NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

NOVEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to November's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: DEATH/ZOMBIE 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: Possible mild cannibalism, organs (including pictures of fake food that looks like organs), mutant insect in linked picture, blood, sensations of starvation, possible binge eating, possible binge drinking.
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

NOT BEAST NOR KIN

The blood and organs that have been festering in the ground and walls of Deerington seem to not only be attracting rats at this point, but something far more dangerous and... just plain gross. These deadly looking maggots are roughly the size of an average human. They’re slithering in an out of the ground, filling up holes where some organs seem to have burst open, or writhing around in the wake of the red waves that have left bloody puddles in the street. If you keep your distance, they’re mostly just disgusting to watch, adding to the feeling of utter decay that the town has gone into.

But those who wander too close or who are unfortunate enough to go by a nest of these maggots without noticing could end up swarmed. They can leap farther than something that large should physically be capable of and the sharp teeth on the end of their bodies will pierce through even the toughest of skin and bone. Once they latch on, they won’t let go; not until they’ve finished their meal. If you aren’t quick, the blood loss will be, and you could end up an evening snack for a whole group of these creatures.

They are fairly easy to kill, luckily. Average weapons seem to take them down or you can smash their heads (if you can call it that) with a few good stomps from a boot. The only trouble is how quick they move and how strong they are; you might need to call for help to get away from them when you get cornered by too many of these monsters.

ALL YOU CAN EAT

Maggots aren’t the only things that want to eat, though! And it seems that the community center is aware of that as well. Advertisements are strewn all over town for an all you can eat buffet that will be set up, not even an entrance fee required (though donations are welcome at the door if you’re feeling generous). No one in their right mind would want to go and get food from a party into Deerington at this point though, right? Of course not. You’re way too clever for that.

Except that as the party draws closer, anyone who saw the advertisements will find themselves slowly feeling like they’re starving. There’s a hallow belly feeling that no amount of food you consume will ever be able to fill. It feels like you might go crazy from how bad the hunger gets, craving something to fill your stomach, anything... And in the back of your mind, you might remember the buffet. You might start to feel a strange realization that the food they’re offering will actually help get rid of your cravings and you’ll be drawn to the party no matter how adamant you’ve been that it’s not a good idea.

The spread they offer isn’t something that should be appetizing to most on a regular basis; raw, very clearly human organs are laid out across the table on fairly decorative plates. A fountain of what looks like blood is put up in place of chocolate for you to dip your food into. No matter how disgusted you might normally feel, you find yourself practically drooling at the mouth and you’re quick to grab a plate and dive in.

At least the drinks look like they’re normal; sodas, beer, wine, champagne, and liquors ready to create your favorite cocktails. A menu will give you an idea of what pairs best with each organ, so make sure you select something that goes perfectly with your plate of intestines.

What would a Deerington party be without something tricky attached to all this. Even the smallest bites of any of the organs will offer sudden changes to the consumer, each power growing stronger the more that you eat.

• Eating BRAINS will make it so that you are able to hear another person’s thoughts. Anyone standing near by, really. They’ll trickle in slowly at first, but the more that you eat, the more you’ll hear, and eventually it could become overwhelming. Sometimes you can focus in on just one person if you stare at them intently, but that could make you look like a creep. Maybe you should just go somewhere quiet until it passes.


• Eating a HEART will make you feel compelled to confess your emotions to someone. Maybe a specific person or maybe it’s towards a complete stranger, but you just want to get everything out onto the table. You’re overcome with feelings so strong you don’t know how to contain them anymore and you’ve just got to get them out somehow.


• Eating LIVER will cause you to want to drink. A lot. You might find that you’re not able to get enough, even. It doesn’t make you immune to the alcohol though, so it’s got the potential to lead some pretty nasty alcohol poisoning if you aren’t careful. Characters who usually can’t get drunk will find that consuming liver makes them a total lightweight. Woops. Better have someone help you walk home.


• Eating the STOMACH will make you want to eat everything. You’ll no longer feel starving, but you just want to taste any food that’s near you, and you won’t stop no matter how full you feel. It’s not just organs, but any food consumed outside of the buffet. It might be a bad time to go to Peter’s Pizza for a late night meal.


• Eating INTESTINES will give you an abundance of courage. You’ll find that you’ve got guts you never knew you had and it might make you willing to go tell your crush how you feel about them, or tell off that one guy who’s been pissing you off for weeks, or maybe you might start to think it’s cool to go scale a building or fight a monster when you don’t have any skill sets to actually take one down. Hopefully you don’t do anything you’ll regret in the morning— assuming you don’t get yourself killed doing something stupid, of course.


• Eating EYEBALLS will allow you to obtain the memory of the first person that you touch. Depending on how much you’ve eaten, you may just see a small snippet or you could get sucked in to a full and heavy flashback. The memory will feel like it takes place in real time, but by the time that it’s over, you’ll find that whoever you touched is only just starting to ask you what’s wrong — or tell you to watch where you’re going, buster.


All affects from the food will wear off within about an hour if you’ve only had a bite — or they could last up to twelve if you really stuffed yourself. Please be sure to obtain OOC permission from any players for the brain and eyeball prompts!

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.

Comments

[multipliable]

Vampire? [ he sounds completely incredulous. ] If I was a vampire, these chains would be burning me, so no. I'm nothing supernatural. Just a regular ol' human. [ with an extremely shitty slate in life. ]

[sscuriosity]

Even if you could change the past, I mean- wouldn't it bring you out of this?

[With the maggots handled it's a lot easier to talk about the topic at hand. This guy was a scientific phenomenon and he was one hundred percent on board for learning more about him.]

I mean, we're in a time crux. That much I know. So.

[sscuriosity]

You woke up one morning incorporeal and you just went with it?

[Okay, wow. This place has seriously relaxed him because if that shit went down in Hawkins the whole town would know about it because Mike would be inordinately pissed.]

I'm getting that, but you didn't consider a big enough issue to call off work. Just- WELL, I'M A GHOST NOW BETTER GO CLOCK IN.

[Okay, maybe he's got more of an issue than he otherwise stated.]

cw: institutionalization

[multipliable]

You owe me nothing. The best thing you can do is leave me the fuck alone.

[ but that's the problem, ain't it, robin?

he has been kept chained up in a white padded cell for almost a decade with rarely any human interaction outside of the other souls. coupled that with him never being much of a people person in the first place and it makes him a very difficult person to get along with. his social skills are shit.

he isn't like that dumbass ilias though who believes he's in a dream. yeah, this is a dream but it has nothing to do with the fuckin' angels. otherwise, he wouldn't be in here. neither would caleb and aeron. at least one of them would be conscious, active.

he's still trying to decide if he likes this new development or not. ]

It's Robin. [ he sounds annoyed, impatient, yet he answers her all the same. wiping the blade on his jeans, he sheathes it away as he recollects the canvas bag he abandoned earlier. ] Go home, lady, before you become maggot grub. [ he is already starting to continue on his way. ]

[sscuriosity]

What do you mean over a year?

[There is so much suspicion, do people just go missing all the time around here? Then she's mentioning Hawkins and yeah that would definitely be El. So much for blindly hoping it was some other less than talkative superpowered girl.]

Uh - yeah. I am. I'm not sure how I feel about you referencing my town by name when I know I've never seen you.

[She'd stick out like a sore thumb. There weren't a lot of punks at home, just preps and the people that tried to be alternative and failed.]

[micycle]

I had bigger things to worry about!!!

[His voice reverberates in the small space, rising over the chime of the front door's bell; a woman with a hamper of laundry on her hip takes one look at the scene inside and changes her mind, scurrying back outside.

Friends don't lie. It's a cardinal rule, a law of the universe - but Mike has wondered more and more if maybe friends can keep secrets. Because right now, nothing seems more horrible than saying the words out loud.

So, heart in his throat, he circumvents: ]

It's just... it's the least shitty thing that happened last month, okay? I'm fine. [Except he's not, and he desperately wants one of Dustin's smothering bear hugs, but he knows he's being too much of a combative asshole for that right now. A reunion he's longed for for months, and he ruined it by being this.]

[hedon]

That's very noble of you, and I won't decline the charity.

[Rent wasn't an issue really, but there would be moments when Magnus might be incapable of doing the simplest of things. He keeps his place relatively structured for that exact reason.]

I do have a bedroom for you, but it hasn't yet been furnished. You may need to occupy the sofa for a while until I can find you a bed of your own.

[teamfun]

See, that's the fun part! Finding a way to do it that's relatively easy.

[He flashes her a grin.]

Or you could just curl into a ball and let the madness take you, but frankly, that's quitter's talk.

[earthlike]

[ Oh... Alright. He clearly wants to be left alone. She doesn't want to press, except... Well. It's awkward, but.

Her house is in the direction he's walking, so if she's going to follow his advice and go home, he's going to think she's following him.

She bites her lip, deliberating for a moment, then decides this sort of uncertainty is beneath her, and starts walking. Her strides are purposeful, long and quick, and soon she catches up to him, placing a brave smile on her face. The same one she uses with the nastiest of Earth's paparazzi. She refuses to rise to the bait they set before her, so she refuses to lose face now. ]

My name is Nadass Vihalen. I know you said I don't owe you, but if there's anything I can do to help you, now or in the future, please do call on me.

[laminae]

We're in a shared dream. I dunno how that affects time. The only guy I know who would have an answer isn't around, and it's too dangerous to go see him.

[Fern absently flicks his sword in the air, trying to get the blood and guts off the blade.]

[deadbutpretty]

So the whole kidnapping thing around here is the ush? Good to know.

[Because that isn't completely terrifying to hear or anything.]

Can't remember the last time a guy offered to pay for my meal.

[gentrify]

I'm good with my present list of concerns.

[ the whole kidnapping and waking up in maine and rotting organs everywhere situation. ]

You know where I can get some gasoline near here? Can't leave this shit out here to rot or we'll just get more of 'em.

[deadbutpretty]

Oh.

[Buffy lets herself be tugged, just relieved to get away from this disaster. Although she is surprised that she was willingly leaving after trying to convince her otherwise a moment prior.]

Somehow I don't think that would be a problem for me.

[Quickly putting her soda down on the table as they pass by it, Buffy lets go of her hand once they're outside trying to figure out which way to go.]

I hope they have Hawaiian.

[xenoqueen]

[Ripley's eyebrows knit together before she lets out a quiet snort.]

I don't know how much to believe of it, myself. But if we're in a dream, we may as well pay attention to the logic that happens in it, right?

[That kind of makes sense to her, at least, from what she's seen of this place, so far....]

You're going to be hard-pressed to find any locals that actually bother answering your questions. [A pause.] And if you want my advice? Stay away from those weird, smiling women. The ones with face masks.

[dustprincess]

Right.

[Weiss follows as fast as she can. Being the lowest stamina person in her team... hopefully it's not too far before Weiss runs out of energy.]

[onerthes]

Can't be killing each other forever. Eventually we'd run out of people, would we not?

[Actually, depletion of the population and the death of the god of war and strife were kind of how peace was achieved, but that was beside the point]

[earthlike]

As morbid as that is to consider, there is truth in it.

[effinphd]

Mmmm-hm. It's apparently some sort of a dream? [Theo shrug, waving one hand dismissively.] Who the hell knows, though. You could all be a very vivid hallucination I'm having.

[onerthes]

[The pace slowed considerably when it was obvious that the maggots weren't going to aggressively give chase. They were still there, but outside of lunging they weren't as fast as people were. Still, it wasn't a long walk before they were on a street of townhouses and she was leading Weiss up towards one of the first on the street. From within, a dog barked happily as she worked the door.]

I hope you do not mind animals?

[effinphd]

Of course there's a nun involved. [Someone was unwillingly dragged to mass as a kid. Thanks, Aunt Janet.

But then Theo sobers, tapping her gloved fingers against her elbows.] Guess we have to just...find out more? Figure out how to beat whoever's responsible?

[effinphd]

What's concerning? Nothing to be concerned about here. Everything's fantastic.

[Her tone couldn't possibly be more flat. But she pauses, looks around for a moment, thoughtfully.]

Think I saw a gas station a couple blocks back. Apparently "the essentials" are free here, which sounds like a recipe for chaos, but I'm not in charge.

[onerthes]

The practical reality of that morbidity isn't much better, I fear. Ah, but I think for the moment I will let you get settled. We can chat more later, Nadass?

[earthlike]

Yes, of course. Thank you.
I will speak with you again at another time.

[dustprincess]

As long as it doesn't slober all over me, I'm fine with anything.

[Despite her appearance, she does like babies and animals. Just has to keep up appearance.

And thank goodness the maggots stopped following. Weiss can catch her breath before entering the other woman's home.]

[effinphd]

Vampire, werewolf, something. Something about silver. [Theo shrugs, vaguely, finally getting the end of one chain loose and carefully unraveling it. After that, it's an easy task to untangle the links completely and let them slither off his wrists.]

Okay, Mr. Regular-Old-Human, you're free.