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Sodder ([personal profile] sodder) wrote in [community profile] soddersays2020-03-25 05:21 pm
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APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME




APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME









Welcome to April's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: ENCHANTMENT 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: Enchanted food, possible body horror, mild finger injuries, magic based mind control, rapid aging, possible death
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!











YOU UNCULTURED SWINE


Pork is on sale!! Time to buy it up for all your family meals. It also means anything with pork in it in all of the restaurants is on special and super affordable for just about anyone. New arrivals can even get a free meal of bacon, sausage and eggs at the diner! Seeing all the low prices, you find yourself craving pork more than ever. But who doesn't love bacon, right? Maybe you had ham and pineapple pizza at Peter's or those delicious and mouthwatering pork dumplings at the Hot Pot. You could have cooked a nice pork loin with your friends and family for a large get together. Candied bacon is a real treat to munch on in the park!

You're cooking it yourself or getting it from the local restaurants, so nothing bad could happen with a little self-indulgence, right? Just about everyone has learned not to trust the food at a giant feast in Deerington, but short of the lunch and dinner menus at the diner, the restaurants and the grocery store have never done a Sleeper harm! At least, that's the way it's always been before. Two years is long enough to start taking things for granted.

Anyone who has any of the specials from the restaurants or who cooks any kind of pork related product at home will find that once they have finished their meal, they will slowly turn into... pigs. It seems to vary on how fast a single person turns, some moving slowly over the course of days while they eat more and more food, and others will turn into a full blown pig in a manner of minutes. At first you can still talk to others and display your usual personality in pig form, but the longer you stay a pig, the more boarish you'll become.

So how do you break the curse? Locals say there's a magic stream up on the mountain that will stop these kinds of enchantments, but you can't go alone. Someone will have to carry you up and sing to you while you drink. It might be a friend or a lover or a complete stranger, but whoever you can nudge into it will have to physically carry you in their arms up the side of the mountain looking for this stream. It can take a while— the walk is fairly long, a few hours at best, but you'll know it when you find it. The stream sparkles unnaturally in the sunlight and it seems like none of the animals are willing to drink from it's unnaturally cold waters. The moment you take a long sip while your companion sings whatever song pops into their head, you'll turn back into a human. Hopefully your clothes turn back with you.

If your character does not eat meat/pork, then they'll be safe from this event!


GOOD ENDURES


Mirror mirror on the wall...

The pork doesn't seem to be the only enchanted object around Deerington this month. There are several of them cropping up all over the place and each one has a different outcome for those unfortunate enough to run into them.

Spinning wheels seem to be in the most random of places. Some of them will even just appear in your house. Sometimes multiple spinning wheels show up. Anyone who gets to close will have the strong urge to prick their finger on the spindle, the needle very easily cutting the tip and making you bleed more than you might have expected. Hopefully you have a first aid kit around.

Anyone who pricks their finger will find that they are forced to follow the next person they see around everywhere. They'll follow them to work, to school, to the bathroom, to the kitchen, even to bed. It doesn't matter if it's someone you've never spoken to in your life, you will follow them like a lost duckling every hour of every day. It's enough to drive anyone bonkers.

Mirrors will also suddenly be being displayed in every home and every shop, even if you never had them before. It doesn't matter whether or not you have a reflection, any person who looks into the mirror will find that they are forced to imitate the next person they make eye contact with. This can be their personality, their posture, the way they speak, their basic movements— you'll start to become a total mirror image. If it goes on too long, you might even start to find the two of you start to look more and more alike...

Apples start to pop up in all the stores as well as in your fridges. They're bright red and look so delicious, you can't resist taking a bite. Even if you don't like apples or are normally allergic to them, you'll want to eat these, and you'll find they taste delicious and don't bring harm to anyone. At least... not at first.

A few hours after eating the apple, you'll start to notice differences in your appearance. Your hair has start to thin and become gray and limp, your skin is wrinkled and covered in spots, your hands become frail and shaky. You're aging, and rapidly at that. Before you know it, you've turned into a hideous hag, one that would frighten children in any fairy tale book. But how do you reverse it?

The cure for all three enchantments is to tell three facts about yourself. Even just introducing yourself will show improvement if it's to someone who never knew your name before. Those who ate the apples will have to seek someone out, but anyone who pricked their finger or looked in a mirror will specifically have to confess these three facts to the person they're enchanted to follow/imitate. Once three facts have been shared, you'll be able to leave, return to normal, and age back to your regular self.



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.
laminae: (punch punch)

[personal profile] laminae 2020-03-27 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
[Fern doesn't notice that his enthusiasm isn't exactly shared, he's too happy to see that this is confirmation that even if someone wakes up there's still the possibility that they can get dragged back into this shared dream.

That... isn't great news for the person being dragged, but for a kid with severe abandonment issues? It's glorious.

Fern comes to a stop in front of Hellboy, grinning away like this is the best thing ever. He's even in a good enough mood that some dandelions are growing around the ears of his grass hat.]


HB! When did you get back??
bigredape: (Talking)

[personal profile] bigredape 2020-03-27 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
[His real name isn't one a lot of people hear either.]

The guy that raised me? Adopted.
bigredape: (Forward)

[personal profile] bigredape 2020-03-27 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
[He's going to feel bad when the kid stops smiling when he realizes... he wont remember him. The kid seems nice, for a grassy thing.]

[this could bite him in the ass later. Turn out to be some bad juju or something, but for now he stands there, looking down at the kids.]

[He called him HB. Normally it wouldn't be unheard of for a guide or a spirit to know his name already. Either of them. But none of them nicknamed him before. This felt more failure. Interesting.]


I just got here. [A pause, then...] I've been here before?
lookattheglass: (Neutral - side look)

An Apple A Day

[personal profile] lookattheglass 2020-03-27 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Lindsey just happens to be walking out of the shop when he's stopped. He's got his guitar strapped to his back, and even though he's wearing a jacket there's the tiniest hint of runic tattoo under his neck and on his arms where his sleeves are rolled up.

There's a frown, because that's kind of an odd question?]


Is it not supposed to be? Because yeah, it is.
bigredape: (Sad)

[personal profile] bigredape 2020-03-27 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
So, this is a dream realm, where dogs deliver news in a cryptic manner, and some terrible something or other happens monthly.

Sounds great. Glad I could vacation here. Told Liz I needed a vacation but this wasn't the idea.
laminae: (iffy)

[personal profile] laminae 2020-03-27 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
[That isn't the reaction he's expecting. Not even one he's hoping for. Far from it, as Hellboy's words cause the sinking realization that this isn't going to go the way it should.

His grin starts fading, replaced by bafflement.]


You don't remember being here before?
bigredape: (Simple)

[personal profile] bigredape 2020-03-27 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
[There it is. the realization this wasn't going to go how the kid thought it would. That smile falls and HB feels bad for a moment.]

Sorry, Kid. If I've been here before, I sure don't remember it. Pretty sure this is a first for me.
magija: (✾ ₃₉₃)

[personal profile] magija 2020-03-27 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ dreaming. it's always strange to hear someone refer to it like that, and it's always from the lips of someone who's just freshly arrived. calling everyone "sleepers" has become a common habit, only because it made things easier in separating them from the locals who seemed to be a definitive part of this whole set up. but the longer she's been here, the less it's felt like a dream, the horrors always too real to simply call a nightmare. ]

Something like that. Hard to say how much of it really is a dream.

[ though she'll agree with that sentiment since she can't confirm or deny it one way or another. even after a year, it's not as if she's received much more clearer answers about what all of this is.

but the woman's words earn more of her curiosity, and wanda watches her as she peers around. ]
What do you mean by ... "sense"?
howlett: (easy going)

[personal profile] howlett 2020-03-27 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
No small part of him wanted to be wrong. Maybe he still is. Staggering closer he stops only to look around. Take stock of this place and this moment in case this is just another one of Deerington's jokes.

Little by little he gets closer. She sounds right. Smells right. Looks right. Save the uniform. His head cocks thoughtfully. He doesn't recognize that leather suit of armour. At least not her. It reminds him of something else. Hounds. Without the spikes perhaps. But almost equally foreboding.

Nodding at his name, he reaches for her cautiously. His open hand as uncertain of her reaction as what he'll find if he does touch her. "It's me. I'm here. What are you... what happened, Jeannie? Do you know where you are?"
redheat: redheat. (❝she hopes for sweet dreams now❞)

[personal profile] redheat 2020-03-27 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
[ Laura. It's not a name she can put a face to right off the top of her head, but she knows of the X-Men, so that says something at least. But it's the reassurance of it being ok to be confused and the invitation to come help her that brings a smile to her face, even if Laura herself can't see it.

Well, I'm a little wet so getting somewhere warm might be nice.

As would a change of clothes. Mind you, she'd simply taken off from the bed she had woke within and hadn't bothered to do much in the way of looking around there. She'd simply had other things on her mind.

I'm on the street here, if you know it.

And it's then that she allows for her thoughts to show the street she speaks of to Laura. Though, even with doing so, she feels a little more uneasy with her thoughts, a hand touching at her forehead. Her telepathy must still be off.

But only if you know it and only if it's safe enough for you.

Mutant or not, she still wouldn't want anything to happen to Laura here on account of coming to see her. ]
fumitory: (91)

[personal profile] fumitory 2020-03-27 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
( there is a funny little joke around Deerington, mostly across the teenage students (all half-dozen of them that bother to attend at all) about Ben and what era he must have been plucked from. in truth, he's a first-run millennial, born in the year that George Orwell titled some little book that may or may not live in general memory — not that anyone has ever directly asked. what causes a perfectly contemporary man to accrue a reputation about his origin, in terms of generations? what's a guy gotta act like to make a mishap like that?

probably has something to do with the tweed blazer, leather oxfords, and...pulling an honest to god handkerchief out of his pocket. something about it screams 'no less than 1920, no more than 1960,' but here he is, unfolding the cloth with some sense of professionalism before moving to take the man's hand—

and he hesitates. it's been a crazy couple of months — half of the town kind of relived the whole Titanic thing, before winding up trapped in a subaqueous city, and two months of harrowing survival sort of blurred the lines concerning physical boundaries.

but Ben's wits are with him here, and when he stalls, he looks at the man as he fumbles over some traceable confusion. Ben wishes it were a stranger thing than it really is...if the man is new, then the confusion is going to be one of the only reliable things here.
)

Here — can I...? ( Ben's hand is mild and open as it hovers near his wrist, and he makes the intent visible for him to decide. )

Sunny, is it? I'm Ben. ( something sympathetic rests in his gaze, bleak and concrete eyes that look Sunny's face over, sees the unbalance, the faltering... it isn't gawk-worthy, it doesn't twist his face with suspicion or worry. the look on Ben's face, instead, is a shade of recognition. ) What's this about...a spinning wheel?
lookattheglass: (Neutral - Don't)

You Uncultured Swine

[personal profile] lookattheglass 2020-03-27 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
[Lindsey probably picked a terrible time to get something to eat. Luckily he hasn't even ordered yet when he's approached by...well. A pig person? He doesn't startle, he's seen enough weird stuff and experienced enough weird stuff that a pig person doesn't even bother him.

He's wearing a jacket with rolled up sleeves but there's just a hint of runic tattoos under his neck and on his arms.

He just looks the other up and down with a shrug.]


Yeah? What's going on?
finaletea: (Curtsy)

[personal profile] finaletea 2020-03-27 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
I don't mean to worry or scare you, but it's better to know ahead of time.

[ She's been too careless in the past, and she wouldn't wish it on another. ]

Ah pardon my manners; I'm Mami Tomoe. And you are?



redheat: redheat. (❝a never ending spiral of maybe❞)

[personal profile] redheat 2020-03-27 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ Believe her, she's not so sure she's entirely sold on the idea herself but she's aware of just how powerful the mind is and so, she can't entirely rule it out. Or that this may be someone's own extremely powerful illusion that even a telepath can't seem to penetrate.

Which, speaking of, she comes to pause when the woman asks for clarification regarding her sensing things.

For a moment, Jean looks to her a little apprehensively. Even back home coming clean that one has gifts... is a mutant, had mixed reactions depending on who you happened to be talking to. Some accepted it, some took it with confusion, some even praised it. Others? Others looked to you with hate and disgust.

Thankfully, she doesn't entirely get that feeling from this woman and so, after a moment of biting her lower lip, she sighs. A shake of her head, shrug of her shoulders, a smile shyly touching her lips. ]


I'm a telepath.

[ And she looks to the woman straight on then, swallowing as she does, smile still on her lips. ]

I can read people's minds. Hear their thoughts. Feel things that you can't normally see... that's what I ran to you. I had a feeling that something wasn't right.
heraldingangel: (Default)

[personal profile] heraldingangel 2020-03-27 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
[ Neither is his. ]

Both.
crossbow_killer: (just a normal conversation)

network; un: theycallmehuntress

[personal profile] crossbow_killer 2020-03-27 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
[The face on the other end seems relatively unbothered by his appearance, shrugging slightly at his question.]

I don't think there's a quest, or any leaving. Probably people you can help, though.
lookattheglass: (Neutral - for real)

Hey look, I'm Picasso! - a.

[personal profile] lookattheglass 2020-03-27 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
[Lindsey doesn't seem to be bothered at all with pig-faced people running around. Clearly he's seen a lot already, not just here but back where he's from, too. Still, even if he is technically an evil lawyer, he doesn't mind helping people. The whole helping the helpless crusade wasn't exactly for him, but a certain vampire who shall not be named doesn't have the monopoly on that whole thing, no matter what he thinks.]

I can see it. Normal...depends on what you mean by normal.

[He shrugs, adjusting the guitar strapped to his back, over his jacket with rolled up sleeves. There's just a hint of runic tattoos above the top of his shirt and on his arms.]
bigredape: (Strong Words)

[personal profile] bigredape 2020-03-27 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
[he squints now. So many questions. demands. he doesn't like it. Even if it is just simple talk]

Trevor Bruttenholm is my father, and the only one I know or that matters. Who are you anyhow?
bigredape: (Talk)

[personal profile] bigredape 2020-03-27 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
[Good. He gets tired of the scared looks easy.]

There's always a quest. Some stupid job that needs to be done to break whatever this is. Just might take some searchin'.
redheat: redheat. (❝a frozen fire like no other❞)

[personal profile] redheat 2020-03-27 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
The closer Logan comes to her, the more easy it is for her to see him and when she does, she finds herself looking to him with... uncertainty. It's Logan. She knows it's him, she can feel that it is and yet, there's something unmistakably different about him that she can't quite put her finger on... and then a thought touches the depths of her mind: what if he's not real and this is simply a part of this entire sort of dream she's found herself within? The mind is so incredibly powerful, she knows that better than anyone and so she has to wonder if she's making him up within her mind, this dream, having seen him along with the others before...

She doesn't step back, doesn't regard with him caution, but she does tilt her head some, eyes looking him over with a touch of confusion before she allows for her gaze to fall onto his hand.

"I'm in a dream..." Even as she says that, she knows how unbelievable it might sound and looks around briefly before letting her gaze fall back onto him. "...but I'm not entirely sure that's what it really is. Everything feels... strange."

For a telepath.
heraldingangel: (Guardian: Angel of the Lord)

[personal profile] heraldingangel 2020-03-27 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ He can trace back the roots of the name, but he had no idea who owns it. ]

I'm an angel of the Lord.
bigredape: (Head Tilt)

[personal profile] bigredape 2020-03-27 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, nifty. [he said with out any uplifting tone at all. More flat and unimpressed.]

It's rude to ask ones name and not give one of your own.
vatical: mooncons | ij (013)

[personal profile] vatical 2020-03-27 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ it's so.. strange. this person is almost like something out of downton abbey, or another period english drama, with his very prim blazer and his handkerchief and his frankly-amazing accent. it's so different from what sunny's used to, having grown up in redneck country in run-down farmhouses and trailer parks. even now, with the drastic way his life has changed in the last few years, it's still kind of a lot to process on top of everything else that's happened the last few days.

he still flinches in surprise when the other man reaches for him, but when he pauses before touching sunny, it's.. sort of nice? he's been so overwhelmed and overstimulated since waking up here, and he can't seem to come down from it, his skin feeling stretched wrong over his bones at times as the anxiety tries to claw its way up his spine and out through his veins.

sunny's always struggled with feeling wrong in his body. for a long time, it had been his gender he'd tried to understand-- then it had been the knowledge that something far, far too big for a human body had tried to force itself down into mortal shape, containing itself in the human experience, and that.. that's harder to make sense of.

some days, it's just.. like this, and it's nice to be able to tell this stranger 'no' if he wants to. instead, he nods, a flush warming his face as he uncurls his fingers for.. ben. his name is ben, and he's.. well. cute, isn't he? ]
It's nice to meet you, [ he says with faintly giddy warmth, though it fades again into a small, troubled frown at the question. ] It was just.. there. Out on the sidewalk. I-- I'm sure I wasn't imagining it. The things I see aren't like that, they're-- they're-- [ a bewildered, frustrated pause. ] They're celestial. I guess. Not.. fairy tale.
Edited (years later, i spot a typo) 2020-03-27 16:14 (UTC)
redheat: redheat. (❝forever frozen and never moving❞)

diner

[personal profile] redheat 2020-03-27 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ While waiting for her own order to be served to her, Jean sits there with her head in her hands and the tips of her finger rubbing against her temples. Her telepathy had been off even before she found herself here but since waking here, she's found it to be... different somehow. It's not much hearing voices bombarding her mind as it had been before all this, but more that there's a dull fuzziness to it all that she can't quite put her finger on. It's frustrating. So much to the point that she rattles the plates, cups, and ketchup bottles with a tremor of telekinetic energy that slips out of her. By accident, of course.

When she hears the sound of the clinking of cutlery and the surprised squeal of a pig, she looks up then and quickly grabs control of herself and her thoughts, everything then coming to just stop. A purse of her lips and arms coming to fold against her chest, she glances over in his direction, as well as the pig's who seems to have taken a fondness to him(?), looking to say something before she simply offers a bit of a smile and looks away. ]


Cute pig.
heraldingangel: (Guardian: Angel of the Lord)

[personal profile] heraldingangel 2020-03-27 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
Castiel.

The same as my username.