Test Drive Meme #9

[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 May 24th, and apps are open June 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:
I'VE SEEN ENOUGH HENTAI TO KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING
[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 malboro, from the Final Fantasy video game series.

These plant-like monsters are essentially comprised of long, tentacle-esque stalks- sometimes with eyes on the ends- and large, gaping mouths. Their breath can be poisonous and literally make you sick to your stomach, and- just your luck- they're carnivorous. Happy hunting!]


C O M B I N A T I O N

SCENARIO TWO: DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME
[You're so tired- at least you've got a reasonably safe place to rest your head at while you recuperate, right? After all, nothing can go wrong when you're asleep.

Aaand that's where you're mistaken. For this event, all characters who fall asleep will either be Hosts or Visitors in their, or someone else's dreams. All dreams are inflicted by one of the four gods (Hope, Delight, Rage, or Fear), and will have their presence influencing the events within your dreams in order to harvest their desired emotion from you.

The sky is essentially the limit, so long as your dreams correspond with one of the four gods. Happy sleeping!

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


D E L I G H T

SCENARIO THREE: JUST SAY NO
[On your kitchen table the next morning is a blue pill. Just the one pill, along with a glass of what seems to be water. There's a note in elegant script next to the pill that merely says 'TAKE ME'.

If taken, the pill can have a variety of effects. You can hallucinate, you can get uncontrollable giggles, you can feel drunk, you can feel like colors all have textures and shapes and the world is looking at you through a kaleidoscope! The drug can have whatever effect the player desires, as long as it's pleasurable or fun.

So: do you take it? Can you hear someone who already took the drug, stumbling down the street? You, uh, might want to help them, and do be careful. There's no telling what kinds of monsters are still out there.]

Comments

STOLE UR THUNDER, RAGE, SORRY NOT SORRY

[fortunefavored]

[Newt has never really quite fully figured out the act of being a visitor in another's dream. He's never been good at playing along; at fitting into the scene. So it hasn't quite occurred to him yet that the host of whomever's dream he's in may not realize that it is a dream, though he himself certainly does.

So.

Hermann asks how long.]

Long enough. [he swallows again, trying to steady his voice as he pulls on the gloves. If Hermann sees that Newt's this upset again, only because of seeing Hermann looking like this, looking how he's supposed to look, he'll totally get all scared again and try and distance himself from Newt--] I mean, since the last thing I dissected was Kite's heart--[he shakes his head, once, still not looking at Hermann as he reaches out to turn the piece of brain over, and focusing on that helps a little to steady his voice, to make his eyes burn less] Is one of my scalpels up there?

prob v. appropriate for fear to take over

[verinumeri]

[ Kite.

The original purpose of the dream, though Hermann had never known it, is nearly preserved. A flash of something in his eyes, in his head, something like anger, though it isn't simple, though it isn't divorced from heavier, muddled things. Like fear. A different fear, a same fear.

Hermann pivots, but as he looks for a scalpel, he pauses before a dark computer screen. One of the old ones, into the glass monitor.

His reflection isn't quite right, either.

Newton is palpably upset, just from looking at him. Hermann's no less distressed by simply looking at him, but there's something disconnected in his head, a broken circuit, not the usual myelin burning, a broken path --

His head hurts as if it was the myelin and he pauses, pressing his palm against his skull.

Kite.

He doesn't want Newton to look any differently -- it's a wretched thought that he might -- but he does, he does, he knows he does, what he's seeing, this isn't real, not real in a way unlike what he sometimes suspects outside of -- of what -- what is this -- ]

God --

[ He mutters, and, ]

-- you don't have to pretend, Newton, you're still no good at it --

[fortunefavored]

[at that, Newt can't help but laugh, though it's self-depreciating in a way he almost never is, cracking, shoulders slumping] Well, you can't fault me for-[there's a fist around his heart, squeezing, aching--]--for trying. [and just when he thought he was getting a handle on it, his voice shakes again. Newt swallows, hard, before sucking in a breath, slow, and letting it out]

...I was...I was serious about that scalpel, though. [he does, in fact, miss all these kaiju bits and dissecting.]

[verinumeri]

Of course I can.

[ Still muttered and so, half-hearted. Of course he can blame Newton for that.

Hermann finds he's gripping his cane tightly, leaning hard on it, still, the world unsteady around him. Not quite rocking, not quite spinning. Not quite.

He manages to raise his voice. ]

How nice for you. However, you cannot think I'll let you dissect that on my side. I'm not walking over there to bring you a scalpel on my side. Shove off and take it with you.

[ Not half-hearted, that, but he can barely look at Newton, and there's nowhere near the expected amount of vehemence in his voice. ]

[fortunefavored]

[Hermann's insistence about his side is still annoying, no matter what he looks like. So though he may still be feeling off-kilter, Newt rolls his eyes] Yeah, well, it's not like I can move it now. It might damage it!

[verinumeri]

Damage it? It fell from the-the ceiling! It's in a broken heap! You can't do worse than it's gotten, and regardless, you can't dissect it there!

[ Oh yes, make Hermann out to be the irrationally annoying one, when Newton's the one who daily threw bloody bits of kaiju guts onto his side.

How absurd that he wouldn't want Newton crouched in the middle of his space, cutting into a damned scrap of secondary brain! ]

[fortunefavored]

Sure I can! In fact, it would be absolutely zero issue, especially if I had a scalpel!

[verinumeri]

Allow me to rephrase - I won't allow you to dissect it there.

[fortunefavored]

[UMMMM GUESS WHO'S JUST GONNA DO WHAT HE WANTS ANYWAY also rolling his eyes again, and totally making that 'blah blah blah' hand motion--before fishing his switchblade out of his pocket]

Here is just as good as anywhere! [and yep, looks like he's totally planning on using his switchblade to dissect that secondary brain l o l it's not like it's a REAL secondary brain anyway]

[verinumeri]

It is NOT!

[ Normally, Hermann would not interfere with Newton's work, however repulse.

He does think that once it's slop on his side of the lab, it's fair game.

So Hermann marches over and in his fury, tries a very big kick.

...The problem: the floor is covered in slippery guts. When he put his full weight into the kick, his cane skidded in the muck and his other foot slid.

So, yes. Hermann is instead falling.

..Hopefully Newton has not yet opened the switchblade, because rather than let himself fall into the guts, he instinctively aimed for Newton. ]

[fortunefavored]

[okay that Newt...didn't expect. There are two fortunate things, however: 1.) Newt's reflexes have gotten quite a bit better because Haven, and 2.) he hasn't opened his switchblade yet. So when Hermann goes down, Newt startles, dropping his switchblade in his haste to catch him. He can't quite help but grunt when Hermann lands on him because wow that's a lot more Hermann than he's used to in the times when he's caught him before, but somehow he does manage to keep Hermann from plummeting into kaiju bits and instead, awkwardly, into Newt's lap. So he's now got both arms wrapped around him securely--though he may have taken a knock to the head which he yelped at because ow cane.]

[verinumeri]

[ repulsive* someone should learn to type

Instead of planking or groping at him, instead of a very clumsy and awkward impact, it's awkward, yet, but rather neat. Newton actually catches him. If they were literally any other pair -- any other couple -- it might even have been romantic. Even with his shoes sliding still in guts, with the bottoms of his trousers becoming right sopping with it.

At it is, he is a touch impressed through his surprise. He also shifts his grip on his cane so it's at least not continuing to press against Newton's head.

How to say thank you or apologize without actually saying them, because it's Newton, and because it's Newton's fault anyway so why should he? ]

...Right, well. Nice catch.

[ Definitely shoving a hand against whatever of him he can reach to try and push off to his feet, however. ]

[fortunefavored]

[Honestly, Newt's pretty surprised at how well that went himself. So he's got a lap full of Hermann, which is a nice situation, but he's also got some pants that are starting to get soaked in kaiju guts, which is not as nice of a situation. Still.... Now that he's got a hold of him, he doesn't want to let go. Herman is warm and solid; a much heavier weight than he usually is, and Newt can't help but tighten his arms around him. It's partially amazing to appreciate such a simple thing, and yet also terrible that it must be so extraordinary to hold him and to not feel the sharp jut of his hip or the press of an elbow. These things remain, yes, but they are less prevalent. They are slightly softer, more rounded. He's never held Herman like this, in this form, so he can't help but cling, to want it to continue despite the viscera. He swallows, hard, throat tight as his eyes flick over Hermann's face; over angles made not so sharp by health. Newt will ever love Hermann in any form, but to see him healthy, now, up close, makes something squeeze in his chest all over again] Thanks. [its a little wobbly, and he swallows again to try and counteract it] I think I'm, uh...I'm getting pretty good at this whole catching you thing. [he's trying for levity. He's trying.]

[verinumeri]

[ oh my god now holy italics einstein, DON'T LET ME TAG LATE AT NIGHT

His failed attempt to push free focuses certain details: Newton's arms are thicker. His chest, against which Hermann in part presses, is more solid. His cheeks, a peripheral understanding underscored when he tilts his head and looks more directly at him, Newton's cheeks are not only without scars, but rounder.

That observation strikes him with the impulse to lift his hand, to cup it over his cheek, to feel it, him, like this. Even if they manage to undo the starvation of over a year, those cannot be removed.

Something squeezes in him, too, a chest long thing, from heart to gut, and tightening at the sound of Newton's voice.

Hermann tries, too, grumbling. ]

I do not fall that often. How often have you actually caught me?

[ He should try to stand up again. He doesn't, not yet, his weight shifting almost to settle. ]

1/3

[fortunefavored]

Often enough to get good at it, looks like! [...Hermann trying, also, helps. Newt shifts his hold just a bit as Hermann starts to settle, fingers curling over one of his hips, pulling him closer to Newt's chest, the other moving to rest over the curve of Hermann's outer thigh, cradling the other man against him]

[fortunefavored]

[Of course, that's when his expression suddenly stills because omg he's had a realization.] Oh my god.

3/4 i lied oops

[fortunefavored]

I can totally use 'falling for you' pick up lines now!

[verinumeri]

[ Oh.

No.

Here it comes. He can feel it. Accordingly, he's begun to struggle -- ]

4/4

[fortunefavored]

[which is the moment, of course, where his expression shifts into a smirk] Hey Süße, was that kaiju guts you slipped in or do I just naturally make your knees that weak? [and now he waggles his eyebrows. Of course.]

[verinumeri]

[ U G H.

Hermann twists so to shove against his shoulder. Hard. ]

Y-you are kaiju guts you awful -- let go of me --

[ A stunningly sharp retort, he knows, but the important thing is that he get off Newton and away from this hideousness. ]

1/2

[fortunefavored]

[Fortunately for Newt (and unfortunately for Hermann,) as soon as the other man had begun to struggle, Newt had tightened his arms around him preemptively, so nope, good luck Hermann. Newt's got a pretty good grip on you. Also, he can't help but laugh, a high and cracking cackle, when Hermann shoves at him]

But I've got so many of them!

[biggest. shit eating grin. Ever.]

2/2

[fortunefavored]

Like--[and here his grin, somehow, widens]--Do you need a bandaid? Because it looks like you scraped your knee falling for me.

[verinumeri]

MY KNEE IS FINE.

[ Horrible grip. Horrible laugh. Horrible expression. Horrible teeth. Horrible eyebrows. Horrible man.

If he fights much harder, he might get loose, but he'll probably end up falling right into the muck. Hermann debates whether it's worth it, and also, how to shut him up.

...Perhaps if he shoves him hard enough, Newton will fall back into it, and then he can climb off relatively unscratched.

By now, it's clear none of it's toxic.

...

Worth a shot.

SHOVE. Putting his whole body into it. ]

[fortunefavored]

[Newt's laughing again when Hermann shoves--so it turns into something like a squawk and really he can't help but let go at that point, jerking back--at which point he fair squeals because look, he may have spent a lot of his time squelching about in this muck but considering he landed on his back, he now has kaiju guts soaking into the back of his shirt and they're super slimy on the back of his neck and that is just a bit much for him. So now Hermann can probably scramble free, anyway, as Newt struggles to sit up]

[verinumeri]

[ ...Success?

He half-expected to get yanked down with him, so for half a second, he blinks with surprise. Smug surprise, but surprise. Only half a second, however, as he knows he has limited time to get up and away. His hands are quick as both grab his cane and thrust it down, leverage to propel him up, and he carefully edges backwards a few steps. ]

Well, I've decided to let you have your fun with the slop, so -- ta-ra --

[ PIVOTING AND WORKING TOWARD THE DOOR as much as he would like to watch Newton struggle, he knows nothing good will follow. ]