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]

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.

[todds]

Cut off his legs and that'll hold him well enough.

[redrooms]

And when he dies of a massive infection, we're right back where we started.

[todds]

No loss to humanity.

[ He doesn't have a solution but neither does he want to imagine that as his lie, constantly hunting and murdering (however rightfully) a lunatic who would only make some sort of sick game out of it.

But now Jason clams up as they explore, arms tightly folded. ]

[redrooms]

[It's pretty clear she's hit a sore spot, so she lets the silence stretch for a moment, not speaking up again as she searches another bookshelf. If Jason wanted to talk about details, he clearly would, so she's not going to push. It's only when she finds a certain book that she turns to him again, tossing it at him.]

Some light reading for you.

[The cover is atrocious—basically unmarred by the elements, which makes it worse. It's some sort of sci fi romance novel with a curvy blonde on the front swooning against a shirtless alien. Or, more accurately, a very buff male model that's been lazily photoshopped green.]

[todds]

[ He purses his lips, slipping out P&P for her to see the worn cover of his preferred reading material. ]

I'm good. Maybe you could use that one to keep a fire burning.

[ Gruff humour, but humour all the same. ]

[redrooms]

[Natasha smiles, eyebrows raised.]

Romance and politics. How well-rounded of you. Mine could never compare.

[todds]

[ Grumbling as she pretends to put herself down, he reaches to pluck the awful romance novel out of her hands and flick through. ]

Yeah, well someone's got an egregious manhood problem in here, maybe that makes up for it.

[redrooms]

Egregious. That's a concerning description.