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

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.

Edited 2020-04-06 03:09 (UTC)

[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.]

[ Just on cue, two NPCs walk by. They are talking, loudly, about the conditions to break the curse.

Rogue's expression is unamused. She waits, crossing her arms, as they give literally all the particulars: Someone has to carry you up the mountain to a magic stream. Animals will avoid it, because it's unnaturally cold. That someone has to sing to you while you drink. It'll take a few hours, but you should be right as rain...

She waits as they walk on by and then gives an exasperated sigh. ]

I've been hearin' that ever since I ate lunch. You'd think they could have started sayin' somethin' 'bout a curse before lettin' a gal order a bacon cheeseburger.

[Ok, well, at least they knew what to do. Going to take a bit to do, but he certainly will for her.] Wishin' I had hikin' boots on me now though. [But giving her a smile.] But may as well get started, hein? Only goin' to get worse if we gotta do this in the dark.

[Then after a pause Remy says more so than asks,] 'm assumin' ya can't fly. [Since she didn't offer that to get them started. It certainly would shorten this all, or at least the getting to the mountain part.]

...no.

[ Not a Remy from her world, then. Not unless he was far, far in the future.

That kinda sucked. A lot.

But some things still seemed to hold true. At least he knew, well, 'her.' ]

Might as well walk while I've got my own two feet. [ A disgusted (and slightly creeped out, to be honest with you) glance at the hooves that were now there in the place of her hands. She is trying very hard not to think about that. She turns and starts walking. ] Guess I'll owe ya one when it's done.

[Noted and filed away, and Remy has to wonder if this Rogue had any extra powers. Which, you know, good for her if it means she hasn't run into Carol. Yet. A quick glance over her appearance also didn't give away if she was wearing a power dampener, so he's also assuming her powers haven't gone into overdrive like his wife's had, which was good. It had been a tough time for Rogue, he hated to think other versions of her going through it too.

She was so young...]

Good idea. If I gotta carry ya all the way, don't wanna tire m' arms out before we even get to the mountain. [The old carrying in his arms might get a little tough after a time, but they had other options. Funnily enough Remy doesn't think she would appreciate him throwing her over a shoulder or in a fireman carry. Which means- Remy unable to stop a bark of a laugh escaping as he considered the other option, not able to stop himself from saying it.] So I guess, ah, gonna have to piggyback ya up there. [Sorry Rogue, really, he is.]

[ She gives him one of her flattest and most unamused looks.

And sprouts a tail. She feels it, feels her posture change - hunch - to accommodate. ]

Yeah, if I don't wind up not having arms an' legs first. Kinda hard to help ya 'long with that without 'em. C'mon, Sir Talksalot.

[ She starts walking again. Definitely scared and a little freaked out. She does NOT want to turn into a pig, but the way things are going she probably will... and then she'll have to rely on this strange Remy to help her... ugh, this place was the Worst. ]

[Right! Let's get going, there were on a very short clock by the look of it, Remy quickening his step to both catch up with her and to try get them both motivated to get moving. Along the way he also stops anyone who seems to know the story of that mountain lake, trying to get more detailed information on exact locations and routes, anything that will help them out.

Remy was getting more and more concerned as they got and closer to the start of the path, checking on her every now and then to see how she was doing. Look, it may be annoying... but she was also turning into a pig.]

[ She was definitely turning into a pig. This was, definitely, one of the worst days of her life, and she'd had a lot of bad days.

Time to turn to one of her favorite distractions: ]

So. How old are you, anyway? 40? 42?

[That. Stopped him instantly in his step. A moment of tension then a sigh. It shouldn't get to him but... ok it does, alright? A lot.] 37 actually. [The tone behind that answer wasn't anger, but it was a mild annoyance, mixed in with tired, mixed in with a 'I know what you're trying'. Banter was more than a normal way of communication between them, and in a way Remy's glad this Rogue feels comfortable enough around him to do so. The fact that even if they were different they clearly had some sort of friendship going on to be able to chat like this and it not feeling strange.

Just... did she have to go after his vanity?

Then again, she's the one turning into a pig, he supposes he can give her some leeway. A bit.]

[ His vanity is the biggest target in the room! And likely a universal consistency.

...but he wasn't playing back, didn't bluster. So. Fine. She'll do small talk instead - sure, she's crap at it, but she always could talk to Remy.

To any Remy. ]

Congratulations. [ It's said sincerely. ] I didn't think any of us would make it that long.

Most of us haven't actually, but X-Men seem to have a skill of comin' back from the dead. [Especially if you're a certain Jean Grey.] Not all, sadly, [There were always those lost, both team members and students.] But some of us been lucky.

Died at least twice m'self. I don't recommend it.

...no. I reckon not.

[ She didn't see any reason to get into what she may or may not have survived. ]