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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.

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new year - cw possible violence (a) or risque content (b)

(a)

[ Kara knows fear, its chilling grip and phantom closeness. Its breath against her synthetic skin, the tight hold of machines meant to take away her consciousness, the nervous energy that always, always as her considering violence as an option.

There's a knife in someone's belt. The countdown keeps going, and her fear turns to resolute anger against everyone who ever tried to hurt her, Alice, or Luther.

Two! One!

She steals the knife and swings it at you. ]

(b)

[ It's affection she feels, warm and uplifting, sunlight on her skin, wind in her hair. Kara is free, the cold air of Canada like a soft embrace, like Luther and Alice in her arms on the other side of the border. They're free, and she'll get back home eventually.

The countdown ends, and a tiny blond very human-looking android cups your face and kisses you, smiling, like she can share the joy she feels just through that. If you're an android, she'll even interface for just a second, a rush of warm golds and yellows, sunshine and butterflies, laughter and spring. ]

wildcard

[ come at me ]

[ Steve can't fight. She swings and the knife cuts. He dies immediately. ]

[ Kara, an android, texts "f" to the network to pay respects. ]

[ Steve, from the afterlife, watches all the fs roll in. ]

[ Steve isn't prepared for the attack.

He has no training or abilities. He leaps backward and stumbles over his feet, hitting the ground and landing on his elbows hard. The wind is knocked out of him but it inspires two things. A bout of rational thought and the will to put space between them. He didn't want to die. ]

Please, ma'am.

[ Steve's arms come up to shield his face as he kicks his legs back. ]

[ She misses, the knife cutting through the air in a wide arc. Her balance is perfect - calibrated so she can be the perfect maid, the perfect nanny - and so she's upright and steady as Steve hits the ground hard enough for her sensors to pick up over the noise of the party. People screaming, people laughinf, people getting a little too intimate for a crowded space like this.

The owner of the knife shoves Kara from behind, tipping her off balance long enough that they take back the knife, and with it, the rage boiling in her blue blood.

Not theirs, though. They make to swing at Kara. She moves out of the way, exposinf Steve - who becomes their new target.

Kara is small and fast, so she ducks and grabs Steve's wrist. ]

Come on - get up, run!

[ Steve's already moving. He might not be strong or fast but he won't give up and allow himself to die this way. There's a lot going on all at once.

The people fighting each other out of the blue. Those that are romantically entangled out in the open without a care as to who sees them. It's a myriad and confusing mix of situations but Steve focuses on the matter at hand.

The knife still aimed at him only the carrier has switched. He gets up to run, pushing the woman in front of him. ]

Go! We can't stay here.

[ He's running and already out of breath. ]

[ Thank goodness for the care and attention put into manufacturing and programming androids, or else she might've tripped and fallen and tripped Steve, making them easy targets for the angry crowd. As it is, she's fleeing, checking behind her to make sure her new human ally is okay.

Ah, he's... not in great shape, is he? She can probably carry him piggyback without much strain on her joints. An hour or two of self-repair would take care of that level of minor but widespread damage. The trouble is, will he do it? Do they have time to argue it?

No, more than likely, so Kara does the next thing she can think of, pivoting on one foot and using the momentum to swing her fist and get their assailant square in the shoulder. If nothing else, it'll shock them, giving her and Steve more time to get out without letting exhaustion overtake Steve. ]

[ Steve might not have much to offer in the way of bodily protection but he'd die trying if it came to that. He blocks her as they run, arms up and out to create more of a shield. She swings her arm and he ducks, dodging her fist. It hits their assailant hard. He can hear the impact.

He has no right to be proud of a complete stranger but there it is.

They get to the doors and he pushes them open, holding it there and slamming his body back against it when they're both out. The lock snaps into place, giving the chance to put more space between themselves and the person following them. ]

What was that?

( hiii would u like to do an arrival type thing w/ connor? c: )

[ Sure! Lemme finagle a thing here. ]

[ Her sensors tell her it's freezing cold, and Kara remembers the terrible ordeal that had been searching for safe places to hide a human child. Relief fills the space where thatnfear had been, a rush of low warmth that makes her shiver as she hugs the girl she's come to see as her daughter, and as Luther hugs them both. Safety is warm and pleasant, soft like fur on the family dog or an cuddly cat. Kara shuts her ice and slows her processes long enough to let herself enjoy something for the first time since deviating just about a week ago.

Then she has a dream, a nightmare, terrible and muddy. She fights it with all her will, all her might.

And she wakes somewhere that isn't the border at all. Her first thought, the logical thought, is that she went into low power mode to do self-repairs she hadn'r been aware she needed, and that Luther took her and Alice to where Rose wanted them to stay for a while.

That's what she goes with as she gets out of bed, audio processing units at their most sensitive, listening for footsteps or familiar voices as she walks to the door. ]

Alice?

[ We're going to say the fact that North is even present here has something to do with Markus, because .....look, we want to do this prompt and otherwise attending a New Year's party surrounded by a bunch of sweaty humans is not near the top of North's list. It's probably right below a root canal she will never actually need.

S...o, lady androids always considering violence, party of two?

She flings up an arm with all the ease of another person breathing, knife taking a chunk out of her sleeve but not quite making it down to skin. Honestly, this atmosphere probably makes a lot more sense to her than the previous celebrations, chaos a comfortable rhythm dependable as the tide. The hand not shielding her face and neck arcs out, aiming for maybe the eyes, maybe the nose; it will forever remain a mystery inasmuch as between those two motions she catches sight of the face she's about to dismantle.

..... ]

Kara?

[ Who we're going to pretend encountered North for at least like, twenty seconds on Jericho; it seems fairly unlikely she wouldn't have?? Unless she didn't, in which case at least there's the LED to give the other woman away? Good times! ]

Edited 2019-01-01 02:11 (UTC)

[ The best of times.

Kara's reflexes are good enough that she would've avoided a direct swing at her face. That, plus North recognizing her, snap Kara out of the trance the stroke of midnight pulled her into, giving her all the time she needs to match a face to a place to a name. ]

North?

[ And giving an angry human the time to punch her square in the back.

Kara lurches forward, more into North's space, a lot less ready to fight now that she knows who this is and that, well, they may be the only two androids in a sea of humans. ]

What kind of party is this?

[ This is so not kid friendly. ]

_{[10K doesn't even know why he's here. He's not one for parties--not a lot of opportunities to attend living in the middle of nowhere, and after that, in the insane state the world was left in after it went belly-up--and this is a party. Each way he turns dancers laugh and spin, uproarious cheering by enthusiastic beer pong players almost threaten to drown out the music in their side of the room, and every ten minutes or so a server tries to push a glass of champagne at him.

Seeing how some of the guests are acting? He'll pass on the refreshments for now; he compromises with a hat, one shoved unceremoniously on his head by a pair of hands quickly lost to the crowd before he can see who did it.

Strangest of all might be the reason for all this. Keeping track of time to mark a new year? There hasn't been a point to that in a long while... unless the point is to remind yourself how long you've been struggling to stay alive. And such a thing isn't really worth celebrating with music and dancing.

Regardless, he's here, half-wondering if this is going to turn into another Stacy's thing with that rack of weapons by the wall... He's certainly not expecting someone to take his face between her hands and go the full mile with him. He blinks, surprised, but doesn't resist the gentle direction--or the gentle gesture that follows.]}

Oh... um.

_{[What's the appropriate response when a woman (though "woman" becomes slightly more circumspect with a closer view of her LED) surprise kisses you? "Thank you"? You'd think he'd have some experience, after Red and Sarge.

What comes out instead is:]}

Watch it!

_{[And a hand on Kara's waist to steer her out of the path of a party guest charging toward that weapon rack, where people are already beginning to fight. Called it.]}

Edited (maybe one day i'll stop editing, but not this day) 2019-01-06 06:47 (UTC)

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