dankmemes | Test Drive Meme #34

Entry tags:

!test drive

Test Drive Meme #34

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 July 25th, and apps are open August 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: OOZES GEOMETRICALLY
[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.

The only warning you may get is the squish slick sound of movement before a gelatinous cube is upon you. Leaving gross trails behind them and with their see-through bodies filled with the bones of those that they've dissolved in their jelly, these cubes have no real vulnerability other than their limited movement.

Gelatinous cubes are exactly what it says on the tin, giant translucent cubes of jelly whose main attack tactic seems to be cornering people in small hallways and just sort of absorbing them into its mass. They then digest all meat and flesh and leave only floating bones and various metals their victim may have been wearing stashed inside of their jiggling forms.

Maybe it's time to apologize for the last time you brought a jelly mold to a potluck.]

A L L

SCENARIO TWO: MY LOYAL SERVANTS
[Thanks for your service to the gods! In order to power each of them up, it's up to you to pick a deity you like most (or dislike least, as it were) and simply say their name in order to be influenced by them and encouraged to inspire their emotion in others!

What, you don't want to play? Too bad, accidental name calling works just as well, even if you didn't mean to incite them- you'll feel their presence pulling their chosen emotion out in you anyway. Hope you picked a good one!

This is a mini version of our In Need Of A Boat event this month.]

C O N F U S I O N

SCENARIO THREE: I MISS GPS
[Sure, you might be a little confused at being here at first, but that generally goes away within a few days. This time... well, this time, that feeling of befuddlement isn't quite going away. Roads that you take seem to disappear behind you when you turn around, your right turns are left turns on the map you're following, and you're pretty sure that everyone except for you put their shirt on backwards this morning.

Is everyone high? What they're saying makes absolutely no sense to you. You can't find your way out of a paper bag, let alone back to where you've been staying lately. Is that a dog or is it an eldritch horror coming up to lick at your calves?

During this prompt, everything will feel off and it can be very difficult to get your bearings at all. That's Confusion for you!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Connor keeps at eye on the slowly moving cube, glancing between it and Kara as she begins breaking through the wall, closing out warnings and alerts as they pop into his vision so they don't distract him. He considers trying to scrape some of the remaining goo off his coat sleeve but then suddenly decides against it, instead pulling his gun out to move it back to his belt again before stripping off the coat and abandoning it on the floor. He'll come back for it later, maybe.

The synthetic skin still hasn't returned to his hand but one of the alerts he closes out is that self-repair is at 18%, so that's something. It'll be fine, and he's definitely not worried about it, or about the possibility that they won't get through the wall and will just be trapped here. He is definitely not afraid of any of those things.

His stress levels do actually lower, though, as Kara breaks enough of a hole in the wall to fit through, and then goes through it. He follows immediately, the process a little awkward due to only really being able to use one hand and the gap being a better fit for Kara than for him, but a moment later he makes it through and ends up on the floor of the next hallway. At least they're away from that thing, for now, but what if it can just squeeze through the hole after them?

He scrambles up as fast as possible, looking for Kara and hoping she isn't about to turn the hammer on him now that she has the opportunity.]

[ The sense of relief that floods through her when she's through the hole in the wall is almost too much to bear on its own, but then Connor drops in after she's standing, and it's clear she's not out of harm's way yet. Luckily for him, she's feeling less hostile towards him. He did protect her back there, even if for his own sake, and he did sustain damage, enough that he hasn't been able to get his synthetic skin back over his hand.

So no, she doesn't attack him, can't bring herself to, and she tells herself it's because they're still not safe. ]

You said you know the way out of here? We have to go. That thing might come after us.

[No attack coming is a promising sign, and it's even more of one that she's apparently willing to follow him out of here. Hopefully. She doesn't seem to be trying to deceive him, although he's admittedly too distracted to be giving her his full focus.

The only problem is... He did know the way out. But they just went through a hole in the wall and into another part of the maze, and he hasn't explored all the pathways in this place; he has pieces, and can draw up a mental map in his mind palace, but the section they're in is blank.

Still, if it's going to connect anywhere, it has to be in one of two directions. So they just have to get moving, avoid that thing or any others that might try to corner them again, and go through some trial and error until they find the way out.

He considers not telling her that last part, but the alternative option of her figuring out he's pretending to know what he's doing is even worse, so--]

We're now in a part of the maze that I haven't explored. I know the correct direction to go, but we may have to try a few routes in order to get there.

[He refrains from adding that if she'd just listened to him in the first place they would've been out of here by now and he'd have use of both hands, but the calculated chance of her reaction to that being favorable is not even close to making it worth it.]

[ Good choice there, not going with the sassy option, Connor. That might've earned you a hammer to the knee. What he does say is disappointing, but it's not hopeless. ]

Okay. I'm right behind you.

[ For lots of reasons, all of which he must know. He's the fighter, he's the one who knows where they are, and he's going to act as a shield... long enough for her to see how she's going to die, probably. This is grim, but she's not giving up yet. Not after all she's been through. ]

[Well, that was an easier agreement than expected and it makes him slightly suspicious, but they don't have a whole lot of options right now so he decides to just take it. A brief consultation of his mental map and he chooses the direction, beginning cautiously down the hall, casting an occasional scanning sweep of their surroundings to be sure she's still following and nothing is sneaking up on them.

The sound of the chaos from the arena is getting louder, meaning they're heading back toward the center, but if they do come out in the midst of things at least he can then direct them toward a tunnel he's familiar with. Still, he feels he should probably warn Kara--]

We may have to reenter the arena.

[ She has a sinking feeling as the fighting sounds grow louder that this is going to go badly for them both. Should whe have just run off without him? Should she have attacked him? It's irrelevant now, but the thoughts still come to her unbidden.

And then he confirms her fear. ]

What is this place? [ She hisses. ] Are you gonna kill me, make me an example?

[ She wouldn't put is past the military or CyberLife. There's a vague notion in her memory of having feared for her life like this before, but she can't place it and decides it's probably from fighting to protect Alice. ]

No. I told you, I have no interest in causing you any harm.

[And he might sound faintly annoyed now in having to repeat it again, especially since he spares a moment to check his system status--self-repair at 52%--and so is splitting his attention several ways.]

We're somewhere called Hadriel. There's an explanation for how and why, but it isn't a good one.

[Part of him still thinks it might be a simulation of some sort, maybe Amanda's way of dealing with him now that he's gone deviant. He doesn't know, and all he can really do is deal with the situation as it is for now.]

[ She's about to snap back with something about how if CyberLife wants to hurt her, then so does he, but then his tone registers with her. The annoyance. The hint of flippantness.

He is acting like a teenager.

This is a Connor she's prepared to handle, but what it means is... maybe he was being honest about being deviant. A machine would never act like that, even to another android.

She processes that in all of a few seconds before she shifts her hands on the hammer and steps up a little closer behind Connor. ]

Then let's get out of here as fast as we can so we can sit and talk, okay?

[ She definitely fell back on her programming there, what with wll the data and articles about dealing with moody teenagers. Path of least resistance. ]

[He senses her stepping closer and her grip changing on the hammer, and for a moment he thinks she might be making a move to attack, but he only has enough time to flinch and turn part of the way around before she's talking. That is... Definitely not an attack, and it isn't the same behavior she'd been showing up until now, so she's either acting or relying on programming or both.

Either way he finds it just adding to his annoyance, realizing somewhere in the back of his head that this must be how others feel when they catch on to him doing the same thing, but he's certainly not going to fight over it right now. If it means she'll follow and listen to him long enough to get out the arena then good, that's what matters.

So he just gives her a look before turning forward again, rounding a corner cautiously and continuing another few steps down the next hallway, peering around the opening at the end of it that leads back into the arena. Okay, more of those terrible cube things and people still running around and yelling, but they have a clear shot to the tunnels he knows his way through.]

Do you see the opening across the arena, ten degrees to our left?

[ Yep, definitely a petulant teenager, the look confirms it. The likelihood of him being deviant is very high. CyberLife wouldn't program their deviant hunter to be anything but efficient, and teenage moodiness is extremely inefficient. ]

Yes. [ She appreciates how specific he is. ] I can follow you if you don't run at top speed.

[ And then, more quietly, ] How's your hand?

[Okay, if he doesn't run at full speed they still have a very good chance of reaching the other passage without incident, so that's no problem. He's about to agree when she asks her question, and it gives him pause a moment that she's concerned; AX400 models are of course built to be attentive and compassionate, but she's deviant and clearly--with good reason--doesn't trust him. He isn't sure if she's still asking out of genuine concern or just to gauge a potential weakness, so he answers neutrally.]

The damage is noncritical.

[But although it's healing, the synthetic skin will be the last thing to return and her question reminds him he should be careful to hide his hand if they run into anyone else. Fortunately his borrowed clothing isn't the best fit in the world, and he's able to just quickly pull a sleeve down over that hand.

And, back on task--]

Ready?

[ It's a little dismissive a response, but this isn't exactly the right time. If they make it out, she'll ask again, though... she can't really help him. There are no owner's manuals for an RK800. The best she can do is the basics. ]

Yes.

[ As soon as he goes, she runs after him, keeping pace. ]

[They make it across the arena without incident, thankfully, and into the next set of tunnels, which Connor is actually familiar with. No gross-sounding cubes of goo yet either, and hopefully it'll stay that way; Connor's decided, suddenly, that he doesn't like the sound they make, although he has no great reason as to why.]

We're nearly there.

[He assures Kara, feeling like she could probably use it, wanting to check on her stress levels but choosing not to split his attention again. He can do that once they're outside.

And, soon enough, they are; it's begun to rain a little, apparently having started in the short time they were in the second second of tunnels, and it's calming. Connor steps out into it a few paces, giving Kara enough room to follow him and turning to face her.]

[ He's right to assume the reassurance will help her. Kara is lost, and she hates that. To know she can depend on someone right now keeps her stress levels from getting too high, so she's able to keep pace and make it outside and not bolt away from Connor now that there aren't gel cubes chasing her.

Against the odds, they've made a little progress.

When he doesn't immediately make to restrain her, she calms down a little more, finally feeling safe enough to approach him, if slowly. There's a good two meters between them when she stops, blinking in the drizzle, peripherally aware that this feels nice and is good weather for a nice garden. She'd wanted to start one with Alice in the spring.

And then it comes to her, the memory of where she'd just been, before waking up in the arena. She remembers standing in line, refusing to sacrifice anyone, standing tall for the scan, begging quietly for freedom. She remembers the demonstration on TV and the border officer's compassion. She remembers further back -- Jericho, Rose, Zlatko, Ralph. Connor chasing her and Alice. Todd's dead weight. ]

You're really deviant.

[ It's half question, half statement. She's still hesitant, but she wants to trust him, suddenly. He acted like a kid, and programming or not, she likes kids. She doesn't think anything could ever change that. ]

[He's expecting her to make another break for it, which would be fine; they're out of the arena now, so she's unlikely to run into too much danger as long as she doesn't immediately turn back toward the monsters. The chances of her doing that are incredibly slim--she isn't stupid--so he's much less concerned about her now.

But he isn't really expecting her to continue conversation now that it's no longer necessary, let alone to say what she does, and it's... He feels tentatively hopeful, almost, that same need to interact with another android coming up again and prompting him to go ahead and respond while he has the opportunity.]

Yes. I encountered Markus just before the attack on Jericho; I was in the church after everyone evacuated.

[And he'd seen her on a pew, although he'd been hiding in the corner at the time and trying to pretend he wasn't there. It isn't as though he really belonged with all of them, after all, especially since the attack had been his fault. His stress level spikes briefly before he gets it back under control, refusing to dwell on that for now.

Instead, he focuses on what he can do right now to make up for things.]

I'm sorry.

[It's sudden, but entirely sincere.]

I'm sorry I chased after you and Alice, and that you could've been killed because of me. It was wrong.

[But even though a part of him had known it even then, it was just too early on for him to have been able to allow that to factor into his decisions. He's just glad, in hindsight, that they'd managed to get away.]

[ Looking back, there's no way she would've seen him in the church. Kara had been reeling from the attack, holding Alice close, wondering if Luther made it out alive. Her sole focus had been Alice's safety. She'd even told Markus as much. And after that, she'd kept going until they were on Canadian soil.

The apology catches her off guard and gives her pause. He'd said earlier that he would've hurt her by now if he'd been ordered to. And this place... if she'd been caught in Canada, they would kill her, not send her back to CyberLife. Connor isn't lying, not about this place, and not about himself. ]

We just wanted to be free. Alice's father was going to beat her. I couldn't let that happen, no matter his orders. I was protecting her.

[ She pauses, replaying his apology in her head. It was wrong, yes. He knows that now, and he clearly means it. Otherwise, he would've let her die in the arena. ]

And you... you were doing what they told you to.

[It somehow doesn't surprise him that this is her story, and how she ended up on the run with a child android; it makes sense for why she'd go deviant, fitting in with the pattern he's seen in others, and it's extra appropriate considering her model. AX400s were made to be caretakers, and that kindness combined with the capacity for free will meant it was probably only a matter of time in her situation.

He's still quiet when she continues, apparently accepting his apology, and part of him wants to cling to it but a part of him knows that's wrong too; it was different, for him, than for many androids. He'd always been able to make his own decisions--he'd been designed for it--and he'd gone against his mission directives more than once. He could've broken free sooner; it was a choice for him, not something that snapped, and hiding behind the excuse of orders feels disingenuous. Yes, he was doing what they told him to, because he wanted to make them proud and do what he was designed to to do and just be good, but he didn't have to follow orders the way that so many androids did. It was different, and her understanding and sympathy are misplaced.

But he isn't about to argue, not right now, his rising stress level the only real giveaway that there's something wrong. Instead he's quiet a few more seconds, before moving past the conversation onto something else important--]

My name is Connor. What's yours?

[ Typical teenager tactic. Deflecting, distracting. Ignoring the problem to dwell on later, as if that'll help at all. Kara fights back against her programming -- this is the android sent to catch her, after all -- but she can't help feeling some amount of sympathy. Whether or not he could make choices before becoming deviant, he still had orders and to some degree was made to follow them. He might not be docile like the caretaker androids, but wanting to make his masters proud is a different kind of prison. If she ever finds that out, she'll tell him all of this.

For now, she lets him change the subject. ]

Kara. [ Is it nice to meet him? Hmm... ] Thanks for getting me out of there. You said there's an explanation for all of this?

There is, but it makes very little sense.

[But this is a safer topic, and one he's much more comfortable discussing. But even though they're safer out here, they probably should move a bit so they aren't right next to the arena and he gestures for her to follow him as he explains.]

Apparently we're in another dimension ruled by beings that gain power from absorbing emotions, and they need that power so that they can fight with their enemies, a primarily mechanical species called the Null.

[It makes even less sense outloud, and Connor is definitely reconsidering once again the simulation possibility. That would at least make SOME sense even if whoever programmed it might've been on red ice when they came up with the premise.]

[ Yeah, she's more inclined to believe it's a simulation too. Even away from the arena, this place feels surreal.

Hadriel. Emotions. Null. ] It sounds like a story for young adults.

[ She can think of a few with just a quick dip into her memory banks, but she doesn't get far. The pieces slide into place, and she doesn't like what she sees. ]

They fight machines? [ No no no. ] No, I-- we just got into Canada. We're free. How can--

[ Hey at least she's still walking alongside you, Connor? ]

You should remain cautious, but the threat is not immediate.

[He tries to reassure her immediately, looking more fully toward her as they walk toward one of the abandoned shops.]

There are a few other individuals here who aren't androids but are still synthetic in nature, and so far it seems they're able to coexist here without incident.

[So she isn't likely to be shot if anyone figures out she's an android, basically, although he's absolutely not convinced that there's as little prejudice--or that another threat from the Null wouldn't prompt more--as is claimed.]

But you may want to continue pretending to be human, just in case.

[It probably isn't too hard to guess that's what he's been doing, with his hat covering his LED and his sleeve still pulled down over his hand. Self-repair at 84%, though, so that's good.]

[ Even here, wherever this is, they're in danger. Will this ever end? Then again, she was going to have to pretend in Canada too. It's not as if this'll be different.

Her stress levels lower. That's something, at least. ]

Is it really just us?

[ Two CyberLife androids pretending to be human in a place where caustic gel has enough life in it to seek out prey. ]

Yes, at least to my knowledge.

[He's met no other androids like them, and considering he's actually opened up his mental link on occasion to search for any who might be hiding he's pretty sure it really is just him and now Kara.]

The upside is that no one is looking for us. They don't even know androids like us exist.

[He's been deliberately very vague in his questioning and discussions about his world, trying to avoid even mentioning the word 'android' let alone revealing anything identifying.]

[ Hearing it again now that she believes him is worse than the first time. Before, she'd been ready to panic and fight. Now, the fear is still there, but it's tempered by sadness, deeper than she's felt before. ]

Oh. Right. [ She's quiet as they walk into one of the abandoned shops, fighting against the lonely, empty sorrow setting off her artificial tear ducts. Her whole one week of life since her last reset, she's had Alice to worry about or look after, and for half of that time, Luther at her side.

Loneliness is an ugly feeling, and one she'd like to do without. ]

And you-- you haven't found a way back.

[ That's a statement. He wouldn't be here if he had. ]

[The rain against the roof of the empty shop is soothing in a way, and he allows himself a moment to listen to it before Kara speaks again.]

No.

[He affirms her words, even though she doesn't need him to, and even though he really doesn't like that this is the situation. He doesn't like the feeling of being trapped, and being unable to do much of anything about the situation, and being right back in the position of being monitored by individuals that only care about what purpose he can serve them. On top of that the people in this place seem primarily human, and they seem inclined to take the side of the gods in their fight for some still unclear reason.

It's a bad situation, and although Connor is made to deal with bad situations, he's usually able to actually do something about them. But at least one thing isn't as bad as it could've been; an alert pops up in his vision to say that his self repair is complete, and he looks down at his hand in time to see his synthetic skin cover it once again.]

(no subject)

mamabot - 2018-07-23 23:36 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive Meme #34

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

cw mention of child abuse

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)