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

[bulletgram]

I know is not dog. Is a maggot. I have seen maggot before, Barry. ...this one is on steroids, but still maggot.

[ Maybe. Probably. Either way ugh.

How about both options. Can he do both options? No, because he's really not that great a shot even stationary, but he's damn well going to try as he makes a beeline for the car. ]

Did you come to save me, Barry? Like knight in shiny armor?

[ Yes, he knows he absolutely did not. Barry doesn't like him much for some reason. But he still hops in the car; he must like him at least a little if he stopped to let him in the car, right? ]

[hitactor]

I bet you have. Nice to know your eyes work well enough to distinguish the differences when the thing is twenty times the size it should be.

[ Through grit teeth, why did he even stop the car when he saw it was him in trouble. Maybe to keep his cover, maybe because this place is worse than Korengal and so far makes Fuches look like a fucking angel instead of the grim reaper.

He's not gonna think too long and hard about it. ]

No.

[ Yeah, he's not even gonna express which part because the maggot wasn't happy and he really didn't want his only means of transportation totally fucked because they pissed off a giant larva.

The keys find the ignition and he peels out, burning some rubber in the process and for a little while he's just quiet. ]

Are you a fucking idiot?

[ Okay, maybe that wasn't cool, he'll just adjust his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel as he looks for a destination that seems somewhat safe. Some kind of shelter, something they can work with if things get worse. ]

I mean, you had a gun in your hand. Why the hell would you try to talk down a blood-thirsty parasite? It's not gonna go an episode of Maury with you.

[bulletgram]

Nothing about this place makes sense. Is like house of horrors. Worth a try, yes?

[ no. No it isn't really, but honestly he couldn't think of a better option. ]

I would have shot it if you did not show up. I am not "fucking idiot", no matter what you and Goran say.

[ not that Goran is really saying anything these days, but that's also not the point right now. ]

[hitactor]

If you wanna gamble with your life, that's your judgment call but for the sake of smart shooting just expect anything that's literally feasting on human flesh to not be on your side.

[Barry's still driving, eyes forward and he's torn between glad that Hank didn't fuck up and die on his first night in town and bothered by the fact that he's actually happy about that.

It's a really weird duality.]

Huh. [It comes out in a huff of laughter, as far as Goran went and well, really the whole Chechen circuit they all still had their training wheels on, but Goron was more remedial than most especially to be in a position of leadership.

Calling out of town for a hit that's as simple as Ryan would've been, is pretty damn telling. The aftermath made that same selfish judgment even worse.] That's rich coming from him.

[bulletgram]

[ Hank shifts and squirms in his seat, trying to both get comfortable and keep an eye on their surroundings; no hard feelings with Barry after all, not that Hank could really be mad at him. Barry tried to kill him once directly and he didn't hold a grudge, indirectly trying to kill him doesn't register even half as long even if he's not actually sure what his problem with the Bolivians was. ]

Yes, well. Somebody killed him, so who is Mister Smarty Pants know it all now.

[hitactor]

Please. He was never smart.

[ No problems with the Bolivians specifically, but one great big overlapping irritation with organized crime being anything but organized and his steady and unwilling involvement in everything.

The car is still every bit as dirty as it had been at home, worse now that Fuches had driven it more than once. Really, with the money he made he should be able to afford some simple pleasures but he just wasn't that guy.

Eventually, Barry pulls into an area with lots of storefronts. It looks like a little shopping area, he really hasn't had much time to scope the lay of the land yet. The car gets turned off, and he turns to Hank looking tired in ways he hasn't begun to feel yet. Anger and frustration was a huge source of fuel right now.]

Do you have someplace I can take you where you won't wind up worm chow?

[bulletgram]

[ Yeah, okay. Goran was a crappy boss and small-minded when it came to the big picture, but Hank had only ever been a thief before the promotion. It seemed ungrateful to judge. So he only shrugged at the barb, and continued to look around, familiar-ish scenery at least helping a little. ]

Not that I know of. Haven't been here long before I found the...

[ He gestures outside the window. ]

Maggot.

[hitactor]

Shit.

[His jaw is tight, but the word isn't as harsh as it could be rolling off his tongue. Barry's just tired, an unprecedented sort of weariness settling into his bones.]

Well, the way one person put it we can just go into whatever place we want that's unoccupied. So, I guess we're going real-estate shopping.

[Barry takes a right in the direction of a suburban neighborhood he can sort of make out through the trees thanks to the rooftops and eaves being semi-exposed.]

[bulletgram]

Oh good! That means decorating!

[ The last word is probably a little more sing-songy than the situation really warrants, but listen. It's a crappy situation that Hank would rather not be in, even if Barry's also in it. He didn't come in here expecting monsters and organs growing out of the street, if he can at least try to tint something through rose colored glasses he's going to, if only for his own sanity.

...okay, and maybe also to try to cheer Barry up. Secondary concern. ]

[hitactor]

You just stared down a bus-sized parasite and you're concerned about interior design?

[Exasperated went without saying, his grip tightens on the steering wheel and as he drives through from one neighborhood to the next he keeps an eye out for places that look unoccupied.]

C'mon, man. You should be worried about a whole lot more than some shams and furniture.

[How the hell Hank survived the Chechen mafia was beyond him. The priorities aren't where they should be, and it's not like Barry's ever been the type to use rose-colored glasses in a crisis. That's not at all where his thoughts were, his mind was on safe haven and security for the night. There's no telling what else this place could be capable of.]