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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Making sure it was plugged in again, she tapped her chin, trying to decide if that was an accurate way to put it. There weren't any clockwork or gears in these to her knowledge, not that she'd opened up any. She didn't need to do that and she was about as mechanically inclined outside of breaking and entering as the woman in front of her.

A few taps and she finally shrugged before taking one hand and making a 'so-so' gesture. That was about as good of an answer as she had. It was a machine, but the description? Not necessarily accurate of how it worked. Yet, still it worked, which was the point.

Either way, the woman was amusing for her naivete. She wondered if she came from somewhere backwater with no power... or some other time. People had been saying that was a thing, not that she fully believed it yet.]

[The so-so answer (or hand gesture really) is good enough for Maria it seems. She plunks the lamp down as well as she had originally picked it up and can't help but laugh a little, chiefly at herself.]

It's all a little strange, isn't it? When I was first told this was a dream I didn't quite believe it. I'm not sure I do even now to be honest.

[She adjusts the lampshade now.]

Seeing things like this though makes it a bit easier to believe.

[Pff. Her humor mulls into a touch of a sorrowful look as she turns her gaze to the rest of the shop for a moment.]

And while it would be nice to see and learn more of such things, I confess I would much rather wake up.

[A quick eyeroll and a nod. Yeah, she'd heard about the dream. How much she believed anything that these deranged people said was debatable. She wasn't so easily impressed upon. She believed that they were trapped, but she didn't have time or energy to worry about other details right now.

A look at the lamp and a shrug. Those things weren't so odd for her. Seeing someone from her past that was dead walking around? That had been weird. When the woman begged mournfully to wake up, though, she reached out with a gloved hand and gave her a pinch on the arm before winking.

Nope, probably didn't work did it?]

[Alright, that catches her by surprise! She actually starts in place, blinking over at the other woman in time to catch her wink.

And then she breaks into a little laugh.]

I think you're going to have to hit harder than that to wake me up!

[As that comes out of her mouth she holds up a hand.]

I'd rather if you didn't though for now. I wouldn't like to break anything in here.

[Oh, someone was catching on were they? Because she was just about to reach back for that punch when the hand came up to forestall her. Instead, she just grinned innocently enough. She wasn't naturally violent, but she did like taking advantage of an easy target like that.

A look around and she gave a little mournful looking sigh. Yes, the shopkeep might get on their case, Probably for the best that she'd told her to hold off, she thought to herself as she nodded. Besides, someone might have gone into that lamp, and she was still thinking of buying it.]

[Though Maria couldn't say she knew the other woman even slightly well she could certainly say when she knew to tempt someone and when not to. It also helped that Richter in all his brotherly charm would likely have taken her up on the offer. Maybe.

Either way the mournful sigh rouses another light laugh. Maybe she could offer to spar later? Frankly Maria had never actually trained alongside or even with another person before. Well, perhaps save for the times Richter was actually around?

She ends up tucking her hands behind her back before she asks:]

If you don't mind, could I browse around with you for a bit? I don't really know anyone else here at the moment and company is always a nice thing to have.

[That might prove an interesting experience. Fighting or sparring with this woman was a battle of acrobatics, illusions, deception and umbrellas, which were frequently involved in the other two. She wasn't necessarily likely to say no to a spar, though, if the option came along. She needed to keep in practice.

People to kill, after all.

The request caught her a little by surprise. She'd been told before that she was pretty, but most people didn't really actively socialize with someone who didn't socialize back normally. Still, she saw no harm in it. Reaching down to unplug the lamp, she motioned for the woman to lead the way as she collected it.

Yeah, it wouldn't look bad with the drapes.]