Entry tags:

tdms

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!

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

_{[Thale, for his part in this insanity, is still trying to figure out the five ws--the first being what, as in what the fuck--and for a large portion of the event, he's been a brooding presence on the fringes, hunching into his sweater almost like he's cold amidst all the close quarters body heat. There are so many people here. So many minds. It's hard to filter all their thoughts out, let alone begin to untangle his.

How he comes to divorce himself from his wall flower position is a matter of curiosity and poor judgement. That damn champagne--he shouldn't have tried it, because letting the bubbles pop on his tongue and the stiff line of his shoulders relax leads him to getting swept up into the crowd in time for the countdown.

Unfortunately for Reggie, someone like Thale wears a good mood differently than most others. He just so happens to be in the right place at the right time to catch Reggie's gaze--a feat, as he has to look up a solid five inches to manage it, get a load of this skyscraper--and returns fire with a playful lift of his own eyebrows.

That said, before Reggie can unknowingly steal the first kiss he's ever had in his entire life, the other boy will be struck with the sudden, visceral vision he's putting the moves on someone he finds deeply, deeply unattractive. It could be a specific person, it could be a pile of slime with teeth--whatever it is, it comes from the depths of Reggie's imagination and it quickly takes Thale's place, feeling completely real as if it were really happening. Pucker up, mate.

What? If you can't abuse psychic abilities for this, when can you?

Thale finds it funny, anyway, and proceeds to laugh.]}

[ It's strange, because even just a second ago Reggie could have sworn he was looking at a normal (if maybe a little bit short) guy, but now suddenly he's standing next to the ugliest person he's ever seen-- someone scrawny, and greasy, and likely cross-eyed with a busted-ass looking face, too. It wouldn't occur to him to imagine anything but a human, but the one he is imagining is pretty hard to look at.

So why does he still feel compelled to kiss him? What is happening right now? Reggie would question for a moment if his champagne was spiked, but he doesn't feel horny or sleepy... just like kissing. (Which maybe isn't a mood of its own, but it might as well be.) Reggie bites the corner of his lip uneasily, but then closes his eyes in order to proceed. It's New Year's, right? Ya gotta? It sure feels like this is supposed to happen, so... ]

Ugh-- um... happy New Year?

_{[What the fuck (x2), this isn't going to plan.

Psychic invasions tend to garner a limited range of reactions: sweating profusely in terror, screaming in terror, running away in terror. There's a pervasive theme to the whole affair--that being terror, usually to Thale's mean-spirited amusement. Once is normally enough to ensure that person gives him a wide berth from then on. Never has he had someone keep going after.

It's a shock, to say the least.

Slow to realize his trick didn't take, Thale (who'd argue he is not normal and above the average height in the UK, thank you very much) is even more caught off guard when it becomes apparent this giant of an American is still coming at him like a battering ram. Lips first. Maybe he underestimated how strong ]}

Jesus--

_{[That was his one defense Reggie just shrugged off. Oh, how the tables turn. The illusion falls apart in his surprise, returning things to their truthful appearance, while his hands instinctively reach for Reggie's shoulders.]}

Whoa, whoa, whoa, big boy, whoa--

_{[Nobody casually gets this close to an L-1. Someone help him, he was never taught how to deal with... people.]}

[ It's not that the psychic invasion doesn't work, but when kissing magic is suddenly thick in the air, you... adapt. Thale may appear completely repulsive to Reggie at the moment, but his mind keeps circling back to the urge -- the compulsion? -- to kiss someone, and Thale is the closest person to him at the moment.

But then, as he gets closer, Thale changes back; Reggie is in turn caught off-guard. Even if this is a significantly better outcome than it would have been a second ago, how the hell-- he stops when Thale pushes back on his shoulders, eyebrows quirked in confusion and curiosity. ]

What's-- [ Wrong? The matter? They're strangers, for one thing, but Reggie's still barely questioning the mysterious influence to make-out yet. ] How did you do that?

_{[Well, that determination is flattering for any off-putting nightmares out there looking for some TLC, but--is it not obvious he's a telepath, notoriously unlocked and mistrusted as they are? It's baffling being in a room where people have to ask.

And as a telepath, he hasn't had to do any physical manhandling in a while. He holds his hands there a half beat longer, making sure Mr. Congeniality has actually come to a halt.]}

I can do worse than that, too. _{[Seriously--telepath. Hello? Where's your fight or flight instinct?]} I can--

_{[--Feel the rest of the room, on that note, and the swell of impulses overtaking good sense. If he took a couple of steps backward, he'd be back-to-back with a couple that hadn't had Thale to interrupt the urge to embrace one another, if the wet mouth sounds are any indication. And as for the rest...

Distracted, he looks first one way, then the other, cocking his head as if listening, before the answer comes to him. There's a limit to this. He can feel it like he feels the rest.]}

You need to go outside. _{[He speaks up with no warning or explanation, this time taking Reggie's arm to turn him around to face the nearest exit.]} Now. Go.

_{[Thank him later, when you've stopped wanting to cuddle up to him.]}

[ Telepaths don't exist where Reggie's from except in movies and comic books, and Reggie would proudly argue against reading comic books anyway-- telepathy doesn't even cross his mind, mostly because he's too caught between the compulsion to kiss someone and the understanding (confused though it still is, but it's a hard thing to question) that this is all a dream anyway, and logic doesn't have to fit into dreams.

Even if all this does feel a bit too uncannily real so far. It's a lot to take in, and Reggie doesn't really know what to think, but how could it not be a dream? ]

Wait-- [ Thale grabs Reggie's arm to turn him around, but Reggie just feels more confused than ever. He wrenches his arm away. ] Wait, why? It's barely even midnight, dude. The party's just getting started.

_{[The fortune cookies are right--no good deed goes unpunished. If he rolled his eyes any harder, they'd be doing loop de loops in his skull. Jesus Christ.]}

What, this party?

_{[He doesn't prolong the contact, instead sweeping his own arm up and out to encompass the growing frenzy of horny, homicidal lunatics. Oh, yeah, super fun.

Maybe with more effort and precision he could jostle Bambi Eyes over here out of his delusion, but Reggie's already brushed him off once, and he's not interested in turning this into a physical altercation--or a psychic one, at that.]}

Suit yourself. Don't say I didn't try, mate.

Well...

[ Reggie glances around, a little more cognizant of how hectic the party really is when he looks at it like this, instead of just at the nearest person within kissing distance. His brows crinkle a little uneasily. ]

My friends are still in here somewhere too. [ Not that Jughead's really his "friend," but. ] If you think it's that dangerous then I at least gotta try to find them first.

_{[Wow, so someone's not totally moony on hormones. Thale snaps his fingers in front of Reggie's face encouragingly, as if coaxing someone out of deep hypnosis. That's it. Wakey, wakey. Back to the land of rational thought--

--though considering what's gleaned about Reggie's libido, that might be a tall order.]}

It is that dangerous and that's fucking adorable of you. Really, it is. _{[Heroics. Cute.]} I'd be quick about it, if you don't want to see them with knife in their neck. You're not the only one who's gone a bit batty.

_{[Please note all of his zero attempts to volunteer his services.]}

[ Reggie wrinkles his nose, lifting a hand to swat Thale's snapping fingers away from his face, but in an annoying way it does help him stay a little more focused. He's not out of the woods yet, or rather, out of the radius for this kissing curse (not that he knows that's even a thing yet), so the urge doesn't so much pass as it does...

Well, he's making a bit more of an effort not to act on it, anyway. Not that it's easy, but when have things ever been easy lately? ]

Shut up. [ Don't call him adorable, asshole. ] What do you mean? Like was the champagne spiked or something?

[ He smells his glass and takes another experimental sip, although it tastes... fine. But then, maybe it's supposed to?? ]

_{[He snatches his hand out of the air before Reggie can make contact with him again. This is already more contact than he's had in a while. Not since Agatha...

Better not to go there. Not now, maybe not ever.]}

Don't even think about it. You're not my type.

_{[Why yes, that is him still reading your mind and snottily dismissing your urge to suck face with the closest warm body.

But he will say one thing, it must take talent to be this outrageously clueless. He closes his eyes in a moment of exasperation when the boy mulls over the dangers of the champagne and drinks more of it in the same breath.]}

Yes. It's poisoned. Congratulations. Now if you don't mind--

_{[He'd like to get out of here before he gets stabbed--or worse, loses control of himself with all of these people around him.]}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only