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Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] countryclub2021-07-29 09:49 pm
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(August) 2021 Test Drive Meme

AUGUST 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME
Welcome to our first-ever live Test Drive Meme! Thank you so much for your interest! While our applications and reserves this upcoming round are for Early Access Members only, this Test Drive Meme is to open to everyone - both brand new players and old!

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: Lego face down on beach shore.]
[Image Two: Melting ice cream cone.]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Person screaming underwater.]
[Image Two: Waves crashing on rocks.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Woman on a piano in the middle of the ocean.]
[Image Two: Pirate ship on wave during storm.]

Dates to Remember!

Read our Game Open information here.

Early Access is only applicable to those who played in Deerington from Dec2020-June2021. Public Access is applicable to everyone regardless of whether or not you previously played in Deerington.

August 27th: Reserves open for Early Access Members open.
September 1st: Applications for Early Access Members open.
September 26th: Public Access reserves open.
October 1st: Game officially opens. Public Access applications open.
STANDARD ARRIVAL
WHEN: August
WHERE: The Farther Shores/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

August means colorful streamers and fairy lights twinkling over the Boardwalk, lighting the way. Although Trench is a grim world, there is a distinct summer vacation feeling to the Boardwalk in August. You can smell fried dough and hot dogs being prepared - and no worries! Everything on the Boardwalk is completely free to Sleepers. The workers know it's your first stop and that you, more than most, need a bit of charity right now. Stop by and get a deluxe sundae or ice cream cone at the temporary ice cream booth. Want something besides your welcoming robes to wear? There are a few small shacks selling some solid pirate and sailor-inspired looks. There are also some cute bathing suits for those who think taking a dip in the ocean could possibly ever be fun. Get these summer goods while the going's good. They won't be around in September!

Some people have even set up some crude form of volleyball out on the beach. Join in for a game! The ball is a little leathery and strange to the touch, but it's probably for the best if you just ignore that. Hit the ball around enough and you'll notice that if it gets away from your court, it seems to roll itself towards the ocean. Pick it up again and it's just a ball again! Weird...Just play with the ball and don't ask questions.

The Boardwalk really is a gentle introduction to Trench. It's easy to forget that you just woke up to a hellscape dominated by blood. But hey. The corruption here is low and maybe that's the point. Take it easy while you can, Sleepers. The tide is coming soon enough.
DIFFERENT TIDES
WHEN: WHEN EVENT
WHERE: Among the Rocks in small crevices and caves.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Drowning, crushing bones, intense claustrophobia, flesh eating crabs, possible animal death via burning, possible hallucinations via toxins.


While most Sleepers are lucky enough to wash up on the Farther Shores, not all are so fortunate. The ocean is unpredictable and in this world, the ocean also happens to be a temperamental living creature. Come in at the exactly wrong time and the Pthumerian Mariana might decide to send you on a harrowing course towards The Rocks. Having to wake up while being slammed up against slippery slopes of stone is no one's idea of a good time, and if you're not a strong swimmer, you might die before you even have a chance to realize where you are. Even if you are a strong swimmer, it's exhausting and brutal being slammed against slate again and again. But you're not the only one suffering. There are other Sleepers crashing against the Rocks with you. Maybe you can help each other out before it's too late.

If you have the ability, you can possibly grab hold on the side of the Rocks and cling for dear life. You might even discover the advantages of your newly reborn body and blood sooner than intended. Not too many can clash against the Rocks without spilling a little sacred blood but you might just be able to use that in your favor. Sometimes shedding blood in this world means getting a hell of an adrenaline kick - and you might need it right about now. Maybe you can climb to the top and back to safety?

Not everyone has to take a beating against the Rocks. Some are sucked into the undertide and carried directly inside of the Rocks. There are dozens of small caves and channels. If you're having a genuinely terrible day, you might break the surface of the water in a pitch-black space, with rock above you, rock all around you. There may be very little space between the water and the rocks surrounding you, making it harder to breathe and concentrate and easier to panic in. Cry out and you may get some help. Find your way to one of the open caves inside.

As you try to find your way in the dark, you hear a constant clicking noise all around you. It sounds like rocks bouncing together, clacking, clicking, some plopping into the water near you. You can feel them moving around you and eventually, one drops down onto your shoulder. It's a crab! The little guy is no bigger than a golf ball and he mostly just seems curious. Another little buddy joins him on your other shoulder. Looks like you have some friends! Maybe they are here to help you.

Then you feel a little sharp jab of pain. And another. And nope- these guys are not your friends. They use their small claws to take chunks out of your flesh and eat it. They are easy enough to brush off your shoulder, but the problem isn't their size, it's their quantity. As soon as you get one off, another is falling down. And some are a lot bigger than golf balls. They get as large as basketballs and when those land on you, brace yourself, because they are dense. You'll discover that the crabs seem completely impervious too. They have rock-hard shells and are resistant to blood magic - probably because they eat nothing but blood-and-flesh creatures. But like all living creatures, they do have a weakness or two: fire and light. You can completely stun and paralyze these creatures with a flash of light. The brighter the light, the longer they will be stunned. If you have a light source to carry around, the crabs won't come near you at all. Fire won't stun the crabs, but it does terrify them and will send them fleeing. If you set a crab on fire, you'll see why: it's the only way to kill them.

So congratulations, you have Trench Crabs. Not the best experience, but it's an easier experience for some than others. Unfortunately for Warmbloods, Palebloods, and Vilebloods there's a certain toxin in the crab's flaws that can cause mild hallucinations and confusion in response to your specific blood type. Hopefully, you're stuck with another blood type who isn't affected by the crab toxins. To get rid of the side effects, you will need to thoroughly clean out all of your wounds with warm salt-water.

Let's just hope you can all make it out of the Rocks alive. Good luck.

QUICK FAQ

1. Those whose Patron Pthumerian is Mariana will be much luckier in the waves. Some may even discover that the water urges them towards safer passages. If they ask for direct help, the water might directly respond with immediate help. In the most extreme cases, the water might heal flesh wounds, but it will burn a little. Never a good idea to put salt (water) on an open wound, but hey, better than bleeding out!

This applies to the third prompt as well. 2. Characters can either find their way across the Rocks and climb to the area around the Sanguine Station or wind up at the Farther Shores. Wakers would be quick to help any mangled Sleepers.

3. Other characters can go to the Rocks and try to help save the Sleepers being brutalized. Maybe throw someone a rope or if you have the power of flight you can try and get them to safety.
OVERBOARD
WHEN: Pirates continually sail the Pthumerian Ocean therefore this event could take place at any time.
WHERE: Somewhere beyond the Fishing Zone of the Pthumerian Ocean
CONTENT WARNINGS: Drowning, kidnapping, imprisonment, "human" trafficking, cannibalism.


Some Sleepers don't make it to the Farther Shores or the Rocks. Your body might regenerate in the middle of the Pthumerian Ocean and the only thing in your favor is at least you're not reborn naked here (unless maybe you are - dealer's choice). You're cloaked in some long, white garment - not that it does much against the crashing waves all around you. This is not a great place to wake up! And it looks like you woke up in the middle of the storm only it's not really a storm...This is just the natural state of the Pthumerian Ocean: violent and unpredictable.

Waves crash and pull all around you, thundering through the air, the wind and skies above just as hostile and aggressive. You can't tell if it's raining or if you're just being constantly splattered by the mist and water of waves nearby. Whirlpools spin in gurgling clusters and it's easy to get sucked into them. Thankfully, you're not completely alone in this terrible situations. You can see other Sleepers nearby...And furniture?

Chunks of furniture float by. Couches, mattresses, pianos, bookcases. There is the debris of ruined ships too: flanks of wood, doors that could probably hold two people if you actually tried, masts, barrels, and the like. Might not be a bad idea to try and hold onto some of that stuff. Better than the alternative! Another thing going in your favor is that you showed up in August. The Pthumerian Ocean is a brutal place, but you won't be freezing to death in these waters. At least not this month. But what about where you are? Where you need to go? Well. That's answered for you.

There are few things tougher in Deer Country than the pirates who live by the law of the ocean. Their ships have been coated in blood magic, cutting through waves, navigating the tidal waves and the whirlpools with abnormal grace normal sailors could only ever dream of. But the people aboard are not human. Not anymore. Most have become completely corrupt by the violence of the ocean and they're more than happy to scoop up poor, disoriented Sleepers they find along the way. You'll find no mercy from these pirates. Instead, it's off to the brig with you! The people on the ship have disoriented appearances, looking more like sea creatures than humans, and they have the manners you'd expect from pufferfish and tiger sharks. They cannot be reasoned with - after all, they aren't just rude. They are blood corrupted and some of them are borderline on their way to full beasthood.

Pirates will value Sleepers for their blood and plan to either eat the Sleepers, use their blood for blood magic, or sell them to other pirates and most won't immediately try to kill a Sleeper. They might be violent, but they aren't stupid. Pirates may simply throw you in a cell or chain you up. They may put Sleepers in a cell together or separate them into cages. If Sleepers are especially mouthy, they may make you walk the plank, tied up with heavy chains that will surely bring you to the bottom (if there even is a bottom) of the ocean. Players can choose the severity of the imprisonment of Sleepers and how Sleepers may escape their situation. Maybe they sneak out of bond and steal a lifeboat. Maybe they overpower their captors and kill most of them or throw them overboard and steal their ship. Either way, once they have met some kind of escape, the Pthumerian Mariana will be impressed enough by their hardiness to help guide them through the currents all the way to the Farther Shores.

CODING
sparklehorror: (Happy: shrugs loudly)

"Sir, that's my emotional support Mabel"

[personal profile] sparklehorror 2021-08-02 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
Weeeell, that's what I'm calling it, and I'm only the cutest and greatest.

[To be fair, there was a dubious phone psychic up the line in the Pines family genetics, Stan's capacity for keeping his mind organized into extremely specific compartments is uncanny to the point of fooling a dream demon, Ford has six fingers and Dipper is a natural at exorcising entire ghosts, so like. Man, we don't know.]

Don't worry, though. The people here were ready for us I think! [She points further up the beach.] It's easy to get free food and pants and stuff, when you remember how legs work.
shiro2hero: (no seriously this is an important questi)

YOU'RE RIGHT AND YOU SHOULD SAY IT

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-08-02 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
I like it. Think you should go with it.

[He's serious, too. Maybe not everyone would appreciate it, but there's more than likely a number of people who'd get the sting taken out of the weirdness with a term like that.]

[Though he frowns a bit, turning over the new information.]


Ready for us? They were waiting for us?
sparklehorror: (Happy: Mabel Juice)

[personal profile] sparklehorror 2021-08-03 07:39 am (UTC)(link)
Yup! These weirdos in the white robes even have bags full of our stuff. Kind of like those baskets in Deerington!

[Mabel's welcome bag has a good long strap on it, which is slung over her shoulder. Reaching behind herself, she grabs her bag and holds it helpfully over Shiro's face, so that he may observe its glory.

It is a pink dinosaur.]


My scrapbook was in here! I haven't seen my sewing machine yet, though. I hope it's around somewhere.
shiro2hero: (holy shit what the shit is that)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-08-04 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
[He looks around for a moment, when she mentions white robed "weirdos". Eyes tracking a pair of them walking along the beach. He should seek them out - shouldn't he? Maybe they'll have his armor, or Fluid or something.]

Was there any kind of message in the--

[Pink dinosaur.]

[That. Has to be the greatest bag ever. Even more than the old fawn bag he'd gotten from Sodder years ago.]


And... they just gave you that?
sparklehorror: (Happy: Let me explain you a thing)

[personal profile] sparklehorror 2021-08-06 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah! All us Pines had journal books in ours, but I dunno if everybody gets one or if we're just Like That about journals.

[You can hear the capitalization, yes.]

I haven't looked in mine yet, but brobro had some notes and a map in his!
shiro2hero: (really really tingling)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-08-06 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
"Like that"?

[Oh yeah, we hear the capitals. And he's curious. It's information, if nothing else - something to look out for.]

You found your brother? That's great.
sparklehorror: (Happy: lemme tell you)

[personal profile] sparklehorror 2021-08-06 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
Uh-huh. At first it was just Grunkle Ford and brobro taking notes about everything because they're giant nerds, but they've saved us loads of times now. And my trusty scrapbook helped Grunkle Stan get his memories back when he lost them! It's here too.

[She pats the dinosaur. The scrapbook barely fits in it, but it does. If Mabel were the sort of person to think hard about this sort of thing, she'd likely figure the dinosaur bag is the size that it is explicitly to accommodate the scrapbook. As it is, like a good art student, she merely thinks: Convenient!]

We're all here! We got split up in the ocean, so we had to find each other again, but us Pines all came together.
shiro2hero: (no really i don't get it)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-08-06 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
I'll believe that. We kept a lot of notes about Deerington, too. Helped us more times than I can count. [And what about now? It wasn't a waste, was it?] Keep hold of that scrapbook, though.

In case everyone else's memories are fuzzy.

[Hey, that bag is probably magic, far as anyone here is concerned. It wouldn't even be that much of a surprise at this point, would it?]

[He feels his expression tug in a much less tired smile, though.]


Good. I'm glad to hear that. And everyone's all right?
sparklehorror: (Happy: Things that make you go hmm)

[personal profile] sparklehorror 2021-08-13 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[He doesn't need to tell her twice. Scrapbooking was one of her most prized hobbies even before her summer in Gravity Falls, and she only came to value it more there and in Deerington. She'll be continuing that here in Trench -- and she has no idea yet just how crucial it's going to be to her wellbeing in the long run, too.

Setting aside deliberate time to focus on preserving new memories with her family will be crucial in keeping the corruption in check.]


Yep, we're all okay. We came through the door together and stuff. Next we're gonna go exploring and see if our pets made it here, too.
shiro2hero: (Anyone get the number of that truck)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-08-14 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
[Maybe she'll be able to teach others how to keep that horrible corruption in check. Once they all learn about it anyway.]

Ah... right, you had a pet pig? I'm remembering that, right?

[He's not hallucinating, is he? That's really something they'd talked about before? He's fairly sure it is, anyway.]
sparklehorror: (Happy: Let me explain you a thing)

[personal profile] sparklehorror 2021-08-15 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[Mabel's opinion of Shiro, already quite high on account of he is a great helper who tries hard, launches even further. He remembers Waddles! That means when they talked before, he was actually listening, and cared enough to tuck some of what she said away somewhere in his head. Mabel lights up a little, beaming at him.]

That's Waddles! He wasn't in Deerington, but I hope he'll be here! [Something similar to Waddles will be her omen, in fact, but Mabel hasn't gotten that far yet.] We had other pets there, though. We've got Robert, he's a floating candle with a face, and Yuiko, she's like a witch kind of a thing? She floats too. She used to belong to Ritsuka, so brobro went and got her when Ritsuka went home. The Grunkles have pets, too. Grunkle Ford had a pen turn into a bug once and Grunkle Stan's got Bona Lisa. She's a skeleton rat with flowers all over.





[The Pines household is exceedingly normal.]
shiro2hero: (lowkey wanna die)

1/2

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-08-16 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, you never know. New place, new rules. Maybe... it'll be easier to see faces from home.

[Then he's settling back on his elbows, listening. The way she just rattles off all those names and descriptions like it's no big deal is exceedingly charming. He's about to ask more, specifically about the candle with a face.]

[About to.]

[Then Mabel gets to the last one.]


Bona... Lisa... [He bites his lip. Hard. Oh no. Oh no that pun. To Shiro's credit, he manages to hold onto the straight face for about 30 seconds...]
shiro2hero: (who wants FRO YO)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-08-16 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
[... and then he's just gone.]

[This man, this brick wall of a dorito-shaped human being, has promptly curled up on his side in a position like a cooked shrimp. Laughing. He's laughing so hard, there are legitimately tears in his eye.]


Bona Lisa? R - [Breathe, Shiro.] Really?
sparklehorror: (Happy: huehuehue)

[personal profile] sparklehorror 2021-08-17 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
[Good. Mabel barely knows this guy and even she can tell he probably really needs it. Smugly, she plonks herself right down in the sand, the better to get on his level for the dramatic arm waving this next bit is gonna require.]

Grunkle Stan's suuuuuuuuuuuper great like that. [Probably Stan will continue his dubious artistic ways once they settle in. He's just too much a showman not to. Mabel makes a mental note to get Shiro and haul him bodily to the new museum when it's done, so he can bask in all the puns.] We also have Cordy. She is a plaidypus. If you scare her a little bit she'll shed her whole pelt and that's where flannel comes from.
shiro2hero: (who wants FRO YO)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-08-18 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
[Flannel. Plaidypus. Oh no]

[That doesn't help one bit. If it's humanly possible to laugh harder at a pun, Shiro sure attempts it. There are actual tears at the corners of his eyes, finally for a reason other than regret, fear, or pain. Finally for a reason that has nothing to do with loss.]


You... really? You get flannel from...?
sparklehorror: (Determined: Gonna smack a bitch)

[personal profile] sparklehorror 2021-08-20 06:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep. When she sheds enough of it, I'm gonna make a super great lumberjack dress. If this place has runways you're gonna see my stuff on 'em for sure.

[Mabel had a lumberjack friend in Gravity Falls!! Of course it is only right to dedicate a piece to Wendy's honor.]
shiro2hero: (I'm fine i'm not dying i swear)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-08-22 06:06 am (UTC)(link)
If they don't, I think you need to make some.

[He really, really means that, too. You know, if this place is safe enough for that kind of thing. He has no idea if it is or isn't. Not yet anyway.]

I'd like to see that. Really.
sparklehorror: (Happy: lemme tell you)

[personal profile] sparklehorror 2021-09-02 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
You so super will.

[Some ways after she inadvertently overloads herself on six different apprenticeships and goodness knows how many extracurriculars and needs to be talked down from the ensuing meltdown, but, you know.]

Hey, do you need any help finding stuff? If not I'm gonna get back to my family. There's so much to find out about everything still.
shiro2hero: (wait no i think that's a killers song)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2021-09-03 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
I'll look forward to it.

[And absolutely try to talk her down if the meltdown blows his way.]

[He shakes his head slightly, sitting more upright.]
Don't let me keep you from your family. I've... got to get up and start looking for mine.