dankmemes | Test Drive Meme #6

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!test drive

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!]

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Fear:

[This should be disgust. Steve's eyes are on the rooftops more than they're not, expecting a sniper's bullet to come from the direction of one, or for someone to come barreling towards him from the shadows. It's not that Steve goes looking for trouble, not necessarily. It just has no problem finding him.

He thought he'd seen it all by now, but one look at the first blob that he spots at the end of the street reminds him that he should never be so sure about that. It starts blobbing his way, and Steve looks for a head, a limb, some sort of weakness. But it just seems to be absorbing everything in its path, and that will probably include him if he doesn't get a move on. Steve puts his shield firmly on his back and starts looking for a way up onto one of those roofs. He doesn't know if they can climb or not, but he's not familiar with these streets. Better to get a bird's eye view first.]

Hope:

[Carnation Day was a little bit after his time, so Steve has no idea why he has a bunch of carnations in his hand. He stares at them like they're a bouquet of grenades before he starts reading the tags.

From the ways his brows knit together, he's pretty confused by the to and from. Can he go back to fighting the blob things? He's probably more comfortable with that.]

[He's been following the man since their arrival, watching him from the shadows and the rooftops. He doesn't know quite what draws him to the man. He's excusing it by saying he's keeping an eye on his target in lieu of better orders. Keep your distance, don't engage. Watch.

But when he finds himself with a bouquet of red carnations, with the tag reading "to Bucky, from Steve," the soldier is faced with a conundrum. He doesn't want to approach the target, but he wants an explanation. Finally he makes up his mind and comes up to Steve from behind, holding out the flowers suspiciously.]

What's the meaning of this?

Up here!

[Under normal circumstances, Maketh isn't the sort to wander straight into the front-lines. Not without an escort of heavily armed troopers, that is. But circumstances have changed, she's no longer who she was, and needs must.

Unfortunately, the only thing she has for a weapon is the sword at her hip, and that hardly seems like it's going to make a dent on Hadriel's newest monstrosity.

On the plus side, the monsters don't seem capable of climbing very high.

Maketh has positioned herself on the low roof of an abandoned store, next to a conveniently placed rubble pile. One of the possible sniper posts she'd marked out a few days earlier, though it works for this purpose as well. She narrows her eyes, one hand on her hip, hunting jacket zipped up to her throat. What she wears resembles no military uniform that's ever been inspected, but she wears it like one just the same, edges ironed to sharp points.]

Soldier, move your ass!

[She barks it, a hard order. She's in no position to jump down and save this man, whoever he is with that strange uniform - and shield, what the hell - but no one, no one will be dying on her watch today. Hopefully he's fast enough to survive.]

RAGE: WENDIGONE

[ Monsters are not uncommon in Eorzea. Quite the contrary - most of them are simply part of nature to be cautiously avoided or culled as necessary when the bolder ones stray too close to cities or settlements for comfort.

Wendigo, however... no, those are new. A strange, foreign kind of voidsent more savage than the rest of their kin.
Unfortunately for the Admiral, she's no scholar in dark magicks and therefore clueless as to how one would go about banishing such an entity. An underground city of snail shells and summoned bloodthirsty beasts... she can, if grudgingly, acknowledge the irony of the situation. After all, the Sahagin have similar decorative tastes.

The silence outside the squat home Merlwyb has chosen for her shelter is broken by a distant, echoing shriek. Enough reason to ever so slightly tilt her head to see out the window, one hand settled on the musket at her hip, the other clamped firmly over a rent in her coat courtesy of the wendigo welcoming party. A shallow wound. Just enough to sting, really, although the surprise at not slaying one immediately after shooting it in the head had nearly got her killed.
So, naturally, she'd shot it again - and this time squarely in the eye. The petty satisfaction almost made it worth the waste of ammunition.
Partially because it was a stopgap measure to cover a strategic retreat, yes. But mostly because repairing the tear in her uniform would be a costly venture and it was her favorite Twelves-damned coat.

It's almost enough to make one miss the beastmen and their stubborn bloody eikons. At least they had the courtesy to stand in the open to be shot; none of this painfully drawn out hide and seek garbage.
But hey, maybe you're outside and fleeing from the same monsters, or maybe completely oblivious to the wendigo altogether. Either way, Merlwyb is quick to poke her head outside and wave you over to share the relative safety of the house. ]

Inside, quickly! Seven hells, do you have a deathwish?

HOPE: CARNATION DAY

[ Call her arrogant, but a bouquet of flowers is among the tamest of gifts she's received during her career. And, frankly, she would much prefer a bottle of spirits instead.

But as that's neither here nor there Merlwyb amuses herself by studying the flowers one by one, the faintest hint of a smile on her face as she carefully smooths the petals between her fingers, reads the tag attached, and sorts them according to recipient. House Valentione must be behind this. It seems like something they would do - drawing young lovers together by sending them flowers on the sly from an anonymous 'admirer' and letting them fill the gaps on their own.
A worthy enough cause even if the postmoogle seems to have lost it's way and dropped a parcel in the Storm Admiral's lap.

For the few that have been addressed to her, she tucks them inconspicuously in her belt and flips through the tags of the rest once again. Might as well humor the situation and see these delivered herself. After all, it would hardly do to have half a dozen young hearts broken because their anonymous gifts went astray. ]

Edited 2016-02-21 21:57 (UTC)

one - fear

[ Cole remembers this. only vaguely, as if through a haze; like a dream interrupted, that he never caught the threads of. he remembers the streets, and an ogre as it bears down on him. and a friend...

no. it had to have been a dream. maybe his first one ever, but still a dream.

so it's a familiar feeling of dread and foreboding that has his knives back in his hands, and every last nerve standing on edge. it doesn't take long before his hypervigilance is rewarded, but not in the way he expects. a frown crosses his face when he happens upon the thing in the alleyway. it doesn't look like an ogre, nor any other monster he's seen. is it a demon? or the remains of one's dinner? he can't tell.

and then it moves, faster than he'd expected, narrowly dodging as a tendril shoots out at him. it grabs his hat as he stumbles back, and he watches with dawning horror as the thing starts to absorb it. this is— this is bad. and he shouts so anyone in the vicinity knows. ]

Run! You have to run away from here, there's— It wants to eat you!

[ because getting rid of the monster is important, but making sure no one else goes the way of his poor hat is paramount. ]

two - rage

No.

[ something is wrong. something is very, very wrong, and he knows it. he can feel it in his skin, in his bones — it's in the air around him, the sounds and smells bombarding his senses. he can hear everything, smell everything, even as his sight dims. just a shade or two, but he can tell, and he knows this is wrong. ]

No, I— I don't want this. I don't want it!

[ he doesn't know what this is, doesn't have a name to put to it. but it's bad, and he knows that if it takes over, he's going to hurt someone. he can feel it already, a sick sort of hunger that isn't him. Maker, he's so hungry. it reminds him of being locked away in a dark, dank cell, starving and forgotten. this time, though, there is one stark difference:

he's free. and everything — everyone smells so good. ]

three - hope

[ it makes him happy to see the flowers in his hands. happy, and a little bit sad at the same time. he's got more than he really knows what to do with, and even if he can't exactly read the labels, he knows they're for more people than he thinks he can find. would Sera and Vivienne even accept gifts from him? probably not. but that's all right. he can be quiet; if he just left them outside of their doors, they'd never know, right?

in all honesty, he can't remember ever having given anyone flowers. it never made sense to him to give someone something they don't need. but holding them in his hands, and seeing how happy it makes some to receive them — it starts to make sense.

so he shuffles the stems in his hands, trying not to jostle them or squeeze too tight. he doesn't want to kill them before he can give them away. and picks his head up, a small smile on his face as he looks for the first person who needs a flower. ]

[[ i hope it's okay to try this again, now i've recovered a bit from life thoroughly destroying me...!! ]]

rage

[He didn't know what he was eating and frankly, he didn't care. He needed sustenance, and it was available, so he ate it.

When it starts, he almost doesn't notice. He's a weapon, a creature of death. He's meant to kill regardless. The only differences are the change in his appearance, his loss of eyesight, and the general desire to kill everyone he sees, even without a mission.

While he still has control of himself, what concerns him most is the loss of eyesight. He can be found off by himself, doing various things to try to test it, including throwing rocks and knives at targets. It's far more difficult than it should be.

As it takes over, however, his usual stalking of the city changes. Instead of scoping the place out, keeping an eye on the surroundings and the people, he's hunting.]

hope

[Flowers. He's not sure he understands the point. More than that, he doesn't understand the card, and why it says what it does. He frowns at it, then sits down and starts to methodically pick the petals off of each carnation one by one, letting them flutter down to the ground.]

RAGE

[For the past few days, Tinker Bell has been watching her new friends closely. She's heard about them struggling to fight the transformation, and while there's been no luck yet, it's not hopeless. There's always hope. Something they haven't thought of, a trick they haven't tried. Fairies tend to look to magical solutions, and Tink would readily accept one of those, too. She's not the sort of person who would give in when someone's life is at stake; none of these people deserve to lose theirs to the monster they've started to become.

She's been rambling on about possibilities for the last few minutes, but in her obsession to fix all of this, Tink's gotten a little distracted. She's ignored the area around her, the sounds that were far away now growing closer. Now might be the time to notice that they'll need to save their own lives if they're going to help anyone else.] - What the hell was that?

--

HOPE

[She's skeptical.

It's not that Tink doesn't love flowers, because she does. She used to fly from one to another all the time, and seek shelter in their petals. Carnations weren't her favorite, but all flowers are lovely in their own way, aren't they? If it's a friendly offering then she's happy to take it, but then she sees the words in the FROM category, and well - ] Oh, please.

[What a silly joke.]

( fear )

[ Sansa comes to on the ground, still dressed in her clothes from Joffrey's wedding. Her hair is starting to come loose from the braids but that is the least of her concerns. She honestly isn't sure what she is staring at. It looks... wet. And lumpy. Like nothing she has ever seen. She almost thought it could be some sort of bloody mass of a creature but it's not red. And the sounds it makes are simply awful. Like wild dogs tearing into flesh.

She gets up on her feet, swaying some before she's taking steps away from whatever it was. When she turns to move away further, Sansa stops, eyes widening. Where...? This was not King's Landing. Or anywhere in Westeros.

But she doesn't have long to dwell on it. The sounds from the blob are getting closer and she looks behind her before letting out a startled noise and breaking into a run. It isn't moving particularly fast but she's not inclined to let it catch up to her. She isn't sure where she can go but she just keeps running away from it, hiking her dress up so she can't trip on it. It's when she's starting to get tired and still not sure where she can go, if anywhere here is safe, that she finally yells out, ]

Help! Please!

or

( hope )

[ Waking up to flowers was one of the more pleasant things Sansa has experienced. At least initially. The tags on the flowers and new environment leave her beyond confused. Slowly, she will get to her feet and see she is still in her dress from the wedding. That leaves her even more puzzled. She takes a few of the flowers with her, not really wanting to leave them.

As she walks along the street, looking for anything familiar, her hands are idly tying some of the carnation stems together, almost like she were trying to make a flower crown. She had made some for Marcella back when her father was still alive. Right now, it was an oddly comforting thing in this dark, eerie place. ]

[One advantage to residing in a ruined place is that the destruction allows for a multitude of hiding places and makeshift ladders where none would otherwise be present. Though she wore a soldier's uniform not so long ago, Maketh took one look at Hadriel's newest monstrosity and decided that she'd seek higher ground before trying to come up with a strategy.

They'd need a damn flame-thrower to deal with this mess. Or a squadron of TIE fighters.

Unfortunately, this also seems to be the time the gods have chosen to drag the new batch of recruits through the Door.

Perfect timing, really. Probably by design. They're certainly getting people emotional. Maketh stares down from the balcony she's sitting on, and sighs. There's a civilian down on the street, calling for help. The gods must be hungry again. She pushes herself upright and makes a piercing wolf-whistle - loud enough that it almost hurts her own ears. Another trick from the Academy.]

Girl! Over here!

[The building she's hiding out in happens to be unoccupied, with little more than dust inside, but it has stairs and a few bunches of rubble that can be climbed to reach other, safer places, and then collapsed afterwards. Maketh dusts off her jacket and goes down to the ground floor to meet the girl. The monsters don't move very fast, but that hardly means they can be underestimated - nothing about this place is kind.]

FEAR.
( there was no telling where this was, and everything about it was unfamiliar. there was one thing pyrrha could count on though, and it was that blob approaching closer and closer in her direction was a threat. having never seen a creature of its kind before, she was taking a cautious stance, her shield positioned outward, holding her javelin tightly in her right hand. if she could just get the angle right and throw hard enough, it might just be able to pierce through...

the moment to act finally came, and pyrrha cast her weapon forward, watching as it hit right on the mark -- and disappeared with a disgusting -- ) Schlorp.

( her eyes widened, heart starting to beat quicker in her chest. was there no way to pierce it? her brow furrowed how with a small pulse of energy her weapon returned to her hand, ripping a new hole into the monster that didn't even seem to notice... and land perfectly, though covered in a unsavoury goo, back into her hand. ) What... is this thing made of?!

HOPE.
( had she fallen asleep or something without realizing? everything seemed to feel a bit... foggy for some reason. and when pyrrha looked down at her hands, there was a surprised -- ) Oh. When did... ( when she saw the small bouquet of flowers there. these were... carnations weren't they?

red and yellow... but who would send her flowers? looking around quickly to make sure no one was watching her too closely, she looked around for a tag -- apparently whatever she read there bringing a touch of red to her cheeks... forgetting how long she might have been staring at it. )

[ It's morning, and in the mornings, Arya always goes to the woods to train. She's built up a daily routine in this city. Between her routine, the allies she's found, and even the small number of friends she's made, Arya has something almost resembling a life.

Except not quite a life, because she is always conscious that she must remain no one, from nowhere, even when the small, forbidden part inside herself that is still Arya Stark wants to burst through. The other people here know her as Nymeria, but lately, that doesn't even feel right anymore.

Arya didn't expect today to be out of the ordinary. Day-to-day life can be pretty quiet if you know what you're doing, and Arya is acclimated to this place. Which is why she's beyond shocked when she sees what has to be a ghost, wearing a beautiful dress that's outshone only by her beautiful auburn hair. Even from behind, Arya would recognize that figure anywhere. It's Sansa.

But it can't be, because Sansa is dead or a traitor, and no one has no sister. Arya just stands in the street, dumbfounded, before working up the courage to speak. Arya's voice shakes out of fear and uncertainty. What if that's not Sansa? What if that is? ]

Are -- are you real?

[ She winces at the whistle but still whips her head towards the sound, squinting and trying to find -- oh, there! She runs toward the building, using what feels like her last bit of energy to do so.

When she's close to what seems to be the entrance, her voice sounds ragged from her panting, ]

Hello? Is anyone--anyone there?!

[ Of all the people Sansa had expected to see, Arya was not one of them. Not even close. She doesn't even hear her approach. Just stills at the sound of that voice. She turns slowly and the flowers fall from her hands. She blinks several times - and not simply in an attempt to clear tears welling in her eyes. ]

Are you?

[ She covers her mouth, choking out, ]

Arya.

[ This couldn't be real. it was simply another dream she would wake up from. ]

I'd get rid of that if I were you. [ unsolicited advice, but Cash doesn't trust anything that just appears in their little hell hole. not anymore. ]

You don't know where it's been.

Get inside.

[Maketh lingers by the entrance, ready to pull some of the larger chunks of rubble down after the girl clears the door. Maybe this particular monster isn't very fast, but she's not ready to count on its failure to understand doorknobs just yet.

The stairs ought to slow it down a little, nonetheless.

Maketh grabs the girl by the arm and hauls her forward when she fails to move fast enough. Normally she'd be kinder or at least polite, regardless of the situation, but not today. She's in a mood, and not prepared to deal with anything less than military fucking precision. It's the wendigos and this newest horror and everything in between - Maketh has run all her patience to the ground. She's got none left to give. Her temper is the only thing still standing.

It's a small barricade that Maketh pulls down to the ground with a mighty crash, but it will have to do. Maketh lets go of the girl's arm, almost as an afterthought.]

Are you hurt?

[It comes out in a bark, a tone that demands answers. Maketh sizes the girl up - red hair, a dress that would have done the opulence of the Old Republic proud, and a face that strikes her as incredibly young.]

( ooc: Mask or Menace crau - power descriptions found here )

FEAR

[ This wasn't exactly Blue's first rodeo. She wouldn't necessarily say she's been there, done that, but she's been in deep caves. She's done the multiple worlds thing. She's more like a step below been there, done that.

Because the monster thing? Yeah that one's new.

It takes her by surprise too. Funny thing about her psychic abilities, she actually has to be actively searching the future before it finds her for it to work. Maybe she should have stopped to try, but the futures she saw could be iffy and really she liked to make her own future. She should rethink that motto.

As she wanders Hadriel, trying to figure out where she is and find a place to get her bearings, she turns down one corner. Then another. And finally a wrong one.

The thing that awaits her is large and pink and already is disgusting just to look at. When it moves in her direction she doesn't wait for it to get down the street. She turns to leave, but she catches the way it moves over the ground. A little too quickly. Quickly enough that she's sprinting before it can reach her.

She barely keeps herself from running straight into another person. She glances up at them, then gestures behind her. ]

You should probably start running too.

HOPE

[ It's been awhile since Blue's gotten flowers. For a second, she almost forgets this isn't De Chima. She's not back in the world of superheroes, and she hasn't fallen asleep clutching the wildflowers from the meadow.

That brings reality crashing down fast.

The wander wears into exhaustion quickly, verging on irritability, when she looks at the card. Her brow creases in confusion as she wanders outside, trying to find where flowers might have even been found here.

When she finds someone, she holds the flowers up and watches them strangely. Her mind doesn't leave the card, even if she doesn't much suspect the person she's encountered. ]

Do you know where these came from?

Edited 2016-02-20 03:24 (UTC)

[Of the eyes that he felt on him before, Steve thought that a pair just might belong to Bucky. It's tough, because of course Steve wants to find him, wants to help. But he can only get as close as Bucky will allow. Plus things keep getting in the way - like blobs.

Now something's actually drawn Bucky to him. Steve turns around to face him, eyebrows arched in surprise at just how quiet he can be. He really is like a ghost (and how Steve hates that thought.)]

Buck? [Steve looks at the flowers before holding up a few of his own, with tags that say they're to him from Bucky.] I'm guessing they mean whatever these mean. You didn't send them, did you?

[It would be a nice peace offering if he had.]

[The soldier frowns and snatches at the card attached to Steve's flowers. Sure enough, they claim they're from Bucky. He huffs and releases the card.]

No.

[He wouldn't sign it like that, for one.]

[ That's Sansa's voice. Sansa's tears, Sansa's face. She looks so much older than Arya remembered, like she's got a thousand more cares ever since Arya had to run from King's Landing. And that would make sense -- Sansa had lost her father too, that day.

Arya doesn't move at first, not until Sansa asks her question. Then, Arya shakes her head. She's not properly real because she isn't a proper person, but how does she say that? Sansa is supposed to be a stranger. It'd be easier if Sansa were a stranger. ]

I'm not --

[ Arya can barely get out the words. There's so much guilt, so much fear there. ]

-- Arya isn't --

[ Arya hangs her head, and chokes: ]

She's gone.

[Finally, someone who speaks his language. Steve looks up at the sound of her voice and notes several things at once, from her position to the uniform. It's a good vantage point too, and all Steve has to do is make it there before the blob catches up to him.

Which isn't happening today. It might reach his heels, but that's when Steve propels himself forward, boots barely touching down on top of the rubble pile before he makes one more jump to the roof. Steve hurries to her side to look over the roof's edge, not nearly as out of breath as he should be.]

Think it can make it up the same way?

[ Sansa chokes back a cry at being hauled forward so suddenly. It wouldn't be the first time. And she can't really feel any anger as long as it gets her away from whatever that was chasing her. If it could even be called that.

She turns her head away from the crash, trying to pull away from it and the grip on her. She looks over at the other girl, staring before shaking her head. ]

No, I... I don't think so.

[ She eyes the rubble, ]

Will that stop it?

Well they seem to be normal flowers. No explosives, not laced with poison. Not even a bee to sting us.

[The carnation are a concern because they don't make much sense, not that much has so far. But Steve's still more focused on the man in front of him now.]

Maybe someone just wanted us to talk.

[ Arya went into the shop to find some silver polish and some food. When she came out, she didn't expect to find Steve as well.

But that can't be anyone other than Steve, staring at those flowers. She's seen that puzzled look before -- she's caused it many times. Arya immediately breaks out into a grin. She thought Steve was dead, but he wasn't. He was just missing! But now that he's back, everything can go back to the way it used to be. The house won't be so empty anymore.

Arya practically bounces up to him, and gives Steve a tight hug. ]

I thought you were dead. I -- I missed you.

[The soldier looks at Steve suspiciously.]

Talk.

[He says it, his tone incredulous, because who on earth would do that. It seems ridiculous. What would he even talk about.]

[ This is... a very strange dream. Arya's never done that before. Sansa steps closer, letting her hand fall from her mouth. And then another step. Slowly, she reaches out with a hand and gently lays it on the top of Arya's head. ]

Then who is it that stands before me if not my-

[ She swallows so hard her throat clicks, ]

If not my sister? My little, wild sister.

[ Always so wild and free. ]

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Test Drive Meme #6

steve rogers | mcu

Hope

fear

Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn | FFXIV: A Realm Reborn

cole - dragon age: inquisition

the winter soldier | mcu

tinker bell | once upon a time

sansa stark | game of thrones

fear

pyrrha nikos | rwby

hope

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Blue Sargent ( the raven cycle )

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hope

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