thetube | Test Drive Meme: August 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.)

For prospective players: Thinking about bringing a character to the game? Feel free to comment to our Potential CR Planning meme for OOC planning and discussion.

Here are some prompts to inspire you:

1) BABY COME BACK. Is there someone you miss? Maybe you've come to visit for the first time in months. Maybe you'll even stay.

2) FULL MOON. (29th August) 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?

3) CARNIVAL. (30th-31st August) It's the August bank holiday weekend and that can only mean one thing: the Notting Hill Carnival! With the sun high in the sky, enjoy the parade, the music and of course the food. Jerk chicken, anyone?

4) SPECIAL EFFECTS. There's nothing like a touch of subtle magic to add to the occasion. Dress up and show off. Mind you, there could be other supernatural types around who see straight through your tricks.

5) PARTY ALL NIGHT. It's not over when the sun goes down. Get yourself to one of the bars or after-parties and keep on partying. Just don't drink too much. You know it makes it harder to control your powers... and your urges.

6) BRAWL. The police work hard to keep London's gangs away from Carnival. When you have supernatural gangs to contend with, their job gets a whole lot harder. Drunk and disorderly or simply looking for an excuse to cause trouble, encounters between rival factions can soon become hostile. Now are you here to cause a fight or to stop it?

7) NIGHT IN JAIL. Oops. What did you do? And who's that with you?

8) CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE. Anything goes.

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"She looks like a tramp." Skip said it with a smile that suggested she might either be just that casually mean about other girls or like she was making a joke. Or both. Either way, she tilted her head a bit. "How 'bout a dance or two with me?"

Sure, the music wasn't great. This wasn't North Pole. But it was a club with young people, and she was craving a bit of fun.

Simon wasn't ready to commit to Skip's judgement of the situation, but quietly he agreed a little bit. At the pub for pre-drinks, she'd struck him as...very much not his type, and this only confirmed it. He was kind of glad he'd escaped that particular situation relatively intact.

Did he want to dance? No, not really. He wanted to get out of the club and make it back to the Tube station before the last train so he could go home and get at least a little sleep before going back to the lab. Was he going to make it? Probably not. Not when he had a little alcohol already in his system and there was a pretty girl next to him. Not when he'd already been dragged out by the "friends" who had basically abandoned him as soon as they crossed the velvet rope.

"Oh, go on then," he told the girl, finishing his drink in one gulp and moving towards the dance floor. Just one dance would be all right.

Especially once she saw him dance and realized just how terminally uncool he was.

Skip grinned wider and went with him. Perhaps because she was slightly drunk or maybe because of the situation he was leaving... Whatever the reason, she looped her arm around his and walked right beside him. To her, it was charity. No matter what happened on the dance floor, the group he came with at least got to see a girl hanging on him, giggling in his company.

On the dance floor, she immediately slid into moving with the music. A typical club girl style of dancing, her shoulders and hips swaying to the latest remix of a pop hit.

Simon's dancing style could be summed up in one word: nonexistant.

He shuffled awkwardly on the dance floor, trying to time his shoulder shrugs to the girl's much more adept swaying and painfully aware of the eyes that he was sure were on him. He didn't much like being the center of attention.

Still, there was something nice about this. He closed his eyes and let his body move with the music, and by the time the song was over and a new one had started his dancing looked a little more natural.

Well, kind of.

"I'm Simon," he offered a couple minutes later, yelling over the thumping music.

"Skip," she called back with a grin.

Any idea of personal space seemed to be negotiable to her. As another song started, she casually put an arm around his neck while the other set on his hip. A moment later, it proved to be for more than just getting closer. Subtly, her elbow and opposite hand provided a guiding frame to moving with the music. He wasn't awful, no, but everybody could benefit from a little help.

Simon thought that he might have heard her wrong over the loud music--or maybe "Skip" was just a nickname--but it didn't really matter when suddenly there was an extremely attractive girl draping herself over him.

A girl. A real one.

Simon froze for a moment, unsure about this new development, before the little voice in his head that always kept him so tightly wound decided to take the night off and he found himself moving closer to her, letting her guide him.

Well, what the hell. Why not.

Skip laughed a little as she moved, keeping up with the beat. When he didn't stay frozen, she took another small step to further close the distance between them. He didn't seem to mind too much once he got used to it, which meant she could push a little more.

"There y' go," she murmured into his ear, chuckling under her breath. "Gotta jus' feel it."

Easier said than done for most people, she knew, but it still bore saying. Besides, sometimes? Having someone so close and a voice under the music and lights was just distracting enough to make dancing easier. Plus, well, it was fun to see what she could get away with.

And now they were really close.

Simon's breath caught in his chest a little. It had been entirely too long since he'd been this close to a girl. He lived in mortal fear of anyone ever finding out about his secret, so relationships were often an afterthought. Even having a flatmate was terrifying (though unfortunately necessary). But now he was here, dancing with a girl.

Enjoying himself.

"I apologize in advance if I step on your toes," he murmured back, tilting his head down so she could hear him over the noise.

He pulled just a little bit closer.

"Don' worry 'bout it, love," Skip said. After all, she used to put her entire bodyweight onto them.

Since he seemed to be at least into the music and the scene now, Skip couldn't help herself. The arm around his shoulders shifted a bit so she could run her fingers into his hair. It was a light gesture with just a hint of her nails, but it was what she'd learned from dealing with the boys she met through her family.

Which... were mostly werewolves. So she might or might not have developed a penchant for things that were almost scratching.

And then the the nails came out.

Simon's eyes widened a little, but it didn't hurt--it just felt...odd. It added to the sensation of being here, of letting himself be surrounded by sound and light and smells. Her smell, in particular, was almost as intoxicating as the alcohol he'd been drinking.

He growled a little bit, sensing something familiar and yet totally, completely foreign. He'd never even met this girl before. So why...?

She couldn't help herself. Skip laughed a little as they danced, and she leaned her head forward to make sure she was heard.

"And now? You can get any girl in here."

Because, hey, sometimes all they needed was a bit of a boost. But, hey, maybe he'd decide that the girl he wanted was the one already in front of him. God knew she had an itch to scratch herself.

Simon smiled.

"What if I don't want any girl here?"

His hand clasped her in the small of her back. There were warning bells going off all over the place, but he chose to ignore them.

Given his usual luck, it would just end with flirting anyway.

"Can I get your number, love?"

"I'll make sure to put it in your mobile," Skip replied, leaning into him a little more.

It was too much fun, pressing against him a little more, all but laying her head on his shoulder. After all, she was so close. No reason not to try a little more.

She scratched her nails against the back of his neck again. And, well. Fortune favoured the bold. Plus it was more fun.

"Would you like it before or after I show you my flat?"

This was a bad idea.

This was an incredibly bad idea.

Simon didn't date for a very specific reason: he didn't want anyone to find out that he could turn into a big, fluffy, white dog at will. It's not that he didn't want to be, well, intimate, because he did. Rather badly. Especially when there was a gorgeous, ginger Irish girl in his arms and everything in him as a red-blooded young man said to go for it and damn the consequences. It was just...complicated.

It was always complicated.

(Plus, he wasn't carrying any protection.)

And yet, despite all the many reasons Simon should have said no, he said:

"Let's get the hell out of here."

Skip laughed.

It was an easy, warm sound that she hoped didn't completely expose her relief. Sure, it was usually easy to find someone within the week, but it was so much more fun when he was young and cute. This one? Totally worth it. He looked like he needed a good time, too.

Rather than say anything, she shifted forward more to kiss him, her hand moving to slide across his cheek lightly.

Kissing? Kissing was easy. Simon was a bit out of practice, of course, but it was like riding a bicycle. A rather wet bicycle, to be sure, but this was something he could do.

The other things? Ah...they would have to cross that bridge when they came to it. At least if Simon embarrassed himself completely he wouldn't have to see her again, right? It was a one night stand; it wasn't as if they'd be adding each other on Facebook or anything.

(Did anyone still even have a Facebook?)

He was stalling. Simon wrapped his arms tighter around her, feeling the way she fit against him, and kissed her deeply. When he came up for air, he noticed that the friends who'd dragged him into this insane situation in the first place were long gone.

Figured.

"Your place far from here?"

Not a bad kisser. Stalling, but that was okay. She couldn't expect everyone to be as fine with all of this as she was. He'd come around. Or, if not, it'd be something to laugh about later with her friends over drinks.

"Just a short cab ride."

Which she had plenty of money to pay for. After all, the only thing her wages had to pay for was fun.

As she pulled away, she trailed her hand down his arm and caught his fingers with hers. She hooked them gingerly and smiled as she gave a tug away from the dance floor, toward the door.

Oh, fuck it.

Simon grasped her hand and went with her.

Less than twenty minutes later, Skip unlocked the garage door from the backyard of a small suburban home, and she led the way down to the basement.

It was a mostly open layout with a door to the laundry and bathroom. The furniture was minimalistic at best, and the majority of the space was taken up by easels, paint, and various other supplies.

"Not much," she says as she shows him in, flashing a grin, "but it's home."

Given how obscenely high rent was in London, Simon wasn't entirely surprised by Skip's place of residence. Even with financial assistance from his parents, Simon's own flat in Bloomsbury was pitifully cramped, and he knew he was better off than most.

"It's lovely," he replied, mostly meaning it. At this point she could have pointed to a shack in an old train yard and he would have been all right with it.

But now what? He'd never done anything like this before. Did they go straight to the bedroom or would there be more making out involved? Frankly, he preferred the making out.

Simon tilted his head and went in for another kiss.

"I like it," she answered with a laugh.

She hadn't wanted to live on campus, and her father wouldn't pay for housing. Mostly because he wanted her somewhere her family could keep an eye on her. Which was a small price to pay for a nice area in which to do her work.

When he moves in for a kiss, she responds. Her arm loops around his neck loosely, and her body pressed against his. It's hardly her first time bringing a relative stranger back here. So, well, she loves the 'at your pace' game. He wants to go straight for the bedroom, that's where they'll go. But he seems to want something a little slower.

Which gives her cause to hook her fore and middle fingers around a beltloop of his and give a little tug closer to her.

So she wanted to continue. Well, at least that was encouraging. Skip seemed to know a lot more about how this was supposed to go than he did, so he let her take the lead. Simon was content to just be kissing a pretty girl right now.

Actually, no he wasn't. There were certain things that probably needed to start happening if he was actually going to go through with this.

Simon reached his hands under her shirt, tugging it upwards. Maybe it was time to clothes to start coming off.

Skip pulled back from kissing him for the moment and actually took a step back. The smile she gave was nothing less than playful as she unbuttoned her shirt for him. She didn't totally remove the shirt, no, just left it open, displaying the turquoise lace bra she had on.

There was no denying she'd dressed up for someone to see her tonight.

"What're you thinkin' about? An' don' tell me it's how pretty I look. Somethin's on your mind."

And she knew (roughly) what it was. Which was why she just had to ask. It was always a little too fun to get someone to admit to nerves.

Simon took a minute to admire the view--and a very fine view it was--before giving Skip a crooked, self conscious smile. He wasn't going to admit he was a virgin. Jesus fuck, no. But still...

"What if I do want to say you're pretty? Because you are." His hand was toying with her collarbone. He wasn't going to go any lower until he had express permission to do so.

"I've never done this before. Gone home with a girl I barely know, I mean. It's all a bit new."

And with Simon's luck, now would be her cue to realize what an impossible idiot he was and kick him out.

"Wanna know what to do?"

Skip moved forward, putting her arm back around his neck while her other hand touched the back of his and led it down over the lace, pressing on the back of his fingers to encourage a bit of applied pressure.

She knew plenty about taking strange boys back with her. And this one had the same problem a lot of them did. That much, she was perfectly used to. Hell, the last one she'd brought home had done the exact same thing.

Skip leaned close to kiss his jaw and mutter the words in his ear, low and almost purred. "Don't think."

All the handwaving.

protagonized - 2015-10-07 06:34 (UTC) - Expand

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Test Drive Meme: August 2015

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All the handwaving.