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JANUARY 2019 TEST DRIVE
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!
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.
Steve Rogers | Marvel Comics: Secret Empire (Hydra 'verse)
[Steve's sitting on the porch of the house, with the basket in his lap, his feet kicking off the edge as he unpacks the contents. The letter, the handgun, a sketchbook bound in green and what looks to be a sort of school insignia embossed on the front, a set of drawing pencils, a picture of his mother-- that's where he stops, picking it up and staring at it. Steve's a very young boy in the photo, and Sarah has her arms around him and a smile on her face, although there's a quiet strain around her eyes.
Steve holds it in small hands, looking at the photo like it's something he hasn't seen in a very, very long time. It quits some of the unease of being here, the way that his head's been pounding even since his confrontation with Erksine-- his failure. He thinks he passed out. He's not sure if he was taken somewhere, in Hydra retrieved him, but he can't imagine they'd be giving him rewards for his failure.]
Hello?
[The place seems quiet, empty, eerily still. Maybe the gun should be reassuring, but it isn't.]
II. New Years
[Really, it should probably go without saying that Steve does something dumb once people start pulling knives on other people. He himself just really wants to kiss someone, but it's not enough to completely override the urge to do what's right. So there he is, asthmatic with a tiny frame, pushing someone out of the way as someone else goes to stab them, his small hands balled into fists he holds in front of him. Helmut had taught him to fight, or at least tried and Steve doesn't know how to keep his head down.]
Get out of here!
[Words yelled at whomever he'd just pushed out of the way, staring up at their assailant, head held high. Maybe you want to give this guy a hand before he gets himself killed, maybe he just saved you, or you've got a knife and an urge to hurt someone. Either way, Steve is all burning eyes, ninety eight pounds of willingness to throw himself into situations where he doesn't belong for the benefit or someone else.]
III. Wildcard
[Feel free to find Steve anywhere else! Down for kissing stuff if that's your jam, Steve will be very surprised. He'll definitely go exploring the businesses around town, and I'm down to write prompts if needed. He's from the 1940s era of the Secret Empire alt-universe, after realizing he can't kill Erksine.
Now, let's talk about the Hydra thing. Steve is pro-Hydra for anyone that might be uncomfortable for, but it is worth mentioning that Hydra in this universe is a sort of ancient cult. His mentor Eliza is openly against throwing in with Hitler and Steve himself later talks about it having been to the detriment of Hydra.
He does get very authoritarian and persecutes minorities (namely Inhumans) when he goes all Supreme Leader of Hydra but I have no intention of playing him from that point. My big interest here is seeing how CR could affect that trajectory.
natalia_vdova#0150 @ Discord /
arrival
[ Bucky would know his best friend anywhere in any form or size, because he's Steve Rogers and he's been a sort of anchor for Bucky for a long, long time. Even before the war and everything that changed them, he'd been a welcome constant in Bucky's life.
His long hair is tied back and his metal arm is mostly exposed as he walks up to the porch. Maybe it's more like jogging because he's more than a little excited to see him. ]
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So he waves; cordial, if not particularly familiar. His head is still throbbing a little, and Steve's still trying to process everything. He doesn't know who the man could be. Not one of the instructors, maybe a classmate gone on to be a Hydra Agent? -He's taller and broader in all the ways the other boys always were. But he'd never really been friendly with them. A regular from the diner in Brooklyn, maybe? None of it sparks any memory, leaving Steve a little bit at a loss.]
Hi. I was starting to think I was alone out here.
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You're not. Notice anything different?
[ It's a harmless question, but the answer should tell him a lot. This isn't his first rodeo and he's willing to softball in his questions to get easier answers. ]
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[Steve trails off, his voice soft, and when he meets Bucky's eyes it's with a gentle sort of apology inthose blues. He can pick up on the sense that he should know who he is, that this man clearly thinks that Steve should know him. But he doesn't. Can't even put a name to his face, let alone pick up on what about him has changed--
Is it the arm? If he had to guess, that's what he'd gamble on, but he doesn't see a reason to. This isn't something he'd be able to keep up, so he just shakes his head slowly.]
I'm sorry. What's your name?
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[ There's something tight in his voice, but he fights to keep it even. It's almost soft, like he's dealing with a wounded animal, but he moves closer, anyway. Christ, now he's really got to get to the bottom of this. ]
Who are you?
[ It's a gentle question, not accusing, even though he kind of wants it to be, because there are a few options and he hates them all: either Steve was made to forget him, this is another Steve from another world or it's no Steve at all. There's nothing else that can explain this. He knows there are other Bucky's out there. He's met a Tony Stark who isn't the one from his own world, but another Steve seems like too much. What the hell does he do with this? ]
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Steve Rogers.
[He holds a small hand out in greeting, offering a handshake. Because Bucky had been right when he'd called his name, so he tries to at least offer him this. A fresh start, a place to begin. With how everything is strange, he almost isn't sure he wants to ask the question, but Steve's never really been one for backing down.]
..You know me, don't you?
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I know a Steve Rogers. He looked an awful lot like you at one point, but this place does some weird things to all of us.
[ He wants to find out what Steve knows before he gives much away himself. It's not really in his nature to keep much from Steve, but right now he's not even sure that this is Steve. ]
Where are you from? And what year?
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--Then something clicks. The serum? He doesn't know what that would mean. Had Erksine lived? Had Hydra found some way to take over the experiment? Although he couldn't imagine how since the doctor had kept it all in his head. There's a flicker of a frown for a moment.]
1940. Brooklyn. [Which is a truth, even if it sometimes didn't feel like it. Even the instructors had called it going back home, but he'd lived so much of his life at the school.] I signed up with the military because of the war, so I was in Jersey before I came here.
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He swallows it all down with a short nod. ]
How'd you pass the physical with your health?
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ii
But that voice is unmistakeable even if it seems to be come from someone far scrawnier than he's used to.]
Steve?
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[He responds to the call of his name, because it's his, even if he doesn't recognize the blind man with the red hair. He was also just as unaware that the man hadn't actually been in need of saving, but he wasn't about to let the guy get stabbed when about half the party suddenly seemed really interested in stabbing people.]
I'm thinking- maybe it's time we left the party.
[Not that he was one to run from a fight, but his primary concern here was making sure that the man made it out alright. He'd dropped his cane, which meant he might need some help making it home, too. He wasn't about to leave him on his own.]
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There's a cry as some of the other party goers start attacking each other.
New plan: stop everyone from killing each other and make sure Steve doesn't act like he still has his super soldier serum.]
Is there a fight?
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Certainly wasn't anything he'd been prepared for before coming here. Brooklyn could be rough, but-- At the question he doesn't nod, knowing that the blind man caught up in all of this wont be able to see it, but instead puts it into words.]
Yeah. Some people have knives and are trying to use them.
[Matt might have a bit of trouble with trying to keep Steve out of it, as he certainly seems to hold himself as if he can protect Matt from this madness, all ninety-eight pounds of stubborn determination.]
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Sorry. Hey, if you can get my cane, you can whack anyone that tries something.
[It seems like the safer thing to do. You don't stop Steve Rogers from getting involved, but you could direct him to safer venues.]
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And you'll probably need it later. Okay. Don't move, I'll be right back.
[He takes a moment, makes sure that Matt is in as unobtrusive position as possible before he heads back for the man's cane. He's not trying to pick fights, at least.]
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[Matt ducks down until Steve turns away before grabbing a glass from the nearest table and lobs it at someone on the other side of the room that had been about to stab someone. The resulting crash is loud, but it's not obvious where it's from and there's enough ruckus that Matt feels that he can get away with interfering and avoid drawing attention to himself.
He picks up an ashtray next as he follows Steve's progress.]
Wildcard
So far, nothing out of the ordinary has jumped out at her, but that's before her gaze lands on Steve. It's a Steve who looks a bit different from how she remembers him, but there are some things that are just unmistakable. ]
Well, hello, Steve.
[ She crosses over, bridging the distance gap between them, and offers a greeting. She intends to work out how they're both here at some point, but for now, "hello" is sufficient. ]
this is gonna be great <3
She's lovely, and Steve feels self-conscious, swallowing roughly as she approaches him, though he can't help that almost-giddy smile. Blame it on the champagne.]
Ah- Hello. Ma'am.
[He's flustered, can't help himself because there is a gorgeous woman, and she knows who he is, and is interested in talking to him. Someone send help before he sticks his foot in his mouth out of sheer desperation.]
it is!!!
She still smiles fondly when she thinks of the car ride they shared before he received the serum. ]
Just Peggy is fine, please.
[ She can't keep from smiling at him, hoping to put him at least a little bit at ease. ]
I take it you don't recognize me.
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[At the question he shakes his head, a little self-conscious as he rakes a hand through his blonde hair as he looks over at her. The question isn't quite so strange the second time around, although part of him wonders about this other life he was supposed to have.]
No, sorry. I'm uh, pretty sure I wouldn't have forgotten.
[He looks apologetic, and he really is. He wished he remembered her, knew what he was supposed to. But he doesn't, and so there's something just a little bit helpless. But at least he's managed not to teleport his foot into his mouth just yet. He thinks.]
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[ He seems more or less the same, even if he doesn't know her. He's still charming, and a little bit awkward, but those are some of the things that she appreciates most about the Steve she knows. ]
Well, at the risk of sounding brazen, I do like to think I'm not so easily forgotten.
But then, I do have a question, because you look very much like the Steve I know, and yet clearly you have different experiences under your belt.
[ She looks around the room once before glancing back at him. ]
Do you have time for a bit of a chat?
ii
Reaper hated sentimental thoughts and notions almost as much has he had grown to hate the pomp and fluff of high-to-do parties. He wasn't even supposed to be here, even if he knew something would happen when the counter went off. This place was too predictable and it seemed logical to watch the party with the most people to see just what Deerington had it store for the poor citizen. Affection and murder apparently. So predictable.
And a skinny kid sticking fists up like he had any chance of winning took him right back to that day in the playground where they had been so thoroughly trounced. Times changed. So had he.
Chivalry was dead. So was he, technically.
Maybe that was why he stood from the grounds, gathered himself and Shadow Stepped right into the middle of the party. A Death Blossom would have been so satisfying, but he wasn't about to gather himself quite that much for something so silly as brawling with knives. Instead, he raised his arm so the knife blade rattled off of his bladed gauntlet and then punched the current knife-wielding assailant away, likely damaging them with his super-soldier strength.
Slowly he turned to regard the small blond looking ready to jump into any fight necessary. What a waste.]
If you die, you're no good to anyone. If you're going to fight here, get a knife and put it to good use.
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Sure, the guy looks scary, but Steve thinks that he's on the good side, here, so he's not about to question his motives. Especially not when he can do things like that. Of course Steve's still on edge, about ready to jump into another fight if he sees someone in trouble, when the man addresses him. It makes him feel a little embarrassed, a little bit out of his element. But rather than admit that he doesn't really know how to fight with a knife other than the basics- he knows which end goes away from himself- he squares his shoulders and tries to suck it up.
He grabs a knife off the table, hoping that maybe he can at least use it to deflect a blade. This is a bit more than he's really comfortable with, but he tries to focus more on the people in trouble rather than his own discomfort. The fact that the knife feels strange in his hand is something he tries to put to the side, the fact that his grip on it is clearly more defensive than offensive. Sure, Brooklyn could be rough, but Steve's familiarity with it was more fight fights rather than... whatever this was.]
We need to get these people out of here before this turns into a bloodbath.
[Steve looks up at Reaper, seeming to have judged that he's someone that can be relied on, though that stubborn streak is still something he wears on his sleeve.]
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Forget it. This is going to turn into a bloodbath no matter what you do. People in this state won't listen to you anyway.
[Either enraged or enamored with one another as it went. He wasn't not about to stick his neck out for a knife fight, though it would be an excellent way to blow off steam. The hard part was that he couldn't allow himself to fall into the same press of emotion that they were part of as he was far more dangerous than most when it came to close quarter fighting.
After all, his keen eye was already drinking in the scene, the numerous fights breaking out, the chaos, the screaming, the yelling, the kissing and the stabbing. He slowly turned his head to regard the small blond whom he had protected and gestured with his chin towards the exit.]
Go. There's nothing to be done about this. This place addles the brain, and there's no saving people with little self preservation skills.