test drive meme #28

[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. 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: GOT ANY BREATH MINTS?
[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.

It looks like this time the Door is going for a little variety. You get to enjoy a couple kinds of chaos serpents, from the video game Hexen.

Chaos serpents are bipedal reptilian creatures with three horns, in two different colors. They can bite, as with most monsters, but the real threat is their breath weapons. The green ones spit powerful fireballs, while the brown ones spit clouds of poisonous gas. If you're lucky, they'll fight each other instead of you - but who ever gets lucky here?]

L O V E

SCENARIO TWO: ONE MINUTE IN HEAVEN
[Remember that first rush of infatuation, when your heart beats fast and your cheeks get red and you feel like you could do anything - anything - to get your crush's attention? Maybe you don't. Maybe you're too level-headed for that. Well, not anymore.

Now, whenever you meet a new person, you feel one solid minute of the most intense crush you've ever had. Their hair! Those eyes! Those incredibly attractive arm muscles! That tinkling laugh! Maybe you're the type to get nervous, maybe you'll swallow seven packets of hot sauce to show how cool you are, maybe you'll just lay down your very best pickup lines. Maybe more than one of the above - there are so many ways to embarrass yourself in 60 seconds!

But then time's up, and your insta-crush is gone, and now you get to deal with the consequences. What did you say? What did you do? That laugh you thought was beautiful and tinkling turns out to be obnoxious and honking. Also, you're pretty sure you just hit on your neighbor. But hey... maybe they actually are pretty hot, and you just made the first move. It's possible!]

C O N F U S I O N

SCENARIO THREE: THE PITTER PATTER OF LITTLE FEET
[There you were, minding your own business, when you suddenly fell into a deep sleep. Not that you remember that - now all you remember is being a child, as your consciousness has taken the form of your younger self. Here's your opportunity to run around and get into all the trouble you could hope for!

Or maybe you didn't become a child - maybe someone else did. Did some random kid just run up to you, confused and a little scared, or possibly just obnoxious? It'd be nice of you to help them out. Unless you hate kids, and hey, who can blame you? They're loud and somehow their little hands always seem to be sticky. Still. Make sure they don't run straight into the monsters outside the city, all right?

This is a mini version of our Hope of a Child event this month.]

Comments

some variation of breath mints i guess

[meramera]

( there's ash in his lungs when the door spits him out face-first onto warm, dusty earth, and the first thing that comes to mind is incredulity at the fact that he still has lungs that work to start with —

but ace barely has the opportunity to dwell on that before something lunges with a roar into his peripheral vision and he sidesteps the massive beast with an ease that feels... just a little wrong, somehow. he's whole and unweary, no trace of the wounds he keenly remembers being dealt. probably got thrown into some kind of purgatory, the pirate thinks, before the flames come to his hands when called like an old friend and that's strange too, but he'll have more time to consider the implications of his current situation later. falling back into the fight is an easy, familiar thing; two of the creatures fall as he sends their flames right back at them, and ace wonders, briefly, if they'd taste good when roasted —

and then completely forgets about absolutely everything when he happens to turn and catch sight of someone across the coliseum who has no business being here at all, if this truly is purgatory. perhaps it's some kind of illusion, because there's no way ace can think of to explain the presence of his brother of all people; the alternative is a cold drop of dread in his gut.

still, there's no way to find out until he actually gets to speak to luffy — or this place's facsimile of him, considering he looks... different from the way ace remembered — so he breaks into a sprint, swerving in between the gnashing jaws of more of those beasts because he doesn't have the time for this shit, honestly. ) — Luffy!?

1/2

[3d2y]

[ In between his silly little task of trying to convince a bruised serpent to let him on his back (because he somehow thinks it'll be willing to get friendly with him after taking a beating), Luffy is alerted to a certain voice. He glances away from the serpent, giving his attention to it. ]

Wha --

[ And like flick of a switch, it dawns on him. He knows this voice and the person who's speaking to him. It's like a voice right out of a dream, one of those dreams he sometimes has and has to talk Sanji or Zoro into kicking him into no longer having. The world around him seems to freeze in its tracks, the roaring of the serpents at the side and their heavy, advancing footsteps all background noise in the face of what he sees before him. Nothing else registers to him, nothing even matters because he's so focused on this person.

There are many things that Luffy is willing to believe, and it's really not like him to question what's apparent to him, but he's put the tragedy of what had happened to Ace away a long time ago. He's moved on, put his hat back on and continued on his journey; he's picked himself up from the depths of despair and regained his spirit. After going through all that, lashing out until he could lash out no more and the reality of Ace's passing finally sunk in, seeing him here is just the hardest thing to believe. He knows that the world is vast and that anything can happen, but it's just that he's had the acceptance of Ace's death practically pummeled into him from all that he's had to go through ... ]

[3d2y]

How is he -- ] A-A-A-ACE?!?!? [ Cue Luffy falling back a good few meters, crashing into the serpent he was bullying and subsequently crashing into ... another serpent that was trying to breathe fire onto them both. They all tumble into a burning mass of flames and wounded bodies. ] Ahh!! Hot, hot, hot!

[meramera]

( the figure turns and all but freezes for a moment, that ace gets a good proper look at him, and he'll be damned if that isn't his brother who's about to get his head gnawed on by a gnarly reptile. ) Oi, behind y— ( but before the younger pirate's eyes fall out of his head, he's already crashed into one, then a second of those beasts, and ace needs him to not be on fire and further away from all these distractions before he's going to start asking questions.

reaching out, he draws the flames toward him and away from the mess, leaping forward to plant a solid kick squarely in the jaw of one of the thrashing creatures to hopefully keep it down for a while longer. there seem to be exits dotting the walls that surround them, at least that's what he gathers from a glimpse around the arena, and those probably lead to better places to talk than here. ace hitches a thumb over his shoulder, toward one of the doorways, then motions for luffy to follow. ) This way, kiddo. We've gotta talk.

[3d2y]

[ Luffy hisses in pain as he pats down the last of those flames, his skin a little charred but not actually that harmed (one piece, man). There are way more pressing matters than a little burn, and when he emerges from the smoke, his eyes are welling up in tears. Yes, way more important matters, like - ]

Wait a minute, Ace! I was so close to taming one of those lizards! [ (No, Luffy, you really weren't.) He catches himself quickly, realising that that isn't a vital matter either. ] Ah!! That isn't important either -- W-Waaah, how are you --

How are you here?!? [ He can't quite talk through the tears or pay attention to where he's going, following Ace blindly as he struggles to make sense of the situation. ]

[meramera]

( the sound of his brother's voice makes his chest squeeze, a wistful sort of ache. even if this luffy turns out to be little more than an apparition, whatever created it must surely have been watching them from some unknown dimension, or perhaps it searched deep within his heart and materialised what would mean the most to him in this limbo — for what reason, ace doesn't yet know, but it doesn't stop him from carrying on until they emerge again into almost-blinding light.

he turns, then, to face the younger pirate once more and it is only now that ace finds himself tongue-tied, unsure of how to address the questions he doesn't know the answer to himself. ) Y'know what? I couldn't even tell you, even if I wanted to. ( ace's laugh is a wry one, faintly bitter but relieved at the same time as he shrugs. no point in hiding the truth, is there? ) Pretty sure I'm dead, but you — you're not, are you? ( his brows furrow, as if still trying to figure out the integrity of what he's seeing. ) S'it really you, Luffy?

[3d2y]

Of course it's me, dammit!! [ His emotions are too raw and bursting from him to be anyone but himself. ] And I ain't dead, but who cares about that right now!

[ They can figure this out later, if they ever do at all. Unable to control himself any longer, Luffy throws his stretchy arms out for Ace, shooting himself at him and crashing into him in a hug. ]

YOU'RE HERE!! [ He's going to just hug him and bawl his eyes out right now. ] A-ACE, I WATCHED YOU DIE! [ And it still hurts to think about, even if he's spent the past two years allowing himself to heal. When he looks at Ace's face, it's like all those emotions from back then are just rushing out of him like a tap. ]

[meramera]

( shit, this has to be real. there's no illusion that could feel as solid as this, the younger pirate launching himself right into him; the sheer force of the hug sends them both tumbling to the ground. "I saw you die", luffy says, and although the wound left by akainu is gone, the guilt of putting his brother through that feels like the hole was once more punched right through his sternum. ) Yeah— ( he manages eventually, as his vision shimmers like a heat-haze glazed to the ground, and there's rain on his face, but ace couldn't care any less. ) Yeah, I'm here — m'sorry, if I hadn't been such an idiot, you guys wouldn't have had to go through all of that...!

[3d2y]

[ Not once has Luffy ever blamed Ace for his decision. Throughout that whole journey to save him, the only thing he was focused on was finding a way to reach Ace in time. Even after the reality set in that he had failed, and his brother was lost for good, Luffy's always attributed that to his own lack of strength. ]

No, Ace, it's because I wasn't strong enough ...! [ If he had been, he would have made it. ] I went there to save you, but in the end, it was you who had to save me!

[ And how can he protect anyone, his own crew or the friends he's made, when he's still too weak? That's the kind of thought that was on Luffy's mind two years ago, and why he decided to put the journey on hold. If he had stayed at his level then, he would only lose more people. ]

cries loudly tbh

[meramera]

Quit blaming yourself; it's on me. ( they could've gotten out of there, ace knows, if he hadn't allowed himself to be such a damnably easy target to bait, but this chance, this time they have together, is far too precious to waste going back and forth arguing about who was at fault.

it takes a bit of wiggling for ace to free his arms, and luffy's in for the noogie of his life. god, it's barely been minutes for him since he was last conscious, drawing his last breath in his luffy's hold, but it feels like it's already been an eternity. ) 'Course I had to save you, dummy. You're my little brother.