Test Drive Meme: February/March 2017

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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) SOMETHING NEW. Welcome to London! Spring is approaching but it's still bloody freezing, the wind is howling (are you sure it's the wind?) and your umbrella isn't much use when the rain is driving into you from the side. Maybe the appeal of a new experience is what brought you here. Does the reality match your expectations?

2) RUN THIS SHOW. You are the host of an event designed to showcase the particular skills and power of your people or faction. It can be small scale or ridiculously lavish, but this is your chance to enter the spotlight and show the supernatural community what you're made of.

3) CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. The police are after you. Maybe you did it, maybe you didn't, but they're on to you and now it's your job to make sure the case goes cold. Don't want to leave a supernatural paper trail.

4) WALK ON THE WILD SIDE. London's many parks are a haven for those who like some greenery in their concrete jungles. Popular and peaceful during the day, at night things are different. When the moon is full or the wind blows from a certain direction, the balance of magic can shift and open up ways into the far wilder woods of the Other Realm. Alternatively... you got really really drunk and passed out in a field.

5) BETTER WATCH YOUR BACK. Let's face it: you have a thousand reasons to be paranoid. Maybe the powers that be have it out for you. A werewolf or vampire wants to eat you. You pissed off a shapeshifter just last week. There's a hunter trying to kill you, a witch trying to control you, a fae that wants to kidnap you, a ghost haunting you. Hell, maybe they really are all out to get you. Are you in real trouble this time... or are you scared of your own shadow?

6) FOLLOW THE LEADER. Take your pick: your boss has ordered you to a) threaten an enemy; b) approach a potential ally who might side with you against a common foe; c) dispose of a dead body; d) deal with a spillage at table four. Good luck.

7) GO GO GO. There's nothing like a morning run. Maybe you're training for the London Marathon in April, maybe it's a good way of working out your hunting instincts, maybe you just like to keep in shape. Wait, did that guy deliberately overtake you? Don't get competitive now.

8) CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE. Anything goes.

Comments

[bellbound]

[Chicken, excellent. He ignored the brown bread and instead gobbled down the chicken piece by piece. It was cooked rather than raw as he preferred it, but still not bad.

Oh, and she had a question. He made her wait, cleaning his whiskers before looking up at her.]

Do you know of the petition that she is planning to put forward to the Night Council?

[There had been no official word yet, but news was starting to spread through the grapevine.]

[mydearladydisdain]

[Beatrice bit into her half of the sandwich, placing the package over so that Mogget could eat the other one if he so chose. She chewed carefully. A petition to the Night Council...?]

"I've heard rumours, nothing more. I trust them as much as I trust the word of a fool. With exactly a grain of salt. But there's truth where there's smoke."

[She turned, and raised an eyebrow:] "What of the petition?"

[bellbound]

[Well, if she was foolish enough to leave the other sandwich right there, he was going to take it. He dug his paw into the packaging to fish it out, again going for only the chicken.]

It's quite simple. [He flipped over a slice of bread and found another piece of chicken underneath. The bench was a mess of discarded sandwich by now and there were some rather hungry pigeons pecking around at the crumbs on the ground, Mogget taking a moment to eye them too.] The Mother would like to be certain that she has your coven's support. [Dumb birds. He pushed the empty packet away and looked up at Beatrice again. Nothing else?]

[mydearladydisdain]

My coven's support?

[That one surprises Beatrice, as she had been fairly certain the Mother did as she wished and the covens had to fall in line or be left behind. She brought out the small fruit salad bowl, and gestured it momentarily in Mogget's direction, seeing if he would like any]

I believe we are in support.

[bellbound]

[It was a fruit salad. What did she think? He gave her a look and sat down with his tail tucked around his paws.]

Then I trust you are planning to write to the Night Council Representatives to express your support.

[Grass roots and all that. That's what Samantha wanted. She intended to turn the screws on the Night Council witches in every way possible to force them to pass the motion.]

[mydearladydisdain]

[Fair enough, Beatrice opened the salad, taking out the fork and spearing a piece of fruit]

If that's what the Mother of Witches wants.

[bellbound]

Such enthusiasm.

[Green eyes bored into her. She'd said nothing either way about her own opinion on the matter, he noted. Not that Mogget cared what some lowly coven member thought, but a grass roots campaign was a lot more convincing if there was real passion behind it. And this was a big change. Encouraging witches to summon and use fae in their magic again, after more than thirty years of it being strictly forbidden... Minds could be changed, but hearts had to be won too. Samantha was big on winning hearts and minds, among other cliches.]

[mydearladydisdain]

How would you feel, when asked about a motion that you've heard nothing more than rumours on, while trying to have your lunch?

[...There's a lot of sarcasm in that voice]

[bellbound]

[A hint of temper at last. The cat tilted his head.] I would have told me to go away. Your own fault for not doing that and failing to ask me what exactly the motion was, if you were unsure.

[If she'd humoured him with no real understanding of what she was agreeing to, she had no one but herself to blame.]

[mydearladydisdain]

I knew what you were asking me about. I had just heard only rumours. To have them confirmed through a familiar is odd though.

[Beatrice shrugs, and glances at him]

Still hungry?

[bellbound]

[That was probably true of most young witches. Familiars had gone out of fashion in recent years so one hardly saw them around. Mogget himself was very old, a relic from centuries past.

But she asked him about food so he immediately ignored all that and took a step forward to nose at her bag.]

What do you have?

[mydearladydisdain]

[This is true, Beatrice is a modern witch and doesn't use her familiar for much. Though she does treat them well. She opens the bag.]

I've another sandwich. Salmon.

[bellbound]

[His favourite. He put his paws on the bag, waiting for her to take it out for him, in possibly the most cat-like pose he had adopted since arriving to talk to her.]

[mydearladydisdain]

[She takes it out. This sandwich had been made at home, stored in a tupperware box. She opens, and carefully separates the bread from the long slices of salmon. Honestly, she'd forgotten she had this sandwich made until she went into the bag to get her fruit bowl.]

[She places the slices on the lid, and sets it down in front of Mogget.]

[bellbound]

[Beatrice was now officially his new favourite witch. That was a very low bar to leap, by the way. He crouched to eat the salmon slices with relish. They were good quality too. They couldn't possibly match a real fresh salmon, but he wasn't about to turn down a free meal.

When he had finished, he sat up again and regarded the witch with a curious expression.]

May I ask a question? For my own interest.

[mydearladydisdain]

[Having done all the separation meant that Beatrice could much on the bread, which was good because it was the nice seeded loaf she had bought. She took some water to clear her mouth]

Go ahead.

[bellbound]

What do you really think of our new Mother?

[Go on, have an opinion, Beatrice. He dared her.]

[mydearladydisdain]

[Oh she had opinions, but you think she was daft enough to express them to the new Mother's familiar]

I'm giving her a chance. Waiting to see what she does.

[bellbound]

And what about what she's doing?

[Like the petition, for instance. There was already plenty to judge Samantha by in Mogget's opinion, though he did have the privilege of living in her home.]

[mydearladydisdain]

Honestly? I ... have my apprehensions considering parts of it, but my life has been during the 30 years of this ... let's use the word ban. I don't know any different from it. So I have to judge my apprehension against my limited knowledge, and wonder if that is the reason for it. Which it likely is.

[She's hyper critical. Even of her own thoughts]

[bellbound]

[That was... a surprisingly thoughtful answer. He nodded.]

Most witches these days don't know any better. I have spoken to several and they are either excited or apprehensive, but none are sure exactly what to expect. So many never even dream of questioning the status quo, or imagine that the world was not always as it is.

[Personally, Mogget was a great believer in questioning the current state of affairs, though he was under no illusion that Samantha's approach would improve his lot any.]

[mydearladydisdain]

My main point of apprehension comes from wondering why things changed. I know the history, of course, but if they felt it important enough to change the rule then, why the urge to change it back now?

[bellbound]

[He gave a cat-shrug, rolling his shoulders.] If you think this reflects anything more than a change in leadership, you are mistaken. The old Mother believed that fae like myself were too dangerous to be controlled. She kept me locked up for years. The new one has more confidence in your ability to combat fae trickery.

[Mogget for one was hoping that her confidence was mistaken.]

[mydearladydisdain]

Are we in a position of having more ability? Or are we under the belief that because the world has moved on, we should have greater ability?

[Again. Hyper. Critical.]

[bellbound]

As I said.

[Nothing had changed. He moved closer, rubbing his head against her hand, and miaowed softly.]

My collar chafes at me. [Technically true on a metaphorical level, so. No lie here.] Would you care to loosen it?

[His collar appeared to be made of ordinary red leather with a small bell hanging from it. If a witch like Beatrice touched it, she would see the magical marks flash and move under the surface, marks of a binding spell that held immense power. Needless to say, removing the collar would be a Bad Idea.]