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

Hmm... [She taps her chin in thought.] I'm afraid I don't know who that is, but like I said! I'd love to meet her! I'll keep that name in mind! And really, you think so? I'm always up for making new friends.[She stops and then shakes her head.] Like you, Tony-san!

You just have to hope you win the ones that matter. [She closed and tilted her head.] The battles you lose can be pretty harsh reminders, though...

[They were getting further and further up the mountain now, as Sailor Moon, Usagi didn't feel the least bit tired.]

I'm sure you've won plenty of battles, though.

Well, who knows, maybe one day she'll show up here. I'll introduce you, if you don't run into her first. [ And then he's smiling, because gosh, if she isn't the cutest thing ever. If he wasn't already wrapped around his little girl's finger... well. Fatherhood has certainly changed him. ] Yeah, I'm glad we met, by the way.

[ He's almost forgotten all about his piggy problems. He's been so busy talking that he hasn't noticed how his nose has morphed into something resembling a pig's snout. Luckily, he hasn't changed so much that he's walking on all fours, but it's probably something of an inevitability at this point. ]

There's been a few, but really, they were joint efforts. [ Look, he can actually appreciate being part of a team now. Age has given him some perspective. ]

[Sailor Moon's eyes widened at the sight of the snout and she cleared her throat. She looked around, trying to get an idea of how much further they were from the stream. Hopefully, he wouldn't be full pig by then.]

Most everything I do is a joint effort. My biggest achievement was a joint effort, honestly! If it weren't for the other senshi, I'd never be able to achieve the things I've done! So being able to depend on someone or a group of someones is important. What's the expression, no man's an island? [Goddesses aren't either.]

[ He hopes that too, because he likes being human and not having four legs, a curly tail, and a snout. ]

That makes you smarter than me, then. It took me a long time to realize that working as part of a team really isn't all that bad.

[ He resisted that for a long time, and he took some hard knocks until he came around to that conclusion.

He opens his mouth to add some additional thought to what he's been saying, but rather than words, what comes out is a very piggish snort, and Tony's eyes widen with surprise and no small amount of chagrin. ]

Oh, believe me, I spent a day by myself and went "no, not happening." [She laughed.] I found Sailor Mercury maybe a few days later? She's the smartest woman.. well, probably in our solar system, honestly, but she's amazing! And so sweet! Just... I mean, not that you WOULD ask her help for studying but she's absolutely terrifying as a tutor.

[When Tony's words came out as a pig snort, she paused.]

Um, so, shake your head yes or no, but I can carry you up the rest of the way to get you there faster, if you want?

[ Maybe when Tony's not gradually turning into a pig, he'll finish this conversation with Usagi. For now, though, he just nods in reply that's accompanied by another snort, because right now, getting there faster seems like a good idea.

As luck would have it, he's transforming faster now, so the sooner they get to their destination, the better. ]

Oh... okay um... well, uh, forgive me, Stark-san but... [Usagi reached over and promptly picked up the more than pig than man Tony and spread out her wings.]

Let's get you to that river!

[She took off into the air, flying up above the tree line and getting a bit dizzy from doing so thanks to the magic of the town but she flew out towards the stream she had been to earlier.]

[ Tony's not really capable of making sounds resembling words right now, just grunts and snorts, but if he could do that, he'd be in full agreement. No complaints here.

He's just along for the ride, but if he were himself again, he'd be completely wowed by her flight abilities. Once he can talk properly again, he'll be sure to do that, however. ]

[Sailor Moon landed by the river, gently setting him down. Having already done this, she knows exactly what to do.]

Alright, I know this will sound odd, Stark-san, but you need to drink from the river, and... deal with me singing to you. [Her voice is honestly fine, average, honestly.]

[ There's just enough humanity left in Tony to recognize that she's telling him to do something, and although he makes a few false starts and winds up just looking around confusedly, on the third attempt, he actually figures out what she wants him to do. Finally heading towards the water that's just a few paces away, he sticks his pig-snout-face thing into the water and takes a drink.

As for her singing voice, well, he's not really in a position to comment on it, but he's certain that it's fine. ]

[Sailor Moon thought of the songs she knew and then just went for a simple one, gently rubbing his back as she did sang, hoping it was enough to get him to start changing back into a human.]

[ Well, this is nice. Even while stuck as a pig, Tony's just taking this in. Gradually, his piggish features start to recede, and after about five or ten minutes, it becomes pretty clear that Tony's time as a pig is coming to a close.

... It's about time, too. He's had more than enough of this. When he finally regains his voice, the first thing he does is thank Usagi for her help. ]

Hey, uh, thanks for the hand with all this.