nonotagain | 01. Test Drive Meme

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!tdm

01. Test Drive Meme

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

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[He won't let her get too far. Won't let her slip away, not again. If the grip on her hand as he leads them out in as much hurry as he allows without looking like he's running is painfully tight, well, she doesn't exactly have room to complain, does she?

He only hesitates when she makes a suggestion, and he huffs a quiet sound out his nose before letting them out to open air. It's so much cooler here, and it's a wonder it hadn't felt suffocatingly stuffy when he was inside. There's a distant but pervading ocean scent on the breeze. Reminds him they're a long way from home.

Or. He's a long way from home.

His grip eases up, still firm, but not as demanding. Somehow, it's as hard to look at her as it is to look away. Maybe if he thinks of this like a mission--

God, he's so fucking exhausted of this.]

I could use something a lot harder than coffee.

[But nothing from the party. Maybe nothing here at all, unless it's something he can trust. And he can barely trust his own senses right now. He motions for her to take over and lead the way. Anywhere but here. But somewhere safe and secure and alone with her would be best.]

[ He's struggling with everything, that much Natasha can see, even though she's been in his spot and knows how it feels. She remembers the first time she landed in the City and how long it took her to settle. Rather come to any reasonable definition of the word, especially with the constant push and pull of influences that were forced on not just her but all the Chosen.

The hardest part was watching people she knew come and go, knowing there was no place for her to go back to.

She turns to face him, taking her free hand to bring his face to look at her. Natasha's voice remains soft, but damn if she doesn't want his attention. ]

Hey, look at me. I'm not some made-up illusion here to trick you into anything. This isn't what happened to you in New York. This isn't Vormir. And it's not a dream. I'm here. Me, Clint. I need you to believe that because, by the time I do convince you, you're going to owe me BIG.

[ Her hand drops to the side of his neck, her hand framing his face as she tries to lighten things up, if even a little. ]

I know all this is hard, but I've been here before. Let's go to my place, and I'll tell you what I know. Okay?

[She grounds him. Gentle touches and firmly making him look at her, to keep him from spinning out of control, to keep the trapped bird of his heart from bursting out of his cage of a chest, to focus.

She had to take that duty up after Coulson, in a fashion. He needs something, someone, to be there to pull him back into himself. They've all seen what happens when he has nothing but himself to rely on. A weapon with no one to use it. A wildcard making up the rules as he goes. A dangerous asset with a skillset to be a one man army fallen into the wrong hands: his own.

He looks, and there is a brief but vivid moment that flashes in his eyes. Every muscle straining. The accepting look on her face. Please no.

He blinks, and he is in the City, and she is here, and they are both dressed for a party they don't actually want to be at. The sensation of warm alien waters surrounding him and the weight of a rock in his hand are just sense memory. He breathes in onetwothreefour and out onetwothreefour. Nods.]

I already owe you everything, Tasha.

The same way I owe you everything, Clint. Partners, remember?

[ There is nothing she can do about what choices were made in their world, nor is there a desire to change her mind when she gave her life so that Clint could have his back. It made sense to her then and still does. But now he's here, once again separated from Laura and the kids, but here with her. It isn't fair.

How does she try and get him back home again when she has no idea where they even are? Regardless of how long it takes, she'll find a way. That's her vow to herself.

For now, she'll enjoy having her best friend back.

With her hand still in his, she drops her other and takes a step back, gently pulling until he takes that first step forward. ]

Come on. I've got some pretty good tequila and a case of beer.

[He will follow her wherever she leads. To the ends of the earth, to hell and back, to another planet. There's so much to say. So much he's said to her already, except it was only ever to open air. So much he knows he doesn't have to say, because in their years together, they formed a method of communication that bordered on telepathic.

There's a canyon between them now. (No. There's a sheer cliff face.) But it's still her. He'll give her as many chances as it takes.]

I know someone who'll fight you for that title. She'd lose, easily, but she's not bad in a pinch.

[Easier to talk when it's something that isn't...about what happened.]

[ Once he's keeping pace, she falls in beside him, lacing her arm around his and keeping him close while directing them towards Chicory Lane.

Of course, she's going to scoff at the thought. Anyone who goes against her tends to lose badly and walk away bloody. Still, Natasha can't help the way her attention abruptly turns upwards to look up at him, her brow creasing to show she is totally unsure of who he is talking about. ]

You went and got a new partner? Who loses fights? What?!

[ She deadpans, feigning a smile even though the corners of her lips start twitching in amusement. ]

She decided we were partners; we are not partners except when we have to be.

[Kate will totally understand if this gets back to her, probably, maybe, definitely.]

She, uh. She's kind of a big fan and decided to be one of the world's best archers because turns out she saw me fighting in New York when she was a kid and saved her ass from Chitauri, and boom, modeled her life after me. Poor kid.

[ There's nothing but silence. Natasha isn't sure Clint's pulling her leg here, but even she had to admit he was a force during the invasion, so hearing that some kid grew up wanting to be just like him isn't a stretch, as far as she is concerned.

But it still makes her laugh out loud because she could picture him adamantly telling this young woman that he absolutely didn't need a partner. How could she possibly not be more endeared to him than she already was? ]

She saved your ass, didn't she?

[ It's the only way she can think of that he would feel compelled to tell her they were only partners when they had to be. Natasha tried not to let that sting, even if she knew deep down that this girl involving him probably helped him more than it didn't. ]

She--

[Hm. He could agree. He could brush it off as a joke. He could allude to the truth but not really get into it. They saved each other. They're partners. Her mess is his mess. His mess is hers. He still doesn't answer her incessant texts, knows she can make her own way. But still. Partners, right?

And then there's Yelena.

Shit, he's going to have to ease into that. But not yet. He clears his throat.]

She got caught up in the Ronin's mess. And then things got bigger from there.

[She was his responsibility. That's how it started, anyway.]

[ Natasha directs her gaze forward, brow furrowing at the information. She'd been tracking him as the Ronin through Rhodey, keeping him in her line of sight (mostly) until she hunted him down in Tokyo. She was aware of his self-destructive path and tried over and over to help give him the hope he needed to believe Laura and the kids would come back. But sooner or later, Natasha felt that by him keeping her at arm's length, she'd be spared of ever knowing if something bad happened to him. ]

What kind of mess? Bigger how?

[ She glances up at him again, eyes searching his. There's something he's not telling her. ]

Well, on the one hand, Kingpin ended up involved. On the other hand, my protege's mom sent a Black Widow after me.

[It doesn't answer how Kate got involved in his mess in the first place, but that's a slightly longer story. If Natasha's alive, if she's here, does she know what happened after? Does she know about Tony, about Steve, about the base being turned into a smoking crater and a battleground? She can probably guess that they succeeded, as he hasn't made any indication otherwise, but he also knows he hasn't said anything about the family, about anyone who came back.]

Plus, I crossed paths with the daughter of someone Ronin killed, and I didn't make a very good impression before she found out his identity. I gotta say, she's a damn good fighter. Someone we should get on our side, if she ever stops hating my guts.

[So, you know, just a normal Tuesday.]

[ If he thinks she's just going to let that second bit of information go as if it's run-of-the-mill stuff, he's wrong. Sure, the mention of Wilson Fisk is one thing that no doubt will lead to bigger things, with everything else being secondary information that is most certainly connected in one way or another but not nearly as important.

He brought up a Black Widow, and that has her stopping mid-step and turning to face him. Natasha's lips pressed together, looking down and past him. It was one of the things that crossed her mind after she got to the City, right after she sacrificed herself. She knew somehow that if they were successful in reversing the Blip, there was a possibility of the wrong person digging deep enough to find her sister and use her for the wrong reasons. Or she could only hope that the little blonde girl she tried to protect would protect herself.

Clint barely finishes before she says her name. ]

Yelena.

[He comes up short just a step ahead of her. There are still others out there. Natasha made a point of that. Other little girls who grew up to be dangerous women with no choice in their lives, all trying now to figure out how to be people again. It could've been any one of them.

But this isn't something to lie about. He still has the physical aches from the very sound beating she gave him, bruises still a mixture of sickly purples and yellows, and it's a miracle his head isn't still ringing like a bell.

He doesn't look at her.]

Yelena.

Who was the protege's mother?

[ It's instant, the over-protective big sister came out like an animal from the bushes. She needed all the information he had, even knowing that it did little to change what had already happened and what would inevitably still happen once Clint returned to his timeline. She knew eventually that Yelena would go looking for answers about how she died, and the person she would draw the line to first was Clint. Or anyone else from the Avengers group.

But someone else obviously got to her first. ]

I need to know what happened.

[And then he does look, because that's Nat in mission mode, and he needs to shut that down before she goes looking for a solution to a problem that isn't even there anymore.]

It's okay. It's done. It's resolved.

[You got so much time with her. And now here he is, getting more time with her. It will never be fair, never be even.

Their ledgers will never balance.

He sighs, lets his shoulders slacken.] She got in her licks, and we had a conversation, and she walked away. We're not friends, but we're not enemies. 'Bout as good as I can hope for, with her.

[ She doesn't let him finish. ]

Who was your protege's mother, Clint?

[ Natasha isn't about to let this go. She respects him, yes, and trusts him to have things under control. But Yelena is her family -- just like him -- and if it had been her here instead, she would challenge her sister just as hard for the answers to these questions. Maybe even harder.

After a pause, her voice goes soft and green eyes hold his. ]

I know I'm not there anymore. Nothing that happens there has anything to do with me. But I'm not a ghost here, Clint. I'm not dead. You don't have to talk to thin air pretending like I'm right in front of you. I'm here and I need to know why Yelena was hired to kill you.

[ with Dreykov dead and the Red Room program terminated, Yelena was on a search for other Widows who still needed to have their brainwashing reversed. Why did she take a job? ]

Because Kate's mom was involved in Fisk business and didn't like that I was poking around her company ties or hanging around her daughter. I don't know what you want, okay, there was a hit put out on me, and Yelena probably got put on it if she didn't volunteer for it because revenge is a really great motivator.

[He doesn't know how Eleanor managed to get a Black Widow on the case, but Fisk has connections that run deeper than just New York. Yelena obviously has a particular skillset she's spent her whole life honing, and she probably doesn't have any kind of otherwise steady normal person job. Money's also a pretty good motivator. He huffs and motions down the street.]

Can we just go? Please?

[ Natasha's face falls. Now it makes sense. Revenge. For her death. Someone told her sister he was responsible for her death. It's the only way Yelena would return to the Black Widow way of thinking: to erase the name they were given from existence.

She lets it go for now. Clint was the one that was here right now, and she didn't want to turn this evening and this reunion into something that would end badly. So, Natasha nods in surrender and steps back, turns and falls into stride beside him. ]

[He doesn't want to argue. But he knows difficult talks have to be had, and they have to be had sooner rather than later. He's thrilled to see her again, to talk to her like she never left, even if it also sucks all the air out of his lungs. A tiny traitorous part of him still whispers that this can't be real. It's all going to turn to smoke in his hands, water between his fingers, and he's going to lose her again, and none of this will matter--

But that's a tiny part that can go get smothered with a pillow. He lets a quiet settle over them for a short while. Even if letting her feel the hurt fucking sucks. Because it lets them both cool off before this spins too wildly out of control, lets them bring themselves back in. It still hurts now, but hurts just a little less to recall it.]

She was going to kill me. [And he can make excuses if he wants, that it was already after an intense fight, that his heart wasn't in fighting but just surviving. But he doesn't.] Had me dead to rights. That's your sister. As good as they come. I kept trying to explain it to her, but she wasn't having it.

I used your whistle. The one you always said about having with her. It was the only damn thing left I could think of to get her to stop for two seconds. She started listening then.

[ At the end of the street, Natasha directs them to the right. They were only a couple blocks away now from the quaint little bungalow she had rented from a little old in the City before it became what it is now, which is good considering the tower is still not anywhere she wants to live.

She didn't expect him to continue, even despite the stretch of silence they had walked before he decided to explain further. And she listens but keeps her eyes forward and her hands folded in front of her.

Natasha looks up from the sidewalk in front of her. She's quiet a moment longer before giving a nod. ]

I knew when I told you about that whistle that there might come a day when I wouldn't be able to talk sense into her. She's stubborn, just like me. But so are all Black Widow operatives.

[ He knew that already. ]

I know it took a lot, but I'm glad it was you who got her to believe. If anyone else had... well someone else did get to her. She's being used.

She took a job to kill the last person that ever saw her sister alive. She figured if she had been there--

[...But is that right? Did she know, in detail, what had happened? The public knows, at least, that she sacrificed herself in the line of duty to bring everyone home. It's not such a stretch for people to know that the guy she was closest to was involved. But did someone twist the narrative somewhere along the line?

Maybe Natasha's right. Maybe they all had gotten manipulated one way or another, and the fact that the people who got out of it alive did is nothing short of a Christmas miracle. He frowns.]

I think she knew, you know, inside, that you always did whatever you set your mind to without anyone ever being able to stop you. But didn't want to believe. She wanted someone to blame.

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01. Test Drive Meme

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