dankmemes | 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

Beyond is hesitant, if only slightly, to stop his escape at the other man's call. He has no intention of staying within that monster's gaze. He glances behind him when he gets a little further ahead and sees that the monster seems to be more concerned with the pain from it's lost appendages than the two of them now.

He pauses momentarily and then ducks around the corner, where he stops and waits for Curufin to catch up. Will the Elf really help him? Beyond digs in his pockets for his knife, just in case this turns out to be another attack. Though, if the man was the one who incapacitated the beast, he's more than likely telling the truth about helping.

He looks up when Curufin approaches, observing the man to see what he does as he clutches his shirt taut against his body, trying to slow the bleeding at the very least. As much as he'd like to be picky about assistance, he knows the consequences of such would be too dire right now. Hopefully, the Elf isn't pulling his leg.

"You said you could help." Plain and matter of fact, not even bothering to show emotion.

....Speaking of elves, are those pointed ears he sees? Is this some sort of dream? No, this is too real, too vivid. Just where did he get pulled to?

Curufin darts around the corner after Beyond and catches up with him.

"Yes, I can help. But we've got to get out of here first, or those creatures won't give us enough time to patch you up. Can you walk? Lean on me if you need to. It's not far."

Up ahead is an unprepossessing door that doesn't look like it leads anywhere, but it is one of the doors out of the Colosseum. Curufin urges the dark-haired young man forward.

He sees Beyond glancing at his ears. Good, can't be ready to die if he has the attention to wonder about Curufin's ears. "I'm an Elf," says Curufin, matter-of-factly.

"I can walk." Simple, easy, smooth. He'll lose blood whether he relies on himself or Curufin, so might as well maintain himself as long as he is able to. And Curufin says it isn't far, so he'll comply, following the lead ahead through the doors.

So Curufin is an Elf. It would be so easy to call it a lie, if he hadn't witnessed the monster back there, with the damage he's in now. This clearly isn't his homeworld anymore. He's ended up in a place where anything goes.

All that's left is the how and why.

He might stagger a few steps here and there as he follows Curufin to their destination. It feels like his head is beginning to fog, and he forces himself to focus. He's not dying here. He absolutely refuses to. But he can't fight back the dizziness he's feeling. Trying to focus just makes it feel that much worse.

"Where am I?" It almost sounds like a question halfway out of delirium.

Curufin can understand pride. (He has a surfeit of it himself.) So, he doesn't insist. Time enough to pick the poor man up off the ground if he falls; otherwise, pride gets its due. But after they reach the exit door, the Elf drops back to Beyond's side, close enough to help if he's needed, though not close enough to seem to hover.

"You're in a world called Hadriel. It's rather small." Wry chuckle. "It's just a cave, about six miles in diameter. It's got tunnels coming out of the walls, and dangerous creatures of various sorts live there. We citizens have to keep killing them to remind them that we are not their legitimate food. Other salient features of Hadriel are as follows. Pretty decent housing with indoor plumbing, lighting, and heating. Some places to grow food. Some stores to salvage supplies from. Lots of company, some friendly, some not. Eight godlike beings we never see except on the network, who interfere with our lives by staging huge, chaotic events. These happenings generate emotions and often get people killed. Our emotions are the gods' food."

He looks around to make sure none of the Lanterns have followed them out of the Colosseum.

"The city medical clinic is just across that road, over there. We could go there and get you some help. That okay with you?"

Beyond stays silent for the most part as he listens to Curufin's explanation, giving brief sounds of acknowledgement as necessary, but nothing distinct. Occassionally, his eyes close for longer than a few steps and he might press against Curufin briefly as he totters to the side. But the second he's aware again, he's righting himself, without acknowledging the actions by apology or otherwise.

And then he hears the reason for being here. He actually scrunches his face in disapproval of that. He's not particularly enthused to be a God's source of food. Or anyone's as a matter of fact. But there are more pressing matters at hand. He can be frustrated later.

"Please do." Medical attention seems to be crucial right now. He lightly grips at one of his arms, where one of the wounds lay, and looks back at his hand, caked in dry blood. But there's no fresh blood on his palms to be seen. Does that mean the bleeding has ceased?

Curufin is quick to steady Beyond if he doesn't catch himself in time, but for the most part, the man does. Curufin likewise says nothing. He understands well the reasons for the silence. He himself was the same during the Wars of Beleriand, even when it was a brother who assisted him off a bloody battlefield. Warrior often were like that.

He points the way to the Clinic, and they arrive at it's doors quickly enough. Curufin is aware that the blood is caked and not freshly flowing, which is indeed a hopeful sign.

Inside the building, a staff member quickly comes to help, finds a place for Beyond to lie down, pulls up a chair for Curufin, who plainly intends to remain, and goes to get a healer. The healer brings a potion for Beyond to swallow, and then cleans up the wounds and bandages them.

Curufin sits beside the injured man after the healer has left with instructions that Beyond remain here until he feels able to leave, and that he can stay as long as he needs to. After the healer has gone out of the room, Curufin speaks. "I didn't introduce myself. I'm Curfin Fëanorion."

Beyond eyes the potion, if only briefly to draw quick conclusions of the product, before accepting and drinking it all at once. Then he tolerates being cleaned and bandaged.

When left to his own devices, his eyes don't leave Curufin - observing, studying, trying to take in all sources of information. His knees are pulled to his chest and he bites on his nail.

"Rue Ryuzaki," he responds, said as smoothly as though it were his real name. "Pleasure, I'm sure."

Another moment of observation.

"Curufin, these Gods, as you call them - no one has ever seen them in person?"

"Pleased to meet you, Rue Ryuzaki!" responds Curufin. "And I hope you feel better soon."

He too is studying this strange young man. Though what exactly might be strange about him, Curufin doesn't know. It's just a feeling, and it might be nothing. He's prone to odd thoughts and perceptions at times.

"You're right, no one has seen the gods in person. They post on the network and thus we see video images. They look just like members of the human race, but I'm aware that's an illusion. They're not embodied in the same way as we are. Once I saw Fear in a state of. . . extreme dislocation. He could barely hold the illusion, his face was disintegrating and a green mist was pouring out. They're not human, maybe some kind of energy beings."

test drive meme #21

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