test drive meme # 35

[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 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.]

Comments

[dadyl]

[ Well yeah, that's what he was implying. Daryl's met survivors like Andrea and knows that not everyone around Atlanta was from there originally, and even though this definitely isn't Atlanta... he doesn't know where they actually are. But clearly this guy isn't from here, either. Daryl has a headache coming on just trying to work the logic of it all out. How did they get here?

It's also definitely not just the ears that smell. But of course, Daryl hardly notices how ripe he is. It's a regular thing for him. He does notice the way Jesse's watching him though, and he can hardly blame the guy. He's dirty, bleeding, and--

--oh yeah. It's not until Jesse points them out that Daryl glances down at his chest like he forgot the ears were even there. Oh well. He snorts out a tired, aggressive laugh and tugs the lanyard off because he doesn't need the motivation to survive so much, now. He hasn't seen a walker since getting here, which is... odd, especially with all the noise that animal made.

He doesn't really know how to explain the ears to Jesse, though. Not even, really, to himself. At least not articulately. It had pretty much been a by-product of the aggressively survivalist mood he'd been forced to sink into at the bottom of that ravine. It was work himself up enough to get out, or stay there and die. He doesn't like the way Jesse is looking at him though, or what he'd insinuated. ]

Maybe they'd have kept their ears if they didn't piss me off an' try to eat me. They ain't gonna miss 'em. [ He tosses the necklace of rotting ears at Jesse, aiming to hit him. ] An' that's for thinkin' I'd hurt a kid, asshole. I saved you, didn't I?

[chemethtry]

[ Jesse squints at the guy, all incredulous bewilderment, mouth forming the beginning of a confounded, 'What the fuck?' - because, seriously, what the fuck? What kind of psycho thinks to take people's ears because he thinks he's going to be eaten?

He gets as far as the "wha-" before those ears are being tossed at him. Tossed at him. Right at him. Rotten, putrefied human ears hitting him square in the chest. Jesse's face morphs into wide, comical horror, and the shriek he lets out would be embarrassing if it wasn't for the fact that those are human ears. Jesse leaps away, bare feet skidding painfully across rocks. ]

What the f—! You psych—! [ The second syllable of that word comes out in a heaving gag, a retching huurggh! noise, and Jesse finds himself reeling away, doubling over, stomach threatening to purge all over the ground. ]

[dadyl]

[ Why is this guy so confused? Sure, it was a little... extreme to have done what he did, but ain't no one feeling that sorry for walkers these days. If he needed them to congratulate himself for surviving, to motivate himself to get back up that ridge, who was this little wimp to act otherwise? But-- ]

Shhhh! [ --he starts to hiss again when Jesse yelps and flails, but then the guy starts to dry-heave and Daryl blinks, stunned that so little would start such a reaction in him. Hasn't he gotten used to it all, yet? ] You're gonna need a stronger stomach than that, y'know. [ A second later though, Daryl notices the smears of blood on the floor where the guy had been standing. ]

Hey... hey! [ Partly concerned, partly holding back not-completely-unkind laughter over the shrieking and the retching. Daryl takes a few steps towards him and leans down slightly to get a better look at his feet. ] You okay, kid? Why ain't you even wearin' shoes?

[chemethtry]

[ Oh my god, ohhh my goddd. Jesse tries to gulp down a breath of air to fight back his spasming throat. The smell, man. But more than that, just the brutality of— severing human ears?! For what? Entertainment?! Trophies?! Like a total serial killer?

About to stand up, leaning his hand against the wall, Jesse realises the guy is moving in on him, and taking way too much interest in his feet. ]

Hey, whoa, whoa, Leatherface, back off! [ Exclaimed at the same time as Jesse leaps away from the wall, trying to assert distance between himself and this psycho. Dragging some blood across the dusty, rocky ground in the process. ]

[dadyl]

[ Jesse is right on the money with 'trophies', but it's because Daryl is a hunter, not a killer. Although, if the walkers have anything human left to them at all, he's probably a serial killer of some sort, too.

Daryl goes still when Jesse freaks, shouldering his bow and raising both his open hands palm-out with a confused, slightly frustrated look on his face. What is this guy going on about? ]

Look, chill, okay? Walker ears ain't got nothin' to do with you. [ But Jesse is only going to hurt himself more if he keeps moving around, so Daryl takes a step back. Rick's words, his rule, come to his mind suddenly. ] I don't kill the living, alright? [ He knows he probably looks a little rough, but doesn't everyone these days? Has this guy been holed up somewhere, missing the worst of it all? ]

If I was gonna hurt ya, why wouldn't I have done it already?

[chemethtry]

You don't kill the living? [ ...wait. What? A momentary pause while wild confusion rattles across Jesse's face, punctuated with a clueless scoff. But then, he continues shooting, while inching away another step from this rancid weirdo: ] Oh, so, you're, like - what, some kinda gravedigging hobo? With a fetish for dead people ears or some shit? [ Bewildered gesture of his hands, flip phone still clutched tight in one of them: ] The hell is a Walker ear, yo?!

[dadyl]

[ While Jesse looks confused, Daryl's own expression is starting to mirror him. How does he not get this? Then-- ]

...What!? What the hell are you talkin' about!? [ Where the hell did he get that idea!? Does Daryl seem insane? Sure, he's not exactly the most civilized guy, but... ]

Walkers! [ He says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world, like he's explaining that the thing above them is know as 'the sky'. ] Geeks, biters. The dead! Whatever the hell you decided to call 'em! [ Even Daryl isn't concentrating on keeping his voice down, now. ] The ones that get up again after they get bit and die!

[chemethtry]

[ Jesse's mouth forms a series of incomprehensible shapes, like he doesn't even know where to begin responding to any of that. He has so many fucking questions. Ohhh, but then it dawns on Jesse. Through all the insane confusion of the last ten minutes - of that rhino— thing out there, of winding up in some bizarre arena, of the fact that he was at home ten minutes ago—

Ohhh, okay. It dawns on Jesse what this guy's problem is. His ratty, stinky ass state explains it all. So does his paranoid ramblings about - what, fucking zombies? "The dead"?

Jesse raises both shaky hands like he's putting a stop to the arguing, everything suddenly very clear to him now. He still wants to puke - god, the smell of this guy. The sight of those shrivelled up ears. He tries, best as he can, to compose himself, heaving a shaky, grounding sigh to centre himself. ]

Okay, okay. I get it. I get what's goin' on here. You're a tweaker. You're just tweakin' out.

[ That makes... so much more sense. Even if it's nasty as fuck. It has to make sense, because nothing else is making any goddamn sense right now. ]

[dadyl]

[ There's a half-second where Daryl thinks Jesse actually does get it, and then... It's Daryl's turn to stand there with his mouth open, no idea what to say. Mostly because... well, if this guy really doesn't know about them - wherever he's from, however that's possible - Daryl knows from his own experience that would be exactly what his explanations sound like.

Except he's not. He hasn't used for weeks. ]

No. [ He says it decisively, forcefully, even a little defensively. He's been called out rambling on drugs before but this isn't one of those times. And like a typical user, he's even more offended because he's actually in the right this time. ] You're tellin' me it ain't national? That you don't know? Where you from that ain't all infected!? [ That's something the group is going to be desperate to know, if... If he can ever get back to them. ]

[chemethtry]

[ Oh my god, thinks Jesse. The hand that isn't clutching the phone smears down his face. Strangely, the fact that this guy is clearly just a total tweaker somehow makes Jesse a little less anxious. Okay, tweakers he knows how to handle. He's familiar with tweakers. He knows tweakers. He doesn't know anything else that's going on, but this pile of tweaked out, graverobbing filth here? Jesse can - sort of - deal with. The blood all over his face is a bit fucking much, let alone the goddamn ears, but—

Look, at least there's an explanation for all that now. Unlike anything else.

Dropping his hand away, he sets his attention back on Leatherface here. At least Jesse seems less on the edge of hysteria now, disturbed as fuck though he is by the state of this asswipe. Just be calm now, because tweakers need to be reasoned with carefully, lest they make any sudden paranoid moves. This guy has got a crossbow, and sure, he shot at that thing out there with alarming skill and precision, but still. He could go on a rampage. Right? Can't ever trust a tweaker. ]

Okay, look. [ Holding his hand out in gesture of just wanting the guy to calm down, to think through his gakked out hallucinations, using the tone of voice he always uses to try and talk a tweaker down from doing anything stupid: ] Look, let's— Okay, ain't no, uh, Walkers around right now. Like, anywhere. So, let's... Let's make the most of it, huh? Get away from— whatever the hell that thing was out there? In case there's more of 'em? Let's just get somewhere safe, yo. Away from the Walkers. And-And then, let's get you cleaned up, okay?

[dadyl]

[ Daryl sighs, looking at the ceiling in exasperation. He can see he's getting nowhere, even if Jesse is trying to humour him for some reason, but at least the other guy has calmed down somewhat. That makes Daryl calm down again, even though he's worried what will happen if Jesse won't see reason and they run right into a group of walkers. It's only a matter of time he thinks, especially in a city, until he's proven right. So why push? He just hopes he'll be around to keep this spazzy idiot from getting himself bit when the time comes.

Unless... he's right? Daryl hasn't seen a single one since he's arrived here, and there are other, bigger things to worry about. ]

Fine. [ he eventually says, shaking his head. Daryl sighs again, like he's the one now humouring Jesse. At least the kid is right. They need to get somewhere safer. ] But you ain't walkin' far on those feet. You've got t'deal with 'em. [ Daryl pulls what's left of his long-sleeved shirt out of where he's tucked it into his belt and starts ripping it into shreds. ] You got any idea where safe is? 'Cause I don't. [ So far Daryl has elected to ignore the suggestion of getting him cleaned up. ]

[chemethtry]

[ His feet. Why does this guy keep making a goddamn deal about his feet? Jesse throws a glance down at them, and— Oh. Shit? Adrenalin had blocked his pain receptors out enough that he wasn't aware his feet are actually in pain. And, fuck, just a t-shirt, boxer shorts—

His attention winds up dragging to the phone in his hand. Which he squeezes protectively, a stab of aching longing for Jane welling in among all his panic. No time for that right now, though. He has to just move on, focus, put the past behind him and just deal with what's right in front of him, right now. As Mr. White would tell him, if he was here.

Shit. Mr. White! Jesse's hand dashes back up to rub through his hair in an anxious jerk of realisation. Oh shit, he hopes Mr. White is okay. Fuck, maybe he could call him? Jesse stares down at the phone again. Then looks back up to this guy in front of him. The crossbow. The blood all over him. The state of him. Supposing he loses his shit and starts shooting people. Kids, maybe.

Mr. White is going to have to wait. He's so sorry, Mr. White, but he's gotta deal with this situation first. Hand still pushed into his messy hair, Jesse throws a look around him, his surroundings so unnervingly unfamiliar. A broken down, crumbling city, with sagging walls layered with decades of disrepair and mildew. God, how did he get here?

No time for questions. Safety first.

Heaving a deep, unsteady sigh, Jesse faces back to Daryl. ]

L-Look, I'll be fine, alright? Ain't like I can deal with 'em here, so let's just— [ A small, coaxing beckon of his hand for the guy to start moving with him. ] C'mon, man, let's just get moving.

[ And now that he's aware of his injured feet - well, the first step makes Jesse bite a grimace, teeth clenched, breath hissing quietly. But he makes himself take another step, and another, hobbling slightly. All the while, he takes to sweeping a glance up at buildings, the expanse of dilapidated emptiness that seems to sprawl everywhere. ] It's like some kinda city or something, so... means there's gotta be houses around, right? Or places to hide out or whatever? So let's just— keep to the shadows or whatever. 'Til we find something. Be real quiet in case one of them things from earlier comes chargin' at us. [ A look tossed across to the guy. Needs to keep the illusion going here if he doesn't want this guy to tweak out in paranoia. ] Or... Or Walkers.

[dadyl]

[ It's almost like Daryl can see the thoughts skidding across this guy's mind, he's that emotive. Fear of the obvious, surprise over his feet, despair over something Daryl can't pinpoint (and why does this guy have a phone, anyway? Cell phones haven't worked in almost a month...), panic... Daryl watches them all flick over Jesse's face one by one until the kid lands on resignation, and by then Daryl has a big handful of cloth strips bunched in one hand. ]

You won't. Who knows what you're gonna step on out here? You should wrap 'em up, at least. [ But Jesse doesn't seem inclined to listen and Daryl can't be bothered to convince him. Fine. Step on something big and sharp and make it all worse, like Daryl cares.

But he does, when Jesse starts to flinch and limp. He grinds his teeth, trying not to notice for almost fifty paces, trying to ignore the little sounds of hushed pain the guy makes. He's got a lot to look at anyway, weirdly twisted towers and strange rounded houses... This looks nothing like any city he's ever seen, except, ironically, for Atlanta. It had been similarly deserted, except for the dead. The dust everywhere is as much as mystery as everything else, though. Even Atlanta hadn't been abandoned as long as this place. ]

Guess so. [ Daryl isn't willing to discount anything here, not after what he's seen, but he doesn't have a better suggestion. Jesse's logic seems sound. ]

We'll be a lot quieter if you stop talkin'. [ But here, in this silence, Daryl thinks he could hear a squirrel coming from a mile off. He's not worried about being snuck up on by something huge. Walkers, on the other hand... They have a way of showing up when you least expect them. ]

You can stop that. I know you don't believe me. Just wait. [ Said matter-of-factly, almost passively. Daryl doesn't see the point in arguing about the truth, but he doesn't like being talked to like he's an idiot, either.

He motions for Jesse to stop at the door of the first fluid, round house they come to and cants his head to suggest that Jesse move back, a finger across his lips. Pulling his crossbow off his shoulder and nocking one of the arrows he'd pulled out of the Bronto, Daryl raises it up under his eye before pushing open the unlocked door and letting the weapon lead the way inside. He doesn't call out to any inhabitants the way Jesse might, not wanting to give away their position if the building is full of the dead. ]