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

[enchangement]

Ooh. [ At the mention of food, River is definitely done painting. Though her hands are far from clean, she figures she can scrub at them later and eat carefully in the meantime. Wanda's hand is given it's own squeeze back, and in River's mind the two of them are now firmly in orbit around one another.

It's easier to think of loves as separated by gravity wells and atmospheres instead of 'whom do you love the most'. ]

Is there a favorite? [ She stacks the paints atop each other once more, but leaves the yellows and reds outside where the mural is drying. ] Ready!

I foresee a lot of use of this icon

[scarletcast]

[ It is never a matter of most. There are people who are irrevocably part of you, and nothing is diminished by being apart because they always exist, and memory consolidates around them. The loose tendrils of her consciousness take root. Give them time, and they grow. She and River both grew up loved. ]

There is fresh fruit in the orchard. There are crackers, but I don't like them. Chocolate in the shops. Water is not always safe for us to drink, so boil it first.

it's so perfect tho

[enchangement]

[ Crackers are dismissed (who needs flat flavorlessness?) immediately, but the orchard and chocolate? Those are ideas that River takes to heart, wanting to explore them both...but there's water, to boil, perhaps tea? She'll have to go searching in the trees for that, she suspects.

River skips, but not too far ahead, just far enough for their arms to swing between them as they go along. ]

Met another warrior princess. She said the meat had been tainted once.

[scarletcast]

[ She has the packet of tea Hope gave her, better tasting than anything else in the shops. That will be shared, without question. She hums quietly as they walk. ]

Yes. Sometimes you can kill the monsters for food. There are hunting parties.

[ Her, she's not quite refined at the killing; Wanda deconstructs without exception. Hard to cook something if it dissolves into thin air, or splatters its insides against the caves. ]

[enchangement]

[ Another useful thing of note; River folds that bit of information up and stores it away. River is good with blades the way that Wanda is good at pulling things apart from the atom on up, and following a pattern of food gathering would help her arrange her days into something other than a neverending stream of new-ness from being here.

Underground. River tilts her chin up to look at the ceiling as sky and sighs. ]

Do we miss the stars yet?

[scarletcast]

[ She smiles, only a little worn at the side. ]

Always. Nobody looks up.

[enchangement]

[ River purses her lips and blows air out between them. ]

An experiment was conducted, to remove the sight of the stars from the consciousness. As the night falls to brightness, the mind falls to darkness, and we forget to look up and think outward.

[scarletcast]

We do.

[ The next swing of their arms, she initiates, changing the flow. ]

The caves go on forever. I have tried.

[enchangement]

Older things live in darker places, too.

[ There's a giggle at the interruption of rhythm, the start of a new one. ]

At least you can fly. The spaceship's albatross is grounded!

[scarletcast]

We are more terrifying.

[ Them and what they do. Fear has left her, or perhaps, more accurately, it doesn't see fit to surface. Laughing softly, ]

I can only jump and land, River!

[enchangement]

We are survivors. Valkyries. Harbingers.

[ River gives a little shrug. ]

More than she can. Higher than she can.

[scarletcast]

[ It is the only description she will accept. Their hands swing. ]

The same.

[ She'll take River along, on the next one. ]

[enchangement]

It's good you're here. Good for her, good for everyone. Bad that here is in the equation - the Scarlet Witch has a world to help save.

[ River looks up again, at a sky that isn't a sky at all, just trapped atmosphere and a high natural ceiling. It could be worse, she knows.

The ceiling could be lower. She could be alone. ]

[scarletcast]

[ She shakes her head. ]

The world will manage. It is people I want to protect.

[ It is a cage, but there is space. There are people. Life happens here. Yes, it could be worse. ]

[enchangement]

That's 'cause you're a big damned hero.

[ River gives Wanda a smile. She too, one day, aspires to be a hero. She also aspires to keep food down for a week, so you know.

Small steps, and all. ]

[scarletcast]

I'm not so sure.

[ She doesn't look or feel like one, even when power thrums through her veins. It is pointless lying or withholding this from River. ]

[enchangement]

No hero is sure. That's the difference between a hero and gau; if you're sure, always, at all times, without whatifs or maybes, then it's dangerous.

Doubt is good. Doubt makes heroes.

[scarletcast]

[ It's not a word she knows, but recognises from the tone — River's disgust is clear. ]

You're very sweet.

[enchangement]

Even the captains would agree, if you asked. Big damned heroes, the lot of you.

[ River gives another smile. ]

[scarletcast]

The captain I know is here. Steve. He will look after you.

[ She's a friend, but if she wasn't, Steve never turns away someone in need. ]

Tell me about the other crew.

[enchangement]

[ River knows she needs looking after, even when she doesn't agree; she'll have to meet Wanda's Captain Steve, and be on her best behavior. ]

Mal and Zoe are soldiers, still. They think like soldiers who lost the war. [ Probably because they are, and they did. ] Wash is our pilot; Zoe's love.

[ River sways in place, closing her eyes as they keep walking. Easier to conjure them up that way, their idiosyncrasies, their emotional details, to provide Wanda with a better image. ] His dinosaurs live in her pockets. A leaf on the wind, a laughter in the breeze. He only ever worries about her, doesn't feel obstructed by the dangling rock that is the dead albatross. Their life is hope, Zoe and Wash, spinning, arching, love is the bond between them. It's so pretty. She tries not to stare too much.

Jayne is an idiot. He sleeps with guns. [ Nosewrinkle. Nothing poetic to say there. ]

Inara is composed of beauty, and they pay for the privilege of her smile and touch. Layers of silk hide imperfections and truths; but she's gorgeous. Like a butterfly could change everything with just a beat of wings.

Kaylee listens to the hum and drone of the engine and hears music that moves her. Sweet on Simon, but Simon doesn't see it. He can be a boob sometimes.

Then there's Book, with hair to heavens and thoughts to the earths and beyond.

We all live on Serenity.

[scarletcast]

[ Easier to see them in images, wave upon wave from River's mind. Wanda absorbs the details. Wash's laughter. The sound of Zoe's boots on the metal. Jayne — ]

Mouth breather.

[ She picked up the word quickly, in New York. Ugh. River flows to Inara; her grace, how she moves coordinated, beautifully. Like Natasha. No sinew out of place. Wanda is caught there, struck. Book, with wisdom. Kaylee, bright. ]

It sounds beautiful. Who is after you?

[enchangement]

[ The images shift, at Wanda's question. Who is after you? Who isn't might be a shorter answer, but...in River's mind, it starts with Serenity and goes outward. The people who won the war that Zoe and Mal lost becomes teachers becomes her parents becomes the government, becomes... ]

Blue Sun.

[ There's another crack, another flash. Memories from the Academy. Her brain hijacked from her in dreams. Parts scraped away and filed for evaluation, never returned to her. The others that were there. Those that didn't make it.

River takes a breath and squeezes Wanda's hand. Thinks of red, red, red to chase her mind out of the blue corners. ]

[scarletcast]

[ She has no amygdalae. Wanda was shown readouts and maps of the brain when she was learning where to target; she only pinpoints it now because she's listening intently. Waves of red colour the vision and start to eat away at the men around her. Wanda squeezes her hand back. You're safe here. ]

[enchangement]

[ Inhale. Oxygen enters the body and the body furiously works to get the necessary nutrients to all the cells and the neurons in her brain fire little electrical signals, looking like storms in the sky.

Exhale. Out goes all the toxins, the poisons, the worries, the thoughts, the memories. River's mind is never a blank slate, but there is something like calm. Listening for explosions while underwater means everything takes on a muffled state. ]

Safe.

[ River bumps arms with Wanda. ]

They're not here.

[ Which means the danger lies mostly in her own mind, but isn't it that way for most everyone? ]