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DECEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE

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.

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So, no one's from the same timeline, then? Life was complicated enough without all this. Whatever happened to just hunting monsters and saving people?

[Alive, dead, alive again... That was starting to sound like a familiar pattern for all three of them. But it was good to hear Cas was alive and well here. It gave him hope that they'll somehow rescue him.

Dean shivers, the cold sinking deeper.]

You said you had a car? Got heat in that thing?

Not really, no, but that's normal - I think. Short version, in the future Castiel gets me out of a bad spot, and then you and your brother are the cavalry. I'm living with Jody, as in Mills, and I'm a hunter.

[Might as well get the worst of it out of the way. Dean doesn't need to hear any of the grittier details yet, the things about her mom and Kaia, and just so much other bullshit. It's par for the course for them both at this point. When it rains, it pours.]

I do, but it's not running. It'll take her a minute to catch-up. Come on, it's a short drive somewhere warm. I can take you to the diner for a hot cup of something.

[Okay, hold the phone.]

Excuse me? You're a Hunter? Really? And Jody is just okay with that?

[It hadn't hit him just yet why she'd be living with Jody Mills and not her mother. He's too preoccupied with the "Hunter" thing.]

Yeah. Sounds good. I'll take a hot cup of anything to take the edge off this cold. Lead the way.

Jody doesn't have much control over it. I mean, she tried but college wasn't working.

[As much as it killed her to tell Jody she'd rather the two of them be on the same page. Jody didn't much care for her decision either, because they both knew Claire was intelligent enough to get some degree but it wasn't in the cards. She knew that from the get-go.

Claire leads Dean over to the GTO she'd been loaned by Eddie for the duration of being in town. She's kept it up nicely, it's sleek in all the right ways, and Claire puts her keys in the ignition and flips the heat on through the window so the car can bake a little bit and the engine can run for a minute before they get inside.]

So, I don't know how much you know yet about where we are, but it sucks. Full-tilt. Your worst nightmares come true, and this place will taunt you with them at like every opportunity.

I'm sure I hear about it when that lead balloon lands. Why would you want this? Seriously? This road ends in death and pain. You have to know that.

[Always a ray of sunshine, this one.

Dean runs a hand over the hood with a low whistle. It's not the Impala, but it's still a nice car.]

Look. I just broke out of Purgatory. "Sucks" is kind of the norm.

I do know that. I've heard this all before. We've had this talk.

[Claire doesn't know how to rehash it with the same emotion. She couldn't just shut herself off to the reality that she wasn't good at anything else. College felt dull, unnecessary, unimportant and she couldn't stop herself from helping where she could.

It's a nice car, but it's not hers, a fourteen-year-old loaned it to her and Dean'll probably get a kick out of it later. The impala's still in town, Sam probably has it, but she hasn't seen it for a minute and doesn't want to give Dean any false hope. Not after the past few months she's had.]

I've only got the spark notes on purgatory, but this is pretty much that. Tidal waves of blood, loved ones coming back from the dead, organs in the wall. It's basically one big hellscape, so, welcome home.

Right. Future girl.

[This would take some getting used to for him, sorry Claire.]

Spark notes are all you need. [He's not subjecting you to those details.] Oh yeah, sounds positively homey.

[Dean opened the passenger side door and hesitantly got into the car. This was weird. Really weird.]

So, what's the story here? I get the timeline BS and messed up Djinn-like dreamscape, but why? Are we here for a reason or just here because someone was bored? Have we checked for Gabriel? He does this kinda crap.

Don't call me that.

[It's not her name, first of all, and it's also a really sore subject. Hard to feel at home with your closest friends when none of them remember why you're close, to begin with.

When Dean gets in, Claire follows suit, and pulls the car out of the park and turns back onto the main drag with barely any effort. Ease that spoke of experience, how many tough conversations had she even had in the car by now? Too many to count.]

It's not a Djinn and it's not Gabriel either. I haven't had a lot of exposure to the guy, but this is next-level shit, even Castiel doesn't know what to do with it. Apparently it has a lot more to do with some kid, so, welcome to Maine- I guess.

[Dean held up both hands in surrender.] Yes ma'am.

[That was obviously a touchy subject and Dean wasn't sure he had the emotional capacity to gently pry at why without upsetting her further.

He'd been about to question her on the "next-level shit" when that mention jars him out of his comfort zone. She'd already said he was here and alive, but still. It was gnawing at him.

He'd start off easy, for both their sakes.]

How long've you been here, exactly?

[It was a touchy subject but she's willing to let it drop. The drive's just a little slow thanks to the snow obscuring her vision. She'll need to prep the car for driving in this weather when she gets them both back home.]

A couple of months. I'll save you the trouble, it doesn't get much better. Sometimes they host parties, but you can't always trust what's on the table.

[She's not trying to be a Debbie Downer here, but she also doesn't want Dean walking in thinking this place is anything but bullshit. Claire taps her finger on the steering wheel as she goes.]

Months? Damn. So I guess we're in for the long haul. I'm not sure I can sit still that long. So, parties, but don't drink the Kool-Aid.

[Sometimes realism is being a Debbie Downer and he'll respect that. The tapping, however, drew his attention. He felt a chill and popped the collar up on his jacket, hunkering down more.]

How're you holding up, kid? [He doesn't care if you're 21 or 51. He first met you as a teeny kiddo so you'll always be a kiddo to him.] And don't give me that "I'm fine" crap.

Sam and Jack have been here longer than me. You'll have to get with them on the shit I can't tell you.

["Kid," the nickname doesn't get a reaction out of her, she's used to Dean taking up a semi-fatherly mantle with her. If it isn't Castiel it's him, he fits the role naturally - more like an actual big brother than anything paternal.]

This place hasn't killed me yet and - I've met some pretty good people. Friends I wouldn't have had back home.

[Fine was their go-to word, wasn't it? It blanketed any and all serious emotion and kept them from being too vulnerable. Claire's definitely not about to tell Dean that her parents came out of the darkness like zombies, or that Kaia came back with a vengeance. Whatever thing this place put them through next, Dean would experience, and then he'd know the way this shit worked and how rolling with the punches was the only way to survive.]

Jack? Is this another case of someone I should know but don't yet?

[This was going to get complicated fast. At least he knew Claire before all this to an extent. So that was a little easier to get his head around.

"Fine" was most definitely the Winchester and Co. go-to word. Which was exactly why he'd voided it just this once.]

Not sure that's as comforting as you might think. [Death didn't stick with the Winchesters.] People from different timelines?

Edited (Bumped the wrong button) 2019-12-06 00:32 (UTC)

Sort of. The guy really cares about you, so let him down easy.

[Jack was going to be heartbroken to have to start over with Dean after establishing their relationship. From what she understood, he really looked up to the guy and it was going to be tough starting from scratch. Jack wasn't jaded like she was, so he didn't have the ability to compartmentalize and move forward.]

You got it. Same place, different points in time.

[True to her word, it doesn't take very long for her to get the diner. She slows the car down, puts it into park by the sidewalk and turns the engine off.]

Here it is. Age before beauty.

[Wait. Dean's expression pinches and his head kicks back slightly in a mixture of confusion and disbelief. Then he shakes his head, holds up a finger to pause any further thoughts and takes a breath.]

"Really cares about" me and "Let him down easy"? What? I'm not--[Dean's voice drops to a frantic whisper.]--I'm not dating this guy, right? Right? That's gonna be awkward as Hell if I'm supposed to be dating this guy.

[Wording, Claire. Good God, girl. Wording!

He was almost too flustered to realise the car had stopped, but her quip helped bring him down a bit.]

Oh, haha. Smartass. [He unbuckled and opened the door, instantly reminded that it was cold as Hell outside. He shut the car door and held the diner door open for Claire.]

No, but that's new information. Jodi definitely owes me fifty bucks.

[The fact that is so openly accepting of dating a dude? She called it, mostly because she's in the same boat. A universal, always swinging door. People were more than just their parts, and Claire had a thing for personality more than she had a think for looks.

Claire goes inside, and the wind bites against her face but she's used to it now, she smooths her palms over her cheeks to dull the sting and turns back to Dean to wave her over a booth near the back of the place.]

So, any questions? If we're gonna talk turkey it might as well be over hot drinks in a place with a working furnace.

... [His step falters, mind reels to a stop. Nearly visibly reboots. He shakes a finger in her direction with an exasperated huff.] We're not going there. I very much like-- [He made a gesture at his own chest as if he had breasts.] So, y'know. Stop. I ain't gonna judge someone for not liking-- or even for liking. But if some other me decided he liked not boobs, that's fine. Why am I having this conversation with you?

[He heavily leaned towards women, but he wouldn't condemn himself or anyone else if they fell for the same sex. Love is love and it's something they don't find as Hunters. But feeling that way and having that conversation with someone else was so far out of his comfort zone. Feelings weren't his thing.]

What? [Look, now he's flustered enough to have lost track of the conversation.] Oh. Right. Yeah, I've got questions but-- No, you know what? Why was that even a bet with you and Jodi?

[One-track mind. Sorry Claire.]

You're so easy to rile up. It's actually kind of stupid.

[Claire's not really into one gender over the other but she can appreciate the ladies every bit as much as she can appreciate the boys, at least aesthetically. Living the life she had, connections were hard to come by especially the wham, bam, thank you ma'am variety. She didn't exactly ooze on the menu for anything besides monsters.]

I can't wait to tell someone about this.

I am not! [He says, absolutely riled up.] Y-you're... stupid. [Strong comeback, Dean. Just the best.

Look, it doesn't seem to matter when he's from, he still argues like a five-year-old.]

Tell someone about what? I didn't admit anything! --There's nothing to admit! Or deny! Are you always like this?

Wow. Nice.

[The last time Dean had been around he was serious, collected, not the guy she remembered owning at a game of Put Put Golf. It's a happy contrast, Deerington was hard enough without the added tension of memory loss. This time it wasn't so bad, he was handling it like a champ.]

You mean always awesome? Yeah, pretty much. Now, do you want to get a coffee or not? If you keep whining I'm just gonna drive us home so you can bitch to someone that might listen, like Sam.

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