rubycity_ooc | April Test Drive

Entry tags:

test drive

April Test Drive

Welcome to the Ruby City Test Drive!

The rules are simple:

Pick your prompts and post your character, making sure to include the character's name and canon in the subject line.

Tag around, making sure to follow the game rules. If you're not sure about something, don't be shy - check with the other player!

We recommend staying away from "I just arrived" prompts. Instead, write your test drive threads as though your character has been in the city a while and is responding to our periodic events, especially if you're going to use your test drive threads as application samples. This will give mods a better understanding of your character, as well as make more dynamic prompts for other players to respond to.

This one's obvious, but just in case you forgot: have fun!

KEEP RUBY CITY WEIRD
ONE ► You've been here a few weeks now, and things haven't gotten any more logical. You're on your weekly run to the grocery store and, for the umpteenth time, you notice something . . . not quite right. Maybe there's some unusual food on the shelves, something you don't know how to identify or would never have considered eating back home; edible chalk or an entire refrigerator full of ostrich eggs are more likely than you think! Or maybe it's something even stranger than that. Was that janitor's closet always there--and if it wasn't, do you really want to investigate? Have there always been seven aisles, because you really think you remember six last week . . . Whatever the weirdness this week, you're going to have to find a way to deal with it, whether that's by confronting it directly, asking another shopper for help, or turning to the network in dismay.

TWO ► While there are some reasonably fun places to hang out in Ruby City, the catacombs don't fall into that category. They're dark and miserable and terrifying, seemingly designed to trap you and draw you in, maybe even alive. The walls shift in an ever-changing maze, leading you further and further in, coaxing you towards any number of pitfalls. How long have you even been in here? Hope you brought a light, although it won't help much against the ghosts. Maybe you have a friend (or an enemy) with you; if not, you can try calling for help on the network, but let's be realistic: this isn't the kind of place that gets great reception.

THREE ► You've found an abandoned house. Again. This is a fairly frequent occurrence, given the city's eerie emptiness and tiny population. On a whim, or maybe even by accident, you enter the house and find the detritus of the previous owners. Pictures in frames of smiling friends, notes written from one person to another covered with inscrutable inside jokes, even a place on the wall where the former occupant used to hang their watch when they went to bed. Do you feel like an invader, or do you consider this place yours for the exploring? Either way, there's a lot to think about, or a lot to steal. If you're alone, you can philosophize on the network; if you brought a friend, you can philosophize in person or just get to looting.

MONSTERS ALL AROUND
FOUR ► In your time in Ruby City so far, you've seen plenty of monsters already. Honesty, you can't get away from the ghosts. This is a new one, though: there are a bunch of thestrals around this month, and while they're largely shy of people, anyone who heads into the forest is likely to come across them. If you've ever experienced someone's death before, you'll be able to see them in all their skeletal winged horse-y glory, witness them peering at you with their shining white eyes and considering you with a bit of mistrust. If you haven't experienced a death, congratulations, you just ran into an invisible dead horse. On the plus side, they're not violent; they just want to hang out being death omens, but they're scary enough to look at that you might ask for advice, either from a companion or the network at large.

FIVE ► All you wanted was a picnic. Just a simple picnic! To get out of the city for a while, go to the beach, have a sandwich and a cold soda and work on your tan, or walk on the beach, or splash in the waves. It's not that much to ask. But even at the beach, you aren't safe from beastly shenaniganry--because an enormous tentacle has just emerged from the depths, followed by another and another and another. You'd better drop those shells you're collecting, because here comes the kraken. Will you run and hide, try to help your fellow beachgoers, film it for network notoriety, or just go back to eating your sandwich?

SIX ► Finally! At last! You've gotten settled in your home here in Ruby City, settled enough to start landscaping the garden behind your house. But just as you settle in to start working on the flowers (or vegetables, depending on how practical of a person you are), you hear a rustling in the leaves. When you go to investigate, you find a bunch of tiny creatures with big heads and rough skin, running around your garden and eating your plants! What gives? Well, nothing. These are gnomes, and they just take. You'd better ask somebody for help, or they're going to overrun your garden and your neighbors' gardens.

SOMETHING'S HAPPENING
SEVEN ► So . . . you died. How did that feel? Terrible, right? Dying sucks. But coming back is sometimes even worse. Before the vision of Death you've seen (whichever one makes most sense to you, whether that's a big skeletal dude in a black cloak or something else entirely) lets you reenter the land of the living, it tells you that you have to give something up in exchange. That something can be physical, like an item or even a body part, or something less tangible, like a memory or skill. You'll get it back eventually, but for now it's out of your reach. Hard to cope, right? Maybe don't die next time. In the meantime, you're probably going to have to ask for help as you adjust, so make sure to reach out on the network. Unless you're the stoic sort, in which case, never fear: there are enough nosy people in this city that somebody's sure to notice sooner than later.

EIGHT* ► Perhaps you've been recruited by Dil herself, or maybe a friend or stranger has insisted you assist them in the locating and collecting of certain unique items. The exact nature of these items has been kept from you, but you know enough to know that there's something deeply wrong about them--or, at least that's the sense you get from this whole affair. Really, the entire town seems off-kilter, and even a simple mission to retrieve a simple object or two takes a lot of consternation. There's been whispers about a mirror, but you're not entirely sure, yourself.

The seaside sounds like a good place to start, in the closed, off-season stalls and high dunes. Maybe you've been pointed towards the Obelisk, where, even if you don't find whatever it is you're looking for, you're bound to find someone who can help. The library is another place that may be worth looking into--though it's possible the mutable bookshelves and dark rooms are more trouble than they're worth.

NINE** ► Everything's all switched around in Ruby City this week. Maybe you used to have some really amazing superpowers, and now you have someone else's. Maybe you used to have powers, and now you have nothing. Maybe you never had anything, and now you have to get used to superstrength, or pyrokinetics, or suddenly being able to teleport. Either way, trust us, there's a lot to potentially complain about. That's what the network's for, of course--assuming you're not currently causing massive property damage and heart attacks with your learning curve.

________
* This event is based off our February-March 2017 Mirror event.
** This event is based off of our April 2017 powerswap event.

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three.

[She supposes she ought to feel a little guilty entering houses like this. There is, after all, a certain degree of voyeurism involved whenever one walks into an abandoned place such as this. But a combination of boredom — something she thought she might never experience again, if she's honest — and curiosity eventually send Vanessa wandering into one of the many abandoned properties in this so-called city more often than not. Sometimes, on a night like tonight, there's a purpose behind it.]

[She doesn't feel guilt, however. Other things like sadness or even joy, but never guilt.]

[The house she enters now is a modest one, but she would not think it like the smaller dwellings in London if it were lived in. It would be brighter than that. Warmer, perhaps, if the family in the photographs were to be believed. She lingers in the living room for a few moments, glancing them over mostly. One of a day spent in play and sun catches her eye, and she frees it from its cobwebs to wipe away the layers of dust as best she can to examine it a little further. A mother and father appear to be holding the camera in a joint-effort with two giggling children between them. Vanessa smiles, but it's with a touch of sadness, of grief for something she doesn't think she's ever really known.]

[Remembering that she came here in search of more dishes so that she's not left scrubbing every time she decides to prepare or eat a meal, she replaces the frame to its spot on the end table and moves further into the house to the kitchen. She's silent as she opens cupboards, looking through what can be salvaged, when suddenly she freezes at the sound of a floorboard creaking. Barely with any thought to it, she reaches for the nearest sharp kitchen instrument, and faces the entry way to the kitchen, tense and ready.]

[It takes a couple more seconds, but she finds her voice and calls,]

Is someone there?

four.

Beautiful, are they not?

[Vanessa stands beside a tree, holding a basket in both hands in front of her. To some, the basket might seem to be filled with little bits of the forest, but the grasses, roots, fungi, and flowers all have a use if handled properly. She's dressed plainly today, no sign of skirts and though her hair is brushed, it is not pinned back today.]

[She glances back over her shoulder at her newfound companion in these woods.]

I admit, I thought them a bit ghastly when I first saw them. [She'd been nearly frightened by the way their skin seems to be barely capable of stretching over their skeletons and the paleness of their eyes, but she recognizes them as docile creatures with no ill will toward her or perhaps to anyone. She looks back to the thestrals before her. She knows not their connection to death, but it would be no surprise to her. Death has followed at her heel for so much of her life now.] A little time spent with them though, and they prove themselves to be sweet things.

[Her lips twitch into a smile.]

If perhaps sometimes a little too curious about what it is I have in my basket.

[Mary, on the other hand, is all done up in her Puritan finery, like a solemn shroud that works to diminish any sense she may be a threat. It's easier in places she doesn't know her place to play up the weaknesses of the fairer sex, to bide her time as she learns who can be turned to serve her and to what end.

It's all done by rote, a path she's walked so many times that she does it so easily that it might as well be true when she puts a hand up over her mouth as she shakes her head.

Shocked, terrified, unsettled, it's all there on here face while she feels nothing more than a passing curiosity over the creatures. In truth, it's what Vanessa has in that basket that's of more interest to Mary.]

They're terrible. Why would anyone ever keep them so near to so many people?

[A woman in such modest finery, it's not that surprising that's her reaction. Vanessa takes no offense to it, not personally anyway, but she does find such thinking to be close-minded and small.]

Is that how it ought to be then? Whatever we do not wish to see, we cast out? [She looks over at Mary.] Or perhaps lock it away with other things that displease us?

[Glancing in the direction of the beasts, she shakes her head a little.]

If their only crime is grotesquerie, I do not see why they should not be left to live in peace. [A beat before she adds thoughtfully,] No doubt it us who are the invaders anyway, not them.

[As for her basket, to the untrained eye, it really does look as though she's just been picking up anything that might have caught her interest for a particularly peculiar arrangement in her home. But there are such things as agrimony, cedar, althea root, lavender, and calendula flowers.]

It always has been the way, hasn't it? Cast out, burned, hanged.

[There is such bitterness hidden under her tremulous tone, a gentle fear to mask how little she thinks of the judgement of mankind. In truth, the things Vanessa says are in line enough with Mary's own point of views that there's a little bit of a shift, the faintest shadow of a smile at the corner of her mouth.

Kindred spirits almost always are a weak spot in the end, and yet they draw Mary time and again like a moth to flame.]

They don't seem to mind your trespassing, at least. Could you not find something suitable for a salad within the safety of the town?

Hm? [It takes a moment to make the connection between Mary's question and the contents of her basket. There's a brief appearance of an almost sheepish smile as she looks down at her basket and says,] Oh.

I enjoy being outdoors, but I suppose I could, couldn't I? [She lets go of the basket with one hand to raise it closer and inspect her collection before lowering it to her side.] I have been contemplating starting a garden of my own, but I'm uncertain as to whether or not I would have the skill. So, walking through these woods will have to satisfy my need for greenery for now.

And what about you? What brings you to these woods, Miss . . . ?

four)

[John has always had quite an affinity for nature - growing up on a giant plantation will do that to you - so a walk through the woods had certainly seemed like a good idea at the time he started. But now he's suddenly come across ...uh.

Skeleton horses? The heck?

If he said he wasn't scared at first he would be lying, but after a moment or two he realizes these creatures don't seem like much of a threat. That's good news. He finds a rock to sit on a few yards away, pulls out a small notebook from his army coat's large pockets, and begins sketching them. Perhaps you come across him during this moment, or who knows. John's not very good with newfangled technology, maybe he accidentally turns on his communicator, giving you a great look at the side of his arm as he draws.]

[Alexander -- well, the twelve-year-old version of him, thanks to this place -- has been wandering some, trying to figure out what the heck happened to St. Croix. Granted, there wasn't a whole lot to miss there, what with recent events, but this place is still very different from anything he's used to.

In his wanderings, he comes across a young man wearing some slightly familiar clothing. He's not quite sure where it's from, but he knows he knows it. The man's drawing some -- weird skeletal horses, so Alexander keeps back, not wanting to interrupt. It's still kind of hard to ignore the young boy in oversized shirt and breeches, though, especially since there's not any other people around.]

[John's military training has taught him fairly well to pick up sounds of people approaching, and this time is no different. He's pretty sure there aren't any redcoats out to capture him in this weird place, so he's not super worried, but turns to look at whoever it is anyway.

Aaaaand it's a little kid. Wearing some adult's clothes. Perhaps his father's? Maybe the kid is homeless and this is all he could find to clothe himself, oh no.]

Hello there. You can come over, I don't think they're gonna hurt us.

What are they? [He's definitely got an odd accent. There's a touch of the islands in there, maybe some French. He'd gotten better at hiding it before he went to the colonies. Alex approaches despite his hesitation, figuring he can at least hide somewhere easily if the horse-thing gets bitey.]

[John recognizes the accent easily enough and smiles. Some of his favorite people have that accent when they let their guard down, after all.]

No clue. Weird things. I kinda like 'em. ... Is it easier for you to speak English or French? I can do both.

Whichever, sir. [Granted, he'd gotten used to speaking French more often around mama, but -- that's beside the point now, isn't it? He's not going to think about that right now, though, instead offering the thestral John is sketching a hand to sniff, a little gingerly.]

They're real strange.

You can call me John, if you want. No need for the formalities. [ Alexander's small hand makes its way into John's drawing. ] And yes, they are. There's a lot that's weird about this place, but I definitely wasn't expecting ... these. Have you been here very long?

[He tilts his head a little, thinking.] Dunno. Maybe a day or so? [Or longer, but he doesn't remember that part.]

It ain't Christiansted, that's all I know.

Ain't South Carolina neither.

[John sets his pencil down, to devote his full attention to this kid.]

Can I ask what your name is?

Alexander, sir. [He looks a little tentative for a moment, but--South Carolina. That's in America, he's reasonably certain; so he's probably safe enough.] Alexander Hamilton.

[It's a good thing John already set that pencil down, because otherwise he would have dropped it just now. It... it can't be, can it? Is Alexander Hamilton like, a common name in the West Indies? He's so little.] My very best friend is named Alexander. [yeah perfect. good job he won't suspect a thing.] It's a good name. Sssso. Uh, what sort of hobbies d'you have, Alexander?

Edited 2017-04-08 02:37 (UTC)

[He brightens a little at that. Clearly John is good people if he has a friend who shares his name.] Uuum. Readin', mostly, and writing when I can, um, spare the time.

[...yeah, that sounds like him, alright. But why is he so little??]

I've always been more fond of drawing than writing. A picture's worth a thousand words, or whatever that saying is. But that's probably just 'cause I'm not as good at writing as I'd like. And honestly, in recent years I've had to do enough of it to last me a lifetime.

Yeah? What have you been doin'?

[he chuckles a little at that. 'I was employed to write letters to my father' is what he wants to respond with, but. well. that's not really helpful.] I went straight from college to ...a job where I had to do a lot of writing. For the military. I suppose it'll be nice to take a break from it for a while here.

I s'pose. [He fidgets with his sleeve a little, considering.] Ya think there're any merchants here? I could keep books, I'm good with numbers.

[John is surprised at first. Why would someone so young as this Alexander be in need of a job? But just as quickly he remembers. And it breaks his heart.]

Now, I don't want you to worry about any'a that. As long as I'm here I'll make sure you don't have to, okay? You can spend your time readin' and writing whatever you want.

[That just gets a look of flat disbelief. Why wouldn't he have to work? James isn't here, Maman won't be, ever, he knows that; so what does this guy mean?]

I ain't incapable. Just cause I'm small don't mean I can't work, my mama used to keep a shop; I can do it.

[Just like Alexander. It's almost charming except for how worried John is over him right now.]

I'm not -- I'm not implying you're incapable. Don't worry. It's just that you shouldn't have to worry about that, not at your age.

[He crosses his arms over his chest, bristling a little.] An' why not? I'm almost grown.

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April Test Drive

vanessa ives | penny dreadful

four!

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John Laurens | Hamilton

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