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

[ ...well, okay, mutant + gloves probably does mean that he's at least heard of her.

One time, she met fanboys. There was a whole conversation about who would win in a fight, her or Logan. It was a weird day.

And the telepathy and the whole... mouth covered in straps thing... ]

Sure. I'll buy that. [ An eyebrow goes up ] Is that gonna be a problem?

[ She has been... a lot of things, even in her own life. She doesn't want to be responsible for her actions in another reality too. ]

[He shakes his head, and the corners of his eyes crinkle up just a tad.] ~Not a one. Where I'm from you could kick my arse without breaking a sweat, and somehow I feel like that's a constant across all worlds. Besides, we were on the same side where I'm from.~

[Careful to keep his distance so as not to be creepy (well, creepier) he starts moving away from the spinning wheel.] ~Do you think there's a way out of here? Maybe a road or something that leads out of town?~

[ It is always nice to hear a flattering assessment of one's abilities; always nice to hear of a tough version of yourself somewhere.

And, of course, he asks a very good question. But this is her third go around in a place like this, and she highly doubts they'll be able to get out of here - worth a shot, of course, but she doubts it. Therefore to her, there's another, far more relevant bit of information. She smiles. ]

You're an X-Man?

[ Unless he's from that horrible world where she never broke free from Mystique... There would always be a connection with another mutant, but an X-Man, no matter the where or when, was family. ]

[Okay, she's smiling. That's a good sign.]

~Yeah. Chamber. Graduating class of... whenever it was.~ [Sometimes it feels like he's still eighteen, living in the basement at the school. Other times - like now - it feels a hundred years ago.]

~I'm not a particularly good one, but I'm occasionally useful.~

[ Something in her cringes at the word useful. As someone who has been used, over and over, for her abilities, she doesn't like of thinking of people in those terms. Though it's good to know what someone can do - the risks inherently involved in their abilities. Normally, she doesn't like to pry, but hey - he knows her. She nods toward him. ]

What are your powers?

[He glances around, knowing from experience that being careless can get him into a lot of trouble. Seeing nobody, he tugs down the edge of the leather wrapped around his face. Hidden beneath is an ever-changing mass of light.]

~I blow things up. Including myself.~ [He says the latter part dryly.]

[ She's seen a lot, but that she hasn't seen. She doesn't keep the surprise off her face; and don't try to mitigate it. It wouldn't be fair to. That incredibly sucks. ]

Yikes. [ Her brows wing together in concern, processing. She hopes that he doesn't need to blow himself up in order to do this. ] Ouch.

[ Definitely dangerous and... also, oddly beautiful. Not something that she wants to mess about absorbing, either. ]

...there's nothin' else I can say right now which isn't incredibly awkward or -- small.

[He pulls his leathers back up. There is absolutely no getting around the initial stare - everyone, no matter how kind, has that instant when they have to process what they're seeing. It never gets easier to see.

Still, she isn't glossing it over and he doesn't see pity in her eyes. That's something.]

~Yeah. So that's it, really. And the limited telepathy. You've got the touch thing, yeah? Any of the, uh, flying and being able to bench press a tank?~

[ She looks down at her gloves. She can't not look down at her gloves. But it's only for a moment. ]

...yeah, I've got the touch thing.

[ She shrugs. ] Not unless I've touched the Hulk recently.

[ Actually, she'd been working on that... not touching the Hulk, that was always a rough ride, but working on accessing the psyches in her mind in order to get them to shut up by draining their excess power. It was something of... mixed success. And nothing to be counted on in times like this. ]

Your version flies?

[ That is her favorite power. She's jealous. ]

[Generally speaking, not touching the Hulk is a great idea.

He nods.]

~Yeah. Got some powers permanently. As I understand it, it was not a pleasant experience for her.~

[He doesn't know details, but it's fairly commonly known X-history.]

~Uhm, I'm not going to compare you. For the record.~

[ ...some powers permanently. How long did she hold on? And was there anything left of the person, once she'd done it?

Horrible thoughts, really - and Rogue knew herself. She's made some spectacular mistakes in her life. And she's paid for them. She's sure her other self has too.

She blinks and refocuses her attention on Jono. Heh. ]

Sounds impossible, but I appreciate the attempt. [ She tilts her head a little. ] I wonder if you're from a world I know. The last time I was in a place like this... well, we found out there were a lot of different versions of us.

~Yeah. Infinite numbers, and some that get messed with enough to cause all sorts of changes. Gives you a right headache when you think too much about it.~ [He's lived through at least one dimensional warp, and he can't say he's a fan.]

~I hope if there is another me out there that he's enjoying a nice cuppa tea and not stuck in a creepy little town. Although at least the company is pleasant.~

[ She shrugs a little. ] We can hope.

[ She... doesn't really react to the compliment, because as nice as it is, she knows it to be full of fluff. Not even her close friends would describe her as pleasant.

Though, on the plus side, there was no screaming and trying to murder, so she supposes that could count as pleasant. ]

We could -- [ She stops and, remembering the placement of the bright light, feels abruptly terrible. He probably can't have a nice cup of tea, even if she was going to offer that they go get one. She decides not to ask. ] -- walk around, see what this down has got to it?

~Yeah. About all we can do.~

[In all fairness, Jono has a strange idea of pleasant.]

~That's a brilliant idea. If nothing else we can learn the layout in case things go to shit.~

Okay... [ She glances around and then points in a random direction. ] Thataway?

~Thataway.~