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.

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

[Thank goodness he's a werewolf and this enthusiasm won't damage him.]

Er-.. R-o-x-a-s. It's just my name. Nothing special.

[Other than sharing letters with Sora. Anyways.

THIS GIRL IS GETTING WAY TOO PERSONAL WAY TOO FAST... Roxas pulls his hand away as gently and quickly as he can.]

Thanks?

[She doesn't stop him from pulling away and lets him go easily enough. She does cross her arms in front of her making an 'X' with her arms]

Got it! I missed the X! That's so much cooler than a K. Roxas, Roxas~ Sounds special to me. Like a name meant just for you!

[Her smile is bright as she lowers her arms and beams at him.]

I'm super new to this place! So I just know the basics and I think someone asked for help...but that part is mega fuzzy. I've seen creepy-crawlies all over too. This place is super into halloween, huh?

[..... Sora would get along with Hajime very well. She's like him times ten. Can Roxas keep up with this energy?]

I'd hope so. I'm the only one with that name.

[He nods at that.]

Sodder brought you here. I think this place only looks like this till October is over, though. It just turned weird at the beginning of the month.

So it is a Halloween thing....that's pretty neat! I wonder if this place is super christmasy at Christmas too! That would be so cool! Lights all over!

[She spins around, arms out. But once she does a full circle, she focuses more on Roxas again]

Hey, hey! Your hand was super warm and toasty, are you sure you're okay? It's nice but it almost felt like you were burning up...

[She steps towards him again, reaching out to place to back of her hand against his forehand]

It was last year. We had a Christmas fair!

[It was a lot of fun. Roxas made some good friends during that time.

She might not be a threat, but someone getting this close that isn't Sora is still strange. He can feel himself blush since he's still not used to being touched by others after all this time. It's like how Ren can be clingy with him.]

I'm fine. It's just a werewolf thing.

[She holds her hand against his forehead for a moment, humming softly before letting it drift down as she touches his cheek and keeps her hand there. He's burning up!

Hajime would be concerned but then he speaks up and she has to blink. Slowly.]

Were...wolf thing?

[Come again?]

[~~at least sora isn't around for this~~

Roxas sighs, already accepting the fact that Hajime is a touchy person. And he's not one to shove people who don't feel threatening away. He smiles, then grins. There's some rather sharp teeth to show off.]

I'm a werewolf.

[What....]

[What, what, what?!

Roxas is really a werewolf?! Her eyes grow larger and she stands on her tippy toes as she pulls her hands in towards her own chest and makes almost a choking--gasping sound before squealing loudly in delight.]

WOW! THAT'S AWESOME!!! AMAZING!!

I've met lots of aliens but never werewolves! I didn't know they were real!

[She squeals, her eyes bright with wonder and delight as she reaches out again to Roxas to run her fingers through his hair]

No ears? I thought for sure you'd have ears or are you hiding them?

[She moves around him to check behind--]

A tail maybe---?

[Roxas about slaps his hands on his ears as she squeals. Hajime. So loud! Then there's fingers in his hair that makes him squeak.]

I-I can have them... it's just embarrassing! [He watches her with a sigh. If there was a tail back there, it'd be tucked between his legs right now from all the attention and embarrassment.] Werewolves can look like normal people... changing hurts, so I like this form better.

[Aw no tail.

But her fingers find their way back to Roxas' hair in search of those ears. Her nails lightly scratch at his scalp.]

I don't think ears would be embarrassing! They'd be super cute!

[Roxas, how could you ever think otherwise?

Thugh she does blink as he mentions it hurts to change]

It does? Ah, don't go hurting yourself! You're good like this too. Do whatever is best and feels most comfortable for you!

[She giggles though, curiously she does move her hand through his hair to try and scratch gently behind his ear?]

[For a moment his head goes a bit blank. Roxas bites the inside of his cheek to clear his head.]

I don't want to be cute...

[It's good that she agrees hurting is bad. But now she's doing the scratching thing again. He lets whine slip out that makes him sound almost like a happy puppy. With a bright blush he pulls away, his eyes looking at anything but Hajime.]

I-I. I'm comfortable like this! [Curious... there's something moving in his hair.]

[She gapes and leans in even closer. She tries to stand up on her tippy toes to see the top of his head better before combing her fingers through]

There's something here!

Huh?

[Wow. Uhm. Roxas wants to stop her from doing that when her fingers brush against an ear. He squeaks and pulls away fast. That... felt weird. In a good way because he deep down wants the attention, but this is a random girl, and........... he's torn.]

I-It's just ears! [He thinks!!]

[She stands in place, eyes wide with excitement. Her hand is even still in the air, fingers wiggling eagerly.

Hajime seems so completely taken with the fact there's wolf ears in that soft spiky floof of blond! She bounces twice]

I wanna see! I promise not to pull!

[As if thats the real issue here]

I've never seen someone with real ears like that! Cosplay, sure but this is different!

Uhm.... only if you really don't pull.

[Roxas leans forward, ears against his head. He takes a deep breath to relax... and his ears stand up straight with a slight wiggle to them.]

I don't know what cosplay is.

Cosplay is like dressing up! You know, as your favorite character from a show or maybe even as a kitty cat---

[But she cuts herself off and squeals now that he's giving her practically free reign. Just like before, her hands are quick to comb through his hair but this time find those adorable ears!

She gasps softly]

They're...soft!

[They're real! Of course they are but this is amazing! She gently starts to scratch them and rub the base of the ear]

What's it feel like?

[She might give a quick glance to his legs. Will he kick? Maybe shes expecting too much]

So like Halloween.

[Roxas regrets instantly having his ears be touched. There's a soft rumbling in his chest, which makes him blush deeply. Thankfully his face is hidden by messy hair.]

I-It feels nice... but weird... like you're scratching my scalp, but not?

[Does that make sense?]

NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME

NOVEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

NOT BEAST NOR KIN

ALL YOU CAN EAT

Character Arrival

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