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Hᴇx - ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴅ ᴍᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ ([personal profile] modmachine) wrote in [community profile] worldofmemeness2016-09-30 05:31 pm
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TEST DRIVE 01

Welcome to the first Test Drive for Hex! Unlike most test drives, the scenarios included here also feature things that you can investigate with mod interaction. If at any point in your test thread, your character(s) want to investigate something further, please put a "HEY MODS" in your subject line to make it easy to find.

Don't feel limited to the scenarios presented - make up your own prompts as much as you want!

Reserves will open on the 7th and Applications on the 15th.


In a grassy square in the Central District, wedged in between dorm halls, there is a tree. Far wider than it is tall, its leaves are just beginning to turn from yellow to orange, with a few green stragglers near the top and a growing carpet on the grass beneath it. At one end of the tree's reach, there is a picnic table, the sort with benches built in to either side.

Anywhere under the boughs, a distinct ticking, like the sound of a clock, can be heard. Moving about makes it clear that the sound is loudest nearest the trunk. Numerous small gears stick out of twists between branches, though they do not appear to move to the naked eye.

Someone has hung a string of orange lights in the branches for Halloween, along with some cotton spiderweb. No matter how closely you look, there doesn't seem to be an end where the lights plug in to anything. Otherwise, there is nothing unusual about the decorations.

In the center of the table, half-covered by leaves, there is an iron plaque that has not been particularly well-treated for rust. Some of the writing on it is almost legible. It is chill to the touch. Someone's carved their initials and a date into the end of one bench -


Abandoned vehicles are by no means an unusual sight in the Sixth District. Abandoned buses are slightly more unusual. This particular bus has boarded up windows, a black light string hanging over the windshield, and the words HAUNTED HOUSE written along the side, where the old inoffensive public-transit advertisements have been painted over. The front door serves as the entrance; the back leads into the wrecking yard and the haunted "house" proper.

A girl in her late teens in slightly unsettling gothic lolita sits in a cheap folding chair around the front of the bus. She doesn't charge admission, though there is a candy bowl labeled for Donations on the card table next to her with a few bills and some change in it, in the center of a group of candles that burn in skull holders. She reminds everyone who passes her to please not touch the actors or props inside. Occasionally, mist from a smoke machine on the other side of the wooden fence billows around her ankles, almost seeming to form caressing fingers running down her legs.

Across the street from her, two men sit in a beaten up old pickup truck, the much taller man smoking cigarettes with the windows open. The shorter man fidgets almost uncontrollably, constantly glancing in the direction of the girl and her bus. Their voices aren't loud enough to hear distinctly from the haunted house side of the street, but the woman at the bus entrance shoots them occasional looks none-the-less, alternating between pleased smiles and blank stares. Painted along the sides of the truckbed, in much dirtier letters than those of the haunted house, is the phrase NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH.


In a bar downtown, it's not much different from any other night of clubbing, except that everyone is wearing masks. Ranging from the elegant custom work of a nearby boutique (conveniently open even after sundown tonight, if you need to pick one up) to cheap colored paper held on with elastic handed out at the door of the bar, masks are the must-have accessory tonight. Indeed, many of the parties won't let you in if you don't have one.

Those paying careful attention might notice little dots of red on the necks of some of the partiers, especially those who seem a bit pale and have called off drinking for the night. Aside from that, though, it doesn't seem like anyone's really getting hurt; it's just a fun time for everyone. Except for the poor guy who made the mistake of wearing an owl mask and yellow contacts, anyway.

Just within hearing range of the beating bass of the clubs, a young woman in a red jacket holds a mask in her hands, turning it over and sometimes holding it to her face to look at in a window reflection. The long face of it calls to mind some kind of black dog, perhaps a Doberman or German Shepherd. She isn't dressed at all for an evening at the clubs, and has a canvas bag slung over her shoulder with the shape of heavy books straining the fabric at the bottom.


Not everyone seems to be getting into the spirit. A playground near the center of the city has precious few decorations - save for a spiderweb on one of the swingsets that seems to be natural, not man-made. A pumpkin or two have been left near the edges, but they're all smashed, the orange guts running along in a streak that seems to blend into a thin line surrounding the entire perimeter.

The see-saw looks like the board's been freshly painted, but otherwise all of the equipment looks almost lonely and old. The rust on the metal stains everything an orange-red, and the slide in particular seems the worst hit. Still, everything is at least standing, and those who attempt to play on it will find it sturdy and warm in the cool night.

... Except for the merry go round. That one seems to be bent, as if someone very heavy sat on the edge. It still turns, but it wobbles dramatically, with horrible squeaking noises. Still, it's usable, for anyone who would like to play.

dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Huh?])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-06 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
Hm. Well, not an anchor, probably (maybe), but cute all the same! He hopes they're still together, that would be nice. After sitting there for a few minutes and being very still and very quiet (just in case he'd missed something), Ryoji stands and moves over to the plaque on the table. He'd spotted that earlier, too, and it certainly seems more suspicious but. He liked the carved initials better.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [You think so?])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-07 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
Ah ha. ...Ryoji does still wish it was the cute carving. Sigh. But he can feel Thanatos's heckles raise in and behind his mind, the geist always on edge when something like this comes to light. This isn't really the kind of thing he can walk away from, now, so investigate he does.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Huh?])

i don't know where my dice are, please roll for me. xD

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-07 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
That's... odd. Not that it's not with a specific death, that happens with Gates (which he kind of hopes it's not, Thanatos'll be mad if he has to close it), but the way it's almost hidden. He doesn't feel like that's a thing that should happen. And naturally it makes him look closer.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [pout])

damnit. we can't even take twenty in this format. XDD

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-07 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
Hmph. That's... frustrating. There's something here, and he knows it- he just can't get to it right now. Ryoji would be content knowing it's here and coming back to it later. Maybe he needs to eat, or something. But Thanatos doesn't want to leave the thing unguarded until they know what it is exactly and if they need to defend it.

...He might be here a while trying to convince his geist that they need to take a break, basically.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Smile])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-07 11:13 am (UTC)(link)
It's ok, officer, he's a student! He's allowed to be here! And he's sure there are weirder things campus security has seen than a freshman just sitting on top of a table. Luckily, Ryoji has a tendency to look more... foolish than suspicious. Which is a nice help when he's doing actual suspicious things.

He doesn't recognize the girl when she approaches, but... there's no he can't talk to her! Ryoji gives her a little wave. "Hello!"
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Huh?])

he's a freshman and undeclared rn. XD

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-08 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"Really? Huh." Ryoji looks around and-- ok, maybe he can see why that might happen, especially since his interests are a bit... different. "I never really knew this was here. I mean, I knew it existed, but I've never come before. It's pretty quiet. I guess that might be why?"
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Smile])

it's fine!

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-10 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, they get pretty noisy some days..." Most days, really. Ryoji isn't bothered by a whole lot so it doesn't super effect him, but that doesn't mean he doesn't notice. And he kind of likes it, for the most part. He does take a rather absurd pleasure in people living and enjoying their lives, after all.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Happiness])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-11 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Ryoji chuckles a little. "Yeah, I've sort of learned to tune it out. But it's hard sometimes." He watches her with interest, smiling a little. "I was just exploring. And it's pretty peaceful out here, I think."
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Smile])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-11 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Ryoji looks up at the sky with her, smiling at what he can see of it past the gleam of the lights. "Yeah," he says, "I can see that." He tries not to talk and give her peace for a moment, but... well, he's always been very chatty, and he's curious. "What are you drawing?"
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Smile])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-12 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
Ryoji can't quite say why, but that resonates with him for some reason. He aims the question at Thanatos, but if the geist has an answer for why he's not sharing. "It looks really cool," he says, "What's your name, by the way? I'm Ryoji."
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Flirt])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-13 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Ci. That's a cute name!" And so the flirting begins. (It's a wonder it hadn't started before this, honestly.) "Well, all the cards are different, aren't they? Do you mean like a uniform theme, or...?"
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Huh?])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2016-10-13 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Ryoji will continue to flirt until the end of the world looms over them all. Mostly because then he feels bad. "Hmm. Do you have more ideas one way or the other? Are you doing the whole deck?"