soddersays | SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

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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.

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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.

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.

"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?

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."

"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?"

"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?

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..."

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.

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.

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?

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."

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?"

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.

"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."

"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.)

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?"

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?"

"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.

"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."

"True residents, I thought this was all a dream. So how are there people who actually live here, wouldn't they just be imaginary?"

All of this kind of stuff was certainly out of Makoto's wheelhouse. Monsters, bad guys, fighting, all of that she could handle and knew plenty about. But dreams and layers, and other worlds, that sounded more like something one of the others would make a lot more sense of.

"I've always been pretty quick to get back up on my feet. And what are you apologizing for, it's not like you told me something horrible? I'd probably still be in that doll turned to a statue by now if not for your help."

"There was once a town called Deerington, in a place called Maine, in a nation called America, on a world called Earth. One Earth, among many. And a creature crossed the ocean with an aide and a group of humans to settle that town. That creature bore a half-breed child with great magical power, and her child by a mortal man was Sodder. Empowered with the power of creation and imagination, her dreams and nightmares could become reality, and give life to others' dreams." It sounded like she was telling an old story, even if this was a string of things she'd been piecing together over the last two years. Before this was done, she kind of wanted to write it as an actual story.

"Her nightmare terrified the creature's aide and her father, along with the townspeople. People from other worlds were drawn here, like us, and it began to destroy the town. Desperate, they put her to sleep to seek a solution, but in doing that, the dream has become unending, as has the nightmare, and Deerington, and we, are swallowed in an eternally sleeping god's nightmares, trying to find a way to save her, and ourselves."

It was outside of Vira-Lorr's wheelhouse as well. She was a soldier once, a general. Fighting monsters was easy. The metaphysics of a dream was madness. This place was terrifying as it was fascinating.

"Mmmm. You helped save me too, you know. I have quite a bit to be grateful for." She tilted her body to face Makoto. "May I ask you something? To be sure? You may refuse to answer if you wish."

It really did sound the start of a story, or one of those b-list horror movies that you'd watch late at night. It was enough to where Makoto wondered if there'd be popcorn or something.

"I didn't really do anything, you found the way out, and you had been there before so you were bound to know what to do."

She rubbed the back of her head looking away for a moment, she didn't really do praise or thanks very well.

"What's on your mind?"

She smiled. "You saved the waste. I think that's worthy of praise. We are some of their only protection at times." Much to her chagrin. Still, she wasn't going to press more. She was used to a few who weren't accustomed to praise, after all.

"Are you like Minako and Setsuna?" She didn't specify the 'how' of it that she meant, but she figured that choosing those two in particular would make it clear. Usagi was, as far as she was concerned, their ditzy and beloved cheerleader and until the day she saw otherwise, likely always to remain so in her mind, but she'd felt the shock. There'd been just enough slips. She wanted to be sure with this one.

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm nowhere near as pretty or popular as Minako. In fact, most guys are scared of me. And Setsuna is a genius, I have a study like crazy for all of my exams. We're all nothing alike really."

She might have been a little too fast with that denial. And the fact that her voice rose several octaves in surprise was probably a dead give away. Makoto didn't like lying, but she still didn't know enough about Vira-Lorr to tell her everything yet.

The fact that Makoto wasn't here, meant though that she wasn't really sure who talk to about this. It's not like she could ask Luna, or even Ami about what the best course of action would be. Maybe Setsuna though, she would probably know what to do.

"So what happens now?"

She couldn't know it for certain, not without witnessing the transformation the way she had with Minako, or being told by Setsuna. However, she definitely had a suspicion right there. However, she didn't pry more. It was a refusal, and she had reason to suspect that the girls were cautious for reasons of their own. She'd only seen Minako because of a few life or death fights after all.

She smiled at her warmly and winked once. "You're quite attractive yourself, my dear, I assure you. Minako is a lovely girl, yes, but red-heads have their charm." She'd play along if Makoto wasn't ready to talk, and maybe she'd see the truth of it one day. "And I think you're more than clever enough. You've followed everything so far, and there's others who struggle more."

A sigh and she curled a leg up before shrugging. "As for what happens now? The dollhouse is gone. For now, we rest and prepare for the next challenges. You can go see your friends, chat with them, make new ones while you're trapped here with us. And I will give you my phone message. You can call me anytime. For help? Or if you just want to relax. Relaxing will be important this month."

There was a moment's pause and then she looked at her closely. "something that I want you to remember though. Have faith in yourself, and belief in yourself. There is no power in a dream greater than to believe a thing to be true. No spell I can cast, no whip of golden hearts is greater. We're going to need that faith soon."

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thunderingcourage - 2020-09-01 21:05 (UTC) - Expand

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onerthes - 2020-09-01 21:35 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

THE EVIL DOLLHOUSE

THOSE PESKY KIDS

Character Arrival

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

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