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

[ It's an accidental text. He gets the idea of the device but it's using it that comes with a few minor hiccups. ]

Where do I find a grocer?

[ Jyushimatsu is quite an inept with technology, having never owned a phone back home, but he finds it amusing that the first message he gets is that of some rando asking him such a mundane question. He'll laugh for a solid minute before typing up his reply haphazardly. ]

i dunno man! im a newbie around here! got here literally a few hours ago!

whatsup???

So did I.
I was going to use my Deerington License to stock up on the essentials.
Meat, bread, milk, and eggs.
There's a map in the basket I was given.

Would the grocer be Hart Mart?

yep i checked my basket too and found the map but didnt understand anything about it and gave up

if the names got MART in it im preeeeeetty sure it sells grocery stuff!

Are you free to make the trip?
I want to get to know the town.

oh! you wanna hang out with me?

yea sure why not! im all for exploring this hole right now!

Yeah, why wouldn't I?
Meet me in front of the Mart in twenty minutes.
I'm Steve Rogers.

im jyushimatsu! hi steve!! i will be there right on time!

[ Except the twenty minutes almost become fourty because the idiot didn't have an easy time navigating himself through the town and ended up heading straight to the wrong directions without thinking.

Fortunately he encountered no monsters in his path and he appears at the Mart with no sweat or fatigue traced on his face. What's a mere jog around town when he could walk the entire Earth with all that energy stored in his body?

He spots a man standing at the front of the Mart, but he's not sure he's the guy he's looking for. So he just steps into the stranger's space and waves a long sleeve in front of his face. ]

Steve? This is Steve, right? Are you Steve?

[ Steve gets antsy around the thirty-five-minute mark. Thirty was a little late. Thirty-five meant something might be wrong. Forty meant something was wrong. His arms are wrapped tightly around his middle to fight off the chilly breeze, nose and ears flushed bright pink when Jyushimatsu arrives.

His sigh of relief is punctuated by a puff of white. ]

I'm Steve.

[ If he had to guess, they're about the same height and weight, so Steve might be able to protect himself if Jyushimatsu was up to no good. ]

Ready to go in?

[ With his five feet and five inches height, Jyushimatsu doesn't look much like a threat except for that large mouth of his that looks unnatural on a human being. But he's smiling friendly at the man, with genuinely zero intentions to cause harm. He has no exact reason to do anything of the sort, well, unless the weather gets any colder, but he's wrapped up in a warm enough coat to let his good mood survive the winter so far. ]

Sure! Let's get in! Hope it's warm in here!

[ He'll dart inside the mart without waiting for Steve, but he's next seen standing around and looking at the items on sale like he's in a daze. ]

[ Steve's impressed with his new companion's level of enthusiasm and energy. Oh, to be young and carefree. ]

Wait up.

[ Inside the mart he follows Jyushimatsu for about two feet before stopping to grab a shopping cart. Steve has a list of essentials he wants to get. Then he'll push it along looking for the other man. ]

You can put your stuff in mine.

[ He turns around, thankfully aware that he just met a guy and they're supposed to explore the place together. ]

Oh? I can buy stuff too?

[ Well, it's not like anybody told him he can't. Actually, the thought of doing shopping inside the mart never crossed his mind, ready as he is to explore every nook and cranny of this town. He corrects himself, laughing. ]

Yeah, sure! If I find something nice I'll shove it in!

[ Wow, they might as well be friends already at this point. ]

[ Steve digs in his pocket for his wallet, handing over the card inside so Jyushimatsu can look at it. ]

They gave me this when I arrived.

[ It's a standard license. His name, age, DOB, the works. ]

We can buy food with it but that's it. I don't have any money yet but if you're hungry or might be, we can get the staples we need here.

[ And Steve planned on stocking up. He knew what it was like to go without. ]

[ Jyushimatsu gives the card a blank stare, before his sleeve automatically shoves into the pocket of his hoodie and fishes out a similar wallet. He goes "ooooh!" after he rummages inside and finds the same card Steve owns. ]

Wow, hard same! I didn't notice at all!

[ He's got a one track mind sometimes... but either way he grins wide, vibrantly, at the thought of getting food through digitalized bucks he didn't even earn through jobs. Perfect for a NEET like him. ]

Welp, now that you mention it I am getting quite hungry! I'll grab the food as we go!