thetube | Test Drive Meme: December 2016/January 2017

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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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) STAY ANOTHER DAY. Maybe it's just for the holidays, but if you've come to London to reconnect with friends and family, now is the time to make the most of it. And it turns out, someone is pretty keen for you to stick around. Your loved ones? Or perhaps you've been noticed by one of London's supernatural factions. Don't go just yet, friend. The city may need you.

2) CHRISTMAS DAY / BOXING DAY. (25th-26th December) Whatever you think of Christmas, it's everywhere in London. Christmas songs on the radio, Christmas lights in the streets, carol singers, and presents under the tree. Of course, in the supernatural world, the presents may just have a magical twist. What's that strange little gift from an unknown sender...?

3) NEW YEAR'S EVE FIREWORKS. (31st December) The New Year's Eve fireworks display is always spectacular. Count down to midnight with Big Ben, then watch the spectacle along with the crowds. Or you could stay at home and watch it on TV.

4) STRANDED. Your flight got cancelled. A storm delayed your train home. The hotel made a mistake with your booking and now you have nowhere to stay. Whatever the reason, you're stuck in London with nowhere to go and it is cold. Depending on where you've ended up, it might be dangerous as well. Are your kind welcome here?

5) DRINK YOUR SORROWS AWAY. Look, it's winter, it's dark, not everyone is having a good time. Might as well buy a drink... and another... and another...

6) NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION. Goodbye 2016, hello 2017. New year, new you. You've decided to make a change, maybe for yourself, maybe for the entire supernatural community. How are you getting on?

7) CALL A TRUCE. The holidays are a time of peace. Maybe just this once you can have a drink with an enemy and put aside any bad blood.

8) CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE. Anything goes.

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Boxing Day (sort of. mostly retail hell)
This was a new thing for Anya. Okay, most things were. But this whole boxing day thing? It had nothing to do with sweaty men punching each other. Or boxes, except for the boxes of returns that were piling up at The Magic Box where she worked.

Amidst the returns, she's trying to get customers to put down expensive things or to buy the expensive things, and not return anything ever because she doesn't want to give them the money back. That's her money, now. Hers. she doesn't want to let go of it.

"You can't return that," she says, looking at the person that approaches her cash wrap. "I'm not doing any more returns. You cannot have your money back. Now go."

Stranded
"No- that's not possible. I said a two-day stay. Two days! Can't you fit me in? I paid a deposit. I put money down!" A small blonde woman was yelling at a poor desk clerk. "Check again. Anya Jenkins. American. Two day stay." She's already irritated, and the clerk seems eager to get rid of her.

"I'm sorry miss, we're out of rooms-" the clerk begins, but Anya continues on.

"This must be how that poor pregnant woman felt. When they put her in the stable." Which gives her an idea. "I wish to speak with your manager." That was the way things got done.

Choose Your Own

Faolan wouldn't really be out and about on such a day as this. But Lancelot had forgotten to pick something up that was required for the dessert he had planned for that evening, and he figured it was the least that he could do to offer to go out and pick it up for him. Since Lancelot was letting him stay at his place, cooking for him, and generally playing the perfect host, after all.

It's when he's passing by the store that the name gives him pause. 'The Magic Box', it's called, and so despite the errand he is on he finds himself stepping in the door. He's just browsing the random wares when he hears the commotion, stepping forward to get a better idea of the exchange as he does.

"No, you listen- I'm in charge at this store here. And today, we are not taking returns. Come back tomorrow," Anya was trying to explain as patiently (read: forcefully) as she could.

"In fact- it's a new rule," she goes on to say. "No returns after- after whatever time it is. Right now." This is how retail works, she's pretty sure of it. "But you are still free to purchase goods. In fact, please do." She smiles broadly at everyone.

Faolan raises his eyebrows at this woman's customer service skills. They leave something to be desired, of course. He moves to take a step forward, then thinks better of it. He doesn't know that this is really a conversation that he should be inserting himself in. Not when it might come to blows between these two women.

He lingers closer to the exchange, wondering if he should intervene before it comes to that. Not that it's any of his business, he supposes, but he is a Guardian. It makes him feel more responsible for the affairs of others than he might otherwise do.

Anya hardly notices anyone else, but the woman in front of the counter has clearly had enough. She turns to the public and starts lambasting the customer service.

"Listen, lady," she says, every bit the rude American everyone thinks of, "you don't like the rules? You can get out. Please leave." She makes a shooing gesture. "Now."

Faolan sees the situation progressing even further if someone doesn't stop the pair of them from conversing with each other, and so it is that he makes his way over to the counter where the two are bickering, gently guiding himself towards the counter and in between them, ostensibly because he needs staff help and she seems to be the only one around.

"Excuse me," he butts in gently. "I had a question, if you have a moment?" Intending to guide her away from the counter herself, before the confrontation starts to come to blows.

Oh look, a distraction! Anya merrily welcomes it, turning towards the person that is probably looking to give her money rather than take it. A potential customer.

"Yes, I do." She gives a pointed look at her customer and steps out from around the counter before putting on her best Retail Smile. "Hello and welcome to the Magic Box, how may I help you spend your money?"

Faolan raises his eyebrows at her and her continued peculiar way of speaking, before gesturing her off to a quieter corner of the store. Waiting for her to follow him before he starts picking through the ware there on the pretense of looking for something while he quietly speaks up to start a conversation instead.

"I was half worried you were going to wind up with an incident on your hands back there," he comments, idly. "People don't usually take well to being treated in quite such a way you know..."

Anya hovers at his elbow, watching him as he looks. One of her jobs was to make sure that no one bought a bunch of items that could be used in any sort of awful, dangerous, possibly (probably) illegal manner. That had happened before, and the results had been disastrous.

So far, Faolan was in the clear.

"In what way?" Anya challenges. "I'm tired of doing returns. They should respect that."

Faolan raises his eyebrows in response to her words and her bluntness, but he's not really the sort of man to continue pointing out social niceties, so he lets the comment slide. He picks through some of the items in front of him for a moment before turning back to the odd woman, a question on his mind.

"Tell me about this shop," he requests. "I'm not sure that I've ever noticed it before, if I'm being honest." Maybe he's just never walked by this way before. Or maybe he's just not been very observant.

"It's called the Magic Box," Anya explains. She hated when people tried to explain how people were to her. She'd only been observing them for thousands of years. Except, well, observing as a vengeance demon was so much different than living amongst them as a human.

"It's new. I work here. We sell magical items." she knew better than to broadcast their magical little subculture to the world, especially as a human. Plus, she didn't know what Faolan was, or anything. Better not risk it.

"What else is there to know?"

Party's bargain shopping, which has mostly equaled window shopping on the kind of budget he's living on right now, but this store had looked interesting enough to stop into. He's looking at some sort of fancy rock when he hears Anya yelling about returns and waits until she's finished to walk up to her.

"Are you the owner or something?"

Was she the- Anya almost wants to laugh. "No, but he has bills to pay and would agree with my new policy." Goodness, she hopes so. Or, would, if forethought was something she gave much... well, thought to.

"May I help you?"

He really can't imagine being so invested as an employee, but then he's chosen busking over getting a real job for just that reason. Caring about some hourly job just isn't in him.

"Yeah. What is this?" He holds up the thing that he's still pretty sure is just a rock.

It wasn't in Anya, either, at first. Vengeance had been in her. Then that damn witch had gone and destroyed her amulet, and now she was stuck as human once more. It really sucked. But she was good at capitalism, so here she was.

"That's smokey quartz," Anya explains without a second thought. "It helps ward off negative energy."

Party makes a sort of uninterested sound and puts it down. Negative energy isn't really an issue for him. If anything, he kind of revels in it.

"You got anything that's good for energizing and focusing yourself? Like a Ritalin rock?" He raises an eyebrow. Growing up with only tangential knowledge of the supernatural world has left him still a little unsure as to what is and isn't realistic, but he can't learn if he doesn't ask.

"Yes." Anya reaches for two smaller stones and holds them out. "Amethyst," she points to the purple one. "And tiger's eye. There are no Ritalin rocks. Just cocaine rocks. But we don't sell that here, so don't think that we do, mister."

Look at her, so helpful.

He smirks. "Couldn't handle your mark-up if you did, but I like the tiger's eye."

Some of this new age stuff seems like complete bullshit to Party, but a small rock is the sort of thing he doesn't mind taking a chance on. Worst case scenario is he's got a useless, pretty rock on his bedside table.

Anya blinks, then after almost too long, laughs. "You're funny! I like you." But that doesn't mean you're going to get a discount. No discounts. Or any more returns.

"Here- we have many different sizes," she says, picking up a piece of amethyst the size of a mouse.

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Test Drive Meme: December 2016/January 2017

Anya Jenkins | Buffy | Human

Boxing Day!

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Boxing Day

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