cityofsin_ooc | 🚕 TEST DRIVE 🍁 September

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!test drive

🚕 TEST DRIVE 🍁 September

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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Rules | FAQ | Taken Characters | Reserves | Applications

→ 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, and tag around!
→ If you're still tagging in the last TDM, you may continue to do so, or feel free to move your threads here. We have four test drives a year. New test drives are now posted sometime during the months of: March, June, September, December.
→ Threads in the test drive are NOT eligible to use for activity checks, however you can make them game canon if you wish — and only if both players are accepted in the game.
→ Prospective players are always welcome to contact the mod for any questions or clarifications regarding the game.

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

[Crowley has his eyes on the road, on those creatures that are slowly getting braver as the light doesn't grow brighter. They test the edge of the ring of light as if they might dare crossing the boundary of shadows around it, and the demon lets out a soft hiss between his teeth that sounds distinctly snake-like.

The first thing he notes is that the person next to him is English. Or seems to be English. One can never be sure these days. He's still two-stepping around the niggling sensation that he knows the guy (later, he can deal with that later) while he fiddles with the door.]

In your own time. [He says, an undercurrent of urgency in his voice.] Look, do you need help over there? We don't have the time for lock-picking.

I'm not trying to lock-pick anything. Do I look like someone who picks locks?

[ He tries again, another snap of fingers, and the door swings open. All right. Good. The whole not being able to miracle money issue at least seems to be limited to just that. ]

But I'm not certain this will actually help us.

[ Still, he steps aside, in case the stranger wants to take the risk anyway. Might just be their best bet. ]

People who pick locks can look like all sorts.

[The reply comes quickly and slightly waspish, driven there only by his growing alarm that they're very much pinned up against a closed door with not much wiggle room to run if the creatures following him decide to make a lunge for it.

But that snap, the faint tingle of the hairs on the back of his neck that comes along with it--

He knows it.

He knows that feeling like he knows the back of his own hand.

--he slides just enough of his attention away from their current predicament to say one word, quizzical, disbelieving.]

... Angel?

Edited 2019-10-11 21:30 (UTC)

[ There is only one person who calls him that. One person, one Demon, who he's missed dearly, felt the absence of with an emptiness that he hadn't quite ... expected, as much as the idea that Crowley wasn't here had made him feel alone on the very first day.

This isn't Crowley. Shouldn't be. His hair isn't red. The face isn't right. But the man calls him Angel, and it sounds like him, somehow, despite the voice being different, and all of a sudden it rushes over him like a tidal wave, a familiar sensation that he couldn't place only moments earlier. His eyes go wide, lips parting like he's about to speak but nothing comes out, and he stops and stares for several seconds.

What? ]

Crowley?

[ It's quiet, weak almost, and equally as disbelieving. It doesn't make sense.

Not that much has made sense for some time now. ]

Oh my G-- Get in the door, angel.

[That's it, it's him-- It's him and that one thing he's been missing since he got here falls immediately into place. He puts his hand on his companion in an immediately familiar, shooing him through the open door and slamming it behind them moments before the shadowy creatures begin surging forwards.]

Light-- light, put a bloody light on-- [He mutters urgently, before snapping his fingers once-- twice, and the lights in the building flare dangerously bright then dim down to a more acceptable level.

Crowley takes his sunglasses off.]

What the Hell is going on. What have you done at yourself?

[ Will a door actually hold those things? The pushing reminds him of the situation they're in, but at least they're not immediately following, so that's ... something. He locks the door again with another snap, because it's easier and there's nothing stopping him from performing 'frivolous miracles' anymore, and moves further into the shop. Looks like it sells odd and flashy bits and bobs to decorate a room with, and maybe it's worth having a closer look during a less dangerous moment. Right now, though, he just wants to get as far in as he can in case those things follow. ]

What have I done? What have you done? Why is your hair all ... black or, or dark brown?

[ There ought to be a back room or something here, at the very least. ]

Edited 2019-10-11 22:02 (UTC)

What are you talking about? I've always looked like this.

[Aziraphale, at least, looks... more or less not entirely too different. Different in ways that someone who has known him looking one way for six thousand years would notice and be entirely thrown off by, and Crowley manages to look ruffled and slightly insulted all in one expression.

He looks briefly around the shop, but there's really only one thing on his mind right now.]

Azira-- Aziraphale.

[Exasperated, he follows the angel as he retreats further into the shop.]

Would you stop.

Is this really the time?

[ Unfortunately it's a small shop and it's not about to have some kind of giant storage in the back. It's a bit cramped, and not at all as cozy and nice as the back room in his bookshop, but at least it puts more distance between them and those things that made his skin crawl. ]

[He makes a noise that sounds something between agitated and frustrated, and pockets his sunglasses while he walks. This person feels like Aziraphale - he's very certain that it is Aziraphale - but something is wrong and off and he wants to know what it is.]

Well I wasn't planning on going back outside for a bit, so I'd say we have some time. [Crowley insists, putting his back to a wall and folding his arms loosely.]

Unless you'd rather deal with them?

Ah, well, from their shadowy form I thought perhaps a door wasn't guaranteed to hold them back. In fact, I'm still not so sure.

[ And he wonders if they shouldn't be keeping quiet, but who knows if those creatures have hearing. Either way, he supposes at this point they'll have to cross that bridge if they get to it.

If it gets really bad, he at least doesn't need to think too much about letting his wings out. This is Crowley, no matter everything that's off about him. ]

Doesn't seem as if they like the light. The street lights went off before they showed up.

[And he can see in the dark, so despite the fact the lights are on in the shop he's still looking towards the door just in case something happens.

And he's still got half his attention on the angel, occasionally looking him up and down briefly, taking in all those little things that aren't quite right. It's unsettling in a way he's never experienced before.]

... It is you, isn't it?

[ He closes his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. No, those things didn't like the light, but they also pushed through his miracled light without much trouble. Maybe it isn't powerful enough. ]

Last I checked. Former guardian of the Eastern gate, principality ... Well, ex-principality, I suppose.

[ It's odd. He's never exactly been just ... Aziraphale, before. Another sudden realisation that strikes him, gives him pause, gaze flickering uncertainly this way and that a few times before finally settling to meet Crowley's.

He supposes to Crowley, though, that's all he's ever been. So then, he adds softly: ]

It's me.

[Ex-principality. Crowley feels the dry little smirk creep across his face before he can stop it. It's... reassuring, in its own strange way. He's still uncertain, but all he really needs are those final two words.

'It's me.'

It's never mattered to Crowley that Aziraphale was an angel. Never mattered to him that they were meant to be enemies. None of it ever really mattered. He's been a constant companion, a friend, an essential piece in life that is made all too conspicuous in its absence when he isn't there.

He meets Aziraphale's eyes, his own sharp and golden with the pupils slimmed down to thin slits, and he nods.]

Yeah... Yeah, course it is.

[A beat.]

You look different.

[But you still feel the same.]

So do you. You should have red hair.

[ There's no mistaking those eyes, though. Or that infernal smirk that looks right even on a face that doesn't. ]

And you had this ... one eyebrow, [ he lifts a hand to point at his own left one, ] that I swear had a life of its own.

[ No, he absolutely hasn't been paying close attention to how Crowley looks, what are you talking about. It's just what happens when you spend a lot of time around each other for 6000 years. ]

Red--?

[He splutters slightly, his fingers twitching as if he wants to touch his hair just to be sure it's still black. Crowley does, however, manage to raise one eyebrow. That, he can do.]

Something weird is going on. [The demon mutters. As if it really needs saying. He sinks slightly against the wall, deflated.]

The important thing is you're here-- And I'm here. I mean, we're here together and... Ngk. [Help.

He tears his eyes from Aziraphale's face and looks towards the door.]

I mean, I'm glad I found you.

[ Yeah.

That's his demon, all right. Aziraphale smiles wide, warm and fond, and tilts his head down like he needs to keep it secret, the way he can't quite turn his eyes away. Oh, he's glad. In fact, glad is quite the understatement, because he rather feels ... ecstatic, and incredibly relieved. ]

So am I. I've been here a little while now, it was getting ...

[ Empty. Lonely. ]

I've gotten used to having you around. Somewhere. Never too far, I could always count on that. This city is ... not on Earth at all, I suspect. What its purpose is, well. Who can say?

[ There's the slightest grimace at it. It's very possible that the Almighty would have created all kinds of worlds and universes, and of course She wouldn't have mentioned it. Could be Her creation, could have been made the way it is now because of humans being humans, flawed and complicated. Could be something else entirely. ]

[He doesn't need to finish that sentence because Crowley already knows the feeling. That empty space that nothing quite fits into the right way until a certain person comes along. And then, naturally, it must all be steadfastly denied, because it's one thing to be friends but something else entirely to admit that you need the person who is supposed to be on the 'other side'.

At least, that was the problem... but now it's their side... isn't it?]

I don't--

[Hmn. He pushes away from the wall and walks a thoughtful circle around the angel, tapping the tips of his fingers together.]

I was just with you. [Crowley says, and it's not as if he hasn't noticed the place feeling 'off' (strange, like when a recipe gets changed and you know it's different but you can't place how).] How long have you been here?

[ It is. It is their side, and Aziraphale isn't about to go around denying it anymore. That's difficult enough by itself, without saying out loud just how much Crowley matters to him, how much he actually needs him. How clearly he'd felt it as soon as they were well and truly apart.

All this - the nickname, the smirking, the way he brushed over what he decided was too honest and affectionate, the circling - is right. Even in a place that is so wrong, this much is right. All those small habits that only make his fond smile wider.

It doesn't last much longer, though, because the question forces him to think, brow furrowing and lips pursing just slightly. ]

Ah, it must be ... a week or two. I suppose you were with the Aziraphale that would look right. I have met several strange people here. Not human, but something entirely else. It seems there may be more than one ... universe, or reality, or whatever you'd like to call it, and there's no saying the Almighty couldn't have created as many as She wanted.

[ He shrugs, sheepish, because he can only guess. That's all anyone can do about the Almighty. Guess. ]

Perhaps all Earths needed an angel and a demon who wanted to preserve it.

[The Aziraphale that would 'look right' would be saying things like this too. Looking at him with that dopey smile. He'd be trying to make the best of it all even when his worry was obvious.

And the 'She' catches him, trips him slightly, but not too much. Why not, after all. Gender is a construct.]

Yeah... yeah. [Crowley snorts out a soft laugh and shakes his head. He would say something like that.]

Not that I'm feeling particularly preservative about the place at the moment.

[But--

Now there's someone here that he wants to save.

There's a dull bang against the door of the shop, and he jumps, looking sharply in that direction.]

Oh, bless it, what now.

[ Aziraphale jumps at the very same moment, and he takes a tentative couple of steps forward, squinting at the door. If the shadow creatures were intent on following them, wouldn't they have been making noise a lot earlier? ]

Perhaps we could ... have a peek through a window. Surely those things ought to have moved on by now?

Be careful.

[He's of the same mind - if they were going to be chased, they wouldn't have had the chance to have a full conversation beforehand - but he's still twitchy about the idea of going too far in the direction of danger.

Crowley glances the angel's way, then towards one of the windows.]

Alright, come on, let's have a look.

[ He nods, his expression grim, and shuffles quietly towards the window. The light worked for a while, so he could always try that again. And there are always the wings.

Once he reaches it, he leans in as close as he dares to get the door into view. ]

[Crowley leans in too, careful, cautious, and peers out into the street and towards the door.

Outside, everything looks... normal again. The street is lit, and there's nothing waiting for them outside the shop door. He doesn't trust it one bit, but Someone knows they can't stay in here all night.]

... Let's get out of here.

[ It looks fine, and Aziraphale at least allows himself a quiet sigh of relief. He's heard whispers about the City being dangerous beyond the frequency of crime, but it's the first time he sees it for himself.

At least closed doors appear to give them trouble. That's always something. ]

Good idea.

[ If you ask him, it's best if they get out of here as quickly as possible, so he immediately makes for the door, though he's not in quite as much of a hurry to walk out. He opens it, leans out, looks right and left down the street a couple of times before he decides the coast is clear. ]

[He had a good idea! Very, very subtly... he spends half a moment preening before he heads for the door and does his own check up and down the street, equally in no hurry to simply run out there.

But it looks clear. He can't sense anything amiss.

Crowley steps out into the street and frowns, sweeping a suspicious look from one end to the other.]

... Right. Where to, now.

[And that feels strange to say, because normally he'd ask if the angel wants a ride home, but he doesn't know where he lives, here...]

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