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

[theweakhavepurpose]

Oh. Uh...

[His hesitation is palpable. For starters it would be admitting weakness to not be able to do it himself. And then there's the fact that she might just take all his stuff. She was obviously stronger than him, what would he do, bite her ankles?]

You don't have to. I got myself into this mess by taking too much.

Do you.. want any? It's mostly soup.

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara tips her head to the side, watching Pratt. He's nervous again. ]

All right. I can make more water. For the soup. Or if you need any.

[ That way it's more like a trade. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

Ah.

[He hadn't considered that. And while she seems convinced that she manifested water from what was already there, he's still under the impression this is some sort of magic demon water that might kill him instantly.

Still... a source of fresh water is always a good thing should all the municipalities go down.]

Thanks. A trade then.

[He manages a small smile, digging through some of the bags.]

I've got rice and vegetable, cream of mushroom, corn chowder and lentil. What do you like?

[oldtonew]

[ There is a disappointing lack of meat in those options. Kettara shrugs. ] The mushroom one, I guess. Is there anything to hunt around here?

[ She really, really wants some protein. Real protein, the kind that bleeds. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

[Lucky for her she found one of the only vegetarians on the island.]

There's bugs. Really big bugs, but I'm not sure if you'd want to eat them. And.. fish.

This place doesn't have a lot of wildlife or wilderness for hunting. Not like where I come from, it's a hunting paradise back in Montana.

[oldtonew]

[ Blasphemy. ]

Oh. I can make a spear, for fishing.

[ It's not as fun as running your prey down, but Kettara is pragmatic when she needs to be. If she needs to eat, then she'll eat. ]

What is Montana like?

[theweakhavepurpose]

[Hey he'd been a big hunter and all about venison until he was fed dog food and his dead friends for months. ]

Spear-fishing? Huh, never tried that before.

Lots of trees, lots of deer. Everything is very green, there's a bunch of little lakes with rivers connecting them full of big fat happy fish. At night you can see every star in the heavens. Big Sky Country.

[Boy he sounds wistful. He misses it so much.]

[oldtonew]

[ She'd understand if she knew but since she doesn't....blasphemy. ]

It's not hard. And it helps, if a crocolisk is trying to eat you.

[ Durotar is not an easy place to live. Kettara smiles a little as Pratt describes Montana. ]

Big Sky Country. I like that. You can see a long way at night, in Durotar. But it's not green at all. Barely anything grows there.

[theweakhavepurpose]

No crocodiles in Montana.

[Yep. That's definitely what she said. Crocodiles.]

Is it a desert? There's a weird sort of beauty to deserts at sunset.

[oldtonew]

[ Crocodile? Kettara blinks, but doesn't correct him. It isn't worth starting an argument. ]

Yes. When the sun sets and everything looks red...that's beautiful.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Sounds nice.

[He sighs, looking around. It's cold and overcast here. The scenery is rocks and dirt and dilapidated buildings in strange shapes. He's not a fan.]

The weather here is mostly like this. And rainy. They're islands though so lots of views of the ocean.

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara nods slowly. She misses home now that's away from it. ]

How long have you been here?

[theweakhavepurpose]

Little over a month.

[He actually knows down to the day from the hash marks he's keeping by his bed, but he's aware enough to know he sounds like a crazy person if he starts talking about it that precisely.]

I'd say it gets better, but it doesn't.

[oldtonew]

What do you mean?

[ This doesn't seem so bad. The isolation bothers her, Kettara admits, but she's survived harsher places. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

I don't want to be here.

False gods. False ideals.

[He snorts. He's not impressed with this place.]

It's all wrong here. Like Purgatory.

[oldtonew]

What makes them false?

[ Kettara shifts curiously, watching him. She's not sure what purgatory is. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

[His brain screeches to a halt. He ... has no idea how to explain this. He's not even really religious. Or he wasn't. Most of what he believes now isn't his own thoughts but Jacob's rattling around in his brain. Pratt has been broken and rewired so many times that some of the connections aren't all there anymore.]

They're ... not really gods. Pretenders. Blasphemers.

[He looks a little lost, like he's expecting someone to helpfully supply him some talking points.]

Using us like livestock.

[oldtonew]

I thought that's what gods did.

[ Orcs don't really have gods like the other races. Even the elements are temperamental and willful - not all-knowing or all powerful. Kettara scratches her head. ]

Why don't you just...not worship them?

[theweakhavepurpose]

Use people like livestock? No no. that's not..

[He trails off because he's so unsure about all this. And making him question the faith that isn't even his is doing odd things to his head right now.]

I don't!

[Angry, as if she accused him of something.]

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara frowns at Pratt. There's an odd, distant look on his face, and she's not sure why he's suddenly angry. Oddly, she thinks of Drek'Thar, the blind farseer and his violent, ever changing tempers. The others say Drek'Thar goes mad, sometimes. ]

Are you well?

[theweakhavepurpose]

Fine. Fine.

[He shakes it off. Shoving all those thoughts aside for him to dwell on later when he's sitting catatonic in his house alone.]

Doesn't matter. What matters is survival, and I'm doing alright there.

[Hence all the soup.]

[oldtonew]

You have food, [ she agrees. That's important. Presumably he's been sleeping somewhere, too. And if they were back home, Kettara thinks she would leave it at that. She doesn't like humans, but this one isn't doing her any harm and there's no Horde to protect. It shouldn't matter what he does. But it's been days since she's been able to have a conversation with anyone at all. Even the elements, once her constant companions, have been strangely mum.

The silence feels dangerous. It gnaws at her.

She shifts her weight, considering, and then decides to go for it. ]

If you let me come, I can protect you.

[ She hates the idea of being alone with only her thoughts to fill the silence. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

To my house?

[He's not sure how he feels about that. Though he was willing to let her help him carry things so she'd know where he lived anyway. As for the protection... He never wants to admit when he's weak, when he needs help, but this place has not exactly been pleasant. And he can't hole up in his house forever as much as he really wants to.

This is not someone who does well being alone with their thoughts.]

Alright, but it's pretty cramped with supplies right now. I don't have shelves.

[And she's substantially bigger than him.]

[oldtonew]

Uh huh.

[ She'd prefer to sleep outside, given the choice, but these are unusual circumstances. And he's not so bad, for a human. He hasn't called her a greenskin, for one. ]

I can be smaller. Do you want to see?

[ She isn't supposed to show off her shaman abilities, but shifting into Ghost Wolf form will save space if his quarters are that tight. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

What? You can be smaller?

[he stares. Is this something where she's going to ask her bones to shrink? What the hell is going on here? He's getting the sense he might be hallucinating giant green women all of the sudden.]

I mean.. yeah I wanna see if you can actually shrink.