OCTOBER 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to October's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: MONSTER 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: ... Monsters..., excessive blood, possible death via monster or drowning, violence, being trapped in tight spaces, bloody GIF, dead body parts
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

curse the fiends

Waking up groggy and confused on the floor of what seems to be a large metal warehouse is never anyone's idea of a good time, but here you are. You may not have even known Deerington had warehouses (except for those who have been to the real Hair of the Dog) let alone how to get to one of them. It's clear you've been placed here against your will, but for what reason?

You aren't alone. There may be one, two, or even three people there with you. You're all in this together, so you may as well work as a team to see if there's a way out. The room isn't very large and it's completely empty, save for a single flashlight in the center of the floor. The only way out (or maybe it's a way in) is a long, narrow, and very dark corridor. That's gotta be completely safe. Despite hesitations, what choice do you really have?

The flashlight won't give off an abundance of light, but it at least makes it so you aren't stumbling around blindly. As you move through the corridors, you'll start to hear the sickening screech like nails on a chalkboard, but there's something worse about it. Something that makes you feel like a bucket of ice has just been dropped down your back. Something dangerous. There are different corridors that branch off of the main one you're walking down and your team will have to decide whether to stick together an choose one path or split up and explore multiple to find away out. Given that you've only got one source of light, you'll want to choose carefully.

Whether you stay together or split up, the corridors all look the same. The same sound follows you wherever you go. Eventually you'll start to notice it sounds close. Too close. Like it's right... above you?

Looking up, you'll see a large monster which jumps down in front of your team within seconds of having the light turned on it. The beast takes up the majority of the space in the corridor and there's no getting around it. Time to double back and try out one of those other passages, it seems. Hopefully you can run quickly. It's not the only thing that's jumping out of the shadows to try and hunt you, either. The large creature is working with a smaller set of monsters who seem to appear out of nowhere, their footsteps impossible to hear, but the screeches they give are almost deafening. If you split up earlier, maybe you'll run into each other now; it seems like the monsters are herding you together, trying to make you easier to hunt.

The small monsters can be killed easily. Any weapons you have will work against them, no more than a couple of shots from a gun or a good hard swing of a blade will be needed to take them down. The big beast you first ran into is another story. Nothing seems to work to slow this guy down. It'll bleed, sure, the injuries are more than apparent, but it doesn't seem to make the monster any weaker. If anything, it just makes it more irate. The only chance of living is getting out.

If you're lucky, you'll eventually turn enough corridors to see cracks of light at the end of one. Light that seems to be coming through a door. If you can outrun the monster down this long, straight stretch, it seems to actually be your exit. The door is heavy and the lock is a little rusty, but with a little team effort, you should be able to get the thing shoved open. Slam it closed before the monster can get out and you'll find yourself safe again.

fear the old blood

It's just the month for getting stuck in tiny rooms. This time, walking through any door in Deerington could land you inside this cramped closet with far too tall ceilings. Again, it seems you aren't alone; the wall on the opposite side of the closet seems to have brought in someone the same as you. The doors behind you both disappear and it seems like you're completely trapped. There's shelves all around you, completely empty, but they've got to hold a purpose, right? You may take some time to look them over, see if there is some kind of switch or hidden compartment they might be blocking.

While you're observing the cramped space around you, trying to find a way out, you might hear the sound of air rushing from above you, almost like the sounds of an elevator shaft. There's a ding, a click, the sound of doors opening— all from the ceiling up above. It's a way out! But nothing ever comes so easily in Deerington. Within seconds of the doors cracking open, blood will start to fill the room, pouring in from your only exit.

Working together and using the shelves as leverage, you might just be able to reach the ceiling to pull yourself up (and hopefully your partner), but you'll have to push against the downpour of blood in the process. It's far from easy, definitely slippery, and you'll have to move quickly if you don't want to end up drowning. Waiting it out for the room to fill so you can reach the top easier will prove to be a horrible idea; the moment the blood reaches the top of those bookshelves, rotting hands will begin to reach from the walls, dragging you down and keeping you from getting to the top.

Once you have both made it into the exit above, the doors will close, and the elevator will right itself. There's no blood anywhere to be found and there also isn't a button to press to choose any floors. You'll simply hear the sound of the elevator climbing the shaft before the doors open again, and you'll be let out into the lobby of the Grady Hotel.

Time to head home and take a shower, I guess.

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

Song Lan stops watching him even from just the corner of his eye and his eating slows.

"I have not and there are reasons why I don't consider it a possibility and he deserves...more. Some boundaries should be respected."

Xiao Xingchen is warm and affectionate, unafraid to touch and be touched, to smile and laugh with ease. He deserved someone who would not hold back so much from him.

"Your...fear. Is that it?" his tone softens and he shifts slightly, bringing his knee up to his chest, "It stems from something. All fears like that do. Find the seed and you can weaken it."

He rests his chin on his knee and sighs.

"I like being touched. I don't like being hit or hurt, but being touched with...affection?...is nice."

Song Lan grips the glass of water at hearing Xue Yan speak so casually of it.

"There are some fears that are like rotten fruit placed in a basket and then it spreads it rot and once it's there you cannot make the fruit fresh again."

He doesn't mean to sound casual. But he also doesn't want to give the fear too much credit or attention.

"You're not rotten, A-Lan. You're strong and brave and kind. I know your fear won't stop you from doing anything." his dark eyes are warm with encouragement.

Song Lan remains silent, finishing up the stew. His fear has stopped him for years, to him, Xue Yang simply sounds foolish and he doesn't want to talk about it feeling discomfort like his skin is crawling at even this much attention in that arena.

"Knowing this place, you might get a chance to get rid of it entirely. I've heard of all sorts of prayers." he continues to talk, not bothered by the silence, "I made it simple for the Deer: a horse and some new clothes. I could have been extravagant."

"What if I do not wish to?"

Removing a fear in the same way some would get a horse and clothes seems like a cheap way to change something at the core of you are.

"It is a part of me."

"There's more to you." he seems a little offended, actually, that Song Lan sums up any part of himself negatively.

But he has become biased.

"Don't wish it away if that's cheap. All the same, don't rely on it, A-Lan."

"I didn't say there wasn't," Song Lan counters.

"I don't know what you mean."

"I think you use it as a defense." he states bluntly, "To keep others away even when they love you."

"I think you don't know me," Song Lan says a bit harshly but he doesn't look at Xue Yang.

"No, I'm just crazy about you." Xue Yang stretches out his leg, groaning faintly when his hip twinges, "I don't know you at all."

"How am I supposed to believe that isn't all a ruse? You have a history of tricking people," Song Lan knows that it's not a ruse at least if it was then somehow some other iteration of him had fallen for it.

"I do not keep people I love away from me."

Except when he does but he wouldn't blame that on his aversion to touch.

At that statement, Xue Yang rises and moves to sit beside Song Lan. He is a cheeky delinquent and he wants to make a point.

"I keep those I love close. I protect them. I will even build a house for them." he rests his hands in his lap, "I guess time will tell you if it's a ruse or not, but I'm not the sort of man who has declared he loved anyone before you and Xiao Xingchen."

Edited 2020-09-28 02:01 (UTC)

Song Lan straightens when the other sits beside him, his jaw tightening.

"Maybe so. Do you think that because I failed him once that I did not before that keep him close and protected him?"

He didn't build houses but they were wanderers.

"A-Lan, I'm not attacking you or talking about your relationship with Xingchen." he gives him a little grin, flirtatious and sudden, "I'll build you a house anywhere you like and I will protect you."

"Then what are you doing?" Song Lan asks and as the other's tone shifts he seems to become tenser.

"I do not need you to build me a house or your protection, Xue Yang."

Song Lan sighs. What is he doing still engaging with him? It wouldn't have been so hard to walk away or to send him away from him. His eyes drift to Xingchen's sword as the thoughts encroach.

Stubborn. So stubborn. Xue Yang notices the glance and he subconsciously touches the place Xingchen's sword had stabbed him all those years ago.

"Rest here. You're safe." he rises and walks to the door, grabbing Jiangzai to take the sword to his room, "Don't go out at night. The monsters are more prevalent and not all of them can be defeated with a sword."

Song Lan nods. He is tired and he doesn't want to leave this room yet but Xue Yang has already given him far too much to think about.