MAY 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

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.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[sodder]

inosuke hashibira | demon slayer (kimetsu no yaiba)

[prettypig]

arrival;

[ Strange dreams are nothing new to Inosuke. But they do tend to put him on edge when he wakes up, and when Inosuke is on edge, the whole neighborhood is bound to hear about it. He isn't exactly subtle or quiet, not when he thinks there's something to fight.

Which he does.

Anyone nearby can feel free to see him bursting out of the home containing the bed he woke up in -- or worse, kicking the door of a random home in in search of what he seeks. That would be alarming enough on its own, but the boy has the head of a boar and two jagged, horrifying swords in his fists. ]

OI! DEER LORD! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME ALREADY, YOU BASTARD!!

now you see me;

[ Now that he's had some time to settle in, he can see that the situation here is quite dire, indeed. The people here need someone to lead them. To take care of them.

... So, clearly, the Great and Mighty Inosuke is the man for the job! If it was true that there wasn't much to be done about making it back to his friends for the time being, then his place was here, for now.

But he won't be satisfied with just declaring his position. He has to prove it to everyone in Deerington. How is he going to do that? Why, by catching something falling off the shelf, or moving you out of the way before something shatters right in front of you. And after it seems you're out of harm's way (not that he was very gentle about it), or the item has been successfully rescued from being broken (with his dirty, grubby hands) ... ]

Hah! The invisible demon is no match for Lord Inosuke! Hahahaha!

[ That cackle is ... a little much, isn't it? ]

Katie "Pidge" Holt | Voltron: Legendary Defender | Duplicity CRAU

[pidgeypidge]

Death's Eye

Having spent the last six months in a place that could arguably be considered a type of prison, Pidge is no stranger to anxiety. A good portion of every day was spent on wondering what was going to happen to her, wondering how she was going to be able to go home... wondering if she was going to go home at all. So finding herself in a completely different place should be comforting. At least she's far away from the city and all the arbitrary rules placed on everyone.

Unfortunately, this new place has done nothing to ease her nerves. If anything, Pidge feels more anxious than ever. She's not sleeping well, and when she does, the nightmares are back in full force. There aren't really any new ones, but now there's a common theme amidst the terror: a clearing in the forest and, right at the center of that, a shiny glass orb.

One thing's for sure, though. She needs that orb.

So there's no hesitation as she marches out of her house and straight for the woods. Having something to focus on has always done wonders for her mood, and this time seems no different. Wanna tag along? Maybe try to stop her? Either way, she has a clear goal in mind, and it's going to take quite a bit of effort to deter her.

Now You See Me

After the ordeal with the forest, Pidge was hoping that things would calm down. Why is that so much to ask? Unfortunately, after a couple days worth of things that should've been innocuous on their own, Pidge is beginning to realize that something's up. Even more unfortunately, she has no idea what to do about the poltergeist.

Winging it seems to be her best option at this point. But for now, winging it appears to translate to sitting on her porch with the half a wreath she'd found in her basket.

At least the nonsense seems to be confined to inside the house?

Lucifer / s5 Supernatural

[dissemble]

Death's Eye

[ When you get to the clearing, it feels a few degrees colder than the rest of the forest. The closer you get to the blond man standing a few feet from the orb, the colder it gets. The grass around the orb is scorched black with what must be fire, along with a number of small craters.

Turns out the orb isn't flammable. Who'd have guessed.

Lucifer's standing with his arms folded across his chest, studying the thing. On principle he refuses to touch the thing, despite the compulsion that's brought him here having grown only stronger. He won't be controlled, even if he has been neutered. Already the grass is beginning to turn green again, which is the biggest fuck you he's encountered here so far.

He glances over at whoever's joined him, almost glad of the distraction from the compulsion that gnaws deep inside him. Now that he's stopped trying to destroy the thing, he's realised how exhausted he is.

Not that he'll let it on. He affects a bored expression, waving a hand at the orb. ]

Go on. Might as well get it over with.



[ He wants to see what happens when you touch it. ]

[finaletea]

[ Probably lucky for both of them, Mami only catches Inosuke coming out of his house rather that break into someone else's. She can't hide her flinch from his yelling and immediately turns to snap at him. ]

Would you please not shout? No one is going to fight you.

[ Unless you don't put those swords away... ]

[prettypig]

[ The boar head snaps in her direction. But even though he's registered that she spoke, and that she doesn't look deer-ish, he definitely didn't listen to whatever it was she just said.

Instead, he's charging towards her, swords still out, and continuing to yell. It's not like he's trying to be menacing about it, and he's not really preparing to attack, but one would be easily forgiven for being confused about his intentions. ]

YOU! CURLY HAIR WOMAN! WHERE'D THE DEER LORD GO?

Death's Eye

[tagartist]

Chloe is, surprisingly, not having the increase in worries and anxieties, or if she is she hasn't noticed it being any stronger than her usual constant state of panic. She's mostly just been going about her day as usual and wondering what shit is causing everyone to be so jumpy this month. Mostly she's ignored it. Right up until she sees a familiar face that she had thought was gone start to storm off towards the woods.

It's not like she doesn't get Pidge may not remember who she is, but she's not gonna just let her go off on her own in this place, even if she's probably a better fighter than Chloe could ever be. It just wasn't a smart thing to go at anything solo in Deerington. So she abandons her journey to work to follow after her, not even trying to be secret about it as she comes to jog up next to her.

"Hey, girl, where you off to in such a rush?"

Re: QUESTIONS

[variantcover]

Can characters' pets be subject to the same psychological issues that characters are? (For example, the anxiety, desperation, and intense need to find the orb)

[sodder]

Yeah, go for it.

[cadimus]

[ Richard Pembroke doesn't like anxiety. Oh, don't get it wrong, he likes other people's anxiety just fine. Relishes in it. Grows stronger from it. Causing it makes him look good to the boss downstairs.

It's his own anxiety that he can't stand. He still hasn't gotten a feel for this new place he's ended up, though he's sure it can't be regular old boring small-town America. The psychological torment and forced visions of an orb in the woods make that clear enough. But, the orb seems to be the answer to getting rid of this horrid feeling. So, off he goes to see the orb.

When Richard arrives at the clearing, he's not alone. And it looks like the man who arrived prior to him has been busy. There's something about him... Something familiar, but not. But Richard is too preoccupied with the itch of this anxiety he's feeling to do the mental gymnastics required to suss it out.

When spoken to, Richard just smiles, gesturing with a hand before crossing his arms, the picture of nonchalance. ]

No, by all means. You were starting to make some progress there.

[finaletea]

What the-!?

[ Is he really coming after her with swords!? Cause that is what it looks like!

Mami instantly transforms into her magical girl form, raising her gun at him. ]

Don't come any closer!

now you see me

[prayed]

[Not that she noticed that she was in harm's way. Really, not that she would have cared all that much - what's a good knock to the head from a ghost to a Puella Magi? She's seen far worse monsters. Really, if she thinks about it, this is like a pleasant vacation when compared to that daily Hel.

At least, it was. If she was content to gripe and sulk about inconvenience upon inconvenience being "just her luck," she's not quite that generous about being pushed. She fixes the idiot who shoved her with a glare. She wasn't paying attention to what he said, but the annoying, gloating laugh is enough to tell her to be annoyed!]

Oi! What the Hell do you think you're doing!?

[prettypig]

[ What the fuck just happened with those sparklies just now? And what the hell is she pointing at him? It doesn't look like a sword ...

Not that not knowing what the fuck is going on has ever stopped him from charging into a fight anyways. If it had been even a year ago, he simply would have charged right in anyways. It's a credit to all he's learned since he joined the Demon Slayer Corps that he actually stops when she tells him to, but he's definitely ready and excited to fight her if his stance is any indication. ]

Hahaha! So you want to challenge me, too?

[prettypig]

Keeping my underlings out of danger, of course!

[ He puffs up his chest proudly. He's done a good deed, here -- she should be praising him! ]

Be grateful!

eobard thawne | the flash (dctv)

[hsalf]

one: grab the orb

[ eobard does not resist the urge to find the orb. he can feel the storm of anxiety and paranoia in him, amplified negative emotions fueling him. those dark emotions are his power, his source, and so he does not pull from them. but when he runs into someone in the clearing, orb seated on a pedestal, the prize for the taking, he stares down the other person with a hateful gaze. ]

You don't want to touch that. [ he warns with a cold gravel of a voice just above a whisper. ] Let me take it. I can handle it.

[ a new source of energy for his speed? he isn't sure, but he won't deny wanting to try. ]

two: now you see me

Finally...

[ the angry spirit has been causing quite a mess for eobard. he didn't want to bother trying to find the person with the other half of the antler wreath, but he saw no other option. the wreaths combined, and the path lit up, he travels with his partner down the path, through the town, and to the playground. together they come upon the child's body.

eobard isn't much into magic, thinking of it as a cheat from the couple magicians he has come across in his time, and looking at the body of the child makes him feel no compassion or sympathy. so whether or not his partner chooses to place the wreath makes no difference to him. he does what any reasonable person would do--

--he delivers a swift kick to the side of the body, causing it to turn over a little. ]

I've been wanting to do that for days.

wildcard

[ if you want a starter just shoot me a dw message, i'm happy to make them! ]

[dissemble]

Hm. [ The hum is curt and dismissive.

Lucifer wasn't starting to make some progress, and right there is the rub. As they talk, small patches of green keep spreading at the edge of the scorched earth.]

I'm just about done here. [ He makes no move to leave though. ]

Zed Martin | Constantine/DCTV | OTA

[atoughbird]

Arrival:
It’s like she fell into one of her visions again. The sensation of being pulled across the ground, the sky above. A voice of a being she can’t recognize, a deer and… someone asking for her help.

Zed sat up in a strange bed, a gasp of breath coming to her as she jerked away from the deer in her dream. Just a dream. But it felt so real.

Getting out of the bed she looked around, almost a bit frantic. This wasn’t the hospital. This wasn’t the Mill House. Still a vision, maybe? She reached out to touch a wall, then walk, slowly making her way to the kitchen. After inspecting the basket she found a set of keys to her truck. Strange. Her drawings were there, and her art box. And a black glowing box that really shouldn’t be here. “Shit…”

Carefully she took out a purple velvet bag of chalk and dumped it out, sliding the box into it and tying it shut. “John, where are you?” She said to herself, wondering when this vision would end.

Headed out to her truck, it was parked in a parkway before the small house she woke up in. Interesting. So the note said it was a dream and she was here to help, so maybe this wasn’t a vision. She stood outside her truck, a hand running over her forehead and letting out a frustrated sigh.

“Now what?”


Death’s Eye:
Walking down a path she felt so uneasy. So many visions of battles and senseless killing, and an orb in the center of it all. She wanted to find it and that was how she ended up on this path. Following her gut feelings as she went.

Brows drawn together, her hands in her jacket pockets, she walked slowly, cautiously, looking down different paths but feeling like she had to keep walking this one. Keep going straight. She felt a bit lost, and yet on target too. Lost because everything about this felt like a fairy tale, or at least a nightmare of one.

As she moved on forward she saw someone else coming in off a pathway to join hers. She took that moment to jog and catch up to them. “Hey! Excuse me!” She called out to them, brow eyes looking concerned and unsure as she approached.

“Are you looking for the orb too?”


Now You See Me:
It started with her keys being misplaced. Then a shattering of glass. Yelling. The last straw was when the purple velvet bag she had put a box of black diamond into started to float. She snatched it out of the air and yelled at the ghost. “Stop it! This isn’t a toy! This is really dangerous!”

It seemed to stop for about a hour after that. She kept the bag tied to her belt loop for safekeeping after that. She really needed to do something with this.

In the kitchen she stood at the counter picking up shards of glass to throw out, only to pause as she looked at the half an alter round she had as part of her basket. It just seemed like part of the basket is all, but for some reason she felt compelled to pick it up.

When she did she felt startled, dizzy, and a bit light headed. The world faded into gray around her, making her feel as if she were in a fog. There was the antler wreath, pressed to another half. A path of light. A playground and a swinging swing. She turned as if to follow it, smelling damp-, wet-, a pond. Then there was a scream of a child, right in her face, before seeing the dead body.Her head snapped back and she gasped.

The lights of the house started to flicker once again, but wildly this time. Angerly. She grabbed the antlers and her keys and darted out the door.


Network Post:
[An image of a woman with long curls and a worried face showed up on the network. She’s holding the antler wreath half up.]

My name is Zed and I’m looking for, well, several things. One, does anyone know a man named Constantine? It’s really important I find him.

[She holds the antler half up a bit more and waves it.] Second, I know this sounds strange, but does anyone have a wreath half made of antler? I… I know what to do with it, I just need to find the other half.

If you’re having a problem with a ghost child, I might be able to help.

---

[ooc note: "Prose" or [action] okay! Will match format!]

Jezebel Disraeli | Godchild/The Cain Saga | OTA

[delilahs_death]

I. Network Post

So tell me, then...is this place hell?

[There is a man in Victorian-era clothes in front of the camera who seems to be vaguely in some sort of shock. A huge gash streaks across his neck, as if his throat had been slit and freshly healed over, and yet he scarcely acknowledges it.]

Everything I've seen on this network thus far -- the mention of curses, of torments each month, of people who die and yet are always brought back for more tortures -- all of it seems rather hellish.

I know I am dead. I remember it well.

So tell me, then: is this place hell?



II. Now You See Me

[It doesn't surprise him that there are spirits that are furious with him. He watches books and other items fly off his shelves without stopping, shrieks filling the halls as he claps his hands over his ears. Even as he stumbles out of the building, the wails follow him, screeching through his ears.

There's no stopping them. All he can do is move forward, but the spirits -- or whatever it is that follows him -- do not abate. If anything, they seem more furious at his resistance, their wails rising in volume as he's buffetted by winds and by items flying through the air.

Practically to himself, he murmurs:] What angry ghosts we have.

[finaletea]

[ Who the hell stares down the barrel of a gun and thinks it's a fight? Either he's very or very stupid. Maybe both... ]

I'll warn you right now... you do not want to fight me.

[ Which is to say, she'll fight him if she must, but... ]

the orb is mine

[accelerate]

[ tbqh, he's not here because of some orb calling for him to come and touch it like a creep. he's here because he's bored. how many times can he run around this place before he finds something new?

barry narrows his eyes at the orb thawne's so intent on catching for himself. does he want to take it just to be a dick? thawne seems pretty hellbent on having it…

as much as he wants to touch the orb because he's an overgrown child who wants to touch everything… barry doesn't. crossing his arms against his chest, he shrugs. maybe his indifference will turn him off. thawne kind of takes offence to almost everything barry does, after all... from breathing to how he dresses himself to his lack of interest in things that barry's pretty sure thawne wants so he can better himself with.

or he just likes round things. what the frak does he know? ]

Okay. I mean, the orb looks pretty easy to handle.

[ wimp. ]

[hsalf]

Flash.

[ tone derisive as it always is toward barry allen, he smirks with bite in his voice. he takes a step toward the orb, testing. ]

Not going to try and stop me? Smart man. Maybe you've finally wised up that you can't stop me.

[cadimus]

[ Richard raises his eyebrows, still smiling. ]

Well, if you're done.

[ He turns as if to leave, but he only gets two steps away before he freezes in place, a hand flying up to clutch his head. ]

I've got to say, I really don't appreciate having voices in my head.

[ Loathe as he is do to something he's being told to do, this is untenable. Resolutely, he whirls around and marches back over to stand on the newly-regrown grass surrounding the stand, and places his right hand firmly atop the orb.

Instantly, his body is wracked with blinding pain. If he were mortal, he might say it was the worst pain he's ever felt. But, being as he is, he's felt much, much worse. His body recoils, but his hand stays in place, touching the orb's surface, as if glued there.

And if he was mad about voices in his head, he's really not going to like the visions that come next... ]

[prettypig]

[ Who threatens someone and then says that their opponent really doesn't want to fight them?

Clearly someone who will be really fun to fight, if they're that cocky.

... So, he dashes in low with another confident laugh, slashing his sword towards her legs. Sorry Mami! ]

[finaletea]

[ Someone acting in self defense! Speaking of-

Mami wishes she was more surprised he was still coming after her. He needs to be taught a lesson, clearly. She fires off her musket, purpose arming off to not hit him as a warning. Then she raises the grun on its side to block his strikes. ]

What is wrong with you!?

[prettypig]

[ So far, the only lesson he's learned is that that thing in her hand is NOISY, and something came out of it very, very fast. He doesn't like that, so when his strikes are blocked by it, he's moving to knock it out of her hands and hopefully send it flying. ]

You're the one who challenged me, woman!