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

Diana Prince | Wonder Woman 84 | OTA

[for_courage]

((OOC: I will try and leave out specific, big spoilers from WW84 as much as possible. That being said, vague spoilers might happen, so consider this a general spoiler warning))

I. Arrival

What had been an already, at best, trying few days has now just gotten worse in a way Diana can't comprehend. She's used to the strange and unbelievable, but this dreamscape she's woken up in might have just taken the cake.

She's convinced this is a work of a god. One of dreams or trickery. Given what's recently happened, that prospect uneases her a great deal. And here she's left with no discernible foe to fight, no target to go after. She's just here and so far, nothing has provided answers.

At least she has her lasso. It hangs at her side, the only comforting presence in her vicinity as she walks through town. The stares aren't welcome but not enough to unsettle her. She's used to being stared at, though not usually with such disdain. Diana merely glances at them, and it takes her only a few moments to recognize the fashion they're wearing. The cinched waists and gingham prints are a blast from the past. The 1950s were a more peaceful time in her life, but there's plenty about that time she doesn't miss. To see it again only adds to her unease.

Normally she's not one to fidget, but her mind is all over the place and she needs to focus. She picks up the lasso and turns it over in her hands. That's when she realizes something is very wrong. She stops in her steps and frowns as she focuses on the weapon. The power that normally hums through it feels weaker. When she tries to activate it, its glow is dimmer than normal and seems to flicker.

A surge of panic rushes through her. Not again. Diana breaks into a full sprint; she flies past the townspeople and heads towards the woods. She's already making enough of a spectacle, running like she is. It's not until she gets to the outskirts of the forest that she finally comes to a stop. Spying a tree trunk, she grabs it with her hands and with a shout, she uproots it from the ground. She tosses it to the side.

"I don't understand," she murmurs to herself as she pulls her lasso back out. "Why are the rest of my powers fine, but this isn't?"

II. Don't touch that dial now

Trickery and more trickery. Or so that's what Diana tells herself as she traverses down the looping hallway. No matter how hard she yanks, no door opens. And at first, she feels bad. She shouts out an apology to whoever may be living here. Clearly she's intruding on some family's home.

But as she goes through the garage door and comes back into the hallway, the apologies stop and the dread sets in. "What kind of place is this?" she wonders out loud as she wanders down the hall. The pictures are askew and something feels... off. It's not just the chill that's set in or the flickering lights. There's something else here.

She looks over her shoulder, her hand reaching for her lasso. She's not afraid of a fight, but whatever else is here doesn't seem keen on making itself known. At best, it's annoying. At worst... it doesn't bode well.

"I have a feeling that escaping this place will take more than just finding the right door."

III. Now's the time for action

Diana's was already on edge, between arriving here and then that stint in the looping hallway. And now she swears she sees Ares from the corner of her eye. She whips out the lasso on impulse to ensare him, but when it reaches its mark, it lashes only air. She snaps it back to her and breathes in deeply, trying to calm herself.

Focus. Relax. Ares is dead. I am jumping at shadows. But those shadows persist, and as the day drags into night, Diana feels as if she's being hunted. Ares keeps appearing, and more faces Diana would rather not see show up alongside his.

It's more out of desperation than desire that she hurries towards the noisy crowd. Typically she avoids big functions like this, but anything beats being stalked by shadows. She sits at a table and looks around. Everyone seems to be... super into this. It's kind of endearing, if a little surprising. Diana idly picks up a popper. It's silly, but she can't help but let it off. She flinches for a second as it goes off. But she's not the only one startled by the sound. Her new "friends" withdraw into the darkness, as if afraid.

"So these shadows are afraid of noise?" She grabs a noise spinner and twirls it, watching Ares' visage grimace and turn tail as she makes noise. "Go! Run, brother." Diana lets out a relieved laugh. "You have no power here."

Arrival (I plan to see WW84 soon! Just haven't had a chance yet.)

[bklynspider42]

[Miles is out exploring, including the woods of the surrounding area in practicing and ensuring his own powers are as they usually are. He isn't necessarily expecting company, and doesn't at the moment have proper control over his invisibility. Which is why she won't initially see him at first in his surprise when she uproots the tree like that. But it doesn't take long before he is visible again, in his black and red suit up hanging from one of the nearby trees.]

Whoa! Wait, what's wrong with your powers?

[for_courage]

[Diana's head snaps up when she hears someone talking to her. And she sure as hell wasn't expecting to see someone hanging from a tree. In a weird... suit? Huh...]

Nothing is wrong with my powers, I don't believe. It's this. [She gestures to the Lasso.] This isn't tied to my abilities. And I've never seen it like this. It doesn't quite work and I cannot understand why. Nothing should be able to affect it like this. [To demonstrate, she pulls it out. It flickers and glows intermittently, but it doesn't stay glowing for long. If it ran on electricity, it would almost seem like it had some faulty wiring.]

Where did you come from? I didn't see you up there when I arrived. [She might have been preoccupied but she's fairly certain she would have seen someone chilling out in the trees like that.]

[bklynspider42]

So it's the....what's it called again, a lasso? Right? I'm not sure what's up with it or what it's supposed to do aside from catch onto things?

[Unfortunately. He's newer too so not as likely as Pete to offer advice or be able to help. Even if he did work on some of his gadgets and such, he had Ganke's help back then and that didn't include lassos. Miles shifts in climbing down onto one of the lower branches, upright again rather than looking to her from upside down.]

I've been exploring. Training. Seemed a better idea out here just in case. But....maybe if your lasso runs on electricity or something I can help?

[He's not sure that's it but he does note the way it flickers and glows.]

[for_courage]

[It's strange to be explaining her lasso to a stranger, but it seems unavoidable here. After all, she's in a dream. The harm from someone knowing the truth should be more minimal than in real life, right?]

It is the Lasso of Truth. It has the power to compel someone to reveal the truth, as well as show them the truth. That's what powers it, and the truth is greater than any of us. Even a dream. Which is why I don't understand how it's being affected here.

time for action, cw clown

[measuringdicks]

It is a trip and a half, watching Bowers and Pennywise suddenly retreat from him the second he slams pots and pans together. With a wild grin, Richie clambers up onto the table to help this new person chase off this other guy.

He cups his hands in front of his face and shouts at the top of his lungs, not caring if puberty cracks his voice (okay, caring a little bit), "Hey, dickhead! Your mother called, she says you stole her mustache! Don't you know that's a shitty thing to do to your mom?" To Diana, he says, "That's your brother?"

[for_courage]

There is a laundry list of things that happen in those few moments that take Diana completely by surprise:

1. Sudden appearance of a boy. On her table, no less.
2. Sudden shouting from said boy.
3. Some uh... very choice insults from said shouting.
4. Unexpected question that wouldn't be surprising if it weren't for 1 through 3 happening.

So there's a moment of stupefied blinking from Diana before she composes herself. "I... he was my half-brother, technically, but yes." Despite the subject in question, there's a smile tugging at her lips. Not so much because of his question but because of his insult which, honestly, was pretty choice. Diana is trying really hard not to laugh.

It doesn't help that Ares grimaces even more from all the additional ruckus. "We shared a father." Which is her roundabout way of reassuring Richie that he didn't also just insult her mother in the process.

tw clown

[measuringdicks]

Yeah, that's the usual first reaction people have to Richie and his mouth. He's learned to live with it, and at the very least the woman seems to think it's funny. Richie, who dreams of becoming a comedian one day (or someone famous for being funny), basks in that smile.

"What a horn dog, your dad," he observes, not knowing exactly who he's talking about. But yeah, he whips back around to Ares, and points at the image of Pennywise trying to sneak closer to the table. "You're an even worse clown than this motherfucker over here!" he shouts. "And that's saying something, 'cause It was so terrible at it that it had to hide in a fucking sewer!"

[for_courage]

Diana's heard some hot takes on her father before. It comes with working in cultural anthropology and archaeology. But "horndog" is a new one and her shoulders shake in a barely restrained reflexive snort. "Well." She shoots him a stern look, but there's just the barest hint of a smile still. "That's how some people choose to remember him, but he was my father all the same."

And yup, that sure is a clown. Diana frowns, looking at Pennywise then back over at Richie. "Are you afraid of clowns? I know they're unsettling to some people-" Hang on. "Wait. Did you say he lived in a sewer?" What the actual fuck.

don't touch that dial now

[lighthousekeeping]

The light flickers.

Joyce sucks in a breath, her eyes quickly flicking towards the wall, half-expecting to see a monster bursting through it, dripping with otherworldly ooze. But nothing happens. At least she's sure nothing's happening, but at the same time, she feels a chill on the back of her neck as she looks around. Is it just her, or are the family photos around them taking on a more sinister look?

"Maybe there's a clue in here somewhere," she says, stepping up to one of them and turning it over, frowning. Etched onto the back of the picture are the words, Let Me Out. She passes Diana the picture, says, "What do you think?"

[for_courage]

Diana takes the picture and reads the message. Her frown deepens alongside Joyce's. "I think we're dealing with something far more dangerous than just a creepy hallway." She puts the frame back down on the desk.

There's a part of her that's sorely tempted to just bash her way out of this house. But something tells her that's not going to work. "What exactly wants to be-"

She stops when she hears a faint moan. It seems to come from everywhere and nowhere. It's followed within seconds by an unnerving creaking that she's more certain is coming from above them. She looks around. "Did you hear that as well?"

[lighthousekeeping]

Joyce glances over at Diana, and shrugs. “I’ve seen worse places,” she says. She picks up another photograph, but there’s nothing on the back this time but dust. Puts it back down, and squints. Is that Bob with punch down his shirt?

She huffs out a breath. “Maybe someone else got trapped in here long before we did?” says.

Then something moans.

She knows that sound. She’s certain of it. That horrible otherworldly moan haunts her damn nightmares, and Joyce quickly seizes the vase next to her, holding it like it’s a weapon and she means to drop it on the head of whatever comes out of the walls. She moves closer to Diana, as if to back her up if something does come out of the walls.

“Get to the garage door,” she says, her tone steely and hard for someone so small. It’s as if she’s been in this position before, as if she has an idea what the monster might be and isn’t planning to let it eat someone else. Diana is capable, sure—but Joyce has seen what the Upside Down is capable of unleashing. If this even is the Upside Down. “I’ll be right behind you.”

[for_courage]

The lasso's out the moment Joyce grabs the vase. They might not be certain as to what they're up against, but that's not going to stop Diana from being ready to fight.

"You know what this is," she says, half question half statement. Joyce certainly looks as if she knows what this might be. She almost argues with her make a run for it and that she will hold the rear, but she doesn't want to insult Joyce like that. She's got a better idea of what's going on. And if nothing else, Diana's fast enough to get to her if something goes awry. But all the same, "Stay very close to me." Her back is almost pressed up against Joyce's as she inches towards the garage door.

She's constantly scanning the room, waiting for... whatever it is that's in here to leap out and attack. As much as she doesn't want to risk Joyce getting hurt, at the same time she wishes it would come out so she can deal with it already. But whatever it is, it seems content to stay hidden for now. When Diana's within arm's reach of the door, she quickly holsters her lasso and grabs Joyce's elbow. "On three, we go through the door." She's grabbing the handle. "One. Two..." She twists it. "Three!"

Run.

don’t touch that dial now

[arendelicious]

Kristoff is starting to wonder if you ever get used to horror. It wasn’t like he hadn’t dealt with the supernatural long before Deerington, but it’s so constant now, he expected it would eventually lose its edge. It was why he wasn’t quite as unnerved at the repeating hallway as he probably should have been, glancing around and pulling a face at the large crack that’s run up what used to be a perfectly solid wall.

What he isn’t used to is the personal touches Deerington likes to add to these places. He bends down to pick up a picture that had fallen off the wall, the glass smashed, and he startles slightly when it’s a picture of his own found family rather than ones of a stranger.

“Well that’s creepy,” he grumbles, more to himself than the woman he’s found himself stuck with. He turns the frame over in his hand, noting fingernail scratches along the back, but there’s nothing else of interest. He scrunches his mouth up in thought before going to take the picture out of the frame, not liking having his family portrait on some strangers wall. He goes to fold it up, but pauses when he sees scribbled writing on the back. Kristoff squints, but he’s... never learned to read cursive, which isn’t helpful at all right now.

“... Can you read?”

[for_courage]

If Diana were the more sarcastic sort, she'd ask 'What exactly is creepy?' because saying that here is like playing I Spy in a jungle and saying you spied something green. Fortunately, she isn't, but she does look over when he says that. She can't quite see the picture, but she doesn't doubt it's showing something unsettling.

She's about to leave him to it and try opening a drawer again when he asks her to read something. "I can," she answers as she walks over and takes the picture from him. She turns it over and silently reads the message to herself first. A chill runs down her spine. "It says, 'You can't leave without me.'" Good gods, what are they trapped with in here? "If there was any doubt we weren't alone in here, there isn't now."

[arendelicious]

Oh. He glances around the corner of the hall when he hears a strong creaking noise, letting out a small noise that’s somewhere between a groan and a whine. This was exactly how he wanted to spend his evening, clearly. In a haunted, never ending hallway with a total stranger.

He sighs, going to take the picture back from her. At least it had a reminder of Anna on it. Something to push him forward.

“Why is it spirits have to be so aggressive about asking for help?” He doesn’t sound at all serious in his complaint, because if there is one way to cope with a clearly terrifying situation, it’s obviously making jokes. About the thing trying to possibly kill you. “They really need to learn better communication skills.”

[for_courage]

Diana's hand immediately goes to her lasso when she hears the creak. Truth be told, she's never tried using it on a spirit. Diana's been in some weird situations, but nothing that involved ghosts or the like. Just... gods and their damn relics. But the lasso is powered by truth, so it should work on anything. ...right?

"This isn't your first time dealing with one?" she asks conversationally as she looks around the hallway, trying to find the source of the creaking. Nothing immediately jumps out, so she leaves it go for now.

She opens one of the drawers, hoping to find some more answers. Instead, she finds a picture of Steve. Just seeing him is enough to startle her and make her slam the door shut. She sighs. "Whatever one you dealt with before, I hope it was friendlier than this one."

Arrival

[aerodyne]

Two days on and he still isn't any closer to understanding what's going on here. One moment he'd been holding a smoking gun, had seen a flash of light behind tightly shut eyes as he waited for the explosion to claim him. As he did what he needed to do, knowing that the world was in safe hands as long as she was still a part of it. And the next...

He'd found himself waking up in an unfamiliar room, a dream fading quickly from his mind. He'd found his colt, his jacket. A picture. But each item had only left him with more questions than answers. Even venturing out in to the town hadn't helped much. He knows now that he's in Maine. Knows that he needs to head South, down to McKinley and see if he can get some real answers. But each trip to the edges of the town have ended the same way so far. And there's only so much blood he can lose before he has to accept defeat. Then, of course, there's that idea of this all being a dream. That's somehow everybody here is trapped in the mind of a little girl. Even after turning up in Themyscira, after meeting Diana and seeing what she was capable of. Knowing who she was related to. Even then, being told that this is all a dream is something he can't quite wrap his head around. It's all just a step too far, even now.

Of course, being in this town does come with a few, small perks. Being alive, for one thing. (This isn't Heaven or Hell. If it were, he'd like to think he'd know. But there are too many noticeable absences for it to be either.) And for another, it's moment's like this. Moments where he's free to sit down and watch the world go by. Where he doesn't need to worry about catching a stray bullet, or finding himself sent off on another mission long before he's even managed to wash away the memories of the last. He may not regret the path he's taken in life. But he does wish that he could have a few more moments like this.

Moments spent sitting at the edge of a fountain and sharing a drink. A dance in the snow. A moment more.

Later, perhaps, he'll blame his delay on his own distraction. On how the crunch of snow underfoot reminds him of that night. Of the look of pure, unrestrained joy on her face as she first experienced snow. Perhaps that will serve as excuse enough as to why it isn't until a voice nearby pointing out something to their companion is what draws him to the streak of color disappearing in to the forest across from them. Why it takes until the creaking and snapping of wood before he's able to push himself shakily on to his feet.

His words (her name) is swallowed down, doing everything he can to drown the hope before it even surfaces. But it's already too late. That hope is already out in the open and fuelling his body as he forces himself to head towards the forest. To follow in her tracks in the vain hope that maybe-

...maybe Sodder's dream includes his own.

When he steps into the newly formed clearing, Steve finds himself stumbling, having to lean against the trunk of a tree as he forces himself to breathe again. Whether this is real or not, it's a lot to take in. To know that she's here. Wherever 'here' really is.

"...Diana?" Both fear and disbelief color his tone as he pushes more strength into his voice. "Is it really you?"


[ooc: i've seen ww84, so don't worry about spoilers here! also, sorry for the tl;dr]

[for_courage]

((OOC: oh thank fuck because I was trying to figure out the entire time I was reading your post how I was gonna respond to you without spoiling anything. also tl;drs are great, no need to be sorry!))

She almost, almost doesn't hear him. It's what happens when she's so intently focused on something: she mostly stops listening and tends to shut out the world around her. None of what's happening makes sense, and the lasso means so much to her. So of course she's rather fixated on it. But nothing could ever shut out Steve's voice.

If this had happened to her a week earlier, she would have been overjoyed. Shocked and uncertain, much like him, but just happy. But now...

Diana inhales deeply, back stiff as she forces herself to turn and face him. Now there's pain mixed with that joy. Seeing him standing there is like a punch to her heart. This is the second time she's gotten him back... and if this is all a dream, then it'll wind up being the third time she's going to lose him. She wants to cry; the tears well up in her eyes. She just can't tell how much of it is from joy and how much of it is actual sorrow.

"Steve." She swallows the lump in her throat. "It is. It's me, and we're both here somehow."

[aerodyne]

He's moving again before he even realizes it, almost staggering towards her in his haste to close that distance. To get near enough to reach out and prove to himself that she really is right there. That this isn't all a just a trick. Some kind of hallucination, courtesy of his dying mind. Or perhaps this really is Hell, and this is the torture he's going to be made to endure. To have the woman he loves here, and never be able to touch her again.

But then he's finally in front of her. Finally able to reach up and cup the side of her face. To brush a thumb across the curve of her cheek as his fears give way to relief. As much as he may hate the idea of either of them being trapped in this town, he'd be lying if he didn't say he was grateful that Diana is here with him. Even if it is only a temporary stay.

"You're here." In a town that's supposedly out to hurt them all. But that's an issue they can deal with later. They've already fought a war together. How much worse can this be?

Forcing himself to keep his mind on the present, Steve ends up letting out a slow, shaky breath. One that releases any remaining tension from him so he's free to draw her in to a hug instead. It's only a fraction of what he wants to do right now. But given how he left things with her during those last moments, he doesn't know how welcome it'd be. Especially if Diana has been here all this time.

"I'm sorry. If I knew you were here, I would've come to find you sooner." He wouldn't have let anything get in the way of that, no matter what the town decided to throw at him along the way.

arrival

[sanar]

Laura's observing Diana as she perches in one of the trees on the outskirts of the woods. She watches as Diana literally uproots a tree trunk and tosses it with ease. The sight makes Laura smile. Thinking she's found a mutant like herself, she leaps down from her perch and lands flat footed on the ground.

Thinking of this as a game now, she tries to impress Diana by chasing after the tossed aside tree trunk. She picks it up with minimal effort and with a feral scream she throws it as far as she can. She's smiling with pride as she glances over at Diana. Did she do that right?

Oh wait. She's asking a question and holding a...rope? Laura's head tips to the side as she regards the lasso.

"Rope is your power too?"

[for_courage]

Of all the things Diana expected to happen next, a young girl coming out of the woods and tossing back the same tree trunk she tossed, all the while screeching, was definitely not at the top of the list. It wasn't even in the top one hundred. Her head snaps up in alarm, but it quickly passes as she mentally assesses the situation.

"Not... in the same way you're thinking." Diana holsters the lasso, walking over to Laura. "Did you just throw that trunk back at me?" She doesn't sound angry, mostly just mystified.

Don't touch that dial now

[teamfun]

Louis has had dreams like this. Following the same route over and over again without break. He's sure if he sat down and really thought about it, it would uncover some deep psychological problem about him trying to escape his problems and never being able to. But he doesn't want to do that. Quite frankly, he had enough of that in the Old World.

He's on his third go-round now, staring at the decay and trying to block out the weird noises when he comes across Diana. Well, he'll take another person. That's good, that's different.

"Oh yeah, there's probably a puzzle. Sodder loves puzzles."

[for_courage]

Diana looks up, equally surprised to see someone else here who is definitely alive and probably not some creepy spirit. He's rather young, but she'll take whoever she can get right now. Especially because it sounds like he has an idea of what's going on.

"Sodder? Who is that?"

[teamfun]

He offers her a wan smile. Oh boy. Super new then. At least he's a fairly good welcome wagon. Better than most.

"She's the person who's dream we're in," he gestures with his hand in that classic short-person motion. "She's a kid. She's controlling all of this. I'm gonna guess you're new, huh? Name's Louis."

He makes a grand, sweeping motion around them.

"Welcome to Deerington. It's usually... well, it's usually a town but currently it's a spooky endless hallway. Dream logic, y'know?"