Test Drive Meme #30

[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 March 25th, and apps are open April 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: CHOMP CHOMP
[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.

Or sticking out of that pipe, even. Yes, that's right, the Door seems to have brought in an infestation of piranha plants, which may be familiar to you, since they've been in nearly every Mario game.

Piranha plants are large orb-shaped plants with big ol' teeth, all the better for biting you with. They can't walk around, but their stalks can stretch pretty far, so they'll be perfectly happy to stretch out and bite the heck out of you if you get too close - and some of them are good at hiding. You might not see them until it's too late. Luckily, while the biting is pretty bad, it's just about all they can do. You'll be fine, as long as you keep your distance.]

SCENARIO TWO: THEY'RE COMING TO GET YOU
[You've got a scratchy throat, a little cough, a general feeling of awfulness. It sucks being sick, doesn't it? Maybe you can find someone to get you some juice, or hold your hand, or just be sympathetic to how crappy you feel. After all, no one likes being sick. But how can you know that person is actually trying to help you? They have an untrustworthy look in their eye, and you're pretty sure you just heard them mutter something about leaving your body in a ditch.

Or maybe you're the one trying to take care of a sick friend. You have only the best intentions, but they don't seem interested in cooperating at all. In fact, it seems like they think you're trying to hurt them! What the hell? And here you were trying to be a good person for once. Oh shit - did you just sneeze? This isn't going to end well.

This is a mini version of our Flu Season event this month.]

H O P E

SCENARIO THREE: FONDLY YOURS
[When you stepped out of the house this morning, you found a small bouquet of flowers on the doorstep, just waiting for you. They're just the sort you like - your favorite kind, in fact - so they must be meant for you. But who could they be from?

Of course, there must be someone you wish they were from. A lover, a long-term flirtation, your best friend thinking of you. Or maybe you're hoping for something else: an apology from someone who hurt you, or an olive branch from and enemy. Whoever you're hoping they're from, well - the only way to know is ask, right?

Unless you'd rather leave a secret bouquet for them, instead.]

Comments

[disassembling]

[In the grand scheme, that was not punishment at all in Red Room standards. It was the instructors putting in enough effort of punishment that the others were unlikely to try something similar, but it wasn't actually disciplining her. That sort of detail wouldn't have been in her file and thus he wouldn't have read about it. Some of what he read back then he still couldn't recall in more than a gist of the subject.

In the quiet around them, he could hear the gentle rasp of his course facial hair against her finger tips, and he sighed as he closed his eyes to continue leaning into her contact. He nodded at her assurances that she would give him the time and space to find his stride, if it were even possible after so long. He might have much of his memories intact, but he knew he wasn't the same person that she had once stroked her fingers along his skin.]

Our positions in the world have always had to be fluid, adaptable. I guess we're going to apply that to whatever is going on here too then. [He huffed softly at her want to touch him.] There may be many better people to touch, you know.

[But there was something to be said about having a friend in her to start. She, unlike most, could understand the world in which he struggled to part himself from, since she had been there herself. Hell, as far as he could tell, she had struggled in a similar way to how he was, only she had done so without the benefit of anyone else who had existed in a similar space at her. She had always been the strongest person that he had ever known when it came to enduring.]

It's not like there's a vast, and staying in one place for long probably isn't advisable anyway. [He cracked one eye open to peer at her, nodding his head in acceptance. It wasn't as if she were striking a hard bargain.]

Happy may be a long way off.

[natalia_vdova]

[He sighed, leaning into the contact of how they pressed into one another, and that made her smile. Maybe it was selfish, but she wanted this. Careful, making sure it wasn't too much, but she liked affection, contact, and she especially liked it with him, even if it had been so very long since it had been anything except whispers and dreams.]

Oh, are there? Well, until I find one, I suppose you're alright. [Her voice is light, teasing rather pointedly. But she doesn't let it hang in the air too long, and her voice is genuine when she corrects:] I want to touch you.

[She knows that's impulsive, it's been so long, there are reasons to take it slow. But the fact that it's been so long is also why it's so hard to hold to that entirely. Because she misses it, misses him. She doesn't want to give up the way his arm around her waist feels, his chest pressing against her back. Maybe theirs is an attraction with no room to exist outside the Red Room, but she doesn't believe that. And even if it is, she wants to try, wants to find out.

But, she thought they could both use a friend. Someone to lean on whatever happened here. She shifts in his arms a little, so she can let her hand slide down his body and wrap around him as well, her fingers curling against his back. Who knew how much worse this place could get than plants and illnesses? And she didn't have Clint, and neither of them had Steve. But she thought that together they could be good. Learn about this place, and about each other.]

True. But we'll see what happens. And I'm okay with happy being a long way off. We have a chance to try for it. And I think that's something. [Without having to hide it or pretend, or lie about it, or steal every shred of something good. It was still a thought that made her smile.]

[disassembling]

In a week's time, I'll be able to suggest a few.

[At the same rate, he suspected that she wouldn't particularly be interested in taking any of his suggestions, even if he might have good taste. It also might have something to do with this being the first time in many, many years that they had touched each other without the usual violence that came from their meetings, the nearly incapacitating or driving the other off.

He wondered if he was honestly ready for this, but her touch assured him that for as little as he deserved it, she still freely offered the affection. It was amazing she wanted to be close to him after all he had done to her, the hell he had put her through, even if they weren't counting the sudden break to their relationship.]

So are we including touching in the friendship aspect this time? Since, we never had a friendship before.

[He hadn't actually spoken to anyone about what happened, what he now remembered. There hadn't been time, and then the situation never seemed right. He found himself stuck inside of his own head, and even now, he wondered if that's where he would be at most of the time he wasn't trying to survive. Talking had long ago stopped being his strong suit, and he wasn't so certain that it was a skill he would be returning to any time soon either.

He eased his grip a bit as she shifted, not preventing her from turning entirely in his grip if she wanted to. This was more actual affection than he had experienced since they had been... whatever they had been back then. HYDRA wasn't known for its gentle treatment.]

As long as one of us gets there, right? They can share with the other what it's like.

[natalia_vdova]

[There's a catch of a laugh at the idea that he'd have suggestions if she gave him a week. She's not against hearing his thoughts, but it wont change her mind. She really does want to try this, even if it's slow and careful. She wants to see what happens when they have space to breathe. This place may be dangerous- and she very much suspects that it is- but it's not in the same way, not oppressive and strangling. Even for Natasha, there's never really been a point in her life where she didn't have someone she was reporting to, even if SHIELD ended up giving her a very long leash.

She doesn't blame him for the things that have happened, for what he did to her. The fact was that he hadn't had any control over it, and she knows that, even if she still bears the scars. She knows that in the end those marks on her flesh will cut both ways. But they'll deal with that when they get to it. Instead, she focuses on the question and smiles, a little coy, almost a grin.]

I'd like to. And no, we didn't. But given this place-- I think it might be a good place to start.

[She doesn't push him, doesn't ask how much he remembers, doesn't ask him what they were back then. Instead, she just lingers in the moment, looking up at him, watching. He might not be the most talkative, but he's still charming in his own sort of way. Not that she was about to say it out loud, but she couldn't help thinking about it when they were touching like this. Couldn't help thinking about how charming he'd been before, in his own way.

She leans her head against his shoulder, still looking up at him with a slight smile and a nod of her head. Maybe this isn't quite happiness, but it's definitely something. The beginning of happiness, maybe. A flicker of contentment. It feels like something good, and that's enough for now.] If one of us figures out happiness, maybe we can help the other get there, too.