Test Drive Meme #6

[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 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!]

Comments

[tishinka]

[Irisa bristles at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, shooting the source a quick glare. She looks the girl over with a scrutinizing gaze, clearly sizing her up before her attention is drawn to the dog. She's not sure how to react. Dogs still exist on the Earth she's from but they're not that common. Many were mutated by by the Terraformers.

At least it seems normal and controlled by the girl.]

You don't happen to know why there's so many?

[dogsanddaughters]

Sit, Barnaby. Sit!

[The dog chuffs and sits on Miriam's foot. She beams at the lady, who has some interesting looking tattoos and possibly body modifications on her face. It's pretty, Miriam thinks. And sure, the lady looks kinda surely right now, but give her a minute. She'll come around.] Nu-uh. Though some of 'em are from my mom!

[Miriam frowns, considering that.] Or at least they say they're from my mom? I dunno.

[tishinka]

[The markings and everything else are all natural, sorry to burst that bubble. Perks of being an alien, Earth-born or otherwise. And surly is her natural state.

Her mom? If it's possible her frown deepens. That doesn't tell her anything helpful.

She looks back down at the flowers in her hand and flicks through the tags once more. None have a name she recognizes in the from category.]

Strange. Do you know the meaning?

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam still thinks they're cool! And will possibly say so. Cultural sensitivity, what?

Miriam shrugs, going back to rubbing Barnaby's ears. It gives her something to do other than stand there and fidget, hoping the lady is in a good mood, or about to shift into a good mood. She's kinda scary looking with the glare and the way she holds herself, which is good in Miriam's book - that means she's dangerous. But possibly dangerous to people other than Miriam, if complimented and flattered just the right way.

This seems like a good place to have a scary friend, flowers or not.] Nah. They're fancy, yeah? Not much call for fancies unless you can eat 'em.

[She plucks one of the carnations out of her hair, eyeing it suspiciously.] Can you eat 'em? They look like they'd taste bad.

[Yeah, probably a bad idea. Miriam tucks the flower back behind her ear.] You got a name, lady? I'm Miriam. That's Barnaby. He's nice, see, he's a gentleman.

[Barnaby drools on her foot.]

[tishinka]

[A good mood, in this situation, is asking too much. She's the Lawkeeper in dangerous frontier town, looking intimidating is part of the job. It also just comes naturally.

Her gaze flickers from the flowers to the girl to the dog then back to the flowers.] I... I don't know about that. I'm not familiar with this type of flower.

[Earth has changed so much, if carnations even exist any long they might eat people rather than people eating the flower.] You're welcome to try, if you like.

Irisa. Lawkeeper of Defiance. [A short pause.] Although I'm not sure how much that matters.

[dogsanddaughters]

Nah. 'least they're pretty.

[And at the end of the day, Miriam does like pretty things. Especially if they are from her mom. Which they might be. Who knows. Stranger things have happened.

Miriam gives Irisa a little wave. See, they've already exchanged names. It's going well.] Don't know Defiance. Izzat a ship or a station or what?

My mom's on the Vindicator. [She gives Irisa a careful look, to see if she recognizes the name.] You heard 'o them?

[tishinka]

Ship? No. Those are more likely to come falling out of the sky than to go flying through them. Or more likely to sink than go sailing across seas as they used to do. [If that's what the girl means. It's hard to say given she looks like any human girl from back home.]

It's a town. It used to St. Louis before the Arkfall.

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam squints at Irisa.] Man, you must come from some place waaaaay out in the black, if you've got ships fallin' outta the sky.


What's Arkfall?

[tishinka]

In 2013 the Votan arrived on Earth with the intention of colonizing. It didn't go well. In 2030 someone sabotaged the ships, what they called Arks causing them to fall from the sky. Arkfall.

[That's the short of it. The versions that leaves out the Pale Wars and all the other stuff she didn't personally experience because she hadn't been born until toward the end of it all. She doesn't even properly remember Earth before the Arkfall changed everything.]

[dogsanddaughters]

[There's a pause. Miriam stops petting Barnaby for a moment, just staring at Irisa.] What are you talking about? Earth's dead. Been dead a hundred years.

[tishinka]

No. I was just on Earth. Still on Earth? It was very much alive.

[Filled with strange animals and plants thanks to the Terraspheres, along side humans and Votan.]

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam considers the possibility, then shakes her head.] How're you from Earth if Earth's dead?

[There are a few indisputable facts in the universe, and this is one of them. Earth is dead. Only the tomb robbers go back down there and half the time they don't come back. Miriam chews at her nails, thinking.] I was on Echo Six. Then I, uh, fell asleep, and this isn't--it's not the station. I know everywhere on the station and it doesn't look like this.

[tishinka]

Because it's not dead. People live there, humans and Votan. [This conversation is beginning to annoy her but she's doing her best to keep her frustration down.]

There are no stations. Not any human stations that I'm aware of, anyway. [There might be some out there, created by the Votanis Collective or by those outside it. And somewhere out there is a ship with her father and bunch of Omec on it.]

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam shakes her head and sits on the ground, hugging Barnaby. The dog noses her hair, whining. This doesn't make sense.] Maybe...maybe you live somewhere else an--and they just call it Earth? And maybe it's really far away, an' that's why you don't know about the stations. 'cause there's a lot of them. Like, a lot.

[She really wants to ask what a Voltan is, but has a feeling she shouldn't bother Irisa too much. She wants Irisa to like her, because then Irisa might help her. Therefore Miriam needs to be nice and good.]

[tishinka]

[Irisa mutters something in a harsh language that sounds rather angry. The words are followed by a short bit a silence and a huff.

They just keep going in circles.]

None of that is important. What matters is figuring out where we are and how to get back to where we came from.

[dogsanddaughters]

[Ohh, yeah, she's mad. Miriam looks down quickly, just petting the dog. Be nice and quiet, look how good she's being. Miriam stays quiet for a moment longer, just to be sure.] I think we're underground.

[It's too quiet to be a space station. Miriam can't hear the machinery hum and she can't see the sky either. So they're probably underground.]

[tishinka]

[She not that mad, she's just never been known for her patience and it's certainly beginning to wear thin in the situation. It likely doesn't help that l'Irathi is just a very harsh sounding language.]

I figured that much. It feels similar to Old Saint Louis...only I don't see any of the buildings. [She's not even sure how she ended up under Defiance. If they're even still on Earth, a thought she's seriously doubting now.]

We should see if there are others. Try to find the surface, if we can. Pray to whatever god who follow that we don't run into hellbugs. Or worse.

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam hums under her breath, considering her options. Sticking with Irisa seems like a good idea for now. It's always nice to have scary friends. Now just to seal the deal...]

Can I stay with you? I have grenades. I'll share if you keep us safe.

[tishinka]

[Irisa stares at her for a moment. Who gave this kid grenades? A knife or a gun she could understand, but grenades? That seems a like overkill.]

Why do you have grenades?

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam shrugs, nonchalant.] 'cause. You want 'em or not?

[tishinka]

[That just makes it even more suspicious but they could end up being useful.]

I'm assuming if you have them you know how to use them. Hold onto them. I have my knives.

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam just beams at her.] But you can throw further than I can.

[Probably. Maybe. Miriam has bird arms. She scrambles up, fluffing Barnaby's ears. He makes a doggy sigh.] But probably only throw them at big things? 'cause they've got thermite in them, and it burns like crazy.

[tishinka]

Just hold onto them for now. Hopefully we won't need them.

[The fact that the grenades have thermite in them doesn't seem to phase Irisa, at least not externally. Internally she's really beginning to wonder about this kid. On the other hand, at least they aren't shrill grenades.]

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam pats her knapsack with a wink. She comes prepared, see, she's useful. Therefore Irisa should want to protect her, because there's absolutely no use in a dead girl, no sir.] Yessum. You said you're a lawkeeper, or somethin'? Izzat like the army?

[The Imperial Army is long gone on Echo Six, but not everywhere.]

[tishinka]

No. It's like a sheriff or deputy. Like in the old Earth Westerns.

[She eyes her for a moment before turning and picking a direction to go in. There's no possible way they could get any more lost than they already are. Right?]