dankmemes | test drive meme # 35

Entry tags:

!test drive

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

You only get remembered if you were famous in life. Or rich. Otherwise no one cares.

There's more to life than fighting.

[Well that feels odd to say, like something he would have said before everything went to shit. Like something the old Pratt would say. Weird.]

But....that cannot be right. Surely even humans honor their warriors?

[ Kettara cannot understand such a thing. Do humans truly not value honor at all? ]

Of course not. But an honorable death in battle is the best death.

Not really. Well we do in theory, but not in practice. Most of our homeless population are Veterans, a lot of them can't even afford medical care, none of them get what they need once they're not in the military anymore.

[Maybe if they did Jacob wouldn't be a raging psychopath now.]

We consider dying in battle a tragedy. Ideally people should die at home in their beds when they're eighty.

[ Kettara takes a step back, eyes narrowed. What he says makes no sense to her at all. ]

I don't understand. How can you bear such shame?

Me? I didn't do it. I voted to give them more funding but people realized it meant higher taxes and lost their shit so it didn't pass.

[ He keeps saying words that she doesn't know as if it changes anything. Kettara shakes her head. ]

You do not wish to die in battle and you will not honor your warriors. What do you honor, if not that?

No one should die in battle because we shouldn't even be fighting. Everyone killing each other isn't normal, that's not how it's supposed to be.

I don't know, you talk about honor as if it's a big important concept, I'm not sure it means the same thing to me as it does to you.

[ Kettara flattens her ears. ]

I suppose it's not. It's said orcs are born into war.

Do you enjoy fighting? Or is it just expected of you?

I can't imagine liking war.

[ Kettara hesitates. No one has ever asked her that. ]

I -- a good fight, is worth fighting.

[ She's quiet for a moment. ]

I don't know if there are good wars, though.

A good fight.

[How does one tell a good fight from a bad one? They're all the same to him. A fight you walk away from is a good fight in his book.]

No, I don't think so either. Especially with things like this.

[He gestures to the gun on the bunk. Something that can mow down an entire city in a few minutes is definitely not the makings of a honorable fight.]

Yes. The kind your ancestors can be proud of witnessing.

[ She thinks about her mother, then. What would the great Kashara Bloodthrist think of her only child in this strange new world? Would she be proud? Or would she be ashamed of how far Kettara and the others have come from the old Horde? There's no way of knowing. But one day, Kettara will die and have her answers. She hopes it will be in a good fight. An honorable battle. ]

Then why do you keep it?

[ It's asked with genuine curiosity. ]

Because some day I'll need to defend myself against someone I'm not strong enough to defeat.

[And he's not about to let someone kill him just because he can't beat them honorably.]

Also it reminds me of home a little. Cleaning it gives me something to do.

[He shrugs.]

[ Kettara supposes she understands that. If she's cornered and about to fall, she hopes to at least take some of her enemies down with her. ]

You don't seek battles, but you expect them?

[ She huffs. ]

I understand. Routine can be clarifying. Like meditation.

I'm always on alert, just in case. People don't like cops and they always wanna start shit.

[He snickers.]

Yeah something like meditation. I guess Xander is having the last laugh, I should have learned Yoga from him. Er, nevermind, something from back home.

Why don't they like you?

[ Kettara supposes this is as good an opportunity to learn about human culture as any. She might as well take advantage of the knowledge offered to her. ]

I can teach you to meditate. [ She tips her head to the side. ] Sometimes it involves sitting very still. Others prefer moving.

Because the point of the police is to enforce laws and keep order. And everyone thinks that rules don't apply to them. People think they're above laws and I'm somehow the bad guy when they get caught breaking them.

[There's far more nuanced reasons to why people don't like cops and he knows it. But that's more detail than he wants to get into today. Especially with someone who claims they've barely even seen humans before. ]

Being in my own head isn't good for me. I start going crazy. So it wouldn't be very relaxing.

[Because he's not the only one in there anymore.]

Oh, I see.

[ Kettara supposes these police have the duties of a guard and a clan elder all at once: enforcing order and mediating conflicts. She's heard they have something similar in Ogrimmar, where their Warchief rules, but she's only been to the city once and not long enough to know the inner workings of it.

What Pratt says next give her pause. Kettara considers him for a moment. ]

Does something talk to you?

[ It's not that strange. The elements talk to her. Sometimes other, darker magics can work their way in. ]

[ He startles when she says that, wondering if it's that obvious. ]

Yes. Well .. I don't know if talks to me is the right way to put it.

[ More like talks at him. Incessantly, drowning out his own thoughts. ]

It's complicated. I don't want to talk about it.

[ Kettara watches him a moment, then nods just once. ]

Drek'thar, one of our elders...he hears the spirits. Sometimes he can't hear anything else.

[ She looks away. Drek'thar is not well. ]

Sounds about right.

How does he deal with it?

[He almost doesn't ask, fearing the answer is 'he doesn't'. But he wants to know. If there's a way to get Jacob out of his head he's all for it. ]

[ She hesitates. ]

Drek'thar was - is - a great shaman. He fought during the war, gave his wisdom to the clans afterwards. Without him, there wouldn't be any Frostwolves left. Sometimes it's hard for him to come back, when he gets - caught, in the visions. But he has assistants. They guide him, when he gets lost.

Ah.

[ It's not likely that Pratt can get people to follow him around and shake sense into him when he starts going into his crazy spirals of doom. But he's not a great man who imparts wisdom onto people, he doesn't really deserve people taking care of him. ]

It's good there's people there for him then. Not seeing reality is .. unsettling. I don't know how to tell what's real or not.

I am sorry.

[ There's nothing she can do about that. ]

Perhaps this is your test. Master Muln says the ancestors send us tests so they can know the truth of us.

Maybe. My whole life is a series of tests, guess this isn't any different.

[Except for the whole detachment from reality thing.]

Sorry, I'm using you as a discount therapist here. My healthcare benefits probably don't even cover this conversation.

[That counts as a joke back home. Honest.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject