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

Sorrow

[hippocratical]

Simon has been carrying grief for so long, grief and worry, that they are more like limbs than reactions, appendages instead of emotions. He isn't crying for the added weight. He's just...tired.

Some of the exhaustion fades at the sight of River, as it always does, to be replaced by a moment of peaky anxiety which fades into relief, watching her as she continues to caretake. Compassion, sympathy, understanding. She's still got those, he sees, and every reminder of who she used to be, who she still is, makes all that grief bearable.

He stands still, watching as she approaches, and the smile he gives her is understanding, quiet. One of the smiles that are just for her, the ones he finds even when he can't smile for anything else.

"I know. But sometimes it's what people need. How are you feeling?"

[enchangement]

"Everyone's crying, tired of crying, tired of suffering but suffering is proof of life. How do you make it better? Sorry it's broken sorry she's broken sorry everything is so hard..."

She's worried about these people, their emotional capacity manipulated beyond their control. She's worried about herself, falling in rhythm with everyone else and then falling out of step quickly enough to make her stomach turn on a coin.

Mostly she's worried about Simon, who has spent so much time these last few years worried about her, and mourning what was taken from her, that he might not have noticed today is different.

River worries at the skin from her bottom lip between her teeth and shrugs. How are you feeling is a loaded question even on the best of days, and today is far from the best.

"Do you want tea?"

[hippocratical]

"You aren't broken, River. There's nothing here for you to be sorry about." She's right. His universe centers on her, revolves around those twists and turns her mind forces her mood down, following roads only she can take. All he can do is observe, is comfort, is be the gravitational center that she comes back to. He hasn't hadn't noticed something is different. There's just too much grief to begin with.

He does notice something is wrong with her, that despite the compassion she's showing everyone else River herself is tense, upset, worried about something he doesn't understand. She's falling again into that stream-of-consciousness banter, and that never bodes well. All that he catches is what he's looking for. Broken. No, she's not broken. And if she is, it's not in the way she thinks.

Her offer, her question is mundane enough that he grasps for it like a lifeline. Maybe the ritual of making tea, having a cup, will calm her down enough that she comes back into orbit, so she can explain to him what's happening. He nods, reaches out, lightly squeezes her upper arm. "Tea sounds good. Let's go back to the house."

[enchangement]

It's an old argument; River obviously doesn't agree that she isn't broken, knowing that she can barely manage what most would consider a coherent train of thought on good days. Argument number 5, in her mind - the recurring ones get numbers, makes it easier.

Simon listens, but sometimes he doesn't hear. Or he hears, but sometimes doesn't listen. She recognizes it in herself, too, that instinct to power through because the problem is not as clear as the solution. Because they're smarter than everyone, why can't they figure themselves out too?

"Because the mirrors are inverted," she murmurs to herself, "and the images are unclear."

Tea, though. Simon reaches out for her and instinctively River folds into him, wrapping her arms around his body before pulling away. "Race you!"

Of course, being the brat she is, she's already broken out into a run.

[hippocratical]

It isn't that. Yes, she's unstable. She can't always control what she is, how she is; they stole that ability from her, stripped it away with a scalpel and there's nothing he can do to undo that. But broken? He won't let himself think that word anymore. She's different. She's changed. But she's still his sister, and whatever she's become, she will still be River. She just needs help stabilizing. He still thinks words like 'fix' but more and more, since Early, since he realized just what she hears, he's tried to stop. It doesn't help. She's as frustrated as he is, he knows. Moreso, maybe, because he knows what it's like to have someone not understand, to have them unable to keep up, and it can only be worse for her.

But then she does things like that, wrapping strong, thin arms around him and squeezing with a strength he forgets she has, and there's no more frustration and distance and worry. There's only a brother and a sister and a memory alive again, both of them children, and he's laughing as he chases after her, sprinting across the barren ground. "Piànzi! You didn't say go!"

She wins, of course. She always wins.

[enchangement]

River does a cartwheel after; something of a victory dance for her, jumping up once Simon reaches her. This is good, this is solid, this is now, life in an underground city, and it's not home amongst the stars on Serenity - but what else could be? Even Serenity doesn't always feel safe, as much as it is a bubble protecting Simon and herself from the Alliance; yet he's there, they're there together, and that makes a place home.

Which means this place, is home, too.

She doesn't race into the door, instead looping her arm through Simon's and skipping inside.

"It's no fun with a warning!"