Test Drive Meme #8

[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 April 24th, and apps are open May 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: DEAD FLESH BUFFET
[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 lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect chance to swarm around you and chow down. This time, the Door has brought in a group of rotfiends, from the video game The Witcher.

These unpleasant-looking creatures are necrophages, meaning they feed on the flesh of the dead, and if that flesh is in short supply they are happy to add to it. Normally found in groups, they are fast and difficult to corner. What's more, when on the verge of death, they have an annoying tendency to explode into a flammable cloud of poisonous toxins. You left your torch at home, right?]

R A G E
SCENARIO TWO: MMM WHATCHA SAY
[There you were, just walking along the street, minding your own business like a good underground hell-city citizen, when all of a sudden you saw someone. It was like love at first sight - if by 'love' you mean 'deep burning hatred'. You've never wanted to kill someone so much, and why? Well, you're not really sure, but there's probably a reason! You'll just have to figure it out. Or not. Who needs a reason for murder, anyway?

Or maybe you're the one someone else has targeted. Maybe you know they're after you and you're desperately trying to watch your back. Why do they hate you? You don't even know them. Or maybe you do, maybe they're your best friend. Either way, this is a super awkward situation, and someone might end up dead. Hopefully not you!

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


H O P E

SCENARIO THREE: SCRATCH OFF
[This morning, you received a scratch ticket in the mail (who knew Hadriel even had mail?), addressed to you. The instructions are clear enough - scratch off three matching icons, and you win a prize! Sure, okay. But here's the grand prize: a one-way ticket home.

Unfortunately, try as you might, you aren't gonna win that one, but keep hoping! And hey, just think of all the other GREAT PRIZES you could win: an inflatable duck, a plastic ring to give your sweetheart, an empty can of Red Bull, a cell phone charm shaped like a strange green creature with a boner.

So what if you didn't win that ticket home? You got something almost as good: a shitty prize! Thanks, Hope!]

Comments

[circumitus]

Don't know. It may have. [Pause.] Most likely.

[Is she willing to turn around and find out? Not really. She has a kid to escort to shelter. Somewhere that isn't leaving them out in the open streets.

[Seriously, what are these gods thinking, bringing children to this place?]

[muscovy]

[He throws a look over his shoulder. So Rey doesn't know, but there's a strong chance. It could be worse. But also better.]

Are there a lot of them here?

[The question of how long she's been here follows on the heels of that question, because with how Rey is acting he gets the feeling that this might be another case of "I saw you too recently for you to have been here that long".]

[circumitus]

[They're closing in on their destination. Rey figures that she could get the boy to safety and then let someone who's more... kid friendly to take care of him.

[That's what she's thinking, anyway, as she continues walking while talking to Muscovy:]

Not as many on the streets, but the cave is infested with them.

[Needless to say, don't go in the caves, small child!]

[muscovy]

The one that people arrive in?

[Now that seems just... like whoever is pulling them here is very mean, or that someone else doesn't want them here and they're killed upon arrival. But it also sounds like the cave should be cleared out if there are enough people to found cleaning troops. Assuming that there is enough coherence in how people area organized, and no loyalty that would stop them from organizing like that.]

[circumitus]

Well, there are caves deeper than the Colosseum. It'll seem like a way out, but wouldn't recommend trying.

[Especially for someone as young as this boy.

[While she talks, she opens the door into the second spire and leaves it open for Muscovy to enter first.]

Here.

[muscovy]

[Oh.

Hm. Well, he doesn't want bad things to happen to him, and if Rey says that it isn't a way out... Not that "out" would necessarily be a place where anyone would want to be. What if it is space? Because space kills you very quickly because it is very cold and like you're under water just without water.]

Have people tried? [It sounds like something that at least a few people must have attempted. Probably even more, after it was proven that it didn't work, because people are silly like that and can't stop even if it means that bad thinks happen to them.

He stops before stepping in, peering inside, then looking at her.]

You should tell me what it is before letting me go in there, yes?

[circumitus]

Yes, people have tried. Most of them just end up being looped back here, for better or worse.

[Mostly after they've dealt with the hoards of creatures in the tunnels. And now they have rotting monsters in there as well. That's just swell.

[She hesitates when he stops. It isn't some mystery that he probably doesn't trust her -- she doesn't exactly have the most trustworthy face, in her opinion, and the fact that he knows her already is a fact lost to her as well. She just blinks.]

It's a spire, where people usually live. There are houses as well, if you'd prefer something like that more. [Le shrug.] Don't know where you'd rather be right now.

[muscovy]

How are spires not houses?

[It looks like it fulfils the essential criteria of a house to him. Walls, doors, a roof. Different shape maybe, but the way she said it it sounds like more of a difference.

Something else occurs to him as he goes over her words again.]

You live here, yes?

[Why else would she have brought him here?]

[circumitus]

The spires are apartments. They're more like homes stacked on top of each other, while the houses are... well, houses.

[How does one define the difference between an apartment and a house to a medieval kid?

[Then she nods.]

Living in one of the upper apartments here. Think there's an empty one above it. [Implying that they'd be living separate, because asking someone to you just met to live with you would be weird, right? Especially if you're not kid handling material.]

[muscovy]

But you said that they are different homes. I don't need a different home, yes?

[He's not even asking why. Rey is being silly for some reason, and he needs to put an end to that before it can get anywhere. Maybe she is trying to be the kind of silly where she doesn't think that she needs hugs and friends again.]

[circumitus]

[She blinks.]

What do you mean?

[muscovy]

I will stay with you, yes? You know that I don't need much space. [In case that that is the issue.

He smiles brightly at her, his words still stating facts and nothing else.]

[circumitus]

[Whoa there, sailor.]

Huh?

Um, no, that's not... Am not someone you'd want to be staying with.

[Did he just talk to her like he thinks he knows her, too? She's reminded of Carlisle a little, and shakes her head at the thought. No, she's not worried. She's not supposed to be worried about anything right now.]

[muscovy]

But I have been staying with you for a long time, yes?

[He studies her thoughtfully. Now that he properly looks at her, she definitely has more fingers than she should have. Which could of course just be because she found someone to heal them back for her. But...

The smile in his eyes and on his lips doesn't change, but his voice's cheer is a lot sharper now.]

You should remember me, yes?

[circumitus]

[Again, this isn't the first time someone has spoken to her like they know her. Here as well as back home. She doesn't like the idea of someone messing with her memories again.]

You must be mistaken. We've never met before. You just got here, didn't you?

[Even though hers is a face that's difficult to mistake for anyone else.]

[muscovy]

Yes, but we didn't meet here, yes? We met on a ship, and then it got shipwrecked, and you let me move in your treehouse with Firo and then we both adopted his last name because we are a family now.

It is fine if those worlds are being silly and won't let you remember that we are a family. Because I can tell you about it so you know and we can be a family anyway.

[circumitus]

Firo...?

[This definitely sounds familiar. Not the ship or anything that Muscovy is talking about, but it seems to add up with what she's at least been told already. It's too much to be a coincidence.

[Her arms drop to her sides.] Am not the person you knew in that world. We're not family.

[Sorry, Muscovy. She's lacking in the emotions right now to worry about being too blunt.]

[muscovy]

You just don't remember it. That is very different from not being family, yes?

[He nods his head. It really is as easy as that, she just has to accept that it is.]

[circumitus]

That doesn't make any sense.

[It isn't like Rey has never lived different lives before. If someone from an old life had walked up to her and started saying the same things this kid was telling her now, she'd be just as open to it. In that she isn't opening up to the concept at all, because she is a different person now. To her, it's as simple as that. She can't just accept someone else's life and pretend that it's her own.]

[muscovy]

It makes sense. It is very silly to say that it doesn't.

[Muscovy has never heard of the agreeing to disagree thing, though, so he'll continue working on this until she shares his opinion.]

Family never stops being family. That is why it is family, yes?

[Family is the one thing that won't leave, even if a war or raids or intrigues or other problems will keep you apart for a while.]