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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.
threelayers: (07)

[personal profile] threelayers 2020-03-27 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
[Flameless Torch? That started to get a nod, since it certainly seemed like an explanation for how an electric light would work. But then she started talking about how they were creatures, and that made her confused for a second. kneeling down, she gestured for the woman to look at her as she reached for the power chord.

The tech wasn't like Dust or the usual technology back home, but as primitive as it was, it was easy to figure out. Making sure the lamp was on, she pulled the chord out of the socket carefully. A tiny spark of current, but it was dead. Standing, she reached over and flicked the switch a couple times.

See? Not a creature.]
bigredape: (Forward)

[personal profile] bigredape 2020-03-27 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
If I take a soul you can smite me where I stand. I got no use for souls, nor whatever royal throne they got for me back in hell.

All I'm askin' is you not be such a judgmental prick.
doodlebuginette: (pretty Mari)

She is beauty, she is grace~

[personal profile] doodlebuginette 2020-03-27 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
Calling it one of her less graceful moments would be putting it mildly, but Marinette isn't going to let one little mishap rain on her parade! Certainly, she's dealt with worse than a town full of random spinning wheels that seemed to have it out for her.

The last time she'd woken up in a place that wasn't Paris, she'd come to realize she'd stumbled her way into a completely different world. This place... doesn't feel anything like that one, though.

When she manages to calm herself down enough to look around, the first person she sees is... a younger girl in a bowler hat. Eyes widening, she straightens up, fixes what she hopes is a cheerful smile on her face, and finally approaches bowler hat girl.

"Hi!"
the_cupbearer: (remember)

Re: Apples

[personal profile] the_cupbearer 2020-03-27 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ The half-eaten apple falls from his grip as he turns toward the voice; it takes a moment to look away and up, blinking as if Ganymede had entirely forgotten where he is. ] I look different. My hands, my hair.

[ His body feels different, as well; he nearly breaks into laughter at this, because finally some bloody thing has managed it where he couldn't for a world of trying for three thousand years. ] I look...older. [ Admittedly, he does, though he's no less striking than he was before. ]
heraldingangel: (Dom: Round Two)

[personal profile] heraldingangel 2020-03-27 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
Then, don't give a reason.

[ He's been here a while, so he knows different worlds had different rules, but some things remained fundamentals. Demons were not to be trusted. The last time he went against his own instincts, he was betrayed. ]
doodlebuginette: (Default)

[personal profile] doodlebuginette 2020-03-27 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
[She's in the process of taking that first bite when the other girl approaches, but the food is abandoned for the moment in favor of greeting the blonde.]

Hello! I got them here. They smell amazing, right? [Maybe not as good as she could make, but at the moment she's not in the mood to be picky.]

Do you want one?
pineneedles: (rneg (82))

[personal profile] pineneedles 2020-03-27 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, are they?

(If he could talk to deer, maybe they were in business.)

What do they usually talk about? Their favorite tree?
prettybitchin: (98)

[personal profile] prettybitchin 2020-03-27 06:09 am (UTC)(link)
(Eleven nods, and then prances (she can't help it, she's got FOUR LEGS NOW) all the way over to one of the vendors that are giving out pork.)

There.

(There's another Local there, and they're telling the vendor they don't want pork, on account of turning into a pig. You know, the only way to break that curse is to be carried up a mountain and sang to!

Eleven turns to look up up up at Hellboy.)
oofta: (03.)

[personal profile] oofta 2020-03-27 06:14 am (UTC)(link)
Molly stared down at the blood for a moment, entranced enough that she almost missed the "my lady" part. She blinked a few times to come back to herself and then leveled a gentle smile on the other woman. "Call me Molly," he suggested. She didn't consider herself much of a lady — ladylike, sure — but that was about as far as Molly would go. She'd always leaned more tomboy, she thought, and being so close to her dad, it made sense. Certainly nothing to be ashamed of.

"Why don't we head back into town? We'll get you bandaged up in no time and back in fighting order." The optimism was characteristic in her neck of the woods meaning there was certainly a genuine undercurrent, but so was the cautious concern that told her there was no way that spinning wheel wasn't put out there on purpose. Did she think it lured this woman in? No. But she'd been warned already that not everything in this town acted as expected and it's since kept her eyes sharp and her attentiveness firm.
trustinthedevil: (270)

Matt Murdock // Marvel's Netflix

[personal profile] trustinthedevil 2020-03-27 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
[i. ARRIVAL]

[ It's a jarring experience for anyone to wake up in a new place, but most people at least have the bonus of seeing the new place. Matt is - no pun intended - in the dark for a few solid moments when he comes to. He listens, of course. It's painfully obvious he's not in New York, that much is certain, even the smell is fresher. Saltier, as if there's a coast nearby.

But not New York.

A deep inhale tells Matt he's not as hurt as he should be. He feels around his body, and nothing is painful to the touch, nothing feels broken or blood soaked. Strange. But stranger things have happened. It takes a bit of searching before Matt finds his cane, he discovers the basket, he dutifully eats a couple of pieces of cheese.

Then, he's outside, and he chooses a direction to walk in.

Someone help the blind guy out?
]


[ii. SPINNING WHEELS]

[ It's the click click click that attracts his attention. Matt follows the sound, because he's never been good at thinking reasonably even though a part of him is saying it's a bad idea. The closer he gets and the louder the sound becomes, the more Matt wants to find the source.

He figures it out as his hand settles on the wheel. Matt gives it a spin, he feels the spokes move past his fingers. He follows the shape of it up the spindle, and he wonders: just how sharp is it?

It turns out, it's very sharp.

As he listens to the blood drop, some of it splatting on his shoe, the sound of footsteps nearby distracts him. Matt's head tilts, but it doesn't take him long to decide he wants to follow that person.

At first maybe it seems like chance that he's going the same way as you. How long will it take you to figure out he's actually following you?
]


[iii. NETWORK - voice; @ murdock]

Hi, everyone. Social media's never been one of my strong suits, but it seems like this is the easiest way to reach out to people, so bear with me if I seem like I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm Matt. If it's not obvious I just got here, and I'm hoping someone out there might want to play tour guide for me. Show me around the town and all that.


[iv. WILDCARD]

Choose your own adventure! Feel free to do whatever tickles your fancy, or hit me up at [plurk.com profile] blackspire.
Edited 2020-03-27 06:27 (UTC)
finalrequest: (☁ winding through my head)

[personal profile] finalrequest 2020-03-27 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
[The cloth might not be clean, but Higgs is a little out of it from the damn blood loss to care, looking the guy over curiously.

Like everyone else here, he's not in a protective jumpsuit or raincoat, which is... weird.]


Just a cut, probably nothin' to worry too much about.

...Do you just keep random bits of fabric in your pockets?

[James Sunderland probably does not deserve this, but]
shoplifter: (Default)

[personal profile] shoplifter 2020-03-27 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
['Safe enough for you', she says. Oh, if only she knew. Laura's lips twitch into a smile.

Sí, sí — I know where you are.

Do I need to bring you anything?


She's just gonna climb out her window with her backpack, it's one of her favorite methods of transport, when it comes to leaving a general vicinity. But first she has to make sure she has anything needed — and Frank is a massively over-prepared kind of guy who has plenty of first aid or anything needed for a rescue.]


redheat: redheat. (❝and all she wants is to go home❞)

[personal profile] redheat 2020-03-27 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ You're Spanish, are you? Guess I'll have to brush up on that. She smiles as she rubs her hands against her arms, holding onto any sort of small distraction she can from the fuzziness slowly turning into a dull ache within her mind.

I wouldn't say no to a blanket if you had one.

She's still, after all, soaked through her uniform and her skin is a little chilled from being submerged in ice cold water to be found... here. ]
littlelesshelpless: (Default)

[personal profile] littlelesshelpless 2020-03-27 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
[Normally Bella would be annoyed at being treated so delicately, like she's something that's going to break -- but then again, she doesn't normally have copious amounts of blood streaming down her hand. So instead she settles down on the bench Jean led her to, shaky knees relieved.]

Bella. Nice to meet you -- I mean, uh, under the circumstances.
littlelesshelpless: (checked out of this convo)

hecc yeah

[personal profile] littlelesshelpless 2020-03-27 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Bella is rather abruptly ripped out of her intent staring at the blood on her hand by the appearance of another teenage girl, one who reaches out to take the injured hand and examine it critically. Her head is spinning, dizzily, but she manages to not inhale too deeply. It's still mostly the smell of blood that makes her so nauseated.

She tries to focus on the newcomer instead, smiling wanly.
] I-It's not that bad. I mean, it shouldn't be that bad...
littlelesshelpless: (Default)

[personal profile] littlelesshelpless 2020-03-27 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
[Bella is already idly wondering how she can convince her dad to let her have like, just one pet pig. Sleep at the end of her bed, have death-defying vampire adventures with her, the whole shebang.

But then her new bestie is up and nosing at her shoe, clearly wanting to go somewhere.
] Oh, okay, we're going. [A little wobbly, she gets to her feet, brushing mud off her pants.] Lead on, I guess?
littlelesshelpless: (lmao that's wack)

[personal profile] littlelesshelpless 2020-03-27 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. [Bella exhales, slowly, reaching up to rake her fingers backwards through her hair.] Okay. That's -- woah. That sucks.
littlelesshelpless: (excuse tf outta me)

[personal profile] littlelesshelpless 2020-03-27 07:49 am (UTC)(link)
-- wait! [Bella stumbles forward before she can even think about why, just hurtling towards the other girl and tripping over her own feet as she does.] I-- sorry, I'm. I don't--

W-What's your name? [She has no idea why, but she's suddenly desperate to not be left alone.]
littlelesshelpless: (excuse tf outta me)

[personal profile] littlelesshelpless 2020-03-27 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
[It's like the masters of her fate want Bella to be consistently hurtling into random, kindly, attractive strangers like she's in the beginning of a romcom. Granted, it kind of worked the first time -- except that was in a high school science class, so even this near-latte-disaster is an upgrade.

Even so, Bella practically dislocates a kneecap trying to twist out of the way, stumbling a couple times and instinctively reaching to grab at the young woman's steadying hand.
] I-I'm okay. [She deeply, profoundly, is not, but whatever.] Sorry. I'm -- yeah, I'm pretty lost, I think.
littlelesshelpless: (Default)

arrival

[personal profile] littlelesshelpless 2020-03-27 07:55 am (UTC)(link)
[The normal human reaction would be to turn and run away as fast as she possibly could because enormous bright red monster guy with a cigar. But Bella isn't a normal human, is she?

She coughs a little at the smell of the cigar smoke, but manages her best friendly, if somewhat unsure smile.
] Um. You...from around here? [Maybe that's the resident monster-of-choice in this town? Crimson demons?]
littlelesshelpless: (excuse tf outta me)

apple

[personal profile] littlelesshelpless 2020-03-27 07:57 am (UTC)(link)
[Call it an instinctive teenage girl's reaction, but Bella quickly leans forward, tilting her head from one side to the other, squinting at the other girl's hair.] It...might be a trick of the light? Some too-intense highlights, maybe?

[Then she clears her throat and nods towards the wrinkles and spots popping up on Buffy's hands.] Those, uh...probably aren't, though.
especiallyparanoid: (neutral - tell me more)

Spinning Wheel

[personal profile] especiallyparanoid 2020-03-27 08:06 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, even for Deerington that is an unusual sight. Not unwelcome, he's glad to come across a familiar face, but certainly odd. And he isn't quite sure which is more surprising, her or the... random object that, apparently, for some reason, is just there in the middle of the street.

It reminds him of the pot of gold and the Leprechaun disaster from a couple of weeks ago which makes him even more wary and--

-- and is her finger bleeding?

Oh dear.]


Buffy?

[He steps over like the busybody that he is, peering down a little too closely at her hand.]

Now that can't be good. Please tell me you weren't foolish enough to prick yourself on the ominous spindle.

[H o n e s t l y.]

I get that Giles' methods are a little unconventional at times but it should be a given not to touch the randomly appearing magical artifact with its clear allusions to German fairytale lore.
funnyname: (surprised – i'm listening)

i. arrival

[personal profile] funnyname 2020-03-27 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
[Luka is on his way to work but he stops and watches for a while when he sees the man making his way down the street.

After a few weeks in this hellhole, his first instinct is to rush over there immediately and help him out, even though... nothing is happening, really. Is that patronizing? Paranoid? Should he offer assistance anyway? It doesn't look like the man has a particular destination in mind which of course could mean a lot of things.

Maybe he's just out for a walk, he sure seems confident enough with that cane. Or maybe he's new and trying to find his way around. Luka cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like, waking up in a place like this and trying to find your way around. They might be oblivious to its dangers, too...]


Excuse me, sir?

[His voice is a warm baritone, the consonants prominent, the vowels shaped by a Croatian accent.]

You need any help over there?
laminae: (this sucks)

[personal profile] laminae 2020-03-27 11:50 am (UTC)(link)
[Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Why was he dumb enough to think this place would be that nice?

Fern's happiness fades, replaced by anger and frustration as he clenches his hands into fists.]


Seriously? Come on, man! We fought a giant sandworm! We met over pancakes! You don't remember any of that?
nockturnal: (pic#13782970)

[personal profile] nockturnal 2020-03-27 12:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Eat something.

He stops, staring back into the restaurant he'd just come out of. It can't be...surely they wouldn't just be serving cursed food to anyone who wandered in. But if that was the case.

With a curse under his breath, he reached for the handle of the door, intending to storm back in there, find the cook, and shake them down until he had answers for this nonsense.