soddersays | MAY 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

Entry tags:

MAY 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to May's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: DARK FANTASY 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: Heightened mental health issues (anxiety & paranoia), auditory hallucinations, option for visions of canon death and violence, child death, corpses, possession.
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

DEATH'S EYE

Desperation and anxiety are things that come easily in a place like Deerington, but lately it seems like it's being felt in waves. Maybe you're feeling more desperate to get home, maybe you're afraid of what will happen when you do leave here, or maybe you're dreading what the month to come has in store for you. Some people might just start to feel anxious and terrified with no real reason behind it. The worries are plaguing your thoughts, leaving you unable to trust those around you. You keep seeing visions in your dreams of violent wars, senseless murders, and all of it seems to end with a stand in the middle of the woods with a single glass orb.

There's no rationality for it, but eventually, you'll feel compelled to find the orb. You'll find that when you leave the house to go somewhere, you'll forget where you were headed, only to end up at the edge of the forest. Sometimes you might sleepwalk and wake up in the dirt by the trees. If you decide to fight it and keep leaving, you will grow more and more paranoid, isolated, and violently aggressive to those around you. If you can wait out a full week, you might find the anxiety starts to ease, and slowly over the course of five days, you will begin to return to normal.

If you don't fight it and head into the woods, you will feel pulled to follow a long and winding path through the woods. There are multiple branches off of the path, but you won't feel compelled to go down them. Keep heading straight. Another personal will eventually stumble down the path you're on as well and the two of you will walk together through the woods.

Eventually you'll find a clearing. It's the same clearing from your dream with the same orb displayed in front of you. One or both characters will hear whispering throughout the clearing that grows more intense the closer you get to the orb. They're urging you to touch it, to free yourself from the pain you've been feeling for days on end. The strong can fight it, but most characters will be too weak from the lack of sleep and the constant fear to refuse to give in.

If you do fight it, you can leave the clearing, but the same anxiety and paranoia cycles will follow you for another full week before it begins to ease. If you don't fight it and you touch the orb, you will be filled with a blinding pain that runs through your entire body. There will be a quick and heavy sequence of images that runs through your mind; they will be images of the most traumatic experiences that your companion has ever faced and you will feel as though you were experiencing every moment first hand.

When you break free, the anxiety and paranoia will be gone and you'll be back to yourself. It seems you two will have a lot to talk about on the walk home.

Note: It does not have to be just one character who touches the orb. Both characters are welcome to.

NOW YOU SEE ME

The first few signs you're being haunted are easy to miss. Maybe you think you just misplaced your keys or put that book you were reading down on a different counter than where you find it. Things get a little harder to ignore when random objects start to fall off shelves or glasses shatter without any warning. Eventually there's no denying you've got a full fledged poltergeist on your hands; the walls will shake and screams will echo in your head that you can't block out no matter how tightly you cover your ears. Lights will flicker and bulbs will eventually blow from the power surges. Objects that fly across the room will barely miss your head— some might not even miss at all.

If you know any tricks for getting rid of angry spirits, none of them will work. Trying them seems to only make the spirit angrier. If you try too many times to get rid of the spirit, it will eventually possess you, filling you with a blind and violent rage that can make you attack even your closest of friends. The possession will last for one full hour and once the spirit leaves you, you'll feel completely drained for the rest of the day.

But there's hope! In your blessing's basket, your character will find one-half of an antler wreath. The trick is to find the person with the other half. Each wreath will have a unique set of flowers on them and you will have to find the person who has the flowers that match your own. Both of you will have been being haunted by the same ghost, it seems; they were a busy little poltergeist.

Once the two halves of the wreath are connected, it will begin to glow, before a faint wisp of light starts to travel a path in front of you both. If you follow the path of light, it will take you through the town, down the roads, through the playground at the elementary school, and eventually stopping near the edges of Koji Pond. Continuing to search will eventually lead to both character's stumbling on the body of a young child. Rest the wreath against them and the light will encompass the body, becoming blindingly bright, before disappearing altogether.

Both characters will be filled with a sense of peace afterward and will be safe from harm for a full twenty-four hours after the ceremony is complete.

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.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

There are worse things in life than unsatisfied curiosity. [ She crosses her arms and STARES at him. ] Not havin' a life come to mind pretty quickly. So does bein' possessed [ gesturing to the floating orb behind her now ] an' forcing the poor sap who came with you ta have to fight you.

Edited 2020-04-30 02:22 (UTC)

Done a couple of times now, done, 'nd done also a couple of times before. [Remy listed them off with three fingers before dropping his hand again.] Though will agree, none of them were fun.

What ya suggest then, chere? Now we made it all the way out here, ya feet bringin' ya where ya didn't wanna go, 'nd this thing whisperin' not so sweet nothin' 'nto my head. What do we do 'nstead?

[ ...good question. ]

Could knock ya out an' drag ya back, if you're worried you can't say no. [ Except that was a short term solution, because she was not going to be babysitting him - because even if she wanted to, she knew Remy LeBeau, and she'd have to keep him knocked out to keep him from getting out of whatever she could think to put him in.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Thank you, Oscar Wilde. Not helpful.

...and did Remy honestly just tell her he'd died a couple of times? Being possessed and having to fight someone else -- sure, it was weird, but it happened, but the dying thing? Back on earth?

She was suddenly afraid - she'd never asked - but he wasn't dead there now, right? Oh, she hoped not. ]

Hell, Remy. [ She steps -- slightly -- to the side. ] Look at it! Are you really tellin' me you think givin' in is the best call? [ She hesitates. ] If you're sure, I'll let you. But if not, there's no way.

[ Rogue declines to comment on the state of her nerves. ]

Taking a picture. [ She turns the phone around to show him the screen, and then moves to put the phone away again. ] This way if we die out here, I can at least post a warning when we get back. [ Shrug. ] And if we don't die out here, the same goes.

They've both been lied to enough in their lives that she has no intention to start now. At least not with him. Jaune had more than earned her trust after everything they had been through together. She didn't think explaining how this town worked would be much more difficult than explaining what had happened to their own world, but she appreciated that it might be a lot to take in at first.

"The house could work. There's a spooky park just down the road though. If we go there. Zwei can run around and do dog stuff while we get through this. I'll explain a bit more as we go." And with that she took hold of Zwei's leash in one hand and Jaune's in the other and started to lead him along.

"So I guess I'll start with what's happened with me. So on our way to Atlas I must have dozed or something and when I woke up I was here. I'm guessing you did the same thing?" She glances up at the sky in thought. It was starting to feel like a long time had passed.

"...And that was four-almost five months ago now. Yang is here too. Weiss and Blake were too for a bit but they've gone back now."

She was warming up to the idea more and more by the second. Controlling the narrative? Not even her father, the pack storyteller, had ever wielded so much power. Ariadne didn't even know where to start, but fortunately, she could occasionally get on a good ramble.

"This color," she said, uncurling her fingers to show him the small splash of blood across her fingertips. It was more or less red, although perhaps a bit more purple than in the average humanoid. In her natural form, her lips were the same color.

Her natural form!

Was it appropriate to show him that? Her conditioning screamed in protest, but better now than by accident, like what had happened with that nice Tina lady on the playground.

"And, um, Alastrian skin is...green!"

Before she could change her mind, she let her body shift: Green skin, the color of the underside of a maple leaf; baby blue hair; her purple-ish lips. And a wide-eyed stare that said she was fully expecting him to freak out.

Maybe a little bit. If you stick around this stupid nightmare, you're going to become a regular expert. Kind of a fast learning curve around here.

And trust me. You're going to know if it's trying to kill you.

Promises, promises. [Though... that raised some questions Remy now had with her powers. Was it a case of this place just messing with them like it had with his, or was her different from his Rogue's? At first glance, she wasn't wearing any sort of power dampening item, so he can guess she hadn't been in a situation that made her powers turn up to eleven, but how were they normally? Because it would take time for her to knock him out, right?

Or maybe not.]

I ain't sure, not at all, not from stuff 've been hearin' 'bout this place. But just 'cause ya here this time won't mean ya will be the next time this thing brings me out here, 'nd I know we don't really know each other, but rather have someone I think that would have m' back durin' this then doin' it alone. [A bit of a smile adding to that.] But won't force ya 'nto to this either. Can leave 'nd see if someone else willin' to help out, ya know, in case of possession, death, or fightin'.

[ ...ugh, she hates him SO MUCH.

Because honestly? That was the reason why she'd said she'd stand aside and let him do it once he thought it through. She knew he had people from his world here - Kurt and Logan and Jean Paul, but there was no one on that last (...apart from Kurt, really) who she trusted with someone who was, in another world, her best friend. She knew she'd use just the right amount of force necessary to take him down, no more or less, if something weird or awful happened. (If, ha.)

And there was no reason to think he wouldn't come back here, and it might not be her next time - it might not even be someone powered. It might be someone he'd really be able to hurt. And she didn't want him dealing with that either.

Rogue gives a resigned sigh. ]

Fine. [ She shifts her weight back a little and holds out a gloved hand. ] Gimme your bo.

I'll get you right to the front of the line, meet all of 'em.

They're gonna tell you the same thing though, bub. Fuck right off. And that's them being polite, unlike me. I will rip your goddamn fucking head off if you stir any shit up here.

( NOW YOU SEE ME. ( OR DO YOU? )

[ The light people keep following feels ominous, suspicious even with a suggestiveness to it like some element of nature itself, but he follows it nonetheless to wherever the heck it goes. It's not the first time he's wandered off into trouble, into what tilts and calls you in into the deep, but at least there's a good reason for it: to rid him of this annoying, ephemeral entity that keeps chasing him around. Dealing with ghosts back home was super easy compared to this! Waaay easy, even, when they weren't totally invulnerable to your magical attempts to erase them.

When he realizes the only way out of this stupid situation, though, even the air itself seems on edge at his silent appearance behind some innocent bystander at the pond. ]

Enooough. I'm sick and tired of being followed around. So... hand it over already. What's in your bag.

[ Oh. He isn't asking, huh. He's demanding, teeth gnashing together in irritation. That's, well... — certainly a way to go about things as he looms over his target, feeling a bit more human than usual in all his desperation, which is only serving to irritate him even further. ]

( ARRIVAL. )

[ Cut to a very large boy trying some of the local seafood cuisine after a few days, and... ]

Ugeh. This is... like, super disgusting. Why?

[ He's about to literally toss is across the dinky room and into a display of the café when something catches his eye instantly: someone else who's sampling the very same dish littered with ginger vegetables and parsley leaves. ]

No way you can eat this stuff. Unless you know the secret to why the fish here tastes so bland...

( CLOSED: RAIN WASHED OUT ITS GLOW. )

[ The restlessness comes and goes in waves, breathing uneasiness into his soul, and while it's typical for Floyd to be so back and forth in behavior... to live as now, in defiance of their surroundings and the violent nightmares that come with it is gradually taking its toll on him. The whispers keep repeating themselves even now, soft and urgent, and he taps a suede shoe impatiently against the floor. Simply put: he feels trapped, and there's nothing more haunting than the thought of never being able to rid himself of this eerie tedium, of never having another day without this anxiousness pressing against his chest.

So. Instead of moping alone, he does the next best thing. ]

Jaaade. When'll we get to go home, you think... ?

[ Floyd says with a whine as he rests his head, or rather, squishes his cheek, effortlessly into the arm resting at the top of the backwards chair he's sitting in. When he sways, it sways, and so do the stale vibes of uncertainty in their room. ]

[There's a beat of a pause before he spoke,] Ya wanna grab m' staff? [It such an automatic answer that he couldn't even stop it, it said before he even realized, and once it did, he let out a breath of a laugh and a shake of his head as he reached into his coat to grab said weapon and handed it over to her.

Oh, also a good thing to mention to her.] M' powers here, they ain't touch 'nymore. Whatever this place does, it messed it up, done through sight now, so... be careful, ok? [Not much of a counter there, but at least a warning.

Hopefully without her blinding him. That was not an experience he wants to repeat.]

[ She rolls her eyes. ] Ha, ha.

[ Her jaw opens a little in shock as he shares that bit about his powers -- she knew what it'd done to Kurt, to her, but... that was something different, and potentially much more dangerous. Like he needed to be more dangerous, great.

She shakes her head and stuffs the staff underneath one arm to work off a glove, leaning back so that there's a little more distance between them (it was always so strange to take off a glove outside) before tucking her glove in her pocket. ]

Don't worry. I won't let you hurt anybody. And I'll try to use the bo to break contact with you an' the orb if it seems -- bad. Okay?

[ She reaches back to take out his bo and doesn't even need to look to hit the button that extends it, holding it confidently. She hasn't yet moved out of the way, waiting for him to acknowledge what she's said. ]

Edited 2020-04-30 03:58 (UTC)

Tell me about it. I get really fed up with it sometimes.

[As for a pride... that's always a rough topic.]

I don't have a pride. Not here or at home. And there's not many lions here either.

Use m' powers against me if ya have to. [Was it sad that this kind of conversation didn't seem strange to him? Remy knows what he's capable of, normally at least, and it wasn't pretty. He was dangerous, it's why control of his powers were so important to him.] Just try 'nd save the coat, hein?

[Ok, lets do this. He let out a breath and reached out to the surface of the orb. How bad could it be? It's just a mysterious, talking orb that only he can hear and she can't.]

Oh, this is so stupid. [It's said as an exasperated sigh as Remy withdrew his hand again,] It's so stupid. 'm too old for this. [Flexing his fingers a few times, then reached out once more,] This sets a horrible example. [Pausing as his fingers come in contact with the surface.

He has a faction of a moment to register the sensation of the surface. Before letting out a cry of pain as that agony shot through his entire body, limbs stiffening before knees giving out under his own weight to drop down onto them against the ground. And those flashes of images, almost too fast to grasp on to what any of them were, seeing and feeling, but not able to process the hows and whys behind them all. Just the feelings of pain and sorrow and anger behind them, swelling up inside him and choking on each of those emotions and memories as they passed through him.]

-- Jesus!

[Okay, he is absolutely sure he'd been alone five seconds ago. You don't spend as much time in the wilderness, as much time on the run, as the entirety of the gang without getting an idea of how to feel someone, something, nearby. Listening, smelling, traces -- hell, Charles seemed to have some weird sixth sense about that kind of thing, even.]

[But this time? There wasn't anything. Like some freaky weird Night Folk kid appearing out of who the hell knew where. And yes, he does whip around toward the voice, gun first.]

[It's a kid -- a girl. Weird hair, scrawny. Talking. Alone. He lowers the weapon like it's hot, swearing.]

Where in the hell'd you come from!

[ Maybe it's bold of her to think that if he were to try anything, she might be able to feel his motive before doing so since, you know, telepath and all. But, he doesn't know that and she's not about to disclose that tidbit of information to him, so. ]

What do you teach then?

[Nope -- contrary to the feelings of certain gang members who are damned fools and don't get a say so, the first resort in a new town isn't shooting and drinking and whoring it up. It's keep a low profile, keep a friendly face, and hope to pass through without stirring up a mess of trouble. That's how he preferred to do things. Seemed a better plan than any when he appears to be alone.]

[God damn Micah anyways.]

[The horse eases to a stop, and the man aboard inclines his head at the compliment.]

Well thank you, ma'am. Though, guess it ain't hard to be fine, being the only horse I seen in town.

[Yeah, that's the weirdest part of this, clearly.]

[ So he hadn't heard it. Understood. She takes a step back when he whirls around, hands held up to show she was unarmed fairly quickly and she only lets out the breath she'd been holding when he lowers it quick as he raised it. ]

Thataway. [ She points back towards one of the closer branched off paths without really looking away from him. ] Didn't mean to scare ya, buddy. Thanks for not shooting, though. That always hurts like a bitch.

[ Casual conversation. ]

Are you a real cowboy? [ Is this important? ] Or do you just have a hard on for old Westerns?

That works for him.

Link nodded in understanding. "I was hungry and I didn't have my supplies when I woke up." Which, let's be real, he knew he could be a glutton. He's pretty sure the princess remarked on it several times herself.

"Fade away?" His voice is laced with confusion. How does one simply fade away? What sort of place was this? "Whatever do you mean?"

It took a moment after her voice trailed off before he realized what she was asking. "Link." He bowed his head slightly in introduction.

This may be a little different than other places... just. As a head's up. The town thinks it's still the 1950's, if that tells you anything.

[It's probably better to start there, as far as warnings go. Dumping a whole lot of the issues this place has on people to start with is a bad idea -- less absorbed, less believed. The whole nine yards.]

I will. I'll send him a message.

[ What he sees.

Rogue has no idea what is happening, but that's not a sound Remy should make. She moves to break his grip off the orb, but he's already let it go - kneeling beneath the weight of -- something.

She collapses the bo and moves to crouch in front of him, not daring to touch him or to relax her guard - he's within easy range, if need be. ]

Remy? Remy! Stay with me. What's going on?

Edited 2020-04-30 04:52 (UTC)

Oh thataways, yeah, all makes sense now.

[Two can play this sarcasm game. But his comes out more irritated than anything. Exasperated sarcasm. Jesus. His heart feels like it's going to go pounding out of his chest in a second if he doesn't breathe it out first.] Wise ass... [Grumbled into air before he clears his throat a few times.]

Yeah, it does. So maybe cut out the sneakin' around in the middle of the night and it won't happen.

[All right, composure regained, gun holstered. We're all fine here.]

Sure, let's go with 'real cowboy'. Why not. [Better than "outlaw".]

I’ll take that as a compliment. Not often people think I’m a wise anything. [ Jokes. Jokes are good. Especially when she’s still feeling on edge and can hear the whispering in her ear being anywhere near that stupid orb. ] It’s not my fault I weigh like two pounds and don’t make any noise.

[ She goes to move closer, leaning a little to look around him at the stand in the wood. ]

That doesn’t sound very convincing. [ How did she really expect someone to answer that question, though? She sounds more distracted than before, going to move around him to get a better look at the glass. ] Not that it matters, I guess.

Did you see this shit in your dreams, too?

[For those first few moments Remy just focuses on his breath, to stop it from being gasps, to slow it and take deep breaths. To remember to do so again. After those moments, he drops his hands to rest on his thighs, sitting back on his feet as he tries to understand just what he saw... and remembering he is not alone here as her voice breaks through. That concern and worry in it.]

Well, good news, those voices 'nd that feelin' of everything be wrong is gone. [He flexes his hand again, looking down at it to examine to see if there was any damage done to it, and happy to see he wasn't injured or anything.] 'nd I ain't possessed or 'nything like that. [He knows there's a joke in that, about 'a possessed person would say that', but right now wasn't the time. Not while he's understanding what happened. What he saw. Remy tries not to dwell on it, to push it aside. They weren't his memories, he didn't deserve the right to see those moment of hers. Those horrible moments she had been through. Things she didn't deserve to go through.

Raising a hand he rubbed his eyes with his fingers, as if to push though memories away physically.] It... it showed me things ya have been through. The worst things ya have been through. [Then turning his gaze to her, holding it.] Sorry, guessin' I just saw a lot of things ya rather others not know.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 42 of 108

MAY 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

MAY 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

DEATH'S EYE

NOW YOU SEE ME

Character Arrival

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

The tooliest tool

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

floyd leech ♆ twisted wonderland

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

old town road intensifies

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

cw: body trauma, insanity/suicidal ideation, infant death, abandonment and betrayal issues

no subject

no subject

no subject