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

( Her appearance certainly does add a little to his surprise. Her third eye in particular causing him to hesitate a bit, before he's forced to look away so as to not be caught staring. He's seen a great many oddities in this town, but he has still not gotten used to much of it. )

If that is what you wish to call it.

( He doesn't like that he's so easily read. Had it been so obvious? His disorientation may not be so easily shaken off, but he steels himself regardless, saying, )

I have died. Is this not some sort of afterlife?

[If it was any consolation, she was used to a few stares. Two years got you accustomed to the surprised looks from new faces. She could be pretty patient about that.]

Mmmm. No, I fear not the afterlife. You are in the town of Deerington, in a place called Maine. But perhaps it is more accurate to say you are trapped in the nightmares and dreams of a very powerful child. I assume you read the note?

...

You did eat something, I hope.

[If it was any consolation, it was hard for new faces to avoid looking that way unless they'd had the misfortune of already being trapped in another world like this before. There was always a certain shock in their faces for weeks.]

So it is true, then? I did not believe it.

( There seems to be very little that Javert understands. It didn't used to be so difficult, and his mind is still whirling even now from everything that he has learned, in the hours leading up to his death and here. Her next question seems odd to him, and he cannot suppress a frown, )

I've not had much of an appetite, mademoiselle. I don't think I could stomach much.

Understandable. Until this place's reality is thrust upon you and unavoidable, it is a lot for all of us to take. I have had, sadly, years to get used to its madness.

[She nodded and motioned in the direction of the coffee shop.]

I wouldn't recommend a lot, but a bite of something would be wise. We don't understand why, but the food she leaves us in a jar is important. It doesn't have to be that food, but a bite or two makes you more ... part of things. If you don't eat, you will eventually start to fade.

I understand.

( Two years is a lot of time to be spending in a place as maddening as this. Would Javert be trapped here for so long? Will they ever be free of it? The thought of fading away sounds somewhat tempting to him, but he is tired, and he doesn't wish for anyone to witness him waste away. Javert follows her hand toward the coffee shop, and relents, )

Perhaps some coffee would not go amiss, then. I could stomach that. What is your name? Mine is Javert.

( He doesn't offer his hand, but his tone is polite enough. )

[She offered a gesture that looked like it belonged with a bow in greeting though she didn't incline her head. There was a 'ram-rod' straight element to her posture that said she didn't do bows much anymore, if at all. Smiling to him, she started to lead the way to the coffee shop.]

Coffee and a biscuit is nice and light, good for a stomach that I doubt is quite so happy right now. My treat. I am called Vira-Lorr, a seer of the Gidramas frontier, but I doubt that means much to you. None from my lands have come since I arrived.

( He follows, though his stride isn't quite as purposeful as it used to be. There's a hesitancy there now that has nothing to do with her, but everything to do with the world around him. He listens, focusing on gathering information, even if it's something as minor as the woman's name. )

That seems ideal.

( He says, and perhaps that may not be true for others, but Javert has always preferred being alone. )

I would hope the same to be true for me. There not many I would wish to see again.

[A little hesitancy never hurt anyone in her view. There was too much to be uncertain of here, and these days it gave her leave to walk a tiny bit slower, which suited her just fine. Internally she reminded herself that she'd probably need to have some of the coffee with him, which would be ... fun. she could not wait for the day that her taste buds worked right again.]

My memories of home are fuzzy. They've only recently begun to come back, but from the little I know... I believe that I would find comfort in their presence here, but would not wish this place on any but my worst enemies. It is not a pleasant place many dyas.

I take it that you have little love lost between you and yours? [A pause as she neared the door and held it for him.] You do not need to share if you'd rather not, of course. I confess I am a bit of a chatty sort.

( If Javert were not so bewildered, perhaps he would have protested Vira opening the door for him. As it is, though, he hardly notices, falling into a bout of silence at the question before answering, )

It's no secret. There is only one man that I know well, and I do not wish to confront him.

( He doesn't wish to confront Chabouillet or Gisquet either, knowing that he may have to lie to them. It was difficult enough to do so once, and he doesn't want to do it again. )

What would you say is so unpleasant about this place?

It is difficult at times to escape one's old baggage in this place. shades of our past have a way of popping up, though they are oftentimes only that. Shades. I give you that as a fair warning.

[She took a seat and sighed, waiting on the server while he asked what was probably the more important question at the moment.]

Monsters and terrors lurk in its shadows and fringes on the best of days. Nightmares walk among us on the worst. You've come at a rare time of relative peace and quiet, but it will not last forever. October will be ... difficult I think for those who have freshly arrived.

( He considers her words solemnly, and it's almost somewhat of a relief to know that this place isn't as peaceful as it seems. Javert does not take idleness well, and he doesn't think he deserves to have such an easy life. )

What happens in October?

( He wonders, wanting to prepare himself for what is to come. Once the server arrives, he orders his coffee black and doesn't take anything else with it. Even a piece of bread seems too much to stomach for this conversation. )

Hmmm, this place turns to a nightmare of itself. Copious amounts of blood, an older, more ... gothic I want to say? version of the town appears. Monsters in the streets, difficulties sleeping and people transform into monsters.

It happens every year, though the details vary.