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: GIFT BASKET You wake up to find a new application, BASKET.EXE, has downloaded itself to your tablet. The icon is of a cheery pink wicker basket adorned in a bright ribbon and full of eggs and treats. If you click on it, no program appears to immediately load, but then an egg-shaped chocolate in a cheerfully colored wrapper will appear in the corner of your screen. "Eat me?" it asks in an unassuming word bubble. Should you click on it, your tablet goes dark. A cryptic message appears on the center of your screen in red text: Thank you for your contribution. Or maybe it reads: Progress has been saved. Or even: It will be our secret. Whatever the message reads, you feel a shiver pass down your spine, and then your tablet returns to normal. The application has disappeared. TWO: THE RESURRECTION Maybe you've died before or maybe this is your first time, but just like with any other revival, you awake in your body bag, and have to suffer through the task of crawling out into the morgue. You know you'll need to figure out what it is you've awaken to: how long you've been gone, where you are, if anything has changed about you or anyone else. But before you have a chance to do anything to get your bearings, your eyes catch onto something strange. There, on the door to the drawer your body had been stuffed into, someone (or something) has left something. It could be a drawing, or it could be a written word, but whatever it is, the sight of it fills you with a sense of loss. It's familiar, though you're not immediately sure how or why: something that symbolizes something important you've lost in your past. But who would leave this here? And who could know? Action Prompts THREE: RABBIT FEET It's been a long day of traveling, and you and your companion are glad to be reaching your final destination for the night. Someone's even built a rabbit out of snow outside of the door to make the place more inviting. Only...as you get closer, you realize that the tall, white figure is much too detailed to be anything made of snow. The slender figure has a body that could almost be human if not for the way that the limbs attach to the torso at odd angles, and the rabbit face has dark, hollow slits for eyes. It carries a small basket in delicate fingers. It waits for you. It waits for you to get closer, closer. It waits for you to try to get inside. FOUR: SKIN DEEP The day has been rather uneventful, so you wonder why it is you can't sleep. Something is eating at you, poking at the back of your brain, telling you that you're missing something. You look over at your companion and then you see it--something shifting beneath their skin. And then you look down at your own arm, and you see it there, too. An egg has been planted into your skin. And not just one. You wake your companion at once--they need to see what you see. But when you illuminate the situation with the lights from your tablets, you can't see the eggs anymore. You're left to wonder if it was really real, or if your imagination was getting the better of you. But what if it was real? And what happens when the eggs hatch?

Comments

[raccoongirl]

No.

[But then she looks at it, and wow, it sure does have some puncture marks in it, doesn't it.]

... Yes.

[bywolves]

[ Poor girl. Royce has to take a deep breath so that he doesn't get angry. At himself, at her, at the town. It's easy to be furious instead of upset or worried. He doesn't want to do that. ]

We'll clean it and wrap it. [ Royce says, even as he's carefully taking off her boots for her. ] Dry clothes first. Do you know why we need to get into dry clothes first?

[raccoongirl]

Because being wet makes us colder.

[She helps him with the boots, toeing them off.]

[bywolves]

That's right. [ He's glad she remembers. He's proud, too. ] Being cold and wet can lead to frostbite. And we want to keep all our fingers and toes.

[ It's not the best way to talk to a kid, but. Royce puts her boots off to the side, and then takes her hands in his, cupping them. He blows hot air into their cupped hands, trying to warm her fingers up a bit. ]

[raccoongirl]

Is Solomons searching the house?

[Alfie had told her she could call him by his first name, but she hears Royce call him by his last name so much that it's become habit.]

Do you think he'll find more cloth to put around our hands?

[bywolves]

[ Poor Alfie, having to deal with double the Solomons. Royce nods a bit. ]

He'll look, at least. He's good at looking, like we are. [ Royce pulls their bags closer, and digs through to find her dry clothes. They're too big for her, but it's all the have. ]

I have - [ He pauses, and swallows a bit hard. ] Mittens. You can have them. They'll keep your hands warm.

[raccoongirl]

You don't need them?

[She shoves her fingers inside one, wiggling them around.]

[bywolves]

No. I have gloves. [ And Emily won't need them. Royce smiles just a little when she pulls one on. It's hard, but he manages. ] You need them more than me.

[raccoongirl]

They're big.

[They go almost up to her elbow, which could actually be a benefit.]

[bywolves]

That's alright. Keeps you warm. [ He puts the rest of her dry clothes in her lap. ] Go change. Come right back and I'll wrap your arm for you.

[raccoongirl]

[She zooms off, and as promised, is back in under five minutes.]

Will I get infected?

[bywolves]

[ He can't help himself - she comes back, and he near immediately extends a hand to her so that she can crawl up into his lap, on the couch. It's instinct. ]

No. Not if you keep it clean. [ He tells her. ] We have something that will make sure it's clean. Something from another world. A world like Solomons'.

[raccoongirl]

Like medicine?

[She curls up against his chest.]

[bywolves]

[ He eases, just a little, when she does. He pulls out the little packet of disinfectant and some bandages so he can work on wrapping her arm as he holds her. ]

Like medicine. [ He confirms. ] This might sting a little. Just a second. [ And he starts to clean the little puncture marks. ]

[raccoongirl]

[She watches him patch her up, without flinching or whining.]

Do you think medicine from Solomons' world would have helped my mother, or Miranda and Arcadius?

[She doesn't know her her mom died, and she isn't totally sure that Miranda and Arcadius are dead. But she thinks they probably are.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce falters. ]

I -- [ He's quiet. ] I don't know. [ He wraps the bandages around her arm, ties them off neatly, and then pulls her close. Don't get upset in front of her. ] It might have helped your mother. Maybe.

[ There's so much he wants to say - I wish your mother hadn't died; we could've been happy, all three of us - but it gets caught in his throat. ]

[raccoongirl]

[She sighs, and snuggles closer. It's okay. She's used to losing people. Honestly, she figures she'll lose her dad at some point, too.]

I wish we were going to the fairy palace instead of staying here.

[bywolves]

[ Not if he can help it. Not ever. Royce wraps her up in a blanket, tucking her head under his chin and holding her close. ]

I know. I'll make sure we find our way there eventually. [ He murmurs. ] That's my job.

[raccoongirl]

Being the fairy king?

[bywolves]

Taking care of you. Being the fairy king is not as important as that.

[raccoongirl]

[That gets her to look up, surprised.]

It's not?

[It's not that Mercy hadn't known that he cared about her. But either directly or indirectly, she's been brought up by Arcadius to see destiny and responsibility as the most important thing. Isn't a king's destiny and responsibility his kingdom?]

[bywolves]

No. It's not. [ He believes that more than anything. In fact, he rests his finger under her chin to make sure she's really looking at him. ] You are more important to me than anything else. You are always going to come first.

[ There's something quiet and angry and resentful in him - he knows she was raised by Arcadius, for the most part. And he knows that the man he'd considered almost a father for a long time didn't really care about him at all, killed his wife, and kept his daughter from him. It stings.

All he can do now is make sure she knows she is cared for. ]

[raccoongirl]

Are you going to get in trouble for saying that?

[Can kings get in trouble? Hell if this six-year-old knows.]

[bywolves]

[ He snorts. ] No. And if I do, it doesn't matter.

[raccoongirl]

I won't tell.

[There! That will make it okay, even if it's not allowed.]

When we go back, can we bring everybody in Norfinbury with us?