Test Drive Meme #31

[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 April 24th, and apps are open May 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: WHAT BIG TEETH YOU HAVE
[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.

Even if the monster looks cuddly.

Direwolves are not quite what you medieval fantasy folks might think they are- they're untameable and almost the size of a bear. While usually a predator like the direwolf might wait for the opportune moment to strike, these beasts hunt in packs and are very, very hungry. You won't be able to tame them, and any attempts may result in a couple of missing fingers.]

S O R R O W

SCENARIO TWO: REGRETFULLY YOURS
[Have you ever done something you regret? A thought or an action you've performed that you look back on and wished you hadn't? Even if it's something outside of your control, something you couldn't have known, if there's something rattling around in that brain of yours, it's coming out in full force right now, leaving you guilt-ridden and prepared to confess all your sins to the nearest bystander.

But what if confessing isn't enough? You need to show them how sorry you are in any attempt at redemption you can muster. Work as hard as you can and maybe someone will forgive you. Work even harder and maybe someday you can forgive yourself.

This is a mini version of our Tears of Joy event this month.]

R A G E

SCENARIO THREE: TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
[The goal is simple: stay together in this room and use the supplies provided to build the best tower you can. You've got matchsticks, popsicle sticks, Q-tips, four different kinds of glue, and various little wheels and doodads. The team with the best tower at the end of the exercise gets a wish granted! That isn't so bad, is it?

Except your teammate is insufferable. Everything from their ideas, to their building strategy, down to their accent is absolutely intolerable to you. How can you be expected to work with such a difficult partner? If you leave the room your tower is forfeit, but who can expect you to stay in these conditions?

Careful- they're just as fed up with you as you are with them. Can the two of you overcome your mutual disdain to build this arts and crafts masterpiece, or will it be a race to the door?]

Comments

[unnature]

Not human, heals fast. Doesn't answer all her questions, but enough of them to let her know how to handle the situation. You know, with all the blood.

"Dealt with plenty of nonhumans before. Plenty of bites and scratches, too. It's the human bites you want to look out for," Avisheh notes with a grin.

She firmly takes the mangled arm in one hand, holding it steady as she irrigates the wound using the water in the syringe. Dr. Razi doesn't cut corners, at least. She takes extra care with the bigger slashes and punctures, making sure no dirt or anything else leaves room for infection.

"Had a man once, got his ear cut off. Nonhuman. He was secreting venom, you know, in response to being in danger. Almost like adrenaline that gives your attacker a nice acid burn. Doesn't much help the doctor, either."

Telling stories keeps their minds off the pain, she finds.

"Shit he did to people, though. My receptionist said to me, a man like him could use one less ear. Never do listen to her, though. And he apologized for burning my coat."

That's a little more than she'd usually let on. Hm.

[circumitus]

Plenty, huh? Sounds like her experiences goes beyond just this town of horrors, then. Rey listens to the doctor talk, teeth clenched and ignoring the booming ache in her skull that's come and gone since she's had Safronov at the helm. That one is on her ever since she decided to mess with her own head, though. Not this woman's problem.

Her fingers flex, testing the usability of her arm as the woman finishes her anecdote. Rey manages a lopsided twist of her mouth, into a forced and strained grin.

Good thing the samandrine that her skin secretes Sometimes isn't acidic to the touch. Not unless you ingest the stuff.

"What, you ran a practice for--" freaks? monsters? No, those are probably shit choice of words. "--nonhumans where you're from, then?"

Just be glad she isn't a bitchy patient. Rey just wants to make this visit as quick as possible.

[unnature]

"Nah, most of what I saw was humans," Avisheh says, finishing the irrigation. She looks over the bites. Now that might take more effort. She is slightly distracted, fishing out some scissors as she continues, "Those who couldn't pay, and those who could ten times over. Dirty money, kept the place running so I couldn't give a shit. It was a balance."

Again, more than she'd usually let on. There's something in the air, maybe. Got her running her mouth.

She looks very seriously at the patient. "Dead tissue. Might feel some pain, but probably not more than you're already in. Didn't bring lidocaine with me." She snips the surgical scissors at the air meaningfully.

[circumitus]

There's no judgment on Avisheh from Rey, neither any prying on the ethics of these humans she tended to. "Whatever keeps your business afloat."

Everyone does what they have to in order to survive. That's just the way of things; the 'great circle of life'.

The pain is very real, but at this point Rey has felt much worse. It's better than being blown up, for sure. Drowning? She wasn't much a fan of that. And those were all experiences from a time before there was a magical cloud that could resurrect her -- not that that was ever a need so far.

Knock on wood.

"No worries. It either won't stay dead or it'll heal on its own in a couple days. Just good not to be bleeding everywhere."

Or on people's desks and papers like a rude barbarian.

[unnature]

Avisheh breaks out into a grin, lowering the scissors.

"Are you saying your dead tissue will magically heal itself nicely like the scars you're covered in, or are you saying that just to avoid me cutting it off?" She points out the crushed bits of skin from the strength of a beast's jaw getting ahold of it.

"Because it helps avoid infection if we get rid of it. Might help with the scarring, too. And, you know, half the fun of being a doctor is cutting on people for good reasons."

Not to worry, Rey; that's entirely a joke.

[circumitus]

Rey makes a face, lifting her chin.

"By all means, then. Wouldn't want to deprive you of your kicks." She pauses, and huffs. "And for the record, the scars are voluntary. Some ladies like scars."

Particularly if Rey is that lady, but hey. Other ladies might like them, too. Either way, that may or may not entirely be a joke, either.

[unnature]

Avisheh's face is one of sheer delight. The reaction was just sublime. She likes this scarred lady.

"Well, I don't dislike scars. Some, I find, are less confident about theirs."

She then sets to work cutting off the dead tissue. Most of it is just dead skin anyway, so it's not that awful an experience, but in some cases it does involve bothering the bites and scratches, so she tries to stay quick.

And Avisheh is successful at everything she tries to do, or so she'd claim, so the process goes relatively smooth and Rey might not enjoy it, but at least it's relatively manageable.

When she finishes, she washes off the scissors of blood and tosses them onto a metal trey, raising her hands to show they're empty. Not so bad, right?

"Now, normally this would be a case where we'd stitch after a few days, but you did say something about not needing stitches...? Do you have a patient file, actually, that would help, normally my receptionist does this shit."

[circumitus]

Confidence has little to do with it. In a way, Rey's claim to her scars has another meaning. She was marred over and over to be less approachable, less perfect and pure. But the fact that Rey could easily inverse that and turn the matter on its head is satisfying in its own way.

"Just don't see the point in being self-conscious over a few blemishes, and you don't seem all that squeamish, either."

Never mind the fact that it is hardly 'a few blemishes', and the other woman is cutting off dead skin while tending to what appears to be a nasty monster attack from Hell.

Considering some of the things that have appeared here, that's not at all impossible.

Once the doctor's done, Rey flexes her fingers a little on the injured arm. She's at least still feeling from it. The pain stings like hell, but it's nothing she's never handled before.

"File?" Rey blinks. "Ah, no. Don't actually make a habit of coming here to start one."

And it's obviously not because Rey stays out of fights.

[unnature]

"Well, I mean," Avisheh gestures vaguely around in the air with her hand, leaning back in her seat boredly, "it'd be easier to figure out what's necessary and what's not if we had records of what makes you so special. But actually, that's another doctors' problem, I have ears."

She could just as easily ask what her patient requires, especially if Rey seems confident she won't need stitches due to whatever healing ability she has. And if Rey is really such an infrequent visitor, despite her scars and all-around badass attitude, it might not matter so much.

This is exactly the sort of situation where her receptionist would step in and insist that they keep records on everyone's medical history, but Cookie's not exactly here to stop Avisheh from being irresponsible.

"Tell you what, I'll just write down 'heals fast' on a paper of some kind and put it somewhere and hope I remember it the next time you grace me with your presence. Just don't leave me lonely, okay?"

[circumitus]

Truth be told, Rey can see the reasoning behind maintaining a database of patient records, as any sane person would. Except around here, it seems to be more trouble than it's worth. She's seen so many people come and go, that it just feels like a wasted effort these days.

And yet, she is still here, somehow. If the gods truly did decide who gets to leave and when and were just yanking their chains all along, she has to wonder their logic and reason for it is.

"Eh, that works. Personally would have done a doodle of some sort, like myself with a knife in my chest while making a thumbs up, but sure, 'heals fast' works, too."

When she mentioned the thumbs up, Rey may or may not have been making the gesture herself. Thank god she doesn't do reports for the Guard anymore; they are free of her crude sketch 'reports'.

"Can't make any promises on that last one, unless you have other haunts. If you stop by the Speakeasy sometime, maybe there'll be some of the better shit waiting for you."

It's not bribery if there's no currency and formal business practices, is it?

[unnature]

Avisheh earneastly giggles at the doodle suggestion. To be honest, she might actually do it now, just to amuse herself. She wasn't actually planning on doing any sort of paperwork at all, half-assed or otherwise.

And then the patient mentions the Speakeasy almost like she owns the place (does she?) and Avisheh can't help but think this woman must have been sent from God, before reminding herself that not only has she met and manipulated and developed convoluted revenge plots against gods, she knows full well they certainly have no hand in how people conduct their business. Old habits -- being brought up in and then kicked out of a religious household in a poverty-stricken country on a backwater world probably slated for Destruction at some point will do that to you sometimes.

And that's not even taking into account the beings calling themselves gods on this world. It's just gods all the way down, huh?

"I get around, I guess." She taps a metal and plastic foot against the tiled floor with a meaningful clink. "Still new, still exploring. Who would I ask for at the Speakeasy, then?"

Because if she's not going to be writing this woman's name on any type of patient file, she's got to learn it somehow.

[circumitus]

Rey will make no apologies for sharing her terrible ideas with those who might benefit in annoying others with them. She can imagine the Guard had plenty of headaches with her non-reports, but hey. At least she made them more interesting than 'SHIT HAPPENED'.

Shrugging a shoulder, she waves a dismissive hand at Avisheh's question.

"Some asshole. Her name is Rey." Doesn't even have the decency to have a last name to to by, but hey. It's not her problem.

Or it is, considering that she's clearly talking about herself.

"It's not technically a Speakeasy, just in style. So no worries about having to locate some hidden back alley to get there."

[unnature]

"Yeah, Speakeasies are other-world things, all I know is it's got alcohol in it and that's good enough for me," Avisheh says, shrugging. They didn't have Speakeasies in Fars or the Nexus, but she's had enough dealings with the mob who have enough refugees from other worlds in their ranks to have heard tales of Speakeasies in other worlds.

"Well, that asshole should be expecting me then. Tell Rey to keep an eye out for Dr. Razi."

Avisheh does have the decency of a first and last name, but Rey has to earn the right to both.

[circumitus]

There are enough implications by 'other world things' for Rey to get an idea that Avisheh gets the idea. It's got alcohol and that's all anyone really needed to know.

She rubs her wrist with her good hand and nods, a slight smirk on her face.

"Dr. Razi, okay," Rey confirms, noting the name to commit to memory. "Thanks for the patch job, by the way."

[unnature]

"Well, I can never turn away a patient. Cookie says it's my weakness."

Cookie also says not to call her Cookie, but maybe she should have the decency of having a name other than "the receptionist" to call her by if she doesn't want a pet name.

"See you then, Rey," Avisheh says with a grin.