Test Drive Meme #40

[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 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.]

Comments

[braveoff]

[ ....well, it's her. Drake supposes they're doing this all over again, then. That's fine. He smiles at her slightly, and since her legs are already bent up he takes a seat on the end of the lawn chair but doesn't reach for her yet. Just sits in her presence, so she can feel the weight shifting the chair. A sign that he's real without totally freaking her out and reaching for her hand.]

You're not hallucinating. You're just somewhere else, somewhere that lets me be alive again. It's called Hadriel, and it's not actually a cute little cabin in the woods, this part's... not a hallucination exactly, but a trick. There's a lot to explain.

[ Which he's up for, but maybe not this instant. Not when she's staring at him like he's a ghost about to disappear on the wind. ]

You okay?

[amwhatieat]

[Her senses had been fooled before, although Liv also knows that it had been the brain that she had been on. That particular brain is long gone from her system, and she can't say that she recalls eating another- in fact, she had been going to eat one just before coming here, but she hadn't gotten the chance.

She should perhaps be a little more bothered by it, a little more unsettled, a little more something. She may look at where he sits, as if gauging whether it is somehow her having another conversation with air, and seeing what she believes to see, but even she can't explain what exactly all of this is.]

Drake? It's really- [Hadriel means nothing to her. He may as well say that she is dreaming, and maybe she is. Should she pinch herself? Would that prove anything? Read a book, because you're not supposed to be able to read in dreams, right? Ask him something that only he would know? But she would know it too, which makes it a moot point.

She does shift, shifting to sit on one leg, the other over the side of the chair. She may reach out, a hand moving to gently poke at his knee. What she really needs is Peyton, to see whether or not she is seeing what Liv is seeing.]

You're... alive? But, I had to- [That flicker across her face. She had come to a peace with it, but it is still a scar that will always remain. Her luck with boyfriends has been really bad, after all.]

[braveoff]

[ At the poke Drake figures it's safe enough to reach out and take her hand, squeezing her fingers gently but firmly. He's real, he's here, he's alive. ]

As alive as we ever are, I swear. And I know... you told me, the last time you were here. About the basement, about the visions on that one brain. You don't remember?

[ He doesn't know how to prove any of these things to her, how to make her believe that this is happening and not just a dream or illusion. But he's here, his hand lukewarm on hers. ]

It's me, Liv.

[amwhatieat]

[Her gaze does rest where his hand has taken hers, looking at it as if it were a puzzle to solve. In a way, it is. Her gaze does shift upwards again, regarding him as she mulls that over. While there had been some things that Liv hadn't understood when she had been alive, she knows that he is a good guy.]

I haven't been here before, Drake.

[Which perturbs her, starts to gnaw away at that tranquil air that has settled in the air. It reminds her of... lazy summer days, even if she had never been one to really sit back and smell the flowers, but now?]

It's not- I mean, I don't get it. How?

[braveoff]

You have, Liv. I know it sounds nuts, as nuts as being here, but you've been here before. The Door sometimes wipes people's memories, when they leave and when they come back. It also doesn't care about time and space, or whether or not you were dead.

[ He gestures at himself with his free hand as if to say case in point. ]

If you don't believe me I can introduce you to others, but I hope you do.

[amwhatieat]

No, I just- I mean, I've seen you after, but it wasn't you, so seeing you again...

[Is more than a little trippy for her. And hearing that this Door takes them and messes around with their memories? Wipes them? And how is he alive- or, you know, undead, again. Even with Ravi and his cures, he's never been able to bring someone back from-]

It's just more than a little strange, even by my standards.

[braveoff]

I remember. Psychosis brain, right? Guy saw visions? I'm glad it was able to bring you a little closure, at least.

[ Since he never got to say goodbye. 8( ]

We've barely tapped the surface of the strangeness here, sorry to tell you. I thought we should just deal with this before I gave you the usual run down.

[amwhatieat]

[That... was right, and does take Liv back for a moment. Okay. So zombies exist, obviously, so by that logic, whatever this place is, does as well? Some cross roads? Or she's dreaming some very big dream even though she doesn't dream and knows that she hasn't eaten anything recently. Good thing the conspiracy brain is out of her system, or Liv would be having a field day with all of this.]

One thing at a time, huh. That's... appreciated. But- how are you?

[braveoff]

Like how've I been the past year and a half? Uh... pretty good, actually. This place can really put you through the wringer and I've almost starved a couple times but it's different from home. I can be myself at least, no undercover bullshit, no visions making me question what's really me and what isn't. And I'm not dead, so overall, being stuck here's not the end of the world.

[ Oh wait. Duh. ]

Hey, are you hungry? Because the brains I get here are vision free.

[amwhatieat]

[That's good, at least, right?

Not ideal, as ideal would be that he was still human, that he had never gotten involved with this whole zombie mess, although his help did aid Ravi with his cure... Liv knows well enough that you can't go back, that second chances are rare to begin with.]

I'm glad- I mean, you know- [Not glad that he is dead, because never that. But that maybe, just maybe, this is some second chance for him? However this place actually works.

His question though does have her nose wrinkling and a little shrug of her shoulders.]

I was nabbed right before my meal, but... Are you talking brain tubes?

[braveoff]

[ Ideal would be human, and not dead, but Drake's always been the kind of guy who took what he could get. Rolled with the punches. Things are about as good as they can be.... most of the time he's even happy, so he's not going to argue with being stuck if it gives him a second chance. ]

Yeah I know what you mean. And no, they're uh. Not synthetic, but they just never belonged to anyone. Hope kind of grows them for me, I think? I didn't really want to know the details. But they're whole brains.

[amwhatieat]

[There is that medical part of her mind that wants to ask more questions, as how could a brain never have belonged to anyone? A clone? She's not a fan of the ones in the tubes, although if push came to shove and that was all there was, Liv would, but...]

Who's Hope?

[braveoff]

One of the gods. They're not really gods, though, they're aliens with godlike-to-us magic, that feed off our emotions... and swear I'm serious and not crazy, that's how this city runs.

[ He's aware it sounds nuts. But it's just how things are. Drake doesn't know how to convince her of that without just... her living here for awhile and seeing for herself. ]

[amwhatieat]

... feed off of our emotions?

[Because that makes it sound like some brain worm that's going to suck it right out of her skull...]

[braveoff]

That sounds creepy, huh? Sorry. You can just think of it as it gives them power if we feel certain things. Power they use to run and protect the city... it's almost symbiotic except for the massive power imbalance but it's not like I'm in a position to complain.

[ He's just being honest. ]

[amwhatieat]

[Her expression shifts a little. Right. Even if she can't explain this and what it is, if it is just as he says, he's alive here. Or at alive as they can be, she assumes.]

What does that mean though? Someone's going to jump out of a dark corner and try to scare me>

[braveoff]

[ Drake's smile fades, because talking about this so frankly is... well. it sounds horrible. ]

It's a little more hardcore with that. They screw with our heads, or the setting, to manipulate us. And it's hard to fight.

[amwhatieat]

[So long as it's not some Saw scenario... She likes her digits, and her eyeballs, where they are.]

So a variety package deal then. Not just happy rainbows and lollipops.

[braveoff]

It's... rarely rainbows and lollipops. But sometimes. Like now, Tranquility is a chill guy.

[amwhatieat]

Okay. So who are all these alien gods?

[Because anger or wraith... Insanity? That could make things more than a little hairy, especially if full-on zombie mode comes.]

[braveoff]

Hope, Fear, Rage, Sorrow, Confusion, Tranquility, Love, and Delight, though she's imprisoned after betraying us all... it's kind of a long story.

[ Luckily Drake's never gotten too caught up in Rage -- could be hairy indeed. ]

[amwhatieat]

[Eight alien gods, and not all exactly bad, right? Maybe fear and rage are less than ideal, if what Drake is saying is true, and if she's going under the hypothesis that this is somehow real, than she's going to have to accept it.]

How... delightful.

[braveoff]

[ Wow Liv. That was good and terrible at once. Drake forces a grin -- he took Delight's betrayal kind of personally, to be honest. ]

Heh. Sorry, it's funny, but it's hard to laugh for real when Delight herself nearly killed me.

[amwhatieat]

[There really are too many questions... Like are they all related? Are there more of them? Are they a race, and where is their planet, or are they on their planet? Is this akin to some b-rated sci-fi movie?]

So they don't all get along then?

[braveoff]

Definitely not. They usually leave big decisions up to us because they can't agree on what to do.