test drive meme #14

[hadrielmods]

Welcome to Hadriel's test drive, and thank you again for your interest in the game! As always, our reserves page is here, and our applications page is here! Reserves open November 24th, and apps are open December 1st. Please remember that starting in December, there is an app cap of 20 apps.

Two quick points here as well:

1. Any thread made in Hadriel's test drive will be accepted as the sole Action Log sample in the application.
2. All threads made in the test drive can be considered game canon, either through handwaving or through a shared mental experience while coming through the Door!

Test drives will be broken up into specific god mini-events, during which your characters can see how well they fare under the watchful eye of one of the gods. Choose wisely or just simply pick 'em all, and have fun!

F E A R

SCENARIO ONE: HOW SAUCY
[The Door brings in all that is chaotic and evil in the world. This may include you, may include the person next to you... and may include the monster behind you.

Watch out as you explore the streets of Hadriel, because you're not alone, and there's always something lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect chance to destroy you for your vegetarian ways. This time, the Door has brought in a large group of Killer Tomatoes, from the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes movie.

While it is not immediately clear how these odd creatures can kill you, rest assured that you should be quaking in your boots. They can bite with their weird little tomato mouths, they can roll after you surprisingly fast, and they can even explode! Truly terrifying. But if you manage to defeat some of these agents of terror and chaos, you could make some mean salsa.]

D R A G O N A G E

SCENARIO TWO: VACATION IN THEDAS
[While you're exploring the city, perhaps you'll run into another creature that's slipped through a rift and is exploring along with you - or perhaps hunting would be a better term. Yes, Hadriel is teeming with demons straight from Thedas.

Perhaps you'll run into a desire demon, who will offer you your deepest wish - in exchange for your body and soul, of course. Perhaps you'll find a pride demon, who will play upon your strengths and weaknesses until you give in to them. Or maybe it'll be a despair demon, there to crush all your hopes and dreams.

Or maybe, if you're very lucky, you'll just find a nug.

This is a mini version of our Fadeout event this month!]

C O N F U S I O N

SCENARIO THREE: SWEDISH MANUFACTURING
[You're in luck! You know that thing you've always wanted? Doesn't matter what it is - a cool weapon, a nice dress, a well-made bedstand, a rare magical invention. Whatever it is, you just managed to find it! Whoa!

Or, well, you managed to find a box with a picture of the item on it. When you open the box, you find all the necessary components for making that item, along with illustrated instructions for putting it together. There's no written instructions, just pictures, but you're smart, you can figure it out! And it'll look just like the photo on the box. You're sure of it.

Better get building! Okay, the instructions don't entirely make sense - did you screw that part in upside down? Wait, are these pages out of order? Maybe you can ask that person nearby for help, or maybe you'll just sink into the depths of confusion and despair. But keep trying! Just think of what you'll get if you succeed!]

Comments

[reges]

Dragons. Uh huh. [ the mental picture of Jack fighting legitimate dragons seems very bizarrely appropriate. However they got to this place, David's sure their God is somewhere laughing. And what had David taken out? A tank. Half on accident. For the heir to the divine thrown, surrounded by that tale of butterfly crowns, it seems to just fit that Jack's here fighting zombies and mythic beasts. Sure.

His eyes land in the nug, poking it's head out of Jack's bag curiously, and any other day David might've tried to play with the thing. For now, he only gives it a small, understated, half-smile. He's too wrapped up in what Jack's telling him, in the reality of recent events at home that David's still trying to process. Jack Benjamin is a complicated man, that much is sure, but he's a fiercely intelligent man as well. If nothing else, David's learned, now, of how dangerous it is to overlook kindness from one of the royal family. Jack had done something unbelievable for him, that's true, and even if it ends with his execution, there's still gratitude he owes him. The cost for him was high, and David wasn't so distracted that he'd missed what Silas had called his son and heir, televised across the nation.

And yet, perhaps because of that steep cost, he has to ask. ]

Why? [ David asks, in that straight forward voice of his. He's never excelled at the games they play in Shiloh, and he certainly has run out of patience for them now. ] You committed so much to selling the trial. Standing against the King ruins everything you've been working for.

What changed, Jack?

[benumbing]

[Well hopefully it won't burst his bubble too much if he finds out that Jack didn't actually fight dragons. Unlike David, Jack isn't that heroically stupid, and the better strategy was to leave the dragons to others who had flight and fire of their own.

He blinks in disbelief at the question, and it feels like something is poking at embers in his chest. It stirs up a fire that could warm him from the inside, but it also consume him. His jaw tenses, and Jack strides back in David's direction in a quick way that suggests violence. It would hardly be the first time.

But he stops, toe to toe with him instead, but still leaning into his space.]

I could ask you the same. All that time, professing your innocence and then you confess. Why? [Except Jack knows the answer. It was for him. David swore that he only served his king, and he was prepared to do that no matter what it cost him.] It's one thing to watch a lamb be led off to slaughter, it's another thing entirely to watch it draw a line on its own neck. I couldn't stand another second of it.

[He backs off, retreating a step as the color and anger drains from his face.]

Not you. Not for him.

[reges]

[ Jack wheels on him, and David's chin tilts up, proud but passive, a quiet, though unconscious, statement that he's ready and willing to take what punishment he'll be dealt, and weather it. The same way they'd stood in Gath, Jack a whirlwind of emotion and will like wildfire, and David, attempting to remain standing through it. True to what's always been Jack Benjamin's talent, he cuts through all the bullshit of it, straight into the heart of the issue. David had been ready to throw himself at the King's feet, and simply give up. The shame of it put so precisely stings, David's brows tugging together, as he blinks, focus unconsciously straying from Jack's eyes. ]

I thought-- [ Thought he was doing what was right, that his sacrifice was a necessary, final act to keep the country he loves so much prospering and peaceful. To make his dad's and his brother's sacrifice mean something. Regardless of the kind of man Silas was, God had chosen this path for Gilboa, and he had to follow it, for love of his people. But no - like Jack seems to see so clearly, he'd just been a blind fool. ] I don't know what I thought. About anyone.

[ Silas, Michelle, his country, Jack himself. They'd all been shown as something he hadn't expected them to be, time and time again, and there he was, standing stupidly in the middle, oblivious to all that was changing. And yet, it doesn't escape him that this is still a non-answer from Jack. Helping him out of sheer annoyance of watching David crumble? David's naive, but he isn't stupid. He knows what all Jack forfeit in standing up for him. ]

You know, I think you're the only person who'd actually get mad at someone for surrendering to you. [ A dry sort of commentary, but not without it's morbid humor, a corner of David's lips smirking upward. Let's be honest, David never had a chance against Jack on a battlefield of tactical political maneuvering. He doubts anyone would. ] You probably could've convinced the country I'm a kangaroo if you wanted to.

[benumbing]

[Jack isn't a stranger when it comes to manipulating people, David included. But God, his father made an art form of it. When it played out right in front of him, he couldn't savor the sweetness of victory over the taste of blood in his mouth.]

More like an ass. [The corners of his lips also tug up at the kangaroo comment.] He wasn't worth it. He never was. [Jack's voice is uncharacteristically soft with the words, like he's reminding himself of that fact as much as David.] And I didn't save your life just to watch you die here. That's why I'm going to help you.

[reges]

[ David lets out an amused snort, lips quirking up at the corners. Yeah, ass would've been appropriate, wouldn't it? And definitely something Jack could, and seemingly has, pulled off. Hearing Jack's voice soften, if feels like he's met some part of Jack he'd suspected for a while, but hadn't had so much opportunity to see. Born and bred to inherit a throne, his personality seems built like a fortress, but there's a man in there as well. One Silas couldn't choke out for all he's tried, it seems. ]

Thank you, by the way. And, I'm sorry, for what it cost you. [ He wants to tell him that Silas can't be mad at him forever, that he's smart and he'll find a way out of it, but David understands so little about power plays in Shiloh, that much is now clear. So he keeps his damn mouth shut. Jack's always been good at self-motivating, it seems. He doesn't need to hear it from David. Instead, he tucks his hands into his pockets, glancing around the city inside a cave, and thinking about Jack living here for the last few months, apparently. Something he'd suspect Jack knows how to survive, because he survives well, but bizarre all the same. ]

So, monster fighting, huh? Sounds fun. [ hard to tell if that's sarcasm or not. But soldiering does, and has for months, sound infinitely better than Shiloh. ]

[benumbing]

[Jack wishes he could feel deserving of that gratitude, but one time of doing the right thing when there are so many times when he didn't doesn't magically balance everything out. That was always the real threat of David Shepherd; he could do the things that Jack couldn't, even when he knew that he should.

He doesn't acknowledge it, but a smirk does cross his lips again at the mention of monsters.]

Oh, it is. And some of them taste better than others.

[It turns into a full-fledged grin. He can hardly wait to watch him field dress his very first.]