Test Drive Meme: August-September 2017

[undergroundmods]

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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 potential players: Looking for an OOC space to brainstorm your AU? Head over to our permanent character workshop post to ask for feedback and share ideas.

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) WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE. Welcome to London! It's time to introduce yourself to your faction, to your fellow supernatural citizens, would-be friends, potential enemies... Will people quake with fear or awe when you enter the room? Or are you some nobody trying to make a name for yourself? Either way, gotta start networking.

2) THE RACE IS ON. The competition within your faction is even worse than the competition outside. That guy over there has turned sucking up to your boss into an art form. What about the woman who works out at 5am every morning and can probably punch through a wall? If you want to climb the ladder, you'd better start working harder.

3) THE WRONG DIRECTION. It's a big city and it's easy to get lost. Normally that's not such a big deal, but this time you've taken a wrong turn and ended up in hostile territory. If you're spotted by the wrong person, you could be in for a seriously bad time. Is there anyone around who can help?

4) NEVER LOSE CONTROL. You had one drink... or two... Maybe it's almost the full moon, or maybe there's some magic in the air messing with your hormones, but you're this close to going all out with your fangs or your claws or your magic. You need to get out of here, fast.

5) SWING IT, SHAKE IT. You've got a disco ball, a killer outfit and music so loud you can feel it pumping through the dance floor. Show the humans how it's done.

6) KARAOKE. It's karaoke night in one of London's favourite supernatural bars and that tone-deaf werewolf is hogging the mike again.

7) RUN AROUND. It seemed simple, right? One errand to run, just one. And yet the world seems to be conspiring against you. Your alarm didn't go off, you missed the bus or train, you got caught in traffic, someone spilled their drink on your brand new leather jacket, you tripped over and literally fell headfirst into a dumpster... Oh, God. Could this day get any worse?

8) CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE. Anything goes.

Comments

the Twelfth Doctor | Doctor Who | fae

[hellofabird]

1: who do you think you are
The fae known as the Doctor has a terrible habit of changing his face every time he gets bored. The last time he was in London, over ten years ago, he looked like a young man with an astonishing lack of eyebrows, not the grumpy Scottish older gentleman that he looks like now with enough eyebrows for days. The problem here is that the new face he's got looks annoyingly familiar. He's copied a face before, but he's reluctant to do it nowadays. How awkward would it be if he ran into the person who's face he copied?

So naturally, there's one thing to do to find out just who's face this is: crowdsource! The Doctor's spent most of the past few hours asking people about his face, mostly humans who answer truthfully ('what? No! What the hell do you mean?') before the Doctor slips away to ask someone else. Occasionally though, he finds himself asking a member of the supernatural. They're not as fun to talk with as the humans but at least they're more used to eccentric fae bullshit...except for the fact that the Doctor's bullshit is all eccentric Doctor bullshit.

"Scuze me," he says, just sitting next to some random person, not really caring who they are or what they're doing. "Do you recognize this face?"

3: wrong direction
The problem with just recently returning to a city that you haven't been to in multiple years is that things change, businesses turn over, and people move. The Doctor has yet to realize that. As such, he's staring at at an Oxfam shop with a look of downright confusion and slight annoyance on his face.

"Why isn't this that fish and chips place?" Surprise random passerby, you're getting dragged into this bullshit, as the Doctor just turns to whoever's nearby, whether they're walking away or not, and just points angrily at the building. "Who gave them permission to change, that shouldn't be done without proper notice!"

The Doctor is a big ol'hypocrite. Also? This Oxfam shop has been here for the past eight years. The Doctor is just that oblivious.

8: wildcard!
The Doctor can also be found playing guitar in a park somewhere, waiting in line for food at all sorts of random places, or wherever the hell's needed in the Other Realms.

1

[cabins]

Laura has only spent a few months in London, and already she's learned some of the more interesting things about it's underground community. And she'd encountered a few characters amongst them, as well as within the humans around them.

Besides, she was from New York.

So really, she doesn't blink twice when the Doctor came barreling up to her asking if she recognized his face. "No, I'm afraid I don't- are you alright, sir?"

[hellofabird]

"Oooh, American!" He's charmed by her accent though, giving Laura a little nod. And now that the obvious has been pointed out, time to go back to her question.

"And of course I'm alright. I'm just curious. Someone's frowned this face before but I can't think of who."

The Doctor's also treating this like a perfectly normal conversation, albeit one that's a little annoying for him. Why can't he remember where he saw this face before?

[cabins]

She laughs a little. "Yes, yes I am. Living here now for the past few months." She'd needed a fresh start, and she'd found one in London.

This is not a perfectly normal conversation. "...Do you normally have a different face...?"

[hellofabird]

"I had a different face," the Doctor answers, with a shrug. He's had like twelve previous faces but that's a whole different story. "Got bored of it, decided to swap it around. It's as simple as that."

Despite the fact that again, this whole thing isn't simple to begin with. But something like 'fully explaining his train of thought' never was the Doctor's strongest suit.

[cabins]

"...I see." Okay, so magic. Explained how he reeked of fae.

"And you're worried this is a face that's already existed, is it?" She was curious now, wanting to get to the bottom of this man and his strange face. Besides, he was oddly intriguing.

[hellofabird]

"I am." With a sigh, the Doctor continues. "There's something about this face that's familiar in a deja vu sort of way. I don't mind copying faces, but it's a bit awkward if I copied the face of someone still alive and well and traipsing around London."

Fair game if someone's dead, though. They're not using that face anymore, don't mind him if he borrows it.

[cabins]

"That I can understand. Well, if it helps, it doesn't look familiar to me." Only a little, she reckons, but it's worth the offer.

"You could always just say that you must bear an uncanny resemblance, if anyone claims to know you?"

[hellofabird]

"There's uncanny resemblance and then there's picture perfect match. It's harder to explain away the latter."

And it is definitely going to be the latter if anybody runs into the Doctor in this state.

1 and 8. Because that's how I roll.

[greenevoices]

Oh, goddamn it. Imogen doesn't really have a problem with other buskers, but she does have a problem when they're old nutters who start shouting randomly at people and scare off her business.

"No. Now stop yelling, yeah? You're not making it any easier for me." But he does look familiar, oddly enough. Something about him makes sense, even with all the craziness.

c-c-comboooo

[hellofabird]

The Doctor...is an amazingly shitty busker. Half the time it seems like he's playing just to play, not really playing anything that would make people stop and listen. Beethoven is followed by the Kinks which is followed by something odd, a song from somewhere in the Other Realms that few humans have ever heard before (but sounds terrible when played on guitar). He doesn't really take money either. If he does, it's slipped into the hats of any other busker around the area.

He also looks really nice for a busker and really nice for a crazy guy asking about faces. The Doctor's wearing a mid-length coat, a bit inappropriate for the summer climate, but he doesn't seem to be too hot or too cold.

As Imogen starts talking, he looks over at her. Like a rude person, he continues to tune his guitar as he talks.

"It's a perfectly valid question," said with a little shrug. "Besides, some of them have already stopped to listen, why not go ahead and ask?"

[greenevoices]

"Because you sound like a crazy person?" Imogen hazards snarkily. She's been watching the old man for the last hour, listening to him. He's not half bad at playing, even if he's astoundingly inconsistent at it, and the song he was playing just now, before he started accosting people like a lunatic...

Like his face, it's familiar even though she knows she's never heard it--or seen him--before. Imogen found herself fingering the fret board of her own guitar along with him, trying to figure out the chords. She doesn't like that very much.

"Why are you asking, anyway?"

[hellofabird]

"I'm asking because I've got the greatest trait in the world: simple curiosity." Oh, there's more to that than idle curiosity. There's a sense of deja vu whenever he looks at himself in the mirror. But the Doctor's so old and his memory's so spotty that he honestly can't place where he's seen this face before.

So, asking around it is. And honestly? He's going to sound crazy no matter if he answers the question truthfully or continues to dodge it, especially since this girl seems only human. Though there's an oddness about her that he can't place but absolutely loves.

"And because again, I don't know where I've seen this face. I've told you that already." He might not have.

[greenevoices]

Imogen just stares. "The mirror might be a good place to start." Why is she even wasting time talking to this madman anyway?

But she's curious too. She wants to know why he's getting under her skin, why the song he was playing made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. So, in spite of herself, she moves her things to the bench across from his. It's a busy Saturday afternoon at the park. If he gets too crazy, there are people around to witness it and help her. If need be.

"Play that song again. The one from five minutes ago." She picks out the melody on her own guitar to illustrate the one she means; she's always had an ear for that.

The song is unearthly, dissonant. It doesn't resolve itself in any ways that make sense in terms of musical theory. But she can swear she's heard it before.

[hellofabird]

"Interesting pick." And that's all he says before the Doctor starts playing again.

The meaning is muddled through the guitar. It's not the instrument that the song was originally written for, after all. But the otherworldliness shines through anyway. The song doesn't seem to pay attention to conventional musical theory, jumping around through various harsh chords. It's beautiful and unearthly but there's something a little sad underneath it.

And not even two minutes after he's started, the Doctor just stops. There we go, song's over. "What'd you think?"

[greenevoices]

Imogen's silent for a moment after the man finishes playing, lost in thought. A beat too late, she realizes it's ended. "Did you write it?" The skepticism and snark are gone from her voice, and she's dropped the attitude she usually affects around strangers. She's genuinely curious. It sounds like a collection of random notes played together, but it's obviously something else.

[hellofabird]

"I didn't," the Doctor answers. But how best to explain this...

"I'm not from here. The song's an older one, from where I used to be." He explains everything in a genuine tone. The Doctor isn't pulling Imogen's leg, he's not making fun of her or dodging the questions, he's giving her actual answers. They are vague as hell answers, but they're still answers.

3

[trustmeimagenius]

Artemis stared, turning to look at the shop, and then to the rather... odd person who had approached him with the question. One of his eyebrow raise, just slightly, as if to spread question as to why he would be asked this question. And then, with a voice that is tilted to be an innocent as possible while still being accusing:

"You have a problem with shops intended to raise money for those in need?"

[hellofabird]

"I've got a problem with shops not being what they're supposed to be," he continues to grumble, looking at the Oxfam shop as if glowering at it for simply existing will somehow make it the fish and chips shop he so desperately wants. He's paying absolutely no attention to that slightly accusing tone in Artemis's voice, as the Doctor just focuses on the shop instead.

"And this," accompanied with a dramatic point, "is supposed to be a fish and chips shop."

[trustmeimagenius]

"And at what point in time was it supposed to be a chip shop?" Artemis asks calmly, still thinking the man has rather odd priorities. Businesses change all the time. Food establishments more so. It was how the market worked.

[hellofabird]

"When I was here last," the Doctor grumps. I'm sorry Artemis, were you looking for things like 'actual dates' and 'not vague answers'? Because guess what, it's not happening.

[trustmeimagenius]

"And you are aware that food establishments are often quickest to change hands or leave a premise due to the market tastes changing?" It was worth asking, even if he did sincerely doubt that this man would understand.

[hellofabird]

"Obviously. But not the ones that I like. And not so soon!"

It's just grumpy nonsense until the end of time. Yes, shops change but not this soon! He hasn't been gone for that long, after all!

It's also possible that the Doctor...doesn't really realize how long he's been hanging out in the Other Realms. This shop was an Oxfam shop for the past five or so years.

[trustmeimagenius]

Artemis pulls out his phone, making use of the free wifi and googling the street address. He examines the information.

"Five years is 'so soon'?"

[hellofabird]

"Of course it is," the Doctor responds, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "That's barely any time at all in the grand scheme of things."