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.
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snowblindmemes2017-01-14 08:59 pm
Hugo Vasquez | Tales from the Borderlands
@va$quez ; text
okay look, there's a lot of things i can put up with. freezing my ass off in all this snow? fine, sure. whatever the hell keeps roaming around at night? little less okay, but i've got this, don't you worry.
8 million spiders, though? i'm gonna have to draw the line there, as i'm sure any reasonable person would.
[ He'd already tried tearing up a few things to get at them, reasoning that if he squished a few, perhaps the rest would get the idea and leave-- this hasn't at all gone how he'd planned, and every upturned piece of furniture stands (or lays, really) as testament to how that had gone. For once, force was not the answer, and now he has to rethink the question in-between complaining about it. ]
we don't have an exterminator or something around, do we. that'd be too convenient, which doesn't seem to be a word anybody around here even knows.
how the hell do spiders even survive out here?? this is bullshit.
prompt : three.
[ The fruit had been a peace offering of sorts, taken cautiously and subtly inspected before he'd even dared to try it. It was a peach, soft-skinned and a little worse for wear, but after having to scrounge on his own for a few days, Vasquez wasn't about to turn down food offered so freely. Joke's on them for thinking he'd return the favor, though-- he'd make a show of considering it just to keep relations above-board, but he knew exactly where that was going. His temporary companion could mark that one down as a loss, whether they'd realized it yet or not. ]
[ For all the sticky sweetness, the peach brought something foul with it. Vasquez hadn't noticed when the symptoms had started creeping up on him, softly and gradually-- something was far from right, and the twisting in his gut was enough of an indication that what was already bad was about to get far worse. But despite his efforts to show what was wrong, nothing was coming across-- either his companion was about as observant as a rock, or it was all in his head. The second option was unacceptable. ]
[ The sickly feeling is back with a vengeance, slithering its way through his throat like an agitated python-- he retches on instinct, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth as though it was going to help at all. Rather than get a good eyeful of the disgusting way whatever's gotten inside him twists under his skin, he screws his eyes shut, scowling under his hand. That's what he got for trusting anybody out here-- there was probably a parasite of some sort in the fruit, just waiting for its chance to kill something. And unfortunately for Vasquez, it looked like he'd been the sucker after all. Pale and clearly nauseous, he straightens up, doing his best to keep his dignity intact despite how utterly awful everything felt right now. ]
Yeah, whatever you were planning with-- that? The fruit? Fuck you. [ He runs a hand through his hair, trying to mask how bad he's shaking. Keep your cool, Vasquez-- he has to remind himself not to just start trying to beat the shit out of the person before him, and it's a little hard. They might have some kind of remedy, or at least information on whatever it was they'd done to him; either one could mean the difference between being rid of this thing or having to deal with it for longer, so he'd have to play it a little safer than that. ]
You're not gonna get the best of me. So why don't you just-- [ Another lurch, and he doubles over, effectively ruining his building efforts at being intimidating. It just...really isn't his day, is it? ]
1; @guardian; text
Or at least cheaper. Same reason Hyperion employs wide-spread use of loaders instead of modded stalkers, right??
no subject
alright that makes sense, but that sounds like it's just gonna make it harder to get rid of them. i'm assuming we as a group don't have a lot of ideas on that front, being that i think the 8 million in here's gone ahead and jumped up to around 14 by my estimate.
[ There's a small pause before the next message sends, a brief period of quiet consideration on his end as the gears turn. He doubts this 'guardian' knows who he is, but it's safe to assume this will all go better if he makes the effort to be at least a little polite upon first introductions, no matter how pissed off about the spiders he is. Time for a lead-in-- ]
you mentioned hyperion, though?
no subject
[ Isn't that reassuring? ]
And, um, yes. You're new, right? That's the company I worked for back home. Don't worry about it. Lots of robots and hi-tech weaponry, basically. ♥
no subject
few thousand, couple million, still way too many no matter how you slice it.
[ He takes a moment to kick at one of the fallen chairs, crossing his fingers that it might do something to quiet the noise-- it does nothing at all, and he curses under his breath. ]
i guess? it hasn't been....that long. probably. [ At least, he thinks. It's been a 'couple days, that much he knows for sure. ] it's just been....snow. a whole hell of a lot of snow. makes it a little hard to tell, yknow?
[ So 'guardian' worked for Hyperion-- emphasis on 'worked'. Still, definitely worth noting down. He'd have to keep his cards to his chest for the moment until he got a better bead on that particular situation-- it wouldn't do to be hasty, particularly not when he wasn't sure who he could half-trust here. There was one hell of a list of Hyperion employees that hated his guts, and without the chain of command around to provide a threatening force, who knows what could happen? ]
no subject
Have you seen any signs of them? Or is it just the scuttling noises? Maybe it's something else entirely.
[ Hopefully not a monstrous anomaly that's about to burst through the floorboards and consume this poor sweet polite newbie, though. That'd kinda suck. ]
no subject
[ 'Poor', 'sweet', and 'polite' are three words that haven't been applied to Vasquez in years. Give him like ten minutes, Angel. He'll prove why. ]
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Are you in a place with multiple rooms?? You could try hiding in a bathroom until lockdown ends. There's no shame in it! We've all done it at least once.
[ Angel hasn't. But only because she and Rhys prefer hiding under tables. It's the classy choice. ]
no subject
[ Hiding in a bathroom? He's got this, though. Potentially. He doesn't need to hide-- okay maybe he does, judging by the sudden spike in noise. Vasquez glares into the darkness for a second, unable to see what's going on beyond the halo of light from his tablet. ]
real quick though, do these things bite at all
just checking in case they actually. show up.
no subject
Yes. They do bite. Kind of. The administrator uses them to administer shots and anesthesia, though. They're not dangerous!
Although I guess in large numbers they could prove problematic. Overdosing on anesthetic can be pretty freaking fatal.
Yeah just try and avoid them
[ NAILED IT ]
no subject
[ Who. ]
[ Possibly mechanical spiders going around and giving people shots and anesthesia at the beck and call of some shady admin character? Ohh man, he is not here for this. On one hand, painkiller overdose isn't the worst way to go he can think of, but the thought of those things swarming on him is awful. How exactly is he supposed to fight that? He's got...two shoes, which he supposes he can throw if need be; although with how much they cost, he's loathe to do that. Besides, he's pretty sure that would just leave him without shoes, which is a problem in and of itself. ]
[ Silently, he tucks himself into his corner a little more, feeling a little less confident about his chances now. ]
about that whole 'avoiding them' bit? if they're all up in the walls and whatever, how exactly am i gonna do that. [ The bathroom idea isn't sounding that bad right now, anyway. ]
no subject
[ GENIUS. Hold your applause, ladies and gentlemen. ]
They usually don't attack or anything, so you should be fine! But they don't usually swarm around places to the point you can hear them, either.
Maybe try to look as not-sick as possible. And stay away from the walls?
If you're freaking out at all, try to calm down. They might be malfunctioning and interpreting an increased heart rate as a sign of physical distress!
Medical spiders have been inoperational for a while, so if they're getting reactivated there could feasibly be teething problems like that. So relax! Think about things you enjoy instead of waves of robotic spiders. ♥
no subject
that's. very reassuring. did you work in PR?
what i'm getting out of this is just.......don't do anything. at all, until morning. see what happens after that?? followed by the usual 'try not to die'.
[ There's the network at least, so-- there's that positive, maybe? A little distraction sounded pret-ty good right about now. ]
3~
He's only half-paying attention to Vasquez's distress, and only turns his head upon the second retch. ]
Aw, Hugo, having a little tummy trouble?
no subject
[ The look he sends Rhys's way is positively drenched in venom, and it's clear that if Vasquez wasn't busy trying to make sure he doesn't fall over, he'd be getting more than a little violent right now. ]
You're gonna be having a little-- [ He has to stop for a second to bear down on a new disgusting sensation, gritting his teeth with a grimace. ] I am literally gonna break your face if you open your mouth again. Got that, Rhysie?
[ Whether or not he could actually do that is anyone's guess, but it's safe to say he isn't going to be too much of a threat no matter how much he'd like to be. He's definitely not in good enough shape to be at the top of his game at least, and that's going to be a problem for him. ]
You're lucky I feel like shit. Really, really lucky.
no subject
(Though he does scooch his chair an inch or two back) ]
Just focus on trying not to ralph, 'cause we'll both have to deal with the stink all night. Actually - hey, if you DO puke, YOU'RE cleaning it up.
And don't call me Rhysie.
no subject
What was it, poison or something? Didn't figure that was your style. [ Personally, he'd always thought Rhys a little too soft. Perhaps he'd been wrong. ] But-- I guess I can see it. Look at you, gettin' your murder on. You're awful.
[ Like he's got any room to talk. On the plus side, whatever's going on doesn't feel like it's getting all that much worse for the moment, and Vasquez looks more than a little relieved about that. The thing in the fruit that caused it all isn't high on his list of concerns now--if he does die, well...he's going to blame Rhys regardless, so the exact cause might not matter too much. ]
no subject
[ Not that he's above that, especially when it comes to Vasquez. It's honestly not a bad idea. But here and now -- nope, nuh-uh, not him. ]
You were the one whining about being hungry, so I just forked over the thing I wanted the least. Not my fault you have a sensitive digestive system.
[ Lips pursed, brow set. ]
no subject
[ Still, he squints, the tiniest hint of a sneer finding its way to his face. While he doesn't trust Rhys, the situation is a little more open-ended than he'd made it out to be-- for all he knew, the fruit could've been tampered with long before they'd picked it up. This line of thought made sense, but there was one particular problem it didn't address: how much Vasquez hated Rhys. (It was filed away for 'later' consideration anyway, just in case. By later, he means probably never.) ]
Besides, you've had way more time to find out what causes this sort of thing. You mean to tell me you wouldn't go for it? 'Cause-- I don't know if I believe that.
no subject
[ Somewhat true, though also somewhat of a farce -- Vasquez is a familiar foe, and this hatred supersedes a lot of the indignities he's dealt with here. Not all of them, but a great deal.
The strategy is to dig at him with words, since the food poisoning seems to be doing its own thing. Thank you, random nasty fruit! ]
This is just a random happystance. ...happy and happenstance, get it?
no subject
Say I believe you for...five seconds. That causes its own set of problems, sure, but we're not talking about that. [ Vasquez takes the opportunity to press his back to the wall and slide down, giving a short huff when he finally gets seated. He's getting dust and dirt all over his suit, and that's terrible-- even if it's getting to be a lost cause already. ] Could mean that any of the food we got has this...stuff. And between the two of us, I'm not the one hoarding all the ice cream, so-- who knows. I'd-- be a little careful if I were you.
[ And here comes SlitheringInternal Death for his composure once again, setting off an incredibly visible shudder and forcing him to bite down on his tongue. This is just-- awful. Next time, he's not going to even look at the damn fruit. ]
no subject
well
yuck
Rhys has nothing slithering around his insides, but he can almost feel it from the power of suggestion. He pulls his be-booted feet in and hugs his knees, wary and disgusted. ]
I, for one, feel normal. Super-duper-normal! Maybe this deathfungus is fruit-borne, and not... dessert-borne. Maybe. PROBABLY.
no subject
[ After a solid minute of silence while he wrangles the mess he's dealing with, Vasquez looks back up, discomfort almost painfully obvious in his expression. He's trying, but he just can't quite rib Rhys how he'd like when it feels like he swallowed roughly fourteen snakes. ]
You'd-- better make sure that isn't strawberry ice cream, then. [ Inwardly, he hopes it is. Being that this...condition was liable to go on for a bit more, he might as well try eating something to settle it-- if Rhys tossed that pint, he'd just grab it. But-- no spoon, at least...none that he knew of. The universe was cruel. ] While I'd get a kick out of you getting this, we're not really gonna be having a good time if we're both out of commission. If something shows up in the meantime, well-- you're at least an okay shot, right? Maybe?
no subject
[ Rhys lets silence hang for a good five seconds or so, just so Vasquez can soak in the quiet judgement. ]
Y'know, finger guns just aren't especially effective against man-eating monsters. But, hey - [ An upturned palm, and a possibly familiar tiny screamy robot floats over Rhys' hand. So obedient. So good. ] We have Dumpy.
[ And if an anomaly shows up, he doesn't have to outrun it. He just has to outrun Vasquez. ]
no subject
Oh, sure, your tiny frickin' robot's gonna save us all. [ Still, he scoots away a little just in case-- Vasquez definitely remembers Dumpy's bigger cousins shooting at him, and he's not keen to relive the experience, no matter how small and full of screams this one is. ] What's it gonna do? Yell the monsters to death? [ Or at least cause them a mild earache-- ]
We'd be better off just tossin' you at it. You're like human jerky already-- you're perfect for the job.
[ It's a...'promotion', maybe? Not really. ]
(no subject)