soddersays | SEPTEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

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SEPTEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to September's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: CHAOS.

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: Torture (emotional and possibly physical), claustrophobia, potential weapon violence (guns, knives, spears, flamethrowers, etc.), possible body horror, emotional manipulation, emojis
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Prompt Three
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

DICE BLOCK

In case everyone hasn't had enough fun and games to last a life time in the good old town of Deerington, apparently this month brings you one more. Maybe you were just walking through the door to get into your own house, or maybe you were leaving from work — the moment you walk through any door, you'll find that it doesn't open up to the place you were looking for. Instead, you find yourself standing on a giant game board and you seem to be right on the start space. The doors already disappeared behind you, don't bother trying to run back. The only exit is at the end and you'll have to hope you make it there.

But you aren't alone! With you are other unfortunate souls who hopefully weren't just looking for a quick bathroom break. Some of them might look a little worse for wear. What happened? Well, looks like you may have to ask later, because you'll only really have time to exchange names if you don't already know one another before a large screen you didn't notice was hanging from the ceiling will light up. There's a giant image of a typical six-sided game die that's completely stationary. For the moment. Shortly after, a voice will come on over the speakers, echoing in the otherwise fairly empty room. It's overly cheerful, grating, and giggles at the end of every sentence.

Welcome, players! Is this your first time? Yes? Great!
Would you like to hear the rules?
Okay!
Each player will take a turn rolling their die.
You can then move the number of spaces shown — but only those spaces!
You can move forward, backward, right, and left, but not diagonally!
Each space will have a symbol.
The spaces with a clover are lucky spaces! Congratulations! You'll gain some fortune, whether it's an extra turn, moving ahead more spaces, or gaining an important item you can take with you on your journey!
The spaces with the skull are unlucky spaces! Boooooo, that's too bad! You'll befall some grave misfortune here. Hopefully it won't set you back too badly! Make sure to avoid these at all costs!
The spaces with a chest are item spaces! Here you'll be able to win prizes, like medical supplies or weapons! Maybe even a small something from home! Wouldn't that be nice?
Your goal is to make it to the end alive! Good luck! And remember to have lots of fun!

The first player's name will pop up on the screen, before the die will begin to randomly blink between numbers. Eventually it will land on a number. Once the player moves forward and lands on their space, it will repeat for the second player. This will go on until one (or both players) reach the end!

When they said to make sure to not land on an unlucky space, they certainly weren't kidding. Each one seems to come with some sort of random punishment or horror; it can be as light as having to move back a few spaces or go back to the start, or as heavy as breaking a random bone or feeling a blade slice open your skin. Maybe you'll start to slowly turn into a monster or become filled with the desire to kill your opponent. Anything can happen, but it's always going to be bad.

Players who reach the end will be able to go through the door and end up back wherever it was they were intending to go in the first place. Players who lose? Well... It's back to the beginning for you. Time to wait for the next player. Better luck next time.

DANCE DANCE

But what's behind door number two! People are going to start to get tired of walking around in their own houses at this rate. Even if you managed to escape the board game horrors, this new room you've found yourself in doesn't seem much better. In the center is a large TV screen and on the floor in front of it are two pads with arrows pointing in four directions; up, down, left, and right. Anyone who is familiar with Dance Dance Revolution might feel right at home! But fear not, there are instructions on the screen for you to follow if you need them.

Two players only, and you'll have to work together! It's a team dance and you'll want to encourage each other to stay perfectly in sync. The doors won't open until you finish, and should you mess up? Well, look up, friend!

The ceiling is covered in sharp, painful looking spikes and every time someone misses a beat or steps on the wrong arrow, the ceiling will drop down a foot. It's pretty high up there, but miss more than three arrows and you're gonna start to really feel the pressure. The spikes are looking a lot bigger and more ominous than they did when they were all the way at the top. Hopefully you've got some good rhythm.

But this is a good lesson in teamwork! Even the worst dancers might be able to get out of here okay if they've got someone who they can work together with. Maybe their perfect scores will make up for your two left feet. You can only hope you're both so lucky.

THAT'S NOT A "MEH" FACE!

Everyone loves to get a text, don't they? Of course they do! Which is why someone has been kind enough to send out a little special something to everyone's Fluid's this month! There's no name you recognize — in fact, it doesn't even look like a name is attached at all. The sender's identification only looks like this: 🥳

The message you've gotten is pretty simple though! Each person has received a text message with one emoji inside. No rhyme or reason applied! That's... random, isn't it? You can try to text back, but no one will answer, and so you might as well just close your device and forget about it.

Every person who received a text will find that their personality starts to shift. They begin to take on some aspect that's tied to the emoji they received. Did you get a simple smiley face? You're happy and relaxed for the time being! Or maybe a silly face will lead you to become more of a prankster. An eggplant could have someone feeling like sexting a Special Someone. An angry face might get you really riled up, even towards people you love. Did you get a knife? Time to start stabbing. A gun? Those people around you look like really good target practice...

The options are endless. Each emojis effects will last for twenty-four hours or until another emoji is sent from the same user.

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

[How they functioned without her she will never know- well, she does, because Bo was there. But at least she's here now to keep them on the straight and narrow. It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.

It's only been moments since she last saw him- when they were heading off in the RV- their family down by two. The way he talks suggests it's been longer for him- she guesses that makes sense- if he already knows where they are, already established that Woody is here. She can't figure out how, but that's not important. What's important is that's it's been long enough that her absence has been noted- it's been decades since Emily and yet it still means the world to her to know she's been missed. The heart eyes are noticed and get a soft smile in return. ]

Like a... house-house? [It SOUNDS like he means a house-house, but that's insane so it can'tbe that, right? Still, he's right, they need to get off the street and somewhere away from where humans can see them. She takes his hand, lead the way, space ranger.] Okay, let's go to the... house-house?

[there's no time limit or being whisked away to a nightmare dream world that needs be met, honestly. buzz is a hopeless romantic and he definitely has some dramatic feelings about missing her when it's only been a short time, or if bonnie favours jessie for the day and takes her out and about. we're all thankful that he doesn't show them the same way ken does with barbie...

he takes her hand gently, leading her back the way he came.] House-house. He said he was just given it and pretended it was haunted so people wouldn't come search it out and find him.

[buzz is still not sure how he feels about that. not great, but more because of the danger it posed to their sweet cowboy pal. can't argue with results, though, can he? now it means they have a place that no-one will come by with a lot of space.]

It seems like there's lots of empty houses around, [he says, pausing to offer her a boost if she needs it over the wall behind the bush.] and if Bonnie and her family aren't in Maine...

[then why would they want to live with anyone else?]

[There are a multidue of reasons that Jessie is eternally grateful that Buzz is nothing like Ken in any way and that's just one of them. He got pretty hecking close in Spanish Mode, but the less said about that madness, the better. Still, if she knew, she'd be very much touched by the pining. He really is the gosh darn sweetest.

She's about to question more about the house- like why they would just give a TOY a house, and if he got given a house, does that mean people are aware of him? She could ask all these questions, but instead, she learns Woody acted like a paranoid moron and her eyes roll skyward. ]

Of course he did. And did that work for him?

[She's guessing no. She accepts the boost, she doesn't really need it- but she'll let him have this moment of helpfulness. It's clearly not been an easy time for him, what with Woody's missing memories and dealing with being in this chaos. She turns on the wall to offer a hand to help pull him up. ]

Pretty sure they ain't in Maine. [Which means they are currently toys without owners- not a fact she's cherishing. But Buzz told her they weren't lost- so she'll believe him, despite all the current evidence to the contrary. ] So you're just... living in a house? Without any people in it?

[if you thought a solid decade of pining was all he had in him... well-- they're both here now and she doesn't need to know about that horrible phrase merle said to him. or mami almost blasting him to pieces, but honestly no-one needs to know about that, thanks. buzz takes her hand and pulls himself up after her.]

It seems like it did, actually. [he's glad she's on the same page with him about that, not that he doubts it. he falls into step with her, ever so slightly ahead.] I don't think Bonnie would like it here. There's not really much to do, other than shop in stores with stock a couple decades out of date.

[he looks back at her briefly.] Affirmative. It feels exactly as weird as it sounds.

[...]

...Pretty fun sliding down the banisters, though.

[She definitely doesn't need to know any of those things, largely because she'd probably go after Mami with a gosh-darn paperclip to the ankle or something. No one needs to have the Wrath of Jessie rained upon them. ]

I woulda thought it'd just make people want to investigate it more. An empty house ain't half as suspicious as one that might be haunted. People like exploring haunted places.

[I mean come on, Woody, it's not that hard. She has noted the general theme of the buildings around Deerington, and the tiniest of smirks crosses her face. ]

I'm a couple decades out of date. You got something you wanna say, Space Ranger?

[It's at least testament that Buzz has taken the edge off her panic of being stuck here that she's feeling a little more like herself again. Or at least, her less emotionally traumatised self. Yeah. That.

A whole house sounds pretty dang insane, but that sure is a lot of space. She'd never have to sit in a closet there or be stuck in the dark. If she is stuck here... wherever here is, at least there's nice digs.]

Whoo-eee. Sounds mighty fancy.

I believe Woody's reasoning was that the people here have enough on their plate. A lot of the humans here have... unique problems.

[that's the nicest way he can think to say "helltown", seeing as all the research and network spelunking buzz has done has not brought anything good back.

and-- if watching him mentally stall out is what she wanted (it is, it definitely is, it's always funny when buzz's brain stalls like an old lawnmower) then that's what she gets!]

Uh... I didn't-- [he blinks rapidly for a moment, midway through gesturing at... something.] --You're up to date! The most up to date!

[he may not be anywhere near as awkward around her as he once was, but some direct lines to his stuttering will remain forever. coincidentally, it's now when he's looking back over at her with a slightly gobsmacked expression that he realises... she has the badge, too. he looks away and rubs the side of his face with an awkward, slightly forced laugh.

that's

hm. hard pass on that for now. he'll focus on what's making her happy. even if his first thought would be riding bullseye through the house with no care for noise.]

You'll be hard-pressed to get a better opportunity to practice your lassoing. [on... what? on what, buzz?]

They do? What kinda problems?

[She's not that concerned about the adults, because... well, adults are adults- but if there's kids here, then that's a real problem.

She was absolutely aiming for him to mentally stall out- because it's adorable and the funniest darn thing to watch. She laughs- a real, genuine happy laugh- exuberant as always. ]

Well, you sure know how to compliment a lady.

[She's joking- she's not a lady and never will be. She doesn't quite catch his expression, riding that wave of happiness while she's got it. Eventually, she'll realise the badge will be a problem and one she'll have to deal with. For now, though, she'll enjoy the absolutely insane idea that they somehow have a whole house to live in. ]

You know, I did get this, which I sure never had before! [With her free hand she picks up a little red-roped lasso from her belt. ] Bonnie sure didn't make it, so I don't know where it came from, but it might come in a little handy sometime.

[Buzz don't ask that question because you and Woody are perfectly feasible moving targets.]

Supply shortages are the biggest one right now, [he says, tone slipping a little into that military-equse sitrep one he takes on during staff meetings when he needs to speak up, taking inventory and roll call.] travel in and out of the town is incredibly hard, so it makes sense that things aren't being restocked as reliably as they should be.

[it's a dream, sure, but it's easy to forget that under the realistic feelings it induces. that's still not a bomb he's gonna drop on her out in the open. how could he, when he can still barely believe it himself? his attention is stolen by the lasso before he can dwell on that line too much.

he looks over it quickly, then points over at the post of a fence poking up by the wall. still covered by the bush-- that's where they need to go anyway. get back down to ground level. he smirks lightly.] You gonna show off and hook that post in one go, cowgirl?

[Oh, Buzz, always so very to the point- there's a reason he's always been so very good at the small details the rest of them tend to miss. Important things, things that keep the cogs turning.]

...So people're going hungry?

[That's... not good. It's nothing they have to worry about themselves, but people sure need food. She feels a pang, like they should probably do something to help- but what can they do? They've got maybe two and a half feet between the three of them.

She grins at the fence, challenge accepted. With a very well placed "yee-hawwwww" (there are very few moments that don't deserve a good yee-haw in Jessie's mind) she flicks her little lasso around her head, before launching it at the fence post, full-throttle. It catches, of course. Jessie gives it a sharp tug to make sure it's secure, before flashing Buzz a smug grin, flicking the top of her hat with her finger. ]

How'd you like them apples?

[Boy it sure is gonna suck when the rug gets pulled out from under her, huh, Buzz?]

[he has literally never been cursed with this much knowledge in his life. can't talk to woody about the big goodbye or everything that happened on the road trip. gotta tell jessie that she's in helltown USA and surrounded by a bunch of people suffering while being too tiny to do anything about it. at least woody can help with that second one.

oh, but her joy is wonderful, even if it'll be short-lived. buzz does a good job of keeping a bittersweet tinge out of his expression. he holds his hand flat out over his eyes to squint into the distance like it's a strain to see if she got it or not, then holds his hands up in mock-surrender.]

Sure showed me! It's down there then practically straight down the street. [he jogs over to the post-- jessie'll probably have an easier time getting down first. she hardly needs his help for something so simple!] ...There's something important I need to tell you when we get to the bottom.

[certainly not the worst thing, but one of the more important ones to know for being out and about, he thinks.]

[It's far too much for Buzz to carry about in his little plastic chest. At least she can alleviate all the Helltown stuff, even if she won't like it one tiny bit, no sir.

She jogs over to the fence post, pausing at that. There's a lot of secrets going on here and even if he's telling her, her natural suspicion is starting to slide some caution into her gait.]

...Okay? Should I be worried?

[More worried than she already is, anyway. She hesitates before taking hold of the lasso and moving down. Woody's down there, and there are some things she knows he can't be aware of. Not yet. Not until they've worked out what's going on.

Her fingers play with the sheriff's badge on her chest, letting out a slow breath. There's a weight to that badge and she doesn't feel any lighter for taking it off. If she were honest, she's still not completely convinced Woody made the right choice in carrying this particular torch. But she has it, and right now, he can't know that she does. Carefully, she takes off her hat, pinning the badge to the inside of it. She replaces the hat on her head, casting Buzz a look. ]

Just 'til we figure out what's going on with him. I don't like lying to him.

[She grabs the lasso and off she is on her way down- the little spring in her step certainly a little lessened. ]

[bro why is being known such an ordeal]

Yeah. [buzz drops down after her, sticking the landing as always. he watches her take the hat off and hide the badge, brows pinched. he can't imagine what she's feeling, having to hide it like that. hell, he can barely even imagine what it was like to be given it in the first place. for little toys, they sure do have a lot going on, huh?

maybe this dreamworld will have toy aspirin. all three of them could probably make use of it at this point.] It's just us and Woody. None of the other toys here-- they're not alive. They don't move. It's not that they haven't worked it out yet, they just aren't.

[Jessie would like a whole jar of Toy Nytol honestly. Let this tiny ragdoll have some gosh-darned rest for one freaking night. ]

So they aren't alive? Like... there's nothing there?

[Well. That's horrifying. She stares skyward, taking stock of that.]

Okay. We'll just have to deal with that. At least there's the three of us, right? That's gotta count for something.

[As long as she has her two favourite idiots in her life she can deal with the rest. Probably. She hopes.]

Nothing at all. They can't help.

[it feels so cruel to just write them off like that, the same way it does to lie to woody, but he's really tried. part of him still can't believe it and just figures they're all in crisis mode, but he also knows that that would involve all of them thinking the same and following his own line of thought.]

Just... so you know. Ah-- the phone... [he has his own clipped over his shoulder ~~i didn't forget to mention it until now or anything~~, human-sized and awkward for his size.] Keep it on you. They're our best bet-- walkie talkies without range... I've also been told they're quite hard to damage.

Maybe something happened to them?

[Something clearly happened to Woody. Maybe Jessie and Buzz are just lucky and have avoided something disastrous. Maybe the disaster is yet to happen. But if she lets herself ponder on it too long, she knows the panic will set in and she would really rather not right now. One thing at a time. ]

Lookie-lookie, mine can turn into a little bracelet! [She raises her wrist and there it is- Jessie-size.] It's all kinds of fancy. Do you reckon we got given them by mistake? [Because who would give toys a phone? Who would give toys a HOUSE? Something is really weird here.] Why's yours so big? Did you try to turn it into a bracelet yet? It'd be easier to cart around.

[She's pretty sure he would have worked that out by now, though. Probably. She just hasn't placed any bets on how hard the universe likes to screw him over sometimes.]

I don't know. [he really hates giving that answer.] We'll just have to stick together and keep each other safe.

[which is what they were all planning to do anyway, so! that's that on that. just reaffirming it.]

Uh-huh... [yeah he got a big one. but! doesn't matter. he just shrugs at her question.] I prefer it big! It's easier to see stuff on the screen.

[he's already seen the little version with woody, but his thought this time is oh, that's cute rather than oh, that's weird. sorry, woody. u ain't cutting it cute-style.]

I don't even know where we got them from. That strange basket, but-- someone has to fill it. [honestly he's not sure if he even wants to know who. he also doesn't really want to know if people are going without them because they have them. like, please, there's so many issues like that here, he's so tired, give his little plastic brain some peace. share that toy nytol. thank you.] I do know there are several video, audio and text files on the local network that'll help explain things a little better.

Maybe we can work it out? Try and fix them? ...Though I reckon we should fix Woody first.

[Family first, everyone else later. Jessie's got a good heart, but she also has her priorities. Strangers, even strange toys still tend to take a backseat behind her loved ones. ]

You bet we will! We'll figure this whole mess out together, you'll see.

[She hopes. God, she really, really hopes. Her lips turn up in a smile, as he explains the reasoning behind his overly largely phone.] Uh-huh. guess you do have a point on that one.

[She would have just assumed an adult came and did it, but maybe not. It seems plenty of adults are stuck here, too. She wonders how long they can keep hiding from them. Probably forever, if they stuck in the house. But hiding out forever won't get the answers about Woody- or about how to get home to Bonnie. ]

There's more questions than answers in this place, huh? Must be driving you crazy. None of this makes a lick of sense. [She pokes her (cute) fluid as if it will suddenly divulge everything to her.] So they've been left by the humans stuck here? Or is this more like a PSA kinda thing?

Y--yeah, let's stick to the problems on our own ranch before we expand to the whole of the West.

[did he... do that right? doubtless, it sounded completely ridiculous coming out his mouth, but he..............does his best.]

See, maybe if I can work out how it works properly we can use it to watch movies! Way less risky than using the actual television. [her question actually makes him stop walking for a moment, stopping mid-step while he processes that.] Ah... good question!

[that's another i don't know. you get to a point where you just stop questioning these things. toy-sized phones, sure, why not. guy made out of grass, excellent. actual giant robot from space, yes, okay.]

Maybe a bit of both?

[She'll give his shoulder a little pat- you tried, points for effort.]

Exactly! Gotta take care of our own. Once we figure out what the heck is going on with Woody, we can move onto them. I promise.

[And hopefully the two things are not connected because that has some pretty worrying conclusions, otherwise.]

It would be real nice to watch some movies without them being interrupted halfway through all the time.

[Mostly from having a human come in and interrupt them rude. Will they ever get through Lord of the Rings? That's the big question here.

She accepts that. 'I don't know' is a perfectly reasonable answer here- the place sounds pretty dang insane. He gives a nod of her head.]

Okay, then I'll just have to watch 'em. See what I can see. Then we can work it out together, okay?

[he nods-- he doesn't doubt her at all. there's just that ever-present issue of... what it actually is, and if they'd even be able to do anything about it on top of it. you know, the part of his brain that isn't currently on fire at the idea of... dare he say it... date night?]

Of course. We can all pool our knowledge and see what we come up with. I wouldn't be surprised if Woody has a conspiracy wall at this point.

[You treat her to a nice date night, Space Ranger- she's been patiently waiting a good long time for you to get the gumption to do anything. You can do it. She' has faith in you.]

Pretty sure he'd have a conspiracy room. Lucky for him he's got us two to keep an eye on him, huh?

[Because if nothing else, they can try and steer him away from the worst of the fires he makes for himself. They do it out of love, honestly.]

Even if this ain't home, at least the posse's back together.

[that escalation makes him snort a brief, surprised laugh.]

I'd want to see it, [and he means that.] Uh-huh. Even if it's weird. I wouldn't want to be stuck in some random town in Maine with anyone else.

[speaking of, they're coming up to the house. buzz gestures jessie towards the broken panel of fence he tends to use; then climbing up onto the fence of the yard of the townhouse. it's a little-- unnecessary... but that's how buzz lightyear do. if she goes off another way around, he won't stop her.]

It's the blue one. That window is a good bet if using the door is too weird. [which... it is. very much so.]

[She offers him the tiniest of smiles there, resting a hand on his shoulder. Their little family is together and that means everything. Having them around has done wonders to patch together her broken pieces- she absolutely would not be the toy she is today without them. It might only be a small respite- while Woody remains oblivious, while they're somehow in Maine- and one day their little family might be down by one all over again. But for now, she'll gosh darn take it.

She turns her head to look at the house, their house... apparently. It really is weird. The weirdest. But she's nothing if not adaptable. Maybe once she's got more comfortable, she'll find her own reckless Jessie-style way of entering. Probably some way involving trees and death-defying leaps towards gutters. But for now, she's getting used to a whole lot of everything, so she'll use the broken fence. For now. ]

That... sure is a house. You weren't kidding.

[She'll jog her little bow-legged way off to the open window, looking up at it. Woody was in there. Woody was in there and he hadn't left. He had no idea he would leave. He was just there. She glances from the window at Buzz.]

So, anything else you wanna tell me before we disrupt his peace and quiet for a good long time?

Two storeys and an attic and everything.

[oh, poor woody. having to put up with these two idiots that get great joy out of flinging themselves around open spaces for no reason other than they can. parkour enthusiasts... smh.

buzz follows behind her, watching their 6 like he's expecting something to have followed them-- nothing has, of course, but the caution of being a toy moving around isn't one that you can let go of easily. buzz especially, with his intent on following their adapted safety protocols to keep everyone safe. he's ready to clock a cat if one followed them, basically.

he stops in his tracks, mulling somethings over.] ...Do you want the bad news or the insane news?

That's a whole lotta space for three toys.

[Maybe Woody has two conspiracy rooms. From which he can watch them parkour their way around and give him a tiny cotton heart attack.

She's far less observant of their surroundings, or rather, she looks at it all with wide-eyed wonder. She's not looking for threats, she's still drinking it all in, letting it settle on her that this is where they're living now. So honestly, it's a good job he still has that threat-conscious mind active.

But wow Buzz, don't clock a cat. Soon as she realises there are critters here, she's going to start befriending them all and creating herself a furry army. All shall fear them.

She chuckles rubbing the back of her head. ]

Wow, gee. Those are some real prime choices there- I'm plum stuck for which one is the best to pick. [She tries to consider what's probably less awful.] Let's go with insane and work our way down from there. Unless the insane news is worse than the bad news? Do I need to be sitting down for the bad news?

SEPTEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

DICE BLOCK

DANCE DANCE

THAT'S NOT A "MEH" FACE!

Character Arrival

the worst of crimes wow

😔

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