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]

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.]

[oldtonew]

[ 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.

[theweakhavepurpose]

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.

[oldtonew]

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.

[theweakhavepurpose]

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.]

[oldtonew]

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. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

[ 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.

[oldtonew]

[ 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. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

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. ]

[oldtonew]

[ 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.

[theweakhavepurpose]

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.

[oldtonew]

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.

[theweakhavepurpose]

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.]

[oldtonew]

What is a therapist?

[ It's a genuine question. Orcs don't have those back home. Neither do humans, actually. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

Someone you tell your problems to and they tell you how to deal with them.

[oldtonew]

Oh.

[ Kettara considers this for a moment. ]

That seems like a very strange profession.

[theweakhavepurpose]

People need it. Keep everything to yourself and you explode.

[You know... like he just did.]

I wouldn't want to do it though. I'd just be depressed all the time.

[oldtonew]

Back home, we ask our ancestors for advice.

[ Kettara frowns. ]

They are not paid, though. They do it out of respect.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Our worlds are a little different.

We can't talk to our ancestors. Well I guess we can, but they don't talk back. Because they're dead.

[oldtonew]

I see that now.

[ Though she also wonders if it's their worlds, or the divide between how humans and orcs do things. ]

Why would that matter? Of course they're dead.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Dead people don't talk where I come from.

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara gives him a curious look. ]

Maybe you don't know how to listen.

[theweakhavepurpose]

To .... what?

[He's honestly curious. Is he supposed to sit at his grandparents grave and listen?]

[oldtonew]

To the spirits. There are rituals, meditation. It takes effort.

[ She blinks. ]

Your people do not do this?

[theweakhavepurpose]

Not at all. And if you said you talked to spirits they'd think you were crazy.