dankmemes | test drive meme # 35

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test drive meme # 35

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 August 25th, and apps are open September 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: GET YOUR RED CAPE READY
[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.

And they sure are big boys. Big and easily angered and ready to run right over you. This time, the Door has brought in Brontos, from the video game Dragon Age.

Brontos are large oxen-like beasts, though more sure-footed due to spending all their time in caves underground. There are domesticated brontos, bred to haul and be ridden and eaten... but these aren't those. These brontos are wild, one and all, and they are skittish and large and perfectly capable of running you over. Maybe just keep your distance.]

SCENARIO TWO: DESERTED
[You're alone. Completely alone, as far as you can tell. Nothing here works - oh, there's food in the stores, sure, but the water's not running, the electricity isn't working. There's not a soul on the streets, where you would normally expect to see at least a few people here and there.

So what will you do? Smash windows and grab food from the stores? (Well, the doors are all unlocked, but hey, who doesn't love smashing windows.) Shout in the streets in hopes someone will hear? Curl into a ball and cry? All valid choices. But then, what will you do when you do find someone, after thinking you were all alone? Someone you like, someone you hate, a complete stranger?

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

S O R R O W

SCENARIO THREE: ONE MORE CHANCE
[You can't stop thinking about the one who got away. They've been on your mind - well, it feels like forever, but maybe it's only been a few days. A few hours. But you can't stop thinking about them and regretting what could have been.

Maybe it's a failed romance. Maybe a broken friendship. Maybe a family member who walked away - or who you walked away from. Even a business partner who things ended poorly with. Whatever it was, you regret how things went down. If only you had another chance, a chance to fix things!

And then, there they are. The person you've been thinking of. What will you do? Beg forgiveness? Make amends? Run away? Make your decision and take action, because as soon as you do it you might realize it was never that person at all. You might have just poured out your heart and begged forgiveness from a complete stranger.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hadriel, although I don't expect the name to mean much to you. There is a force here below the ground we stand on that draws people in from across the planes to fight for these false gods.

[Caedra doesn't bother to mask the bitterness in her voice. This much is true - and she isn't willing to help anyone who managed to kidnap her and prevent her from returning home. She isn't a creature that ought to be able to be trapped, and yet here she is. She folds her arms across her chest, watching the girl.]

But a warrior like yourself - I can't imagine you would let outsiders like these command you to fight for them when they've stolen you away from home, would you? They are being slaughtered in a war and have no army of their own, so they've attempted to steal one.

There was someone in my home who made claims like that. The master he served was worse than the one he claimed to fight.

[ Kettara's voice is carefully even, though her ears are flat to her skull and her hands tight on her weapons. Too many things have happened too quickly. If she makes a decision now, especially about going to war like this human-looking thing wants, then Kettara knows deep in her heart that there will be no going back. And she will have to live with the consequences. Master Muln would advise caution. Commit to nothing until you know.

And if there is no time to know, then feel. What do you feel, apprentice?

Kettara doesn't know precisely what she feels, but she doesn't trust this woman. Not yet. She's no orc, bears no recognizable symbols, and she smells wrong.

But if there are a people oppressed, a world out of balance, then that is Kettara's duty to attend.

She lifts her chin. ]

You will show me this war.

[Made claims like... what? Caedra doesn't quite follow, but then, she doesn't have the context. She just nods wisely, as if indicating that the girl clearly understands the situation. People seem to be more willing to act when they think they're being given respect; when they think they're right.

But at the request, Caedra frowns.]

If I could point you to the front lines, I would, to see how pointless our kidnappers' demands are for yourself. But they are not only pretending to be gods, and yet being utterly decimated by intelligent metal golems, they are cowards and have run far from the fight. No, as I suggested, the simpler option is to finish them off so that we can go free.

If they are cowards, how do I know you aren't serving them? [Kettara poses the question simply. It's logical. Why shouldn't she ask? ] It's not hard to acquire a stronger agent, even for a weak patron. If I fight now, in front of you, my measure is known.

[The very suggestion of her serving her own kidnappers makes her scoff. She'd laugh, except that it's not funny. It just pisses her off - has for months, probably will forever.]

Doubt me then, I don't care. There's nothing I can do to prove to you that I refuse to aid those thieves. You want to help them fight? Fine. Enjoy being stuck here while they toy with you.

[ Kettara tips her head to the side, more curious than offended. ]

What are you? You don't smell human.

[How perceptive. Didn't the eyes give it away? Caedra adopts a look of confusion, though, along with a slightly concerned frown.]

Don't I? That's strange. Well, perhaps it's only because we're from different worlds, don't you think? How many humans from my world have you smelled before?

A lot, from my world.

[ It's said rather flatly. Kettara doesn't like humans. Master Shotoa says she should work on judging the individuals rather than the whole, but it's difficult. There's too much history, too much that could have been and never will be, now. She doubts they'd be any different in the other worlds. ]

And you're not afraid of me.

[ She adds that after a moment, more curious than anything. Kettara is bigger than this woman, whatever she is. Stronger in the arms, certainly. It's hard to tell what other power she might have. Nothing - or everything. Kettara can't catch the smell of mana dust in the air, but that means little. Sometimes, people just have power, hidden until needed. ]

Of course not. You're an orc, aren't you? They're quite common where I'm from. Certainly some are warlords and raiders, but there are those who choose more civilized lives. I've seen enough to keep an open mind.

[Said convincingly enough, or so she imagines. The lies come easy. Very few orcs willingly mix with other mortals as company, and most that do are themselves half-breeds. Most of the pureblooded orcish men and women of the north would consider the very suggestion to be an insult worth killing for. But Caedra risks the comment anyway, with a smile.]

[ Civilized. Kettara's ears go flat. She doesn't like that word. The humans like it. So do the night elves. Oh, you're one of the civilized ones, you can hold a proper conversation. ] Do you think that's a compliment, being civilized?

[It's a less violent outburst than she would have expected back in the material plane she's most familiar with, that's for sure. Caedra shrugs, unbothered by the tone the orc takes.]

Civilization can mean a lot of things. By the standards of most I've met here, I'm quite far from it myself. I simply meant that I tend not to judge whether I should fear someone based on things like race, or shape, or how many eyes they have. I've met all kinds, you see. Fear is something that they have to earn for themselves, if that's the reaction they seek.

I don't need fear. [ This woman, whatever she is, is strange. One moment she seems like one thing and in the next, something entirely different. She doesn't act like any human Kettara has seen, doesn't smell like them either, but she's no elf. No orc, either.

An unknown factor, Krelna would say. Krelna likes to define the world, each piece with its proper name.

Kettara lowers her axes, but doesn't put them away. This place, like the woman before her, remains uncertain. She will not be taken by surprise. ]

I suppose I should call you something. Do you have a name?

Call me Caedra. And what should I call you? You're a rare one among your people, aren't you? An orc who has no desire to be feared.

[Or so she says, but these things can never be taken at surface value. Still, she doesn't seem like the type who prefers subtlety and backstabbing. Perhaps hard to say for sure from the one conversation, but as orcs already tend to be mistrusted for what they are, it's rather difficult for them to pretend to be friendly in the first place and actually succeed at the deception.]

You don't know anything about orcs.

[ It's not the role of a shaman to be feared.

Kettara puffs out her chest. ]

Kettara Bloodthirst of the Earthen Ring. I'm named for my mother. She was feared.

[No, she probably doesn't know anything about orcs, it's true. Other than how to kill them. The rest is local to her nearest material world, or simply doesn't matter.

But that name, that's a good full name. Descriptive. Precise. She'll remember it.]

Bloodthirst, hm? Enchanting. Your mother must have been quite a woman.

[ Kettara narrows her eyes. ]

She was a great warrior. She died in a great battle. Her enemies wrote songs about it.

[ Lies. Her mother died in the dirt, in the camps, but Kettara has the sudden, desperate need to make this woman believe otherwise. ]

Is that so! How exciting. You'll have to sing one for us sometime.

[Sounds believable enough to Caedra. Whether the enemies she speaks of are orcish or otherwise, the bards of the worlds all do love their war ballads. And the pounding drums and intimidating chants of orc war parties must make for such fine storytelling material. Oh, Caedra believes, all right. She finds the very idea thrilling.]

[ Kettara shifts uneasily. This moment started out as something she understood - a call to action, a call to battle - but now she isn't certain where she stands. Or, even worse, where she ought to. ] Are there any other orcs here? Or is it just me?

[ She hopes desperately that she's not the only one. ]

Just you! This place is absolutely crawling with humans. It's sickening, honestly. There are a few elves, though, and a tiefling. And an ice elemental of some sort. Not much variety otherwise.

[Fine, fine, so she's not just some strange human. Pretending to be didn't last long. She's expecting a return to that question, though - if not human, what is she? Providing a false answer is less suspicious than leaving it a mystery. It's fine, though, she still has a few seconds to think of something good.]

[ Kettara wrinkles her nose. Urg. She's outnumbered. But that does beg a certain question, doesn't it? ]

Why do you look human, if you're not?

[ She's heard of the dragon aspects doing that, choosing bodies to suit their purposes, but Kettara very much doubts a dragon could be trapped anywhere it did not wish to be. ]

Why? Who can say, it wasn't my choice to make. I have to admit it's been useful here, though, with how many humans there are. They probably find it an easier form to comprehend than some of the alternatives I've seen in my people.

[She laughs a little as if picturing their reactions, then shrugs.]

Perhaps it was just the multiverse's idea of a joke. But it works. Humans mean well, but they tend to look unkindly on those who are too different from themselves.

[As an orc would likely be quite aware - but then they are the same, aren't they? Perhaps even less accepting of outside races than humans are. Not that Caedra seeks to point this out.]

[ That's an odd thing to say. Kettara frowns. ]

What do you mean, it wasn't your choice?

[ Something to do with the magic that brought them here? Or something else entirely? ]

Did you choose to be born an orc?

[Caedra raises an eyebrow, but continues to smile benignly otherwise. It just strikes her as a funny sort of question.]

Of course, your parents were both orcs, so it would be expected. I was born from the mesh of the multiverse itself. Perhaps it wanted to know what being human felt like?

[It makes for an easy story to tell, a blend between having chosen her falsehood and mixed it with a dash of mysterious truth. Many of the tanar'ri are directly born from the Abyss itself, after all, even if that isn't the case with her. But she's still far too hesitant to name her race, with so many of the orcish tribes readily worshiping one of the demon lords. There's a very real possibility that the girl would know just how much of a threat she is. But ah, a strange child of the grand universe, placed in a mortal-shaped body, there's a sort of romance to such a tale, isn't there? A fragment of the world, trying to experience its own people through their eyes.]

[ Again, Kettara thinks of the dragon aspects. Time, nature, the multicolored dragon flights. ]

Where I am from, such creatures choose their own form. To blend in, or because a certain body appeals to them.

Ah. Yes, I know of those who can. I am too young to do so, unfortunately. It's a surprisingly difficult thing to learn.

[Yep, don't mind her over here, totally harmless. Completely unable to change her shape should she wish to - though of course she can but when she does, it does only last a short time. She knows that some day the Abyss will change her, but she will have no control then either as to which form she takes. Nor would she seek to - the uncertainty is thrilling.]

test drive meme # 35

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