NOV. TEST DRIVE

[missleadingquestions]

Sorry to be late this time!



G'day, Ruby City!

Thinking of apping a character but not sure they'll fit in the city walls?

Have no fear, a meme for you is here.

Directions:

• Post with your character with their name and canon on top!


• Choose a location and prompt or wait for someone else to tag.


• If you'd like, leave contact info for people to get in contact for plotting and other such shenans.


• Tag around! Make friends. Don't be afraid to chat OOC while tagging.

Locations:

1. Train Station: New arrival, or waiting to welcome people? Either way, the train comes in, but you still can't ride it out.


2. Cathedral: Looking for redemption? Just doing a little sight-seeing? Or just getting a little shelter?


3. The Clocktower: You can see the whole city from here!


4. The Black Stallion Saloon: You were told the burgers were great here-- but maybe you just came for the beer.


5. The Library: You came to do a little research, but it looks like all of the information's just out of your reach. Though, you can always find a way to pass the time here.


6. The Coffee Joint: A lovely place to have a chat and a bite to eat.


7. Le Cafe Anglais: A Parisian-British fusion that's as charming as it sounds and serves the best tea around.

Scenarios

1. Just walked in: You intended to get here, and you made your way in; but now someone's caught your eye and you'd like to have a chat.


2. Been here all day: You've been sitting around minding the time. Maybe you didn't notice them at first or maybe you were just working up the courage to talk-- either way, they know you're here and you know it too.


3. Bad weather: You're here because you've gotten rained in. This wasn't your choice, but at least it's dry-- right?


4. Wild card: Got something better in mind? Well screw these prompts, try it out yourself!

Have fun, guys!

Comments

Iskandar | Fate/Zero

[sikandar]

[The Library]

["Learning is not child's play; we cannot learn without pain." - Aristotle

of all times to remember these particular words of his tutor, banging his head on one of the many low shelves in an unfamiliar city was perhaps the most apt. the last time he bumped his head was during a rash moment in training as a young teenager, and then, too, had he learned something while wiping blood from his brow: plot every move in life as if it were your last or it will be. arriving in the city was...unexpected to say the least with no summoning and no master awaiting him after stepping off the train. he needed information on this place. that was the key to survival for iskander did not steal vcitory.

and it certainly wouldn't hurt to get lost in a book for a while.

he makes his way over to one of the tables by large windows overlooking a cloudy sky with three books in hand.]

[sagittaspei]

[ the library isn't one of Madoka's most frequented places, but she comes here every once in a while. sometimes, it's nice to read something. and well, sometimes, it's just nice to pop over and see Waver too, and make sure he hasn't got so lost inside whatever it is he's doing that he's forgetting to take care of himself.

it just so happens that she's making her way over to the very same table as the man who towers so far over her that it's comical. she stops short, looking up (and up, and up), and hastily making an apology. ]

Ah-- I'm sorry, did you want this table?

[sikandar]

[iskandar peers down (and down, and down) and smiles.] There is more than enough room for two. Come, we'll share.

[sagittaspei]

Oh! Well, thank you very much, that's very kind of you!

[ she places her book down on the table, smiling. ] I don't think I've seen you around the city before. It's nice to meet you, I'm Madoka.

[sikandar]

[he nods.] There's no need to thank me. However, you're right, I only arrived a few days ago. It is good to meet you, Madoka. I am Iskandar or Alexander if you prefer.

naturally slams into this post

[gordianknots]

[Waver lives above the library. He's considered it a good home for some time now. There's quiet here, he can observe people without too much notice, and it is - save for the Grail War destroying the damn place - safe.

It is also apparently now housing Rider, he notes, walking through the stacks.

Wait.

There's no mistaking who that is. It isn't even impossible - enough servants had returned from various points in the Grail War, and he'd be a liar to say he hadn't hoped Rider might turn up. But this is reality.

Acknowledging that there's no good way to say hello after a gap of twenty years between them, he walks over to Rider's table, glancing briefly at the books.]

Don't tell me you're going to steal the Iliad again.

well hello there, please let me know if he sounds off

[sikandar]

Steal? [who would dare accuse iskandar, ruler of half the world and paragon for his people, of stealing? he turns to give this poor uneducated stranger two earfuls, but stops with mouth half-way open on seeing who it is. something about the hair.... plus the key term the man had said was 'again'. there could be very little mistake.]

Waver?

I WILL although that'll require me to stop shaking with joy.

[gordianknots]

[Waver grins, and nods in confirmation.] Who else would have that memory, idiot?

don't mind me screaming

[untilavalon]

Excuse me.

[There's no mistaking it. She hadn't come expecting to find Rider, but a man of his size and demeanor absolutely cannot be taken for anyone else.

It's a little ironic, she has to admit, and she's spent a good few minutes pondering how to approach him without losing her sense of pride. She's come to know a great many things in her time in the city, and regret toward not having listened to Rider is one that Waver has ingrained in her head.

Despite this, Saber approaches Rider with as much respect and pride as she can muster, tapping the back of a chair facing the ox of a man.]

May I have this seat?

i am screaming just as much don't worry

[sikandar]

[a familiar face is just what iskandar needed. he pushes away from the table and embraces her in a mighty bear hug, grinning like mad.] Saber, it has been too long!

I was screaming so hard I ran out of air and took forever to tag

[untilavalon]

N--ngh?!

[Okay, that.

That was not something she'd expected. Holy of holies, this man is absolutely monstrous.]

R-Rider! Please!

[tofu_tiger]

[Dougen wanders the library, probably one of the few people in town taller and broader than Iskander. He peruses each book lightly, using a single claw to turn the pages. He can't read any better than other animals, but he sometimes imagines he can force himself to understand if he just tries hard enough.]

Oh, nevermind.

[He almost thumps into the man as he turns a corner.]

Ah, sorry about that.

[sikandar]

[whoa, someone he has to look up to. that hasn't happened in a while.] No harm done. [a pause. how to put this?] ...now, I have never seen one up close, but aren't you a tiger?

[tofu_tiger]

Yes, I'm Dougen. I just recently arrived here, have you done the same?

[Don't ask why a tiger is wearing clearly Chinese garb.]

...It's strange to see so many humans who can speak my language. It was my understanding that animal speech was a rarity in men.

feel free to ignore this if it's not okay!

[ex_preferred43]

[Bagoas hadn't gone to the library to find information about this place, not truly. He'd been hoping to find something to read, but had thought to find comfort in it more than knowledge. He usually picked up information by talking and, most useful of all, by listening. Reading was something he had learned thanks to Iskandar, but he could only read Greek, not even his native Persian. With such a limitation, he was unsure of whether the library in this unfamiliar city would have words for him. There could be no harm in the attempt, but as he made his way there, he did not expect miracles.

That's why he's completely startled to see Iskandar there with his books, for all the world as if he belongs there. But then, wherever he is, he looks as if he belongs there. Bagoas freezes. He had thought himself alone in this strange place, and he's glad to find that is not so. Iskandar looks--different, somehow, but of course he knows him.]

My lord.

[He's taken aback enough that he forgets to call Iskandar by his name, using a title instead.]

i'd never ignore a tag!

[sikandar]

...You have no need to address me that way, eromenos. [hundreds upon hundreds of years since their last meeting, and nothing had changed. bagoas--still young, beautiful--could soften his heart like few could. iskandar kisses his forehead.] I beg that you do not.

yay!

[ex_preferred43]

Iskandar.

[He amends his error at once. It's been a long time since he's made such a mistake, no matter how ingrained in him the more formal forms of address were from birth. This place has put him out of sorts. It's completely alien to him, as are the people and their ways. It's so unlike Persia, unlike any of the places he has traveled to.

At the kiss, he smiles, and for the first time since arriving here, he feels something that could be called contentment. He had been feeling very--lost.]

I should have known you would come to conquer this place as well.

Re: Iskandar | Fate/Zero

[semanticjellyfish]

[Libraries are terrible places. This is a fact. He keeps expecting a horrible librarian to make an appearance, and there's no way he remembers enough about A Separate Peace to keep them at bay. But, here the biography section, or what remains of such a section, seems full of books with various titles, and not a single one by Helen Hunt. He wanders the aisles for a bit, not really picking up anything--

And there's this guy over there who looks like he's built from mountains, or what mountains would be made of if they existed at all. And, okay, he's not Carlos, but very few people could be, almost by definition, and those muscles, while not usually His Thing-- well.

It couldn't hurt to say Hi, right? In any case, he looks the exact right amount of up determined by being neither short nor tall.]

Um, hi. Do you need help finding anything?

[sikandar]

Hm...well, I could use help finding some of the Greek epic poems. Homer's, to be specific. [cecil would be mortified to know that iskandar thinks he looks like a librarian.] Would you happen to know where they are?

[semanticjellyfish]

[Do the librarians back home wear corduroy pants and stripey ponchos?]

I think there's some kinda Classics section back that way. [Pointing! Helpful!] I can't figure out if anything's in the original language, so if that's a dealbreaker, there you go.

[hemopath]

[ something tiny bumps into him from behind with a suitably tiny oof! mirai had been nervously cleaning her glasses and not looking where she was going - but with the collision, she quickly puts them back on and bows, whether he has turned to look at her or not. ]

Ah, excuse m— [ she straightens up and... stumbles back a little, staring up in shock and awe??? horror??? at what is most definitely a real live giant. ] ... Th-that's ridiculous...

[sikandar]

[why are there so many tiny girls with pink hair in this city? iskandar turns quick enough to see her straighten and back away in fear. and to be fair to mirai, he is kind of absurdly huge. anybody would be scared seeing this guy in a shady aisle of shelves.] Ridiculous? [he glances at the books in his hand.] Three books don't seem that outlandish, do they?

[hemopath]

W... What are you?! P-p-p-people aren't that big! It's just impossible!

[ but he's not a youmu, either, or she'd be able to see it, so she doesn't draw a weapon yet, she just... stares. what is wrong with this place. ]

wow bet you weren't expecting this at all

[omnishamble]

[ gilgamesh is not often a patron of the library.

when he is, it is understood to be a venture that is not spent solely within the building's confines, and further not one that is spent amid the fall of dust and the scent of long unopened pages. when he deigns wander in, it is brief and it is quick. he takes what he desires, and none ask questions of him. none belonged asking, to begin.

instead, gilgamesh had always preferred to hear the words he so sought from the mouths of others. when books held little more than the factual breadth of knowledge, topography, and hymns, their lasting worth was no more than that. books often compiled and censored, missed crucial detailing, and he could not pull them apart as deftly as one could the tonality of a human voice or a human expression. he could not be granted his deserved reward for work, alone. the general did not interest him. the mundane, the limited, the unchangeable, the temporary breaths of entertainment... in them was nothing sustainable. it tarnished as quickly as all else did, and each languished ever plainly in its own tongue.

so, when something more promising draws his eye, he is fine to permit it. it would be, perhaps, hard not to for most. the figure that man cuts is imposing to any normal man, but gilgamesh only finds familiarity in it. more, he pauses in his hardly enthused perusal of the tomes to follow his tread at his leisure.

the last he had seen him of, he had given him a vow.

and so, as he takes it upon himself to slowly circle to the aimed for table's opposite side, he allows iskander a momentary sweep of his eyes. ]

It appears this city has decided to bring more of you, after all. [ he straightens, arms folding over his chest with all of his usual ease. if there is anything to be read in his expression, it comes with the fainter narrow of his eyes, the proud tilt of his chin: ] King of Conquerors.

[sikandar]

[iskandar does not look up immediately. it is a humbling and infuriating moment he has never dealt with before: the conqueror forced in a position of defense as the victor studied their prize with greedy eyes. he briefly wonders if his subjects in foreign lands felt the same when he marched through their cities, this burning, defiant pride laced with sorrow which hurt his chest.]

King of Kings. [he looks into gilgamesh's eyes with no fear.] It seems the city has done the same for you.