TEST DRIVE.

[futurologists]

test drive Firstly, thank you for your interest! Secondly, since the game hasn't begun and therefore characters haven't actually gone to a world yet, this test drive is going to be a little different. It's intended to be presented as a mini-mission of sorts, on a much smaller scale and timeframe than a real mission in-game but with a somewhat similar feel. Because of this, if you join the game, you're allowed to count this as game canon, so make sure you make choices you want to follow your character into the game! You know how this works, so go forth and have fun, and don't forget to reserve! BASICS Anwick might have been a beautiful town once. It's hard to tell now, since most of the buildings are scorched and crumbling, but they do resemble some rural modern-day buildings. Likewise, the people don't appear to be living too much in the past; several are carrying intimidating guns. For years, Anwick has been terrorized by dragons, living in fear of the next attack. Not anymore. The people have just ended a bloody battle. Several people limp towards the outskirts of town, holding their bleeding wounds or new burns. In the center of town lies a slain dragon, the last full-grown one left in the world. To be honest, it looks like they've already taken care of their own problem. A monotonous voice comes through your communication device to explain. You aren't here to help the townspeople; you're here for the dragons. The one motionless on the ground may have been the last adult, but it certainly wasn't the last dragon. Her children are located in a nearby cave, alone and orphaned. They're the ones you need to protect. WYRMLINGS The wyrmlings are still growing up, only the size of a small dog. Each has a slightly different appearance, but all of them have at least a few bright copper scales. They're beautiful, and they look a little bit harmless... at least, until they notice you. These dragons have never been exposed to humans before. Or anyone outside of their family, for that matter. They're small and scared, and they don't know any other way to protect themselves than to attack. Luckily, because of their tiny size, they can't do much more than small burns at a time — but make no mistake, it still hurts like hell. The cave they're located in is pitch-black and labyrinthine. Every footstep echoes throughout it if you aren't light enough on your feet. It'll be difficult to navigate if you don't MacGyver yourself a torch or other form of lighting. Cell phones will work decently, at least until their battery dies, but you don't want to get stuck deep within the cave with no light. If you do manage to get through the cave and rescue some without getting burned to a crisp, the trouble's not over yet. You'll have to find a safe place to stash them until they can be relocated; the townspeople aren't done with their dragon-slaying yet, after all. Walk into town with one in tow, and you're putting a target on your back. (Of course, this doesn't mean you can't do it.) PROMPTS ONE ✗ GOING ROGUE Not feeling too obedient? Maybe you're ignoring the orders and helping the wounded people in town instead... or just coming to gawk. Maybe you're coming to slay the wyrmlings yourself. Whatever it is, at least try to be sneaky about it. TWO ✗ THE DRAGON'S CAVE Try to navigate the cave, fail to navigate the cave and get lost, or try to take the wyrmlings without getting barbecued. Somehow, you get the feeling that you aren't alone. Those footsteps are probably just your imagination... or they could be townspeople coming to kill you and the dragons. Of course, they could also be an ally, but you'd better hope you don't find out. THREE ✗ HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON You've gotten the dragon(s) to a secure campsite out of town, but the fun's not over yet. They're kind of freaking out a little. Some of them are still spitting fire. Even the less aggressive ones are crying shrilly, bound to attract townspeople or at least annoy everyone nearby. It can't be too hard to calm them down; they're basically scaly, fire-breathing babies, right? FOUR ✗ NIGHT TIME It's been a long day, and now it's time for the crew to sleep. Get to know your tentmates, try to ignore them, pray that they don't want to bring along a wyrmling to cuddle... or maybe you've been put on night watch with a few others, in which case you'd better find a way to pass the time until your shift's over. FIVE ✗ CHIT CHAT Network option! Maybe you've got a little downtime and you're bored. Or maybe you're frantically asking the rest of the team how bad a dragon bite is. Maybe you're just trying to figure out how the hell this magical jewelry thing works. No matter what, you get one username to identify you and one only — if you don't enter one, it will default to your real name (for example, Voldemort's would be tomriddle.) Choose wisely... or make it assfarts69, if that's your thing. More information on the network is here! SIX ✗ WILDCARD Do whatever the hell you want. Explore the ashes of the burned city, try to run as far away from this crap as possible, or try to teach a wyrmling tricks. The world is your oyster.

Comments

[animalize]

Yeah, but I have two hands. Two dragons, two hands.

[ she shrugs, like it doesn't really matter that much. it's not like it's that much extra effort to keep another winged chihuahua close, not when she can do so much more. at clarke's offer, she shrugs again, noncommittal. the dragons do seem a bit calmer now that they've found each other; perhaps it is best to stay together. like a business relationship, sort of. just two babydragonsitters. ]

I'm pretty good at finding my way around, [ malia says, sniffing the air a little bit. ] Like, tracking and stuff. But Thing's not crying so loud now that another one's around, so yeah. Let's stick together.

[ yeah, that's right. she named it thing. this is animal cruelty, probably. whatever. ]

...I'm Malia. [ it's said like an afterthought, something that just crossed her mind. she's still getting used to introducing herself to people, but if she's introducing thing, she might as well. ]

[regida]

You might need one of those free, to defend yourself.

[ it’s the reason she had been trying to be quiet down here in the first place, lest she make too much noise, alert the wrong person to her presence. she hasn’t forgotten the unrest outside, the townspeople carrying guns. it doesn’t seem that far into the realm of impossibility that a few could come down here with the intention of ridding themselves of the threat of dragons and their fire altogether. she doesn’t know what the two of them would do, if faced with a barrel pointed at them, maybe she could act as a distraction for… malia to escape. without her being consciously aware of it, her brow has become to knit, expression taking on the suggestion of something more severe.

it hasn’t escaped her notice, how malia sniffed the air as if she could smell the exit, the route to the mouth of the cave. but doesn’t comment on the strangeness of the gesture. ] Tracking, that’s useful.

Useful enough to make you employable, maybe.

[ because it has crossed her mind that whatever brought them here, wasn’t an accident, maybe they were chosen. it’s natural for her after everything to be suspicious, of the intentions of those around her, alastair now is the focus of all of her scrutiny.

it’s an afterthought as well, but she’s not so far gone not to tack on— ] Clarke.

[animalize]

[ clarke smells... unhappy? certainly not happy. unsafe. maybe the cave scares her, malia reasons. she could be afraid of the dark, or hell, dragons. it hadn't even crossed her mind not to believe what she'd been told; her brutal honesty is her downfall in many ways. one way is that she assumes everyone else is brutally honest, too. lying just seems stupid to her, all that energy wasted on something pointless. ]

Maybe. I guess. I'm not the best one where I come from.

[ it's not that special of a skill. scott is better at it than her. so is derek. they've been at it longer, after all. but they're not here now, so she supposes that makes her the best.

it's a kind of scary feeling.

she hadn't considered the ramifications of walking out the door on the pack. it means she doesn't really have a pack. there's no scott there to tell her what to do. while she's the type to march to her own beat entirely, it's intimidating to have to know what the right thing to do is all the time. scott's good at that. her? not so much. ]

If we have to defend ourselves, I can take them. I'm stronger than I look. And fast.

[ clarke has a roughened feel to her, but she's not supernatural. that much malia can tell. who's to say whether she's any good at self-defense? chances are malia wouldn't stick around to help if things got too bad, but as long as things stay non-life-threatening, why not offer her protection? ]

[regida]

[ the assertion i’m stronger than i look startles her out of her thoughts of guns and the townspeople carrying them, the look in their eyes like they may be ready to use them again. she gives malia another look, assessing—because she’s just a kid. though she supposes she could be considered one herself. hasn’t thought of herself as one in what feels like an age.

though. octavia was just a kid as well, had something in her that made her strong, something that made her get back up every time she had been knocked down. something in malia reminds her of the same, speaks of resilience, and her mouth curves upwards just slightly unbidden. ] I don’t doubt it.

[ out of anyone else’s mouth it might sound mocking, but the words are steady, level, and maybe just a bit wistful if malia is paying close enough attention.

she had seen octavia slit a man’s throat through his hazmat suit, and after that, she supposes she can’t judge anyone based on appearance alone. on age.

her dragon squirms, this time just trying to make itself more comfortable in the bracket of her arms, and she glances down at it with a little less exasperation and just a hint of sympathy. it weighs less than a rifle in her arms, it’s only a child, and its already being hunted. ]

Do you want to lead the way?

[ it’s a test of sorts. she’d been keeping track of her steps, the way back to the mouth of the cave, and knows which direction they should head in. she tells herself it isn’t out of order, verifying what malia has told her, because it’s only common sense to know the skills of those around her.

especially malia who she is close to naming ally in her mind. ]

[animalize]

[ clarke appears to have more empathy towards her dragon than malia does. hers is just so annoying. she knows it's a baby, and she can remember what it was like when her sister was a baby, just barely— but her sister had been her sister. (adoptive sister, really.) this dragon is nothing more than a thing she has no emotional attachment to. scott probably would've already adopted it and raised it as his own child, kira would be cuddling it, and even stiles—

she doesn't want to think about stiles.

malia awkwardly pets at her dragon in the hopes of soothing it a bit. thing seems just as unenthused with malia as she is with it, looking at her strangely. ]

—Yeah, [ she answers; malia never leads the way. she follows scott, follows the pack. not anymore. she's going to be her own alpha. ] I wanna get out of here.

[ and hand thing off to someone else; unfortunately, thing will decide that tormenting her is its purpose in life, but she doesn't know that yet. malia crouches to the ground, still clutching her dragon, but leaving one hand free to feel the ground. see if anyone's passed through. she's silent for a moment, narrowing her eyes as she listens for the sound of wind and sniffs, hoping to go further away from the dragon smell. ]

I think it's this way. [ malia points, looking back up at clarke before rising to her feet again. thing squirms around and malia gathers it back into her arms; it never had a chance, not with her strength. ] I guess your dragon likes you.

[regida]

[ she watches as malia crouches, runs her hands over the cave’s floor. wonders at it, because it fits with what she’s seen from the grounders, how they track game. people. malia points in the direction she had mapped in her head as the way out, and she nods, pleased. there is a moment of pause, as the other girl’s words register and settle, maybe the dragon in her arms does like her. she isn’t sure it’s the case, but it’s a pleasant thought nonetheless. she’d read once, in the library on the ark, that animals are sound judges of character. wonders if dragons run on the same thread, and privately thinks if they do then there’s no way that it would. ]

Maybe it just wants to get out of here as much as we do.

[ which isn’t out of the realm of possibility, the cave is dark to a point where she has to squint to make out the finer details of malia’s expression, the walls are damp, and most of all it’s a good place to be cornered. maybe the dragon in her arms is still now, complacent because it knows it’s being carried to safety. or maybe the phenomenon is purely due to the fact it has a companion in the dragon that malia is holding.

she thinks that it must be natural, instinctual to feel sorry for something so small. compares the sympathy for it’s plight to what she had felt on seeing the townspeople outside limping with burns and opened blisters on their skin, lacerations filled with debris. caused from claws, the same ones that are on her dragon now, only larger.

large enough to tear into flesh, make wounds that could cause someone unfortunate to bleed out. she doesn’t blame the townspeople for protecting their own. it’s what she would have done in the same position.

though if a townsperson showed up now, gun lifted and cocked, she would hold the bundle in her arms tigher to her chest. say that they were taking the dragons somewhere else, far enough that they wouldn’t be able to come back once grown and cause the same damage. even though that may not be the truth.

tilting her head, she motions for malia to lead. content with following.

still, she is curious : ] Where did you learn how to do that?