soddersays | FEBRUARY 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME

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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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"So my point stands. Seriously, I hope he's okay. I hope YOU'RE okay."

Kyle rolls his eyes. "Great, French Canada. Yeah, yeah, they think they're the best Canada." He raises his eyebrows. "Like... related or super close?"

Hope he's okay? Well, that's not something David worries about in this manner. He doesn't think, ever, that Josh would hurt him. That's not his style. He trusts his friend with everything.

"Sooner or later Josh will figure himself out. Until then, I'm still helping out. As for Jean-Paul, it's not blood relation. He's sorta my boss I guess."

Kyle nods. "You can't fix him you know," he says softly.

Then he looks over again. "So all the mutants in town stick together, huh?" He supposes it makes sense, but currently it just makes him feel like an outsider.

"I know that, Kyle. But I can support him."

And no, not really.

"Sometimes people from the same world show up. Or similar worlds. Sometimes they stick together. Mutants are just like that. There are some of us here, we try and stand together the best we can. There are about seven of us here. Three of them are in a relationship with each other, then there's Josh and Laura and myself, who were classmates, and Jubilee. She's somewhere between the two groups in age and experience."

There used to be more. Once.

Kyle nods, kicking idly at a rock to send it skittering over the frozen ground.

"Right. You guys are family, or friends. I get it, it makes sense. You have things in common, even beyond just being from the same place. It's what you were saying before."

He's going to go home to an empty dorm after he walks David home. He supposes at least he's used to it.

"We do," David agrees with a nod. "But we're not limited to just mutant friends, if you're worried."

He's definitely going to talk to you, Kyle.

"I'm not worried." He was definitely worried.

"I mean, I don't care what you are. Mutant, bisexual, genius... You're just David."

"Good guess on the bisexual," David grins, nodding along. "A distinguished bisexual even. Except when my love life is a farce. But thanks. I think I don't mind being just David. Keeps my head from getting too big."

David turns them down another street, keeping up the long walk toward Josh's house.

"Mm, you said a few things that kinda implied." He snickers. "Distinguished bi? Dude, that is hilarious, I love it."

He follows along, tall and gangly and happy enough in the cold. "Yeah, I'll keep you humble."

"It was something a guy on my team said. That it didn't matter that he was a disaster bi, because me being a distinguished bi balanced him out," he says, chuckling as he walks along.

That was Akihiro through and through. The man was a disaster of every sort.

"I need to be humble. Otherwise no one will put up with me."

"What qualifies as a disaster bisexual versus a distinguished one?" Because he suspects he may be some kind of disaster, himself.

"Well. Good thing you met me, then. Wise beyond my years."

"I think it is dependent upon how much others see you as having your life together," David admits.

ANd he doesn't think he's all put together.

"Wise, huh? Guess that makes us two wise guys."

"And not on how much you know you actually do? I get it. It's how you carry yourself. And maybe how well you know yourself. So you're distinguished bi."

That gets him snorting laughter. "Oh, and I have no sense of humour?"

"I'm distinguished with a slight flavoring edge of disaster," David grins as he walks along.

Dude, his sense of humor is... horrid.

"Sometimes it's refined, sometimes it's not. But it's always way too stuffed with ice puns."

"Gotcha. At least it's a flavouring? I think I'm just... all disaster. All the time."

That gets an eyebrow raise. "Uh, why?"

"No one is a disaster all the time. Usually it's only most of the time."

And now he gets to explain something really, truly stupid.

"Because of Bobby Drake. His mutant name is Iceman. And he thinks he's funny."

"Ninety percent, then."

Kyle looks at David. He looks at him a good long time. "You're serious. WOW. Iceman. That's... when I was a kid, and we'd play superhero? One of my friends decided to be 'Mosquito.' Iceman is worse than Mosquito."

"I don't know. I'd say you've got to be at least nintey-two percent," David laughs. Come on, it's a good joke.

"Hey, Iceman IS an Omega-level. So while his name sucks and his puns are horrible, you should probably respect him."

More snickering. Clearly they BOTH have a terrible sense of humour.

"Okay, one: I don't know what that means. You keep throwing out terms like I ought to. I mean, I can GUESS, but dude, I'm from South Park, not Superhero Island.
"Two: I don't gotta respect anybody just because they can kill me with icicles. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but so was Mosquito. Mostly. ...if generally useless."

"Omega levels have so much power, so much control over what they can do that... Well, they have powers that are off reasonable scales. For instance, Magneto controls magnetism, and is at a level where he could literally swap the Earth's polarity. Which would of course be bad."

And an omega level like Bobby could, and had, set the world into an ice age.

Kyle stops walking to look at David very seriously.

"And yet," he says gravely. "He named himself Magneto." He shakes his head and starts walking again, grinning. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Look, for real, I'm sufficiently impressed, I promise."

Because he really is starting to feel like David wants him to be scared of mutants.

FEBRUARY 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME

BEREFT OF HOPE

THE BEATING OF HIS HIDEOUS HEART

Character Arrival

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