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

[demonicbeauty]

She looked down at the device on her wrist, her face twisting into a scowl that was unnatural on her face. She was one to smile, one to laugh. This whole situation was just so far outside of her experience that she didn't know how to look or feel. "I'm not very hungry right now," she admitted.

Actually, she sort of felt like she was going to be sick.

But she looked up again, a flicker of brightness coming into her eyes. "But you were looking for something too? I guess we have that in common." She smiled. "Even if we don't know what it is."

[trancheuse]

A snort. "Well, if you start feeling whispy, remember what I said and go eat something. It's... a thing." She still didn't get it. Even the damned toys had to do it.

"Huh, yeah. A little... but... it's more like I can't remember." She scratched at her head and shrugged. "Still, trust me. You're going to have plenty in common with plenty of the Sleepers."

[demonicbeauty]

Whispy?

Maybe that was another figure of speech. A saying. She'd figure it out later.

She set that thought aside for the moment. "A lot in common with them? Do you really think so?" It was entirely possible Ariadne sounded a little too excited with that idea. She enver really had much in common with anyone. Just Aunt Lysia, most of the time. And Uncle Tahafra. The only Alastrians left that she knew.

Everyone else just thought she was strange.

[trancheuse]

She didn't have a better word for describing the symptoms of not eating what was in the jar. Ariadne would figure it out, or she wouldn't. In the end, it wasn't any skin off of her hide since she'd given the warning.

"Trust me. They sing Kumbayyah a lot around here," her voice sounded bemused distantly, though her smiles never quite reached her eyes. They always had a sort of plasticity and fakeness to them. "They look for that common ground since they're all trapped together. Stand together against the problems and whatever." She snorted.

"It's got its appeal, don't get me wrong. Just don't see the point usually. The problems come and go every month."

[demonicbeauty]

Everyone wanted to belong. Ariadne had never once questioned that fact. That the strange girl didn't want to was...troubling. Not that she was one to judge but...well. It made her a little wary.

"What's Kumbayyah?" she asked, though, keeping her thoughts to herself.

Music. Music was another universal constant. Maybe that would help her understand.

[trancheuse]

"Right, yeah. You don't know any of this stuff, do you?" she said, barking a little laugh and shaking her head. "It's a song people sing. I read about it. Something about coming together, hug circles and such. I don't know. They sing it around campfires. Just think of it as a way of saying everyone around here's looking to support each other."

Pause.

"Well most of us anyway. I'm kind of more in it for myself, but... it's a good way to get what you want to be on their side."

[demonicbeauty]

Singing around a campfire felt quite careless to Ariadne. Of course, usually, when she needed a campfire, she was hiding from the scouts of the Red Dragon. Silence and secrecy were of the utmost importance.

It sounded kind of nice, actually. To be able to relax in the woods and sing.

But she supposed that wasn't the point.

Again, this girl was going out of her way to point out that she didn't want to belong Maybe it was a cry for help? It was just very hard to believe.

"A good way to get what you want...what do you want?"

[trancheuse]

Yeah... she would definitely have a weird time at the Jamboree. Then again so would Larxene, other than sending kids off on snipe hunts for the hell of it. Either way, she was definitely not the 'belonging' type herself. Not really a protestation.

"Hmmmm...," she had to think about it. Normally? she'd say she wanted to hurt people. A lot. But right now, she was having trouble remembering. "So... I'll uh... tell you the truth? I don't really remember what I want. I woke up from being dead not that long ago, and a lot of memories past six months ago are really fuzzy. That doesn't feel weird for some reason. Like I shouldn't be worried about it."

She tapped at her lips and laughed a little, distantly, almost like an echo. "It's strange. I feel like if I were normal, I should be pissed as hell that I can't remember anything before I got to this town other than Roxas... but I'm not. It almost feels, normal?"

[demonicbeauty]

Ariadne's gray eyes widened about to the size of silver coins. And she couldn't stifle a gasp, as she stared at Larxene in unabashed, unfiltered shock. "You...you came back from the dead?"

It wasn't...entirely unheard of.

But so rare that Ariadne had yet to know anything about it, beyond thousand-year-old stories, passed down through generations of Elves.

It was the stuff of fairy tales. Myths. Legends.

Larxene had to be someone truly special indeed.

[trancheuse]

"Oh right, that. Yeah, apparently Sodder brings us back, but the pieces don't work quite right each time and it gets worse? It's muddling up my memories for the moment." Of anything to do with her home other than Roxas, which left her a bit unmoored in her usual villainous attitudes.

"You'd have to ask someone else about it, though. It's not exactly something I plan to make a habit." said the girl on her second death so far.

[demonicbeauty]

Well, Ariadne couldn't blame her for that.

It sounded like a highly unpleasant habit.

She frowned thoughtfully. "You've mentioned that name before. Sodder. Clearly someone with power. At least, power enough to bring back the dead." And Ariadne knew of demi-gods who weren't that mighty. "Is that the local deity, then?"

The realm allowed for monolatry. There were so, so many gods and there was really no sense in trying to deny the existence of any. Instead, individual kingdoms just seemed to pick and choose the ones they wanted to worship. For her own part, Ariadne was more or less a Mudorist. But not one who practiced often.

[trancheuse]

"Well, if you believe the dream... she's the dreamer, and we're in the dream." A low, laugh. "A dreamer's got total power over their dream, provided that they can control it. So... maybe god works?" She laughed at the thought.

"I'm not the worshiping type, though. Just so you know. There's folks who might worship her, maybe." To say that Deerington allowed for a certain sense of monolatry wold be the understatement of the year with the confluence of so many worlds. Heck, there'd been a Thor for a while.

[demonicbeauty]

"No," Ariadne said, trying to be polite. "You don't seem like the worshipping type." Honestly, the way the girl talked, she didn't seem to hold much dear at all. Too soon to make a judgment. Ariadne kept reminding herself of that fact. But there was a growing feeling of unease somewhere in the back of her mind.

In the place where she let possibilities run wild.

Still. The rest of it was interesting enough.

"There's a god on one of the island nations like that," she said. "The islanders truly believe they're all part of his elaborate dream. Except that they can just get on a boat and sail away..."

Maybe boats would be relevant to the conversation after all!

[trancheuse]

She didn't. She really really didn't. Whether soon or not, it was an accurate judgment to make. Her heart was yawning chasm of emptiness into which it was pointless to toss something.

"Other than the fact that we can't pick up and leave? Not too far off I suppose. That, and you can't really talk to her much. Not that I've actually tried at all." Sodder could kiss her patoot. Ok, she'd sent her a cure for being a sparkly vampire a while back, but whatever. She wasn't a grateul creature either.

"But don't let me stop you. there's docks down at the lake."

[demonicbeauty]

Most things were worth trying. Talking certainly was. Sailing, on the other hand...

"I've never even been on a boat," she admitted. "Only a ferry. And only a couple of times. That might not be such a good idea."

Not yet, anyway. And not alone.

[trancheuse]

She snorted and laughed, leaning in to wink a little wickedly. "Ya might want to make sure ya have your house keys first too. For when inevitably ya end up back here, right?" She hadn't forgotten that there was a real possibility someone might not have had them when they lept out of the window. That'd be fun to watch her try to remedy if she was right.

[demonicbeauty]

"I'll...keep that in mind."

The chills that Ariadne was feeling about this Larxene were getting worse. The more she laughed in a way that didn't sound like she was laughing at all, the more she made Ariadne think of the Red Dragon. Or worse.

She'd met one of his lieutenants once. A cold, cruel man who enjoyed poisoning people, just to watch them die.

"Thank you for your advice, Lady Larxene," she said, curtsying again.

[trancheuse]

The coldness was definitely there, though not necessarily the inherent cruelty. That was a thing well learned through a lifestyle very intentionally followed. Either way, even now she wasn't necessarily a safe person. Still, she smiled and returned the curtsy with a slightly playful, just shy of mocking bow.

"Enjoy it or don't. All up to you at this point. If you need me, I'll be around. Kind of easy to find me... but I'm pretty sure you don't need to bother calling me a Lady. If I'm sure of one thing, I'm not one of those." A wave of her hand and a wink, and she was setting off.