JANUARY 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to January's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: OCEAN 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.

PLEASE NOTE FOR CHARACTER ARRIVALS: This month, all players can choose to have their characters wake up in the town of Deerington or on the Titanic.

CW: Ghost of a child, rotting corpses, drowning, hallucinations, paranoia
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

WHERE FEET MAY FAIL

For those who were left behind in Deerington while everyone else was whisked away in the flood during the New Years Eve party, they will find that the town is a little more wet than usual. The streets are still flooded, houses are damp, and the chill of winter isn't making it easy to deal with. Your hands can feel like ice any day of the week and it's hard to focus with how badly you may find yourself trembling from the cold.

But it's almost preferable to the visions. They start off while you're sleeping; large sea monsters roaming the ocean, waiting to pull you down into the darkened depths; or maybe it's a strange, ghost looking girl with glowing eyes and tattered clothing, her skin blue and rotting the way a body does when it's been submerged in water for too long. She's calling out to you, beckoning you down, and all around her are the strung up, floating corpses of the people who were foolish enough to listen.

It's just a dream though, right? Slowly you start to see the girl around town. She's still calling to you, watching you, waiting for you. If you get too close, she'll even be able to grab onto you, pulling you down into the waterlogged streets, and into what you thought was only a puddle of water. It's as deep as an ocean, and just as dark and cold too. Someone near by can grab onto you before she can drag you under and the vision will disappear. If no one does, maybe if you're a strong swimmer, you'll be able to struggle free, but when you resurface, there will be a bruise forming on your arm in the shape of a hand – something to remind you that maybe these visions are a little more real than you gave them credit for.

The only way to stay safe is to travel in pairs. The girl seems to keep her distance when there's more than one person around, but it doesn't mean she won't try to find the means to separate you. Whether it's increasing the flooding in certain areas of the street or trying to distract one of you long enough to put some distance between you and your comrade, she'll do whatever it takes to try and grab onto whoever she can.

GHOST SHIP

Those who are on the boat might find that life is a little easier, depending on what class you've found yourself in. The struggles between first, second, and third are certainly rough on everyone, but many seem to find themselves thinking this is just the way of things. Maybe your mind has been altered to just accept the class differences or your memories completely rewritten and you think you've led a completely different life so far; either way, only a handful of passengers seem to fully understand that this isn't the way things are supposed to be.

There's nothing anyone can do to change things, though, and so many find themselves getting lost in day to day activities. Whether it's working on the ship, enjoying the finer foods in the first class dining halls, or enjoying the rowdy parties in third class storage after hours, everyone seems to be finding something to keep themselves occupied. As the days pass, even those who know full well what's coming seem to forget the looming doom, and you might even find yourself feeling lost in the monotony of day to day life.

But those who stare into the water too long, who look at the strange, large shapes swimming just under the surface might find a sense of dread filling them. The paranoia will shake you to your very core, leaving you with a sense that all is not right with this journey. You can try to tell people, but most will look at you as though you're insane. Eventually, your fear will become so heavy that you start to see destruction all around you. Whole sections of the ship will look flooded, rotting wood and rusted steel taking over every inch of the once proud ship, and every section is covered in algae. You might start to realize it looks uncannily like an old shipwreck.

The ship is still floating, though, and the coarse steady. So it's all in your head, right? Staying away from the water will make the visions and paranoia eventually ebb, but any glance at the floating shapes will cause it to come back tenfold. Maybe just stay inside and away from the ship's edge. It seems a lot safer that way.

Character Arrival

You can read how all characters arrive in Deerington here.

NOTE: Character's this month can wake up in Deerington or on the Titanic.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A...paranormal photographer. I see.

[Oh, lord. What did he stumble into? It's like talking to that cryptozoologist at the hostel--what was her name? Lena? He can feel the regret sinking into his chest with every passing moment, but he doesn't dare betray any of it in his expression. No--he's far too composed for that.

He thinks to maybe correct her on the fact that this is an interrogation, but he considers otherwise. No need to start an unnecessary argument while she's still willing to talk to him, after all. He instinctively takes a small notebook and pencil out of his pocket, writing down a few notes as Lotta speaks.

There's a pause, and then--]

Is your name not Charlotte Hart? Or are you just uncomfortable with being called your full name? [Is Lotta not just a contraction of Charlotte?]

If you wanna get technical, yeah it is- but Lotta's been what I've gone by my whole life, y'know? ...and getting my name said out in full just feels so- stuffy, 'specially when they're so intent on tacking "doctor" on, too... Kept telling 'em "y'all better save your breath and drop the 'doc' when you're talking to me" and that just gets me looks like I'm some space alien done waltzed out from Mars.

[...and that does achieve the effect of getting them to save their breath entirely by politely deciding to ignore her presence, which shouldn't bother her as much as it does because they're a bunch of stiffs and strangers so she shouldn't care what they think- but if she's stuck on a ship with them, well, getting a reaction like that just makes things even more awkward.]

Speaking of- I had to find out what it is I'm even a doctor of by overhearing them gossip about me when I bet they thought I couldn't hear it... turns out I'm an astronomer now. Don't know how in the world that happened. [She sighs defeatedly, hanging her head low and running a finger through her hair.] Guess it's a sign I should be pursuing a more stable career path 'stead of cryptid chasing, but doggone it, what's the point of looking up to the stars and wondering what's out there if it means finding out every UFO you see's gotta turn out to be a weird-shaped weather balloon?

Hmmm. It's all very odd, that's for sure.

[He quickly jots down some more notes--this is all very intriguing. It's a good thing that Lotta seems to be willing to speak, because almost every word she gives is gold. Or, he would assume is gold...it seems relevant in some way. Alternative memories, perhaps? Or maybe a forgotten past...just like the nameless detective.

He pauses for a moment. He thinks back on an earlier interaction he had with a different guest, one lavishly decorated in pearls and other glistening jewels. They asked him to bring them a cocktail, and after he said he was not a waiter, but a lieutenant, they merely laughed.

Needless to say, Kim was fuming for some time afterwards.]

It seems that you are not the only one who has experienced such oddities, Ms. Hart--Lotta. [He quickly amends himself--she'll probably chew him out for being so formal.] I have spoken to guests who have been identified erroneously by the crew, or even other guests.

[He isn't quite willing to share personal anecdotes as evidence--thus, the vague nature of the comment. And he's not sure what it means just yet--just that it's a pattern. There's the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that this is something supra-natural, of course, but that's ridiculous.]