Test Drive Meme: Feb/March 2016

[undergroundmods]

"Pulp - Common People" (Watch on YouTube)

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) COMMON PEOPLE. What do normal Londoners do every day anyway? Sometimes you just want to blend in with everyone else. Make friends with humans. Talk about the weather. Go on, try it.

2) PENTHOUSE SUITE. But wait. Maybe you want to see how the other half live. The elite of the elite. You've been lucky enough to be asked to a meeting, or a luncheon, or a date. Find out what the most powerful people in London are really like.

3) GET OUT YOU FILTH. Supernatural prejudice is a regrettable fact of life in London. It doesn't matter what you are, there's someone out there who hates you because of it. They'll shun you, heckle you, even hunt you down and kill you. Of course, you're probably not immune to a few prejudices yourself.

4) SPEED DATING. Oh god. Why did you sign up to this. You should have known it was a bad idea when someone mentioned it was supernatural speed dating. Help.

5) THE REAL UNDERGROUND. Down in the darkest corners of the Tube, there are supernatural vagrants of all kinds, especially vampires. That friendly busker may well be a fae. That girl waiting for the next train is a ghost. Once you've seen it, you can't escape from it.

6) IN THE SUPERMARKET. On the other hand, you never know what you might find just walking around your local supermarket. You haven't forgotten how to do normal things like groceries, right?

7) A CURSED EXISTENCE. Maybe you literally are cursed. Maybe you just feel like it sometimes. There are things you can't do, weaknesses that normal humans aren't subject to, but they make everyday life in London that little bit more difficult. Try not to get too mad about it.

8) CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE. Anything goes.

Comments

Laura Roslin | Battlestar Galactica | Daybreak Witch

[cabins]

Speed Dating

Phewwww, this was a bad idea, Laura can't help but think, settling down into her chair for the next round of- why did she want to call them interviews? Her old fashioned is about three-quarters full, but it's her second one of the night. This was a bad idea, on a weekday. She had classes to teach in the morning, but here she was.

Summoning a smile, Laura looks up across the table and extends a hand. "Hello- I'm Laura."

The Real Underground

It's getting late, and Laura's finally on her way home. She'd spent the day working, and once classes had let out for the day at the Redbright Institute, she'd stayed late grading papers and completing paperwork. She hadn't realized just how late it got until she'd caught herself falling asleep at her desk. And rather than spend the night there (again) she began to make the long trek back to her flat through mostly-abandoned tube stations.

Now, where the frak was that train? If she'd missed the last one- she'd have to try to figure out the Night Bus schedule, gods forbid.

Choose Your Own Adventure

speed dating

[devilsavocado]

Ah, the old 'handshake at the blind guy' move. Matt can tell she's nervous, so he doesn't fault her for it. He smiles back, hands settled on the table they're sharing.

"I'm Matt. Nice to meet you."

[cabins]

Kill her. Please, please just kill her. It takes Laura a few moments to recognize what she's done, and immediately she winces.

"Nice to meet you, too. I'm so sorry- I wasn't thinking, but that's not an excuse." Diplomatic as always. "I've never done one of these things before."

[devilsavocado]

"It's no problem." He's used to it, so he tries to at least sound reassuring. The dark glasses and cane are usually pretty clear, but if there's one thing Matt's learned it's that sighted people aren't always very observant. It's worth a good chuckle.

"I think they're supposed to be a little awkward. We're off to a good start."

[cabins]

Laura has to laugh, and it's an honest, clear one. "So we are. What do you know!" It's one hell of an ice-breaker, at least.

"Well- tell me about yourself, Matt. I think that's what we're supposed to do next."

[devilsavocado]

"Right, of course." Matt smiles. He's 30 years old, a metahuman, and an Aries. But two out of three of those are a little too cliche even for him.

"I'm a lawyer, I started my own practice a couple years ago." Halfway between boring and a cliche, if he does say so himself. Nobody ever said speed dates were for getting in deep. "How about you? What do you do for a living, Laura?"

[cabins]

It's not boring, and Laura finds herself leaning closer again. "A lawyer? That's wonderful." She takes a careful sip of her martini before moving to answer his question.

"I teach English at the Redbright Institute," she tells him. She's a witch, Daybreak, understandably.

[devilsavocado]

"It has its moments." When he's not researching, that is. Litigation is more his strong suit, given the whole step required to translate his paperwork into braille.

"How do you like teaching?" He leans forward a bit, clearly interested. "Seems like it would be fulfilling work."

[cabins]

"Oh, I love it," she says, surprised at her own earnest reaction. "I don't think I'd use the word fulfilling however. It's hard work. Extremely. But so worth it. I imagine that's how you feel with your cases." Once they're fought and won, at least.

[devilsavocado]

"You're be right." Matt smiles. Her passion reminds him of his, mostly. "Nothing beats a 'not guilty' verdict, especially on a big case." Ah, the life of a defense attorney.

[cabins]

"You're a defense attorney." She'd dated lawyers before. "I can't even begin how hard it must be." Especially if they were guilty. But that wasn't first meeting conversation material.

[devilsavocado]

They are horrible dating partners, admittedly. Matt is certainly no exception. He smiles ruefully-- definitely not denying her assumption.

"It's not exactly a lucrative practice, but I enjoy it." That's because he only takes innocent cases.

[cabins]

That's cheating, and you know it.

"I'm glad to hear it. I'll have to keep you in mind, if I ever need an attorney." She didn't imagine she'd be on trial for anything at any point soon. So, it's safe to say, that's a joke. Probably a bad one.

Speed Dating

[outstandingbalance]

"Natasha," she says as she inserts herself smoothly into the chair across from the other woman. Her grip is firm, professional, and just cool enough to be suspicious if you know about the undead. She doesn't hesitate, her greeting a little too smooth to be sincere.

"It's nice to meet you." Her eyes fall to the old fashioned and she tips her head slightly in acknowledgment. "Good choice."

[cabins]

"Nice to meet you, too." She looks at the woman carefully. She's stunning, even Laura can see that. Not her type- Laura's straight- but she doesn't need to make a fuss. Not when this isn't even more than ten minutes per table. Besides, you didn't want to make vampires angry.

Oh, she figured it out. The cold hand, her own ability to feel magic, the almost unnatural smoothness. She had to be a vampire. But Laura wouldn't call her on that, either.

"Thank you. My father used to have them, I guess I picked it up from him." She takes a sip to prove her point. "What about you? What are you drinking?"

[outstandingbalance]

That question gets a smile out of her, though it doesn't quite reach her eyes. Not bad. She's interesting, at least. Natasha had been interested before—enough to slip into the seat across from her. Just what she was interested in, even she wasn't sure yet.

"At the moment? Nothing." She glances back toward the last table she hit, or in its general direction at least. "Tonight, I'm sticking to vodka tonics."

It's meant as a reassurance, though she wouldn't blame Laura if she didn't take it that way.

[cabins]

Well then.

Laura smiles carefully. "That's a good choice." It squicked her out to see vampires casually drinking blood, truthfully. Though she'd never dare say that out-loud. Really even think it.

"So do you come to these sorts of things often? You seem..." what was the opposite of nervous? "Confident, in this environment."

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha's eyes flick back and she smiles slightly in return, mirroring the other woman's expression less cautiously but no less carefully. It's a touchy subject for both of them.

"First time." She shrugs off the observation. "New in town, and I thought I'd try it out. I could use some friends."

Friends seems safe. More informal than allies. Less impersonal than connections. It's not exactly a lie, either. She really could use some friends. Vampires don't generally live on their own. Not entirely without a support system. That's a good way to end up dead in their world.

And it was already apparent that Laura wasn't exactly interested in being more than friends. So...

"What about you? I could be wrong, but this doesn't strike me as quite your scene."

[cabins]

"Well, welcome to London, Natasha." She'll take friends at face value, willing blindness to the layers the word contained.

Laura, for her part, didn't trust vampires as a species. Individuals... She'd never had the opportunity to see if she could work alongside one. And she wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

"I thought I'd put myself out there more." She was old and still single, it was sad. And she didn't want to die alone, a thought that was with her increasingly, in the wake of her cancer diagnosis. But that wasn't first date material. "Meet some new people- people I don't work with every day."

[outstandingbalance]

"Meeting new people. Well, it does seem good for that." Natasha sat back a little as she considered. It would be easy to let the conversation die there, wait for her eight minutes to run out. But she wasn't quite willing to do that yet.

"Are you looking for anything in particular, or just new?"

[cabins]

Just new? She raises an eyebrow behind her glasses.

"Ideally, a man," she admits with the smallest of shrugs. "But so far I've thoroughly embarrassed myself, and run into a fellow I work with."

[outstandingbalance]

That gets a laugh out of Natasha. "I got that impression. It's fair. I promise I don't have any designs." She smiles, a sort of obligatory half smile. "Honestly, I'm not looking to be what anyone is looking for. You're safe."

[cabins]

Laura spreads her hands, palms outward, facing Natasha. No offense was taken and none was meant to be given. "Well, that takes the pressure off," she jokes, with the same half-smile.

"Oh?" Now she's curious. "Isn't that the opposite of what these sorts of things are supposed to be about?"

[outstandingbalance]

"Depends how you're thinking about it. Like I said, I wouldn't mind making friends. Different kinds of friends." She laughs a little then, just before saying the most honest thing she's said all night. "My life is in no place right now for something serious."

[cabins]

"I see." She presses her lips together slightly. "It's always hard to launch right into dating, in a new place. Friends are a perfect step." Goodness, she sounded like she was talking to a child.

"But I completely understand."