TEST DRIVE 01

[modmachine]

Test Drive meme 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. scenario one - the tree 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 - scenario two - the wrecking yard 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. scenario three - the party downtown 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. scenario four - the playground 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.

MADE BY TESSISAMESS

Comments

Corwin | OC

[crazycatvampire]

III. The Party

Parties are something humans do. They're not something Corwin has ever much enjoyed, but he keeps trying, in case maybe he's simply doing something wrong and one night it will just click and he'll suddenly know how to "party". At the very least, he's grateful that there are masks involved in this one, and costumes he can use to cover the rest of him. After all, he's hardly a pretty sight.

He lingers about the edges of the room, huge and awkward-looking at six and a half gawky feet tall, with his long hair ragged around the white, featureless mask, wrapped in a cloak. He's seen these creatures on television, animated demons of hunger. It suits, he supposes, well enough. When he tries to make small talk, his gravelly voice puts people off, but he tries, anyway.

"Are you well tonight?" he asks. Or, "Have you had enough to eat so that you do not have a headache in the morning, with all that drinking?" Or maybe, "How is it that so many can dance so well? Is it an easily learned skill?"

Maybe he's not so great at small talk.

II.

Corwin has been watching the proceedings for a while. He hasn't gone inside the bus-- his stature would make that uncomfortable, and he would probably fighten people more than the actual haunted house actors once beyond it, anyway-- but he has been watching with an avid and somewhat greedy curiosity.

"What frightens people about this?" he wonders aloud. "Do they enjoy being frightened? Or is it that it is patently false that makes it enjoyable?"

[chalicejoker]

Costumes can only hide so much. Though the demon is hiding his human face behind mask of his own. And something is off about this guy. "I wouldn't know how simple it is to learn how to dance," he comments at one of those questions. He hasn't been much for conversation and was only at the party to observe, but in this case, when he's curious... "I don't do it myself."

[crazycatvampire]

"Why not?" Corwin asks, an innocent question, and despite the voice that sounds like it might actually hurt to speak, he seems in earnest behind that round mask. "Do you not like to dance? I thought dancing was an important part of a party such as this."

[chalicejoker]

"Sometimes people just come to take in the atmosphere." Hajime shrugs. "Or just to eat and drink. Dancing is not required." That's his story, and he's sticking to it.

[crazycatvampire]

"Good," Corwin says after a moment. "I am not very good at dancing. I am told I have no rhythm. Are you not good at dancing, either?" Since even if it's not required, most people do appear to be doing it.

[chalicejoker]

Chatty sort of fellow, even if something still doesn't strike Hajime as being quite right here. "I've never seen the need to." Which is kind of a vague non-answer, but Hajime doesn't care.

[crazycatvampire]

How can one learn to be human if one doesn't engage humanity? Corwin is trying, here. Too bad he doesn't realize he's not actually engaging with a human. "Then why are you here?" he asks curiously.

[chalicejoker]

It's a similar question to one Hajime might ask himself, and it's really why he's here in the first place. Not that he's about to admit this, of course. Not that there's any hint of a lie when he speaks--demons are very good at that. Hajime shrugs. "I like people watching." Even if that's not much of a lie.

[crazycatvampire]

"Oh. I do, too," Corwin admits, with a kind of surprised delight. "That's why I'm here. That," he adds more soberly, "and someone said that the people here might be in danger, from drinking too much and people preying on them, so I thought maybe I could help protect them, too."

[onecatmore]

There's someone worse at party small talk than her here.

Amazing.

Well, it at least means that she doesn't stand around here entirely alone with her still mostly full glass. She reaches up to adjust her cat mask and smiles, nodding her head.

"I have had enough to eat, though mostly because I haven't been drinking very much. Just that everyone else is drinking doesn't mean that I have to do it, too."

Especially not in a bar like this one where... well. Those vampires could be a tad bit more subtle, really. If she remembers correctly what her sister told her, they totally can when they want to.

[crazycatvampire]

"Most people have been drinking, but haven't been eating enough to avoid the headache part," Corwin muses. Then, all innocent and tactless, his rough voice curious, he asks: "Do you not like to be drunk?"

[onecatmore]

She laughs and shakes her head. "I would not mind was my sister or a friend here, but it is rather irresponsible to get drunk when there is nobody around to take you home, isn't it?"

She nods at the bar. "Do you not drink?"

[crazycatvampire]

He considers this question for a beat, before going with the answer: "I taste. That's probably not the same. Would you be in danger if you drank too much? Are these others in danger?" That alarms him a little, actually. He doesn't want the humans to be in danger when they only came here for a good time.

[onecatmore]

"You taste?"

His questions are strange, to say the least, but she sees no harm in answering them. At least if they remain like this, fairly distant. ...Maybe she can find the time to run a check on him later, but the middle of a conversation definitely isn't a good moment for that. 'Sorry I need to pray give me a sec' is... yeah. Best case scenario, he'll just consider her weird.

"Being drunk is one of many factors that can heighten the likeliness of encountering dangerous situations, because you lose self control and thus become more attractive to those who prey on that. But there are many other factors too - you fulfil the one of being alone, but you seem to be male and rather old for a bar like this one," not that she isn't most people in the room seem to be significantly younger than 30, "so that lowers many risks again." She shrugs. "Like with most things in life, you need to weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself."

[crazycatvampire]

"I'm not that old," Corwin protests, not sure if he should be offended or not. It isn't as if she can see his face, after all! Though he supposes his voice is probably not all that young-sounding.... If only he sounded like a normal human! "Do the people here need protecting, if they're getting drunk and going places alone?"

He pauses and the featureless mask turns this way and that, as if scenting. "Is someone here to prey on them, today?" There might be a protective sort of growl to his voice, there. Just a little.

[onecatmore]

"You don't sound like twenty." There is a raised eyebrow clearly audible in her voice. She's not going to believe that he is any younger than her. Most likely older, if voice is anything to go by.

"And well..." She shrugs her shoulders. Yes, she assumes that that the latter is the case, but there isn't really much that can be done. This isn't her place, she has no power or connections here, and she is also alone. Even if she investigated, she couldn't do anything with that knowledge except for being cautious. "You cannot really protect humans from themselves. And you would have to do that before protecting them from something else, most of the time, to cause a lasting change."

[crazycatvampire]

Technically, he's not even two... but he definitely doesn't look it. "I would think protecting them from something else would be best done first," Corwin mutters, rasping. "It would take less time, and might help protect them from themselves."

Then he pauses, and glances at her, frowning beneath the mask. He may be a bit naive, but he's not stupid. "Themselves," he repeats. "Aren't you one of them?"

[onecatmore]

It sounds very naive to her, and she's wondering, but... again. He doesn't seem dangerous to her. Only ...strange. Which can of course mean trouble by itself, but it can also be neutral or even positive. "That might sometimes be true on an individual level," like when you're raising children, "but I've rarely, if ever seen it work for groups of people. A person can be taught how to help themselves, a group will do worse for any meddling from the outside that it receives." And he seems to be no less an outside here than she is. Knowing when to not meddle is almost more important than knowing when to meddle, in her opinion.

...And that was an interesting question. Not so much because of the content or because it is asked at all, but because he seems to be serious about his question. That makes her wonder.

She shakes her head and chuckles. "No, I am very much human. I simply consider myself to be more ...attentive than most." Not the worst description and not the best, but she is definitely very much a squishy little human. "Are you?" The question doesn't come out nearly as casually as she meant it to sound, but she tried.

[crazycatvampire]

At that counter-question, Corwin hesitates for a long moment, trying to work out what to say. It's not really in him to lie, but he doesn't want to upset anyone, either, nor does he want to be dismantled before he gets the chance to join those which he would have to lie to claim to be a part of.

The hesitation, really, is probably answer enough....

[onecatmore]

"...There is no need to fear me."

She doubts that that is the issue here, but still feels the need to say it. He seems so... fragile, not physically, but - like a child, in a way. A child caught in an adult's body, with a grandfather's thoughts.

She doesn't reach out to lay a hand on his arm, but only because she stops herself from it.

"There is nobody whom I would want to tell, and I am not in the habit of trying to ...end what doesn't try to end me." She lets the last words hang, reassurance and threat at once.

[crazycatvampire]

The round, blank mask shakes from side to side hurriedly, and his voice, though rough, is firm when he answers. "I would never. I would only protect, not harm. You are safe with me."

He's a bit relieved, too. He hates lying, but usually he can get around it because he hasn't exactly had very many people ask him if he's human, directly. But if she guessed, then he doesn't have to pretend.

[onecatmore]

"Then we are safe with each other."

The smirk is back in her voice.

"I am Marja, by the way."

Her accent is more pronounced when she speaks her name. She used to adopt the English equivalent when pronouncing it while speaking English, but these days she simply falls back into Finnish, her sounds falling less round and drawled, straighter, and the English manner of speech takes a few words to fully return after.

"It's nice to meet you."

[crazycatvampire]

Well, that sounded fascinating. Her voice changed for a few words, there. Corwin watches her mouth, behind the mask, wondering what exactly caused that. "I'm Corwin. It's nice to meet you, too. I hate having to lie to people, so having someone who knows I think is nice."

[onecatmore]

"I would say that you get used to lying," and with time the lies will get bigger and bigger, "but it is nice to have a place where or people with whom you don't have to."

She watches the dancers for bit. "Why did you come here?"

[crazycatvampire]

"To watch," Corwin answers simply, big shoulders lifting and falling in a shrug under his costume cloak. "I like to watch people, and I might learn something. I already did learn something. I never thought people would intentionally do things that could hurt them."