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

[offloaded]

[ DiMA had considered that, actually -- even before learning that some people were dead back home, it occurred to him that as strange and potentially dangerous as this place could be with its monsters? It was probably still better than certain immediate situations. Like wherever that first young man he'd met had come from, to be shot so full of bullets. It hasn't really felt like they're prisoners, either, at least not yet. DiMA was an experiment before, most of his fellow Acadian synths were that or slaves. Knowing the gods were feeding off this population had sounded almost symbiotic at first, but now... the pieces click into place. ]

You're suggesting this is one of the manipulations I've heard about? To evoke a specific response.

[ That feels a lot like an experiment, and DiMA's brow furrows. ]

For which of them, do you think? Sorrow?

[synthedick]

[Nick gives DiMA a sideways glance, trying to read his expression, more than a little put-off by seeing his own face on this synth more worn out than he is, his body so modified that there's no mistaking what he is even at a distance. He has yet to seem ashamed of it, either, despite the history of where they are and the gods who keep them; they're a bit alike, in that way. No sense in worrying over what he can't change.

And yet, there are some things he can't help but worry about. If everyone is gone, is his family missing, too? Not the brother before him, but his real family, the one he's made here?

He can't focus on that now. It won't do any good, either.]

Maybe. Confusion, Fear. Might even be two of them working together.

[It sure as hell isn't Hope. He starts moving again, his gait unsteady as he leans on his cane, only to pause after a few steps.]

We probably oughtta stick together.

[offloaded]

[ As DiMA has told Nick, told Nate, the fact that he can't hide what he is puts him in a unique position to set an example. But that doesn't quite apply here... and in some ways Hadriel has been harder, having to continually explain what he is. Others, easier, as once he establishes he's something different than people think, they tend to be more accepting by default. Less prejudiced against synths off the bat. He's not a Null, and so they'll listen.

Nick seems quite at ease among the inhabitants of this city, in any case. Whatever cruel simulations the gods might have put him through. DiMA nods his agreement that they should stick together, his gaze drifting to Nick's limp. The visible corrosion of his limbs, troubling to see. ]

How long do these tricks last? We'll have to keep ourselves occupied somehow.

[synthedick]

A week, sometimes two. It all depends on how long it takes for them to get bored, or to get what they need.

[And that varies from god to god. If this is Confusion's doing, it'll be the former; if it's Fear, and he's storing power for a move, it could be a long longer that things are like this.

Which means he needs to get over any awkwardness with his brother, pronto.]

You found a place to stay yet?

[offloaded]

I see.

[ They're probably more effective if they're unpredictable anyway, DiMA supposes. He and Nick will just have to ride this out. Together... it's enough for DiMA to have just the one familiar face, as he doesn't really know anyone else here. His loneliness is slightly different, a quiet ache for Faraday and Chase that's unaffected by what strangers are present in this city. But regarding them, he senses that his brother is already struggling. ]

I'm sorry your friends are missing, Nick.

[ He moves on to answer the question quickly, so there doesn't have to be an awkward pause. ]

I haven't. Now might not be the best time to pick somewhere, with everyone missing. It's not like I would have much to move back out, but I'd expect the actual inhabitant wouldn't be pleased about a stranger wandering into their space.