test drive meme #11

[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 July 25th, and apps are open August 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: WORKING TITLE
[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 few Working Joes, from the Alien: Isolation video game series.

Once simply androids meant for mundane jobs, working Joes have had their programming altered to isolate and eliminate threats onboard their ship- which they now believe to be Hadriel. Super strong, yet slow and plodding, an android may ask you for identification before throttling you when you don't have the right answer. They are quite sturdy and difficult to destroy without the right tools. Have fun!]


H O P E

SCENARIO TWO: BEAUTIFICATION DUTY
[The city has always looked a little drab, but now with some tools from Hope, it's up to you guys to spruce it up a bit! Your character will find themselves in a shop filled with various paints, home improvement tools, window stickers, streamers, and various other items and tools used to improve the appearance of the neighborhood.

You're encouraged to add your own little flair to the project in order to improve living standards and make Hope the happiest god in the pantheon. So, what will you do? Paint a mural? Sweep up some rubble? Install a skylight! The cave is your oyster.

This is a mini version of our Extinction v2 event this month!]


S O R R O W

SCENARIO THREE: CRY ME A RIVER
[When you wake up in the morning, something feels... off. It feels like you just watched 20 ASPCA commercials in a row and then topped it all off with the first ten minutes of Up. You're beaten down, depressed, upset by all the horrific acts and trauma in the world, and it's enough to make you want to cry.

Turn on the waterworks, because Hadriel is about to have a shortage of tissues and everyone's getting dehydrated. You might run into your neighbor crying while you're scavenging for food, or you might just find that one whole asshole in the entire movie who isn't affected.

Either way, it's time to get some hugs, some kleenex, and maybe a little bit of chocolate. Happy... crying?]

Comments

Rukia Kuchiki | That one series about soap

[face_kick]

Fear: Little old me?

Me? oh, just passing through, no need to worry about me~

[Cutesy voices and innocent looks apparently don't work on these robot guys though. Still, was worth a try. As hostile hands reach down towards her neck, Rukia leaps back, hands immediately on the sword at her side.]

I'm warning you, don't come any closer!

[The robot, of course, does not heed, and Rukia draws steel.]


Hope: aka get yourself drawn as a bunny
[There is paint, a request to improve the city, and Rukia is here to help. You can find her outside a small building, happily painting a mural on the wall, a stepladder next to her for the high bits (that is, higher than about five and a half feet).]

[It's actually rather cheery and nice, fields and sunshine and so forth. So who wants to tell her that her drawings, well. Leave something to be desired?]

Wildcard
[Something else? Got a great idea? HMU let's do this~]

yesss let's get this trainwreck on the road 1/2

[liketeenspirit]

[He sees the mural before he sees her.

Ichigo's face goes through an impressive number of expressions: first disgust, then surprise, then shock, then skepticism, and finally his eyes drop with a sadness that cuts down to bone.

(Both Hope and Sorrow are chewing on some pretty impressive power boosts because of that, so enjoy it, you two.)

Yeah, okay. They look like her drawings. But is he sure he's not imagining the similarity? How pathetic is that, seeing a bunch of shitty pictures and immediately jumping to the conclusion that clearly, one person had to be here? It's fucking sad, is what it is.

...he doesn't want to look at them. He shoves his hands in his pockets, and he turns to go--]

2/2!!

[liketeenspirit]

[--and then he sees her, and Ichigo stops dead. Even if she's turned the other way, even if he can't see her face, he knows exactly who that is.]

--you?!

[It's a good thing that that word burst out of him without thinking, because if it hadn't, it never would have gotten out of his tightening throat.]

ok now that i picked a canonpoint

[face_kick]

[At the voice she turns, preparing defenses along the lines of the paint being there and her doing just what they asked to whoever it is--and all at once forgets about the paintbrush in her hand, the weird cave she's ended up in, gods, and even about her masterpiece.]

Ichigo?

[She raises a hand to her uniform--fortunately not the one with the paintbrush, as if double-checking that it's still there, staring at him, hope barely daring to believe itself. After all, the last time she saw him... well. Hope must be getting one hell of a surge right now.]

You can see me?

uploads all the sadface icons, JUST FOR YOU. hope ur proud rukia

[liketeenspirit]

[It doesn't make sense. She's dressed like a shinigami -- there'd be no reason for her to wear that in a temporary body. The thing is, he can see her, but he can't sense her, which means his powers are most definitely not back.

Underneath the confusion, somewhere deeper than his racing mind, Ichigo's heart twists sharply. It makes thinking almost impossible: Ichigo isn't sure whether he can't find an explanation because he doesn't know enough or because the ache in his chest and his throat is getting in the way of connecting one thought to another.]

Yeah. I shouldn't be able to, but I can.

[That sentence communicates much more than the individual words. The implied meaning is I don't have my powers back, and his tone says I can't explain it. Why? Why can he see her? That question crowds out all others, leaving no room for why are you here or how long have you been here or even the realization that she's most likely trapped here like him.]

Sorrow's fave people rn tbh

[face_kick]

You shouldn't... [Oh. Oh. It does explain it, why she didn't sense his reiatsu, even when he was right behind her. It's not that he's not there, it's because he still doesn't have his powers back. And the people she was counting on, that always have a plan, so much cleverer than her... are not here either. As far as she can tell.]

[Still, her resolve only falters for a second. If there is a way--and there must be a way--they will figure it out.]

[She has to believe that.]

Still. You can see me. At least that's something, huh? [And she does have a small smile on her face at that fact.]

RIGHT, GOD, THEY DESERVE SOME KIND OF DIVINE REWARD FOR THIS

[liketeenspirit]

[He didn't expect seeing her again to hurt so much.

It's salt in a wound that had never really healed, only scabbed over. It's like a hook in his heart is pulling unstoppably towards her while the rest of him is frozen in place.

Sure, he can see her. But Rukia's more than a person to Ichigo. What she represents to him is the strength he needs to fight the important fights, and when he lost that, he lost her. Seeing her again, without that strength, reminds him acutely of what he's missing. He can feel the space where it ought to be.

It's not that he doesn't want to see her. He does; no matter what he says, he's missed her. It's just that, if part of her reasoning for staying away was that she'd remind Ichigo of what he gave up, she was entirely correct.

And then he remembers: they're in Hadriel. Seeing her here means she's just as trapped as he is. Even if nothing's been too bad yet, Ichigo doesn't know how long it'll be until they find a way out. There was no reason for her to get mixed up in the Hadriel gods' business, and if things do get bad, then she's going to suffer, too.

Fuck.]

Maybe coming through the Door makes shinigami visible to everyone. Or maybe the gods did something. I don't know.

[The latter would make sense. After all, if Rukia can't talk to anyone, that would significantly handicap her emotional involvement in Hadriel. Anger flashes through Ichigo, stronger for a moment than the sadness: they're going to use her for her feelings, and the idea of it pisses him off.]

DOOR PRIZES FOR TRAGIC BACKSTORIES

[face_kick]

[It's why she stayed away from him. Even though he couldn't see her, the thought of him not being able to... Even just the thought of it was wrong. There has always been that difference, between what he said he wanted and what he really wants: being normal would mean he wasn't able to protect people, not like he used to. She knew that he could never be happy like that, powerless, only able to sit by and watch, no matter what he said about only wanting to be normal, or not wanting to protect just any spirit.

All in all, it would have been wrong to be there and see him but not to be seen by him. A temporary body would only have made it worse. She wanted to have a way to get his powers back, the next time she saw him. That was her plan. And now here they are, because of the whims of gods and doors and she has no way to help him with this.

Or to solve the suddenly larger problem of being here, in a cave, trapped underground. Rukia isn't sure yet how much of this 'gods' stuff she believes just yet. But she's only been here a very short time. All she knows is that while the former R&D head may be cooking up a fix for Ichigo's problem, he's not here either. Still.]

I think... it must be that anyone can see shinigami. [She makes a determined face, the sort that says if he disagrees with her she might start to yell at him.] But that doesn't mean we will stop working to get your powers back, regardless.

[A very deliberate 'we' there.]

[liketeenspirit]

--you what?

[The gods had better be expecting this, because if they're not prepared for this overload of pure undiluted hope, they might actually explode. Ichigo feels like too many words are fighting to get out of his mouth at once, catching in his throat and choking him. For a moment, he can't speak, can barely breathe.]

That's -- that isn't possible.

[Oh, but he wants it to be. He wants it to be with a desperation so strong it's physical: the bones in his wrists and palms ache, and his hands curl into tight fists at his sides. He lost his powers. He sacrificed them. He knew what he was doing when he gave them up. The idea that he can get them back is -- it has to be a lie. Ichigo doesn't know which one tears at him most, the knowledge that it's untrue or the hope that it isn't.]

You know that's not possible, Rukia...!

[face_kick]

[She wasn't going to tell him, not until she had the concrete way of giving him his powers back in her possession...false hope would be the most cruel. But she also didn't plan on any of this, meeting him without his powers, far from home, in a cave with gods...so she tells him, straight out.] Urahara thinks it is. He doesn't just feel bad about things... though that's why he's working so hard. He didn't even want to say anything to me until he thought he could do it.

Besides. [A breath of laughter.] When has 'impossible' stopped you before? From the first time I met you even...

[liketeenspirit]

[His heart is racing so damn hard. Ichigo says the words like he hardly dares to believe them; they lie halfway between a question and a wondering breath.]

But he thinks he can do it.

[Had Urahara been working on that all this time? Is there really a chance? If he told Rukia, then he had to think so...

For a moment, all Ichigo can think is one thing: Am I going to get my shinigami powers back?

The answer hits him a long second later. No. I'm not -- not as long as I'm trapped in this cave, anyway. Even if Urahara does find a way to do it, he can't get to me in Hadriel.

His jaw tightens. I've got to get out of here.]

Hey. Rukia.

Thanks for telling me.

[He means it. There's a firmness in his manner that wasn't there a minute ago.]

[face_kick]

He does. [There's a level of confidence in that answer that wouldn't seem odd....if you were to forget everything Urahara has done, and specifically to her and hers, over the years. This is a Thing she Believes.]

[She shakes her head.]

Like I would neglect to tell you such a thing, fool.

[Not that she wouldn't tell him, obviously she wanted it to be a surprise, a triumph, a reunion....but no, not here, it's not to be. So. To bring that light back into his eyes she tells him what she knows to be true, right now.]

[With, of course, the customary amount of ribbing as well. You think she would change that much, after a few months? ]

1/2

[liketeenspirit]

[The ribbing is familiar. It feels strangely like an invitation -- a chance to fall back into something like the way things used to be. Not exactly like it, of course, but...well, it's better than dwelling on what's different.]

At least there's one thing hasn't changed--

[liketeenspirit]

Your drawings still suck.

[Invitation accepted. He ain't mad about being left out of the loop for a year-plus. They're good.]

1/2

[face_kick]

[The old joke, about her art skills, is a relief and it feels like some tightly-wound spring in her chest releases all at once, like she can breathe properly again. She didn't even have to smack him around this time to get him back in his old form.]

[face_kick]

[So have a paint-brush (with orange paint on it, of course) flying at your face, Ichigo.]

You just don't know how to appreciate good art!

[liketeenspirit]

What's good about it?! I can't tell if that--

[--he jerks his thumb at one particular offender--]

--is supposed to be a cat or a bear!!

[face_kick]

It's neither! That's why you got it wrong. It's supposed to be a dog, see the nose?

[If you were to squint and tilt your head, maybe, just maybe, it might resemble a dog. But not really.]

Besides, it doesn't matter if you like it. That Hope lady is asking for art like this. So there.

[liketeenspirit]

Uh....Hope's a dude.

Hope

[shortcutter]

[Levi watches her for a minute. He waits for a break in the action to approach with a big bucket of soapy water in one hand, and a scrubber in the other. Art may Rukia's passion, but Levi's is, uh, order. And cleanliness.

He doesn't have much going for him in the height department, either, so she towers over him on that ladder – though that's not gonna stop him from being a jerk. Levi taps the handle of the scrubber with his finger.]

You want to start over?

Re: Hope

[face_kick]

Hmmm? [She turns to look at this new guy, paintbrush in her hand loaded with orange paint. Then back to the mural, back to him.]

Why on earth would I want to start over? It's coming along so well!

fear.

[truthvalue]

[Another day in the murdercave, another monster to fight. Souji's been keeping busy clearing out the caves of monsters, but he's been here long enough to know it's not unheard-of to have creatures milling about in the city proper. Still, a robot isn't exactly a monster, though it does seem to be advancing on this woman with nothing good in its cybernetic mind. Sword already in hand for the day's monster-killing activities, he dashes over to her, ready to lend his help.]

I don't think it's listening.

[face_kick]

[Rukia glances at the newcomer, taking him in with a single glance. With a sword, clearly threatening the robot, not her--potential ally. Good. She nods at him in the briefest of greetings, her own sword at the ready.]

I do believe I had worked that out, yes.

[This isn't the answer, the bot insists, coming at Rukia in its jerky manner, swiping at her with arms that she ducks under, parrying aside with her sword. The little red eyes seem to fix on Souji as he comes into its field of vision, lumbering at him next.]

[truthvalue]

[Souji may be a little out of practice when it comes to fighting off things like this, but he hasn't forgotten everything he learned from his time in the TV World, even if it's been more than a year now since the last time he and his friends fought Shadows there. This isn't a Shadow, though - the sound Souji's sword makes crashing down on its head is much more solid, a clanking screech of metal on metal and the blade drags down the robot's front and Souji steps backward to recollect his aim for the next blow.]

[face_kick]

[Rukia's in there right after he steps back, bringing her hands together and aiming them up, trying at blowing the head clear off the neck.] Sōkatsui!

[A small explosion of blue flame erupts from her hands, sending some silvery liquid flying up from the thing, and the robot stumbling back a few paces, but not looking much more hurt than that. Rukia also steps back, so she's not in her new friend's way if he's regrouped and wants at it.]