test drive meme #19

[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 April 24th, and apps are open May 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: WHAT A FUNGI
[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, walking along, minding your own business, when you come upon a strange... something buried in the ground. No sooner have you noticed it then it pops out, ready to attack. This time, the Door has brought in some Mushbooms, from the Secret of Mana video game.

Mushbooms are large mushroom-shaped creatures that seem to be quite upset that you've infringed upon their territory - though who knew it was their territory to begin with? They attack unpredictably, dancing around before lashing out, and if you're not careful they might just hit you with sleeping powder. But who doesn't need a little nap sometimes?]

S O R R O W

SCENARIO TWO: SHALL WE DANCE?
[You received your invitation - now it's time to attend. Yes, it's the night of Sorrow's masquerade, and surely you're coming prepared. You've found an outfit in the shops, and maybe even a matching mask. You've learned the steps to a dance or two, or maybe you're counting on your partner teaching you.

What will you do, now that you're at the masquerade? Will you enjoy the delicate refreshments on the tables to the side, stuffing your face to avoid making eye contact? Will you make like a wallflower and watch people dance, hoping to be asked yourself? Or maybe you're the brave type, and you'll walk right up to a lovely person and ask them out on the floor. Whatever you do, the night is young - there'll be time for plenty more.

This is a mini version of the last day of our Seven Days of Hadriel event this month!]

C O N F U S I O N

SCENARIO THREE: NEW PHONE WHO DIS
[So you called your friend - you're sure you did. You opened up your phone, hit their name in your contacts list, and started chatting. Maybe you have something important to say, maybe you just wanted to shoot the shit. Only - somehow, it's not your friend. It might be a different friend, a perfect stranger, or even someone you hate. Let's hope they speak up before you say something too embarrassing, right?

Or you might be the one getting the call. You answered the phone, and someone started talking as if they knew you - as if you're a close personal friend of theirs. But who the hell is this, anyway? What are you going to do, speak up or let them keep rambling on about their latest fight with their best friend? You might even recognize their voice - wait, did they just call you sweetie? Oh shit, they definitely think they called their boyfriend. Wow, this is awkward.

The longer you wait to speak up the weirder it'll be. Unless, of course, you have no sense of shame at all and are happy to let them make a fool of themselves.]

Comments

[torrefied]

Probably not for long.

[It's true; plans fall apart all the time. Mello's plans in particular tend to go spectacularly sideways - look at what happened in Los Angeles, back in November. He hadn't anticipated that Kira would be able to find him, find his name, strip him of all the resources he'd built up over the previous two years of hard work.

But he knows, thanks to Near, that the rest of the plan, the part that resulted in his own death, did line up according to his design. Mello slips the lace mask up over his head and tucks it away in his suit jacket pocket, pinching the bridge of his nose against the headache he can feel building behind his eyes.]

I didn't tell you this, because it was important that it was kept secret. I was almost a hundred percent sure we weren't bugged, but I couldn't take any chances. [He also didn't want to navigate the possibility of Matt attempting to talk him out of it, or refusing to assist if he knew the true intended outcome. He sighs heavily.] They were supposed to kill me, Matt. Not you. You were supposed to be the distraction - I was the bait. They had my name. All they needed was my face. [Which he intended to show to Takada once she'd been kidnapped. Which Mello doesn't explain to Matt, confident that he'll be able to piece together what he doesn't say from the gaps his words leave behind. Mello drops his hand from his face, folds his arms over his chest, and looks to Matt, expression taut.] I didn't come up with a good enough plan. I should have assumed that they would go after you as hard as they came after me, and I didn't, and it got you killed, and I am so sorry, Matt, I -

[Mello cuts himself off with an irritated huff of breath and a sharp turn of his head, because how do you apologize for something like getting someone - a friend - killed through your own neglect for details? It's a stupid mistake, probably one of the worst he's ever made. He miscalculated, just like he did here in Hadriel, months ago, when he'd killed Sharon in an attempt to stop the nightmare reality she'd created from harming Near. Her death was unnecessary, just as Matt's was unnecessary.

Mello has had an entire year in this ruined city in which to chew over his final plans. He has experienced his own death twice now; he has been confronted with a number of mistakes of his own making and suffered through the natural consequences. He has forged friendships in spite of those missteps, and he has come close enough to a third, likely permanent death to make him admit to himself, finally, that he wants to stay alive. If Mello no longer seems like a man hellbent on reducing everything in his path to cinders, it's because this place and the people he has come to know have changed him - for the better.]

I know I can't fix this, and I don't expect you to forgive me for what happened to you as a result of my mistakes. I just - I wanted to explain. And - to tell you that if I ever get back to where I'm supposed to be, I'm going to make damn sure you get away. I promise.

[And he hesitates, debating whether to add this last part, but he decides, after a moment of silent deliberation, that Matt deserves to know. Especially since he'd been killed for it.]

I don't know if it will make you feel any better, but Near's team did end Kira, because of what we did.

[irrelevantcode]

[How do you apologize for something like that?]

[You don't. Because shit happens, and Matt is more than aware that his biggest mistake was assuming he was worth something. At that point, detaining him wasn't an option; they'd become too big of a threat in too short period a time for Kira's people to risk it. You don't apologize, because going over it does nothing.]

[Mello wants some kind of redemption. It's more than apparent in the desperation behind his repetition — I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry — say it a million ways, all comes down to the same thing. He needs to put a stake in Matt's death because it gives him a more important part in something than he would have had otherwise. But it was bigger than him. Bigger than Matt. Bigger than L.]

[They fucked with something they shouldn't have — or Matt did, at least. People die. Every day. Right now, someone is dying. But the gravity in the blonde's attempt at whatever it is he's after is thick enough to garner full attention. He can argue it; Matt can argue more than a few of Mello's points. Tell him he couldn't have predicted everyone's thought processes, remind him that once they killed him, they would've come after Matt anyway.]

[They were dead men walking from the second they hit the street that day. Japan was a glorified grave site.]

M.

[He's gotta stop this now. The passion behind his guilt is almost enough to make Matt feel guilty for not caring more than he does.]

It's all right. Look. [Lifts his arms from his sides.] I'm alive, yeah?

[And for posterity:]

I forgive you. And it's good — what Near did. Good that he took Kira off the playing field.

[This is what Mello needs to hear, right?]

Really good. And I'm good.

[Really]

[torrefied]

[Mello doesn't make a habit of apologizing, typically finding himself more owed than owing, and he owns his actions completely and refuses to regret them - mostly. This business with getting Matt killed is a pretty big divergence from the norm, and it's amplified by the memory of his decision to murder Sharon - unnecessarily, as the net result was no change to their situation - and the feelings of regret intensified by Sorrow's revival shortly after.

It doesn't matter if Matt says he forgives Mello. He nods, but Mello doesn't feel the slightest bit absolved, because he doesn't forgive himself for it. He'll hold this incredible failure deep in the darkest chamber of his heart, along with all his other failures - the warehouse in Los Angeles, killing Sharon, agreeing to that demonic possession. This is one more chapter in the tragedy of his life, and he won't soon forget it.]

Good. I'm ... I'm glad you're good. And I'm glad you're here.

[At least here, Matt's alive again. It doesn't quite erase the wrongness of his death, but it's an improvement, at least.]

Near was here, for a while - from after. That's how I knew what happened.

[Gone now, and painfully so, evident from the slight twist Mello's mouth takes.]

L's here too.

[irrelevantcode]

[There's one of those sweet cherry things nestled into a mound of frosting; the way the syrup drips from it over the rivulets looks like blood on shit, or maybe it's the way that no matter where Matt ends up — alive or dead — a past that he was never really interested in keeps nipping at his heels something relentless.]

[L, huh.]

Yeah? [He'll pick something else to shove into his mouth for distraction, like that thing with the cheese that doesn't look complicated enough to taste bad. Shoots M a glance through his mask when he reaches over to pinch it.] Seem a little shaken up about that.

[No, he didn't miss the way Mello's expression altered when he mentioned N. And it wasn't that hatred from back then, that frustration that could easily be mistaken for pure anger if someone didn't pay close enough attention. Easy to miss; impossible for someone who does more observing than acting.]

N die, too?

[Almost nonchalant as he makes one bite of the mini-sandwich, crumbed fingers shoved back into his pockets immediately after.]

[torrefied]

[Mello shakes his head, a physical brushing aside of the complicated tangle of feelings knotting up inside of his chest when he thinks about Near. There's nothing to be done about it; he's gone, may return, may not. There's no way to predict how the Door works, from the evidence he's been able to gather, so logically, Mello knows there is no point in dwelling on it.

He has never been successful at forcing logic to supersede emotion.]

No, he was fine. He'd been to other places before he got dropped here. He was ... here for a long time, almost as long as I've been here. [I see you got somewhere first for a change. Mello frowns at that memory, too.] He disappeared not long ago.

[This is going terribly; Mello can feel it all spiraling out of his control, just as tangibly as he can feel the headache building behind his eyes. Figures that even after he's gone, Near can still produce this effect on him. Mello pinches the bridge of his nose.]

Look, you've probably got your hands full adjusting to all of this, so I won't take up any more of your time. If you want a place to stay, L and I are in house 1202 - there's a spare room, and it's yours, if you want it. He's going by the name Luke Landau here. I'll introduce you ... if you want.

[Forgiveness over his death aside, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Matt may wish to put distance between himself and Mello and L. Mello's not assuming anything, but the offers are there, on the table for Matt to take, if he chooses.]