JANUARY 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

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.

Comments

[kintsugambol]

[ those ears flick up at the sound of yang's voice, even before she registers who she's hearing. blake looks up to see her, and fumbles her book as she tries to figure out the situation. does yang remember or not? did whatever's happening here mess with her head even more than RWB's? she feels a wave of protective anger at the thought that doesn't show on her face--then exhales, smiling. all questions aside, it's so good to see her. ]

No, Yang. It's all yours.

[thepunshow]

[ huh. yang hadn't even introduced herself yet. maybe her reputation preceded her...? she grins, easy and polite. ]

Whoa, sorry! Didn't mean to scare you. Never thought I'd see you drop anything, Blake.

[ she blinks in confusion once, twice. shakes her head. this person is a stranger, right?

no. no, that wasn't true. they were part of a team: her, blake, ruby, and weiss...oh, gods, weiss. she would kill her if she knew yang had momentarily forgotten her. all of them were on a mission to do--something. something big. her head ached with the weight of memories just right out of reach.

but she knew without a doubt that she and blake were partners. more than that, maybe. how could she ever forget the person who knew her best? the person who chose her? kept choosing her even now?

the magazines flutter to the floor as she sweeps blake into a bear hug that lifts her right off the couch with a joyous whoop of, ]

BLAKE!

[kintsugambol]

[ there it is. blake's smile widens as she sees the recognition dawn--it's the same kind of thing that was done to them, that's for sure. she laughs with relief and surprise as yang lifts her up like that, throwing her arms around the blonde. people are looking, but who cares? her books are forgotten as she presses her face into yang's neck, breathing in deeply. it's her. the girl who looked past everything she's done to see her, intact despite it all. who lost a part of herself for her. who forgave her for leaving.

the girl who blake swore a promise to.

she laughs softly against her skin, hugging her almost as tightly. ]

You really kept me waiting, Yang.

[thepunshow]

What can I say, I know how to make an entrance. [ yang laughs in return, twirling them around in a circle. she hasn't been this happy since...well, she can't remember when. literally can't remember. still, she's sure it wouldn't compare to this. ] Besides, you know I wouldn't leave you by yourself for long.

[ she puts blake down and pulls away just enough to give her a smile full of unabashed joy. ] Have you seen anyone else? Ruby was with me, but got shipped off somewhere else.

[ eh? eh? get it? yang is hilarious. ]

[kintsugambol]

I know you wouldn't.

[ she says it earnestly, like it's a matter of course. a constant. and of course, blake laughs a little at yang's awful not-joke, lightly pushing a hand against her cheek. no, bad yang. unfortunately that's still very much positive reinforcement. ]

I've seen Ruby and Weiss. You were the last holdout. Have anything to say for yourself?

[thepunshow]

[ terrible jokes will continue as long as blake laughs. that's just the rules. yang covers blake's hand with her own, her smile turning a touch guilty. oops. ]

Hey, I've been hard at work! They've literally got me swabbing the decks and manning the pumps. Keeping this thing afloat is harder than it looks.

[kintsugambol]

Sounds like their problem. We didn't ask to be here. ... Probably. [ blake turns her hand to lay it in yang's, face reddening a little. ]

Do you want to get out of here? My cabin's got plenty of room, and it's... [ she casts a glance to the people giving them looks that she isn't entirely comfortable with ] a better place to talk. We can keep an eye out for Ruby and Weiss on the way, too.

[thepunshow]

Maybe you didn't. The interviews to get a job on here were intense...I think.

[ not that she can remember those interviews at all, but hey, times is hard.

yang follows that glance to a nearby group of first-class guests eyeing them with disgust. alone, she would have outright asked if there was a problem. seeing as she's with her partner who isn't a fan of mass attention, she simply raises her eyebrows at them before turning back to blake with a nod. ]

Good idea. [ yang fully takes blake's hand, interlocking their fingers, and starts walking toward the exit. ] We can figure out what's going on after we're all together. And it'll be good to catch up, too.

[kintsugambol]

[ she grabs her things as they're talking, handing yang's magazines back to her and tossing her coat and jacket over her shoulder.

it's less the mass attention that's turning her stomach and more... being looked at in that way, with that kind of disgust. it's familiar and unfamiliar all at once, and she'd much rather be alone with her. she squeezes yang's hand and leans slightly against her, letting out a sigh of relief once they're out of the lounge. ]

I'm here in first class, so it's not far. [ she swings a hand to indicate a turn and a corridor, starting to lead the way now. she reaches into the pocket of her trousers for the key, finally letting go of yang's hand. opening the door--

welcome to outrageously fancy bullshit, yang xiao long. ]

[thepunshow]

[ yang places a swift kiss to blake's temple as they make their way to her room, loitering first-class guests in the hall be damned. these rich people aren't paying her salary and even if they were, she'll be as physical as she wants with her--girlfriend? partner?--in public. as stated before: let 'em stare.

the sense of loss when blake lets go of her hand is quickly replaced with wonder after she gets a good look at the room beyond the threshold. holy shit. ]

This place is huge! [ she takes the faunus's hand again and shuts the door behind them, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement, but never letting go to actually explore the rest of the room. for some unknown reason, yang feels it's important to know she's still here by her side. ] There's 4 of us to a room in third-class, but you get this whole place to yourself?

[ a gasp before continuing, ] And there's a closet?

[ yang is losing her whole dang mind right now. this is some incredibly fancy bullshit. ]

[kintsugambol]

[ blake feels her face heat up at that kiss. she can't be sure what she and yang really are to each other--but she knows this feels right. she laughs softly at her excitement once they're in the suite, hanging her coat and jacket up by the door. ]

Nothing less, for the Countess Belladonna, that infamous young adventuress traveling with the Schnee diamond heiress. [ with wry amusement in her tone. this is all bullshit, she knows. but she remembers bits of constructed memory, and it's... really funny in a horrible way. ] And there's a lot more than a closet. [ dropping her books on a table and squeezing yang's hand, walking further in ]

And... yeah, all to myself. Unless you want to stay here with me?

[thepunshow]

"Countess"? "Diamond heiress"? Both of you sound like you come straight out of a story, [ yang snickers as she puts her magazines on a nearby table. ] You never told me you were royalty. And here I haven't been calling you by the right title!

[ the next question gives her pause, mouth opening a little in shock. ] Me? You want to stay with me? [ she knows those are completely rhetorical questions the second the words leave her mouth. hell, if blake hadn't said anything, she would have offered up her small cot below deck. anything for them to stay together.

her own face heats up then and she looks away from blake with a small, shy smile. ]

Yeah...yeah, I'd like that a lot. [ yang rubs a thumb across blake's thumbs. ] Mind giving me the grand tour of the Countess's great estate?

[kintsugambol]

[ she rolls her eyes, and she had a whole response lined up before yang seems surprised at that. ]

Of course I want to stay with you. I promised I wouldn't leave, right? And... the estate burned down. But my parents are probably going to rebuild. [ she hesitates on that point. ] I mean... in whatever actually happened. Not what the ship is telling me. My memories are kind of coming and going...

[ but she smiles, rubbing her forehead with one hand and squeezing yang's hand again. ] So, this is the dining area here. We can summon staff for help with meals, or go to a dining hall ourselves. There's a wet bar over there, which... I don't really plan to do anything with? And a parlor there. Sofa, desk, you know. The bedroom's that way...

[ she goes through the whole spiel, walking her through the ostentatious suite, hand firmly in hers. powder room, massage area, bathroom, all of the stupid amenities... ]

[thepunshow]

[ yang is struck dumb with a rush of memories she half-remembers. there'd been a promise, a waterfall where she'd told blake she knew she wouldn't break it, a quiet ride to some place where they'd fallen asleep on each other's shoulders. it's all so close, but the details surrounding these memories slip through her fingers. and then there's that tidbit about blake's parents' estate burning down. when had it burned down and why? ...wait, they had an estate?

she decides to return to figuring out what the hell is going on later and follows blake around the suite, content to listen to her explanations in companionable silence. why the hell did rich people need so much space? the only room yang finds remotely impressive is the bedroom, an audible gasp escaping her mouth once they're standing in the middle of it. ]

We are going to have the best sleep ever. [ but wait-- ] There's no books in here which means you haven't slept in the best bed on the ship yet so.... [ all too quickly, there's a mischievous flash in yang's eyes before she scoops up blake bridal style and flashes her a grin. ] You've gotta test it out first!

[ just gonna lightly. throw her right onto the bed. ]

[kintsugambol]

[ her eyes go wide at yang picking her up so easily. she knew her partner was strong, and the added height helped, but this is a kind of closeness she's not used to. blake's cheeks are bright red, her breath comes heavily, her eyes don't leave hers--then yang tries that. ]

Yang--! [ blake squeals in indignant laughter and activates her semblance, a clone landing on the bed and launching her back up towards yang. ] Come here, you! [ she grabs the blonde's lapels and activates shadow again, pushing the both of them back onto the duvet. ]

[thepunshow]

[ yang's laughter turns into a whoop of surprise when blake bounces up toward her. oh, yeah. somehow, she'd forgotten she could do that. ]

Hey, Semblances are cheating! [ she yelps as they're pushed forward for a instant, her world becomes a tumble of pillows and sheets and blake before they come to a halt, yang half-slumped on top of her partner. in another life, yang would have immediately backed away with a string of apologies.

in this one, she just snuggles a little closer with a small smile on her face. this feels right. ] Yep, definitely best sleep ever.

[kintsugambol]

[ blake's laugh turns triumphant for a moment before it fades, feeling yang curled up on her. she looks down towards her with a fond smile, starting to play with that mess of hair. ] Mhm.

[ she lets out a relaxed breath, pulling her closer. ]

Do you think this was normal for us, before? [ she remembers feelings, wanting this kind of thing with yang, but as right as this feels--it's not entirely familiar. ]

[thepunshow]

I don't know, [ she mumbles as she lays her head in the crook of blake's shoulder. ] I remember the important things like how Ruby, Weiss, you, and me are on a team to do something important. Everything else is in so many pieces that it doesn't make sense.

[ yang places a kiss to blake's jaw. ] But I really hope this is normal.

[kintsugambol]

Team RWBY. We were doing... something big, really big. And dangerous. We had help, but... [ it's foggy, hard to keep a solid hold of. as for the rest... blake kisses the top of yang's head, keeping her arms around her. there's a sense that she needs to keep yang assured that she's here. ]

It's hard to believe I'd be this lucky.

[thepunshow]

[ lucky? to be with her? that didn't make sense. yang was just yang, and blake was--blake was everything.

she pulls away just enough to prop herself up on an elbow, but no further. ]

Pretty sure I'm the lucky one, Blake. You could have anyone for a partner, but you still chose me. No one's ever--. [ she pauses, self-conscious of delving too deep into what feels like uncharted territory. ] I know you won't leave.

[kintsugambol]

[ blake's eyes don't leave yang's face, watching her as she speaks. her right goes to her partner's cheek, stroking her thumb over it. ]

I left you once, though, didn't I...? [ she murmurs that after a moment, absently. like it's half-remembered, sand running through her fingers. she grasps yang's prosthetic hand in her left, running her thumb over the pressure sensors in her palm. ] After you lost this.

[ she knows that she came back afterwards. she knows she promised her, swore to her, that she was going to stay, wasn't going to leave again, that they were protecting each other. but remembering this is making some of it fresh all over again. ]

[thepunshow]

[ 'get away from her!'

then red, nothing but red.

yang suppresses a shiver, chest and throat suddenly raw, and leans her cheek into the touch. ] Something scared you so bad you thought it was better if you left. It took a while--way too long-- [ she smiles at the foggy memory of blake standing there and calling her name ] ,but you came back. Whatever it was can't hurt either of us anymore. It's gone. And if something else comes up?

[ she kisses the inside of blake's wrist. ]

We're going to be there for each other. Nothing's gonna beat us ever again.

[kintsugambol]

You're asking why I chose you when you're saying things like that?

[ red creeps into blake's cheeks, and she keeps her eyes firmly on yang's as she speaks. heat travels up her arm, but she stiffens, freezes. something scared you. her gaze detaches, unfocused, a vacant horror in her eyes now.

you're ghira belladonna's daughter. out alone in the streets at night. let me walk with you. you never know what monsters are out in the dark.

hello, my darling.

running away again? is that what you've become, my love? a coward?

you. will. but not before you suffer for your betrayal, my love.

... and as i set out upon this world and deliver the justice mankind so greatly deserves, i will make it my mission to destroy everything you love.

starting with her.

she can't breathe. her ears flatten almost painfully against her scalp, and the rest of what yang says—it might as well be rushing water. the sound of a waterfall fills her head along with a cruel voice that chills her to the core, and everything is red stained over black, a blade red with dust, another with blood, all wilting roses and a blue eye like a whirlpool dragging her down—

she knows that she's felt separate from her body before, when using her semblance. but this is something else entirely. the worst part is that it isn't unfamiliar. ]

[thepunshow]

[ goosebumps raise along yang's skin as she feels the mood shift even before the thumb on her cheek goes still. the electric energy in the room dissipates in an instant, replaced with a sense of dread so heavy that it makes her shoulders sag under its weight.

and even more terrifying than the sudden silence is the dullness of blake's eyes. she's here in body, but her mind is gone, carried out to sea by some invisible riptide. ]

Blake Belladonna, listen to me. [ yang cradles her face, voice low and urgent to mask the deep concern in her tone. ] You're okay. All of us are okay: Weiss, Ruby, me, you. It's alright. You're safe with us.

[ with me. ]

You've gotta breathe. Can you do that?

[kintsugambol]

[ blake doesn't immediately respond. her eyes shift a bit, locking on yang's again, though the dull terror in her gaze hasn't faded. she pulls in rapid, shallow breaths, and the fact that's all she can manage seems to trouble her even more—but she nods, quickly.

she brings up her right hand and rests it on top of yang's left. ]

Adam. [ a ragged, deeper breath. ] Adam, he— [ she chokes that out, swallowing. blake hears someone talking, but she doesn't quite realize it's herself. her voice sounds detached and panicked all at once, almost like someone talking in their sleep during a nightmare. ] I didn't... remember him, before...