JANUARY 2021 TDM

[sodder]

JANUARY 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to January’s Test Drive Meme!

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: Claustrophobia, panic attacks, ghosts, demons, hallucinations, blood, violence
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Prompt Three
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

THE ONLY ME IS ME

The room is unfamiliar. You're not even sure how you ended up in here. Had you fallen asleep? That has to be it. Even if you're not a being who ever sleeps (which must make being in a dream world feel that much more surreal), it feels like the answer. There’s no door, no windows, and the only source of light in the whole place is two tiny, extremely dim side table lamps that give a soft, orange glow to your surroundings. It’s hard to see and easy to bump into the sparse amount of hotel room furniture that seems to be scattered around the small space. Hopefully you don’t have bad knees.

While there is no exit, if you look along the walls, you will eventually find a peep hole. The small hole in the wall makes you feel instantly uneasy, even if you’re someone who isn’t prone to fear in the first place. You’ll feel fidgety and tense, but there’s a part of you that still desperately wants to look through it. Avoiding the peep hole will make the tension disappear eventually, but it creeps back up every time you look at it.

If you woke up here alone, another person will appear in the bed you woke up in the moment you turn your back. It’s good to not be alone, right? But with the room so small, the air might start to feel a little thin. Is it getting hot in here? Is the ceiling feeling a little lower than it did last time? Are the walls closing in? It’s hard to tell if it’s all in your head or if the room really is getting smaller. Having to share it with another person, to share the limited air with someone else, is enough to make anyone panic a little.

Whenever one of you decides to look through the peep hole, you will see a man standing on the other side in a typical hotel hallway. He’s just waiting. Watching. Or at least you think he’s watching; it’s hard to tell when he doesn’t have a face at all. His presence makes that fear in you spike, your worst memories flashing before your eyes, and you won’t be able to look for long without going into a full panic attack. Getting as much distance between you and the peep hole is the fastest way to get a chance to calm down. If you can get yourself to calm down at all.

The key to getting out is the person beside you. If you choose to let them close, eventually the panic will start to ebb, and you’ll find yourself feeling more at ease the longer you sit beside them. Touching, whether it’s a hug, a hand on the shoulder, or more, will eventually make the room stop feeling so tight and the air won’t feel as thin. Eventually, you might start to feel some semblance of trust— trust that they can keep you safe. Approach the peep hole with your roommate and look through it together; while you’ll still see the painful memory from before, one of your happier memories will play soon after to soften the blow. Seeing both your dark and Your light is the best way for someone to truly get to know you, after all.

Once the memory fades, you’ll both be on the other side of the wall, and the man outside the door will be nowhere in sight, with no sign that he was ever really there at all.

DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL NOW

Walk through a door, any door and you're not where you thought you'd be. Instead, what lies before you as well as to your right are what looks like perfectly normal hallways you'd find in an apartment building or a very large, fancy house. There's doors spread out along either side at varying intervals and one of them opens to let another person in, someone just like you who probably meant to go to the restroom and ended up here. If you try opening the doors, none of them budge no matter what you do and so it seems the only choice you have is to pick a direction and walk.

There's a tingling sense of dread that creeps up your spine as you go. You pass what looks to be doors to restrooms, bedrooms, living rooms and recreational rooms, but none of them seem to be an exit. On the walls are pictures and paintings, it looks like there's a familial theme to them, there's group portraits and moments captured in time such as when someone's Dad spilled punch all over himself at the family barbecue. All wholesome and loving looking pictures but oddly not of just one family, in fact you might see some familiar faces in there. Along with pictures, there's narrow hall tables with vases and more photos in frames and all the drawers seem to be locked, though you get the sense there's something in there...

Eventually, you turn a couple corners and it almost feels like you've come full circle, but at the end of the hallway there's a clear exit. Three steps down to a cracked open door. It sort of looks like a garage from what you can see, but when you open it... you're right back where you started. Only now, the halls are colder, the lights overhead that were once warm and steady are flickering and the pictures on the walls are tilted, some even cracked. There's a creaking sound somewhere far off, like something heavy swinging from a rope. You feel as though something is watching you, following close behind as you hurry your way through the halls again to find another exit.

Again, the only exit is the garage door and with no other option, you step through. And you're back where you started only now other doors in the halls are cracked. In one you see the light of a television playing static in a dark room and someone sobbing and muttering to themselves, in another there's bright red light spilling out of the crack and you see movement, something swaying, the creaking is louder. Heart pounding, you make your way around the corner and the drawers of the tables in the hall all open at once to let damaged photos fly out, all of you and your friends and family in horrifying circumstances or dead.

Run to the exit again and you are back at the start and there's now spatters of blood over the walls like a grisly murder occurred in several locations along the halls. The creaking is louder and so are the wails of the person in the room with the television. More doors are open a crack here and there and each promises something horrifying should you open them. Maybe they're abstract manifestations of your greatest fears, painful memories coming through the static T.V. set, or a stereotypical ghostly spectre with unfinished business. There is a supernatural force in this place and it feeds on your deepest traumas and fears whatever they may be, or it'll be content to sip on the fear brought on by a jump scare or a ghostly shadow watching you from afar wherever your turn, waiting for the moment to suddenly appear beside you.

To escape this haunted loop of rising torment, you must bring the demonic spirit with you as you pass through the exit door. This can be any way you wish, though the easiest is to allow it somehow to possess your body while your companion wrestles it, and you, through. You can discover this solution through clues behind the pictures and scratched into the wood on the bottom of the drawers in the form of riddles, or you can stumble upon it by accident. Once the spirit is pulled through the door, it will break the loop and you will be back in Deerington, though perhaps not quite where you were when you opened the door the first time.

NOW'S THE TIME FOR ACTION

There's something watching you. You don't know what, but you can feel it in your bones. Sometimes you think you see it (them?) out of the corner of your eye, but you can't quite make out the who or the what that might be following your every move. Sometimes it looks supernatural, a mythical creature from your own world maybe, and other times... It looks like someone from home you never wanted to see again. People show up here all the time, it's not impossible...

It doesn't stay just one being, though. Eventually you start to see small groups of people or things you can't quite make out before they disappear. It's hard to tell if they're really there at all or if it's all in your head. But the danger feels real. The inexplicable feeling of pure terror, the solid idea that they're going to kill you and you aren't going to be able to fight them off, the absolute assurance that they're evil. The longer this goes on, the more drawn to a crowd you'll begin to feel. There's safety in numbers, after all. But just being surrounded by people doesn't feel like enough, not when the other Sleepers you find feel just as on edge as you are.

In the center of the crowd are scattered tables. Each table has a bowl or jar filled with various party supplies. Bluetooth speakers that can connect to your Fluid to play music, noise makers, snap poppers, even pots, pans, and their lids. It's enough to make a real ruckus. And you're realizing that that might be the answer. You start encouraging the people around you to make as much noise as possible. Grab the things on the table and just start shouting whatever comes to mind. The more noise you make, the more the fear ebbs, and the shadows following you start to disappear. They almost seem like they're actually running from the noise. You keep shouting just to drive them as far away as possible.

You might notice that you're shouting out things you never expected— and so are the people around you. Emotions you wanted to keep buried, confessions you never planned on giving to someone, secrets you've been trying to keep to yourself. They come pouring out faster than you expect them to and they're there for anyone to hear before you can even stop yourself. Hopefully this doesn't have too big of a fall out for you.

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

Luke Skywalker | Star Wars | OTA

[skywalkswiththeforce]

{Arrival:}
He felt the drag of rocks under his body, the pull of his leg as something or someone pulled him along, like a wampa taking him through ice and snow. It was cold and uncomfortable, but someone was talking. They needed help, and they promised he wont be gone long.

Only for him to wake up.

Sitting up in a bed he looked around, curious to where he was. This wasn't where he was last, but dreams are sometimes strange things. He rolled out of bed, still in his black attire from Endor. His boots hit the floor and he felt for his lightsaber, not finding it here.

He found it in a basket, on a kitchen table Hooking it to his belt, reading the letter and eating the berries so trustingly, he set out for the front door. Wandering outside into a winter wonderland. His black attire set him apart from the snow on the ground. He walked down a street, calm and collected, looking the place over, headed in town unknowingly.


{The Only Me is Me:}
Luke again wasn't sure how he woke up here, especially considering he didn't remember falling asleep, but here he was, in a hotel room, looking around a room with no doors. He got out of the bed, moving to look around.

He found he peephole and looked through it, brows raising at the faceless man waiting, waiting and doing nothing on the other side. Just as he pulled back, feeling a disturbance run down his spin, he realized he wasn't alone. Turning to the bed he noticed a person in it, waking up.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a calm and careful voice. WHAT was going on here?


{Don't Touch That Dial Now:}
He had made it into the hall ways, either alone or with someone else. Luke wandered, looking at pictures and making his way around to what seemed like an exit. Going through didn't help though, it only made things darker and messier. The more times he went through the darker and messier it got. The crying from one room got his attention.

If there is another person here, he'd keep a close on on them, to make sure they were alright, but for the most part he's going to explore. Looking over pictures and frames to see the families in them. Sometimes he felt like he knew the images.


{Network:}
text; un skywalker

Is this normal, to go to sleep and wake up somewhere else? It's happened a few times now since I've arrived here, and it's becoming... tiresome.

While I have you here, I am looking for a few friends of mine. I haven't noticed them here but it can't hurt to ask. Leia, Han, Chewie? If you're around, speak up so I can find you.

[He's sure they aren't here, as he hasn't felt them there in the force, but there is someone else he might know, and another darker feeling. He can't place his finger on it though.]

network | text; un: razorcrest

[needajetpack]

This has happened to you before?

[Because this is new for him. Extremely new and upsetting. He's pretty sure it's not supposed to happen, either.]

Haven't seen anyone by those names. Sorry.

[skywalkswiththeforce]

Only here. When I first showed up, and later in a room with no door. To me that's two too many times.

Thank you, though. I didn't think they would be here, but there is no harm in asking around.

[needajetpack]

A room with no door. How'd you get in there?

[And out???]

[skywalkswiththeforce]

I just woke up there. Which is part of he problem. I don't know how I ended up there.

I don't really know how I ended up in Deerington at all. Do you?

[getting out was interesting too but that's a story for another time maybe.]

Arrival

[demonicbeauty]

There was something wrong with the boots in Deerington. In anticipation of the winter, Ariadne had picked up a pair. She normally preferred to walk barefoot, but even she had her limits and that limit, in this case, happened to be snow. It was absolutely no good walking barefoot on snow.

But as it turned out, it was no good walking on Deerington boots, either. Every pair that fit her had heels. Ridiculous, absurdly high heels that were neither practical nor sturdy. She was already on her third pair and the right heel snapped off abruptly, spilling her, with her Alastrian balance and grace, into a snow bank.

Why anyone would construct such unnatural and inefficient snow boots was just beyond her. Jack had mentioned something about high heels making women look appealing?

She didn't get it.

As she sat up in the snow, brushing it off of her shoulders, she happened to notice a stranger with an unfamiliar scent nearby. Well, that was embarrassing. She gave him an awkward smile, rippling her fingertips.

[skywalkswiththeforce]

He's been wandering, walking around and exploring. There are... connections, in the Force, that he is sure he can feel, but he hasn't found yet. There was a lot going on here and he had many questions.

HIs attire wasn't exactly the best for this kind of snowy weather, but at least it isn't like Hoth either. The temperatures weren't as bitterly cold at least.

That was when something at the corner of his eye caught his attention. Someone falling to the ground. He blinked, then crossed the street near her, seeing a woman sitting up in the snow. He came closer, asking in a cautious voice. "Are you alright?" He was offering a gloved hand down to her, to help her to her feet. He looked her shoes over, realized in the heel seemed to have snapped off.

[demonicbeauty]

The stranger was polite. That was a nice upside to the whole thing. Of course, Ariadne believed there was always an upside to everything. She didn't have to try that hard. With a grateful, little smile, she grabbed hold of his wrist, not wanting to touch him palm to palm. He looked and smelled Human, but you never knew.

Especially not in Deerington.

"Just having some troubles with these awful boots," she said, pulling herself up, snow drifting down from the long curls of blue hair that fell all the way to her knees. "I'm grateful to have them, but I have to admit, they're more trouble than they're worth."

[skywalkswiththeforce]

He ws generally always polite, and saw the universe in a bit brighter way than not, though he did looked concerned for her. When she took his wrist, he curled his hand to help lift her up to her feet again.

He glanced down at at her shoes as she mentioned them, trying to hold back a bit of a smile. "They really don't seem well suited to this kind of weather." And... "They seem to be broken now as well."

The Only Me is Me

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul is slow to wake up, unwilling to once again be thrust into whatever horror Deerington wanted him to experience now. Once he awakens, he pulls the black hood back from his face, revealing that he was a Zabrak. His black tattoos blend into the shadows, making his entire face a little hard to make out. What's unmistakable are his eyes. They reflect the small light that has made its way into the room in a catlike manner and they're yellow. Sith yellow, that same strange shade that Palpatine had during his time as Emperor.

He squints, staring at the man in the room with him for a moment. There's a ripple in the Force and he reaches out towards it, realizing that whoever he is with is Force sensitive, and not only that but they're on the Light Side. A Jedi most likely. So he will procced cautiously, his own Force signature carefully hidden in an instinctual fashion after decades of practice.

"That entirely depends on your definition of alright," comes the deep, smoky voice tinged with the Coruscanti accent, a voice which hardly seems to fit Maul's demonic appearance.

[skywalkswiththeforce]

The room is small and uncomfortable, but he's realized the being in the bed behind him is giving off a dark signature that was almost overwhelming. A Zabrak, by the looks of it, sitting up in the bed. His question still stood, honestly. He might feel as if the dark side was standing at his side right now, swirling almost as darkly as the Emperor had not long ago.

His eyes looked the being over, head tilting a bit, but the answer was... reasonable. "I suppose I can't fault that answer. I'm not exactly sure if I'm alright about the situation, myself."

He didn't move closer, giving the man as much room as he could, though the room was very small, so that wasn't saying much.

[survivalthroughhate]

"You must be new," Maul said. The town was small, and while he didn't know all the Sleepers that inhabit it, Maul definitely would have taken notice of the change in the Force that yet another Jedi would have brought.

Maul's eyes dart around the room, taking in how there appear to be no windows or doors. "The last time I was in a room like this, it filled all the way up to the top with blood." What a comforting, cheery though that was. At least that didn't seem to be the case this time, but then Deerington never did seem to pull the same trick twice.

[skywalkswiththeforce]

"Rather new, yes. I literally woke up here yesterday, and then again here in this room, in that bed, alone." He then turned around and the bed was filled again with someone new. Someone dark.

He moved back to a wall, a gloves hand reaching out to it, to feel over it for a door. "Blood? That's a cheery thought. So far, so clear though." But apparently from what others have said, this place can do anything.

And that creeping feeling didn't change at all right now It was still there at the back of his neck.

( arrival )

[jedies]

[ then luke will spot a familiar looking jedi, dressed in brown, trying to coax a cat from the tree. ]

I assure you, it's fine to jump. I will catch you.

[ the cat meows. something twinges in the force as it leaps into obi-wan's arms. he gives it a reassuring pat before setting it on the ground. ]

Now head on home.

[skywalkswiththeforce]

[Wandering through the snowy streets, he was exploring. Dressed still in his all black attire, a lightsaber at his hip, his right hand gloved in black. He was comfortable if not a bit cold. He wasn't at all dressed for cold weather, but this wasn't bad either.]

[Sensing the man long before he saw him he followed the feeling, looking... concerned. It felt like someone he knew, yet as he approached the man, helping a cat out of a tree? He... frowned. The man was young but he felt so familiar to him and yet he wasn't sure he's ever seen him before.]

[He came closer, giving the man a smile.]

Cute creature.

[jedies]

[ obi-wan glances at him with a smile. interesting that the man didn't recognize it. probably not from planet earth then. ]

You think so? It reminds me a little of the loth-cats.

the only me is me

[naboosnaberrie]

[Padme is still mostly asleep, hair tangled and messy, wearing -- well. It's fashionable on Naboo, okay. But her mind is somewhere else and her mind is fuzzy, and all she sees for a moment is fair hair and broad shoulders, which is why she responds like she does.

Her voice is soft, sorrowful, loving.] I'm right here. Everything's all right. Did you have another nightmare?

assfgj omg hi

[skywalkswiththeforce]

[The vision he got from the peephole disturbed him, making him back away, uncomfortable. He'd seen a memory he didn't want to remember, a failure that hurt to see.]

[SO seeing someone else in the room, as dim as it was, helped. He felt the lightness in his chest lighten up only a bit. And then fall again as the voice was so soft and loving. That voice so... so... there was something to it, and yet he didn't know it at all.]

I ah... [How do you respond to that? He spoke softly in return, a curious tone.] I wouldn't call it a nightmare, but I'm not really pleased with waking up here.

mom says go back to sleep, kiddo

[naboosnaberrie]

[The voice isn't quite right, and Padme's next words -- come back to bed, Ani -- die in her throat, replaced with a startled sound. She rubs at her eyes, tugs the blankets up to her chin and laughs in embarrassment.]

I'm-- so sorry, I thought you were -- someone else. My husband. [Saying that still feels illicit, wonderful, forbidden.] I -- perhaps I am the one dreaming. I don't...recall how I got here.

text | un: fulcrum

[morai]

[ The name although simple draws on an avalanche of emotions that twists her insides into an aching pain she hasn't felt since the end of the clone wars. With her fingers gripping the Fluid with more force than necessary, Ahsoka pulls up the message system with an earnestness she hasn't felt in a long time. Reading over the message, her eyes are drawn to the listed names she doesn't recognize. Still, her eyes flick up to the username. Skywalker. Like her former master. A bittersweet smile pulls at the corner of her mouth rousing an age-old grief. Ahsoka draws on years of discipline honed by war and lets go of the ache letting it settle back down where she laid it down to rest years ago. ]

Few would call that normal.

[ Even if she has found herself in similar situations. ]

[skywalkswiththeforce]

[At this point in time, the code name Fulcrum is alsmot a myth of the Rebels itself. He's heard the name but never dealt with them. He barely thinks of it at the moment, and simply replies back while chuckling to himself.]

I'm hoping it's NOT a normal occurrence in this place, is all. Apparently someone else I was speaking to has woken up in a room that filled up with blood? I'm concerned about the mysteries of this place and springing traps on us.

[morai]

[ Now that's concerning. ]

Traps seem to be a normal occurrence, but hopefully few of them involve blood.

Who were you speaking to?

the only me is me.

[dyaddyissues]

Kylo doesn't make a habit of falling asleep and waking up in an entirely different place, but it's twice now that it's happened. Instead of looking at the sleek metal walls of his own private quarters or feeling the gentle hum of machinery, it's a tiny furnished room and it's silent save for one other person...

He's standing, scrambling to his feet and reaching for his weapon as a face, younger than the man he knew, but still recognizable comes into immediate focus. The rage that had been burned out as he watched his uncle vanish before him flickers in his chest, settling somewhere above the unease and uncertainty of the situation.

This was his doing.

"Skywalker." He spits the name. "What trick is this now?"

asdfghjkl;'

[skywalkswiththeforce]

He tries not to make a habit of falling asleep and waking up somewhere else, but this has happened a few times now, and it's becoming rather bothersome. Luke stood on the other side of the doorless room, looking at the tall young man who jsut woke up. His question still stands. Are you alright? But the other seems to know him?

The other was clearly strong in the Force, because he could feel it. He could feel it as strong as one could, but it was the spitting of his name and the way the other reached for his weapon that had Luke's brows shoot up, confused.

"No trick of mine, I can assure you." he said calmly, not going for his weapon, but it was there at his side, close to be called if he needed to defend himself.

"I woke up here the same as you just did. Though it appears you know my name..." he trailed off.

sorry not sorry

[dyaddyissues]

Because Kylo is, well. Kylo, he doesn't seem at all placated by Luke's words, his admonition that he wasn't at all at fault.

"Do you take me some kind of fool." Kylo's hands don't ignite the hilt in his hands, but his fingers itch to. Strike him down for the humiliation he'd dealt to his nephew on Crait... that's what this is, isn't it?

"Of course I know your name, the entire galaxy knows the famed Luke Skywalker, Jedi hero." Hopefully the scorn is evident enough in his voice to let him know that Kylo doesn't feel the same, doesn't share the admiration.

He sweeps by, looking for the exit, but it seems like there's none, just a small hole... to glance through? Anxiousness spikes in his chest, as his eyes dart around the room, looking everywhere but there. Is it something to do with it or being stuck in said room with his not quite uncle, well -- could be either. Could be both.