test drive meme #20

[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 May 25th, and apps are open June 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: BURN BABY BURN
[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.

Or that... bonfire behind you? That's sure what it looks like, but if you get a little closer - which you probably shouldn't - you'll see a face in those flames This time, the Door has brought in some Doomers, from the Baten Kaitos video game.

Doomers are creatures made of flame that sure would like it if you were on fire too. It works for them, right? What do you mean you don't want to be engulfed in flames? These Doomers will send clouds of sparks in the direction of anyone that might be a threat (or anyone they don't like), searing them with the heat and trying to catch them on fire. Hot damn!]

SCENARIO TWO: IT'S JUST A CAT
[Why does it always have to be like this? There you were, going about your day, when you turned a corner and something jumped out at you. Maybe a monster with sharp teeth and claws, maybe a snake striking at your feet, maybe just a terrifying dark shape - whatever it was, it scared the shit out of you.

And then it disappeared in a puff of brightly-colored smoke and glitter, because that's just how Hadriel rolls. Awesome. And maybe if it just happened once it would be a big deal, but it's happening all the time. Practically every other corner you turn, half the doors you open, even just when you look over your shoulder. Careful about getting too jumpy, though - what are you gonna do if your friend taps you on the shoulder and you freak out? How embarrassing.

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

H O P E

SCENARIO THREE: I LIKE YOUR HAIR
[Everything seems normal today. No monsters, no weird shapes jumping out at you. Maybe it'll just be a normal day. Maybe it'll even be nice. No - it'll definitely be nice.

How can we be sure of that? Easy! Every time you touch someone today - whether it's an accidental bump or an intentional touch - you'll blurt out a genuine compliment. If you don't know them well, it could be something as simple as saying they look nice today, or that their eyes are a lovely shade of green. If you do know them, it'll be more specific. Maybe you're impressed by their work ethic, or you love the sound of their singing voice. Maybe you actually hate them but you really appreciate the way they always remember to put the toilet seat down (because that's the only good thing about them).

Whatever it is, you'll find yourself saying it out loud. Don't worry - nothing too personal will be blurted out, and you can stop yourself if you really want to. But isn't it great to be nice to people for once?]

Comments

[flyfisher]

She watches him as he turns back to the shelves, grabbing food, which she thinks is wise, only he's eating it right away. He should be saving that! Who knows when he'll really need it? But maybe he's already very hungry.

"Hungry?" He shared something, so Myia thinks she should return the favor. That's why she's opened her shirt-bag now, and, rifling through its contents, she procures a pear she had secretly kept for herself. One of several, in fact. Hey, it's first come, first serve. But Myia feels like she owes him one for sharing his alcohol.

She holds the pear out to Jack. "It's your favorite! I, um, I kept it for you!" she lies.

[wynand]

...right. His favorite, as she decided. He accepts it gingerly, turning the thing over and over in his hands with an odd fixation. He sniffs it, taken aback at the scent of fresh fruit. At the feel of the pocked green skin he's not felt, experienced, in - ever, maybe?

That can't be right. He's tasted pears before, he'd know. But when he bites into it, greedily, it might as well be something new.

Something he's never tasted before now. The rich sweetness, the nectar-like juice running down his chin, and Jack regards the thing with mild surprise before eagerly tucking in.

Maybe pears are his favorite, after all.

"'S good," he adds, mouth full, a bit belatedly but no less sincerely.

[flyfisher]

After the sniffing and appraisal of the pear, he digs in like it's about to evaporate in his hand. His face is covered in pear juice in no time, and it's not exactly the most dignified way to eat your favorite fruit, but the fact that Myia can really tell he appreciates it sort of makes her feel good in a way she's not used to feeling about giving things away.

He's a weird one, this "human", but Myia decides she likes Jack.

"I was right! He loves pears. Heehee, of course! Of course!"

She reaches for something else from the shelf beside her when she sees it -- him, rather, and it must be him, a red wasp, she can't tell if he's bleeding like the last time she saw him, it's only out of the corner of her eye but Amber screams and Myia shrieks, dropping her bag and leaving the contents to roll out onto the floor. She recoils back in the same motion into the shelf, nearly toppling it over, and it does teeter, but it stays upright while she falls onto her butt.

As soon as she hits the ground, he bursts into glitter and smoke. Amber was never here at all. She didn't kill him like she maybe should have, but he's still not here. It's fine.

But she can't get her breathing to slow again.

[wynand]

He's not used to a world in which food exists for enjoyment - or at least, the memories of such a world are distant and faint, like watercolor smears on a moistened canvas. Rapture is sharper, the most definitive moment in his life, for reasons that feel obvious enough. The strange world that shook everything at its core, that altered his life and his nucleotide chain from the moment he set foot into that ruined city.

Scavenging is second nature. Eating quickly, to lend himself strength, fueling a hyperactive metabolism with brusque efficiency, to best enable him to tear through walls of glass and steel, wrench in hand, and stay alive.

It's not clear what Myia sees, but whatever it is takes her off guard enough to elicit a terrified wail.

Jack's reaction is instantaneous. The pistol is out again, drawn smoothly, and remainder of the pear falls to the ground to roll across the floor, forlorn and forgotten. His left hand spritzes to life in a flare of arcing blue, electricity crackling at his fingertips as he scans the store for whatever took her off guard, whatever threat must be lingering around the corner.

Nothing comes.

His heartbeat, momentarily stirred, begins to slow almost at once. Jack's gaze drops to eye Myia warily.

"What is it?"