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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.
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[Lysithea tries the knob carefully, then drops to one knee to better examine the fitting. She turns it this way and that, scratches at the door, and eventually rises back to her feet with a sigh.]
You're correct. This isn't a mechanism at all - you can see it forms a single piece with the door. ...Actually, the door itself is totally flush with the wall.
I'm not sure it would even 'open' more than it would be... breaking a hole.
no subject
[Well, Jubilee takes a step back, waving to the girl to do the same.]
A hole is better than nothing. Gimme some room to work, and I might be able to make that happen.
no subject
[Usually, Lysithea would be the one volunteering to blast through something. There is a faint note of surprise as she meets Jubilee's eyes - but of course, she has no reputation here.
She isn't sure whether or not she finds that pleasant.]
But I'm sure our joint efforts will have a greater chance of success. I might not look it, but I do pack a punch.
You start, and I'll see where I can assist.
no subject
[Jubilee looks down into those ferocious eyes, flashes what she hopes is a reassuring smile, and holds up her hands. A brilliant spray of purple, pink, blue, red, and green lights burst from her fingertips and fly out to the door, exploding in a shower of pops, pips, and other assorted noises.
Paint peels off the wall, the doorknob starts to visibly melt, but no breaks or cracks yet. That means it's time to redouble her efforts, the sparks intensifying.]
no subject
[Lysithea remarks with appreciation. She has never seen anything quite like it before -- actually, it feels extraordinarily different. She scarcely senses any of the characteristic energies of dark or black magic at all.]
I'll concentrate my power upon the center of your efforts.
[Without further ado, Lysithea launches a stream of flames at the door.]
no subject
[Jubilee continues to work, but since this is almost entirely a reflex for her, she can turn and talk.]
Nah, not magic. I'm a Mutant. This is all natural.
no subject
[Lysithea's surprise is such that even though she continues to wield the flamethrower adeptly, she pays little attention to whether or not their efforts are succeeding.]
A 'Mutant'? ...A mutation? By which you mean... a change has occurred in your physiology?
[She frowns.]
A change that... causes you to shoot sparks? How peculiar! And you speak as if this is something quite normal where you come from.
no subject
[Still spraying plasma, Jubilee shrugs. She figures that Lysithea's some sort of nerd, if she's already worked that out.]
It's not completely normal, maybe .5% of the human race, but it's well documented.
no subject
[The flames are not quite as concentrated as they could be as Lysithea takes in this information.]
I don't exactly know what you're talking about in regards to -- what did you say, 'gene'? But I've never heard of anything like somebody being born with... innate magic. Where I come from, there are those who are born with Crests, of course. Perhaps it's a similar principle?
no subject
[Well, heck this is going to get complicated. She slows down her attack, thinking over it all and trying to word is in a way that'll make sense to someone who doesn't know genetics.]
Human beings are made up of things called genes. They determine stuff about us, like what color our hair is, or if we'll have an allergy, or something like that. Think like...the words that tell the universe what makes up a person. An X-Gene is an extra gene in some people. An extra word for an extra thing.
I guess it could be like a Crest? What innate magic do they give?
no subject
But those who are... fortunate [there's something about the way she says this word that seems a bit forced] enough to be born with a Crest are granted powers to surpass their physical limitations and to wield mystical artifacts of old called Heroes' Relics. They are highly desired, and in truth, the political dynasties of Fodlan revolve solely around Crests and those who possess them.
They are a subject of much controversy.
[This last line doesn't seem quite in keeping with the rest of the explanation - but at this point, Lysithea pauses.]
Er.
Not to digress, but it seems our efforts are not yielding much fruit.
[The door......... looks fine.]
no subject
[Gaelic Magic Fantasy Land that exists between dreams and reality. She's been, and she's too modern for it.
However, she pauses too, looking at the wall.]
...Guess not. Meaning we need to look for some other way out. If you're still good to team up?
no subject
[Lysithea will sigh and release her magic as well.]
It seems as if this building is specially fortified against any attempted assault. I suspect it is something more in the vein of a... challenge. A test, or a game.
We must find the exit through fair means.
no subject
[Well, that's fine. Jubilee lowers her hands and puffs out a breath.]
Fine. Yeah. Let's...I don't know, start poking around.
[There's a short pause.]
What's your name, by the way? I'm Jubilation Lee. Most people just call me Jubilee, though.
no subject
[a faint pause]
You have a lovely name. I suppose it brings to mind the cheerful energy of your magic. Er - mutation?
But we should get going. There's no telling what else they have in store for us here.
no subject
[She repeats it, heading away and further into the house.]
Mutations don't manifest until puberty, so my parents didn't know if I was or wasn't a mutant. My name is because they were happy to have a kid. They apparently struggled a little, to conceive, so I was a happy surprise.
[And she's good with that.]
no subject
[What a nice little story. ...But it tugs at something within her, and for a moment, Lysithea feels a strange emotion rising. Now is not the time for... mushy feelings, though.]
It sounds as if your family were close.
[...]
Jubilee, how much of this house have you explored already? Perhaps we can narrow it down. I have spent most of my time in the other rooms on the first floor.
no subject
[Her parents were good to her. But sadly, like all superhero types, they met with a tragic fate.]
And. Okay, So I've checked out most of the bottom floor, and a couple of rooms on the second before I heard you knocking around down here. Maybe let's go poking around upstairs.
no subject
[Though she can't entirely exclude it as a possibility.]
We should take note of anything out of the ordinary. I don't know if it will be as straightforward as finding the hidden trapdoor underneath the bed.
no subject
[Jubilee starts upstairs, turning to look down one particular wing of the house.]
Maybe let's check windows? See if there are any that aren't locked.
no subject
[But she will dutifully begin testing the windows - not just the locking mechanism, but the glass and the windowpanes themselves. She quickly comes to the conclusion that it is much like the 'door' downstairs. They're not actually removable.]
Jubilee, have you been here long?
no subject
[Sadly. Though, she guesses it could be worse.]
A couple of my friends have been here a lot longer, though.
no subject
[Four months? Six? Lysithea moves on to some rubbish in the corners, hoping for a button marked SECRET PASSAGE HERE, perhaps.]
no subject
[But he is a French Canadian Asshole with a capital A and she tries to avoid hanging with him.]
no subject
[Lysithea stops her rummaging to whirl about in horror.]
People have been here a year -- and there has been no one who has found an escape?
Impossible!
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