dankmemes | Test Drive Meme #7

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 March 25th, and apps are open April 1st.

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: HOW UNUSUAL
[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.

Watch out as you explore the streets of Hadriel, because you're not alone, and there's always something on the rooftops watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to separate you from your group and tear you into pieces. This time, the Door has brought in a few Rodents Of Unusual Size, from the film/book Princess Bride.

These large creatures are about the size of a large dog and can be stoked into a frenzy once they smell blood. They typically hide in the shadows and wait for an opportune moment to leap out of the dark and strike at you. Though they can sometimes look like overlarge puppets, take no doubt that these monsters are very much alive, and they love the taste of flesh.]

H O P E
SCENARIO TWO: MIRROR, MIRROR
[While exploring, you might be surprised to come across a pristine mirror in this underground city. It could be lying in your path, it could have been dropped into your bag by a mysterious someone, or it could find you some other way, but it will be there. This is no ordinary mirror, however- upon looking inside of it, the glass will show you a vision of a future that you hope for more than anything.

Regardless of what you want, the mirror shows visions that you believe are possible so that you can adequately hope for it- whether or not they actually are isn't really anyone's concern. Feel free to hide in a corner and stare for hours, throw it away, or try to peek at as many other mirrors as you want- we won't stop you!

This is a mini version of our Hopeful Future event this month!]

R A G E

SCENARIO THREE: PAY 2 WIN
[How cool are carnival booths? Super cool, right? And luckily, the grand prize in this one is something you've always wanted. It could be a briefcase of enough money to make all your troubles go away, that sacred amulet you've been questing after, or something a little less concrete- the approval of someone you want to like you, a curse upon someone you don't like, general freedom... the choices are endless.

And all you have to do to win it is play a game or two.

Something strange seems to be happening, though. Each time you finish a round of the game, the prize requirements just get a little higher, just stretch a little more out of reach. Play again, we're sure you'll get it this time! No? Well, you've definitely got it next time.

Get fed up and smash the booth for the prize? Well buddy, now you're disqualified, and tampering with the booth sets that thing you want most up in flames. Sorry, bud. Better luck next time! And look, there's another booth right behind you...]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Fear]
She isn't sure exactly where she is, anymore. It had looked bright enough on the other side of the door, but once she'd stepped through the light had changed. Now there was still light, but there were also a million shadows cast at strange angles, and she swore there was something in there staring back at her...

Without warning, something slams into her from the left, squealing, and only reflex gets an arm between her throat and a pair of large, snapping teeth as she crashes to the ground without a word, wrestling with the creature.

[Hope]
When Alice finds the mirror, she's equal parts curious and cautious. It clearly doesn't belong here. Some magical relic, maybe. There's definitely a compulsion on it, and even though she knows it's probably a horrible idea, she picks it up. The next hour is spent sitting in a dark corner of an empty, half-ruined hut, staring silently at whatever the glass shows. Her face is expressionless, or maybe full of too many emotions to categorize. It doesn't change as she suddenly smashes the mirror to the ground, shattering it, and methodically grinding the shards into dust with bleeding hands until there's nothing big enough to reflect left.

Afterwards, she makes a point of approaching anyone with a mirror, intense and demanding. "You. Let me see that." It isn't a voice that says please so much as it does or else.

[Rage]
She's been standing here for two hours now playing this stupid game. It shouldn't have taken this long. She should have had her prize. She's been sure she's won at least a dozen times now, only every time she looks at the board, it seems the points have changed. Only sheer stubbornness has kept her going this long. It's probably rigged. All carnival games are, she knows that. Only it's just she can't turn away, blue eyes fixed on a candle burning with a flame the same exact shade...

It isn't until the points change again, almost visibly this time, that she stops. The game resets, but this time, she finally opens her mouth to speak. Spitting something that sounds a little like Russian with weirder vowels, she gestures sharply, and the entire booth bursts into flames.

If anyone catches her in the act, all she does is glare their direction. Just try and say something about it.

Souji's barely had time to breathe, much less adjust to the change in setting. This isn't his ship, and it doesn't feel like Liminal Space, either. Another Jaunt? He doesn't know; he was with the Fleet so long, he'd started to doubt whether he was still under the Trumps' influence.

It's not important at the moment - what is important is that there's a woman who's just been attacked by something large and dangerous. He sees her go down and in an instant he's racing to her side, electricity already sparking from his fingertips.

"Miss! Please try to hold still!" It won't do any good if he zaps her instead of the creature.

As he gets closer, he might see that she's maybe not in as much danger as it might seem. The creature is nearly as big as she is, true, but it seems to be biting at a cushion of air around her forearm, instead of the arm itself. Her teeth are bared in a scowl--or maybe that's a smile--as she struggles under the weight of it, and she doesn't spare him a glance as he approaches, only rolls over so the thing is directly between her and the approaching hero.

[ Oh.

Oh.

Like fucking hell she doesn't recognize that language. That verbage. Those shapes to those words. That sharp and concise lilt that boxed a spell in. That controlled it and turned it into tool and not an extension of ones self.

Like fucking hell she doesn't recognize Brakebills magic when she hears it.

She wanders over to the girl that's twisting her hands into shapes that are sharp but organized. Where Julia is all jagged edges, this girl is the very definition of poised control. The spitting image of what an exemplary Brakebills student can do.

Who the fuck is this? ]

You're wasting your time. [ Does she seem amused? This may be the first time she's smiled since she got here. ]

[There's someone staring at her. She can feel the eyes. Not that it matters. They aren't part of her current universe, not in her Circumstances, right now that's just her and this fire--red, not blue, and now it's fading to orange, and to yellow, and that little spark is gone--maybe her eyes are watering, but it's only from the smoke and the heat and the light, nothing else. There are no tears on her face when she turns, only disdain and a pair of narrowed eyes.]

Maybe. Better than someone else wasting it for me.

[To wit: who the fuck are you, and why are you smiling like that? Does she know you?]

[Phedre's hands clench a little around the mirror, even as she lifts it to the demanding voice. Obedience is automatic, in her bones, but she doesn't want to give it up.

She hadn't even noticed the tears at the corners of her eyes]

Excuse me?

Alice doesn't quite roll her eyes, but her impatience is palpable. "The mirror," she repeats, deliberately over-enunciating each syllable. "Let me see it." She needs to know, to understand the enchantments on it, to figure out how it knows what to show and why it's doing it. It isn't until a solid few seconds later that she adds in a slightly less irritated tone:

"I won't break it. I just need to know how it works."

Phedre almost didn't hand it over, wanting more than anything to hold onto that 'maybe'. She uncurled her fingers from it, however, and slowly handed it over.

"Have you seen something in this mirror?" The questions was calmer than Phedre would have expected she'd be able to manage. She brushed the dampness from the corner of her eye.

Maybes are nice for some people, she thinks. People who would rather dream than accept the world as it is. There's probabilities, likelihoods, sure, but she's never been much of one for hopes. Not on the outside, anyway, and she tells herself not on the inside anymore, either. Being a niffin taught her that much. Time is fluid, all paths are just as likely, and yet there's a certain course the universe as a whole is set on, so you may as well just live in this moment.

Maybe this woman doesn't have that experience. Judging by the tears, she definitely doesn't--or maybe that's just another thing the fire burned away from her.

"I've seen things in other mirrors," is the nearly absent reply, somewhat friendlier now that she's got the object of her desire. Muttering something that might sound vaguely like nonsense Skaldic to Phedre, she waves a hand over the mirror, fingers contorted into an odd position. There's a brief glimmer around the edges of the glass that fades in the blink of an eye, and she frowns darkly before looking back at Phedre. "In the mirror. You know these people?" She gestures to the glass still reflecting the scene within.

Test Drive Meme #7

Alice : The Magicians (books) : OTA

fear.

Re: fear.

rage.

no subject

Hope

Re: Hope

Re: Hope

Re: Hope