cityofsin_ooc | Test Drive 012

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Test Drive 012

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, 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 at the Tower that spills out its 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 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!

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Coffee was one of the greatest things in the world. It was hot or cold, depending on your preference, and it brought with it the comforting buzz of caffeine. Watching Ronan, she decided that he needed it more than she did.

She handed the cup to him without a word and smiled. It was a regular paper coffee cup with those cardboard holders that was meant to keep the heat off your fingers. It was still warm and manged to be bitter, sweet and chocolaty all at once. Airy had very specific tastes in coffee.

"Wow you are tall." Airy realized she was short but she hated to admit it. Thinking back on it, everyone she knew was taller than her. She rose to her toes for a second and then decided it was hopeless, she wasn't bridging the height gap. "Anyway..."

She paused. With her hands free she now tugged at the hem of her sleeves before finally shoving her fists into the pockets of her jacket. "Let's go. Can you walk okay?"

Another Pause. "Oh, right, Duh. I'm Airy. Hi. promise I'm not some creepy random person who likes talking to strangers on the street." Okay, she might be that but her intentions were good.

"Thanks," he mumbled, taking a sip. After a moment, he took another. "Wow," he laughed darkly. "This shit is pretty good."

He was glad that Airy had offered him the coffee, because otherwise he wouldn't have known what to do. He was used to turning people away, telling them to leave him alone, but asking for what he needed was always a struggle. He didn't really need the coffee, he supposed, the same way he didn't need to keep standing there and talking to her. In Ronan's most idealistic visions of himself, he didn't need anything at all, but as viciously stubborn as he was, even he knew this wasn't exactly true.

"I can totally walk," he asserted, trying to test his weight on his left foot without her noticing. He winced internally, but the pain was manageable. Glancing up at her expression, he prevaricated with a jagged grin. "I'm Ronan." He held out his hand for a fist-bump.

Airy's lips stretched into a smile.

She had the sort of smile that was daunting to those who didn't know her. It was pure and earnest. Her whole face reflected her excitement and they were only talking about coffee. "You do? I'm glad. It's sort of like a white chocolate mocha but with an extra shot of espresso to cut the sweet but they didn't have that at the coffee store so I took what they did had and created the closest thing I could to it." Which created the drink that was now in his hand.

Airy liked coffee a little to much but she also worked nights so it was helpful.

Seeing that he could walk she began to lead the way. Airy was a little skeptical when Ronan insisted he could walk but she knew enough big tough guys to know that you waited until they couldn't refuse your help, then you helped them. "It's nice to meet you Ronan. Not here but in general." She paused, biting her lower lip as if unsure what to ask next.

The silence didn't last long before Airy threw out another question. "So are you new to the city?"

Ronan stared at Airy's smile. He wasn't so much taken off guard as he was fascinated. He wondered how somebody so kind and genuine and seemingly pure could even exist. It almost reminded him of himself, long ago, before his father had died and so much had happened with his brother and the school. How had she managed to avoid the ills that had warped him over time? Didn't life just suck like that? Especially in a place where newcomers were mugged within ten minutes of showing up.

"I dunno," he answered ineffectually, shrugging. It sounded like a lazy answer, but it was really all that he had. "What city?"

Before she could respond, he tilted back his head and downed the rest of the coffee in one gulp. "Shit's fantastic," he grunted, crunching up the cup in his hand. "Screw the hospital, let's get more of this shit." He groped in his pockets before cussing so loudly a man passing by gave him an odd look. "My wallet, I totally forgot. It was missing even before the guys got to me."

For a long time Airy's life was easy. She grew up in a small town and had small town values. It was only within the last year and then coming to the city that her world was turned on it's head and forced down an unexpected direction. No matter what it threw at her she was determined to keep smiling.

"Well, this city." She waved a hand at the builds in a half flail, half presenting sort of motion. "It's called City of Sin and it's broken into seven districts. I always assumed it was because of the seven deadly sin's but who knows." It was Airy's turn to shrug though her motions were more dainty than Ronan's. "I randomly woke up here one day. I'm guessing..." She paused as if she wasn't sure. "the same way you did."

Airy didn't know but given his lack of wallet and wandering, it was a good guess. She didn't think that anyone could go in or out of the city. "How about this. You tell me everywhere that hurts. We get coffee. I'll pay. I can answer your questions. If I think you should go to the hospital after all that you can't bitch about it. Okay, you can bitch but you have to go anyway." She held out a hand to him.

"Deal?"

"Deal," he said, easily, almost devilishly, taking her hand and doing the customary bro-ish side-chest-bump thing. He decelerated the motion at the last minute to avoid bonking her face with his shoulder.

Ronan, too, was from a small town, but the oddity of his dreaming powers had disrupted his acquiring of small-town-values in the classic sense. That being said, he still had a definite soft spot for familiarity, kindness, outspokenness... all different variations of 'cutting the shit,' in his mind.

It was likely for this reason that he was feeling increasingly at ease in Airy's company. He couldn't even take issue with it. The situation was simple. If Airy was as good a person as she seemed, things would work out. If she wasn't, he'd deal with it. Somehow.

"You lead the way," he said, lifting his head in a quick nod. "Oh, and nothing hurts. I'm completely better now." After a moment, he heaved a dramatic sigh. "Never mind, that's a lie. Stuff does hurt. But can we talk about it at the cafe?"

Everything hurts. It always has.

They began to walk.

"City of Sin," he muttered to himself. "Huh. Interesting." After a moment, he turned to her. "Does that make both of us..." he glanced around the street carefully, "all of these people, sinners?"

Edited 2017-06-02 18:19 (UTC)

Airy laughed softly at the motion. It wasn't something she was used to but it was cute and it was nice to see that he was in a better mood. She didn't know if it was the coffee, the company or something else but she was happy all the same.

She turned and gestured in front of her, starting forward at a slow pace towards the coffee shop. Luckily for Ronan, it wasn't to far away. "We can." She had time. Airy's shift didn't start until 10pm and it was barely lunch time.

"How about I ask you where you're from? Can I do that while we walk? It's like a block away." She pointed down the street were the coffee sign could be seen as a spec in the distance.

"Technically, I think everyone sins. Though to varying degrees."

"Do they?" he wondered aloud. "Well, sure, on the outside, but if you repent..." He trailed off as she began to walk, falling into step beside her.

Fucking fuck!

He couldn't even relief his embarrassment—nor his discomfort—through exaggeration. Any extraneous movement and he might not have been able to walk at all. His leg was so sore he hobbled in a tight, controlled fashion, concentrating absurdly on the promise of coffee to motivate him onwards.

"From Henrietta," he replied, through somewhat clenched teeth. "Small town, in Southern USA. There's Aglionby Academy... lots of private school boys." Figuring he'd said enough, he tossed the conversation back in her court. "What... what about you?"

Airy suddenly stopped and turned towards him. Her brows were furrowed together before her bright baby blue eyes scaled down to his legs. It was the change in his voice that alarmed her and he really did look like the big strong persona type sort of guy.

She bit her lower lip feeling her emotions conflict. There was the part of her that didn't want him to know how weird she was and then the part that wanted to help. The part that wanted to help won out in the end. "Okay. One second and please don't freak out." It took a lot more focus than usual but Airy held out her hands and tried to imagine what she wanted to make. Crutches were easier than other thins she's made and within a few seconds silvery light formed into two crutches for Ronan to use.

"Here, use these. They have a time limit though so let's get to the cafe." She wasn't going to let him say no as she passed the crutches over to him. They probably weren't very comfortable but it was something, not Airy, for him to lean on. It was certainly before manly than letting someone as small as Airy try and help him.

"I can also... explain that later." She waved to the crutches. "I'm from Island Falls Maine. It's a very small town that no one has heard of, very close to Canada but also very not. A lot of mountains, lakes and things like that."

"What in the serious—"

Ronan stopped himself, depositing any remaining shock at Airy's performance into his eyes. They were light, blue, intense, but never cold... burning, really, and more so now than usual.

"Are you... can you..." He crooked his neck to the side, cracking it, and then continued to stare at her, up-and-down. He didn't mean to seem invasive, but he just never thought he'd find another person who could do magic. Not vague, reading-the-cards, prophetic-type shit like the kind Blue's family vended for cheap out of their home, but real, concrete, living and breathing magic, where objects were materialized out of nowhere.

"But how?" he blurted, still working to regain control over his surprise. He held the crutches out in front of him in amazement, tapping on the metal with his fingernail. "You didn't even go to sleep!"

Edited 2017-06-05 18:38 (UTC)

Airy blinked and then slowly began to take a few awkward steps forward, hoping that Ronan would start walking. "I... don't know what you mean by sleep." He'd find that the crutches were perfect but Airy hadn't been kidding that they would soon disappear.

"I can explain as much as possible." And most likely ask him what he's talking about. "But what I'm called is a Creator and we should really get you to the cafe so you can at least sit down. Promise I'll answer as much as I can then." Airy didn't make promises that she then didn't keep.

She didn't see what she could do as magic. Draco, Wanda and Eliot did magic. What Airy did was a little different from that. She didn't manipulate and control energy's that were there but had the power to make something out of nothing. A power with endless possibilities and yet in Airy's hands was surprisingly limited. She was still getting to know how to use them since she'd finally mastered the art of not accidentally using them.

"If there is magic were you're from that will make explaining everything 100 times easier." They can skip past the him not believing her part of the conversation.

Ronan gave the crutches one more close examination, running his finger up the side, testing the material of the armpit support with his nail, before reluctantly positioning them underneath his arms and starting forward. Airy was already a couple paces ahead of him.

It wasn't that he was shocked by the realness of her creation.

He pulled solid, lasting objects into reality all the time. Like her, it was a craft he had yet to fully master, but one parameter held true: In order to perform his magic, he had to be asleep, as his dreams were the wellspring from which these objects came. He'd met others like him... His look of consternation threatened to deepen in to a pinched sort of sorrow, and then he veered his mind away. Kavinsky was dead. There was no point thinking about it anymore... or at least not now.

"So you can just... bring stuff into being, at any moment?" he asked, clearing his throat to vanquish the final motes of grief from his voice. "Does it tire you out?"

Airy would show him more if he wanted but she'd feel better when the got somewhere to sit down. She had to focus to keep the crutches real and it wasn't an object that she'd spent a lot of time on in practice.

"Yes but I don't bring it. I create it." It's what she was. An abomination. Airy shook her head and pushed the cruel voice from her head. He was the last person that she should be listening too but she'd never forgotten what he'd told her. She was the only one and she wasn't meant to exist. Not like other mages were.

"Sometimes. It depends what it is or how much or how much I'm doing. I made a room full of bubbles with a river once." It was something she liked doing in practice; see how many rainbow bubbles she could make.

"The coffee shop is right there." She pointed at the shop 6 store fronts down.

Ronan wasn't exactly a sensitive person, but that didn't mean that he wasn't perceptive. Most times, when it seemed like he hadn't noticed something, it was rather that he didn't bother to show that he cared.

He could definitely tell that something was straining Airy, and, in spite of himself, he found that he didn't want to make it any worse. He nodded, picking up the pace as quickly as possible. By the time they reached the cafe doors he'd gotten enough of a handle on the crutches to swoop through the doorway like an acrobat on rings.

"Fuck yeah!" he announced, hobbling to a table and slamming himself down into the chair. He raised each crutch in the air like victory swords and grinned at Airy, with a classic Ronan-Lynch-gleam. "Thanks, dude."

Edited 2017-06-08 05:44 (UTC)

Stepping into the coffee shop was like taking a breath of caffeinated air. Heat and spices filled Airy's head and it made her smile. There was always something comforting about coffee shops.

As Ronan sat she released the image of the crutches in her mind. Like most of the things she created they dissolved like little pixel squares winking out of existence. She has gotten a lot better with it but there was still a lot about her powers that Airy didn't know. It scared her whenever she spent a great deal of time thinking about it, so she didn't.

"I'll get us coffee and then we can start with the questions." She informed him as she walked up to the counter. It was a quick process. Those at the cafe knew Airy because she'd come in and ordered the same thing almost every day for the last month or so and now that it was past breakfast time the line wasn't particularly long.

With their coffee in hand she walked back over to the table, placing one in front of Ronan while keeping one for herself. She wrapped her fingers around the warm cup and smiled as she settled into the chair.

"Okay. Question one. I guess it can be about me or the city but I only know a little bit about both."

Almost as soon as Ronan had raised the crutches over his head, they vanished. He stared at his empty hands in interest. Okay. I think I'm beginning to understand...

Airy placed the coffees down and Ronan nodded. "Thanks," he grunted, and took a long swig. His awkwardness wasn't so much because he was bad at accepting gifts. Most of his friends were so wealthy, buying stuff was something they hardly thought about anymore. It's just, there was one particular friend, who wasn't quite so wealthy, nor so easygoing about people buying him stuff, and so Ronan was suddenly quite aware of Airy's potential feelings on the matter. He didn't want to insult her nor did he wish to appear thankless.

"It's bitching," he added raucously, raising the cup a little off the table in acknowledgement. His expression became somewhat more sober. He studied her for a second, staring straight into her eyes, and then leaned back, glancing across the cafe. "So, what do you do here? Like, your job and shit, but also, what is the... point?"

Strange world, no explanation for arrival... it sounded as much like a secret quest to Ronan as anything. He only wondered what the purpose would be, the overarching goal. Was it to attain ultimate power? To find a secret object? A person? Gansey would like that...

"You can do that too." Airy's roommate was the king of bitching about shit and she found that she rather enjoyed listening too it.

She settled back slowly blowing at the lip of her coffee. Her eyes were a bright sky blue and endless in their depths but they were also open and warm. Airy wasn't perfect but she accepted people easily and offered trust for no other reason then she thought that everyone deserved a chance. There were scars, a darkness she kept hidden, but she wasn't going to hide who she was from anyone. Even if she was sometimes awkward about it.

"That's sort of a load question." She'll answer it in parts. "As for a job I play at a bar lounge type place in the Red Light District. What I do is PG-13." She said that as a disclaimer since there was a brothel attached to the bar she worked at. "I play the violin and sing. I don't think I'm very good but I get a lot of good tips and people keep coming back to see me." So she didn't think she was that bad, more so because she also kept her clothes on.

Airy didn't make a lot of money but she had enough to get buy. She budgeted a lot, knowing that her roommate stole constantly made her want to try to pay his way as well.

"As for the point? I'm not sure. It's called City of Sin and I think the city is alive. I think it feeds off sin but that's only just a theory. Sometimes the city makes you feel things or messes with your head. It's... really confusing." Airy didn't sound very thrilled about this but she pressed on. "We are brought here randomly and called Chosen. We also can't leave the city."

"Hmmmm," Ronan pondered, nodding once more. He nodded a lot it seemed. He made this one extra dramatic just to shake things up. "Hmmm," he repeated. "This city sounds like my brother. He feeds off sin too and then he pukes it all up for the priest during confession."

Ronan's gaze intensified. Was there even a church here? He'd been attending Sunday Services with his brothers for his entire life. What would they do without him?

What will I do without them?

"Violin. That's really cool." Ronan adjusted himself in his chair, clearing his throat abrasively. "So, like, classical-stuff-violin? Or more like fiddle stuff? Oh... and no judgement, about, the, um, working in the Red Light District Thing."

Airy stuck out her tongue and made a face. "That sounds unpleasant." Generally throwing anything up sounded unpleasant to her. To off set the thought she took a sip of her coffee. The taste made her smile and the heat helped her relax.

Coffee was something special to her, it reminded her of someone that she hadn't wanted to think about at home, now that she's back in the city it feels like it's the only connection she has to keep her going.

"Both. I actually like to play popular songs on the violin. Like Imagine Dragons or Chain Smokers or Katy Perry if I'm feeling super poppy that day. Also U2 but mostly because that translates well. At work I play things that generally have a chill feel to them. Classical, jazzy. Sometimes I'll play and sing. You can come listen to me sometime, everyone who works there is nice and it's owned by the chosen." Specifically Eliot and Rhys.

"Yeah, it was really unpleasant," Ronan affirmed, with a dry smile. He was glad she understood.

"Nice choices. There's a psi-trance remix of Demons that I like to blast in my BMW. What nights do you usually play?" He took another sip.

The coffee for him was also a reminder of the past. Gansey, Noah, or Adam, if he could be persuaded to risk his academic standing for a rollicking adventure. Sneaking out of the lunch room early. Breaking into the staff room at Aglionby to pilfer the kitchen. It was awful stuff; not only instant, but bitter and flat tasting, but back in those days, it hadn't really been about the prize so much as the devilry involved in securing it.

Those days... hadn't really been that long ago.

"Listen," Ronan said, suddenly anxious. "I think I'm gonna have to go soon. I want to see if I can find anybody I know here. There's only one other person I know who might have gotten himself mixed up in this kind of fuckery..."

"I play every night but Tuesday's and a handful of Saturdays." She smiled at him before taking another small sip of her coffee. It was waking her up nicely. "I'm usually working at the bar some of those nights though. My sets only two hours long." Playing longer than that was very difficult and she usually had to take breaks.

Airy blinked at his sudden anxiousness. "No, that's fine. My contact is in the phone. Just call me if you need anything. I'll be there." She smiled a little wider. "Promise. So don't worry okay?"

"Okay," Ronan said, nodding. He was actually much more impressed than he let on at how much she worked, but once again, didn't want to risk insulting her by pointing it out. The fact that he couldn't relate to such a need personally—when he died, his father had left the family with enough riches to last Ronan's entire life if need be—didn't necessarily mean he didn't appreciate such things. His feelings towards determination such as hers were a mixed-up amalgam of awe, admiration, and interest. But not pity. He was closer to feeling jealousy over her situation than that. "So you'll be there tomorrow... er, Sunday?"

"Thanks," he added, his expression darkening slightly. "I'll do my best."

It was very hard to insult Airy. She took things as they came and it usually took insulting her friends to actually upset her. She was very protective of the people she cared about and Ronan was quickly falling into that category.

"Sunday." She confirmed with a smile.

"I know you will Ronan. Just know that you have a friend if you need back up." She didn't want anyone else disappearing into the city. If someone was going to fight, Airy wouldn't let them do it alone.

She watched as he left before rising and heading back home herself. She had to change for work.

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Test Drive 012

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