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

[quipsandthwips]

"What a coincidence... That beard thing you've got going on, looking like a stencil out of an Iron Man Barber Kit? Never seen anything like it, either." He looks as mischievous as you'd think, pleased to shoot the shit with Tony Stark. Wouldn't be the first time, even if it's infrequent! It's just. Usually he's masked and the other's in a big ol' armor suit.

He taps a finger to the bracelets on his wrists, which are now more openly dressed up with relatively small webshooters.

"Just something I picked up over the last nine or so years."

[doesntpaint]

"Oh, that's clever. Witty, even. Iron Man Barber Kit. I need to remember that, pitch that idea to marketing. Bet I'd make a killing." Hey, shooting the shit with people is half the fun. At least, it's more fun than turning into a pig. Or even considering what that would be like.

He gives those bracelets a good once-over, taking in what details he can from just surveying them.

"So, uh, scale of one to ten: how crazy are you going to think I am when I say I've seen something like that before?" The webshooters, he means. It's not the most improbable thing he's ever heard. The fact that there could very well be two individuals going by the name Spider-Man isn't that weird, is it? Not in his mind, anyway.

[quipsandthwips]

"If you knew what I've seen the last year and a half? You'd know it's not weird at all." He shuffles his chair right on over to Tony's chair, looking humored, and offers a hand out for a good ol' handshake. "I've met a few Tony Starks in my life, including one back home, but I figure I don't mind reintroducing myself. I'm Peter Parker."

A pause.

"... The older one. Not from your future timeline, obviously. But you know what I mean."

Heh.

"Universes."

[doesntpaint]

"Well, at least we're in the same boat there. Lot of crazy stuff's happened over the last year and a half for me too." Maybe a bit more than that, but let's not split hairs. He accepts the handshake easily without a second's thought, and he can't help but grin widely. "Guess you've got the jump on me, then. I've only met one version of you, forget about multiple versions of me."

That's an interesting thought. He's imagining several versions of him in one room. That poor room.

"Yup, I know what you mean. If you'd met me even five years ago, I probably wouldn't, but that stuff's kind of old hat now." More or less. He wouldn't call himself an expert, but he definitely has an above-average knowledge.

"Can you answer this without breaking the rules? I guess we'll find out, because inquiring minds want to know. I assume you've talked to Peter, the younger one, so you probably have some idea how his timeline is different. Name one defining difference, big, small, or in between."

[quipsandthwips]

"Oh, plenty of differences," he says, laying a napkin over the overly delicious looking pork that is clearly hexed and evil and wants to turn them into pantsless pig abominations. "For one, our baddies are a little different. But also, I was born in the 90's — started my Spider-Manning a good 9 years ago now at this point. So I kinda jumped into my hero business just before the Avengers ever were a thing."

He shrugs.

"I didn't have much of a road map with the whole 'superhero' gig, tragically. I just rolled with it... Made a lot of poor decisions. Broke a lot of bones. But I did get offers to join in on the Avengers clique a couple years into it!"

Thumbs up! Wow! Good job, Pete, you impressed the cool kids!

Yeah, he did a thumbs up, that wasn't just flavor text in the tag.

[doesntpaint]

Tony's listening carefully, filing all this information away in case he needs to recall it later. Odds are he might forget most of it, but he'll remember the main points at least. "90s, before the Avengers- got it. When you say your baddies are different, how different are we talking?"

He'd apologize for all the questions, but a little comparing notes never hurt anyone, right?

"Must not have done too bad to have gotten yourself an invite, though." Tony may not have the specifics yet, but that has to mean something. Sounds to him like this Peter is one to keep an eye on.

[quipsandthwips]

Oh, Peter lives for note-comparing. It's not very often he ever got to do it back home, being solo — partially his own fault, sure, but still. "From what Peter told me, seemed like he'd only dealt with Toomes solo. I've racked up a lot more bad dudes over the years — Scorpion... Rhino... Ugh, Kingpin had been my biggest mortal enemy for years. Only just managed to get him arrested after years of him almost gutting me with katanas or punching me through walls... Pete didn't mention him, so I'm guessing things are gonna play out differently there."

He gives a pause, frowning.

"... There's also the issue of Mysterio."

Well, might as well bring this up while they're here.

"There's a Mysterio here from your world — Quentin Beck? He's bad news back home. One of my usual villain-types... but lil' Pete swears he's a good guy." He sighs. "... And he could be. To be fair. Alternate universe, and all."

He also saved Peter's life once.

But yanno. Been burned before, and whatnot.

[doesntpaint]

"Quite a list you've got there. Obviously you've got some experience under your belt." Not that Peter doesn't, of course, but clearly one of the two has been at this longer. The younger Peter will get there with time, but then again, Tony doesn't wish for him to have to grow up any sooner than is absolutely necessary. On some level, he feels bad that this Peter has already seen so much while still being young himself.

"Wait, Quentin Beck?" It doesn't take much thinking for Tony to recall just who that is: a disgruntled, callous man who ultimately got fired from Stark Industries for not toeing the line of his expectations. And, well, it's a bit rich of him to say it, but Beck was getting too big for his britches and demanding more attention. He just couldn't have that, hence the firing.

"I haven't kept tabs on the guy. Obviously that was my mistake. What's he been doing?" Maybe he should be asking the younger Peter this, but at least he can get the basic idea here, hopefully.

[quipsandthwips]

"What's he been doing here? Nothing much, honestly." And Peter absolutely is sour about it, even if he shouldn't be; he should be happy to see a villain from his world not end up being villainous in this one, right? But every fiber of him still has to combat that urge to assume the guy is up to no good.

Tony saying his name with such a displeased nuance tells him the Beck in Tony's world isn't so great, himself. One hopes that whatever universe the Mysterio here crawled out of, it's a little more on the heroic side. "He helped me out not too long ago... but I have to admit, old habits die hard. Not many people have tried to kill me as much as Mysterio."

[doesntpaint]

"I guess nothing's better than something." But for his part, Tony still doesn't trust that. Just because it looks like someone's not doing anything doesn't mean things aren't happening behind closed doors.

He doesn't like looking for the worst in people, and he wouldn't classify Quentin Beck as the biggest threat to ever exist, but he's still someone to keep an eye on.

"That so? Seems to me, then, that you've got more reason than most to not trust the guy."

[quipsandthwips]

He scoffs, shaking his head. "Oh, yeah. Trust and Mysterio don't go into the same category for me... And I know how I was at Peter's age — I mean, I guess I still have a problem with it, but... I'm worried he'll end up trusting the wrong people. Or trying to help the wrong people."

A soft sigh.

"But as long as he's not causing problems... I've gotta treat him as fairly as I would anyone else. I'm sure there's a universe out there where Spider-Man's a villain, right?"

That'd break his damn heart, but. It's how alternate realities work.

[doesntpaint]

"Well, that makes two of us." Tony huffs out a long sigh. Peter's just put into words all the worries and concerns he has for the younger Peter that he hasn't talked about with anyone. The last thing he wants is to make the Peter from his world feel looked down on or discounted, but- he can't just turn off those thoughts.

Still, he has a good point. There's no need to constantly chase after the guy with torches and pitchforks if he hasn't done anything to warrant that. "Yeah, you're right. At least we can keep one eye on him, right?" And if they're both doing it, at least that's an extra set of eyes. Assuming that's even something the older one wants to do.

"Honestly, if you asked me that a year or so ago, I'd say no. But knowing differently now, I can say that's probably a likely possibility." As much as he hates to think about it.

[quipsandthwips]

Hey, Peter sometimes wishes he had someone there, to tell younger him when shit was wrong or weird or he was making a grave mistake. He's had a number of poor choices made in his early life... and... later life. But mainly his earlier life.

"Well, hey! If it's any consolation, the Tony Stark in my world's a pretty nice guy. Even offered me a job at Stark Industries and everything. Even after the pizza incident."

[doesntpaint]

It's something Tony's wished for too, but if wishes were fishes, he'd be set for months, if not years. But with or without that person in his life to rein him in when he got too nuts, he feels like he turned out okay. And although he doesn't know this Peter that well, he's getting the sense that he's not so bad either. And, well, everyone's got some grave mistakes in their pasts, don't they? They probably seemed insurmountable at the time, but time has a funny way of smoothing some things over.

"Yeah? That's good to hear." In a weird kind of way, yes, but still good to know. At least he didn't say he's a murderous dictator or something like that. "So, what's the pizza incident?" With a lead-in like that, he figures Peter won't mind him asking for details.

[quipsandthwips]

He grins, leaning back in his seat.

"Oh, you know. I worked part-time as a pizza delivery guy then, and figured I'd bring a big stack of pizzas as a peace offering, because I really needed to borrow your arc welder for... a project... again... after mine caught on fire..." He waves a hand. "Anyway! I was bringing some pizzas to Avengers Tower and totally misread the wind's trajectory up there..."

He motions with his hands what can only most certainly be pizza saucers plummeting, making a whistling noise. "Splat. All of them ended up stuck to the windows up there... and started a sad, miserable slide down the side..."

[doesntpaint]

"It caught on fire? Huh. Sounds like there's a story behind that one. There usually is, anytime something catches on fire." But he shuts up again so he can listen to the rest of Peter's story, chuckling at the bit about the wind's trajectory. "Believe it or not, I've done that before too. Or, well, I did that before I wised up and factored it in."

Luckily, he never fell down like that, but it was a bit of a near miss. "Well, hey, I'm sure pizzas only added to the irresistible allure of the tower and made it so much better." And he can already picture the reactions of his friends to such a thing.