JANUARY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to January’s Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: NEW YEAR'S.

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: Mind alteration, alcohol, options for self-harm, knife violence.

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

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

YOU BETTER GET THIS PARTY STARTED

It's party night at the Grady Hotel and the hosts are pulling out all the stops. Champagne, funny hats, pictures, great music, and a wonderful countdown clock that let's everyone know just how much closer they're getting to the end of what has probably been a pretty crazy year for everyone. The glasses never seem to empty themselves and the citizens serving them out to people seem to be making extra sure that everyone has one for themselves. Regardless of whether or not you usually like champagne, anyone with a glass in their hands will eventually be tempted to take a sip, especially the closer it gets to midnight - the bubbles make you giggly, friendly, talkative in a way that you may never have been before. It lifts up just about anyone's spirits, no matter how rough of a time they've had before (or during their time in) Deerington. It doesn't seem to get you drunk, no matter how much you drink, but it definitely makes you more euphoric. Enough so that you might start to think you can do anything; tell someone how you really feel about them, compliment whoever you've had your eye on all night and see if they want to spend more time together, make up with someone you've been fighting with lately, do a magic trick you never were able to master, or even something as drastic as fly when you know you can't. Hopefully you start off trying to jump from a chair, but there is definitely roof access for those who are a little more daring - maybe someone a little more sober will have the wherewithal to stop you before it's too late.

There is also plenty of entertainment happening in various parts of the room. A table with beer pong for the adults who never outgrew their college days, a dart board, card games in the back, and a game called Guess the Candy for those who want to test their sweet tooth. Anyone who wins a round of any game will get rewarded with a small gift from home (no bigger than a toaster). Unfortunately will disappear once you leave the party, so make sure to enjoy it while you can.

The dance floor is also lively, the music upbeat and easy to move to no matter what your personal tastes might be. If you want a random dancing partner, take a dance card! Each one has a random, glowing number on it and it's your goal to find the person who matches. Once you do, no matter who it is, you'll find yourself literally stuck together (hopefully just by your hands, but it can be any body part) and will have to go through an entire dance (or maybe even two) with them before you come unstuck.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Everyone starts to gather around the countdown clock as it nears midnight, and when it's down to ten seconds, obviously you've got to start counting too! Everyone seems to be having such a good time as they shout out each number (10! 9! 8!) and you might not even notice the way some of the people around you have started to get a little... twitchy? (7! 6! 5!) Or the way some are starting to get more handsy, pushing themselves up close to whomever is beside them. (4! 3! 2!) And it isn't until they all shout 1! in unison that the room seems to shift in two very different moods.

If you're lucky, the person next to you will just have the urge to kiss you - and you might even have the urge to kiss them back! After all, sharing a kiss at midnight is supposed to bring you good luck for the rest of the year. And with the way everyone else is starting to act, you might need it. For some, the urge to kiss might be stronger than just a chaste peck. For those who find themselves wanting to get a little more intense, it might be best to try to sneak out the back and head back to your place. The moment you step outside into the cold air, though, the urges seem to disappear - unless, of course, you were in the mood all on your own.

If you're unlucky, there's a murderous rage that runs through you, and there seems to be a table of weapons near by to help encourage a messy time. Various knives, swords, machetes, and other blades are laid out, enough for almost everyone. You might find yourself driven to plunge your weapon into the closest person, or maybe someone you've hated for a long time, and even more - maybe someone you've loved. Whoever it is, the image of their face will be burned into your mind and you'll do everything you can to try and make them bleed. Hopefully they can fight for their life - or at least evade your attacks until they can trick you into going outside. Like the desire for love, the desire for murder will also disappear the moment that someone steps outside, regardless of whether or not they did so on purpose or just to try and hurt whoever they're after.

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

[Reaper had mostly been avoiding social gatherings. This time of year was nothing more than a phantom to a life he used to have and had long ago shed. He could have watched from the rooftops, separated from the people that were mingling, cheering, counting down, but this was Deerington. There was always something bound to go wrong, and why limit himself to finding out what that would be from afar.

As the countdown began in earnest within the final minute, he caught sight of someone eerily familiar. He perked slowly, rising from his crouch to his feet and eased off of the building into the snow. His outfit stood out in stark contrast to the finery as he eased into the crowd of people to verify the presence he had seen. Could it be?

He came upon her as the fighting broke out. Ah, it felt like Maximillian's casino already. The bloodlust tickled at him, but he ignored it for his own curious nature, even as he turned away from where she was to disarm a man a little too enthused about trying to stab him. Shoving into a crowd of kissing people was enough to divert attention away from him as a light hand fell upon the shoulder of his jacket, and he turned to come face-to-face with Amélie, better known to most as their last breath from half a mile away.]

Widowmaker. [It wasn't often that his voice came out as a purr, but it did as he turned and caught her waist in his clawed hands as if they were about to dance.] Aren't you a little too in the thick of things to actually enjoy yourself?

[He was a familiar face, and they always worked well together, even if their record wasn't exactly spotless. He says her name, and there's a slow curl of her lips, catching the purr in his low tone through the mask as his gloved hands caught against he waist. Her hand moves from his should to the back of his neck, mostly touching leather, but there is one digit that slips beneath the fabric, a slight touch invisible to anyone else.]

Reaper. [She still has a knife in her other hand, and while she isn't immediately trying to slip it in between his ribs, there's a certain threat to how she holds it, keeping it close to him. Of course, she knows he can take it, that the threat of it is something that they both understand. With his hands on her waist, she sways slightly to the beat of the conflict around them. She still knew how to dance.]

Sometimes it is worth getting up close, even for me.

[She slips the knife up to catch under the bottom edge of his mask, tapping against the hard material, not missing a beat. Someone else, she would have just kissed them to sate the urge and been done with it, but with Reaper there was a game to it, steps and facets. She wouldn't call the people she worked with friends, but they were fixtures in her world that was elsewise very small.]

Don't you agree?

[Not all Talon missions were successful, and that was a fact of life. They could plan and prepare as well as possible, but if all the elements didn't fall into place, they would have to fight their way out on a retreat. Their track record wasn't nearly as bad as others might think, but more importantly was that they would work independently and find success. Mondatta was a prime example.

She wasn't afraid to touch, which amused him greatly. Outside of Moira, no one thought to see what was under the folds of his carefully designed disguise, if it was nothing more than mist or if there was actual skin there. He shifted one hand from her waist to grasp the wrist without the knife. It wasn't that he couldn't dance, he spent most of his life not wanting to. So he took her into the waltz to the sound of affection and violence mingling together.]

So teaching you to punch won't go to waste then.

[And now, now, she was dangerously close to his chin, but he trusted that she wasn't stupid enough to flick the blade in either direction, either to cut him or remove his mask. Well, only one of those would actually earn his ire. After all, they had appearances to keep up and better to let someone think he had fondness for someone who would give them such a rude awakening if they decided to take their issues with him on her.]

You know I'm a close and personal type. I can't say I've seen you often given the opportunity to make use of knives though....