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OCTOBER 2019 TEST DRIVE ME

OCTOBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to October's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: HALLOWEEN/MONSTER 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: Blood, organs, stalking, food poisoning, rotten food, bugs, worms, evil scarecrows, body horror, skinning, murder via throat slicing, torture
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Prompt Three
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

pumpkins scream in the dead of night

Everyone loves fall, right? Pumpkin spice, the leaves changing, Halloween. The costumes alone are always worth it. And what's a more classic way to ring it all in than some good old fashioned pumpkin carving.

There's a wave of nostalgia that hits anyone who comes near the carving station set up in town. It doesn't matter if you've never carved a pumpkin in your life or if you've even heard of jack-o-lanterns or Halloween before. You just feel like you know this, feel a longing to reconnect with an act that maybe wasn't even part of your childhood. Some people might be strong enough to ignore it and keep walking. But others will find themselves sitting down at one of the empty chairs and a pumpkin being placed in front of them with all the necessary tools for a good time.

You'll stab your knife into the pumpkin and pull off the stem once you've carved it out. Grab your spoon, get ready to scoop, and then...! You see what's inside.

The pumpkin is filled with blood the moment you stick your spoon inside. Maybe it was like that from the start and you just didn't notice. The knife is covered in blood, so it must have been there all along. Even if you feel sick to your stomach and go to pull the spoon out, it will come up with something stuck to it. Pieces of brain, eyes that look like they've been ripped from their sockets, a still beating heart... Looks like someone was playing a trick on you this month.

When you back away from it, the blood might still be covering your hands, but the moment you try to warn someone else? All the pumpkins innards go back to being exactly what they should be. The only thing stuck to your hands are stringy pumpkin guts and some seeds. Was it all in your head? Maybe you'll stab into another pumpkin to find out. Or maybe you should just get out of there.

everybody scream

TRICK OR TREAT!!!

So you had some rough luck with the pumpkins, but candy can't be all that bad, right? Some of it comes with a money back guarantee if there's any tricks inside instead of just your favorite sweets. Buying these seems to go okay! You get your candy corn, your caramel apples, chocolate bars galore, and all of them are totally normal! It's a real treat for anyone with a sweet tooth. Stuff your face and enjoy.

Getting some from one of the buyers who isn't guaranteed, though — well that's a different story.

Any candy bought anywhere else in town will have some definite tricks attached to them. The candy corn might make you overly flirtatious and downright corny with your pick up lines. The caramel apples will make you clingy and needy to anyone who gets too close. Chocolates will make you bitter and unfriendly. Taffy will keep your mouth stuck shut for at least a full day.

And that's all if you're lucky.

Some places are even giving out bad candies. They look fine from the outside - the apples are shiny and perfectly candied, the Hershey's bars are giant sized and look so good! But when you bite inside a piece of fruit, it will be rotted and filled with worms, the candies will taste like earwax and have maggots stuck inside in place of filling, the chewy candies taste an awful lot like actual rotting flesh — you can only hope it's bad meat and not human.

People who eat these candies will get horrifically sick almost instantly. They'll need to be helped home and probably kept an eye on until it passes. It might only be a few hours or it could be for a several days. It really depends on how quickly it works through each individuals systems.

the "who" when you call "who's there?"

Walking to and from locations isn't always a breeze when Deerington starts to get up to its new tricks. It's unnerving even during quiet times with all the strange things that go on in the shops, or in the cornfields, or even in some of the houses of your neighbors... Sometimes it's best to just keep your head down and walk as fast as you can to your door.

But there's a different sort of unease that follows you as you make your way around Deerington now. A sense of being watched. Of being followed. You can't tell from where and every time you try to look around, the streets seem empty. The fields are still. The only thing you might see here and there are scarecrow decorations in people's yards or even the legit thing in the middle of some crops. Everything seems totally harmless.

Except that feeling gets stronger. Eventually you start to hear rustling. It sounds like it might be jeans rubbing against each other or maybe... straw?? When you go to look around again, you notice that one of those scarecrows has moved — in fact, it seems to be missing entirely. But where could he have gone...?

Turning back around, you'll find yourself face to face with your sneaky friend. The grin feels empty and cold, the eyes bright like fire, and there's a large sickle in his hands that's poised and ready to come down right on your throat if you aren't quick to dodge out of the way. The scarecrow doesn't respond to most weapons the way one hopes — blades just go right through it without even so much as a flinch, bullets will fly out of the straw and hit whatever solid objects are behind it. None of it seems to stop the scarecrow from advancing, so maybe your best bet is to just run.

If the scarecrow manages to catch you, you're in for one hell of time. The lucky individual might just get their throat cut and bleed out quickly. Others might end up getting skinned alive. And still some might find their bones twisting and breaking, their body shrinking, their skin turning to deep, dark and rich black feathers. An evil scarecrow would be nothing without a loyal flock of birds, after all.

But if you remember your lessons from The Wizard of Oz or are just a genuinely reasonable person, you might think to fight the thing with fire. It's the only weakness the scarecrow has and it will do anything it can to fight through it. Crows will swarm around, using their wings to beat out the flames as quickly as they can. So if you really want to do the sucker in, you're gonna have to make sure he gets fully torched and fast.

If you manage to kill him, the crows will lunge at you, disappearing in a thick burst of dark smoke before they can do any damage. The scarecrow will remain a pile of ashes and you should have enough time to get you (or whoever you were saving) home. The ashes will blow away in a gust of wind, though, and the scarecrow? Well, it'll go right back into the yard or field it came from, waiting for the next person to come along.

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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ARRIVAL

[ This setting would have been a really impressive VR sim if he didn't know for a fucking fact that it was nothing of the kind. He knows tech like the back of his hand because, well, it was the back of his hand, and this isn't that. He's not Backstage either, so he closes his eyes to feel out the ambient energy, raising his hands in a supplicating gesture. In an instant, he can feel what passes for technology in this place, and his lip curls in annoyance. Using the odd device he'd been given--called a Fluid, so it seems--he instinctively reaches out along the network, tracing its pathways to test its limitations with a practiced ease of someone born in an age of technological idolization. ]

NETWORK: UN: techgod
Is this thing actually connected to anyone? If so: Prove to me you're not a robot by telling me the weirdest thing you've ever used this technology for. Or the most impressive. I'm not picky.

[ This isn't any kind of VR he'd ever heard of, no matter how outdated Mr. World thought he'd become, but it's definitely someone's idea of a game. It's sick, and he hates it. He shudders--breaking his connection to the network--then spits, opening his eyes again to glare at his surroundings. Any witnesses to his little ritual? ]

Okay. [ He smirks.] Now who's in need of a fucking upgrade?

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PUMPKINS SCREAM IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT

[ A young man in a very odd outfit is sitting at the carving station, facing a pumpkin with its stem removed. His gaze is fixed intensely on it as he stabs it, over and over, clearly fascinated. A gored pumpkin sits in pieces at his feet. Clearly, this isn't the first he's mutilated. If left to his own devices, it won't be the last.

Despite the fixed gaze and ferocity of his knife blows against the gourd, his expression almost seems bored. He's ignoring absolutely everyone around him unless he's directly spoken to. ]

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EVERYBODY SCREAM

[ Candy corn had clearly been invented by someone (likely Consumerism) with a foul sense of humor toward their worshipers. Although he'd nibbled on a few just to see what they were like, Technical Boy had taken instead to tossing them at passers-by in a half-hearted attempt at a trick. He sits cross-legged on a crumbling stone wall, slightly out of view to casual foot traffic, and lobbed the offending candies whenever anyone came near, aiming for hats and shoulders. Just enough to irritate and draw attention to himself. A couple of his victims are even kind of cute, if you're into that 'mortal' thing. ]

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"WHO'S THERE?"

[ It feels like the eyes of Argus are on him. Or worse, the eyes of the World. TB hugs his arms to himself, hating the feeling of surveillance when he's the one who's supposed to be in charge and surveying. He exhales a lungful of odd-smelling vape smoke, which does nothing for his frazzled nerves.

Unwilling (or unable) to be alone, he seems out the company of someone else. Anyone else. After taking another long drag of the odd vapor, he quickens his step to catch up to the first person he sees, not daring to turn around in fear of what he might see. ]

Ever get the feeling you're being watched?

Edited 2019-09-26 07:39 (UTC)

[ Chloe'd been lighting a cigarette when he'd slid up beside her, not expecting to be approached or talked to on a simple walk home from the Hart Mart, but apparently even that was too much to ask in this place. She stiffened, before pulling the stick from her lips, blowing the smoke out with an irritated sigh. ]

Yeah. Usually it's followed up by a skeevy dude coming up for a random chat.

[ The life of a young adult woman in a town full of creeps. ]

Yeah, I hate it when that happens. Fucking pricks.

[ Her meaning is clear, but the unusual sensation of being followed has him so on edge that he's actively ignoring her tone. He stops alongside her, keeping a slight distance and looking straight ahead (and not at her at all). He drags from his vape and fidgets a little before exhaling, clearly spooked by something. It pissed the god off that some creepy bullshit is getting to him like this, but he hadn't exactly left his last plane of existence under the most dignified circumstances (at a full-tilt run, no less) and doesn't want to take chances. No one likes to be chased down like a wounded prey animal.

Introductions are for suckers. ]

But what about now? Do you feel that too? [ Was something rustling? He doesn't want to turn around.]

[ Cool, fantastic, this is exactly how she wanted her evening to go. She heaves a sigh and really was about ready to tell him a bit more clearly that she wasn't interested in talking to a stranger, except... Well, the way he's acting is giving off way more relevant warning signals than they are creepy stalker dude ones.

The rustling helps. A lot. She tenses slightly, flicking some ash on the ground to distract herself from it because don't look behind you is like a rule of thumb in this place. Especially after the last stalking like monster that drove you crazy when you looked at it. ]

Uh - yeah. Yeah, I think I do. [ Of all the days to be out without her gun. ] How long have you felt it following?

[ In his way, he's sympathetic to her plight of being approached by some rando on the street. Being a modern technological deity, he'd never had the experience himself, but he is the Internet embodied. He knows what goes on, shitty as it all is. But not being alone while being trailed by some god-stalker is preferable to potential annihilation. He takes a long drag, still staring ahead and not looking at her as she sighs.

She can feel it, too. That is not as comforting as he'd hoped it would be. ]

I've known it was there for a few blocks, but I suspected I was being watched ever since I got here. Friendly place. [ He breathes out vapor as he speaks. ] A real quality shithole.

Well... Fuck. [ An accurate summation of the circumstances, completely eloquent. She goes to take another long drag from the cigarette, figuring she may as well take a chance to finish it before whatever is following them gets the better idea to attack or something equally unpleasant. ]

Small towns usually have that cesspit vibe. [ She huffs the smoke out with a sigh through her nose, scrunching her mouth in thought. ] If it's anything like the last stalkery creature that roamed around here, it leaves you alone so long as you don't look behind you. Maybe we'll get just as lucky this time around.

[ 'Fuck' pretty accurately reflected Technical Boy's exact sentiments about the situation. The simple eloquence is appreciated.

Taking her warning at face value, he doesn't dare turn his head, but he does steal a sidelong glance at her. How long had it been since he'd smoked a real cigarette? Not since the humans had finally taken the hint he'd been dropping in their minds about electronic cigarettes. (Of all Tech Boy's smaller innovations, vaping is his personal favorite. A gift to himself as much as anyone else.) However, if their current situation didn't end poorly, maybe he'd ask to bum one. It would assuredly be an inferior smoking experience, but it's good to remind oneself occasionally why the upgrade had been necessary.

But nostalgia is a human feeling. Tech Boy snaps himself out of it as she continues to speak. ]

"The last stalkery creature"? You have an infestation of these things?

[ The sound behind them is definitely getting closer. Too close by half. Again he brings the vape to his mouth, trying very hard not to see any reflection in the metal and glass in case that tips off the stalker. ]

And if it doesn't?

Yeah. Something like that.

[ Infestation is as good a word as any. Chloe’s quiet for a moment as she finishes off the cigarette with one more long puff, holding the still lit butt between her fingers in thought as she blows the smoke out.

And then flicks it over her shoulder, back toward whatever is following them. ]

Running is always a solid option. Unless you wanna spend time figuring out how to kill it.

[He listens carefully for the soft sound of the cigarette butt hitting the ground--

--and when it doesn't, a jolt like static electricity shoots up his spine, evident in his posture. He closes his eyes for just a moment, focusing. He can hear a closer rustling sound, but he starts to summon one of the Children to behind that location. It makes a quiet sound as the digital pieces coalesce in the real world. If it can't defeat the stalker, maybe it'll at least buy them time.]

Running sounds like a plan. [She won't get an apology, but he'll acknowledge partial responsibility for her current predicament.] Walked down the wrong fucking street or else it would only be looking at me.

Why can't I just fill out captcha like everyone else?

Edited 2019-10-01 22:24 (UTC)

spoken like someone with a really entertaining search history

honestly i could find out for myself but it's way more fun to ask and see that people come up with.

so what'll it be? most people talk about weird porn but you strike me as someone with a more interesting answer

[ hey don't call him out like this even if you're right, tb ]

Are you Mr. Robot or something?

[Technical Boy makes the sensation that he's glaring known, even through the text.]

oh i'm something alright
and you must be human and not a robot because youre really boring me right now

You're the one that wants my search history, that's like giving someone access to your diary, why the hell would I do that just 'cause I don't wanna be boring?

Boring's fine. I like boring.

[ No he doesn't. ]

[See, this is why he doesn't usually interact with users directly.]

Liar.

and i didn't ask for your life's story. i said i could get your whole fucking miserable life's story. i asked for a single data point. now you're tryin to make me fucking dig.

[ Credence has been avoiding as much of this Halloween stuff as he can, though it's not exactly easy to do that. He's not sure what to make of Halloween. He remembers what Eddie said about last October, and it's made him more wary than usual. Besides, he can't quite escape his adoptive ma's hatred of Halloween, like her hatred of so much else. It's evil, it's a sin, all of that. He doesn't believe those things now, if he ever did, but this is a bad month to try to escape his memories of her.

He's just walking, hands shoved in his pockets, head down, trying to be unobtrusive (which is difficult when you're tall, and difficult in Deerington because it's not the populated cities he's spent most of his time in).

A piece of candy corn hits him in the shoulder and he starts, not because it hurts, but because he's so on edge anyway. He tries to avoid the hypervigilance that comes as a result of his childhood. He also tries not to get upset about things too easily, because his shaky control might slip away.

He's all right now, no sign of his personal monster on his skin or in his eyes, but he does stop and look around for the offender. ]

[With few hapless victims willing to walk into his path of candy projectiles (apparently the word had gotten out and people are taking a different path), the sound of actually making contact causes Technical Boy to sit up straight and look down from the wall. He puts his hands on his knees and leans forward, squinting slightly. Guy that age could easily have been in TB's demographic, but he's getting that nagging feeling that this might not be the case. A feeling almost like nostalgia. Which is weird. He's way too young for that kind of bullshit.

He still has a slight frown on his face when he holds up the offending back of candy, either as evidence or as an offer.] Trick or treat?

[ Credence frowns back, though it's not mean, it's just...a bit confused. He barely meets TB's eyes, because he just doesn't really do that. He sees the piece of candy and recognises it from the table earlier. He hadn't trusted those tables, even though he does like candy when he's tried it. He's very wary of the whole town right now.

This young man isn't helping, really. ]

I don't know what that means.

[Whether or not Technical Boy is ever there to help a situation is up for debate, but for the moment he's just being his normal, off-putting self. It doesn't inspire trust, but it's not overtly threatening either. He's being rather generous, in his own opinion, all things considered.

Unfolding his legs, he hops down off the wall to land slightly (what he hopes is) outside of the jumpy one's personal bubble. You've got his attention, whoever you are. Good luck.]

Not from around here, or not a Halloween fan? Wouldn't blame you either way.

[In answer to the question, he offers the open bag again, inviting this guy to take one if he wants.]

"Trick or treat" is a Halloween tradition. Beg for a treat from a stranger and, if you don't get one, play a trick on them. It probably has some deep and interesting meaning based on some Old God's festival, but who the fuck cares about that stuff. The important thing is that I'm offering you free candy. Tastes like sugar and wax, but still the least offensive things I could find. The fact that we're strangers is just part of the prescribed fun. [His lip curls a little with sarcasm on the last word.]

[He's trying to be nonchalant, but the young god is not having a good time. He pops one of the kernels in his mouth to prove that the candies aren't idk poisoned or whatever. TB probably won't be offended if he's refused. Probably.]

[ Halloween wasn't...something we did in my house.

It also wasn't the enormous to-do that it is here, but that doesn't bear explaining. Credence isn't from the same time period of Deerington (which can be a bit nebulous), and he's definitely not from the 21st century, not by a long shot.

It seems like TB is getting a bit ahead of himself and jumping straight to the "trick" part, but Credence doesn't say that.

He's still not really used to people throwing the word "fuck" at him like it doesn't matter, like it's some inconsequential thing. He's getting more used to it, having been exposed to various people here (most of them teenagers) who speak like that. ]

I didn't try any of that candy earlier because I wasn't sure it was safe.

[ He watches TB warily, assessing if the candy is some sort of trick, no pun intended. It doesn't seem to be. ]

If you're really offering, I'll try one. But some people might...get mad if you throw things at them.

[ Credence himself might have gotten a bit annoyed if he didn't shove down most of his feelings. Lucky(?) for them, he's over any momentary feeling of anger he had to start with. ]

[Someone unused to the word 'fuck' used casually is about to have a bad time. Technical Boy's contributions helped usher in the 21st century, one f-bomb at a time. In direct contrast to his new acquaintance, Tech Boy is definitely too advanced for Deerington, nebulous time period or no.

As for the preemptive trick thing, well, he's knows and just doesn't care about the tradition. Or about making people angry. But he's also aware that he's being watched warily, and that he does care about.]

I'm really offering. These ones seem about as safe as the standard ones.

[but as soon as he says it he's not so sure. Still offering though.]

[ Credence is still wary, like a skittish foal that might run and hide behind something at the sound of a foot on a twig. But he doesn't run, and he decides not to refuse.

He's not sure what Halloween really has to do with candy, but that doesn't matter either.

He takes one of the pieces of candy corn and tries it. It does, in fact, taste like sugar and wax, more or less. It's not terrible, but it's not as good as other candy's he's had. ]

These are kind of strange candies, aren't they?

[Tech Boy is aware of the other's skittishness, and he's decided to make the small amount of effort to not aggravate it further. He's approached gods who displayed a similar demeanor, and while in this case he's not dealing with a hard-on-their-luck deity, it never hurts to be at least a little cautious. He's feeling a bit more generous and friendly than he would under normal circumstances, and he's beginning to wonder if there really isn't something wrong with the candy. That's when then urge to be social started... after he'd eaten a few pieces.

Fuck.]

They really are. Some people fucking swear by them, but I think that's just so much bullshit. Why would anyone eat these things when literally any other candy exists? [He'd only picked them because he hadn't planned on eating any himself. And they made good lightweight projectiles.]

But that's why people like choices. So they aren't forced to eat candy corn in celebration of some Old God they've forgotten to remember. [He shrugs.] But it's tradition, and people do love their re-branded traditions. Even the ones with shitty candy.

[He offers the bag again.] Maybe the second one is better?

[ There's that language again! O...kay... ]

Other candy is a lot better. But I guess people like different things.

[ He does reach and try another one. He's not sure if these do have any weird Deerington effects the way that so many things here do. He doesn't feel different now, and something so small seems safer...not that it necessarily is. ]

It's not really better.

[ A pause. ]

Thanks for letting me try it.

[ Even though he threw it first? Whatever. Credence tries to be polite, he's just terribly awkward at people. ]

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