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.

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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?

[there's a brief beat while buzz tries to work out which is which for himself.]

That's the best descriptor I could think of for them...

[listen. if it meant keeping jessie or anyone else in his little family safe, buzz would fistfight a bear. okay. brief moment of self-induced confusion over.]

Er... none of it is particularly good. Right... [okay. insane news first.] ...the people here know about us. Woody was seen several times when he was here on his own, though not through lack of trying to avoid it. He was put in situations where it was impossible to do anything otherwise. So he came clean about the whole deal.

[buzz holds his hands up, already knowing that's unspeakable.]

...Which leads into the next piece of news. This isn't real. It's a shared dream. [a beat.] And I promise I haven't been reset again recently.

[If Buzz had asked her before he told her what to expect from his news, she never would have picked either of these things. Not at any point would she have entertained any of it. ]

He did what?!!! That's crazy!!! Is he crazy?!! Did he lose every cotton-pickin' bit of sense in his tiny plastic head?!!!

[She's taking this so well. Her arms flail upwards, The Wrath Of Jessie has been awoken- aren't you glad you're not on the receiving end of it Buzz? Aren't you glad?]

What, he just finally went. [In her best ~~Tom Hanks~~ Woody impression.]
'Oh, better break the biggest rule we have! That's better than lying low and keeping out of sight. Just gonna go have a good long chin wag with the neighbours! [She waves a hand at the fence on the border of the house.] HOWDY PHILLIS'.

[She takes a deep cleaning breath.

She's okay.

This is fine. It's fine.

It's cool.]

Edited 2019-09-20 19:33 (UTC)

[No, nope, she's not done.]

I mean, if he wanted to stop people maybe attacking the house that was the worst possible thing to do! Instead of a ghost house now it's the house with moving toys in it! They're gonna think we're possesed.

[More arm flailing.]

LIKE CHUCKY!!! Oh, sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln, they're gonna come here with torches and pitchforks. Did he even think about that part? Nooooooooooo. [Oh the Woody voice is back.] I'm Woody and I make poor life decisions.

Edited 2019-09-20 19:34 (UTC)

[Okay. She's done. ]

Wait. What was that about a dream?

[there is absolutely no intention of interrupting her here; buzz figures this sort of mini freak out is well earned at this point. heck, he's had one himself and doesn't doubt woody has too. the closest he gets to it is a gentle "jessie..." when it looks like she's starting to spiral too hard... but! ah, she picks it up herself. that's... good.

he'll just

let her get it out her system.]

It wasn't a decision that was made lightly. [is all he really has to say in turn. buzz hasn't seen anything near as terrible as what woody has, but he's seen a little of how complicated it gets. magic people and giant robots... he trusts woody, but feels the same as jessie on a baseline. those lifelong instincts are hard to break.

oh boy how does he follow that up...]

Dream. This is a dream. A shared thing between us all via the power of someone else. [...] Again, haven't been reset.

[She feels slightly better for getting it out of her system. At least she probably won't scream at Woody's face so much now. It doesn't make any of this less unsettling, though. She pulls her braid to her front, hands running through it in that nervous tic of hers. ]

And it's safe? No one's tried to hurt him? Or you?

[There's concern in her tone, but there's an underlying threat too. She will not tolerate anyone hurting her boys. Not ever. She may be tiny, but she would get that dealt with.]

But... how is it a dream? Are you saying none of this is even real? That none of us are really here and we're just waiting to wake up? I... I don't even remember going to sleep.

[Also, her dreams are usually pretty gosh-darn specific and usually involve abandonment or being thrown in storage again. ]

It doesn't make a plum bit of sense.

No. It's not safe, but it wouldn't have been whether he told everyone or not. [also not a lie; buzz's own problems came from a slip-up, not woody's reveal.] As far as I'm aware, Woody hasn't suffered any negative consequences beyond being called possessed a few times, but I can't imagine he took that particularly well...

[buzz just exhales, nodding in agreement with her.]

I know. I don't understand it either-- the only way I even accepted it was through seeing things exist that absolutely can't exist back home. I thought-- still think, sometimes, I was losing my mind. At the very least, I know many people here feel similarly.

[it helps a bit, because when he was fresh out the box he was the only one that actually believed his own delusions about being real.]

So what... what makes it not safe? What are we dealing with here? On a scale from Stinky Pete to Lotso?

[Or was it even worse? What it just countless days of the incinerator? Or worse still, storage? She'd like to know if these are the sort of punches she can roll with. Just how much trouble are they in?

She can't say she's surprised that the humans here would just into the 'possessed' mindset so quickly. Heckin' called it. A ghost of a smile does flit across her face, though.]

Hooo boy. I bet he was salter than a fry spillage in McDonalds.

[He probably didn't make great strides in befriending the locals on that one, she'd imagine. She considers it- she doesn't like a since piece of any of this- but they are together, and that makes the rest of it bearable. ]

Well. Least we're all losing our minds at the same time.

[he looks away briefly while he mulls it over.]

Lotso. If he actually hurt humans the way he seemed to want to. If this entire town was the daycare. [...] If the Prospector was working for him.

[can't even get to the joke about woody!]

[W E L P]

...Okay, that's real bad. That might be a little more than we can actually chew, there.

[Jessie is about as reckless with insurmountable odds as the rest of them, but this seems a mite higher than their normal level of odds. ]

Definitely works in favour of us all losing our minds collectively, I'd say.

Yeah.

[he tries to sound confident, but it just comes out as deflated and miserable. he can't hide from jessie, he knows this, even if he's trying to.]

...You should go see Woody. He missed you, too.

[Oh Buzz, he definitely can't hide from her. She puts a hand on his shoulder, offering a reassuring smile. ]

We'll figure something out. We've all been through some pretty messy scrapes in our time. It'd be a real shame to give up now. Just takes a little more working out, is all.

[She's still not exactly sure how they're going to work it out yet, but she's sure they will. Probably. She's sure as anything not going down without a fight regardless.]

You gonna be alright? [While she checks on Woody and makes sure he hasn't completely buried himself in terrible decisions.]

[he gives her the ghost of a smile back, genuine this time. there's no way he'd let himself get overwhelmed with his issues here to actively affect how well he could help look after his family and protect them; that's just not how he do. he'll deal with it one way or another and be there for them

besides! his problems aren't half as bad, anyway. he got as good a goodbye to woody he could ever hope for and the cowboy's left for something that'll help him live for himself, so he can't linger on it here. even if he doesn't remember, it'll happen when he wakes up.]

I'll be fine, [he says, and he does genuinely believe that.] and-- I'll be here, if either of you need me.

Edited 2019-09-22 23:15 (UTC)

(no subject)

yodelling - 2019-09-23 17:55 (UTC) - Expand

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SEPTEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

SEPTEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

DICE BLOCK

DANCE DANCE

THAT'S NOT A "MEH" FACE!

Character Arrival

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