dankmemes | Test Drive Meme #40

Entry tags:

!test drive

Test Drive Meme #40

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 January 24th, and apps are open February 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: SLURP SLURP
[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.

What's that on the ceiling? Who's that skittering along the wall? Why, it's none other than the the Licker, from the Resident Evil series.

The licker crawls around on walls and ceilings and can easily avoid all attacks with their creepy crawly acrobatics. Watch out for those tongues, though- they can whip you with them and catch you off balance. They love waiting in dark corners to jump at you and slash you with their oversized claws, as seen here. Luckily, their brains are exposed and they're quite blind- move quietly and avoid their notice, or attack them in their weak spot to get away safely. Be careful though, they tend to travel in packs...]

T R A N Q U I L I T Y

SCENARIO TWO: CABIN IN THE WOODS
[It's nice outside. There's a heat to the air that permeates through the muggy interior of the cabin, but at night, it's cool enough that you can relax and see all the stars in the sky. The hot tub is a nice contrast to the chilly night air and the possibilities are practically limitless!

So cook something up on the grill, go hunting, or just relax and definitely don't get murdered, because you do happen to have a bit of an odd cabin mate. Why are the two of you sharing this cabin? Well, that's up for you to decide, but whether you're close friends who decided to take a vacation together or random strangers stuck together by circumstances, you're here for awhile so you might as well take the time to relax and get to know one another up here in these mountains!]

R A G E

SCENARIO THREE: MONSTER HOUSE
[It seems like you've just misplaced a few items at first- but after awhile, it becomes apparent that the items are misplacing themselves. Weird, right?

Maybe not that weird, because soon afterward, items of all shames and sizes start to move around, now well within sight. Their intent is clearly to annoy or even harm you, depending on how dangerous the item is... maybe a deathly pair of pants, to a set of keys that keeps running away from you, to a house consumed with the desire to- well, consume you.

Be careful of everything, be suspicious of items that may be trying to lure you in with their stillness, and have fun! This event is based on Hadriel's It's Aliiiive! event this month.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nice to meet you, Silva.

Not anymore. I was a UNSC Marine for a long time. Corporal, then special ops, now I do more... freelance combat training for new recruits. Things have gotten complicated since the war ended.

[ It's accurate -- it's the truth. It's just also leaving out exactly what happened in between all those steps. And only then, after the words have left his mouth, that he doesn't know when she's from. The war could still be raging. ]

...if you have any further questions I can probably answer them, but I have one first. What year was it for you, back home?

[ Since the war ended. There it is again. Chyler draws in a deep breath, forcing herself not to either cry or scream. None of this makes sense. ]

April 26, 2526.

[ The day seems important. It's the day Dima and Shere and Kaye and Junjie and Vickers and everyone else, everyone else, everyone else--

She finds herself gripping the porch railing, staring down at the path where she was looking straight ahead a moment before. She feels sick. The air tastes acrid, dirty, like blood and charred flesh and sewage.

Chyler heaves, letting go of the railing and covering her mouth with both hands. She closes her eyes.

Focus. Pull yourself together, Cadet.

Come on, Silva. ]

I'm fine.

[ It's such an obvious lie that she could laugh at herself. ]

Edited 2019-01-22 23:15 (UTC)

[ Holy shit, Wash thinks to himself, as he realizes just how far back she's from. The attacks were just beginning, what has she been through? What has she seen? The questions spin in his head as he watches the cadet start to melt down, remembering something traumatic enough to have her nearly vomiting off the railing before she says exactly the words he's heard out of his own mouth time and time again over the years.

She's most certainly not fine. ]

Hey. You will be, here. [ He comes up the few stairs to be on the porch with her, and there are deck chairs there. Wash pulls one up right behind her and takes her elbow gently, guiding her back into it. ]

Sit down, tuck your head between your knees. Tell me how to assemble a BR55. One step at a time.

[ She obeys. That's one of the nice things about being a Cadet. When someone gives an order, you don't have to think about it. All you have to do is obey.

Deep breaths. Focus. BR55. She hasn't handled one since she lived on Cygnus. Chyler closes her eyes and pictures the weapon, every detail, every groove, and slowly starts walking her way through the assembly. It comes slow at first. At first, the scents and tastes of a mutilated Corbulo draw her attention away from the task at hand.

But she manages. Slowly and surely. By the time she's reached the steps of a weapons check her ears have stopped ringing and she isn't seeing shadows of bodies on the porch. She swallows. ]

I had the second-fastest assembly record in the Academy.

[ There you go, kid, you've got it. Wash can track the progress as Chyler's brain switches gears, from reliving whatever horror she was thinking about to focusing on the order he's given her. She's strong, regimented, good at this, Wash thinks. If it was someone he knew he'd be keeping hold of her, rubbing her back to help ground her in this time, this moment, this place. But Chyler's a stranger and she seems to be doing well with just this technique so Wash just waits, giving little sounds of affirmation as she assembles the weapon correctly in her head. ]

You did, huh? I bet you could beat your best time if you put your mind to it. Did the Door let you bring anything with you besides your uniform?

[ She closes her eyes, feeling the press of tears and desperately trying to fight them back. ]

I could have done it already. My squadmate's older brother holds the school record. If anyone is going to beat it, it should be him.

[ She clears her throat. She's never admitted that, never planned to. But there's so much else going on in her head that she said it without thinking.

Deep breaths. Focus on the second part of what he said. ]

My tac gear. Those... tongue things cut through one of my boots. My MA5D. But it has no ammo, it's useless.

[ Please don't cry, Chyler, he only knows one way to handle that and it's inappropriate. But he can tell she's struggling and so crouches beside her chair, reaching up with one hand to grip her shoulder in what he hopes is a comforting gesture. ]

That's very considerate of you. Respectful. Was the brother KIA?

[ That's the only reason he's ever heard of a record being immortalized like that. ]

We can find you new boots... and ammo. If you killed the monster yourself you can deal with Rage for a clip, but it takes M118s, right? I might have some for you if you can keep a secret.

Yes. He was an ODST.

[ Like that somehow explains how a person can die. She knows perfectly well that anyone can die, anywhere, at any time.

When he says you can deal with Rage, she shakes her head, gathering breath to argue with him, about to say that's impossible, what he's suggesting is ridiculous, but is it? Either she's hallucinating, dying on the battlefield and dreaming all of this up, or it's real. It feels real, and either way, what choice does she have but to proceed as if it is real? She can't just sit and do nothing.

Deep breath. Exhale. Focus. ]

It does. [ A pause. If it can get her ammunition, she's willing to listen. ] What secret?

A real badass, then. I know a few.

[ He wasn't one -- even as a cocky recruit he'd known his limits... well. Some of them. A lot of people had told young David he was going to make a shitty soldier and he supposes they were right. But it's not like there'd been a choice. Chyler here seems like the type to fall in line, the type not to question her orders. A good soldier, and maybe a skilled one. He hasn't seen enough to know.

Wash shifts the conversation, his lips curving up in a tiny smirk. It isn't really that much of a secret, a handful of people know but still it establishes trust, it's a hand out from him to her. ]

It's a big one. Where I keep my stockpile.

[ Her lips twitch into something like a smile, just for a moment. ]

You don't have to baby me.

[ It's not that she doesn't appreciate what he's doing. He helped pull her back from that dizzying edge, the darkness and confusion of the attack. But she doesn't want him to think that's all she is. Some freshman cadet who can't keep her lunch down when she thinks about--

No. She focuses on him again before she can travel back down that path, silently reciting the steps to assemble a BR55. ]

With respect, sir.

...I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to seem that way, I'm just used to recruits that need a slightly gentler hand. If you want me to drill you into the ground I could do that instead.

[ He's joking -- there's a happy medium, of course, and it involves him getting to his feet and offering her a hand up and to shake. ]

And you don't have to call me Sir. My friends call me Wash.

[ He reminds her of the soldiers on Cygnus, her parents' friends, all jokes and casual camaraderie off-duty. They were her family too, some of them still writing to her even now, encouraging her through her first year.

God, have they been hit by the attackers who came after Circinius IV ?

Still, she feels like she hasn't really earned the right to be casual with anyone but her fellow freshman, the gaggle at the bottom of the totem pole.

But. ] Yes, sir.

[ Her face is serious, even as the brightness in her eyes gives away her very small joke. ]

I would still like to known the location of your stockpile, if I may.

[ If Chyler were to tell the Blues that he was all jokes and casual camaraderie, they'd laugh at her. His sense of humor never clicked with them all that well, unfortunately, but it's there. And he can certainly be friendly. Mostly, though, it comes down to the fact that this is different -- he's not Chyler's CO, despite her insistence on calling him Sir.

Wash is about to let it go, change the subject, when he notices the sparkle in her eyes. Oh. Alright. ]

There's a communal one in my house's downstairs closet, then I've got two emergency stashes because I'm exceptionally paranoid. I'll show you, but if you want to learn your way around you'll have to come over again when this cabin in the forest thing wears off -- the city doesn't normally look like this.

Paranoia is a word used by the unprepared. [ Her dad used to say that one. It's a joke, but it's also not.

She looks out over the woods, crossing her arms, though it looks a little more like she's hugging herself. ]

I wondered. If I was crazy, hallucinating. If I made up the city and now I was making up this.

[ Chyler closes her eyes and draws in a deep breath. ]

It still feels like.... [ She bites her lips together, trying to find the right words, words that won't make her seem weak. ] The day before yesterday I didn't know that aliens existed. I didn't think it was possible, that any of this was possible.

[ She goes distant. ] It still seems impossible.

Can I borrow that? I was saying 'it's not paranoid if someone's actually out to get you' but that's not as accurate anymore.

[ Much like her father, he's not quite joking, either.

Wash gives Chyler a moment to puzzle through it, being in Hadriel and its games, and then.... oh. Back to their world, whatever she just went through. ]

It's possible. They exist, and there are a lot of them... way more than us, with better ships and weapons, so it's going to be a long war but we survive. I probably shouldn't tell you too much about your own future but if you need to talk about what you've just been through I'm here, okay?

[ It's kind of a new thing for him, being the shoulder to cry on instead of the rookie himself, or the leader shouting orders... he's finding the balance and sometimes, maybe, he's even good at it. ]

You can have it. I don't think there's a limit on how many times an expression can be used.

[ She looks at him sharply. He's just said something that hadn't occurred to her yet. Something that she should have thought of when Ephemera said he was from her future. ]

Why not? Why not tell me about the future, if it could help? If it could make a difference?

[ Wash hesitates, but. ]

Because it won't. You won't remember this place when you go home. Nothing I'm telling you, nothing that happens here... people go home and they forget it all, they're sent back to the moment they came from and things play out how they're meant to. I've seen it a dozen times now. No one's figured out a way around that.

[ She said she didn't need to be babied, so he's not sugarcoating it. ]

[ That has to be the cruelest thing she's ever heard. She feels sick all over again, a kind of queasy pressure between her breastbone and stomach. In a whisper: ] That's terrible.

[ She can feel herself tearing up again. Chyler rolls her eyes skyward, impatient with herself, fighting it and losing.

The only survivors on the planet. Her squad, the only survivors on the planet, and she can't do anything to prevent another world from being wiped out. She can't do anything. She can't do anything.

Oh look, there go the tears. She makes a frustrated sound and wipes her face with her sleeve. ]

This place is awful.

[ Ahhhh shit, maybe he should have sugar coated it. He doesn't have a tissue for her or anything, doesn't know how to comfort someone he isn't already extremely close to. He can't just take her in his arms like he'd do for Kyna or Julie or even Poison or Carolina, if they were to let themselves cry. She's basically a stranger but she doesn't feel like it. Maybe just because she's from his world, it could be his life. ]

I know. I'm sorry to break it to you like this. Can I do anything for you?

[ She shakes her head, clearing her clogged throat and wiping her eyes again. ]

I'm fine. Tired more than anything.

[ Liar liar pants on fire. She looks down at her hands, resting now in her lap. ]

How many worlds do they destroy before we stop them?

[ How many bandaids is he going to rip off for her? Wash hesitates again, not sure this is the right path to take. ]

Are you sure this is what you want to talk about right now, Silva? Chyler..? Which do you prefer?

[ Which does she prefer. It's not something she's had to think about, really. Her yearmates call her Chyler, everyone above her calls her cadet, boot, noob, or some other form of insult. The thought of someone who was UNSC calling her anything but cadet feels too strange, and she's not sure how much more strange she can handle. ]

Silva. Please. [ It's better than Chyler, at least.

A pause. ]

I don't know what else to talk about.

[ Wash just breathes for a moment, still not sure if this is the right line of conversation, but... if she wants to know who is he to tell her she can't handle the truth? ]

They glassed 76 worlds. Officially. Attacked more than that but reports get scattered and by the end of the war I wasn't in a position to listen to the news, to pick through it properly.

[ She repeats the number under her breath, like somehow that will make it more real. She's still staring at her hands. ]

The man who came to rescue us--Sully thinks he's a robot, he's so tall, but he doesn't move like one. [ She licks her lips, unfocused. ] He said we're the only survivors they could find. On the planet. On all of Circinius IV.

[ She presses her fingertips against her closed eyes. ] The whole school is dead. All of them mixed together. Cadets, marines, ODSTs. They killed everyone.

[ Moving slowly so as not to startle her, Wash settles his hand back on her shoulder. It's all he can think to do, to offer some comfort. And he's got a good memory, he's heard of Circinius IV. Way back. ]

I learned about that battle. He was a Spartan -- the man who rescued you. Have you heard of them?

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