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

[ Huh, so this guy doesn't even know what apartments are. Honestly, Kurogane should've guessed that by the cape alone. ]

My own place. I actually live a few blocks away.

[ But if Dimitri just go here a few days ago... ]

Are you gonna be able to get back to your place? [ It took Kurogane a little while to learn his way around, and he wouldn't know how to get there himself if there weren't people he knows living in that area. ]

[ A wonderful question, really. ]

I... Yes. [ He deflates ] Or rather, that is what I would like to be able to say with certainty. Unfortunately, much of this place is still new to me.

[ The truthful answer probably lies closer to eventually, but imposing on others has never come naturally. There are times when it can't be helped—in combat, for example—and he's not so stubborn as to refuse necessary assistance. It's just... this situation doesn't feel dire enough to warrant wasting the other man's time or energy. It's not dangerous, merely inconvenient. ]

If I could trouble you for directions, however, then I'm confident locating it will prove a simple task.

[ Kurogane frowns a little. This guy is so formal... ]

It's fine. I would've just left already if staying to help you was gonna bother me.

[ He says it bluntly, so it's obvious he isn't just saying it to make Dimitri feel better. ]

I can take you to a bus stop and tell you where to go from there. It's probably about a block away from here.

[ Give or take a bit of distance. There's one right near the park, thankfully. ]

[ He certainly doesn't mince words, does he? It's a candidness unlike any Dimitri's faced in recent years. Except for Felix, perhaps, but that's... different. For a multitude of reasons.

In any case, it's enough to make him accept the help without reservation.]

That would be wonderful, thank you.

[ Except— ]

Although... Would you happen to know if some form of payment is required in order to be allowed entry?

[ Because he, uh, doesn't have that. And his total experience thus far with the bus and all similar vehicles amounts to learning how to avoid them. ]

[ He starts walking, stopping to look back at Dimitri when he asks that question. ]

All you gotta do is swipe that weird card you got in your basket.

[ It's nice, only having to use the card, but Kurogane hates being reminded of it. The card has his given name on it, a name that shouldn't be known by whoever made that card. It's unsettling, and that doesn't even cover the weird picture of him asleep on it, much less the blood. ]

Do you have it on you?

Oh, yes. I do.

[ Unnerving though it may be, the card had felt too important to ignore. He's both surprised and grateful that it remained in his possession despite their... experience, waking in the dollhouse.

He rummages for a moment, pulls it out. ]

It sounds as though we should be all set then. Please, lead the way.

[ This place is almost generous at times. Still, the momentary concern is a good reminder that he really ought to prioritize finding employment of some kind in the near future. ]

[ Kurogane nods, leading the way across the park. It's not long before they finally reach the outskirts of it, and there's a bus stop nearby. ]

Since you're going to the southwest part of town, you'll have to sit through a few stops.

[ He names the stop he'll have to get off at. ]

It should be easy enough to get wherever you're going from there.

[ He follows along, listening to the instructions and comparing them with his own limited knowledge of the area. It all sounds fully manageable. With a smile. ]

Excellent. It seems as though I'm in your debt.

[ Far from the first he's encountered since arriving, but he plans to repay each and every one. No matter how long it takes. ]

Thank you once again.

No problem.

[ Kurogane stops when they get to the bus stop. ]

Don't worry about repaying any debts you think you have. Worry about yourself first.

[ Because so much happens here, he doesn't want some kid worrying about repaying him instead of watching his own back. ]

See you around.

[ A small smile curves across his face. ]

I believe you'll find I'm more than capable of handling both.

[ He always repays his debts. Why should waking up in a nightmarish world, alone and with little idea of how to escape, change that fact? If anything, it's only increased in priority. ]

Until next time.

[ He gives a light bow of farewell. ]