July Test Drive Meme!

[reddosmod]

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]

TDM Questions • Reserves • Taken • Applications • Full Navigation

[Jump to Comments]

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

Comments

[dohaeris]

[lady happily accepts the petting but responds to jinx's rhetorical question with a look that is frankly skeptical. sansa lets out a little laugh––half disbelief, half recognition. of course vi's sister would be like this. she doesn't know what else she might have expected.]

Well, I suppose that proves it; you must truly be Vi's sister, then. That's the kind of stupid thing she would say, only worse. She's been looking for you ever since she got here; she'd never forgive me if I took you to the Dog Keeper without at least stopping by to see her––especially if you get yourself killed by Beasts running off in the Trenchwood without a weapon or your omen.

[sansa's tone is light and teasing. a hellhound actually would actually be a good idea; jinx seems like she needs all the protection she can get, and sansa's a big believer in emotional support animals. but she's not sure the dog keeper will actually hand one off to a new arrival just because she asks for one, even if sansa brings him her usual gift of bits of rope and toys for the dogs. an omen is easier and more immediately useful, anyway. she extracts a needle from a case hanging on her chatelaine and offers it to jinx.]

Why don't you try summoning your omen, first? They're a kind of spirit in the form of a creature––they're a little like another version of you. Every Sleeper has one. They're very clever, they know a good deal about this world, and they're meant to appear when you do the magic here for the first time. Since it's all to do with what kind of blood you have, it might help you to prick your finger and see what it is.

[opheliac]

(stupid? did this stranger just made a remark that what she said was "stupid"? hm. there's a brief moment of stillness and hardness from jinx -- gears turning ever so steadily as to perhaps she should keep an "eye" on this one. for starters, making a comment that anything she says is remotely idiotic is a very wrong move to make. although she has to give this woman credit to be ballsy enough to voice that out. and she should count her blessings jinx has nothing on her bite back (and she has a wolf so nope, she's not stupid).

secondly, she seems to know a little too much about her sister for her liking. and possibly about her too if vi's been yammering on endlessly. and jinx isn't too keen of people knowing so much about her when she knows nothing about them. well... except the obvious things such as: she is a loose cannon and should be feared. this little nugget of detail will be stored in her mind and to be look into later. for now, it's best to just play it cool until she gets her real bearings down of this place.

standing up right and moving away from lady, her eyes trails down to the needle -- listening to the instructions then reluctantly grasps the needle.)

Just prick my finger and boom? — That's it?

[dohaeris]

[jinx stills for a moment, and sansa assumes she's trying to figure out if sansa's connection to vi is genuine or some kind of trap. it's what sansa would do in her place. ignoring it is a safe enough choice. sansa will have to earn her trust. she smiles faintly.]

You'll be able to see what kind of blood you have. That way you'll know what kind of magic you can do to find your omen.

I have Paleblood. My magic is to do with the mind and dreams. My omen showed up when I tried to make bloodstone for the first time, though. I have my own blood gem tool, now, so you could try that too, if you'd like.

[opheliac]

I'll try it but if somethin' happens that I don't like, I'm hangin' you from the ceiling and taking your wolf. — And I'll name her "Shredder".

(what an odd threat but her point still stands. jinx's attention falls back on the needle while rubbing the steel instrument between her fingertips.)

Whelp, here goes.

(extending out her index with her other finger, she pricks herself hard enough to shed blood. the blood that leaks is a weird one; pale blue (with purple of her previous? idk how canon blood + game blood works yet). smoke seems to pour of her chest and shoulders then the black exhaust slowly forms into a shape of a black crow. it flaps -- wings spread wide as if it's finally woken up from a long sleep then perches itself somewhere near to look over at them.

jinx blinks rapidly at the sight of the bird and it stares back; adjusting its wings. she moves her head to the side and it does the same. is this her omen? hm. she wonders if it's the same one that she shot so very long ago.)

[dohaeris]

[sansa laughs. as they are outside the threat is too silly even to be entertained, although lady briefly flattens her ears and looks sternly into jinx's eyes.

sansa watches fondly, her smile widening as the omen-smoke resolves into a crow.]

Oh, a crow! Mine's a raven. And you're a Coldblood, that's ice and fire, and lightning too. It's good for smithing, I expect you'll be able to make very clever things. The first thing Vi said was you were brilliant.

[opheliac]

(as sansa speaks, some of what she says are going in one ear and out the other. she is a little too preoccupied of a crow that literally sprung out of her chest a few seconds ago. jinx tilts her head side to side in a some rhythm fashion at the bird while it does the same thing; mocking her movements in a slight playful matter. hm, on the plus side of this -- it can definitely peck someone's eye out if needed.

and maybe sansa can be the first she'll order it because once she says her sister's name again, her pinks shift yet another hard glance to her direction. her muscle becomes tense and the frown is more established.)

Vi this, Vi that. Her name reaaallly flies outta your mouth all willy-nilly...

(and despite the height difference between the two, it doesn't stop her from getting up and personal in her space. her eyes start at her feet then gradually upward to glue to her eyes.)

Makes one think... — (jinx says this rather slowly before clicking her tongue as she cocks her head to the right of her.) — how close are you with her exactly? Mind fillin' me in, Princess?

[dohaeris]

[sansa furrows her brow, bemused. why is this the question? what is jinx looking for, here? is she...jealous? then surely 'she's like a sister to me' is the wrong answer, here. 'she's my sworn sword' doesn't seem like the right choice, either. sansa doesn't move from her spot, though lady quietly steps forward when jinx does.]

She's my friend. We came out of the ocean together, some time ago. I've been helping her look for you, Jinx. She misses you more than anything. We talk about it sometimes, how much we both miss our sisters.

[she smiles faintly.]

You could call her, if you like, and ask her anything you want. You could ask the omni crystal in your bag, or you could use mine.

[she reaches for a pouch attached to her chatelaine, and retrieves a smooth black crystal from it. she holds it out to jinx.]

Here. You just have to ask it to call Vi.

[opheliac]

(the moment lady takes a step forward, her crown flaps over and perches on jinx's shoulder. it tilts its head at the direwolf then screeches a caw at it. and as for jinx, she doesn't seem at all phased with her new friend being on her shoulder. funny how quickly she got use to its presence but maybe that's the connection with them. not like she knows anything about it.

sansa is saying all of these things but her expression isn't at all letting up. but as she fishes out for this black crystal, this finally takes away the intense glare down to this omni. is she lying? can she be trustworthy? hmmm. carefully, she takes it then holds it up in the air to inspect it a little.)

... So this thing can communicate with everyone here? No matter where they are?

[dohaeris]

[sansa nods. her eyes flick briefly from jinx's to her omen's, her mouth tugging minutely to the side. lady yawns.]

Yes, anyone. I think you have to know their user name, but Vi's is just Vi. Mine is Lady, but my name is Sansa.

[A week ago, sansa would not have been able to say that here, in the open. she draws a breath, but doesn't otherwise move.]

I'm sorry. I would have been suspicious too, if someone had mentioned my family to me when I first came here. You were the first person anyone's asked me to look for that I ever found; I suppose I was excited.

[and the only one anyone actually wanted her to find, for that matter. she has mostly been asked to look out for potential enemies. she tries another small smile.]

Trench isn't like other cities. The people are kinder.

[usually. last month was an exception.]

The Wakers do want to help, truly. They helped me find my home, and set me up as a dressmaker in Cellar Door. I like to help them, when I can. The bag they gave you will have your own omni crystal in it, with everything else.

[opheliac]

Kinder, huh? Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. "Kind" isn't somethin' that's a thing. Everyone is in it for themselves to some extent and when push comes to shove? — They got no problem throwin' you to the wolves.

(she then makes eye contact with lucky with a tiny smirk.)

No offense.

[dohaeris]

[sansa raises her eyebrows, and she grins when jinx looks back at lady.]

I never said everyone here could be trusted, but some people choose to be kind. Not everyone sees the point in throwing people to the lions. It only comes back to bite you in the end. It's much nicer to have friends than enemies. The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.

[opheliac]

Speak for yourself. I've been a lone wolf and I've been doing pretty great...!!

(HAS SHE THO? not... necessarily but she isn't going to show that sansa is right and wise on what she says and jinx is in the wrong.)

[dohaeris]

[sansa raises her eyebrows; she knows enough to know jinx has not been doing exactly great, but not enough to know how not great jinx has actually been lately. sansa imagines jinx's situation is more like hers or arya's.]

I am speaking for myself. I had to become something else to stay alive. I wouldn't want that for any of my friends. Somebody here told me that's it's one thing to survive and another to thrive. I have been able to thrive here, and I would wish that for you, too.