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TEST DRIVE MEME #4

ARRIVAL
You remember a dream.
Or maybe nightmare is more accurate.
It was full of hellfire nipping at your skin and a sensation of being pulled down no matter how much you struggle or cry for help. There's a voice that feels like it's coming from all around you at once. Contrasting with the nightmare unfolding around you, it's smooth as silk. It makes you want to listen with every bit of attention you can muster in the moment.
"Judgement has come upon you, but not to worry. It can still be undone."
The voice promises you redemption for your sins. It promises you a better life and everything you could ever want, if only you just stop struggling so much.
And so you do.

Everyone wakes up in the same room initially. The room is done up in red with a cushy bed, a window, an old TV in the corner on a desk, and a few Hieronymus Bosch paintings lining the wall. There's a bathroom to clean up in and any belongings will be sat around the room to be gathered later. There's a duffel bag provided for your convenience.

They'll quickly notice the list of their sins written with their blood on a bedside table on an old piece of parchment. This will mean the list is tied to them and can't be changed or tampered with. They'll also receive their device to connect with others and the network. It won't be anything terribly fancy. As a matter of fact, it looks like a very old Blackberry type phone.
Once characters are ready to leave the room, they'll head down long, winding halls. They're dimly lit and ominous feeling. They may encounter fellow sinners or demonic staff that will direct the newcomer down to the lobby to get their actual room key to settle in. They may be pushy, they may border on courteous. It really just depends on the mood of the staff at the time and how they're treated in return. Eventually, everyone comes to stairs that lead downward.

Once down to the lobby, you'll notice the front desk manned by a demon who looks bored out of its mind. To the side of him is the door to the kitchen where guests may help themselves. To the right is a small duty free shop that seems to have a surprisingly normal, expected stock of items. Look around a bit further, there will be a tiny bar tucked in through a corner door. It seems pretty well-stocked and best of all, self-serve if you want to get away from your demonic hosts for a bit. Of course there's some seating, bar games, and a jukebox tucked in the corner if you'd rather stay and socialize a bit.
Please note that all the songs on the jukebox are appropriately hell-themed. Hopefully Sympathy for the Devil is universally loved.
STAND YOUR GROUND
Prompt I
It seems like not long after everyone has either returned from the maze or arrived fresh to hell that the storms started yet again. A bit more sporadically and not the constant downpour of the previous month, but it's still blood and fire raining from the skies, along with claps of thunder and lightning strikes that seem far too close for comfort. Fortunately, there's not as much flooding this time. Unfortunately, a particularly loud clap of thunder and lightning that strikes close to the hotel seems to leave it and surrounding establishments in the dark. Quickly, the hotel becomes a cold place, urging all guests to to move to the lobby for some warmth.
A roaring fire will be going and there will be hot drinks and snacks kindly provided by the staff while they try to work on correcting the problem.
Eventually, some rather panicked goblin-like demons come rushing up from the basement. They're half-singed and dirty looking from their adventure, so it doesn't seem to bode well for the power returning any time soon. Guests who listen closely will hear the demons apologizing profusely for 'letting them escape' and much more worrisome than that, about how it looks like there might have been some tampering going on down there. The staff is quick to tell the demons to hush and go, not to worry the guests or let word get back to Lucifer.

It's okay, they reassure, it's not that bad down there! The lights provided all seem to flicker dangerously though, almost completely going out at times, as you descend creaky stairs to a lower level. Apparently the demons are tired of risking their hide to get the power back on, but they're quite happy to risk all the guests'.
The basement is slightly flooded in some areas, bloody rain making its way through cracks in the foundation. It reeks of dampness and mold. There are things that skitter in the corner of your eye as you venture in further. Rats, bugs, and a few smaller beasts.
No one will be given more to go on than they're looking for a breaker box to reset, and hopefully, that'll get everything back up and running again. Unfortunately, there are so many twists and turns that it gets confusing after a while... How come the basement looks much bigger than it has any right to be anyway?
The basement is also jam packed with boxes just begging to be gone through. Most of them just seem to house an odd amount of clothing and what may be personal items left from previous guests, others hold decidedly more satanic and occult items. But if there's anything you're looking for in particular, from jewelry to a coat to a rad new walkman, you'll probably find it down here.
Keep going and you'll come across a room with a heavy steel door. If anyone should venture inside, they'll see a dungeon inside. There are demons chained to the walls in various ways, strung from the ceiling, or caged up that seem to be wasting away and forgotten. If they notice you, they'll try to plead with you to let them out, bribing you with information on Lucifer that no one else knows, but it's probably for the best you don't. There seem to be a few free spaces waiting for new additions after all... and besides, they've got to be locked down there for a reason, right?

Let them go against all better judgement and they'll most likely just rattle something off while they take off running as quick as they can.
Listen closely enough and you might hear tortured screams as they're presumably killed upon reaching the main floor of the lobby. It was probably inevitably, so don't blame yourself.
Anyway, moving on you keep going past the dungeon, and you'll finally find the room with the furnace and breakers to reset. It shouldn't take long to flip them back, but they'll continue to trip on and off for a while and may require multiple groups to make a return trek down to reset them until the demons finally correct the issues with the wiring that is causing these outages.
Speaking of issues with the wiring and what may have caused them... Hang around the bar or lobby enough, or around any area of the community, and you may hear muttering of something called The Veiled Order from beyond the gates. Some of the demons seem excited, others seem nervous. If asked, the demons may brush guests off. If drunk enough or given proper incentive, they may tell a story about a group of rebellious demons that Lucifer tried to cast out. They were damned to live in the burnt forests outside the gates, but sometimes, they still cause trouble.
Apparently, they thought they could be better rulers than Lucifer and were quite discontent with how he maintains Hell.
Some may say they're worried the Order is causing mischief by messing with the hotel, having had ample opportunity to sneak back within the gates. Others will laugh heartily and insist that it's a dumb tale to scare young demons, nothing more. Certainly nothing to worry about.
Another thing guests may overhear or bribe out of demons around the bar or club is talk about the call of infernal nightmares. If pressed for more info, the demons won't give much beyond the fact that it's a miserable thing, entirely miserable.
Prompt II

The staff will be offering a reward of a gourmet dinner of the guest's choice if anyone around the hotel will help to capture these little pests and bring them to the front desk. Afterwards, they'll be returned to the basement and locked away again.
Otherwise, people are free to ignore them or laugh at the people who can't seem to shake the little creatures following them around.
Careful though, breathing them in can make your lungs rot. Nasty way to go probably.
REACH UP HIGH
Prompt I
Warnings: cutting, blood, torture.
Whether you've been here for months or you're freshly arrived, your demonic overlord expects some participation. You can try and shirk the responsibility, of course. You can bargain your way out of it for a while. But eventually, you may find yourself trapped in a room just off the gym that's been fondly dubbed the torture room. It has all manner of equipment in there, along with an iron maiden even.
But don't worry about any of that right now. It probably won't be used.
You can try the door, but even with super human strength or every lock picking skill in the book, you won't be able to open it.

"Know that honesty is a good place to start on your road to redemption. Sure, it can be terrifying at first, but that's why you've been given a partner in this journey. Pick up your knives and carve at least one sin into each other's flesh. Help in the journey to be candid with everyone you should meet here!"
The voice echoes all around you again, just like in the nightmare, and once again there's the pull to give in. This voice really does seem like it has your best interests at heart.
"If you need a bit of encouragement, we'll be giving it shortly."
It isn't a lie or idle threat either. The longer you wait to do what's been requested of you, the more shallow cuts that will appear on both of your bodies. Are you really prepared to endure this pain when giving in would be so much easier?
And more than that, are you willing to let another suffer along with you?
Eventually, the cuts will stop if you suffer them long enough, but you'll have failed this challenge and sustained more damage than if you'd just gone along with it. Satan will also be very disappointed in you.
Prompt II
"A generous nature is an important part of being a righteous person. Greed is a sin my Father frowns on quite a bit. What I ask you to do today is to go out and find a gift for that special someone or friend of yours and give them something to smile over."

And if you don't, expect to be in excruciating pain for a few hours, and struggling for a breath. If you can't share a gift, then you don't deserve to share all that oxygen, do you?
FOLLOW ME DOWN
Prompt I
Warnings: Alcohol and drug abuse, potential non-con/dub-con.

You may not get much of a chance to have that in hell after all. So one drink won't hurt, right? Nor will one more after that.
There will also be every sort of party drug available that might tickle your fancy. There's no harm in experimenting, is there? You're already in hell and the staff is handing it out and so helpfully showing you how to use it, or recommending a type that would suit what you want.
You've presumably done your atonement for the day, yes? So cut back a bit, let loose. Hell might be pain and torment, but it's also a nonstop party in the bar.
There's even a brand new stage and a karaoke machine for those feeling brave!
Ask the staff demons very nicely and you may even get less scrupulous drugs as well. Things that will convince your fellow damned souls to tell only the truth for a fun prank, or perhaps even potions that will make someone so enamored with you, they won't take their eyes, or hands, off you. How dare they give you the cold shoulder earlier, right? You've got them now.

Relax and enjoy your night. Coming here and facing your sins is the hard part, so surely you deserve to have a little fun, right?
Prompt II
Warnings: sex, aphrodisiacs, potential dubcon/noncon, potential kinks.
The club within Penance has always offered many options for debauchery, but now it seems they're stepping things up a bit. There are themed rooms for sex machines (the same that were present at the carnival) that can be controlled by a demon or a partner. If asked, they'll gladly set you up on stage to put on a performance for the entire club.
They won't side eye you for any other kink you ask for either, however depraved it is.
But the succubi are handing out potions again, that can be taken willingly or not. The purpose of them is to strip away all of your inhibitions... or in certain cases, your mind as well as your will. It will leave those who take the potion as a perfect little pet or slave for someone. It doesn't matter if you're generally strong-willed or not interested in submitting. You'll find yourself wanting to please someone until it's the most important thing on your mind. Maybe until it's the only thing on your mind. It doesn't even matter if you generally hate or adore the person you've attached yourself to, you'll find yourself sinking down on your knees anyway.
This is the perfect time to play out all those daddy kinks, domination and submission scenes, or perhaps a bit of pet play. It doesn't matter what theme of the game you choose, you're suddenly all for it no matter what.
Because you just want to make someone happy, even if what makes them happy is hurting you as much as pampering.
MISC.
Thanks for joining us for our fourth test drive meme, sinners! Reserves are now open for the upcoming app round on August 1st
If you want to speak with Lucifer, you're free to text or pray to him right here
If you let a demon loose in the dungeon, reply here to see what tidbit of info they revealed!
If you have a comment, suggestion, etc. please go here!
Rules | Taken | Reserve | App
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no subject
He had thought after the correctional facility he would have been, that those horrors were enough to make him stronger. But now he was dead and still he couldn't bring himself to touch the knife, to hurt another person.
To even contemplate hurting another person, even if the paper with his sins had murder right there, at the top.
"I... No... We... This is wrong."
no subject
Kavinsky stepped closer, eyebrow raised, face screwed up in a derisive sneer. They were taking too long--a rapid, aching cut slashed across the back of his hand, not quite bleeding just yet but giving that rapid sting, like a paper cut.
"Listen, kid. The sooner you stop being a little pussy about all this, the sooner you can go run and hide."
He held the knife out. "But I got a long list and plan on doing it in Cyrillic, so you better go first."
no subject
"You... You're hurt. Something hurt you." He doesn't want to take the knife, he can't hurt this boy. He can't take a knife and deliberately bring pain to someone else. It's wrong, he can't. But something is hurting him regardless. Welcome to Hell, Shion barely understands the concept, a place of punishment. This boy seemed so calm about it, more angry, angry at Shion for being scared, for being weak. In many ways like Nezumi would be angry at him, if he could see him right now.
no subject
He pressed the handle of the knife against the kid's chest, stepping in until they were close, just the knife itself holding them apart. His grin was feral.
"Quit stalling," he said. "The sooner you do it, the sooner you can pretend none of this ever happened. Where you wanna mark me up, sweet boy?"
no subject
What he wants to do is sink into the floor and scream and hope that somehow this whole situation solves itself. But it won't. He knows that. But he's stalling. He tries to take a breath, it comes out much shakier than he wanted. The knife is up against his chest, the boy is too close and he's trapped.
Just do it and pretend nothing happened? He's not sure he can do that. He won't be able to forget. His hand comes up to touch the knife, but he's shaking too much. "I can't... I won't hurt you."
It's a whisper, he knows he's trapped. He knows that essentially he has no choice. But he also can't bring himself to actually take the knife, to cut into skin, to draw blood.
no subject
It was a sneering sort of curse, brought on by another vicious little prick of a cut, this time on his cheek.
He shifted his grip on the knife a little and tugged at the other guy's sleeve. His expression was stern, unsympathetic at this point. "Fine, if you're just gonna pussy out about it, I'll start getting mine out of the way, then."
no subject
Pain is just pain, being hurt is better than hurting others. Nezumi would disagree, but he disagreed with a lot of what Shion believed. Shion couldn't help being who he was. He nodded, still trembling, still fighting back tears. But this had to be better. He can't bring himself to hurt this boy. Blood doesn't scare him, it's just blood. All humans had it. Pain does scare him but he will live. Or not live, if he's already dead. He knows the pain of a cut won't come anywhere close to the pain of being infected by the bee.
"Right." His voice came out too high, too quiet. "Alright. You can do it."
no subject
He pressed the knife into soft, fair flesh. Red flashed up almost immediately. It was sharp, but that didn't make the process any easier. He began to carve the letters in--in Cyrillic, as he'd promised. He knew his sins backwards and forwards and sideways.
He didn't go with the one that he knew would be the longest, written in his native tongue. Instead, he settled for a constant, something that he'd been shamed for but that consumed him. The letters formed slowly.
П-О-Ж-...
no subject
He glances down again at the letters. He can't read them, he vaguely recognises them. Letters from an ancient language, a writing system not used in No.6? Earlier though the boy had said he was planning on writing in Cyrillic. The name of the language perhaps.
"What... What does it say?"
Curiosity is pushing past fear, he's interested. New knowledge is new knowledge even when it is literally being carved into your skin.
no subject
"Hold still," he said.
-Е-Л-А-...
"And don't ask any more stupid questions."
no subject
No stupid questions was a rule there as well. He watched further letters being carved, watched the blood well up. The cuts are not deep, they aren't going to cause him any serious harm. It's just pain. He tries to tell himself all of this.
He opens his mouth a few times, as if he is going to speak but closes it again. No stupid questions... "Is Cyrillic the name of your language? Where do you come from?"
Curiosity is one of his more annoying traits.
no subject
"Stop talking," he snarled, a sharp punctuation in the words. He leaned back in and finished up the word. Н-И-Е. It spelled, in Bulgarian, coveting.
Kavinsky tossed the knife aside and stepped back. He was quiet a moment. "Cyrillic is an alphabet."
no subject
Red eyes flicked up again at the words. Not a language, an alphabet. He nodded and looked down again at the letters in his skin. "Are you going to tell me what it says?"
He had been told to ask no stupid questions but he had also answered nothing yet and not it was finished. Now it said something.
Perhaps it was personal but still Shion wanted to know what it was that had been written into him.
no subject
He went back to the table and picked up his list. He fished a lighter out of his pocket and set it to the edge. It took a moment to catch, and there was an awful smell to it, but Kavinsky didn't care. He held onto it until the flames were rapid, and then tossed it aside.
Then he picked up the other list, looking it over. He rolled his eyes a little bit. "Ignorance? Since when is being stupid a fucking sin?"
no subject
He looks over as the other boy picks up his list, but before Shion can read any of the sins on there it is on fire and tossed to the side. No way to know then, no way to figure it out. How does this boy know an ancient alphabet well enough to be confident enough to carve his sins in it?
His own list of sins is something that he has already memorised, he can't deny any of them, they are all things he has done, things he is. His eyes settled on the other boy again, still panicked but also sad.
"When it hurts others." His voice was quiet, he's not completely sure what his list means by ignorance but he can guess. Being from No.6, being obedient to a system that caused so much harm. Harm he has seen now. "When it leads you to ignore the suffering of others."
no subject
But they were stalling, and Kavinsky hadn't had anything carved into him. He felt the next little flick of some magic or curse, cutting his skin. He lifted his shirt to reveal a thin line of red on his stomach. Like a kitten scratch. He dropped his shirt back down and hopped up on the edge of the table.
"You know, the longer you keep me waiting, the longer we're both stuck in here. Don't you want to get out?"
no subject
He's distracted a moment later, a pain. A different pain than the one in his arm from where he was cut. Another slash, another shallow cut reminding him that they were not done. If it was just him he could endure, hope that he wouldn't be held forever. But the other boy lifted his shirt, he was being hurt too. Because of Shion. Because he couldn't do what he was meant to.
"I'm sorry..." He tries to keep his breathing even as he looks around for the knife, his hands are shaking so much as he picks it up and he looks at it like it is an alien object, like he has never seen one before. But he has to do this. Hurt this boy or watch this boy be hurt. It's not a choice at all.
no subject
He watched Shion pick up the knife, but that tremor wasn't going to do. He got up off the table and came closer, grabbing Shion by the hand to steady it. But he was silent now. Just steadying, standing still and waiting.
no subject
It's not like he has never cut anyone before. He has never done so to hurt, but to help. He has cut bullets out of people before, out of Nezumi. This isn't the same, not at all but in a way it is exactly the same. It's only cutting, he can do that. The hand on his hand, even if he doubts there is any kindness meant, calms him and he nods, a determined look in his eyes.
"Okay." He nodded and tentatively, but without trembling reached with his free hand for Kavinsky's spare arm. "Ready?"
He asked as if he weren't the one who had cause this whole thing to take longer than it should have.
no subject
He stared down at Shion, poised, almost vibrating. It wasn't nerve, but there was adrenaline coursing through him, making every breath a vibrant shiver of excitement.
Maybe he was a little turned on. He'd deal with that later.
no subject
He knows every word on there and so he knows which one is the shortest and that's the one he goes for. The less pain, the least amount of cutting.
Just like surgery. He takes a breath and brings the knife to Kavinsky's arm. His cuts are just deep enough to break skin and despite the fear in his eyes very precise.
L... Y... I...
no subject
A fine tremor worked through his arm, the effort of keeping still and the adrenaline jangling through his veins.
no subject
Just two letters left. N... G.
The second the last part of the G was carved into skin he stopped, dropping the knife like it was a snake in his hand. He is trembling again, now that the need to be still and focused is over.
He feels sick with what he has done, the pain he has caused, the blood he has spilled. The mark is stark on the other boys arm. He had done that.
no subject
The door gave a very soft click. They'd fulfilled their obligations.
Kavinsky grinned around the cigarette, feral. "You can run away now."
no subject
The door clicked and Shion backed off the moment the boy grinned at him. He paused at the door though.
"Are... Are you sure you'll be alright?"
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