thetube | Test Drive Meme: August-September 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 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.

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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?"

"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?"

"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.

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.

Edited 2017-08-28 01:27 (UTC)

"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?"

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.

Edited 2017-08-28 08:08 (UTC)

"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.

Somehow, Imogen's pretty sure he's not talking about Scotland, but she doesn't press. Instead she finds herself humming it under her breath. It sounds better sung than played. Why is it having this effect on her? It's not at all a good song.

"It's meant to be sung," the Doctor adds in. "I just don't sing." And this is interesting. To have such a strong reaction to the song, you'd think that there was some fae in this girl's bloodline. But she seemed human enough at first glance.

Still, might as well be nosy and pry a little more.

"Out of curiosity, where are you from?"

Imogen offers a slightly embarrassed smile. "Essex." Not very glamorous. London is a better place to get her career and need for fame and fortune off the ground. She still doesn't know why she's talking to this man--didn't she think he was crazy ten minutes ago?--but there's something so damnably familiar about him and it's disarmed her usually prickly exterior.

"You?"

"Past the trees and beyond the sky." Which is the answer you'd expect a crazy person to give, but the Doctor says it with such certainty and an oddly gentle tone in his voice that it's downright believable.

He starts to idly play another song on his guitar. It's something equally foreign and equally fae, but while the first song sounded sad, this one sounds happier.

"Essex isn't too bad, though. You've got some lovely castles."

Okay, we've gone back to crazy land. Imogen gives him a strained smile and a nod--yeah, sure, that's great. He really is a nutjob.

But music is a language Imogen does understand, and she finds herself humming along with the song, finding harmonics that really shouldn't work but somehow do. This has turned into a bit of a jam session.

Then the song ends and he goes back to talking about home. "I guess. My old school in Chelmsford used to be a palace."

"D'you know the name of the palace it was?" Because the Doctor's old as dirt. It's entirely possible that sometime in the past he might have attended a party or a ball or something at Imogen's school-turned-palace.

"Beaulieu. Henry VIII built it." Imogen had attended the prestigious New Hall School as a day pupil--not something she liked to admit, given that it revealed just how much of a poseur she was when it came to this whole 'starving artist' schtick.

"Oh, I know Beaulieu! Went to a party there once. Anne Boleyn hosted it, amazing conversationalist, big shame about the head thing."

They had made it a school now? Good on whoever's in charge. At least in the Doctor's mind, that building was far too nice for it to simply be left alone.

They've really taken a turn back to crazy town. Imogen really isn't sure if the old man is telling a joke or if he's being serious, and that's odd because she usually has a decent bullshit detector (mainly because she's so full of bullshit herself).

"That's...nice," she finally manages, and she's already grabbing her things to go. Look at the time, right? How it flies when you're talking to madmen with weird taste in music.

The Doctor continues to play the odd fae song on his guitar, blissfully ignoring the fact that Imogen's had enough of the crazy bullshit and is getting the heck out of dodge.

"It was. You know, the art of a decent party's lost on people nowadays. There's not enough dancing."

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Test Drive Meme: August-September 2017

c-c-comboooo

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