form entirely.

She was kind of proud of herself for not instantly crying, but she came pretty close!

"You'd get your clothes messy???" she hoped to make the would-be serial killer laugh or get distracted-ish enough to buy her time. Depended on how serious they were too. She didn't even have any means to reach Torchwood, her parents, or anyone! It had been a long time since Rose was truly genuinely afraid for herself. Even nearly falling into the void, she'd been more scared for the Doctor, that he might do something daft and dangerous or--

And to think he always told her not to wander off, and the one time she would've listened, it wasn't really like there'd been a choice. No impregnable fortress to hide in, after all.

She flashbacked to Margaret the slitheen holding Rose by the throat in 8 inch claws threatening to tear her throat out unless they ripped a hole in the Earth to power a cosmic surfboard... except ironically, Rose hadn't been afraid like she probably should have been then. Because it was easy to be brave from inside the best and safest place in the multiverse. Not even the daleks could scratch the TARDIS, and they'd more than tried.

Oh, the fun in the sun was so overrated. Night life was where it was at, honestly. At least, that was Crowley's view on the world for the the most part back home. Right now, his night life was filled with discomfort and nightmares. They were leaving him quite grumpy, if he did say so himself. Not that a grumpy snake was all that terrifying in and of itself, but he had nothing to vent at, having yet to find a decent gardening shop. So he did spend a few nights just yelling at or threatening different plants as far from the city as the limits would allow.

Right now, however, even lost in thought as he was, it didn't go unnoticed that there was another dark entity prowling around very close by. He thought he'd ignore it. It wasn't his problem, after all. Whatever it chose to do was up to it. He knew his people were well protected, one being an Antichrist, of all things.

But when this dark entity decided it was time to stalk him, well, that was more irritating. He didn't have the patience for an encounter. Honestly, if he'd been trying to stalk you, Mr. Dark Entity, he would be less noticeable than a lanky figure sauntering down the street. Give him more credit than that.

Crowley's stride didn't even falter when the other spoke from too close behind him. He did glance back, however, eyes narrowed just so behind dark shades. Yes, blackened lenses while walking around at night? One might wonder how he can see. He could. Quite well, actually. The perks of being a demon with powerful night sight.

"Because you wouldn't get very far if you tried. Is that reason enough, mate?" No, this wasn't Peter Vincent, despite his shocking similarities. They even seemed to share the same arrogant stride and sway, as well as the dark and drab fashion sense. But this wasn't a man who drank himself silly. This was a man who wasn't exactly a man.

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JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN

BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL

NINE, TEN, NEVER SLEEP AGAIN

Character Arrival

Jerry | Fright Night (2011)

Arrival

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Arrrrrrrrrrrrrival!

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Never Sleep Again

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Never sleep again

Never Sleep Again