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May 2018 Test Drive Meme

MAY 2018 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to May's Test Drive Meme! This is our first Test Drive ever so let's make it a good one. This month's Test Drive's theme is: DARK FAIRY TALE.

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: Body horror, disease horror, eye horror, fungal horror, mythical creature gore, child-eating monster.

Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Prompt Three
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE

You could be anywhere in Deerington when you first hear it. It's a soft, stuttering click. Like plastic being dragged across the ground. The moment you stop, it stops. When you begin to walk again, the noise picks back up, clicking its way softly after you. It doesn't exactly sound hostile, but it's enough to make your skin crawl. Something is following you. When you finally turn to look, you'll find a....thing. It looks like it might have once been a mannequin, but the eyes staring up at you are so hauntingly expressive that it makes you doubt that. Its missing a leg, and both its arms, and to move it is pushing itself across the ground, its head lolling up to look at you with unblinking eyes. The moment you make eye contact, there's a low, moaning noise that's faintly feminine.

"Please...." it says, its mouth unmoving, but you know without a doubt it's coming from the creature in front of you. "Please hold me."

The request takes you aback. The plea is desperate, fragile even, the voice trembling with tears not yet shed even though the eyes remain dry.

"I haven't touched something in so long," it cries, and with great effort, it pushes itself into an upright position. Its entire body is destroyed from crawling around, the "skin" scraped down raw. But from what you can see, there's a film of something that's infested most of its torso. Whatever it is looks like it could be contagious, and the stench of cat urine overpowers you for a moment.

"Please, I beg of you."

If you should choose to hug this poor creature, the thing will sigh in immense relief, its body shuddering against you before it simply breaks to dust in your arms. From the dust rises not one, but several large black ravens. They caw loudly, flying fast and hard. One lands on your shoulder, or maybe your head, or perhaps an arm, but either way it begins to croak gurgled words in random order: "Top!" "Fly!" "Drop!" "Comes!" "Crawl!" "Egg!" And it seems to be insistent that you hear it out. At least if you begin to pet it, the bird calms down enough to stop squawking. If you stick around long enough, you'll find that weeks from now, even months from now, this same raven will randomly seek you out with tiny little useless gifts like pieces of shiny metal and buttons it finds that it'll want to give you. Not really helpful, but you've clearly made a friend.

...But if you refuse the thing affection, it'll start to sob. That's when everything goes wrong. Your entire body will start to turn against itself. Your skin will begin to split apart, and any number of things may come out whether it be scales or fur, but your body begins to rip itself apart. To accommodate horns, to grow in fangs, to sprout tails and distort limbs. Any number of appearances can come out of this, but all you know is that every single fiber of your being is in agony, and by the end of it all, you're no longer the person you had once been. What stands in your place is now a horrible monster, and the thing that had begged for a shred of affection has vanished.

Thankfully, the monster skin will shed off whenever you finally go to sleep. But have fun waking up in a literal pile of gore of whatever fur and scales you had managed to grow from the encounter.

Regardless of whatever interaction you face, the Townspeople around you are trying to hurry away as fast as possible. It seems like none of them want to deal with the mannequin or you. Hopefully other people might be a little more empathetic...or not...to your situation.

DON'T LOOK BACK

One of the most striking things in Deerington would be its National Park. It goes for several acres of thick, lush pinewood and beyond it, a beautiful mountain. It's picturesque and the smooth, glassy lake makes it all the more ideal of a place to visit. The National Park even has a camp ground for people who might want to pitch a tent and spend a night under the stars. Surely a place so beautiful couldn't be as dangerous as all the warnings signs keep saying it is, right? One warning sign is particularly curious. It's a simple orange metal plate nailed to a couple trees on a few paths that show a few cartoonish mushrooms, and then in thick bold letters: DON'T LOOK BACK. KEEP LOOKING FORWARD UNTIL THE END.

They aren't particularly descriptive signs, but it isn't too hard to figure out what they might be indicating. But that sort of thing is the stuff from kids' books. Surely eating mushrooms is dangerous, but just walking past them? Taking to the trails made for hikers is nothing short of a dream. There's various difficulty levels for the trails, and no matter which trail you pick, you'll notice at some point that there is a cluster of bright red mushrooms growing along the trail. Not just one or two. Dozens of them. Enough to draw anyone's attention.

It's hard not to think back to those signs you had seen before. Don't look back. Keep looking forward until the end. Until the end of what? Looking ahead, it seems like the mushrooms go on endlessly. Surely that sign didn't mean until the mushrooms were no longer on the sides of the trail? Who knows how long that could take?

The paranoia sets in naturally. Grinding its way into weary travelers. Or worse: the curiosity. What happens if you look back? Maybe it was just some Townspeople playing a prank. You'd seen kids around. You could always just peek back.....

But if you do, you'll instantly be struck into a daze. Your eyes won't just glaze over- your iris will vanish entirely from existence, instead leaving in its wake a network of fine red veins. Your jaw will hang open and you'll remain completely motionless. That is until someone finds you anyway. If you're lucky, they won't just walk by. If you're lucky, they'll try and wake you up. It doesn't take much. True love's first kiss is all....That or a really firm smack across the face. People who come out of this coma will find themselves disoriented and dizzy. The world around them will see a little too colorful and everything will feel soft.

Getting this person to turn back around and keep walking is the tricky part. If you can only both make it to the end of the mushroom trail, you should be okay....

On a few of these trails, people might come across those who weren't so lucky to be saved. These figures have been around for God knows how many days, weeks, months, maybe even years, but they're shells of former humans. The worst part is that splitting open their skin and growing out of every inch of their skin are the same, bright red mushrooms sprouting along the trail. Their mouths are filled with them, and while you can't see much, you'll be able to see those blank, white eyes staring endlessly, and if you walk past this figure...It'll feel like they're staring endlessly at you.

DON'T EAT THE FOOD

It's a Betty that gestures to you suddenly. Perhaps you were just trying to explore the town, but suddenly there's a woman in a strange mask beckoning quickly to you. "You're new here, right?" she'll ask, "Do you want to find a way out?" She's looking around, as if to make sure no one is paying attention to either of you, and then she will lead you to a nearby alley. It doesn't seem sketchy, not when the woman seems in a rush to pull out a small velvet bag. "Here," she'll say, pushing it into your hands.

"You need to draw a square into the ground here. It'll make a door you can climb through. There will be a...." Her voice will tremble for a second, but then perk right back up. "Just don't eat any of the food and you'll be okay. You'll see a red door at the other end of the room. Go directly to it."

It seems a little absurd, but after everything you've been through, it's worth a shot to try. Besides, it's not like you can ask too many questions because as soon as the Betty has finished talking, she's rushing away. You're left with a simple decision: draw a square or to not draw square.

Those who draw a square will find that the woman was telling the truth. A door will be made in the ground that you can slip through and you'll find yourself in a very...curious room. It's dark and filled with paintings of a horrible creature eating babies lining the walls. A long table sits in the very middle of it filled with beautiful, rich looking food that smells heavenly. And there's goblets of your favorite beverages sitting everywhere. The food has everything you have ever craved sitting on it ready for the taking, and while you might have the best control, you'll find that it's extremely hard to look away. And why are you suddenly noticing how hungry you are? It feels like you haven't eaten in days. But there is one thing that is a little more attention grabbing than all that food. It's the occupant sitting at the head of the table.

The Pale Man is motionless. That's when you notice you're not alone in the room. There's another person there with you.

And then there's the door the woman had mentioned. Now all you have to do is just get to the door. Simple.

Right?

Unfortunately for you, the door is locked and there's no way through it.

If you stop to eat the food that is tempting you so, the Pale Man will awaken. He's aggressive towards all. He'll aim to kill adults, but he will actively try and eat children. Either way? He doesn't seem stoppable. Any wounds inflicted on his body merely slide back together. But his eyes...Those are vulnerable.

That or you have an entire bag of chalk. Drawing a way in means maybe drawing a way out? At least you're not alone either way. Maybe if the two of you could somehow manage to tag-team this thing.

Character Arrival

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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A pair of dark pretty eyes landed on the partially transformed figure. Justine didn't know what he might have looked like before. Skin had fallen to the ground, replaced by crimson stained scales, claws reached out through the once human form and what looked like a lizard took its place. Her stomach turned uncomfortably but she steadied herself and took a step forward.

Justine held out a gentle hand to the creature. "Hush little one. It'll be alright." Her voice was sweet and warm. He was in pain and if she understood nothing else, that was enough.

She was slim with curvy hips and long dark hair that fell in waves around her thin pale shoulders. Nothing about Justine appeared to be threatening or harmful. Her hand press lightly against his one arm, offering warmth and acceptance.

"You aren't alone."

He's still lying on the ground. Still looking up at her like she could be a threat as he tries to turn over, leaving bits of shed flesh and shredded clothing behind on the ground. He manages to roll into a crouch on the three limbs he does have, shuffling back a few inches.

Everything on his body feels raw and oversensitive, even to the air around him, and she might not seem like an immediate threat, but he can't calm that part of his brain that keeps telling him to hide.

He stays frozen in place, staring up at her for a long moment before he tries to speak.

"Help." It's a hoarse croak.

Justine watched and halted her forward advance as the creature in front of her began to retreat. She felt her heart twist in her chest at the shock and panic she saw in those eyes. She had seen monsters before but this wasn't like that. Those eyes were human and, whoever it was, they were in pain.

Her voice barely rose above a whisper. "I don't know how." She lowered herself to her knees and bowed her head. "I don't know what I can do."

Helpless. The word echoed in her thoughts and Justine noticeably flinched. "I'm sorry."

Bucky crawls towards her cautiously, knees scraping the ground and it hurts, but Bucky's felt worse and he mostly ignores it. Once he's close enough to touch her, he stops short of it and bows his head to mirror her own posture.

He reaches out to her with his one reptilian arm to try to touch her hand. God, everything hurts. Even talking hurts. He doesn't know what to do or what will happen to him next. He just needs to know that someone is here. He feels like that broken doll now, desperate and isolated.

Justine's head slowly rose as the creature neared. The proximity pulled her away from the darkness threatening at the edge of her mind, forcing her to focus on the shape in front of her.

A part of her realized that she should be scared. This creature might have been human but humans were far from kind, whatever trust or hope she had towards the beast was unusual. Was there something in his gaze that she could relate to? Pain, desperation, or was it something else?

Justine didn't know her own mind and she didn't have an answer.

Her hand gently turned, soft and warm, brushing lightly against the smooth chilled scales of his claw. "I'm here," She whispered.

Moisture pickled at the corner of her eyes and her head bowed again. "That is all I can do for you."

Everything about this is wrong and he feels like he's shaking, but he can't even be sure if that's real or not. His mind feels alien in a way it hasn't in a years, not since the last time his HYDRA programming was activated. Everything is raw and unreal and so off-kilter that he can't help doubting somewhere in the back of his mind if Shuri really did manage to fix him at all or if he isn't still a weapon to be used.

His clawed fingers wrap around her hand carefully and he lets out a pained groan that's anything but human. She's a lifeline, seemingly the only person who has to know without a doubt that there's a human in here. But then, he's not entirely sure that that's true. He doesn't feel very human and it wasn't that long ago that he really wasn't much of one.

As the physical pain starts to go numb, so do some of his stronger emotions, years of conditioning bubbling up to the surface. Pain isn't something to acknowledge. Feelings aren't something a tool needs.

His eyes glaze over, losing some of their humanity as he tightens his grip.

Demons often wore a face similar to mans; they parade their triumphs, they lied and they devoured everything. Justine had experienced a demon first hand, she had loved one, and she knew that she wasn't coming out of that encounter alive. She had seen the empty gaze of the demon and she had died.

She never wanted to see that again.

Her hand stayed in his as she moved forward, resting her head against the scales of Bucky's forehead. She watched his eyes grow distant and while she didn't know what it meant, it scared her. "Please don't go." Her voice was sweet and pleading.

"Pain, fear, passion and joy... those things remind us that we are alive. Please don't forget. They are all important." Even when it becomes too much to bare. "Stay with me here and I won't go." She had forgotten about the forest or any dangers that might be waiting at the edge of the vision to attack.

Justine didn't want to see someone else lose their soul.

He bowed his head, temple touching hers, and closed his now-reptilian eyes to focus on her words and the sound of her voice. He thought of the people who have shown him kindness and let the raw feeling of his knees on the rough ground keep him present.

She was right, of course. Letting go wasn't the way to deal with this and he was just present enough to be thankful that she understood.

"Keep... talking." His voice was still hoarse and raw as he dropped his head to her shoulder. This was safe. She was safe, or as safe as anyone could be here, and he let himself have that vulnerability because there could be no middleground. Either he was this or he was the Soldier. There could be no in between for him here.

Justine bowed her head, curling against his shoulder while her fingers brushed affectionately across the knuckles of his claw. 'Stay with me,' She thought the words while groping for something to say. She can't offer him reassurance, Justine didn't know who this monster was or what this place was. All she knew was her life before now.

So she began to talk. It felt awkward and strange. Justine wasn't used to talking about herself.

She kept her voice sweet, soft and constant, though she didn't expect Bucky to truly listen to what she was saying. "They scream sometimes. My emotions. It wasn't bad for a while but it's always there. I hate it, I hate feeling, but I never want to be so lost that I feel nothing." Even in death, Justine wasn't willing to give up who she was for anything or anyone. "I found solstice in books. The Hobbit-" A wistful smile touched her lips.

She paused.

"Before I was here-" Her words came out slower, as if she was unsure how much she should say. "I was the property of a wealthy family. They took care of me and protected me but it won't last for me there. When I return or wake up from this dream-" It was a dream, wasn't it? "I will be dead but I don't regret it because someone I care about will be able to live." Her voice shook with small tendrils of fear wrapped around her brave voice. "I wonder, how long we will be here. If we're lost or if this is punishment for something. I don't know. I only know that we need to be strong."

There was a lot Bucky would say if he could. Outside of Wakanda, no one had shown him this kind of kindness in a long, long time. He wanted to comfort her in return, but his voice was barely working and every word felt like knives in his throat, so he just let himself listen and did his best through the touch of their hands. He squeezed hers gently, thankful that she was staying with him. He words helped him stay clear-headed. It was something so utterly human that he could identify with.

Self-sacrifice, he understood. He wouldn't mind dying to protect Steve, either. Of the two of them, Steve had a lot more good to give the world. Bucky had made some peace with his past, at least, but he still felt like he was living on borrowed time. This second chance wasn't one he really earned through good deeds and most people would probably rather see him rot in some kind of super prison than live the peaceful life he was starting to build back home.

In a way, it felt like she was talking to herself. He wasn't able to respond but Justine knew that he was listening. It was the touch of his hand, the soft rasps of his pained breaths and the light pressure of his forehead against her shoulder. Whatever soul took residence in the scaled monster had heard her voice.

"I don't know why I am telling you this." She whispered.

Justine shifted her legs and release the pressure that had built along her left side. It wasn't comfortable sitting in the middle of the forest but neither of them had anywhere to go. The forest gave Justine an odd feeling but it felt as safe as anywhere else.

"Would you like to hear another story?" She hadn't had anyone tell her stories when she was growing up but the stories of her life sounded like they belonged in books. "This one is about a boy, a wizard, who had come to a vampire costume party hosted by the Red Court as Dracula."

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