TEST DRIVE MEME #5

[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 January 25th, and apps are open February 1st.

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: HERE KITTY KITTY
[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.

Watch out as you explore the streets of Hadriel, because you're not alone, and there's always something on the rooftops watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to separate you from your group and tear you into pieces. This time, the Door has brought in coeurls, from the video game Final Fantasy X for you meet.

These cat-like monsters can use elemental magic to attack, as well as their teeth and claws. When injured, they can cast a spell that will drain energy from their attacker and give it to them - and they are even able to temporarily petrify you. So if you decide to fight, let's hope you can finish them off quick!]


SCENARIO TWO: BURIED ALIVE
[What a wonderful day to find yourself - or a friend, or a stranger - buried six feet under. Covered in thick earth, the sturdy oak walls of the coffin trapping you in darkness, all alone. Not a soul to hear any cries of help.

Either you're in a coffin yourself, trapped, hoping for rescue, or you've got a GPS, a set of coordinates, and a shovel. Will you try to claw your way out of your possible grave, using only your bare hands and pure terror? Or will you be the one digging, hoping that down below is someone you love, waiting for you to unearth them?

Just don't take too long. Their air - your air - could run out at any moment.

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


R A G E

SCENARIO THREE: PET PEEVED
[Everything seems to be going just wrong enough to drive you right up the wall. Maybe your shoes keep coming untied, or you slammed your finger in the door while you were leaving the house. Maybe your friend keeps using the wrong form of 'your/you're' when they text you. Maybe that guy in the shop with you won't get off his damn phone.

Whatever it is, your day has been full of tiny annoyances, enough to leave you on edge and just about ready to explode. They're such little things, nothing that should inspire so much anger, but one after another - well, shouldn't anyone understand why you're mad?

And then someone else comes along, perfectly primed to push your buttons. Maybe they keep pronouncing your name wrong, or they won't stop staring at your scar, or they have hair just the right color to remind you of your last ex. You're already primed for a fight, and they seem just as pissed as you. What will you do?]

Comments

[catankerous]

[A shadow interposes between Gansey and the strange cavernous light - Kit's wings, at full extension, are massive. Then he pulls them in and drops onto his feet absurdly lightly for an elephant-sized griffin.]

It doesn't work on cats.

[He's got a squawky parrot-y sort of voice, but about four octaves lower pitched. Then he makes an awful blaring avalanche of a noise, an eagle's ugly squall wrapped around a deep-bellow lion roar.

Just go away, he means by that sound, I'm much bigger than you. He hopes the creature is catlike enough to prefer saving face, but plenty of other things are wrong here, so maybe it won't.]

[quaerit]

[ That is not what Gansey expected.

But then, why not? No, of course there'd be a talking eagle. He was buried alive, a psychic cat just threw him halfway across an improbable cave, and now there's a talking eagle. ]

Look, be careful. It has some sort of -

[ Psychic blast, he was about to say, but the bird's roar neatly cuts that off. It's enough to startle Gansey into backtracking, but at least the bird is on his side.

The cat, by contrast, seems to take it as a challenge. The temperature around them suddenly drops, and Gansey decides they don't need to see whatever that means. ]

I think we've outstayed our welcome. Quickly!

[ He heads for the spire, in the absence of seeing anywhere else to go. He has no idea what's inside, but on balance, it has to be better than here. ]

[catankerous]

[Kit fluffs up behind him, in the way that birds do when they're flustered. He hasn't run away from anything since - well, since Scales saved him from the Arena in Costamaret, as much as he doesn't want to think about that. And this kid giving him orders. (Not that he's actually any older. But he's the second oldest of seven siblings, and not at all used to be bossed around rather than the bossee, even incidentally in emergencies.]

I could handle it!

[Defensively squawked. But he doesn't actually want to kill the thing if he doesn't have to, and it's not like there's anything right here worth staying for. He sends up a bright hot wall of magefire in between them and the smaller monster, then follows Gansey with the sort of feline saunter that says 'I was going this way anyway, it's nothing to do with you,' but, due to his size, is still quite fast.]

[quaerit]

[ The bird can talk, roar, and apparently shoot fire. If this is a dream, it's a good one.

If it's not, then this place is truly remarkable. Gansey shouldn't be thinking about that now, and it's not at the forefront of his mind. It will be, though. Once he's safe, once the danger's gone. Once they're away from the cat, which looks likely to give chase. ]

That doesn't mean I want it dead! I only wanted to escape.

[ The spire isn't all that well preserved, as it turns out. Gansey glances back over his shoulder towards the cat. Christ, maybe he was wrong. Maybe he should've just let the eagle kill it. ]

Are these things safe? [ The spires, he means, not the tentacled cat monsters. ]

[catankerous]

I don't either. But it's not - sane.

[With the exception of dragons and possibly his sisters, all sane animals should run away when Kit roars. This is A Kit Opinion.

The cat-thing dashes through a flickering gap in the fire, and while Gansey would be a much easier target, Kit has totally coincidentally positioned himself smack in the way, and slashes out with his talons as the thing darts at him. The energy drain hits them both a heartbeat after he wounds it, and that is the last straw, because Kit does not allow anything to reach in and mess with his magic. He lunges forward, his sharp beak snapping shut on the cat's spine with an awful crunch, and the terrible sick feeling of the drain vanishes.

He considers eating some of it, but - it smells wrong, and he's not that hungry, so better not.]

And I've no idea about the buildings. I just got here. You?

[quaerit]

[ It is not an opinion Gansey is liable to argue with, since from what he can see, there's not a lot that's sane in this place. Instant graves and demonic cats? Has he been dropped into Hell early?

The energy drain, when it hits, is a shuddering blast. By now, Gansey is mostly running on adrenaline. He does not have a great deal of energy to spare, and it puts paid to his efforts to run. He stops, doubling over and trying to catch his breath, and that gives him a perfect view of his rescuer literally lifting the cat and snapping its body in half.

He's going to be sick.

Gansey backs off, still weak and still nauseous, and reeling from what he just saw. ]

You did say you could handle it. Jesus Christ. I heard it snap.

[ The cat probably would have killed them. He repeats that to himself, and tries not to feel pity for the broken body in front of them. He tears his eyes away from it. ]

I just got here too. I was buried. Then I got attacked by a demon cat, who was thwarted by a sorcerous talking eagle. My day is turning out to be eventful. How's yours?

[ His tone is mildly conversational, as if all of this is completely normal. Even Gansey knows that it's anything but, and he's made it his business to be involved with the strange.

He needs to sit down. ]

[catankerous]

I'm a griffin. And a wizard.

[Because, obviously, these are the most important points of clarification. Kit doesn't - well, he doesn't like being thought of as a monster, but he doesn't mind it either, not like Don does. He is what he is. He lets Gansey deal with it, or not, in his own way. He turns his head upward for a moment, to stare at the not-sky.]

I wonder if this place even has days.

[More curious than it is bleak, but a hard sort of curiosity, an unblinking curiosity, pecking at a puzzle that needs to be solved.]

[quaerit]

A griffin. Jesus.

[ As in, the mythological creature.

Gansey doesn’t dispute it. In any other circumstance, he’d feel a thrill at this information. Part of him still does – the same part that flies at once to his books, that tries to remember where he’d read about griffins and what people believed about them.

Today, though, they have more pressing issues. Gansey’s eyes are now on his companion, but he looks briefly towards the roof. ]

The light must come from somewhere. If this is what it’s like in the daytime, I’m not sure I want to see the night.

[ He comes closer, curious. ]

What do you suppose it was? I’m serious about the demon part. And I didn’t mean to offend. [ He looks up, quickly. ] You probably saved my life, you know. Thank you.

[catankerous]

[Kit - doesn't shudder, but his feathers fluff up a little, his back arching slightly up, feline body language shifted forward into his bird half. His voice is quieter.]

It wasn't a demon, just - just some kind of animal with chaos magic thrown in. I've met demons. It's like getting your mind soaked in acid. They're good at portal magic, though. I wouldn't be surprised if it was demons behind all this.

And it's fine. Someone had to had to help. It - that's all.

[Kit's fine with being feared or hated or bickered with, and equally pleased with impressing people. Genuine gratitude is harder to handle.]

[quaerit]

[ Portal magic. Is that what happened to them? Gansey had woken up in a grave; he hadn't seen any portal, but then he remembers nothing about actually getting into the grave. Maybe it's right.

He looks up again, scanning the ceiling afresh as if he expects to see a wormhole carved into it. ]

Maybe it is. Though, I'll be honest with you. I always thought Hell would be warmer. And less urban.

[ Standing, he steps back from the cat creature. Demon or not, it's unpleasant. He doesn't overly want to stay with it. ]

Listen, if there was...portal magic. Is that something you would be able to sense? You said wizard, after all.

[catankerous]

[Kit twists, paces, away and then back to Gansey's side again, his long stride eating up the distance, his black lion's tail lashing behind him in mute agitation. It's probably best if they don't stay near it. Things less picky than Kit will probably smell the meat.]

Only if I caught it happening again.

That's how I got here, I think. There was a little door in the air - not little for you, but I nearly crushed my wing when I got pulled through, like - like an ice lump getting dragged through a straw. It happened so fast, though. I didn't have any time to really look at the spell.

[This is Deeply Frustrating.]

[quaerit]

[ Well, that implies that this door is closed, for the time being. Gansey feels a rush of unease that he dan't explain. He cannot be that far from home. He cannot stuck here. ]

If it makes you feel any better, I don't remember it at all. Quick or otherwise. Is your wing hurt?

[ His eyes flick over them. He hadn't noticed either one being favored, but he hadn't known to look for it, either. ]

I'm sorry. All of this, and I've not even said. I'm Gansey.