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Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] countryclub2021-12-20 07:51 pm
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December 2021 Test Drive Meme

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.]

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
droptheious: (Right at the edge is where things)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-11 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
[Varian was reaching out to grab a cookie when he stops dead. Lance is a familiar name, but it brings up two different faces in his mind's eye- two different people with the same name. Both frustratingly annoying but both cherished friends.

But Shiro- that brings a much more solid face to his memories- much stronger emotions. Like Fern and Usagi, Shiro feels desperately important. He feels like...family, somewhere safe and secure where he can always, always go if he needs to.
]

...I know Shiro. [It's said softly, but firmly. ] I don't- I think he's my family? Is he? It...it really feels like he is. How do you know him?
tempredmental: (Worried)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-13 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[Everyone probably knew Shiro. He tended to be That Type (TM). Keith nodded a bit, like he wasn't surprised that ... this person ... knew Shiro.]

He's... uh... my family, too? [Shiro was basically Keith's brother, but Keith was having trouble remembering that exactly... just that they were really close... but not why.]

H-how... did we not... know that about each other?
droptheious: (And bringing them to me)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-16 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
[Shiro collects people. It's just how it is. ]

He...is?

[That's absolutely something they should know about each other. Because, by extension, that makes them family too. They shouldn't have forgotten that. He frowns, uneasy.]

I- I don't know. That's a really big thing to not know?
tempredmental: (Of Course I Do Dad)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-16 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, uh... he's my brother. [Well, not exactly. But he might as well be.]

I would think that would be a big thing. [Okay... this was really starting to bother him.]

Okay, we know each other, right? But not that we could be family... but... [And he frowned.] I know I'm bad with names, but is it weird that I'm having trouble remembering yours?
droptheious: (From destroying the Earth)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-16 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I think it's...not quite brother for me. It feels more like... [a father] ...Not a brother, anyway.

[But none of this makes any sense at all.]

...Yeah. I'm...I don't know, I really feel like I know you but I also... don't? How can that even work?
tempredmental: (Coran Are You Okay?)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-19 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
Well, yeah... like. We're not actually brothers. He was kind of my mentor growing up. But, he's really become a lot like brother to me.

[Keith studied his roommate for a moment.]

Well, I mean... I don't know. Maybe something weird happened. [His life was filled with weird stuff, right? So, this could just be another one.] But, at least... let's start with something? I'm Keith.

[If anything, he was glad to know that he wasn't alone in feeling like this was normal, but yet like he'd forgotten some important details.]
droptheious: (And bringing them to me)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-19 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah- yeah that sounds...really familiar.

[Maybe not with Shiro but with...other people. Names and faces he can bearly get a good grip on.]

M-maybe. Something definitely feels weird. [Why doesn't the name Keith mean anything to him? This isn't right.] I'm Varian?
tempredmental: (Listening Seriously)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-20 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
Varian.

[Nope... not ringing a bell here, either.]

Well... that's... something, I guess?

[He looked around the unit they were in. It wasn't much, kind of worn looking, like it needed a renovation. Keith had been in places like this before, so that didn't actually bother him as much as it might some other people. But he frowned a bit. Now he was curious as to what there might be outside this suite.]

Hey... you uh... you wanna go look around the place?
droptheious: (Except the ones who are dead)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-20 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, maybe...maybe that'll jog our memories a little?

[They can but hope, right? Because the more he stays here, the less and less familiar it feels. He starts for the door.]

Maybe we'll run into someone else?
tempredmental: (Listening to the Plan)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-21 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah... someone who knows what's going on. That would be ideal.

[Keith nodded in agreement as he opened it up.

The hallway wasn't much better, honestly. Dingy, worn out... and confusing. Keith stood just outside the door, looking in both directions.]


What... is this place...? [His voice was a whisper, and he frowned, confused. He wasn't sure which way to go.]
droptheious: (Spend my nights and weekends)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-22 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[Something about this place...pulls at his memories. He's been here before and not in a he's lived here way.]

...It's a hotel.

[There were weird topiaries outside, he remembers- and time....time was strange. Broken. ]

I think I remember this place.
tempredmental: (Pissed Expression)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-23 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
You do?

[Keith frowned a bit.]

But... I mean, it felt kind of weird and familiar when we first woke up... do you really know this place?
droptheious: (It's so delicious and moist)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-24 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know...maybe?

[Everything is so tangled in his mind.]

I think I remember there being a party here...
tempredmental: (This Sounds Really Fishy)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-24 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
A party...

{Keith frowned a little, looking down the hallway again before nodding.]

Alright. Do you remember where the party was? Maybe we can start there.
droptheious: (And killed me)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-24 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
It was in a big ballroom. [He remembers dancing and...did he kiss someone? He remembers being vaguely embarrassed by that.] It goes outside to these...uh- topiaries? So it's on the ground floor.
tempredmental: (Delivering the News)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-25 07:43 am (UTC)(link)
[Keith nodded. That was definitely something. He looked around, trying to spot a staircase or an elevator. Staircase would probably be safer considering the condition of the hotel as an older elevator might be more likely to get stuck, but he'd take either at this point.]

Okay, let's go there then.

[Aha... Stairs. He pushed the door open with a creak and started to head down.]
droptheious: (I'm being so sincere right now)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-26 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[Stairs are definitely the right way to go, something feels...wrong about the elevators and Varian's not sure why. He follows Keith down the stairs, more and more pulling in his head.]

...Time was broken here, I- I think I remember time being broken. And...there was a boy I was with.
tempredmental: (Why Am I Here?)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-27 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
[Keith listened as they continued down. It was several flights, yet.]

Mm. Time seems to be broken a lot lately. [Granted, gravity wells and ripping holes in the fabric of reality could do that. But, even without all that, the friends from home he had here were all from different points in time, too, it seemed. And it was frustrating.]

Do you remember anything about the other boy?
droptheious: (Last week I left a note on Laura's desk)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-27 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
You think so?

[He hums softly, trying to mull it over. One thing keeps coming to his mind and while it sounds insane, it feels... right. ]

I think he was made of grass? That- that sounds crazy, right? Grass people? Hah.
tempredmental: (Planning Talks)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-01-28 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. I feel like there's something else that happened before I got here... something with Shiro.

[He sighed.] But it's all... out of sync.

[Grass...?]

That... that sounds... [He wanted to say impossible, but there was something nagging in the back of his mind that made him feel like he's met rock people, so why not grass people?] Weird. [Because rock people are weird, too, right?]
droptheious: (She'll say it's not your fault)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-01-31 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah...maybe. That- that makes sense.

[He frowns softly. Something feels...off, the more he thinks about him, the more he wants to find the grass person. He's important, vitally so.]

I guess? But...I don't think it ever felt weird to me. He's just...him.
tempredmental: (Planning Talks)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-02-01 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Keith nodded a little.]

I mean, yeah. I guess. If you're used to it.

[Because, yeah... it could be weird, but part of Keith felt like maybe it wasn't.

As they reached the ground level, he carefully pulled open the door and looked around a bit before stepping through.]


Do you remember how to get to the ballroom?
droptheious: (It's better you don't see)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-02-02 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
I am. Like...it feels like I'm really used to it. Like he's... a big part of my life? It's weird.

[As they get to the lobby, he frowns, chewing his lip, trying to remember something that's shaky at best. After a short while of dithering, he turns and heads off in a direction.]

Maybe it's this way?

[It isn't. They end up in the bar with that creepy bartender, but points for trying right? ]
tempredmental: (Uh Well I Guess I'm Okay)

[personal profile] tempredmental 2022-02-02 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
Considering how fuzzy our memories are right now... there's a chance he might be. We should keep an eye out for him here. Can you think of a name?

[Either way, yeah... that bartender was definitely creepy. Keith watched him for a few moments.]

Hey... let's ask around. There's a crowd here... maybe other people know something. Maybe you'll find your grass friend.
droptheious: (And bringing them to me)

[personal profile] droptheious 2022-02-04 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
That's true. [He's quiet for a long time, before humming softly. ] Fern. I think his name is Fern.

[He nods, sticking nearby with Keith, edging closer to some people who seem to be...not really looking at them.]

Maybe the bartender? They see everybody, right?

(no subject)

[personal profile] tempredmental - 2022-02-04 17:05 (UTC) - Expand