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soddersays2020-08-26 04:27 pm
sodder) wrote in soddersays2020-08-26 04:27 pm
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SEPTEMBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME
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!
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.
no subject
He follows her inside, takes a quick look around, and nods approvingly. ]
I like what you've done to the place. And no, to both questions. I was about to, but I- Well, I got distracted.
[ The disgruntled townsperson underneath the costume caught him just a little bit off his guard, so his plan to find something to eat got temporarily pushed to the side. ]
no subject
[Leave it to Coulson to be this chill when he's just arrived in a hellscape.]
You need to eat, take a seat. I'll be right back.
[She doesn't have much in the way of snacks right now, but she has a small bag of unopened chips and brings it back to the living room, along with a bottle of water.]
Sorry, I don't have any coasters.
[Ha-ha.
Shit.Handing him everything, Skye takes a seat next to him, unable to keep the concern off her face.]
What do you know about this place?
no subject
That's all right. This is just fine, thank you, Skye.
[ He tries to smile reassuringly, but it does fall a little bit flat, in spite of his best efforts. ]
This place is a dream. Or a dreamscape, and we're all asleep.
[ He pauses. ]
And deer have something to do with things here too.
[ He's not 100% sure on that one. ]
no subject
A lot to do with this place, but, yes.
[She hesitates with asking her next question but, she also really wants to know.]
What year is it back home?
no subject
[ He figures if she can, she'll explain. ]
2012. Why, what year is it for you?
no subject
[Skye lifts the hair covering back of her neck and shows him hers.]
The deer protect us here.
[She isn’t sure if she should be relieved or not to hear what year it is for him.]
What’s the last thing you remember? Before ending up here.
no subject
[ So much for that. He looks at her tattoo carefully, the frown lines on his face deepening just a little. ]
How do they do that? They're just deer.
[ And at her question, those frown lines deepen even further. ]
Among other things, meeting your- friend. Miles Lydon.
[ He knows she'll get the significance of that without him saying anything else. ]
no subject
[Letting her hand fall away her hair fell back into place as she turns to face him again.]
Honestly? I’ve given up trying to think about it too much it just makes my head hurt.
[She’s also been here for two years now...
At the mention of Miles, Skye's stomach twists despite it being over two years, the betrayal still hurts her. One of the many reasons she has trust issues. But if that’s the last thing he remembered, that means he hasn’t—-
Shit. Skye isn't sure if it’s even worth warning Coulson about everything she knows, by both being a bit further ahead than him and others here from the same Earth they’re from. Like HYDRA still at large when they all thought it was long gone.]
I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have been so—-
I was stupid to have ever trusted him.
no subject
Don't.
[ He holds up a hand to stem her apology. ]
You've apologized already, we've forgiven you. It's in the past.
[ Sore spot or not, he's doing what he can to move past it. ]
Everyone has lapses in judgment, even me.
no subject
God, she misses the team so badly. She's imagined a reunion countless times but not quite like this. Tears spring to her eyes, again, and she swallows the lump in her throat.]
I've seriously missed you. It's been a long two years here without you, without the team.
no subject
[ Or as well as possible. He thinks he can see signs of whatever happened in those two years weighing on her, but he knows she's resilient. ]
But since there's always more going on below the surface, I have to ask. Are you all right?
[ It's only a request to be let in, if she feels like doing so. Requests can be denied, and if that's the case, then he won't push too hard. ]
no subject
As good as anyone can be after being stuck in a dream place for two years.
no subject
You know you're not a very convincing liar.
[ But he doesn't want to push her, especially when she's not comfortable with it. He's just going to take this opportunity to open the bag of chips and help himself to one. ]
Thank you for this, by the way.
[ It might just be chips and a bottle of water, but he appreciates it anyway. ]
no subject
Yeah. It’s kind of important that you eat after you wake up here. Still don’t know what happens if you don’t, but I’d rather we didn't find out today.
[Not when she’s only just got him back in her life. Which is such a selfish thought to have, but it’s hard for her to not just cling to him. Not that there aren’t people here she’s grown close to as well. Speaking of...]
You should probably know we’re not the only ones here from back home.
no subject
[ He's just going to take another chip to make sure that doesn't happen. No, he's definitely not a potato chips kind of guy, but when the alternative is something unknown and yet bad, he figures he can deal with eating a few chips. ]
As for that, I assumed it was a possibility. The nature of a dreamscape suggests that any number of people from any number of places could be present. Who else is here?
no subject
[She definitely geeked out when she first met them, it was pretty embarrassing.]
Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, and Tony Stark.
[And if Coulson is paying attention, he might notice the way her face lights up at the next name.]
Bucky Barnes is here too and, apparently, not dead.
no subject
[ That brings him up short, because it's been some time since he's seen any of them, and he can't be sure what kind of reception he'd receive. Maybe that's something best left unknown.
But he does note that change in her expression, and he latches onto that. ]
Something's making you happy. Or someone.
[ It's nice to see, because as far as he can tell, Skye deserves some happiness. ]
no subject
[Skye bites back a bigger smile when he brings attention to the fact that she seems happy.]
Maybe, just a little.
no subject
[ Yes, he's aware that admitting it means it's true that he nerded out over Captain America, and had collectible cards and everything. ]
Well, I'm happy for you too. Just a little.
[ His smile says it's more than that, though. ]
no subject
[God what she wouldn't give to be back on the Bus. Her smile fades a little, looking down at her hands and then over at him again.]
I'm sorry you ended up here.
no subject
[ Yes, he's feigning ignorance. But hey, he has a pretty good poker face if he does say so himself. ]
I expect that my opinion will change the longer I'm here, but for right now, I'm not sorry.
[ Because at least they're both here together. That counts for something. ]
no subject
[Skye’s smile lessens when he says that. He has no idea just how bad things can and will get around here, but out of the two of them? She knows Coulson can handle it.]
I just don’t want you getting hurt.
no subject
[ Honestly, a lot of people don't. Or they just act like they don't. It's all just decoration anyway, right? ]
I'll do my best not to. And I don't want to see you hurt either.
[ But something tells him she has been, and it bothers him that he wasn't around to prevent that. ]