flawedmemes | TEST DRIVE MEME

TEST DRIVE MEME

01. ARRIVING IN PELEA
A cold wind singing down from the white-capped mountains which hang blue-black in the distance stirs your cheek, the tall grass all around you. A bough creaks as the wind makes it tremble, and the dappled shadows drift over you, leaves rustling. As you blink awake, you hear the quiet hiss of water over stones. You are not where you once were!

You and a large group of strangers are blinking awake, pulling yourselves up off the dirt, grass, and rubble near a small wooded stream. There is no evidence of civilization in sight, and as you exchange stories you realize that you must decide what to do.

Will you head past the trees and towards the mountains? Deeper into the forest? Stay put and wait for help to arrive? You might even try to meet everyone else, and either convince them to band together... or head their separate ways.

02. CITY SLICKER
There are many cities throughout the world of Pelea, and in most of them player characters, the Flaws, are welcomed as curiosities. Whether they're among the passionate, oft thought as hot-headed, but hospitable folk of the Banner or the noble and haughty people of the Empire, your characters will find a wide variety of cultures, races and simply people to interact with and investigate. They could be seeking employment, answers to the mystery of their arrival or other folk like themselves, or a quiet place to drink away their worries.

03. WILDCARD!

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[It's not worth it to sigh, so Ollie just nods at the question, and gestures for Korra to go first, since she has to put her knife away to free her hands up to climb.

Once Korra starts climbing, though, Ollie will follow.]

[Occasionally pausing to check that Ollie's still following her, Korra climbs up with no hesitance until she reaches the end of the ladder. It leads up into a somewhat secluded platform that would be difficult to spot from the street.

Korra offers her a hand up.]

Found this place when I was walking the rooftops a couple days ago. Didn't think I'd use it as a hiding place so soon, though. [Though the friendly smile still lingers on her lips, Korra's eyes take on a piercing sort of quality now.] I saw what you did to the slaver. Were you trying to help the girl?

[This isn't where she was expecting to be lead, but Ollie can roll with it; once she's up on the platform she scoots as far away from the edge as possible, before her hands go back into her pockets.

Now that she can focus (rather than trying to spellcast and run at the same time), she can hide them a little better.

But she looks up when Korra speaks, nods, and pulls a little notepad and pencil out of a pocket. On it, she writes:]

No one should be chained.

[Most people might think it a bit extreme to have killed them slaver, but morals are for people who aren't desperate to survive.]

[That's one point for Ollie, even if Korra mentally cringes at the way she'd gotten the job done.]

Yeah, not gonna argue with that. I was--[She pauses mid sentence. Right. Trying to fit in is supposed to be a thing.] I saw a slave ship not too long ago. They looked...horrible.

[Korra shakes her head, like she's trying to shake off that particularly unpleasant memory. Thankfully, there's already something else about Ollie that's caught her attention.] Hey, um...you were gesturing earlier and you just wrote on the paper. Does that mean you can't...talk?

[A slave ship sounds awful, and Ollie is glad that it isn't something she's had to see yet, because she isn't sure what she'd do. Killing one man in the street is easy; killing a ship of slavers would be far more difficult, and far more likely to end up dead.

Also, she can't swim, which would make things tricky.

As for Korra's question, Ollie nods, writing a new line on the paper.]

It was sign language, the gestures.

[She wasn't just flapping her hands around for no reason.]

Edited 2016-08-12 07:05 (UTC)

[Instead of simply nodding and accepting it, Korra looks fascinated.]

You mean, you can have a whole conversation with just that? I know some hunters use signs to communicate in groups back home, but I've never heard of a whole language before.

[Korra bites her lip, chagrined, when she realizes what she's let slip in her carelessness. Hopefully, Ollie's not one of those natives that seem to hate them...]

[Ollie doesn't consider there to be anything that odd about saying back home; it could mean this girl is from another world, but she could also just be referring to whatever part of this world she came from. And Ollie isn't going to risk spilling too much about herself until she can be sure one way or another.

So she focuses on the language thing, instead, taking a moment to write again:]

Deaf and mute people created it. There are signs for most words.

[And to demonstrate, she points to a few words, "deaf", "created", "words" and shows Korra the associated signs.]

[Too busy feeling relieved that she apparently hasn't been caught, Korra's all too happy to distract herself with the new language. Dutifully, Korra mimics the motions as she's shown them.]

It must take a while to learn, huh. Did someone teach it to you?

[Ollie gives an approving nod at Korra repeating the signs, glad that she seems interested.

It takes her a little longer to write her answer, but after a moment she shows Korra the paper again:]

There were others like me, who's voices were taken. They taught me.

[The word choice is significant, but unconscious; Ollie is used to everyone knowing what it means when a witch can't speak.]

[Korra stares at the writing a little longer than necessary this time. There's something about that answer that doesn't sit well with her, and it shows in her frown when she finally catches Ollie's gaze again.]

Your voice was taken?

[Ah.

Ollie tilts her head to the side, considering the question, before she decides to just be honest. It's not like anyone form this place is going to associate 'voiceless' with 'witch'.

So she draws a line across her throat with a single finger, hoping it's obvious enough that she means cut.]

[Oh, that single motion gets the point across quickly enough, and it makes Korra flinch.]

You mean, someone did that to you... [She struggles to keep her voice even.] Why?

It's what they do to witches.

[The explanation is scribbled quickly on the paper, and Ollie doesn't look back at Korra as she slides it over. The words are the truth, but not all of it, and she doesn't want to think about the witches who are less lucky than her.

Losing her voice was better than losing her life.]

TEST DRIVE MEME

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sorry for the wait!

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