dankmemes | test drive meme #16

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!test drive

test drive meme #16

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 January 24th, and apps are open February 1st. Please remember that 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: THE CREEPY CRAWLIES
[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 to impale you on its giant claws and crunch your bones between its mandibles. That's right, this time the Door is bringing you bugs from Starship Troopers, in all their giant and disgusting glory!

Bugs are, well, giant insects that come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the rank, and are way too tall or too heavy than they have any right to be. They can move quickly, most of them have the ability to fly, and their exo-skeletons means that it's difficult to really hurt them unless you've got some muscles on you. Or a really big boot, I guess.]

C O N F U S I O N

SCENARIO TWO: WHO'S THAT IN THE MIRROR?
[Something's lurking in the dark. Something that really wants to ruin your day by any means necessary- that includes preying on your darkest fears, or just, you know, simply killing you. But that's not a problem, right? You're big and tough! Except, so is this creature out to get you. And it knows all of your weaknesses and insecurities too because, well... it is you.

Doubles of characters will be flooding the city and attempting to ruin the originals lives by whatever means necessary. This generally involves killing the original and then impersonating them, but it can also mean killing people you love or just bringing up your awkward teenage years to traumatize you in front of all your new cool friends.

What can you do to stop it? Well, you could kill them first, that certainly won't require a few trips to therapy later! There's always locking them away, or maybe trying to befriend them because hey, who's better at ruining your life than you?

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

T R A N Q U I L I T Y

SCENARIO THREE: CAN YOU JUST LIKE, CHILL FOR A SEC?
[Embrace tranquility! Or rather, get pulled, kicking and screaming into an event during which you magically have to find some chill, or else Tranquility will force chill upon you.

For this prompt, characters will find themselves in a state of sudden peace and calm, without much anger or meanness to go around. That guy you hate? Maybe you should give him a peace offering. The chick who stole your girlfriend? Maybe you should congratulate her! Everything is peaceful and everything is... sorta gray.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice to be able to relax, but we have an emotional spectrum for a reason. Pretty soon, the tranquility of this might turn into something a little creepy, even Stepfordish... but it's hard to really care when everything is so damn pleasant, right?]

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Unless he'd fallen through the streets (again), there was no way this was Tokyo. Even if he had, the cave was too large, too eerie, too quiet to be beneath the city. And buildings? Who was living down here? People? Demons? Had they rebuilt on top of rooms they didn't even know about? Everything about it was wrong. It just felt wrong. Or maybe that was just because Yurine wasn't here. Did she stay with his original body? Was he still safe?

He sighed. Nothing he could do about that from here except try not to lose this one. That meant finding a way to survive. If he even could. It was the silence that was the most chilling--no city noises, no bustle that made the place seem alive. This one--whatever it was--was plain dead.

He wandered the streets with his long sword over one shoulder for a while before he heard noises (so much for the quiet) and they didn't sound good. Someone was in trouble. He didn't even stop to think about it, running toward the voices he'd heard. He didn't even blink seeing a giant bug chasing a... something (his first thought was a demon but he wasn't so sure about that), before he stepped to one side to let him pass, then positioning himself in between the two, blocking the insect from him and unsheathing the sword. The bug looked nasty, but what did he care? He wouldn't feel anything if it bit him.

"Stay behind me."

Simon slows down when he sees someone cut out in front of him -- an actual person, too, holding a sword of all things. He's so surprised by that he nearly stops, but the man calls for Simon to stay behind him and he certainly isn't going to argue. Running past to the next building, he ducks around the corner and turns back to watch curiously. He knows guys with swords, of course, but no one who can actually use one. Is this guy going to use it on the bug?

"Be careful," he calls out, before scooting back so just his fingertips and eyes are visible around the corner of the building. If they've gotta bolt he'll do it... he's no use in a fight but the power suit is strong enough to pick the other guy up if this goes south. So he stays.

There might have been an answer except the bug charged and he had to focus his attention on the attack instead of the person behind him. He had swing awkwardly one-handed, but at least it was a solid blow. He ended up covered in its blood, but it still wasn't the worst thing he'd seen. One of its legs scraped across his shoulder, but he didn't notice.

At least the insect seemed to give up, though, running off before Otoha could kill it. It might be back, but he doubted it. About then he noticed the blood running down his arm. Oh well.

He turned around, with a soft, comforting smile on his face a complete contrast to the blood he was covered in.

"It's alright. You can come out now."

Simon feels like he's watching a film, some fantasy piece where a sword-wielding warrior faces off against a beast to save the damsel. Except he's the damsel -- all he ever did was run and hide. Having someone to protect him is new. When the insect scuttles off he steps back out into the street, and Otoha can get a good look at him. He's in a dive suit meant for the abyss of the ocean, his 'head' within the helmet a robotic one with glowing red eyes. If that wasn't strange enough he's also missing the lower section of his left arm, something having cut it off just above the wrist. It's somewhat sealed up with structure gel -- probably not an injury from the creature, then. Something a bit older.

"Thanks." And the human is smiling at him, a reaction he'd never have expected. He's a freak, after all. "-- wait, you're bleeding." He doesn't have anything to bind the man's injury with, and it looks like all the shops around them are for clothing. Better than nothing.... "Come on," he tells the stranger, leading the way inside the one that seems the least wrecked. There must be a bit of clean fabric they could use somewhere inside.

Otoha had seen so much stranger and he still wasn't convinced that his companion wasn't a demon. Eko was dead and there were no mikura left, so that was the only explanation, right? This wasn't his City, but maybe he was one of the demons here...if only he could get to his supplies, maybe he could help...

He followed, bemused--he'd probably scare the shopkeepers, but it was too late to worry about it now.

"It's alright. I can't feel it." That was maybe not very comforting, but it was the best he had to offer at the moment. His clothes were probably ruined, though.

"You can't..?" He sounds confused... he's not even a real person and he can still feel pain, how can this guy not? Maybe he's got some nerve condition that affects his sense of touch or something? Simon's pretty sure he's read about that kind of thing before. "Do you know why?"

There's no shopkeeper, which is good -- they're each quite a sight. Inside the shop looks clean and tended despite that, though, which Simon puzzles over but counts as good luck. There's no dust or dirt on the clothing so he grabs a shirt off a rack and folds it (using the stump of his arm takes some finagling but he manages) then turns to Otoha and holds it up, silently asking permission to press it to the cut. At the least they should wipe it off so the blood of the insect doesn't get in it.

"I'm Simon, by the way. Simon Jarrett."

He did know why--he was a monster. But that's not what he told people. At least not out loud. He shrugged, looking at his surroundings for a moment instead of Simon. "I was born that way. I don't feel pain."

Simon, though, was definitely not a demon's name--it wasn't even Japanese. What the hell was going on here? He glanced at the shirt and nodded, though. He'd need to stop the bleeding eventually and he may as well just let him do it now. It's not like it's going to hurt.

"Simon. I'm Otoha." He debated for a moment asking what he was, but ultimately decided that was rude. If he wanted to tell him, he would.

"Huh. Can you feel anything else?" Even though Otoha can't feel pain, Simon tries to be gentle as he presses the cloth to the wound. His strength in the suit, if unchecked, could do more damage.

"Nice to meet you, I'm not used to. Well. You're human, right? And uh. Do you know where we are?"

He nodded, not flinching at all when Simon presses on the wound in his shoulder. He had that going for him, at least.

Was he human, though...he sighed and was silent for a few moments before he answered. "I was." Not anymore, though. Not really. "I don't know where this is. I was hoping you might."

"...I used to be human, too. At least you still look the part. What are you now?" He peeks under the cloth to see if it's still bleeding, and opts for keeping pressure there awhile longer. The wound isn't deep, at least, it shouldn't need stitching -- something Simon definitely couldn't do with one hand. If they can find bandages somewhere he can manage that.

The thought of searching for bandages brings up where are they again, though. He's felt this sense of displacement before, obviously, when he first woke up at Upsilon.... but that's not what happened here.

"The last thing I remember, I was on the bottom of the ocean. I'd say I got copied again, but then I wouldn't be in this body."

"Karas." He wouldn't know what that was, though. Unless he'd been in the City, but judging by the rest of what he'd said, he hadn't been. Most of it didn't make sense, but he could figure out enough to know that he'd been somewhere else completely different. He looked surprised, though. What was anyone doing at the bottom of the ocean? How would they even survive down there?

"Underwater?" And...what? "Copied? What do you mean?"

"Karas?" Simon has no idea what that is, nope. His glowing eyes blink with curiosity.

And then he's trying to figure out how to explain what happened to him in a way that makes sense. It would be so much easier for Catherine, and there's a pang of grief as he thinks of her. "I'm technically a scan of Simon. He got something called a neurograph done that maps out the brain, and from there his consciousness was put into a robot. That's me." Well, sort of. He thinks of himself as a robot, anyway, because it's easier than thinking of himself as a corpse. "I'm still Simon, still a person, just. Not human anymore."

How to describe it...it was difficult to even put words to what he was. He couldn't even demonstrate--not without Yurine to release him.

"I'm...a defender. I guard the City and the people in it." The demons too. He wouldn't even try to go in to the part where the City itself had chosen him. Twice, really. He didn't even understand how that worked and he hadn't bothered to ask.

He tried to make sense of what Simon was saying, though it was...more difficult than he'd anticipated. The part about not being human barely registered--he knew a lot of people who weren't human.

"A scan? Why?"

"A defender, huh? Lucky for me you were around." There's a smile in his voice, gratitude for being saved.

"'Why' is what I've been asking myself ever since I woke up at the bottom of the ocean. The WAU did it, this artificial intelligence in charge of running Pathos II. It's really complicated to explain how machines think, apparently, so I'll never know why it put me in a body... We know it wanted to preserve life so maybe it thought a bunch of robots running around thinking they were human was good enough? It's happened to a lot of people that had scans done." He thinks of Catherine and Carl and Robin, of the countless others that were probably still trapped in robots back home. "I'm sorry, this probably doesn't make much sense. It's a long story."

He gave another gentle encouraging smile. "It's fine." He probably would't have understood much. It wounded like something from a completely different world. Maybe it was. He wouldn't have known any better. Maybe that's what this was, this...strange city in a cave. Speaking of...

"Have you seen a girl around? She'll have pigtails and goggles. I should introduce myself."

Simon shakes his head as he lifts the cloth again, checking on the wound. The bleeding has stopped so he folds the shirt over, using it now to blot a splatter of insect blood from Otoha's face.

"A girl? No, you're the first person I've seen." And then, hopefully, "You think there are others here?"

"It's a city. There should at least be a Yurine somewhere." Just he couldn't say what she would look like aside from pigtails, goggles and a cat's tail. She wouldn't be his, but she should be here. There might even be another Karas and he should let both of them know he was here. It was the polite thing to do, not to step on anyone's toes.

"I don't know about other people. Maybe."

"A Yurine...?" He doesn't know what that is. Maybe it's related to a Karas? Are they different species or something? Hell, for all Simon knows they're aliens and this is a different planet entirely.

"She's the Will of the City. She chooses the Karas." That at least was easy to explain. "Each city has one. I just have to find her. This may not be my place, but it's polite to let her know I'm here."

"I guess we should look for her, then. I'll just follow along if you don't mind." He doesn't want to be alone. He never wants to be alone again.

He nodded, shifting the sword back over his shoulder, heedless of his injury again. He'd probably reopen it if he wasn't careful.

"Alright. I don't mind. Are you ready?"

"Yeah. I mean.... I'm no use if we get into another fight, but. Yeah." He squares his shoulders, determined. Being scared of what's out there has never kept him from exploring before, and it's not going to now.

"So. You fight giant bugs often?" The other man hadn't seem phased, and he is just sort of carrying a sword around.

"Not giant bugs, no." Other things, sure. Less so now that Eko was dead, and there had been a few giant bugs, but for the most part things were quiet now.

He stepped cautiously out of the shop into the street, carefully looking around for more attackers. Not seeing any, he started off in a random direction. That was the best he could do in a city he'd never seen before.

"It could be worse, though."

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test drive meme #16

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