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.

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Natasha raises an eyebrow at that. It's a big question, and there are a lot of answers she could give that skirted dangerously close to questions she'd rather not have asked in the first place, let alone be expected to answer. She's not worried, exactly. She just keeps to the flow of conversation—keeps it light.

"I don't know, sounds like you have a lot of the important parts," she tells him with mock seriousness. "Rasputin was a little before my time though. As for Baba Yaga..." The name sounds a little different with her accent, more familiar, though only from stories. "Well, we're here aren't we?"

Who's to say the witch wasn't too?

Daryl snorted again, looking away and lifting a hand to cover his mouth for a moment. He liked her sense of humor. Just dry enough. More than he'd expected to get out of the night. Made it not as much of a waste of time as he'd thought it would be.

"Yeah, maybe," he trailed off as he eyed her for a long moment, shyness making it's way into him. He wasn't really good at the whole socializing thing and their time limit was coming up fast.

"You uh... you like motorcycles?"

"What if I do?" There's something in her smile that makes it very clear she does. She could call it one of the few things she enjoys that's not complicated somehow. Motorcycles, fast cars, things like that.

"Would you invite me to come by your work?"

"Hell, no," Daryl laughed as his thumb found it's way to his mouth. He allowed himself a moment to chew on it as his eyes fell and fought the sudden embarrassment, "I'd invite you for a ride sometime. There's some places outside the city. They ain't really country, but they're close. Don't gotta slow down for lights. Pretty nice."

"That sounds nice."

Nice, but unlikely. Her smile remains, though it turns a little sad. Probably she was leading him on. Didn't seem like a big deal when it was mostly playing—flirting got complicated, but it was something else she found she could still mostly enjoy.

"I don't suppose you were picturing this ride happening at night."

Daryl stilled, eyes narrowed as he looked at her. Night time rides were not something he usually did. It was difficult to really see the details of the world. And it seemed odd to him for anyone to want that specifically.

He dropped his hand from his face and brought his arms to the table as he leaned in toward her for the first time. Made it obvious as he took a long sniff of the air between them and his blue eyes shifted visibly from the normal human pupils to the slitted ones of a cat. The change didn't last long. Just enough to confirm the suspicion the request had brought to mind, being as this was an event for those who were not-quite human.

When he leaned back again, he did so with his eyes steady on her. One arm slung over the back of his chair. Daryl didn't have any personal interactions with vampires to sour his opinion of them, nor had he grown up with a group that was particularly wary of their kind. Maybe if his mother had lived longer he would have learned such prejudice. But that lack of social context didn't mean he wasn't cautious. Vampires were dangerous to everyone. It was just a fact. And letting himself out alone with one on a midnight ride into the country could prove very dangerous.

Still, she had been nice to talk to. Which was a first for him in a lot of ways.

"Guess it could," he finally said with a shrug. "Harder to find clear nights so it's easier to see everything, but I don't suppose that would be much of a problem for you."

Edited 2016-04-15 14:59 (UTC)

"No," she agrees. "It's not much of a problem for me."

Which confirmed her suspicion as well. There hadn't been a lot of doubt left in her mind, but you could never tell. Especially when metahumans came in almost infinite varieties. It was always good to know for sure what you were dealing with.

So she supposed they were about even now, at least in that respect.

"That almost sounds like it's still an invitation." Natasha hadn't been expecting that. It had happened already more than once tonight, people would shy away once they made her for a vampire—sometimes even walk away. It was expected at this point.

But while his attitude had changed, he didn't seem put off.

Daryl stayed quiet for a decent stretch after she said that. Juggling the pros and cons in his mind before shaking his head and relaxing into the chair.

"Hell, why not?" he asked. "Ain't like we don't both know the score."

After another moment, he smirked at her and glanced down at his lap, some of that shyness coming back to him, "'sides, you the only one got me to laugh all night."

Her smile in response to that is a little more genuine. It had been intentional, trying to draw him out, but there was satisfaction in doing what she'd set out t do.

It was also nice to add another name to the short list of people who were willing to at least give her a chance after they figured out what she was. On it's own, that would have been a small success, even if she wasn't entirely sure how she should measure it.

"In that case, I should give you my number."

He glanced up at her, biting at his lower lip in lieu of his thumb. He hadn't thought to bring anything to write on. All those 'suggestion' cards had long since been tossed away because he found them stupid. His bad.

But he did have the pen he stuck in his breast pocket out of habit for work. After a moment of looking around, he drug that out and leaned forward, offering one well-muscled arm to her along with the pen.

Daryl outright blushed and did his best to hide it by ducking his head and letting his hair cover his face, voice very soft and more nervous than he'd ever admit, "Sorry. Ain't got nothin' else to write on."

Natasha laughs a little at that, short and soft, and before taking his pen in one hand and his wrist in the other. Leaning across the table again, she quickly and clearly writes the number on his skin.

Not what she had in mind, but she doesn't mind playing along with it.

"Just don't wash it off before you find a piece of paper," she says.

He nodded, a firm, if not sharp action, and pulled his arms back to himself. Right on time, the changeover was called and the people on his side of the table asked to get up and move along for the next rotation. Daryl stood, crossing his arms so he could grip the armholes of his vest and mumbled an awkward goodbye.

When he walked away, he did take the time to look back over his shoulder at her and give another smile he didn't quite hide.

Test Drive Meme: Feb/March 2016

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