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soddersays2019-10-26 07:49 pm
sodder) wrote in soddersays2019-10-26 07:49 pm
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NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME
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!
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.
no subject
[No, but Dustin's kidding of course. He goes to help Mike with the bottle and sopping up the mess on the floor. Good thing he thought to bring some extra napkins. It makes up for the sticky mess on the tile underneath them.
It's getting up from mopping it all up that has him evaluating the space between Mike's feet and the rest of the room. When he sees it, he kneels back on his haunches and just looks up at him- skeptical.]
Uh- why are you levitating?
[The question about when he showed up has been momentarily forgotten.]
no subject
I, um. [He tries very hard for a second to drift back down to the floor, but no beans. If only being dead (??) meant that he couldn't feel anxiety.] It's a long story.
[Finally, he looks directly up and into Dustin's eyes. Nine months is a long time not to see one of your closest friends, and he hates how it's almost making him feel nervous. Like maybe he isn't the person Dustin's going to expect.]
What was I doing the last time you saw me?
no subject
[In general, Dustin was the one taking on the hefty research and putting things together in his free time. Not always vocal about it, but now seemed as good a time as any to reestablish the fact.
No, he wasn't just gonna out and out accept that his friend is in mid-air. That's not how this works.]
We were all at the dance. Why?
no subject
I'm from before the dance. The last thing I remember was the tunnels.
[His ankle snagging, the hard floor meeting his chin, the sounds of the others a few yards ahead, and then- nothing. A meadow. A dream. He spent the first month, until Steve showed up, thinking he'd died. Just like Bob.]
Except for me, the tunnels were months ago. Time's totally out of sync here.
no subject
[ Leave it to Dustin to find the full Syfy reasoning behind any bit of weird science. This place hadn't done much for his own interests, it's all just layered on questions he personally needs to find the answers to. ]
You still never told me why you're floating.
no subject
[He takes a deep breath - only it isn't really a breath, since he doesn't have lungs - and raises up one transparent hand.]
I'm a ghost?
no subject
[ That seems to be the case, yeah, Mike is floating there looking like Shmoo without the funny shapes or walrus beard. This wasn't good. ]
Don't you have to die for that to happen, Mike?
[ And then, more desperately: ] What happened, Mike?
no subject
No, no, I just- [Abort, abort.] I woke up like this one morning. I didn’t- die, or anything.
[There’s discomfort in the way he says it. Because the thing is, it is about death - just not his own. He woke up incorporeal at the same moment a car crashed across town.
But he’s not about to tell Dustin that Will died. Not yet.]
This place does weird shit. That’s all.
no subject
[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.]
no subject
[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.]
no subject
He knows better, but maybe asking questions isn't the best thing with some old marm doing her laundry and the atmosphere not being a good fit for any real heart to heart. When his eyes find Mike's, they're apologetic.]
I know you're not, but - you don't have to explain yourself. Not right now anyway. I'll want the answers after your shift, okay? For now, I'm gonna try and focus on the silver linings - I've got my best friend here and a piping hot pizza. On a scale of one to screw your customer, can I just buy them a pie and we'll share this one camp out style? Take a load off.
no subject
He sits down, his tangle of limbs still an inch off the floor.]
We get a lot of crank calls. There probably wasn't a customer.
no subject
[Dustin's not gonna push it, he knows that Mike's having a tough go of it. Even under the much paler disposition, he can tell when his friend's upset. He shrugs his shoulders and grabs a slice of pizza out of the box.]
I dunno what made you like this Mike, but I just want you to know I don't care. I've seen enough to know this place isn't exactly normal but neither is Hawkins. I still got your back.