snowblindmemes | Test Drive


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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[When Bucky turns for the door, Steve is ready to move, to chase after him—maybe he shouldn't, but it's an impulse, more basic than thought—he's not sure he knows how to do anything else. But then the door slams shut, and—Steve feels regret, a little, that that choice was taken away from Bucky, but mostly he feels, somewhat guiltily—relief. He has all night to convince Bucky to stay.

God. He is real, isn't he. He's here, Bucky's here. Steve's hand stings and throbs where it caught Bucky's punch. It hurts a little but it's proof, and Steve's so grateful for it he could cry.

He lowers his hands but stays rooted to the spot, not sure what to do, what to say, afraid that if he breathes wrong he'll spook him.

'You were by the pharmacy.' ...Steve's mouth actually kicks up into a tiny smile at that.]

Keepin' tabs on me? [There's something there, isn't there... even if Bucky was doing it to avoid him....] ...You remember me, then? [There's something curling in Steve's chest that feels dangerously like hope.]

[Trapped.

The smile on Steve's lips makes him feel more constricted than the door slamming behind him, because it's so familiar and so wrong. Steve is hoping for a return of the laughing best friend who had stood at his shoulder for so long. It's never going to happen.]

I remember everything.

[It's a wary response but a truthful one.

Just because he remembers, it doesn't necessarily change anything. He remembers being the Soldier too, he remembers not remembering, and he doesn't trust himself one bit.]

[Sorry, Buck, Steve's an optimist, and hearing that Bucky remembers everything feels like a step in a good direction, the right direction. That feeling that's kinda like hope swells a little bigger.

He doesn't miss the wariness in Bucky's voice, though, or in the way he's watching Steve; and that's hard, but maybe it's understandable—Christ, Steve can't even begin to understand what Bucky's been through, what he's going through now. It breaks Steve's heart to do so, but he takes a step back, away from Bucky. He's trapped in this house with Steve, but Steve can at least try to give him a little space to breathe. Steve turns to look for someplace to sit—and jumps a little at the figure standing near him, frozen in time. He'd... maybe kinda forgotten they were there.]

Jeez. [Steve lets out a breath, the faintest whisper of a nervous chuckle. He clears his throat, glances at Bucky.] They're, uh. Harmless, far as I can tell. So far anyway. Haven't moved in half an hour. [He takes a few steps over to a couch and sits, folding his hands. The gap between them feels like a chasm. It hurts. But it's necessary, if Bucky's going to look at Steve like he's a snake that might bite him.

Steve stares at Bucky, not sure what to say. There's so much to say, where does he even start?]

...You pulled me out of the river. Right? I didn't imagine that. [He remembers a metal hand, reaching for him, although sometimes it feels like a dream. His voice goes a little quieter.] ...You saved my life. Again. ...Thank you.

[It's a relief when Steve backs off and changes the subject to something innocuous, something that has nothing to do with the Soldier or his memories or their past together.

These facsimiles of people are unnerving, but they're welcome in that moment for providing something else to focus on. He doesn't share Steve's belief that they're harmless, though. He won't be sleeping tonight, he won't give them a chance to catch him off guard and, now that Steve's there, a chance to catch him off guard either.

He's about to reply when Steve just has to carry on, just has to bring up things better left unsaid. His entire body tenses, stance subtly shifting as if he's ready to defend from an attack.]

You saved me first. [Pinned down, everything falling to pieces, and the man he was trying to kill had put himself at further risk to save him.] Forget it.

[He still hadn't known really who he was dealing with then, even now bits sometimes get lost. All he had known was that for some reason he couldn't let his target die, against every instinct he had. It was the eyes, so full of determination and moral fire, nobody else had eyes like that.

He looks away, eyes on the floor.]

I'm leaving as soon as the doors open. Don't follow me.

[Bucky goes tense all over—wrong thing to say, apparently. Shit. And then—he says he's leaving, tells Steve not to follow him. It's—not entirely unexpected, but Steve had hoped—and it hurts, hurts worse than if Bucky had put a knife in his heart and twisted. Steve sort of—crumples, folding in on himself and dropping his gaze to the floor, trying not to do something stupid like cry.]

OK. If... that's what you want.

[Unfortunately, Steve is completely shit at leaving things alone, always has been. If Bucky really does remember everything, he ought to remember that. He lifts his eyes to look at Bucky again.]

...Why?

[Steve says okay, but Bucky is nearly positive that he doesn't mean okay. He remembers the determination of his friend, the pluck of a skinny kid who lied five times on his enlistment papers because he wouldn't take no for an answer, the glorified bond salesman who had braved enemy lines on a forbidden rescue mission.

Steve Rogers isn't a man who just gives up.

It's all right, Bucky expects it. He expects gentle argument, then perhaps more vehement argument. He expects Steve to try and tail him. He's prepared for it, he knows how to disappear.]

It's safer.

[His metal hand flexes, brow furrowed.]

I can't hurt anyone if I travel alone.

[Steve's frown is one part sad and one part stubborn.]

...You're not going to hurt me, Buck.

[Buck. It's so familiar, it takes him back to a smoky dance hall and a couple of dames waiting for them to have a good time. It's so stupidly optimistic, so perfectly Steve Rogers.

It's also complete nonsense.

Of all the people Bucky might hurt, Steve was the most likely. He was the target, the last one, if anyone might trigger a residual return to the Soldier then it would be him. And if the Soldier did come out, then Steve would be his primary focus.

He didn't even dignify that statement with a reply. He just stared at Steve with cold, hard eyes.]

[Steve crosses his arms. STUBBORNNESS INCREASES.]

You could've let me drown. That's what the Winter Soldier would've done. The Winter Soldier would've finished the job. You pulled me out of the water.

...You know me, Buck. I'm not your enemy.

[Unclear at the end there if he's telling, or pleading. Little of column A, little of column B.]

Shut up.

[It comes out as a shout. It's unintentional, he had only meant to say it firmly as a warning, but somehow it rips from him loud and fierce. He doesn't want to hear what the Winter Soldier would or would not have done, because Steve has no idea. He doesn't understand.

His every muscle is taut as if ready for a fight.

I'm with you 'til the end of the line, pal.]

Just because I didn't kill you last time, it doesn't mean I won't next time. You can't trust me.

[Steve raises his eyebrows at Bucky's outburst, staring him down.]

...I do trust you.

[Seriously did you just try to tell Steve Rogers he 'can't' do something, you should know better.]

I don't trust myself, Steve.

[His name, so familiar and easy, slips out without thought. He's closer to Bucky than the Soldier, he's been working that way for months now, but it's an imperfect transition.]

So you sure as hell shouldn't either.

Test Drive

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ow

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~how about I do, anyway~

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