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

[wynand]

[That elicits a hesitation, albeit an uncertain one. It's difficult to discern tone over text, even more so when the person texting doesn't even have a face to speak of (unless he does have one under that helmet...?), but presumably, it's utterly sincere. Which is not helping the sense of building surrealism over this entire encounter, but he's long since learned that, in Rapture at least, the norm is easily circumvented.

"Delta" is a distant name befitting the man wearing it, and Jack doesn't pry further.]

I keep seeing...things.

[The unmistakable sound of dislodging rock signalling an incoming spider. The peals of sob-laughter that herald a splicer desperate for a fix. The shadow of a woman hunched over a crib, cooing to whatever lay within in a manner that could almost be construed as sane.]

Keep thinking there's something behind me.

[He darts Delta an inquisitive lift of his eyebrows, a tacit question of have you, too?

Or is all that ADAM finally getting to his head in a more direct fashion?]

[drilldaddy]

[ Whatever's under that helmet is probably not much of a face these days, and it's likely for the best that it stays hidden. Not even Delta himself is entirely sure what he looks like anymore, and he's avoiding that revelation for as long as he possibly can. Because putting uncomfortable truths about yourself off until you die is the best way to deal with them. ]
[ He gives a low hum as he types, mentally wording and rewording his next question. He's pretty sure he knows what Jack's referring to-- while Delta's been arguably far luckier than his new acquaintance when it came to the sudden scares, he's seen a small handful of them during his wandering today. It was a good thing he'd decided to go looking for stragglers, he thinks. Perhaps Jack would've gotten lost and wound up beset by all this for hours on his own-- he suspects that wouldn't be the worst thing the man's dealt with, though. ]

what kind of things ? [ After a moment, he retracts the phone, adding something else to the inquiry before he shows it to Jack again. ] mot just you, id say. don't know if you're that unlkcy. could be wrong
either way there's definitly been Things.
[ Oh, look at that. Things, for emphasis-- being that he's seen altogether too many different attempts at jumpscares to care, they sort of began to run together after a while. He's sort of at a loss of words for how to describe the ones Hadriel's trying to get him with, aside from the fact that they were noticeably more numerous-- and less lethal. That should've been what he led with, shouldn't it. ]
far's i know they can't hurt you
but i wouldnt drop yuor guard so easily. nobody wants to die here. probably.

[wynand]

Splicers.

[As if it needs saying. The shapes of his waking nightmares are easy, and Rapture was eager enough to lend them a tangible form. Anything else is murkier, more distant, difficult to draw into something solid. His mind substitutes what it can't explain with the more immediate.

It's not reassuring, but it's not as unsettling as it has the capacity to be.

He's only seen them. Heard them, fleetingly, before they dissolve into the surrounding grooves and contours of the cave proper. But Things gets a slight lift of his eyes. Delta, it seems, has a sense of humor, albeit a morbid one. You'd be hard-pressed to find any other kind in Rapture.]

I wasn't about to.

[No Vita-Chambers here; if he dies, he'd imagine it would be for real.]

Perfect time for someone to get the drop on someone else. [Cat scare after cat scare, only for the last scare to be something real. Sounds familiar.]

[drilldaddy]

[ Jack's got a point-- this would be the perfect time to get away with murder, even in a literal sense. And with all the tunnels and alleyways to who knows where he's passed by, Delta has to admit that it would be almost too easy to make the evidence disappear, lost in the dark gullet of some forgotten hole. It reminds him of Rapture, and the thought of it's revolting. ]

good news isthst there don't seem to be splicers here. at all. bad news,we're still not safe, on account of there being other things to deal with. not quite a fire an dfrying pan scenario, but not great.
[ There were supplies at least, enough to get by without having to resort to desperate measures. That's a more than welcome change-- he's personally quite alright with never having to guzzle a battered can of beans lifted from a dead splicer again. Fine dining with Delta, everybody. Tune in at eleven for the liquor segment. ]

i'm hoping nobody plans on tsking advantage of what's goin on. there's probably at least one prson. gonna have to keep an eye out for evryone's sake.
[ If he managed to catch this hypothetical scheme in time-- it would be dealt with, whatever it may be. Infighting wasn't going to help any of them stay alive down here, that much was clear. ]

[wynand]

[Not splicers, but other things, just as up front about their capacity for destruction and how badly they want Jack dead, simply because he's there.

So they have to keep themselves safe, and the masses as well. The grander "everybody else" that Jack's been purposefully steering clear from. He's not interacted with sane people capable of speech on a face-to-face basis in some time, and he can't quite tamp down the mental urge to pull away from the promise of ordinary interaction. Breaking that chain, for some reason, feels profoundly unnatural in a way he can't enunciate.]

The things in the caves won't care what we're seeing.

[If they sense a weakness, he wouldn't put it past them to do something about it. Or, should someone unwittingly wander into their domain, so to speak -

It's not a good situation.]

[drilldaddy]

nope
[ It's...brief and to the point. Delta isn't going to sugar-coat things, particularly not when Jack already seems to know what's up. ]
and that's why i'ts not the best idea to be out hwre on your own. don't have t o go group up with everyone lse, but. buddy system your way through this shit if you can.

[ He does his best to fix Jack with a pointed stare; the only thing he can really do to make it clear is lean forward a little and tap his foot. He understands being cautious-- it makes perfect sense, even more so if Jack hasn't been able to get a feel for who he might be dealing with. There's not much he can do aside from strongly caution and hope for the best-- at the end of the day, Delta doesn't want to find the corpse of somebody who went off alone and got mauled. Hell, they might not ever be seen again in that case. ]

you good asidef rom the [ Delta makes a claw gesture in front of him with his free hand, somewhat unenthusiastically swiping it to the side. Cat scare. That's a passable way to get that across, right? ]
if you're not, lemme know. i don't know if i can help with evertyhing. little limited in the grand scope f things
still worth a shot.
[ He's used to lending a hand where he's needed-- he'd be remiss if he didn't at least check. ]

[wynand]

[Buddy system, huh? Not that Jack in any way resembles a helpless little girl with a needle, regardless of the similarities between himself and the Daddy's typical tiny charge - similarities of which Jack is, at the present moment, blissfully unaware.

The funny thing about the diving suit is that it does a good job hammering home Delta's point, regardless of the lack of visible eyes.]

Why are you helping me?

[Bluntly spoken, as direct as the question itself. The heretofore unaddressed elephant in the room, that which he can no longer ignore. Why would someone like him help some random nobody, simply because he happens to be from Rapture? Or...who's been there.

Who's been to Rapture.]

[drilldaddy]

because nobody desrves to die out here. least of all alone.

[ Why indeed? Delta doesn't take the slightest bit of offense at the question. He's seen similar reactions on different faces, in different voices-- from an outside perspective, there's no reason for him to do half of what he did. Even when staring down men who had more than earned their death, he'd stayed his hand. It wasn't always easy-- he'd come close enough with Poole, dangerously so, but it wouldn't have fixed anything. He had to do better than what he's seen. For Eleanor, although she's learned the world enough to make her own choices. It's just as much for his own sake. ]
[ Despite Rapture's best efforts, he's not a monster, hidden under layers of metal and cloth-- at his core, he's still human. Perhaps a little worse for wear, but the same. After so long without a mind or free will to speak of, Delta's left trying to figure things out for his own, a fact of life that's amounted to trying to change what he can for the better. He can't always intervene-- that's simply not realistic. There's things he can do, though, and keeping someone safe is one of them. Jack may be from Rapture, but as far as Delta's concerned, he's not to blame. He's just another lost soul who was left to drown at the bottom of the sea, and he deserves better than that. ]

[ On the outside, all of this is nothing more than an incredibly long pause, the light from his helmet almost flickering yellow as his mind wanders. ]

so
[ Time to get back on track. ]
i get the feeling we'd both prrefr if you didn't die. correct me fi i'm wrong.

[wynand]

[The answer is remarkably simple. Anyone with a conscience would want to keep someone else alive, or help if they could. And for all his ruffled appearance, it's clear Jack can hold his own, and therefore even the more pragmatic do-gooder wouldn't have reason to leave him.

Down in Rapture, Atlas had been the exception to the rule. The one person who gave and continues to give a damn. Everyone else was simply to the point where they no longer could care for anything but feeding their ADAM-fueled haze, or they were Andrew Ryan - Andrew Ryan, who cared only for himself, and for feeding his own self-interest in fending away all that threatened to disrupt his political paradise.

The better question might be Why do you care? Why would a Big Daddy expand the scope of his concern to fit in a man who counts as neither Little nor a Sister, but that question, in the wake of this Daddy's obvious self-awareness, seems particularly blunt, even cruelly so.

He keeps his mouth shut.]

Didn't like dying underwater. I'd rather not die underground too.

[drilldaddy]

that's the spirit.
[ Were capable of doing so, Delta might've chuckled. He can appreciate that survivor's instinct, and it's good to see. If anyone's going to be able to hold their own, it's this guy, with or without the fistful of bees. ]
[ And good job, Jack-- Delta's taken a bit of a shine to you. ]

if you wanna keep that up thoughh we shouldn' stay in one spot for too long. might be somethng making its way back here.
[ Probably was, with his luck in mind. There always was that possibility, and with so many things jumping out at people, there very well may be a handful of monsters who'd been treated to the same experience. ]
you got a destinatin in mind, maybe?

[wynand]

[No destinations in mind, personally. He's still acclimatizing to the fact that his underwater prison has been swapped out for an underground one, which isn't exactly a terrible development; he hasn't seen enough of this place to know if it's better or worse than Rapture.

Or where he should be heading.]

Is there any place I should be?

[He's got no voice on the radio telling him where to go. No one informing him what he should be doing. Without any direction, he can't help but feel -

Directionless.

Like he's drifting.

That's a poor joke.]