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: THE THINGS THAT CRAWL IN THE NIGHT You haven't thought about the spiders that roam Norfinbury in awhile. But then something happens one night. It's after lockdown and you're all alone, but you can't sleep. How can you, when every time you try to drift off you hear the sounds of scurrying little legs? The sound gets louder, it multiplies, until its all around you. But where--where? Maybe they bugs are beneath the wallpaper, maybe they're under the floorboards. Maybe they're in the furniture. Or maybe, maybe they're just in your head. The tablet is the only thing you have to turn to. Even if you're the only one experiencing these sounds, maybe someone can talk you down, convince you that it's just a brief episode of paranoia that you can unwind from. TWO: IT WAS ONLY JUST A DREAM You wake up late into the night. You dreamed you were crawling through a tight, closed space, your body scraping against the metal, and know you don't belong here. Where are you going? The vent is dark, and you don't have your tablet with you. You think there's someone behind you, but you can't be sure. You pull yourself forward with one of your arms. And then you pull yourself forward with your other arm. And then you pull yourself forward with a third--one you shouldn't have. One that doesn't even belong to you. Once your eyes are open you can still feel those extra limbs extending outward from your body, thin spider legs grabbing at air, clawing for purchase--but then the feeling passes. You're just you, and now you can't get back to sleep. Maybe someone else had the same dream? Action Prompts THREE: RATE YOUR DISCOMFORT You and your traveling companion have found an easy routine. Travel, search, hunker down, try to find a semblance of warmth and comfort for the night before you sleep and start all over again. You don't question when they offer you the last of the fresh fruit from your last run to the grocery store. It's a kind gesture, and perhaps you intend to return it the next chance you get. But the food sits uncomfortably in your stomach. You can feel it, can't you? It's not churning inside of you but moving, squirming, crawling. Nothing relieves it. It doesn't hurt but you feel sick, you find yourself shuddering, but when you show your companion your shaking hands they don't seem to notice the way that your skin ripples with something unseen just underneath. Whatever you ate isn't just in your stomach. It's inside. You can feel it tickling up your throat, reaching up up up. FOUR: IT SLEEPS BENEATH THE SNOW You're almost there: the building is just ahead of you, and just in time for lockdown. The coast is clear...at least, that's what you think before the ground around the building begins to move. The snow shifts, snaking in a wide, giant circle around it. And then the monster reveals itself, snow falling from its hardened exoskeleton in chunks, a giant centipede-like anomaly with too-human eyes and hundreds of legs like stilettos decorated with razor blades. It has you and your traveling companion in your sights--you're going to have to think faster than it can reach you if you want to get around it and into the house before the door locks and dooms the both of you.

Comments

Ignis Scientia | Final Fantasy XV

[blindloyalty]

Caution: Contains FFXV Spoilers

Two

@igniscientia

[Nightmares were common enough for Ignis. They were common for everyone who had gone through the things he had, and were the way he was. Countless articles had told him so. Even then, his nightmares always had pretty distinct themes and players.

So this was a stand out. He sits for a couple moments before locating his tablet to make a voice post. His voice is business-like, but the unease is close under the surafce.]

My apologies, my siblings in circumstance. I know it’s the middle of the night, but I can’t seem to ease my anxieies. I’ve never had nightmares like these before arriving here. And whilst unpleasant, they always made sense.

What I mean is— They were never actually worse than things that had already happened.

I can’t say I’m looking for comfort exactly, but I would like to know if it’s common.


Four

I’m going to assume that isn’t good.

[Ignis turns his attention towards the anomaly easily enough with all the sound it was making. And the distance the snow was coming from it- Not good. This thing was huge. If only he had a weapon or a handful of magic. If only. And if only he could actually see it or sense it he could make a better plan.

His jaw sets as his mind scrambles for an answer.]

On my count, I’ll take it’s attention. You must get to safety and warn the others on the network. I’ll lead it away and catch up if I can.

@no; 2

[lucisdreamer]

Wow, it must be bad if it's keeping you up past your bedtime.

[You know how it is, gotta be sassy.]

...I can't say that the dreams here are any less... vivid than what I'm used to, but the content is certainly something else, that's for sure.

@igniscientia

[blindloyalty]

I went to bed at my "bedtime". [he taps at his tablet and it speaks the time for him.] Are you honestly still awake? It's midnight, Noct! Go to sleep, we've hours of miserable trekking tomorrow.

[Well. That's.]

That can't be normal, Noct. Not that you're even remotely normal, but still.

[lucisdreamer]

So, you've already gotten like, what? Seven hours of sleep? I don't see why you're complaining.

[Yes, because Ignis clearly goes to bed at 5pm like some old man.]

But you know me, I'm a night owl. I don't normally sleep at night even under usual circumstances.

[blindloyalty]

Three. [bastard.]

Usual circumstances would be more appropriate for your terrible sleep habits. [he rubs his face. Noct was always like this, wasn't he? The nostalgia had burned away his flaws in his memories.]

Hold on, when are you waking up?

[lucisdreamer]

Late night, huh?

[Yeah he's not stopping there.]

Uh. Well, you know. When I wake up.

[Which means, definitely not in the morning.]

[blindloyalty]

[complete deadpan.] Nine is a perfectly reasonable hour to sleep.

I remember a certain prince would sleep on the weekends until I got off my classes at noon, though I don't doubt that you would have slept longer uninterrupted. But I'll be generous. That gives you what, six hours to travel? How far are you getting like that?

[lucisdreamer]

Uh-huh.

[Whatever, Specs!]

Far enough. Look, I'm getting places. Not everyone moves so slowly just because of a little snow.

[He is not getting far at all.]

[blindloyalty]

Ah, my mistake, I forgot that you were a legendary traverser of the tundra.

[pause]

I bet I could catch up with you.

[he had to laugh. as ridiculous as Noct was, it energized him and filled him with nostalgia.]

[lucisdreamer]

Yeah, you know, all that traveling we did prepared me for the damn snowpocalypse. We climbed a volcano—this is nothing.

[He lets out an indignant sort of snort.]

I doubt that. Don't push yourself too hard, you get brittle with age.

FOUR >8V

[escutcheon]

Well, it's not a great situation, I'll give you that.

[ Oh, the sarcasm.
Cousland is paying less attention to the anomaly itself (beyond a general awareness of it's location and how quickly that distance is closing) and more to what routes there are available considering there's a GIANT ASS-UGLY CENTIPEDE IN THE WAY.
At any rate, a frontal assault isn't an option. Cue Cousland unceremoniously snagging Ignis' upper arm in a firm grip to keep him from running off to his noble and absolutely unnecessary death.

No offense, buddy boy, but she has little faith he can make it in one piece. ]

Firstly, rude, don't tell me what to do. You're not my nan. [ She's joking, obviously, but the underlying refusal is there. Heroism is her domain. ] Secondly, there's no time for that. You can't outrun it. It needs to be outmaneuvered.

[blindloyalty]

[He accepts the hand on his arm. He wasn't too good to accept help, of course. But...]

Oh, but I'm such a good nan. [Over time he's learned not to stumble when this kind of thing happened. The metal of her armor created a wonderful soundscape- his brain interpreting the walls and pockets as the noise came back to him.]

How big is it? There's pockets in the rubble we can climb through to our right, but it'll won't do us any good if it can squeeze in after us.

[escutcheon]

You can nag me to get up in the mornings, if it'll make you feel better.

[ She squeezes his arm once, encouraging, before letting go. ]

Big enough to be inconvenient. But that can work to our advantage if we're careful. [ She eyes the length and breadth of it's body grimly, mentally calculating and discarding approach angles one after another. Ignis' blindness is - as dispassionate and clinical as it sounds - going to be a royal pain in the ass to plan around if they go for a conventional tactic, but if they use it to gain an edge instead... weaving in and out of rubble is probably the best shot they're going to get. ] I can't see well in these conditions, so you'll have to use your fancy night vision senses to lead the way.

The more we can lead it in a merry goose chase, the more time we'll have to get indoors while it gets tangled over itself. Agreed?

[blindloyalty]

I'll see if I can work an appointment in for you before Noct. [It's his turn to grab her arm and lead her into the rubble. He moves a lot faster than it looks like he can, anyway. Ignis leads them into the awful terrain of the wreckage of some buildings. He takes his hand off only to slap some walls- good, sturdy, the opening sounds very narrow. He turns sideways, moving into it, knocking as softly as he can on the wall to still hear how far it goes. There was decent breadth to move quickly at least.]

"Fancy night vision"- hadn't realized that was the old manner to say "hearing", but it's been a while since I've read a book.

[he could hear the creature behind them, of course, hoping fiercely that they weren't just setting up a difficult-to-investigate murder scene]

Agreed.

[escutcheon]

[ If it helps, Cousland makes a lot of noise as she squeezes between gaps in the rubble, armor shrieking against rock and rust alike. The anomaly is hot on their heels as well, all teeth and spiny legs, but having a much harder time fitting in the smaller spaces, slowing it down considerably.

The dark is practically complete, with the entry blocked by a monster. Cousland stumbles a few times on such uncertain footing. ]

Whatever you want to call it, as long as it works.

[blindloyalty]

[he immediately stops tapping when the metal sounds do so much better to reverberate through even his own body in this crevice]

With any luck, there'll be a pinch and it'll get stuck.

[he'd turn his head to give her the impression of looking at her incredulously if he could.]

That's a ridiculous statement and you know it. It seems like the footing is heading up. Could be rubble from a second floor. We may be able to gain some real distance from this thing.

[escutcheon]

The same could be said for me, you know. Now wouldn't that be embarrassing...

[ Shoving levity into a serious situation is just an automatic response born of habit. Don't mind her grumbling about squeezing past progressively narrower points of entry, Ignis. She's just not a happy camper unless she can complain about something ridiculous. ]

Up is good. Loop around, jump off, head inside to safety, and that will do nicely for today.

[ Breezily implying that leaping from a second story in full plate armor is just a minor annoyance. Cousland, no. ]

four

[tidalflame]

[Zidane is already going into a runner's stance when Ignis speaks, causing him to look over with annoyance.]

No way! I'm not leaving you behind.

[blindloyalty]

Then think of a better plan! I'm going to round the debris to come back to the door. Be ready for me! One- [he shifts his stance, taking in as much as he could around him. ] Two- Three! [ He takes off in a break neck run back the way they came, quietly hoping that his mind map was correct. The wind direction hadn't changed, so... should be fine.

He takes a sharp right, listening for the thing's legs. Where did it go, where did it go ]

[tidalflame]

Crazy bastard...

[Zidane races after Ignis. His acrobatic prowess allows him to catch up after jaggedly swerving past the creature and narrowly dodging a bladed limb.

Too close.

Sometimes, he really feels the sluggishness in his legs. Once upon a time he had the agility of a gibbon. Now?

Ugh...]

Hey, you can't outrun this thing!

[He shouts through the swirling snow.]

You gotta be smarter!

[blindloyalty]

I have a plan, I just didn't think you needed the entirety of it when your part is to guide me to the door!

[he vaults into a collapsed second story though a broken set of windows, running up the incline. He, thankfully, suffered no such difference in ability, except for the havoc the biting cold took on him.]

Well, you're here and you can see it, what do you propose?

[tidalflame]

Propose?

[Zidane flips through the windows and lopes up the wreckage.]

The sly eagle traps its enemies.

[He risks a glance back at the beast and winces when he sees it's closer than he wishes it was.]

We can't kill it but I bet caving one of these wrecked buildings in on it will sure slow it down.

[blindloyalty]

[Eagles don't- He discards this line of thought immediately, but knows he'll have to bring it up later.]

We can't guarantee that it will follow one of us more closely than the other, so we'll need to stick together now. This floor feels as if... Zidane, do you see a stair case?

[Ignis could feel the sweat beading at its brow. Was it better that he had no idea what it looked like? He could kind of tell what shape it was by the sound of its horrible legs hitting the wood.]

[tidalflame]

What?

[The abrupt question catches him off guard, then he feels the shudder beneath his boots.

He looks around. There is a staircase to his left, or at least the splintered remains of one.]

I think we're gonna have to jump.

[blindloyalty]

[he hated jumping into uncertainty like that. Harder to brace jumps these days, after all. At least-] Fine, lead the way.

[he could feel the harsh blowing winds again in patches, the existing walls mapping loosely in his head.] Does it look like it could break a door down?