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

[ His curiosity of the once person is interrupted as he's nearly bumped into by a woman just coming into the diner. He's not been called that by anyone outside of Raven after graduation and then in jest at their codenames. The sigh that leaves him is one of fond exasperation. Emphasis on the exasperation. ]

Please, it's just Charles. I had hoped Raven would forget about those silly names.

[ It seems he'll have to simply suffer through it. Except he meets her gaze and she's neither familiar to him in that way or from a cursory read of basic fleeting thoughts and emotions surrounding her. Except---well, he'd only felt that with Emma before. Was she like him? Another telepath? ]

I woke up here after quite a strange dream. I'm sorry, usually I'm much better with faces, do I know you?

[ That's about as much confirmation as she needs in regards to the unfamiliarity feel of things. Though judging from how he both looks and speaks to her, she's guessing it's more on his end than hers. Maybe.

The mention of Raven, however, is met with puzzlement, brief as it is. That's... peculiar? A bit. Enough to make her want to say something before she simply chooses not to and instead, can only sigh, a glance off to the side as she does so. Alright. Logan is a lot older than she remembers and the Professor is much younger than she remembers. Both who were aboard the x-jet and she saw at all that long ago prior to waking here. Great. Time sees to have certainly switched a few things around here in this place.

But she offers him a smile, strained as it may be. ]

I guess not. [ Disheartening to say the least. ] Not yet, maybe. I'm starting to think this place pulls people in from all different points in time. Or someone has a very strange sense of humor with this dream they've created for themselves.

[ His face falls a little at her statement. Does the person who brought them all here simply enjoy this kind of chaos. It's jarring enough for him here and now. He can't possibly imagine how disorienting and frankly upsetting it must be for someone who---apparently knows him.

In the future. How incredible a thought. ]

Well. [ He looks around them in emphasis, lips pursing in mild amusement. ] It could very well be a measure of both. And, ah, since you already seem to be aware of who I am.

Perhaps you could join me and introduce yourself?

[ This would be a moment of truth, wouldn't it? Where one comes to wonder if telling someone from their past might change or alter the course of time itself and rewrite actions and decisions that haven't yet been done or made. Granted, being within a dreamscape of sorts might actually offer a sort of resistance to any change that might be made... provided a dreamer doesn't remember their time or interactions with those locked in here with them.

It's with a momentary glance off to the side that she then looks back to him and offers him a smile of reassurance. To see him here like this, even being much younger... it's a comfort she didn't know she needed. But, then again, he was always good at being that for her. ]

Isn't there usually the possibility of changing ones future should they know too much from it?

[ It would be. Not only is she left wondering if she could offer accidental bits of his future or possible futures--- Does learning that he meets her change things already? Do the mechanics of this place allow for that? Brave new world, such as it is.

He's about to worry after the person who changed again, except another townsperson seems keen on taking the role of carer once his attention is away. He gestures to the nearest booth and slides into one side, crossing his arms on the table and lacing his fingers together. ]

I have to admit that I'm not overly fond of science fiction. Hank would have a more solid theory, I'm sure, but I haven't seen him here as of yet. [ No, it's---just him. He's not sure how he feels about that. ] If you have a more educated guess then I'll happily defer to you.

[ It's a strange sort of comfort to be speaking with him like this. He's younger, has hair, and walks on his own two legs. It's an image of him she can't really say she's ever personally had for herself and yet, his presence alone still carries with it that quiet strength which she always felt as a comfort to her in her darker times. Darker being her insecurities with her own... gifts.

She cants her head to the side with an unsure look touching her face. She really doesn't have much to go on here in terms of concrete proof. ]

I wouldn't exactly put all your eggs in one basket there.

[ Regardless, she smiles to him, a breath leaving her as she collects her thoughts. ]

I thought perhaps it was a mutant. Someone... capable of extraordinary things with the mind like you yourself are. The mind is a powerful thing and also easy to manipulate if you know how to do it. Touch, sound, smell... these things all exist within our memories and replicating them within the mind is not exactly impossible to do when you have someone whose ability is to both influence and manipulate the mind.

[ She looks to him for a moment before she glances off to the side. ]

But I'm not so sure that's what this is. I mean... I haven't been able to sense anyone or anything behind the curtains in a manner of speaking. [ A beat. ] Then again, I'm not exactly the strongest telepath to ever be around.

[ One must take it where they can, he surmises, when caught up in a place such as this. Life is incredibly strange where he comes from at the moment. The world holding a collective breath and expecting nuclear war. Charles is not yet certain if he appreciates this forced break in the progression of time. ]

I would reserve some here with me but I fear I would end up breaking them regardless. Some might think my thesis paper to be rooted in fiction but that is not the case.

[ Funny, yes? It's good. Find moments of levity in chaos. He quiets as she continues. He's surmised that there are all manner of mutants with a vast range of abilities. Perhaps even some he would find unable to fathom at first himself. ]

Hm. [ Quite the rationale. His mouth twists a little as he ponders over what she's offered thus far. ] Do you think it could be this Sodder? Or whoever, possibly whatever, might be holding her?

[ Her explanation is extraordinary, though. The way she thinks and her mind works to focus through the problem is astonishing, truly. ]

If one had the ability to exert the power of their own will and the creations of their own mind upon another, they could perhaps come up with a situation such as this. I've yet to sense anything like it either. [ A soft chuckle followed quickly by a gentle smile. ] Well, you are in good company then.

This place seems to have had an effect on the range of my abilities normally. Give yourself time. I'm sure you don't give yourself near as much credit as you should. Once you find true focus, the rest will fall into place.

[ A sigh and he drops his head towards his chest with a little shake of his head. ]

My apologies I ---hope that wasn't overstepping. I've been working to help others like us with their abilities. Much to my sister's utter delight if only so she might call me professor.

[ She enjoys teasing him. ]

[ It fills her with no surprise whatsoever when, even at this stage in his life, he reaches out with the intention to help those who both ask for and need it. Familiar, that's what it is an it fills her with a quiet hope that, despite the difference in age between them here, that he might be the young professor she will one day look to as not only a mentor and fellow telepath, but a surrogate father of sorts. Though, truthfully, she believes that regardless of whatever point in time or world he may have slipped in here from, he would still be just the same as he is at his core. A father figure to mutants and those who have lost their way.

She smiles and offers a slow shake of her head then. ]

Not at all. I might actually be concerned if you weren't.

[ Gently teasing him, she lets a sigh slip from her lips and allows for a lazy but curious glance to be had around the diner. ]

I feel I should tell you that you're going to come across a few others here who... might not recognize you completely at first. But they know you- or a version of you. Give yourself time with accepting that you may not be the Charles Xavier they personally know. You're here as you are for a reason... but don't ask me what reason is because I haven't figured that out for myself just yet.