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

[There's something about this that is just pure salt in a deep and ugly wound. Charles, the Charles he knew for the last fuck knows how many years... was so much older, had become so much more frail. Seeing him in his youth, his prime? And standing, no less. It pulls Logan way back to vague old memories and the reminder that the guy was almost a whole different person way back when.

Again, Logan thinks of nothing in this moment but the peace of disengaging. It's a selfish first thought, namely because it's so easy. He doesn't need to deal with the fact Charles is here, Charles doesn't know. Know him, know the future, know what and how it all went down decades in the future. Logan can say not my problem the way he wants to. But the fucking word Sunseeker is in his head. He's still tense, teeth grit, staring at Charles the way he is.]

Little ways back up there. Do I wanna fucking know about the - actually, I don't.

[A gesture was made toward the pig. Then it halted.]

Can't miss it, Chuck.

[ It doesn't take a telepath to know that the man he's come upon along the trail is in distress. The fact that he is doesn't seem to be proving a particularly good aid for him in the present moment. Wave after wave, almost nauseating in intensity. So much that he's having some difficulty focusing through it.

If the surface emotions and thoughts of the man are so turbulent he has no desire at all to delve deeper. Charles finds himself nearly ready to move along on his own with no other issuances but a word strikes him in the cacophony of turmoil: Sunseeker. He pulls in a ragged breath and covers it with a clear of his throat, patting the pig's side with a nod. ]

Of course, thank you. Oh, he's a---[ Person. He finishes quietly to himself as Charles starts up again to go past the other man. A frown turns down the corners of his mouth and he turns. ]

I never gave you my name.

[ It could be a lucky guess perhaps. A turn of phrase? Or just Charles' own stubborn optimism to see the very best in people. Erik can hardly stand it. ]

Yeah, well. Maybe I'm psychic.

[Shouldn't be as pointed as he is, purposely using the word psychic because it's a dig on actual telepathy but he's a salty boy. He's thinking this place is really starting to fuck with him on purpose and when he gets emotional? Upset? Worked up? He channels it out the only way he knows how to anymore - he is kind of a prick. A prick that's hobbling along to try and exit this conversation before he has to commit to it.]

Have a great day.

W--wait I---

[ The incredulous scoff that bubbles up leaves him before he can righty stop it. What an absurd idea. He would know, wouldn't he? Granted, his only recent experience with another telepath was with Emma Frost. Surely it wouldn't feel so vastly different?

He takes a step back towards the direction the other man is going, questions whirling in his own mind. His charge takes that very moment to squeal noisily and he's left at an impasse. He can't leave the poor person like this when they're so close.

Still, there's such a nagging feeling that this man is familiar to him. Then it finally dawns on him. ]

Now, I remember. So you're hardly capable of manners no matter where you are.

[That gets Logan to halt for a second, looking back at Charles with a show of his teeth in not-quite amusement at the absolute hilarity of being called out like this by Charles. This is the Charles he really got to know too, in those later years when things got difficult. When he had to take accusations and sharper words just because he could take it, just like he could take the seizures. He's the survivor, the only one who can bear it and keep going. That's fine.]

That's awful rich coming from you.

[But - this isn't Charles, not the way he becomes when dementia loosens his lips and makes his whole world fragile. This is Charles as he remembers him from years ago. Not quite the strung out seeming jackass he thinks of automatically, but Logan's not as quick to remember the bar before that. It's been a long, long while for him since then. Even still, he knows he's not exactly a stunning first impression so he rolls with it.]

Focus hard enough and you can see which finger I'm holding up in my head.

[It's not fair to be this combative but Logan's still got a lot of anger and frustration in him when it comes to the memory of Charles. The unfairness that comes with how he was still unable to protect him - or, at least, be able to speak back this way without being the total douche in the situation. Which he often still was. It helps curb him away from the feeling of melancholy that sits in his chest upon seeing Charles again - happy, alive. Free.]

Coming from me? You don't know me. We met once if you can even call it a meeting.

[ His raised voice has the pig squirming in his arms. Sighing, he pulls in a deeper breath to find his center again. To regain control of his emotions. He sends a soothing thought towards the animal, and it relaxes, snuffling at the crook of his arm. ]

I hardly need to focus for that. I believe the exact words you used were eloquent enough? You told my friend and I to go fuck ourselves.

[ Though that doesn't explain his age here. He's clearly far older than the man he spoke to so briefly. Spoke, is a stretch. Barely introduced is more like. ]

It was endlessly charming.

Yeah, well. In the world I come from I had the pleasure of gettin' to say it more than once.

[He shouldn't be bickering with Charles - it's just a snappy way of going about it, snarling at the thing that's playing with the scab over his still healing heart. Also, Logan will muse later as he comes to think of it, Charles' always been a pain in the ass. Old age curbs it a bit, but older age brings it right back out. He stares ol' Chuckie right down for a beat, then snorts and looks away.]

Don't worry, pretty sure you say it back. Like I'm sure you want to right now.

You mean I get the pleasure of suffering this atrocious lack of manners more than once? I've overwhelmed with joy.

[ It must look quite ridiculous two grown men standing on a trail in the middle of some dreamscape woods arguing. Were he privy to his future growth and endeavors he would say that at least he manages to stay consistent. They both have that going for them. ]

Actually I just left. [ A quick look to Erik had confirmed that it wasn't worth effort on either of their parts. ] Though that is an incredibly tempting thought.

[ He won't. ]

You'll get your chance in about sixty years, give or take.

[Then Charles'll get to send all the profanities he wants his way, brain addled with a disease no mind on the team had been able to battle. It still hurts to think about, sometimes, remembering the cold lashing of feeling in his gut when Charles would lash out at him in particular. What did you do? Somehow it was easier just to take it, than to try and explain what really happened. What's bound to happen again, maybe. Hm, bitter taste in his mouth all over again.

Logan hisses a sigh.]

But feel free to get it out now, if it'll make your day.

How absolutely thrilling.

[ What exactly has he done to this man to deserve this ire and upset? People seem to come from many times and places here. He could, indeed, be someone from his future. Though for the life of him he can't rightly fathom how that could be. Exactly how does one go from being told to piss off in a bar to wherever this man is at in time?

He takes that back, he doesn't want to know. ]

Yes, because that's the kind of man I am, apparently. You who knows me so well.

[ Charles finds himself regretting the harsh and biting tone his words had taken on. He pulls in a breath to steel himself. ]

I think it might simply be best if we were to go our own ways. [ His teeth grind a moment. ] Thank you for the directions.