flawedmemes | TEST DRIVE MEME

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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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arrival

[Ollie wakes with a gasp, scrambling to her feet even as she grabs the knife hidden in her boot, fingers curled tight around the blade as she takes in her surroundings. Trees and dirt and water, none of those things are a metal cell, and it's the only thing that stops her from stabbing the first person she sees. If it was the hunters, she'd be dead. If it were the dealers, she'd be bound and drugged.

That means it's something else.

Slowly, Ollie lowers the knife, but that doesn't stop her from looking like a cornered wild animal.]

the forest

[A witch is a witch is a witch, even when she's taken from her world.

Ollie doesn't have the energy to care about the other people here, not when she desperately needs to get back to her coven, which is why she's already started working on a spell. A lot of what she needs is kept on her person, but there's almost always a fresh ingredient required.

That's what the rabbit she caught is for.

Anyone stumbling upon her better not be squeamish.]

draichurith

[A city is a scary thing, and one with dragons is even scarier, but Ollie needs supplies. More importantly, she needs answers, and she can only hope that someone in this land might have them.

It's going... as well as it can, until she spots a slaver in the street with a young woman in his grip, and suddenly she doesn't care about what she needs. Her survival almost always comes first, but there are some things she can't abide, and chains are one of them.

The whole thing happens surprisingly quickly; Ollie moves, the slaver's throat is slit, the shackles on the woman open, a man shouts, and Ollie runs. It's a bit of a scene, and with at least one armed man in pursuit, Ollie could probably use some help.]

Easy.

[ Not the kind of thing’s any good coming from someone soaked in blood, but this isn’t the time or the place for a wardrobe change. Marlene’s hands are open, empty, pressed out to the sides. It’s a gesture of peace, sure. But it’s one that puts her hands closer to a loose branch if she needs it. ]

You’re alright.

[ Hell of an assumption. Marlene sure as shit shouldn’t be — her ears are still ringing, mouth tastes like copper. But she can feel her aching muscles tense beneath the sticky fabric of her shirt, tense and not tear, and it's been years since she lived that sort of strangeness: the world cracking open with pain, only to weave itself into something new and other.

It’s not the kind sort of nostalgia. ]

There’s a lot of us. [ Simply-stated. Efficient. She jerks her chin to the group beyond, eyes unmoving from Ollie’s. Her brow dips forward slightly, assertive. ] No one knows what's going on.

a. arrival -

[ At a certain point instinct takes over.

Through the pulse-deep bruise of her chest, through the tinny ringing chorus of close-range hearing damage, above the dull shock of panic still lighting her up nerves, that old drive towards purpose sets in.

She doesn't waste time wondering where it went. Spent enough time thinking lately, and that's rough enough when your skull doesn't feel about to split. It's gonna get dark soon. They can't be here when it does.

In the middle of unknown wilderness, Marlene knows better than to expect that help is coming. ]

Hold this. [ She's pressing an old stone into the nearest pair of hands, heavy as a brick and ripped from the little ruined cairn nearby. It's crumbled at one end, inscribed with deep squiggling lines like snakes. ] If we find trouble, hit it.

[ Not a pep talk for the history books, but it’ll have to do. ]

b. the woods -

[ It’s freezing. She’s shivering like a dog, and the stream they've been following hasn't brought them anything except more wet.

But there are more immediate concerns. For the past hour, every hair on her neck’s been standing up with the gut certainty that they're being watched. She's been stalling, trying to imagine what they might be facing, trying to plan. That was a shit idea. They're running out of light.

Better to confront it now, before it's full dark. ]

Stay close. [ Her voice drops. Whatever it is, it doesn’t feel human — but feelings lie all the damn time and she doesn't intend to be overheard. ] There’s something following us. We need to draw it from the group.

[ Congratulations, you’ve been nominated. ]

c. titan's eye lake, the empire -

[ Marlene's done what she can with what she has, but not standing out was a lost cause from the outset.

She's been lurking by a wall for the better part of an hour, counting the drunks that stumble out of the bustling little inn within. This is a quiet, waterside town. Picturesque. None of it matches the hard look on her face.

A straggler bumbles out alone, patting his ragged, furry coat with a hoarse laugh. The pockets are heavier than when he entered. It's a plush thing, looks warm — and poorly-laundered, and a good dozen years out of style. The tell-tale signs of sila trash. Marlene starts after, her meandering stroll not quite disguising a hungry intent.

Maybe you'll put a stop to this before it starts, or maybe you'll come upon her a few minutes later, wrestling wide-eyed with a furious and improbably wealthy badger in an alley. ]

d. wildcard me bruh

Edited 2016-08-10 04:13 (UTC)

[The blood, oddly, doesn't actually bother Ollie, because if anything it's reassuring. It's the people who go through life without getting a speck of dirt or blood on them that she needs to be wary of.

It helps that Marlene is a woman; she isn't naive enough to think that every woman is trustworthy, but there's a camaraderie between witches, between women, that makes it easier to trust someone.

So she lowers the knife and carefully tucks it back away into her boot. She needs her hands free, anyway, if she's going to talk.]

Do you know where we are?

[The words are signed, and Ollie's expression is hopeful. Not a lot of people know sign language and she doesn't realize that Pelea comes with an auto-translate function.]

[ Marlene stares a moment, blinks. Everyone’s got a signal or two for tight situations, but full sign? She shouldn’t know it. Knows she shouldn’t know it, yet somehow she does, the meaning coming easy as breathing.

It doesn’t bode well, but she’s too exhausted to pick. She watches close, tries to figure Ollie for deaf or just mute. They'll need to know before trying to move anywhere. Her speech slows: Most lip-reading’s rarer, rougher than pop culture would have it. No reason to make it any harder. ]

Some kind of forest. [ No shit. ] Mountains a ways off. Can’t see smoke, but the river looks like it widens.

[ Water means people, if there are people to be found. Both mean danger. ]

Wherever it is, we can’t stay.

[Ollie sighs with relief at being understood; all her cover sign, but any time they come across a stranger, she's rarely able to communicate with them. This is going to make things easier, and although it's not necessary, she even appreciates the slowed speech.

Though she taps her throat and makes a cut gesture, to indicate it's her speech that's missing, not hearing.]

There's no mountains in Indiana.

[There was Hoosier Hill, but that got destroyed decades ago.]

[Having seen what happened, Korra makes a decision in a split-second. There's a bit of a commotion behind Ollie as Korra uses her airbending to trip up the man pursuing the other girl as discreetly as she can.

Then, by ducking through the crowd expertly, she catches up with Ollie, hissing at her.] This way! [Thankfully for the both of them, Korra's already been in Draichurith for a few days--long enough to memorize a few of the handy side streets.]

[A brief glance back shows a man falling and a girl following close behind, and though it occurs to Ollie that this could be a trap, she doesn't see the point in it. If this girl was part of the military, she could just bring Ollie down now rather than waste time leading her away.

So she follows.

As she runs, Ollie digs into a pocket to find a piece of smooth bark. It's tricky to manage two things at once, but eventually she scratches a symbol onto the bark with the bloody knife. When they turn down another sidestreet, Ollie rips the bark in half and tosses it onto the ground.

Something in the air shifts, like a pressure change, but Ollie doesn't stop running. The spell will only buy them a few moments.]

[Despite her focus on ensuring their escape, Korra senses the change in the air almost immediately. Without slowing down too much, she glances over her shoulder at Ollie.]

What did you just do?

[There's no censure in her tone, just curiosity.]

[One handed, Ollie throws a quick sign:]

Magic smoke screen.

[Not so much a physical smoke screen, considering the street behind them looks exactly the same as it did before her spell, but anyone on the other side will have a hard time focusing when they try to look down the street.]

[Instead of clarifying things, the signing just confuses Korra further. She assumes that was supposed to mean something, but she has no idea what it is.]

Never mind. You can explain later.

[After turning down another street, Korra comes to a stop before a ladder.] Can you climb?

[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.]

[ Cities are better. Wanda can park quietly somewhere, safe under the constant, fierce projection of leave me be or I'm not here into the minds of those around her. No one in the bars has the information she requires, but it takes more than that to live in the world. She has to understand what they value, how they speak and trade. She senses commotion abruptly as Ollie's intent to kill flares, and hastens there. ]

[ The man corners Ollie, but red snakes around his head. The weapon in his hand hits the cobblestone path with a ringing sound, and he turns sharply on his heel to walk away, rigidly. The glow in her eyes fades as she steps out, looking at Ollie. ]

Are you all right?

Edited 2016-08-10 12:56 (UTC)

[One of Ollie's hands is in a pocket, the other curled around her knife, when the man goes still as red... smoke? red something creeps around his head. Her heart is pounding in her chest even as he turns, even as he walks away, but in the panic she can still spot the signs of a thought witch.

The woman with the glowing eyes just confirms her suspicion.

Ollie nods, relief drawing a shaky smile from her, but rather than bother with signing her thanks, she simply closes her eyes and thinks about how grateful she is. Her curiosity is there too, unhidden in her thoughts. This woman's magic doesn't work like what she's used to.]

[ She turns her palms up. Ollie's fear is hanging strong in the air, but it fades to gratitude and curiosity. This girl recognises kin, even if Wanda does not. ]

The woman you freed managed to escape. No one will bother her in the city.

[ At least for the time being, and hopefully she's smart enough to book it, but Wanda has faith. ]

What is your name?

[Her smile brightens at that, relieved that she was successful, and that the right thing has been done. It might get her into trouble, later, but she's safe for now, and the woman is free.]

Ollie.

[It's spelt out in sign, her fingers moving carefully, though she makes a point to think her name as well, in case her rescuer can't sign.

Ollie taps her throat, just lightly, to indicate that speaking is a little beyond her.]

[ Meaning becomes clear at once, and it's a curious novelty to meet someone familiar with her abilities. She wants to know. ]

Wanda.

[ A beat. ]

Is it alright if I speak [ she gestures from her temple to Ollie's ] directly?

[ You people make it very difficult to be Lawful Good. Thor has been here long enough to see the signs; he blends perfectly in Pelea, as a lone traveller. The others do not, and her clothes are similar to Earth's enough to hold his interest. She moves, he follows, the crunch of his boots on the ground deliberate. ]

[ Dropping his voice, ]

If it is clothes and coin you desire, I am a better target.

[As far as Mara's concerned, she's not following anybody. She intends to break off from the group the moment it's convenient for her. She's never been a team player, and she doesn't intend to start now, in this strange new world.]

[So when a woman stops and gives orders, Mara stiffens. Who is she to boss Mara Jade around? But in the interest of survival, she listens to what there is to say. It's a tactic she understands.]

You just noticed? [Mara could just faintly, just vaguely sense their tracker if she really concentrated, but she's not about to advertise that. Confirmation that the feeling is more than just a whisper is all she wants or needs.] I can handle it. Can you defend yourself if there's more than one?

[She sounds doubtful.]

a. ARRIVAL.

[Everyone arrives at once, lost and alone in the wilderness. All they have is each other. They must stick together, to survive this threat.]

[Which is why Mara is getting up and leaving the group as soon as she gets her bearings. Feel free to stop her, or watch her go, who knows.]

[As she makes her lonely exit, she pulls a strange metal tube from her belt, and clicks a button. Nothing happens. She clicks it again. Nothing continues to happen. She swears under her breath, and seems about to toss the thing into the underbrush, but she stops herself at the last minute and clicks the useless object back onto her belt.]

[She repeats this motion with a smaller object that some might recognize as a gun or a blaster. This time, she throws it aside without a second thought.]

b. FARMLAND, SHOUSAL.

[So, it's back to this again.]

[Mara shows up in a strange new world, with no status and no one to recognize her name or her abilities. Unlike last time, she knows the drill. Take a job, take any job, and pull yourself back together however you can.]

[This job is almost certainly beneath her. She takes it anyway, because she needs the money. A farmer wants her to clear his land of horned hares. That's fine, except it seems someone else saw the job posting in the local tavern as well. Someone like you.]

[As you approach the farmhouse at the same time as Mara, this can only mean one thing. She frowns. Is she really going to fight someone over a pest control job?]

[...Yes. The answer is yes.] You're in the wrong place. [Ah, ambiguous statements. Maybe she can scare you away.]

c. MARKETPLACE, BANNER.

[Mara is here with her scant earnings for one reason an one reason only: to buy a sword. A real sword, with real metal and a real, physical blade.]

[It's gonna be so weird.]

[But before she can do that, in the throng of a busy crowd, a thief steals someone's purse. Maybe it's your purse, or maybe it's someone else's and you choose to peruse it out of the goodness of your gentle heart. Regardless, Mara is chasing after the thief almost immediately, yelling at everyone nearby to get out of her way. If your goal is to get that purse back, you might want to start with the person making an unholy ruckus over it (and gaining on the theif fast).]

d. WILDKARRDE

[H-h-h-hit me! I'm up for just about anything! Any questions, feel free to PM or hit me up on plurk.]

Edited 2016-08-10 15:38 (UTC)

[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?

A | ARRIVAL

[ Charlie has lived long enough that there isn’t much that shocks him, but on the other hand, he’s had enough experience with the ugly side of the magical community that suddenly waking up somewhere totally alien is unsettling to say the least. The second that it dawns on him that he’s not in Kansas anymore, Toto, the wizard gets to his feet, rising to his full and oh-so-impressive five feet and six inches of height.

A cursory glance around confirms he’s not alone. Some kind of mass kidnapping, maybe? But to what end?

He fishes his phone from his pocket, but of course it’s not working. That’s some real horror movie bullshit right there. ]

So if nobody’s gonna say it, I will. Where are we? And don’t give me the line from The Wizard of Oz, because I’ve already thought it.

B | ARRIVAL PART TWO: INTO THE WOODS

[ Wilderness isn’t exactly Charlie’s thing. He like cities, or at the very least clearly marked nature trails and a working MP3 player to keep him company. He’s very out of his depth here, traipsing through the woods as they have been for the last few hours. He’s tired, and no closer to figuring out just what’s happened or where they are.

He’s a little too preoccupied with ruminating on his situation, and doesn’t see the ledge ahead- thankfully the drop isn’t large, just a few feet, but enough o be startling. His feet find the drop off, and on impulse he flails around for the nearest thing to hold onto to keep himself from falling. That thing just happens to be you.

It’s a tossup over whether or not you’re going to go over with him, but that’s one way to get acquainted. ]

C | MARKETPLACE

[ It’s become abundantly clear that Charlie most definitely not in Kansas anymore, and he realizes that running around in jeans and tennis shoes makes him stick out like a sore thumb. No one’s outright bothered him too badly yet, but the way people look at him is a little uncomfortable. He’s able to find a merchant willing to trade his current clothes for some more… inconspicuous ones. Charlie shrugs out of his jacket, to try on one of the ones at the merchant’s stall, but the second he sets it down, one of the people in the crowd snatches it up the instant he sets it down. ]

Hey!

[ Charlie darts after him, doing his best to get through the crowd in spite of his small stature. It’s not so much the jacket he’s worried about, but rather the throwing knives stowed in the lining. He spent a damn long time enchanting those things, and he doesn’t want someone running off with them. ]

Somebody—hey! Stop him!

[ He’s this close to just calling the weapons back by magic but he’s not quite ready to play that card just yet. ]

D | WILDCARD

[ Choose your own adventure! Basic information about Charlie can be found here. You can hit me up with questions or anything else via a PM to his journal or on plurk. ]

Edited 2016-08-10 21:58 (UTC)

[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.]

[Ollie mouths the name silently, rolling it over on her tongue because this is the first time she's met someone named Wanda. It's not that weird a name, really, just a little old-fashioned.

At the question, she nods, and lets her thoughts quieten. She hopes this other witch won't go digging in her mind, but if she does prod too deeply, she'll find barriers in her way. Open doesn't always mean unprotected.]

A - Arrival: Not This Shit Again

[Aila takes a moment to appreciate the fact that for once, she's landed reasonably comfortably, curled on her side with the ground taking most of the weight of her pack, none of her weapons digging into anything, and no part of her hurting any more than expected after the day she's had. Small mercies seem the only kind the Divines are capable of delivering. Or maybe she's just turning into a cynic.

Shrugging out of her backpack with a surprisingly graceful wiggle for someone in full armor, Aila sits up, peels off her helmet, and curses though without any real conviction. Nothing's attacking and everyone else is acting just as disoriented as she is--hardly worth any emphatic oaths. Correspondingly, Aila decides to give optimism a try for a change. She's been spared the hike down Tamriel's tallest mountain, at least. A good thing! And this is a perfectly nice woodland, none of that desert or swamp nonsense. And--

Nope. Not working. The gods or the Elder Scrolls or the daedra or what-the-hell-ever need to knock this shit off entirely. Groping around in her pack one-handed, she quickly locates what she's looking for and comes out with a wine bottle. Popping the cork with a dagger and a deft flick of her wrist, she immediately throws back a long swig.]

Well, damn.

[Aila offers the bottle to the nearest other person. She can't be the only one who needs a drink.]

B - Arrival 2: Worst. Scout Trip. Ever.

The weird--and weirdly friendly--redheaded woman in scaly medieval fantasy armor had disappeared into the trees a few hours ago, with a cheerful promise to be back before dark. Now, here she is, with the addition of a dead stag over her shoulders.]

Plenty of game in the woods. Going to be sick of venison by the time we hit a town, though.

[Aila's accent lilts, like she's from Sweden or Norway, though it's been centuries since the Scandinavians regularly wandered around armed with sword and bow.

She drops the deer in a pile of floppy limbs and rolls her shoulders now that the weight's off. From her pack, a well-worn hide affair, she produces a knife, clearly a blade for unglamorous work like skinning and chopping, and squints at the edge.]

Get a fire started while I dress this, would you?

[She turns back to her kill with every confidence a fire is going to happen. As far as Aila's concerned, she's being nice in assigning the easy job to someone else. Dressing a carcass is real gross.]

C - Marketplace: Side Quest

[Aila hadn't meant to get sidetracked in her quest to find out what the hell is going on, but she's a damned sucker for sob stories--so here she is, running errands for a cranky old shopkeeper. The crochety bastard really does need the help; he's clearly got some kind of wasting illness Aila doesn't know how to treat. The least she can do is make things easier on him.

Which is why she's dragging a recalcitrant goat down the street on a lead.

Such a damned sucker.

At last fed up with such cruel treatment as being forced to amble along for several minutes with no food on offer, the goat bleats in protest and pulls back hard enough that the lead rope snaps. It goes tearing off towards whatever its tiny hircine mind is envisioning, such obstacles as market stalls or people no impediment to its run for freedom. After an incredulous moment of wondering why these things happen to her, Aila takes up the chase.]

Get back here, you hairy idiot!

[So yeah, there's a tall, athletic redheaded woman in the marketplace, sprinting after a goat and yelling. Like you do.]

D - Wildcard

[Heroic demigod of legend likes dragon slaying, long walks on the beach or literally any other terrain, and reverse-pickpocketing embarrassing literature onto jarls.]

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Page 1 of 14

TEST DRIVE MEME

ollie stallworth | original

arrival

marlene | the last of us

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draichurith

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draichurith.

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titan's eye lake.

b. two pissed off women walk into a bar

mara jade | star wars: legends | ota.

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charlie maxwell | original

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The Dragonborn | Skyrim