sixthiteration | Test Drive 20 (August & September)

→ Holds and applications are always open. Holds are required for all applications.

→ Choose one of the scenarios below or make up your own. Feel free to try multiple scenarios.

→ Write LOGS or TEXT prompts, or both.

→ THERE ARE ONLY THREE RULES FOR THE TDM:

1. It has to take place in the 6I universe.
2. It cannot be the character's arrival into the game.
3. Please only test new characters who do not have a version in the game. Our cast list is here.

→ TDM threads cannot be used to meet AC, but if the character is accepted into the game and both players agree, you may keep the CR.

→ Character want ads are here.

Prompts

Happy anniversary, villagers! Buckle up!

HEAT WAVE - Poor you. All you were trying to do was get yourself a little something to eat from the kitchen at the inn. Maybe you cooked it up yourself (The inn does, after all, have an electric stove — FANCY!), or maybe you just grabbed some leftovers. By accident or on purpose, you ended up with way more RED SALT in there than you maybe should have, and this is no ordinary seasoning. Whether you like things eye-wateringly spicy or not, it's August, you're sweating buckets, and it's only getting worse.

SKUNK DRUNK - Isn't that just the way? You're out and about, minding your own business, and you get sprayed by a BROWN SKUNK. The good news? It doesn't stink like a normal skunk. The also possibly good news, depending on who you ask? You're now in for about 5 hours of being very, very friendly. (Just remember to keep the test drive PG!)

BRAIN CANDY - Whether you made it to the anniversary party or not, you've gotten your hands on a piece of leftover candy from the big bash. Careful, though, these treats are more than meets the eye: Whatever COLOR it was, you've now taken on the associated personality traits. (Not the power, just the traits.) At least it only lasts 10 minutes.

WILDCARD - Choose your own adventure. Maybe play powers roulette.

Texts

All characters are fitted with a smart watch-like device on their left wrist, which they can use to send text messages to other villagers.

- Texts may only be 140 characters long
- No video or voice, text only
- Display names may be changed by characters on the fly, but anyone can tap to see someone's real full name

Please list your CHARACTER NAME, CANON & PROMPT in your SUBJECT LINE.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Power Roulette, aka why rng is bad

The days of thinking this is some kind of test are long gone. They disappeared really not long after her arrival. Right about the time she realized who else was here. That it's still going on so long quickly dispelled any hopes of that. Which left preparing. Preparing for what could be coming, and definitely preparing for the day Helen shows up and she better be able to give her a clue what's going on.

Which is how she ended up out in the woods that day, pack holding a few needed tools, and her notebook in hand. Keeping track was one of her worst traits - okay there is a small list of them - but she's not willing to let her mom down. Slipping part way down a ridge, tearing her pants and ending up falling ass over teakettle into a small creek is maybe, just maybe, letting someone down. Herself.

So when she slams her fist into the ground, she's stunned when the Earth around her shakes and rolls. Startling, scrambling to her feet which is the worst idea in an earthquake, though managing not to stumble as she watches the ripples running through the creek.

"What the..." She doesn't believe in coincidence. Not like that. Nor is she one to lie to herself about her own strength. Looking around, seeing no one, she considers her options. In the end, she slams her foot down into the shallows of the creek.

The world bucks and rumbles again.

"Oh. Come on. Who is doing that?!"

Brain Candy

The bowl of candy is so innocuous that she doesn't even think of it as she unwraps one and pops it in her mouth, hoping that the pale purple color isn't grape. It's actually a tiny bit soapy and sweet, and shrugging as she comes around a corner, nearly running into someone.

"Oh. Hey! Hi. Oh, what's that?" Pointing at something, maybe not even entirely clear, leaning in closer to get a better look.

un: a.magnus sparring partners needed before i go nuts. promise to be gentle

If it were as simple to return as all that, Druitt himself might have already done so, to be perfectly honest. Not that there's anything waiting for him at home but his inevitable death, but he has to admit to being curious, sometimes. To wondering what might happen if he tried, for all that he's finding that he doesn't entirely mind being alive again either. Even if the fact that none of them are entirely in control of their own destiny doesn't sit terribly well with him.

(He's also still not entirely pleased about what he'd seen on the list of names down in the bunker, and Helen's presence on it besides, but that rage has dimmed down from what it had been in the immediate aftermath of that moment. It's not gone and it might never be, but it's as quiet as it's likely to ever get and that's a start.)

He is, to his credit, trying to give Ashley her space. At least until he has a better sense for when, exactly, the last thing she remembers is. But the village is still fairly small, and he's never been terribly inclined to sit still anyway. And with him once again having the option of returning to what he considers to be home base with little more than a thought he has been spending more time somewhat further afield; running across Ashley might not have been his intention, but it's not something he can call unexpected either.

For a moment, he simply watches, trying to decide if the better course of action is to simply leave again. But then she speaks up, and he can't help but answer.

"What makes you think it's someone else?"

Frustration is not something easily tamed in Ashley. She comes by it honestly, and has done little in her lifetime to try and control it. Coming to this place, without the balancing elements in her life, it tends to boil over in ways that aren't always to her benefit.

Earthquakes are nothing that she ever thought would be literally at her fingertips.

Testing it may be a poor choice, given she has no idea how far the tremors reach, but it's the only way to explore it. Empirical evidence and all, right?

Drawing a breath, preparing to slam her foot down as hard as she can when she hears a voice. She isn't expecting any voice, not out where she is and without having heard another approaching, but then it's his voice.

She should have known.

Slowly lowering her booted foot, turning slowly to face him. Controlling her emotions, her expression, schooling her features into a bright, empty smile.

"Because I like the idea of not being their science experiment?" It's a bit cruel, said casually with a shrug. She aches to reach into her back pocket for the twisted metal piece she keeps there but arming herself openly would give him an advantage that she's not willing to turn over.

"What makes you think stalking me is okay?"

She has no reason to believe he is, or has been, stalking her but trying to put him on the defensive gives her a moment to think. Both about him being there, and this new found ability.

He can't, entirely, blame her for her frustration. Not least of all because it's something that also runs strongly in him. He might have it on a tighter leash, yes. But that's something that's been borne of necessity - and a good deal of time to practice keep (more of) a handle on things. Plus, he's well aware of the fact that his presence is unlikely to be helping any. It's just that there's only so much he can actually do about it.

Even the expression that she adopts as she turns to look at him isn't too surprising. He can tell that it's an empty smile, yes. But to be perfectly honest, he can't say that he doesn't deserve it, a little.

"I wasn't."

It's offered honestly, and with the briefest of shrugs. Whether or not she believes it is another matter entirely.

"And I imagine most people here would prefer to not be science experiments."

Back home she has things to channel those natural instincts into. Ways to work them off before she's left feeling too full and on edge and without a clue in this place of what to do with them. That sensation of the earth shaking beneath her feet, because of her, felt like a valve in that moment. A huge reason for her reaction to him being there, trying to put him on the defensive for her own sake.

Even if she knows it's not fair to make that accusation. The place isn't that big. It's not as if he would have to try hard to actually stalk her if he wanted to.

"Yeah well... most of them haven't seen the things involved in that, now have they?" They have though. Lived it in many ways, both literally and in the sense of witness.

Still knowing she's unfair and not acting like a petulant child are not always separate in Ashley's life and mind.

"Okay then. Tell me how a machine gave me the ability to actually..." She taps her foot on the ground, focusing to send that tremor out from there. Damn, that did feel better. "Move the earth? I've had some telling me I was capable of it but takes more than this."

Okay that might have been intentionally taking a jab to be a bitch. It's just kind of hard not to.

There is that, he has to admit. As nice as it is to be somewhere where he can look forward to things that aren't simply being dead, there isn't really a lot of places where one can simply blow off steam. Admittedly, he might have the harder time of that than she does, by virtue of how deep his own emotions tend to run, when they start to hit that end of the scale. But even so, there's no denying that it is very much a quiet sort of village, and not well suited to the things that either of them would have considered to simply be a part of their lives, previously.

"I've never asked. But I would assume that most of them haven't."

He might not have lived through it the way Ashley has, true. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't very much know what the outcome of being someone's pet project can look like. And given that to the best of his knowledge no one even knows where to find the Observers, it's unlikely that he'll be able to bring the fight to them as easily as he'd been able to with the Cabal.

Unfortunately, the question Ashley asks isn't one that he has the answer to. He knows that the machine works, otherwise he wouldn't have his teleportation and Ashley wouldn't be able to do what she's doing know. But how it works is beyond him.

"I'm not sure anyone knows how it works."

If he's noticed the jab, meanwhile, he's not saying anything about it, yet.

"Most here don't know what they're in for," she points out, rolling her eyes as she shakes her head. "And I don't want to see any of them find out either," she adds, holding onto that at the very least. She isn't sure if it is a concern, but if people like her that know how to watch for these things don't take the chances, what happens to the rest of them? She isn't going to find out. Not if she can avoid it.

"Isn't that comforting." Huffing a sigh as she considers that. "A warning sign might be nice," she notes, though it's frustration with herself more than anything else. Learning was one thing, rushing in was another.

"So despite how they talk around the Inn about things being normal here without weapons or abilities or anything of the like, they just leave a machine laying about that gives out abilities to those that never had and have no idea how to handle it." Kind of herself included in that because who knows how many people felt that rumbling. "Not to mention, let me guess, giving you full access to anywhere you want with a whim and a wish?"

Not reassuring at all. And she's isn't sure which bothers her more. Civilians being able to play with abnormal abilities, or him having access to teleportation in a place where best she could tell, no one could stop him if he wanted to harm others. Yeah, definitely a rock and a hard place thought.

Where's the fun in that?

[But a few seconds later:]

When and where?

my kind of person. I'm good with no holds barred.

there's a clearing by the river on the north shore by the mill. whenever works for you.

We'll get along just fine then.

You a morning person?

Never until here. my life didn't run on 9-5

Evening better for you then?

What did you do before you came here?

Probably. Trying to readjust given the lack of nightlife here.

Security and acquisitions for a private firm. You?

It might not have mixed drinks and EDM, but hopefully it'll be a decent substitute.

Sounds exciting. What did you usually have to acquire?

And studying to become an ER doctor.

EDM? Most of my nightlife is less mixed drinks and more fun. At least to me.

Whatever my boss points me at. Usually those that need medical attention, or who are without help in this world.

You can get that, right? That there's some that won't come in for medical help but doesn't change they need it, you know?</font

Now I'm curious. So what do you do for fun other than sparring?

I get it. That's pretty selfless of you, looking out for those who need help.

Harass people in the criminal underworld. Practice at the range. Ride recklessly through town. Depends on my mood.

You? Do share.

It's what we do. What my mom does. So we try and do what we can for others.

That first one sounds like quite the hobby. You ever get in over your head?

Nothing half as exciting. Mostly go to concerts, go running, or read books.

Not everyone would see it that way. Your mom sounds like a good person. You both do.

Where you get the best information. And yeah, from time to time. Always found my way out one way or another.

Nothing wrong with that. What do you do? For a living.

She is. An amazing woman. I'm just the person that does the grunt work.

Working as an EMT. It's demanding and fast paced, but I love it.

Hey, someone has to do the grunt work. Without that, it might be more difficult for your mom to be amazing.

Well aren't you useful around here then? Good to know.

You're kind. I like that. Thank you.

Yup, so if you manage to get in a scuffle with some shady criminals here, you know who to turn to.

You're not so bad yourself, so no need to thank me. It's always good to have people to trust in these kind of situations.

Promise I will. I won't even hurt them too much first.

We'll talk soon.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive 20 (August & September)

Ashley Magnus | Sanctuary

Powers Roulette

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Text; UN: Ty Rhodes

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