dankmemes | test drive meme #21

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!test drive

test drive meme #21

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Sharkface narrows his eyes. His good one still works just fine. The left twitches a bit.]

Buddy, I will shoot you.

[He can't quite keep the disbelief out of his voice. This is ridiculous. A guy wakes up with a gun in his face, staring down a stranger in combat gear with a gun at the ready and his response is to offer help?]

Are you fucked in the head or something?

I heard you. And I'm out of your bed, as requested.

[ He shrugs at the question -- he has taken a couple blows recently. And been injected with god knows what. But he does feel like himself. Something he's incredibly grateful for and was going to pay forward by helping out, but. This guy doesn't want his help. ]

Okay, okay, geez. I'm going.

[Clearly this is hell. There's no other explanation for this much bullshit. Sharkface groans, then holsters his gun.][Seriously, what the fuck?]

Say I don't shoot you. Or set you on fire. Any idea where we are?

I only know what they told me. [ Drake pulls out his cell phone, and finds the message from Hope. ] This place is called Hadriel, we were brought here through "the door" and right now there's no way to send us home. The city was totally wiped out by something and the "gods" have slowly been restoring it for the people brought in... there's a list of safe and not safe locations on here too. That's how I found the housing.

I don't know if I buy the whole gods thing, but the rest of it seems accurate from what I've seen.

[Sharkface just groans.]

Hell. I'm in hell.

[Wonderful.

He squints at the man briefly.]

Uh. Yeah. Sorry about throwing my shit at you. But this is my place. I found it first.

Pretty sure we're still alive, so. Hell's unlikely.

But it's all yours, man. I'll even help you rig a lock so no one makes that mistake again. [ It's as much for the hypothetical person as it is for this guy -- so they don't get beaned with a helmet. ] I'll find somewhere else.

Now about this armor of yours. Are you special ops or something?

[Sharkface eyes him up and down suspiciously. No one just offers to help a stranger, especially after said stranger just threatened to murder them.]

Was.

[He knocks his fist against the chest plate and the logo still there, the logo he hasn't bothered to scratch off.]

ODST. Orbital Drop Shock.

[ Everybody has a bad day. Sharkface apologized, even. And Drake's protecting the general public, really. ]

Orbital...? Like outerspace?

[Sharkface raises an eyebrow.]

Uh, yeah. What else would it mean?

Yeeeeah that's definitely not a thing where I'm from. At all.

[Sharkface stares at him for a long moment.]

Huh.

[So. Fucking. Weird.]

So you don't have aliens there, I guess. Lucky you.

...aliens. Nope. None of those either.

[ This is so fucking weird. And he'd seriously think the guy was crazy except. He sure is wearing armor straight out a sci-fi movie. ]

What are they like? Aliens.

Kinda like people, honestly.

[Which might be kinda sad, if he thinks about it. He shrugs.]

They're okay when they're not trying to kill you.

[He's quiet for a moment.]

Ephemera, by the way. If we're doing names. 'sup.

[ There's an irony there, considering this guy was about to kill him. Drake grins. ]

I guess some things are universal. How'd you find out there were aliens? Did they come to invade like in the movies?

[ He extends a hand. In case they're doing that. ]

Drake Holloway.

Pretty much. Things went to shit for a while.

[Then they won and things went to shit in a whole new way. Way of the universe, he figures.

He shakes Drake's hand briefly. He'd already gotten out of his gauntlets by the time a stranger popped up in his bed, so his tattoos and scars are bared for the world to see. Most of them need to be touched up, obscured by plasma burns and knife slashes. There hasn't been time.]

Shit. Your world doesn't have space travel at all? Weird.

[ The tattoos are interesting, the scars more so -- Drake has no idea what could have caused that kind of scarring and left Ephemera alive. Weaponry his world doesn't have yet, most likely. ]

Well we've been to the moon and have a space station in orbit, but that's about it. It's only unmanned trips farther out. Give us another ... maybe twenty years? It's hard to say.

What's your ink mean?

[Goddamn. Sharkface rocks back on his heels, trying to think. History was never his strong suit and he semi flunked out of high school anyway.] I think you're -- I dunno, maybe two hundred years behind me? Count yourself lucky, I guess. The Covenant fucks shit up.

[But now they're pushed back, scattered, and the enemy is human again. So it goes.

He shrugs, glancing at his bare hands. The back of his right has a barcode and series of rings around his knuckles. The left has a date, though the numbers are mostly gone under a burn.]

That? [He taps the date.] First time I jumped out of a pelican. These are for my brothers and sisters.

[One ring for each one who died. He hasn't updated the count, is going to run out of skin to remember them with.

He runs his thumb along the barcode fondly.]

And that's a photo cache. I got more, but I'm not stripping for you. Sorry, buddy.

...you think you're from my world's future? Well. At least I'll be dead by the time we're invaded by aliens.

[ Probably. Do zombies age? It's too soon to know things like that. Drake shakes his head and follows along with Ephemera's explanation of his tattoos. ]

Big family, or your unit?

[ The barcode is a curious thing. ] How's that work? Data in a tattoo?

Maybe I'll see the rest eventually. I've got some too but you're right, we're not up to the striptease part of our friendship.

No idea. Maybe.

[It makes as much sense as anything else. Sharkface feels his smile fade a bit and drops his hands.]

My unit.

[All gone now. He never had a family until them.]

But, yeah. Scan it and you've got some stored data. In case my helmet gets busted.

[He does laugh at that, a little. It hurts his face to smile. He hasn't quite gotten used to that yet.]

I like you, dude. Even if you did try to steal my pillows.

[ It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put together that Ephemera lost his unit. Probably he was the only one left, maybe in whatever event caused his scarring. Drake doesn't ask; too much too soon. He just glances at the helmet still on the bed. ]

You'll have to show me the future sometime, if there are pics in there.

[ He smiles back, eyes sparkling with good humor. ]

And you're not so bad yourself now that we've moved on from the gun in my face.

Not in that one. [It's his now, because he painted it and made it so, but it started as stolen Freelancer tech. Sharkface huffs out a laugh. It's been a while since he's met someone - anyone - who doesn't immediately put him on edge.] You really wanna give me a hand, I won't say no. I can show you how the armor works.

[And he could use the help, honestly. His knee is pretty much shot, enough that moving hurts. The rest of the damage will have to wait until he can get a good look at it.

At least he's still got all his teeth. That's something.]

Too bad. [ More for Ephemera than him, he's just curious. The other man would probably really like to have those images back.

At his new friend's acceptance of help Drake nods, gesturing for him to sit down. ]

Take your weight off that leg, first thing. What happened, anyway? Those monsters in the arena?

[Normally this would be an awful idea, the kind that invites a stabbing or some other, more creative murder attempt. Sharkface - though he feels like being Ephemera for a while - hasn't known many good people, let alone any who might be called trustworthy. The Tartarus had dragged murderers and deserters out of their hidey holes and things hadn't improved much since Felix and co had taken over.

Felix, possibly, is the worst person he's ever met.

He doesn't say any of that. Doesn't even flinch when Drake accepts and moves in closer.

He sits, carefully. Tries not to bend his knee too much, because that might involve crying and he'd rather not do that with his helmet off.]

Nah. Freelancer bitch kicked me out a window. Landed bad.

[He makes a face.]

Probably broke some ribs too.

'Freelancer bitch'? Someone I should look out for?

[ Drake kneels in front of Ephemera, looking for how the armor on his leg is secured so he can take it off -- very carefully. ]

Hopefully they're just cracked -- I'll take a look at those too. [ Suddenly he looks up, grinning. ] Hey, we just hit the striptease stage.

Bitch in blue armor. Calls herself Carolina.

[He doesn't bother hiding the venom, tone gone soft and sharp. She's one of many on the list he's made, important only because she's lingering at the top. One day - one day very soon - Sharkface is going to corner her and beat her to death. Set her corpse on fire and watch it burn, watch her armor smolder and melt. She'll die for what she's done and she'll die knowing why. He can't abide the thought of her not knowing.

But that's another day.

Sharkface laughs. He helps with the armor clasps on his legs, so it won't get complicated.]

I take credits and dollars, just so you know. Covering my bases here.

[Better not to take it so seriously. He's probably not in great shape under the armor. Sharkface knows that pretty well. He doesn't feel everything these days, shrugs off more than he should. The pins and staples holding him together have killed more than their fare share of nerves.

Besides, he's hardly the type anyone would pay to take their clothes off. He knows that, has known it for a long time, even before his face got fucked up.]

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