TDM - OCTOBER 2020

[robbies]

TEST DRIVE MEME - OCTOBER 2020

Everyone's entitled to one good scare.
CW: Violence, death, mouth trauma, vomiting, needles, razors

---

“Help me. Please, help me…”

A child’s voice, calling out for aid. There’s no rhyme or reason for when it comes to you. It’s so quiet, a whisper in the deepest, darkest corners of your mind. Were it not for the sharp, stabbing pain it pulls out of you, you could ignore it. You could even pretend it’s just your imagination.

It all happens so quickly and powerfully. Left in the dust, your brain struggles to process it all. Blacking out is the least it can do, but it’s also all it can do, and it does so before you even have a chance to fully register just how young the voice is, and how deeply, heartbreakingly lost it sounds.

When you finally awaken with your bare feet tangled in soft sheets, a layer of fuzzy fleece or slinky silk clinging to your body like another layer of skin, the sunlight pouring in from the window next to your bed momentarily blinding you, and the cries of happy children playing baseball outside of it carrying faintly, it all becomes very clear—

Something is horribly wrong.

---

OCTOBER 1st.

It becomes very clear very quickly that this isn’t a simple kidnapping. If you’re twenty years old or older, the bedroom you wake up in is very clearly a couple’s bedroom — with separate beds like a modest, modern couple of course! A similarly lost and confused stranger is in the other. They are your counterpart, for everything in this room has a matching counterpart — the nightstand and lamp each of you have beside your beds, the framed pictures on the wall, even your pajamas. If you’re under twenty years old, your room is smaller but more personalized, filled with comic books, model kits, stray baseball cards littered around the floor. Dolls, fashion magazines of people dressed from a bygone era, stacks of vinyl records neatly arranged next to a record player. And then there are the pictures. They’re everywhere in the house — in a frame on your nightstand, hung on the walls, stuck in the photo albums and scrapbooks lying on your desk or tucked away in drawers. Here you are on your wedding day, exchanging vows with your partner. Here’s you sitting in a fishing boat with one of the younger members of your house. Here’s a picture of you at ten years old getting ready for the first day of school. All of the photographs are aged, sepia, even yellowed and dusty in frames hung for a long, long time. By the time you make it down to the living room, you’ll notice that the television is on; someone must have forgotten to turn it off before they went to bed. On it, a cartoon pack of cigarettes and accompanying cigarette dancers prance around a black and white pumpkin patch, joined by dancing skeletons, ghosts and witches as a cheerful little earworm blares: ”Thirty days til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, thirty days til Halloween—“

---

GETTING TO KNOW THE NEIGHBORS.

As you get acclimated, you gradually begin to learn more about this strange new world you’ve found yourself in. You’re in a neighborhood on the east side of a town called Santa Rosita located… somewhere in California (wherever or whatever that might be). The year is 1961. If it wasn’t clear enough, your neighbors are more than willing to humor you if you ask. Even if you accost them with questions and demands. Sure, you and your family are a little kooky, and you have a very overactive imagination, but the key to any good joke is playing along! And how could something like “I’m from the future, from another world” be anything but a joke? A. AUNT MYRNA'S PARTY CHEESE SALAD. Over the course of the week, your neighbors will come by unannounced, each with a new homecooked meal to welcome you to their cozy little side of town. Meatloaf, potato salad, lamb chops. Gelatin molds — lots of gelatin molds. Someone even comes by to drop off a gelatinous yellow lump of pineapple, green peppers, celery and yellow cheese swimming in a soupy mixture of sour and whipped cream. “It’s my aunt Myrna’s recipe!” they gush once they drop the casserole tin into your hands, proceeding to rattle off every ingredient. Well, at least you won’t be starving anytime soon. When you bring it back in to your kitchen - and its cheery wallpaper and its floral patterned Pyrex dishware, you and your new...family(?) all stare at the cheese salad, the gelatin, the curiously frosted meatloaf spread. A smorgasbord courtesy of the insistent generosity! Who will take the first bite?

B. DON'T BE A SQUARE!

You can only avoid the cheer and the neighbors for so long, even as you sit inside enjoying all the amenities of your new home. The television can only turn its volume up to five, after all! One bright and sunny Saturday, the weather crisp and clear, news broadcasts and reruns of The Ed Sullivan Show are drowned out by the music in the neighborhood. Eventually it’s too much to bear — you simply must put on your shoes and go discover the source of that infernal racket.

Why, it’s the block party! Haven’t you seen the invitation — with instructions — sitting in your mailbox, silly? Wear a badge so everyone on the block can know you’re new and welcome you to their extended family!

Well! Each neighbor was supposed to set up a table with snacks and drinks and entertainment on their front lawn. Carter Mayhew, one of your Robbie neighbors, has a whole ring toss obstacle course set up for boys to play with, and his wife is cheerfully and blandly instructing a group of girls on jump rope rhymes. Colorful streamers hang from every lamppost and mailbox, balloons and party favors galore. Like you, there are even a few newcomers to Santa Rosita that are caught just as unaware of this event — though others are being welcomed in by husbands and wives and children, caught in conversations about building decks and the upcoming Halloween festivities.

Before you can decide if returning home or joining the party is your choice, a plate with chips and dips and yes, more gelatin is shoved into your hands and a party hat snapped on to your head.

“The guest of honor has arrived! Come and meet your neighbors, neighbor!”

---

THROUGHOUT OCTOBER.

Life falls into a peaceful haze for the next several days. Dull, unassuming, tranquil. As the month drags on, the spirit of Halloween begins to manifest in Santa Rosita, from the pumpkins people start putting out on their doorsteps to the smiling faces of paper skeletons pressed against their windows. And then, towards the end of the month, something terrible happens. You hear it first through word of mouth, rippling through Santa Rosita like a wave, dark murmurs accompanied by sad sighs and downturned eyes. Soon, you start to read about it. Grim business, they say. A tragedy. How could something like this happen. People stop talking about it by the end of the week. Best just to forget about it. Every day, that cigarette commercial comes on. It’s impossible to escape it. And every day, the number of days in the song changes, counting down. ”Thirteen days till Halloween—” “Eight more days til Halloween—” “Three more days til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween…”

---

HALLOWEEN.

CW: Violence, death, mouth trauma, vomiting, needles, razors

October 31st. It sneaks up on you whether you like it or not. When dawn breaks on Halloween day, things are as serene as they’ve ever been as men do yard work, raking leaves as their wives bake fresh pie and cookies in the house, the spicy scent of cinnamon, apple and pumpkin wafting through the neighborhood on chilly October wind. There’s a smile on every child’s face as they skip off the school bus in the afternoon, running into their houses to get their costumes ready. As it begins to get dark, the residents of Santa Rosita start lighting their jack-o-lanterns. One by one, little balls of light flicker to life on every porch and doorstep, jagged smiles grinning in the dark. For the entire night, nobody blows the candle inside their pumpkins out. It’s a tradition, a very old one, and traditions are just another way of saying rules. And Halloween in Santa Rosita, as it turns out, lives and dies by the rules.

A. ALWAYS CHECK YOUR CANDY.

Halloween isn’t just for the kids, although they certainly make up the bulk of who you’ll see out and about on the streets. Walking through Santa Rosita, your neighbors are as generous with handing out treats as they are with handing out gelatin molds and pot roasts, and they don’t discriminate. Adults are received just as warmly as children; the worst one can expect is a quirked eyebrow if they show up to a house without a costume.

Apples, packs of gum, homemade cookies. Chocolate bars, nickels, popcorn balls. Your neighbors hand out all sorts of treats, most of them homemade. The Robbies are no exception, and it’s their treats that seem a bit more high quality than most, some of the candy they hand out being obviously expensive, brand names. The good stuff. They drop each treat into your bag with those same pleasant, mild expressions and too-tight smiles you’ve grown used to in your short time here.

Eventually, as everyone winds up doing at some point in the night, you decide to start digging into your treat bag to sample some of your well-earned goods — maybe in the comfort of your home, maybe outside on the streets. And that’s when the fun begins.

Maybe you bite into metal, the razor sharp end of a blade embedded into the apple or candy bar you’ve picked out burying itself in your gums, or splitting your tongue. Maybe it’s a needle, impaling itself straight through the roof of your mouth or a cheek. Or maybe it’s nothing that obvious. Maybe the realization that something is wrong comes moments after you’ve devoured that chocolate bar or cookie, the bitter aftertaste of rat poison hitting the back of your throat along with bile and the rest of the contents of your stomach as they rise up and out of your mouth.

Or maybe you’ll bite into plain, sweet chocolate or fresh fruit. That’s also part of the surprise. You really don’t know what you’ll get until you start eating.

B. ALWAYS RESPECT THE DEAD.

At ten o’clock, all the television sets in the neighborhood turn on, blaring to life right in the middle of that omnipresent cigarette commercial. The volume begins to rise of its own accord as your television starts to pick up interference, bursts of static squealing amidst the rising, screaming chorus of ”HAPPY HAPPY HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN!”

Breaking through the static, garbled and tinny, a child’s voice cries out.

“Can’t— I can’t hold them— back— Pumpkin— don’t blow the— out—”

And just as quickly as it cut in, the voice cuts back out. Commercial jingle notwithstanding, you’re alone once more. But not for long.

The doorbell rings. You can see them outside from your window: costumed children. Their masks and clothes are grimy and ragged from the muddy, slimy water they’ve been decomposing in for over a week. When they come to your door, squelching wetly as they shamble up the porch steps, they ring the bell or knock, as all polite children do. If you don’t let them in, they’ll find their own way, always by force. And once they find you, all they can gurgle in their reedy, waterlogged voices is, ”Trick or treat.”

From there, they attack.

With superhuman strength and speed, they tear and rip at anything they can get their hands on — clothing, skin, muscle, face, eyes. Being short and small, despite their strength, they're at a distinct disadvantage. They can even be thrown off, with some effort. But they don’t stay down for long, and attempting to hurt or mortally wound them only stalls them for a few moments, if that. How can you kill something that’s already dead?

Some in the neighborhood are willing to try and find out.

The only houses they seem to ignore completely are the ones with lit jack-o-lanterns still outside. They’ll loiter outside these houses, staring straight ahead at your door or window like they can see exactly where you are. But sooner or later, they’ll pass by and move onto the next house.

As long as the candles in carved pumpkins stay lit.

---

OOC INFO

Hello, and welcome to We're Still Here's first TDM! Here's a few things we'd like you to keep in mind:

The TDM is canon. You can treat this as the game's first real event and pick and choose what threads you would like your character to remember when they enter the game. For characters who app into the game, the events of the TDM will be treated like a dream. Upon awakening from it, characters will find that time has jumped ahead to December 1st. You may also feel free to use similar reality and/or time distortions to explain why the family members your characters have in the TDM aren't the same as the ones they may be assigned to in the game proper.

If you would like to have Halloween content in your relaxed housing prompts, please feel free! You are not beholden to follow our prompts exactly so long as the spirit is maintained.

There is no Network prompt listed, but feel free to wildcard one for your characters anyway.

Although the TDM is canon in the sense that characters are free to remember its events when they app into the game, it does not count as an official plot heavy event, meaning that characters will not receive regains from participating in it.

With regards to the dead trick-or-treaters: you may NPC them however you'd like, but keep the details we've listed in their prompt in mind. They are supernaturally fast and strong, will ignore houses as long as they have a lit pumpkin on the porch outside, and will try to enter each house the moment the candle in the pumpkin goes out. Additionally, they can't be killed, but they can be momentarily stalled by injuring them. By November 1st, 6AM, they will disappear the moment the sun comes out.

---

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Comments

Sessyoin Kiara | Fate/Grand Order

[thotsandprayers]

Aunt Myrna's Party Cheese Salad

[Kiara's definitely seen her share of questionable cuisine before, but this is...well, she's sure it will be an experience her and her new...family will talk about for quite a while. She's still getting used to this strange situation, but she imagines everyone else is as well. The kidnapping and power loss, that's not really an issue, but getting used to living with others and this community, now that's a bit of an adjustment.

So she'll set this down with the other dishes and look over at whoever else is around.]

Another gift from our the neighbors. And if I had to guess, it's most likely as edible as the others.

[She says this with a smile, though she is slightly...let's go with concerned about it. Midcentury American food certainly is...something. Though what exactly that something is, she's not really sure yet.]

No doubt they'll be asking us how it was.

[In other words, somebody's probably going to have to eat this. At some point. It's not like they're receiving anything else more palatable and it would be impolite to waste it. Right?]

{OOC: Feel free to assume family roles for this one!}

Throughout October

A bit strange, isn't it?

[She'll speak up when she thinks none of the locals are around. They don't seem to want to talk about the newspaper article anymore, so she'd rather not press them on that. She's more curious as to what the others think about this whole thing, primarily the distancing the community is doing from it, but also just that something so tragic happened so soon after their arrival. It could be a coincidence, but she really isn't sure.]

You would think that would at least put a damper on things, but everything seems to be going ahead full steam. Including that commercial.

[She's rather tired of it, truth be told. But there's nothing to really be done about it other than endure it or stop watching the television. It shouldn't be too much longer before it's over. There's only so many more days left, anyways.]

Always Respect the Dead

[And here we are, a ways in to the month and she's...well, certainly surprised that this happened, if not entirely surprised that something happened. Between the town's general weirdness and everything that happens back home, it would've been incredibly out of place if nothing had happened. But marauding zombie children, that's something new. She can't think of any Servants that have ever mentioned something like that.

When the first one smashes through the window, grabbing at her arm, she's shocked once more. It's been a while since she's felt herself to be in any real danger or terror, so this brings somewhat of a smile to her face. It's been years since she's been in mortal peril like this! But even if she thinks she can just be resummoned back home (boy is she in for a surprise someday), part of trying to behave and not be...her probably involves not being mauled to death by zombie children. So she'll pull herself away from the window and begin calling for help as more of them start hitting the glass, the walls, the door. Either someone at home or maybe a neighbor will hear and come to her aid. Or get attacked too? That probably wouldn't help with trying to not be awful, but hey, sometimes these things happen.]

( throughout october. )

[sunborne]

[ daylight makes his distaste for the commercial known the second she mentions it. his face scrunches up in an immediate grimace, not a big fan of the obnoxious jingle himself. he wishes he still had his audials if only to dial down the sensitivity to a deafened state or something.

his expression gradually shifts into sympathy when he begins to think of the children. he had read the article once and it's stuck to him ever since. ]

... It's weird no one is willing to at least talk about helping the families out. [ for either the kids or the driver. it could be a case of wanting to spare the families' attention as they mourned but- ] Why are there are no other follow-ups to this? No charities? No plans for vigils?

It's what my family did back home if an accident happened in the mines.

Hey there! I remember you from A Gentle Night.

[thotsandprayers]

It's all rather strange, isn't it? I've heard of putting the worst behind oneself, but not doing anything is a bit much.

[Her frown deepens while thinking about it. She'd certainly assist if there was some sort of vigil or charity or something. Though she doesn't feel like the best choice to start one. Especially with the resistance? reluctance? She's not sure what it is, but the community doesn't seem particularly supportive of it.]

I can't imagine what the families are going through. Assuming they haven't adopted the same stance. I can't imagine they have, but...

[But she's really not sure on that one.]

Oh wow hi!! Glad to see you here!

[sunborne]

[ he isn't either and that much is reflected with the way his expression shifts to uncertainty. sympathy is clear as, hm, day, still, but the idea all of the families were also keeping mum had him hesitating on what he'll say next.

not for long, though: ]

At the very least, I don't think it would hurt to check on the family of Stanley Dougherty, right? See what they might need or want?

[ with how things are expected here, there's a big chance mr. dougherty was the breadwinner of his family if he had one. ]

[thotsandprayers]

I don't think that would be a bad idea at all. I'll even go with you if you'd like. It may be a bit easier if more than one of us goes.

[She thinks it would be best to go as a pair. A group might be overwhelming, but this should be fine, she thinks.]

And while the locals may want to put it out of sight and mind, it would be the neighborly thing to do.

[So there can't be too many issues with it, right?]

[sunborne]

[ daylight looks pleasantly surprised to hear that she's willing to come along with him. he was already preparing to himself for an awkward visit to the house if he could find it, all by his lonesome.

having someone else with him helps him relax. ] -That means a lot, ma'am. Thanks.

... Daylight. I'm Daylight, by the way. [ he rubs the back of his neck, huffing a bit. ] Sorry for not introducing myself sooner. Guess that slipped my mind.

[thotsandprayers]

Nice to meet you. My name is Kiara.

[Daylight seems like a bit of a strange name, but Fate's got lots of strange names, so it's not likely to really pique her curiosity.]

And it's quite all right that it slipped your mind, I doubt introductions are the first thing on any of our minds.

[sunborne]

Yeah... It's been a weird few weeks, Ms. Kiara.

[ an understatement.

he pockets his hands - more unsure of what to do with them, really - and huffs while deep in thought over something. ] So- I was thinking of checking his name out in the phonebook. It should have his address and, maybe, his family will be there.

[ sounds like daylight is planning to do it now. no time like the present. ]

[thotsandprayers]

Oh, I suppose that's right, we'll have to get used to using phonebooks again.

[There's something she hasn't thought about in years. And that's not even because of screwy canon stuff either! Just...no one uses them.]

But yes, I suppose that would be the best way to find him. As far as I know the rest of my day is free, so I can certainly accompany you once you've found an address.

[Her newfound "family" isn't in need of her to serve the gelatin or anything like that as far as she knows.]

[sunborne]

[ a win for everyone, it seems. less gelation is unleashed on poor unsuspecting individuals and the chances of helping out have increased.

to be serious: did he hear that right? 'get used to using phonebooks again'...?

that throws daylight a little off but he tries not to question it. his head tilt is obvious, so is the expression of confusion, but he knows better than to throw stones from his glasshouse. no doubt he'll be saying some weird stuff in the near future.

so he smiles again, looking and feeling more confident in their plans. ]

Thanks, Ms. Kiara. There should be a phonebooth nearby. I think I saw one when passing by.

[thotsandprayers]

[She notices his confusion and is willing to help. It's not a huge issue, so she'll explain while they head for the phone book.]

Ah, they're a bit outdated by my time. You can just search for the number on your phone, making them a bit obsolete.

[Or at least she'll explain that much. But it's not like she has anyone to call anyways, her social circle dwindled massively after turning evil...that and humanity's been kind of wiped off the face of the earth in her world, so that kind of drastically reduces the amount of numbers to look up.]

Things here are a bit...let's say less convenient.

[sunborne]

Huh. That's really neat to know. We still have phonebooks where. I am. Mostly because enough citizens opt-out on the national online registry for them to will be warranted.

[ his last words may have been a bit muffled, as daylight slips into the phonebooth to check out the book that's chained there.

it takes him a second to find the name - was it dougherty or doughorty?, he thinks for a flustered moment, fumbling with the pages - but soon enough: ] Here we are! Dougherty, Stanely.

[ he reads the address aloud and hums thoughtfully. ] I don't think it's too far from us? Right?

[thotsandprayers]

How interesting.

[Except not really, but she's being polite. She'd probably be more interested if she knew Daylight's circumstances, but for the moment, she's more interested in this than prying into her new buddy's life story.

Besides that would open the floor to questions about her own and while she's not opposed to that, she's certain it would distract from the matter at hand.]

And no, that doesn't seem to long of a journey at all.

[She's pretty sure of that, though she still takes a moment to think about that one.]

It would be a short drive, I think. Or perhaps not too long of a walk.

salad

[marryonette]

Is this really... the kind of thing a husband would expect their wife to prepare?

[ Elphelt figured that so long as her situation was going to be like this in the time being, and it wasn't a dream, she could at least start to take notes on womanhood from a unique perspective she otherwise would never really get a chance to explore but...

This was a little ridiculous. Nothing about the... thing her 'mother' presented her with looked appetizing in the least. It didn't smell quite right, either. She'd tried a lot of interesting foods since hanging out with Sin and Sol, but nothing remotely like this. ]

I'm not even sure these ingredients normally go together...

[thotsandprayers]

I believe the general explanation for things like this is "it was a different time." One that I assume eventually passed since none of my American colleagues have ever brought up eating something like this.

[She's certain she would've remembered it being mentioned.]

As to whether they go to together or not, they certainly tried to make them.

[There's a wry smile on her face about that one.]

[marryonette]

I'm not sure my womanhood can muster up to something like this...

[ Elphelt couldn't even tell what piece of silverware to eat it with, poking at it with a spoon. ]

[thotsandprayers]

I haven't much experience being a housewife or a mother, but it's the type of thing that makes a child wish they were sent to bed without supper isn't it?

[Or any experience until today actually.]

[marryonette]

That's for sure.

[ Elphelt gasped as the spoon somehow managed to break the surface tension, scooping out a bit of the casserole. She held the bite up to her face, her regard dubious at best. ]

W-well... There's something to be said about new experiences, right?

[thotsandprayers]

There certainly is. For what it's worth, I always recommend trying something new. I suppose you could consider that motherly advice.

[She laughs a little about that, it's all so completely ridiculous.]

[marryonette]

[ El's face darkened slightly, her eyes turning downwards for a moment before she let out a sigh, her tone taking on a more somber quality. ]

... Ms Kiara, if I eat this and I die, please... promise me you'll take care of my sister, okay?

[ Okay maybe that was a little dramatic. ]

[thotsandprayers]

Of course. I promise to do exactly that.

[That was said maybe a bit more solemnly than it should've been, but that's just because she definitely means it.]

[marryonette]

[ El nodded, closing her eyes and mustering her inner strength. She was a Valentine, right? That meant she had to have better constitution than humans, probably... not that she had access to any of her magic here.

Maybe... it wouldn't be so bad.

She took the bite.

Her eyes went wide, and she slams her other hand on the table. ]

[thotsandprayers]

[That's not exactly a reaction Kiara's unfamiliar with...though it's usually under more pleasant less gelatin related circumstances. So given context, she's assuming in this case, it wasn't a good thing.]

How was it?

[She'll do her best to keep her tone even here. It's a struggle, it really is.]

[marryonette]

You have to try this!!!

[ Elphelt took up another spoon, shoved it into the casserole, and pushed the plate towards Kiara with a tremendous, almost panicked energy. ]

[thotsandprayers]

Ah, I suppose I don't have much choice.

[Though she does note that Elphelt didn't answer her question as she takes hold of the spoon, eyeing it carefully before lifting a spoonful of the questionable concoction to her lips and trying it.

...and look, she has almost certainly tasted stranger and worse, but her poker face cracks just a little here as she looks like she would really rather try anything else at the moment.]