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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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[Okay, okay, he can't help it; he's gotta hug her, and with gratitude pouring out of his tiny form, he throws his arms around her after he shortens the distance. It's a familiar shape, reminds him of old times and makes him feel some swell of nostalgia for home. (It's not home anymore, Woody, you've got a new one-)]

Bo Peep, I can't believe it! I haven't seen you in years!

Are you okay?! Did Buzz or Jessie find you?!

Oh — !

[ In an instant, she's swept up into his arms, practically hoisted up off her feet and it takes her back to that last embrace, the faint recollection of her skirt swirling out around her feet like a bell while he'd held her — and she hugs him back without hesitation, because it's Woody, and even some missing memories aren't going to change that.

Bo's eyes are closed until he says that and then they snap open, and she hides a small frown over his shoulder where he can't see, while their faces are still tucked close together.

Eventually, though, she withdraws, small hands settling on his sleeves before one rises to tilt down the brim of his hat, just a small adjustment. ]

They found me. Or I found them, I'm not exactly sure which. They told me you'd be here. [ And she can say all of that without lying to him, plus this next part. ] It's really good to see you.

[Oh, he doesn't wanna let go. He'd hug her the whole day if he could, mostly out of fear that the moment he releases she'll just be gone in a poof of smoke. He does let her pull away, though, even as his arms linger at her sides.]

Seems like us toys have a habit of drawing towards each other.

[He smiles, contented by the thought. He'd found Buzz, and Buzz found Jessie, and now they've gone and found Bo. Bo, who is currently getting jumped by a very over-eager and dog-like horse named Bullseye. His every eager whinny is 'Hey, remember me? Just saw me, but remember me?' Woody just laughs, figures that Bullseye deserves to leap into the moment and spread his contagious good vibes. He pats the horse's back, smiling up at Bo. He's a bundle of nervous, happy energy, like someone meeting up for a new date.]

So where've you been? Have you been alright?

... You haven't been here too long, have you?

[He hates the thought of any toy being here without knowing they're among good company, but Bo Peep is especially one. Sue him, he's got bias for his rowdy little gang of toys... And for his special gal.]

One way or another.

[ But Bo's interrupted by that train of thought — and maybe the smile that lingers on her lips when she finds him looking at her — by the horse suddenly inserting himself in between them, prompting a laugh from her as she immediately proceeds to greet the very eager and equally important member of the conversation, sliding a hand over Bullseye's nose in a familiar petting touch. ]

Oh, here and there. [ She glances at Woody over the horse's back, a gaze that holds for a few beats before she looks away to resume her absent stroking along Bullseye's neck. ]

But all of a sudden it was like I was in a dream, somehow, and there was someone saying they needed my help? And then I opened my eyes and I was here. Well, me and the sheep, of course.

[ She shakes her head, reassuring him of at least one more truth. ] No, I think it's only been a few hours. I ran into Buzz and Jessie at that carnival they're having? There's something strange about this place, Woody. Kinda gives a girl the creeps.

... Oh, Bo. [He squeezes her hands in his, frowning. As absolutely happy as he is to see her (he could explode into pieces and be at peace with his life, okay), there's also plenty of other concerns here he has to... address...] Seeing you is one of the best things that have happened in a while, but — I wouldn't have wanted you here of all places, it's...

This place is bad news. [He sighs through his nose.] ... I'm guessing you're noticing that already, what with the creeps you're getting, but it's full of danger. Not just toy danger — but people danger. I wish I could explain it proper, but... we just have to be really careful around here when it comes to the town and what it does next.

[He makes it sound like the town's alive, like it's the one doing all this.

Which is completely true.]

I've been here since the tail end of June, and I've seen a little too much trouble for my liking.

[ She already knows how long he's been here — longer than any of the rest of them, Buzz and Jessie only having shown up shortly before her — and if it's even possible, she thinks she can make out the weight of this place in his features, the tiredness and the resignation, and she can't really remember the last time she'd seen him like this. Maybe that time he'd lost his hat, something that had always been a literal piece of him.

He's also not really the kind of toy who launches into great detail about any one thing, so she gets a pretty solid impression from the tone in his voice as soon as he says bad news, his hands gently clasping around hers — and she doesn't move to pull herself away, maybe secretly liking it too much to stop. ]

I know all about careful, Woody. [ She has to remember that she isn't repeating herself when she tells him these things now. ] I've been on my own for — a while now. Not since the last time you saw me, not nearly that long, but long enough to know how to stay careful.

[ She gives his hands another squeeze and then finally, finally lets go, but a half-smile curves up one corner of her painted mouth. ] When's a sheriff like you ever said no to a little trouble?

[He laughs, short and soft, more like a breath.]

I don't know. I think after the incinerator, I've had enough trouble for one year.

[Bullseye looks sharply at him, whining at the thought; Woody rubs a hand over the steed's mane to soothe him.]

This place — it's a dream, so... just remember it can turn into a real nightmare when things get rough. [Whatever offer of a smile is dead before it starts, when he reels back his brain and realizes what she's said.] You've been what? On your own? Where are y — are you safe?

[After what happened to their small, merry band of toys, he can't help but be more worried than she even remembers from before; it's easy to envision horrible, mortal dangers now. He's flipping through a big ol' 'How to Kill Toys' book in his head. And now Bo's 'on her own'? C'mon, guys, his heart's gonna give out, and he doesn't even have one.]

Incinerator?

[ Whatever that is doesn't sound like a happy memory, and she recognizes Bullseye's whine of distress easily enough, the way the toy horse's eyes droop a little bit before Woody runs a hand over his withers.

Everything Woody's saying would be enough to give her pause too, but Bo doesn't even really have time to react to the news that they might be in some kind of dream — are they all even capable of that? — before he's steering the conversation around to her, and she looks over with a somewhat bemused expression that blossoms into a smile. ]

Of course, Woody. I'm fine. I've been fine. [ Now may not be the right time for her to point out all the places where she's actually broken and had to put herself back together, then. ] Lived in a few homes, wound up on a shelf in an antique store, and then one day... I figured it was time I ditch the lamp and, you know, strike out on my own. Stop gathering dust and see the world for a change.

Oh, Bo, I'm sorry.

[It's spoken at the mention of winding up on some shelf, of course, and — well, Bo Peep probably feels some serious deja vu. Bo's just fortunate they hadn't had a lot of time yet to swap stories, back home — otherwise, she'd probably knock her own head into a wall at the repetition. He still looks plenty worried, like the status of 'lost toy' means something particularly sinister and unpleasant.

His eyes are drawn to the spots where she's been taped back together, brow pinched with worry... before he tries to quickly smooth it into something better.]

I guess you're a little beyond 'the world' right now —

Try another universe.

[See how suavely he side-stepped the incinerator inquiry?]

Oh, don't be sorry, Woody.

[ And she tries to assure him with a soft laugh too, partly amused because it's almost exactly the same reaction he had to her the first time she'd told him a similar story; she reaches out to where his hand is still resting on Bullseye to cover it with her own, maybe a little selfish in how she takes it for a few seconds before pulling back. ]

Honestly, it's one of the best things that ever happened to me. [ Her brow furrows shortly thereafter, blue eyes narrowing into a confused squint. ]

What do you mean, "universe?" Buzz said this was a small town somewhere in Maine, but — [ But Woody's been here longer, according to the others, and she hesitates. ] Are you saying we're someplace else?

Edited 2019-10-13 14:40 (UTC)

[He looks absolutely confused for a moment, when she says it was one of the best things — because he genuine can't wrap his head around it. Being lost? Being in danger of being abandoned, or being put in a dump, or missing that love and almost parental bond? He couldn't fathom it. It's why it had been so hard to think about Andy, of course. He'd always been there for Andy — so much so that leaving him, he might as well have been a lost t—

No, don't dwell on that. He's distracted anyway, as he looks to Bo.]

... It might be a little more complicated than that.

[He sighs, adjusting his hat.]

From what I understand... there are people from different universes being pulled here. There's a kid — or... she was a kid, named Sodder... and she had this power to pull us all here from different places and times.

Wherever this is, I don't... think it's the Maine from our world.

[ As she says the words, she realizes it's going to be that same conversation all over again — Woody not fully understanding why she would be happy like this, why she would choose happiness this way over belonging to a child, that it shouldn't be possible for her to find any kind of fulfillment outside a kid's room, but she has and maybe, in time, she'll be able to make him understand the way she had before.

There's just too much on their plate right now for her to really focus on that, but it doesn't mean the thought doesn't cross her mind — again. ]

What are you saying, that... there's a kid with some kind of magic, and she brought us all here? To a strange place that exists somewhere other than the United States but just so happens to look like someplace there?

[ Even for a toy that possesses some level of power — or whatever source it is that gives them all their sentience — it's a lot to take in, and Bo's delicate features are definitely schooled into a look of intense contemplation right now, even while she continues absently petting Bullseye. ]

[................]

That's exactly what I'm saying, yep.

[Sorry Bo, if he had to suffer a brainmelt, you do, too.]

We're all trapped in some kinda collective dream, I guess you could say.

... There is... something else I gotta admit to you. You just have to promise you won't clobber me with your shepherd's crook before I can explain myself.

... oh, boy.

[ It's a lot to take in, but she imagines it was a lot for him to adjust to too, and he's been here longer than any of them, according to Buzz. The thought of him being all alone, having to face this — it makes her sad for him, and there's a moment where her face falls just for a little bit.

But then he says that, tries to get her to promise him she won't whack him over the head when he tells her, and Bo's eyes narrow suspiciously. ]

What is it? [ Notice how she didn't promise anything, Woody. ]

Well, see, before everyone showed up, I'd been here for a while...

And I ended up stuck in this strange place called the dome, where I could hear other people's thoughts — people who were on the same team as me, that is. It's... it was confusing, but the point is... the thing is...

[oh god he didn't think this through]

See, the humans in the dome were getting into a lot of trouble. Some of them were getting stuck in quick sand, or were getting chased by these huge creatures, and I knew I couldn't just hide nearby if they needed a hand, but then —

Then some of them ended up seeing me and —

..........

... I ended up announcing on the network I'm a toy.

Oh, Woody.

[ It's said in the form of a sigh, nothing exasperated necessarily, but maybe a little forlorn, sad about the fact that he had to even reveal himself at all, that this place would make him do something like that.

She suddenly feels the need to apologize, even if she doesn't have the faintest idea what she would even be apologizing for — but at some point, her hand shifts to cover his, a consoling act. ]

Now I know, I know, but you gotta believe me when I say I didn't have a ch-

[His little brain catches up to her reaction, and his eyes move to the hand on his; the confusion is palpable as he looks back up, eyes rounded with surprise.]

... You're not mad.

[She's not mad? She's not mad. Shouldn't she be mad?

This seems like something to be mad about.]

Well, you didn't want to do it, right?

[ Maybe her anger is less placed with him and somewhere closer to resting with this place instead, unfamiliar and strange and intensely spooky — and she's frustrated all over again that there are things he doesn't remember about her, about what they've talked through. (Technically, it might be closer to what they've argued over.)

But her first instinct isn't to get upset, because it can't possibly be something he did without any reservations.

... right? ]

[He sighs.]

... No. I didn't want to. I mean... I'd tried to stay quiet, but by the time people'd seen me alive and not — just some toy to them, I knew it was just a matter of time before it was something everyone knew.

[Lucky him, that might just keep him from getting into deep trouble.]

... It wasn't an easy choice to make, that much I can say.

[Boy, this cowboy sure sounds worn down when he says that last bit.]

[ He does seem tired, like being here for so long has just really taken a toll on him, and even if she'd had it in her to be mad at first, she ends up deflating in the wake of that answer, that almost audible sigh in his voice.

He's weary, and he's had to go it alone for who knows how long, and her hand inevitably slips over to cover his, attempting that warm and reassuring touch. ]

You were trying to help people. Even here. Even people who aren't — [ Aren't his kid, and there's so much noble in it that she's reminded in an instant of how simple it was to follow him anywhere. ] You really haven't changed. [ But she says it with a fondness she can't disguise, even if there's still so much she can't tell him. ]

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wasonayoyo - 2019-11-07 08:52 (UTC) - Expand

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shepherdesses - 2019-11-10 13:22 (UTC) - Expand

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