test drive meme # 39

[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 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.]

Comments

[omegalomaniac]

It'd be nice to be able to help with that.

[Their expression twists vaguely, into something pained, before it disperses in the same instant.]

I'll have to settle for wishing you luck.

[standformyself]

Thank you, although I am an expert at dodging and slinking.

[And many other things, of course.]

[omegalomaniac]

I'm glad to hear it.

[They really are. It's difficult to gauge sincerity, with Racto, when they couch everything they say in insincerity and vague smiles and the wry lift of scarred eyebrows.]

That becomes a necessity the longer you're around, I think.

[standformyself]

Perhaps. This place does seem like it is going to remain lively.

[Although judging by her reaction, she doesn't seem to mind that at all as she glances up towards them.]

Lots to do and lots to see.

[omegalomaniac]

[No, it's true. They cannot remain in place forever. Racto's expression again compresses into something pained, because they'll have to stand, and that...well, everything hurts, in a sense. The nature of their pain is such that it is chronic and unavoidable, particularly in motion.]

I'll have to see for myself, then.

[standformyself]

[That little flicker of her ears as she watches the expression shift. There is a gentle boop of her nose against skin, before glancing off.]

It's not much, this place. More wild than explored, at least by us, but plenty of sights to see, if sights are what you enjoy.

[omegalomaniac]

It's not sights. [They have to get up, and they do, even if it's a slower process than they'd like, muscles at their knees and joints bunching and contracting into a mire of something that does not want to shift under any means.]

[Their jaw clenches, but they stand.]

It's just best to know where you're at.

[standformyself]

To know where you're going.

[Somewhat sagely, which is juxtaposed by the way her tongue lolls again to one side of her mouth and her tail gives a small wag.]

[omegalomaniac]

More or less.

[Their look is, again, amused, but not without a cast of something softer, maybe sadder. It's hard to say. The myriad emotions are lost, flickered past and filtered through with such alacrity that too many of them blink past all at once.]

Doesn't matter how slow you go, 'long as you don't stop. Something like that, I think.

[standformyself]

Exactly like that.

[Perhaps it is why the Dog enjoys always going on walks.

Glancing up again.]

If you needed help getting anywhere here...?

[omegalomaniac]

I look it, don't I?

[They're not offended. In fact, they almost sound amused. They look, in essence, a wreck, between the spattering of keloid that interfaces with the bruised copper color of their skin, and the general look to them - like someone fished them out of the trash.]

I won't say no to the company, if that's something you'd prefer.

[standformyself]

[It may well be how all of their species looks. The Dog isn't certain. Perhaps it is also a typical state of being for them. If so, it hardly seems like a pleasant way to live all day every day, those grimaces and winces.]

I enjoy company myself, so I have no qualms about more.

[omegalomaniac]

[It's not. But it's also something they've long since accepted as necessary. They've lived long, and you don't get to living as long as you do without a few scrapes. Scratches. Scar tissue. The line across their throat that suggests that, once, someone tried to slice it clean open.]

[They failed, but their failure will stick with Racto for a long, long time.]

[They smile. As always, it doesn't quite reach their eyes.]

Then by all means; let's go for a walk.

[standformyself]

Any spot in particular?

[The Dog can show a variety of corners to sniff at, although most don't seem to enjoy it as much as she does, which is a pity. She does like a good walk anyway, even if she has no destination in mind, as it's not always about getting somewhere, but about what happens along the way.]

[omegalomaniac]

I think I'd just like to know a little more about where I've ended up.

[So, in essence: no, no goal in particular. They just feel up to wandering, and taking in the sights. Taking in the sun. That's certainly a phrase they never thought would be relevant.]

I guess I could use a little sun. [Ha ha.]

[standformyself]

[A little swing of her head, before pointing her nose in one direction. A few buildings are that way, as it's not like there are many sights to see. No various settlements or towers or bridges - at least nothing that the Dog has been aware of.]

If we head this way, you can see some of the buildings, but remain outside, unless one tickles your fancy. Everything is free.

[omegalomaniac]

Everything is free, hm?

[That's a new one. Never, literally never, heard that one before. It's a nice break from the norm, even if it sounds a little too utopian to be true. Maybe it's just that it's compensation for everything else that seems more or less common around here.]

That's interesting.

[standformyself]

From the stores... Taking it from someone's home might have you swatted with a paper.

[Just in case the Dog does need to distinguish that fact for the stranger. The Dog has need of little, which means she tends to frequent them solely for the company and because she might find something of interest there. Nothing that she has recognized so far, which is probably a good thing.]

The stock varies, and they don't take custom orders.

[omegalomaniac]

I'm not in the habit of taking things from people's homes.

[The thought seems to amuse them, though they don't explain why. It might simply be that amusement is their default expression in almost all things, as they navigate the world. New as this place is, that doesn't mean they're not adaptable.]

[They've been nothing but, in some respects.]

[standformyself]

I'm not one to judge...

[That wayward eye cast their way, even if the Dog isn't one to exactly take things either. She might borrow them, but she does return them at the end of the task, like the sword for her mistress. So, if one never notices that something is missing, is it really stealing...?]

[omegalomaniac]

Neither am I.

[Racto is, in fact, one of the least judgmental souls they know - primarily motivated by the idea that no matter how bad someone might act, they're confident in the idea that they've probably done worse, or have at least considered it. They've no right to any kind of moral high ground, as far as they're concerned. Theft is pretty low on the paygrade, in regards to the potential for criminal activity.]

But it's a sure way to start a fight if anything ends up belonging to someone.

[standformyself]

I suppose it is best that they never found out that you did it.

[That little glimmer in her eyes. But she isn't a thief. She is a borrower, certainly, but never a thief.]

[omegalomaniac]

If one does it. I don't tend to steal things if I can help it. Or at all. I've never stolen anything in my life.

[That last bit, that's definitely a...we'll call it an exaggeration. Airy, lighthearted, and not the least bit committed to maintaining an actual truthful declaration about their spotty past, whatsoever.]

[standformyself]

Is it stealing if you return it?

[Glancing upward with her tongue rolling to one side of her mouth happily.]

[omegalomaniac]

Borrowing.

[Borrowing sounds much less prone to ruffle feathers, though in Racto's experience - their very completely unlived, fictional, hypothetical experience, that is - the target of the borrowing doesn't tend to bother much with semantics.]