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soddersays2020-08-26 04:27 pm
sodder) wrote in soddersays2020-08-26 04:27 pm
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SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME
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!
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.
no subject
[ Or hungry, as the case may be. ]
Was there anywhere, in particular, you were trying to go or did you just wish to lead him away from the stores?
[ Dimitri reaches over to grasp another piece of the harness and gives it an experimental tug. ]
no subject
[ A common problem that he supposes he can't really blame him for.
He goes to start tugging again once he sees the other guy has a settled grip. ]
I just need to get him away from this one before he eats through their entire vegetable section.
no subject
[ In truth, he's had little cause to test his strength in this manner before — particularly against an animal so large. The horses back home had been both smaller and considerably less stubborn.
Well, only one way to find out. He braces himself and begins to pull, hoping against hope that the harness itself remains intact. ]
no subject
At least with the extra strength, Sven's forced back from the entrance, huffing about it the whole way. ]
Pipe down, you big baby.
[ At least he's not talking for him this time. For the moment. When it's clear he's losing the fight, Sven eventually just plops his butt down in the middle of the street. ]
I guess pouting is at least an improvement. Uh— thanks for the help.
no subject
[ Which is what he would have said regardless, but it's entirely honest all the same. Besides, he enjoys helping out. Especially here. It's better than spending countless hours researching, working to find solutions for questions he barely understands, or preparing for the next unpredictable bout of chaos.
There's also the matter of a large, sulking distraction now resting in front of them. ]
He's quite... expressive, isn't he?
[ Are all animals like this? Garreg Mach was home to a seemingly endless parade of cats, dogs, and assorted other creatures but he never had cause to interact with them up close. ]
no subject
He's got a lot of feelings, I guess. Usually he's more talkative, but now he's just being a baby.
[ ... He's not crazy. Really. ]
no subject
Even knowing it is (probably) not the case, he leans more towards devoted or intuitive than crazy. It’s reminiscent of Marianne, her ease and natural empathy towards animals, and the thought makes him smile in turn. ]
It sounds as though you’ve known each other for some time. Did you arrive here together?
[ He's a bit envious. ]
no subject
Sure did. A good thing, too. I don't think we've been apart longer than a few days since I found him in the woods as a kid.
[ He knows he'd feel lost without Sven there. It's hard enough without Anna and Elsa, but at least it's just been the two of them through basically his whole life. ]
no subject
Really? Then I'm happy for both of you. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to arrive here alone.
[ His own connections may not be so straightforward, but they're familiar and comforting in their own way. Far better than the alternative. ]
no subject
It's surprising we didn't get separated, honestly. I've never seen a nightmare world capable of having outside people in it. But I guess dream magic isn't something I've got a lot of experience with.
no subject
[ He has plenty of experience with dreams, nightmares in particular, and a more than passing familiarity with magic itself. Yet neither has served to make this transition any easier. He's beginning to wonder if anything could. ]
no subject
[ That's only half true. He definitely already has a headache, mostly because he's been thinking about things extremely hard. ]
Have you been stuck here long?
no subject
[ Which seems much shorter than it feels, spoken out loud. ]
It's hard to believe so much could change in so little time.
no subject
Yeah. [ Even having his life completely changed around in Arendelle in just two days hadn't felt the same. Maybe it was because it had been good change ultimately. ] Time feels kind of crazy here. It's hard to believe it hasn't even been a day.
no subject
[ Looking back, perhaps he should have guessed. It certainly explains the circumstances behind their meeting and the other man's wariness of ostensibly harmless vegetables. Then again, he's inclined to deem the latter good sense more than paranoia. ]
I wish I could offer more than just condolences, but a week has barely been enough time to scratch the surface. Nevertheless, if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.
no subject
[ The houses, the technology, the transportation. He's leaning a little more into Sven, using his presence to keep himself as grounded as he has been. ]
Do you know if the people with the funky colored hair usually so uh... rude? I mean, I'm used to weird stares as much as the next guy who talks to reindeer, but they seem particularly touchy.
no subject
[ Which is one of the reasons Dimitri makes for a poor instructor. He's yet to gain a full working knowledge of the technology present in the house he woke in, let alone the rest of Deerington. ]
Ah, I believe you're referring to the original residents of this place. They... aren't fond of any of us. I've heard they can grow hostile, dangerous even. It'd be best to remain cautious of them. And avoid any food or beverages they may offer.
[ Or so he's been told. ]
no subject
[ Sarcasm as a coping mechanism? Him? Never. ]
Glad to know I was right to try and stop Sven from just chowing down on the first snack he saw, at least. Thanks for the heads up.
no subject
You're very welcome. Unfortunately, the strange nature of this place doesn't seem to extend to regular needs such as hunger. We still require sustenance. From what I can tell, the food found in stores should be safe.
[ ... Relatively speaking. ]
no subject
No whining. I was being rightfully cautious.
[ There's an eyeroll from the reindeer, who apparently decides he's going to go and get his helping of root vegetable after all. ]
... I guess at least he'll be easy to please here. Thanks for the info, uh— [ He's realized he's forgotten one of the more important things here and goes to extend a hand. ] I'm Kristoff.
no subject
Dimitri. [ He accepts the proffered hand, gives a firm and even shake. ] It's a pleasure to meet you. Both of you, I mean.
[ Because Sven obviously counts. ]
no subject
[ He glances towards the store, before letting out a small sigh. ]
I should probably make sure he doesn't eat their whole stock. Don't need to make myself anymore of a target for the locals. I, uh— I'm sure I'll see you around.
no subject
[ In a sense, all he's managed to do is circle them around to the beginning. The store and its endangered supplies included. Ah well. Isn't it worth a little unnecessary time and effort for the opportunity to meet a fellow sleeper? ]
And good luck.