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

Pirate Drinking Songs

[diana_abel]

Diana preferred playing in coffee shops. Maybe it was the caffeine, or the sense of mid-day work camaraderie. No one ever went to coffee shops when they were depressed.

The lighting wasn't helping either.

They'd tucked her into a tiny, tired corner, asking her to play mellow songs without lyrics. Her hands were almost idle, strumming her guitar without a thought. No one was paying her any attention anyway. She'd even started challenging herself to play some of her songs backwards. Just...to see if she could.

It probably wasn't even worth it to put out her tip bucket.

[tactical_alert]

He paid the strumming from the corner no mind at first. But then some of the songs changed--wait, was one of those literally being played backwards? And nobody cared? It was impressive, anyway, if odd, and he glanced around to--

To Diana. The name bubbled to the surface, dusted off and set upon the shelf of memories that hadn't been seen in years.

He didn't have much on him yet but still found himself comfortable enough for hard cash to pay for his drink and move over to the musician, dropping a bill in the bucket and giving her a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

[diana_abel]

Memories were funny things. Tricky and unreliable. And then, all of a sudden, they were overwhelming.

Or maybe that was just Diana.

To her credit, she was a consummate performer. Her fingers never strayed from the guitar. And if one or two notes came out funny, well. Who could tell? The song was backwards as the performer's mind.

"Malcolm Reed," she said, testing out the name like she was trying to learn another language. Or, more appropriately, re-learn an old, forgotten dialect.

[tactical_alert]

"Diana Abel. Aren't you a little too talented to be strumming here where nobody seems to care?"

Because if the music stopped, would anyone notice? Especially if people couldn't tell there was a backwards playing song to begin with. "We should find you a proper venue."

Ignoring the fact that he was suddenly here, and Diana was presumably still here since when he left.

[diana_abel]

She squinted at him, tilting her head sideways, first to the left, the to the right. No, it was definitely Malcolm, but it didn't make sense. Why would he be here? From what little she'd understood about things from his lifetime, she took it that he was some kind of...hero.

Heroes didn't deserve to end up in Hell.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, trying hard to keep a lid on her emotions. Easier said than done.

[tactical_alert]

Okay, getting straight to the point it is, then. He leaned a shoulder on the wall. "I was under the impression that people were simply chosen. Which means maybe my skills are needed again. I'm not sure. I wasn't terribly useful the last time I was here."

[diana_abel]

"This isn't Be..."

She stopped herself. It was funny, but somehow, she almost never used the words 'Bete Noire.' Why was that? Was it some kind of agreed-upon state of denial? In the same way that she and Jack never talked about Sam?

Or was it just a Diana thing?

To be certain, she didn't want to deny Bete Noire had happened. For all of its trials, it had made her a better, strong person. Even if it was a person who made shitty decisions. But there was something...

Maybe it was just because the City was so similar. And yet so incredibly different.

Hell was torture. Go figure.

She shook her head. "This is different."

[tactical_alert]

"Doesn't seem so different. Nicer, actually. Even the Tower's still there."

Several years ago, he would've (and did) spend several weeks paranoid and in hiding, keeping his identity and presence low and anonymous. But it felt too familiar to just shrug it off as not the same. He was here, and he remembered while he was here. If it wasn't Bete Noire, it was something very similar.

"Even if it's different, I suppose I'll just have to figure it out all over again. It helps to have friends who know the lay of the land, however."

[diana_abel]

That made the corners of her lips twitch. It was still so odd to think that she'd lived a whole other life, promptly forgot about it, and now had it back. How strange was it to have such a tremendous assortment of friends and not know it?

And it wasn't hard for her to remember how affectionately she'd cared for Malcolm.

She finished the song without much ado, setting her guitar aside and hopping down from her little platform to join him. "I am, you know," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Your friend still. In case you had any money riding on it."

[tactical_alert]

There was the Diana in his memory. "I didn't have a doubt about it, unless this place was proposing to be that different." Then he would've started to worry.

[diana_abel]

She smiled, wrapping her arms tight around his shoulders to give him a hug. Seeing wasn't always believing. But having him solid and warm in her arms was another matter entirely.

And he still smelled just like Malcolm.

"Hi."

[tactical_alert]

It was easy, somehow--easier than it ought to be, he considered--to slip back into the swing of things, to let his arms go around her and give her just a little lift off the ground.

"It's been a while."

[diana_abel]

"How long for you?" she asked.

The ravages of time were, ironically, more apparent on Diana. Not because her body had changed all that much. It couldn't. But her carriage. The way she stood. Even how little jewelry she was wearing, all of it was testimony to the ordeal she'd been through.

And the truly ridiculous thing about it was that it hadn't been all that long.

"About six months, for me."

[tactical_alert]

He blinked at the short amount of time. Had it really been so short for her? "Years. Years, it's been...five?" Is that it, is that how long it's been? "Lifetimes ago, it feels."

[diana_abel]

"Wow."

Five years wasn't supposed to mean a lot of a vampire. But considering what had happened to her in the last six months...she wasn't going to judge.

Anyway, a whole lifetime could happen in five years. She knew that from ample experience.

"I hope it's been a good lifetime."

[tactical_alert]

"It's had its up and downs." He won't mention the personal losses, not now. "And now that I'm here, I'm...getting used to the memories I suddenly remember from before. That, too, was another lifetime ago."

[diana_abel]

She smiled faintly. "Right?" It was almost a relief to know that she wasn't the only one having trouble reconciling one lifetime with another.

Like maybe she wasn't the only one going crazy.

"I didn't really remember any of it until I ran into Jack and..."

Oh. Awkward.

She cleared her throat. "Yeah, Jack is...here."

[tactical_alert]

"You know..." he said slowly, taking that in, "I have to admit that doesn't surprise me. I'll have to speak with him at some point--would that be awkward? ...Of course it would be awkward, silly question, but does he remember? And you, you hadn't remembered any of it until Jack?"

[diana_abel]

"He remembers you," she said, trying to sound as neutral as possible. "He remembers everything."

Which encompassed quite a lot, given the ups and downs of Jack's time in Bete Noire.

"It's like...he just came right here from Bete Noire. No going home. No transition. No forgetting."

Just dying, it seemed.

[tactical_alert]

"You went home," he gathered then. "Oh Diana. Are you all right?"

[diana_abel]

She gave him a half-hearted smile. "You know me," she said. "Just trying to stay groovy."

There was no way in hell that she was going to tell him about what had happened to her. Somehow, 'I spent months hanging from the ceiling of a warehouse while a crazy vampire cult fed off of me' didn't seem like a good transition back into their friendship.

"It's hard here, sometimes. But having Jack helps. A lot."

[tactical_alert]

Hard here, yes--if it really is anything like Bete Noire, then it's impossible here sometimes. But he always got the impression that here was better than home.

"Hopefully I won't make things any harder for you here. As I recall, I could be rather difficult."

[diana_abel]

Diana shook her head quickly. "No. Never."

Perhaps it was a little generous. She and Malcolm had had their share of disagreements, primarily over Jack. But she liked to think that she'd mellowed since then. Death had a funny way of making you introspective. And in Hell, you needed to hold those you cared about as close as possible.

[tactical_alert]

Disagreements, but when he needed her, she was there. There was a lot that he wished he didn't remember and certainly was going to do his best not to dwell on, and she'd been there for him through it, no matter how angry she was at him.

Malcolm bent in and kissed her cheek. "As ever, too good to me. Shall we have a drink? Or find you somewhere else to play where you'll actually make some money?"

[diana_abel]

"How about I buy you a drink?" she said. After all, the only thing she could drink was flowing through his veins.

It was awkward enough when she had to chew on Jack. She wasn't going to start biting any other friends.

And the venue was just a lost cause. Which was fun. She didn't need much, anyway.