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

Indubitably.

[These are all very good points, following his own train of thought and it's enough to make Wesley disregard the strange uncanny apparition for now and focus on her again with newfound interest.]

Forgive me, but from what I'm hearing you seem rather familiar with these kind of events...

[Which is to be expected in a world such as this, probably, but still enough of a novelty in his own life that her pragmatic approach stands out to him.]

I recently found myself relocated to this place and have yet to find my way around. I'd be interested in hearing your theories about who or what might be connected to all this, should you have any.

[ What kind of person says indubitably? Yet she's still a little dumbfounded at how cordial and professional this exchange is. It's really driving home how out of her element she is. ]

I've been here less than a day, [ she admits, grimacing. ] Haven't even gotten to find other clothes yet so I stand out less. I'm -- [ Anderson pauses, letting out a breath, making a decision. ] I wouldn't say I'm familiar, but I have psychic abilities and training. I can recognize when I'm being messed with.

[ For all the good that's doing her here. It helps her affirm reality, that she's not losing it, that the people around her are similarly real and caught up in this trap - but that's about it. ]

[So this isn't the standard gear of this place, he was wondering about that... Something about her being a 'judge' in her respective world maybe? It isn't lost on him that they must have arrived here roughly around the same time. Another link, like the girl. Were there others?]

But you're human?

[His voice suggests that he wouldn't be too shocked to hear if she weren't. But it picks up, suddenly excited at the prospect of new information.]

Are you, then? Being messed with? Can your powers discern the nature of what it is that brought us here? Have you attempted to make contact, did you happen to hear a voice when you were transported here, did it--

[-- and he stops when he realizes he's rambling more than asking, clearing his throat.]

Forgive me. I don't mean to bombard you with these questions, it's just that it has been a... deeply unsettling experience. To say the least.

[ She's pretty nonplussed by this whole response, used to much worse reactions, not to mention less enthusiastic. It takes her a moment to compose a reply, trying to answer multiple things at the same time. Despite herself, her body language has relaxed a little by now, the conversation helping to take the edge off her nerves. ]

I'm human, [ she confirms, deciding not to go into the details. Humans with genetic mutations are still humans. ] That we're in a shared dream isn't a theory. I can feel my body, still sleeping, I just can't get to it. I haven't been able to figure anything else out - dreams aren't my strong point - but...

[ A short hesitation. ] I can hear whispering sometimes. I can't make it out.

Sleeping... a magically induced coma maybe...

[Wesley pulls a face at that thought. He's had a few enounters with those, albeit not personally affected, and in his experience they never end well.]

Have you... heard them ask for help?

[Though he isn't exactly sure who they are.]

[ Anderson shakes her head. ] I don't know what they're saying. And it's not all the time. The people here are a lot louder than they are.

[ She's not sure what to make of the continual references to magic, but it seems like the least of her problems, honestly. ]

Maybe we should head to-- There is a library in this place, isn't there? We might find some more information there.

[It's his go to response to the unknown. Try and make it a little... less unknown.]

The girl, she might be referenced in there somewhere...

The library? [ she repeats, like it's taking time to process. How are they supposed to find references to a disappearing girl with minimal physical description who may or may not be a figment of someone else's nightmares?

That said, it's not like Anderson has a better idea. She's just been running on autopilot. ]

I was going to keep looking around, see if anything else came up. By the way - what's your name?

Yes. [He nods eagerly.] If she just so happens to be part of the local mythology, there may be a reference to her – maybe to her drowning – or at least to the strange creatures that accompanied her in the vision.

[He thinks. He hopes.]

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. A pleasure, Mi-- Judge Anderson.

[ Look at that, her correct form of address. It's stupid to find that small piece of familiarity comforting, but she does. ]

Have to admit, my investigations tend to feature questioning perps and witnesses, not going to the library. Maybe we should split up and meet back later, sir. See what we find separately. [ She's not afraid of book work, but Anderson knows what she's good at, and it's getting information out of living people. ]