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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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[ Steve laughs, because a lot of that time spent with just the two of them had involved screaming at each other ]

He's a good kid, we did okay.

It's easier now there's others here, Will and Dustin. Even having Jonathan around makes it a little easier to look after everyone. [ Yeah he hasn't mentioned Billy because... Billy doesn't exactly make it easier except in some specific ways. ] Have they told you we're all staying together over on a house on Maple? If you want to-- visit or check in. You might have a hard time getting Mike to come stay with you without Will and Dustin coming too.

They both mentioned it, yeah.

[ yeah, that's... something. steve and jonathan living together. it's not a bad thing, especially with everything she's heard about this place, but it's definitely... a thing. especially because of what else she's heard from both mike and dustin. ]

If you ever want the place to yourself, I wouldn't mind them moving in with me, or even just staying over sometimes. But I'm not about to try and make Mike move out if you guys have a good thing going there. I mean, the only reason I can think of that I'd ever ask him to move out is if I didn't think he was safe there. [ a b e a t ] But I'm sure I won't have to worry about anything like that. Right?

There's not... really anywhere in town that's safe, Nance. [ Sometimes their houses are safe, sometimes they aren't. It seems almost arbitrary. ] Someone gave us this thing to put on the wall that's supposed to keep the monsters out, but... [ he shrugs ]

I don't mind having him stay. It's-- good to be able to look after them and make sure they're all doing okay.

[ she can't help the huff of disbelief - keeps out monsters, huh? - but it's more out of confusion than anything else. all she keeps thinking about is when max and el told them that the lifeguard seemed fine, even when they knew she wasn't fine.. at all. that they knew the flayer had already gotten to her, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. and honestly, billy seemed fine too until he wasn't.

but no. it can't be the same. they killed it, back home. just because billy was here, potentially with that- thing in his head, doesn't mean it's back. that it's here.

they're not in danger, they're not in danger, they're not in danger. ]

Okay. Yeah. [ she shakes her head, like she can.. literally, mentally shake off her worry ] I guess I'm still freaked out by- everything about this place. I just can't believe Mike was here for almost a year before I got here. Or that any of you guys were here this whole time. [ she's fine with keeping it vague - it doesn't feel totally right to have serious conversations over a video message ] I really thought the Upside Down was as weird and scary as it could get.

[ The huff is so familiar, so Nancy that Steve can't help but smile. ]

It's-- time's weird here. I went home for a while, actually. At the start of last month. It was only three days here, but it was-- a couple of months back home? From about November '84 to... everything with the Mind Flayer in July.

[ He realises he's been assuming that Nancy's at the same time as him. Her hair's right for it, but that doesn't mean anything necessarily. ] Are you-- what's the last thing you remember back home?

[ her mouth twists up for a moment, trying to figure out how to be concise about it. it's still so weird, having to explain a timeframe. ]

The Byers just left town, with El. School started, but Mrs. Byers just- she couldn't handle being in Hawkins anymore. [ but she's not even sure if steve knows they moved, it was all kind of rushed. maybe dustin told him? but if he's from July... hm. either way, she really doesn't want to think about that. ] Halloween is a couple weeks away. [ she rolls her eyes ] They're already starting to rebuild Starcourt. Like they can clean up the mess and pretend it was all just a freak accident. Classic Hawkins.

Yeah, classic Hawkins. [ Steve nods. She's from the same point as Jonathan then. ]

I haven't told the kids that the Byers move away. Or what happened to Hop or Billy. [ He thinks it's the right thing to do. He's asked Jonathan not to tell them, but he's not comfortable asking Nancy to... because she always seems to do whatever she wants in the end. ]

-- Really?

[ her brow furrows up at that, maybe not shocked exactly, but- it's obvious she doesn't know how she feels about it. not that she's in any rush to explain what happened with hopper, but ]

I really don't know if I can keep stuff like that from Mike. [ not after their conversation here, not knowing how it feels to be in the dark about this place the same way mike's in the dark about his future. and it's not like it struck a nerve, not really, but she's not hiding the fact that she has her doubts about keeping those things a secret ] Especially because Billy's here. And living with you guys? [ the is that true? goes unsaid ] We can't just lie to them.

[ but she feels like she's missing something ]

They do know it was worse than when it was inside Will. Right? They know what it's capable of?

They've got enough to deal with here without knowing all the shit that went down back home. And it's not like it's actually he Mind Flayer here. There's just a bit of it that was in Billy and he's coping with it just fine. [ Steve has to stop, realising it's not his place to just tell nancy everything that's happened with billy here. ] And he's trying to be better too, okay? He's not-- angry like he used to be, Nance. He's doing better.

[ Talking about it-- especially about the mind flayer, stressed steve. he can't control it, he can't fix it. it makes him bite his lip, a sure sign he's more stressed than he's letting on. ]

He's been in the same house as us for a few months now, okay? He moved in when-- something happened and I couldn't look after the kids. He made sure we were okay until I was better and then he stuck around.

[ that was more... defensive than she was expecting. and all she can think about is how weird people were acting when they were under the insane influence of that monster. not that she actually thinks- but. and. okay.

okay, okay, okay. ]

Steve. Will had... no control, when the flayer was in his head. It could switch on and off whenever it wanted to. You remember that, right? So... It's not going to matter if Billy wants to be a better person, or whatever it is he's doing here, there might be a point where he won't have a say one way or another if the flayer decides it's time to try and kill a bunch of people again. You know that. [ it's obvious she's trying really, really hard to put pieces together, but also realizes she so.. doesn't have all of them. which is frustrating as hell. ] Unless it's different here, somehow. But. How do you know it doesn't have that same hold on him that it did back home?

Because he figured out that it's able to control if him he's on his own, or isolated. [ He's trying to be cool about this, but he wants Nancy to believe him. He doesn't want this to be a problem. He doesn't want billy to be a problem. ]

So when he's around friends, it keeps it at bay. That's how El got through to him, remember? It's being alone that lets it get at him. And he's been living with us for two months now, and it's been-- [fine is the wrong word. It's Deerington, nothing is fine. He knows things have happened that Billy hasn't told him.] okay.

I promise it's okay. If I thought it wasn't safe, I wouldn't let the kids anywhere near him.

[ there's a few things that come to mind. "two months?!" and "seems convenient." and "friends?" are the first three, because those are the three giant red flags that pop up at the explanation.

but. ]

I trust you. [ that's... true. she does trust he wants to keep the kids safe. however. ] But I think it's insane to just trust that everything is going to be fine with that thing sticking around in his mind. We need to get it out, like we did for Will. If Billy's- trying to be better, like you said, then why haven't you tried that yet? [ is it because you can't? if he's too far gone that they can't even get it out of him, then what does that say? ]

There's some people here who know about dealing with demons and stuff, they're looking into it. [ you know, just casual demon and monster hunters, nance. it's normal here. ] But for now I think we're stuck with the bit of it that's in him.

[ and admittedly steve feels it's going to be fine because he's seeing billy every night and morning, and he's ure he could tell if something changed, but if Nancy's this concerned then telling her about it can wait. ]

Did Mike tell you he turned into a ghost for a month?

[ It's a transparent attempt to change the subject, and Steve's expression isn't subtle either. Please just drop it. Just for now. ]

[ she knows she's missing something, that there's some reason why steve would bank on billy just... acting nicer over making absolutely sure the kids were safe, but she doesn't have it in her to argue with him, especially over this weird video thing. so she'll ask jonathan about it later. her jaw works for a moment, because if there's one thing she's really, particularly bad at, it's moving on and letting things go before she feels like she has all of the information- but she will. she can.

because steve's doing that thing he's ridiculously good at with his whole- face, which is pleading with her without saying a damn word. and apparently she's still a little weak to it. at least right now she is, where she's feeling out of her depth in about a hundred different ways ]

Yes. And that Will died, and came back to life. [ she shakes her head ] Dustin told me that this place makes real things seem fake, and impossible things seem real. I don't know how the hell we're supposed to trust anything that goes on here if it's really all just a dream.

[ His expression turns grateful. ] We don't remember anything about this place when we go home, I think. But that doesn't mean that what happens here doesn't feel real. If you get hurt, it really hurts. And even though you come back after you die--

[ he shakes his head. he's died here once, and he doesn't want to try it again. And suddenly he tries a smile. ] But hey, no parents?

[ nancy smiles too, but yeah, it's definitely an effort. she knows steve doesn't have a great relationship with his parents, so she's not about to argue with him about it. maybe things actually are less complicated without having to hide the reality of things from their parents just to try and keep them out of it, and keep them safe. she can roll with that.

h o w e v e r. ]

None of us are going to die. That's not an option. [ she will obviously be able to kill any of the things trying to kill them because she is nancy wheeler. ] And because our parents aren't here, that just means we have to step up. Which... you have, obviously, but I'm here to help now. [ a beat ] And that starts with getting Mike to get a hair cut.

[ It's so nancy that steve doesn't have the heart to tell her he's already died once, and almost died a handful of times. ]

Good luck. Your brother starts hissing at me anything I bring up the subject.

-- So you can face down a demogorgon, but you can't handle my brother acting like a brat?

What, like I'm gonna threaten him with a baseball bat?

[ Here's the truth of it nancy: the kids kind of have steve wrapped around their fingers when it comes to haircuts and going to school ]

Well no, but there's always bribery. Threatening to withhold something. Threatening to spill a secret.

-- These are all things you learn to use when you have a younger brother.

Edited 2019-11-30 16:13 (UTC)

[ the thing is, while steve has gone on about the hair to mike a lot, it's become one of those things they fight about but never actually do. there's more important things to check up on, and steve's come to a place where mike's hair (and will's hair, and the fact that neither of them go to school) is a secondary concern to making sure they're all home at night and eating properly

but that's too much to explain, so he just grins. ]

Yeah. Growing up an only child really didn't prepare me for having three pre-teens underfoot.

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