Test Drive Meme

[animusmods]

Test Drive Meme

✭ Reply to this entry with a character you're considering apping into the game. You can include the name of your character and the fandom in your subject line.
✭ Check out our plot guide if you're interested in what's happened thus far!
✭ Comment around to others on the meme, whether you're in the game already or not.
✭ Now you have a sample ready for your application!
✭ So go reserve your character, and apply when apps are open.
✭ Seriously, do it.

To get you started, here are a few optional prompts for you to use if you so wish:

Prompts
1. [Setting: Floor Twenty-Eight] There are musical instruments all around this floor, with a grand organ taking the center stage. It could be a good place to pick up a new skill or two! But wait... what's that? You hear music playing? Well, maybe there's someone already on the floor. Or maybe not... sometimes the instruments play themselves, after all.

2. [Setting: Floor Forty-Five] The walls on this floor are made of glass, which would be nice if there were anything to see. Sadly, there's not much, as the clouds are so thick at this height that you really can't make out if there's anything out there, anything below you, or anything above you. If you hear a skittering sound, that's just the faceless humanoid creatures crawling around on the outside windows. Don't worry, they can't get in... but they will skitter around to watch your every move.

3. [Setting: Floor Eighty-Eight] There's a bar here, and you better hope there's not any alcohol. Most of the time there isn't no matter how hard you look - but sometimes there is, and more often than not even a little bit of it will make you violently sick from alcohol poisoning. But if you're really lucky, you'll just get drunk. There's a pool table in the center of this always-smoky floor, so even if you can't drink you can still act all adult and sophisticated.

4. [Setting: Floor Twenty-Two] Are you a cultured person? Then this is the floor for you. It seems to be an art gallery, and there are paintings from many different worlds on display here - maybe even one or two from yours! But don't get lost, because if you do, you may not like what you see. Paintings of the worst atrocities known to mankind have been known to be on display around here, and if you're really unlucky, you'll stumble across an entire section filled with paintings of the things you fear most.

5. [Setting: Floor Ninety-Four] This is a darkroom, and it's okay if you don't own a camera, because there are a few old-fashioned ones you can borrow to take pictures. Maybe this is a good time to pick one up and try your hand at photography. Or maybe you've turned off the lights, but if that's so, don't look too closely at the shadows. They'll sometimes become humanoid figures that will follow you around, and if you look directly at them they'll possess you, crawling into your throat - you won't be able to leave the floor, and you'll try to kill anyone who enters, but this will only last until you are killed or the lights are turned on.

6. [Setting: Floor Three] A bookworm will feel right at home here, among the towering shelves filled with books of all kinds. You won't find anything about the history of the Tower, though, and you certainly won't find anything about the world you or anyone else here came from, but if you're looking for a tale to read or something to study up on, you're in the right place.

7. [Setting: Anywhere] Uh-oh. That's a monster, or maybe more than one of them. You might be equipped to handle it or you might not. But the question is, what do you do? Do you face it head on... or do you flee? Or maybe the monster has already spotted you, and you're in need of a rescue. That's alright. It happens quite often here.

Comments

[midgarhorizon]

"Oh!" Reno got it now, seeing the disappointment. A couple of times, he must have had the same disappointment with a few people, but he couldn't really fault 'em. They were just from different places. "Yeah. There's a lot of these kinda places that suck people up from alternate universes. If you knew a me there, probably not all that different from me here." Maybe. Rusty's memory was still fresh, and he didn't think it'd be any time soon before he could let go of that.

"Hey, don't think of it like that, kiddo. In this place, ya need all the friends you can get." He was trying to cheer her up; he'd seen that disappointment far too often to really say no to a new friend.

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer growls and goes to try to grab one of Caster's hands. If only to get him to stop the ear-fuckery.]

[aneagerbender]

"Yeah, you could say that..." She chuckles a little but there's no humor in it as she rubs at her elbow. Abax had been a mix of everything, of everyone.

It was hard to imagine that gone, even now. Even if it wasn't home.

"It happened a few times before there, folks leaving and coming back as if their memories were wiped." Now she's just trying to get him to think that she's alright, despite him not being 'her' Reno.

"Friends... Everyone seems so walled off in this place. Almost like they're tired of letting people in. Not very friendly if you ask me."

[midgarhorizon]

"...Yeah, it's because of that exact kind of thing. You're never knowing if they got their memories wiped, or if they're after that point they went crazy and tried to destroy the world. Kinda hits the paranoia button, y'know?" He's not convinced, but he's going to let her think she got away with it. What she said made far too much sense. Another place like the Tower, but as a city. "I've seen a lot of people leave and just not come back, too."

[glassceiling]

Yes, please. There is nothing for me here.

[Her claw goes back under her cloak.]

And are all floors of the Tower so specific?

[sicharia]

Most of them are, I think. There are some that are more like free areas, but... Most of them seem to be dedicated entirely to one specific purpose.

[She waits for Assassin to return to her side, then starts back toward the stairs.]

Floor 28

[seventhsong]

[Hark, music!

Lorelei had his favorite floors. Floor 28 happened to be one of them, primarily because it was stuffed with oodles of instruments that tended to play themselves. Which means at the horrible cacophony Giles is beating out of that poor organ is assumed to simply be part of it.

Sound is sound, and this particular Aggregate is not picky.

Eventually, Giles has an audience of one average sized red haired man, several paces away, listening with interest. The horrible noise of untrained person mashing an organ doesn't seem to phase him at all.

He doesn't say a word. He just stands there and observes. And listens. Anything indeed is better than silence.]

[glassceiling]

I see.

[She shuffles closer to Claudia.]

Are there any that are particularly useful? Those that serve a more than just decoration? Or are there any more dangerous than the others?

[radio_madness]

[For a bare moment a dark look crossed over the usually friendly face.]

At least it is not Desert Bluffs, that town deserved everything it got.

[And just as quickly as that darkened look passed, the friendly expression was back in place.]

Hm! My name is Cecil and I am a host at Night Vale Community Radio.

[monstrueux]

[RUDE, don't you understand that an artist is at work? Lancer is much faster than Gilles, but Gilles simply takes spirit form when being grabbed at and rematerializes on the other side of Lancer to strike at the organ's keys again.]

[sicharia]

Mm. [She hums out an affirmative, nodding briefly.] There are several that are dangerous just by their nature. There are others that have some practical purpose, though... For example, closer to the middle of the Tower, there's a floor with the materials and supplies necessary for sewing.

[monstrueux]

[Gilles glances at her. He could not care less about the Grail War and its Servants, now that he has Jeanne, so the fact that she's a Servant, although he's aware of it, is all but meaningless to him. However, he smiles at her nonetheless, because of her words.]

So you agree! I have never seen anything like it!

[Gilles actually likes pictures of God and religious figures, but that's not an issue at the moment, especially as he also likes defacing them, as he is a man of decidedly mixed feelings.]

I did not know such things could be done in art. It is truly inspiring. To portray such suffering, so openly and sincerely!

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer growls and, as if he could stop Gilles by interrupting whatever twisted tune he's playing, slams his own fist on the organ, creating an even bigger noise that clashes with Caster's noises.]

GOOD. now I need some...

[monstrueux]

I am glad you have been well entertained, Ryuunosuke, but you are right. Together we must create the perfect artwork. We have time now, do we not?

[He likes that. Before, their time was limited by the nature of his existence. Now it seems as if he may remain, if he's understood this place and Ryuunosuke's words correctly.]

You must tell me of the pleasures you've experienced.

Yes! I created a glorious monster, the like of which the world has never before seen. I made it larger, and more terrible, and it rose above the city like the beast of revelation!

[kindofademon]

Aww, you shouldn't have! [It's way too cool for him to do just for Ryuunosuke, even if he was dead.] I wish I'd been able to see it.

I'll give you the whole tour, tell you about all the times I've killed and been killed. And then we can get started on something new!

[monstrueux]

[Sadly, Gilles has no concept of personal space. One could blame the time period he lived in, or one could assume that this is more of a personal trait.]

You can defend yourself? Good! It has weighed heavily on my heart, the thought of the defenseless here, so vulnerable in this dreadful place. Surely something must be done...

[Because Gilles is the most helpful and friendly of men.]

You can do battle with monsters? You must be very skilled and brave!

[monstrueux]

[Instead of taking offense at this, Gilles applauds briefly, then strikes his own ugly note, pressing his hand down again.]

You growl like an animal! Are you a man or a beast?

[glassceiling]

That sounds like a good floor.

[She makes a note to remember it, since either she or Claudia might need more clothes at some point.]

Are there any warnings then, for the general populace? Or must these floors have been experienced by someone, and their knowledge passed by word of mouth?

[glassceiling]

...Does it show suffering?

[She stares up at the picture curiously.]

I think it shows more harmony. Look at its lines.

[monstrueux]

Of course! I would do anything for your sake, Master.

[As long as it didn't interfere with any of his Jeanne plans. But Gilles is the best Servant, clearly. For the time being, he puts the thought of what he'd glimpsed in his last moments out of his mind, but the troubling nature of the vision only recedes, it doesn't disappear.]

I only regret that I was not able to consume the entire city for you, as I'd hoped! Next time, I will do better, I promise you.

I would like all that very much! Have you died many times?

[He's not sure how he feels about his Master dying. He hadn't wished him to. He's died twice himself, but dying doesn't bring him the pleasure that killing does.]

[monstrueux]

The lines are twisted and broken. The artist has defied convention, eschewed harmony. Ahhh how refreshing it is! An entirely new idiom!

And I speak of the subject itself, the bloody bodies, the torn limbs, the passion of the artist! Yes, they truly understand war...

[sicharia]

Mm, it is. The materials there aren't the best, but it's better than nothing.

Diarmuid has been working on distributing a guide to the various hazards here, but it's mostly as you said. There are no warnings from the administrators, so we've needed to figure out everything on our own.

[kindofademon]

Yeah, I've died... [Ryuunosuke counts with his fingers before coming up with:] five times so far. Starting to lose track of them, actually. I hear if you die too many times here, they start losing bits of your soul when they bring you back.

[Ryuunosuke doesn't like that idea, but he does like being killed. It's a delicate distinction.]

[monstrueux]

[Gilles, with his keen senses, is aware of someone approaching, but it makes little difference to him if someone else is on the floor. It certainly won't interfere with his impromptu concert.

When the person--whoever it might be, Gilles does not know him--comes to rest nearby and lingers, Gilles is surprised. Could it be that the man likes his playing? Could it be that... he is good at this? This idea surprises him at first, but then, there are people who take to new pursuits quickly! He is playing with genuine feeling, so perhaps that shows through.

Gilles dislikes the silence himself, and he is encouraged by the existence of an actual audience to play with yet greater passion--which means, with greater volume and more frenetic energy.]

[midgarhorizon]

Reno. [Well. That was weird, but weird is a constant topic in the Tower. He's not about to ask, either.]

Never heard of Night Vale. Must be interesting though, if they got moving tattoos. Radio, huh? You a reporter?