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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Big mistake, bro, with Karkat's hands gone, Dave is free to press his to hand gently into his face, papping alllll down that scowly face.]

Were you gonna try to get me in a head lock? Leg lock? Leg head lock?

I forgot, no one can kick the ass of a pajama-wearing flying asshole. Can you get out of my face for five seconds?

[The papping is working, though. He sighs wearily and rests his head back against the ground. There's no point fighting the situation, so he just gives in. At least he didn't hear anything incredibly incriminating. He goes on grumpily:]

It was just a dream. Don't read into it.

[He won't admit it, like, ever, but whenever Dave got Karkat truly riled up, Karkat sometimes awakened his stupid troll strength and he gets Dave in a hold he can't escape. But that's when you bring out the big guns of licking to gross Karkat out enough to let go.

There's no honor in rough housing.

Dave only gets lower, but adjusting so he's "laying" on his side, head propped up in his hand, elbow supported on a literal air mattress. He hovers down so he's just above the dirt Karkat is snuggled in, like they were sharing a king sized dirt bed. He reaches out with his other hand to keep patting Karkat between the eyes. He doesn't know why paps make trolls go soft, but heck if Dave doesn't like it.]

C'mon, I bet some of Rose's psychobabble's rubbed off on me and I can tell you all about what it means. Spoilers: it'll probably involve the word "penis" at some point.

[Right, because what he needs right now is for Dave to talk about sex organs. He slaps a hand to his face and rubs it over his face, not sure which he wants more: for Dave to leave him alone, or for Dave to stay. The dreams were better, actually. Less pressure.]

You know what I was dreaming about. You're just fucking with me right now. You're just like your sister sometimes.

[He smirks.]

Must've just been missing me. And now look, your dreams came true. Your knight in shining sunglasses got dreamnapped, too. [His smirk grows a little more.] Probably 'cause they figured out what would make you stop yelling 15% less than you must have been

[He just barely manages to stifle a groan. Maybe Dave is being an obnoxious fuck, as usual, but he's really close, and it's not helping the heat in his face go down.]

In my head you were being less obnoxious. So not really you at all.

Sounds like a boring Dave then. He probably liked boring shit. Breaks out his special occasion sweater vest to pop on the one Weezer album he listens to on repeat. Not even the one with Buddy Holly on it, that's how boring of an asshole he is.

[He isn't backing off, no matter how red Karkat turns. It only seems to draw him in centimeters closer, like a insect to a bugzapper.]

Glad I killed him off by waking you up, you're welcome.

What's a Weezer? Never mind, I don't care.

[There, a deflection got him a few seconds to recover. Now he can manage this. Probably. Maybe. Yeah, he musters his courage, pulls a face, and says it outright:]

Get any closer and I'll fuck you up, Dave.

Honestly, I'm just fucking stoked you don't have a Troll Weezer and you were all like, oh, Troll Buddy Holly! That's my favorite song, fuck you, Strider.

[Yeah, you can't say something like that and NOT expect Dave to get closer. This time, though, he floats so his face appears over Karkat's. Can't not look at this smirking asshole's mug now.]

Or PIN me, you could say.

Oh, fuck you!

[That's it. He grabs Dave by the stupid god-tier pajamas and yanks him down, wrestling him to the ground with all the scattered focus of someone embarrassed enough to resort to physical violence. Flirtation, anger, stupidity, this could be anything or a messy mix. It's the troll way. Mostly.]

[There is no surprise when Dave is pulled to the ground, having obviously egged him on. He grabs at Karkat back or does some silly slaps at the troll's hands and face, as they wrestled themselves in and out of the blueberry bush, smooshing berries as they go.]

C'mon, man. Why you gotta be like this.

TAKE ME SERIOUSLY.

[This is, he realizes, definitely not the way to get himself taken seriously, but not before the words leave his mouth. He gives up after another little slap or two and slumps down against the ground with Dave over him, glowering.]

Fuck. Whatever. What do you want?

[He's not floating anymore, and is soaked half on Kartkat, half in a bush. Lifting his head, he straightens his glasses and tries to fix his hair but it's still a bit mussed up.]

What do you mean what do I want?? I wad happy to see you, dude. In case you haven't noticed, we're not in Earth-C anymore.

[He snaps out of his frustration over nothing as Dave says it, and his face sinks. This isn't anywhere on Earth-C he's seen, for sure, and they've seen a lot, over all the kingdoms. This isn't home.]

Oh, fuck no. No, no, no. FUCK!

Okay. Not the reaction I was expecting. But I honestly should have, since most of your reactions to things are either shitfits or tantrums. [He sighs and holds up a hand.] Do I need to break out the paps?

Oh fuck, oh, fine.

[He resists the urge to cover his face with his hands and submits to the incoming papping. It's for the best and Dave's gotten pretty good at it in the passing years.]

[A corner of Dave's lips quirks up slightly, and bam, his hand is back on Karkat's face, papping with practiced ease, though this time much less assholey than before. He even throws in a couple shooshes for optimal Karkat taming.]

I know this blows a donkey's dick, Karkat, but nothing we can't handle. So far it doesn't look like we have to gather a literal shitton of useless grist or deal with mindless animal consorts trying to cook us in a giant cartoon kettle because they were so stupid at playing their own stock market that even a 13 year old could fuck them over like a goddamned wolf of wall street, junior, so there's that.

[As he talks, he stops the calming action and moves his hand, fingertips brushing along the ridge of Karkat's brow to move hair from his eyes, a less than moirail gesture but definitely, definitel no other meaning behind it. Karkat's hair was just being too messy after their tussle!]

And at least we aren't alone.

Edited 2019-07-03 04:13 (UTC)

[The papping works; his breaths go calm again, but hitch at the gentle brush of Dave's fingertips. He looks up at Dave for a split second, caught by his words, then glances away. No, he has to get his shit together. This isn't time for Karkat's hangups. This is serious.]

Yeah, this could be a lot worse.

[All the rest of the tension gets released in a long sigh, then he looks up at Dave, questioning.]

Should we try to figure this out or something?

[Dave feels himself lift and lower with Karkat's deep breaths, and he smiles. Relaxed Karkat get.

With his mission complete, he rolls the rest of the way off him, flipping out onto the dirt, eyes turned up to the sky.]

I guess so. If this is a game we'll have to figure out the rules some time.

[He turns his head to glance at him.]

But I'm in no hurry right now, tbh.

In the meantime, what? Bitch about how I got berries all over our clothes while being a fucking moron?

[His hand is less than an inch away from Dave's. He glances at Dave carefully, but Dave's looking up into the sky. It's dark; it's not the familiar night sky of Alternia or Earth-C. It makes his stomach hurt, but he's not freaking out. He's not alone.]

[As if sensing the presence of the other hands, Dave's begins to fidget, digging into the soil, rolling it around in his fingers before digging up more.

He gives him a smart-ass smirk.]

Bitch about your own clothes; god tier PJs, remember? Self-cleaning, yo. [Smug smug.] But there's shit going on here tonight, right? Before we slip back into our tried and true lives as shut-ins, we can wander around.

Fucking god-tier shit.

[He's made his opinion clear on the topic a million times by now, but it's still worth saying. He pushes himself up and to his feet, grumbling as he brushes shit off of his clothes, then stops as he notices his sickle is on him.]

At least I'm armed. Let's go.

[Every laundry day Karkat in fact lets him know. But it was always so satisfying for Dave to have much less laundry than Karkat, he can't help still feeling smug about it. As he suggests himself off along with Karkat he's happy to see that any stains he may have had were already gone.

One thing god tier clothes doesn't prevent, however, is leaves in your hair, which Dave has despite him trying to fix his bodacious locks with his hands sans a mirror.]

Great, thank gog you got your piece on you, bro, in case those lobsters break out of their rubberband and stampede you can save the day.

[It's not just an eyeroll Dave gets, it's a BIG eyeroll, along with exasperated head movement.]

I don't trust this place. I don't trust anyone who might be here. It's the smart move. Don't get lulled into a false sense of security. Just because you're immortal doesn't mean shit can't go down. [And he's not immortal. Far from it. Just because he'd been too much of a coward to get around to god-tiering.]

There you go. You just hopped into that truck, popped in the key, and you're starting to rev up those dusty leader engines again.

[He starts to walk, leaving room beside him for the troll in the narrow pathway between the bushes.]

Feel that familiar rumble under your ass, Karkat? Itching to honk that horn of authority?

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

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