Test Drive Meme 008

[sinfulmods]

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 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 chruning 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, filing 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 at the Tower that spills out it's doors in welcome, by someone who calls themselves the Emperor. Obviously that's weird, 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 it's 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 choice of 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? Villian. 06. Carnival: The City has carnivals or festivals now and then; you're lucky to catch one! With it's 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. Wild Card: Choose your own adventure in the game's setting!

Comments

[unyieldingebony]

Technically it was only three questions, and one of them was rhetorical. Quite manageable, really. "He's twenty-one. And--" Scorpius tried to put the difference into words but found himself coming up short. "Well, for one thing, he was married to another man."

[whereagainst]

"He's younger than us?" Albus said it incredulously, not even registering in the moment that Scorpius could possibly be a different age than him as well. That'd be too much, at the moment. He scrubbed his hand over his face habitually, but when Scorpius continued he stopped, staring at him through his fingers like he couldn't possibly have heard him correctly. "He was? You're having me on."

On the one hand: alarming. On the other hand: relief. On the other, other hand: he must have lost his mind.

[unyieldingebony]

"Younger?" And again he was thrown off, but only for a moment. Logically, that comment could only make sense if Albus was older than him. "How old are you?"

Scorpius was putting the rest of it aside for the moment, while they figured this part out. It seemed far more urgent.

[whereagainst]

It was then that something unsettling started to form in Albus' mind, the way Scorpius had reacted to his casually affectionate touch. His mouth felt dry, suddenly, realizing it wasn't because he'd done anything wrong.

"Twenty-three," he said, quiet suddenly in an uncharacteristic way. "How old are you?"

He felt like he could guess.

[unyieldingebony]

Twenty-three. Merlin. This was getting complicated. "I'll be nineteen very soon." Sure, he'd skipped a few months, going straight from June to the very end of October, but it was still technically true, and now... he didn't want to make the sudden gap between them even wider.

[whereagainst]

"Merlin." Yeah, all right, that wasn't exactly great. "Nineteen," he echoed, quiet. Not even though, which meant... That suspicion had been right. How the hell was he supposed to broach that subject? "So... That's a pretty big difference. Sorry for the like, the weird touching, I know we didn't do that kind of thing then, I just..."

He was rambling because he was nervous, and panicking, and Scorpius had no idea they were together, much less how long. He wondered if he wasn't different too somehow, and it made his stomach twist uncomfortably.

[unyieldingebony]

And there was that all-too-familiar spike of fear that he might lose his best friend. What if this was too strange? What if there were other differences they didn't yet know? He swallowed back the fear and the questions burning at the tip of his tongue and smiled. He'd hidden his longing for more between them for years, he could continue to do it easily. "It's alright. I'm so glad you're here, Al."

[whereagainst]

There was a silence that drew out a moment after that, and Albus took the time to search Scorpius' face, eyes flicking over his expression. He liked to think that he'd gotten better at reading him over the years, pushed past his own habit of obliviousness, but maybe it was really that Scorpius had opened up to him more.

He opened his mouth, closed it again, shoved how he felt back down into his chest, then smiled. "Well if you're stuck here I can hardly complain, right? Like hell I could let you go anywhere without me."

Maybe if he hinted, he could tell something. Anything.

[unyieldingebony]

Scorpius laughed softly, his smile growing to something a little more real. It certainly seemed like the Al he knew. "It's not all bad here, though things can definitely be dangerous. Let's get off the street to talk more."

[whereagainst]

'Course he was the Al he knew. Had to be, right? There was still a lot of worry that coiled in the pit of his stomach, but he felt a little better. "Right. Off the street. Let's go, then. Show me the way?" Since he had no idea where they were going. "Then you can tell me all sorts of things."

[unyieldingebony]

"Of course." Scorpius led him into a nearby coffee shop. Not having the faintest idea how to cook for himself meant he'd been finding all sorts of nice little places to eat around the city. Once they'd settled at a table that was tucked away into a corner, he spoke. "I'm not sure where to begin. I've only just gotten here myself, really." He paused thoughtfully. "The other people who have been brought here are, for the most part, friendly. Quite a few of them have mistaken me for Draco, actually." His tone for that is a little wry, and he's certain Albus will completely understand why. "He-- Draco, that is-- he's been here for three years. And almost no one here knows about the war at all."

[whereagainst]

Albus followed diligently, not pausing until Scorpius instructed him to and settling quietly at the table. He listened to everything he had to say, frowning and resting his elbows on the table. He put his hands together clasped, resting his chin atop them. He was tense, eyes sharper than usual. It was a rare show of anxiety that Scorpius would recognize but he couldn't quite rein it in.

"'Course they did, because they haven't got proper eyes." As though Albus didn't just have the experience to tell the difference easily. And a Draco that was far older. Finally he sighed, trying to process everything properly. "So he's been here since he was eighteen?" He could understand how being in a place where no one knew about the war would be appealing. It sounded appealing to him, even.

He feels really tired suddenly, more so than before. "Can I ask you something?"

[unyieldingebony]

Scorpius could completely understand his anxiety. His own had been keyed up since his arrival, and if he weren't so used to pressing on in spite of it, who knows what would have happened.

He nodded in response to Albus' first question. He didn't know all the details of Draco's life here, was sure he wouldn't be told everything even if he asked, but it was clear to him that quite a bit had happened in those three years.

The second question struck him as a bit odd, though. He'd thought the answer would be obvious. "Of course, Al." Though whether he'd tell the whole truth or not depended on the question...

[whereagainst]

At first he just nodded because he wasn't sure how to ask what he wanted to say. He felt crazy, like none of this should be happening - this really was part of why time-turners couldn't work out. Shouldn't exist. He breathed out slow, foot tapping on the floor.

"What were things like before you got here? For you." A breath's pause. "For us."

A brief moment before he thought maybe that would sound nuts, because Scorpius wouldn't know what he was trying to pry for and he did know that they weren't together then, he didn't even know that about Scorpius until later.

"What I mean is, we're friends, right?" Yeah, this wasn't going as smoothly as he'd originally imagined and suddenly he felt like he was trying to fix what he'd just screwed up. "Sorry," quick and harried, "I know this sounds crazy and stupid."

[unyieldingebony]

At first he'd been about to explain that he'd been preparing for his internship at the Ministry, but then Albus continued explaining his question and he wasn't sure what to say.

"I-- Of course we're friends. Is that not-- Are we no longer--" He can't even finish those sentences, it's too horrifying to him. But that didn't make sense either, Al had certainly acted like they were friends even before he knew about the difference in their ages. "I know we had that fight before we graduated but-- we settled that."

[whereagainst]

"No, we're definitely still friends, I just--" He was frustrated with himself more than anything now, because he should have just kept his stupid mouth shut. "I just... Don't worry about it. I'm just feeling, you know, a little crazy. It's a lot, coming here. I was worried maybe we'd be different for each other too."

Nailed it. "It just startled me when I got here and I..." When Scorpius was so surprised by his touch, he meant. He suddenly felt a lot less like he was nailing it. "Sorry I touched you like that without your permission." Yeah, that'd do.

[unyieldingebony]

"It's alright. It really is a lot, I understand." Scorpius replied. He was used to Al's occasional ramble leading to foot-in-mouth. He wanted to ask about the touch, desperately, but he bit back the question. "Do you have other questions I can answer?"

[whereagainst]

"I. Well." He scrubbed a hand over his face, scowling and letting out a slow sigh. "What am I supposed to do now, I guess." It was simple enough, but half to himself - sure, what was he supposed to do here, but what was he supposed to do with a boyfriend that didn't know he was?

Suppress his feelings, probably.

[unyieldingebony]

"Same thing I'm doing, most likely. Look for a job. Try to make a life here while we all try to figure out what the hell is going on. And, of course, deal with whatever the City decides to through at us next. You should have a place to live but it might not be very good. The first place I ended up in--" He shuddered at the memory. "There were roaches. Fortunately I ran into Draco the first night I was here and he allowed me to move in with him, so I didn't have to stay there."

[whereagainst]

Getting a job he could handle. It was the most normal thing so far, really. So he nodded, listening to the rest of what Scorpius had to say - then grimaced a little. "Sounds even worse than my first flat." Which, he realized belatedly, he hadn't had when they were nineteen. Perfect. "Anyway, hopefully mine's not so bad as that. I'm glad Draco let you stay with him." A breath. "Don't suppose there's any kind of sporting job I could do, then?"

Albus, no.

[unyieldingebony]

It didn't surprise him that Albus had apparently moved out from under his parent's roof. He'd always worked to form his own identity outside of his father's, so it was an expected step to that effect. Not a strange thought at all. "So am I. He's been very accommodating." He'd tell Albus more about the situation there later, perhaps. "I haven't particularly looked into any sporting jobs. There might be, though I haven't really heard of any local teams."

There was the Coliseum, but that was for fighting.

[whereagainst]

"Suppose I could look for something else if not." He sighed, scrubbing his face with his hand in a gesture so characteristic of him. "I mean, I'm not good at much else lately, but it's not like I can't figure things out." He paused then, looking at Scorpius for a long moment - it was still so strange, having him be so familiar but not. "Not like it's something important, but I started playing rugby a while back."

No one should tell him about the Coliseum, basically.

[unyieldingebony]

"It's certainly a bit more difficult when you can't use your N.E.W.T.s to land a job, but most places seem to expect a more practical demonstration, given that everyone is coming here from different worlds without any proof of their previous jobs or schooling." Scorpius was having a rather interesting time of it himself trying to find somewhere. Draco had offered him a position at the station but... well, he was already living with him. And he'd sensed that it had been offered more as a courtesy than anything else.

"Rugby?" Scorpius had no idea what that was, other than, apparently, some sort of game. Presumably a sport.

[whereagainst]

"Yours were always better than mine anyway," Albus said, the first hint of that teasing tone he used to take so easily. Maybe he was calming down just a little from his initial shock. "Practical demonstrations'd work out best for me so I can't complain about that." He slid down in his seat a little, slouching and offering a slight shrug.

"It's a field sport. One ball, lots of running into each other and tackling. Like being a beater, but everyone's one. You uh, come to my matches. Once I start, I mean. Dunno why I thought of it just now."

[unyieldingebony]

Hearing that light teasing tone again was a bit of a relief. Like things were returning to something like normal. "That sounds-- violent. No wonder you like it, you brute." And there was some teasing of his own. Just like home, really. He was a little surprised to hear that he went to Al's matches, but not overly so. He'd enjoyed watching Al out on the Quidditch pitch while they were in school, after all.