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: SEE THAT WE CAN SEE It's late and you're settling down for the night when you notice a strange light coming from... outside? Through the heavy snowfall, you can just make out the haze of glowing eyes in the distance. Dozens of them. It's difficult to tell through the window, but they seem to be staring directly at you. Since it's after lockdown, you can't get outside to investigate, but maybe others in town are seeing the eyes too. You'd better take to the Network to see what's going on. TWO: BEHIND THESE HAZEL EYES You can't sleep. You've been trying, trying, trying. But every time you close your eyes, you see the eyes of the prophet etched into the insides of your eyelids. The symbol only seems to get brighter and clearer the longer you keep your eyes shut, the closer you get to drifting off. It chills you awake. Nothing seems to help. Maybe there are others on the Network who are having the same problem. Or, at least, someone who doesn't mind keeping you company through the long hours. Action Prompts THREE: THREE'S A CROWD You and your traveling companion are exploring what looks to be a perfectly normal building when you notice something strange carved into the wall. Is that an eye? Strange indeed, but what's stranger is that new carvings keep appearing, always where you're not looking. Soon, the whole room is full of eye carvings. Is your companion doing this? If not them, then who? FOUR: THE KNIFE'S EDGE Most everyone in town still has eyes that are either glowing or shaped like the prophet's symbol, and your eyes are no different. These are the same eyes that made everyone attack each other a few nights ago. Every time you catch a glimpse of yourself, maybe in the reflection of a window or the video feed on your tablet, you feel a little sick. Unfortunately, your traveling companion's eyes look strange too, and they're the opposite of yours. Both of you are in danger if those murderous urges come back, which makes it difficult to trust each other after what you've been through. It's late at night when a dark thought crosses your mind--you do have a knife. Not that there's any reason to use it, of course... Right?

Comments

[redrooms]

A new what? A new ex?

[She's going to be intentionally difficult. Sorry, Jason.]

[todds]

[ HUFFING. ]

You can tell me to keep my nose out, I'm just trying to fill in the silence.

[redrooms]

[Okay, she's laughing at him.]

I have plenty of exes. Only one ex husband.

[todds]

Oh. It sounded like you might have a current husband, is all. I was going to ask if he was here but, obviously, not existing yet hurts that theory.

[ He doesn't offer up his own deets but, if his tone is anything to go by (more open than with the majority) Jason is in a chatty mood. ]

Does anyone come here in pairs or groups? Because it would be really cool, for once, if the entire Justice League could drop in. I might even let them read my shitty magazines.

[redrooms]

Tony and I came in together, and Clint showed up ten days later. It's possible. Have you worked with the Justice League before?

[todds]

[ Rubbing the corner of his eye like the sight of all that snow outside might be giving him a migraine. ]

We've met, I've worked with some. The ones who don't drop by to say Hi, they know of me. [ As does the NSA, CIA, Homeland Security, FBI, KGB, Mossad and Interpol. ] Running in similar circles, you know?

[ Except on either side of the line. ]

[redrooms]

And what are they like? Batman isn't exactly forthcoming.

[todds]

Batman "not being forthcoming" is the best you can hope for, usually he shuts you down point-blank within a second of asking him anything.

[ Who's bitter? Not Jay. Your mom is bitter. ]

How'd you know about that shady cape?

[redrooms]

Steph told me, and he was here, briefly. It was like pulling teeth talking to him about anything.

[todds]

Batman arrived, pointy ears and all?

[ It's not like Jason can deny some sort of link to him, turning up with a blazing red bat symbol on his chest, but then again if he's been kidnapped and had his gear stolen it figured he was in the same position as the one Roman put him in. Why pretend not to be the Red Hood? He's already fucked for a secret identity in this mad town.

But Bruce? Jason imagines that if Batman arrived in full costume, Bruce would stay in that cowl without relent on sheer stubborn principle. ]

[redrooms]

[It was easy to figure out the connection once "Bruce Wayne" showed up on the obituaries and "Batman" mysteriously disappeared. Natasha glances at Jason, nodding.]

He arrived after I did, but he died a week or so before you got here.

[todds]

[ It's okay. The numb refusal to believe Bruce is dead is strong, because it can't have been him. Bruce doesn't die, at least not so easily, so Jason stays calm as he paws through a bookshelf of mouldy books without looking at Natasha. ]

Then he wasn't really Batman.

[redrooms]

[Natasha stays quiet as she watches him search for a moment, and when she responds, her voice is a bit softer.]

No? And why is that?

[todds]

[ A sharp smile cuts across his lips as he barks out a laugh, Crime Alley accent peeling through a well-read mouth. Mirth doesn't touch his eyes. ]

Anyone from fifty miles away could tell you weren't a Gothamite. No offence, Nat, it's mostly a compliment. But the Bat? Nah, you can't kill him. Not here, not there, certainly not in his city if we rolled up in the Narrows tomorrow. He doesn't die and he definitely isn't lazy enough to kick the dirt without tying up loose ends first and saving everyone. That's how he is, how he sees it.

You win or you help others win, you don't get to check out early like a loser. Not without — without losing his respect. He does it to himself worst of all.

[redrooms]

[Natasha has lost enough people—enough strong, smart, seemingly indestructible people—to know that isn't true, but the way he laughs tells her not to push it. She hums thoughtfully, eyes flicking to a new batch of eyes on the wall and then back to him.]

I only rate a knock off version, huh? How do you know him?

[todds]

Everyone in Gotham knows about him.

[ Which isn't what she asked at all but he doesn't give up direct answers easily. Rifling through a mouldy frozen bookcase. ]

You ever watch those movies with the gangsters and there's one really old guy, withered and silver-haired, but everyone in the room knows he's there and never forgets it? He won't come at you directly but you can feel the weight of his presence. That's what living in Gotham with the Bat is like.

[redrooms]

[She notes that deflection, but just watches him for the moment, arms crossed.]

He didn't have that larger than life reputation here. I wonder if that made things more difficult for him.

[todds]

Probably. It's not just that.

[ Finding a poor copy of Pride and Prejudice, he starts to carefully tuck it away without ripping the damp pages. Eyes down, dark, and a set to his jaw. ]

Network shows the Joker's here. [ Yeah, he stalks the public lines. ] Batman wouldn't leave without him.

[redrooms]

I'm sure he didn't. Whatever happened, it wasn't on purpose.

[Leaving and dying are two different things, after all.]

[todds]

There you go then, he's not dead because that's not him. He wouldn't die and he especially wouldn't die accidentally.

[ That seemingly decided, he shrugs to the general surroundings. Huffs a cloudy breath. ]

Are they multiplying even faster or is it just me?

[redrooms]

They might be, or maybe we weren't paying enough attention.

[But she's laser focused now! Sorry, Jason.]

What can you tell me about the Joker?

[todds]

[ !!! That sure is an eye-twitch as he kicks some wood out of his way. ]

Nothing good. What can you tell me? He's been here a while, right?

[redrooms]

Nothing good. He's killed at least one person that I can confirm. He beat her to death, from what I understand. He's hurt others, generally wanders around town disappearing and reappearing to terrorize people.

[todds]

More people will die unless you take him down. [ That's a fact from the Jason Todd university lecture of Crowbars 101. ] Sometimes people get resurrected, right? Hilarious. So you keep him alive. Barely.

[ In the same even, forcibly calm tone as before. ]

[redrooms]

[Natasha sighs.]

It's something I've considered. No one has been able to hold him otherwise.