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Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] countryclub2022-04-27 07:28 pm
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APRIL 2022 TEST DRIVE MEME

APRIL 2022 TEST DRIVE MEME
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: Delicious, Gelatinous Fruit Treats]
[Image Two: Women in white dancing around a May Pole (Animated)]

Prompt Two
[Image One: A woman turning away from a mirror. ]
[Image Two: A woman trapped inside a mirror with disembodied hands grabbing at her. ]

Prompt Three
[Image One: A Forked Trail on a Wooded Path]
[Image Two: The Grim Reaper at the end of a sewer tunnel]

A MOSTLY PLEASANT ARRIVAL
WHEN: May
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: Forced honesty, personality changes, physical changes.


Congratulations, sleeper! You're one of the lucky ones to arrive in a month that is not awful to come ashore. The transformational process is almost alarmingly quick and painless. In fact, it is so quick that it is deceptively easy to change back into a squid and do it all over again! Partial transformations are not uncommon during this month for the first twenty-four hours after arriving, and even brief transformations of minor facial features like hair color, eye color, height, weight and a few more extreme possibilities have been known to happen. Don't worry, because the transformations are all temporary and none are inherently monstrous (Unless you already are a monster, in which case good luck with that!). Greeters are present in force to help accommodate you as you make your way, your welcome backpack and items all freshly and neatly cleaned and ready for you as they put the robe on. Everything is so welcoming and inviting that it almost seems like they're having a party.

This is, in fact, because they are. The Wild Moon is about and festivities are in full swing throughout the month of Bauphomette. May poles are set up and it is possible to dance around one if you should wish. Doing so can help to ground oneself in their current form, which may help new arrivals settle in a bit better. Even ignoring that, it feels good to sing and dance, and everyone is very friendly. Even the usually grim Hunters who guard the roads and entries to the shores seem to have less stern smiles on their faces, though their eyes are ever watchful to keep the peace of the festivities.

SEASONAL DETAILS ON THE BOARDWALK

Decorations this month are decidedly floral in nature. Everyone is dressed in white, regardless of their usual preferences. Flowers adorn many of the people of Trench and the weather throughout the first week of May is pleasant. Even if it rains, it is a refreshing, light and pleasant rain, and there are many awnings and umbrellas to take shelter underneath.

And of course, there's refreshments. What festival in Trench would be without them? The foods this month have a very floral theme to them. Edible flowers have been grown and prepared especially for this time of year. They've been used to help create infused and gelatinous sweets, Floral spring rolls and edible flower cookies and the like, along with floral teas that are meant to calm the mind. Additionally, the people of Trench will note that any of the foods present can have a beneficial, albeit transformative effect on the mind and body. They promise it won't last long, but if you're really concerned there is hard tack and water available that's quite filling.

Changes from Food will last a few hours at most. There are several options available among the drinks and foods. These may be combined as the player sees fit. Drinks have mental effects, while Treats have physical ones, the Trenchies will inform:

Pomegranate Juice: Sweet and tart, anyone who drinks it or has some of the fresh pomegranate and seeds will feel compelled to speak nothing but the truth. Pomegranates are found littering makeshift shrines to Bauphomette throughout the party, and Trenchies insist they are free to take.
Petal Infused Hot Tea: Pungent and aromatic, it is relaxing. The heat gives a warmth and vibrancy that fills a person with confidence, to the point of arrogance and fearlessness, leading the emboldened to try something that they might not otherwise do, even if it's very risky!
Floral Iced Tea: While refreshing, it feels like there's something just a little lacking, and anyone who drinks some will feel that they need more but not what they need more of at first, making them clingy and affectionate towards other people, especially strangers.
Iced Water: It's not the tastiest, but has a way of washing things away. Water can cleanse and remove the effects of other drinks, though it leaves the person feeling emotionally drained if it is used this way.

Floral Spring Rolls: Trying one of these surprisingly edible treats will have the added effect of giving a person plant traits temporarily. Hair may convert into tresses of ivy or carefully manicured moss, or perhaps a mushroom cap! Skin might become bark-like or chlorophyl green. The more that one eats, the more that they change.
Gelatinous Sweets: These curiosities come with a note. “Have you ever wondered what it is like to walk in someone's shoes?” Eating one has a profound physical effect, causing a person's appearance to transform into that of another person in Trench! It may not even be someone they've met, or seen yet! It would be awkward to meet someone, not looking the way you're supposed to, or worse? Looking like them!
Edible Flower Cookies: They come with lovely notes saying “Eat Me!” What could be sweeter? Well, like something out of Alice and Wonderland, eating one can cause a person to grow or shrink by a foot. More cookies can cause the height difference to become worse and worse, though if you're only a foot tall, it's a good way to end up an inch tall! So, maybe eating more to fix the problem is risky.
Hard Tack: Like the water, it can fill the stomach and remove prematurely any physical effects, though if it does so, removing a physical change physically drains the character.

A DIM REFLECTION
WHEN: May
WHERE: Throughout Trench
CONTENT WARNINGS: Paranoia, existential dread, hallucinations, possession-related horror.


They warned you about mirrors. Every once in a while, one of the locals in Trench might have whispered it, made a sign of warding when they passed by mirrors, but nothing seemed out of place. They told you that you might see yourself in it, and you would never be the same. However, every time you've looked it's been fine. So, maybe they were being superstitious about something? It certainly wouldn't have been the first time someone had gotten paranoid about nothing in Trench, would it?

How wrong you were. Maybe it was when you were looking down at a puddle rippling in a light breeze. It might have been a formerly polished piece of bronze covered in tarnish that adorned a building. Perhaps it was that lovely bit of obsidian in the shop where you caught your reflection garbled by the shape. It happens only when a reflection is seen in a distorted surface, especially those that are naturally occurring, though occasionally damaged and weathered surfaces that were polished will work. When you were looking at the image, it seemed to look back at you and something was wrong, distorted, imperfect. By then it was too late.

The natives were right. You saw some part of yourself there in the mirror. It might be something that you've hidden from others for a long time, or it might be an exaggeration of a single part of yourself that you aren't proud about. What it is, is a distorted and incomplete part of yourself, something that you try to keep controlled and in check, and it was there, smiling at you and winking. The moment it winked, it was like you were riding in your own skin, watching and unable to act as you changed into a self that reflected that distorted, unnatural and incomplete side of yourself. What shadows do you hide from yourself?

This effect lasts for, at most, one solar cycle. From the rising of the sun to its setting, or the moon to its setting, the effect can last no longer than that. Especially strong-willed people, particularly palebloods, can end this effect sooner through force of will, though it usually lasts at minimum an hour. The character is, for the duration of this effect, changed in personality to behave in accordance with some singular aspect (of the player's choice) of their personality that they do not usually focus on in their day to day behavior. This change can be subtle, or it can be drastic and even dangerous. Its goal is to make sure that everyone sees and witnesses this change, and goes out of its way to impact others in a memorable fact, making sure that they see there is more to the character than what they are revealing. This could be relatively innocuous or extremely dangerous, depending on the person, and the whole while the dominant personality is riding inside their skin, forced to watch what is happening.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
WHEN: May
WHERE: Dream worlds
CONTENT WARNINGS: Existential dread, disturbing visions


It happens when you are asleep one night. There is no warning for this effect, and it comes without apparent cause. One night, you go to sleep, and then suddenly you find yourself in a dreamscape, on a path. You can sense eyes on you the whole time that you are present in this field, and though they have a sense of benevolence to them, there is a deeply alien element to the experiment, almost like you are being observed by a scientist through a microscope. You are not alone on the path, either. One, or possibly more than one, other people that you may know or not know, they seem to have entered the same dreamscape. Behind you is nothing but shadow, and before you is a path. Might as well get going if you want to wake up, right? That's how these things work.

Introductions and questions aside, there's nothing but the path and dense, impenetrable woods on both sides, so eventually you and your companion start walking. As you do, shortly you see a branch in the path ahead of you. The fork has two paths, one of which shows the traffic of many feet, footprints grooved well into the worn cobblestones and mud. One of you will somehow recognize that the footprints are their own, and will notice that the other path has no footprints or very few. That is when the compulsion hits. It is inexorable and impossible to deny, the curiosity to see what is down the path that those footprints do not travel.

Travel, walk and taking that path, you will be treated to a vision. It is a moment in the dreamer's life, where they see something that happened in their life, which involved a choice. Did they go left or right? Did they say yes, or no? A choice they made, even one that seemed immaterial at the time, had some profound effect, and now you and they watch as the other choice was taken. And, within the hour, you will see the results, to your horror. Something terrible will happen to them. It could be anything, but it will be life-shattering, perspective altering and ghastly. They might even die from the experience or see a loved one die. The horror of it will still be in your hearts as you stand there for a moment, trapped in the sight of the aftermath, trying to come to terms with what you have just seen, and just at this moment, after a few parting words are said, both will wake up in a cold sweat.

The event that plays out can be from either character. Close CR is not required. Bauphomette has summoned the characters into the dream directly, and is sharing a distorted mirror of an opposite choice that could have been made. Actual “What if” canon events such as alternate timelines in Supernatural could be used for this, or the entire event can be concocted for this scene. The characters themselves are witnesses, and cannot be personally harmed in any physical way, but the horrific ending for the 'vision' version of the one whose dream this can be as awful as desired and take any form wished so long as it is unpleasant. Please be aware and mindful of each other's Content Warning Preferences in setting these scenes up.

CODING
simplegestures: (pic#15643694)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-05-09 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He puzzles at the expression on her face. Racks his mind. Has he met her? He cannot recall but there is something that just does not sit right. ]

My wife, perhaps, or my daughter when she gets old enough, would be better for that.

[ Bail pauses. Debates. Does ask. ]

Have we met? One of Amidala's handmaidens?
unset: ~ insomniatic (pic#13453325)

[personal profile] unset 2022-05-09 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ when she gets old enough. the pang in her chest, as she hears those words... ]

Yes and... no. To your first question.

[ he mentions 'amidala' and she's taken back to her younger years when he would tell her stories of his dearest and closest friend, the senator. ]

I never had the chance to meet Senator Amidala. But I grew up listening to my... father tell me of her and their time together.
simplegestures: (pic#15650130)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-05-15 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[Yes and no? Bail can read that a number of ways. His expression remains focused with that intent expression. Watching her.

His features shift. The way she speaks and the way she acts. That almost expectancy to her.]


... your name?
unset: ~ insomniatic (pic#13453318)

[personal profile] unset 2022-05-15 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it felt ridiculous to be frozen in spot when that question came; she'd sassed tarkin, even darth vader, she'd practically laughed in the face of danger. maintaining the appearance of being aloof when confronted by it. and yet here was the man who'd raised her, a ghost to her past, and leia's mouth felt unbearably dry.

her hands remain clasped in front of her, the line of her shoulders beneath the white robes tense. she didn't look away from him, this time.
]

Leia. Leia Organa. [ solo. ]
simplegestures: (pic#15650322)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-05-18 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
[Time may pass. Bail doesn't know how much. A few second that feel far longer. The world stills. Leia. Leia Organa. It shouldn't make sense but as his eyes settle, it somehow does. This place works on it's own rules, it's own time. She looks so much like her...

His voice is rougher, deeper.]


You've grown.
unset: ~ insomniatic (pic#13453325)

[personal profile] unset 2022-05-29 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ Unable to help herself, she took a step closer to him. Her own voice was soft, strained with emotion she was refusing to give in to. ]

Have I?
simplegestures: (pic#15650118)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-05-29 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
I- [He chokes a little on the words. So tiny and so small. Yet now... Padmé he can see in her appearance. He'll watch her grow and learn and come into herself. Teach her as he can. Love her with that fierce protection.

That much he had known when he had first held her in his arms.]


My last memories were that I'd just brought you home.
unset: ~ insomniatic (pic#13453325)

[personal profile] unset 2022-05-29 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ She can't imagine what he's feeling, though she if she tried... with what Luke had taught her... ]

Then you wouldn't yet know... [ Leia stepped closer and held out her hand, pinky extended. ]
simplegestures: (pic#15650112)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-05-29 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[He glances to the finger. All of hers had not even encompassed one of his fingers before. That tiny vice-like grip of an infant. Symbolic, perhaps. Bail can only imagine that she will have him wrapped around his finger - and he will not mind for one moment.

He shakes his head.]


I'm sorry. I do not.

[Yet he wants to. Wants to know all those missing years quite suddenly.]
unset: ~ insomniatic (pic#13453324)

[personal profile] unset 2022-05-31 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ She barely manages to keep the hurt and disappointment at bay, a smile forced. Another step closer, cautious should he prefer that she kept her distance. A nod to his hanging arm, her other hand held out for him to place his in it, if he wished. ]

May I...? It was...something you and I did often, when I was a child.
simplegestures: (pic#15714816)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-05-31 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[Would that he knew. He would like to rather than to seemingly crush her memories. Something to look forward to for him at least.]

Of course.

[That tender warmth as he extends his arm towards her.]
unset: ~ insomniatic (pic#13453320)

[personal profile] unset 2022-06-26 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ Saying nothing, she takes his hand and closes it into a loose fist, makes sure his pinky stays out and extended. A faint smile plays her lips as she then hooks her own extended pinky around his, their own little pinky promise. ]

A pinky promise.
simplegestures: (pic#15714818)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-06-27 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
And what is it that we pinky promised?

[ He has a suspicion she would wrap both Breha and he around her finger. ]
unset: ~ insomniatic (pic#13453320)

[personal profile] unset 2022-06-27 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
That I would apologize to Niano. I would've rather been digested by a jakobeast.

[ She can't help but smile at the memory as though it were only yesterday. ]

He would tell me I wasn't a real Organa. So I told him straight that he was scared of his father, that he wanted him to like him. He thought that being like his father would make people frightened of him but, really, he was the one who was scared. He never made one decision for himself in his entire life and he never would.

Besides, he was being horrible to everyone and he was rude to the droids.
simplegestures: (pic#15643694)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-06-27 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
[Stars above. He can already see Padmé in her, but also Breha and himself. The galaxy alone knows what a force she will be.]

We can’t have anyone being rude to the droids.
unset: ~ insomniatic (pic#13453326)

[personal profile] unset 2022-06-27 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ Her eyes go wide and she's spreading out her arms. ]

Exactly. That's what I said.
simplegestures: (pic#15650118)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-06-27 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
[A light chuckle. ]

Not all can be wise beyond their years.
unset: ~ insomniatic (pic#13453321)

[personal profile] unset 2022-07-03 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
I would never call Niano wise.

[ Like, ever. ]
simplegestures: (pic#15714803)

[personal profile] simplegestures 2022-07-03 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Stars. Rue anyone who gets in her way.]

The boy takes after his parents, I don’t doubt.