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

[hsalf]

Maybe you should eat it to find out?

[ eat the apple barry, you know you want to. ]

[accelerate]

[ that seems like a good idea! barry moves the apple to his mouth and before he can take a bite… ]

Did you know apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than in the fridge? [ he looks at his apple, turning it with a twist of his wrist. ] I wonder if these were ripened by room temperature. I wish there was a way to tell.

[ your favourite and best husband is a nerd and a tease. 😌 ]

[hsalf]

[ so fascinated and amazed, good god he is riveted: ]

Wow that's so interesting Barry. Please tell me more.

[ how many apple facts do you have barry? he's so curious. ]

[accelerate]

[ he's making fun of him, but it's okay. thawne just doesn't know anything about apples. ]

There's over 8,000 types of apples in the world. It's crazy to think we eat maybe just a handful of them. What makes it even crazier? They have the life expectancy of over 100 years. [ with a pointed look at thawne, ] They're more resilient than you.

[hsalf]

And yet, a little exposure to air and the inside begins to rot.

[ he is very unimpressed at barry's encyclopedic knowledge on apples. ]

You could stand to learn things that are useful, but... well I'm not surprised all you know is random apple facts.

[accelerate]

[ thawne is such an asshole, also a jealous hater because barry knows way more about beyonce than thawne does. ]

Fine. [ he crosses his very young and fit arms across his very young and fit chest. looking at him pointedly with his youthful face, he challenges thawne, ] Wow me with something spectacular.

[hsalf]

Oh, is it my turn for useless trivia?

[ because you better believe he has so much useless trivia to share, he's full of it. he was absolutely the obnoxious nerd who just rattled off random flash facts to everyone who dared to listen for a second to him, and then immediately regretted it. ]

As you know speedsters can run across water without falling in. This is achieved by running so fast that you skate through the water molecules. However a much more difficult skill to master is running across air molecules in order to achieve an effect akin to flying.

[accelerate]

[ his hatred for thawne intensifies. he's so, so interested in learning this... so interested. ]

Can you do that?

[ if he can, barry is going to shove his half-eaten apple right down thawne's throat. this is how thawne will finally die. ]

[hsalf]

[ he's not going to answer that.

what he is going to do, without even having to think about it, is grin large and toothily like a serial killer maniac. does that answer the question? ]

[accelerate]

[ asshole.

if he was younger, he'd feel indignant and push him until he told him with imploring speeches, but barry's simply tired. besides, he has a plan: he wants to see if eobard will grow desperate if barry doesn't give him the usual outbursts he may be used to.

eobard is a hack. it's fine, though; he'll learn to run on air soon enough. ]

You look really creepy when you do that. It's really unattractive.

[hsalf]

[ he chuckles, only encouraged to keep smiling. ]

Oh, I do so enjoy our back and forth Flash. But I'm not your professor. Not anymore. You don't get to learn my tricks.

[accelerate]

[ narrowing his eyes as he takes in thawne's smile… ]

Did you get dentures? They suit you.

[ old fart who doesn't belong in this timeline. ]

[hsalf]

Wells has really great teeth. No dentures needed.

[ ;) ]

[accelerate]

But you're Wells now, and you… [ he scrunches up his face in michael scott awkwardness.

well, let's leave that alone.

scrunching up his face, his entire demeanour changes. ] Hey, speaking of Wells… Do you get any newsletters from the Council of Wells? I've kind of been wondering if they'd recognise you as one since you did catfish Earth-1 Wells.

[hsalf]

Ugh.

[ ugh! those guys! ugh!! ]

I got in touch with them once. I was prepared to do the whole routine and shtick, but after listening to them for a minute I broke character and told them never to contact me again. I have since been banned.

[accelerate]

[ barry has to press his hand over his mouth in an attempt to appear like he's hiding a yawn when, really, he's trying not to laugh. that is the most thawne-like thing to do, and it's so freaking hilarious, too.

when he thinks he won't laugh, he pulls his hand away. he does a few movements with his mouth to try and get rid of the upward curve. ]

You… tried to contact them? Really?

[ he can't speak any further because he's going to start laughing again. ]

[hsalf]

I thought they'd be useful. Instead I got a wizard, a cowboy and a mime, and it was the worst experience of my life.

[ seriously wells has the worst doppelgangers, he doesn't understand why they all have some weird personality quirk. ]

[accelerate]

[ his hand is over his mouth again to try and stifle his laughter. ]

Did you meet the French guy? And the Sherlock one? [ rip sherlock, sherloque, whatever. ] They're, uh… Look, no offence, but I wouldn't have believed you if you were a French Wells and you threatened to kill me while talking in your French accent. It doesn't have the same sinister feel as the whole husky, I've-smoked-ten-cigarettes-in-the-last-hour voice does.

[ a compliment, if you will. ]

[hsalf]

I thought the French and the Sherlock versions were the same? They're not the same?

[ he's so baffled, it makes no sense! why are there so many wells and why do they all dress like they're going to the world's lamest halloween party! it defies all logic! ]

I'm glad I picked one of the few normal Wells. Really lucked out. I hate that damn Council.

[accelerate]

I don't… [ barry looks concerned and confused. did he get it wrong? they didn't wear name badges. tbf, he honestly doesn't remember any of them. ] I don't know…

[ hand to his chin, he ponders this. ]

What about the painter dude? I thought he was the French one. Sherlock had a weirder accent. Like… weird, weird. You know? [ he's not redoing the accent because lbr no one cares about that wells. ] Then Dumbledore was just... frightening.

[hsalf]

[ no he doesn't know, and he does not want to know. ]

Their accents sound fake. Am I wrong? They have to be faking it.

[ this is all very important discussions about how much wells council is full of shits and he, not even a wells, is the best wells. ]

[accelerate]

[ harry is the best wells, just fyi. ]

Right? [ it's like he's talking to cisco, not his arch-nemesis and the most annoying person to ever annoy him. ] Oh my god. Like, do you hear how some of the words come out really American? The French guy is the worst. I swear he just wears the black turtlenecks to distract you from his horrible haircut and his accent.