test drive meme # 41

[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 February 22nd, and apps are open March 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: JUST A SNACK
[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.

Or monsters, as the case may be. It seems like the Door has decided to grace Hadriel with a small invasion of Fallen Angels, from the mobile game Food Fantasy. You might run into a Hamstero or a Forker, a Fanged Snail or a Purple Dumpling. Actually they're mostly... kind of cute.

But still dangerous, so watch your back! These Fallen Angels can really hurt. They go down pretty easy, but there are a lot of them, and they're happy to hit you with claws and teeth and whatever other weapons they have. Sadly, they will not let you hug them.

L O V E

SCENARIO TWO: SOULMATES
[You look down, and all of a sudden you see something new: a name on your wrist, inscribed as if it's always been there. Maybe you recognize the name, maybe you don't - maybe you're happy to see it, or not at all. But it's there, and you can't wash it off, and you kind of want to know what's up with it.

So why not go looking for whoever the name belongs to? There aren't too many folks in the city, they can't be that hard to find. And when you do find them, prepare for the best new friend/lover/family member you've ever met. You'll get along like a house on fire - until the name on your wrist fades away.

This is a mini version of our Soulmates event this month.]

H O P E

SCENARIO THREE: SCRATCH-OFF
[In your hand there's a ticket. Scratch off the boxes, see if you win - it's a pretty straightforward concept. But the prize is the one thing you want most in the world, and if you can just scratch off the right boxes, maybe you'll get it!

The other prizes are... less enticing. Do you really need a whole turkey, or a new dishwasher, or a lifetime supply of hair removal strips? Maybe you do. But it's that big prize, that golden ticket, that you're hoping for. So scratch away, or find a buddy to help you choose the boxes, or find someone else with a ticket to compare yours to.

Let's just hope you don't run into someone who actually has won the prize... because after all, what's stopping you from just taking it?]

Comments

[itsnotaonesie]

That could still be one big, freaky coincidence! --wait his name is Stephen?

[Stephen the wizard. Not the most wizardy name ever, but sure, that's. Fine, he guesses. ]

I mean, it's fine, whatever. I was gonna argue that I was here first and that makes me the Alpha Peter, but I also don't really care that much so... sure. We'll go with your thing.

[what he wants to do is immediately dive into asking Pete a bunch of questions, because wow buddy is there a lot to unpack here, but the guy did just get here and is obviously having a super weird time of things himself. So instead of being nosy, Peter's just going to stand there and awkwardly stuff his hands into his pockets.

[webshoots]

You don't care that much but you were going to argue that you were the Alpha Peter? You're not a wolf. Are you? Prime Peter would make more... [ sense. but anyway. pete eyes peter expectantly for several moments, waiting for something other than an awkward pocket shove.

it doesn't come. wow, this is definitely awkward. ] So—o, Peter. You tried phoning home on this thing? [ holds up the phone. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter just watches Pete while he breaks down that bad joke, but his answer to the phone thing is immediate because he cannot stand this awkward silence thing. Even though it was kind of his fault in the first place. Shut up.]

Yeah, it doesn't work. Can't make calls outside of the city. It's almost like we're in a different universe or something.

[He catches himself being a little smartass, wincing slightly. Don't mind him, he's just having a teenager moment.]

That was. Mean. Sorry.

[webshoots]

[ peter, you do not get to judge pete for his terrible jokes.

peter cringes a little at that — less for the meanness, because he has definitely heard meaner and that barely registers as anything other than mildly grumpy. Nn— ] —No, I'll give you that one. [ he's still got questions, a lot of them, all about where they are, but there's a large part of him that's wary of asking peter. a lot of it's his age — pete's sure he's capable, particularly if he's been here for months, but he's still young and that's a lot to place on one person.

(it does slot a few other things in place for him, if he's honest.)

his expression shifts into a look that says 'I regret opening my mouth and starting this conversation; let’s go back to just saying we’re two guys that share a name and happen to know some of the same people because I definitely didn’t end up on an obscure planet in between times and universes when I was just seventeen.'

or: it just showcases mild doubt. ngh— settles on: ] Does anyone know what [ whose ] universe we're in?

[itsnotaonesie]

[In all fairness it's not nearly as much as what mini-Peter places on himself, but he's also still in the process of learning just how much of what he can realistically handle. He could take it like a champ, or it could be a total disaster. Sooo yeah big Pete probably made the right call there.]

Oh, jeez. I have no idea how to even like, determine something like that. The gods might know?

[he pauses abruptly. thaaaaat probably sounded absolutely insane, didn't it.] That's. Also a thing. I mean, they're more like aliens, I think? They're the guys that "run" this place, [said complete with air quotes] but they're less like gods and more like freaky... like, emotion vampires. They literally feed off of our emotions, and it's really screwed up.

[webshoots]

[ gods. his eyebrows dart upwards and he looks doubtful for just a second, and then he thinks of thor and loki and: fine, gods. aliens that call themselves god. that is actually completely fine. peter's answer tells him, too, that no-one that's on the planet slash in the city call this place home, so that's ... also a whole thing to keep in mind.

run the place, though. a flicker of distaste. he hates that phrase: nothing good ever comes out of a running a place, particularly a place with links to weird inter-dimensional portals that may or may not be magic. ] Sounds like you've been through a lot. [ eyeing. "are you okay?" is the unasked question there. ] You've been a great help, Peter, but you know what? I think I'll stop playing twenty questions with you and just read the guide. [ he doesn't quite mean that to sound as dismissive as it does and if he notices, it's not immediately evident.

(spoiler: he doesn't realise.) ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Ha ha he hasn't been okay since he got here. Since before he got here. He doesn't have time to not be okay though, so he's been learning how to fake it pretty good. That's healthy.]

Never a dull moment. But yeah, that's fine. We should probably get out of here anyway, before that little meatball dude finishes amassing his little biscuit army.

[Dismissive or not, Peter knows that the guide can explain this stuff more cohesively than he probably can. And hey, remember that dumpling you kicked in the face, Pete? Yeah, he's made a bunch of wiggly little friends.]

[webshoots]

[ oh, that thing. peter had almost forgotten about that. ] I thought he was a dumpling? Because I can definitely give up Chinese food but I don't know if I can give up Italian food. [ distractedly; he's still not convinced they're entirely a threat, even as a group. (what would an group of biscuits be called, anyway? they're made of dough— doughbie brothers?) but underestimating them alone would be one thing, underestimating them with peter in tow is entirely another thing.

and he has to decide if earlier was a 'hey, yeah, that was adrenaline and luck, haha, I'm just a science teacher' or if—

—who is he kidding, it's not a decision. he still doesn't know enough about peter to consider the alternative, so he attempts to shoo peter in the direction he thinks is 'out'. ] This way? [ only half a question, because he's going that way anyway. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Oooooh he should probably not tell Pete that the food here is almost all garbage. Would it break his heart? It definitely broke little Peter's. Not a single deli in the whole city, man.]

It's a squishy thing with a sword and no limbs, I don't know what it's supposed to be.

[he bet it tastes good, though.

God he's been here too long. And He's just gonna let Pete herd him to the exit because at this point like sure. Why not, this is happening now.]

Yeah, yeah, it's this way. They won't follow us outside, so we won't need to worry about them chasing us down and stabbing us in the shins or whatever.

[webshoots]

Okay, then you might want to pick up the pace a little bit, Peter. [ lightly jogging now, because the dumpling-led biscuit army is moving quicker than pete had expected. especially for sentient food. wait. ] If it's got no limbs, how can it use the sword? [ he's not going to rule out psychic abilities, but it's still a question; next question — one that he doesn't ask — is why won't they follow them outside? it's followed up by the worry of 'what is outside?', but that's never stopped him before and peter's clearly been there before, which leads to— ]

I've got to ask. [ interrupted by grabbing peter's wrist. ] Why did you come here? [ here-here. the 'they won't come outside' means he knew there would be monsters here (he thinks). ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[He starts jogging when Pete does, not really overly concerned about the weird little critters but figuring they shouldn't risk getting their ankles gnawed on if they can avoid it. He's been bit by enough weird animals since he first got here. As for how they use the swords with no limbs, Peter can only shrug. Your guess is as good as mine is what he would say, but he's immediately distracted from that train of thought when Pete grabs his wrist. FIRST OF ALL HOW DARE YOU nah it's fine he isn't pissed about it or anything, it's just unexpected. Also don't squish his web shooters bro, they're hidden under his sleeves but he never goes anywhere without them anymore.]

I'm on patrol. Whenever new people show up, I come out here to help them out. Normally we have way bigger monsters, though.

[It's not even weird what are you talking about.]

[webshoots]

[ huh. he notices the bulk under peter's sleeve: there's a very real chance it could be a watch or the kid could just like jewellery, or it answers the question he hasn't and isn't planning on asking. regardless, pete doesn't indicate that he's noticed anything, instead he manoeuvres peter in front of him. sharp glance, flatly: ] Size doesn't matter. [ and that's followed by a tangible pause and an ngh, because he did just say that to a teenager? well done, pete. ] ...With monsters. [ did that help? he feels like that didn't help. ] Don't underestimate them. [ is all he's trying to say and look, he's not even going to question why a seventeen year-old is helping patrol.

(even if the thought does occur to him, and even if he's only loosely, vaguely aware of how hypocritical that would make him.) ] Where do we go after this? [ partly why he's pushed you in front, peter; the only part of the reason is because he would prefer for your shins to be less stabbed than his. ]

( ooc: okay so i'm going to be really honest here and admit that actually i haven't ... actually ... seen homecoming so like, if peter's web shooters are ... more discreet than in the comics/what google is telling me, SORRY MY BAD I WILL EDIT because i clearly do not do enough of that already. )

[itsnotaonesie]

(ooc: It's totally fine!! His web shooters definitely have enough bulk to be noticeable. btw i am super thrilled to have another peter to bounce off of thank you for this gift of spiders)

[Peter's just not going to touch that size doesn't matter thing because really it's too easy to take that somewhere inappropriate. Give him a real challenge, man.

He just goes along with it when Pete moves him to the front of this little procession, but he's still kind of stiff and awkward about it. Okay, cool, this is happening now? Cool cool cool.]

Uh, okay. Well... jeez. When I first got here the first thing I did was track down one of the shops and steal some pants, so I might not be the best person to ask? I'd say maybe finding a place to stay would be a good first step.

[Oh wait that sounds really sketchy doesn't it]

When-- when I say steal some pants, I mean we don't have like, a monetary system here? The stuff in the shops is all free.

[webshoots]

[ yes, please lead the way, peter.

and no, actually, he's wondering less about the stealing some pants and more the stealing some pants; there's a puzzled frown directed at the back of peter's head, but if he's honest, he's spent enough time in classrooms (despite what julie might think) that he's not sure he wants to know the answer to the question of why he needed to find pants in the first place.

thinks: yeah, note to self: don't take life advice from a seventeen year-old. says: ] —That's great, because I definitely left my wallet full of cash in my other pants.

[ self-deprecating sarcasm or truth? who knows! except of course it's self-deprecating sarcasm because spider-man and a nine-to-five don't exactly go hand-in-hand.

—oh, but okay, that comment about finding somewhere to stay is a sudden reminder that this isn't just another spider-man adventure and that he's not going to end up home three hours late with a 'whoops, sorry mj, there was a thing, did you catch it on the news?'. he doesn't really have a comeback to that; instead, his attention just flickers to the wedding ring on his finger. yes, he might end up right back when he started, but there's always a chance he won't.

(don't think about that.) ] And the rent? [ distractedly, as if he's only semi-interested in the answer. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Maybe some day Peter will tell Pete all about the complete disaster that was his first day in town, but for now he's just going to look over his shoulder at him and shrug in the least helpful way possible.]

No money, no rent. Everybody wins. That's probably the only good thing about this place, to be honest. Everything's free, but the food sucks, the clinic isn't all that impressive, the lab's kinda "meh". No subway, though, that's another plus.

[webshoots]

[ it's a small city, is his takeaway from that and there's a moment where he weighs up if he'll miss the subway: he used it, sometimes, when his web fluid was running low and he couldn't afford to buy supplies to make more. and then sometimes, it was even quicker than the alternative. there's a quirk of his lips and an exhale of breath that's almost a laugh. ] Now I'm only going to have myself to blame for being late.

[ he stops then, and glances back over his shoulder to see if the sentient food things are still following them: he thinks he can still see them a distance away. still, it's good to know there's a clinic here, even if there's no night nurse. he looks back at peter, eyebrows knitting together in something that briefly resembles amusement. ] —You're really not selling this place to me.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter smiles apologetically, giving Pete a little shrug. What can you do, right? Hadriel is kind of a dump, but it's got a few high points.] It could be worse. We could be stuck in Jersey. [Like that high point.]

I'm not gonna sit here and sugar coat it, this place can be a real mess sometimes. Good people, though. They make all the crazy stuff worth it.

[webshoots]

Touché. [ there's a joke he could make about jersey; no, scratch that, there are a lot of jokes he could make about jersey, but he doesn't. instead, he lets peter finish. it's a familiar sentiment, and peter thinks that the same could be said about new york — even when the city's unanimously decided that the sky is pink, wilson fisk is a legitimate businessman, and jjj is right and he's a menace or a serial killer, or whatever flavour the defamation of his character takes for the week. ] The people always do — but I can't say the same for your new friends.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Maybe some day little Peter will have to deal with all of New York's wackiest bullshit too, he'd probably prefer it over this place's wackiest bullshit. Well no, he definitely would. He's a teenager, Hadriel, he doesn't need help having mood swings.]

Those little weirdos aren't associated with me, just sayin'. Everyone else is pretty great, though. Well, mostly.

[Every city's gonna have it's bad eggs, what can you do.]

[webshoots]

[ he presses his lips together and waves a hand dismissively. ] Yeah, monsters. Thank you, Peter knight-in-shining-armor Parker. [ side glance. ] I mean, you seem to have lost the armor at some point, but I'm not judging. I'm sure you'd have been great.

[itsnotaonesie]

[cue eyeroll. and he knows exactly where his armor is THANKS. In the lab next to his ten thousand sticky notes.]

Are you sure you're not judging? Because it kind of sounds like you're judging.

[webshoots]

[ look, pete doesn't even have armor...

he sees that eyeroll and mms in response, mouth quirking into a smile. ] Oh, this is a total judge-free zone, Peter.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Sucks to be you, nerd.

Peter isn't smiling, he's not smiling as hard as he can.]

See, that just sounds fake. It sounds totally fake and like you're absolutely judging me for beefin' it with that little snack monster.

[webshoots]

[ he holds his hands up: he would never—

—he's not convincing. ] Is this where you tell me he started it?

[itsnotaonesie]

[Not even a tiny bit convincing sorry chap]

I mean, I don't think I need to tell you something that obvious. [YES the dumpling started it, Pete] I zigged when I should have zagged, it happens. It's not like the little thing could have hurt me that bad.