TEST DRIVE MEME #4

[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 December 25th, and apps are open January 1st.

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: A FACE FIT FOR A MEME
[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 on the rooftops watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to separate you from your group and tear you into pieces. This time, the Door has brought in trolls, from the Dungeons and Dragons tabletop roleplay series for you meet.

These trolls have a height of nine feet and weigh up to five hundred pounds. They may be slower and less intelligent than you, but their regenerative abilities make them difficult to kill. Trolls are capable of healing nonfatal damage dealt to them and can use simple tools, like swords and knives- all the better to incapacitate you so they can roast you alive!]


SCENARIO TWO: RED SNOW
[It's cold. A layer of snow envelops the city, turning the caves into a winter wonderland. Feel free to have snowball fights, scrounge for blankets and coats (there's never enough to go around), and make snow angels! It's just like back home during the holidays, isn't it?

That is, if your home had yeti and white walkers roaming around trying to kill you. Be careful when wandering out and about, because they seem to blend in with the snow, and they definitely want a snack.

Or, uh, to raise you from the dead to murder your friends at their behest. Either way, you're dead.

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


H O P E

SCENARIO THREE: HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS
[You're sitting on a couch in a living room. All around you are hints of magic- the mirrors seem to flicker with moving objects and people, the fireplace crackles with light, but no heat. There's a Christmas tree in the corner with soft, glowing lights that are unattached to any sort of wires.

Underneath the tree are four presents- two of them clearly marked for you, two of them clearly marked for the other person in the room with you. Inside one of these gifts is something you badly want- a stack of cash, a magical bow, an out-of-print book- but inside the other is something a little less pleasant. There may be spiders or snakes, or the box may be empty but coated in acid. It could be a wolf in sheep's clothing- wonderful-looking fruits, rotted on the inside- or it could just be a particularly nasty smell.

You can only open one, and there's no way to know which is which. Which gift will you choose?]

Comments

Natasha Romanoff | Avengers: Age of Ultron

[debtings]

A Face fit for a meme

[She'd been trying to lay low, blend in and try to find out more about her benevolent hosts. Things had just started to slow down back home - enough of a lull to rebuild - refocus. She didn't have time for this kind of mess. While her uniform was handy in fights, the cat suit isn't exactly designed for long-term exposure. Add on top of that the black stuck out like a sore thumb against the sea of white around her? Well, venturing too far out into the apparent Winter Wonderland was out of the question. So she stuck to the streets of the city - keen eyes scanning the area around her.

And that's when she spots it.

Something... Something not human.

A shift on the roof to the left of her. Whatever it is, it's big and focused on her. Everything within her shifts from passive observation to fully attuned and ready to fight. Natasha moves off of the main street, heading towards an alley that might give her a few vantages for an escape if needed.

She hears the thud as it descends from the roof behind her and --]

Well, you sure did eat your Wheaties.

[Natasha barely gets her quip out before it lunges at her. She skillfully dodges, skirting beneath its mass so she's behind it. She barely waits a moment before kicking off of a nearby wall to try and reach its arms or even shoulders to grab onto. If she could possible stun it with her Widow's Bites and if that didn't work, she always had the disks. Thank God they hadn't taken her weapons away from her. After a few tries, finding the stuns weren't quite enough - she sticks as many of the discs she has on her on the troll in the hopes that if it didn't kill it, the zap would be enough to at least knock it out for a little while. Gunfire wasn't an option right now, not when she didn't know if there were more in the area that could come running at the loud sound. It was time to take it down as quietly as possible and find a spot to re-evaluate and regroup.

The troll jerks when she triggers the disks, the behemoth falling with a resounding thud as she casually tumbles off of it. With a soft exhale, she starts moving back out of the alley and brushes off her uniform when she notices something.]

Son of a -- I broke a nail.

[It's the little things, really. Please don't mind the crumpled troll behind her. Best to keep moving.]

Hope for the Holidays

[Holidays aren't really something she's ever spent a lot of time focusing on. Not with her work, both before and after SHIELD. Forming ties like that were dangerous in her line of work, building lasting relationships. It's only a matter of time before they possibly come to light and could get hurt. Like Clint's family. They mean the world to her and she would do everything possible to protect them, but she wasn't foolish enough to think they could be kept secret from everyone forever. She lets her thoughts drift as her hand hovers by the flames, giving a little sigh when there's no heat. Figures nothing about this place would qualify as normal.

After refocusing and continuing her silent exploration of the room, she finally spots her name on the two boxes. Her full name. If the fakeness of the environment around her wasn't disconcerting enough, this was certainly the icing on the cake. She doesn't want to touch them let alone open them... But, better she takes them before someone else sees something she's not quite ready to share. She's not in the mood for questions, even if it would most likely be answered with a lie. After lightly flicking one of the lights on the tree, more out of curiosity than boredom, she turns to the other person in the room. Her lips form a smirk, deflecting her worry for something more familiar.]

You shouldn't have.

[zen_en_vert]

[Bruce is a little unrecognizable under all the scarf, mittens, hat and whatnot- and ducking out from behind a mess of rubble where he'd been avoiding all of that; but when he hears her complain a broken nail he laughs as he straightens up and pulls all the wool back.]

I'm sorry to hear that.

[But;]

But I'm very glad you're here.

[debtings]

[Well, this is a surprise... She'd noticed the company although even the best of the best would have a hard time deciphering features under bundled layers. A natural smile falls into place with recognition, bottling up the residual anger and hurt because there was a time and a place for those types of things. This wasn't it. She couldn't blame him for what he did, there were bigger fish to fry.]

Doctor Banner, what a surprise.

[The trademark smirk falls into place as she moves towards him.]

Seems I was just in time for the party, although not what I would have had in mind.

[zen_en_vert]

I've been here three months, and I can conclusively say that this is not a party.

[He admits, stepping forward to meet her- and it's true. He is tired, underfed, and a little frostbitten, for that matter. His hair is getting long, and he has a wicked bruise that he hasn't managed to get rid of by shifting.]

[debtings]

The welcoming committee I just met might argue that point, although I'd much rather not be around whenever it wakes up.

[Understatement of the century. It had been hell to take down and Natasha wasn't sure if Bruce would be up to helping her with a round 2 if it came down to it given his current state. So, she shifts priorities, wrapping her arms around herself.]

Know of a place that's warm and quiet where you can fill me in on this place?

[3 months was more intel than she had and it looked like he could use someplace warm just as much as her.]

[zen_en_vert]

The best bet for that is this way.

[He says, shifting through the shadowy streets with a ginger familiarity, peering around coerns before he takes them, and leading her on to the building that's serving as the clinic.

The walls are painted with red crosses, with the words for 'doctor' and 'medic' in a half dozen languages, and behind that, display a deep green mural of a lush woodland. It's eyegrabbing, even in the low light and the piled up snow.

He has to jerk the door with his shoulder to get it to behave in its' frame, but at least hte slightly shabby inside is a few degrees warmer than the rest of the cave. It smells of woodsmoke and cleaning supplies, and behind that, something like grassy tea. That prompts him to add;]

I'll put the kettle on.

[His hand is everywhere in here.]

[debtings]

[She's more than okay with letting him take point considering she could very well lead them unintentionally into a new mess since these things had a fondness for travelling along the rooftops. It made evasion... difficult.

Natasha takes in every inch she can see of the cave, giving a little hum when he offers tea. It's simple enough to put together that he's back to what she'd found him doing in India, although this time she didn't have to bribe a child to track him down. If only it'd be that simple to find him again if she ever made it back home.]

Nice set-up, I can see you've been a busy bee. Who else is here?

[Might as well not beat around the bush and leave room for possible small talk. Now wasn't the time for that.]

[zen_en_vert]

Barnes, the Winter Soldier. We had Steve and Tony, but they've both vanished- presumed dead, until now, and Wanda Maximoff, the same.

[He says, tight and thin and heartbroken, but no time for that now. He finishes taking off his layers, movements quick and careful as he breathes through it and goes reflexively to put on water for tea.]

And me.

sorry, life exploded on me.

[debtings]

[She stills when he answers her question - the response far from what she'd been expecting.] Shit. Well, I guess I showed up just in time. [Her arms cross, a hip popping out slightly as she levels a look on him - watching him move.]

How much of a threat is the Winter Soldier? [Mainly wondering if he needs to or otherwise has somehow been neutralized or contained.]

no problem!

[zen_en_vert]

None at all so far. I've searched for him, but he's a ghost.

[Even with how Bruce knows how to disappear.]

I get the sense that without an objective here, he's not going to be aggressive. More mission killer than out and out psychopath. The main danger is the environment.

[debtings]

Sounds like nothing's changed with him. [It was in their training, being able to hide if they didn't want to be found. Blend into their surroundings like a chameleon. But, she was always good at hide and seek, more than willing to accept the challenge.]

Or he'll learn to adapt. [She shakes her head, letting out a sigh.] Tell me more about the environment, are those creatures always lurking around or was I just lucky?

[zen_en_vert]

These or others. We're on a monthly cycle; a batch of newcomers wake up in one of the central buildings, and with them, a pile of monsters. Giant bears, gelatinous things with teeth, swarms of insects- the newcomers pour out into the streets, and then so do the things chasing them.

[This would be the fourth wave now.]

In the times in between, we see them, and other unique problems, haunting the streets and hunting.