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

[laruetheday]

Oh, yeah, probably.

[ Clarisse is also joking, buuuut not really. She hasn't seen a Betty actually, like, assault anyone, but if someone came up to her tomorrow and showed her a bite mark, it's not like she'd be shocked. ]

Look, I'm not the best person to ask about this stuff for real. I only got here last month. And I pretty much barely talk to anyone.

[littlelesshelpless]

[Bella frowns, squinting at the receding Betty suspiciously, then shaking it off. She looks back at Clarisse, eyes widening.]

You've been here for a whole month? Isn't this...some sort of dream? Aren't we going to wake up eventually?

[laruetheday]

Supposedly.

[ Clarisse frowns, looking strangely helpless. A big part of her wishes she had better news for this girl—something hopeful to say. ]

I've been looking for a way out. No luck so far. People warned me it'd be like that, but I thought they were full of shit.

[littlelesshelpless]

Oh. [Bella exhales, slowly, reaching up to rake her fingers backwards through her hair.] Okay. That's -- woah. That sucks.

[laruetheday]

[ She's not sure what she was expecting, but a simple "that sucks" wasn't it. But it's better than crying, so... she should probably just be thankful. ]

It's not great. They give you a house and you can get a job, go to school, whatever. It's like they want you to just replace your life with a new one here.

[littlelesshelpless]

...so, what, we've been like...kidnapped in order to play house or something? Like a human zoo? [Cause it sounds like a human zoo, to her. A weird, Maine-themed zoo.]

[laruetheday]

Um... yeah. I guess so.

[ She hadn't thought of it like that before, but it sounds accurate. A human zoo. It pisses her off. ]

Sorry if you had life plans or whatever.

[littlelesshelpless]

That's...really weird. [Messed up. And also weird. And also a little too much for her to deal with.] Do we know who, uh..."runs" it? The zookeeper?

[Have a vague shrug.] Not really. [...except getting married, but she's determined not to think about that.]

[laruetheday]

Someone named Sodder.

[ As for the "not really," she just rolls her eyes. She doesn't believe that for a second. Maybe it's just school or a part-time job, but everyone has something going on. ]

I'm in the middle of the semester at U of A, so I'd like to get back there. Y'know, someday.

[littlelesshelpless]

Sodder. [That...doesn't sound at all like a real name, but that's probably par for the course re: creepy human-zoo-keeping people.

The mention of school has Bella frowning lightly, looking down at her left hand and absently twisting her engagement ring around on her finger.] I was just accepted to UAF. Do they...not have colleges here?

[laruetheday]

There's a community college, but fuck that. I got into Arizona. I don't want to go to some shitty community college that definitely won't transfer any credits I earn anyway.

[ Clarisse can't help but notice the ring. It's so... large. It's so large and shiny. It's huge. Is that an engagement ring? How old is this girl?? ]

[littlelesshelpless]

I don't think they can transfer credits from a nightmare town. Like whatsit, Silent...hills? [That's what it reminds her of. One of Jake's dumb video games.

She catches the other girl's gaze and quickly sticks her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. Cue a completely innocent, wide-eyed look.]

[laruetheday]

Uh huh.

[ Clarisse looks up with a raised eyebrow. She saw that but she is absolutely not going to ask about it because asking implies caring, a thing she chooses not to do. ]

Anyway, I work over at the rec center if you need something.

[littlelesshelpless]

Oh. That's -- thank you. Um, I don't work...anywhere, yet. [She shrugs, a little uncomfortably.] I guess I need to...find a job?

[laruetheday]

You don't have to. I just wanted something to do.

[ Now's normally the point in the conversation where she'd walk away—staying implying caring, again—but something makes her hang back. She's not sure what, exactly. ]

A lot of stuff you need is free, like eggs and milk and bread and all that basic stuff. But if you want to order a pizza or whatever, you need money for that. Anything extra.

[littlelesshelpless]

I mean...I guess I could go back to school. [Bella makes a face even as she says it, thinking ruefully of how long high school had seemed the first time around. Then again, if she's planning on halting her aging ASAP, she might need to get used to being in high school forever. Still. It's not her preference.

Then, after clearing her throat, she makes an attempt at humor:] I dunno, I think pizza's pretty basic. An essential, even.

[laruetheday]

Back to... high school?

[ Clarisse doesn't elaborate, but it's clear in her tone of voice that she finds this idea pretty horrifying. And she didn't even go to high school. ]

Pizza's great. [ So maybe after years and years of eating grapes and bread at Camp Half-Blood, she's leaned a little heavily into the greasiest stuff she can get on her meal plan. ]

[littlelesshelpless]

Yeahhh. [Bella drags the word out, sort of shrugging.] I don't really have any other skill sets.

Okay, at least that part hasn't changed now that I'm in a bizarro alternate universe. There is a pizza place here, yeah?

[laruetheday]

Yeah, there's a pizza place. Do you... want to go?

[ ??????????????????????????????????????????????? ]

[littlelesshelpless]

[What.]

Um. Right...now? [She isn't even dressed for an...outing.]

[laruetheday]

[ Oh, ffffffffffffuck. ]

No. Forget it.

[littlelesshelpless]

So you...don't want to get pizza? [Bella doesn't intend for it to come out disappointed, that just kinda...happens.]

[laruetheday]

[ What—what is happening? ]

Do you? Sounded like you didn't a few seconds ago.

[littlelesshelpless]

That's...that's just how my voice sounds. [She sounds a little weary, a bit apologetic. She's got resting apathy face, Clarisse.] I-I wouldn't say no to pizza.

[laruetheday]

[ Clarisse is increasingly feeling like she's dug herself into a hole in this conversation, but she has no clue how to get out of it. Her first instinct would be to yell and stomp off somewhere, but somehow she feels like that might make everything worse. ]

Okay... It's this way.

[ So instead she's going to go on a pizza date. ]