countryclub | September 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME

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meme: tdm

September 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME

SEPTEMBER 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME

OUR GAME IS OFFICIALLY OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ON OCTOBER 1st.
Reserves open on September 26th. Applications open on October 1st.

Welcome to another Deer Country 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: Skeletons running across the beach and crashing into each other.]
[Image Two: Apples being dipped into caramel and put on a sheet.]

Prompt Two
[Image One: A sketchy film reel of a well.]
[Image Two: An undead girl crawling up the side of a well with contorted movements.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: A massive whale bursting out of water to eat something.]
[Image Two: The inside of a whale's mouth filled with water and the back of its throat.]

[NAVIGATION]

TDM Questions • Reserves • Taken • Applications • Full Navigation

[Jump to Comments]

STANDARD ARRIVAL

WHEN: End of September to mid October
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
The Boardwalk is quite the spectacle this time of year. Pumpkins have been stacked on spikes lining the Boardwalk with grotesquely realistic carvings of faces decorated on them. Massive white linen has been hung in the air to look like ghosts floating back and forth against the ocean wind.

Delicious smells waft from the Boardwalk as fresh donuts, candied apples, and hot apple cider are sold at every other booth. One or two booths are set up offering Face Painting, Natives explaining to new Sleepers that face paint was integral to the survival of Trench sometimes - especially during the month of October. "We do it to disguise ourselves from roaming spirits and hungry beasts."

You hear rumors of something known as The Black Parade coming soon and there seems to be a festive buzz about the event. The weather has gotten a little too chilly to enjoy the beach in bathing suits, but there are other ways to take a bit of a break before committing your life to the terrors of Trench! In the evening, natives will go out to the beaches and set up cozy bonfires in clusters. They will throw in batches of incense to keep the beaches safe and fill the air with the warm, comforting scent of cinammon. Smores are generously enjoyed around these fires. Stick around and you will hear some natives telling stories about Legendary Ghosts. They might ask you if you know any stories like that too.

But of course, they give a caution about ghost stories: "Careful. You'll never know when you'll start living a ghost story yourself..."

WELLNESS

WHEN: Always - this monster permanently exists in Trench
WHERE: Near the Wayward Station in a Well
CONTENT WARNINGS: Bodily contortion, nail trauma, being trapped, possible drowning, "child" appearing monster.

You are pulled beneath Trench and into the currents that circulate throughout the city. You are jostled through the complex sewage system or waterways and get tossed between the stone tunnels until finally you're spilling down into a deep, deep well. You hit the still water at the bottom, easily a hundred feet down, and everything is finally quiet. The water here is quiet and still: nothing like the hurdling ocean water and channels you were pulled through. Up above you can see a perfect circle of light: the opening to the Well.

Another soul is plopped out next to you. Perhaps a familiar face or someone you've never met before. It's good to know you're not alone. Still - how to get out? There's some low pressure in the Well weighing down on you, but more than that, the pressure seems to dull abilities almost completely. You can't just fly out or zoom up the walls as you might normally be able to. The walls are made out of wet cobblestone and they are slick and difficult to get a grip on. You're sooner to destroy your nails than make it even halfway up. And it's a long way up.

Maybe there's something around you that might help? Being thrown into the Well at least comes with the benefit that your Welcoming Bag is floating in the water with you. Maybe there's something useful inside or you can use your new Omni to send a distress call. Or use your Omen to try and help someone find out where in this godforsaken place you are.

Your Welcoming Bag isn't the only thing floating around in the water with you. A human skull bumps into you before sinking down under the water. Something slides through the water beneath your feet, wisps of hair glancing over your ankles.

Suddenly the heavy sound of stone sliding against stone comes from above. Someone is sealing up the Well. Your light is running out and just as the last sliver of light casts across the water, you see a humanoid-looking creature peering at you from the other side of the Well. Then everything goes dark.

Torn fingernails rip across your arm and you're yanked underwater. The moment your blood surfaces, even just a drop of it, you're revitalized with your power (if you have any). For those who are warmblooded and common, you will find that you can suddenly at least see in the dark almost perfectly. You can also see a distinct pattern along the stone wall that could be more easily climbed than anywhere else. Now the challenge is to just try and get there.

The girl in the Well with you is violent and ferocious. She will try to drown you or break your body as quickly as she can and will use the dark and the water against you. She cannot be killed, but she can be temporarily stunned and thrown back. Once you begin climbing, she's quicker out of the water, crawling up the wall after you in spastic, contorting motions. The only true way to stop her is to get out of the Well and seal it back up. You realize that whoever had originally closed the Well wasn't doing it because of you...They were doing it because of her.

If you fail to seal the Well afterwards, the girl in the Well will haunt you. She will endlessly stalk people and drag them down into the waterways of Trench. She travels primarily through water and must be confined to the Well or else. The Well is located in the Trenchwoods close by the Wayward Station.

SWALLOWED

WHEN: Can happen any time someone goes too far out into the Pthumerian Ocean
WHERE: Middle of the Pthumerian Ocean
CONTENT WARNINGS: Being swallowed alive, travel inside a beast, possibility of killing a beast, organ-centric horror.

Like many Sleepers, you might get swept further out into the ocean before you're swept towards the Farther Shores. It's not the ideal scenario and immediately puts you in a vulnerable position. When you break the surface this time, you're in the middle of an unusually calm ocean. Where are the waves? Where is the commotion of the ocean? Although you're completely alone, you don't feel alone.

Pressure is building up beneath you. Something is coming towards you. You can feel the water beginning to churn about and you need to start swimming. Now. Still too disoriented from reincarnation, you probably don't have enough sense of self to use any sort of powers to get out of the situation. There's a tremendous roar, and suddenly, the world is going dark all around you, walls of red coming up on every side. Massive white stones jut out at you and it takes you a moment before you realize what's even happening.

A monster is about to swallow you whole. It's significantly bigger than you to the point where you've washed down its throat without a single injury. You don't even know what swallowed you, but you're sliding down the throat and through its body within seconds. You somehow get tossed to a strange part of its body and land on a fleshy surface and discover you're not the only thing this creature has eaten. Other Sleeper(s) are nearby, and maybe even some pets, all more shocked than hurt.

Looks like you've been had. But it's far from the worst. Everyone's okay and there doesn't actually seem to be anything inside of the monster that's interested in hurting you. Avoid the stomach acid and figure out the insides and you might actually just make your way out of the creature without incident. Most of the monsters who swallow Sleepers don't seem to even realize what they did, and you can usually find your way out the way you came in. Along the way, you might discover some other interesting things inside of the body such as swallowed ships with interesting resources, some of your items from home or other people's homes...And of course, you'll probably find a lot of skeletons of creatures swallowed long before you. Not everything can figure their way out of a massive creature.

You can always hack your way out of the creature but that's gory and tough work. These are behemoth beings and even cutting your way out won't necessarily mean you killed it - but it probably does mean you're going to really piss it off. Then again, it's so big, will it really even bother to fight back?

The situation can be admittedly disgusting. There's nothing fun about swimming up a creature's bloodstream or having to navigate its intestines. Some creatures are bigger than others, making the journey far more complicated. Others are smaller, easier to escape. If you upset someone's stomach, you might even just get puked up and that might be one of the simplest ways to get out of dodge.

The monsters can look like anything and be nearly any size. The Pthumerian Ocean is massive and contains massive beasts and lesser Pthumerians. Once your character has gotten out of the beast, they will find that they are much closer to the Farther Shores. They might even wind up beaching the creature they're in if they're really lucky! Navigating the creatures isn't too unlike navigating a complex cave. The only difference is the walls around you are some sort of organ.

CODING

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He raised his eyes to look at the sky, then down at the ground again. It was a lot to take in.

"They talk like they have magic here too. I guess it's real after all. We don't really have magic in my world, just genetic powers. We call them Quirks."

Not Quirks or their mutations or whatever, but actual magic. If they didn't have hero school here, did they have... magic school...?

"Thank you, Luz-san. You're already one of those people helping me. At least this isn't a deserted island or something. We even have phones, sort of."

She'll bet it was a lot to think about.

"In my actual world, magic isn't something you can do, not like the other world I wound up living in by accident. Lucky for me in this world that I can, but that's sort of irrelevant if we have magic by blood now."

His world sounded interesting, though she wasn't sure how she felt about powers being genetic. That meant you could never have any at all if you weren't born that way.

"Oh trust me, you'll like this place WAY more than the last one where some of us lived. Less monsters, less nightmare fuel, the ground isn't opening up, it's better all around."

So she had technically grown up without magic until later. He could understand. The way she described finding herself in another world by accident, it must have been very new to her, and so sudden. Not unlike All Might choosing him as his successor. Midoriya was one of the few not born with a Quirk, and he was made fun of for it. (Also because he never stood up for himself, but he couldn't be blamed for that.) Then things got... complicated. But though he was in uncharted Quirk territory, he didn't regret his choice to secretly inherit One For All.

"You mean less earthquakes?"

Yup, if they talked about it they would find quite the similarity in how they'd come to be the people they were now: doubtless they'd both done everything they could to get stronger, and this boy was very quickly becoming fascinating to Luz.

"Um. Well. Earthquakes tend to be a little less devastating than what was happening to the two, but that is the best thing to describe them, yes! Honestly, it's really lucky I can fly. Now that I think about it, what are YOUR hero powers?"

"Fly? Oh that's so cool! True flight is uncommon."

He could count the number of people he'd met who could fly on one hand.

"My Quirk is super strength." It wasn't, but that's what he'd registered it as with the government and his school, and it's what he and All Might told everyone. Even his mom. Only a handful of people could be trusted with the secret of One For All.

"But tell me more about your flying, how does that work?"

Midoriya was so curious, his hands unconsciously mimed holding a notebook and writing in it. His classmates always saw him whipping out a notebook when he learned a new cool thing about someone's Quirk. Of course, other than his hero costume, none of his possessions had arrived here with him.

"Oh, I guess what you're describing is not exactly what one could call true flight. You mean actual flying with your body, right? Technically, I can only truly due that in one way, and even that's more-well, let me explain."

She wanted to talk more about that strength of his in a moment, but since he'd asked her this specifically, she knew she was going to have to demonstrate. Luz gestured to the staff in her hand.

"This is my mentor's staff, what's known as her palisman sits on top. The palisman can come and go when it wants, but when it's on top of the staff, it becomes one with the staff, and gives me the ability to fly on it, like, say, a witches' broom!"

Which was, in Luz's estimation, pretty fun!

"But the other way is, well, this."

She went into her cape and pulled out a small cowboy hat. She then put the staff down and placed the hat on her head. Luz's body disappeared and was replaced with a crow that was flapping it's wings wildly. It circled around Midoriya a moment before coming down on the ground and then, using its wind, sweeping the hat off. Luz was back in her body, hat in her hand.

"See? Technically, not 'true" flight, but still able to fly!"

He stepped back in case she needed plenty of room for takeoff. He beamed as he watched Luz the crow circle around him. He waited until she landed to speak again.

"Amazing! So your hat and your staff are like your support items!"

He glanced over at the rest of the Boardwalk, but other than a few pleasant exclamations of surprise, no one was coming over to reprimand her unlawful use of powers on public property. Given that Midoriya was now in another country, he supposed the rules were different here than in Japan.

Luz was far from graceful as she landed, but she at least managed to not fall all over herself. When she righted herself up she gave a little bow, grinning.

"Thank you, thank you! Yup, that's pretty much what they are! Not as cool as having the powers be innate, but I like them!"

She did note, however, Midoriya looking around.

"What happened? Did you spot someone you know?"

Midoriya had less than a child's understanding of the Quirk given to him a few months before his first year of high school. Considering that, he was the least qualified to judge anyone on their flying grace. His classmates had had their Quirks since they were kids. They had spent years familiarizing themselves. When his classmates were learning to apply their Quirks to hero work, he was just learning how to make a move without hurting himself.

"Ah, no. It's just that I wasn't sure if cutting loose like that would get you in trouble here. Back home, using Quirks on public property is prohibited for safety reasons."

"Ah. Well, trust me, that won't be a problem here unless you're directly messing with something of somebody else's. The thing that they probably would be looking at is what you do with blood. Any kind of magic tends to have something to do with blood. Luckily, my glyphs don't, so I can just use them without any repercussion!"

She gave him a look. "Oh, now that I think about it, do you know what kind of blood you have?"

Blood?? He could already feel himself breaking into a nervous sweat.

"I-I'm type O. Some locals asked me, but I didn't want to just tell them. I thought it was because they had blood Quirks or something." Luz was hardly less of a stranger, but whatever, it counts!

Of course, he was entirely wrong about what people here meant by blood type.

Luz snickered a moment, but held her hand up.

"No Midoriya-kun, I'm not talking about your blood type. When you were brought here, you were pretty much reborn, like most people were, and that means you have blood in you that fulfills different things, considering what kind you have. Let me show you."

Luz looked at the ground a moment, then found a piece of glass and, with wince, cut her arm and sprinkled a few drops onto one of the blank papers she used to draw glyphs.

"Bring the paper to your nose, and sniff it. What do you smell?"

"Hey, wait--!"

Too late. Cutting herself with something off the ground? Did she want to die of an infection?? He snatched the glass away and tossed it on the ground. He was wearing gloves, so it didn't hurt him.

"You don't know where that's been!!"

He was only used to seeing someone hurt themselves in training or combat. He was also being a hypocrite: In his first days of high school, most of his injuries were due to his release of too much power--on purpose.

"I have disinfectant. And it smells like--milk?" ...What??

Luz watched him with a little amusement. Did he think that she'd just have some knife on her to cute herself with? Sheesh, sometimes you had to work with what you had.

That being the case, he was probably right, maybe. Luz wasn't even sure if you could GET an infection the regular way, but her mom would have been yelling at her for the very same reason.

"Shush. Smell, ok? I'm not doing this because I'm into cutting."

Good, good, he was catching on.

"It's also not night, because if it were, you'd see that the blood was glowing too. I could have probably just told you about the blood, but I figured you might have a hard time believing me. But that's one of the things that happened when you came here: your blood changed. That means you'll have access to other kinds of magic besides what you can already do. I'd suggest finding a sleeper like us to tell you which you have if you're not too squeamish. What blood you have is going to be important in how you live here."

He frowned at her, but she didn't seem to be in distress. A hero had to be pretty good at picking up on that. He dug into the pouches on his belt and found what he was looking for.

"I believed you about the magic, right? Even before you showed me. Guess I'm not type O anymore. But I could feel it, that I'm different, from the moment I woke up on the beach. I just didn't know how. It's more of a confirmation than a shock."

Still a shock, though. His voice shook slightly, but it steadied when he said, "Hold still."

Of course he was concerned that his actual blood was changed, but he had blinders on when it came to helping someone else. He removed his gloves and held them under his arm. His right hand was covered in scars. He doused his fingers in rubbing alcohol and prepared to do the same to Luz's cut.

Luz was definitely not in distress: this had been far from a point where she was in immense pain. Now having a vampire come close to draining you dry? That was something really scary. This was just impulsive Luz.

"I wanted to make sure you saw it with your own eyes. I know I'm probably nothing more than a stranger, a younger kid just saying stuff from most people's point of view. It's important you see how different we've all become."

She'd keep the "we might all actually be squid people" theory to herself. One thing at a time.

Luz was still, but definitely looked at him squinty eyed when she saw the scars on his hands. She lightly brushed her hand over them, then gave him her wrist and looked up at him.

"How long have you been a hero?"

"I know. I can tell the difference between having experience and not. Age doesn't necessarily come into it. The top three students at UA are already on par with Pros, maybe even better."

He jumped and turned pink. But he wasn't going to let a little thing like a hand touch get in the way of hero work! Even if that hero work was just... putting on a band-aid.

"I'm only in training," he stammered, not making eye contact. "I'm a first year at UA High, and I got my Provisional Hero License about 3 months ago."

While he was still pink in the face, his hands were steady.

*Japan does 3 years of junior high, 3 years high school

"That's pretty good, I think? I'm not sure how those things are measured because, well, different worlds! But that sounds impressive, knowing that students can be on the same level as adults who've likely trained for years!"

She was still trying to wrap her mind around Midoriya's world, and in some ways, it did make sense, others not so much. The jump was a little surprising, and it took Luz a moment to realize that Midoroya might not be a smooth operator around girls. It was kinda cute, honestly, and very relatable.

"Midoroya-kun, relax! I'm, like, a few years younger than you! I was just concerned about your scars. I didn't think a kid my age would have them by now. Your training has got to be some real intense stuff!"

And then he said THAT.

"Oh. Wow. That is...pretty young, isn't it? How old are you?"

There was no smooth operating, or any operating, to speak of.

"Yes I know, I'm really sorry." To his credit, he recovered quickly, but he was still embarrassed at it being pointed out. He felt he owed her an explanation for his social awkwardness. "I didn't have any friends in junior high, and of course no girl would speak to me..."

He waved his hands pathetically. Not making much of a case for himself here. He crumpled up the band-aid wrapper and put it in his pouch to throw away later.

"Well, normally training is pretty intense, but even UA has its limits. They're still responsible for us, after all. These are from... well... I was trying to help someone out, and I overdid it. The school nurse got pretty mad at me."

Two understatements in a row, he was really on a roll today. He put his gloves back on.

"I turned 16 in July. Normally we don't try for Provisional Licenses until second year, but my teacher felt we should."

So he had the same basic problem Luz probably had. Check.

"Huh? Why not? Speaking as an outside observer, you're fairly buff, you're definitely cute, I'm a little jealous of your hair and you seem really nice! I feel you on the not having friends though. I didn't actually make friends until I left my dimension, if you can believe it."

But you were in luck, Midoriya. Luz was not one to judge harshly.

"That's pretty vague, but I think I get the picture. You're the kind of person who jumps into things and then makes your luck as you go along. I might know something about that."

She very much resembled that remark.

"That is a lot to put on someone starting high school, but I don't know the way your world works. If you could be super honest, do you think you're handling it well?"

His eyes moved upward, trying to fathom why she should be jealous of his hair. He'd never really thought about it, other than hairdressers sighing in annoyance at his curls.

"Wow, and I only left junior high. Though it definitely felt like entering a new world. People actually talking to me... I didn't know what to do with that for a while. I was just happy to have friends. My class is pretty great." It was kind of a relief to talk with someone who knew what it was like to not have friends.

He was used to people doubting him, and doubting himself, so he had an answer ready:

"Yes. It was hard at first, but I'm really starting to. Aizawa-sensei isn't the type to waste time on people with no potential. He even says so." He winced slightly. It was harsh! "I figured out a way to be effective without hurting myself. Just jumping into things and throwing caution to the wind isn't going to cut it if I'm going to be a Pro Hero. I have to be more dependable than that."

If for nothing else than for the sake of his poor mother, who always looked like she was about to have a heart attack any time Midoriya mentioned being in combat, even in training.

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have even passed the test for my license."

Luz liked it a lot, honestly, it was so springy and cool! But that was another story right now.

"I'm glad to hear that! Maybe it mattered that you went to high school and that you were going to be a hero of your own that you got to talk with kids like you? I know it made a difference when I got into a school with people also studying to be witches!"

Namely that Luz had been lucky enough to get in, but that was besides the point.

"Right, that is totally correct. I'm pretty sure that you were always competent enough to become a hero anyway, you just needed a chance to prove yourself, right? I can definitely relate to that too! But I'm glad that you're able to become a better hero and think more clearly!"

This was something that even Luz needed to work on.

"You needed to see what worked best for you! I definitely get that. I'm sure you'll be just as strong here, where you'll be able to be your own kind of hero!"

"My own kind of hero... For a while, I wasn't even sure what that meant. I wasn't competent when I started. I didn't know how to make my Quirk really my own. I was just copying other people, whether those techniques worked for me or not. I'm sure you know, working with your magic, having to practice and own it like it's second nature."

He'd at least graduated to copying other people only if he felt that adapting their techniques to his needs might work for him.

"What you said about blood and magic... I know there's probably not any data on how it interacts with Quirks, but..." He hesitated, "It won't change mine, will it?"

He had to ask. He'd always thought of One For All as something precious since first learning of its existence. It was one-of-a-kind, entrusted to him for the purpose of saving people.

"I think I get what you mean. You knew you had power, that you had the stuff, but you didn't know how it all worked. I was like that when I first stumbled into my first spell, got really excited and then didn't know how to get to my second. It was pretty embarrassing, actually. I was really afraid that it was a fluke, that I wouldn't get to learn another spell."

But she'd gotten there, even if it was the hard way and had risked some people she cared about by mistake. She fixed it, at least!

"No, I don't think so. First thing you should probably do is figure out what blood you have though, and then you can figure it out from there. That way you can know what to expect if your blood powers manifest by accident. One day I was trying to sleep and I stumbled into astral projection! But once I figured out what was happening, I stop worrying about it happening by accident and started concentrating on making it happen by my own wishes."

Which she wasn't successful at yet, but she was making progress!

"I don't know about magic, but stuff like that isn't a fluke in my world. It's hard at first, but you keep trying, and then before you know it, you're improving at a rate you can't keep up with!" His optimism would be grating, except he came from a place of starting with zero prospects. His progress was bought with blood, sweat, and tears.

"I see..." he muttered, looking very intense as the gears were turning. His hands were unconsciously miming writing in a notebook again. Nerd. "But, that's fine. I know what I have to do. I use visualization exercises to imagine drawing out just the right amount of power from my Quirk. I can apply the same concept here. Where can I find a comprehensive list of blood types, their characteristics, and their powers?"

Re: Izuku "Deku" Midoriya | My Hero Academia | OTA

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Hint: She'll smell like milk

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