dankmemes | TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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!test drive

TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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?]

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[Not so long ago, Adam was the one in the coffin. Three days down there, and it had almost broken him. The dark, the fetid air, the lack of food and water. The loneliness.

After that, he could never leave someone else to that fate. No one who didn't desperately deserve it, anyway, and so when the coordinates appeared on his phone he didn't waste time. There was only one set, which is probably good - it means this is the only person who's buried, that he doesn't need to search for them, that whoever they are will be out soon. He got a shovel, found the right spot, and got to work.

But digging takes a long time. He's tired and sweaty by the time he gets down to the coffin, and not paying as close attention as he could. It takes him a moment before he hears what sounds like shouting, and whether that's because of his weariness or his bad hearing, it doesn't matter. He remembers what it felt like, and his sore hands clench in sympathy.

He taps his shovel against the lid of the coffin, hard enough to be hard, hopefully not hard enough to frighten.]

Hey! I'm almost there, I just have to get enough dirt off to open it. Hold on!

[ It's a long time before Gansey hears any sound that doesn't come from him. He knows, logically, that there's no way he'll break through this lid. It's too solid, too heavy. The thought that he may actually have been buried won't go away. He tries, over and over again, to tell himself that it's a dream, but if that's true, it's one he's stuck in.

After a while, he stops shouting. There's no point to it. No one can hear, and all it's likely doing is using his air up faster.

Despite that, every few minutes, he tries again. He calls once, twice, and then gives up until it gets too much. His fingers, bleeding, claw against the lid. How long does he have? What will it feel like, to die in here? He knows it's coming. He knows -

And then there's a voice. His own call cuts off and he listens again. He doesn't recognize it, warped as it is through layers of soil and wood. But it's a voice. There's a scramble while he pushes at the lid again, shoving up and up -

Until finally, something creaks, and comes loose. Enough soil has been cleared away for him to force it up, and then he's grabbing onto anything he can to pull himself out. Soil, rock, broken wood. It doesn't matter. If it's there, he's making a handhold from it. He scrambles out into the air, desperate to leave the box behind. His ears are still ringing.

But he's free. He drops his face into his hand, pushing sweat back from it and smearing it with soil at the same time. He doesn't even care; he's free.

And then he looks up, for his rescuer, and sees Adam Parrish standing above him. Disbelief slackens his jaw, and relief replaces it almost as fast. ]

Adam. Thank Christ, I've never been so glad...

[ He reaches up. ]

Please get me out of here.

[He doesn't know what he expected - who he expected - but it wasn't this. It wasn't Gansey. For a moment all Adam can do is stare in shock, and then it's drowned out by his own wave of relief. It's Gansey, and he's here. Then the rest of it sinks in - he's here, sure, but he was trapped down there, and Adam knows how awful that is.

It all flashes through him in a matter of seconds, and then he realizes he can't just sit there staring at Gansey like an idiot. He moves, letting his shovel fall to one side and catching hold of Gansey's arms to help him out of the coffin, out of the grave.

Adam doesn't know how long he's been down there, but if it was any longer than a few hours he'll be weak, hungry, dehydrated. All things he'll need to worry about in a moment. His eyes flicker to Gansey's hands, looking like his own did, bloody and injured from clawing at the coffin lid. Adam has bandages in his backpack, and water too.

He helps Gansey out, wasting no time, ignoring the dirt on his hands and clothes, in his hair.]

Are you okay? God - how did you get down there?

[ Once he's out of the grave, Gansey tries to compose himself. This task is far from easy; he's already worried that Adam might have heard him shouting, and is trying to work out how long ago he cut that off. He lifts his hands to brush soil content out of his hair, and then realizes they're bleeding too much to make that worthwhile.

He wishes his heart would stop racing. Quickly, he shakes his head. ]

I don't know. I don't remember anything about it, I thought I was dreaming. But you're here, and...

Jesus, look at this place.

[ It's a city. Or something like a city, anyway, but not one unlike anything Gansey has ever seen before. Enormous columnar spires jut out from the ground, reaching towards a sky that doesn't even look like a sky. The realisation that it's the same color as the stone he's standing on makes Gansey's heart rate spike again. He looks back at Adam, expression disbelieving. ]

Adam, where are we? How did you know I was there?

I got coordinates on my phone, but I didn't know it was you.

[That's the easiest part to answer. He's not really sure what to say about the rest, what to think - he thought Gansey was gone for good, but now he's back, and he doesn't recognize the city. Adam supposes he ought to be thankful that Gansey at least recognizes him, but - well. He doesn't know what to say.

Instead he kneels down next to the backpack he left on the ground by the hole. He pulls out a bottle of water, offering it to Gansey, and then some gauze. He'll need his hands seen to. Adam is not surprised, exactly, that Gansey broke and tried to get out, but he doesn't like the sight of it. He did the same thing, and it didn't help at all.]

Here, have some of this.

[He straightens up, looks at Gansey, not quite able to hide his concern.]

You don't remember this place? They call it Hadriel.

[ Several things register with Gansey while his friend talks. Adam has a phone now; when did that happen? Not only that, but his phone had coordinates of the gravesite, which meant both that this had been some intelligent person’s idea of a game, and that they had deliberately sent those details to Adam, one of Gansey’s closest friends.

Thirdly, Adam knew what it was about, enough to be carrying water and a shovel with him, and lastly -

God, lastly. Adam expects Gansey to already know what this is all about, because he’s supposed to remember it. Remember it.

Christ. He takes all of this in, and reaches for the water. ]

Thank you. [ It’s murmured, and a little rough, and his head feels like it’s spinning while he takes it. He doesn’t know if it’s the taste of the water or everything he’s processing that’s having that effect, but he ends up dropping to sit by the graveside, and drinking the water back.

He hadn’t known he was so thirsty until he tasted it.

Gansey gives himself until he has stopped drinking to calm down. He screws the lid back on the bottle, makes sure that his hands are steady, and takes a breath. His eyes meet Adam’s. ]

I’ve never been here before. [ With certainty. He holds the bottle out. ] How long have you been here? When was I here, and who did that to me?

[ His eyes flick quickly to the grave. He needs to understand. ]

[He takes the bottle back, hand moving without thought as he stares at Gansey. He doesn't remember being here, he doesn't remember anything.

Adam is silent for a long moment, coming to a decision. It's for the best. At least he has to believe that - it might even be true. It's better this way, better if Gansey doesn't remember any of the awful things that have happened, better if this just now, this being buried alive, is the only thing.

There'll be more, probably, but it's better this way. Adam would have spared Gansey from everything that happened if he'd been given the choice, after all.]

I'm not sure where to start. We've been here for - maybe four months? And we were somewhere else before that. You were with us. You disappeared a few weeks ago.

[And Adam pauses for a moment, deciding there's no reason to talk about everything that happened after that. How he and Ronan fought, and avoided each other, and then Adam got buried - it was all bad. Better not to mention it. Not now, anyway, when this is all surely more than enough information. Too much.]

This place is ruled by gods that feed off our emotions. One of them, Fear, buried about half of us not so long ago. I don't - know what happened here, not really, but I'm sure he did that to you.

[He says it like it's nothing but facts, like he wasn't trapped and terrified himself. It's easier that way, if Adam can pretend to have some distance.

He doesn't know what else to say.]

Your hands. Did you get hurt?

[ A land ruled by gods.

Well, that should be impossible, for a start.

And yet Gansey doesn't argue. He knows, of course, that Adam wouldn't lie to him. He knows, too, that he just woke up in a grave, that there is a cave ceiling above him held up by nothing at all, and that he can't see where the light is coming from. It's no stretch a all to believe that this could be magic at work. Gansey has always found it easier than most to believe.

He doesn't focus on that. Instead, his head snaps up at Adam's question. ]

No. [ A pause. That's actually not true, his hands are a mess. The skin on his knuckles is broken and his fingertips are torn from where he'd clawed at first wood and then soil. He considers them, and then shakes his head. ] They're not important.

You said half of you were buried, I'm not the first. Were you...?

[ He doesn't finish that question. He's watching Adam's face instead, reading his reaction. Reading all of his reactions.

Adam's been here for four months. Gansey should have four months of memories, and they aren't there. He's not even aware of a hole where they should be. And Adam said they, too, and there's no doubt in his mind who would be meant by that. ]

Ronan, Noah? Blue?

[ God, if they're all here and he's forgotten them, that's terrible. It's not right. Gansey despise failing any of his friends, and this is undoubtedly a failing. ]

[He's quiet for a moment, then Adam turns away for a moment, rummaging through his backpack to retrieve more water and some bandages.]

Give me your hands.

[It's more of a request than an order, and he takes a breath before answering Gansey's other questions. He doesn't really want to. He wants things to be easier, he wants to have good news for Gansey, something nice to say besides you're trapped in a hellcave with your best friends and we've all been tortured multiple times. But there really isn't any way to spin that so it sounds good.]

Ronan and Noah are here. Not Blue, thank god.

[Adam misses her like hell, wishes he could talk to her, because she always has a way of cutting through the bullshit, and he could really use that these days. But all he can do is be grateful she isn't here, that she doesn't have to go through this with them. As much as he finds himself pathetically happy to see Gansey again - to know that he isn't gone for good - he can't be totally happy about that, either. Gansey deserves better. Gansey deserves to be safe.

He tugs at the rolled up bandages he's holding. It's obvious enough from a long look that he's been through the same thing as Gansey. His hands aren't bandaged anymore, but he's still healing. Fading bruises where he slammed his hands against the lid of the coffin, broken fingernails and broken skin, even though clawing at it didn't get him anywhere at all.

Finally, he answers, because there's no point in lying, though he doesn't quite meet Gansey's eyes.]

Yeah. I was down there for three days. Ronan dug me up.

[ Gansey knows before Adam says it. He sees the evidence on his friend’s hands, sees how they match his own. ]

Three days.

[ That makes it worse. So, so much worse. It’s always worse when it’s one of them. Gansey can deal with injuries of his own. There are compartments he can put anxiety in. He’s been doing it for years, and will continue to do it. He can be bent, but he won’t be broken. They can’t do anything to him that he hasn’t come back from already.

But his friends shouldn’t have to deal with that. Adam, who has been hurt more than enough in his life, should not have to deal with that. And to think that he had been under there for three full days, Jesus, he must have been terrified. They all must have been. Ronan and Noah, knowing Adam was missing, searching for him and finding a coffin.

Gansey gives Adam his hands. He doesn’t care that they hurt, but he takes the opportunity to close his fingers over his friend’s. Gansey looks like a mess right now, but his eyes are clear. ]

I’m so sorry. I should have been here. I’m so glad Ronan was.

[ He relaxes his fingers, letting Adam deal with them. ]

[He tenses a little, because he can't do anything else, because even now it's hard for Adam to accept sympathy. It's too easy to see it as pity, even when he knows it isn't. He has to remind himself that Gansey would not pity him for something like that, Gansey wouldn't be anything but upset that his friend had to go through that too, because that's the sort of person Gansey is.

It's easier than it used to be, but it still takes Adam a moment before he relaxes too, before he can get to the business of cleaning Gansey's hands and bandaging them, careful and methodical. He's done this before - well, of course he has - but he'd never really done it for anyone but himself until they were taken from Henrietta. Since then, he's gotten a lot of practice.]

It's not your fault. None of us can control what they do with us. It's better that you weren't here.

[That isn't supposed to sound harsh, but he knows that it does, a little. It's true, though. Gansey doesn't deserve that, shouldn't have to go through that. Even however long he was down there - hours? - was too much, in Adam's mind.]

Not that I'm not happy to see you again.

[He pauses for a moment, then, and raises his head to meet Gansey's eyes.]

Just - you'd be safer anywhere else.

[ Gansey shakes his head, rejecting that idea. He should have been here. He should have helped Adam. What else have they been through that he can't even remember? The thought that he had left them to it here, even though it wasn't intentional - ]

And you wouldn't be? Jesus, Adam. It's better none of us are here. I never would have wanted to leave you.

[ That's what he's sorry for.

His eyes are quite intent on Adam's face, barely paying any attention to what's happening with his hands. ]

You know that, don't you? This is awful. Where are Ronan and Noah now, why did you come alone?

[He knows that's true, that Gansey would not have wanted to leave them, but that doesn't change anything. They didn't want him to leave either - of course not, it almost shattered everything they'd managed to carefully build here - but it's safer at home. It would probably be safer anywhere but here, and Adam wants to argue the point, but he makes himself swallow the urge instead. He really, really doesn't want to fight with Gansey right now.]

I know. You wouldn't have left if you'd had a choice.

[He finishes with one of Gansey's hands, takes the other. It helps to have something to focus on, something to do.]

Ronan's back at the house, I couldn't ask him to help me after everything he already did.

[If he'd known it was Gansey, of course he would have, but Adam had no idea when he'd gone out to find the coordinates.]

Noah - I'm not sure. He's hard to keep tabs on.

[ Gansey drops that hand. It feels better, admittedly. He doesn’t really want to have to care about that. This is a lot to take in, and these injuries seem minor in comparison to everything else. ]

There’s a house.

[ Of course there is. What had he expected? They must be staying somewhere if they’ve been here for months. He’s looking at Adam a little strangely, because of course the implication is that they have a house together. ]

And you’re living with them, yes? [ If this has been the case for months, there’s a good chance it’s old news to all of them. Gansey, however, is fresh from a world where Adam had refused point blank to live with them. ] You’re helping each other.

[He doesn't know if he can explain to Gansey what the difference is. He thinks he could try, and Gansey would nod and at least pretend to understand, but would he actually?

Money isn't a concern here. Money doesn't even come into it. The house they're living in doesn't belong to Gansey, doesn't belong to Ronan. Adam isn't a poor friend being extended charity, he isn't unequal. They're all on the same level, for the moment, equally lost and out of their depths, and while Adam would never in a million years say it aloud, it's been a strange relief to have the burden of money lifted from him. To not have to worry about whether he has enough change in his pocket to cover his groceries, or how many more shifts he needs to pick up to meet rent. To not have to worry about the easy help Gansey could offer, exactly what Adam doesn't want.

Here it doesn't so much matter that Gansey's net worth is more than Adam could ever dream of making if he worked every hour of every day. It's not that it doesn't matter at all - it still does, it's made them who they are - it's that Adam doesn't need to think about it all the time. Adam doesn't need to see staying under the same roof as Gansey and Ronan as a form of pity.

But he gives the easier answer, instead.]

Well, there's monsters here sometimes. It would be pretty stupid to live alone.

[He finishes Gansey's other hand, lets him go, and finally raises his head to look at Gansey.]

Besides, can you imagine Ronan living alone, or with just Noah? Their place would be burned to the ground within a week. So yeah, we've been helping each other.

[ Adam seems so careful. He's even careful with his eyes, not looking up until he's finished with Gansey's hands. He's good at that, too. Like he's used to patching people up.

Maybe he is. ]

Thank you.

[ Gansey flexes his fingers. This still feels surreal. He can't believe he got these wounds by crawling out of an actual grave. He needs to get his head on straight again, needs to reason this out. He puts his hands down, stands up again.

He can do this. ]

I'm glad you're with them. I'm...assuming I was living there, too, before. [ His eyes search Adam's face, making that into a question even though his tone doesn't sound like it. ] Will you show me? I need to see them.

And then, on the way, if you'd tell me about the monsters? Christ, what sort of hell have we landed in, Parrish.

[ This place sounds like a literal nightmare. He's envisioning Cabeswater's beasts, and Ronan's night horrors all rolled into one. ]

You were.

[He stands too, not entirely sure why it feels somehow like he's reassuring Gansey by saying that. Or maybe he is sure, and he just doesn't want to think about it. But of course they'd all be living together. Of course he wouldn't flinch from sharing a house with Gansey, after everything, after all this.

Briefly, Adam looks guilty.]

I, ah, went through your room while you were gone. I've got everything still, though, so I'll give it to you when we get there.

[Adam had been frustrated and lonely and at loose ends, unable to disappear like Noah or vent his emotions with fighting and liquor like Ronan. So he'd tried to do useful things instead, and organizing Gansey's room had ended up being one of them. He regrets that now, a little, because it feels so invasive now that Gansey is in front of him. He wouldn't want someone going through his things, after all. Not that he's ever had much to go through.]

I'll tell you everything I know about this place. I'm sorry in advance, none of it is going to be very positive.

[For a moment, he pauses, not sure of what to do. Adam is not good at expressing his emotions in any kind of proper way. He never has been - it's a fundamental skill he never really got a chance to learn. What's the right thing to do? Hug Gansey? But Adam is awful at hugs, that would surely be awkward for the both of them. Pretend he's not simultaneously sad that Gansey is stuck here again and overjoyed that he's back with them? But that might actually be beyond Adam's abilities right now.

So he just - looks at Gansey, summons something like a smile, a little uncertain and a lot worried but genuine.]

I'm not happy you're here, but I'm glad you're with us again.

[ Gansey watches such vulnerability pass across Adam's face. For a moment, it's jarring. Adam is such a controlled person, and he's careful about what he allows to show. He smiles back, curious, but badly wanting to reassure his friend. ]

I'm glad you did. If there was anything in there that could help you, I'd want you to have it.

[ He's not private when it comes to things. Gansey never has been; he'd have shared everything he ever had with his friends. It was why he'd never thought twice about asking Adam to live with him, never really understanding why there was anything wrong with that.

He puts a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder. It's not quite a hug, but it's warm enough to be. ]

I wouldn't have wanted to leave without you. I'm glad that I'm here, if only so that we can all go home together. It's going to be all right, Adam.

[It's not going to be all right - he just had to dig Gansey out of a grave, and he was in one himself not so long ago - but somehow it's still comforting to hear it said, even as Adam is fully aware it's not true. He'd like to believe it is, and he'd certainly like to keep Gansey from having to experience any of what they've been through.

He's tense - he's pretty much always tense - but he manages to relax just a little under Gansey's touch.]

Come on. I'll show you the house and we'll find the others. Look -

[He tugs his phone out of his pocket, a much nicer smartphone than anything Adam would have been able to afford back home, the kind of thing he would never in a million years allow Gansey to buy for him.]

I'll text them. I think Ronan even reads his texts sometimes, when he gets really bored.

[ Gansey lifts his eyebrows. Adam has a phone? That's a sight he never thought he'd see. It doesn't exactly seem like the sort of place where you could save up to buy one. ]

Things really have changed. How are you getting reception in an enormous cave?

[ Which, honestly, is the question he should ask after he asks how Adam got such a thing in the first place - but he will never ask that. ]

Getting Ronan to text you back is a whole other kind of miracle.

[ He follows Adam, walking with him, and keeping a little closer to him than he ordinarily would. Gansey is good at burying his fears, but that had been harrowing. He's not very keen to put space between them just now. ]

As far as I can tell, magic. There's no cell towers here, anyway.

[Though who's to say how the cell network in a cave full of monsters and gods works, anyway? 'Magic' is as good an explanation as any, though Adam guesses there's probably a better one than that. He just has no idea what it is.]

This will blow your mind - once or twice he's even texted me first.

[It sort of blows Adam's mind. But to be totally fair, they were all apart for awhile, with phones the only way to reach each other, and even then Ronan barely used his. But he had to give in to expediency once or twice, no matter the depth of his hatred for phones.

Adam types in something, then puts the phone away again. Even odds on whether or not Ronan reads it, but at least Adam can say he tried.]

Let's get you somewhere safer, all right?

[ Magic. Gansey looks sharply at Adam, but it’s excitement rather than disbelief in his eyes. Can he believe there’s a form of magic that makes cell phones run? Yes, of course. Why not? He just wants to see it.

He has so many questions.

Some of those questions are less wildly academic, and more along the lines of where he can find a shower. Adam is right. They should get out of here. ]

Okay. Lead the way.

[ He’ll stay pretty close to his friend, even though the city does interest him. ]

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TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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