Third Permanent Test Drive Meme

[ourearth]

Third Permanent Test Drive Meme



Welcome to the SoE TDM!

Due to the premise of the game, everyone on this testdrive must be the modern day reincarnation of the characters we all know and love. Please take a quick look at our navigation to familiarize yourself with the concept and setting of the game before you jump in.

If you have a relationship plotting post comment for your character (which is NOT mandatory to play in this tdm), please link to it when putting up a toplevel on the TDM. That way, other players can easily get an idea of what kind of character they will be tagging.

Other than that, you know the tdm drill - when commenting, please put your character's name and canon in the subject line, and write one or more threadstarters so others can tag you easily. Below, you'll find some prompts that you can use or discard at will to write those threadstarters.

1. The mighty cat spawn

One of your fellow Numbered echoed the ability to spawn cats. They don't know how or why, and they have very little control over it. The problem is that all those cats are a little magic, and all of them like to escape directly after they spawned. So all Numbered have been recruited to find the cats and bring them back to their home.

Find a cat and bring it home really sounds a lot easier than it is... At least they are easily recognisable by the little gemstones set into their foreheads.


2. Winter Wonderland

This far to the south, in the very maritime climate of England, there rarely is snow. And if, it isn't much, and it doesn't stick for long. Not so this Christmas. Snow as thick as on Christmas postcards covers Mossgate Council. Public transport has shut down, the roads are impossible to drive on, stores have closed down, and electricity is down in many places.

In Folkton and Moss Manor, the church halls are heated and offer mingling spaces. In Mossgate, people go sledding on the Greens. And in Tarwich, whole roads are covered in giant snowmen. All corners of the council area are in a special state of existence, and to be missing it, you'd have to be in deep hibernation.


3. Halloween is a bit extra this year

As in, very extra. Not only does every household wake up to a bucket of water on their doorsteps in which scary apples are floating, complete with a sign attacked to the bucket that reads: Have fun bobbing!

No, the whole of the council area is also covered in cobwebs, and the graveyards are covered with the skeletons of those that should normally lie buried under their soil.


4. Summer summer SUMMER!

There is a summer fête and a Pride to enjoy during the summer months. But one can also just lie at the beach, wade through the rock pools at the bottom of the cliffs to catch starfish, tiny shrimp, tiny fish, shellfish, and anemones. Or you can take a ride on one of the attractions on the Pleasure Pier. Or enjoy a concert on the greens. ...Or return from a trip to Spain and suddenly have all echoes come back to one at once. That's also an option, but probably less pleasurable.


5. Past tdm prompts

Feel free to use a prompt from an earlier tdm!

6. Wildcard

And, of course, the obligatory do-what-you-want option.

Comments

Curufin Fëanorion | J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion

[so_dark_a_road]

2. Winter Wonderland

Jan (Jasko) Karczmarek tramps out onto the Green and up a hill, carrying his sled on his shoulder. His black hair is starred with snowflakes and likewise his heavy black sweater. He drops the sled onto the snowpack, jumps on and kicks off. He zips down the hill with a grin and a whoop. And then suddenly, CRASH!! He collides with another sledder and they end up in a heap at the bottom of the hill. He starts to pry himself out of the tangle. "Sorry!"

3. Halloween

Jasko visits the graveyard for some reason. He loves Halloween, and the bucket of skeleton-faced apples on his doorstep makes him laugh. He goes back inside to put on his cat-costume, complete with fuzzy ears and glued-on whiskers, and then he makes his way through the cobwebs, and comes eventually to the graveyard gates. But inside, he stands staring. There are real skeletons lying all over the place! "What the fuck????"

4. Summer

Jan Karczmarek, whose nickname is Jasko or just Jas, is in town for Pride. He's a maritime engineer and he normally works belowdecks, but today he's at the rail as a passenger because he's taking time off to attend the Pride celebration. The ferry docks at Mossgate harbor and drops him off along with some other Pride-attendees and other people who have business in Mossgate or elsewhere in the south of England. He races to catch a bus to the town hall in time to march. Amidst all the hullabaloo, the laughter and the chanting, the streaming of banners and the waving of signs and flags, he walks smiling and talking with the people around him. It's a wonderful three hours, and finally they reach the Green.

It's a party! Being a musician himself, albeit without his instrument, he heads straight for the music. The bandstand is quickly surrounded by dancers, and the first band is rocking and riffing. Jas politely shoulders his way through the crowd, and starts dancing. He'll dance with absolutely anyone, or take a break and get a refreshing drink and start up an conversation with absolutely anyone.

[ OOC: Meet him at the harbor, or during the Pride march, or at the Green, whichever you like! ]

4!

[iamnotgod]

Walter's not intending to be dragged inside the crowd for the parade, but he's been invited at the insistence of one of the visiting bloggers, whom he'd previously assisted with repossessing their account after a particularly nasty hack.

He has no problems keeping up with the parade itself, however - though that also means there's more than enough time for his mind to wander, never mind how fast he can react once he sees something.

"Ah! Excuse me, my pardon," Walter says, when part of the paraders behind him start jostling about for one reason or another. Going ahead of the crowd might be easier, he thinks, so he starts to edge his way out...

\o/

[so_dark_a_road]

"Oh no, my fault," says Jan, who had accidentally bumped into Walter. "Nice day for a parade, isn't it? Especially a Pride parade!"

He's wearing black jeans, black boots, and a white t-shirt with a rainbow on the front. His black hair is unruly in the breeze and his dark gray eyes sparkle.

Re: \o/

[iamnotgod]

"Yes, of course. Better than having it when it was blazing hot, to be sure," Walter says, taking in Jan's look in a moment.

The sparkle draws his interest, but more confusion than attraction.

"Can't say I've seen you around here before, either. Come to Mossgate often?"

[so_dark_a_road]

"I actually have a flat in Tarwich, though I spend a lot less time there than out on the water. I'm an engineer on one of the ferry lines that serves the U.K. We dock at Mossgate harbor a couple of times a week. Taking care of the boat's machinery is a time-consuming occupation, so I don't always come ashore. But I make a point of spending at least a little time every month walking around, seeing the sights."

He's always curious about people.

"You live here?"

Since we haven't yet gotten around to this year's Pride...

[iamnotgod]

Oh. Well that made more sense, then; it's not as if Walter rides the ferry often... or at all.

"Yes, over by High Street."

Though he's not giving out the exact address.

"Only been here for the past two years, though that's still long enough to get used to how the town moves, compared to London."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Ah yes, I know High Street. Nice area to live, I guess?"

He doesn't expect a chance-met stranger to give out personal information such as an exact address, so he's not surprised at Walter's reticence. He's just tossing out conversation-starters, to indicate friendliness.

"You lived in London before you came here?"

[iamnotgod]

"For a sizable amount of time, yes."

Walter is carefully dancing around the fact that the only reason he didn't grow up here was because his parents joined a cult for ten years.

So he's just going to move the conversation along.

By this point they've made it to where the street meets the lower-g green, and Walter starts visually debating whether to climb up and away or just continue parallel to the crowd.

"Never got to go to the parades there, though."

2

[lovedramamoron]

Sledding was slightly below Jimmy's dignity as an independent sixteen-year-old out and away from his family for the first time.

But with the snow out on the Green and the day off from school he hadn't been able to resist. He hadn't really expected to get crashed into. He groans slightly from where the impact had driven him into a snowbank, and makes an attempt at getting back on his feet.

"Don't worry about it," he says with an obviously American accent. "Are you okay?"

[so_dark_a_road]

"I'm all right," answers Jan -- in an obviously Irish accent -- starting to climb out of the snowbank. He reaches out a hand to help the teenager up. "Are you okay? I don't know what happened. I'm usually a lot more attuned to others getting close to me when I'm sledding."

Being a polite man, he thinks to introduce himself. "I'm Jasko, by the way."

[lovedramamoron]

"Jimmy," he introduces himself as he takes the help to get out of the snow. He makes a somewhat successful attempt to brush the snow off his coat. "I'm an exchange student here. And don't worry, I'm fine. I had worse crashes than that sledding with my brothers back home."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Pleased to meet you, Jimmy! Exchange student, huh? From America, by your accent. Are you enjoying being a student here?"

He dusts the snow off his own coat.

"I don't have any brothers back home in Donegal, but I had friends. We got up to all sorts of mischief, and sledding like a bunch of loony race-car drivers was one of our favorite winter activities. How many brothers do you have?"

[lovedramamoron]

"It's definitely different from school back home. But I like it." It didn't hurt that he'd found a real life mystery here to solve, even if his echoes so far hadn't been very pleasant.

"Two brothers and a sister. They're all older than me."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Good thing, huh? School is such a large part of life until you're old enough to leave it and start college or job training of some sort. Do you know yet what you want to do with your life?"

Jasko has had only one Echo as yet. But that one was so important to him that he arranged employment at a particular ferry line so that he'd be docking a couple of times a week at Mosgate Harbour.

"Nice to have siblings. Even if you're stuck being the youngest. People to care about you, all of your days."

[lovedramamoron]

"That's an easy question. I want to write mysteries." Although with the echoes he'd had so far, he was beginning whether that was what he really wanted. Did he want to write about detectives or did he want to be one? Even if the kind of detective he'd once dreamed of being was something that didn't really exist in the real world.

He makes a face.

"People to tease you and baby you, too."

3 it is.

[404linknotfound]

Phoenix has enjoyed Halloween for as long as he can remember - from trick-or-treating as a tot, to passing out candy to the youngins as an adult. Some odd years ago, he decided to start bringing candy with him as he went and checked on some of the animals he had been rehabilitating. Because the animals always need to be checked on, regardless of holidays. And the candy wasn't for the animals, but for the children he would see on the way.

His costumes are always sort of minimal, so as not to frighten any of the animals. The only thing worse than a screeching hawk is a screeching injured hawk, after all. This year, it's a straight up Robin Hood Sparrow Cowl costume. And he was just locking up one of the nearby rehab sites when he hears a very loud cry come from the cemetary across the way, and his eyebrows raise.

"Either someone's in trouble, or..." his voice being strangely calm, if not curious. He heads toward the cry, just to make sure they're alright. If someone needs help, it's better not to leave them all alone. Though he doesn't seem to be minding the props too much. That's all he thinks they are anyway. Albeit really good ones. He sees Jan in the distance.

"Hey, are you alright?" he calls out to him.

I love Pheonix's user name!

[so_dark_a_road]

Jan turns around and sees Phoenix in his Sherwood Forest garb outside the graveyard gates.

"Yes, I'm all right. But have you been in here? There are real skeletons lying all over the sod! This is weird." He shakes his head. Cat ears and all. "Somebody must have robbed the morgue or the coroner's office," he adds, with dark humor.

Well, thank you : D

[404linknotfound]

Real? He's going to take a moment to process that. He takes a few steps in and looks at the surrounding ones.

There's no way, right? They're just Hollywood-level props. They've got to be.

Still, Phoenix's brow furrows and he scratches the back of his head as he kneels down to look at one of the skeletons.

"Uhh... I don't think the morgue keeps skeletons. Just bodies."

Way to be matter-of-fact, Phoenix.

He reaches out to touch the bone, and his eyes widen as his hand shoots back and away from it. He gapes, trying to form words, but the sudden panic has a hard grip on his throat.

[so_dark_a_road]

Jan wishes the skeletons were just movie props! This is CRASS.

He comes towards Phoenix and stands at his side while the man investigates by touching the nearest heap of bones.

"They're real all right," he says, softly, not wanting to add to Pheonix's panic. "How could this have happened? If it's a joke, it's a horrible one. Say, you don't think somebody dug these up??? If so, we'd better report it."

And he pulls out his cellphone to call the police.

2.

[amonsterbyanyothername]

Leith had come out in this snow for the same reason many other had - to have fun, of course. And sledding seemed like a good idea at the time. But getting crashed into was not on that list of a good time. Yet, here he is, victim to that very thing.

He'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt. In fact, the pain and massively miscalculated trajectory have him furious. He tears up from the pain and jumps up, tossing his sled angrily aside and communicating in rapid sign language:

How dare you?! Why don't you pay more attention to where you're going?!

Leith doesn't expect the stranger to understand. But hey, if he does, Leith can call him an idiot to his face... literally.

[so_dark_a_road]

Jan doesn't understand sign language, but he does comprehend the anger and the pain. As soon as he's extricated himself from his own sled he comes quickly to Leith's side.

"I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?"

[amonsterbyanyothername]

Leith pulls back a little from Jan, giving the grumpiest of glares. Of course he's hurt. It's just lucky for Jan that it isn't more than a few bumps and bruises.

Leith finds himself kicking up snow and anything else nearby, continuing to rapidly sign in between about how stupid people are and even calling Jan a few ugly names in the mess of hands.

He eventually picks up Jan's sled and shoves it against Jan's chest.

[so_dark_a_road]

Jan knows how lucky he is. If he had seriously hurt somebody, he'd be calling the emergency number right now.

He watches Leith's gestures and tries to pick up any meaning he can find. Well, it's not hard to read anger in these signs!

He grabs hold of his sled when Leith shoves it against him. But he doesn't want it to end this way. "I'll buy you a cup of hot chocolate, if you'd like to come with me and find a shop or a restaurant that is open." He makes a gesture of lifting a cup to his lips, and then he raises his eyebrows questioningly, and then he makes a beckoning gesture that invites Leith to come with him.

[amonsterbyanyothername]

Leith just.... stares for a moment.

Yea, okay, it's not obvious that Leith is only mute and not deaf. At least Jan is trying. Leith's face drops from anger to mild frustration and he reaches for Jan's hands for just a moment. He signs:

Watch me

And then points to his eyes and then himself to try and emphasize his point. Then he slowly signs the proper way to say:

Would you like hot cocoa? I'll buy. Follow me.

He's trying to teach you, Jan. Pay attention.

[so_dark_a_road]

Jan allows his hands to be taken and nods when Leith points to his own eyes and then himself. Obviously telling Jan to watch. And then he pays close attention to the sign Leith is trying to teach him.

He nods and then tries signing the same thing with his hands, glancing up at Leith's face to see if he's got it right. Would you like hot cocoa? I'll buy. Follow me.

"Did I get it right?" he asks. He doesn't know whether Leith can hear or not, but maybe he can lip read, or maybe he can read Jan's body language when he speaks. Jan's facial expression and his manner ask for feedback.