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JANUARY 2021 TDM

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Nhgh.

[There is a faint grunt from behind him as somebody else appears on the bed in the space of a blink. Lysithea bolts upright the moment her mind clears enough for her to register that she's ... nowhere that she recognizes.

In Deerington, this is never a good thing.]

Here we go again.

[She'd thought the quota of 'being teleported into an unfamiliar place' had already been met this month. In the dim light, she can recognize the form of another person - a very... vague form.]

...Who are you? Friend or foe?

[Miles is taking a moment in hoping to calm down. To have his caution, that sense of danger wear off. The sudden arrival of someone else in the room with him -- how was that even possible? doesn't help.

Miles glances to her, tilting his head. How had she even gotten in? He shifts in straightening some, hands held up in front of him as if to show he didn't have any weapons or anything.]

Uh. I'm not sure I know you but. Friend?

[Look. He's done enough fighting recently. Including with family and friends.]

...Good enough.

[There's something off about the cadence of his voice... but she chalks it up to surprise. Lysithea slides off the bed and immediately stubs her toe on a protruding drawer from a dresser.]

Tch. ...Is this a claustrophobia test?

[The moment the words leave her mouth, she has a sinking feeling that she might have been a little too on point.]

...There's no exit, is there.

I dunno. Is there an actual test for something like that? Caustrophobia? But ah....no exit that I can tell? Yet at least. No doors or windows. So I have no idea how you suddenly got there like that.

[Miles admits, trying to keep calm as he glances around again, as if now she was here there would suddenly be a door or something to explain how she got inside with him. But he does try give her some space as he winces about her toe.]

It's a thing that happens.

[Lysithea feels her way around the room clumsily for a few moments -- ]

Oh, forget it.

[Then lights it up with a ball of flame held in her hands. Patience is not a strong suit.]

Definitely no exit. ...And you're new here, aren't you? You have the look of somebody who's more surprised than he ought to be. It's a sort of trap - don't be too worried.

This -- huh?

[He's. Not sure that's so encouraging or reassuring that she is so casual about this? Ending up in some room with no exit as a normal thing that happens all the time here?

Still. Miles gives a start, eyes widening at the sudden light from the flame at her hands.]

Whoa! Fire?

[Is that really so surprising though? He can use his venom and invisibility after all. Still, Miles does look almost sheepish as she asks about him being new, rubbing at the back of his neck.]

Ah. Y-yeah. I am. Why should I not be worried if we are stuck in a trap though? I mean. Gotta be some way in and out if we got in here in the first place, but....

Well... the exact details of the trap differ each time, but. There's usually some sort of puzzle to work out. We just need to work together to solve it.

[She'll just... leave off the bit where it's usually highly traumatizing, because there's no need to make him more anxious than he needs to be.]

It's a kind of magic, though. The way this place operates. You'll walk into your bathroom, and you'll be in an underground maze instead. That part never makes much sense.

My name is Lysithea, by the way. ...I'm a mage.

[Funny. Her fire isn't really all that strong - and it certainly shouldn't be making her hot. Lysithea pulls at the collar of her shirt as it begins to stick.]

...Perhaps I'd better dispel this.

A puzzle. Okay. I can try.

[If he could hack and figure such things back home, surely he could figure this. Whatever this puzzle was. Together. Miles does raise an eyebrow at the bathroom mention because that just sounds....awkward. And the most inconvenient when you really had to go, man.]

That just sounds....really. Inconvenient. But ah, I'm Miles. Not a mage or anything.

[Just. Bitten by a spider and all. But he's trying to keep quiet on that. At least initially.]

Maybe. For now. Until we need it.

[And though the fire is gone, Lysithea is now uncomfortably aware of how stifling it is in this room. Stale air, cramped quarters, dry heat. She sits down and finds that the bedsheets are annoyingly warm to the touch.]

This is getting claustrophobic. Let's deal with this quickly, Miles - have you found any clues or anything helpful?

[She idly begins to turn over the blankets as if there might be a key or something inside.]

Not yet. No doors or windows. No openings or anything that I've found yet. I mean. Except that....

[He gestures to the small hole in the wall. Miles isn't sure what to make of it. Maybe that guy out there could figure helping get them out? He isn't sure. Whether on his end there was some way for him to help get the two of them out of this room. He glances to the ceiling, as if inspecting that for any sort of openings.]

There's some guy standing out there. Like he's watching or waiting for something? Someone? Only....I saw something else. Something that happened back home, with my dad. I'm not sure how? But so far that seems to be it. I haven't found anything else but that can't be how we got in here....?

W-What?

[That's... unnerving.]

What's 'that'? I can't --

[After squeezing past a chair that's too bulky for this space, Lysithea is next to Miles. ...As she lightly brushes by, she feels, for some reason, a tinge of relief. Perhaps it's just that, at least, she's not doing this alone.]

There's a hole? [She... sticks her finger in it.] And somebody watching us from the outside? I --

[And never being one to shy away from threats, Lysithea has already gone and put her eye to the hole.]

Goddess!

[She recoils so quickly that she almost smacks right into Miles.]

You okay?

[Miles asks, recalling what he himself had seen at least. He doesn't seem to think anything of it immediately in the moment when she brushes against him. It's probably just that they were together. That they could help each other figure this out. That they aren't alone. He puts a hand at her shoulder to steady her when she recoils, wondering what she saw.]

There is someone! But --

[She shakes her head in disbelief.]

I couldn't really... focus on him for long. And I saw...

[...Well. She doesn't have to explain. He had just done it himself. Normally one to shy away from undesired touch, Lysithea feels her breath calming with Miles's hand on her shoulder.]

Was that actually happening or just something in my mind...?

Yeah. There is. I'm not sure -- what I saw. It already happened. Back home. So I guess it was just...a psychological thing? A flashback? I dunno why I saw what I did though.

[Probably in her case it also showed something upsetting too. Miles doesn't think twice on wanting to try and help if he can, even just in being there to listen, to comfort her however she needs. Even if he has just met her and all.]

[She shakes her head slowly.]

A man with no face. But when we made 'eye' contact, I saw...

[...The experiments. She takes a long breath to steady herself.]

...Alright. That's our clue. To getting out of here, I mean. A faceless man standing outside a peephole, and... reliving a horrible memory. [...] I'm assuming what you saw was horrible.

I... don't know what it means. I have some guesses, maybe.

Edited 2020-12-31 02:58 (UTC)

Yeah. Same here. I saw...I saw when my dad died. I'm not sure how that's possible? Here? But. It's what I saw. Only recently got here so I dunno if you have a better idea on this place and what's going on. What guesses?

[He asks, wondering if she had been here longer that she seems more familiar. To be able to guess at what was going on. But between the two of them, together they could probably figure it? He hopes. Not that he currently sees a way out yet but still. He's trying to focus more on that. On her, to distract himself from dwelling too much on losing his father.]

[She sighs in a long-suffering sort of manner.]

I don't really know what's going on.

But I think we're supposed to talk to each other about our awful memories. This town is big on... things that you've tried to repress. Bringing it out in the open to... hurt you again.

[She glances at the peephole once more and feels a shudder creep up her spine.]

...If that doesn't work, my other idea is that I'll blow up this wall.

[Her default idea.]

Supposed to talk to each other? I guess....worth a try. Before resorting to trying to break out of here or something, I mean. Not...not that talking about it will be easy but. I guess. It'll be easier than it might have been.

[Now that it had been a couple of years or so since he had lost his father and all. This was at least an idea. Something to try. Even if he might not be sure how talking about their difficult pasts might get them out of here, if she has more experience with this place, might as well try it. Miles gives a shrug, gesturing for them to sit on the bed and chat, as he then turns and shifts to sit down, cross-legged, his hand removed from her shoulder after one final slight squeeze of attempted reassurance.]

Um....I dunno if you want to start, or I can. Talking about what we saw.

[She is surprised to find that she almost wishes he had kept the hand where it was. A part of her mind is throwing up alarm bells - this is unusual. It isn't right. The other part of her advises her to keep calm. There isn't any point in alarming her companion until they truly sense danger.

Lysithea sits carefully - a little bit closer than she normally might.]

...Why don't you begin? If you don't mind. Your father died in a... difficult manner?

O-okay. Dad was....he was a cop. He was having this whole ceremony because he was getting this award for saving this local superhero. For being awesome at his job and helping people, you know? But there was this attack. Explosions going off. He was on the stage and saw that someone up there with him was about to. So he dived and tried to cover this other guy. He got caught in the explosion. I was out of it for a bit, then went after my mom who was trying to find him. Once I saw she was alright, I went to try find dad. I found him, but.....

[But Jefferson had already died. Miles lowers his gaze, biting his lower lip as he shakes his head. Even if it has been a couple of years or so. It still hurts. He still misses his father. Miles would never get him back. Would never hear his father reassure him again. It was still hard sometimes to think about Jefferson. To talk about it. Let alone to some stranger.]

[That was... a rush of words. Lysithea was expecting a somewhat more meandering opening, but he seemed to want to get it all out as quickly as he could. She struggles to completely process it at first, but the full details hardly mattered, did it?

He had lost somebody, and it was the most painful event of his life. She could recognize that.

She carefully reaches a hand for his knee - again, very unlike her - for a light touch of reassurance.]

He died saving many others.

[...]

Maybe you hear that a lot. 'He was a hero.' But it still hurts.

Yeah. I got that sort of thing a lot. It -- I was kinda lashing out, initially, back then. Before Pete and his Aunt May helped me out. Gave me a purpose, helping out at F.E.A.S.T, this homeless shelter.

[Miles admits. His first meeting with Peter....could have gone better. To say the least. But it wasn't like Pete, in public, after the funeral, could come out and say his father had saved his life and they had worked together with him being Spider-Man. Still, he purses his lips, shaking his head, glancing to the other when he touches his knee.]

A-anyway. What about you?

[She knows about three separate people named Peter at this point, so despite that she knows exactly who he's referring to, she doesn't react. But she gives a faint nod at his continued explanation, even if she doesn't fully understand it.]

Me?

[She gives a small, weary smile.]

...I'll keep it succinct.

When I was very, very young, my siblings and I were... I suppose you could say kidnapped. There's a lot of unnecessary backstory, but it was political revenge. ...Regrettably, they did not survive.

[Her voice is as neutral and monotone as she can keep it.]

They were killed? Because of politics? That -- I don't have siblings. Not biologically. But I have friends that are pretty much as good as family. Lost one of them. That's....that's rough.

[Admittedly her situation doesn't sound as complicated? As what his situation was regarding his particular friend there. But at the same time, Miles knows how scary it can be, being kidnapped. Let alone as a kid. Well. Technically he still is a kid himself, but. Details. Miles glances to her, a hand at her shoulder in some attempt at reassurance. Even if it's been years, grief still comes and goes. And different people react differently.]

But ah, you think...you think that's enough? There should be some way out?

[Lysithea's situation is... quite complicated. But she had left out a large number of unnecessary details so as to simplify the matter. She does not react very much to his physical touch, giving a slight nod in response.]

...Let's take a look back through that hole.

[For some reason, she feels as if... she ought to offer him a hand when she stands up from the bed.]

Thanks for... listening.

JANUARY 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME

THE ONLY ME IS ME

DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL NOW

NOW'S THE TIME FOR ACTION

Character Arrival

The Only Me is Me

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