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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh..." Elizabeth looks a little more troubled and she bites her upper lip in thought. "The... theory shouldn't be too hard, but I'll have to practice a few times. I've never made it before, I wouldn't want to give you something that's bitter and does nothing."

"I would appreciate the attempt. Even if it does not work, I take precautions enough. No one would be hurt."

If it did work, all the safety measures in place were useless. Which was how he liked it. If the potion didn't work, then at least only he suffered for it.

"No, I can do it!" she insists, coming up on her knees a little and scooting closer. Elizabeth knows she's intelligent, that she's capable of doing this one thing to help someone else. If she didn't use her powers for good, that made her no better than Comstock's coven. She had to be better.

"Besides..." she frowns and laces her fingers together. "I might be the only one in this city who will want to help." Norrell's rhetoric surrounding other magical beings was becoming commonplace when last Elizabeth was visiting the Circle. Werewolves? If Norrell knew Elizabeth was trying to help one, he'd probably give her a lecture on how dangerous they were, plus a long and storied history of witches killed by werewolves-- accidentally or otherwise.

Illya smiles.

"I'm sure you can."

It isn't patronising, close as it probably comes. There's actual belief in the words, and its tone shows it to be meant more as encouragement. After all, even if her first attempt or two went wrong, he could still handle it. That she is willing to try is enough for him.

But her following statement...

"I know wolves are politically... unpopular? here. But is it-- You think it is truly that bad?"

That just makes getting to work that much more important. If he's going to be fighting an uphill battle, he might as well get started as soon as possible.

"Well..." Elizabeth shrugs helplessly. "I feel like every time I turn around, my mentor is leading another charge into another territory to drive out some new threat. I've started to assume that he wants no one but certain witches to live in London, and that I'll be trying to keep everyone who gets caught up in these fights alive as long as I'm here." She sighs with a little smile. "He thinks I'm naive. I think he just doesn't want to see that I'm tired of being in the middle of battles.

"But it's not like I have a choice. I need to be taught, and I need the protection and information of a large faction to keep myself safe from that--" she nods to the window again. "So I have to sit through lectures and dinner parties where old men talk about how everyone is awful and they're so perfect. It's hideous."

Illya smiles very faintly, and his pale, sharp eyes meet hers.

It's a lecture, and he knows it. But, well, history likes to forget many things. And she is young. Foolish, in her own way. But so is he in his. So is everyone, ultimately. But...

The least he can do is offer a bit of warning.

He can't change her mind. He can't make her do anything.

But he can say it--

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out," he mutters, uneven though his English may be.

"Because I was not a Socialist."

"Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me."

It does smart, being compared to someone who was allowing the Holocaust to take place. That was probably his intention, and Elizabeth can applaud him for doing it soundly.

"You waiting for me to say I'm just following orders, or is there some kind of alternative you're suggesting?" she asks, a sad smile barely turning up the corners of her mouth. "I'm not a match for him-- magically or politically. No one cares what I say, Mr. Kuryakin. But if I can do something for a few people just trying to live here... maybe I can live with myself."

"I follow orders." Because he isn't perfect. Far from it. He does what he's told and asks as few questions as possible. Because the less he knows, the less he's inclined to consider. He does what he's told is best for his country, and he can only hope that some of what he's told is true.

"But I know what I am."

Which, really, is what matters most to him. He knows exactly what he is-- a dog on a leash. He sits, he stays, he speaks, he kills. It isn't something he's proud of, but it's something he knows.

"As long as you know what you are-- do what you want."

"But that's the problem," she says, looking down at the faded dust ruffle that ran along the bottom of the bed and pulling her eyebrows together. "I don't know what I am. I'm an American, I'm a witch, I'm a woman but... that doesn't do much to tell me anything."

Then she has a thought that makes her smile and turns her eyes back to the Russian man. "Do you travel a lot? I keep telling myself that once I have my current situation under control, I'll figure everything out while I travel. Best place to find yourself is in places that aren't comfortable, right?"

"I am not the man to ask," he murmurs, shaking his head slightly. This isn't the advice he knows how to dispense. He can tell someone about following a trail. Or losing one. He can describe weapons. He can train a man to fight and another to kill. But this...

"I travel, yes. I know what I am, yes. But is not the same thing."

Explaining what it is... Proves difficult, but he's no stranger to careful thought, so he employs it. The police are still milling around, after all. So, they have time.

"I follow orders. That is why I travel. I am told to. I live where I am told. I do what I am told. When I am done, I wait for next assignment. That is what I am. You--"

He shakes his head again. Talking this much isn't really his forte. Usually because all he's asked is for status updates on a mission or the like.

"You want to be different. Individual. I cannot help with that."

To a certain extent, yes, that's one way to live and Elizabeth doesn't know enough about him to say whether it's good or bad that he is the way he is. But she does have a feeling about something-- or maybe it's not adding up for her.

"But... no one ordered you to help me, right?"

"No," he admits. "But." Always a caveat. "No one ordered me not to."

If that had been part of his assignment? He might have disliked it, but he would have done it. Walked the other way and tried not to think about it again.

"Oh, no one ordered you not to help me, I see," she nods, the picture of mock-seriousness, hands folded primly in her lap. That lasts all of twenty seconds before she's smiling again.

Illya meets the smile with a serious expression. He knows he should smile too, give a nod, and let it end there. But that would be unfair.

"And if I was ordered to kill you, I would. And I might be."

"Yeah?" Elizabeth leans back on her hands, tilting her head. "How would you do it?"

"That depends," he replies. "On where I found you and what was happening."

She nods-- that seems a fairly appropriate response. "Quick and painless?"

"As much as possible."

Particulars were impossible to peg down. Especially in a situation like this. He might not even cross her path in such a way. But he was here to help a particular group. If she ran afoul of that...

He would do what his orders required.

Talking about this is making her skin crawl, it's true, but it's so vastly hypothetical that she can't be scared yet. Sure, she has no idea what she'd do if she ever had to fight a werewolf, but surely that could wait until she'd been back in town for at least a week?

"Well, I guess that's the only thing any of us can hope for at the end, right? We all have to die someday."

She came pretty close tonight, really. It's starting to hit her.

"You know, I want to see Paris. That's been my dream for a long, long time. You think if you had to kill me, you could at least let me do that first? You could come with, even."

Perhaps I would give you warning.

The moment the thought occurs to him, it slips away. Too soon to even say. It almost doesn't register, even. Instead, he shrugs his broad shoulders.

"My orders rarely allow the luxury of time. But it is a beautiful city. You should see it."

Then, there's a bit of a smile.

"It is only a few hours away. Just a ferry ride."

"You're right-- I almost don't know why I haven't done it yet. But between classes and homework, and the lectures at the Circle and the time I spend recovering from these fights..."

She tries to swallow the lump coming up in her throat, but she just can't. Her life has been nothing but hiding and running, and it doesn't seem right now like it's ever going to change. She could even end up running from this man who just helped her. Could she trust anyone?

Elizabeth looks down, but it's painfully obvious she's trying to ignore the fact that she's crying. "You know, ah, I should probably just do it. Right? Because being me, being something other than human, you never know-- right? The things that I think are important aren't the things I'll regret not doing at the end."

"It may not live up to expectation."

The words might seem strangely gentle. Because it's a soft, understanding statement, as if merely agreeing with her on something she said. It seems, to him, the best reason for why she hasn't yet. Because something that is dreamed about -- something that matters so much -- is sometimes best left a dream. Something to become a regret. But a dream that has never been spoiled.

If he ever saw his father again--

But that thought disappears, too, almost as soon as it's formed. And he doesn't question it.

"It probably wouldn't, if all I wanted to see was a beautiful city," she agrees, wiping her eye on the cuff of her sweater. "We all do strange things for stranger reasons. If I wanted to see the Louvre, or the Eiffel Tower, or just have breakfast at a cafe, maybe I would feel a little sad that I'd never experienced those things.

"But it's not just being a tourist. Seeing Paris is what I dreamed of doing, what I still dream of doing... because it would mean I could go where I want when I wanted to. It would mean I was free of imprisonment, of being hunted down, of hiding all the time. I haven't gone because... because I'm not free of those things yet.

"I guess if you came to take me to Paris though, very soon I would be free of all that. So it'd feel right," she says, drawing her legs up to her chest and holding herself tightly while she tried to stop crying.

He could be part of the background. Little more than a piece of furniture. He could even have philosophical conversations. Not that his opinion was usually asked or tolerated in such matters. But a young woman in tears is well outside anything he knows how to deal with.

But he has to do something.

"Learn to make--" again, he has to search for the word "wolfsbane. Then? After it is made perfect? I take you to Paris. A weekend of protection. As payment."

It... sounds like the sort of thing Napoleon might offer. Not that he thought he'd ever be taking cues from a fae. But the man knew how to influence people. How to mould them to his will. He could talk.

So, Illya has to try and think of what he would say.

Elizabeth raises her head up, and even though her eyes are wet and her face is very pink, she looks hopeful for a moment.

"Really?"

Test Drive Meme: August 2015

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