SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

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.

Comments

[onerthes]

The conservatory! There was always one in the cons... oh wait, that was Clue. The library and parlor were good choices, but as they reached the library, they were at least treated to one helpful gesture that saved time. The books were all fused together. They wouldn't have to check every single one of them one at a time.

Pausing as she got through that, her eyes narrowed and she looked over at the girl, about to say something, but the change in shade was worrying. It didn't look frustrated. It looked... fake, which wasn't good. "Let's try the next floor, Makoto," she said, keeping her tone level. They were getting out of here, but this was getting nerve wracking.

As she led the way towards the steps, what she'd said earlier came back to her. "I know Usagi and Setsuna. Assuming we're speaking of the same people. They're both very kind souls. I think... that I knew an old associate of Setsuna's, but I'm not sure," she said, considering what was the best way to put it. Venus had been tight lipped about that part. "They should be fine. The town itself is usually mostly safe." Usually.

She did turn to face her for a moment but shelved the thought. Usagi wasn't a magical girl after all. Just because Setsuna was 'Pluto' didn't mean that all her friends were. Besides, she was kind of ditzy, so maybe she was just a regular teenager?

[thunderingcourage]

"Usagi's kind of hard to mistake for anyone else, especially with her hair. And Setsuna is pretty brilliant, a lot like Ami. Though she's pretty serious most of the time. Unless Chibiusa is around."

Following Vira-Lorr up the stairs Makoto tried figuring out just what the woman was about. She could tell there was a bit more that she knew and wasn't saying, but if she knew Usagi and Setsuna and neither had warned her about the woman, Makoto figured it was probably safe.

"That must have been Michiru or Haruka, they're usually all together. If it was a kid, then it had to be Hotaru."

"But how did you get out last time, you said you've been in something like this before? Maybe it's just as simple as doing what you did then?"

[onerthes]

"Uh, no actually. Her name was Ve...errr Minako. She had blonde hair like Usagi's, but they were quite different. She was here alone or a time, and we used to spend time together." She smiled at the thought. She rather liked Sailor Venus. She'd been a very warm hearted soul and adventurous.

On the second floor landing, she cleared her throat. Hmmm. Makoto had a point. What had she done? "I think we can simplify this search. Look in each room for something extremely ornate or very out of place. it will be obvious, like a snowglobe on a table, standing alone Or scuff marks in the floor that shouldn't be there. If this is like last time, it should feel very clear." That had been very wonderland themed, but informative regardless. And looking this way could make the search a simple scan of the room.

[thunderingcourage]

"Oh, yeah Minako is amazing too."

Makoto caught the slip up though, so she knew about Minako and Sailor Venus, did that mean that she knew about everyone else.

"We'd all hang out at the arcade all the time and play the latest Sailor V game. Though we didn't always see eye to eye, we're all still pretty good friends. We've always got each other's back."

Something that stuck out, really everything was pretty obvious. There were the plastic plants that even though they were fake still seemed wilted. There weren't any scuff marks by the couch or either of the tables. No weird light fixtures to pull. It looked like this room was a bust too.

[onerthes]

"I wouldn't wish these nightmares on anyone, but there are times when I wish she was here. She was quite brave and endearing. She never quite mentioned Sailor V, though." Wait, did that mean. "Was... I'm sorry, but was there a game based on her?" No, she was just going to flat out come out and say it. It was almost possible to hear the 'too' in her voice. Though her own game was less of a pleasant topic with her.

She blinked as she looked through the bedroom in front of her and sighed. No not here either. Walking around, she moved to the bathroom and frowned. "Perhaps the attic... it might make sense... Why not the attic?"

When she went to pull the stairs down for the attic, though, he noticed that her off-hand arm wouldn't move at all. The feeling of stiffness was even beyond that of her brace, flowing all over her shoulders. She could still breathe, but it was hard not to notice the problem as it began to spread into the other arm. The stairs fell down and she turned towards Makoto.

"You're going to be ok on the stairs, yes?" There was concern there. How were her legs holding up right now?

[thunderingcourage]

"Yeah, that sounds like our Minako.

Apparently it was based on the hero Sailor Venus. She was a popular hero that came along before Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Scouts. I hadn't heard of the game before Usagi and Luna introduced me to it I hadn't heard of it before though. Sailor Venus was real though, I've seen and met her."

Her leg was entirely numb, but she was still able to move it. So while a backflip was out of the question a set of stairs was no problem.

"I'll manage, though I'm not sure how much more time we have."

Especially if they were going to go back for their friend in the kitchen. If it wasn't here they were probably in trouble.

[onerthes]

She turned more fully and winked. "I know Sailor Venus... and she's quite impressive, but let's continue this when we are no longer in danger." This wasn't the time or the place. Stepping up the ladder and into the attic, she formed a ball of light in her hand to help, and as they began to search, the scuff marks became obvious swiftly enough.

She knelt in front of the marks, reaching towards where they obviously scooted one of the pieces of furniture. "Makoto over here. I think we'll both have to push this out of the way if we're going to get out of here quickly enough." And not break their limbs doing it.

[thunderingcourage]

It was a pretty dusty attic, and you could see where they were walking from the trails that they left behind. Just how were they supposed to find an exit up here though? Looking out the front window to the giant living room she was still convinced she'd just wake up any minute in her own bed.

Though when Vira-Lorr called her, she managed to hobble her way over, the tink of each step sounding hollow and lighter.

"Alright, you push low and I'll push a little higher."

It made sense given that Makoto would have to use more of her upper body than legs to try and move it. The cracks had already spread a little from the weight she kept putting on the leg from earlier.

[onerthes]

"Alright. that sounds like a plan. On three. One, two, three!" She wedged her body as soon as it was scooted and leveraged with her hips and legs, pulling and then slipping in to push the thing out of the way, the secret door more visible as soon as they did. The whole thing left her panting and reaching up to get her head to hold in place.

She yanked the door open and looked out into the grass below. "Damnit... it leads out, but... I can probably cast something to float, but we can't dilly dally. Do you think you can hold long enough for us to go down and pick up the doll?" she said, looking at Makoto nervously. If this girl was anything like Venus, she was going to be the sort who risked her well being, wasn't she?

[thunderingcourage]

On three, Makoto pushed as hard as she could, sliding the barrier out of the way. Despite her effort, she still found herself pushing with her leg, causing several small pieces to crack further and fall to the ground. With the door revealed, she leaned against the wall for a moment, she wasn't out of breath or anything, but she was starting to worry. However, she wouldn't let it show.

"Of course. We could use the drapes or curtains to make a rope just in case. I'm sure they're not that heavy, and we're probably a lot lighter too."

They hadn't gone through the floorboards so the things here could hold their weight.

"I can grab the doll while you figure out your spell."

[onerthes]

"Alright... but if you aren't up here soon, I'm going to come back down for you, Makoto. We don't do anyone any good dead," she said, giving her a pointed look. She was definitely concerned that the other might take unnecessary risks.

But, as soon as she let Makoto head out, she began to work with the drapes. the problem with them, however, was that they were basically hardened plastic. There was no way that they could possibly be used for a proper rope. Everything in here was useless.

kneeling down, she could feel one of her hands starting to solidify and her eyes widened. Rather than risk it, she let it fuse into plastic only when it was held in the proper position. Coughing once, she called out to Makoto. "is everything alright down there?"

[thunderingcourage]

"I'm not going to die here. If I'm not back before it gets worse, then go ahead, you'll be able to get help and come back for us."

With that she was back off down the stairs, there really wasn't time for careful anymore. It seemed like it was progressing faster and faster, she could already feel the joint of her hip turning and stiffening. Even her clothes were starting to change.

On the way she tried to find anything that they might be able to use. But nothing seemed to actually be made of fabric or cloth. It was all rigid and stuck in a specific form. It had been awkward grabbing the doll as well, but Makoto managed to pose her in such a way that a fireman's carry was possible. By the time that she made it back upstairs though she was having to pull herself up, the cracked leg having almost completely given out and the other barely mobile. There wasn't a response to the call, but after a few moments, a porcelain head would appear on the attic level, the doll being pushed forward.

"I'm here."

Now they just had to jump right? But who was going to go first?

[onerthes]

Vira-Lorr rose up, her body starting to solidify. She could feel it reaching across the wound in her throat, her neck hardening and her hair turning into a solidified mass. The fear was apparent in her eyes by the time that Makoto got there. She couldn't use her hand other than the seal she had prepared.

"We need to jump together. Bring them over, and take hold of me. When you're ready, we'll leap and I'll cast the spell. We can't waste a second right now, Makoto. I can't promise that it won't freeze my lips any second now. Hurry over." She swallowed hard. One look at Makoto's condition told her that they didn't have much time.

Gods, but she hoped the porcelain cracks didn't remain after, but they needed to get out of here in the first place. Everything else would have to wait. "I hate this place sometimes..."

[thunderingcourage]

Easier said than done, but still, Makoto managed to fight her way to her feet and drag the other over to the door where Vira was waiting. Standing on the edge of the threshold she nodded to Vira-Lorr. She didn't seem to show any fear or concern for herself, instead she was more worried about the other two.

"Alright, I'm ready."

Jumping backwards, she made sure to hold close and keep herself under the other two just in case the spell didn't work. She'd at least be able to cushion the fall for them.

CW a little headlessness just to add to the horror of the moment

[onerthes]

Whether or not the spell actually worked wasn't important, though neither would know it. As soon as they were floating towards the ground, it really was a float. Gradually, they made their way down through the hair towards the soft grass below. The exit, the dollhouse, all of it was gone entirely, as if it had never been.

Just as they landed, the doll carried by them both landed in a heap. it clattered, shifted and looked up at them. Between the blink of an eye, the doll was gone and a ragged, desperately looking girl whose face was covered in a gas mask was there in ratty looking clothes. She scurried back and bolted like a terrified rabbit before Vira-Lorr could say anything.

She was still gasping on the ground, landed on top of Makoto and groaning. her body felt so numb right now. Trying to roll to the side, she attempted to disentangle herself, only to find one added bit of horror in the moment. While the waste fled, she raised her body up, and her head just sort of flopped out of the brace, tumbling down and landing onto Makoto with an oof. "damnit!"

Well, she should have expected that to happen, honestly.

[thunderingcourage]

It was a lot better result than Makoto had been hoping for. She could feel her leg again, and not having a sudden impact was a pleasant surprise. Though the moment they were down things became just as confusing and strange as they had been inside.

"Wait."

Was she just wearing a gas mask, given how fast she was Makoto assumed she must have been fine? A moment later though she nearly jumped out of her skin as she looked down and suddenly found Vira-Lorr's head in her lap.

"IT CAME OFF! How do we fix it? Is there tape? Are you alright?"

Did anything else break? Was she still in one piece? Really, what was with this place?

[onerthes]

Oh the Waste was going to be fine. They could address that momentarily. Currently, Vira's body had rolled off of Makoto's because that was awkward as hell and she didn't want to flail about when she couldn't see properly. It was taking a moment, but she was starting to twist around to a seated position, her head currently face up, looking at the Sailor Scout with an apologetic look.

"Gods, this is ridiculous. I shouldn't be surprised. The brace wasn't meant for falls like this. Not exactly the most elegant way to lose your head in front of a girl," she said, trying to make light of the situation before sighing. "Sadly no. Duct tape won't help us here. It's a ... situation I've encountered since coming here. I'm stuck like this for a few months more. Would you be so kind as to help me put that back on, into my brace? It keeps it in place."

[thunderingcourage]

It talked! Makoto almost threw Vira-Lorr's head, she hadn't been expecting a response. Though the joke was enough to at least get her to focus a bit more.

"So it just pops off? Umm, yeah I think I can help."

This was weird, she couldn't bring herself to look inside the brace, or at the neck afraid of what she might see. She was careful not to poke the other in the eye, or pull her ears or anything.

"Do you need me to tie it or anything?"

[onerthes]

It was for the best not to go peeking where she didn't want to see things. It was already horrific enough after all. Vira, when she was lifted, looked up into her eyes and offered as reassuring a smile as she could manage. "It's not attached at all. So I have to either carry or set it somewhere safe like my lap, or use the brace that your friend Setsuna made for me to help lock it in, but when we fell I think the angle was too much and it popped out as I stood. What I need you to do is make sure we don't get my hair caught between, so fan it out over my collar. I'll lock it again."

She snickered some, sighing as her nose crinkled. Unpleasant odors filtered through her nostrils and she controlled her reaction to it. They always came. But she was finding ways to cope with it all. "I can explain in a moment. It's not pleasant, as you might imagine. But I promise I'm not hurt, and I should warn you that I make terrible jokes. Helps with the stress to get ahead of them."

She meant it. really bad jokes.

[thunderingcourage]

"Alright."

Makoto was careful to make sure no hair was caught in the brace, which meant she had to actually start from the back, tilting Vira-Lorr's head up so the hair fell along her back before guiding the head back into the brace. She knew that Setsuna was into fashion, but she didn't know the other actually did stuff like this. It was kind of surprising given how stern she seemed at times. But she supposed she was the same way since most people were scared of her and would never peg her a florist type.

After getting it settled, Makoto took a moment to flip the other's hair to ensure that none of it had gotten caught.

"It seems really annoying. Though it would make for a killer Halloween costume."

[onerthes]

"Mmmm, all I need is a horse, and I could chant 'Ichabod' while riding through the streets," she teased a little, waiting until her head settled. A little shimmy and she locked the brace into place firmly, giving a little test. The brace, this close, was pretty obviously concealed by a black lace element that had the look of someone's hand working to make it all look as normal as possible when it came all the way up her throat like that. "We have Dullahan in my world too, believe it or not. Very powerful creatures, I might add."

She smiled gratefully, resting a hand behind her and looking up at Makoto before admitting. "It's dreadfully annoying most of the time. I have to keep such a straight posture. So... this is ... a bit of an unpleasant lesson about this place. Death is not final here, but the more times it happens, the harder it is to bring us back properly and the more things don't work right. The sixth time, you... well... end up looking like the way you died for six months."

(OOC: Or in her case, for other reasons that she didn't yet know? Sometimes your head just didn't reattach because someone out there was a bastard.)

[thunderingcourage]

Dullawhat? Makoto was completely lost about there being actual headless horsemen in a place other than this one. But the part about death not being final was something she'd heard and that wasn't unfamiliar.

"So you're reincarnated, but you still don't really heal completely from the wounds that you received?"

[onerthes]

She turned her body to look towards where the Waste had run off. A frown. "The girl... she ran, yes? They do that. Poor dears..." A definite sigh there. They were a concern, and she was glad they'd rescued her at least.

"Resurrected, but yes. A week we remain dead, and then we are brought back. Each time, it is a little worse. The first, a terrible disease like the flu for a week and aches and bad dreams of our death for the rest of the month. The second, we suffer that and memories of home fade for two months. Sometimes all, sometimes only some. I am having trouble remembering anything but my skills right now from home. The third, we lose all memories without good fortune for three months. I've had to take extensive steps to protect even those. The fourth, we have even worse dreams and sleepwalk frequently into dangerous places. The fifth, one of our senses becomes ruined. My taste and smell are ... best not spoken of. Five months. And the sixth?"

She gestured towards her throat. "We do not know the seventh, and the fear is that there is no coming back from that, so I am... very cautious after as long as I've been here. Is your leg alright? No wounds?"

[thunderingcourage]

"Yeah, do you think she's going to be alright?"

Following the other's gaze, she looked in the direction that she had taken off. Makoto was curious as to what the story was behind them, but it seemed like Vira-Larr was already in the middle of explaining dying. Each thing sounded awful, and she wondered if dying wasn't enough torture as it was. Almost like it was meant to get you killed faster the next time around.

At the question about her leg, Makoto rolled her ankle to test it out and then stomped on the ground.

"It seems fine, there are no cracks and everything seems to be back to normal."

A little stiff, but normal.

[onerthes]

"We call them wastes. They are the true residents of this town. What is left of them. Always very skittish. Always in masks," she said sadly. "I believe they are deep within the layers of this place, where the air is not so clear, not so safe to breathe. So we only see them briefly usually. She will be fine."

She looked down at the girl's leg when she tamped and smiled. At least there was that. "Good. I was a little worried the wounds might remain. Sorry, I wish that I could be the bearer of better news today. This town is one of countless horrors, though I find the people make up for it."