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countryclub2021-11-19 02:06 am
reddosmod) wrote in countryclub2021-11-19 02:06 am
Entry tags:
November 2021 Test Drive Meme
NOVEMBER 2021 TDM
NOT SO STANDARD ARRIVAL
FROZEN RELICS
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
CODING
Another month, another test drive meme! Our test drive memes are open to anyone interested - regardless of whether or not you join our game!
All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.
Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.
Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.
If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!
IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Perfect dog curled up in falling snow, tilting head to side.]
[Image Two: Dead man floating in water with signs of hypothermia.]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Frozen ship wreck.]
[Image Two: Frozen staircase.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Bloody tentacles attacking soldiers.]
[Image Two: Tentacles coming out of astronaut suit.]
All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.
Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.
Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.
If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!
Prompt One
[Image One: Perfect dog curled up in falling snow, tilting head to side.]
[Image Two: Dead man floating in water with signs of hypothermia.]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Frozen ship wreck.]
[Image Two: Frozen staircase.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Bloody tentacles attacking soldiers.]
[Image Two: Tentacles coming out of astronaut suit.]
WHEN: November - December
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: Drowning, freezing to death, trapped under ice, hypothermia, frost bite.
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: Drowning, freezing to death, trapped under ice, hypothermia, frost bite.
Washing up on the Farther Shores towards the end of November and the beginning of December isn't the best experience. Normally there are some Sleepers who can show up without a hitch, but as winter nears, the waters begin to freeze and it gets increasingly dangerous to arrive on the Farther Shores. Many Sleepers wind up trapped under ice. Wakers must especially be diligent this month to make sure they don't lose valuable Sleepers. Drowning and freezing to death is extremely probable. If you're lucky, you might be able to break through the ice to shriek for help. Let's just hope someone's around to hear you!
Most of the Boardwalk has been converted to save the Sleepers that do make it. Tents have been put up and inside are mattresses stuffed with hay and blankets made from wool and furs. Contained coal and wood fires keep the tents cozy, but it might take a while before you get feeling back into your toes. If you have warmblood or coldblood you will not have nearly as bad of a time with all of this. Some coldblood Sleepers might not even notice the cold! Might be good to put them on the frontlines for helping people out.
Another oddity this month is that most Sleepers seem to arrive at night rather than the typical daytime arrivals. Maybe it's because daytime hours are much shorter in December...But maybe it's something else too. This has led to Wakers making search parties to try and find Sleepers in the pitch-black night. It's a precarious situation and all hands on deck are strongly encouraged.
The Dog Keeper has come out to help the efforts. His dogs can be seen running frantically around the beach to help find people buried under ice and to help break through the ice to get them to safety. Dogs are available to help Sleepers swim to the Farther Shores, and they are also available to help Sleepers warm up by cuddling up afterward. There isn't much food to offer at this time, but you can still expect to be greeted with some hot soup. It might leave you hungry, but it definitely seems to help warm you up!
Most of the Boardwalk has been converted to save the Sleepers that do make it. Tents have been put up and inside are mattresses stuffed with hay and blankets made from wool and furs. Contained coal and wood fires keep the tents cozy, but it might take a while before you get feeling back into your toes. If you have warmblood or coldblood you will not have nearly as bad of a time with all of this. Some coldblood Sleepers might not even notice the cold! Might be good to put them on the frontlines for helping people out.
Another oddity this month is that most Sleepers seem to arrive at night rather than the typical daytime arrivals. Maybe it's because daytime hours are much shorter in December...But maybe it's something else too. This has led to Wakers making search parties to try and find Sleepers in the pitch-black night. It's a precarious situation and all hands on deck are strongly encouraged.
The Dog Keeper has come out to help the efforts. His dogs can be seen running frantically around the beach to help find people buried under ice and to help break through the ice to get them to safety. Dogs are available to help Sleepers swim to the Farther Shores, and they are also available to help Sleepers warm up by cuddling up afterward. There isn't much food to offer at this time, but you can still expect to be greeted with some hot soup. It might leave you hungry, but it definitely seems to help warm you up!
WHEN: End of November, early December
WHERE: Farther Shores/Pthumerian Ocean
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mutilated corpses, frozen bodies, possible frost bite/hypothermia, disaster-centric setting.
WHERE: Farther Shores/Pthumerian Ocean
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mutilated corpses, frozen bodies, possible frost bite/hypothermia, disaster-centric setting.
Sleepers aren't the only thing struggling in the Pthumerian Ocean this time of year. Boats come crushing in through the ice, frozen over completely by blistering winds. The ocean seems to be spitting up boats from times long past, leaving their skeletons strewn along the Farther Shores. Some are small boats, barely worth a second glance, but others are massive vessels, cutting intimidating shapes against the dark sky beyond.
Some Sleepers may even wake up in the water-submerged bowels of these boats, having to navigate a metallic graveyard. Other Sleepers might just have the sense to go and scavenge the boats for useful supplies and parts. Valuable metals can be extracted from the boats as well as other mechanical pieces - but not just that. Sleepers who explore thoroughly will discover small non-magical items from their home might be on the boats, floating in the water, or in random debris. Some boats are trader boats, having entire crates of sealed food goods like rare chocolates, fruits, and other food that is difficult to find this time of year.
You will want to thoroughly bundle up for this trip because it's much colder inside of the boats than it is outside. It's as if they have been transformed into giant freezers. Coldbloods may be able to provide their companions with steady warmth, even if their abilities are typically more ice-centric. It seems like coldbloods can manipulate the cold in these boats to be less intense. Some of the boats may have more grim discoveries: dead bodies, some skeletal, others still with the flesh intact and frozen over. It's never easy to discover the corpses of those who have tried to brave the ocean and failed.
It's easy to believe that what killed these people was the ocean or the cold...But the more bodies you discover, the more thoroughly you explore these shipwrecks, you begin to have a creeping feeling that these aren't ordinary crashes. These weren't natural causes. Some of the bodies look as if the chests had been ripped open while others, the faces have been completely distorted beyond recognition. There is an undeniable presence of something on these ships and you have a feeling whatever killed these people has now been brought to Trench...Great!
Some Sleepers may even wake up in the water-submerged bowels of these boats, having to navigate a metallic graveyard. Other Sleepers might just have the sense to go and scavenge the boats for useful supplies and parts. Valuable metals can be extracted from the boats as well as other mechanical pieces - but not just that. Sleepers who explore thoroughly will discover small non-magical items from their home might be on the boats, floating in the water, or in random debris. Some boats are trader boats, having entire crates of sealed food goods like rare chocolates, fruits, and other food that is difficult to find this time of year.
You will want to thoroughly bundle up for this trip because it's much colder inside of the boats than it is outside. It's as if they have been transformed into giant freezers. Coldbloods may be able to provide their companions with steady warmth, even if their abilities are typically more ice-centric. It seems like coldbloods can manipulate the cold in these boats to be less intense. Some of the boats may have more grim discoveries: dead bodies, some skeletal, others still with the flesh intact and frozen over. It's never easy to discover the corpses of those who have tried to brave the ocean and failed.
It's easy to believe that what killed these people was the ocean or the cold...But the more bodies you discover, the more thoroughly you explore these shipwrecks, you begin to have a creeping feeling that these aren't ordinary crashes. These weren't natural causes. Some of the bodies look as if the chests had been ripped open while others, the faces have been completely distorted beyond recognition. There is an undeniable presence of something on these ships and you have a feeling whatever killed these people has now been brought to Trench...Great!
WHEN: During Bone Season
WHERE: Throughout Trench
CONTENT WARNINGS: Parasitic monsters, tentacle horror, crushing/bursting styles of death, a form of beasthood, mild auto-cannibalism/self-harm.
WHERE: Throughout Trench
CONTENT WARNINGS: Parasitic monsters, tentacle horror, crushing/bursting styles of death, a form of beasthood, mild auto-cannibalism/self-harm.
You notice specks of blood that seem to appear from nowhere among the snowdrifts. When you pay closer attention, you may see more blood dripping...up. It doesn't look like any Sleeper Blood you're familiar with but instead appears to be black-blue colored, reflecting like glass, bubbling up out of the ground. It makes a small, glass-shattering noise when it appears before it bubbles back into the ground. It leaves a rotten odor in its wake.
The moment you get too close to the blood, even a foot away, it will expand rapidly. Bloodied tentacles will grow out of the blood and start violently lashing around at whatever living creatures are nearby. These tentacles are powerful, impervious to any weapons not reinforced with Sleeper Blood. They will grab up people and break their bodies, throwing them through the air or tearing them apart, seeming to nourish from the bloodshed.
However, some people are less lucky than a swift death. Some of these tentacles may snap right into your chest, opening up some blood portal into your soul, where this Thing will consume you. On the outside, this looks like a rush of this black-blue blood rushing into a Sleeper and then nothing. You'll feel disoriented and strange at first but will become increasingly agitated, violent with those around you. You will start to gnaw at your fingers to shed your new temporarily altered blood. Eventually, you will begin to attack other Sleepers, able to summon these bloodied tentacles and destroy anything in your path.
But this is a parasitic monster you carry. It eats away your sanity until nothing is left, and then the tentacles will burst out of you, your body left to ruin. Parasitic monsters can be removed by Blood Ministers or by forcing vileblood into the infected's body. The vileblood seems to purge the parasite without killing the host body...As long as you don't use too much. Once the parasite has consumed the body, there is no saving the Sleeper except through death. These parasites can be tracked back to the boats where people can find streaks of the unusual black-blue blood throughout the boats. This blood can be contained and isolated by darkbloods and/or Architects.
The moment you get too close to the blood, even a foot away, it will expand rapidly. Bloodied tentacles will grow out of the blood and start violently lashing around at whatever living creatures are nearby. These tentacles are powerful, impervious to any weapons not reinforced with Sleeper Blood. They will grab up people and break their bodies, throwing them through the air or tearing them apart, seeming to nourish from the bloodshed.
However, some people are less lucky than a swift death. Some of these tentacles may snap right into your chest, opening up some blood portal into your soul, where this Thing will consume you. On the outside, this looks like a rush of this black-blue blood rushing into a Sleeper and then nothing. You'll feel disoriented and strange at first but will become increasingly agitated, violent with those around you. You will start to gnaw at your fingers to shed your new temporarily altered blood. Eventually, you will begin to attack other Sleepers, able to summon these bloodied tentacles and destroy anything in your path.
But this is a parasitic monster you carry. It eats away your sanity until nothing is left, and then the tentacles will burst out of you, your body left to ruin. Parasitic monsters can be removed by Blood Ministers or by forcing vileblood into the infected's body. The vileblood seems to purge the parasite without killing the host body...As long as you don't use too much. Once the parasite has consumed the body, there is no saving the Sleeper except through death. These parasites can be tracked back to the boats where people can find streaks of the unusual black-blue blood throughout the boats. This blood can be contained and isolated by darkbloods and/or Architects.
Kazuma Asogi | Great Ace Attorney Chronicles | Warmblood
Arrival
I. near-drowning, trapped under ice, near-hypothermia, nudity, etc.
There's a feeling of fog, of not knowing what came before. A haziness that lingers before sensation settles into his very bones.
Cold. Yes, that was what it was.
The biting cold settles into his consciousness first. Then there's the choking, the press of water as it fills his lungs. Then the panic, the scrambling of stiff limbs in freezing water as he tries to break to the surface and meets the resistance of hard ice. He braces his arms against it, eyes stinging in the water as he tries to see an opening, a way out. Fists to ice, hard and heavy hits until it starts to crack. Breaking free is like a rebirth.
I've had one of those before. A rebirth, a remembrance. Revival.
"H-Help!" The sound of his voice is foreign even to his ears, rough and breaking as he tries to seek purchase on the slick ice.
II.
With the boardwalk and the tents set against the cold, there is more welcome scenery after the near-disaster of the sea and the arrival on the beach. Kazuma is now bundled against the cold in one of them, a swath of blankets hoarded in a pile as he huddles on the straw bed.
His head still swims in confusion after the ordeal he faced in first coming to this place, but he is certain of a few things.
His name. Asogi. Kazuma. His age. 23. And what belongings are his: the pack at his side and the sword he had quite a tight hold on. It was enough to at least have a bearing on who he was, if not where or why he was.
Perhaps he should venture out of the tent, get more information. A good idea, or the start of one. Though when he does venture outside it is with every intention of staying close to the area he knows--the boardwalk and little beyond. There is a comfort in being close to the sea, frozen and deadly as it was. He had spent enough time upon it before.
Frozen Relics
I. dead bodies, mentions body horror, possible spoilers
Ships are a familiar and welcome sight normally when they were not moored and covered in ice. When they weren't standing freezers that echoed with something.
When they didn't have bodies that looked as though they had been torn apart littering their halls. Kazuma had come here with the hopes of finding something--answers, supplies, either one would be welcome. Instead, he found himself standing with a corpse at his feet. Whatever fate this person had faced left them with a crater in their chest and viscera sprayed across the walls.
"Good lord..." He brings a hand to his mouth, worry and disgust evident. Was whatever had done this still around? A threat? His other hand is braced on the hilt of the sword at his hip--would it do any good if he were to find the source of this tragedy?
Frozen Relics
The sound of someone else on board immediately raises an alarm in his head, his hand moving to the hilt of the katana as he creeps his way to the door, back against the wall. He peers around the corner and--
"Asogi?!" He steps in, and instead of being relieved to see his friend, he's horrified by the presence of the body, long dead and mutilated. His mind races back to the Sleeper farm as he covers his mouth to keep himself from vomiting. "How..." He starts to speak, but it trails off into nothing because he doesn't even know what to ask.
no subject
"Naruhodo?" That feels almost foreign, falling back on old pretenses of formality with a close friend. The note of horror is hard to miss, and he glances between him and the ruined corpse at their feet.
"Let's...move on from here." He settles his saber's blade back in its scabbard before gently urging Ryunosuke towards the door.
no subject
"What are you doing here?" He asks, still bent in half. "When did you get here? How long have you been here?" He wants to ask a thousand questions. He has to tell himself to stop and allow Kazuma to answer. "Sorry, I just-- why don't we start with when you got here?"
Let's not focus on the dead body just yet. He's more concerned with the fact that he's here in Trench.
no subject
"Slow down. I see some things haven't changed." He sighs, looking past Ryunosuke. Down the hall, or at the past--both are possible with a gaze like Kazuma's. "I haven't been here long. A day or so at most? I broke through the ice and ended up on the beach...Though I should say I can ask you much the same question. Last I saw of you, you were headed for Japan."
no subject
Going on two months, and he's already seen so much of what Trench had to offer. It wasn't long enough to be useful, however. He's starting to learn, about the Dream before this and Trench now but it wasn't enough to truly be of use to Kazuma. He loathes that he doesn't have much useful information.
"I'm sorry that you're here." Not that he isn't grateful to see him - of course, he feels a sort of relief seeing his dear friend, but the fact that he's here and not back in England safe and sound was worrying. "How did you... get through the ice?"
no subject
Well, that was worrying. But then the Trench had not shown itself to be known for being anything within what people would call the ordinary. Perhaps this lapse of time was easily explained away with that in mind.
"And I'm sorry you've been here alone." Kazuma can only hope he had managed to find people he can trust in the time spent here. The Trench was daunting enough, to go through all it offered alone--that was another matter entirely. "I told you, I broke through. Nearly drowned for the trouble."
no subject
Would he have returned just the same? The impermanence of death only had him thinking that he may simply just find himself under the ice once more. The thought of Kazuma drowning, again and again, was unpleasant. He quickly dismisses it as a wildly dark thought and is simply grateful he survived.
"Don't be sorry. I've been able to make some friends." He wasn't so alone anymore. "You must have plenty of questions yourself, however. I'll answer what I can."
no subject
"I know others were not so lucky to make it through...I heard stories amongst those in the tents." A somber reminder that he was particularly lucky to have found a thin spot of ice to free himself from the depths. Death was not an option, even though it served little purpose in this place. If the stories he heard were to be believed at any rate.
The mention of friends brings a touch of a smile. "Ever personable. I'm glad there are people here you feel you can trust." He would likely not have had the same luck from the outstart. But if there are people here Ryunosuke feels he can call friends, perhaps he might manage himself. "...I'm not even sure where to start. All of this--a place such as this shouldn't exist, and yet here we are all the same. The matter of how we came to be is another point. I don't suppose you've found much in the way of answers to that?"
no subject
Others weren't so lucky, and he grimaces at the thought. They'd find a way to live even if they perished under the ice. It was only a matter of time before they were brought back to the shore to try again. He shudders at the idea, wrapping his arms around himself as he does his best to not think about it. Better not think about it.
"Not really, no. Unfortunately, we all arrive the same way about once a month." That much he's been able to gather. "Around the same time each month as well." A pause, before he frowns. "It's strange, isn't it? Arriving the way we do. I've heard our blood changes as well but I'm afraid I'm still learning more about that. Thankfully there are plenty of people who are willing to talk about it."
no subject
And there was still the matter of not knowing what had caused that (man? woman?) person's death.
With such thoughts in mind, Kazuma began walking, leading them both out of the depths of the ship as he continued their conversation. "...So there is a pattern at least. Which means there may yet be a means to solve the puzzle of how people come to be here in the first place." A promising start at the very least, and a clue he didn't have before.
"...Our blood changes? How exactly?" He certainly hadn't noticed anything of concern, let alone different, when it came to his own person at least.
no subject
"I'm certain the mystery will be solved, but as far as I'm aware, no one knows." He finally says as he falls in step. There's another pause as he considers his next question. "I'm not exactly certain." He says slowly. "Manabu's blood causes him to freeze, cooling the air and things around him. He also shocked me once, but I'm not sure how it relates."
He has an idea of what it meant, but he wasn't completely certain and did not want to elaborate on the chance that he was wrong.
"I'm still not sure what my blood type is, though I haven't felt any different since I've arrived. There are people studying the different blood types. The other Sleepers are very informative and kind enough to share that information."
no subject
"Manabu? A friend of yours, I assume." He files the name away, making a note to look into the fellow. Much as he trusted Ryunosuke's judgement, he still wanted to learn about people through his own research. Manabu and his freezing blood would be a good place to start looking for more answers.
"To not know your own type--are there no means to identify these various types yet? Perhaps some of us are relegated to remaining normal..." Whatever that would mean for them here. He's already seen enough of Trench to know that there would be some benefit to changes if they could be managed.
no subject
Manabu was someone he could rely on, someone he felt that he could trust in this strange city. He's been plenty helpful with learning how to utilize the technology here, and he was immensely grateful for his support after he managed to escape from the Sleeper farm. He's honestly not sure where he'd be if he hadn't met Manabu.
"There is if you bleed." He points out. "I've not been injured so I'm not entirely certain my blood type. Others have discovered theirs through other means, but honestly, I don't think you can truly know without bleeding."
Which really does not bode well for either of them.
no subject
"It would be a risk to chance even a minor injury just to satisfy curiosity. Perhaps a simple test...a means to bleed for the sake of science." Kazuma is musing aloud now, hand under his chin as he walked (if his path wasn't so focused on the straightforward way out of these enclosed halls, it could be called pacing). "Of course, the conditions would have to be controlled..."
no subject
Which was something he was still getting used to. The Omni's network was how he's been picking up bits of information here and there, but there was still so much that he didn't know. He blinks as Kazuma continues before he sighs, shaking his head.
"Kazuma, no." He pinches the bridge of his nose, letting slip his name as he looks a little exasperated by the idea. "We don't know the implications of spilling our own blood. Controlled or not, I don't think it's a good idea."
no subject
He hadn't bothered with it if he was at all honest. While technological marvels and advances were well within his interests, there were more pressing matters to attend to with his arrival here. Chiefly his survival and finding whatever means he could to continue living in Trench.
His stirred from such thoughts by Ryunosuke's shutdown of his musings. It's not often they come to such odds, or that Ryunosuke's so quick to show his exasperation at his more liberal approaches. It almost earns a laugh. "You needn't worry. I'm not considering spilling blood needlessly or without purpose. I would want a guarantee it was worth such risks."
no subject
"It's not easy. It took me a while to really get the hang of it. It's like... a telephone for your pocket." Which is extraordinary in its own right. "It allows you to communicate with other Sleepers through a network. I'm still figuring out the ins and outs of it, but I've at least discovered how to use the mail feature. You can send short text messages to people."
It was much faster than a telegram and he was curious to see how far the technology would go. Considering what he's found between the lanterns for travel and the lunar energy lamps it was astonishing to him what could be accomplished with technology. Though in thinking about it, he grimaces, remembering what it can be charged with.
"It needs to charge with the light of the moon." A pause, before he says in a lower voice. "Or with blood."
So much talk of blood between them today! He really wished that they could discuss a different topic but blood was significant in Trench.
no subject
And at least it would provide some manner of communication with others. Invaluable really, in a place like Trench.
Until there was a catch. "Always with the moon and blood with this place. How often does it need to be charged then?"
no subject
Ryunosuke pauses at his next question, before rubbing the back of his head. "A day or so? I think? I can't really recall I don't actually use it that often and I leave it out at night to charge anyway."
Hopefully, he thinks, he's not over charging it. Was that a thing? Could the Omni stop charging? He sure hopes not because he has no idea how he would even fix the thing. He'd have to ask someone about that.
no subject
Though that ponderous question of keeping the thing charged still lingered. If it wasn't in much use and managed to last until the evening moonlight, surely they wouldn't have too much trouble. But the moonlight--"We should see how long it lasts. Moonlight isn't always guaranteed, and if we were to be stuck without it--"
They'd pay the price of having contact with others in blood. Best to know if it might come to that, or at least how long they would have before it did.
no subject
It doesn't really take him long as he points out the different functionalities. The ability to use voice, text, and video (not that he's really used the video or voice features too much). It's not a lengthy demonstration, but it's enough to get Kazuma familiar so he could interact with the network at large.
"I'm still learning how to use it." He admits with a sigh. "It's a complex device and it's far beyond what either of us are used to." He leans up against the wall, scrolling through the posts for Kazuma's benefit. "I typically utilize the texting feature because I find it easier to communicate with it. It's like an instantaneous letter."
no subject
He sighs as he leans in to look over Ryunosuke's shoulder as he scrolls through the posts. Such a variety. "...I would be interested in trying the other methods myself, but text will be a reliable method."
He shifts back, arms crossing as he considers what they could do with this technology. Once they knew the extent of their limits, of course. "If we remain in the same vicinity as one another...we could more easily test how long it lasts without charge. You have more contacts here, I could let mine...lose charge. It's best if we know the limits it faces. Speaking of--distance limitations? Length of messages?"
You've given him a more simple puzzle, one with immediate answers at his fingertips. If he can't get answers to why and how they were here, he'd turn to the technologies at hand.
Arrival I
"Move slowly, okay? As long as you don't do anything sudden, you should be safe!"
no subject
Right--the voice. He could see her, the girl, at a distance. Now to just find a way over there, across the ice and in the nude. Embarassing. Improbable. Ill-advised. There was a myriad of words he could list to describe his circumstances. Still, what choice did he have?
"Moving across ice is not as simple as it sounds." He calls back, his slight accent evident event even as it quavers with the cold. His walk across the ice toward her was more a practice in strategic slipping and sliding, balance being the key to not suffering a fall.