FEBRUARY 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

FEBRUARY 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to February'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: Prompt 1; Grimp Reaper image, feelings of being stalked, repeated death, Groundhog Day/Russian Doll themes, talks of car accidents and suicide/murder. Prompt 2; Image of a heart, organs on the outside of the body (heart), very mild body horror.

Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

BEREFT OF HOPE

The day feels the same as any other in Deerington. You wake up, you go through your routines, you wait to see if something creepy is going to be lurking around every corner, and then you go get breakfast. There's nothing too unusual going on, though sometimes you get the strangest feeling that someone might be looking at you from afar. Watching you. Waiting. For what, who knows, but isn't that just the normal vibe in this town anyway? You're starting to maybe get used to feeling perpetually anxious that you're being stalked. It might not even really make you think much of it at all. You continue to go about your day. Things still go as normal.

Until you die.

Maybe you were hit by a car, or you choked on your morning bagel, or a piano fell on you, or a townsperson who was going off the deep end decided to drag you off and murder you in Deerington Park; however it happens, you absolutely remember dying. The details are a little fuzzy around the edges, but you do remember seeing someone standing near by when it all happened, a shadowy figure you can't quite recall the face of. Maybe that's who had been watching you.

Dying isn't necessary the weird part, though. People die in Deerington all the time and come back remembering the details, usually with a fancy new scar to show off to everyone (or more likely keep desperately hidden because of your trauma ridden guilt). This time, though— this time sticks out. Because you don't go through the normal death process. There's no calming valley with a strange deer, there's no fruit, nothing about it is the way that it's supposed to be. You just were dead one second and now... you're not. Maybe it was a bad dream? You're in your bed, that's usual, but you're in the same clothes (or lack thereof) that you went to bed in the night before. The sun is shining through the window and...

Everything is exactly the same as it was yesterday.

If you've ever been a fan of Bill Murray at home, you can probably guess what's going on here. Or at least have your suspicions. You go about your routine again, you greet some of the same people, you eat the same breakfast (or maybe you switch things up just to try and break the cycle), and you still have that strange feeling of being watched. Every person you meet doesn't remember seeing you before your death and certainly none of them remembering you dying, no matter how public it was. You can try to convince them, but they're probably not going to listen, or they'll think that it's Deerington just fucking with your head again.

So you go outside. Same time, same place. And you die. Again.

Things start to repeat. Some people might start to snap from it and start to try and die in different ways. Some people might try the age old rule of learning from your mistakes, of being a better person, and try to spend the whole day being kind or trying to find some significant moment they're supposed to focus on to make this all better. Some people might just break down after a while and think there is no way out. Because nothing seems to be working. It's happening over, and over, and you're meeting the same people over and over, and you're doing the same things over and over, and you're dying over and over, so what's the point of even getting up out of bed now?

But there is a way to end it; find someone who is going through the same thing. All the other people you've seen, Sleepers or not, have had no recollection of you dying or of this all being a repeat day. Eventually, though, you might start to notice another person who is having the same discussion with another, desperately trying to tell them that this is all happening repeatedly and you can't figure out how to make it stop. When you realize there's another person having the same issue as you, you can start talking to them. Maybe you won't realize what you need to do at first, you might even end up dying together a few times before you finally realize— you have to save the other.

Every day you've died at the exact same time in roughly the exact same place, whether you took your own life or it was done outside of your own control. Prevent your comrade from dying all together until the sun goes down and the cycle will finally be broken for both of you. It just might be hard to do when the forces of the town are pretty hellbent on making sure you both die.

THE BEATING OF HIS HIDEOUS HEART

Happy Valentine's Day! Deerington seems to be trying to get somewhat in the mood of romance this month, the town decorated with hearts and tiny cherub statues and all sorts of delicious displays of chocolate in the windows of most stores. Don't worry! They're just normal chocolates. Eating them will do nothing to you unless you've got problems with controlling your blood sugar levels or an unfortunate allergy. Buy some for your sweetie! There are even some beautiful looking chocolate covered strawberries at the Hart Mart that could be perfect for a romantic evening...

One morning, you'll wake up to a gift wrapped in pink paper with a red bow on a table in your home. It's clearly marked for you and it's from a secret admirer. Did you even know you had a secret admirer? If you choose to not open the gift (this is Deerington, this could obviously be bad news), it will do exactly what one would expect it to in a town like this; the package will follow you. It will show up on your desk at work. It will show up on the counter at the store you frequent. It will show up on a bench. In your car. Next to your bike. On your porch. On your best friend's porch. Anywhere you go, the present will be there. Waiting. You can't ignore it forever.

When you finally cave and open the gift, you'll find a truly fitting present for such a romantic holiday: a heart. It might be human, it might not, but it's still beating. You can watch it pulse, but it's surprisingly neat, no blood to be found anywhere in the box or in the heart itself. It just sits there, thudding away, waiting for you to pick it up. No one really wants to touch a heart, but if you know Deerington, you know this heart probably actually belongs to someone, and if you're new? Well, you're gonna figure out how this all works pretty quickly.

Pick up the heart and you'll get a flash of memory. Someone else's most precious moment. It will be burned in your mind and the heart will start to faintly glow as you hold it. Walk with the beating heart in your hands and it will start to change. The closer you get to who the heart belongs to, the stronger the glow will get, and the faster the heart will beat. Eventually, you'll find them— someone who looks empty, soulless, like a walking ghost more than a person. You can save them by putting the heart back where it belongs— you'll have to use some strong force, but slam the organ against their chest, and it will sink right back into place. Your hand will even go a few inches into their chest before you let go and yank yourself free. There's no scar, no hole, no blood. But the life will come back into the person in one fell swoop, like breathing again after almost drowning.

If you choose not to put their heart back in their chest, they will be forced to do whatever you say so long as you are in possession of their heart; however they will get steadily weaker and by the end of a full day, they will die.

Enjoy your Valentine.

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

[helpdesk_hero]

Not being used to people isn't something easy to fix here.

"I hope you get more used to people. This place often has us relying on each other."

[kyley_b]

That, more than anything, has him look suddenly lost.

"I know what that's like," he says softly. "Just been a very long time since I did."

[helpdesk_hero]

An intriguing statement.

"I guess it's your chance to learn how to do it again. Along with sign language and whatever other courses you choose to take," David observes with a smirk

[kyley_b]

He perks up again. "Yeah, the computer science stuff. With the hardass teacher. I'll have to look them up and I guess register? I don't really know how that works here, like if I just show up."

Because he wants to make a good impression. School is definitely his thing.

[helpdesk_hero]

"With the hard ass teacher," David agrees. Yeah, he's no actively waiting for the day that Kyle shows up in his class and looks... confused? Annoyed? Well, he'll react either way David expects.

"I hear there is a process, but I don't know it. I'm not a student. Too many degrees as it is already."

[kyley_b]

"Right." He looks at David with genuine humour and interest.

"How many? In case I ever get home, I can say, 'Ike I met someone smarter than you' before punting him across the room."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Honestly? I can't even count them," David admits with a shrug. "It's all absorbed knowledge and experience. It doesn't count for much in some eyes, and the way it piles up on top of itself and across each other, I couldn't begin to say."

EVen he is only so smart.

[kyley_b]

"You should just pick a number so you sound impressive, but not fake. Like... four. Four is a great number."

He grins. "You can be Doctor Professor David."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I probably have at least four from Hank alone," David dismisses. So yeah, he's definitely got more than that. Still, he smirks.

"I'd rather just be David, unless a situation requires one of the other two titles to render authority to me."

[kyley_b]

Kyle's grin spreads a little more, a little more playful.

"Alright, I'll call you Just David, then"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Cute, you think you're funny. I guess I won't take that from you," David teases.

[kyley_b]

"Fucking hilarious, that's me." A blatant lie, but he knows it at least.

"You gotta get by in life with what god gives you, dude. Dad jokes are all I got."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Well, at least he gave you looks and brains. Because he didn't give you humor."

And David's standing by that point.

[kyley_b]

Did David just say he was good looking? Kyle stares and goes pink.

"He gave me brains," he corrects. "Which is enough." He has to study that cup of coffee and try not to smile.

[helpdesk_hero]

Believe whatever incorrect facts you want, Kyle. David has said his peace.

"If you need a refill, I'll get you one. Otherwise, I think I'm caffeinated."

[kyley_b]

"No, no, I'll get all jittery. Uhm. I can walk you home? Make sure you get there okay."

Because Kyle Broflovski can protect a literal superhero, sure.

[helpdesk_hero]

Walk him home? Another day he'd joke that this wasn't high school For now he rises and nods.

"I've gotta buy a coffee for Josh first. ANd a danish. Otherwise he'll pout at me," David lets Kyle knows as he rises and puts on a coat. "You'd think all he can eat bagels from the bagel vine would be enough, but sometimes he's a brat. Wait for me at the door?"

[kyley_b]

Bagel vine?!

But he just nods and bundles up to go outside, waiting at the door as instructed. It's only outside that he looks over.

"You get bagels from a plant? ...is that kosher?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Now you absolutely know that is a complicated religious question, and I don't have any rabbinic scholars to debate them with," David notes as he comes to join Kyle outside.

"Technically it is not prepared food, but harvested crop, which lends an argument to yes. But it's also effectively a GMO, a plant created through collaboration of some mutants and the island of Krakoa. So I don't know where it falls at all. I have two of the vines. One is whole wheat, the other is cinnamon raisin. The latter I store as much as I can. I can taste there is magic to them of some sort. Dream magic."

[kyley_b]

It was meant as a joke, but the fact that David takes it seriously delights Kyle on a few different levels. He can't help but laugh his stupid laugh, head tilted up at the sky.

"Dude. You're such a dork." Which he loves. "Legit, I'm not worried about the actual answer, not because it's not important and compelling but because I'm SERIOUSLY upset one is whole wheat. That's such a waste of bagel."

He looks around speculatively. "Can you get lox here? That would be sweet."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I didn't design the plants," David promises. "Josh and his friends did. Will. Time is a mess."

But loxs, huh? David considers thoughtfully.

"I've seen capers around, so yeah, I imagine so. Why, you thinking about getting some Everything Bagel seasoning, some shmear, and making yourself a bagel and loxs sandwich?"

[kyley_b]

Kyle beams. "Maybe I am," he admits. "Look, this isn't my first weird little town, but at least back home I could have comfort food. So if I can manage that here? All the better."

He gestures at the to-go coffee. "Tell Josh I disapprove of the whole wheat, but I'll suffer if they're the best option in town. I'm sure it'll break his heart to hear sone random dude's opinion."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I'll tell him, but it isn't entirely his fault. Krakoan technorganics can be complicated to work with, and explaining to a sentient island just what you want out of it can absolutely be difficult."

So they probably did do the best they could, even with the interface of some really freaky powers.

"But you're welcome to be on the bagel package list. Jean-Paul hasn't kidnapped the vines from me yet, so I can still give them out as I see fit. Especially if it's for comfort foods."

[kyley_b]

"You really love this guy," Kyle says, smiling. "Look at you, defending him from my bullshit."

He holds up a finger. "Uh, yeah, I get bagels before some French guy! That's only fair, he can have croissants first."

[helpdesk_hero]

"He's my best friend, and at the moment, he's still young and hurting," David counters.

French. Oh that's not actually right at all.

"He's Quebecois. And a speedster that flies. Probably not the best to cross him. I get away with it because we're family."