soddersays | APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

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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!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

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.

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Her bluntness is uncommon, but welcome. Better to have a clear understanding of the dangers and the stakes, rather than have his feelings coddled.

Hanzo's lip curls slightly. "Hmph. Not a bad plan," he notes, side-eying one of the contraptions that has just seen fit to appear. "I would happily assist, if I thought it would make a difference. But they seem to replenish themselves as quickly as one is left behind."

Though there's merit in burning them anyway. Just on principle. They're irritating enough that it would just feel good to have some sense of control in the midst of this...madness.

"No," Ariadne said, trying to be polite. "You don't seem like the worshipping type." Honestly, the way the girl talked, she didn't seem to hold much dear at all. Too soon to make a judgment. Ariadne kept reminding herself of that fact. But there was a growing feeling of unease somewhere in the back of her mind.

In the place where she let possibilities run wild.

Still. The rest of it was interesting enough.

"There's a god on one of the island nations like that," she said. "The islanders truly believe they're all part of his elaborate dream. Except that they can just get on a boat and sail away..."

Maybe boats would be relevant to the conversation after all!

The townsfolk aren't too happy with the Sleepers right now - whatever crowd the street performer manages to draw in thins out just as quickly. At the end there's only Max left standing there, one of the apples in hand.

"That was amazing."

She means it. The admiration is obvious in her tone. She walks closer, waving the apple at him. The man is odd to say the least. His clothes, his mask... his... hair? Is that hair? It all screams Sleeper at her, and from one of the odder worlds at that. But she starts with an easier question.

"How long did it take you to get that good?"

"Languages?" Was there another kind of translation? None that Ariadne had encountered. Although, her world had been both enormous and surprisingly narrow at the same time. It was all complicated.

She shrugged. "Mostly for foreign ambassadors who visited Princess Amanda. Of course, a lot of them spoke Common. But some people appreciate the ritual that comes with speaking in their own language. And then, of course, there were also the ones who'd never even been to Valeria before, let alone learned any of the languages."

All of it was perfectly logical to her.

"Sometimes documents too, I guess. I can read and write." She beamed, looking incredibly proud of the fact.

Once a scout, always a scout. Ariadne couldn't help it, it was in her blood, as much as storytelling, as much as music. And if she was being perfectly honest with herself--given the number of lies she usually had to tell, she had to be honest with someone--she really missed trees. They just weren't the same in Valeria. Oh, sure. They were green and leafy and had all the requisite parts. But there was something about them that was just too tame. She missed the wildness of a real forest, rather than a cultivated garden.

All that to say, she was crouching in the V formed by a sturdy branch and the trunk of a tree when she saw the dreaded spinning wheels again.

"No," she whispered, cringing at the memory of the last time she'd encountered the wheels.

And then she caught the scent of the man.

Ariadne didn't even think. She reacted. Which was decidedly anathema to her nature, but she couldn't help it.

"Watch out!" she cried, launching herself at him, trying to push him away before he could make the same mistake she'd made.

She didn't. She really really didn't. Whether soon or not, it was an accurate judgment to make. Her heart was yawning chasm of emptiness into which it was pointless to toss something.

"Other than the fact that we can't pick up and leave? Not too far off I suppose. That, and you can't really talk to her much. Not that I've actually tried at all." Sodder could kiss her patoot. Ok, she'd sent her a cure for being a sparkly vampire a while back, but whatever. She wasn't a grateul creature either.

"But don't let me stop you. there's docks down at the lake."

Most things were worth trying. Talking certainly was. Sailing, on the other hand...

"I've never even been on a boat," she admitted. "Only a ferry. And only a couple of times. That might not be such a good idea."

Not yet, anyway. And not alone.

She snorted and laughed, leaning in to wink a little wickedly. "Ya might want to make sure ya have your house keys first too. For when inevitably ya end up back here, right?" She hadn't forgotten that there was a real possibility someone might not have had them when they lept out of the window. That'd be fun to watch her try to remedy if she was right.

That's me.

I'm not following you. [ She is, she knows she is, but she doesn't want to. And every time Raven thinks he's out of sight, they bump into each other. ]

I don't need help. [ Raven said pointedly. She assumed he meant her bad leg, the leg with the brace. What else could he have meant? Her finger she pricked on that damn spinning wheel. If anything was following someone, it was the spinning wheel. Relentless until she found herself tapping her finger at the sharp point of it. ]

Whatever is happening, it needs to stop.

"I'll...keep that in mind."

The chills that Ariadne was feeling about this Larxene were getting worse. The more she laughed in a way that didn't sound like she was laughing at all, the more she made Ariadne think of the Red Dragon. Or worse.

She'd met one of his lieutenants once. A cold, cruel man who enjoyed poisoning people, just to watch them die.

"Thank you for your advice, Lady Larxene," she said, curtsying again.

[ It was a pleasant journey to say the very least, even if she was carried. Normally Raven would have objected, even as a pig she wiggled around, snorting as all pigs do.

Once she was let go, she made a mad dash for the stream. The cure happened instantaneously and she transformed back to her very normal, very naked self. Raven sat in the stream, one arm covering her breasts. ]

You didn't happen to bring any clothes? [ And her leg brace because, if not, then she'd need more help. ]

People in Deerington came to Ashe for many reasons, but coddling was not one of them. It was better to be direct, and it appeared to her that the man who had joined her in the alley could handle it, which she greatly appreciated. It would make their conversation far easier.

She gives a little shrug and a there is a mischievous glint in her eye. "You're right it's unlikely to make a difference, but sometimes it just feels good to make a statement. Especially with fire." There had been more than one occasion where she had set fire to something or got her frustrations out just by blowing something off, you had to let the steam off somehow. If she hadn't had some investment in the town at this point, she would have gladly followed through on her initial plan to burn it down.

"My only hesitation is that it would require I touch the things, and considerin', I'm itchin' too, that's typically a sign to keep your hands off." Which offered a good lead in to another point. "This place will make you want to eat things, drink things, and touch things. The more you crave it, the higher the risk. So best to not give in to temptation."

His lips flatting into an expression of resigned displeasure. "Wonderful."

Of course it couldn't be as simple as rounding them all up and disposing of them. Regardless, her plan to burn them all still holds some appeal. Perhaps if they grow too numerous to ignore. For now, it's still a simple thing to push from his mind, instead focusing on Ashe.

"Temptations meant to distract us, no doubt. I have no intention to fall for such ploys," he assures her, clearly all too confident in his own ability to remain focused. "There are greater matters to contend with. I do not know what your plans are, but I would much rather put my efforts towards finding a way out of this wretched place."

Dude, I'm not like, shy about being dumb. I knew when I dropped out of high school, academics just aren't for me.

[ She's more about action, these days. ]

Any time! I've been here for like a year now, so if you have any other questions, I could try to help you out with some answers.

American?

[Her tone, and look, is distinctly curious.]

I'm afraid I don't know much about that. Are their recipes so different?

𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐞
( 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. )
[ To say that this town was strange would be putting things quite mildly. Of course, the past few months of Charles' life were spent on the road searching for mutants. Whirlwinds, it seems, were becoming fairly commonplace in his day to day.

The house he woke up in offered no clues in how to leave, nor did the grounds. Heading out into the rest of the town seemed the next logical step after days of exhaustive searching. They were in the midst of training at his old family estate to go up against Shaw after the attack on the CIA. The last thing he needed was to be here.

His abilities were dampened somewhat. He couldn't figure out precisely how but now and then his head would start to ache if he pushed too hard or quickly. It was unbelievably frustrating. There were other moments reminiscent of when he first came into his powers when he would lose tenuous control and the cacophony of other minds would overwhelm him.

Unsure of what this day would bring, Charles chose to go to one of the diners and gather himself. Find the best course of action. It was during all that he began to notice the pigs wandering. After he sat down at a table to order, he witnessed the transformation of another patron. The waitress seemed nonplussed and cheerfully awaited his order as he tried to gather his wits: ] Just tea, I think.

[ After he's left alone, he slides out of the booth to investigate. It's a transformation unlike any he's seen thus far. Raven could mimic people, but---this is both amazing and disturbing at once.

Feel free to interrupt his trying to figure things out or be the once person in question.]

𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐞
( 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. )

[ If anyone runs into Charles during the trek up the mountain, his pig is surprisingly well-behaved. Likely due to the fact that he's actively speaking to it and sending soothing, comforting thoughts between them. While he hasn't experienced this transformation, he doesn't need an active imagination to feel the panic and terror that comes along with it.

There's a fight between emotion, thought and reason versus animal instinct that is trying to bury it all. A particular sharp burst of panic causes him to wince and grimace, teeth set on edge. He nearly loses his grip on his unexpected charge. ]

I know, it's very frightening. Just focus on my voice. Calm your mind.

[ Are you a bystander or his current, wriggly charge? ]

𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝!

[ ooc: for if i missed anything. if you want to chat or plot hmu. this is dmitri brushing off the dust.

oceanscolliding or my disco @ intention.#6804 ]

And there her went.

Genji stood there for a moment frowning, watching him just walk off.

Only to see him grab for a door. "Oh. Of course he was eating." He jogged off after him. A hand reaching for his shoulder to stop him.

"Hanzo. Let me go in and talk to them. You will scare them, and I don't mean because of the transformation."

She'd question his confidence, but she likes it. When she'd arrived almost a year ago, she'd made similar statements to refuse certain things. She had a higher success rate than a lot of her fellow sleepers, but even she'd gotten lost in some of the monthly situations. "That's been my guess from the beginnin'. Temptations meant to distract us, but also to make us compliant. It's a lot easier to control someone when they're not in their right mind." An obvious statement for sure, but one that warrants saying. Best to lay it all out on the table, since it seemed that temptation was a running theme at the moment, with the wheels and the apples and everything else present to welcome new people.

"The key to it is to keep your eyes open and be ready. For example, I never go to a party without my own flask, and then I watch from the sidelines until I can figure out what's doin' what to people." That had mostly served her well, and allowed her to look after her own when they got themselves into trouble. "But it ain't always so clear cut, so soon as you get complacent you're doomed for it." She cocked her head to the side and gave him a look. "You don't strike me as the type to grow complacent." There was just something about him, maybe the fact that he'd gone right to the important stuff, that suggested he was stronger than most.

The coldness was definitely there, though not necessarily the inherent cruelty. That was a thing well learned through a lifestyle very intentionally followed. Either way, even now she wasn't necessarily a safe person. Still, she smiled and returned the curtsy with a slightly playful, just shy of mocking bow.

"Enjoy it or don't. All up to you at this point. If you need me, I'll be around. Kind of easy to find me... but I'm pretty sure you don't need to bother calling me a Lady. If I'm sure of one thing, I'm not one of those." A wave of her hand and a wink, and she was setting off.

[ Gwen hates being a pig. Being a bear was weird, but okay. Being a sphinx was kind of cool actually. Being a sword was awesome. But out of all the things Deerington has turned her into, a pig is definitely her least favorite.

At least she lucked out with her choice of person to carry her up the mountain. If you're gonna turn into a pig, do it with someone who can read minds. That's what Gwen always says.

(No it's not.)

She snorts a little, shifting in his arms to get more comfortable. It's not that her mind isn't calm, per se, it's that she's just so easily distracted. Her little piggy nose can smell everything on the breeze, and she's getting super antsy about wanting to go check it out. ]

(As soon as Raven ran to the water, Johanna laughed her ass off. She was promptly shocked when she saw how hot the pig she just carried was. Ho lordy.)

What? No. You'll have to walk back naked!

(Or Johanna could share clothes. Or go find some... )

[Oh he really should stop laughing. There's someone here (a girl, no less) and he's not really the talking type. Try as he might though, he really just can't quit it. Even though it gets quieter, the laughter is hardly well-managed. Ephraim just looks at her a bit wild-eyed, lips shifting from side-to-side to quell the manic grin to match but from an outside point of view it just looks like his mustache is tilting around his face. Stupid.

Afraid it's nothing as fun as a drug-induced frenzy he's in, at least not to his knowledge, but far be it for anyone else to tell. Regardless, Ephraim's having a hard time coming down from that high.]

Best I've been in m'life. [He sniffs, still grinning, before letting out one last quick chuckle for the road. Sounds more like a cough, that one, and the shame knocks him out of his stupor.] Sorry, I don't mean to be doin no tresspassin'.

[He sure is your wiggly charge and boy is he wiggling.

At the heart of it Ephraim is very simple-- just wants the comfort of another person that his right and waking mind won't allow him. It ain't right for a man to crave that, so he thinks. For a moment, it was very nice and reassuring to feel held and feel normal about it. Calmed, even. But that's over now. The sudden change in Charles' mindset has him realizing-- Oh. I don't like this. Shame comes crashing back into the front of his pig brain and Ephraim is not enjoying having someone else in his head right now. The reassurances aren't able to sink below that discomfort.

The vulnerability of being known is too mortifying when you're just making casual conversation, let alone when someone's got a sort of black magic link with the darkest parts of you. It's scaring him, frankly, and he wants to get off this wild ride.]

Don't you go tellin' me to calm down, old man. [He thinks as loudly as possible.]

[Logan's been in a bit of a better mood since Rapture, since arrival, since a course of events put enough regeneration back into him that he doesn't feel like death walking on two legs. He still has the slightest limp and the salty disposition of an old man who'd like to just to throw back a beer and be left alone, however. But there's only so much puttering he can do at home and so little of town he wants to inhabit. So here he is, edge of a mountain trail, already regretting this return to nature.

Little bit of water, the greenery - it makes him feel a certain way that he hates to feel. Vulnerable, if just for a second, because it wasn't too long ago at all that he was burying a nonagenarian in a similar setting. Scent of earth in his nose is a little bit too much, so he heads back toward the path that'll lead to where he left his vehicle to get the fuck out of here. It's not the serene place of contemplation it used to be, and that only gets worse when he happens to hobble toward a man and... a pig on the same path.

Pig's definitely weird and Logan's eyes track to it before they flick over Charles' face - and for one glorious moment it doesn't click. But the feeling, that dawning sensation, it's like cold water rushing through his chest and constricting around his heart. He stops in his stride but a few feet away from them, nostrils flared.]

You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me.

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Page 48 of 116

APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

YOU UNCULTURED SWINE

GOOD ENDURES

Character Arrival

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Apples | OMG this is amazing, I am sorely tempted to break out my old Helena muse...

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Spinning Wheels

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charles xavier. xmfc.

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girls before swine

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mountain wine with your mountain swine?

( mountain )