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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Usually, it would be Luna or Mamoru that would make sure she'd stay put.

[Usually by the time something that seriously had happened most of them were generally in worse condition. Makoto knew though that Usagi would never think about giving up or stopping as long as she thought she could help or save someone else. And Makoto would never try to make her.]

There are probably a few other people that kind of stubborn about accepting help or admitting they need to take a break either.

[Yes, she's noticed the progression that's been occurring and is somewhat calling him out on it.]

I'm guessing neither of those people are here, though.

[Or rather, he hadn't heard of their names prior to this. But then, it's not like he knew everyone from Usagi and Rei's home here, anyway.

The moment Makoto calls him out, though, he freezes, his eyes intent on looking anywhere but at her. Ouch. Right on target!]

I-I'm not--!

[Breathe, Syaoran, getting worked up will just make things worse!]

... we're working under a time limit. We can't afford to do any of those things right now.

[He's a very 'do as I say, not as I do' person, ok]

Edited 2020-09-27 00:40 (UTC)

[Makoto shook her head. She was glad that Mamoru wasn't, but it would have been really helpful to have Luna around for advice. Plus she was about the only one that Usagi would actually listen to about this kind of thing.]

There's really only one place left to check and if it's up there, hopefully, there's a ladder or something.

[Obviously we need Luna around to sit on her so she doesn't get out of bed. No one can disturb a kitty when they're on your lap!!

The idea of heading up a ladder in his current state wasn't exactly thrilling for him, but he nods nonetheless. What other choice did they have? (Except maybe Makoto yeeting him up there, but that would go badly for everyone involved)]

We won't know until we look. Maybe it'll have a pull-down ladder attached to the door or something. If they bothered to put staircases in the rest of the house, I can't imagine they'd leave out a way to get to the very top.

[It wasn't getting up that she was worried about. If there was a door or someway out up there, then it means they would have to find a way back down. Though if there wasn't one going up she had no problem with throwing Syaoran up to check it out while she found another way up.]

We'll have to be quick.

[Well... they'll cross that bridge when they get to it, whether literally or not. It would be too much to hope that the exit, if one was up there, would have a safe way to descend upon... whatever was out there. He could try to use his magic to break their fall, but it'd probably wind up with Makoto needing to carry him home, and he didn't want to burden her like that.

... but, again, all of that worrying can wait once they actually find the thing! He nods at her urging, investigating the ceiling above them to find any possible entrances to the attic. He had an idea, but...]

Is it possible for you to lift me up? I think with our heights combined, we can probably find any strings leading the ceiling door, but I don't want to put extra stress on your leg, either.

[Because, yes, he hadn't forgotten about that crack on her shin! But without a ladder close at hand, this was the fastest way they could go about searching for a way up there.]

It shouldn't be a problem, and it if will help us get out of here, we have to try.

[From the looks of it he didn't weight that much, so Makoto wouldn't have any trouble lifting him. And even with the cracks, she was pretty sure her leg would support the weight.]

Can you bend your knees though?

[His brow furrows for a moment at her question, not wild about testing out the limits of his limbs in front of her, but... well. What else could he do? They were running low on time. Experimentally, he lifts a leg, cringing at the scrape of porcelain against porcelain as the ball-joint that was now his knee tries to swivel into place. It didn't hurt, but it certainly wasn't a smooth or pleasant process.]

... not really.

[And down that leg goes again, with another dry screech, as he lets out a small huff.]

That doesn't matter, though. I can still walk, and my arms aren't affected, so as long as we don't need to climb anything--

[But then the realization hits him a moment too late, and he blanches.]

... ah.

[Whoops. That might complicate getting up the attic ladder if he can't actually bend his legs!!]

[Once they found the way up she'd be able to get him up there one way or another.]

Here, I'll put you on my shoulders, that should be high enough you should be able to reach any pull cords to find the ladder.

[And then she'd just be able to carry him up like that. It was kind of like giving him a piggyback ride. Besides time was running short, Makoto's earrings had already fused with her ears and her hair was starting to stiffen as well.]

[He's already starting to notice the changes encroaching upon Makoto, with her fused earrings and more solid hair, and the urgency within him only deepens. They really were running out of time. Standing around dilly-dallying over details was going to get them nowhere, fast.

So at her instructions, he nods, making his way over to her as quickly as possible to get upon her back and onto her shoulders. He wasn't a large or heavy kid by any means (though that wouldn't matter with her super strength), though his hollow porcelain limbs did seem to take a lot of the bulk off. From his new vantage point, he skims the ceiling, stopping when his hand finds a seam and a string.]

I found it...!!

[Now to pull that sucker down and hopefully get up this ladder in one piece!]

[Once he had it down, Makoto looked the staircase ladder. It'd be a little hard to balance but she was pretty sure that she'd be able to get both of them up it.]

Are you good at keeping your balance?

[Testing it out Makoto her foot on the first step, sifting her weight to it gradually and then lifting the other.]

[He nods his head, but then realizes she probably couldn't see that due to him being higher above her, so he adds on:]

... yeah. I've done a lot of martial arts training, so I should be fine.

[Though he will try to clamp his knees a bit tighter around her shoulders, to make sure he doesn't wind up sliding off. He can't exactly grip onto her or restrict her movement too much, lest they both wind up falling and hurting themselves. On that note, though...]

What about your leg? Is it still alright?

[Once she felt that he was ready, she took the rest of the steps a little quicker. She could feel something shift a bit but didn't say anything.]

I'm holding in there. I can still move it.

[In the attic through she looked around there still didn't seem to be any other doors. Just a window, a few trunks and a bookshelf.]

[His lips purse, but he lets out a small noise of acknowledgement, not looking to press any further into it. It was just going to wind up eating more of their time, and they couldn't afford that now.

As they emerge into the attic, Syaoran's eyes search the space too, taking note to see if there was anything notable or off. The broken doll pieces lying about certainly give him pause (hopefully they didn't come from anyone unlucky enough to be here first!!), but it's not until his eyes fall upon the bookshelf that he stops, his brow furrowing in suspicion.]

... Kino. The bookshelf over there-- does something seem a bit weird about the floor beneath it? It looks all scuffed up.

[Could this be significant, maybe?]

[Setting him down she glanced over at it. She hadn't noticed the marks on the floors and walked over and looking at them.]

Looks like the scuffed the floor when they moved it. But it's weird they would move it that much when it's up here and nothing could fall behind it.

[All the books were fake, so why would they even have it up there.]

[He follows behind, his strides still stiff and careful due to his legs, joining her in getting a closer look at the scuffs.]

They could have brought it up here from one of the lower levels and damaged the floor then... I mean, there are a lot of other discarded things up here, too.

[Like the beds and the... hopefully not former Sleeper pieces.]

But there'd probably be more scuffs on the floor than just this if that were the case....

... maybe we should try to move it?

Actually there probably wouldn't be as many. It's been moved a few times.

[It wobbled a little from where one of the feet had probably been warped from being moved without lifting. Makoto braced her shoulder against it.]

Help me push.

[He blinks at her observation, his eyes darting back at the scuffs in curiosity. Huh... she was right. It did seem like a lot for just a one-and-done move. Maybe they were onto something, here...

He nods at her request, bracing his own shoulder and arms against the furniture to give it some extra heft. Syaoran was nowhere near as strong as she was (but then, who could be stronger than Butt-Kicking Jupiter?), but he was strong enough, getting the bookcase to move a few inches away from the wall thanks to their combined efforts. Hopefully this wouldn't be for nothing, and there'd actually be something behind here...!]

[Pushing hard it begins to slide, though there's the sound of something light fall, small pieces of porcelain dropping against the hardwood floor. They're able to move it enough to reveal the door that was hidden behind it, though Makoto seems to go down to a knee, her leg had gone from fine splinters to cracked completely, it jutted at a slightly unnatural angle several gaps visible where pieces had fallen away. She winced a little, trying to stand on, bracing herself against the bookshelf and putting her weight on the other one.]

Hope this is it.

[Those light clattering noises catch Syaoran's ear as they push, an eerie addition to the heavier scrape of the bookcase along the floor. He had a sneaking suspicion about what it could be, but he hoped dearly he was wrong. Because to have this happen, right when they found a potential exit...

His worst fears are confirmed as she goes down on one knee, his face paling once he catches sight of the ugly crack along her leg.]

K-Kino--!

[Cursing quietly under his breath, he moves as quickly as he can to her side, offering his shoulder for support and reaching a hand tentatively towards her back. Somehow, he's faired better than she did, despite more porcelain taking up his body, but he hadn't suffered an earlier fracture like she had, either.

His lips thin to a hard line at her words, however, his eyes darting towards the uncovered door, before giving her a slight nod.]

... me too.

Will you be able to manage it...?

[Because if this was an exit, there might be more stairs for them to travel down-- and obviously that's not going to be easy for Mako right now. Syaoran would do his best to support her, of course, but he can only do so much...]

[Makoto nodded. They didn't have time to really worry about it, she would find a way to manage, even if she had to hop and keep balanced on the other leg. She did her best to offer him a bit of a reassuring look.]

As long as you can get the door. Luckily going downstairs is a lot easier than going up.

[She might even be able to just slide down the handrail if she needed to.]

But don't worry about me, we have to hurry.

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 body horror...??

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CW Body horror

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