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

Rogue | X-Men: Evolution (+CRAU) | OTA

[touchofrogue]

Uncultured Swine

[ There are people in the world who look at bacon and think: Ew, gross. No thank you. Rogue is, sadly, not one of these people. Also, she's new enough in town that she's not expecting anything bad to happen from consuming a delicious cheeseburger topped with bacon, other than having to exercise with a bit more fervor the next day.

She is entirely unprepared for the slow transformation of 'walking upright mutant person' into 'my what big ears you have and now suddenly you are on all fours and oinking' sort of person. She is entirely unamused, and the penny has dropped as to why people in the restaurant were talking, loudly, about a stream that you need to get to, up in the mountains... with company.

So! That restaurant you were about to go into? It's suddenly blocked by a pig. Trust her, she is doing you a favor, as she tries to herd you toward some of the loudly talking NPCs discussing curses and magic rivers. Come to think of it, there sure are a lot of pigs around, aren't there? Maybe thinking twice will stop you from making the same mistake. Maybe you could do her a favor too? ]

Good Endures

A: Spinning Wheels

[ The first time she sees a spinning wheel, she gives it a w i d e berth. A wide berth. The last time she became sleeping beauty and people kissed her to wake her up, there was a string of knocked out rescuers in her wake. Unfortunately, compulsions are compulsions, and she circles back around to it. She reaches out to touch it - she can't help herself - but her thick leather gloves keep the needle from pricking her finger. The compulsion, however, has been satisfied, and she's finally able to back away.

She does kick it with a muttered: ]Take that! [ as she backs away from it, hoping that by knocking it down sideways on the ground, she's saved another poor soul not similarly equipped. It's truly sad that as she walks away, the spinning wheel rights itself. ]

B:Apples

[ As soon as she sees the apple, she knows she shouldn't eat it. For one, she didn't put it there. For another - spinning wheel? Okay. Poison apple? Probably. She does not want to eat the apple. She recognizes the compulsion to eat the apple as something that is not her own. Rogue is very, very good at resisting her desires; she's had a lot of practice. She puts the apple down.

She puts it down, she walks away... but oh, it is gnawing in the back of her mind. You may encounter her: 1) when she is doing her level best to resist the compulsion, and may therefore be somewhat distracted irritable or 2) when the compulsion has won and she has taken a bite, you can catch her throwing the apple far away from her with a: ]

I'm really starting not to like the food in this place.

Wildcard
Anything else? Hit me up!

A

[threelayers]

[The show got itself a response from someone in the local audience. A slow, methodical golf clap came from a pink and brown haired young woman who was decidedly shorter than Rogue was. She was watching the display with a bemused expression on her face

As she saw the mutant departing her, Neo is tempted to and falls to the urge to point back the way that Rogue had just come from while silently snickering a little. Yep. Pyrrhic victories weren't going to do a whole lot of good around here, but it was fun to see someone expressing the same irritation she herself felt.

Least she didn't get pricked. That was even more annoying, Neo had begun to find out.]

[touchofrogue]

[ Oh yay, an audience. With opinions. She turns to face the other young woman and jerks a thumb over her shoulder toward the (she thinks) capsized spinning wheel. ]

Lose somethin'?

[ Yeah, that's right, she's calling you a witch. But, you know, you started with the golf-clapping and Rogue has never been known for her tact and sensitivity. On the plus side, at least it wasn't an out and out 'piss off', more a volleying back of another layer of sarcasm. ]

[threelayers]

[She was clearly amused despite the tone that Rogue took. Why not? It was funny. It didn't really bother her. She'd never known for her own tact, though not being able to talk could help avoid getting in trouble with her own mouth. Walking towards Rogue, she shrugged and gestured again towards the wheel before putting her hand down and resting her umbrella on her shoulder, giving a little shake of her head.

Her head cocked and she raised an eyebrow, curious to see how long before Rogue actually looked in that direction and saw what she saw.]

[touchofrogue]

[ She only hesitates for a second, really, because she doesn't want to be caught in that compulsion again. But, she figures 1) Still wearing gloves, so it's probably okay and 2) the compulsion doesn't seem to be impacting the other girl, so maybe once it's been used up it... needs to recharge?

...or, you know, her initial volley was correct and it's all part of a Diabolic Plot by the woman in front of her, but you know, she doubts that.

Rogue looks behind her, notices the Magically Upright Spinning Wheel, and siiiiiighs. ]

This is just going to be one of those days, isn't it.

[ She gingerly approaches the spinning wheel, and relieved that she is not feeling a compulsion, just picks it up and glances around. Maybe she can hide it? She looks back at the other girl. ]

This happen often?

[threelayers]

[So, funny story? Rogue wasn't the only one with compulsions around here. A second or two after the girl had picked that thing up, there was short stuff walking right up and pricking her... damnit. Well, thankfully her own gloves had staved off any blood too. They were both lucky this time around, though she was frowning in irritation. Damn this place, that was supposed to do something, wasn't it?

Oh right, the girl with the white stripe'd said something hadn't she? Glancing over at her, she thought for a second, remembered what it is and smirked before nodding. Definitely one of those days.

The other question, though, got more of a frown and her tapping her lips. She wasn't quite sure what to answer or what 'this' meant. What, the spinning wheels? Those were new. Random bullshit? That was every day. Random bullshit recreating itself to find new targets? Hard to say, but probably often enough to be a thing.

She settled finally... on a very visible shrug. She wasn't quite sure.]

B2

[droptheious]

[Varian learn fast not to trust the food here- unless it came in your blessings basket or a Sleeper cooked it, there was always a 65.8% chance it was cursed. The odds just weren't that great. He watches Rogue toss the apple away, and morbid curiosity sets in. He wonders who this will affect her? Would it be gauche to pull out his notebook and take notes? Probably.

He does it anyway because of course, he does. ]

Yeah, food here is terrible. How do you feel? Any effects yet?

[touchofrogue]

[ A muscle in Rogue's cheek pulses and she has to take a breath to contain her temper. She's already irritated that she had to give in to the compulsion to eat the (now splattered against the ground) apple. On the plus side, the head-aching-gnawing compulsion is gone so... yay. ]

Well, I haven't passed into death-like sleep yet, so that's a plus. [ She turns and gives him (and his notebook) a scathing glance. It's like a 7 on the Rogue scale of Disdain and Irritation. ] Who are you?

[droptheious]

[Varian completely ignores the scathing glance. He's hung around with Cassandra, okay. She has a scathing glance that can kill a man. He makes an 'mmm' noise, scribbling it down. ]

For now, anyway. Let me know if you feel woozy. [He taps the side of his notebook.] Uh... so I can get you to some help. Not just... for this.

[But also partly for this.]

I'm Varian. You new?

[touchofrogue]

[ The picture of comfort, he is. ]

Yeah. [ You're terrible at this. Which honestly makes her feel a little better; she tends to be terrible at this stuff too, and it's a lot easier to deal with someone obnoxious than it is someone nice. Still, she manages to hold back the commentary, because if he is doing this to her... ] You see what happens when someone else eats one of those apples?

[droptheious]

[Everyone benefits from having a Varian in their life.

He's the worst at this. How do you social? He doesn't know. It's a msytery.]

Not yet. I've observed what happens when people prick their finger on the spinning wheels- but I haven't seen anyone eat the apple yet. Once I know the effects, I can try and figure out a way to counteract them.

Spinning Wheels

[hollow_man]

[Goths have an unerring radar system that allows them to find the one other person in a room that might share an appreciation for music that involves a lot of wailing about darkness and the futility of life. So that might be why Jonothon is present to see Rogue boot a spinning wheel.

He walks a little closer - but only a little - and stands there with his hands in the pockets of his scuffed black leather jacket. Gosh her hair reminds him of someone, but damned if he can recall who.]

~Do you make a habit of beating helpless antiques, luv?~ he asks via telepathy - he lacks any other way of speaking.

!!!

[touchofrogue]

[ It is true, Rogue is deeply attached to her Metallica and Garbage.

At the unexpected mental voice - and she's got her share of them, but this one is distinctly new - Rogue jolts straight before limbering in a way that is more a coil than a relaxing. She turns slowly around until she spots the only likely suspect -- mostly due to the fact that he's staring right at her. Why is his mouth covered?

She props a hand on her hip and sends him a long, even stare. ]

I tend ta object to uninvited mental intrusions, yeah.

[ She's been away from home long enough that she doesn't automatically think 'mutant', and at this point she's known more magic people with vaguely British accents than magic people with other accents, so she doesn't automatically think 'Earth,' either. On the other hand, she's also not automatically thinking this is an attack. It was a very surface communication and it didn't feel hostile... ]

:D

[hollow_man]

[He's used to the reaction; even though he's spent years living among other mutants, he's still had to interact with perfectly normal people who aren't used to just having a voice plunked into their minds. Amazon delivery drivers, for example... though they don't actually seem to care. They've clearly seen too much.

The accent niggles at something in his memory again, but he dismisses it as simply reminding him of his ex girlfriend. If he knew that his own was making it seem likely that he was a wizard, he'd probably be torn between offense and amusement.]

~By spinning wheels? Or do you mean me?~ [He taps the leather bindings wrapped around his face.] ~Can't talk, sorry. Can't read yer mind either, don't worry.~

[touchofrogue]

[ Her gaze follows his hand as he taps the leather bindings wrapped around his face.

Her brow furrows. ]

Both, though I'm not threatenin' ta knock you down. What do you mean you can't read my mind?

[ How is he speaking IN her mind if he can't READ her mind? ]

[hollow_man]

~Which is much appreciated, luv.~

[He risks another few steps closer, not convinced she isn't going to kick him, and leans over to peer at the spinning wheel.]

~Never got the knack of it. Are you from here? You sound like yer from the American south, yeah?~

Piggy business

[kinetically_charged]

[The cook side of him was thrilled at the idea on being able to stock up on cheap food items, especially ones that showed up so much in cooking from back home. The other side does question such a good thing, especially considering what kind of place this all was. Weird was a bit of an understatement about this all, but Remy's use to weird. He's been through much more than this in his lifetime, just normally not all crammed together in the same place and time.

So it's while looking over his options and weighing up if worth the risk to try that a certain white streak catches his attention. It always does, whether it's Rogue or not. Look, he knows he's got a type, it can't be helped. Though said white streak normally isn't teamed up with rather large pig ears and whatever else may be going on there right now. Nor the whole goth thing, but that was another set of questions to come.

Firstly, considering how this is all going, he's curious to confirm something.] Rogue?

[touchofrogue]

[ To be fair, Remy's caught her in more embarrassing circumstances once or twice. But that doesn't mean she's exactly thrilled to see him.

...except she is thrilled to see him. ]

Remy?

[ And wow, he's older. But she'd know those eyes of his anywhere. Though she told herself not to get her hopes up too high -- a place like this, it didn't mean he was the Remy who'd become one of her closest friends.

But that didn't matter. There wasn't any version of Remy who wouldn't help pretty much any girl in a fix like this.

Her hands abruptly turn into hooves. ]

Don't eat the bacon.

[kinetically_charged]

[It was her. A version of her he hadn't seen before but, let face it, he was well aware that there were universes out there. And hey! She isn't trying to take a swing at him, so that's a good start.

Let's see if it will stay that way as Remy bit down on the inside of his lip, trying not to say anything, but really can't stop himself.] So ya house made of straw, sticks, or stones? [But seriously, no, this isn't good. And also confirms his worries.] So guessin' that's why the meat be so cheap right now, hein?

[touchofrogue]

Ha, ha. [ He was never funny when he thought he was being funny. ] I'll do more than huff an' puff if you're just gonna stand there an' make jokes.

[ She rolls her eyes. ]

You gonna help me or not.

[kinetically_charged]

[Her reply gets a full grin from then, then yes, ok, focus. Time seems to be a factor in this all.] Absolutely.

'nd how do I do that? [He hasn't been around to hear that talk yet, or not in entirety to link it to the whole eating contaminated meat thing. Just picking up bits and pieces here that he's heard in the background.]

uncultured swine.

[broozes]

[ Whoa. ]

[ She can at least tell it's not ordinary, no animal has ever so determinedly herded her anywhere. Brunnhilde's hand rests briefly on the hilt of her sword, her thoughts not wandering to any of her daggers. She's not out hunting — there was an appetising smell coming from the restaurant. ]

You're on a mission, aren't you?

[ Her voice is airy, but amused. ]

Where are you off to?

[touchofrogue]

[ It's an unfortunate fact that pigs can't speak. Rogue, then, is being forced to rely on laws of coincidence, and suddenly very talkative NPCs. She does her best to direct the woman in front of her to be in prime, evesdropping position and then gives a very definitive grunt after the words 'curse' and 'break'. ]

[broozes]

[ Brunnhilde turns her head — why the hell not, she shows up here and this is her life now. At least it has the benefit of being slightly cuter than most of the others she's run into, on Sakaar. ]

[ — but magical curses are almost blissfully familiar, and they orient her perfectly. She can't help but huff. ]

So you're cuter than this, are you?

[ Canting her head sharply, looking for the path, ]

Let's find out.

[touchofrogue]

[ Rogue agrees; she is much cuter than a pig and is happy to prove it.

Thank goodness this woman is... ridiculously strong. Because she is certainly not at her lightest at the moment. ]