thetube | Test Drive Meme: June 2015

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Welcome to the Underground test drive meme! This is where you can try out the AU version of your character, start some potential CR and get a feel for the world of the game. Choose your character's species, read up on the available factions and you're ready to go. Put your character's name in your subject line when you post, tag out, and have fun!

Note to current players: Activity in this meme counts as game canon! So you can use it for activity check. If you end up playing anything that you can't or don't want to use as game canon, it's fine to ignore it. (In that case you shouldn't submit it for activity check.)

Here are some prompts to inspire you:

1) LONDON CALLING. People come to London from all corners of the earth. Now you're here and whether you meant to or not, you've been drawn in to the supernatural world. Perhaps you're here to meet other members of your faction. Or perhaps the city's more unusual inhabitants find you first.

2) DARK SIDE. Whether it's animal instincts, a lust for blood or uncontrollable magic, every supernatural being struggles with their darker instincts. Be careful, you may end up doing something you regret.

3) ENEMY TERRITORY. You've found yourself on the wrong side of the tracks. This is enemy territory, you shouldn't be here. Better hope you can sneak your way through without any trouble. Although you have this nagging feeling that you're being followed...

4) GET YOUR SHOVEL. Well, there's a body. Freshly killed, and they didn't come to a natural end. The question is, did you do it or was it someone else? You'd better sort this mess out quickly.

5) STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM. It's the Wimbledon finals, so grab a picnic basket, buy some horribly overpriced strawberries, choose your tennis-themed outfit and get yourself off to SW19. Sure you can handle large crowds? Now is not the time for a supernatural mishap.

6) JUST DANCE. It's a ceilidh! (Barn dance.) Organized by witches but open to all (friendly) newcomers, the dance takes place in an old music hall. There's food, drink, folk music and a magical ritual to bless all young single people attending who are looking for a partner. You never know, your next dance partner might be the one.

7) FULL MOON. (2nd July) Uh oh, it's that time of the month. Werewolves, have you been feeling more aggressive lately? A little short of temper? Better start preparing for your monthly transformation and hope that you don't get interrupted. And then there's the morning after, which feels like a massive hangover. Wait, where are your clothes?

8) CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE. Anything goes.

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3)

Keep your head down, dress modestly, don't talk to strangers, and stay where it's well lit. That was her aunt's advice when she had to catch a bus out of Camberwell in Southwark. It was vampire territory, and she couldn't get herself caught out here.

It was both good and bad that she looked and, to her knowledge, smelled human. It meant she wasn't treated as an enemy in vampire territory, but it also meant she was prey.

"C'mon. Don' do this t' me." When she got frustrated, the Irish in her really came out. "Damn it!"

The phone, which had been helpfully giving her directions after having taken a wrong turn down an unmemorised path, died. Without even thinking, she threw it away from her, and it landed on the pavement with a crack.

"Fuck!"

She hurried over and picked it up.

"Good job, Skip. Got another shattered screen. How're you gonna explain that t' Da?"

4)

"I know what it looks like." And, oh, she really does. She really, really, really does. Covered in blood with a dead body at her feet. And holding up hands caked in his blood. "But I swear t' God, I didn' do it."

Of course, she wasn't sure how to explain what had happened. 'I saw a vampire chomping down on him and made enough noise to scare them off' sounded like a crazy person.

"My mobile's busted, swear t' God. Call 999, won't ya?"

6)

She tells herself she doesn't want to dance. It's kind of stupid to participate in something that's supposed to be about singles when she's technically engaged, but... It's a ceilidh. How can she resist?

It's actually almost easy to forget that her leg was ever injured. Of course, if she actually tried to go into her ballet movements, she'd be reminded quickly. But she's not going to do that, and she's going to try very hard not to even think about it.

Besides, it's easy to keep her mind off any one thing as she moves between dances and partners, letting her mind take in all the little glimpses and swirls of colours. Might make for a good few elements to bring to a painting.

8)

Wildcard option!

[--Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,--

Yep. No one played anything on the jukebox for a certain amount of time... which meant it was time for the patrons of the Jolly Roger to hear a song they heard once every night that Skip was working. Tonight, with a full moon out... Well. At least there weren't any werewolves around to be offended.

And she's singing along as she picks up the empty glasses from tables and wipes them down. Which might include a few flourishes with the music that are completely unnecessary, but. Hey. She does her work, so she figures she's allowed to have a little fun. Given half the chance and the right music, she'd actually probably be happy to dance (mostly tastefully) on the bar or a table.

She drops off her glasses and reaches into the cooler to grab a beer bottle. One quick motion under the counter opens it, and she takes it to the pool table.]

On the house.

[Because, well, it better be, what with her bringing it to the boss.]

( that makes him laugh, because, well. is it really on the house when technically he's paying for it? it's not often someone manages to get a genuine laugh out of him, but he accepts the beer, checks the label as if there's some risk of her getting the wrong one (there really wasn't) and then grants her a charming grin. )

Well, that's very gracious, isn't it? ( he didn't mind proactively getting him a drink, though, if he's around the pub he'd rather have one than not, and he's not ashamed to ask, but he doesn't mind not having to. he nods at the jukebox, that has been tucked into a corner and has an unfortunate looking toothless buccaneer molded into the plastic. )

Quite a pick, darling. ( he wonders if anyone in the pub is taking it personally, but so far, nobody seems to be. )

Who'd object?

[Of course, she can think of quite a few people, but. Well. None of them are going to be in on the night of the full moon. Not that the possibility of having werewolves in the pub had ever stopped her from playing it before.

And, well, it might not be the most professional thing for a boss to drink in his own place, but it was one beer. He started having more than that, well, she'd start her harpy routine. Not that she'd ever had to. That was more something she had to do with her da.]

I like it.

'Sides, they'd be disappointed if I didn't play it on my shift.

They'd have to be quite brave.

( she was a bold girl, one of the things he liked about her. perhaps most employers might have a stern word for an employee that had such a quick temper; the pirate in him approved too much of her pluck to really hold it against her. especially considering that temper tended to spark when she was in the right, not the other way around. he'd stand by his employees, he owed them that. they deserved it to keep on when it was far more dangerous than it looked from the outside.

it was quite hard for Killian to overdrink, it amused him more than anything on the rare occasion she cut him off. he'd let her get away with it, but it made him wonder if she wasn't quite aware of what he was. working here, she'd probably learn sooner or later — it wasn't as if she balked from the back room, perhaps she knew more about the supernatural than she let on. )

It is tradition by now, that's true. I hear that number, I know you're around somewhere.

[Skip flashed a grin and pulled herself up to sit on the side of the pool table. She could still see the bar from where she was, and it wasn't like she planned to stay here for long. As the man he was playing against lined up a shot, she shrugged her shoulders.]

Gonna miss it.

['You shut up, Red.']

Call me that again, an' you'll be red. Maybe I'll even take out an eye, yeah?

( this was absolutely the sort of thing he should discourage, yet the pirate in him was a little too hard to scare off. he liked a woman that would speak her mind and stand up for herself, so Killian just laughed as the fellow he was playing scowled. )

Listen to the lady or you might be blue, she's being modest.

( true to her prediction, the man missed and scratched along with it, a dark curse escaping him and he threw the cue on the table and stumbled off to a dark corner to likely drink away his shame. )

Now I'll never know how that thrilling game will end.

( well, considering he was nearly to the eight, chances were it'd have ended all right. )

"Like a horror movie? Yeah. I couldn't help but notice it'll make Elijah Roter blush." This is why he should always stick to his regular route. If he doesn't, he'll find himself literally stumbling across something out of a slasher film.

"Look-- Look, it's fine," he tells her even as he tries his best to assess the situation in front of him. No way either of them can just get out of here with someone pooling red beneath the ground. "We'll call the boys in blue and they'll be here soon as you can blink."

Maybe they'll take their sweet time getting here. Haringey has always had a bad reputation with the coppers here since forever.

While he slowly reaches for his phone, his eyes dark back between her and the cooling corpse. The dead guy at her feet is a big one. Way bigger than her, period, so there should be marks on her to show he put up a fight or she put up a fight if this is defence from a mugging gone really fucking wrong. "Are you okay? Nothing or no one tried to hurt you, right?"

"Tried t'," she admits, showing her arm. Even in just the bad lighting from the street, there's already a mark forming around her wrist where she was grabbed. Then, she holds up a set of keys -- like multiple car keys, most of them red with blood. "An' I gave that fucker what he was asking for."

Not the man in front of her. Messed up as he was, it wasn't someone slashing his face with keys.

"But -- Christ! I-- Shit. I didn' do it. Guy was already dead or near it by th' time I got 'round the corner."

Anxious, yes. Nervous, definitely. But... not in shock. Not screaming her head off like one might expect from a young woman in front of a body who hadn't caused it to be there.

He's going to count her not screaming as a blessing for them both, strange as it is. If she didn't do this then that means someone else did and they could be skulking around for all he knows. Better not push their luck unless they had backup and a car to hide in or something.

"Look, I believe you. Got no chance but to. This sort of shit happens all the time in this part of town." More than usual in the last few months, though, but he knows better than to tell her that. He's about to ask her for her name when the dispatcher picks up at last. "Yeah. Matthew Brown. My location is a place over at Haringey. There's a corpse on the street. Signs of a struggle. Attacker got away--"

He moves closer to get a better look at the person as he gives details, trying to confirm the girl's story. No signs of key mauling on the dead man's face, only that wide-eyed look of terror that seems to be look at her and only her. "You'll be here in twenty minutes? Okay. That's great. Yeah, I'll stay here. Is anyone else 'round? Er…"

Matthew looks up and raises his eyebrows at her, wondering if she wants to admit that she's here or not.

She seems to consider it for a moment and nods.

"Sk-- Sofia Hughes."

She really doesn't need to be involved in this whole mess, but it'll be a lot worse if someone sees her going back to her place and getting cleaned up. Sure, the pack won't say a word, but it's not like she lives in a gated community and won't have to pass at least a few people who might. Better not to run. Not to try and hide her part in this.

"Shit."

She can't help it. The thought comes out:

"Next time, I'm jus' gonna keep walkin'. Fuck."

"Sofia Hughes," he tells the operator when he gets an answer and a confirmation, trying to stifle back a snort at her comment. A bit dark, yeah, but he can understand her feelings on this. No one wants to get involved with anything like this. It just leads to either a headache or trouble. "She's roughed up but okay. What? Oh, yeah. I'll stay on the line, gotcha."

He puts his cellphone down now to get a better look at her again, both of them left to play a waiting game until someone came by. "Name's Matthew. Matthew Brown. I would try to say pleasure to meet you but I feel like that's a bit of a faux pas here."

With what's lying between the two of them and all. He doesn't seem that fazed by the situation, a bit frazzled any tense but anyone would be if this happened to them too. "Wish we could have met under better circumstances, Miss Hughes. This is a pretty damn good mood killer if any."

"You a cop?"

Because he's calm. Almost creepy calm. Not that someone might not think that about her, too. But if he was a vampire, he'd have gone all hungry-like with that much blood in the air. Werewolf might be calmer, and there were people outside the pack around. Even ones in the pack she didn't know. Or he could be another psycho. Or a cop. Those were the options she'd narrowed it down to.

"I'm from here," is his answer, honest and blunt. "You don't grow up 'round these parts without seeing some weird shit going down every once and while."

The best you can do is either get used to it and be ready to have a chat with the cops or move out to somewhere nicer and his parents did not have the luxury for the latter. Most he could tell himself over the years if that it was never him or Addie or anyone else he was closer to. He cocks his head to the side, inspecting the damage with a grimace when he catches the person's expression again. Christ. Whatever happened, it sure looks painful.

"Gotta admit that this is overkill." Understatement but what else can he say? On the bright side he's in one piece? He has his face together? The police can identify him faster unlike the last guy. "You, um, feeling okay with your wrist over there? Looks kinda nasty."

"Guess they've been dukin' it out for awhile, yeah."

She doesn't even think before she says it. Once she does, well. Shit. Hopefully there is some gang activity to blame it on rather than having to explain that comment. Not like she can just say that there's tension between two different supernatural species.

"Guess it could be worse, though. You don' seem half-bad, y'know."

He makes a noncommittal sound to her, chalking it up as either a twisted initiation from a gang nearby or a hell of a fight gone wrong. Something that goes bump in the night is something that pops to mind himself but he doesn't say it aloud. Last thing Matthew wants to do is make her think he's nuts. Her evening is shitty as it is so there's no need to alarm her with his ideas that maybe a bloodthirsty faery did this.

"What? Um. Thanks?" He isn't sure how to take that compliment if it is one. Not when there's this between them so he does what he does best: Do something for someone. "Wait. Give me a sec."

He starts taking off his jacket, unzipping it and tugging it off so he can hand it over to you. "Here. I think you're probably gonna be needing it more than me. If you don't want the the cops comin' over here and immediately mark you as a suspect yet that is."

"Kinda too late for that."

It's demented to kind of joke at a scene like this, but she can't help it as she steps closer and takes the jacket, pulling it on over her clothes. The blood's mostly dry, at least, so it won't stain. Much.

"Found him an' got blood on me. Gotta hope they test an' it's good enough t' prove the blood on the keys ain' his."

And that she couldn't have made those kind of wounds on him. The last thing she needs right now is to face a murder charge. And 'watch me on the next full moon, if I killed him, I'll turn into a wolf' isn't exactly a rock solid defence outside the supernatural community.

There are only so many ways you can react to a scenario like this. Humour is better. Humour makes it bearable if only for a bit.

"You attacked the person who was attacking him?. Huh." Talk about mugging the murderer. He keeps his ears out for any strange sounds, like footsteps or, preferably, a car coming their way, but he can focus enough on her to keep a conversation going. "Pretty brave of you. Kind of reckless too if I can add that. Looks like they were going at it when you decided to step in."

Matthew hopes that she didn't get a good look of the person's face or the person doesn't realise it if that's the case. Last thing she needs is a target on her back. "You have someone to call if the coppers go ahead and try to stir shit with you, right?"

"Well, kinda more like--" She shrugged her shoulders. "Saw it, screamed, an' the asshole came at me. Got hold of me, tried t' fuck with me, an' I stabbed him with some keys."

Not really a Good Samaratin act, really. So she might have shouted more than she'd screamed, but she hadn't meant for him to really notice her. Just startle a bit. So maybe the bastard he was making a meal of could get away. Not that it'd worked.

"Guess my aunt can help. Think she knows some people who'd be able t' help, yeah."

"That's good to hear." He rubs the back of his neck, wincing at the thought of. "The coppers are most likely going to try and pin the blame on us since it'll be easier than looking for a guy who tried to bleed some hobo dry through the neck. That's a fuckin' weird way of getting black market blood or get in a gang but hey. Guess the kids are all 'bout makin' waves or something."

This is definitely in the 'something' category because he cannot, for the life of him, understand why a kid would do this sort of thing to join a gang. Peer pressure can only explain so much after all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive Meme: June 2015

Sofia "Skip" Hughes - OC

for vampiracy

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GET YOUR SHOVEL

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this is on time i swear