01. Test Drive Meme

[iterumadmin]

TEST DRIVE MEME


Thinking about joining Iterum? Unsure of who to bring or if they'll even fit the setting? Posting here offers you the chance to find out how they'll do while getting the sample for done for their application.

→ Comment down below with the character you'd like to test drive in the setting. Don't forget to add their name and canon in the subject line.
→ Choose a scenario or create your own, and tag around!
→ Test drives will be posted regularly in the months of March, June, September, and December.
→ Threads in the test drive are NOT eligible to use for activity checks, however, you can make them game canon if you wish and both you and your scene partner agree.


Possible Scenarios
Please note that all characters will initially arrive in their assigned housing; they are free to explore the City to their heart's content after that!

01. Arriving: You're pretty sure you knew where you were before you closed your eyes. But somewhere between then and now, you discover that you're definitely not there. In fact, the setting is so unfamiliar to you that it's bordering on unnerving and questions start to stack. Have you been abducted? Did you get drunk and pass out somewhere and not remember? Whatever the case, you need some answers. Or maybe this is familiar and the only thing that doesn't make sense is the layer of dust on everything around you which obviously means some time has passed. How much? No one seems to know. What you do know is that sitting around and waiting for answers is likely not going to happen.

So, you set out and hope to run into someone in the City that looks like they may be in a similar situation. Or, at the very least a person that might be able to provide some explanation. Veteran Chosen, make sure you warn the new people about the Shadows and advise them to steer clear of dark alleys and things that go bump in the night.

02. Party, party!: Now that you've arrived and hopefully settled, it's time to unwind. Inside your welcome basket is an invitation from the Duchess, who has decided to celebrate the growing population of the City with a massive "Welcome to the City" party in the Tower District. Wine spills free, and drugs abound, this is the kinda party that caters to all! The wicked and debauched demons and the good and decent who, if not careful, might end up tainted and corrupted at some point, like everyone else. Even if it's only for one night, why not cut loose and forget about whatever is pressing on your mind?

Nothing to wear? Check your closet, we're sure you'll find something suitable to wear.

03. Prominence: Everyone knows that the City sometimes influences its population on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, you arrived right in the middle of a heavy Prominence. Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, or Pride: choose your sin and get wicked. You'll find it's hard to avoid being sinful, almost as if your basic instincts are taking over.

04. Run!: A lot can go wrong in the City; demon attacks, muggings or there's even danger of being plucked from the streets and forced to partake in the Coliseum's version of Fight Club (if you know, you know). There are plenty of unsavoury types that all Chosen must be aware of. They rule the night, and once the sun goes down it becomes the Sinning Hour. Demons and monsters and humans capable of inciting just as much fear, if not more, come out to play. Mind yourself. It's hardly a tea party out there.

05. Network: Broadcast a video, voice or text message to anyone in your phone's directory. All Chosen have a device that they can use to communicate. Those that are returning will find their phone as it was, though without any contact that was previously in the City that is not currently. For the newly Chosen, a device will be supplied in your welcome basket and will match the type of telecommunications that was being used at the time of their exit.

06. Wild Card: Choose your own adventure in the game's multiple settings!



n a v i g a t i o n

Comments

[thegreatexperiment]

Her lips parted slightly. "Okay, 2023," she said, the wheels turning inside of her head. "So, let me ask you a question that, I'm hoping, makes you think I'm insane: In 2013, did every satellite orbiting the planet suddenly fall in a series of communications blackouts that systematically went from time zone to time zone, east to west?"

She'd been reasonably sure that he couldn't possibly be from her world, given the casual way he talked about magic and the supernatural. Until he mentioned that he was apparently from ten years in her future.

Who the fuck knew what the situation was then? Sam hoped it was better than before, but figured it was probably worse. That's the way things tended to play out for her.

[bloodalwaystells]

It gets a slow blink from Jaeger, then he shakes his head.

"Not that I've ever been aware of. I was in Boston in 2013. Working for a small and very exclusive private security firm." He's not going to call her crazy, but...yeah, that is a little crazy.

Maybe no crazier than the idea that they're from different times in the same world, but kind of weird. And certainly no more insane than the knowledge that they've been somehow abducted to another dimension.

"I have to admit, now I'm curious what you're thinking, though."

[thegreatexperiment]

"I'm thinking we're not from the same world," she said bluntly. "Mazel tov on that. My world fucking sucks."

Which seemed rather hard to dispute, given what she'd described. Otherwise known as...well. Her life. Or whatever pieces were left to her to actually call a life. Now wasn't the time to get into her damage though.

Who had the time?

"That's really confirming the whole 'Einstein-Rosen bridge theory' going around."

[bloodalwaystells]

He nods, a slight frown crossing his face.

"I'm not a scientist, so I may be the wrong person to ask about that. There's theories but nothing I could make any sense of myself. And science and magic tend to be incompatible, from what im used to."

He huffs quietly, then. "You seem to be taking this all in stride, I have to say." He casts a glance at the liquifying mess of the demon-thing. "Is your world that bad, that captivity and random attacks are an improvement?"

[thegreatexperiment]

She was strangely grateful that he hadn't seen her completed meltdown the day before. Sam was used to losing her shit. But she'd seriously lost it on arrival. If it hadn't been for the nice English man, she might have broken several windows--and her own spirit--in the process.

Was she taking it in stride? Oh, hell no. But it felt good to hear that she looked cooler than she was.

"I mean, the sky fell," she said, eyes roaming up to the stars above. "We kind of went Mad Max for a while. And even before that..." Fucking vampires. And even fucking worse...fucking Predators.

Still a work in progress, trying to trace the lines of their depravity and deception. Avery had a chart, complete with string and thumbtacks.

She shook her head. "It helps that I'm from LA. LA just sucks."

[bloodalwaystells]

He'd had a pretty dramatic arrival himself, though at least part of that had been shock at not being dead. His coming here at exactly that moment, that had been...fortuitous, no matter how strange the whole thing might be.

So he wasn't going to blame anyone else for a meltdown or two.

"Nothing like that has happened in my world, no. We have war and disaster, but not specific kind. kind." He lets out a breath quietly, the last bit a dry laugh.

"It does. They call it Hell A for a reason. I did a little work there, but thankfully not much." He shakes his head. "I'm used to traveling a great deal, though, so I've seen my share."

He considers her aborted attempt at tagging, the abandoned can of spraypaint, and says mildly, "Planning to build your artistic empire here, then?"

[thegreatexperiment]

She looked down at her can of paint, her smile ever turning rueful, before she leaned over to pick it up. "Guess I was just looking for fans," she replied. Which was a kind of way of confessing the truth, without getting into all the weeds of her Carthian networks and means of communicating through graffiti which no longer did jack squat without the aid of the internet and high-speed travel.

Rather unceremoniously, she dumped the can back into her messenger bag, the one with the embroidered dragon that Avery had given her.

Fuck that guy.

"I don't know," she said. "I think a big part of graffiti is just liking the sense of control. 'It may be your city, but haha, see what I did to your wall?' That kind of thing."

[bloodalwaystells]

Jaeger considers that with a slow nod.

Graffiti is enough of its own language in his own world: a mark outside a place to label I as friendly or hostile. Where certain things can be gotten, dangers to be avoided. Sure, it can also be harmless artistic expression, but there's other meanings behind even the simplest sigil at times.

That latter bit comes closer to the truth though, and he accepts that more easily. "I suppose that's true, too," he muses. He watches her put away the spray can, noting the dragon on her bag.

"Just be careful not to piss on someone else's territory before you know what else is here."

There. Sage advice from a tired old man.

[thegreatexperiment]

Okay, it was good advice. Sam just...wasn't great at taking advice. From old men, young men, or...pretty much anyone.

It could be a problem.

But it could also be her salvation. Ignoring Daniel Jericho had been one of the best choices of her unlife. Or whatever.

Trying to be diplomatic--which was not so easy--she gave him a reasonable smile. "I'll keep that in mind," she said.

Hey, at least she hadn't immediately started screaming every possible variation of the word 'fuck' at him. For Sam, that was progress.

[bloodalwaystells]

That's good enough for him, really. Not that screaming expletives would fuss him that much, but she is armed so it's probably better that it not come to that.

He gestures a little helplessly at the dark pressing in around their little bubble of magical light.

"I can leave you my number if you like. I don't know that it will be much help, but this may very well be a case of us against the city. It might be useful to establish at least some connections for sharing future information."

[thegreatexperiment]

"Always wanted to get a number from a guy who glowed in the dark," she said. Which wasn't entirely without basis. Sam used to go to a lot of raves. Neon face-paint and glowsticks. It was a lifetime and a half ago, but she liked to think not everything was dead inside of her.

And yes, that pun was fully intended. Even if it was just for her own amusement.

She reached into her bag and pulled out one of her fine-tipped markers, nipping off the cap with her teeth, before she held it out to him. Along with her palm.

[bloodalwaystells]

He gives her a half-smile, small and wry. "Like I said, I'm a lot of fun at parties." What humor is there is dry as dust, but it is there.

He only pauses a second before he accepts the marker and the offered hand, and writes his network info there in broad, neat print.

"You should be able to find me on the network easily enough, in any case. I don't sleep much, so feel free to contact me any time if you find out something interesting. Otherwise, i may see you at the...welcome event, if that's what it turns out to be."

[thegreatexperiment]

She grimaced a little. Somehow, the idea of a 'welcome event' put her in the mindset of Court in LA, back before everything got even more fucked than usual. In other words, a gathering that she really would have preferred not to attend, but one she'd probably need to. Just to get some kind of idea of what the hell was going on.

It would be painful. She would complain.

But. Yeah. Fine. Whatever.

"I'm a night owl too," she admitted. She shrugged. "So, I guess I'll be seeing you around." A pause. "And I may have some questions."

[bloodalwaystells]

Jaeger is also from a world, of society and formal obligations. It's funny, really, how much more comfortable the idea of an event is when he treats it with the gloss of professional requirement.

He blends in so much better as polite security muscle, most days. Not that he's bad-looking or anything less than well-mannered, but years of his line of work shows in him, right down to the bone.

"I'll do my best to answer what I can," he acknowledges with a small nod. "I can't promise, but if we're going to be here, I think it's to our advantage."

And he'll wait for her to exit the alley before he gathers the light back to him, letting it wink out in favor of the dim shine of the city's ambient light.