thetube | Test Drive Meme: Feb/March 2016

"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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Discharged.

[Honourable. Barely, but all that mattered was what was on the books.]

Been out about two years. Private sector for about six months. Between jobs now.

[Which sounded better than the whole truth. What mattered was what was on paper. Just like with his discharge.]

What about you?

Invalided out, I'm afraid. Took a sniper shot to the shoulder and somehow gained myself a dodgy leg in the process.

[Which seemed to be the only thing he couldn't heal himself out of. The mind didn't knit together as neatly as skin and muscle, apparently.]

I've only been back in London four months. Trying to find something affordable on an army pension, well...you know how it is.

Fuck the army pension. [It's out in a breath, and he catches himself only after it's said. He gives a sheepish smile that probably can't be seen to a young woman sitting not far away.

He was raised to be a gentleman, after all.]

Er. Yeah. Know what you mean.

'S why I went into the private sector. Money t' be made protecting the rich bastards [like his own father] who want that kind security.

[The outburst gets an honest laugh out of John and he grins. Civilians can put up with a bit of swearing on the Tube after all they've done for Queen and Country, really.]

No, you're right. Fuck the army pension.

I'm not sure I could stomach babysitting toffs, though. My mouth would get me in trouble.

Actually I was thinking of looking into some locum work.

[At hearing him laugh, Sebastian laughs, too.]

Some of 'em are pricks, but some?

[He shrugs.]

Some of 'em are pretty decent.

Locum, huh? [A pause as he considers.]

What'd you do in the service?

I'll have to take your word on that.

[He doesn't know many in the upper echelon, after all.]

Field medic. I figure after that, anything I patch up here will seem like child's play.

[And more than a touch boring, but money is money.]

Medic. Well. Always need those skills.

[One person you always wanted to have like you. Because a pissed medic? Meant they'd stay just inside of being reprimanded.

He grins and pulls out a business card that lists him as a 'security consultant.']

You get a place, lemme know. Prefer a medic to most of these physicians any day.

[He takes the card and looks at it briefly before slipping it into his pocket.]

Thanks, I will. But if all goes well, you won't need me.

Just in case, though... [He doesn't have a card of his own, but he can scribble his mobile number down on a ticket stub.]

If you ever need a patch-up. I keep a well-stocked kit.

Thankfully, the days of bar brawls are pretty behind me. Could've used you when I first got home.

[And for a lot of other things early on. But.

He lifts his head a bit and sighs, giving a quiet:]

About fucking time.

[Because a tiger's hearing is better than a man's. And, so, he heard it on that level first. The electric whirring of the power starting back up.

A few seconds later, the lights come back on, and the car lurches forward.]

I hear it takes a while to adjust. [His own smile is only slightly bitter. He's still in the beginning stages.] Actually I think I could do with a brawl or two.

[John's confusion at the next quiet statement lifts as the lights flicker back on and train car starts its sluggish pull forward. He raises his eyebrows at the other man, looking suitably impressed.]

You've got good ears. I didn't even hear the engines start up again.

Spend enough time alone listening to something, you learn to hear better.

[Because being a sniper can totally be blamed for what is honestly superhuman senses. Not at all the other way around-- with those senses making him an excellent sniper.

And scent helped him track his prey. And being a predator taught him how to move.

But--]

Just don't do what I did. Bar brawls? Great. Benders? Not so much.

Drunk myself more than stupid too many times.

I'll be careful. I've got a family tradition to not live up to.

[Since dad drank himself to death before John graduated med school and his sister seems hell-bent on following in his footsteps.]

Besides, can't afford to drink myself stupid and pay rent at the same time.

[What Sebastian won't say to a stranger is that he had to make that decision more than once and didn't choose rent. There were plenty of explanations, but none of that mattered nearly as much as the simple fact about what had and hadn't happened.

Still, he smiles.]

Whereabout are you staying? What part of town?

Bedsit in Whitechapel. It's not much but it's a roof and a bed.

[Which is more than he had in Afghanistan so why does it seem so much more depressing to look at sand-coloured walls than to look at actual sand dunes?]

And it's easy access to the Tube.

[Sebastian is quiet for a few moments. It's the least he can do. Someone did it for him. He can pass it on.]

I've got a couch and a place on Conduit street.

If you need a different place to stay.

Ah, no that's not necessary...

[He laughs self-consciously and scratches the back of his neck. He refused to take charity from Harry, damned if he's going to accept it from someone he just met on the Tube.]

I'm fine, really. It's all fine. But maybe we can get a pint sometime and bitch about the service? If you'd like, I mean. Promise not to get into any brawls.

I'll buy you a pint. [He says it with his own awkward smile.

He owes it after maybe making things a bit odd with that offer.]

I don't drink anymore. Haven't in a year.

Oh. Er, good on you.

[Well he feels like a right heel now but...]

Tea's fine too.

'S no problem. I can find other things to drink at a pub.

[Because he could (usually) be fairly comfortable even around people who were drinking.]

Test Drive Meme: Feb/March 2016

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