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countryclub2021-12-20 07:51 pm
reddosmod) wrote in countryclub2021-12-20 07:51 pm
Entry tags:
December 2021 Test Drive Meme
DECEMBER 2021 TDM
SEMI-STANDARD ARRIVAL
CH-CH-CH-CHANGES
BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE
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: 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.]
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: 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.]
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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Yeah. I know, man. But there're people in town who can help you figure it out.
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He put his head back in his hands again, shaking it 'no' as he did. This was getting to be a lot. By now, the fire behind them was taken care of, but, instead, a thin sheet of ice was forming on the stairs beneath them as Keith's protective anger gave way to what he was really feeling...
He was scared.]
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Hey, just take a deep breath and let it out slow.
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Okay. I'm okay... [Deep breath.] I'm okay.
[He was going to be okay, at least. He wasn't, yet, but he was going to try and get there.
Patience yields focus.
He still clung to that at times when he needed it, even if Shiro had already admitted it was just a throwaway phrase in the moment to get Keith to calm down. It had worked, after all.]
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Yeah. Just focus on your breath. You're okay.
[He's picked up some coping tactics over the years of nonstop trauma. And though his own breath is shallow, wheezy and rattled, it helps him too.]
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He frowned in concern.]
Are you injured?
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Yeah. But it's been looked at, it's fine.
[It's not fine, but there's not much either of them can do right now about it.]
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Are you sure?
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Yes. I'm- I'm fine. I just helped you across the beach, didn't I?
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[Even if it had been really awkward to deal with... his friends not making any injuries worse was kind of important.]
Look, I'm probably fine to walk on my own now anyway, so... [He automatically wrapped the coat and robe tighter around himself, even if the effects of that egg had made it way to hot for him to be wearing them... not that he knew it was the egg. He figured it was this coldblood thing, right?] I guess... I don't know.
[He was going to need a place to stay and to get some real clothes... but he felt like he'd already put too much on Lance's shoulders at this point. He didn't want to ask.]
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[And that's the honest truth as he sees it. His breathing has always been off when he exerts more on his lungs. After insisting that, he nods, picking up on the fact that Keith probably wants to get some real clothes. And Lance definitely wants to get away from this situation. He won't be able to keep his emotions locked up for long.]
Come on, I'll take you to Shiro's house. You've got a room there already with some clothes and stuff.
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Can you just-... promise you'll go see someone to make sure it didn't get worse? Please?
[He sighed, and grabbed the railing, bracing his other hand on the steps before pushing up.
Okay... that was definitely an improvement. He felt wobbly, but he was up and standing. He grabbed the pack, slinging it over his shoulders.]
So, that's where I was staying before, then?
[Which was fine. Keith was okay with staying with Shiro.]
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Jeeze, alright. I will.
[And with that, he stands and hovers near Keith in case he needs help. But it looks like he's got his bearings and his stregth back enough to handle himself well enough. Once Keith has his pack, he starts leading the way down the boardwalk to the lantern that can take them straight to Shiro's. It's not far.]
Yeah. We all stayed there, actually. I uh, decided to live somewhere else, though.
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Thank you. [His voice was quiet, but he was still glad Lance had promised.
He did his best to keep up, but it wasn't exactly easy, yet. Standing was one thing. Walking and doing coordinated movements was apparently another, and it took a bit for him to get himself really going. He stayed near the railing of the boardwalk as they went for as long as he could in case he needed to grab on to something... which happened a couple of times, but he didn't fall. He'd take that as a win at this point.]
Why'd you move out? [Wouldn't staying together have been... better? Or something? Like... they were a team. Weren't they?]
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As they walk along, he keeps his attention on how well Keith is moving and slows down to keep pace with him. But he stays just a step ahead so that he has a reason not to look directly at Keith. It's easier on him that way, and he's already feeling the strain again. Especially when that question comes, it takes everything in him not to snap that it's not Keith's business. His answer is clearly not the whole truth and his voice is tense and dodgy.]
I… got tired of hearing Shiro have sex?
no subject
WHAT?!
[He stared for a second, having had to stop walking to process this.]
Dude... I sincerely doubt he was... [Okay, Keith didn't want to be having this conversation with Lance. Not that he doubted Shiro had sex, but more that he doubted it happened often enough for that to be a reason to make Lance move out...
Unless...]
Were you jealous of him or something?
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Jealous?! Why would you think I'd be jealous?? Nobody likes hearing other people have sex, Keith!
no subject
[The awkwardness of that comment would definitely be short-lived, however, as
SHING!
Keith yelped as he was tackled by a blur of blue fur that appeared from a flash of light.]
no subject
[He could feel his glow starting up again and it's interrupted by the fuzzy blue terror. A blink and then he smiles softly, almost happily.]
Kosmo! Long time no see, buddy!
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It is so good to see you, boy... [Keith's voice was almost a whisper where he had his face buried into the thick fur.
Not that it wasn't good to see Lance... but the whole meeting between them so far had been so rocky, Keith needed something a little more grounding.]
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Now, Lance can tell he's like Keith, just by the fact that he's much smaller than he was when the dream ended. He looks to be the size he was when he first arrived and when Lance first met him back home. Another loss, that he didn't expect to hit hard, but it is. He turns away and crosses his arms tight to fight down the emotions and the glow that comes with them.]
no subject
Hey... that... is that from your blood powers?
[He'd sort of noticed the starting of that glow a few times since Lance had found him, and the initial thought when Lance mentioned his blood able to glow in the moonlight was that it might be that, but... he was beginning to think not.]
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Nope. Don't ask. [He looks down at Kosmo against his leg and the glow recedes so that it's a shifting plasma under the skin of just his neck by the collar of his shirt. Then he detaches enough to sound more even.] Let's just… get to the house.
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That didn't mean he wouldn't ask some other time, but he left it alone for now.
In fact, he just nodded silently, putting a hand out for Kosmo, who, confused and dejected that Lance didn't even give him a pat, came back to walk next to Keith with tail lowered.]
no subject
These are travel lamps, we use them to get around the city fast, there's one in your bag, you can put it anywhere you want but you can't move it once you do. Just think about where you wanna go and it'll take you, so think "Shiro's house" or "Where Shiro lives" and bam, done. Okay, ready? Let's go.
[And with that, he… uses the lamp without waiting for questions, aaaand he's gone.]
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