Sodder (
sodder) wrote in
soddersays2019-06-25 12:24 am
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Entry tags:
JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME
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!
WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN

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

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

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.
Ronin | Clint Barton | MCU | Spoilers, yo
[The house and the fields reminds him of a farm that had once been his own. That had once been home. He walks out among the bushes because it feels so warm and inviting under the sunlight, even when the leather he wears makes that familiarity a lie. If he closes his eyes and thinks about it, allows himself to forget just enough to believe it, he can almost picture Lila and Cooper. He can almost imagine Laura- her smile, and the kids' faces.
He knows he wont find them here, but he lets himself walk among the bushes, pausing occasionally to pick the ripest ones to place in the basket. Something to take back with him, at least. Losing his family had changed who he was, the Decimation might not have touched this place, but it didn't make him Clint again. They were still dead, and he was a murderer. He'd killed before, of course. But it was always in service to someone, something else.
A soldier for the army, then for SHIELD- there was a difference in completing a mission and the campaign that he's waging these days. Put down the bad because it was the only way he could make it make sense. The only way he could live with what happened, the hole that ached inside of him. But eventually, the blueberry basket is set down next to him, napping in black leather in July is maybe not a great choice, but the draw was so irresistable.]
Where's Lila? The hot dogs are about done.
[The words murmured in his sleep. Meaningless, and yet there's a weight to it, to the dreams. Because he knows. Even dreaming, when he can let himself believe it-- he still knows.]
II. Nine, Ten, Never Sleep Again
[The horrors that Clint dreams to life are more subtle, more tragic. Ashes and screams. Voices that call for help, leaving behind only silence and a whisper of ash on the wind that sticks to the leather of his gloves like no one was ever there. Nothing to fight, to run from. Just inevitability, and the reminder of loss.
The voices are indistinct, sounds from around the corner, and his fingers clutch against the hilt of the blade that he carries, his face still hidden in the mask that he wears in public. Hurried footsteps on the stairs, a whisper of something like wind and then the unearthly silence stretched too thin, death that lurks just out of sight.
It strains, weighs against him. He follows it out into the street, and as the whispers vanish again he's left bundled in too tight, aching to lash out-- But he pushes it down, for the moment. The only way he stopped from melting into a ball of hate was to put rules on it. And strangers that happened to be too close didn't fit the bill. It comes again: a young girl, though the words are still indistinct, and he fights the urge to chase after her, knowing what waits as he looks toward someone whose eye he seemed to have caught. Ashes on the air and the vague scent of death.]
Can't tell if I'm still dreaming.
III. Keep Your Head Down
[He tends toward wearing his gear most of the time, just because, well there are people around he's not exactly looking forward to running into. Conversations he doesn't want to have. Some of whom were supposed to be dead. The mask at least offered a certain barrier to that, anonymity. But now he's just looking around town, hoodie pulled down low as he picks up some essentials for the house he'd woken up in. Which was his now, apparently.
He has no interest in the lobster festival, but it's a little hard to avoid regardless. People cuddling, drunks that have had one too many, people with their lobster ice cream cones. The kids would have liked it, he thinks. Even with them gone, he still finds those thoughts creeping through his awareness. Like he could grab a pint or take a picture back to them. Like all he has to do is make it back to the farm, and they'll be waiting for him. Like always.
The punch in the gut always comes, though. And he pauses, leans against the wall to catch his breath. They're still dead, still gone. Maybe you notice something's wrong with him, or he's just blocking foot traffic.]
V. Wildcard!
[So, Clint is going to be leaning into the whole Ronin persona, and avoiding owning up to being Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, so hit me up if anyone wants to call him on it. Elsewise, he's sad and angry and not feeling very superhero these days.
keep your head down
What he does see is a man leaning against a wall not looking like he's holding up well at all and Bucky can't ignore things like that lately.
He comes up to lean on the wall next to Clint, ducking his head. ]
Everything okay?
no subject
So when Clint looks up, peering out of his hoodie to actually get a good look at the other man, it's like he's looking at a ghost. That way it tinges his voice, too, a little hushed, a little bit disbelieving because he hasn't figured out how time and life and death work in this place just yet.]
--Bucky? Is that you? How are you..?
[The question trails off, not quite knowing how to finish it. How are you alive, how are you here? He'd meant to keep himself on the downlow for the most part, but he hadn't quite expected to see him of all people. He remembers when Steve told him, the look on his face.]
no subject
It's me. What happened to you? Steve's around here somewhere if you need--
[ He trails off, not really sure what to offer. Steve knows him better, but Bucky's happy to give whatever he needs if he can. ]
head down
Peter is still getting reoriented with ... whatever exactly is happening, right now, so he hasn't felt his most social either. still, when he glums off toward what is apparently his bed for the time being when he spots someone hunkered over against a wall, looking ... well, he's got a helmet on, so, it is hard to tell what the guy looks like. but that's generally not the posture of someone feeling 100%, so he skirts around the stranger, not really wanting to touch him and make things worse but not quite able to ignore him, either. truth be told, Peter is a terrible New Yorker. most people back home would have just kept on walking. )
Yo, you alright in there? Maybe the hat isn't helping, do you feel hot? ( "hat" is such an insulting name for a pretty cool helmet, but hey, his mind is really not on the hat. helmet. i meant helmet. )
no subject
The kid stopping to talk to him does pull his attention away from thoughts and memories and down to the figure that came up beside him with a sigh, a shake of his head. He waves a hand somewhat dismissively.]
It's not the heat. Just a little out of it, I'm still adjusting to this place.
[Which isn't really true, but it's also not entirely a lie. Somewhere to start with, anyway. He rolls his shoulders, straightening a little as he looks at the kid, not much more than his eyes showing through the mask as the hood falls back around his shoulders. There's a coldness about him, something distant. A little gruff as he smooths himself out.]
You doing alright?
no subject
the guy is standing sturdy, not bowing over in the heat, and his voice seems clear and coherent. that's a relief enough, and Peter nods, half reassured. ) Ah, well, that I can get. Just got here, too.
( and it's not the first time he's been thrust in a bizarre world to fend for himself, but it doesn't make it easier. especially because by now he's gotten used to having teammates beside him he can trust. he's back to an army of one, and while that would have been his preference, once upon a time... now it stings, to fall back into old patterns, ones he was trying to leave behind. )
Ah, I'm okay. Not feeling the food, that's all. ( he shrugs, giving the impression it's not a big deal. maybe it is, but it's something he's going to have to deal with on his own. he can't explain to a stranger why exactly he can't keep down meat. )
nine, ten, never sleep again
but he’s learned to play smarter, and maybe it’s from merely not playing alone that he’s managed to overturn the tricks no matter how consistently they come, but somehow, and perhaps sadly, he doesn’t find himself too surprised whenever they come now.
the man is suspicious for the mask that he adorns over his face, and for a time, frank wonders if he’s in his head, but he keeps his sights on him, knowing there’s never a reason to let his guard down, especially in the face of someone who appears to be carrying a — blade? he pursues him in his own stealth, carefully turning corners and trying to remain subtle in his step, when he sees the man appear to chase something, though he can’t quite catch sight of what that might be, not getting his eyes on anything physically significant along the street.
whatever it is, frank isn’t taking chances, not until he can confirm whether or not this is a threat, or another odd illusion of his own mind, but he’s thrown off his track when the man seems to stop, seemingly distracted with something in his own mind.
raising a brow when he realizes the man takes notice of him, he’s quiet for a long moment, considering himself first, before speaking. ] According to whoever’s behind the scenes, the whole idea is that this entire shit is a dream. Chances are, your head’s getting fucked with right now.