APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

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.

Comments

huhuhu poor jon

[yolos]

[ Talk. Talk is a good sign. She can do that. ]

Um. Okay, uh. Sure?

[ She can feel her swear cooling on her brow. The guy at least... sounds(?) normal? Friendly, maybe?

There's a faint eek eeek eek and she looks towards the source of the sound. It's overhead and lo and behold - another one of those Sleeping Beauty spinning wheels is sitting about a floor up on the landing of what looks like the next building's fire escape.

She wishes she could just put her hands back in her pockets. That spindle looks sharp. But that feeling is there again. The one like when you're curious about putting your finger on an open socket just to see what might happen.

Maybe she's going out of her mind. ]

Um. What did you want to talk about?

[lonelynotforsaken]

Maybe we came the week they're doing the classic auto show?

[That's absolutely not what's happening, but Martin doesn't have much explanation beyond the absurd or the eldritch.]

The house looked sort of dated, too. On the inside, I mean.

[Time travel briefly crosses Martin's mind, but he dismisses it as just a little too out there. For now. He does his best not to press for any further closeness or intimacy. If Jon doesn't remember what's happened, then that's not going to make sense to him, much as it pains Martin. Jon should be comfortable, though. They make it to the house at a quick clip, and Martin motions Jon to sit down on a sofa in one of the rooms.]

I suppose there's not really time to make tea, but if you... wanted?

[itknowsyou]

[ That rhythmic sound sort of... prickles at his awareness, and he looks up to see the new spinning wheel. ]

Those. I touched one of those. [ And it made him bleed, which sounds logical but isn't, really. ]

And now I am... having difficulty, with... not following you.

[ Yes, very reassuring. Good job, Jon. ]

I think it's exerting some kind of compulsion.

[ Or a familiar god of spiders and manipulation is toying with him, nudging him into getting his next meal. Or he's simply a monster. He'd rather it be a cursed spinning wheel. ]

[itknowsyou]

We don't need tea, Martin. [ Snapped, exasperated. But he regrets it, just a little, as soon as he's said it; how long has it been since Martin fussed at him, made him tea? It's much better than... well. He prefers it to the recent state.

Jon sits. He does not fidget. But, well, the restless energy kind of rolls off him.

He does, at least, no longer eye Martin like something that might come at him with a hatchet. ]

If I may? [ He is trying so hard. The buzzy pressure jumps readily to his voice, stronger this time, thrumming with how badly he wants to know. ] What do you want to tell me?

[portraitor]

[At that, Mary frowns, considering it.]

... I guess I miss my big sisters, and I can't really meet my dad unless he comes here someday, but I think they would be happier to have me here instead of where I was before.

[She knows other people miss their families... and sometimes, she feels guilty when she doesn't miss her own.]

[thefaulty]

[Arid watches as an inordinate amount of blood swells from the human’s finger. Curious. Had the needle been treated with an anticoagulant? She still makes no effort to assist, merely observing from a safe distance.]

Its designation is “Deerington,” [she answers.] Its purpose and origin are unknown.

[Her helmet faceplate moves between the human and the spinning wheel for a moment more—and then she steps forward, decisively. Perhaps contrary to Jon’s expectations, she’s not targeting him, but the needle. In one move, her hand closes around the wooden base holding the needle in place and, with a crack of splintering wood, breaks it off.

Strange, bleed-inducing needle? Acquired.]

There are many held captive here.

[yolos]

Oh.

[ Not that it doesn't sound creepy af but... ]

So... you haven't been following me on purpose?

[ Good job, Fajardo. You sound as young as you look and not at all like a CDF pilot in training. ]

[itknowsyou]

[ He's... probably received the basics by now. Whether he's slowed down enough to fully parse them is another question altogether.

So he blinks at this, for a second, and then— startles when she moves. He backs away, suspicious, but...

Oh. She just wanted to break the damn thing. That seems fairly reasonable, actually. Jon watches, still cautious, to see what she'll do with it. ]

Are you one of them? [ Or something helping to hold us, he doesn't say. ]

[itknowsyou]

Not intentionally. I would prefer to be on my way.

[ And yet. Here he stands. In an alleyway with a teenager he's trapped behind a dumpster. ]

But I can't... seem to move away. From, um. You. [ This continues! To sound creepy! ] T-that is— I'm not sure how to break the compulsion. The... spell. [ You can basically hear the air quotes. For all that Jon has his own strange abilities, he's not fond of magical terminology. Makes everything sound a bit... frivolous.

But he's faced with a cursed spinning wheel and a frightened child, in a world of dreams and omniscient deer, so it seems to suit. ]

[thefaulty]

[Arid keeps the needle in her hand, apparently having no other intentions than just holding onto it. There’s no telling if such a thing might be useful in the future, after all.]

Yes. [Her faceplate lifts towards him again. She finds that it is… strangely easy to answer his questions. Even after weeks here, it is not often that she speaks so openly to humans.]

I was installed here a month previously. I have not yet identified a means of exit.

[yolos]

[ And this is one smol child peering out from the corner of the dumpster - trash lid still in hand. ]

I believe you.

[ Shedding a quick and wary glance at the spinning wheel and it's creepy come to me vibes. ]

I saw that thing - and others like it - a couple of times. And I didn't like the feeling it was giving me-- [ the same one she's feeling now, but it helps to concentrate on something else ] --so here I am.

[ A beat, then: ] What's your name?

[ She's not going to be much help with figuring out how to fix what it's done to you, but at least she'll have something to call you besides "hey, person". ]

unculture swine (b) - with a twist; lmk if this is works for you

[yolos]

[ Despite of how weird it is that she's woken up in a place that is [a] distinctly not home, and [b] full of WTAF-inducing crazy (she caught sight of someone transforming into a pig - a pig) - wherever this is, it's... kind of cool.

She's hiking up a hill when she hears someone singing - and sights a tall dude carrying well, a pig.

That can't be good - can it? I mean, he isn't going to hurt the pig - is he?

Maybe she'll just tail him for a bit and then intervene if it turns out that the pig is a someone in need of a rescue. ]

Javier Garcia | The Walking Dead Game | Very OTA

[bettorup]

I. You Uncultured Swine

[At first, Javi thinks he's still dreaming. He's smelling honest-to-God pork, which can't possibly be a real thing. He follows the smell and sees so much food. This is definitely a dream, or a hallucination, or something. This just can't be possible.

And it's free?! Javi actually pinches himself to make sure he's awake. It's so damn tempting to just grab a plate of everything, but one does not live for years in the apocalypse without being cautious of so much food just sitting there. He gets the attention of someone close by]

Whose food is this?

[He wants it but he knows better than to just take shit]


II. Network

[He's not entirely sure what this thing is but he just kind of messes around with it until he somehow presses the button to start a video. Cue one confused man wearing a baseball jersey]

Hello...? Is this a phone? A camera?


III. Wildcard

[Want to run into Javi as he wanders around? Hit me up here. I'm sure he'll eventually find something he can swing around like a baseball bat, and then just carry that with him as he roams]

[casuistic]

This is definitely not the flat I used to be in.

I suppose it was getting a little too orange there.

This will probably be one of those mysteries that never get solved.

[paradoxpoint]

Might be worth asking the Dogkeeper if he's responding to the mail again.

How are you feeling? Nothing changed or off since waking up?

[casuistic]

Maybe.

Want to come check me up?

[lonelynotforsaken]

[Martin just frowns faintly at the snap. He's too used to Jon's abrasiveness to take terribly much offense there. When Jon asks, the power in his voice, there is a momentary terror that grips Martin, though. He's removed from the Lonely... more or less, but there's still a part of him that lingers there and the 'terrible ordeal of being known' doesn't sit well. He's a man with secrets still, and while he wants to be open and honest with Jon, forcing it still gets under his skin.

No matter; he begins to speak:]

It's over, Jon. We won. Sort of.

From what I can tell, you've forgot that the Institute was attacked. There were a pair of Hunters--I never saw them, but you told me about them--and the... Not-Sasha that was trapped in the tunnels. Peter took me down there, said it was time to finally do what he'd been preparing me for. He used one of Leitner's books to let it out and it went after you.

He took me to a place at the center of the tunnels called the Panopticon and asked me to kill the decaying old man sat in a chair there. It was Jonah Magnus. His body, anyway. Elias was there, as well. He'd broken out of prison to come and watch because he is Jonah Magnus, Jon. His eyes in Elias Bouchard's body, and the body of every head of the Institute before that. He's been alive for two hundred years.

Peter and Jonah had made a bet. Peter needed to get me to his side and have me kill Jonah, take his place in the Panopticon, and he'd have it. All the power Elias does to see whatever he wants. He'd have that power through me. I said no, and Peter threw me into the Lonely.

I don't know how long I was there, but then you were there, too. [He's been standing up to this point, but at that, he has to swallow and sits down beside Jon.] You were there. You got Peter's story and killed him when he wouldn't answer your other questions. And you... showed me that you... that-that you loved me. [His brows are knit together.] It- I came back, snapped out of whatever Peter had done to me. Then you took my hand and led us out of the Lonely.

We've been on the run together ever since. So many people were dead at the Institute, the Hunters were still after you. And Daisy... had to give into the Hunt- to save everyone. We were worried about her coming to kill you, too. We'd just moved up north to Scotland, to a safehouse Basira arranged for us. One of Daisy's places. I'm sorry I've been so- I didn't realize you didn't remember.

[itknowsyou]

[ How long has it been since he did something as mundane as introduce himself to a stranger? Not that these are... really usual circumstances, are they. ]

It's, uh, Jonathan. Sims.

[ Now that she's come out, he attempts to crook a reassuring smile, but it's not really his strong suit; he just continues to look pained. ]

And yours?

[yolos]

[ Hey, no judgement on her part - this is hardly a usual way for meeting new people. But well. ]

I'm Kaya.

[ She's staying put for the moment. You seem... harmless? Ish? At least this conversation seems to be going well. ]

Kaya Fajardo.

[itknowsyou]

[ And he... feels it. A lessening of the pressure, like the invisible line between them is going slack. Jon blinks at her. ]

I— hold on, I think that's working.

[ He takes an experimental step back. And another. The line begins to draw taut again, but— it's improved.

A giddy, somewhat hysterical little laugh bubbles up in him. He doesn't need to flay the minds of the innocent? He just needs to exchange names? Has his patron dramatically reduced its standards?

But, no. He's still as hungry as before. This might be unrelated to his... hunger, then. This might just be a quirk of Deerington. ]

Where, ah... where are you from, Kaya? For how long have you been here?

[yolos]

[ If the whites around her eyes are showing, don't mind her - that laugh just caught her a bit off guard.

But anyway. Blinking at that question before she clears her throat. ]

Um, [ what could it hurt, right? ] I'm from Silay. I got here... a couple of hours ago, I think?

[ Brows knitting together a little. ] How about you?

[itknowsyou]

Silay— [ For an instant, he's trying to place it on a map and not entirely succeeding. Jon's research usually focused closer to home. But then there's a familiar little shift of static in his head, and he Knows just where it is.

The perks of being bound to an eldritch god of knowledge. ] I'm from London. And the same.

[ There it is again, the lessening of tension. He takes another step back, just enjoying that he can. ]

[yolos]

London?

[ There's a bit of uncertainty in her tone. Like she's never heard of it. Jon's accent reminds her a little of some of the other imports for the CDF. No one she's spoken to directly, but then again, she listens in - even when she shouldn't.

It's only then that she notices that he's taken another step back. Curiosity gets the better of her and she shuffles out from behind her hiding place to stand.

( For your reference, Jon, she's a little under five feet. Thereabouts. ) ]

Are you... okay? [ Have a frown. ]

[bardish]

[ He can't help but feel this odd mingling of relief and frustration when he's back in Nancy's orbit, the noise and anxiety, like pinpricks in his brain, quieting, while their predicament remains disturbingly unchanged.

But at least she seems to be taking this with a little less (totally justified) hostility now. Maybe, between the two of them, they can get to the bottom of this before it gets any worse. ]

Yeah, ah... [ He winces sympathetically, rubbing the side of his neck. ]. This isn't the first time I've... [ Lost his mind? Like hell he's going to say that. ] Experienced really weird shit like this. [ With a wry smile, he adds: ] I wish I could say that made me an expert. But I can't even think of anything that happened...

[ He lowers his hand then, thinking, before his eyes light up, all EUREKA! and he lifts his hand again, holding his needle-pricked finger up to Nancy with way too much excitement. Settle down, Jeff. ]

Oh! I poked my finger on one of those spinning wheels around town! [ Which might seem innocuous to a suburbanite like him. But while Jeff may be new to this town, he's sure as hell not new to magic. ] That's like Fairytale Curses 101...

Spinning Wheels (+1 garbageboy stinkman)

[misterdouchard]

One needn't have done as much reading as you certainly have, Jon, to know the myriad reasons that's a terrible idea. [It's placid, nearly bored, coming abruptly from Jon's left. Elias seems unperturbed by the notion of impending fairytale curse, but he does seem...disappointed.]