JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME!

[reddosmod]

JANUARY 2023 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: Bloody Candles]
[Image Two: Anatomically Correct Chocolate Hearts in a Coffin]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Woman in restaurant, dressed in pink, surrounded by mannequins.]
[Image Two: Creepy looking mannequin staring]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Hands touching and holding at sunset]
[Image Two: Girl Screaming with her Mouth Fused Shut.]

[NAVIGATION]

TDM Questions • Reserves • Taken • Applications • Full Navigation

[Jump to Comments]

A TYPICAL ARRIVAL WITH A SWEET TWIST

WHEN: Last Week of January through all February

WHERE: The Shores, Boardwalk and throughout Trench

CONTENT WARNINGS: Mild Body horror for arrival, additional warnings for Blood Bonds and the Chocolatier:
* Blood Bonds: Blood ceremony, bodily ceremony, telepathic/empathetic connections, possible forced/coerced relationships.
* Choclatier: Themes of temptation (non-sexual and/or sexual), addiction, blood sacrifice, severely warped personality/reality including temporary amnesia, inability to use body, paranoia, vomiting organs, homicidal feelings, mild body horror.

---

For those who are arriving, they are fortunate. The worst of the ice and chill of the Season of Bone is fading. Any ice flows are breaking up and it is safe for little squidlings to come to shore, wakers present to help them with cups of hot cocoa and heavy robes to ward off of the cold. Nothing, however, removes the almost bleak and dreary state of the world. All of the beach seems washed with a sort of white that remindes the mind of bleached bone. Transformation from squid to the sleeper's natural form is slower, because of the cold, but does not pose any real difficulty.

Warm Food is prepared in the form of stews, complemented by bread that tastes heavily of mushroom. Unlike prior years, no roses are given to the new sleepers, though there are roses found throughout the city of trench. All of them, however, are black as midnight and there is an ominous sense to them should a sleeper think to reach out and pluck the blooms. Should someone do so, they will feel an increased paranoia about their relationships for the next few days and the natives of Trench will give them a wide berth, refusing to sell them anything at the shops and shooing them away, though there is no outward sign of anything being amiss. Whispers in town hint that the Doorway is in a poor mood this year.

Nevertheless, the patron pthumerian of the month can be seen around Trench. Bonding Rituals remain very popular this month and many seek to curry her presence during their rites. She shows no outward sign of discomfort or disapproval, yet there seems to be more blood than usual on her ivory blade as she stands in silent vigil wherever a ritual is performed.

Anyone who yearns for a bit of sweetness that they might associate with the waning chill of winter will find themselves meeting a sudden and disturbing fellow (CW: Some Blood/Disturbing Content in some chocolates. Please check warnings in prompt). The chocolatier, who was seen in past years, still wanders about and appears to any who yearn for a happier time in the otherwise gloom of the month. His offer is simple. A little bit of blood, for a little bit of sweet. What is the harm in it? Why his sweets even have mystical properties to make life interesting!

FAQ:
* The Chocolatier option remains identical to what happened in 2023, and is available throughout the last week of January and into February. The chocolates offered have not changed this year.
* Blood Bonds are available all year round, and the method of getting one is easily learned from any local in Trench, or from a Sleeper. While they can be performed every year, they are more powerful if performed in this month (Player discretion) and the Doorway is more likely to be present to bless them personally.

WAIT FOR ME

WHEN: Anytime in February

WHERE: Anywhere in Trench

CONTENT WARNINGS: Body Horror, Loneliness, Depression elements, Being Trapped in One's Own Body, Psychological Horror

---

Sleepers have been working to put an end to the strange plague afflicting pthumerians. Still, while there has been success, something seems off this month nevertheless. Even if she is not ill, the Doorway appears to be in a foul mood and it is felt by many. There is a moody, brooding sense that permeates the whole of the city, as if something were supposed to happen that did not. It's the awful sense that one gets when they expect to meet up with someone for something important and, without warning, that person does not show and there's no explanation. That light gnawing at the pit of the stomach when worry or irritation sets in grows steadily worse. Is this about someone specific, or a general malaise? It's hard to tell what sets it off. For some, it comes waiting by the coast in the hopes a loved one arrives this month. For others, maybe someone was just busy and ended up late for lunch. It might not even have a visible cause.

Whatever happens, the dreadful reality settles in almost immediately. As they wait, the person begins to feel their body stiffen. It does not feel like the lockjoint disease, but rather a sudden and whole-body hardening of the person. Within seconds, they feel their body solidifying into a state almost like a mannequin. Unable to move, they can feel a dread cold leeching into their heart as they are forced to watch, to wait for whoever was supposed to be there. Why aren't they here? The longer that they are there, the colder that they feel, and if they are in a secluded place it could feel quite perilous. However, no monsters can seem to harm the person, their body nigh indestructible. The frigid state, however, denies them the ability to sleep or even blink, forced to watch the world as a prisoner in their own mind.

Palebloods are somewhat fortunate in this state. All palebloods trapped this way find themselves able to telepathically communicate with loved ones or people close, regardless of distance. Their voices, however, are always in a state like the wail of a ghost regardless of their mental state. For anyone else, they can manage to mentally connect through the network to plead for help using an omni on their person, though only in Text form until they are released. So, at least they are not trapped without escape, unless by chance they forgot their omni, but you wouldn't be so foolish as to leave home without your phone would you?

HOW TO CURE THE CONDITION:
Several options exist. Anyone with a "Blade of Mercy" (a gift given last February) could use it to sever whatever connection caused the person to feel like they are waiting, though that might very well sever the emotional connection entirely! The very person that they are waiting for could arrive, in which case a kiss (on the cheek, on the lips, gallantly on one knee to the back of the hand. Whatever works for you!) or an apology for tardiness should suffice to warm the heart. If there is no source, or if that person cannot arrive (or chooses not to), any friend or even new acquaintance can try to help the person not feel quite as alone in their waiting through some reasonable means. Any cure-all for corruption will also help with this condition.

The locales do not have any idea officially how to cure the condition, but they may suggest some of the above simply because it seems helpful at the time. At the worst, the condition does eventually fade with time.

FAQ:
* This can happen in a public location, or entirely remote, wherever you wish.
* The above "Cures" are not exhaustive. Any reasonable act that establishes or re-establishes empathy for the person trapped will cure them.
* Paleblood Telepathy is not limited by distance. However, non-palebloods must have their omni on their person in order to mentally link to it.
* This condition does not lead to death, but if allowed to persist is a reasonable source of higher corruption.
* If untreated, it will usually clear up in a couple days, or at most a week. If a player wishes to use this as a form of hiatus in February, they may, in which case it can last all month.

YOU TAKE MY BREATH AWAY

WHEN: The First Week of February

WHERE: Anywhere in Trench

CONTENT WARNINGS: Choking, Asphyxiation, Body Horror, Dependency, Possible Death

---

Self-reliance is a powerful tool in the city of Trench. You have to be able to take care of yourself, lest the dangerous elements on the fringe of the city overtake you and claim you in the night. Right?

The Doorway could not disagree more. To her, people depend upon each other. Corruption is only cleansed through the presence of others and conversation, connection. Cures and potions are, in her thought, unreliable. Even going to the Blood Ministers is more of a last-ditch effort when all else fails as she sees it. Sometimes? People need a little gentle reminder, a push to get them to rely upon each other more. Unfortunately, what a Pthumerian considers a gentle push to be tends not to be so gentle.

It happens at random, though it seems to happen most of all when it involves people who might not want to be close. You come into contact with a person, and just as you start to speak, you feel your throat throttle. It is like there is an invisible noose around your neck. No visible rope exists, but the air is cut off. You double over, gasping for air that will not come. Even if you don't or can't breathe you find yourself choking like a flopping goldfish out of water! As you reach out for help, you can see to your horror that the person you are trying to meet is choking too! What do you do? There is only one cure to this situation. You have to get to the other person quickly. There's still time. Maybe you can find some sort of solution if you get there. Deep down, you know you just need to be closer.

The moment that the two choking sleepers make contact, they will be able to breathe. The relief of oxygen entering the lungs comes instantly, though there is a problem. Any time you break contact, you begin to choke again. So long as you are able to stay in contact, you're safe but any attempt to break that contact is potentially life threatening. There is no solution other than to hold onto each other, hold hands, whatever it takes to maintain contact. For how long you ask? Oh, for at least an hour. But it's not like anyone's actually going to give you a timer on this. Will you just put up with it, or will you keep experimenting only to be choked repeatedly.

FAQ:
* Anyone can be affected by this, no matter physiology. It defies magical powers, biology and even blood powers.
* The effects last no more than 6 hours at the absolute max and most of the time it will end within 1 hour.
* Effects will cease when the two participants go to sleep (No accidental chokings). As a result, the effect will always start at least an hour before you might normally go to sleep.
* Yes, you can choke to death if you want.
* There is no knowledge of the effect amongst the locals and no warning about it, so there is no real warning on how to "cure" this other than the compulsion to get close to the other choking person and trial and error. Or Patience!
* No, the Doorway isn't sorry.

CODING

Comments

[ezra_of_lothal]

It's Ezra who pauses, this time, staring towards the tea house he'd been leading them to, a little ways down and across the street.

"You make it sound so simple," he says, eventually, in soft, pained, but relived wonder. So much of the insecurities, over thinking, tense conversations - the whole knot of it that he's worked himself into since Kanan died, cut clean through with his master's easy assurance.

[decentsort]

"Becoming a Jedi Knight doesn't mean the work is done," Kanan says, "Far from it. You have far more work cut out for you than before. It means you have the tools and maturity to do it."

He smiles. "It is simple, Ezra. It isn't easy. We were going through incredibly difficult times. That forced you to face many lessons faster than they would have pushed you at the temple or on diplomatic missions, before the war. Perhaps some of the Jedi Masters would have told me off for knighting you so young, but one, they weren't there, two, they didn't know you, three, they kinda fucked up big time in the end, and four, well, look at you, you've definitely gotten older."

Oh yes, Kanan definitely would've gotten in trouble talking like that to the Jedi Council. He got in trouble all the time in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. That's just him.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra's brain does stutter a little, at Kanan calling out the masters who are (mostly) not here. He's a little curious what Kanan may believe the elders and leaders of the Order should have done. But it's a fairly useless debate, and he knows Master Yoda and Master Kenobi would agree with Kanan, if in not so many words.

"I know the learning and work is never over," he agrees, fimrly, instead, drawing then across the street. "That's part of why I've felt...a little silly, wishing for, well. Some sort of sign. Something. At some point."

[decentsort]

They're close to the tea house. Kanan can smell the tea and hear the conversations. He doesn't want to cause a scene that embarrasses Ezra (mostly), but he hears the little bit of that lost boy they found stealing their stolen crates that first day on Lothal in that longing, that uncertainty, that sense that perhaps he's wishing for something he shouldn't even wish for.

Kanan pulls his arm away to spread both arms wide in front of Ezra. It draws some attention but not too much, so far as he can sense. His voice stays quiet, for all it's boisterous and teasing.

"Here's your dead master walking out of the sea to find you frozen as a statue and bringing you back to yourself," Kanan says, "I don't know how much more of a sign you need. If this isn't it, you're never going to find it."

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra has felt very much like that kid, on and off, lately, wondering at times if he's always been fooling himself. The more ties he has, to the way things once were, the more aware he has been that he does not, in many ways, fit the mold of a Knight of the Republic.

But then, he never would been that. Never could be. Shouldn't be.

(Obi-wan had tried so hard to get him to see, really see, as much.)

Ezra laughs, full and bright. "Ok. Yes." Another, softer huff. "Have tea with me, Master. And we can talk about suitable 'nothing fancy' for here, yeah? Any other last bits of advice you just have to get in there," he continues teasing, before adds, more thoughtfully, "While I think about making a call or two."

[decentsort]

"We're definitely not on Lothal anymore," Kanan murmurs. That part of his plan is out.

As for advice. He smiles, soft and warm, "Always listen to Hera, even though she isn't here. Have a question? Think to yourself, What would Hera say?"

Kanan enters the tea house, navigating between tables to find one relatively private by feel in the Force, and sits. It's been... a long day. One day. Being alive is a lot, and being a wise Jedi Master doesn't come with a guidebook of wise sayings.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"You know," Ezra muses, as he slides into a seat. "I don't ask myself that often enough."

How much frustration could he have saved himself, with more of her sort of clarity? Recalling that her commitment had been tempered by the knowledge that sometimes that dedication means walking away from what's not working, or simply distance from the ones you love the most?

He clears his throat. "No Jedi temples here, no. But it is my home, now."

[decentsort]

Kanan's still smiling slightly, thinking of Hera. There's a soft hurt too, to be separated, with all that they'd been through and all they could have gone through together. Kanan still doesn't know how the Rebellion goes. That's not the point of this visit. It's in other people's hands.

"You don't need a Jedi temple to be a Jedi, Ezra," Kanan says, "Only somewhere sacred, somewhere special, to you and to your home." Trench. This place. Kanan might be able to find places that fit if he tried, but Ezra's been here. Kanan trusts his judgment.

"Got anywhere for me?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

It only takes him the space of a breath or so when he really thinks about it.

"Yeah. We call it the Sanctuary. It used to be a monastary for the Moon Presence. Then abandoned. Some of us have turned it into a, um, community center. Soup kitchen. Infirmary. And there's a tree there, that keeps corruption at bay. I meditate there, pretty often."

[decentsort]

The Sanctuary sounds a lot like what the team of the Ghost contributed to on Lothal as best they could, especially before the worst of things. Providing food and medical supplies. Perhaps more providing the supplies so people could do all that. Kanan likes it plenty. The 'we' that includes Ezra also makes it fit right, and the meditation.

"Sounds like a good place," Kanan says, "I'd like to see the tree after we have tea." He winks, so to speak, clearly making a pun on the word see.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I...might be able to actually show you," Ezra offers. "I send and receive sense impressions from my animals friends regularly, so-"

Just a thought.

Another beat of hesitation. "Would you rather it be just us?"

[decentsort]

"So I could get their visual impressions," Kanan finishes. He thinks it over. The last visual memory he has is of Hera's face. Does he want to add something to that? Is it disrespectful? Kanan coughs, almost laughing at the What would Hera say? thought, which would probably be a solid smack upside the head.

"Yeah, I'd like to see that," Kanan says, "It'd be nice to see that meaningful of a place to you." Even through the eyes of another. Humbling, for it to be through an animal's eyes instead of his own.

Kanan focuses on Ezra intently. "Did you invite Master Kenobi already?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

He catches the flickers of shifting emotion, although he's less certain of the thoughts that go along with them, but even so, he can tell - his master is having a bit of a dumb moment, and got over himself. Which makes Ezra grin and flare amusement into the Force.

Then he makes a slightly chagrined face at Kanan's question. "Look, I'm not going to pretend I couldn't just...telepathically give him a head ups, because I probably could." Even here, where they are both more hesitant to touch their connection in the Force, and more guarded, Obi-wan has tracked him from across town before.

"But he's kinda a private guy. I can call him on my comm." He hesitates, because Kanan's response wasn't a yes or a no. "But if you'd rather this private, I won't."

[decentsort]

Kanan smiles for a moment but focuses on the Obi-wan Kenobi question. Yes, the Ezra simply calls him Obi-wan because they're that close question. It's still something of a double take at times. Get used to it. Go what? Repeat.

"I appreciate you asking first," Kanan says. He rubs the back of his head. "If you'd already asked, without checking in, I wouldn't have wanted him there. Not because of him. Because I'd have been upset with you. With... it not being something discussed between us, master and padawan."

He never got this with his master. Depa died to save his life. The Force knighted him, in the form of the Jedi the Grand Inquisitor used to be. It lacked any of this decision making. The temple of Lothal collapsed around them. So it matters now that Kanan's involved, even when he lets Ezra make most of the decisions.

"You're ready to be a Jedi, Ezra. It's a formality," Kanan reaches for Ezra's hand, "It's means a lot that I get the chance to knight you. I gave that up, and now I get to."

He sighs.

"I really hope you were listening to that and not just waiting for me to say yeah, Ezra, invite him."

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra takes Kanan's hand and curls his around Kanan's.

"I'm listening," he protests, softly. His hand tightens a moment. Oh, this is hard.

"I understand. But there's something I need to tell you. I don't think it's right for you to not know, before I call him."

[decentsort]

That's the moment where someone would say I have a bad feeling about this. Except Kanan doesn't quite have a bad feeling about it, so much as a sense he's—

intruding.

He's the one intruding here, somehow. It's an odd feeling, after reuniting. After all this. Kanan accepts it and trusts the Force. Perhaps this is why he isn't meant to stay after all, not because he's dead but because he isn't meant to be here.

"I'm listening," Kanan says.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"It's complicated," Ezra warns, wryly. "Or - I bet I'm over complicating it."

"Temba. My first stop on the multi-verse go-round." He blows out a breath.

"There were three of us padawan age and level, there. All of us from after the Republic became the Empire. Obi-wan got there a little before I did, and went out in the wilderness for like, a solid month, and came back determined to be - to be Jedi Master and High Councillor Obi-wan Kenobi. He and I talked about what happened to you. And what happened to Anakin. And we agreed there's no such thing as replacing people we lost, but that we could go forward as master and padawan. I thought - if..if the Force kept us together long enough, we might, um, both eventually be ready for him to knight me."

A beat. "But that's not what happened. And then I was here and he didn't know me at all. Hadn't yet, then, even experienced the end of the Clone Wars. He was kind, and made it clear we're family as Jedi, and he's been a teacher, yes, but it's not exactly the same. He's...a different man shaped by different circumstances. And absolutely not, now, in a place he felt he could just, well, knight me."

[decentsort]

Kanan listens.

"Obi-wan number one, your master who didn't replace me. You didn't get to knighting time. This Obi-wan, who is number what, at least two but maybe three, is family, not master, and definitely not comfortable knighting you.

"Damn Ezra, you're really good at collecting masters who haven't knighted you."

Kanan laughs.

"So you want him there as family and somewhat of a representative for himself, the master who might have one day knighted you, but you lost him too," Kanan says more seriously, "Sorry you've had shit luck with us, but you're a great Jedi, Ezra."

[ezra_of_lothal]

"This is why you turning up and just being like, oh, you're ready was a bit of a shocker!" Ezra replies, also laughing.

"Yes, it is Obi-wan number three-" He shakes his head a little, still smiling ruefully. "He was on Tatooine when I was 17. I very nearly died out there, he found me, put me to rights, told me what I needed to hear to get my act together and come home and he killed Maul. I'm not sorry I didn't tell you; he didn't even swear me to secrecy or anything. It's just...that's where he was supposed to be."

He nods, firmly. "So, yes, for all those reasons - I would like him to be there, if he's willing."

[decentsort]

Kanan... facepalms for reasons unrelated to knighting Ezra Bridger.

Obi-wan Kenobi alive and well on Tatooine, and his apprentice knew about it while he was alive. Kanan could have used Obi-wan's guidance! Kanan could have! It could have changed so many things, so many things for him. Yes, everything went how the Force willed it. The Force didn't will Ezra to keep his lips sealed and keep Kanan and Obi-wan apart.

Kanan had so many questions. They're useless here.

"Ezra," Kanan says the way he's said it hundreds of times before, sometimes teasing, sometimes serious, always exasperated. "I would have gone to Tatooine. I wouldn't have dragged him off into the war. I—

"Why did you make that decision for me? Do you understand—"

Kanan stops talking. He nearly gets up to pace, but they're in a tea house. He takes a sip of tea but doesn't taste it. Thousands of moments overlap, of Kanan Jarrus across the years opening the Jedi holocron to Obi-wan Kenobi's message, broadcast the way Caleb had asked if it were possible. Wanting answers. Wanting anything.

It had been on the beach. Kanan picks it out of his bag, places the holocon on the table, and opens it with the Force. It plays the message again.

[ezra_of_lothal]

He knows that message by heart. He's told Obi-wan, here and now, about the moment Ezra open this holocron, while he was alone in an Imperial cell. Kanan is always and forever his master, but this moment has always shaped Ezra as a Jedi, too.

"I know." He says it with warmth and understanding, unruffled by his master's frustration. "But if even a hint that my trip hadn't been a bust got out-" He shakes his head. "Senator Organa lied to keep him and mission hidden, too, by the way. Bail absolutely knew where he was."

"Besides - Master Kenobi told me that everything I needed, I already had. Do you really think he would have told you much differently?"

[decentsort]

Kanan hears the message. He hears the message for the first time and returns to Coruscant anyway, almost all the way there—stole a ship to do it and everything. Kanan remembers all the painful emotions, emotions he still hasn't ever gotten answers to. You don't always get answers. He knows that. Sometimes you can't. He cannot ask Depa any questions. He couldn't. Kanan could have asked Obi-wan, and he believes Obi-wan would have said something more. At least back there, not here, not in Trench.

He takes another sip of tea. That's not why he's here.

Even one with the Force Kanan still carries some wounds. That's good to know.

"It's too late to know now," Kanan says. He's not quite at peace with the issue, but he can set it aside. It's not for today. It's not for this.

"Invite him, if he's willing. I'm not going to grill him or anything," Kanan says.

Action ---> [video]

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Thank you." He squeezes Kanan's hand again, before he uses his other hand and a bit of the Force to pull his Omni out from his bag, drop it to the table and flip it on.


***

[First things, first, sounding chipper, rather than anxious, for once-]

Hey, Obi-wan. Are you busy?

[jedies]

No, though I suspect I will be now. How may I help?

[ezra_of_lothal]

[...ok, that assumption that he needs something is fair; usually when he just wants to talk, he goes home. Still brightly-]

Oh, this is more social call than emergency.

[But there is a bit of a time limit and more than a little emotional weight here, so, tiny breath to steel himself to stay outwardly calm and even, rather than rushed-]

Kanan is here. But he won't be for long. We've...gotten some closure and decided on a small knighting ceremony at the Sanctuary. I'd like you to be there. Will you come?