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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.
no subject
Thanks...
[Grunted as he strains, himself. Dead weight is always heavier; frozen weight, more so. Or is it? He's read that the bodies on Mt. Everest are heavier, preventing their removal, and that volume is sure to increase with freezing... but can the trapped air and ice really increase the weight, so much?
It feels like it, however much of it is in his mind.]
N-no...
[He laughs breathlessly, in spite of himself. It's an infant, strange, unpracticed sound. The mention of "vegans" might have been part of it.]
Have you been to Vegas? There's nowhere to think. The lights will get to you, if the noise doesn't.
[Idly, as they set aside the frozen remains, he realizes that he will need to eventually come up with a whole life and history. One he's content with, and can sustain, for however long he's a squid in person-form.]
If we find protein bars... what do you hope comes of it? Long term, and best case?
no subject
My tongue slipped . . .
[ he’s never been to vegas, but . . . oh, he can talk about carnaval in rio and são paulo some other time. it’s a matter of protein bars now.
at the very least, his attention and flipping stomach has slightly diverted as they enter the boat’s interior cabin, greeted by boxes thrown left and right or messily stacked until they’ve fallen quite some time ago— either violently, accompanied by something black splattered dry on the walls or by scattered objects. ]
Long term, huh, [ no one’s ever asked him something so. deep. ] I want to keep taking care of my diet, but . . . I really miss home.
[ he’s only been here for a few days, and it’s been a bit of a nightmare. ]
I think if I saw a protein bar— or even some tapioca or feijoada, I’ll feel a little better. Y’know, when I left Japan for the first time, I’d sit in the corner of my room just eating dried salmon because I couldn’t talk to anyone like I did back home.
[ he’s blabbering— but it’s clear he likes to talk. ]
At least we can all understand each other, so I’m happy for that.
no subject
[Even if it was funny. More so, perhaps, because L is close to being vegan. He doesn't eat meat, but just likes his dairy too much to qualify.
Having vanquished the frozen corpse as a team, L gingerly sets foot in the next chamber, peering curiously at the boxes. The odds of them finding what they're looking for, he realizes, is slim... but it's a game, now, isn't it? More about the experience than the spoils? He chooses a box and opens it; it's full of lightbulbs. He holds one up quizzically.]
So... you're looking for something familiar. Not necessarily a conditioning aid.
[For your next, nonexistent game. He ponders that, visibly.]
How old are you? That is... how long has it been since you left Japan for the first time?
[How equipped are you for being away from home, possibly forever now? "Lazarus" could ask himself the same, and stare in bafflement at the non-answer he has.]
Of course we can understand each other. I've been putting the effort into speaking Japanese this whole time...
no subject
Five years? I went to Rio when I was 19, [ he’s peering into a box in the process of speaking, ] went back to Japan for a little while to play for MSBY, the Olympics, [ and comes a little short, too. he’s found some cans? a few are empty, the one he holds up is full and capped; it just doesn’t have a label. ] and now I’m in São Paulo, playing for ASAS.
[ to be fair to brazil, now that he felt himself fitting in . . .hm, now he just had to find a can opener for these, ]
It’s kind of a second home, now, I guess? Oh— and I’m twenty four.
[ not that that wasn’t obvious after doing the math given! anyway— ]
no subject
At least, he believes he did. So much relied on that perfect score to get him close to his suspect that maybe he missed a few; maybe Watari rigged it. He wonders how many other "perfect" records he has that were similarly manipulated.
Surely, he would know. He would have suspected before now; there would have been some dent in his confidence like the one he's felt since he arrived, that this is all in some way beyond his control and understanding.
He nods, as though all of this is true, as though Rio and Japan are places they can go, and the things they left will still be there when they return.]
The Olympics? That's really impressive...
[He means it, in spite of his rather flat tone. What's actually surprising to him is Shōyō's age; he would have guessed younger, probably due to his youthful and optimistic spirit alone. He sets aside the box of lightbulbs, canting his head at the cans.]
Is there any residue on the open ones? It could serve as a clue for what the others contain, if they were all together...
no subject
Smells like . . . Metal. But it looks like dog food?
[ to be fair, canned dog food smelled terrific when one was hungry, it was too bad these have probably been empty for a while. and since it was less than likely this place would stockpile food for dogs, specifically, it must be some sort of meat. not that shōyō thought that.
he’s accepting of the possibility that he might have to eat dog food, and that’s okay. ]
no subject
[L is someone who has not ever, in recent memory, been at the point where he would ever consider eating dog food. He'd sooner go hungry for dangerous spans of time. That's a luxury, he understands; even if his circumstances were different in early childhood, he scarcely remembers that, in fact considers it on par with a different life entirely. Now, it's all macaroons and cream puffs.
Was. Will he be eating dog food just to survive?]
So it's canned meat, at least. And if some are open... the implement is either here, or someone took it with them after not finding what they wanted to.
[He's fairly confident in this assessment. If he found several cans of apparent dog food, he'd leave with the opener, too.]
no subject
or was it the mitochondrion?
(it was neither) ]
. . . I can open one with a spoon?
[ if they find one! ]
no subject
[L's round eyes widen. For all that he can define palettes, chlorophyll, and mitochondrion, he actually is somewhat lacking in a variety of practical life skills. He's never actually opened a can with any tool or utensil; someone was always there to do it for him after the uncertain nightmare that was early childhood.]
If not a spoon, exactly... a similarly curved piece of metal might work just as well. If you're OK with the high likelihood of that being dog food, that is...
[He opens another box. A bicycle, disassembled. Promising?]
no subject
Dog food’s just meat, isn’t it? I’ll try it—
[ he was meant to survey this container now set on searching for a spoon, but shōyō gasps when he opens the carton flap to it and gets a first look at its contents. he plucks whatever it is promptly out of the box with both hands to show lazarus— with so much building energy that shōyō bounces at the very tips of his toes.
it’s his former team’s jersey. twenty one was his number— and “hinata shoyo” is written on the back. ]
Ahh—!! How’d they get this—?!
no subject
I see...
[Is there anything that could arrive here that would compromise him, somehow? No... he's sure there isn't. If there was, the same kind of identifying memorabilia that brings Shōyō joy would fill him with cold dread.]
I'd imagine the same way they got us... if you arrived here, how absurd is it really to think that your belongings might also?
[He leans closer to look at the jersey.]
no subject
You’re right! Aw, yes—! [ shōyō absolutely destroys the silence, by the way, fishing through the rest of that box to find a little more dust, some socks, an empty water bottle— and a soundless gasp. it’s his current team’s jersey, bright red, sporting all types of sponsors on his sleeves or chest, then printed out is the team’s name: ASAS-SP, and on the back HINATA - 21.
looking between both jerseys, in about ten seconds, he knows what he has to do. he thrusts the darker, black and gold jersey forward to lazarus, without second thoughts. he’s not so absolutely materialistic that he wouldn’t. he just wants one of home, and home wasn’t japan, right now. ]
Here! See if it fits you!
no subject
Most things fit me...
[In the sense that he can physically fit inside them, at least. Even over his arrival robes, the jersey swallows up L's thin frame when he slips it on.]
If it's from your world, don't you want to keep it?
[He doesn't even play volleyball... and he's not even thinking about the more obvious concern, about sticking out like a sore thumb in Trench by wearing something so obviously otherworldly.]
no subject
I’ve already got the one I’m using now, [ pumping his arms to fix the sleeve, then the collar, and quite okay with leaving the fur cloak he had over his shoulders. he could at least put it over the jersey, but he wasn’t leaving without it! ] and I can’t use them both at the same time, anyway.
[ shōyō is one attached to the present, and asas was his present. his eyes still shines when he looked upon lazarus showing off the golden claw marks of the black jackles. he had good memories from there, too. ]
And it’s got that thermo technology stuff that keeps your body heat in! You’ll put it to use more than me. Especially since I can’t . . . Find your chocolate.
no subject
He nods, hesitantly, before gaining more confidence in the decision to accept the gift. Pillaging indiscriminately is one thing, but when the owner of certain goods is present, going with their blessing is next best thing. Besides, he doesn't profile Shōyō as the type to call in favors and debts and take advantage of such matters.]
Oh... I suppose it's possible someone else got to it first, but I'd not blame you for that. I didn't board the ship at all until just a short while ago, with you.
[Unspoken, there is nevertheless an implication that if he'd not found a very amiable companion in Shōyō, he'd still be onshore.]
no subject
We could still look for more, if you want? [ shōyō was still up for it, a beacon of energy now that he at least found what he was looking for in a different form, hugging him tight with red sleeves. ] And a spoon— m’not feeling sick anymore, so I don’t mind. It’d be cool if we found something you wanted, too.
[ (for now, but there’s no guarantee the next body wouldn’t stir it back to feeling ugly). ]
/end!
[It dawns on him fresh, sometimes, that he's really at the behest of no one. There are no calls to answer, no deadlines or meetings or gambits or indecently huge transactions over wire. Something in his brain that's always buzzed and thrummed is strangely silent, now.]
Let's keep looking.
[And they do. Eventually, a crate of chocolate-covered orange peels does surface, among another things. It's enough for "Lazarus" to consider the expedition a success; he can feed his future diabetes AND prevent scurvy all at the same time.]