countryclub | July Test Drive Meme!

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meme: tdm

July Test Drive Meme!

JULY 2022 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: Colorful paper lanterns shaped like jellyfish lit up and hovering in the air. ]
[Image Two: A person with long hair wearing a crown dedicated with shells and rocks. ]

Prompt Two
[Image One: A GIF of waves breaking roughly out in the middle of the ocean. ]
[Image Two: Strong waves crashing into a lighthouse and rocks. ]

Prompt Three
[Image One: A large Ningen (a sea creature that is half human, half monster, and has no face except for a large slit for a mouth) towering over a deep sea diver. ]
[Image Two: A person standing out on the rocks with their arms out stretched as the tentacles of a large sea monster wave in the air above the ocean. ]

[NAVIGATION]

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STANDARD ARRIVAL

WHEN: August
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A

You're one of the lucky ones. Your journey is smooth sailing and you wind up exactly where you're supposed to: on the Farther Shores. You grow out of your squid body without a hitch, either with the help of another Sleeper or one of the Wakers, and you get to discover this new world. All new Sleepers might take some time to find their bearings. It might be tricky to remember how to use your body parts the way you're supposed to. You might stumble around the beach or forget how to talk - but don't worry! It'll come back to you sooner or later.

Hopefully, you've found something to wear, either in your Welcoming Bag or otherwise, and can start familiarizing yourself with your surroundings. Maybe you help some other squids out on the beach. Waking up sucks! You feel for the little guys. And hey, maybe you're hoping one of those squids is a good friend...Stranger things have happened.

SEASONAL DETAILS ON THE BOARDWALK
This month has an entire festival dedicated to Mariana. The people of Trench seem to be quite enamoured with her, despite her often cruel and unpredictable behaviors. The festival has gone all out with decorations. The boardwalk will be lined with lanterns in the shape of various sea creatures, such as jellyfish, dolphins, seahorses, and (of course) squids! These lanterns will be lit every night throughout the month and will burn through the night. They are bright beacons to a month that is otherwise becoming more and more gray and chilly as time passes.

The people of Trench are also decked out for the occasion. Blues and greens are the popular color choices for outfits, and many people will even decorate their hair with pieces from the ocean. Whether it's with full headpieces that are worthy enough for mermaids or just something as simple as weaving shells into a braid, everyone seems to have something on them that ties them to the sea. There are stalls set up to help newcomers (or oldies who just want to have some fun) decorate their hair as well and face paint for those who want to go the extra mile.

The festival comes with all sorts of celebrations that can be partaken in at absolutely no cost. There are food vendors, though they seem to be short on seafood this month. Likely it's due to the rough seas with waves so treacherous that not even the most skilled of sailors seems to be able to get out into them. They'll remark on how difficult is must have been to swim to shore in those awful waves. So instead of fish and shrimp, there are other sea-dedicated dishes: seaweed salad, noodle dishes made with seaweed broth, caramelized chicken in a fish and ginger sauce, etc. There are also ocean themed desserts, such as cupcakes with blue frosting shaped to look like a great wave. There are games such as dunk tanks, dart balloons, ring tosses, and other typical carnival entertainment. If you can think of it, it's probably there. At the end of the night, there's often a fireworks display over the rolling waves.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

rough seas and high winds

WHEN: Last Week of July, First Week of AugustT
WHERE: Beach and Nearby Oceans
CONTENT WARNINGS: Threat of drowning, severe weather phenomena, Environmental hazards, possible death

For some reason, Mariana is particularly wrathful even as the month begins. Even leaking into the end of the month of July, the sea begins to foam and rage in ways that are almost impossible to imagine. As you stare out int the beachheads, you may see vast waves and surf that would daunt the most professional of surfers. Water crashes into each other in colossal spouts. Waterspouts can be seen as storms occasionally buffet the coastline and just out into the ocean itself. However, the one thing about this chaotic energy is that it is just that, chaotic. One moment the sea may be calm, and the next it is a roiling, seething force out to destroy everyone.

This is, naturally, dangerous for those who are just hapless squids trying to reach shore. They may find themselves inexorably being flung towards sharp rocks and shoals, threatened with being dashed upon the stone near to the coast, or they may find themselves constantly swirling in eddies and whirlpools to the point of near exhaustion. However, they are not the only ones so threatened. Even those on the coast are in near constant danger of being washed right back out to see by an unexpected wave and sudden rip-tide. There are wood planks and other detritus to grab hold of, but it is very much a battle for one's life out there!

The sea's rage, the locals say, is because Mariana is particularly incensed over something that occurred. They do not know what exactly, but many have said that sleepers have felt a particular brunt of this ire lately. For now, it is a game of survival and a constant battle to bring people in safely.

Notes:
-Any natural weather occurrence is possible in the first week of August and last of July. Seemingly impossible combinations may occur (A waterspout in the middle of the eye of a hurricane, almost anything.
-These threats will be upon anyone who is not far enough inland to enjoy the festivities. The beach is not truly safe and sleepers are hustled inland quickly.
-Death is possible, though sleepers who die in the ocean find themselves returning very quickly as squids for some reason, within 24 hours, only to be threatened again before they eventually find shore.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

of monsters in the water

WHEN: Throughout August
WHERE: The coast and waterways
CONTENT WARNINGS: Monster Horror, Possibly Getting Eaten, Threat of bodily harm, Unnatural Physiology, Existential Dread

Something has been dredged up from the deep by the storms that rage. It is said that Mariana not only presides over the oceans, but also the most powerful monsters that dwell within the deep. Some of these, it is believed, may be the remains of Pthumerians whose minds and lives were lost during the hard times before, or the spawn of their mating with things other than humans. Whether these rumors are true, eldritch things have begun to emerge from the depths and darkness, things best left unseen.

Throughout the month of August, it is possible to encounter creatures that can only be described as monsters emerging from the water. With every passing storm, another emerges. Some are as large as small kaiju, while others are closer to human size, and each shares very little in common with the others, save for two particular details. The first of these is that they are all aquatic in nature and bear at least a passing similarity to sea monsters of ancient legend or particularly large and dangerous aquatic animals. Giant cuttlefish, Megalodons, Plesiosaurs, Octopi, Sea Cucumbers, Whales, or any of a number of other sea creatures appear to be their basis. The other similarity, however, is that all are hideously and grotesquely deformed. Tentacles, second rows of teeth, great clawed hands and feet enabling them to walk on dry ground, a thousand eyes all over the hump of a hunchback whale all shooting laser beams in the full moon, almost anything seems to be possible, though the changes are all chtonically horrendous in nature.

These creatures are violent, dangerous, and horrifying to behold. Just looking at them jars the mind and threatens to damage one's psyche while they try to understand what they are seeing. Bones are in seemingly impossible angles, bodies moving in ways that they shouldn't. Just looking at them can cause nausea, vertigo or mental breaks, though the danger does not stop there. They are agents of chaos, seeking to destroy mind or body, on a rampage whenever they reach ground, though they do not delve far into Trench beyond the waterways and beach, almost as if they are prevented by something. When one strays too close, an ominous light glows from the tops of the tallest spires in the city and they are inevitably repelled, but until they are killed or sent back to the deep from whence they came, they remain a threat outside of the city.

[JUMP TO TOP]

CODING

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Silco's fingers curl tight enough his nails press into his palms, and he exhales. "Vander and I," he drawls, sounding almost amused at some personal joke, even as the name in his mouth is hateful, bittersweet. For as much as he tells himself that vengeance helped him heal that old wound, it didn't. Maybe nothing ever will.

"And what did they call me once you became a man, I wonder?" he asks with a tight smile. No illusions about the unrest of his people, the ones who wanted peace or had lost someone to the drugs, the people that the chem barons trod underfoot — an unfortunately necessary hierarchy to achieve his goals. "Not that it matters. We've both found rebirth on these shores."

"In truth? I assumed you were dead for a time," Viktor settles on answering. It wasn't something he was told or even thought of long, in truth, but what happened at the bridge was only ever told in hushed tones of dramatic violence. In Piltover at least, where all the gossip and blame was, unsurprisingly, pinned on violent, criminal undercity element that downed so many brave enforcers. Plenty of memorial elements for months to honor the latter.

Viktor could of course read between the lines of where the true casualties lie, make assumptions from there. "It matters, I'm afraid. Not on matters of moral standing and grudges, though perhaps for some. I mean in this place's tendency to drag up the past and force us to confront, again and again. Secrets are not particularly sacred here."

"I have no secrets," Silco lies airily, as at ease leaning against the damp rock of the sea cave as he would be in his own parlour or the old chair in his little office.

"No, it seems you're simply not of Zaun — surprising, I would have pegged that accent as one of the upper lanes. Piltover, then?" Since everybody in the undercity knew whose name to whisper in fear and thanks. Those who swim alongside the sea creatures respect them, even if Piltover was oblivious to what lurked in the depths.

Viktor can't help it, he snorts at that like it's a joke. He makes no comment at least, feels a familiar unease that he could laugh at. Deeply ingrained both topside and under to recognize people best handled carefully, despite the fact they're both damned squids hiding from a creature that hurts to look at in a damp cave.

"Near Emberlift Alley," he confirms instead. "I was accepted into the Academy as a young man and moved there after. Half a life in both." His eyes settle on the octopus, wondering idly what its name was rather than carefully watching any reaction to that. "I did hear you lived later. Piltover calls you the industrialist, the undercity is more... hushed."

"Then you're Singed's boy," Silco says, matching those details to stories Singed had shared of his former apprentice, mildly surprised that he really is that Viktor, of all the Viktors for there to be here.

The octopus is still very still, a camouflaged predator-prey resting and waiting, not as relaxed as Silco would like to pretend. But a touch more relaxed than it first was, perhaps that mutual acquaintance, or the fact that he is a Zaunite after all (there is, in Silco's mind, no in-between, no halfway point, just people of one city living in the other, present but never accepted.) "The genius scientist." Flattery, just slightly.

That startles Viktor properly, his eyebrows raising before he can try to school his expression. Stupid to be surprised, he guessed Singed must be involved in the creation of shimmer, given what he knew of the man and his visit down. He was fairly certain Rio was used in the creation of shimmer, but it was a fact not worth dwelling on for long. Of course he'd know Silco, who Vi did say was the one to spread it.

In truth he thinks he's more surprised Singed spoke of him at all. It makes him uneasy, as most things regarding Singed and their mixed relationship do.

"... he was my mentor for a time." A fact he refused to even mention to Jayce in the vaguest of passing. Colleagues. Impersonal. "I don't suppose you know what happened to him then. I saw him again recently, the eh... the new nickname is alarmingly fitting." A good question to buffer, because frankly he's a little surprised (and suspicious) of not getting a similar treatment Jinx offered at admitting his move to Piltover.

As he likely should be. Jinx doesn't like to play games, and her worldview tends to be black and white, but her fierce nationalism she got entirely from her father. It helps, of course, that Singed had spoken of the boy, that Silco knows him through his underworld of connections rather than encountering him as a topsider.

There is a part of him that thinks, as important as that distinction was, isn't it irrelevant here? He is still close enough to that life that it feels valuable, but he takes the waters of rebirth seriously, just as he trusts the feeling of connection in knowing each of them crawled up that beach as the same creatures, share now the same blood in their veins.

"I'm afraid he was caught in an explosion. I was only barely shielded from the blast myself. Others died." He doesn't have it in them to feel sorry about it, when that very explosion had given him his daughter. But he isn't going to give away his weaknesses by talking about Jinx to someone he just met.

Viktor's lips thin and he knows better than to pester with questions about that. "And for all his genius he's using dirty bandages and willpower to handle the lingering effects of the injuries," he sighs, unable to keep his tone from giving away some level of genuine concern along with the vague exasperation. "How like him."

He resists the urge to run a hand over his face, just letting his fingers curl tighter around his cane. Also takes a moment to wonder about Silco's eye, now that he knows it isn't from some other odd world. Mutation, he'd guess. Happens, in the undercity.

"Funnily enough, there aren't a lot of sterile medical items to be found where he lives," Silco points out seemingly carelessly. "He's fine. If there's one thing that man knows, it's how to keep himself alive."

"Yet he has everything he needs to make chems no doubt provided to him," Viktor can't help but instantly return with. In some ways it's rather freeing not to feel he immediately has to bite his tongue and duck his head. "But yes, I suppose he does. He's always cared more about his vision than himself or others."

Especially others.

It's refreshing not being kowtowed to — Piltover taught him arrogance, no doubt. Or perhaps he was simply like that. Singed had never feared Silco either, and not just because he was at the man's mercy when it came to Shimmer, not just because Silco had been weak and injured in front of him, but simply a blinkered lack of imagination, lack of social mores, refusal to obedience— traits which Silco had killed over but respected in his allies.

The octopus detaches itself from the wall and, deciding they were doing well enough on their own, floats out to investigate the cave, swimming through the air like it's water, always moving to keep itself subtle and concealed, a prey animal as much as it is a predator. The delicate balance of something in between on the food chain. It's decided to investigate and see if the threat is gone, though it doesn't communicate as much to Silco, simply acting independently. Silco watches it go with bemusement, says nothing. Uses his fingers to comb his hair back into place.

"Funny, that this was supposed to be a new life, and yet two of the first people I meet here are those who knew me — or knew my city, at least. Tell me, is this a common coincidence or have we been granted some special blessing."

Viktor watches it, idly wonders if this meant Silco might recognize his own omen, though in a far different state than the health she has here. Silco not snapping back is what he can only hope is a good thing. More than a few people used to power before this place begrudged the loss, though he supposes those are people like the ones in Piltover, expectant when it came to power. Not the undercity, that didn't hand over anything without a fight.

A pause then, "Ah, you met her then." Good to know. "I've been here for almost six months, and most of them I've been the only person even from a version of Runeterra, let alone the same part of the same city. If there are people from your world they usually seem to be ones you know or have some level of connection with."

"Interesting," says Silco, almost drawls it. He thinks about how Vi woke him from his squid form, about Viktor stumbling upon him on the beach. Perhaps those connections draw them to each other, draw them from the water.

"So who is there, from our cities?" he asks. "You, and the Vi girl, and..?" Trying not to sound too hopeful, knowing if she was here she would have found him already, but asking just in case.

"Now there is only us, as far as I am aware." And here is where he regards Silco for a beat before deciding to share, "For about a month another girl was here. Jinx, was her name. She returned to the sea with Vi, only for Vi to return alone."

He only vaguely knows Jinx and Silco have some sort of connection, one Vi was livid about back in those days past. A large mess he's never been able to get the full picture of and rather doubts he ever will, with how cagey they all are as a rule.

It's doubtless a good thing his Omen is gone because Silco's heart races at that, eyes widening a little as emotion claws up his throat. She was here, but is now gone. Truly worse than if she never had been at all.

"I see." Trying to keep the edge from his voice, which is husky with the strain. At least he was partially right, that she would have found him, known him, spoken to him had she been able to. He hangs his head, suddenly tired, lids fluttering a little. "Well, perhaps she too will return."

What he could really use is a whole cadre of loyalists emerging from the sea, and maybe Singed himself to keep the chem supply running. But that isn't going to happen. If he wants power he'll need other ways to acquire it, and there are different threats, here, that he needs to keep himself safe from.

"Given Vi did I imagine so. Technically she is out there, as a squid. Just not awake," Viktor answers, not kind but factually. It's the truth of the matter, and he tries not to openly assess Silco's reaction. Regardless of any danger the man may possess he does try to respect people's privacy in this place that rarely allows it, often shoves secrets out where they don't belong.

"Her memories may be odd. People come from different points in time, Vi didn't remember any of her time here. I've seen rare cases of amnesia upon awakening, but it ultimately resolves."

"She would remember me," Silco says, voice rough, face shadowed. "I'm her father." Though perhaps if he's lucky she won't remember her own death — or killing him. Perhaps she won't remember finding out he lied about Vi, wouldn't that be sweet? He could have a do-over telling her before it was too late.

Ah. Well, that adds an interesting layer to what little he knows of Vi, of Jinx, of all of it. He can't help but think no wonder Jinx's strong reaction to him, she was apparently a revolutionary's daughter. The revolutionary, after Vander seemed to settle in the aftermath.

"Is it true she stole our prototype for you?" Might as well just ask it. Honestly? He can't help himself anymore, he's tired of how little he seems to grasp of the bigger picture. "That she made a weapon of it?"

The 'our' there draws Silco's attention, pulls him out of his brooding. Viktor doesn't seem like he would simply mean that it was Piltover's technology, that kind of our, but perhaps that's all it is. Or perhaps his genius at the Academy had partnered him with the famous Jayce Tallis. The latter would mean the man truly had potential to be... useful.

His eyes gleam, the good one and the orange, and the corners of his mouth soften with a hint of almost-friendliness. And perhaps a little pride, too, in Jinx.

"Indeed." Lies would only foster suspicion if caught, and there are no enforcers here. No Jinx, either. "Stunning initiative on her part, really. But the weapon was only ever meant as a back up plan for if my negotiations with Piltover didn't go as planned." Which they almost did. He almost had everything.

"What negotiations?" Is the first thing out of Viktor's mouth, unable to bite back a hint of alarm. Negotiations with a weapon built from their technology, and he knew the potential to well to pretend even the most primitive weapon wouldn't be something close to a full scale weapon of war.

More so he's intimately aware with the ingenuity that comes from growing up in the undercity, the skillset one learned from scraps and little in the way of rules and limits. That the council was so easily persuaded a trencher couldn't crack their precious hextech one of the creators was exactly that-

Well, that's for another time. He has much larger things to worry about.

"No need to sound like that," Silco says. "In truth, Tallis was very cooporative. He agreed to everything I wanted: access to the Hexgates, Zaun's independent sovereignty..." A loose gesture, pleased with himself and wondering if Viktor will be too. "Perhaps if I'd lived a little longer I would have seen the dawn of a new age for the undercity." Almost enough to make a man regretful.

"This is after he attacked your factory," Viktor says, the one bit of information he has and, frankly, pretending he knows more than he does. That's really it, he knows Vi was allowed to take the gauntlets, that Jayce made some ridiculous weapon, that Vi said things went poorly. That the council didn't listen, as though they ever would have.

But really in all of that, in all of this, it's that independent sovereignty that catches him. It's obvious in the widening of his eyes, then the disbelief that follows, the careful, flinching thing that knows Piltover well, knows it better than anyone here in the Trench now, really, and simply cannot see it being so... easy.

(Can't really see Jayce wielding his power so effectively, when the man couldn't even stand up to Heimendinger forcing them to hold back their project. Even Jayce's steely resolve the very last time he saw the man, hand on Viktor's shoulder and claiming he'd make sure Heimendinger wouldn't destroy the Hexcore, couldn't be enough for something of this magnitude.

Could it? Is he trying to brace himself for the disappointment of a lie or trying to comfort himself it is lie? The idea of the undercity as Zaun gives him such a whirl of feelings it surprises him. Ones he thought buried with the vague, formless hopes of so many others with the massacre of the bridge.)

Another fact, the man died. Gods, this was a lot to take in. "To be entirely honest I have a hard time believing the council would ever consider such a matter. Jayce is new, he doesn't have that much power, even if Heimendinger supported him." And there's a faint hint of bitterness there. So, it is bracing himself for disappointment.

Edited 2022-08-08 08:48 (UTC)

Jayce he says with such familiarity, and Silco's internal smile grows. He stretches his hands out in front of him, laces his fingers together and cracks his knuckles. "That's not the impression I got when he approached me for parley," he says, and he cannot keep the smugness from his tone, his heavy lids and nonchalant air truly speaking to a man who has no reason to lie.

Perhaps they would speak more, but he becomes aware that his omen has returned, floating into the space and over to him, trilling softly as it butts up against his temple and then settles over his shoulders like a cloak. The phosphorescent ripples over her skin glow like a galaxy, giving them a little light, and with the imparted understanding that the coast is clear, Silco pushes slowly to his feet, shivering at bare toes on the rock.

"Lovely as it was to meet you, Viktor, I think I'm going to find somewhere more comfortable to sit." And maybe better clothes.

"Wait-" Viktor can't help it, he's up and leaning on his cane. Just a cane, no longer the crutch purely due to both the sleeper blood and certain measures he's been able to take. That Palamedes helped him look into, that should be easier still if his plan for his lungs manages to work out.

Speaking of that devil it tries to rear itself, Viktor hastily grabbing a rag and hacking into it with great, bodily shudders. If there's enough moonlight coming in from the entrance of the cave the red staining it will go to a pale, nearly iridescent color. He swallows, irritated as he straightens himself.

"What were his terms, or your terms for that matter? What would this image of Zaun look like?" He knows he's showing his hand far too much, too much interest, but he finds he can't help it. Let the man try to profit off it, or make his assessments through it, all of this news matters more than he thought it would.

Silco turns and regards his coughing fit impassively. "You really are one of us," he remarks: Pilties don't get sick like that, don't need canes unless they're fresh from some ridiculous cosmetic surgery. Viktor's breathed too much of the Zaun Grey, and it pleases him.

"But it doesn't matter now. Zaun, Piltover ... those aren't this city." And he likes having information over someone who could be useful. "Perhaps another time, I'll share my vision with you." If Viktor proves himself worthy, something in his tone says. If he proves he can be trusted.

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mehanizovati - 2022-08-09 09:46 (UTC) - Expand

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