Test Drive Meme #34

[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 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!]

Comments

cw mention of child abuse

[mamabot]

[ 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.

[missiondeterminant]

[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?

[mamabot]

[ 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?

[missiondeterminant]

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.]

[mamabot]

[ 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? ]

[missiondeterminant]

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.]

[mamabot]

[ 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. ]

[missiondeterminant]

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.]

[mamabot]

[ 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. ]

[missiondeterminant]

[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.]

[mamabot]

[ This sadness feels sharp and cold, and it pinches at her nose and throat. Just them, and with no way out. Is Alice afraid? Luther? They've got to be together. Kara can survive here on her own as long as she believes her family is safe. Right now, all she can do is work to solve the mystery of this Hadriel place while pretending to be human. If she could do it in a very hostile Detroit, she can do it here.

In her perioheral vision she sees his hand go from pristine white to pale and humanlike, and she remembers all of a sudden that he'd been injured-- that he'd willingly plunged his hand into the gel in order to grab the hammer she's still holding, the tool that saved their lives. ]

You look good as new. [ She offers a flicker of a smile, putting the hammer down on a dusty table as she takes a few steps closer. ] I was worried. That looked painful, and I don't know how much different your body is from mine.

[ Probably a lot different, her being such a common model, him being an advanced prototype. ]