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

Malin Lindberg | Vampire: The Masquerade (no icons yet, sorry)

[movingon]

I.

She hates this place. It is too small, too cramped. Too full of people, and by that she doesn't only mean humans - in the most relevant ways they are the smallest issue. No. It's too full of kindred and lupines and God knows what else, too, she is sure. There is no way to run, really, and not enough places to hide. No matter if you go into the farmlands or the city, the park or anywhere else. Her only solace are dark corners and the abundance of free patches of earth, and that is about where it ends. She has to be eternally careful about feeding, here, too. Can't alert anyone to her presence - she doubts that that will work much longer, though. It would help if she knew anything about the politics and society of this place, but she doesn't, and she has no clue how she should find out without well, being noticed.

No, this place is no good for someone like her, who can't risk being noticed and really can't melt into the masses anymore. Trees are welcoming, the roofs of houses are welcoming. She would prefer to run on the ground, or even below the ground, but ever since she came here it has felt safer to stay where few will look (and most people rarely look up) and nobody with better abilities at hiding than her will reside. She hasn't made up her mind yet if she wants to run into any Nosferatu, but until then she'll avoid it.

So she feels as safe as ever after having hidden as high up as possible in the thickest part of this tree's the crown, dodging the decorations and what of the wheels she could, and is now moving to cautiously poke branches of the tree into one of the wheels. Maybe that will give her some idea about what they are, and maybe that in turn will grant her a way back home. Not that home is good, but it is at least not as bad.

Anyone who happens to look up will see a large shadow balancing easily on one of the branches, a long tail and wings of perhaps a metre wingspan each moving slowly to even out gusts of wind or movements of the thick branch she's sitting on.


Wildcard

In a dark alleyway, behind a few garbage bins, what looks like a beggar has set up camp for the night, huddled against a wall. A huge coat is covering the oddly shaped chunk of person entirely, hood drawn deep into their face to conceal it. A sensible nose will, over general smelliness, notice the thick musk of wet fur.

The scene is given an odd note by a laptop sitting in front of the person, a film flickering on in near-silence - the sound is minimal, though existent. Someone with sensible ears and some pop cultural knowledge will notice that the thing being watched is Star Truck, an episode from the early 2000s.


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