test drive meme #21

[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 June 24th, and apps are open July 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: A LITTLE FRENZIED
[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.

Do you hear something weird? Some kind of strange, constant humming? Hopefully by now you know enough to know that it's probably not nothing, and maybe you should run. If you don't, well- the Door has brought in some Winter Lanterns, from the Bloodborne video game.

Winter Lanterns are rather hideous creatures that hum constantly and glow orange when they detect someone's presence. They can grab you with their tentacles and take a nice bite out of you, which is super fun, or they can mess you up just by looking at you too long. Yep, hanging out in the gaze of a Winter Lantern for too long will end with you being afflicted by Frenzy - blood shooting out all over the place. Not great for the health, really, so maybe don't get into a staring contest. Maybe just run.]

S O R R O W / L O V E

SCENARIO TWO: HAUNTED
[You thought you might never see them again, but now they're here. That person you loved - that person you miss terribly. Except that you seem to be the only person who can see them, and you also seem to be getting steadily weaker.

So that's what it comes down to, then. This ghost that's haunting you will take your life so it can live, even if it doesn't mean to. Do you have the ability to stop them? You'll have to kill them to do it, and you love them so much. Now's the time to make your choice - but be careful. They're strong enough to be visible now, and one of your friends or even a passing stranger might have something to say about your decision.

This is a mini version of our Ghosts That You Know event this month!]

T R A N Q U I L I T Y

SCENARIO THREE: SLEEPING SICKNESS
[For some reason you can't quite put your finger on, you're tired. Like really tired. Like slurring your words, stumbling over your own feet, nodding off if you stop for a second tired. You can't seem to get enough rest no matter what you try - because it's always a light sleep. The slightest sound or movement will wake you up, leaving you just as tired and irritable as before.

What are you going to do? Try to find a quiet place to nap? Good luck. It seems like a lot of other people have the same idea as you - it might be hard to find a truly empty place. Or maybe you just can't take it anymore, and you're going to lay down and take a nap right in the middle of the street. Or maybe you actually feel fine, but everyone around you is falling asleep - and they glare at you when you make the slightest sound.

Maybe you should wake them up? Sleeping in the middle of the street isn't exactly safe. But then, maybe you just want to join them and argue over who gets the most comfortable bit of road.]

Comments

[notimpervious]

Even after all this time, Zack's input means a lot to her. He is perhaps the only person she knows who is at least as rational as she is, so he understands the way she looks at the world and why she does and says things the way she does. To hear him say he'd wager (not literally) she's doing this right makes her feel happy.

"I... That is what I strive for." To be for Christine what Max and Ruth Keenan weren't able to be for her. She looks at Zack and returns his smile. "She'd like you. She'd like your hair." A floppy mop of hair that Cam had thought was too imformal but Brennan had found very fitting for Zack. "I believe she'd appreciate your steady tone when you speak."

They make slow but steady progress towards the lab. She know where it is, so unless the city twists itself around, they'll get there.

[kingoftheloonybin]

It takes a lot for him to remain steady and focused on walking. Doctor Brennan being there helped. He didn't want to disappoint her, not again, and if that meant fighting what was affecting them then he'd stubbornly stand against it.

His steps shook as his body began to grow more and more sluggish.

"I don't know if I will make it Doctor Brennan." His voice was the same logical drawl he always had but there was something beneath it that those who know him would hear, the stark disappointment of a boy who was always trying his best.

"I'm sorry." Zack yawned and then shook his head, as if the gesture might wake him up.

[notimpervious]

The change in his gait does not go unnoticed. Brennan reaches to grab his arm even as he speaks. So many years working together in the lab have made her fluent in the minute changes to his voice, but only since working with Booth has she acknowledged that such subtleties have more than nominal value. Even if she didn't have that though, she'd still react the way she does, worry burning in her chest at an apology he need not give. She's the one who should've noticed he needed help. She's the one who should've known that someone sinister had appealed to his adherence to the rational and tried to twist him into something he's not.

"No," she says firmly, pulling his arm over her shoulders and hooking her arm around his waist. Tired as she is, supporting him clears her head a little. "We're going to make it. Together. If you're going to fall, you lean on me, okay? I will not let this hurt you."

She already failed him once by acting as if logic is the only thing that mattered. She's the one who's sorry. She won't let him down again.

[kingoftheloonybin]

Her hold was firm and it momentarily snapped Zack back into awareness. He shouldn’t sleep. On a logical level he knew that but his body was so tired. He didn’t know how long he could make himself stay awake. Whatever was affecting them wasn’t killing people outright. From what he inspected of others they were simply asleep, he wouldn’t die but he wouldn’t be able to help Doctor Brennan stop whatever was affecting people.

"We need untainted air." His words were slurred together though clear enough to understand. It was an obvious statement and not followed by a ‘how’. His brain was moving too slowly, as if each though was static that took time and energy to sort through. He didn’t have that kind of energy.

"I believe in you Doctor Brennan."

His voice trailed off and the full weight of his body fell against Doctor Brennan.

[notimpervious]

They are slower walking like this, but they are upright and moving. Progress. That's what matters. The way he's talking worries her, but she doesn't let on that she's afraid. She will be brave for them both.

The rest happens so quickly that she doesn't have the time to reciprocate his praise. Instead she reacts instinctively, muscles tensing to catch his fall and keep herself standing at the same time. Her success is moderate -- for a few seconds she is able to stay on her feet, but then one knee gives out and she knows this is as far as she'll get.

She checks Zack for a pulse, and when she finds it, she gingerly lays him on his back on the ground. "I'm sorry. I... am not able to keep going at the moment."

Then she lies down next to him, gripping his arm as she lets the exhaustion overtake her.