dankmemes | test drive meme #17

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!test drive

test drive meme #17

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 February 22nd, and apps are open March 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: SHOOTING HOOPS
[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.

There you are, calmly exploring this super cool cave city, when all of a sudden you see something roll toward you. What could that possibly be? Why, it seems the Door has brought in some hoop snakes, which are definitely real.

Hoop snakes are poisonous and aggressive reptiles, able to pursue fleeing prey by grasping their tail in their jaws and rolling after them like a wheel. Wow, so efficient! Hard to get away from, though, and kind of... terrifying? If you want to get away, you better be a fast runner. Or maybe you should climb something. Good luck!]

S O R R O W

SCENARIO TWO: YOU GOT THE BLUES
[You woke up this morning on the wrong side of the bed. Not the angry side - the sad side. Somehow, everything just seems to be going wrong, and you don't know why. You were out of milk for your cereal, the fruit you picked just yesterday is already going bad, and instead of getting frustrated all you want to do is feel sorry for yourself.

Even the good things aren't going too well. Maybe your friend just told you your hair looks nice today - doesn't that mean it looks bad the rest of the time? Probably. They've just been too nice to tell you. And your crush smiled at you - that probably means they know about your feelings and are getting ready to let you down easy. That's the only explanation.

No matter what happens, your mind is giving you the worst, most depressing interpretation. You can try to fight it and be aggressively upbeat - or maybe you just want to cry on somebody's shoulder. Yeah. That sounds good right about now.]

D E L I G H T

SCENARIO THREE: PUCKER UP
[For once, Hadriel looks rather lovely, all covered in snow and seasonal! Sure, it's not quite the right season anymore, but who really knows what month it is? Not the residents, and certainly not the gods. But for whatever reason, Delight has decided there should be snow on the ground and ugly sweaters in the shops.

And, of course, mistletoe. On your wanderings around the city, you may find yourself under the mistletoe with a friend or a stranger or even an enemy. Regardless of who they are and how you really feel about them, the mistletoe will give you a gentle compulsion to plant a kiss right on those appealing lips of theirs. You can resist if you want - it won't force you - but don't you kind of want to go for it?

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

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fear

[ These beasts are not so different from the many others that plague their world. For years, she'd heard tales at Sokolov's side of the kinds of things found across the Ocean on the Far Continent, the kinds of things that made it impossible to colonize and which laid waste to anyone who dared tread on its grounds. Within their own borders there are deadly animals enough: rats and hagfish, river krusts and - now, apparently - blood flies. All vicious and with a taste for blood, with no mercy or regard for whoever might step unwittingly into their paths.

Comparatively, these serpents are... almost tame. When she first encountered them, the unseated Empress moved quickly - too quickly for the naked eye to see, standing one moment in the hoop snake's path, and crouching high above it on a ridge in the next second. Beneath the silk tied to her left hand, the mark of the Outsider pulsed faintly. Very faintly. Maybe this place is beyond even his reach. She watches the animal run its course, having missed its prey, and then she's upon it, slicing clean through from side to side.

Emily Kaldwin straightens up, wipes off her blade, and moves on. ]

delight

[ The traditions here are just as strange as everything else within Hadriel. Emily catches sight of the sweaters in shop windows as she passes through the city, head down, as always. Her boots flatten the snow with a crunch for every step. She tugs her coat around herself a little, made uncomfortable by the fact that she's been able to walk from one end of this place to the other without seeing a single poster bearing her face, name, and alleged crime... or having anyone shriek at the sight of her, alerting the guard, risking her life.

No. These days, things are snow and a quiet sort of peace. She almost smiles, reaching up to brush her fingers along the mistletoe that is hanging from above a doorway. Whatever its meaning is, it's... odd, but quaint.

She'd traveled to what she believed to be the edge of the world, but now, that world seems so much wider. ]

Hmm... [ Dark brows come together in a faint question as she stares, still, at the greenery above her. There's something about it, something... almost bewitching. Something suggestive, but - of what? Her tongue darts briefly across her lips as she considers it, entranced.

What in the world is this? ]

[ A pious man, though the Outsider knows there is no such thing as a truly pious man, would steer clear from the mistletoe, the words of the Abbeyman springing to mind, warnings of witches and curses and hexes. He would turn heel with wide eyes and then rush to inform the Abbey or the guard of such a suspicious sprig: a curse, he would tell them. Perhaps, even, he would blame the pox he'd gotten from the young woman on the street corner and no one would be the wiser that he was cheating on his wife and spending his money on a disease he will spread.

But that man is not here, only Emily Kaldwin, an empress whose throne was stolen from her.

He watches with dark eyes, legs crossed in the air. When some time has passed, when Emily has given the greenery as much attention as she can, does he finally speak. ]

A gift from a god, but a gift so few desire. [ He floats in the air a distance away, glossy eyes curious and knowledgeable all at once. Even from his distance, he can feel the sweet compulsion that accompanies the bright sprig. ] Get rid of it.

[ The words are more suggestion than demand. ]

[ The mark pulses again. Of course he would show himself to her now, when there's any ounce of amusement to be found.

Briefly, Emily wonders what he thinks of the so-called 'gods' in this place. She imagines that the Outsider has seen his fair share of those who claimed the title, but didn't hold the power. ]

A gift? [ It doesn't seem much like a gift. She frowns at it, still feeling a... compulsion, almost. A drive that is both unsettling and (it's fine, what could be the harm in it?) something more.

There's a silence, and in a flash, she cuts down the sprig from above her. It falls to the ground with no further effects, and she blinks, recovering herself. ]

What was that?

[ The Outsider knows about gifts, though it's rare for him to give them freely. The only people that get them are the ones that can either change the world with just a push or destroy it, one or the other. Those that bring change and good and go against their baser instincts are the ones that hold the most interest for him.

Like Delilah and Daud, if only for a moment.

Like Corvo.

Like Emily.

He disappears in a haze of smoke only to reappear closer, feet nearly touching the ground but not quite. This close, there's a faint smell of salt and tide, his dark clothes damp. He crosses his arms as he gazes at the now useless sprig. ]

An enchanted piece of greenery, one that compels intimacy. [ He felt it. He knows she felt it, too. He lifts his head a little higher, almost as if he were talking down to the deities, not Emily. ] These gods try very hard to get what they need.

[ After she found a rune, while living at the Hound Pits, she'd had dreams about the Outsider. Nightmares. Even now, she still isn't sure how much of it was the entity himself and how much was fabrication.

Compels intimacy? Her frown becomes more pronounced, almost disapproving. Hope, Fear, Sorrow, Confusion, Rage, Tranquility, Delight. Delight, she supposes, must have done this. Who else would try and coax out such a... specific reaction from the population?

Preserve them if ever there appears a good called Lust. ]

Apparently they do. [ If this particular effort can be considered their having 'tried hard.'

Emily gazes down at the mistletoe for another moment, then crushes it underfoot for good measure. There's a silence, one that she breaks after careful consideration. ]

I never really thought there were gods. [ She states, looking to him, with the understanding that he had been the only apparent such creature in their own world. What do you make of all this? ]

[ Everyone dreams of the Void at one point or another in their life, dreams of a young man with eyes as black as the darkness they breathe in, but rarely do they see him more than just once. People are, and have been for so very long, dull. He could tell them their futures because so rarely do they stray from the paths that they believe exist.

They do right, they do wrong.

Emily grew up to be interesting, to be a fascinating young woman, but it is of no surprise to the Outsider. Her family tree has the rare golden fruit and he's visited them more than he's visited any other line; offered his gift to them more than to others. One day that line will wither, just as he will. ]

A god is just a word, young Empress. They are as much of a god as we allow them to be. [ The Outsider isn't impressed with the displays of power he's seen. Any may have the power to change or manipulate, but does that make them a god? He flickers from the area again, floating near a window further away, one leg crossed over the other. ]

And no god is allowed to exist for eternity. [ Not even the Outsider will last forever. One day, too, he will fall to the Void and something else shall take his place. Perhaps, then, he will feel peace. ]

[ She isn't sure that she agrees, but it's difficult to argue with the knowledge of an apparently-ageless being. They have power without your Mark or witchcraft, she thinks ruefully, but, then... they may have the latter. What does she know of this world and its magic?

Does he find them amusing? Interesting? Her eyes follow him as he vanishes and reappears. ]

Did you come here of your own will?

[ Hopefully, it's a subtle way of asking whether or not they were able to bring him here like the rest of them, rather than him flitting through space the way that he does without effort. ]

[ It is the slight twitch of his lips and pull of his dark brows that answers her question before he can even say it out loud. He manages to keep his lips thinned out, to keep the frown from lasting a moment longer. This whole situation is brand new, exciting if it weren't so so very wrong. He cannot hear the whales here. The Void feels different here, a dream of a dream of a dream, and he cannot hear the songs of the whale.

He flashes away again, closer to her this time, behind her. ]

No more than you came of your own. [ His voice takes on a dark quality, like the color of his eyes and disappears he does again, smoke and ink whisking him away so that he leans against the nearby wall. ] These gods have had no choice in our arrival, either.

[ That's not him being only a little petty, though it's difficult to tell by the bland way he states it. Look, he's better, ok. :| He could kidnap way more people if he wanted to and his homeworld is so much cooler. He's got whales. ]

[ He vanishes and somehow she knows he'll be behind her before he is, though there is still the prickle of gooseflesh at the back of her neck after. Emily swallows, turning slowly, never enjoying the feeling of someone at her back or watching her (both of which he seems to be fond of doing). ]

You think so? [ They say the Door is responsible, whatever it is. The Outsider may be the key to understanding it all, to unraveling the city's many mysteries and returning home to her mission. ] What do you make of all this?

[ His take may be the only one that matters, given his abilities. Given his experiences.

Out of nowhere, she thinks of the heart. Emily tenses. ]

Will the Door impede your marks?

Edited 2017-02-22 20:09 (UTC)

[ Unlike their own world, the future here is far more difficult one for the Outsider to determine. It is a tree with so many branches it blots out the sky for miles and miles, years and years. There are many answers to her question but none of them will help her much, satisfy her or him. He tilts his head, dropping his gaze to her wrapped hand that hides away his mark. Smart to hide it. The abbey does like to hack down those with such a thing on them. ]

As long as I am here, you should have no issues with the Mark. [ He answers first, never blinking. She will find no shrines, no runes, but her powers gifted should work perfectly normally. He can feel every time she uses it but that's how it's always been; only so many people have been gifted. She'll just have to be careful with her energy. ] And what do I make of it, dear Empress? [ There's a pause, heavy. This place could be an adventure but the Outsider is finding that he does not enjoy being far from the Void—his world's Void. ] We are here with no choice, just as lives begin and end. There is no way back, yet, but secrets live in the heart of this place.

[ Again, he disappears, reappearing above her, kneeling down to watch her. ] Will you find them, Emily?

Can you? [ His dark eyes narrow, something playful behind them. It's difficult to tell but he may be goading her. No, it's pretty obvious he's goading her. Girl, find the way home so he can get back. This is neat but surprisingly uncomfortable. ]

Edited 2017-02-27 23:00 (UTC)

[ Good. She can manage without the abilities - she has for almost all of her life - but they certainly help. They were indispensable in Karnaca, and will surely be the same here, in this place beyond her empire. ... Of course, Karnaca had been so foreign and unknown to her at first that it may as well have been a different world, even if it was under her reign. ]

I'll try. [ She has no other choice. Now that Delilah has been dealt with, there is a lot to do, things that ought to have been done ages ago, but that she was too blind to see. Emily has grown a great deal since the coup. ] I'll do everything I can.

[ The young empress isn't about to be taken from her city a second time, not after all she'd managed. ]

I may find some allies here who can help. [ If black market shopkeepers in shadowed alleys could provide her with aid, she imagines that anyone could. ] If there is anything within my power to do to bring us back, then I'll do it.

[ "If" being the key word. ]

You have an empire to save. [ He says, knowing she has no choice but to fight to find a way back home, back to her Lord Protector of a father, back to destroy Delilah's schemes. ]

But be careful who you ally with. You'll find that allies here do not always remain so. The gods here seem to enjoy turning people against one another. Forcibly.

[ He gets it, personally, humanity can be boring. But all this intervention these deities do? It seems unnecessary. ]

[Corvo had put Emily through all the deadly animals the isles had to offer. Rats exterminated, hagfish fished, river krusts... obliterated with no mercy. He more or less forced Emily into the blood flies as well, given that he wasn't there to take care of them himself. He's sure he would have just told her to swing until something broke. He'd truly taught her everything he knew.

But this was not the father that had put Emily through such training. This was the father that had put his own to the test only recently, all for a little girl he wasn't aware had grown. This was the father that, when in the face of what he thought might have been another swarm of rats, found snakes. Corvo took flight over fight at this age, and the cave was briefly lit with two marks of the Outsider while he made his escape.

Blinking straight into his daughter was not a part of the plan. In hindsight, he's sure the weight of him slamming into her wasn't pleasant on either ends.]

[ She doesn't even see him before the collision (of course she didn't, she learned everything she knows from him). Emily is blindsided, knocked over... though she does manage to brace herself to spare any real impact, heart rate spiking with the sudden presence. ]

Father. [ She breathes, then, rising to her feet and sighing. Of course it is. Not many others are able to surprise her, not with Corvo's own training and the gifts that the Outsider had given her. ] Are you all right?

[ More important, really, is why he hadn't been able to sense her before he made his appearance. People in court have been whispering for years that the Royal Protector is far past his prime, though Emily would hear none of it.

But, what if - No. No, not him. ]

Father-- [Corvo's voice caught in his throat as Emily rose, withdrawing in on himself as he came to his. It wasn't the first he'd heard it, but the last time it was in a much... smaller voice. Of a smaller girl. Emily was not small.

They could wonder what people will whisper here, for Corvo hasn't hit his prime. His head wasn't shaven, shoulder-length hair filthy and tangled around his gaunt face. He looked like he just climbed out of a sewer. He probably did.]

... Emily. [He says slowly, as if trying it out for size. This was wrong, but... she looked so much like her mother.]

[ She can recognize, immediately, that something is wrong. Her instincts as a child may not have been keen enough to recognize the duplicity of the Loyalists, but Corvo had taught her, as she grew, to think more shrewdly. As Empress, there were always threats, and most bore smiles and gifts. He isn't smiling now, but it would be easy for anyone who had seen the Royal Protector lately to make the distinction between that man and - ]

What... [ It's difficult to make sense of it, to justify the man before her, the one she knows for certain is her father, with the... changes. There's not only a difference in his appearance (though that alone is striking), but in his manner, in his voice, even, if only slightly.

Really, he looks a bit like he'd climbed out of a memory from when her mother was killed and he was shouldered with the blame for her murder. ]

... What happened to you? [ Emily settles, finally, at a loss. ]

[Corvo isn't smiling, and he certainly he couldn't if he tried. He didn't think he would long for the sewers of Dunwall, littered with rats and plague victims, over these tunnels. He wanted home, he wanted Emily, and... well, this strange city gifted him one of those things.

All things considered, Corvo could turn her own question back on her. He could, but he won't. He's still taking in the lines of her face, how she kept her hair, her attire. How much had she taken from both of her parents? How much did she resent them? He'd rather get to those, but--]

I think I'm about ten years too early. [Fifteen, but he couldn't possibly know, could he?] You've been... safe. Empress, I hope.

[ Emily has learned a lot from both mother and father. One of those things is the ability to bite her tongue and think when questions are threatening to burst from her mouth. So, the Empress does wait, turning his statement over in her mind, letting it process.

Ten years too early. Along with his hair, his general appearance - ]

You... came here from the years of the Rat Plague. [ She breathes, blinking. ] From - 1837?

[ It's fantastical, but much of what she's seen in the past few months (and throughout her entire life, to be honest) is similarly unbelievable.

Briefly, trance-like, her bare hand comes close to ghost along the frame of his hair, the hollows of his face. ]

You look as if you stepped out of one of my memories. [ She says slowly, lowing the hand. Ah, but he'd asked a question, and she dips her chin, frowning very slightly. ]

Yes. [ Safe now, yes. Empress again, yes. ] Everything is fine.

[ Now. ]

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test drive meme #17

emily kaldwin | dishonored 2

Delight

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fear

omg

hi omg i'm dad

stares into the camera like i'm on the office

sips from #1 dad mug

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