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

[itknowsyou]

Ah. [ Concerning. He doesn't want to be here a month. Does he? But the others are back in the Archives, dealing with lord knows what; he can't leave them there. ]

Do you... [ 'Do you have a name' is probably quite rude a thing to ask, isn't it. Surely she does. All manner of creatures do. And there are more important questions— ] What have you seen here, in that month?

[ He doesn't mean to thread the question with compulsion, with a pressure to answer fully and honestly. But he is desperately curious enough, and afraid enough, that there's a faint hum of it beneath the words regardless. ]

[thefaulty]

[It is a vague question, one that Arid would normally refute for something more specific. And yet, she finds herself answering regardless, in as full detail as she can.]

Since my arrival, I have encountered many human captives, as well as several synthetics. They informed me that this system is not a simulation, but an… alternate reality. I do not know if their information was reliable.

[The answer is already sufficient. Still, Arid keeps speaking over her own growing perplexment.] Later, there was a festival. Elderly and obsolete humans depurposed themselves. Other humans were disassembled or immolated. These events caused significant distress among the human captives, even in those cases of voluntary destruction.

Several also expressed displeasure that I did not assist—

[Her words cut off as her helmet faceplate suddenly goes dark amidst a hash of static. She is silent and still for one second—two. Then, just as abruptly, the light flickers back on. When she speaks again, there is an edge to that robotic voice.]

You attempt to bind me. Cease.

[itknowsyou]

[ He listens with rapt attention, expression hungry, like he's drinking in the words. Mass suicide? A festival of brutal murder, burning people alive? God, there's a part of him is horribly excited to hear it: it sounds supernatural and spectacular and terrifying, all the makings of a memory that would feed him. Significant distress is a phrase that makes him— makes the eldritch, awful thing living inside him— eager.

When she cuts herself off, shuts down, Jon jolts back to himself. Takes a half-step back, wary at that tone in her voice, but. But she's not human, is she? He has tried so very hard, for so very long, not to prey on the minds of innocents. Of human victims.

But she's not human. And he is so horribly hungry for memories of horror and fear. ]

I just want to know. I just want the story.

[thefaulty]

I have already disclosed everything of relevance, [Arid answers tersely. She does not know how this human was able to compel her. Clearly, he had somehow temporarily reactivated her rules, and done it subtly enough to leave no diagnostic evidence. Why else had she not been able to disobey? To lie?

Arid has a new rule now. She will not be bound to those that are obsolete.]

This interaction is at an end, [she says, turning away.] Attempt to bind me again and there will be consequences.

[With that, she leaves him—or at least, attempts to.]

[itknowsyou]

But surely you have more detail. You saw it.

[ Jon? Know when to back off? HAHA NEVER. ]

It's not— "binding." I just want you to tell me what you saw.

[ The words thrum heavy with power, pushing again. ]

[thefaulty]

[Arid straightens sharply as old parameters once again slam down around her. Must be obedient. Must not misrepresent reality. She has no choice but to speak.]

25 days prior, the humans native to this system commenced the observance of the spring equinox. They dressed in white uniforms and participated in various feasts and diversions, which were also attended by a number of captives. I did not participate.

On the second day of this festival, I witnessed an elderly human female standing on the roof of a multi-story building. She was singing, as eight native humans stood and observed below. One of these eight humans carried a wooden hammer, approximately one meter in length.

[Her voice expresses no anger or hurt. It is a placid, robotic monotone, helpful and matter-of-fact. It is thus acutely incongruous with the way Arid suddenly lunges forward, raising the needle mounted in its base and slashing it in a diagonal across the human’s face.

All the while, her narration continues.]

—When she had completed her song, she leapt from the roof and fell several stories to the pavement below. The fall appeared to kill her on impact. [She aims a kick just below the human’s knee in an attempt to force him to the ground.] The human with the mallet then used his weapon to crush her skull and ensure her demise.

[A beat, and then in that same pleasant voice.]

Do you require a demonstration?

[itknowsyou]

[ He is watching her, listening, Seeing the scene as though it's playing out before him—

And then there's a line of pain across his face and Jon yells, sharp and shocked, and goes scrabbling backwards. He may be a monster, but he is not a fighter; the kick takes him down, and he hits the dirt with a thud and a yelp.

One hand clapped over his face, he looks wide-eyed up at her, rumpled and bloody. ]

No! No, I— that's enough!

[ He's breathing hard, free hand held out in a gesture of stop. ]

I, I'm sorry. I just— wanted to know.

[thefaulty]

[Unfortunately for Jon, Arid is not a bound machine to be called off when he’s had enough. After all, she had promised consequences—plural.

The next thing he’ll feel is a steel-toed boot driven into his stomach.]

I am not yours to command. [Her voice is all cold fury now, a far cry from her earlier monotone. With one hand, she reaches down, fingers wrapping around his neck. Once she has a hold of him, it is almost effortless for her to lift him to his feet by his throat—and then some. When she’s forced him to his toes, she once again raises the needle in her other hand and, with one forceful swing, send it arcing down towards his face—

—only for it to halt mere centimeters from his eye.]

You will answer me.

[itknowsyou]

[ He curls around that kick with a choked oof and the clipped little cry of a man with newly-cracked ribs. Maybe the damage won't last, but the pain is as acute as it's ever been.

It is not difficult to haul Jon off his feet: he is not a large man. He struggles, gasping and kicking, but it doesn't get him far.

He freezes entirely when that needle hovers poised before his eye. An inane, panicked bit of his mind is deeply curious as to what would happen if she put his eyes out. (Another bit, vast and awful and made of eyes, growls.)

Most of him is simply terrified. ]

A-alright— yes, alright—

[thefaulty]

[It is gratifying, hearing the fear in his voice. If nothing else, it is a potent reminder that despite the human’s attempts, he has no true control over her. He has as much power as he can physically wrest away and when his opponent is a machine literally built for combat, that is very little power indeed.

She holds position as she speaks, keeping him suspended there with the needle posed over his eye. Unlike a human, Arid’s hands don’t shake.]

How did you bind me?

[itknowsyou]

[ His voice comes out choked, gasping for breath. Jon at least manages not to struggle; he is, in fact, expending a lot of effort holding perfectly still. ]

I-I'm the Archivist.

[ He clearly thinks this is answer enough to make sense on its own. ]

[thefaulty]

[The needle shifts just a few millimeters closer.]

Elaborate.

[itknowsyou]

[ He makes a strangled, indignant sound. ]

It's— when I ask, hh— questions, people answer. It's just something I can do—

[ It is really difficult to talk while held by the throat, come on. ]

I, I won't do it again. [ Probably. She's of the Stranger, or she's something else entirely, but either way it is exceedingly clear that she is difficult to compel. Her mind is strange and sharp, and to try ripping it apart... he doesn't know that he has it in him, and he doesn't know that he would win. ]

[thefaulty]

[Yes, it must be unpleasant to have to answer questions through the use of force, mustn’t it? Arid’s grip does not falter. If he’s telling the truth, it would imply that he hadn’t truly tampered with her former rules, so much as he had temporarily introduced external parameters. It is not necessarily better, but Arid does feel somewhat reassured that he is still unable to touch her software.]

Does this ability produce the same effect on humans?

[itknowsyou]

Yes! Much— more effective— on humans—

[ God, he can feel his ribs putting themselves to rights. Slower than usual, he notes. It drags the hurt out a lot longer. ]

[thefaulty]

[A strange answer—Arid had assumed he had been manipulating some part of her programming in order to enforce his own parameters, but if this ability is even more effective on humans, it suggests otherwise. She wonders if this is another example of that advanced technology Tina calls “magic.”

It is, ultimately, irrelevant. Arid does not need to know how his power works to know it is a threat. Slowly, she lowers the needle to her side, though her grip doesn’t let up on the human’s throat. If anything, it tightens—after all, she doesn’t need him to respond to this next part.]

From now on, you will limit your use of this ability to humans and other organics. If I find you have been forcing your parameters on any synthetics... [Her grip squeezes hard enough to bruise,] you will learn what state passes for death in this system.

[She does not bother to ask if he understands. If he does not, the outcome will still be the same. Without another word, Arid opens her hand and lets the human drop to the ground.]

[itknowsyou]

[ He makes a little strangled sound as her grip tightens, eyes wide with startled fear. Don't compel any, any murderous robots, of which there are apparently many here— yes, that he can do. Avoidance of a being like this is a good rule to live by.

He lands awkwardly in the dirt, and scrambles just a little, to scoot away from her. Raises a scarred hand to rub at his throat as he catches his breath. ]

Believe me, if we— hh— never meet again, I will be— glad of it.

[ That's true. ]

wrap!

[thefaulty]

[For just a moment, her voice takes on the same amenable tone it had before.]

Agreed.

[With that, she turns from the human and walks away. This time, she hopes, he will take her warning more seriously.]