cityofsin_ooc | 🚕 TEST DRIVE 017

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!test drive

🚕 TEST DRIVE 017

Test Drive Meme

Considering apping to the City of Sin, but unsure of who to bring or if they'll fit? Feel free to give the setting a test drive here! These are a perfect way of getting your playing sample done for the application.

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→ Comment with the character you'd like to test drive in the setting, with name and canon in the subject line
→ Choose a scenario or create your own!
→ Tag around!

Possible Scenarios
Please note that all characters will initially arrive in their assigned housing; they are free to explore the City to their heart's content after that!

01. A New Arrival: Hello, New Person! You seem to have found yourself on a sidewalk in the City of Sin with nothing but the clothes on your back and a stomach churning feeling of being displaced. Thankfully, the streets are full of people - Watch out that you don't get mugged!

02. Demonic Presences: You were just minding your own business, weren't you? But that's always when bad things seem to happen, and the City of Sin isn't really that friendly. Whatever bar or street you're hanging out in suddenly go dim, filling the area with an unnerving feeling as the shadows on the walls jump out into reality. We suggest you phone a friend for help, or maybe try running?

03. Party Hard: You've been invited to a massive, elegant party in the Tower District that spills out its doors in welcome. Obviously, this whole thing is weird and you don't know who your hosts are, but maybe you can get some free drinks and food out of it! This place might not be so bad.

04. Prominence: The City of Sin influences its population on a weekly basis. Too bad you came right smack dab in the middle of a heavy Prominence. Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, or Pride: choose your sin and be wicked.

05. Trouble: Not everyone is sunshine and roses here. Some people are violent and cruel, raised in the sludge of a sinful city. And they like to pick on people they think can't fight back. Are you that person? Or are you the Hero who can't stand to watch? Worse yet, could you be the person doing the instigating? Villain.

06. Carnival: The City has carnivals or festivals now and then; you're lucky to catch one! With its open booths filled with cork gun games and funnel cakes, how can someone not have any fun! Go win your darling a stuffed animal, or meet someone new on the spinning cup ride. You might even see someone you know being talked into sitting in the Dunk Tank.

07. Network: There's a network device in your pocket - or at least a familiar object that seems to work in mysterious ways. Perhaps you can take to that and ask for a bit of help? Or maybe you'd prefer to have a little fun with all of this. Surely someone will reply.

08. Wild Card:Choose your own adventure in the game's setting!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I suppose the Emperor is the nominal 'leader' of the Magistrates, but the City has a physical Heart and it's locked in the basement of the Tower. I planned the mission to breach its security for weeks and we did get in, but it still beat us. This was an elite team with abilities you can't even picture, not just a handful of soldiers." He looked at her. "I wouldn't recommend that route. They can manipulate our emotions. They can manipulate... a lot of things." He took a breath, glancing away before looking at her again. "My wife, Devi, had been involved with missions against the City before and when they released her this time... they'd taken her powers." He leveled his gaze at her. "Don't take any action against this place lightly. There's a price. A steep price."

Mystique will folded her arms and listening- he was right she couldn't imagine half of it but she could believe it. Blue gaze momentarily flickering to golden at the obstacles that would wait that route, before returning true blue gaze."Who are the Magistrates. Where do the social elite and the elite teams spend their free evenings?" She had a few ideas but it would be playing the the slow long game on one of these own which would start with reconnaissance work. "There's always a price," she acknowledges matter-of-fact manner it as a price of working in smoke and shadows. "What did it cost you and Charles?" Because if the two were within the City one would have elicited the help of the other.

"Your wife Devi," she asks before flashes a smile before saying, "Congratulations," flashing a look to her friend and mentor in their own friendly and clandestine acknowledging way. Mystique already like the moxie of this woman that Erik called his wife even if she had lost all his powers. "Erik Lehnsherr, a married man at last. Now you must tell me about her..."

"I was dispossessed. I've been in the City for a long time, like I said. I had a good job. I'd built a good quality of life." He glanced at her. "They took it all. And the locals don't want to hire me after what I did." It takes him a moment to admit "I've been working in a dump of a coffee shop for scraps; I can't get anything else." Then a beat. "Charles... his powers were reversed for a little while. Instead of him hearing everyone's thoughts, everyone could hear his. But he hid until it passed. He didn't tell me until after." He looked at her. "I think you should settle in a bit before we start talking about who the most strategic targets are. I want you to really see this place. I want you to really understand the price. It's always personal. They hit you where you hurt."

Erik's punishment had only been maybe half of Erik's punishment. Devi's prolonged absence after the mission, the way she was returned, her injuries, her depowering... they had to know that hurting her hurt him too. And he had a suspicion they sought to diminish him in her eyes. Manipulating her memories, setting a punishment for him that would strike him in a sensitive spot but wouldn't have bothered her that much if it had happened to her.

He looked at Mystique, the graceful line of her profile, the quietly lethal way she moved. One of the previous versions of Charles to grace the City had implied that she and Erik were intimate after Cuba, but she didn't look or sound jealous. Maybe Charles was off his rocker. Maybe they'd only been friends and co-conspirators and he'd made assumptions. Or maybe it had been a while since then and she wasn't the jealous type. He couldn't know and he wouldn't ask.

"Devi is an artist. She was brought here from the 1990's. We met when I was the Chief of Police and she was questioning one of my detectives on how the police handled suspects." He looked at Mystique a little self-deprecatingly. "I showed her grisly crime scene photos and told her off."

She steps forward silent wild cat on the prowl on silent paws, powerful but lithe arms unfold across her chest granting a glimpse of her gentle feminine curves walking besides her mentor and first love in silent commiseration that what his City had stolen from him, debasing his pride, and her brother Charles' sanity. Mystique would not speak of all the past that had transpired between them since Cuba and Erik didn't ask. She knows it was better this way.

This City of Sin sounded like a formidable opponent to its combatants and to dish out punishment to other more innocent parties, so Mystique would take care before she began so as not to bring any additional collateral damage when she chose to act. Chief of Police was a good position to hold, which would be easy to traverse and operate with relative impunity throughout the district to maintain order, and to learn of the inhabitants and the ways of those who could called it home.

Her mind turned back to Devi, Erik's futuristic artist wife, there was much she wants to learn more about the woman who had become Mrs. Lehnsherr enough to make him want to stay. Mirth curling the corners of her lips. It did not surprised in the least to hear of Erik holding up a grisly crime scene photo to try to scare off the artist, but the thought of it having the opposite effect. "That's one way to get a girl's attention." Well, that must have been something to see.

"It sounds like you found yourself a fine young woman, Erik," she compliments. "What powers does your Devi possess?"

Edited 2019-02-05 09:18 (UTC)

Well, it had pissed her off. But it was a small town and they ran into each other at the gym and sparred and she seemed to see his side a bit after that.

"She could control an energy called 'ki'. She used it to fly and to create energy projectiles. It gave her super strength." And he probably wouldn't admit the next thought to anyone he trusted less than Mystique. He looked at her. "She feels vulnerable now."

She'd understand the nightmare of losing her powers. Erik, himself, had experienced that nightmare in the City and it had been Devi that had seen him through it.

"She's still an extraordinary talent. They can't take her skill at painting away."

"Ki," she repeats. A fairly impressive power set, but more the pity that Devi should be stripped of them. A nod of understanding and sympathize with the horror of losing her powers and feeling of becoming so utterly vulnerable to a hostile world.

"Does she know how to protect herself?"

Mystique gave Erik a brief reflexive look. A look which silently cautions and reminds him sadder but wiser experience that they both had known from an early age of their lives: Anything that could be could be taken away if someone was determined or ruthless enough. There was no shortage of cruelty within the world- why should this City be any different? He must do his best to prevent that too from being stolen from Devi.

"I would enjoy seeing her work sometime," she encouragingly smiles. Mystique truly possesses a fondness for the arts and had enjoyed walking the great galleries and museums of the world in the space between missions to quiet her mind.

"I had several, but they were taken with everything else. She's recreating some of them for me, but they're not ready yet. She does have a small gallery at her nightclub. We could go there some time," Erik suggested.

He looked over at her. "She's proficient in hand to hand combat. She can protect herself. That was fine with her... before. But after she got the power... Well. It's hard to go back."

With soft smile briefly warming her face, she readily admits, "I would greatly enjoy that. Thank you." An artist with a gallery at her nightclub? Devi must be a fairly industrious woman. It spoke to Devi's strength to rebuild after losing what had been precious to her both powers and artwork, but such a glimpse at slice of life gave Mystique a better insight of the extent of the City's reach to punish it's denizens.

Mystique will causally meeting his gaze. "Does she wish to be retrained," she offers. Mystique was lethally proficient unarmed combatant, who could more than prepared assess and take upon the task to train a de-powered woman and build up her skills to renew her confidence.

"I think she would like sparring with somebody challenging," Erik said. "I'll ask her," he told her. Then, in all sincerity, "Thank you." He looked at her sidelong. "You'll have to get a job of some sort. The money they give you doesn't go far and I don't have the means to help anymore."

Mystique merely nods. Thank yous were never necessary between them but appreciated all the same. She was happy to restore what she was able after so much had been stolen from Erik and his wife.

"Earning money has never been a problem." Mystique had grown quite resourceful young woman since Erik had known her. Whether being herself or assuming another identity to accomplish a mission objective, she had exponentially grown and learn how to apply her skill set in a variety of ways to fund their cause.

"I have a few ideas," she says to Erik with a sly smirk warming her pretty face. The master strategist always did and this plan use to use her employment to gain intelligence about the City at large, its leaders and inhabitants would begin. "Blue is my color, wouldn't you say," she will cryptically remark, openly meeting his gaze. Law enforcement: She would use this occupation a cover to seamlessly traverse and operate within the unique districts of the City under the protection of a badge and be able to gather information that may prove useful to the both of them.

Edited 2019-02-09 05:27 (UTC)

"If that's what you're interested in, then you may be in luck; I'm acquainted with the new Chief of Police."

In a twist of the City's design, Erik was terminated for his plot to grant the Chosen more freedom and security and was replaced by..... his partner in crime in that very same plot.

"Though I'm sure you don't need my introductions to impress him with your talents."

A small ghost of a smile as she chuckles knowingly at that remark. There was no question she would more than impress the new Chief of Police, but interest had very little to do it. Mystique was being perfectly pragmatic in strategically to pursue the position of a police officer that would grant the shapeshifter legitimate agency to move among the City without too many questions being raised, becoming an effective force for change, and being able to vent her seething wrath at injustices. Naturally, this would be one identity she could assume here to ensure that work did not follow her to her more covert ventures.

Who better than Erik would know how the department operated and Mystique could tailor her approach to secure the desired position? Erik could advise and Mystique could be enact the agenda. A secret alliance of co-conspirators, but they would need to be careful least they would arouse suspicion.

"Tell me more about the new chief and the department."

"He's never done anything like this before and he doesn't really WANT to do it. He's been forced into the role by the Magistrates," Erik revealed. "That being said, he won't hold back. I'm not sure he has half measures in him."

"Good."

Mystique like the sound her chances to make an impression with such a man. Inexperience in his field, unwilling but forced to assume a position from on high, and left to soldiering through all the City's dirty work? Such a man might welcome experienced help and let vital information slip should she be able to gain and ingratiate herself into his confidence as a loyal officer.

"Does he possess powers? Additional police personnel I should be aware of?"

Edited 2019-02-10 07:41 (UTC)

"Oh, he has powers. He can fly. Telekinesis. A host of powers. Apparently he can take powers from other powered people by looking at their brains," Erik said. "So be careful. He's on our side at the moment but he no one to be trifled with."

"Take powers by looking at their brains," she repeated back to Erik with a healthy dose of quizical skepticism but not disbelief. That was a first even for the likes of her.

To be forewarned was to be forearmed. Now there were a few factors Mystique would have to calculate into the equation of her first approach, but it should not be a problem to maintain a professional alliance with such a man.

"And does this panoply of powers have a name and location where I could find him?"

"His name is Gabriel Gray and you can find him at police headquarters in the Coliseum district," Erik told her. He looked at her sidelong. "But you could also call him on the Network."

Good to know. Gabriel Gray: Not a name Mystique would be forgetting any time soon.

Now she flashes him an openly curious look as she asks, "What's the Network?"

"It's like a phone system that you can talk to all the other Chosen on," he told her. "You'll have some sort of phone in your welcome kit."

Her brow will furrow at this. She didn't understand much of what Erik had said and it shows, but then Mystique hadn't make it to her assigned apartment eight at St. John on Second nor discovered the welcome kit awaiting her within. She also wasn't familiar that term he'd used: the Chosen.

"Really, a rotary phone? Is there a copy of phone book in there too?"

Edited 2019-02-11 03:56 (UTC)

"I have a rotary phone. But if you get a decent job you can buy one like the more...modern people have, where you can carry it in your pocket and communicate with video and text, as well as voice," he explained.

Wide eyed in amazement and then skeptical at the wonders of modern technology, Mystique will peer suspiciously at Erik as he wasn't beyond joking with her from time-to-time with a smirk curling her lips.

"Picture, type, and voice? Doesn't it become heavy?"

"It's not heavy at all. But I think you'll have an easier time with the concept once you see one. If mine hadn't been taken, you could see it."

He gestures to an apartment building. St John's on Second in the Coliseum district. "This is my assigned accommodation. Come on up," he said, waving a hand to open the door ahead of them.

"You need to establish safe stashes." It was a practice the meticulous Mystique had taken up to in her time with the Brotherhood so if things went sideways, she and the others always had resources at their fingertips at multiple locations to rely on. This way if one became compromise the rest was not lost.

She would glance up at the towering apartment building with a lingering look, feeling a sensation of with déjà vu washing over her, before glancing over at Erik. "Is it strange to feel like I'm suppose to be here?" As the blond slips inside the open door into the first floor lobby, her eyes instinctively and discreetly flickers about the room, scanning and on alert for potential threats and hazards. Vigilance was second nature to her now. "Why did you choose not remain here?"

"Stashes wouldn't have helped me. They didn't physically come and remove my things. They just... made them all... evaporate."

He looked up at the building. "I don't know. What's your assigned housing?" he asked absently. "I do still keep my place here. I come here sometimes. But Devi and I live in her place. It's nicer. Bigger."

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