soddersays | SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

Entry tags:

SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to September's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: CHILDREN/YOUNG ADULT 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: Evil dollhouses, potential body horror (turning into a doll), heights, pranks with the potential to cause harm, some stalking vibes
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

THE EVIL DOLLHOUSE

When you wake up, you find you're not in your own bed, your own room, or even your own house. The room is well decorated, almost Victorian in fashion. The bed is pretty uncomfortable and you're not even sure the mattress is a real mattress. The chairs look like they might be made of plastic and the doors are flimsy. But it might not be what catches your eye, especially if you look out the window.

Through the clear panes (which also seem to be plastic), you will notice you do not see the town of Deerington, or even the outdoors at all. You see a living room that feels larger than life. There aren't any people in it, but as you look around at the fake looking furnishings and the strange view, you might be hit with a realization: you're inside a dollhouse.

The dollhouse has three floors for those who explore; the second floor you woke up on has two bedrooms and a fake little bathroom, all decorated in the same Victorian dollhouse style as the room you originally found yourself in. The bottom floor has a cute little kitchen with small porcelain dolls sitting around the table, a living room with all the basic furniture one would expect to find (in fact, it looks a great deal like the living room outside the windows), and an office filled with books that can't actually be pulled out of the shelves. On the very top floor is an attic. It's dusty and filled with broken toy beds and chairs, a few shattered doll pieces, and on the far wall you'll see another bookshelf. All seems... fairly standard, really, if you're used to seeing dollhouses.

But what there doesn't appear to be is an exit.

While searching, you may run into another Sleeper. A friend or a stranger, it's clear you're both stuck here together. And the longer the time ticks by, the more concerning things get. You might not notice at first, but anyone inside the dollhouse starts slowly... changing. It seems to go at a different pace for everyone, but the results are always the same. Your skin will start to become porcelain, your cheeks more rosy, your clothes made of cheaper cloth material, your joints become stiffer, and your eyes will start to become more and more glass like. If you don't get out of the dollhouse soon, it's clear that you may become the next doll at the kitchen table.

Searching the house again may feel fruitless, but keen observers may find light scratches on the floor in front of the bookshelf in the attic. Maybe they were like that because of someone moving things around or maybe there's a reason. If you decide to eventually pull the bookshelf aside, there will be a large door in the wall. It may seem strange, given that the wall only leads to the outside, but it's the only door to the outside that actually opens. You expect it to open up into the living room, but instead you'll see the grass of the park below. Far below. It's likely you could get hurt jumping, especially if you've started to turn to porcelain, but what other choice do you have?

Once characters take the plunge, they will find that they land rather softly in the grass, despite how high the jump may have seemed. As soon as you are out of the dollhouse, your body will have returned to complete normal.

And the house with the dollhouse in the living room will be nowhere in sight.

THOSE PESKY KIDS

You start off thinking maybe you're just forgetful and moved minor pieces around in your house without paying attention. You might think you're just seeing strange things out of the corner of your eye, because why wouldn't you? It's Deerington. Things are always strange. But each day, there's something weirder going on. Small objects might turn into entire rooms being rearranged, strange sightings out of the corner of your eye might turn into you swearing you saw a lake monster running through the street, and you swear you can hear the rattling of chains or the sounds of someone telling you to leave echoing in your house at night or following you down the street.

A haunting seems plausible. It wouldn't be the first time in Deerington. But no amount of herbs burned, or exorcisms performed, or chants and spell cast will make these things go away. In fact, they seem to just becoming more and more frequent, and more and more intense. Eventually, the strange creatures you see running around may start to try and attack you. They may start to try and kill you. But they always run off before you can attack back or show yourself to be stronger than them. It's probably the first time the monsters have ever been so easily scared.

Anyone who looks into it further may start to find weird clues lying around after a monster has been chased off. Footprints that don't look quite monster-like, tapes or records that when played will make strange rattling sounds like the chains you've been hearing, a piece of rubber that looks a lot like the monsters skin... Huh. The more you follow the clues, the more they'll lead you towards the answer to your dilemmas; these aren't hauntings.

They're pranks.

People can work together to catch a monster or ghost (or killing it, if you decide to); catching them will lead to them getting quite flustered and angry, struggling to get away. Pull off the mask or the sheet and underneath you'll find... a very disgruntled townsperson. Maybe your business was taking too much money away from theirs and they were hoping you'd close down with enough scares, maybe you talked back to them one time and they were looking for revenge, maybe you ruined their house or garden when you were fighting the things in Deerington that actually try to kill you, or maybe they were just having some "harmless" fun; they all have a different excuse, but they're clearly angry about getting caught.

They woulda gotten away with it if it weren't for you pesky Sleepers, after all.

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

She pulls back from the hug as soon as it becomes evident that David is feeling awkward and uncomfortable. She forces herself to take a deep breath, calming herself down.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to go off on you there... It's just that everyone else here from Earth 616 comes from an earlier issue and doesn't know me or the mutant nation of Krakoa or any of that."

Okay, let's see. Time to run down the list of who's here from Earth 616. "It's you and me, obviously. Kurt Wagner. Logan, like I said. Northstar. Gambit, Jubilee, Chamber. Elixir, that'll probably catch your interest. I think Either Billy Kaplan or Teddy Altman is here, but I only texted him once so I'm not sure who it is. Some Y.A. nerd." Is that everyone? "Oh, also, Jean Grey and Professor X are here, but they're from a different universe."

Earlier issue? Yep, Gwen earns a raised eyebrow for that statement. No matter the level of warning one could get from Kate, there was still some things that weren't truly weird until the first time it was heard in person.

Still, the list she runs down is rather... unexpected. He doesn't know where to start. His team leader, the man who taught him how to fight, two members of Excalibur, a New Mutant...

"Josh," David says, his voice laden with concern. Josh before Krakoa, Josh not knowing the good he's done for them. That's something he's going to address. He owed his friend so much... "I guess I'm going to have to deal with some level of confusion from them. I'll try not to overwhelm them with future knowledge. But, uh, it's sort of important for me to know just when Billy and or Teddy is from. Because that could be exceedingly awkward."

Hey, he's a former Y.A. nerd dating a Y.A. nerd. Be polite.

"Jean as a fully realized Phoenix or no? I'm hoping latter."

Oh man, they can't just talk about this standing there, he gestures for Gwen to walk with him. They need to find a seat.

Gwen's eyebrows raise. Oh... right. The kiss. She laughs a little nervously, but begins walking, aiming to lead David in the direction of the nearest coffee shop because why not?

"Yeah. Uh. Pretty sure whichever one of them it is, he's from the time you guys were all running around looking for Tommy. At least, he seemed pretty dead set on finding Tommy Shepherd."

Whether Jean is Phoenix or not is probably important. Probably really important. "I dunno. I only ran into her once, and it was during this weird month when nobody was the right ages, so she was a teenager. Or... Young adult? She was the Sophie Turner version."

Oh boy there is a lot to unpack there, and most of it David was going to have to do on his own. Because while searching out Tommy could be anywhere in the two months he was running with the team. Which meant a good chance it was after the kiss but before they resolved all of that.

"I'm guessing the him in question doesn't even know that I got Tommy back in the weirdest way possible. Don't suppose Kate or America told you that story."

Talk about an awkward thing to have to deal with when he runs into whichever one of them it was. All hi, Tommy's safe, we're sorta kinda dating except Tommy and those pesky allergies to anything resembling commitment, oh and I'm one of Teddy's closer friends now. Someone please save him from the drama of his own life.

"Sophie Turner? The actress? What does she have to do with Jean Grey?"

Nope. That's a bit much. And this from a man who had been through the multiverse enough to see a version of Tony Stark that looked just like Robert Downey Jr. Well, a picture of a version of Tony Stark. Listen, the multiverse was a mess. Gwen should know that.

"They didn't. But I know." She waggles her eyebrows for good measure. Somehow it doesn't even occur to her that maybe she shouldn't lose the one friend she might have who knows her back home by being a total creepazoid right off the bat.

"Uh..." How to explain. David's a smart guy and he's seen a lot. Gwen is like ninety nine percent sure that if she uses the 'it's my superpower to know shit about the multiverse' line she's used on so many other fictional characters here in Creepsville, David will see right through it. Might as well lean into honesty, for once.

Even if it might make him think she's crazy. Quentin thought she was crazy, and yet he dated her anyway. Miracles happen.

"She played Jean in a movie once. In a different universe."

"This... is a Sorta-Like-Deadpool thing, isn't it?" David asks, giving her the side eye. Only only briefly. Because mostly he's making a mental map as they walk. Better to know the terrain now, right?

Except then she's explaining and nope. David needs a moment to stop. To stop and shake his head.

"You know, it's one thing that there are comics about the Avengers and heroes in our world. I just never really expected that anyone would ever think to make movies about it. But it would be weirder to consider anyone ever wanting to make a movie about mutants, even in another universe."

They aren't, you know, liked.

"It's definitely a Sorta-Like-Deadpool thing." That's honestly the best way to describe it, even if their particular flavors of fourth wall breakage are a little different. "You just missed Wade, by the way. He woke up like a month and a half ago."

But knowing Wade's relationship with most mutants (with most people on Earth 616, really), that's probably a point in Deerington's favor for David. Being where Wade isn't.

"Oh, man, you have no idea. Mutants are super popular in some universes." She makes an awkward shrug. "Just... those happen to be the universes where mutants don't actually exist. People like mutants as a concept, less so in reality."

Woke up. That's... a very weird way of putting it. Weird enough that Gwen earns a raised eyebrow, peeking out over his glasses. However he doesn't intend to press. Not right at this point. Instead he sees the coffee shop across the street when he looks at her and immediately turns toward it.

Coffee? Still not perfected on Krakoa. He could really go for a cup.

"Of course we're popular where we weren't. On Earth I'm pretty certain we wouldn't even be popular if we weren't there anymore either. Krakoa's practically inviting problems, but... Well, you have to say it feels like we're making a statement with particular style these days. Typically a style with a very strange relationship with plants. It occurred to me, just the other day, that more and more mutants are effectively pod people these days. In a good way, of course."

It was a far freer statement than he'd have with most people here. After all, Krakoa was full of secrets. But this was Gwen, and Gwen was a mutant. At least so far as Krakoa and its residents knew. So of course he had no reason to think she wasn't read in on the state secret of the Five and what they do.

The thing is, it's a lot easier to keep up with everything that's happening in the Marvel universe when you're not actually living in the Marvel universe. If Gwen were still in her home world, reading comics religiously every Wednesday, she would know all about the Five and their mutant pod people. Things being as they are, all she knows is that the mutants live on Krakoa, and a bunch of them are being brought back to life, and that she's one of them now.

She hesitates in her step, before following David into the coffee shop. "Uhhh hehehe.. What?" She's heard a lot of people describe mutants a lot of ways. 'Pod people' is not typically among them.

"Wow, they... must have taken you from right after you arrived if you don't know about all of that," David says, shocked. Because really, it was something people learned rather quickly, even if they didn't head into the Arbor. The Five were practically worshiped. Which David found amusing because he knew Hope as a person, and Josh...

If people on Krakoa knew half of what a tool Josh was growing up, they'd never look at him like that. Guess it was up to David to be that Roman slave in the ear of conquering heroes, to be there whispering 'remember you are only mortal'. Except, you know, Josh really wasn't.

"There's stuff you'll learn there that will blow your mind. Beyond what we let the humans know."

Oh. Okay. Gwen's eyes widen a little bit. Sounds like there are some fun conversations waiting for her outside the nightmare hellscape that is Sodder's dream.

"Duuuuuuuuude... Every day I get more and more excited to be counted as a mutant!"

But that's Earth 616. And they're here. Here, in front of Gwen's second favorite coffee shop. She holds the door open for David, smiling and letting him pass before following him inside.

"Do you have any questions about Creepsville stuff? I bet this whole thing must seem really weird to you."

"Yeah, the health coverage is pretty amazing," David agrees with a grin. Oh, did he just make a funny? He did. One that only he gets to enjoy.

He slips through the door and once it closes he's already scoping the menu.

"I mean, so far it's not nearly as bad as some of the dimensions I went through with the Young Avengers. But it's still... unnerving. It's like being dropped in suburbia. Which is where I grew up, so of course I'm picking up on special creepy vibes. This place, it's going to fuck with me, isn't it?"

"Hey, anything beats M.O.D.O.K.'s health plan. Which basically was just, 'Do what I say or else I'll vaporize you!'" The two of them can play at the joke game.

Gwen steps easily into line to order, already knowing what she wants. She gives David a sage nod, her face still playful but her tone severe. "This place is going to fuck with you, and fuck with you some more, and then never stop fucking with you." Out of all the universes Gwen has been to (which, admittedly, is not as many as David), Deerington was by far the worst and most dangerous.

"The good news is, we can't die here. Well... We can die, and do with terrifying frequency, but we don't stay dead."

"I don't know, you seem pretty not vaporized," David teases. "And frankly, you wouldn't have to worry about that anymore."

She's a mutant, and he's X-Factor. If she dies, he will investigate, prove why and how, and then she can, you know, be brought back. Or put in the queue. There is a serious queue.

"So basically you're telling me this place is Krakoa, but probably without the celebrations whenever someone comes back to life. No 'this is my brother, and he is a mutant' cheers? Please tell me that when you come back, it's at least with clothes on, or without everyone there to see you naked. Most embarrassing moment of my life, even with me basking in having my psychomimetic powers restored."

"Yeah, well, M.O.D.O.K. can suck my dick. The only good thing that I ever got from him is my pet landshark, Jeff." She gasps as a thought occurrs to her. "Are pets allowed on Krakoa? I can't ask a Wade to sharksit him forever..."

Not that it matters whole they're both here, Gwen is perfectly capable of taking care of both Jeff and her little dream kitten by herself.

"Nah, the resurrections here are pretty private, so no embarrassing nakedness necessary. The thing is, each time you die, you come back feeling worse and worse. You get some sort of flu that lasts a week or more, and after your second death, you start getting this weird amnesia." She chuckles. "Last November, I forgot all about even going to Earth 616 at all! It was awkward."

"Rachel Grey has a warwolf pup. Yeah, pets are allowed. Even potentially dangerous ones."

Private resurrections sound nice. Not that David doesn't enjoy the parties that come after the Krakoan ones. But he definitely looks concerned by her news. That doesn't... sound good.

"I think I'll try to avoid dying then. Twice is enough for any man. Still... you're not going to ask about my weirdly specific questions about resurrection?"

Come on, it's really juicy.

"Never mind. I'd rather catch you up on Krakoan gossip. And get a coffee. Mind if I beg you for one and then owe you one in the future?"

"Oh, phew. I was worried there for a second." She really doesn't want to lose Jeff. He's been her constant companion through this whole year and a half in Deerington.

"I mean, it's mutant stuff." She shrugs again. "It's bound to be weirdly ritualistic at some point. But I'm sure all the nudity is really tastefully drawn, with convenient leaves covering people's naughty parts."

She doesn't mind spotting him the cash for a coffee. It's the least she could do for a fellow mutant who's just arrived. "I got you. You don't have to worry about paying me back or anything. I'll do it out of the kindness of my heart." For once in her life, she has a steady paying job at the comic book store. She's willing to spread the wealth around a bit.

"You could call it weirdly ritualistic. But you should call it what it is. A new culture, mixed up in a religion, tangled in a species trying to survive. But it's... weird. And I assure you, there are no convenient leaves."

Awkward. So damn awkward. His ex-girlfriend had been out in the damn crowd!

But he smiles thankfully at her for the offer.

"There's still a few plant-related mutants trying to teach Krakoa how to make good coffee. It's... not going as well as some people think. I admit it, I step out to New York sometimes to just get a good cup. Which seems so weird, just saying 'I take a jaunt from a hidden island to NYC for coffee in the mornings'. But hey, at least the bagel plant is good."

"It's a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle trying to fit together and somebody lost the box with the picture on it."

She chuckles at the thought of some mutants trying to school Krakoa on how to grow coffee beans. Sounds like there's a lot she's missing out on while she's stuck here in Sodder's dream.

"Yeah, well, the coffee here in Creepsville isn't quite as good as New York coffee, and the bagels absolutely can't compare. But we make do."

"There's actually a strategy for how to solve puzzles like that," David smiles.

But yeah, he thinks he gets what she means.

"The Five made us a bagel plant, when X-Factor moved into the Boneyard. It was awesome. I just wish it did more flavors."

"Well, I mean, yeah. You start with the edges and work your way in. But once you get to the big blue sky with white fluffy clouds, that's where it loses me."

Okay, but enough about puzzles.

"Al...right. Two important questions. One, when you say 'The Five,' all proper noun-like, who are you talking about exactly? And two, what flavors does the bagel plant do?"

David almost wants to chuckle.

"The bagel plant only does plain. It's sad. But Krakoa can be hard to guide, even for the Five. And they're... the ones mutants love more than anyone else. The ones giving us our people and our powers back."

But he'll resist telling her more about that before finding and talking to Josh.

"Does it least have other plants that can make some really good veggie cream cheese?"

She does take note of the fact that he's conveniently not naming any names. Suspicious, but she bets he probably has his reasons. She's barely enough of a mutant to get the full scoop without some sort of mystic initiation ritual or something. Not here, anyway. Maybe back in the waking world, she'll learn who the Five are. For now, she can wait. Whoever they are, that information doesn't mean much inside Sodder's subconscious.

"So... Powers back? For you or for everybody?"

"Krakoa? Probably. We're weird," David grins.

Yes, he is VERY pointedly not naming names. He has to talk to Josh first. Having someone else explain to Josh what he is first wouldn't be good.

"Everyone, in time. For now, I'm recently back to it. Psychomimetry has been great again. knowing was... good."

Finally, it's their turn to order. Gwen gives the barista her order of the sugariest frozen coffee concoction there is, and gestures for David to go ahead and give his order. "Whatever you want, I'll cover it."

She's happy for him that he's got his powers back. That whole storyline was massively depressing. It hurt, sometimes, being an X-Men fan and seeing the mutants get shit on again and agin and again. David wasn't wrong, life sucks for mutantkind. Gwen knows, that's why Krakoa's so important.

(For now, anyway... Surely the editors will make it all come crashing down again sooner or later.)

SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

THE EVIL DOLLHOUSE

THOSE PESKY KIDS

Character Arrival

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)