soddersays | APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

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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

Yeah, it's funny how scientists say that until the experiment is something they wanna do.

[ Sure enough, her hair is starting to turn white again... and this time her face begins to wrinkle, back beginning to hunch. It's a much faster transformation. ]

Can't argue that, you got me there.

[He watches her change, furiously scribbling down notes.]

It's definitely happening again- at an accelerated rate this time!

Maybe because I was dumb enough to do it again.

[ She sighs. ] Okay, let's try it. This is my third time being in a place like this.

[ Color starts coming back into her hair. ]

So perhaps the magic effects remain dormant- I would have expected an immunity perhaps, but turns out no. It just stacks. Magic, right?.

[He gives her a little thumbs-up.]

That definitely worked.

Okay, so then we can just - see how many times it takes and then put out a notice on the network.

[ She thinks a little bit and then decides to just stick with the theme. ] I was in space before I had that wacky dream.

[ And the wrinkles start fading... ]

Okay, I'm game if you're still willing.

[This isn't the first time he's heard about space, Amara is a good contender there, but it's still fascinating for a guy where the closest anyone has been to the heavens is on a hot air balloon.

Magical heavenly bodies notwithstanding, of course. ]

Space? What was that like?

The food was really bad.

[ She waits to see if the rest of her aging disappears, and raises her eyebrows expectantly at Varian.

However, since the fact is not about HER... there's no change. ]

I guess the factoid about the food wasn't juicy enough for the curse.

[He jots that down in his notebook, hmm.]

Maybe it really does have to be personal things. Sorry that the food was awful. Guess the future isn't always impressive.

It was less the future more... another place like this.

[ She pauses and when nothing happens, that seems to confirm that it does have to be a fact about her. She shrugs a little. ]

The place before that, I had wings.

[ And the last of the unnatural grey peels away, and she straightens. ]

[Oh, now THIS is something new, and Varian looks genuinely surprised. He hadn't even considered this a possibility! But if he thinks about it, it makes sense. Deerington can't be alone. ]

There are multiple worlds like Deerington? Where people are kidnapped from their worlds? Did you notice any patterns in the places you were? Something that might link them?

[Then, belatedly:]

You're back to normal. Looks like three is the magic number.

The only thing these places have in common is that the people who run them are lying, selfish sadists.

[ She runs both hands through her hair to shake off the creepy feeling of aging. Ugh. ]

And they tend to pull in people with significant-ish stories from all kinds of worlds. Even people who are in other people's storybooks. It's weird, but there you go. [ She shrugs. ]

Did you ever get to speak to the people running the other places? From my research here a few people have been able to communicate with Sodder, but it's a little up in the air how much control she has over this place.

[And he doesn't strictly buy the "innocent kid" pitch Sleepers offer up, either. He's well aware of the atrocities an "innocent kid" can commit.]

Significant, huh? So you're saying it's usually people who have some effect on their home world? More likely them than say, the local cobbler who just makers shoes all day?

[Look, he's not saying he's fine with never seeing Feldspar again but... no, no that's exactly what he's saying.]

Yes. And they were exactly as much help as you'd think. [ She glances at Varian. ] Whatever control Sodder does or doesn't have, she still brought us here against our will.

[ Blah blah blah, good intentions, blah blah blah. You take someone's will away, you've crossed a line where motives stop deserving her consideration, in Rogue's opinion. Getting free becomes the first priority, then helping if she chooses to help.

She raises her eyebrows at Varian. ]

I ain't saying the local cobbler couldn't show up. But I'm just sayin' - look around. There's usually a ridiculous number of uncommonly hot, competent people drawn in. And most of the time, they've done something or are in the process of doing something that has an impact on their world.

Oh trust me, I'm with you on that one. I don't believe she's as much of an innocent victim as some people do here. Until it's proven one way or the other, I'm keeping my suspicions on her.

[He cants his head, considering this. ]

...There are more important than me, doing much more important things than I am back home. [BUT. And that was the thing. There was still a but.] ...I guess I am trying to solve something important, though. Before I came here. That's... I-I guess it's pretty vital.

[The scroll is still sitting in his lab. He needs to solve the final incantation, but he's also been dealing with everything else in this place. It's been distracting him from his duties and he really should get back to them. ]

[ She tilts her head slightly and looks at him. ]

Yeah?

[ Do go on if you want to. Or don't. She'll listen, either way. ]

Yeah. Um, there's a really dangerous magic in my world. Like- can tear the world apart kind of magic. There's a scroll that depicts the incantations that can control the aforementioned magic.

[He's being deliberately vague. He doesn't want to put Cass into a tricky position if she comes here. He knows from Rapunzel they can come from any point in time, and he categorically doesn't want to nuke any chance of pace Cass might find here if she arrives sans the moonstone. ]

I'm the only one that can translate it. It took me months, it's deeply encrypted. I've been trying to help them figure out how to get a hold on everything before it all goes... real bad.

[ She listens, her focus on him, not evaluating or trying to piece things together, just giving him the full weight of her attention.

There's a moment's pause as she processes all that before giving him a small smile. ]

No pressure, or anything.

[He lets out a soft 'heh', shrugging his shoulders.]

No pressure. There one more incantation I can't quite get. Which is, naturally, the most important one. I was in the middle of... all that when I came here.

[He just leaves the kidnapping part out. Minor detail.]

[ She tilts her head slightly. Life was never fair, was it. ]

Yeah, I can see how this place would be a mite distractin'. Different things take priority in different places.

[Life is the worst, he wants a refund.]

Oh man, it's so distracting. Every time I think I have a spare minute to try and research it, something else comes up and diverts my attention. There is always something more important.

...I mean, I guess if this is all a dream and I won't remember it when I wake up, it hardly matters anyway. But still.

[ ...he had a loyal heart, this kid. Listen to him talking about the concern from his world when he's been dropped into -- this. ]

You've got anyone from your world here?

[Once it was considerably less loyal. These days, it's as much about trying to fix his mistakes than anything else. Trying to undo the damage he'd done. At her question, he visibly tenses. ]

Yes? But... also no. [He frowns, rubbing his arm.] It's... complicated. We're from the same world, but she's from a different point in time than me. She hasn't even met me yet, while I've known her for about two years.

[And it hurts, having all that familiarity torn from him. Sure, it means she doesn't know about the bad things he's done to her either- but all the bonding they've shared? It's gone. She's still her, still doing her best. But she's building from the ground up, while he has an empty gaping void between them. ]

...She's one of the most important people in my life so it's... not great.

Yeah, that always sucks. [ She knows what that's like. Does she EVER know what that's like. ]

It doesn't get less painful with practice, but it does get easier. [ She hesitates and then adds. ] I can tell you something I've learned about that, if you like. It's true, an' it could help, but it's also hard.

I'm sure not loving it.

[Because he once planned to erase her memory and now she's come to him like this is feels like it's karma laughing at him.]

...At this point, I'd take any advice you've got to offer.

People always change. You're never gonna get back exactly what you had with the people from back home. Not while you remember what you've got here, because you're different. Ya gotta build somethin' new. [ She smiles at him a little. ] You would, even if she remembered you exactly how you remember her. There's no point in looking back.

[ She knows. It hurts. She's let some friendships with people go completely, rather than deal with the differences and the constant reminder of what was and no longer is.

Other times, she's built it all over again. Something different, but still good.

The whole thing just sucks. ]

APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

YOU UNCULTURED SWINE

GOOD ENDURES

Character Arrival

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