dankmemes | 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

[ She's a brave one, that's for sure. He hopes she makes it -- the history books had only mentioned a few names. Wash squeezes her shoulder, feeling oddly proud of the cadet before him. She's braver than he ever was. ]

Right. Of course it isn't, I didn't mean that, I-- I can help you, though, if you want. Training recruits is what I do now.

Yes!

[ Too much enthusiasm? Probably too much enthusiasm. And probably too much relief. It's something to take her mind off of all of this, it's something to throw herself into.

Wait. ]

Is there a military force here?

Alright. We'll start whenever you're ready.

[ No such thing as too much enthusiasm for training! Unless she pushes too hard, but Wash is good at judging that. As for a military. Uhhhh.... ]

Not really. There's the Guard, they protect the city from the usual monsters but the last time we were invaded it was an all hands on deck sort of a deal. I work with them on arrival days to help take care of what the Door brings in.

[ HANG ON THERE SIR, PLS BACK UP. ]

Invaded?

Yeah.... [ Whoops? Could've eased her into that one. ] Not by the Covenant. By a species called the Null that thinks emotions are a disease and so the gods -- and us -- need to be eradicated. That was well over a year ago, though, we've been moving around so they can't find us ever since.

[ Oh.

That's.

Great.

She's really glad she's already sitting down. Chyler clasps her hands loosely together and taps her knuckles against her lips, staring into space. Abruptly: ]

What are we doing to fight them?

[ Wash looks serious but sympathetic, letting her take this in. ]

Right now we're hiding. Which isn't my style, but we don't have the forces or resources to take the fight to them even if we knew where to find them. I've got helmetcam footage of the invasion, if you want to know the best way to fight them. But after a certain point it gets... disturbing.

[ And this is one hell of a thing to tell a new person, but she needs to know: ]

They were able to hack my neural implant and control me. We've got a safeguard against that now, that I can install on you if you have one already.

[ She reaches for the back of her head impulsively, like that can somehow keep the things from getting to her. She drops her hand just as quickly, trying not to look as scared as she feels at the idea of being controlled that way.

She's fine. She can handle this. She can handle this. ]

Please. I'd like to see the footage, and get the safeguard as well.

[ She can handle this. She can handle this-- ]

I'm used to disturbing.

[ That at least is true. Cygnus was a war zone in and of itself, with bombings and fighting happening in the streets almost every week. She's grew up in that. She's survived the assault on Corbulo, at least so far. She can handle disturbing. ]

We'll have to go by my house to get my helmet... you can grab some ammo while we're there, too.

[ He's not going to rush her to go now, but gets the feeling she's going to push herself. ]

Don't feel like you have to watch all of it.

[ He's right. She pushes herself to her feet, ready to get moving. Needing to get moving before everything settles over her again and chokes her, like stirred up silt at the bottom of a river. ] Okay.

[ Chyler looks out at the woods, frowning. ]

How do we get out of here?

We don't, but Tranquility only changed the look of the outside of things. My house is the same on the inside, it's back this way.

[ He motions for her to follow him as he moves down off her porch. ]

It's not too far, I'd only just started my run.

[ She follows him willingly, unsettled by the idea that one of those creatures, one of those gods, could change their surroundings like this. It speaks to a power that really is godlike, regardless of whether or not that title is true.

It's hard not to start jogging in the hopes that Wash will too. ]

How long have you been here?

[ She can jog if she wants! He's just not because he doesn't know if she wants to. For now he leads her back down the path at a decent pace, fast but not that she'd have to scramble after him on her shorter legs. ]

Over sixteen months... I keep count. There are people who've been here three years.

[ Chyler inhales sharply. That's too long. That's far, far tpp long. She needs to get back now, she needs to help get Sully to the evac point, she needs to survive to fight those things another day, when she actually stands a chance--

She licks her lips and swallows down the protests she was about to make. He keeps track of how long he's been here. That means he doesn't want to be here either, doesn't it? She's not going to rub it in, his own helplessness, when has such a hard time stomaching her own. ]

Are there people trying to figure out how it works? The... Door?

Yeah, there's plenty of people on it... we just got back all the pieces and it's being studied. Hopefully we'll figure out a way not only to send people home, but with their memories, or to other places if that's where they want to go. It's gonna be awhile, I'm sure, but it's not hopeless.

[ Wash has to believe that. ]

[ That's good. It's reassuring. She has to remember, there are adults here, people who have been working on these problems for a lot longer than she has, with knowledge and resources she's unaware of. Speaking practically, she's on the lowest end of the totem pole.

Chyler crosses her arms tight as they walk. ]

You know Ephemera. [ It's not really a question. More like she's seeking confirmation. ]

[ Well she took that alright, Wash thinks. He tilts his head at her not-actually-a-question. ]

Yeah, I do. You met him already?

[ 'I bawled my eyes out in front of him and his partner' is Not A Good Answer.

She clears her throat. ]

He found me when I came through the Door. Took out the... the Zealot that got pulled through too, and helped me get clear of the rest of the creatures there. He said he knew you, that you and someone named Carolina had nearly a full squad here.

[ Wash nods, wondering what it is that Chyler's not saying... ]

We do. By numbers we actually do have a full squad, but our usual group is double this. And they're not all... well, it's complicated but I think you'll understand when you meet them. If you want to.

I do.

[ She bites the inside of her cheek, then adds: ]

How can I fight alongside them if I don't know them?

Test Drive Meme #40

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