dankmemes | Test Drive Meme #6

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 February 23rd, and apps are open March 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: BLOBBED
[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 several Blobs, from the similarly titled 1988 movie, The Blob for you meet.

These gelatinous creatures have no weak spots or brains that can be sliced or crushed to kill them. Instead, their only goal is to absorb and dissolve its prey so that it can grow larger. Think that its, er, blob-like form makes it easy to avoid? Think again- it moves faster than one might expect, as shown in its canon 'kill' video here (with a healthy cw warning for gore and 80's movie effects).]

R A G E
SCENARIO TWO: WENDIGONE
[Hey, that snack you found? It might taste a little too familiar. At least you don't have time to worry about accidental cannibalism too much though, because you've now become host to a vengeful wendigo spirit! The transformation will be sped up for the purposes of this test drive, though you can post at whichever point in the change you desire. Want to tear people to shreds? Go for it. Want to try to clutch onto the last few pieces of your humanity? Be our guest!

On the flipside, as someone who is unaffected, you may be trying to arm yourself and take these wendigos head-on... or, you may be trying to figure out a way you can save them, which would involve somehow trapping them on Hope's altar. Think you can handle that?

This is a mini version of our Who What Where Wendigo event this month!]

H O P E

SCENARIO THREE: CARNATION DAY
[You know those moments in high school that everyone used to dread? Where everyone would spend a week or so with the opportunity to buy a carnation or two for someone they like, only for carnation day to come along and dash any hopes and dreams you had of getting a flower from that special someone?

Well, here's your chance to relive that day- but, you know, hopefully make it end a little happier.

In this prompt, some characters will emerge through the Door- or wake up, or just suddenly appear- with carnations clutched in their hands. These flowers can be any color of your choosing, and all have tags on them. They can be addressed to you or to someone else, and in that FROM category? Well, from your secret admirer, of course- or any other character who may or may not have sent it! Here's to hoping they're a good one!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, you know that thing where people exchange words sometimes?

[Hey Bucky, do you remember this? The punk that Steve Rogers used to be, only now he's supersized. Steve softens around the edges though.]

I'm glad that you're okay and keeping yourself safe. A lot of strange stuff is going on around here, even stranger than us.

[The defrosted science experiment soldier and his equally old metal-armed brainwashed assassin buddy.]

[He blinks a little at the response, because it does strike something in his mind, though it doesn't quite resonate. He moves on to the next bit instead, huffing softly and scanning their surroundings.]

I've noticed.

Yeah?

[Steve arches a brow at that. But it's not really a surprise. He's a sniper, always has been. Seeing things before they see him is his job.]

Run into any trouble? I was chased by jell-o the other day. I haven't had that since I was a kid, now I remember why.

[There have been creatures, monsters, and people to avoid or kill, but the soldier handles them all without too much trouble.

He can tell Steve's trying to pull him into a conversation. He's tempted to just leave. But another part of him just can't help but be drawn to him.]

Nothing I couldn't handle.

[Steve nods, not sure what to say for a moment.

Wait, that's not true. He knows exactly what he wants to say.]

I miss my friend.

[It's a feeling he's gotten to know well over the years. But before it was more like the ache of a phantom limb. You know something's gone, but you feel the pain of it anyway. Steve just had to live with it. Until he found out that he didn't. That essential part of him wasn't as gone as he thought.]

We could handle it together. Might be easier that way.

[There's an earnest to it, a vulnerability that Steve only feels when he's asking someone out for a cup of coffee.]

[The sentiment hits him harder than it should. He doesn't like it. He's not meant to feel, yet Steve seems to pull emotions from him like he's found a loose thread and is tugging it free, unraveling everything the soldier's been told to believe he is.]

I'm not him.

[It's all he can think to say, though he's not sure his tone is one of frustration at Steve or regret.]

You're you.

[Because Steve can tell Bucky his name all day long. He can tell him about their past together and hope it triggers something in him. But he knows what Hydra did to him - he read the file, despite Nat's warning. He doesn't know how Bucky even endured it, survived it. He doesn't expect Bucky to be unscathed by it. It wouldn't be fair to him.]

I don't need anything more than that.

[But you do need him. That desperate little voice has been in the back of Steve's head from the moment he found out Bucky was still around, at times drowning out everything else. Self-preservation and common sense included.]

[He doesn't understand, and he's torn between wanting to understand and being frightened of what he'll discover if he tries. He's Hydra's weapon. He doesn't need to be any more than that. But Steve sees something more, remembers something more, and the soldier can't understand what that is.

It scratches the surface of a mess of cracked and shattered memories in his mind that only come up when he's been out too long.

It frightens him. He wants to know more, but he's terrified of the consequences.]

I don't know.

[Steve would do whatever he had to do to protect Bucky from those consequences. Bucky was his shield first, he's more than willing to return the favor.]

What don't you know? [Steve questions him softly before taking another careful step closer. The carnations in his hand are forgotten, the mystery of it all less important to him than the man in front of him.] Tell me. Talk to me.

[His throat works against the emotion that keeps clawing its way to the surface.]

Buck, let me help.

[He almost takes a step back. His body sways like it wants to, but he holds his ground instead.]

I can't. I... shouldn't.

[His mind is a whirling mess. What it is exactly he can't or shouldn't do he's not sure. But he's Hydra's, and Steve is the target, and they shouldn't even be talking. If Hydra ever finds out, the punishment will be severe.]

Tell me why not. What are you afraid of?

[Because Bucky is afraid, and it breaks Steve's heart to see the man who always protected him from everything this afraid. What's worse, he isn't sure that it's something he can punch on Bucky's behalf.

But if it is, you can bet he'll give it his all.]

What do you think will happen if you're here with me?

Hydra will find out.

[Hydra always finds out. Hydra always catches him, always brings him back into the fold.

And they'll punish him for disobedience.]

Hydra?

[There's surprise in his voice. After tracking down von Strucker, Steve doesn't think that they're a threat anymore. (He really should know better by now, cut off one head...) But something else is bothering him.]

Buck...what's the last thing you remember before this?

[He hisses softly and then steps back.]

The bridge. I pulled Sitwell out of the car and killed him. Then we went after you.

[He hasn't felt the wind knocked out of him like this for awhile. Steve doesn't say anything, in part because his mind is foggy with the same white noise that overwhelmed him after the mask fell away from Bucky's face. Hell, he didn't even know that it was Bucky yet at the point in time that he's talking about. It was the Winter Soldier that he was facing, and they're not one and the same. At least not to Steve. That was almost his downfall. Maybe it will be again.

His jaw tenses. There's a lot that Bucky doesn't know, but what happens if Steve tells him? Is his mind in a place where he could handle it? Is it possible that it might mess something up when they go back? (If they go back.) Steve sighs heavily, his shoulders rising and falling with it, and look so much weaker than before.]

I see.

[Steve's face goes blank and the soldier's eyes narrow as he watches him. He doesn't understand what's happening, and he doesn't understand the emotions it's attempting to elicit in him. It feels like a trap.

Except then he seems to come back to himself, and the soldier can note how defeated he seems. And that... that's got to be wrong, somehow. It doesn't make sense.]

What is it?

[Steve starts to say that it's nothing, because that seems the best way of protecting Bucky. But that would be lying to him too, and he told him that he wouldn't do that.]

I remember some things after that. A lot happens.

[And he's not sure it's things that Bucky would be receptive to right now.]

[He frowns at that, glaring a little. He wonders if he should press for more details, but he's so trained to take the information given to him and trust that he doesn't need more than that, his instinct is to just accept that.

He doesn't have to like it, though.]

A lot.

[He says it, almost scathingly. How very precise.]

Test Drive Meme #6

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject