DECEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE

[sodder]

DECEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to December's Test Drive Meme!

This month's Test Drive's theme is: PROPHETIC 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 death via exposure (freezing), Krampus imagery, possible vore, visual and auditory hallucinations, monster violence, stalking, decapitation

Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One Prompt Two Character Arrival Master Navigation

VANISH LIKE THE WARM STOVE

Winter has set in in Deerington and it’s as harsh as one would expect for the frigid mountains of inland Maine. There’s snow on the ground, icicles hanging off of most buildings, and black ice all over the roads. Better be careful where you step or you might just slip and hurt yourself while you’re walking around town!

But there’s something unusual about the cold. It feels bone-deep and no amount of layers or staying inside seems to make it shake. Your teeth are always chattering, you feel the need to hunch in on yourself to keep any heat from escaping, and if you look at your hands, you might see them go from bright red, to white, to even the slightest tint of blue throughout the day. You’re getting colder by the minute and it feels like there’s no way to stop it. Maybe you’re just doomed to freeze.

The box is waiting on a bench. You didn’t see who placed it, but there’s a small tag with your name on it, so clearly it was meant for you. If you ignore the box, it will start to show up on random surfaces around town wherever you might be; the kitchen counter, a desk or display case at your work, the floor of your bedroom… No matter where you are, the box is there too. Eventually, you might as well just give in and open it.

Inside every box are three matches. They’re relatively long, like the sort you’d use to light a fire in a fireplace, and they appear to be completely normal. People who can sense magic won’t get a reading off of the match and no amount of testing the wood or the tip will show anything other than the exact chemical make up one would expect. So maybe they’re safe! There’s a small note tucked inside the box with only two words written in childishly messy scroll; Keep Warm.

If you light the match, you’ll find that you’re instantly starting to feel a little less cold. It’s the first bit of heat you’ve managed to snag in so long that you’ll probably find yourself a little desperate to hold onto it. The matches burn at a relatively steady rate, not too fast or too slow, and the wind can easily blow them out, so be careful! You’ll have to protect the flame from the elements if you want to keep yourself toasty. The only strange thing that you might notice is that whenever you’re near another person who has a lit match, both the matches seem to burn a little stronger and stay lit a little longer. So maybe you’ll have to pair up and learn to share. If you’re smart, you’ll light just one of each of your matches at a time, giving you a total of six chances to keep yourself from freezing to death.

There’s always a catch though, isn’t there? Each match will come with a unique vision as the flame dies out. A vision that can be seen by both of you. The vision will belong to whoever’s match as burning and it will be as vibrant and detailed as if you were really in the middle of it.

The end of the first match will show you something you want. It can be anything; a warm meal, a new bed, an object from home you’ve longed for. You’ll be able to pick it up, taste it, smell it, do whatever you would normally do; but at the end of the day, it isn’t real, and ultimately you might find that you’re just chewing on your own (or your companion’s) hand.

The end of the second match will show a vision of someone that you miss. Whether it’s from home, a previous world, or someone who’s come and gone from Deerington, you’ll see them clear as day, calling for you and beckoning you to come with them. It’s probably best to not. After all, you’d have to leave your matches behind, and it’s cold out there.

The end of the third match will show you a vision of somewhere you miss. It’ll be like you’re standing in the middle of the very place you’ve been longing for ever since you arrived in Deerington — maybe even longer. It’ll look, sound, smell, and feel like the place you’ve missed most. It’s almost easy to want to stay and forget to come back to reality and light your next match.

If you both can make the six matches stretch until the sun sets, you’ll find that the cold has finally broken, and you’re able to keep yourself warm again. If you don’t? Well, it’s time to find someone else with a bundle of matches, and hope they’re okay with some basic invasion of privacy to stop you both from getting hypothermia.

BETTER WATCH OUT

Have you been a good person this year? Probably not! This is Deerington after all and everyone’s got a sin or two they’ve committed that they’ve been carrying around some deep shame about. Whether it’s something you’ve done here or something you did back home, the things your character feels guilt over will start to plague them more and more frequently as of late. Maybe you’ll start to see small little snippets of the memory flash before your eyes, or hear the voices of the people you’ve hurt calling out to you for mercy. No matter how it manifests, it’ll be gnawing at your insides, growing more and more impossible to ignore.

It might just be the paranoia from having to flashback to your worst memories at all hours of the day, but eventually you start to feel like someone (or something) is following you. You hear the scrape of nails against cement, the thud of heavy footsteps, or the sound of a heavy sigh by your ear accompanied with the smell of rancid breath. But every time you go to look, it seems like there isn’t anything there. No matter how logical a person you might be, you still end up feeling a little on edge, and you know you’re right about being… well, stalked. You may not be the sort who usually goes for comfort from others, but something inside of you tells you that maybe you’ll be a little safer if you aren’t alone. You seek out a friend, a colleague, or even a complete stranger— just someone who might make this creeping suspicion of being watched go away for a little while.

Except the moment that the two of you are together, Krampus finally arrives. He seems to fall from the sky, landing in front of you with a ground shaking thud, his long tongue hanging out of a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. He’s ever bit the demon you’d expect him to be and he looks hungry. You can try to run or you can try to fight, but he’s quick and strong, certainly hard for any normal human to take down. And if you look into his eyes, then things are about to get a whole lot worse.

Whoever locks eyes with him will have the very thing you have been feeling guilt over put on display for both you and your companion to see. It’ll be like you’ve been transported directly into the memory, Krampus’ clawed hand gripping your shoulders and forcing you to watch whatever your shame is play out in front of you all over again. The detail is striking and there’s nothing left out, no matter how hard you or your companion try to stop it.

When the memory stops playing, Krampus will start to move his tongue around you, wrapping you in the long, blood red muscle like it’s a snake. You can try to break free and it’s possible to cut the demon’s tongue with a sharp blade if you or your companion happens to have one; whatever you do, it’s best to do it quickly before you end up a snack.

Krampus can be taken down in one of two ways; either the person who is experiencing the guilt must confess their sin out loud and profusely apologize, begging for forgiveness for their misdeeds or he can be taken down in a somewhat simple ceremony. The chains dangling from the Krampus wrists must be grabbed and somehow secured into the ground; this will weaken Krampus greatly and leave him more vulnerable to attack. Once he is secured, you must take off his head. It doesn’t matter if it’s cut off, ripped off or blown off, the moment the neck is severed from the rest of the body, the Krampus will turn a deep black, like coal, before crumbling into dust, leaving only the head behind.

A little messy, but definitely efficient.

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

nancy wheeler . stranger things

[keenely]

VANISH LIKE THE WARM STOVE

[ holy shit. it gets cold in indiana, of course it does, but the october chill she just came from is nothing like what the weather is like here, and for someone that generally runs a little cold, this is unbearable. teeth-chattering, arms wrapped around herself, shoulders pulled up to her ears - awful. she's been here a few days, long enough to sort of know her way around, but she obviously made a huge mistake, leaving her apartment in hopes of finding more clothes she can layer under her coat, or a few more blankets. it's weird how they just give her those sorts of things for free here, but she's not questioning it. ☆★ ]

☆

[ she also doesn't question when a box with her name on it appears on the window ledge she's leaning up against when her body feels so cold she needs to just stop and duck away from the wind for a moment. the box should be a red flag, maybe. it came out of nowhere. still, she turns her back so she's facing the storefront, just so she can open the box without worrying about the wind pulling at its contents. but they're- matches. and a note. keep warm.

and she's feeling desperate enough to do just that.

well, once she steps inside the store she's been loitering in front of, right. she's sure she's not supposed to light matches just- without warning in a shop, but, she doesn't really care. ask for forgiveness, not permission, right? so she strikes her first match, and the glow of it seems to warm her whole face and her hands right away. enough that she actually shuts her eyes and smiles. it doesn't register that one single match flame shouldn't warm her up quite like this, but she doesn't question that either. it's amazing what an uncomfortable cold will make you look past. thank god.

eventually she looks up, checking for a newspaper or something flammable she can buy to bring back to her apartment and light a small fire, but instead she ends up making eye contact with someone else who just stepped into the shop to get out of the cold, looking just as shaken as she did a moment ago. without thinking, she holds out her match a little bit towards them. ]

Here. Warm your hands, if you need to. It still has a little ways to go.

[ oh, nancy. so dang helpful, as always.

what she doesn't realize is once that first match burns low, a vision of her living room will appear. it's blurred though, for the most part, all but the roaring fire in the fireplace. she doesn't quite understand it at first, looking around with a quick whip of her head left and right. maybe the thing she longs for the most is home - but right now, specifically? it's the very fireplace that's sitting right in front of her. so she rushes towards it, encouraging the person sharing the memory to come with her, crouching low and sitting right there in front of it, despite how hot she gets, so quickly. the vision only lasts a few moments though, minutes maybe, tops, before the fire snuffs out all at once, and she's back in that shop again.

where it's freezing frickin' cold. ]

Shit. Shit, shit. No- What was that? How-?

[ oh, wow, the cold is so much worse after sitting by the fire. shit. ]

★

[ all she has to do is find the right store so she can get what she needs. which results in way more wandering around from shop to shop than she'd like to do when she can't really feel her fingers anymore, but she knows she needs something useful or she'll completely lose her ..cool. ah.

blankets. blanket, blanket, blanket. that's what her mind fixates on, and she makes a sound that's something like a triumphant yelp into the cold air when she comes across a camping supply store. perfect. they'll have all kinds of things for dealing with the cold, right?

well, they would have, if she wasn't so late to the game of finding ways to stay warm. the place looks absolutely ransacked. still, she wanders along the nearly empty shelves, quietly stepping past the other people browsing, until she sees - on top of one of the display cases - a bundle. when she shuffles her way towards it, she sees it's a fleece bundle, and her mood lifts just a little bit more. it's definitely the scratchy kind meant to lie on the ground or at the floor of a tent a few times folded over, and not the kind you wrap around yourself for warmth, but whatever. she'll take it.

if only she could reach the damn thing.

so basically, whoever comes by next, they'll see a petite girl in an oversized coat, hood up, on her tiptoes with both hands stretched up as high as she can reach, and still coming about six inches short from where the bundle sits. you can probably hear her cursing under her breath, too. ]

C'mon, you stupid - bullshit - little -

ooc holy tldr batman! don't worry about matching length or any of that shenanigans, 4am is just a wild time to write starters. i left the matches prompt open after just one match so we can play out how they handle the rest of the match situation, aaaand the second one is just silly in case you don't want to have your character share some deep secrets. hit me up if you'd like a different starter, or just wildcard me! sexbang

★

[earthlike]

[ Nadass has not gone camping in a very long time, and never on Earth, but she is aware of the practice. And the accoutrements required, such as tents, canteens, and sleeping bags. So when, in her desperation to get warm, she sees a camping supply store nearby, she goes inside.

Though it would seem that everyone else had the same idea, as there isn't much left on the shelves. She keeps searching aisle by aisle, though, until she comes across a young woman reaching for a bundle on a high shelf. ]

Here, let me give you a boost. [ Nadass offers, hurrying over. She's a few inches taller than the girl, but still not tall enough to reach the item by herself. However, between the two of them, they should be able to make short work of it. ]

[keenely]

[ ah.

on the list of embarrassing things nancy's had to deal with lately, this is... pretty high up there. no pun intended. she hears the person approaching and manages to at least settle flat on her feet by the time she's talking to her at least, giving her a sheepish smile. ]

You really don't have to. [ but then she's looking back up at the display, tilting her head ] Although I do wonder what else is up there. Maybe there's another bundle. Or anything useful, honestly. [ a beat ] We could split it, if there is. Or I can help you find something else. [ things nancy still isn't used to doing: asking people for help. it's obvious she feels obligated to give her something in return, but not really in a negative way. she just... doesn't know how, considering the situation they're in ] Here, let's see.

[ again, super embarrassing, but they make quick work of finding a way to give nancy the little boost of height she needs to grab the bundle of blankets ( there's three!! folded together!! ), but she only has a little bit of time to look around at what else is up there before she's flat on her feet again. ]

It looked like there were toolboxes up there, but that's it. It... might be worth trying to grab one?

[earthlike]

[ "Teamwork makes the dream work," as that delightful Earth idiom goes. Together they're able to reach the blankets and get a look at the rest of the top shelf. ]

A toolbox is never a bad thing to have around, I suppose. Though I doubt I would be familiar with most of the tools inside it. I could lift you again, if you want to try to grab it?

[ Part of being naturally denser than humans meant being a little bit stronger, too. ]

☆

[sscuriosity]

[The snow blanketed the town overnight, and Dustin's had to make up for his distinct lack of body heat by layering on a jacket over a hoodie. It packs him up, makes him a little less distinct and the beanie he's got pushed over his curls and ears doesn't help but he's still surprised when he sees Nancy, he thought it might be a trick- some of Deerington's best illusions making quick work of him. That's what has him following her into the store, and he stands there slackjawed for half a second when the place is overtaken by Mike's old living room. He recognizes it immediately, he'd spent enough time at his place to know the layout almost as well as his own place.

Jesus Christ. Dustin walks across the living room floor, pushes his palm into the brick that the mantle was made out of. Briefly ghosts fingertips over some of those furnishings that never changed in the house of Wheeler, old and reliable but it's gone as soon as it comes. It doesn't even occur to Dustin that he might look like part of the shared hysteria they just went through. That's not what he's thinking about.]

Nancy??? I'd say don't look a gift-horse in the mouth, but anything you come by for free around here isn't really a gift.

[No, it's another burden but thankfully all this one did was make them that much more aware of how frigid it is.]

Listen, Mike's gonna absolutely lose his shit if you're really here and not a ghost or zombie or something. You need to follow me back to our place and stop trying to catch your death in here.

[keenely]

[ nancy is way, way too caught up in everything going on to realize who she's talking to, at first, when she offers him the match and everything around them goes blurry. and what's wild is that she's seen dustin bundled up for winter before - his mom never skimped on layers when the boys would meet at the wheeler's house to play in the snow - but she somehow doesn't realize it's him until he says her name. ]

Dustin?

[ not ideal for someone who considers herself an investigative journalist, but nobody's keeping score here. she also honestly didn't expect to ever see anyone from home again, so

it's probably obvious she's in more than a little bit of shock as dustin talks, her eyes wide and maybe even a little glassy, but that could be blamed on how cold it is, even in this shop. she doesn't say anything more for a while, but she's only half registering what he's even saying, too distracted by the fact that he's just- here.

and shorter than she remembers? not by much, but... enough. enough to not help how surreal it feels to see him here.

he says something about ghost zombies but nancy is just straight up reaching to slide his hat back from his forehead a little bit instead of addressing how insane it sounds, trying to get a better look at him. like she almost doesn't believe what she's seeing. and maybe she doesn't - she just saw her own livingroom from home, after all. her hands end up pushing his hat back into place with a half smile before she drops them to her sides again, not ready to address his appearance just yet. although she wants to, desperately. she has about 800 questions already.


... but. wait. ]

I'm really here. [ she says, reassuring the kid she's pretty sure is just a hallucination for her. that's confusing. but even hallucination!dustin deserves peace of mind, as far as she's concerned ] What- What place? You have a place? [ w h a t. ... DOUBLE WAIT ] Mike's here? [ nope, this isn't real. this can't be real. why is she getting her hopes up when this can't possibly be real???? ] What the hell is going on?

[sscuriosity]

[The last memory Dustin has with Nancy is dancing with her at the formal but it's not really important right now. She's clearly losing it, but that's half-expected with the cold and the way this town plays tricks on people. The living room was enough to visibly throw him too.

When she pushes back the beanie he doesn't move but knits his brows together in a look of incredulity only he can manage. As if to say, excuse me, don't touch the merchandise, without ever uttering a word.]

That's what I'm trying to tell you. Mike's here. So's Will. Steve. Billy. I mean, we've been here for a while. They've been here way longer than me.

It's a dream I guess? A dream within a dream? But your subconscious is like frozen in time bringing you along with it. Does that make sense? I'm really not the guy to go-to for the notes on this. I'm pretty new...

★

[micycle]

[He doesn't recognize her from the back. With her hair lighter and curlier, Nancy's just another Sleeper, or maybe even a townsperson. But since he's passing by, and he's a good few inches taller than her, there's no harm in reaching up and over the girl's head to grab the blanket she seems to be going for.

Issue #1: The blanket is packed in with several others of its kind. Issue #2: Mike is not graceful. He pulls on the blanket, and it starts to come unfolded in its tightly packed heap, jostling all the other bundles around it. And when he gives one more tug, hoping to pop it loose easily - well.

All of the blankets come tumbling down.]

Shit. [He yelps, grabbing at what's sure to be a bruised shoulder, and fights to get one of the scratchy blankets off of his head. When he finally does, eyes wide and hair utterly preposterous, it's to a sight he had half-expected to never see again.]

Nancy?!

1/2

[keenely]

[ r u d e. but also helpful, so whatever. she doesn't stop the person from reaching over her, although she's definitely ready to Fight if they try to take the bundle of blankets she found. ... she's cold, okay, and she's not feeling particularly chipper because of it. however, she sees what's happening basically right before it all goes to hell, and she yelps, curling her arms over her head because it might just be a pile of blankets, or there could be something up there they can't see. luckily it's just thick, scratchy fabric that dumps all around them, and by the time the dust has settled, her hair is kind of frizzled to heck from all the static electricity, and she looks half amused, half shocked.

what a ridiculous mess.

and for a second, just a split second, when mike pulls the blanket off of his head and his hair goes crazy wild, she laughs. like they're home, and all mike wanted to do was rush out to hang out with the boys out in the show, but mom told him to grab a scarf from the hallway closet. but it's never that easy because their dad tends to just shove all of their winter gear onto the top shelf of said hallway closet, and hopes for the best. so it feels familiar, mike scrambling to pull one one scarf ( one blanket bundle, in this case ) and making everything fall on top of them in the process. like they're home, yeah. ]

[keenely]

[ but the way he shouts her name makes her very quickly remember that they're not home, and the emotional whiplash actually makes her feel a little dizzy, for a moment. her smile drops, making way for a fully confused expression, shocked and more than a little bit worried ]

Yeah. [ it almost sounds like a question ] Yeah, it's me. How-?

[ ehh, actually, the how can wait. it's going to wait, because nancy needs a hug. it's cold, and this store ( and everything about this damn town ) is depressing, so she needs a hug. the crushing kind, yes ]

[micycle]

[Admittedly, the hug is a surprise. It knocks the breath right out of Mike, and it takes him a good few seconds to slide his arms around Nancy's back, returning the embrace. There's something surreal about the whole thing, something the slightest bit off, and it takes him a moment to realize - Nancy's too short. He hasn't seen her in nearly ten months, and the fact that he can rest his chin flat on her head is sudden and disorienting.]

... Are you okay?

[It's a little quiet, a little stilted. He can count on one hand the times Nancy's hugged him like this since they were little kids, and something about it feels almost alien. It's different than the hugs anyone here gives him, full of something protective and unconditional. He blinks slowly, working through the knowledge bit by bit. Nancy is here. Nancy is here.]

☆

[teamfun]

[Louis was pretty dubious about exactly how warm the matches would be- and a part of him expected Deerington Bullshit to happen and the damn things would end up gassing them to death or something. As is, he's cold enough to take up the offer- it's been a while since he's felt this goddamn cold. Since before he got taken from home, to be sure. So he wanders over, cupping his hands near the flame and offering a smile. ]

Hey, thanks. Appreciate it.

[He wishes he could say he as surprised when the image of the fire is wished into being, but he's not. He doubts it's real, but he heads to it anyway. It sure feels properly warm. He follows her to it, but he remains guarded, glancing around them, trying to spot any trouble coming their way. Inevitably the vision fades and Louis huffs out a sigh, wrapping his arms around his chest to try and stay warm now the heat has gone.]

Thaaaat's Deerington for you. Back to it's Grade A Fuckery. Honestly, I'm amazed nothing's tried to kill us yet.

[keenely]

What?

[ "grade a fuckery" makes her huff a laugh, but it's obvious she's still very thrown off by what just happened. the only person that's ever just- seen things like that, is eleven. and last time nancy checked, she didn't have crazy mind powers. but... the guy talking to her seems pretty unfazed by it. entirely too unfazed, actually. enough that it makes nancy's wide-eyed reaction seem comical ]

Why would something be trying to kill us right now? Is that kind of thing normal? The- hallucinations, and the killing? Both?

[vlogged]

[winters in new york are cold. there's no doubt about that. but this is far beyond anything he's ever had to deal with before, and it doesn't seem to matter how many layers he has on, nothing seems to be making a difference. even with his suit working on overtime, the internal heaters reaching near breaking point, he can feel his body slowly going numb.

so when he finally ducks into the shop, peter makes a beeline for the warm weather gear. a pointless endeavor, given the lack of coats and jackets left on display. which is why he ends up heading to the blankets instead and finds-]

Um, ma'am? I can get that for you, if you'd like?

[because climbing is a whole lot easier when you can stick to the fixtures. but he'll do his best to make it seem like he's perfectly normal. nothing out of the ordinary to see here. it's just a teenager climbing up the shelves to pull down the blankets up top.]

[keenely]

[ yep, it's definitely embarrassing to be called "ma'am", and even moreso when the person doing so can climb up the shelving with very little struggle to pass her the bundle of blankets she was trying to reach. ah. maybe she should have looked for a stepladder or something. make it seem... less obvious that she's so petite under all the layers she's wearing. she hugs the bundle of blankets to her chest, immediately tucking her fingers into the folds on either side, but the fabric doesn't do much to warm them, it just scratches a bit. oh well. maybe it'll just take some time. ]

Thanks. [ s h e e p i s h ] Did you... need help finding anything? I mean, I don't work here, but I could help. Since you just helped me.

★! i'm so sorry nancy he is so RUDE

[ultimatums]

[ Raylan wasn't even in the store; by pure chance, loping by as he'd been, he'd seen something bouncing around insistently in the corner of his eye, and turned to watch for a second. It really shouldn't be funny – isn't, actually, he's definitely not laughing – but he does kind of smile a little. It's endearing, is what.

He shoulders inside and crosses over, reaching the blanket easily. Doesn't even have to stand on his toes. Times like these, he's reminded of what an unbearable privilege it is to be six feet tall. ]

You oughta carry a lil stepladder around with you, [ he observes, extremely tactfully, as he's handing the blanket to her. ] Or invest in a pair of stilts. Onea those little sports trampolines, maybe.

dkfjgb

[keenely]

[ there's an "excuse you!" on the tip of her tongue, because it doesn't matter that the men she worked with at the newspaper were assholes, there's still an ingrained sense of smile and nod that she hasn't totally been able to break yet. so she does just that, the smile dripping with sarcasm as she takes the blankets from him ]

I actually like to use a grappling hook, but it seems I left it at home.

[ ah, just kidding. the sarcasm flows too easily for her to feel all that insecure when it comes to middle-aged men teasing her ]

hello i am here for a wildcard

[acidwashjeans]

[ steve was at work when he started getting texts about Nancy. The kids letting him know Nancy's here, she's in town.

it's weird, how he's pleased to hear she's here. not that he wouldn't have been pleased six months ago when he arrived, but there'd have been a lot of hurt mixed in too. now-- he's just anxious to see her and make sure she's okay. none of that weird sad and angry feeling from before.

he can't leave work for another half hour, but he looks her up on the network and sends her a message. she's smart, he figures, she'll have worked out how to use it ]

un: harrington

hey nance
the kids said you'd showed up here too
you're doing okay? keeping warm?

yeee

[keenely]

The longer I'm here, the less unbearable it seems. Or maybe I'm just getting used to it.

How do I know it's really you?

★/wildcard

[capturethemoment]

[ Jonathan came to the store for the same reason - blankets. They have a ton of them back at the house, but it never seems to be enough, and he worries about Will. This town just ruins everyone's time constantly, he knows that even after just under two months here. He can't take any chances with his brother.

So he's bundled up and ventured out into the impossible cold. Having grown up in Indiana, he thought he knew what cold was like, but wow. This is beyond anything he's ever experienced.

On his quest for blankets, he comes upon Nancy reaching for a fleece bundle on a shelf - but he doesn't recognise her from behind, hood up, dressed in a coat. He's not actually tall, but he's got enough height on her that he can stand on tiptoe and just, just reach the bundle. ]

Here, let me get that.

[ He's not always nice, maybe, but he sure as hell isn't going to let some girl freeze to death either. ]

[keenely]

[ it's probably telling that her gut reaction, feeling someone moving in to help her when she didn't ask for it, is to give them a look - a sarcastic smile to got along with a sarcastic thank you - but then he's passing her the blanket and she's looking up to actually look at him properly and ]

Holy shit. Jonathan? Holy shit.

[ her heart is kind of rabbiting around in her chest now, to the point where it makes her hard for her to ..be eloquent, or find the right thing to say, so instead she just drops the blanket at their feet so she can throw her arms around him, pulling him down for a too-tight hug. she can't.. really feel her hands that well at this point, but she grips into his coat anyway ]

★-ish

[deadboywalking]

[yes, it's freezing, and will hates everything about it right now, and nancy is very occupied at the moment, but when he rounds the corner of the aisle, looking for supplies to bring back and reinforce the blanket fort, he's suddenly back at the wheeler's house, like everything's normal, like they've just gotten pizza and he's been dispatched to go get nancy from upstairs, and he freezes for a moment at how natural it feels.

and then he remembers where they are, and understands -- she's here too. he should probably feel awful, feel concerned, but all he feels is relieved. like all the pieces are falling into place.]

Nancy? [it's a little hesitant, because he's never sure anymore what time people from hawkins are coming from. is she from november, like he is, or the summer after?]

[keenely]

[ oop. caught in the middle of acting like a stubborn brat. that's always cool. she hears her name and she settles back flat on her feet, ready to give the person a big sheepish smile and explain that the cold is making her act a little crazy, but- oh. ]

Will. Hi. [ the hi comes out a little bit like a breath of relief, and she even smiles a bit, but her brow furrows up quickly after because no, shit, he can't be here. he shouldn't be stuck in a place like this, after... well, after everything. so there's relief, but she knows it's the selfish kind. still, she abandons her efforts of trying to reach for the blanket in favor of turning to him properly, though she seems a tiny bit surprised once she's taken a second to actually look him over.

he looks so.. young. but she thinks, maybe, she might look younger too, all bundled up? but. no, will is literally half a foot shorter than she remembers him being, back home. he's younger ... no. that's not possible. oi, maybe the cold is starting to really get to her.] I didn't think- I mean, I don't want to say I'm glad to see you, but I really am. I just can't believe it.

★ Better late than never???

[tagartist]

[ Chloe had been pulling her scarf more tightly around herself, preparing to head back into this stupid cold as hell weather, when she’d noted the girl trying to reach up above her to grab the blanket from a just to high shelf. She watches her try and stretch for it, debates just leaving and assuming someone else will help, and then sighs as she heads over.

She reaches up, going to rather easily snatch the blanket down from its shelf, since she has probably just enough inches to spare on the other girl. There’s a pause like she might decide to keep it for herself, before she offers it out to her. ]

Hopefully they’re not going post-Thansgiving theme by lacing the thing with small pox.

☆

[discocop]

[The man - somewhat on the larger side, though whether this is stockiness or flabbiness is unclear beneath his faded green blazer and wine-stained shirt - hesitates at the doorway before coming close. He waddles as he walks, like a penguin. Maybe his limbs are frozen in place. Or maybe he is just purely awkard. The warmth of the small fire does nothing to wipe the apologetic grin off his face, nor the wariness in the look he gives her... and her match.

He doesn't move during the vision. Doesn't react at all. It's only afterward that he speaks, cutting off her questions. His voice is low and gruff, and somehow he maintains his grin.]

A vision. [He reveals a burned out match which had been hidden in his own hand, before flicking it down to the floor.] Did you see it too? The fireplace? The pretty suburban living room?

[The warmth is fading. Coldness creeps around them again. His breath reeks of alcohol as he whispers to her.]

Don't light the second one. If you love yourself.