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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[ thom huffs out a sigh that's equal parts amused and exasperated and runs his free hand through his hair in a move that on someone else might result in their hair becoming artfully disarrayed but just makes thom look plain disarrayed. ]

Me neither. Not much call or space for mazes where I was growing up. [ not this sort of maze, anyway. small ones made of cardboard and plastic for the kids at the community center, sure, but thom can't remember the last time he's gone through one himself.

still, what louis is saying does ring a little bit of a bell for thom, and he starts nodding slowing, reaching out his own hand to press to the hedgerow thoughtfully. ] That's for labyrinths, I think. Not sure if it applies to other mazes, but it's not like I have any better ideas, so--

[ his voice trails off suddenly as he pulls his hand back from the wall of the maze to find that the place that he'd set his hand is now dead and brown, where it had once been alive and green. he glances worriedly between his open palm and the perfect palm print of dead or dying foliage and tries to wrap his head around what he's seeing. ]

[The sure is a Look, Thom.]

Me either. We never even did one of those maize maze things I hear about. I mean, getting yourself lost in the middle of a field surrounded by crops sounds like the least fun ever, anyway- so I'm sure not gonna bemoan the fact I never did it.

[Ruby probably did. She's country enough for that shit. Louis sure is not, though. He gives a shrug of his shoulders.]

Pot-ay-to, po-tah-to. Pretty sure they have the same basic blueprints. It's just one#s round and probably has some Grecian hell-beast in it. I say we go for it and if we end up more lost than we already are, then I owe you a burger or some-

[He trails off, watching the foliage slowly die. His brows raise, his mouth opening to say something- when he hears something rustling somewhere in the distance. He turns slowly at the sound, lowing his stance a little. When he speaks again, it's in a lower tone.]

Okay. So this is a spooky, dying maze. Great. Sure needed to add the element of fear to all of this.

[ he's the most put together probationary hero you'll ever meet, guaranteed, louis.

it takes an awful lot to pull thom's eyes away from the dead hand print of leaves, some kind of nervous, paranoid energy rising in him that he refuses to name, but the rustling deeper in the maze is just enough, in light of their discussion of the labyrinth.

he shoots louis an anxious look. ] Do you think that was someone else lost in the maze, or... [ or some grecian hell-beast, he doesn't finish, but the implication is clear nonetheless.

thom also very carefully keeps his hands clear of the maze wall, because as long as he doesn't confirm his awful suspicions then it isn't actually real, right? ]

[He's doing his best.

Concern starts to eek into Louis' expression- as it becomes every the more clear that Thom is pretty dang freaked out about the dead leaves thing.]

Hey, you okay?

[He frowns at the noise, he reaches into his coat, pulling out what looks like (and turns out to exactly be) a chair leg with nails in it. This is a weapon much more suited to two hands, but he'll have to make do. ]

I'm gonna guess a hard no on that one, Buddy. It's very likely to be an or. Maybe a little motivation to get us moving? Hopefully just that?

[But not likely. He knows this sort of bullshit. It's just different bullshit. The notes are all still the same.]

We should get going- maybe we'll be lucky and whatever that is doesn't catch up with us.

It's just... [ thom glances at free hand again, reaches out for a moment like he's going to touch the maze wall again before decisively tucking the hand away into his pocket instead. ]

I'm sort of used to plants doing the opposite when I touch them. Is all.

[ it's the one thing he's good for as a hero, and the idea that anything could be sabotaging that for him is. concerning.

that concerned look quickly transfers to the bludgeoning instrument that louis pulls out. it's becoming increasingly clear that thom is in no way prepared for this situation, but... he takes a deep breath to steady himself, squares his shoulders and appears to gain some small measure of confidence. ] Y-yeah. Good idea. So we just keep turning right then, yeah?

I guess that makes sense, what with the healing powers and all. Wonder what's making them go screwy? It could always be the maze. Localised screwy-ness, y'know?

[It makes as much sense as anything. He's known Wonderland events to put a chokehold on people's powers. It's not a great jump to assume this place would toy with them too.

He offers an encouraging smile, to try and ease the concerned look. ]

Yeah, let's just keep trying that, see what happens. We got this, okay?

Maybe... [ it would be nice to consider the idea that it's the maze that's responsible for this but. but he remembers that man he met when he first woke up in this town and how his powers went haywire when he tried to heal him.

at the time he'd thought it was how soon after the hospital it had been that had caused it, but now? this is starting to become a pattern. a pattern that the really doesn't want to believe could possibly be true, but he can't ignore regardless. he can't afford to if he wants to consider himself anything like a hero. ]

Just in case, though? Try not to let me touch you. A lot of the time my power is still kind of instinctive.

[It's as good a theory as any, Louis likes to think. Besides, it's nice to believe this is just localised awfulness and not just... forever awfulness- for Thom's sake if nothing else.]

Aye aye. Gonna try to avoid ... that. Don't really feel like disintegrating today.

[Which is a lot trickier when they're chained together but he can work with it.]

Right! Heroic escape? Heroic escape.

Heroic escape. [ thom agrees with a slightly shaky smile as he pointedly closes the hand that is chained to louis, relying on the fact that healing people has always required him to lay his entire hand on them, rather than a careless brush of skin on skin. ]

So... left? [ he gives the nearest opening of the maze a considering look, then down at his free hand with the light of an idea dawning in his eyes. thom reaches out and presses that hand against the left corner of the first turn and doesn't remove it until there's a clearly visible patch of dead shrubbery amongst the green. ]

We don't have any string, but I figure this can help us keep from getting lost instead.

Edited 2019-08-23 12:40 (UTC)

[Louis watches the shrubbery die again, pretty morbid, but it does a goddamn good job of marking their path. His brows raise, before turning to flash a grin in Thom's direction/ ]

Now that's some sharp thinking. I like it. Use the awful bullshit dropped on you to your advantage. It's like giving a finger to The Man. I dig it.

[He makes the left turn, his movements slow and careful despite his general demeanour- he might be chatty and cheerful, but he's still paying attention to what might be in the maze with them.]

[ thom hasn't exactly had a moment of feeling genuinely confident about his powers since the attack on the bus (and even that had eventually been spoiled by him getting distracted by his hero worship), so louis' genuine approval of his idea for marking their way through the maze does quite a lot to bolster his confidence as he follows along beside louis.

he's not paying nearly as much attention to their surroundings as louis is though, glancing down at his hands intermitently with clear concern on his face. eventually, he manages to rouse himself into voicing some of his concerns aloud. ]

I just hope that whatever's happened to my powers hasn't done something to my self healing as well. [ a small beat as he considers what he just said and adds: ] Or that we have any need to find out in here.

[Louis has been trying to listen, to work out where whatever is stalking them is coming from. He turns his head to Thom when he speaks up. Being able to heal yourself sure sounds like a helpful power to have - especially in a place like this. ]

I mean, I wouldn't be surprised - given what I've learned about this place already. Seems the exact sort of bullshit that'd get pulled.

[He tenses, turning at the sound of rustling leaves.]

The sooner we gte out of here, the less we have to worry about that being a problem.

[ thom can't help but tense when louis does, but rather than turn to track the noise he keeps his eyes trained on the other direction, to avoid possibly being snuck up on in that direction instead (he's seen jurassic park enough times to have a healthy fear of velociraptors and he can't help but think back to them now and worry about ambushes).

he reaches out to press a few fingers to the hedge at their next turn and tries very hard to muster up some level of heroics appropriate for the situation. ]

At least I haven't had any seizures yet. [ he sighs miserably to himself when nothing especially inspiring comes to mind. it's a bleak sort of bright side to settle on, in the end, but if he's honest he's still feeling a bit shaky after the burn ward anyway and not in any sort of hurry to revisit the experience again. ]

[Smart move on Thom's part, that. Louis is too used to walkers now- who generally make a lot of noise when they're around- you can usually tell what direction they're coming from by the groans.

He casts Thom a worried glance.]

Is that a likely scenario? The seizures? Just in case you drop and I need to keep you not-dead.

[He will absolutely defend Thom's unconciouss ass if he needs too, but forewarned is forearmed.]

Normally I'd say only when I've overused my power, but with the way it's been acting since I got here I don't really want to depend on that as a given.

[ thus why he's taken to applying only a finger or two to the shrub walls as they walk now, just enough to be able to spot the dead patch if you know to look. ]

I'm pretty good at spotting them before they drop though, I'll make sure to give you as much warning as possible if it becomes a problem. Sometimes I can even hold them off, but that's not a guarantee either.

Right. Duly noted. Is there anything I should do if it happens? Like... put something soft under your head or something?

[His first aid experience sping around what Ruby taught him which mostly involves stitching wounds together with a needle and thread and trying to keep fevers down. This is a little above his skillset. ]

Well, just let me know, okay? I'll keep you safe.

Don't laugh at me?

[ the words come out before thom can really rethink them, a bit too revealing for a complete stranger, even one as genuinely friendly and helpful as louis has been. he winces and tries to push on. ]

Honestly, just slowing my descent down would be great. They're not usually long seizures.

Who the hell would laugh at someone having a seizure? Did some jackass laugh at you for that before?

[He sounds genuinely horrified at the scenario. A jokester he might be, but even he has a line. Wow.]

Okay. I can do that. I got your back.

[ thom offers a small, one shouldered shrug and pointedly doesn't look at louis when he answers. ]

Teenagers are assholes. Well. [ he does risk a quick glance at louis now, and the smallest, hesitant smile before looking away again. ] Most of them, anyway.

...Yeah, that's fair. I've known a lot of teenage assholes.

[But then his school was for troubled youth, so it was pretty much a perfect breeding ground for assholes. Hell, he used to be the nastiest asshole, once upon a very long time ago. That life is far behind him, but the shadows of it still lurk in the back of his mind- reminders of just how awful people can be. How awful he could be.

He offers Thom another smile, there's a touch of strain underneath it which wasn't present before.]

Heh. I'll take that as a compliment. You're not so bad yourself.

[ admittedly, if thom didn't want to be exposed to asshole teenagers, he probably could have chosen a better group to associate himself with at school. "jocks", as puerile as the term might be, weren't known to be the most open and accepting when it came to people they deemed different, and a closeted gay boy with a semi-serious, semi-frequent medical condition as about as different as you could be.

the problem was, he liked basketball, liked the team aspect of the game, and liked how proud his dad always seemed to get whenever he went to any of thom's games. of course, that hardly mattered anymore.

thom can't quite help the slight flush that flashes across his face at the compliment, but he does his best to hide it by continuing to look down the paths of the maze and away from louis. ]

It, uh. Honestly shouldn't even be a problem though. I've gotten much better at holding them off the more I use my powers lately.

[Louis was always into arts more than sports- he still played, of course, dragged along by Marlon. He's always been tall and that's a benefit in sports. Aside from baseball, though, he'd still rather of sat inside playing the piano than anything else ever.]

Well, that's good! And worse case? We'll just deal with it together. Teamwork!

Yeah, teamwork.

[ there's really no denying the small flutter of pleasure rising in thom's chest right now, the warm comfort he gets just from the simple word "teamwork" being directed towards him without any artifice or resignation.

and the fact that it's coming from a cute boy his age? well, he's only human, really. ]

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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

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