dankmemes | test drive meme # 39

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!test drive

test drive meme # 39

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 December 25th, and apps are open January 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: HE MADE HIS LIST
[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.

You were hoping for something seasonally appropriate, right? Well, the Door doesn't know it's December, so this must be a coincidence - because this time, it's brought in the Krampus.

This creature is the opposite of Santa, and if you've been bad (and let's be real, who in Hadriel hasn't), it'll be all too happy to punish. Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll just scare the crap out of you and give you some coal... or maybe it'll decide your punishment needs to be much, much worse. Don't you wish you'd been good this year?]

R A G E

SCENARIO TWO: HADRIELITE VANDAL
[Last night everything was fine. You went to bed happy and content - well, as happy and content as you ever are. But this morning, as you stepped out of your house, something was wrong. Maybe you didn't notice it at first - maybe someone had to point it out to you. But there it was, in big bold letters: someone had painted an insult across the front of your house.

Maybe it's a rude name. Maybe an insulting comment. Maybe just a picture of a dick with an arrow pointing to it that says your name. Whatever it is, someone did it specifically to fuck with you. But who? And why? Maybe you already think you know who, and all you need to do is hunt them down. Or maybe it's time for an investigation. Or... maybe all you want to do is clean it off before someone sees.

Good luck. That paint is already dry.]

C O N F U S I O N

SCENARIO THREE: ALL FLIPPY-FLOPPY
[You didn't realize there was anything wrong, not until you saw that person you've always thought was your best friend. They seem the same as ever, it's just - you really don't understand what you saw in them anymore. They're kind of whiny, they're way less cool than you remember, and that hair? Ew.

It's not just that. You ran into your worst enemy earlier, and maybe... you were wrong about them? It really seems like they have some good points, and that annoying expression they always make actually seems kind of cute now. Maybe it's time to kiss and make up, possibly literally!

This is a mini version of our Your Best Enemy event this month.]

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[ It's lucky that Magnus has this fight to thoroughly occupy his mind, because having someone he'd thought was Lucretia maybe not be Lucretia is...not great. The fighter is even a little distracted as he chases after the Krampus, stealing glances back at her, missing the creature once or twice more. ]

Shit. [ Okay, focus. He steels himself with a long breath and, once the monster reappears, does a sort of running leap toward it. Luckily, it's a little distracted by the other person in the arena, and he's able to land a solid slice. The Krampus shrieks and fades again, but this time in a way that, at least, suggests defeat.

There. Slowly he turns, ax in his hand, eyes again narrowed. ]

Now. Tell me who you are.

[ And who you aren't. ]

[ Normally, she'd be thrilled to finish off an enemy so quickly, and with so little bloodshed. This time, the battle is over far too soon for Lucretia's tastes. Before she knows it, before she's anywhere near ready for it, she finds herself face to face with a Magnus who looks as suspicious and unapproachable as she's ever seen him.

Taking a reflexive step backward, she raises a beseeching hand. ]

Just - stay calm, all right? I don't know what you - who you think I am, but -

[ She's so confused, so thrown off guard, she hadn't even realized before. But looking at him now, without the threat of the Krampus to distract her, she realizes.

He looks...different.

She keeps talking, not really knowing what to say, just trying to keep him from doing anything they'll both regret. But she's studying him the whole time, knowing there's something off about him, trying to figure out what it is. ]

Please, just listen, please, put the ax down, Magnus, I'm not going to -

[ And then it hits her, and she stops talking abruptly, eyes going wide.

He looks younger.

And he's calling her Lucretia.

And he doesn't recognize her.

She shakes her head slowly, not understanding. Not believing. This is impossible. ]

Magnus, what...

No, you listen. You kinda look and sound like my friend, but you're - [ "older" ] not. Her.

[ She can't be. The little guy had just been a distraction, but now he puffs up imposingly and stares hard across at her, waiting for an answer that can satisfy the mounting suspicion. ]

What did you do with my friends? With our ship? [ It won't be the first time they've been separated, or in danger, but that doesn't mean he's going to let anything happen to the crew of the Starblaster if there's anything at all he can do to stop it. ]

Start talking.

[ All she can do is stare at him helplessly. How many times had she imagined worst-case scenarios? An unforseen trigger. An impossible memory. An inexplicable contradiction between two facts known to be true. All it would take is one little mistake, one sentence, one word left uncensored in those dozens of journals. One or three of them asking questions she can't let them ask, demanding answers she can't give. Looking at her with wariness, suspicion, distrust.

But not like this. He remembers the ship. He remembers the crew. He remembers her, and doesn't. It's as if everything's backwards, his memory the opposite of what it should be. What it had been.

He thinks she's lying to him, and she is. But not in the way he thinks.

What did you do with my friends?

She closes her eyes, just briefly, trying to center herself. She opens them quickly, not forgetting that ax, and meets his eyes. ]

It's me, Magnus. I know I'm not - not how you remember me. It's been...a long time.

But I promise, it's me.

[ Magnus is always one for action above all else, but...he can't just attack this woman. Not when she looks and sounds enough like Lucretia that there's room for doubt.

With his stomach twisting uncomfortably, he straightens up enough that he's not crouched to attack, but is still deeply suspicious. ]

I can't go off of a promise. Not for this. [ "A long time?" He isn't even sure how to address that. Instead, the fighter slowly stows his weapon and crosses his arms, stony-faced. ]

Can you tell me something to prove it? Something Lucretia would know? [ ... ] What did I name the little guy we just brought on the ship? It lives in your room, so you should know.

[ She's the only other one who knows right now, after all. Since leaving the Legatto Conservatory, he's only just settled on a name for the jellyfish-buddy. ]

[ His demanding some sort of proof is justified, of course. She can't blame him at all. Still, of all the things he could have asked...

She takes in a breath, guilt tightening in her gut again before she pushes it away once more. Ignoring it is practically a reflex by now, the only way she can prevent herself from being crushed underneath it. ]

Its name is Fisher, Magnus.

And it - [ Misses you. ] It cares for you, very much.

[ He just peers back at her, noticing all the things about her that seem like Lucretia while simultaneously trying to block them out in favor of caution. ]

Yeah, well...I care about it, too. [ Magnus looks deeply uncomfortable with all this, but he persists, though clearly without the same edge: ] So, why are you Lucretia, but not Lucretia? Even if I trust you - and I'm not saying I do - it doesn't make sense.

[ He won't rush her with his ax, but there are still questions vying loudly for his attention, and he feels very compelled to give them voice. ]

[ Okay. At least he's giving her a chance to explain. Not that she has any idea how she's going to do that, but...better than him threatening her with a weapon, right?

She nods, closing her eyes for a moment as she tries to collect her thoughts. ]

Magnus, you said - you said you just brought Fisher onto the ship. It's - what, cycle forty-eight for you? Forty-nine? Somewhere around there?

[ She doesn't wait for an answer, but just the fact that she's not concerned about a year or two either way should tell him something. ]

There were - a hundred cycles. A hundred, before we finally stopped.

And I don't know how this is, Magnus, or how we're both here now, or even where, exactly, we are, but...for me, it's been ten years since the cycles. Since we stopped running from the Hunger.

I'm still - me. I'm just...older.

[ And hopefully he won't do the math on just how old she looks, versus how old she should be. ]

Yeah. But it isn't the same time for you.

[ Not a question. She doesn't pause to let him ask questions anyway. ]

Before we stopped? [ The way she phrases it knocks loose some of his suspicion. Instead, there's a pit in his stomach, a feeling like he'd missed a step going down. ] You mean...before we stopped the Hunger?

[ She hadn't phrased it like that, but that's what she had to have meant.

Right? ]

Since we stopped...running. [ Not the same thing. The pit grows. ] Why would we stop? Why would you...age so much in ten years?

[ She'd been young. They all were. Are. ]

You're not making any sense. [ Magnus points out, shaking his head firmly. ]

[ There it is. She takes in a breath, lets it out, feeling...empty. ]

We haven't stopped it yet.

[ But they will. She will. She looks up at him, silently pleading. ]

I won't lie, it hasn't been easy. It's been...so, so hard. But...I have a plan. I'm going to stop it. I promise. You just need to trust me, please.

[ And by now she's fighting back tears, speaking not only to the Magnus in front of her, the one from sixty years in the past who still knows nothing, but to the one who'd barged into her room at exactly the wrong moment, the duck he'd made for her still clutched in one hand as the concern in his expression shifted to alarm and then fuzzy, blank confusion; the Magnus of ten years later, still rushing in, still with the biggest heart she'd ever known, looking at her without a trace of recognition or love.

She doesn't know if she feels younger, looking at him now, or older than she'd ever felt before. ]

Please, Magnus.

[ It's incredibly disarming, whatever this is. An older woman claiming to be Lucretia is begging that he trust her, and he...doesn't know what to think, to say the least. They haven't stopped the Hunger, but they've stopped looking for the Light. She's Luncretia, but she's years and years older than the young woman he remembers.

Magnus...feels a bit like he's drifting, like his hazy mind is detached from his body. It seems like an eternity before he can string words together. ]

...So what now? [ He asks mechanically, staring back at her almost without seeing her. ] I trust you, and...what happens next?

[ There's no clear path to him between this moment and the next. They were fighting a monster together, and then she told him...this. What am I supposed to think, Lucretia? What do you want from me? ]

Don't...chop me in half, for starters?

[ Honestly, that had been her main goal here. First, convince Magnus not to kill her. Second, convince him to stop looking at her with that awful, unfamiliar distrust, demanding answers she can't give him. Beyond that, she really doesn't have a plan.

Lucretia looks down, shaking her head. ]

I...I don't know.

I'm not gonna chop you in half. [ Says the guy who has definitely done that before, but. You know, to gerblins! It's different. Probably. ]

Well, any more details you can give me would be a good start. What kind of world is this? And why don't I remember landing on it?

[ There's definitely a lot of weirdness to what they do, but this...is a new level of crazy. ]

And if you're Lucretia, where's everyone else? Are they all - older, too?

[ Let's be fair, he's the one who'd been threatening her with an ax. Of course she knows now that he's not going to attack her, but it had been pretty dicey for a while there.

She sighs, shaking her head. ]

I don't...know any of that, either. I'm as lost here as you are.

And I don't know where everyone else is. You're the first person I've seen here that I know.

[ "Is everyone else older too" is...complicated, for many reasons, and she's going to avoid answering it for as long as possible, thank you very much. ]

That's convenient. [ He huffs. None of the rest of the crew is here - if she can be counted as part of it, with things up in the air as they are - and it's just the pair of them in this monster-infested coliseum.

Magnus tightens his jaw, then lets it slack, sighing again. ]

Can we at least get out of here? It's been a real good time and all, but I'd like to talk more somewhere I'm not gonna maybe get surprised by a ghost.

[ Their assailants were obviously some kind of phantom-y thing, after all. He glances around and, upon spotting one of the exits, jerks his head in that direction. ]

You coming or not?

[ It's an odd sort of role reversal, even if Magnus doesn't realize it. Lucretia's used to asking questions, to giving orders and having them followed - even if her charming Reclaimers tend to forget those orders as often as not the minute they step into the field.

Now, Magnus is the one demanding information and calling the shots, while Lucretia tries desperately to prove herself. She nods, following obediently along behind him as he heads towards the exit. ]

Of course.

[ She'll do anything he asks, right now, if it keeps him from looking at her with that expression of wary suspicion. Besides, he's right. It isn't safe here.

This is only a temporary reprieve, though. Once they're well clear of the arena, Lucretia glances around, sighing in quiet relief. ]

I think we're all right here.

[ Magnus scoffs at the concept: it seems ridiculous that anything about this situation could be "all right." Still, he glances around to try and get a sense of the area, to perceive any immediate threats...and, she's right: there aren't any more of the monsters nearby. ]

So, what now? [ He presses, eyeing her from a short distance. ] Are you gonna try and explain how you're Lucretia when you don't look like her, and where everyone else is? ...Oh, but you "don't know," right? You don't have any answers?

[ Okay, yes, he's being harsh. He feels like a cornered animal, snarling and lashing out, but ultimately without anything but his teeth.

(Hopefully, he doesn't try to bite her.) ]

I told you, Magnus. I'm from after the cycles. That's why I look older.

[ Is she keeping things from him? Of course. She can't tell him everything. She just can't. ]

And I was telling the truth. I don't know where anyone else is. I don't know where we are, any more than you do. That's why it's so important for us to stick together. To trust each other.

[ Lucretia hesitates. She knows Magnus, knows the look on his face. He's scared, out of his depth, without anything to rely on, and liable to lash out as a result. And she can't blame him for any of it. She sighs, dropping her head. She's got to give him something, or he'll have no reason to trust her at all. ]

So let me explain to you...how I aged thirty years in only ten.

Yeah, but I told you: none of this makes any sense.

[ She doesn't know anything, she says, and wants his trust. She hasn't tried to attack him yet, but he knows anything could happen the second his back is turned. ]

Start talking. [ He presses, still glaring, allowing the mild rage to burn in his heart. Without his friends, he feels...lost. More so than he would having woken up in a strange place without a clue how he'd gotten there. On all the worlds, the rest of the crew had always been there, even if they'd been separated for a while.

Is that it? Were we all just scattered, and I'm gonna find them soon?

It doesn't explain her, though, which is why he keeps his eyes fixed on her, jaw set tight. ]

Edited 2019-03-23 00:26 (UTC)

[ Lucretia doesn't respond to his protest. There's nothing she can say. She knows it doesn't make any sense, especially to him. She just doesn't have all the answers he's looking for.

All she can do is give him the answers she does have. She sighs, running a tired hand through her hair. ]

Okay. Uh...

[ Shit. Where does she even start? There's so much he doesn't know. How much does he need to know, in order to make any sense of it at all? ]

You know the Light. [ Of course he does. ] And you know that the Hunger is...chasing it. Looking for it.

We found a way to...to hide it. To...split it into pieces, so that the Hunger couldn't track it, so -

[ She breaks off suddenly, dropping her head, her voice low. ]

Magnus, whatever I tell you here, if - when you go back to your own time -

[ God, she hopes it's when. ]

You can't share this with anyone. It could be dangerous. It could change the future. Do you understand?

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test drive meme # 39

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