Test Drive

[snowblindmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

If you'd like to apply to Snowblind and would like to test the waters first or get a sample set up for your application, this meme is for you! We've even provided some prompts for you to use if you want (but feel free to make up your own). Here's how it works. ✭ Reply to this entry with a character you're considering apping into the game. You can include the name of your character and the fandom in your subject line. ✭ Comment around to others on the meme, whether you're in the game already or not. ✭ Now you have a sample ready for your application! ✭ So go reserve and apply when reservations and applications are open. ✭ Seriously, do it. Network Prompts ONE: A LONG WALK HOME You wake up at 6AM when lockdown ends, cold and tired, like you've been walking miles in the snow. But that's normal, isn't it? What isn't normal is your surroundings. You're in a new building, maybe one you've never seen before, or one you know is far, far away from where you were the night before when you fell asleep. If you were traveling with someone, you notice, also, that you are alone. There's no telling where your traveling companion could be. When you check the network, you notice that @ADMIN has left a message. Surveillance encountered an error shortly after 8PM last night and was out of order until shortly after 6AM. We apologize for any inconvenience. Whether or not you're confused or concerned about the message, maybe a post to the network will help you re-orient yourself. TWO: GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE... Seems you've found a rather valuable commodity. Something like alcohol, tea, coffee, cigarettes, or perhaps even something medical. Whatever you've found, you have no real interest in it, yourself. But you know that there's a market for it, and you see the opportunity to turn this into a win-win situation. You're not physically around anyone that you know of, so you propose a network-wide trade. And whoever makes the sweetest deal can be the proud owner of their craved luxury. Action Prompts THREE: A SYMPHONY OF SOUND You and your traveling companion thought that the house you decided to stop in for the night seemed normal enough. But lockdown hits, as it does every night, and things start to get strange. Soft sounds of crying; children crying, parents crying, screaming for their own safety. Maybe it's just the sound of the wind rushing so hard through the rubble you fear the ceiling will collapse. Maybe it's your own voice whispering to you to do awful things. Whatever the noise is, it's too much for you to fall asleep, coming to eerie crescendos and ebbing in volume at entirely irregular intervals. Looks like you and whoever you're with are in for a long night. FOUR: IN DUE TIME After a grueling day of travel, you and your companion finally come across safe shelter. And it seems to be a nice house, too, with a working fireplace and everything. The only strange part is that you aren't alone--but the other people in the house don't seem to be aware of you. In fact, they don't seem to be aware of anything; they're frozen in time, unmoving, unblinking, not even breathing. They can be touched, but they can't be moved. No matter how hard you try, they're rooted to the spot. They seem to be like you, weighed down with heavy winter wear and backpacks, not like the nondescript shadowy people that wander the town. Oh well. They're probably harmless, and it isn't like you have time to find a different place to stay.

Comments

[devoutish]

I've heard crying at night before - whimpering, upset. It's the disembodied bit that's--

[He shakes his head.]

Well, you can learn to tune it out no matter where it's coming from, hey?

[So it bothers him a little, especially when he gets to thinking about it, but as far as he's concerned it's nothing he can't deal with.]

[bywolves]

True enough. [ He won't say it, but Royce also has experience with hearing crying at night. Too much of it, honestly. ] It isn't like the world cares enough if you do or not. This place will continue to whimper and whine.

I'm sure you know something about that. [ Royce just has a feeling. ]

[devoutish]

Mm. I served in a war, back home. Years ago.

[Which is where most of his experience comes from. If his gang members cry to themselves at night, he isn't there to witness it.]

And you - what about you, then?

[bywolves]

Believe it or not, I've heard more whimpers from grown men begging for their lives than I have children. Ratibor tends to raise incredibly practical children and equally as incredibly stupid and desperate men.

[devoutish]

Ratibor.

[He rolls the unfamiliar word around in his mouth.]

Person, place, or thing?

[bywolves]

Place. [ And what a wonderful place it is. ] The streets of, specifically. I'd be surprised if a city like it didn't exist where you come from.

[devoutish]

Could be. Could be like London, even.

Now, at what point do the incredibly practical children become incredibly stupid men?

[bywolves]

When they get comfortable.

[devoutish]

Well there, that's another difference between your crying men and mine, then.

[The trenches of World War I had been comfortable for exactly nobody.]

And most of mine weren't stupid - though they were nearly all desperate.

[bywolves]

[ Royce is smart enough to not contest the point. Instead, he stares up at the ceiling. ]

I'm sure there's plenty of differences. I doubt your crying men were nobles with generous amounts of coin to spend. War is an entirely different creature from the petty squabbles of bored bastards with nothing better to do than slap fight each other over land and perceived insult.

[devoutish]

It is.

[He nods approvingly.]

You've served, or no?

[bywolves]

Not in the way you have, I'm thinking. Never on the front lines.

[devoutish]

Lucky you knew better than to insult my men, then.

[Alfie had definitely done his fair share of being impatient and harsh with terrified boys and traumatized men, but as far as he’s concerned, somebody who’s never served - somebody who doesn’t know what it’s like - wouldn't have been allowed to judge them.]

You served in other ways?

[bywolves]

[ Royce just smirks at Alfie. He knows when to keep his mouth shut, absolutely. ]

I was - am, I guess, a courier. For the king. Against my better judgement. [ Hadrian. Who would argue that he is Royce's better judgement. ] Spy is also a word you could use. The king pays well.

[devoutish]

Really now. Spying on who?

[bywolves]

[ Snort. ] Does that matter? You wouldn't recognize the names or the politics.

[devoutish]

Sure, that'd be fucking useless. Could go with descriptions, though, yeah? "This slum". "That businessman".

[bywolves]

[ Exasperated sigh, like Alfie is being unreasonable. ] There's an empire of a church. They've collected every province together except for the one that belongs to the king I work for, so they're planning on taking it by force. They want me dead, which means they obviously aren't willing to pay me, so I work for the king.

Again. Against my better judgement. Apparently working in a partnership means I have to make decisions like this in order to make enough to eat. [ Or because he actually wants Hadrian to stick around, but whatever. ]

[devoutish]

What's the partner doing in all this? Do they want him dead, too?

[bywolves]

Yes, in a way. They don't know us specifically, just the name of our partnership. [ He's being obtuse on purpose. ] You're pretty interested in the story of some stranger.

[ Royce isn't giving anything away that people here could use to hurt him, so it's not that he cares, he's just surprised by the questions. ]

[devoutish]

It's an interesting story, innit? I like stories.

[He likes figuring people out - and he wants to know if Royce, specifically, is likely to be a problem for him now or somewhere down the line.]

[bywolves]

Of course. [ Royce rolls his eyes. ] The world I come from is nothing like Lord of the Rings, in case you were hoping. It's as apathetic and full of selfish people as any other place.

[ You can blame a certain Jason Todd for making that LOTR reference some unidentified time ago. Royce still has no idea what it is. ]

[devoutish]

Lord of the whats?

[Alfie's about thirty years too early to get the reference any more than Royce does.]

I'm not familiar, mate.

[bywolves]

[ ... Okay, it's kind of nice to have someone who is as clueless as he is. Royce shrugs. ] I'm not either. I'm told I look like I belong in it. I gather it's a world with magic and elves, but past that I have no idea.

And what about you? Is serving all you've done?

[devoutish]

No, no. I know about being the boss, too.