December 2021 Test Drive Meme

[reddosmod]

DECEMBER 2021 TDM

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: A cat skidding across a frozen lake.]
[Image Two: A man carving ice sculptures]

Prompt Two
[Image One: A woman laughing as she plays with many tentacles.]
[Image Two: A naked girl in a fetal position under water.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: A cold limp hand in bloodied snow.]
[Image Two: Jack Nicholson slamming an axe into a door in The Shining.]

[NAVIGATION]

TDM Questions • Reserves • Taken • Applications • Full Navigation

[Jump to Comments]

SEMI-STANDARD ARRIVAL

WHEN: End of December, early January
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: Similar warnings from November's TDM. Drowning, freezing to death, trapped under ice, hypothermia, frost bite.

---

Arriving in December has most of the same from the November Arrival. One difference is that the beach itself has completely frozen over, making it a slick black ice skating range. And that's exactly how Wakers treat it. You can rent skates and sleds. People have taken to the beach to have fun as well as help Sleepers out. Learn how to ice skate and help your fellow Sleepers! Win-Win!

Tents are filled with furs and warmth. Someone is giving out hot soup and hot chocolate to those just arriving. You can find plenty of hot bread rolls. Local seamstresses have gathered and are giving out thick wool cloaks with unique designs. You can find thick fur ushankas, gloves, and scarves. There are coldblood stone snaps as they call them where two small coldblood stones are hooked together so you can make a snapping noise that generates a small spark of flame that's hard to blow out.

Along the Boardwalk are magnificent ice sculptures of various intricate creatures: humans, animals, monsters, Pthumerians and other things. Some Watchers are in the process of working on new mounds of ice and are willing to teach anyone interested in the art of ice sculptures.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

WHEN: End of December to mid January
WHERE: The Pthumerian Ocean and the Farther Shores
CONTENT WARNINGS: possible drowning, injury, hypothermia, giant friendly tentacles, confinement in a goo egg, nudity/exhibition, body horror of varying degrees

---

A new year is upon us and the winds of change can drive rough and tumultuous waters, now filled with big chunks of ice. Some incoming sleepers will be facing more obstacles of ice, cold and wayward currents that can take them off course and delay their arrival on the shores. But many are in luck as the massive tentacles of a benevolent beast from the deep can be seen rising from the waves on the horizon as it collects as many sleepers as it can who have begun to shift from their squid form before they are safely out of the choppy waters and onto the ice covered beach.

The tentacled behemoth will wrap new sleepers up in a protective, transluscent and spherical fish or squid egg filled with a gooey liquid to help further suspend and cushion them on their journey to shore. However, this protective egg is a toss of the coin in how helpful it can be. Merely by chance, a sleeper may find themselves in either a red or blue tinted egg that they wil likely need help getting out of, and quickly, seeing as the warm goo that is cushioning them doesn't exactly provide air for those who require it.

A Red egg will provide extended magical warmth even when a sleeper exits it into the cold, they will feel as though they are stepping into a heated room and wearing comfortable warm clothes, even if they are naked. Wakers who assist someone getting out of a red egg and who are splashed with the gooey contents will also feel this effect, and if they are clothed they may feel... overheated and overcome with the strong compulsion to get their clothes off.

A Blue egg is not so helpful, if a sleeper finds themselves in this egg, they will start to transform back into their squid form, even if their mind is continuing to reform and remember themselves. They can regress all the way back into a squid or be unfortunate enough to get trapped in a grotesque halfway fusion of squid and their regular form, but either way their mind will still be normal and somehow some will be able to speak. Just like a red egg, this can happen to Wakers who come in contact with the blue egg's goo. This effect can last for an hour or longer depending on player preference.

Characters who attempt to make their way out to sea to make contact with the tentacled monster will never seem to be able to reach it to see what it looks like. The waters will become darker and colder, and more tumultuous the farther they go either by boat or swimming (why you're swimming is beyond literally everyone else, but you do you). Chances of ending up in the freezing water and dying by drowning or freezing to death are extremely high if this attempt is made, and locals will advise against it if asked.

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

WHEN: Late December to mid January.
WHERE: All over Trench
CONTENT WARNINGS: Surreal/existential horror, out of body experience, temporary memory loss and fugue, imprisonment, frozen death, blood, possible insanity and violence, monster/creature leech

---

All throughout Trench there's a phenomena of bloody snow piling high in whole districts within minutes and snowing people into their homes or whatever building they happened to be in at the time, even a tent on the boardwalk can be covered. Most of the blood is a stark red, but other blood type colors can be found in large or small swaths here and there. At first it seems like an inconvenience that you can either wait out with whomever you've found yourself snowed in with or dig your way out of, but the blood in the snow is thick and heavy and pressing in against the walls and windows and if you choose to try and dig, the influence of blood in the air will hit you hard and the ill effects will come on fast and halt you in your efforts...

Soon, the rooms appear to warp, minds become foggy as what appears to be an illusion or a reality warping takes hold, no longer does the room look like your home or the store you were browsing, and you can't quite remember what it was before or why you were there. The roof over your head is different, and the slow motion of the fan causes the cracks in the plaster to show shadows in ways that just don't match your memories. It is strange, but as you walk through the new space, you do not feel in danger. Something is just not quite right.

You recognize the furnishings but you can't place when you bought them. It looks like a hotel room and this is a suite for two. How long have you lived in this place? The door of the kitchen or perhaps the pantry opens, and someone else emerges with the same look of vague confusion there. You recognize them, but not quite. Their name is on the tip of your tongue until they speak. Do you know each other? Yes, you do. This is your house, right? Weren't you just standing there together not long ago...?

It must be your home: Some Sleepers, for one reason or another, might accept the surreal experience as the new reality even as they grow weaker and ...thinner? Their life feels impermanent, almost like you could peel the wallpaper away to find something entirely different underneath. But it isn't a bad life. It's simple, comfortable, food is always magically available somewhere when they need it and the people they are with are family, are they not? You're pretty sure that's what you remember. The scope of the vision grows, somehow you find yourself in the bar of this hotel where a bartender stands waiting. He doesn't feel quite real, but he'll happily chat over a cocktail 'on the house' with guests, who he assures have always been there.

But some Sleepers find themselves rejecting this vision, as comfortable as it is, it's still wrong. This isn't their home. This feeling everything should be fine is a lie. Everything is wrong, and at a certain point, they snap. The idea of sleeping a night in this place is just too much and the moment that their mind refuses this reality completely, it is replaced by a singular urge: to destroy this lie entirely. Paranoia and a frantic instability overtakes them and they find whatever weapon they can to start breaking everything in sight, even attacking their fellow Sleepers and hunting them through the shifting little hotel spaces that seem to move around them rather then them moving within it.

Violent Sleepers can be subdued and reasoned with, but it may be difficult. Powers are also dampened, though not gone, if Sleepers can remember that they have them at all. All sleepers, docile and violent will start to weaken to the point where they collapse and they will eventually die, but if they are lucky enough to pull themselves and/or each other out of it, they'll be able to see clearly that it's the bartender that they should attack. Once they do, there will be a screech and the illusion/reality alteration will falter and the bartender's true form is glimpsed.

Once the creature is wounded sufficiently, Sleepers will find that there is a fleshy pulsating rope attached to the base of their skull as the creature was feeding on their hopes and dreams of the future, keeping them in a state of complacency, confusion and conflict. The only way out of this is by attacking the bartender or death.

CODING

Comments

Ezra Bridger | Star Wars | Paleblood

[ezra_of_lothal]

[OOC: Ezra is post Rebels series finale, and is CRAU with experiences from the Revival Project. He's picked up some handy skills with gardening, animal caretaking, and spinning wool. On top of about half year adding to his training alongside the other Jedi in the cast, he also spent a month on Coruscant (albeit about 900 years before canon), mostly at the Jedi Temple, gaining a new lightsaber crystal, a set of traditional Jedi robes, and a little better understanding of the Order as a community and culture. And then there's the hazy memories of a whole other life, growing up as an ordinary American teenager.]

1. Ch-ch-ch-changes (blue)

The stab of fear at feeling alone, and cold, and trapped, he could probably shake. The sense that his body isn't what he expects, that there's something wrong with it, that sets him off into a flair of panic. He thrashes, hard, although he doesn't get the sort of traction he expects, with his hands and arms not being....hands and arms.

And then when that doesn't work, he lashes out with the Force.

He shouldn't do that. He knows he shouldn't, not out of fear. Calm. He needs to find his center and be more calm.

2. Arrival

Calm is a little easier to find, once he's on shore, his body more under control and like it should be. But easier isn't the same thing as easy. He's still off balance.

He sets his Jedi style cloak out to dry by a fire, and gratefully wraps into a borrowed local one as he tries to warm up, and murmurs quietly to himself -

"Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force."

3. Network

[Ezra knows how this whole comms/network thing goes, and it doesn't take long for him to make use of it.]

Hi. I'm Ezra. Uh - Ezra Bridger. I'm from Lothal, if you know where that is.

What's something you wish you'd known when you first showed up here? Or tell me something about yourself and where you're from?

Happy to tell you something about me and where I'm from, if you want to make it a trade of sorts.

4. Wildcard

[Something else in mind? Go for it, or message me at skipthedemon]

Arrival

[tempredmental]

Keith had been looking along the beach for anything else of his that might have washed up and hadn't been in the pack now that he had better control of his body's movements, and he came across someone chanting what sounded like a mantra. He had some extra blankets, so he paused.

"Hey... you need a blanket?" He held one out.

Re: Arrival

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra's head snaps at the sound of a somewhat familiar voice, and recognition flickers across his face.

But he's getting the distinct impression the rules here are different from any he's used to, so he shoves any expectation of being recognized in return aside.

"I, uh. Do have a cloak. But I'm still pretty cold, so...if no one else needs it more, sure. Thanks."

[tempredmental]

Nope. No recognition in Keith's demeanor, but he did glance at that mentioned cloak, watching it dry near the fire.

"I don't know. Yours looks pretty damp, still. And there seems to be plenty of these to go around, so you might as well take it."

Keith, on the other hand, didn't seem to be too bothered by the cold at the moment. Considering most of the locals were plenty bundled up against the weather, and the ground was pretty frozen, the fact that he didn't look uncomfortable was probably odd.

( 2 )

[jedies]

[ the litany. obi-wan is drawn by those words. can it be . . . a jedi? here? ]

Who are you?

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra looks up, eyes wides at the sound of Obi-wan's voice, automatically reaching a little in the Force as well, relief and hope spilling out...

But then he registers what was said, and that the connection in the Force between padawan and teacher, which from his perspective, should be there, is tenuous and muted, if it's there at all. He's not used to how the Force feels here, yet. He doesn't entirely trust his senses.

Either, way, Ezra can tell this man is not someone who knows him. The teenager's face falls a little, and he quickly reels his mental presence in, while half bowing from his seating position. He doesn't have polished Jedi diplomat manners at the best of times, but he figures the awkward attempt is a decent cover for the flash of loss and hurt he can't help but feel.

At the very least, he bets Obi-wan will feel more at ease with a bit of formality between them.]

I'm Ezra. Padawan Ezra Bridger. [He hesitates, and adds.] Master Kenobi.

[jedies]

[ obi-wan cocks his head at him curiously. he didn't know every single padawan at the temple. it is impossible to know them all, but he thought he'd seen most of them at least. he had held classes there now and then. ]

Who are you apprenticed to?

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Right. That's a reasonable next question, isn't it?

He didn't think this through. Karabast.

He cocks his head back, trying to quickly take in differences in demeanor from the other times he's met Master Kenobi. Maybe he can make some guesses, and figure out how to get through this conversation without outright lying or delivering a bunch of weird or distressing news all at once.

Much younger than the old man of the deserts of Tatooine, check. The Jedi Master looks tired, to Ezra's eye, but it's not the raw, deep grief that came with living though the death of the Order, he doesn't think.

From earlier in the war, maybe?]

You - my apprenticeship hasn't been, uh, very traditional. So, I don't think you'd know the name my first master went by.

[A little defensively, he adds-] Master Yoda acknowledged my apprenticeship when I received my first kyber crystal.

Arrival

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul is down by the cliffs on the beach meditating. He likes it here, it's a good spot to help focus his energies. That is until he feels the familiar flicker of the Force shifting dramatically the way it has every time a new arrival shows up.

He sets out to find them and comes across Ezra. He listens to what he's saying before remarking, "That's the Jedi Code, isn't it? They're wrong, of course, but I suppose it gives them false hope." Yep, it's definitely Maul, but lacking the scratchy wheeze his voice will get when he's older. Despite having been batted around by both Deerington and Trench, Maul still looks far better than he does in his fifties, not borne down by the all the struggles of his life coming to naught.

Those sharp golden eyes take Ezra in but there's no recognition in them whatsoever. While Maul has received some memories of the future in his time here, they've all faded except for the very end where he dies in Obi-Wan's arms.

Re: Arrival

[ezra_of_lothal]

Uh. Uhhhhhhhhhhh.

The voice may be younger, but there's no mistaking for Ezra it's one that still haunts his nightmares. The padawan freezes, except for his gaze flicking to the taupe cloak drying out by the fire, where he'd foolishly tucked away his lightsaber after finding it on the beach. To be fair, Ezra's about half a year out of the habit of expecting combat at the drop of a credit chip.

Ezra keeps frantically doing mental math: Does he even have enough control right now to call his lightsaber to him? Is there a point to even trying? Yes, he's had time to work on polishing up his Soresu under a full fledged Jedi Master. But if there's one thing getting to see Obi-wan Kenobi (and assorted other Jedi) in action has taught Ezra it's that....he's not duelist. Against a better trained, more combat talented Force user, his best bet is to run away.

Ezra closes his eyes and breathes in his fear. Breathes some of it out. Tries to slow down his thoughts a little.

Maul didn't immediately open with something like 'my apprentice'. Doesn't seem to know him at all. That's...probably good? He didn't attack an obvious Jedi, sitting in dripping beige tunics, on sight, either. His best bet is probably to try to be civil and pretend he's more clueless than he is.

Ezra opens his eyes, straightens, and gives Maul a small smile. "Yeah, it's part of the Jedi Code. I'm using it one of the ways it meant to used - to gain control of my emotions. Nothing false about that."

[survivalthroughhate]

"How hopelessly naïve of you." Maul shakes his head and sits down on the opposite side of the fire, still keeping a wary eye on Ezra. He can't sense any malicious intent from the Jedi but Maul's not stupid enough to believe this will end peacefully. There's every chance they'll get pulled into a fight by the end of this conversation.

"Emotions aren't there to be controlled. You should use them, learning how they can help make you stronger." Even after all his progress here and breaking away from the brainwashing Sidious had put him under for so many years, Maul still believes wholeheartedly that some of the Sith teachings are valid and have merit.

"But you will be in good company here. There are several other Jedi in this city." He pauses. "And a number of Sith as well." The Jedi technically outnumbered the Sith if one counted this boy and Anakin, but the latter was such a hot mess Maul wasn't even sure if he was on anyone's side but his own.

[ezra_of_lothal]

It's kinda funny, how close this conversation is going so far, to the first one he'd had years ago, with Maul.

He almost drawls - I know how the Dark Side works, thanks.

Until the bit about both Jedi and Sith being here, which make Ezra go stiff again.

He wants to be glad about other Jedi around, and he is. Just. Add the Sith in, and it doesn't sound like a recipe for a peaceful place to be.

"...a number of Force-users, got it," he says, after a beat. "And what do you consider yourself? Or what should I call you, I guess.”

1 | //SLAMS IN HERE

[faithfulson]

A brief nudge in the back of his mind from the Force was the only warning he had before he was suddenly knocked off his feet but something -- or someone -- he hadn't quite seen yet, sending him skidding along the ice. Luke let out a grunt as he spun, legs and arms flailing uselessly for purchase, until he finally was able to pull himself together enough to push in the opposite direction, slowing himself down until he finally stopped.

He huffed as he pushed himself up, looking around, trying to see just what had caused that. It was a moment before he caught the fear, the panic, the feeling that this isn't right, and realized whatever new Force sensitive just emerged from the water, they hadn't been able to change out of their squid form yet. To be aware and not be back to a more humanoid form... yes, that would have caused him to panic too.

Carefully, he got back to his feet, struggling not to slip again, before making his way back to where he had been, reaching out through the Force and doing his best to project calm toward that fearful and confused mind.

"Where are you?" he called out as he approached, not sure if the person would be able to understand, but hopefully would at least be able to signal him with the Force. "I can help!"

Yes good

[ezra_of_lothal]

Attention caught by that wave of calm through the Force, Ezra went physically still and reached back mentally through the Force towards a presence that was...familiar.

Familiar in the Force, but didn't match his memories exactly, either of the tiny but bright ball of light that was infant Luke, or the blazing sun he associated with full-grown Knight Skywalker. But maybe it was Ezra's perceptions that were off, because something was definitely wrong with his body, and his connection to the Force felt weird, too.

But that was Luke who'd reached for him, he was nearly sure.

Luke?

He tried to send the nonverbal sense of 'here', back.

[faithfulson]

Luke paused at that; definitely a Jedi, that much was clear, but a Jedi that knew him? He wasn't sure who it could be, but the fact that they needed help was more than clear, so he would worry about who they were once they were back in a recognizable form. Instead, he scanned the area, following the leading sense from the Force to the particular squid he was looking for.

Poor guy; this close, he could definitely feel the barely restrained panic over all this.

"I've got you," Luke said, reaching his arm down for the creature to latch onto him. "Just reach out and hold on."

[ezra_of_lothal]

Getting this....form to do things did not feel very instinctive to Ezra. Still, he managed to get an appendage to wrap around one of Luke's forearms.

"It is you," he said, out loud, both sounding relieved and leaking that emotion out into the Force a little.

Arrival

[demonicbeauty]

Ariadne made a point of visiting the shores once a month, around the time the new arrivals came. She didn't anticipate running into anyone she knew. No one from home, of course. But she liked to be there for the others. She had a comforting presence, she knew. And some people showed up more than a little wound up.

Not that she could blame them at all.

Wrapped up tight in a red cloak, she walked from tent to tent, helping to hand out steaming mugs of hot chocolate. Ariadne loved chocolate. And the things Humans did with it was nothing short of miraculous, in her opinion.

Nothing could make a bad situation seem not so bad like a mug of chocolate.

She was on her way to the next tent when a voice caught her attention: "Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force."

Another Jedi? Or Sith? Either way, she immediately headed in the direction of the voice.

Ping me to edit if the light psychic stuff doesn't work for you? Sorry, Airy!

[ezra_of_lothal]

Of all the talents that can come with Force-sensitivity, empathy, sensing the presences of others, and connecting to minds were those Ezra has found he felt most like himself, when he has leaned into them.

He hasn't had much of a chance yet, to contemplate how being....wherever this is he'd found himself may have affected those abilities.

So, he was only a little startled to catch some sense of interest and attention aimed in his direction. He looked up, trying to spot who was focused on him.

"...Padme?" His face blossomed into a smile, but then his expression stuttered.

He'd lived in pretty close quarters with Padme Amidala for nearly half a year, long enough to know well the general shape of her presence in the Force.

This person...didn't feel like that at all. Not even close enough for him to wonder if they were some sort of parallel version or from another point in Padme's life.

"No," he continued, voice quiet, but sure.

She can't win with Jedi!

[demonicbeauty]

A series of emotions quickly flashed through Ariadne's mind in rapid succession: Surprise, irritation, wariness, and then a bit of curiosity, mingled with relief. It was fast. And none of it registered on her face, which she carefully kept as placid as an idol. Until she gave him a gentle, slightly embarrassed smile.

"No," she repeated, giving him a little curtsy, the hot chocolates barely sloshing in their steamy, hot mugs. "But it's a common misconception."

Which was the mildest term she could use.

Common disaster was more like it.

She walked over to him, holding out the tray for him to help himself. "Here, it's cold. Drink some of this to warm up."

3. @skywalker

[facultative]

That it's all a lie.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra stares at that screen name, long and hard, before he replies.]

That thought had crossed my mind. Go on.

[facultative]

[He doesn't actually have anything to add to that.]

Nothing you do here matters.

1.

[opress]

[By now, it was basically tradition that Savage make his way down to the Farther Shores to see what sort of squid Sleepers would wash up. He had been here for enough time to understand that hope was far too dangerous to put any stock in, yet he was still pulled to the rolling waves anyway.

Maybe this month would be different. Maybe this month Feral would arrive. Maybe...

He stood on the icy shores staring out and noted the little bobbing sacks. It wasn't until he felt a wave of the Force that his head snapped around, and he moved to approach one blue egg-like sac in particular. His glowing golden eyes stared at the strange little being that seemed to be mid-transition. Jedi or Sith? He supposed it didn't matter.

Savage drew his saberstaff from his belt and lit one of the red blades, then sliced through part of the casing to release the viscous liquid. He stepped back to avoid it touching him and disengaged his saberstaff right after as well.]

If you're going to act out on emotion, focus it like it's a blade's edge.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Half-squid Ezra flops onto into the ice, and lays there for a few seconds, while he tries to figure out what the kriff just happened. Red lightsaber staff? Zabrak?

But not Maul. A lot bigger and different coloring. Wasn't dressed like an Inquisitor. If the guy had wanted, he could have easily just run a blade through him, because Ezra sure can't fight like this.]

Thanks for the tip. [Wow, that reflexively came out even more sarcastic sounding than he'd meant it to.]

..And the rescue, I guess. [Ezra squints up, awkwardly.] Got a name?

[opress]

[Savage curled a lip when he was sassed, and it was too bad that Kenobi was already here or he might have made the jump to that one. However, he cared little to kill a new arrival so far, seeing no point. If the rumours were true, they'd just go back to being squid and return. He had better things to do.]

You might have freed yourself if you had it.

[He folded his mismatched arms over his broad chest and stared down at the humanling. Someone with a robe would probably be shuffling over soon enough.]

Everyone has a name. And an origin. [He lifted his brows.] What part of the galaxy did you float your way from?