soddersays | AUGUST 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

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AUGUST 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to August's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: DYSTOPIAN 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: Physical violence, monster violence, creepy ogre-like monster in link, being hunted by a monster.
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

BLOOD IN MY VEINS

With supplies low and food getting even more scarce, things in Deerington, Maine seem to be getting that much more tense. For those who pay attention to the habits of the townspeople, there’s something that might add to that feeling of stress; all of them seem to be involved in some kind of physical training, whether it’s archery, hand-to-hand combat, or fighting with firearms, they all seem like they’re getting ready for something and it definitely feels like it might be something big.

But no one wants to train against a townsperson - it’s highly likely they’re not going to fight fair with the way they’re all glaring at the Sleepers, as though they’re to blame for everything that’s been going on. Unless you’re sparring with people in your own backyard though, it seems like there isn’t any space to get your own training in.

The Betties are starting to pop up around town pretty regularly, waiting until they find Sleepers on their own, and quietly waving for them to come closer. “You need to prepare,” they’ll whisper to you in hushed urgency, before grabbing your hand to try and get you to follow them. If you fight, they’ll insist only once more, before leaving you alone. But there’s something inside of you urging you to comply and follow.

They’ll lead you down an alley, pushing aside a large dumpster, and revealing a trap door in the middle of the concrete. You’ve never noticed it before, even if you’ve been down this alley a hundred times. The Betty leading you leans down, pulling it open, and the ladder that goes into the tunnel is long and dimly lit. You could leave now, but the Betty will insist this is for the best.

“Knock twice. No more or less. Show them what you’re made of.”

Once you get to the bottom of the ladder, there’s an equally long hallway that leads towards a closed metal door. You knock twice and the door shakes before sliding open. The light that comes through is almost blinding with how bright it is compared to the dim tunnel, but as your eyes adjust, you can finally step in to a fully stocked training room.

There are instructors in basics for beginners, areas for intermediate, and most abundantly there are one-on-one sparring areas. The moment you come close enough, you’ll be immediately paired with another Sleeper, and the two of you will be locked in the room together to be observed. You could choose to not fight, of course, but you’ll be stuck there for a good long while if you do. It might be best to just get it over and done with.

So feel free to help others who seem to be struggling or show off your strength for everyone to see. It looks like everyone is going to need to be ready for some kind of fight.

I AM THE GREAT UNKNOWN

Maybe you got knocked out during a fight or maybe you fell asleep in your own bed - or maybe you don’t even remember closing your eyes at all, especially if you don’t usually have the ability to go unconscious for one reason or another. No matter the cause, everyone will wake up in the same place, surrounded by tall, thick hedges in the middle of a... maze?

It doesn’t take you long to realize you aren’t the only one waking up, too. Someone is next to you and it seems like you’re stuck finding your way out of here together. Literally. On each of your wrists is a metal cuff with a long chain connecting them. It can’t be broken, no matter how strong a person is or how powerful a weapon or spell they try to use against it. You’re in this together whether you want to be or not.

Once you can pick a direction to head in, it seems like this might almost be boring - that is until you start to hear the sounds of rustling leaves and breaking twigs. At first it seems like it might just be a trick to spook you, but the more you ignore it, the louder it gets, until finally you see it, charging down the row at you, scythe raised and ready to strike.

You can try to fight, of course, but it’s hard when you’re chained to one another. Learn to work together quickly and maybe you can make it work. It seems to go down with normal attacks, though it takes a long time to get the creature to fall unless you cut off the head. Ultimately your best interest might be set in running as fast as you can to get away. You can lose it in the maze if you’re quick about it. But then you might also be lost yourself.

If you do manage to lose the monster rather than killing it, stay quiet and you might not attract its attention again. It may take a while to find the end of the maze. The hedges feel like they stretch on forever and the sun is blaring down. You’d think there would be shade with all the height of the bushes, but there’s no relief from the heat. Hopefully you don’t burn easy.

When you get to the end of the maze, the two of you will come up on three doors. One door will lead out of the maze and back into the center of Deerington, cuff free. Another door will lead you right back to the beginning, forcing you to start again. And what’s behind door number three...?

The monster, of course.

Choose wisely.

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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blood in my veins

[ robin's noticed the whole go, fight, win attitude of the town for the last few days, because of course she has. she's an observer, she observes. she has nothing to compare it to, of course, and oddly enough her first thought is "hawkins should take a leaf out of this place's book", because it looks like they're preparing for something big. a fight, if not a war. it all seems sketch though because of course it does, so robin's been laying low, trying to avoid basically any kind of human interaction until she has a better handle on things.

but, well, far be it from her to turn down a request from a random girl trying to lead her down a dark alley.

... wait. no. that is far from robin. what the hell? where did her common sense go?

but yeah, same as everyone else, she's paired up and tossed into a room. she doesn't- really take any time to ask questions, she's just got her hands up, ready to rumble. hell no does she think she can actually win in a fight, but she can pretend ]

You think you're the scariest person I've been locked in a little room with this month? Let's go, me and you.

network
un: rockinrobin85

so if this is all a dream, does that mean we can request a dream flight to a different dream location? maine isn't really doing it for me i don't even need to go back to indiana, i mean honestly, i could use the break from that literal hellhole i'm thinking california or new york? either one, honestly oh or vermont, i have family in burke. that's so close to here, i could even take a dream train instead of a dream plane. so who do i talk to about a dream transfer?

[ooc i'm totally up for the great unknown prompt too, just didn't write one up. if you'd like a different starter, hit me up on plurk @

sexbang ]

Edited 2019-07-28 10:16 (UTC)

[The jumpy kid in the other corner turns around, startled by her voice, and-

It's prissy Nancy's little brother, the one who was at the mall with his superhero girlfriend.]

I told them, I don't want to fight anyone!

[Something about him is... off. He's younger, shorter, his voice higher and his presence less confident. His hair doesn't look like a misplaced cat in need of a shedding brush. But most importantly, there's no recognition in his face when he looks at Robin.]

Edited 2019-07-28 16:25 (UTC)

[ it takes her a moment too long to recognize the kid in the room with her, and when she does her hands immediately drop to her side and her head tilts almost completely to the side. the fact that he's a kid at all. who knew fight or flight instincts could sort of blind you to what, or who, is standing in front of you. but- what the hell? he's about a foot shorter than the last time she saw him, and- softer? he looks like a baby ]

Wheeler? What the hell?

[Something in the girl's face is vaguely familiar, and he could probably place her in his sister's class if he thought hard enough. But for the moment, he can only shake his head and wrinkle his face up.

His mind goes right to Eddie and Chloe, to having been here before and his memories being taken.]

I... don't think I remember you.

[He looks for a moment like he might add something else, but apologies aren't really his strong suit.]

[ siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh ]

Well, that sucks. How long have you been asleep? I mean, how long have you been here? You look different. [ a beat ] Last time I saw you, you were taller than me. And now you're ..not. [ she's trying to be sensitive? maybe? okay no, she's just confused and doesn't want to make it worse by pissing him off. he knows steve's mildly bitchy friend. she's pieced that together by the aggressive bell-ringing at scoops. ]

[Mike is the bitchy friend, come on Robin.]

Five months? [He scrunches up his face, clearly bewildered.] Wait, what?

[Last she saw him, he was- Hold up. Holy shit.]

Are you from my future?

[Technically Steve is too, but a month doesn't count. He doesn't get taller in a month.]

[ shit.

she knows she needs to play this carefully. she just watched back to the future. you can't fuck with the timeline! ]

Maybe. Or I'm- confusing you with someone else. Maybe you're not the Wheeler. I was looking for. [ when in doubt, star wars? really? her face even screws up after she says it, calling herself out on sounding like a dingus ] Look, it doesn't matter. We need to figure out how to get the hell out of this room.

[No. Nuh-uh. He's not accepting that.]

That's what I was working on for twenty minutes before you showed up and told me you're from the future.

[Bet you're glad you got Dustin and Erica instead of this one, aren't you?]

Do you seriously think I'm going to just let that go? I'm not five.

(no subject)

ahoylesbians - 2019-07-30 04:32 (UTC) - Expand

Holy shit IKR?
Maine seems like a really terrible dream destination
like does anyone want to be in Maine for realsies ever?
pretty sure no one does
it's like a prime horror movie destination and some of us have had enough of that BS already
maybe there's a magical dream greyhound bus?

yeah, tell me about it this place has some straight-up bodysnatchers vibes that i'm not loving i'm just wondering how long it'll take before something tries to suck out my soul

I'm guessing really not long at all
I mean what the heck is up with all this dream bullshit?
does that mean we're wherever we were, just sleeping away and people around us are like
"welp, guess they're in a coma!"
I could buy the whole being kidnapped into another world thing way better than being kidnapped in my dreams thing
but here we are
apparently trapped in our collective dreamscape
super fun

i heard time freezes while we're here like we'll end up right back where we were when we fell asleep not sure if that's reassuring but it's better than our friends thinking we're in a coma?

yeah that's what they said about the last place I was in
as in the kidnappy world I was in before this one kidnapped me
so I guess now time has stopped like TWICE for me?
not sure how healthy any of that shit it but I guess I'll have to wait and see on that one

anyhow
indiana is a literal hellhole, huh?

[ the boy she's standing across, who looks about the same age as her, does not have his game face on, and at the sight of hers (and her very fearsome trash talking) he's only cocking an eyebrow. gradually, he raises his hands, but palms open and out, in surrender. ]

No? [ he does not think he's the scariest person she's been locked in a little room with this month and he's really sorry, please be nice to him? ] Could we just not, though? I don't want to fight you.

[ fun fact: he is, actually, probably the scariest person she's been locked in a little room with, given he's the son of satan and walking around with apocalyptic fucktons of scary power, but he's also a cinnamon roll, so no one actually needs to worry about him being terrible.

probably. ]

[ ugh. she can't stand cocky guys. she really, really can't. he cocks his brow and her eyes narrow, and it's not really anger or anything, but she's just suddenly 100% over this. so, he's not one of the people from the town, because they all seem super ready to fight. she's over this because it maybe would have been easier to fight some stranger if they just- came after her. she's got some pent up energy left from the last time she got the crap beat out of her, so. she wouldn't have actually hated it.

so instead she just sighs, audibly ]

So then what else are we supposed to do? They told us we needed to fight.

[ what comes off as cocky is born more from a mix of 1, confused and a little alarmed about why this girl thinks that he thinks he's scary (did someone tell her a thing, what does she know???) and 2, not actually feeling that threatened by being shoved in a combat arena part with a stranger and nothing else happening. the latter bit is pretty dumb of him, considering how dangerous everything in deerington is, but jack's perpetually bad about not being as cautious as he should. ]

So? [ he shrugs, ] Just because they say it doesn't mean you have to do it.

[ that said, he glance back up at the blinding lights and vague forms beyond them, before pulling his phone out of his back pocket, and sitting his skinny ass right down on the ground, legs crossed under him, phone in his hand as he starts scrolling through network posts. ]

If they want us to fight, they can come down here and make us.

[ or robin can just punch him, whatever, it's all good. ]

Edited 2019-07-30 04:31 (UTC)

[ The other occupant may look familiar to Robin, but any recognition is unfortunately one-sided. El stands on the far side of the room, hands by her sides, unflinching at the terrifying sight of Robin and her waggling fists.

She's sure this girl has no idea what she's asking. ]

No.

[ Let's not go. ]

[ hey wait

this... isn't one of steve's children, but she recognizes her. somewhat. vaguely. like maybe she goes to hawkins high? but... no. there's some serious thinky-face squinting going on as she puts her hands down, letting them settle on her hips. ]

You're- El. The cop's daughter. Right? [ a beat, then she's quick to add ] I'm Steve's friend. Coworker. I- we met at the mall. Sort of. There wasn't much time for small talk.

[ El's eyes bug, the steeliness of her expression melting into surprise.

She's been to the mall all of once (so far), and maybe, if she squints... she might have caught a glimpse of this girl over Steve's shoulder at the ice cream shop, but she and Max hadn't exactly stuck around to chat. The whole trip had been a whirlwind... it'd only been a few days ago, but it feels so strangely distant now.

But Robin seems to be telling the truth, and nonthreatening, so El nods. ]

Yes. [ Yes, it is she, El, the cop's daughter. ]

I don't know... your name.

Edited 2019-07-30 16:38 (UTC)

[Sabrina glances behind her because is this a joke? Is someone else in the room that's being spoken to? She knows she doesn't look intimidating at all. But maybe that's the joke here. Trying to act like she's a serious competition when it comes to a fist fight.

She can play along with that. She grins and flexes her hand into a fist. She looks intimidating alright.]

I've heard appearances can be deceiving. I may end up being the scariest person you've ever met.

[ oh, jeeze. cute girl ( cute girl, cute girl!! ) being a little bit snarky and, essentially, calling her out on her bullshit. just what she needs.

whatever, it's fine. she can handle this. she can't get distracted by the unintentional charm of the way she's putting a fist up right back at her.

nevermind that now there's been a pause that she can't make excuses for, and her ready-to-fight stance is wavering ]

Y-Yeah? Cool. [ cool? ] I mean, I can respect that. [ what the hell are you even saying ] If you did end up being the scariest person I've ever met, I would respect the hell out of that.

if we could dream transfer to california i'd be there already
maine fucking sucks
even worse than indiana somehow

[ robin is squinting so frickin hard at her phone.. computer.. thing ]

have you ever been to california? i haven't i just think it sounds cool i mean the karate kid is from california so obviously it's awesome

i'm from california
i got moved to indiana against my will but this place sucks even more

also what's the big deal about the karate kid, my sister won't stop talking about it

[ Billy just doesn't 'get' The Karate Kid because he's a Johnny Lawrence. ]

[ Brianna's never been one to back down from a fight (hello, that's why she's here), but her weapons have been confiscated, leaving her with just her fists and feet. Still, she's not incredibly concerned. It's not like she's got no hand-to-hand ability, and even if she loses, whatever. It's not like she hasn't been beaten up before. It'll hurt her pride more than anything.

Still, when Robin springs up and starts talking smack, Brianna can't help but blink and take a step back. Not out of fear (although there's no telling what kind of abilities a person around here might spring on someone) but surprise. Frankly, it's not very often she runs into someone so willing to beat the hell out of a thirteen year old who hasn't already started things by, like, spray painting a dick on their car or whatever. Actually, that's kind of cool. She can dig it. ]

Are you for real?

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AUGUST 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

AUGUST 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

BLOOD IN MY VEINS

I AM THE GREAT UNKNOWN

Character Arrival

robin buckley . stranger things ( s3 spoilers mmmmaybe )

blood.

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network un: be-lou-ga

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blood in my veins

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blood in my veins

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blood

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network, un: hargrove

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blood