nonotagain | 01. Test Drive Meme

Entry tags:

!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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sam's surprise was written across her face. Even after all of the shit she'd seen, she could still be surprised. Which was probably a good thing, because it separated her from some of the bullshit that other Kindred used to justify crap.

Wasn't great for a poker face, though.

"Um. Okay. Wow. That's one hell of a...thing."

For better or for worse, the creature stopped moving. If there was anything left of it to move. That damn thing looked like mulch. Bloody, disgusting mulch that, unfortunately, smelled a little bit too much like dinner for Sam's comfort.

She inched away from it, shuffling sideways, still clutching her revolver, although she didn't raise it.

Jaeger favors her with the slightest twist of wry smile, pistol still in one hand. If the creature is getting back up, it hopefully won't be soon...though that strange distortion still lingers, accompanied by the ringing of his ears from close gunfire.

"I'm a lot of fun at parties."

He's not going to touch the remains, just watch then for any sign of further threat. Finger off the trigger, he ignores the slow seep of blood leaking from his nose. Glances at Sam again, somewhere between amused and contrite.

"I saw your tags." Which goes at least a little way in explaining why he's chatting her up in a dark alley.

Yeah, Sam wasn't sure what to think of this guy, but the fact that he wasn't Kindred was definitely a point in his favor. So. That was something. Maybe. The fact that he'd made confetti of a monster meant that he was...slightly to the left of human. And her luck with slightly to the left of human was mixed, at best.

But he'd also saved both of their skins. So there was that too.

She didn't put her gun away.

"I fucking hope that's not a party trick you take out too often," she said. "For...a cornucopia of reasons." She jerked her chin slightly at his face. "You okay? You look like you just went a couple of rounds against a Wookie."

It might be debatable how human mages actually are, but Jaeger has a good steady pulse, breathing only slightly elevated, and that's sort of the important thing as far as he's concerned. Taxonomy gets weird and in general he doesn't think about it too much if he can help it.

Jaeger touches the bit of blood, and frowns but doesn't look overly concerned. A little bit of fatigue I a small price to pay for not being torn to shreds, in his mind.

"The bigger the spell, the more toll it takes," he comments. "I'll be fine in a bit."

He cocks his head toward Sam's fallen spray can, then looks back at her. "I saw your symbol and wanted to know what it meant. It looks arcane, but not a class im familiar with."

Spell. He actually used the word 'spell.' And not in some kind of ironic way.

Sam was vaguely aware of the fact that magic was real. Avery had files all about mages. They were highly theoretical, but then again, so was the Great Experiment, initially. And there were the members of the Circle of the Crone, who practiced a kind of magic, although it seemed to be mostly an extension of...Kindredness.

But this guy?

Einstein-Rosen bridges sure knew how to fuck with what you thought you knew about reality. It was fascinating. Except it was also kind of horrifying.

She glanced back at her handiwork, before turning to him, both eyebrows disappearing behind the plastic fringe of her wig. "It's my street tag," she replied. "I do graffiti art."

Considering she'd just watched him maceration a demon with nothing but a gesture and a little bit of a nosebleed, he'd felt comfortable enough getting down to brass tacks. Whatever you wanted to call it, it was something he was well-trained in and this place, well, this place is weird enough that magic is feasible, right?

He leaves the patch of spotlight on, but lets it shrink and dim to something less obvious. A nice little glow to chat by.

He nods at her words, looking rather unconvinced, but accepting it for the moment. "I see. I'll have to keep an eye out for your work, especially as it seems I might be here a while." His smile is thin, though not threatening, and after another moment he puts his gun away, back in its holster under his jacket.

"I'm sorry if I troubled you tonight, Miss."

"I mean...you kind of just saved my ass..."

Which wasn't exactly a phenomenon that Sam was used to. Not one she knew how to deal with, either. She was still furious at Avery for his attempts to brainwash her into her own salvation. That was different though. She knew Avery. Avery knew her. Knew her and still tried to override her own choices.

Not something she wanted to deal with, but she was good at shoving unpleasant thoughts to the recesses of her mind.

It was a talent.

"How did you...how did you do that?"

"You're not a bad shot yourself," he offers, tugging his jacket back into straight lines. "I'm a trained combat mage. I was born with the ability to work magic, and I studied and refined over the years."

He looks to be a brisk and robust 40 or so: certainly old enough to have pursued his craft as a professional. Though what kind of professional needs to liquefy the enemy might raise some questions.

His expression softens a bit, then. "I'm glad I was here at the right time. This city...seems to have something of a demon problem."

Wow. A mage. An actual, confessed mage.

Despite all of her determination not to think of him, she couldn't help but think of Avery. He would totally be freaking out right now. One of his theories proven right? Mages who actually exist? Yeah, that was the dream.

She had to temper this revelation with the fact that she'd literally gone over the rainbow and crossed an Einstein-Rosen bridge.

And with the fact that she was still pissed with her stupid-ass brother.

Trying to play it as cool as possible, she looked down at the remains of the creature. "A demon? So that's what a demon looks like. Good to know. For future reference and such."

It's a living, at least.

"Thats what they call them here, at least. I guess it's as good a name as any, especially if they're tied into the Seven Deadly Sins like everything else here."

He's still not sure what to think about that.

"But it's something I may have to do more investigating on, if I'm going to be here." He exhales deeply, letting all the air out for a moment and looking tired around the edges. Not just from the fight, but for the strain of being here.

"Andrew Jaeger, by the way." A proper introduction seems polite, under the circumstances, though he doesn't offer a hand.

This guy just kept making her think of Avery. Putting things together. Being logical. Using the word 'investigating.'

She kind of hated it. But that hate didn't exactly transfer over to him. As much a she hated her big brother right now, she enjoyed being alive more. Sam knew she was a dick, but she wasn't entirely ungracious.

Usually, anyway.

"Sam," she replied, rippling her fingers a small wave. She had black nail polish that was chipping around the edges, flashing in what little light there was. "Also, 'Jager' is a badass last name." As though she were congratulating him on a job well done.

He tends to play to his strengths where he can, and in an uncertain situation it was his best coping mechanism. Especially when faced with a strange city full of unknown threats.

Plus, to be fair, he was just Like That at the best of times. Though polite enough, at least, and very secure in his professionalism,

The corner of his mouth twitches at the compliment, a fleeting smile.

"So I've been told. Thank you."

He glances around again, idle but alert.

"I should let you be on your way, if you're alright out here by yourself." His dark eyebrows rise, though, thoughtful because he's not going to forget soon just what a good shot she is...or that she put herself between him and the demon.

"I can take care of myself," she said. Which was probably only about eighty or ninety percent true, most of the time. Sam's bravado was well-known back home. And had gotten her into more than a little trouble.

See: Becoming a fucking vampire.

All the same...she lingered a little. It wasn't at all because he reminded her of Avery. No, nothing like that. Fuck that guy.

But. He was looking for answers. And Sam really kind of wanted some herself.

"What...what have you figured out about this place, exactly?" she asked, hooking her thumbs through her back beltloops, rocking slightly on the balls of her feet.

Jaeger looks meaningfully at her gun. "Somehow, I don't doubt that," he says with a short nod. There's certainly no need to patronize her, given she'd stood her ground as well as anyone he's seen.

He's had experience with terrified victims and that's certainly not her.

He's content to talk, now that he can see she's amenable, and he rubs absently at his chin for a moment before he responds again.

"Not asmuch as I'd like, but a little. They call us 'Chosen', the ones who've been...brought here. The city is based around the Seven Deadly Sins, and we seem to reside in the district that someone feels best suits us."

He pauses, considering further. "Each district has a Magistrate, a ruler or head. They sent us welcome gifts. Very pleasant of them."

That last is wry, just a hair sharp and bitter in his rough voice.

"And, it seems that the supernatural is far more open here than it is in my home. Possibly because of the demon problem, but that seems to be only one aspect of it. Though...I'm still only barely making sense of it so far." An apologetic grimace at that last.

There was a tart reply about being 'Chosen' on the tip of Sam's tongue, but she swallowed it. Which was either a sign of growing maturity, or a sign that the massive about of shit surrounding this place was just too much to deal with in itty, bitty chunks of sarcasm.

Maybe both. Both was always good.

In spite of herself, of course, she immediately found that the place to start was simply by following her growing mantra of WWAD: What Would Avery Do.

Ugh, fuck that guy.

"When you say 'your home,'" she said, carefully teasing apart his words, "what does that mean? I mean, I've been hearing some wild shit about Einstein-Rosen bridges and multiple timelines but...in the most basic sense, let's start there, what is home for you?"

Jaeger wouldn't blame her for being sour, given he's taking the whole thing much the same. There's some small gratitude at being rescued (he thinks, at least) from a very bad situation, but a great deal more suspicion and uncertainty to get through before he'd ever be truly thankful.

"I was traveling before I found myself here. It was...a complicated situation, but I was on the road. I'm originally from Boston, the year 2023. This place is neither, from what I can tell, and doesn't resemble any of the cities I'm familiar with. The currency is different, the people, the monsters."

Not that he doesn't run into enough monsters back home, too.

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.

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."

"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."

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?"

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."

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?"

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."

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.

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.

01. Test Drive Meme

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