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?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

An interesting comparison this one makes. She raises a brow, a quirk pulling back the edge of her lip.

"Heibai Wuchang? You mean the black and white guards? We're a little something like that, I suppose."

The folklore of Asian cultures is a far cry from the world she grew up in herself, but she's been around. More than enough, one might say.

After a moment, the hint of that smile diminishes. "You don't sound so surprised."

Now that Ray thinks about it, she supposes she's not--not after what she's spent the last who-knows-how-long dealing with. She shakes her head.

There is one important question, and she asks it calmly, with faint curiosity. "You're not here for me?"

That seems like something she should confirm.

Perhaps inappropriately, Ravine laughs. Because the irony is just too much.

"No, I am not here for you," she says after the sudden laughter stops in a manner equally as abrupt. "No, no no no... We're both prisoners in this, if you'll pardon the cliché. I'm sure it gets used here often."

You know. Just a feeling.

Good and bad news. Good because Ray doesn't fancy the idea of being hauled off to the spirit world--even as she realizes that her feelings about death are rather distant and muted. But it's bad news because "prisoners" doesn't sound so great. Her first thoughts are of people hauled off for bribery or selling fruit where it wasn't permitted or--

The present. Ray considers her new partner in crime. "What do you know about this place? You seem to have an opinion on it already."

Her expression grows somber upon Ray's question, fully aware that it is a much longer answer than only a few words can provide.

"I know that I am a foreigner, as I've been for a long time. That this is as much a place of confinement for many as it is a liberation and a life for others." This girl included, though she is not quite aware of it. But spirits are fragile things. Confused and lost and wandering even if their legs never tire nor rest.

How damaging it would be to let the reality they know crumble in an instant, with just mere words that can cut with all the sharpness of a polished, serrated blade.

No, she has met enough of Ray's kind to know better.

"So you don't live here." She has to make sure that she cuts through the poetry to get to the important details.

"How did you get here? This isn't my school, but I don't know how I got here. I should get home..."

She's not particularly eager to get there, and it may show in how her voice is more resigned than sad.

"I do not."

For as roundabout as she can be sometimes, she is capable of getting straight to the point as well. Many people seek answers. She just isn't one of them, even if she is more often at liberty to provide.

She glances down at the girl, so much smaller than herself when standing completely erect. "You're going to have a long ways to go before you're home again." If she ever does, it won't be the 'home' she has in mind. That place is gone. "I came here the same as you, though. Through a Door."

Not the Door that Ravine knows of. Not the Door that she has been subconsciously looking for in the past hundreds of years.

Never that Door...

Ray did indeed come through a door on her way here, though the one she recalls isn't the Door Ravine refers to. She raises both eyebrows and looks up at her.

"...Did you come from Greenwood too? I didn't see anyone else there after--"

After Wei. And the specter of Ms. Yin.

Is that a joke?

No, this child is certainly not the type. But still, she finds the pressing query all too amusing.

"Do I look like someone from your school, Ray?"

First and foremost, who said anything about a school?

Secondly, Ray didn't mention her name, did she? But then, neither did she, and the other had yet to offer. Yet there is no symptom of concern that Ravine may have said too much. Just roll with it.

"No. I would've noticed you if you were a teacher." She'd stand more than a head taller than even the adults in Ray's school.

Ray pauses. Raises an eyebrow. Greenwood is a decent school, but it's not one of the big, important ones like in Taipei. "...But you know of it?"

And Ray herself, apparently; Ray can't remember if she's introduced herself. She's pretty sure that this woman hasn't offered her name, though.

"I'm sure you would."

And she is also sure that Ray wouldn't have been the only one to notice. Ravine isn't deluded in a way to think that she's easy to miss.

Still with the pleasantries, she nods. "I know of a lot of things."

Including this girl's name, her fate...

Some things, however, are better off not shared.

Another non-answer. Ray's starting to find that almost more frustrating than the riddles--at least she got pretty good at solving those.

"What else? How do you know?"

Welcome to the wonderful world of immortal cryptics, Ray.

"To put it simply, I was born with a gift." She taps her temple. "I can see things that most others cannot."

Some would see that more as a curse than a gift, though. Even to Ravine, who had lost her life as a result of her abilities.

"How does that even work? It sounds like magic." Versus some incredible powers of deduction or something. Ray supposes her uniform is recognizable, but nearly all the schools she knows of have exactly the same one. As a clue, it's something of a dead end.

If this woman can see that, what else can she see? Ray feels nearly sick at the thought of it, then reminds herself that she has nothing to hide.

"I suppose people have liken it to magic in the past. To be truthful, I wouldn't know what you'd call it, as it has been dressed up with different names over time. Magic. Prophecy. Oracle. Seer." She drops her arms at her sides with a contemplative look on her face. "I have taken to calling us psychics, but you can call it whatever you'd like. It makes no difference to me."

Ravine isn't the type to stress over semantics. Even she can't explain away everything.

"My mom believed in those things."

Ray's eyes fall to the floor for a moment as she recalls all those times next to her mother at the altar, internally rolling her eyes and shaking her head at the practices.

And here, with a woman who claims to be psychic before her? Even with that unexplained knowledge...

"I don't." And she lifts her head to look at the woman.

"Easy, there. It's not like I'm trying to convert you," Ravine says light-heartedly.

Even without the images of religious skepticism rolling around in her head now, it's no surprise that Ray would have that sentiment. She is of an age where it's only natural to start doubting, to learn and think for yourself -- regardless of how much a government fought to prevent such things, in fear of insolence.

"Okay..." She bites her lip, not entirely convinced. But if the greatest danger here is that the woman's going to try advertising her fortunetelling services, then that's not the worst outcome.

"So what do you do? Charge people so that you can tell them the luckiest name for their child? Or how to decorate their home?"

Oh, that's rich. She actually laughs.

"What? Charge people? Of course not! I don't have any use of that nonsense -- I'm not even alive."

Not much unlike Ray here... But Ravine knows better than to drop that bombshell on the poor girl; she doesn't even know.

Not alive? She looks and sounds plenty alive to Ray. With a hint of suspicion, she responds, "You said you weren't like the lingered."

They're not alive, despite looking human. Is this woman more similar than she'd been claiming?

There are some Ravine knows who would take offense to such a comparison being made. She, of course, remains neutral to Ray's comment, her expression unchanging from the serene one she's held.

"That's because I am not. I cannot harm the living and I help the dead -- in any way that I am able, that is." She tilts her head, threads of black hair sliding over her shoulder. "Specters don't quite look like me, anyways."

Well, not in Ravine's current appearance.

"That's true," she concedes slowly, "You don't look like you're rotting apart."

So this woman claims that she can't hurt Ray--that'd be nice, if she were telling the truth. She might well be, since many other creatures Ray's encountered would've attacked long before now.

But then why is she even here? "What do you want with me?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

test drive meme #16

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oh god i totally thought i replied to this!

It's okay!

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