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

Hellboy | Hellboy 2004 | OTA

[bigredape]

[Arrival]
[He had been back at the BPRD, surrounded by kittens and stew, with Liz in his room and talking about things. It had been fine. Things were going to get better. So when the hell did he fall asleep?]

Aw crap... [he hissed as he woke up, remembering a strange dream before that. Deer and a girl, and a need for help. Fuck. Just what he needed. Whisked off to another damn realm where he needed to do something to help. GREAT.]

[After finding the blessing basket and reading the note, he meandered outside, frowning. It wasn't exactly what he thought he was here for. Some one needed help but this seemed more... well, quaint and different.]

Better then other shit realms you've been stuck in. [he said to himself, lighting up a cigar, taking a huff and sighing out the smoke. Fine. Might as well start walking. Let's see what we find.]

[Uncultured Swine]
Mmm, Pork.

[he hummed as he passed yet another restaurant that was offering pig on the menu. There ws a sale going on at the market, and each restaurant seemed to have low cost pork meals on the menu as well.]

As much as I'd love to delve into a plate of pork, I got a bad feeling about this.

[he spoke to himself, chewing on his cigar and looking around the place. A street full of people, townsfolk, that didn't seem too upset with him being there. Some lurched back, but most just offered free samples or discount meals. that felt fishy to him. Then again most of the time when you go to another realm they wanted you to do something you shouldn't.]

[He felt like this was it.]

[Seeing someone half hanged into a pig made him wonder if he was right.] Hey, you alright?

[Network]
Lets get this out of the way early.

[the Video shows a large man, or, well, demon, with a red face and yellow eyes staring at you. he's got a cigar in his mouth, and a stern look on his face. Not at all pleased looking.]

I'm not here for ya soul. I don't want your soul. I'm not a demon, or, well I AM a demon but not one like that.

I want nothing ta do with this place, so tell me what my quest is, who wants the help, and send me on my way again. Yeah?


[Wildcard!]
[make your own]

video; un: treebitch

[pineneedles]

(There's a girl with light brown skin and a poof of hair. She has a mean little smile on her face. She's not here to make fun of Hellboy, though, no, she just finds him fascinating.)

Did you... cut your horns off? That's hardcore.

[bigredape]

[the question makes him pause. he expected more screaming or something. He reached up to dab at his shaved horns and frowned.]

Hardcore. Yeah.

[Not exactly what he expected.] I keep 'em shaved down.

[pineneedles]

(He's got this quality about him. Something the kids today would call "Daddy.")

How big do they get?

[bigredape]

[He's got no sort of Daddy to him. Not at all. thanks.]

Long. But it's not exactly a subject I care much about. That's why I keep 'em shaved down.

swine

[prettybitchin]

(The pig was El. She shakes her head and the rest of her body goes POOF into a pig. A curly tail sprouts and goes BOING.)

Augh! NO! I'm not alright!

[bigredape]

[It's a kid. Because of course it was a kid. he pulled back his coat and crouched down to where she went POOF and turned into a little piglet.]

Easy there. You're alright. You're just a pig now. [A pause...] Which I guess isn't really alright.

[prettybitchin]

No! It isn't alright! Help me!!

(El figured he'd been here for awhile, because she herself was new. Plus, he seemed to be an adult. They know what to do sometimes.)

[bigredape]

[he crouched there on the balls of his feet, elbow on a knee, stone hand on the other knee, looking down at the little panicked pig.]

Take a breath, kid. I'm gonna try to help ya. [the stone hand reached out and a finger lightly poked one of her small ears, then reached to pet her head. Cute lil thing.]

You got to stay calm and tell me what happened before you changed.

Network: Video - UN: Runeseeker

[onerthes]

[Cue a three eyed lady coming onto the feed. Well, he was a demon, she had three eyes. There were probably weirder things in the world all things considered. She'd had a year and a half to see some shit. She was seated at a desk with what looked like part of a broken porcelain bust and a bunch of other magical gear.]

Oh, if only ending this nightmare was that simple, we'd probably have been home months ago.

...though thank you for not wanting my soul. I like mine right where it is, thank you very much.

[bigredape]

[three eyes? Eh, seen it before. Though it's generally trouble. He watches her a moment before snorting.]

I like my soul where it's at too. I don't go messin' 'round with that stuff if I can manage.

And what do you mean by 'months'? that's not how these realm hopping things generally work. You show up. Some bullshit guide tells you what to do, you do it, you go home. Maybe save the world while your at it.

[onerthes]

[She was chuckling. Her chin rested against her knuckles and she regarded him with a sort of detached amusement. Ok, that was a funny way of putting something like this.]

Not your first adventure, I take it?

[Sigh.] I've been here a year and a half. No, the guide's very sketchy on the details.

[bigredape]

[Glad to be of amusement to ya, lady.]

No, you an say that again. Been through a few of these realm hopping things before. the last one happened to be Japanese centered.

[he sighed too.] Sketchy with details. yeah, that tracks. they usually are.

Arrival | I'm sorry he knew the previous Hellboy!!

[laminae]

[It's really, really hard to miss an oversized red guy who more closely resembles a demon than a human, especially when Deerington is currently an extremely green palette thanks to all the vegetation that's taken over for April. It's also hard to miss said red guy when you've hung out with him before.

That's why Fern is suddenly staring as he wanders down the sidewalk across the street, very nearly running into a vine-covered streetlight. He just barely misses it as his brain processes the familiarity, and he swerves to race across the street. He looks delighted!]

Hey! Hey!!

[Sorry Hellboy there is one kid racing towards you who looks like he's covered in grass.

... Scratch that, he is grass.]

Yay! That's great!

[bigredape]

[everything looks like it's covered in grass, or some greenery of some kind. He's seen cities covered in vegetation but this is a little ridiculous.]

He's walking carefully over side walk, looking confused and curious all at once. Until someone came running up towards him.]

[Small. green. Huh. Must be a native. maybe the guide he' looking for?]

Hey... [his greeting was less cheerful or delighted than the others was, but it couldn't be helped. He wasn't glad to be here.]

[laminae]

[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]

[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?

video; un: castiel

[heraldingangel]

[ He's known a great many demons, and he trusted none of them. ]

What's your name?

[bigredape]

[You know, giving his name isn't going to help him sound cool. But he does, anyhow.]

Hellboy. [he said flatly, then, just as flat.] My father wasn't the creative type.

[heraldingangel]

[ That's not a name he's heard before. An alias? ]

Your father?

[ Sorry but Hell is vast and full of demons. ]

network; un: theycallmehuntress

[crossbow_killer]

[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.

[bigredape]

[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'.

[crossbow_killer]

I mean, there's probably jobs and tasks and shit. But as far as a quest, something with purpose or a point to it...there really isn't. It's not that kind of place.

arrival

[littlelesshelpless]

[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?]

Video; UN: Feedthebunny

[lightthedarkness]

[Usagi looked closely into the phone and tilted her head.] You've got a really great strong jaw-line!

[... Yep... that... that is the whole message, no comment about the demon thing. Usagi's dealt with a couple and this one seems nice, so.]