Test Drive Meme: April/May 2016

[undergroundmods]

"The Jam - Going Underground" (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 and canon 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) GOING UNDERGROUND. For some people, London is an escape. A place to be anonymous. A place to be themselves. Or a place to hide. Steeped in ancient magic, it attracts supernatural types from all over the world. Of course, that doesn't mean its inhabitants are always friendly to newcomers.

2) CHOOSE YOUR LEADERS. The Night Council election campaign is in full swing and on 5th May the supernatural community votes for its leaders. Visit any supernatural haunt and you'll find people arguing about who to vote for – not to mention the volunteers handing out badges and flyers in an effort to win your support. Try to keep it civil, folks.

3) THE PUBLIC WANTS WHAT THE PUBLIC GETS. (29th April) The Night Council candidates gather in a town hall in Westminster to explain why the supernatural community should vote for them. Traditionally a noisy and raucous event, it's your last opportunity to heckle question the candidates before the election. There are four separate Q&As: first up are the candidates for Shapeshifter/Meta Human representative; then candidates for Witch Representative; then Vice President; then finally the candidates for President will take to the stage. They each make a short speech and then take questions from the audience. Or if you want, you could just turn up for a free meal: in the room next door there's a sandwich buffet plus tea, coffee and fruit juice, so it's a good opportunity to mingle.

4) FIRE FESTIVAL. (1st May) The fire festival of Beltane is a time of celebration for witches, marking the beginning of summer. Come along to the bonfire for music, food and drink, flower crowns and fertility rituals.

5) SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. (1st May) Beltane is also a time when the barrier between the human world and the Other Realm is at its thinnest, making it easy to pass from one realm to the other by chance. You might even have an encounter with the mysterious and mischievous fae.

6) WHAT'S DONE CANNOT BE UNDONE. You've gone too far, done something you know you'll regret. Maybe you ran away, broke a promise, even committed a crime. Maybe you've been supernaturally transformed. Either way, there's no going back.

7) WHAT ANGEL WAKES ME FROM MY FLOWERY BED? Oh, sweet mortal. There's an enchantment on you that makes you suddenly, devastatingly attractive. Especially to more magical types.

8) CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE. Anything goes.

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

There's a lot of faces out there. It's not so bad, getting to decide for myself which of them I want to be.

[That is probably the most honest thing she'll say to him all night.]

Besides, it's about as far from where I was as you can get without having to cross an ocean.

[eloquacious]

[ It's a very honest statement, and one he did not entirely expect. He'll cautiously nod at her, both acknowledging the truth of it and the similarities of their stances. ]

I do hear that the tropics are lovely this time of year, but I see your point.

[outstandingbalance]

Long, sunny days aren't really my speed anyway.

[She shrugs it off, preferring not too dwell on her honesty or on the topic.]

Who knows, though? Maybe after this I'll change my mind.

[eloquacious]

Well, I hold out hope that the election results won't be that dire.

[ It's meant as a joke, but one never knows with elections. ]

I suppose one positive thing about democracy is that elections do come up again.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha shrugs at that, though she doesn't seem overly concerned herself. She might not have a whole lot of faith in the system, but for the time being she doesn't actually see any signs of things coming that she can't deal with.]

Hopefully not too soon, though. [She quips dryly, glancing at the fliers and pamphlets.] We've killed enough trees for a while.

[eloquacious]

[ Silver's fairly unworried himself. It's not as if time isn't on his side, when it come to outliving the current regime. If it is that dire, which he sincerely doubts it will be. ]

You'd think that digital propaganda would make all of this unnecessary, if for no other reason than the sake of the trees.

[outstandingbalance]

It's the twenty first century, after all.

[She says it lightly, with a little irony.]

I guess some people are having a harder time moving into the future than others.

[eloquacious]

Which I do find particularly ironic, yes. Especially coming from us.

[ It's not as if being fae is a secret, and he can always tell when he's speaking with a vampire. It was simply that a statement like that deserved an answer. ]

[outstandingbalance]

But I get the feeling you aren't struggling with the move into the future.

[eloquacious]

It's only a struggle if you ignore everything new, content to wallow in the past forever.

[ If he believes in anything (which is debatable...), it's not living in the past. ] I like to consider myself more forward-thinking than that.

[outstandingbalance]

In your line of work, I'd say you have to be.

[She says it lightly, not letting her tone become too deep or too serious. They were flirting enough with serious topics as it was.]

[eloquacious]

Actually, there's business to be had in nostalgia.

[ A lighter turn in the conversation is certainly welcome. What better way to encourage it but talk about interesting culinary habits? ]

Even if I'm entirely certain how nostalgia for an era they've never lived through works.

[outstandingbalance]

What, you mean like this? [Natasha gestures around them pointedly.] Pure fantasy.

[eloquacious]

Exactly like this.

[ He'll glace around, as if taking the place in again. There's going to be a head shake in there, too. ]

It does make me wonder how they would respond to actual food from certain eras. Not that much of it would get past a safety inspection.

[outstandingbalance]

I don't think they'd like it much. On the other hand, it's better than historically accurate going hungry.

[She remembers a good deal of that too.]

[eloquacious]

[ He remembers a good deal of that, too. It was part of what drove him to piracy and pursuit of one big prize. In the limited options of his youth, there were no other means of successfully removing hunger from the table indefinitely. Not that anything had worked as he had planned, in the end. ]

Going hungry requires a level of devotion to historical accuracy that I doubt many reenactors would want to bother with.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha half smiles at that, wry and even rueful.]

It takes a lot of devotion to go hungry in general. Probably better if they don't.

[eloquacious]

Well, that got dark.

[ Going from politics to food had not been the lighter turn that he'd intended. Even so, he seems more amused than anything else. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[This is what happens when you talk food with a vampire.]

Hazards of the profession? [If you want to call it that.]

[eloquacious]

[ In retrospect, he did walk right into that one. ]

It does have moments.