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

CW for alcoholism, child abuse, Stephen King, blood, haunted hotels, drug abuse, murder, Jack Nicholson.

blueberry pancakes

Dan hadn't had pancakes this good since he was a kid. His mother used to wake up early on Saturdays and make blueberry pancakes. He'd helped Wendy as best he could, dumping the blueberries into the batter and stirring them with all the strength his child-body could muster. She'd pour the batter on to the pan to make shapes, a D, A and T for Daniel Anthony Torrance. He'd add extra blueberries and whipped cream if he could, and eat and eat until he had blueberries all over his face and he couldn't move anymore he was so stuffed.

Right now, history was working on repeating itself. Unaware of just how hungry he was, Danny had taken a few blueberry pancakes, loaded up on the whipped cream, and moved to sit at one of the many picnic tables. This whole place... There was something shiny about it, for lack of better terms. He hadn't felt anything like that since he'd last been to Colorado, standing on the Roof O' The World.

It was unsettling, but these pancakes? They were good.

Blueberry Fields

When in Rome, pick blueberries, right? He's grabbed a bushel and started grabbing the plump berries by the handful, dark juices staining his palms. Occasionally, he'd pop one in his mouth as he wandered further into the fields. Every once in a while, he'd stop to yawn. Maybe... Maybe he'd just sit down for a minute. Close his eyes...

Just like that, he was out like a light. Anyone stumbling across a full-grown man in the berry fields will be able to pick out a few key phrases and words from his dreams: Overlook, Abra, Steam and Shine.

Dream Time

The things he'd seen in his dreams.. Once he knew they couldn't hurt him. But that was before the Overlook, before the bad feelings and the hedge creatures. Now he knew his dreams meant something, even vaguely. One of the reasons, one of the many reasons (you drink because you're an alcoholic) he'd started drinking. Here, he knew his dreams meant something, too.

Sitting at an outdoor cafe, he was working on a book he'd grabbed from the local library, trying to get a better feel for the town when he saw something out of the corner of his eye roll toward him. Stopping the rolling object with his foot he bent down to pick it up. Excedrin. The green bottle kind. The kind his dad used to chew.

Setting his book down, Dan began to look around carefully, fully convinced he'd see his father ducking around the corner.

Jack Torrance was nowhere to be found.

Speaking of green excedrin bottles, another goes whizzing by his head, as a British blonde yells, "Hey! Duck!!"

Her warning nearly comes too late as Danny turns to look at the source of the order. The bottle lands nearly in his sandwich, and he picks it up without thinking about it. Holding it in his hand, he turns to the blonde.

"I assume you dropped this?"

"Well, I threw it... yeah... there was... a thing... by you..." awkward, "It's gone now, sorry." She didn't hallucinate often... or ever. Well, no, there was that one planet where imagination was banned, because the microbes would flood on the brain chemicals and get engorged and -- not the point; unless it was the point, maybe the dreams were related??? she should ask the Doctor; no really, she was getting off track mentally -- point bein', she wasn't prone to hallucinations, and it was very clearly an effect of this place and the dream-like state they were all in.

"A thing?" That was worrying, but he decided not to let on. "What sort of thing?" He looked at the bottle in his hand. It was solid. The old sort of bottle they had when he was a kid. He hadn't seen one like this in a long time.

"You're alright- I didn't think you were trying to hit me. Unless- you were trying?" There's a slight laugh in is voice, a jovial note and a smile as he looked at the younger girl. Mid twenties, he'd reckon. Cute. Too young for him.

"I'm Dan, by the way. Dan Torrance." He offers her a hand.

"A monster thing!" a violent headshake, "No, I was trying to hit the d-- monster." Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself, but it wasn't fear stopping her from naming it, just that they only existed in one universe, and it was really weird that they should be around, and she hasn't even had nightmares about them in years, but also if she called it a dalek, then she might have to explain what it was, and why she was half-hallucinating them, and she didn't know that he wasn't in the Doctor's universe, so that could be a disaster; all avoided by just calling it a monster instead.

But Rose beamed at the handshake and returned it cheerfully. "Rose. Rose Tyler. Sorry though, yeah?"

Monster. Dan nods. Okay, cool, he can roll with that. He's seen plenty of monsters. People, really, twisted and malformed by death and corruption and whatever else. Best not to think about it. Focus on the monster that this woman claims to have seen.

He doesn't doubt her. Not in this place. Not even if he were home.

"I didn't see any- just the bottles. What do they look like? I can keep an eye out." There's not a hint of humoring her at all.

He smiles, letting go of her hand, and gestures to the seat across the table from him. "But if he's gone, you're welcome to sit. I just ordered some lemonade, if you'd like some. I'm new in town and I'd love a few insider hints, Rose Tyler."

See? Totally.

She bit her bottom lip worried, that maybe just talking about it, thinking about it would cause it to come into existence. "Yeah that'd be great!" she took a seat, skipping over the monster thing for a bit, "But uh I haven't been here very long, sorry," a squeak. "I'm used to waking up in strange places though? Does that help?"

As for the monster, she finally had an answer. "If you saw one, I'd just tell you to run, or distract it, or -- I thought it was going to shoot my friend, so I was trying to get its attention." She rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. "Don't worry about how it looks, you probably aren't from the universe with them anyway. It's where I was born, but where cybermen and vampires, and werewolves are kind of in lots of universes, not all, but a lot, daleks are only in one. And it was sealed to keep them there." More chewing her bottom lip. "Unless all this and the darkness breaks the seal, because I mean they did get out into the void, but then they just... came back in, so I don't think they plant to go take on other universes just the one they were created in first..."

She shivered despite the hot summer air and looked at the ground. "Unless some idiot convinces them to and then I don't even know what to do about that...." she looked off into the distant.

"So have you ever been travelin' before?" anything for a change of subject.

Danny nods. "I'm sure it's been longer than me- I'm going on day three, I believe." He gives her a warm smile.

"Or duck?" He offered, though his smile faltered as Rose's demeanor changed. So these were the tales of different universes. From what he'd gathered this place was some sort of anchor point. A waystation of sorts.

"Let's hope the seal isn't broken and it was just a trick of the light." This place was weird. The people in it were weird. And stranger things had happened.

"I have- I'm from outside of Boston, originally. But I've traveled all over the U.S. Stayed in Colorado for a time, but I'm really drawn to New England. So this place feels pretty good. All things considered. What about you- You're not from the US, that's for sure."

She bit a finger. "Well... it can't be completely intact, because my friend is from there... but he tends to be an exception to the rules... and this place... I'm not sure how normal reality it really is yet?" she rubbed her face and gave him an apologetic expression, "Sorry, it's all a bit mad, innit?"

She perked up all the same at the talk of the locality. "Mm! London, actually! You can prolly tell by the accent," hers was a bit thick, very Chav. "But uh..." a face scrunch. "I traveled... a lot. Not just Earth. Obviously. My uh, Dad's from another Universe. It's... if you thought the monster talk was mad--" Rose giggled, "The stuff about Peter Tyler and his universe is way worse."

But she rested her chin in her hand happily. "But I like it here so far! Dunno if that's the Stateside influence, where I'd never been, or just that it's better than where I was, yeah? What's your favorite part o' here? Here bein' New England. Or Deerington, take your pick."

Dan frowns slightly. "Yeah- best way to put it. Things here are... they're off." That was really all he could speak to it. Abra maybe could, but the last thing he wanted was for her to show up here.

For one, her parents would not hesitate to kill him this time.

"I'll take your word for it." The waiter chose this moment to bring the glass of lemonade he'd ordered, and Danny hastily poured half of it into one of the available empty water glasses for Rose.

"I figured you were British, but I didn't know around what parts. I'm no accent expert." He smiled warmly, plucking the Excedrin bottle from the table and putting it into his pocket for further inspection later. He knew where it came from, but it was so specific. And that flash he'd seen...

Was it just the shining, or were other people seeing things, too?

"Well, the food here's good. I love the fall in New England. Not a big fan of the snow, but I like the way the leaves change, how the air smells. Cheesey, I know." He shrugs. "And yourself? Compared to... whatever universe."

"Things are off everywhere," she slips before catching herself.

But she grinned back at his grin, and it broadened as he spoke about New England. "Yeah??" she giggled and crinkled her face. "I try not to breathe London air too deeply," she giggled. "Lovin' it so far though!! And I love snow." And since she'd already mentioned the alternate universes thing... "Always got promised skiing on Mars or asteroid hoppin' in another galaxy, and it nevar panned out. Always got interrupted by Martians -- Ice Warriors, or space pirates, or what have you," a giggle. "But the food's definitely way better here. I'll have to go skiin' just to keep trim at this rate. Been joggin' daily, and I swear I'm still gonna gain like 5 stone," an exaggerated face.

Alex felt like he'd been sleepwalking through the fields of blueberries for the past twenty minutes, his footsteps getting heavier and slower with each passing second, and he couldn't even remember why he'd struck out into the fields in the first place anymore. Simply that he had to keep moving forward.

A simple enough mission that he could do even in his sleep. Quite possibly might even actually wind up doing in his sleep, if his eyes got any heavier. He was so tired even his ankle had stopped hurting, at least until said ankle snagged roughly against a dozing man in the fields, and then between the sudden arcing pain and swift, instinctual reaction necessary to keep from tripping forward onto said man, Alex was suddenly and violently awake again.

And left to stare down somewhat helplessly at the stranger seemingly passed out in front of him. Hopefully. Hopefully dozing. He honestly wasn't in any sort of hurry to find a dead body, really.

Hesitantly, he nudges gently at the man with one toe, speaking just as softly. "Sir? I don't think you should sleep out here. It doesn't seem... safe." Somehow that word felt right to him. It wasn't safe. None of this was safe. They should both leave the fields as quickly as possible.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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

Dan Torrance | Doctor Sleep

Dream Time

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Blueberry Fields