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]

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.

[oldtonew]

Like this.

[ Kettara takes a deep breath, holds it, and then exhales slowly. Then she's gone. In her place is a large, misty wolf. The elders disagree about how the first shamans came into this power. Some argue it's an offshoot of druidism, a half-change. Others, like Drek'Thar, said it was a gift from their ancestors in recognition of their respect. Because of their devotion and honor, the dead had given shamans the ability to shift into bodies that contained neither blood nor bone, but rather mist.

Kettara sits on her hind legs, chuffing at Pratt. Look! She's smaller! ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

[SCREAM]

What the fuck?!?!

[He nearly runs away because the person in front of him just vanished and turned into a wolf cloud thing. His brain is currently shutting down and rebooting. Give him a second.]

How... what?

[He reaches a hand out hesitantly, more to see if this is real or if he's hallucinating.]

This is Bliss isn't it? I've been dosed and I'm seeing things.

[oldtonew]

[ Oh, no. That was not the result she was aiming for.

Kettara shifts back into her orcish body, frowning. ]

I don't know what Bliss is. You said you wanted to see, so I showed you.

[theweakhavepurpose]

[That is not any less terrifying the second time around. But he does not run away because he's too stunned to do much of anything.]

How are you doing that if it's not a hallucination? I.. how?!

[His small human brain is not comprehending.]

[oldtonew]

I told you. I'm a shaman.

[ Her abilities came from training and devotion years in the making. She doesn't know how to explain that, though.

Kettara stares at him. Then, hesitantly, she reaches out and pokes him in the forehead. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

I don't know what that means!

[He instinctively swats at her hand and jumps back out of reach, ever twitchy in case an attack is coming.]

Hey!

[oldtonew]

You don't listen.

[ Kettara huffs, crossing her arms. ]

Stop being foolish!

[theweakhavepurpose]

I'm listening! Just not to.. water or whatever it is you're talking about.

[He is so confused.]

I'm not! You turned into a wolf!

[oldtonew]

You wanted to see!

[ So she demonstrated. It wasn't even that impressive. The ghost wolf form isn't all that useful. A shaman can use it to travel quickly and remain out of sight, but it dissolves upon taking a single blow. No one can fight like that. It can't even carry an ally to safety.

Kettara growls, looking away. She shouldn't have approached this human at all. ]

No. I'm going now. Are all humans like this?

[ The last part is asked rather abruptly. ]

You're meant to be fearsome warriors.

[theweakhavepurpose]

I wasn't expecting... that!

[He's not sure what he was expecting though after she manifested water out of nothing.

But now she seems pissed and he's not sure why because it seems perfectly reasonable to him to freak out when someone transforms into a cloud right in front of you.]

We're not all soldiers. Only the strong. The weak...

[He doesn't want to think about this right now. Instead he digs through the supplies in front of him to hand her a can of soup. He promised her one and he's not going back on his word.]

Everyone is afraid of what they don't understand.

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara growls again, frustrated. It’s been years since she’s spoken to a human but there are rules. She learned them and now, suddenly, they no longer apply. Pratt doesn’t act like she expects. He hasn’t snarled or insulted her once and startles from tricks that should give no one pause.

And now he’s offering her food.

Kettara accepts the object, staring at him all the while. ]

I’m not afraid. But I don’t understand you at all.

[theweakhavepurpose]

I don't understand you either.

Where I'm from people can't turn into mist. Or make water out of nothing.

[They're not huge or green either, but he's leaving that part out.]

[oldtonew]

[ Curiously, he doesn't claim he's not afraid. Kettara isn't sure what she's meant to think of that. She lifts the can and sniffs it. Then she blinks, staring at Pratt with renewed interest. ]

....do you know what I am?

[theweakhavepurpose]

A shaman?

[He was listening!]

[oldtonew]

Yes, but...you're human. I'm not.

[ She watches him, unsure how he'll react. ]

You...you don't know what that means?

[theweakhavepurpose]

That would explain the big. And the green.

[ He's taking this well. Because he's pretty sure it must be a hallucination.]

I have no idea what that means. Am I supposed to?

[oldtonew]

I've never met someone who doesn't.

[ So this is new for both of them. Kettara isn't sure whether that's a good thing. ]

I'm an orc. Humans don't like us.

[theweakhavepurpose]

An orc.

[His brain immediately goes to Lord of the Rings and she... does not look like that.]

Am I not supposed to? You seem fine to me. Other than all the weird magic shit you can do.

[oldtonew]

My name is Kettara.

[ She leaves off the Bloodthirst title for now. ]

I don't know. You're the first one I've met who didn't insult me. Or try to kill me.

[ Both equally important, in her mind. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

Why would they do that?

[She's clearly strong, she could easily snap his neck, and he's not in the habit of starting fights he can't win. Though he does realize that there's people who aren't like that and get themselves into terrible situations.]

I'm not planning to attack you. I only have the sledgehammer anyway.

[Unless he pelts her with dozens of cans of soup. Very menacing.]

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara looks away. ]

There was a war. They won.

[ That's not the problem. It's what came after. ]

They were not honorable in their victory.

[ She blinks at him. ]

A hammer can be an effective weapon. Maybe not for you. You should try an axe.

[ Something more suited to his build. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

A bunch of humans defeated a bunch of people just like you?

[Giant strong green folks with armor? He's not buying it. Unless they had a lot of gattling guns. And maybe air support.]

Of course we weren't honorable, we're humans. That's what we do. Should all be fucking wiped out. Let the deer and wolves take back the land.

[He snorts. People are scum.]

It was the closest weapon I could find. And my machine gun, but it's too big to lug around everywhere.

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara bristles before she can take a breathe and let the tension bleed from her shoulders. He doesn't know. It's fine. ]

The tactics were flawed and our leaders fell to corruption. Of course we lost.

[ The assault was doomed to failure. She knows that, though the understanding smarts. ]

Why do you say that?

[ She's never heard of a human saying such things about their own species. Though the question is forgotten as soon as he mentions the gun. ]

Oh! You have a goblin rifle. Can I see it?

[theweakhavepurpose]

Because it's true. We destroy everything we touch. Anything we manage to build we burn down.

[Goblin... you know what, he's not even going to question anymore.]

Yeah, it's going to look normal sized in your hands probably.

[She can certainly see the gun, but not the ammo. He's keeping that hidden away because he's not sure he can ever get more if he uses it. Which is part of the reason he's been hesitant to carry it around. He's twitchy and he'd shoot anything that moves and be out of ammo in four minutes.

He starts pushing his crate of soup towards his house. They're not far away, his house is a small a frame right on the beach. There's a bunch of junk on the porch, supplies he hasn't gone through yet.]