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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Usagi takes a step back as well. Aww, what a cute looking kid! She rubs the back of her neck, blushing in embarrassment.]

Sorry about that! Um, oh! But my name is Usagi Tsukino. Honestly, my feet moved before I really knew what was going on. Sorry about invading your personal space, though. [She tried to take another step back but found she really couldn't.] Um... so... uh, are you a dreamer or visitor too or whatever we're apparently called?

Varian.

[Oh, a newbie. Not that he's a veteran, what with his entire month in this place- but then, that entire month has felt like a damn year. Still, it's probably his duty or something to make sure she knows what she's in for. It's probably what Rapunzel would want him to do.

...Well, no, Rapunzel would want him to make a billion friends, but that's never going to happen. ]

Sleepers. That's the usual term the townspeople use for us, and yeah, I came here about a month ago. Sorry that you got stuck here- it's pretty awful. Which, y'know, nightmare dimension and all, so of course it is. You say your feet moved before you realised what was happening. Have you eaten anything lately? Other than what was in your blessings basket?

Nice to meet you, Varian-kun! [She gave a big, bright smile even if the situation was weird, no need to be rude or unfriendly, right?]

Sleepers! That's it, gosh, I just could not remember what it was. Thank you! And it's not your fault I'm here, so don't stress. I can't say I've ever dealt with a nightmare dimension but I'll just try and take things as they come, yeah? Eaten? Hmm? Oh no no, uh, actually, if you can believe it, I turned the corner and WHAM! [She slapped her hands together.] Slammed right into a spinning wheel, can you believe that? Who just leaves a spinning wheel lying around? Anyway, I touch it and prick my finger. Which, thankfully, has stopped bleeding.

Um, but uh, why did you mention food? [Shit, was she not going to be able to eat in this place? THIS REALLY WAS A NIGHTMARE.]

Uh... sure, likewise?

[Don't answer that like it's a question, Varian, that's rude. As she continues to babble excitedly at him, he realises that she's another Perky Person and something in his soul shrivels back a little. God, how do they keep finding him? ]

A spinning wheel? That's- not something I've really seen around here. Was it just...lying around? On the street?

[Fantastic, he's only just got over all the cult stuff and already Deerington's being super weird.]

Sometimes the food is drugged. Especially if a townsperson gives it to you. I'd suggest getting food from Sleepers, if I were you.

[Wow. Varian. Wow. Ouch. It's a good thing Usagi has no way of reading his mind or knows that her mere presence makes his soul shrivel.

No, instead, she merely smiles at his question.]

I mean, it was lying around cause I knocked into it but that's not the only one I've seen. [She looked around and then gestured to one just sitting on the corner of the street at the end of the road.] See, there's one over there.

[Look, Usagi, look. He just wants to live in his snarky little alchemy bubble and perky happy people find him and drag him out of it. It's good for him, and he knows he needs perky, happy people to make his life bearable and stop him from backsliding into being a dramatic little murderchild again. Having good people in his life is vital for his wellbeing.

But by god, he's gonna bitch about it.]

...Huh.

[He follows where she's gesturing and yeah... yeah, that sure is a spinning wheel. Just. In the street. His brow furrows as he makes a soft 'hrrrrrrrrrrrm' sound.]

Does the wound feel strange to you? This place has a habit of doing... weird things. Do you feel okay in yourself?

[You should be used to not getting what you want by now, Varian. She waits for him to notice the spinning wheel, her hands clasped behind her back as she looks up at him.

At his question, she pulled out her hand out and showed him the pricked finger where it was very clearly and quickly bruised but otherwise nothing else.]

Mnnnn... [She pressed a finger to her chin in thought.] Well, besides the feet moving on their own thing I don't feel any different. Not woozy or tired or dizzy or hungry... well, no, I'm always hungry so that's not new. Hmmmm... no I think it's just the feet thing!

[He really should, and yet he keeps bull-headedly expecting stuff to work if he logics at it enough regardless. It never works.]

I mean... that's something? It could be the start of something bad though- early symptoms of something worse down the line. I'd keep an eye on that if I were you. Maybe find a friend to spend time with who can keep an eye on you.

Oh... I... well actually I don't have any friends here, I just got here this morning. But I'll be okay! [She waved a dismissive hand.] I can figure it out, I'm sure, thanks, Varian-kun for being concerned.

Oh... right, you're new new.

[Dangit, he figures he really should do... something here. After all, he showed up here knowing no one and having people already willing to look out for him made all the difference. He rubs the back of his neck. ]

Well. If you need anything, I'm always around, okay? I'm 25 Raccoon Alley, or you can contact me on my Fluid. Did anyone show you that yet?

Ah, yeah, sorry. I don't mean to be a burden. [She gave a sincere apologetic smile, not wanting to be a burden to anyone.]

Thank you, Varian-kun. And um... no, I can't say anyone has done anything besides that Sodder person in the letter. I basically came out of a house and then ran into a spinning wheel. But you don't need to if you don't want to!

You're not, I mean- it's cool. You're new. I get it.

[He should pay some of the charity shown to him forward, after all. He pulls out his Fluid from his pocket. ]

Um. You should have one of these? They're called Fluids. I don't know... how familiar you are with technology? I sure wasn't, but basically this is a communication device. You can speak to other Sleepers on it.

Well, then thank you, Varian-kun! [She'd hug him but he didn't seem the sudden hug type.

Usagi checked her basket and shuffled things around before she pulled out the cellphone. Admittedly, Usagi had seen plenty of advanced technology, Ami's compact alone was a mini-super computer that nothing on earth could compare to. There were the senshi bracelets, the senshi base... really, she had seen a lot. So this... didn't shock her all that much but... well...]

This thing, yeah? Kinda looks like a portable game.

[He is absolutely not the sudden hug type. He only deals with Rapunzels because there's no escape from Rapunzel's sudden hugs. They just happen and you have to let them. Like playing dead while being mauled by a bear.

He squints, canting his head a little.]

Do you mean like... like an arcade game? The big boxes? [Then, by way of explanation:] I'm from 1820, it turns out there's a lot of stuff I haven't heard about.

[He hates not knowing all the things. He's used to being the smartest person in any room at any given time and now the future has moved against him. It's mean. ]

[Well, Usagi is the moon, not the sun. You can't look at the sun but you can definitely look at the moon.

But fear not, Varian, you will definitely be the smartest in the room if it's just the two of you. Usagi's claim to fame is not her intelligence. However, at the mention of being from the 1820s-]

OH MY GOSH! THAT'S SO COOL! I've never met someone from the 1800s before! [Because never having met someone from the past would be a lie... considering she does frequently look in the mirror.]

So like, where are you from? I'm from Tokyo, Japan! It's the 1990s for me! But yeah, the big arcade games, I love love love those! But this is like... ya know. We have cellphones but nothing this like... amazing, ya know. This is a cellphone and video game combined in a way.

[Wow, that's the most excited anyone has ever been about his time period.]

Uh... well, honestly, if you're from the 1990's that's not surprising? I mean, anyone from the 1800s would be super dead by that time.

[He only has the vaguest idea what a 'cellphone' is from hanging around other people here. It seems the future is quite the time. You have have a conversation with someone in real-time from miles away. It's so dang cool.]

Um... nothing like that. I'm from Corona. It's part of the Seven Kingdoms. It's... pretty much worlds away from what's here. We don't even have electricity yet. Lots of obnoxious magic, though.

[Oh, don't be silly Varian, Rapunzel would totally be that excited about someone else's time period. Usagi is just a deadlier Rapunzel, let's be real.]

Er... well... yeah, probably but there's hooky magic things in my world so we have people from the far past and future messing around with time like... ALL the time. [She gave a dismissive wave.] We had this super evil family of aliens come from the future to try and take over the past because in the future the queen pretty much stops them dead in their tracks so they tried to get to the queen before she even was queen. [Which begs the question why they didn't do even BEFORE Sailor Moon, like honestly?]

Oh, you have a lot of magic in your world? [The way he said it though... Usagi was just glad she didn't mention HER magic... not that she would.]

[Rapunzel is excited about everything. Forever. The idea of a deadlier Rapunzel is terrifying, he'll just go scream into a pillow for a while don't mind him.]

Oh... really? That seems... dangerous. Like it could have many further-reaching effects than just changing one thing. Like, the tiniest drop can create an enormous ripple. Playing around in time seems... risky.

[Rapunzel did that once and broke the only means to travel back so he guesses he'll never know for sure. There's some big mistakes he'd like to undo, but who knows what that would do to his present if he did.]

Unfortunately. [Said in the annoyed tone of someone who doesn't like a thing but has had to learn to live with it because they have no other choice.] I'm a man of science. I prefer things to stay logical- magic doesn't do that. At all.

Oh well, it is... was... it's dangerous you're absolutely right about that. The guardian of time got involved and everything! Aaaanywho...

[Best not to make a big deal of it since he seems to... well... hate magic.]

So what kind of science do you like?

The... the guardian of time.

[This sounds like the ancient mystical everything going on at home and he kind of wants to know more to compares notes or something. Luckily, she's distracted him with his favourite subject.

Which is categorically not magic. He'd like it a lot better if it made logical sense. But it doesn't. So here they are. ]

Alchemy! Engineering and potions, specifically. I've got a lot of chemical compounds I made myself.

Oh wow! That's incredible! What kind of potions have you made?

[Usagi, while having absolutely no inclination for science herself nor the ability to understand anything beyond the bare basics, was very very used to encouraging her misunderstood geniuses. She had Ami, Setsuna, Hotaru, Rei, and Mamoru who were all fond of SOME form of science so she was pretty used to what questions to ask and what things to say.]

[And lo, in validating him, Usagi has endeared herself to Varian forever. He brightens up considerably.]

Oh, man, I've made a lot. My best one is called Flynnolium. It's a very powerful fuel source, it can power just about everything. [He raises a finger.] And! It's one heck of an explosive if it impacts something. It's a great help in battle.

Do you have any Flynnolium here? Do you think we could use it here? What other things have you created? [She's more than willing to let him go on about something that excites him. She likes seeing people being so passionate.]

You better believe it! And yeah, I've been using it mostly as an explosive here. Electricity is a pretty handy power-source already, though I'm sure I can improve it to work with electricity if I work at it for a while. But yeah, mostly as an explosive here. It's pretty handy to protect yourself with. What with all the horror and everything going on.

[Because when all you can do battle-wise is lob a test-tube of highly deadly chemicals at a thing, you're gonna do that with style. ]

I have a compound that creates an indestructible bubble! That's pretty neat. Or my sticky trap. Great for protecting your home.

[Usagi this is dangerous, he will never stop.]

That's incredible Varian-kun! It's amazing that you were able to do all that here. Oh! But uh, stay safe about it, Varian-kun! We don't want you getting hurt just because you're helping people! But if you ever need help with something let me know, I don't know... all that much about science but I'm happy to help.

Those all sound very cool! An indestructible bubble huh? Ever thought of finding a way to make it bouncy and then people could travel in it from one place to another?

APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

YOU UNCULTURED SWINE

GOOD ENDURES

Character Arrival

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