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

[extroverting]

[ She's glad it doesn't stick, relieved too. She doesn't want to lay out Elsa's future for her, even if it would reassure her. Then again, she quickly does an internal battle with herself over how she hadn't like things being kept from her, but now wasn't the time. ]

Yup. Probably best to not put him in charge of the big things.

[ Besides, why would Sodder bring a cute little innocent snowman to Deerington, that would just be mean. ]

Speaking of, we'll need to stay together. I woke up in this big house, ironically on some street just called Princess Avenue.

[frozen_witch]

We absolutely should. I am in an apartment for now, but I've been told that we can make arrangements. I will be glad to move in with you. We have a lot to catch up on apparently.

[And it would be much easier to protect her sister if she was in the same house. This place was already dangerous enough as it stood.]

[extroverting]

[ Anna jumps at that, a little bounce of excitement in her step. ]

Well then, we have a plan, We should go get your things and move you as soon as possible. I don't want you spending even a night away from me in this place.

[ Even if they were spending many nights apart back home now. ]

[frozen_witch]

I should hope not. Yes. Let us go by the apartment I am staying at. I haven't much to take with as is. I really haven't had much chance to collect many things here.

[And maybe there would be separation in time back home, but here? Absolutely not.]

[extroverting]

[ It's a relief to know that she'll be there in the middle of everything. Back home, she's not so sure she likes the new distance, even if it's not the same. Physical distance was better than emotional distance and even though Elsa stayed mostly elsewhere she was far more present than she had been behind a door. ]

That sounds fine! Which direction is it to your apartment? And just wait until you see the place Kristoff and I woke up in. It has elements of the castle, but it's different too. I think you'll like it.

[frozen_witch]

It's down the road a short ways. David Cliff I think it's called? They put me on the second floor so it will be easy to get what little there is down.

I want to see your home, our home. It sounds lovely. [Not that she understood how any of these places could be castle-like, so she was very curious about that.]

[extroverting]

[ She hadn't heard of those apartments, but the sooner they had her out of there the better. ]

I can't wait for you to see it either. They have these amazing bathrooms and other appliances that we don't have back home. Don't get me wrong, I'll be happy to go home, but it's at least nice to be comfortable while we are here.

[ She glanced ahead wondering how far to the apartment, she had never been the most patient of people when she was excited. ]

[frozen_witch]

Oh, I've definitely seen the flowing water. It's quite impressive. I am still trying to figure out how they manage to pump it into all of our houses.

HOT, I might add. Though I suspect your beau might have issues with the ice I saw the other day. It was positively filthy.

[It wouldn't be far. The seven story building was among the tallest in town. Easy to find, and looming in front of them.]

[extroverting]

Acts like magic, but just good old science. I'm still working on a plan to dig trenches to lay pipes into the ground so that Arendelle can have water pumps in town. But I could never come up with something like this!

Mhmm! Nothing like having a hot bath right when you want one!

[ She gives a little nod. ]

Kristoff does take ice extremely seriously...which means he takes water extremely seriously.

[frozen_witch]

I think it is safe to assume that this would be possible in Arendelle eventually. We would just need to understand how their pumps work. As you said it is science, so it is something anyone with the tools and knowledge could do.

[Magic being a far rarer thing after all.]

He has a certain professional pride, does he not? [A laugh as she went to hold the door for her sister.] Oh they have a thing called an elevator in this building. We shan't be using it. I had to rescue someone screaming the other day with my ice.

[extroverting]

[ For her it's a newer project, so she knows Elsa wouldn't know about it. ]

Eventually comes in just a couple of years. Kristoff is working to lead some men in digging the trenches. We'll have flowing water in no time.

[ She'd never heard of an elevator, but if it involved screaming, she was pretty sure she didn't want to experience it. ]

I like the stairs just fine. That sounds awful though, are you okay? I hate to think of you alone in this place!

[frozen_witch]

That's wonderful! Only a few years? [She didn't like not knowing but it sounded like it had been good years.] We'll modernize our little community yet.

And yes. The elevator is the only really awful part. It's a little bit drafty but since when was I ever bothered by a bit of a chill?

welp, this got lost in my email.

[extroverting]

We will. [ She looped her arm through her sister's. ] Together.

[ She can't help but laugh at the joke, what was Elsa always saying? Oh right! ]

The cold never bothered you anyway?

[ She makes her way into the building with her. The place is a far cry from the warmth and opulence of the Arendelle castle. Anna may not have needed the large house she had in the fancy part of town, but her sister did not belong here for sure.

She couldn't help but shiver, even if it didn't bother her sister. She wasn't sure if it was from a draft or something else that made her feel chilled. ]

This place is definitely...not up to standards. Let's get you out of here quickly.

Naughy Email! No biscuit!

[frozen_witch]

[She laughed and brought her hand up to her lips, grinning over at her sister. Ok, she earned that line so much, but a quick nod said the obvious. Yeah, she was fine with the cold wasn't she?

This place really was warm and inviting in a way, but it wasn't physically warm. It had the hominess of a very personalized escape and nothing more. Elsa went towards her drawers an began to take the few clothes she'd picked up already into a single suitcase, along with another box. Her personal belongings really were rather thin but she had only just arrived.]

Not exactly a royal suite is it? Ah, well, it's a home far away from home. I don't want to be too comfortable.

no doors or emails should keep these two apart!

[extroverting]

[ While Elsa packs, she walks around the apartment and looks it over. She's trying to judge whether her sister had been safe there and she might resemble something of a hound sniffing out clues.

Okay, so it was homey enough, but it couldn't be said that the three of them should room there, so her house was still the better option. ]

Maybe not what we're used to, but it's not so much about where you live, but who you are living there with.

And you should be comfortable! Not like you often get a break to just be anonymous! You aren't a queen here, use the time to relax in some way! [ She knew she was enjoying the anonymity a bit. ]

Indeed!

[frozen_witch]

Thinking of taking a vacation from our royal duties since supposedly we return to the moment we let, are we?

[There was only a teensy bit of judgment there. She'd been doing the same thing, after all. She needed the break, if she were being totally honest with herself. This town, however, wasn't nearly the break she'd hoped for.

Stepping out and to the center of the room, she looked packed in almost record time. Then again she had very little right now.]

But I think you're quite right. It is not where, but who we are with. So I'm sure your home will be so much better than this. It's been acceptable in a pinch, but I'd much rather be close to you. Someone has to keep you two out of trouble.