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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[it's the opposite, it's the very opposite for oscar. heart skipping a beat with the confirmation that it really is cliff down there. shit. shit. fuck. how long? how long has he been down there, alone and definitely freaking out?]

I will! I'm working on it! [he shouts, knowing he shouldn't sound frantic, shouldn't add in any panic, but he can't even think about it.] Just... Just hold on!

[he grits his teeth down, shoveling mounds of dirt out, worms wriggling in the piles thrown aside. the only thing in their favor is that the dirt is loose, it scoops out easy and isn't as densely packed as it would be normally. it doesn't make the task go back quick enough.

it's something worse every single time, isn't it? he really can't help feeling guilty, somehow. he's constantly dragging cliff into something.]

[hang on, he says, just hang on, as if cliff actually has any sort of choice on the matter.]

What the hell kind of bad luck curse did you put on me, you asshole? Podunk used to be boring before you came to tow--shit!

[flat on his back in a tight space that honestly hadn't been intended to fit his wolf form in the first place, getting the sort of leverage he needs to make any kind of impact on his current prison is more than a little difficult.

until he manages to plant one paw through the wood and gets rewarded with a torrential downpour of dirt through the newly created hole.

okay, so maybe he hadn't thought this whole thing through very well.]

[the insults were fine; exactly the kind of rapport he was used to with cliff. the cut off sentence and cursing? that sends a fresh wave of fear into him. he pauses for a moment, wide eyed as he watches the dirt level lower, abruptly realizing what prompted the cussing.]

Cliff!? [this dirt isn't moving quick enough, dammit! but it's lower, it's closer, and oscar thinks they can do this. that doesn't mean he's stopping, that just means he's shoveling harder, trying to carve out the center. ]

Come on, tell me you're okay down there?! I'm working on it!

[turns out spitting dirt out of a wolf's muzzle? harder than you'd think. it honestly wasn't something cliff'd had the chance to test for himself before but there you have it.

so he's not going to answer oscar, mostly because he's too busy redoubling his effort on the quickly expanding hole in the lid above him with a slightly frantic application of teeth and claws.

as soon as he's got enough space to squeeze the upper half of his body through said hole he's digging for all he's worth which, luckily, in this form, is significantly more than oscar. that dirt is shifting a whole lot quicker now, even as cliff's lungs start to burn with the need for air.

it's a bit like a scene from return of the living dead, except instead of a radioactive zombie (or whatever, keeping zombie movies straight was honestly more trouble than cliff could be bothered to expend even on a good day) it's a giant red wolf bursting out from the loose dirt and throwing himself to the ground next to oscar and just.

breathing. wow, why didn't people talk more often about how great breathing was?]

[oh thank lord. unlike any scene from any zombie movie, there's nothing but relief that grips him when he sees cliff's form emerging from the dirt, the remainder of the grave filling the coffin as the wolf leaves it.

except relief is shortlived and outweighed by worry at how heavy the wolf's chest rises and falls with each breath, desperate for air. the shovel is promptly ditched and oscar scrambles next to him, dropping to his knees. and he knows, knows that cliff hates being touched, but the circumstances outweigh the reminder. he brushes a hand over cliff's face, shaking off the dirt clinging to the fur around his eyes and ears in once motion. then he's just worrying there.]

Are you okay? [as okay as he can be, given the circumstances.]

[cliff doesn't even flinch away from oscar's careful ministrations, that's how focused he is on breathing. enjoy this opportunity while you can buddy because it's a one time thing.

after a few more beats he switches back into his human form and rolls over onto his back, chest still heaving with exertion as he glares weakly up at oscar.]

Just perfect, I've always wanted to see what suffocating slowly felt like. [brows furrow and his mouth twists into something distinctly pained looking.] And I think I swallowed a worm.

Edited 2016-01-23 01:06 (UTC)

[you know, if not touching cliff meant that he wasn't being buried alive, oscar would easily choose that. he's a nice guy like that, really.

but honestly, hearing his angry teenage buddy ol' pal complaining like his usual self? that's a relief. there's still a lingering, concerned knit to his brow about how hard cliff's breathing, about the remnants of evidence that he nearly suffocated, but... he's okay. and oscar's shoulders sag, just a little bit, some of the tension slipping away. the glare rolls off of him like water.

he manages a weak, shaky smile because what else can he do?]

If that's the worst damage done, I'll take it. [worms are nutritious, most likely.] I don't guess you've got any clue how you ended up in in a grave?

Edited 2016-01-23 13:47 (UTC)

[clifford already misses the days back when oscar was impressed or intimidated by him and would very much like to go back to them if it's alright.

(the fact that cliff can't actually remember when that might have been isn't of any consequence, really. the point is that it must have been true at some point and he misses it. metaphorically speaking anyway.)]

If that's what you think I bet I can find a couple of worms for you to eat.

[cliff says sourly, pushes himself up onto his elbows and spits on the ground next to oscar's foot in an effort to rid his mouth of some of the taste.]

I don't fucking know, I was going to ask you since this kind of stupid shit is always your fault.

[he is kind of impressed. clifford is always, surprisingly, sturdy. it's probably not normal for a teenager to be able to bounce back so easily from a near death experience. it's hard to be intimidated with how filthy he is, though.

cliff really does need a bath, honestly.]

You wouldn't do that to the guy trying to help you.

[mostly because oscar has learned that clifford tries really hard to act like he doesn't like him. it's just kind of a give away that he must like him to some as much as he comes over.]

You're a mess. [oscar points out, wanting to flick away dirt hanging out in cliff's hair. he sighs.] I'll take blame for a couple times, but I've got nothing this time.

Try me. [cliff grumbles lowly as he climbs to his feet, beating ineffectually at his clothes in an attempt to clear some of the dirt before swiping a hand through his hair ever so slightly self-consciously in response to oscar's observation.

he doesn't make any move to introduce oscar's face to the ground as well though, despite his words.

and okay, so maybe the thing with the asshole werewolves had sort of been his fault, but literally every other single mess they've been caught in up til now had been entirely on oscar so it's not completely unfair that cliff can't help but blame him for this shit now.

yet cliff still comes back everytime, clearly he's got his own self-defeating issues to work through here. or maybe it was stockholm syndrome.]

Are we even in Podunk anymore? [because they're freaking underground right now, what the fuck? and none of this shit is looking familiar to him but oscar had gone on that whole alice down the rabbit hole trip when they'd split off that one time so maybe he recognized something.]

[oscar isn't going to "try him" instead he follows him to his feet and, threats or not, still keeps an eye on cliff, ready to catch or steady him. cliff is as resilient as ever. that's the thing, every mess that they've been in, they've gotten out. together.

and oscar remembers very clearly when he was surrounded by wolves, cliff gave him a way out. when they were in a ghostly tornado in a hospital room, cliff grabbed him... so oscar doesn't take it personal when he gripes, because cliff would always invite himself in through a window the next day anyway. there was that one time he text cliff, but really, it wasn't like he meant to drag him into danger...

but other than one gentle ghost, cliff was the only person that oscar could turn to. the whole thing where he turned into a huge red wolf helped make him his go-to partner in crime for all things supernatural.

this time, oscar couldn't think of how it was his fault. or cliff's, for that matter. he'd gotten a small text that explained something, but he was having a hard time believing it.]

No, uh... Not Podunk. It's Hadriel, I think that's what it's called. [and hadriel wasn't some weird underground city if he was going to believe the text he got. but he is going to share it. he pulls out the phone from a pocket, pulling up the... helpful text he'd found.] It sounds crazy...

Hadriel? [cliff wrinkles his nose in a clear message of dismissal at the name, even as he leans in to get a good look at the text on oscar's phone (except that definitely isn't oscar's phone, weird).

reading over the message doesn't manage to endear him anymore to the place than the name did, unfortunately.] Sounds fucking stupid, how are we getting home?

[because he was supposed to watch his brother this afternoon and that was one thing he didn't actually mind doing, and definitely something he'd rather be doing that hanging around in some underground shithole as part of some gods' domestic dispute or something.

he pats at his pockets in an exploratory fashion before nearly smiling as he pulls out his lighter and cigarettes, lighting one up in a triumphant manner. at least these gods weren't complete assholes.]

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TEST DRIVE MEME #5

MAYBE CLIFF DIDN'T WANT THIS TROUBLEMAKER

listen buddy don't make cliff admit that he maybe kind of doesn't totally hate oscar okay

oscar would neveeeer make him do that

yeah he better not if he knows what's good for him /ineffective teen glare

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WORK SUCKS aka why you just getting this tag....

no worries I've been tagging very slowly on my phone this whole time

i wish i could...

i wish i didn't have to tbh

i'm just glad when it's quiet enough I can, because uuugh 12hr shifts...

and i continue to have no internet at home sorry this took so long