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

[ 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?

Edited 2020-04-05 17:33 (UTC)

[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.]

[ Rogue does make a valiant effort, at first, to move the spinning wheel out of the way. But on second thought, and seeing the other girl's gloves, it was probably better to just... get it over with. She holds it steady and is relieved when nothing else much seems to happen.

Around now Rogue notices that the other girl... really hasn't said very much. Her lips press together once as she considers asking, but that's not really the kind of rude she wants to be. They're communicating well enough, and it's been years since she learned sign - no way of knowing if that would even translate now anyway. ]

Well, it won't stay down and I figure breakin' it is pointless, but do ya know a place I can stash it that's pretty much out of the way?

[She looked at the girl for a moment before staring at the spinning wheel and frowning again. What? She wanted to take this away so that nobody else got in trouble with it? That seemed like the biggest waste of time she could imagine right now.

Looking around to see if she could find another example of why, she didn't see another spinning wheel handy, but she knew she'd seen three today, minimum. Pointing at it, she shook her head and held up two fingers, gesturing off vaguely in the direction she had last seen them before shrugging. Besides, she really didn't see a location, and she half expected that carting it away would just mean another appeared afterwards.

As for sign language, oh man there'd be some amusing reactions if she tried. Neo, for her part, wasn't doing anything more complicated than silent hand signals like you might see in a military op.]

[ ...okaaaaaaaay. ]

So you're sayin' they're just popping up everywhere.

[ She gets it, useless gestures. But little bits of defiance help Rogue keep her sanity.

She shrugs. ]

I was taught ta clean up my messes.

[ So, no place to hide it? She'll just... walk over and jam it between the two nearest buildings. If another one spawns afterwards, so be it. But it will probably require a bucket load of coffee to attempt to drown the aggravation. ]

[She snapped her fingers and gave Rogue the finger gun salute when she said that. Yep, she was picking up on it, and if she wanted to clean up her 'mess' that was her call. Neo felt like waiting for a moment, perhaps because of mild curiosity about the young woman, or because some tiny after effect of touching the needle. It was hard to say.

When she caught sight of her right after dropping the thing off, Neo motioned with her head, pointing down the street. She wasn't psychic, but there was a bar not far that way, and she could use a drink.]

[ She glances around the immediate area to see if the spinning wheel moves or... spawns... or... something. But it seems they've got a small avenue of escape.

So, sure! Why not? She'll follow Neo along to... wherever they're going. ]

So. [ Great start, Rogue. Small talk really isn't her thing. ] Where are we goin'?

[As they walked, she gestured towards one of the buildings down the street. The sign said "Hair of the Dog" in front of it. Quite the ... colorful name for a gin joint, wasn't it? But she was feeling generous for the moment. What were a few drinks?

Almost skipping just a bit ahead, the shorter girl made her way towards the door, glancing back and over her shoulder to wink at Rogue. She did a tipping motion with one hand. That would be clear enough, if the smell of old, stale booze wasn't indication enough already.]

[ ...while the "Hair of the Dog" wasn't exactly a dive, the name combined with the stale booze smell had Rogue wondering about the girl who led her there. Appearances could be deceiving, but with the whole... steam punk/Victorian-esque get up, Rogue had anticipated a place without sticky floors. This place was definitely the sort of place to have sticky floors.

Oh well.

She shrugs. ]

Sure, why not?

[ She walks in and glances around curiously. ]

[She certainly walked like someone familiar with this old, dingy little dive. The clothes she was wearing didn't really fit in, but the barkeep just grunted when she slid up to the bar and dusted a seat off before sitting down and resting her umbrella over on the counter. She tapped the bar and pointed to something amber, glancing over at her to see if she wanted anything different or the same.

Either way, she took her fluid off of her wrist and tapped on it for a second before turning it to face Rogue. She was using it a bit like a chalkboard to pass a message along. Some things were hard to do without text, after all.]

If you want the good stuff,
you'll have to drink something disgusting first.
Your call.

[ Well, either she's super committed to the pretending to be deaf thing, or this was genuinely the way she communicates. Rogue is not opposed to eating the frog if there's something in the end that she wants, but any 'good stuff' in a place like this probably would put hair on a dog. And even though she can hold her liquor, she doesn't like to drop any ounce of control in a strange environment. ]

I'll take a Pepsi.

[ She points to the nice, canned, and hopefully safe to drink favorite soda vice. ]

[She snapped her fingers and the man brought her a drink before she rested her elbow on the bar and raised her glass in a little toast, shrugging. If the girl wanted soda, soda she could have. It was just about the same price, knowing how he overpriced all the bottled drinks. She took a sip and settled with her legs crossed, looking over at the woman.

Admittedly, it was Rogue who'd be driving this conversation. But all the same, she made an idle motion with her free hand, her eyebrow raised. Did the girl have questions? She was clearly newer than even Neo was.]

[ Very new, yes. She takes the Pepsi and inclines it toward the other woman in a lazy salute of gratitude. ]

What's your name?

[She reached into a pocket and offered up what might have been the most stereotypical thing under the circumstances. Hey, Rogue, want candy from a stranger? Of course, it wasn't about the candy. She pushed it along the bar and tapped the little name on the candy with a wink and a tip of the hat.

Yeah, her name was that obvious.]

[ She blinks. Okay. Her gaze goes to Neapolitan's hair for a moment. ]

Did you give yourself that name?

[A short, firm shake of the head. No, she hadn't picked out the name anymore than her odd hair and eye color. That had been Roman, but she wasn't feeling like explaining all of that.

she gestured towards Rogue, raising an eyebrow, waiting to see if she'd get a name in return, not that she'd be calling it out anytime soon.]

[ Huh. Mean parents. ]

Rogue.

[ She opens her bottle of soda. And, although not much of a conversationalist herself, offers the rare follow-up question. ]

You been here long?

[A shake of the head. She held up one finger. Admittedly, she figured that 'not long but knew the bars' would translate to one week or one month, and either way, that was about the same in her book. What was the difference between three weeks in the grand scheme of things?

She didn't bother to ask if Rogue was new here. That was pretty obvious. She reached up and tapped her chin for just a second before taking out on her phone.]

Watch your back around the locals.

[ ...interesting.

She bobs her chin in her direction. ]

Did they try something with you?

[A shake of her head. She reached for the brim of her bowler hat, making sure that Rogue was looking in her direction as she took it off and set it on the bar. The process put the hat in front of her face for a moment, and when Rogue could see it again, there was a different face staring back at her, still feminine but with green eyes, but her normal hair. She'd kept the transformation subtle enough that it wouldn't be obvious to anyone but Rogue.

She chuckled silently, winking. They weren't going to try anything on her, in her opinion, if she had the kinds of tricks she did.]

[ Shapeshifting immediately makes her think of Mystique, which immediately makes her tense.

But after a moment's reflection, she realizes that Mystique is far too fond of the sound of her own voice to try a disguise like this. So she takes a quick sip of her soda to wet a suddenly dry throat and nods. ] Nice trick.

The pastel -- everything -- is creepy enough as it is. I mean, fashion is one thing, but matchin' everything is just a special kind of hell.

[Tension was normal as reactions went. She did a little handwaving to cover the transformation back to her normal appearance, not wanting to waste energy with that particular trick right then. A quick nod and she was grinning away.

Hmmm. She shrugged. Taking her phone and tapping onto it, she turned it around like a tablet so that Rogue could read at her leisure. Silence was all well and good, but this thought was more complicated.]

Born with my hair and eyes like this.
Figured I might as well just own the flavor.
The trick is to own whatever you do wear until you make it yours.
Confidence is better than any clothes.

[ ...ah.

Rogue smiles a little wryly. She gets that. ]

I didn't mean you. I meant... that. [ She gestures at an all pastel blue Townsperson, all the old fashioned clothes matching the hair in something that manages to be truly disturbing to her Goth soul. ] There's a big difference between owning a look [ she nods into Neapolitan's direction, because she certainly does that ] and being owned by it.

[ She tucks a strand of white hair behind her ear. ]

It's never fun, to be marked as different from day one. You're right, it's better to own it.

[ One of the reasons why she went Goth was to get people to shut up about her hair. ]

[She made an 'ah' expression and nodded, glancing at the locals in the bar and shrugging more to herself than anything. They were barely people. Like carbon copies of people, pastel idiocy that didn't merit much thought, but easy to blend into the middle of.

Her eye glanced towards Rogue and her lip thinned fractionally. She nodded once, curtly. It wasn't fun to be different. It wasn't fun for people to be unable to really understand, and the ease of it here? It felt... weird to her at times. Worst was having so much to say, but the one she wanted to say it to wasn't here.
She gestured up towards the white streak in Rogue's hair and gave another nod. She liked it.]

[ It is weird, isn't it. As horrible as these places are, the people in it tend to be a lot more accepting than the people back at her home, at least.

She nods back in response.

Then, realizing the conversation was probably about to lag, she takes another sip of her drink and decides to ask what she was curious about. ]

Did you always have that power?

APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

YOU UNCULTURED SWINE

GOOD ENDURES

Character Arrival

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sorry, got stuck here for a bit

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