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

[beastfootforward]

Aw thank you! [He beams, while wagging his tag happily. As long as she doesn't think it's weird, he'll let her pet away!]

Moooore like a person you can shapeshift into animals. I just saw you playing with your dog and thought I'd take a shot at it!

[It looked fun! And her dog looks completely unlike any dog he's ever met, which is also very cool.]

[bend_it_like]

Oh yeah? [ Naga is down on the ground with the earth ball in front of her, her tail flapping against the ground. ] Wanna go again? I know Naga does.

[beastfootforward]

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! [Ge chants eagerly, while panting in a doggy manner. He lowers the front half of his body in excitement.]

I feel like I'll regret having dirt in my mouth when I turn back to normal, but right now, I'm all about this!

[bend_it_like]

Yeah, dirt isn't the best flavor. [ She laughs, but that doesn't stop her from raising the earth with her hand, rolling it into two balls. She tosses them with a sweep of her arm.

Naga is up in a second, dashing after one of the balls ]

[beastfootforward]

[He does note the way she seems to manipulate the earth! It seems like a metahuman power, specifically reminding him of Terra. And Geo-Force.

But be tries not to dwell on memories from home. It's fun time now! He joyfully leaps into the air and catches the ball, then proceeds to land by Naga and observes the much larger animal.]

Naga, you did great! I... don't think I've ever seen your breed before. [That definitely looks part-bear! He studies her curiously.]

[bend_it_like]

She's a polar bear dog. [ Naga trots back to Korra, and Korra pets over her giant ears. ] So not really a breed. And you are? [ She didn't really look that closely before, but the guy looks weird. Like he's just a dog. ]

[beastfootforward]

Wow. Definitely new for me! [His doggy eyes widen in surprise and awe! And she said it like it was such an ordinary thing.]

Species-wise? Y'know, just a dog. Right now I'm specifically a good old-fashioned beagle!

[bend_it_like]

Just a dog? This place is so weird. [ She laughs again, crouching down to peer at him. ] Where I'm from, there are no "just dogs." There are polar bear dogs and poodle ponies and snake shitzus. But no "just dogs."

[beastfootforward]

[That seizes Gar's attention, and now this dog is looking towards her in a very baffled manner.]

Wait, what? You're saying that everything where you come from's a hybrid animal? And the normal kind is the weird one?!

[bend_it_like]

They aren't "normal!" [ She laughs, shaking her head ] They're weird! Just a dog... that's wild.

You said you can shapeshift. What else can you be?

[beastfootforward]

Practically any kind of animal.

[With that, he transforms into a green hawk and spreads his wings!]

The sky's the limit. ...I just have to be careful, because my powers can tire me out more quickly here in this place. But if we're getting to know each other...

[With that, he transforms back into his human form. Still green, but otherwise pretty much a human teen!]

I'm Gar. Also known as Beast Boy!

[bend_it_like]

Korra. Also known as the Avatar. [ She grins and puts a hand out for his ] And that's awesome! Wow, what's your favorite animal to be? Can you even pick?

[beastfootforward]

Good to meet you, Korra. The Avatar. [He smiles as he reaches back for a handshake.]

It is a hard choice! Like, falcons can fly so far, dolphins can swim so naturally, elephants feel larger than life and being a lion just feels powerful.

[A beat.]

But at the end of the day, I think I have soft spot for just being a monkey.

[bend_it_like]

That sounds like so much fun. [ She looks him over with a wide grin. She can do a lot of things, but being able to change her shape never occurred to her. ] Why ever turn back into a person?

[beastfootforward]

[He beams excitedly. He's always loved his powers, and the appreciation of others only makes him even more excited about what he can do.]

I ask myself that a lot! But I guess I have a human life that I have to live every now and then. [He shrugs jokingly.] Also, I couldn't help but notice that you got some power of your own going on...? [He looks down towards the patches of ground where Korra uplifted the dirt.]

[bend_it_like]

Oh, yeah. [ Korra laughs, waving her hand to lift some of the earth again, pressing it into a ball before lobbing it for Naga again, without ever touching it.

Naga dashes happily after it. ] I can do a couple things.

[beastfootforward]

Nice!! [He watches her power in action with approval, and flashes a thumbs up!]

Does that mean you have some more tricks up your sleeve?

[bend_it_like]

Oh, maybe. [ Korra loves this. Like a lot. She grins widely and then flicks her fingers, summoning a small fire. With her other hand, she wicks through the air, collecting the water particles she can find and forms them into a ball. She pulls more earth up from the ground, and then starts juggling all three in the air without really moving her hands. ]

[beastfootforward]

[Gar's face lights up with even more excitement as he witnesses Korra's awesome display of powers! Sure, Gar comes from a world of superpowers, where he knows plenty of people with powers similar to Korra's. But that doesn't make this any less entertaining, especially as he hasn't really met anyone with a combination like this!]

Whoa! That's some power combo you got there. So crash!!

[bend_it_like]

[ Korra laughs again, tossing all three up in the air and making a little breeze fly in and carry them away. If she keeps it small like this, it usually doesn't go horribly. ] Thank you! It's nice to be appreciated again. Back home, no one really cares about my bending anymore.

[beastfootforward]

[He keeps on watching, impressed. Did she just do something with the wind too??]

Who wouldn't appreciate this! [But something she said gives him pause. He blinks and raises a confused eyebrow.] Oh, you have some kind of bending power too?

[Another superpower? He's not sure why she's bringing it up while using her other powers though...]

[bend_it_like]

Oh, all of this, [ She makes a little flame again ] is what we call bending. Bending the elements.

And I dunno! I still think it's cool. But I guess I'm old news at all of 21. What, did your friends never get tired of your shapeshifting? Like, oh, hey, he's a bird again? That's kinda how it is with me. Look, Korra's bending metal now. Great. Been there, done that.

[beastfootforward]

Ohhhhh! [He hums as she explains what she means.] Noted. I'm used to bending being something you do with your hands or your body.

[He's only a little disappointed that she's not about to bust out some super yoga moves or something on top of all that.]

N-no one's tired of me! ...Although I guess as I spend more time around people, it becomes more... normal to them? [He shrugs, as he starts to understand her point. Not many of his friends marvel at his power anymore.]

[bend_it_like]

Right! Normal. I guess it's nice not being normal again. [ Korra laughs again, softly, and drops back to the grass with a thump. Maybe it was nice being normal, but it's also nice to have someone interested in her power, instead of just being a burden that is also boring.

She winds up another earth ball and lobs it for Naga, who was happily napping, but who's up in a second to run after it again. ] Is this place normal to you yet?

[beastfootforward]

Good question. [He says, his eyes following as Naga goes after the dirt ball. He folds his arms as he thinks that over.]

Parts of it are starting to feel normal. Mostly the day-to-day living. But less so some of the nightmarish things that happen sometimes around here... I don't think I'd want to find that stuff normal.