sixthiteration | Test Drive 21 (October & November)

→ Holds and applications are always open. Holds are required for all applications.

→ Choose one of the scenarios below or make up your own. Feel free to try multiple scenarios.

→ Write LOGS or TEXT prompts, or both.

→ THERE ARE ONLY THREE RULES FOR THE TDM:

1. It has to take place in the 6I universe.
2. It cannot be the character's arrival into the game.
3. Please only test new characters who do not have a version in the game. Our cast list is here.

→ TDM threads cannot be used to meet AC, but if the character is accepted into the game and both players agree, you may keep the CR.

→ Character want ads are here.

Prompts

STAYING POWER - Go down to the bunker, they said. You can get yourself amazing powers from the vending machine, they said. Well, you've done that, and you've made your choice, but one thing nobody told you was that unless it's a power you're familiar with, you might be on a teensy bit of a learning curve when it comes to keeping it under control. You have a week to figure it out without killing anyone; have fun!

FORGIVE AND... - You poor thing, you've gotten into some dust moths. Not that you can remember that, because depending on how big that swarm was and how quickly you got out of it, you might not remember much at all. Better hope somebody's got some Forget Me Nots on hand.

HIT & RUN - Life in the village can be pretty sleepy... until suddenly, it's not. Were you being a troublemaker? Were you disturbing the local wildlife? Because it's now disturbing you, chasing you down the street in front of everyone. Maybe it's a herd of chupapaca or a swarm of fireflies. Or maybe you went old school and it's just a really pissed off badger. Godspeed and good luck.

WILDCARD - Choose your own adventure. Maybe play powers roulette.

Texts

All characters are fitted with a smart watch-like device on their left wrist, which they can use to send text messages to other villagers.

- Texts may only be 140 characters long
- No video or voice, text only
- Display names may be changed by characters on the fly, but anyone can tap to see someone's real full name

Please list your CHARACTER NAME, CANON & PROMPT in your SUBJECT LINE.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There are, it should be said, a few things Evie does not miss about London. The air and water pollution — and the accompanying smell — are among them, and while all the trees, the open space and the clear air here are almost foreign, she can appreciate them for the fact they're not clogged with factory smoke or sewage. What she does miss is being able to climb to the top of St. Paul's or the Houses of Parliament: the freedom of the dizzying height, the sense of being almost untouchable, invincible. And of course — London is home, and she might be a little homesick, not that she's going to admit to that aloud.

(Nor is she going to admit how badly she misses Henry, because that would entail voluntarily giving Jacob an opening to tease her about her feelings — even if the teasing would be more good-natured now.)

"Mr. Stark? Yes, so I've heard. I suspect he's the sort to have on one's good side." Evie's not expecting anything fancy — she'd like her gauntlet back, rope launcher and all, but she'd settle for a good knife. Five knives, really, but one should start small when asking favors from acquaintances.

"The only thing that would impress me more would be if he could manufacture us a way out," and it shows, now, that she's just as frustrated by their situation as he is, not just on behalf of the two of them but for all the other people who are trapped here in the same way. "I've still made no progress. No one seems to know anything."

Which isn't their fault; it's a side effect of what seems to be a concerted effort by their captors — whoever they might be — to keep them in the dark. The most frustrating of all is that there's no one to blame this on, no one they can fight against, directly or indirectly. She's heard talk of 'Observers' and theories that they're all part of some sort of experiment, but trying to find anything more concrete is like searching for the needle in the proverbial haystack: there's a lot of information, but ultimately none of it leads anywhere meaningful.

Jacob hears many bemoan the lack of amenities. The hot and cold running water they're used to, means of cooling and heating themselves without the rolling black smoke he thinks common for the latter. Refrigeration, and transportation, and communication devices that make the wristlets they wear seem to be nothing more than worthless baubles.

More often than not it is those talks that drive him up the rooftops. A place where he can look to the trees that stretched towards the sky, and breathe in ways never possible before. In a heartbeat, without hesitation, he could go back to London. Yet he would miss this air, the color of the sky, long before he missed a steamy bath that could be had without the work of heating the water.

If only to be far enough off the ground that you're more perched bird than human, and even when people look up, they can never find you unless they know just where to look.

"Anyone that will apparently make gifts all for the price of acquiring items for him is entirely the perfect person to get on their good side. I feel so damn naked here all the time," he says, tugging at the short jacket he had snagged from the store room, that might conceal a few things but certain't wasn't either useful or fashionable.

"Isn't that the truth," he says, sighing heavily as he turns, looking out over the village. "Some days I think it's more than hiding it from us. It's as if somehow it's all in a bubble and whatever the truth is doesn't exist. And those computers, and the lists..." He shakes his head, glancing over his shoulder at Evie with a sly smile. "I will assume by now you've looked them over?"

Okay, so he knew about them but that kind of research just is not him. Which is why he kind of left it after inspecting the machine for abilities, assuming Evie would do as she always did.

She regards Jacob and his scavenged jacket with rueful amusement — she knows the feeling. The lack of easy concealment is one problem; Evie has herself only managed to fashion something wearable from a discarded button-down shirt and a pair of trousers, leaving aside the strange clothes she'd been wearing when she'd first got here, and her usual hooded coat is nowhere to be found. The other problem is naturally the lack of easy access to her usual weapons. She doesn't actually anticipate needing them here outside of using them as tools to hunt for food, but all the same, not having her throwing knives or cane sword to hand just in case — along with not having anywhere to put them — makes her itch.

Frankly, she'd be surprised if Jacob had actually bothered to do any sort of detailed research; he never has had the patience or inclination, a thought she has accompanied by dry bemusement rather than rancor. Of course he'd prefer to let her do most of the reading, not because he's incapable but because she's just apt to do it anyway.

"I've read through it, but I'm afraid it still doesn't make a whit of sense," she admits, annoyed rather than embarrassed. Evie isn't used to being this far in over her head. She'd had to ask someone to show her how to use the 'computer' in the first place, which hadn't boded well for understanding its contents. They're lists of names, that's obvious, and people have speculated they're names of people who died — but the details haven't come clear to her yet.

"If I had any way to prove it I'd say there was a Piece of Eden involved." It would make a strange sort of sense, after all. The way they've all been brought here with no memory of how they arrived, that bizarre machine that grants superhuman abilities, the unusual phenomena some people have experienced — she certainly hasn't got any way of knowing for certain what's causing all of it, but there are only a handful of things she knows of that could. "And before you laugh at me," she amends immediately, "no, I haven't got any intention of pursuing that until we've a more complete picture of what's happening."

It had been a point of contention between them — her interest in searching for the Pieces of Eden opposed to Jacob's interest in more direct action. She supposes that issue has been put to bed now after Starrick, but she still can't help but poke him about it.

Edited (i did actually mean to pick an icon) 2018-11-11 05:26 (UTC)

There is so much in this place that Jacob still needs to learn about. The people. The dynamics. All of the ins and outs of how this place is run. The history and the computers, as he was told they're called, are not something that he's interested in. While he knows it will help in the long run in finding their way out of here, getting back to what they should be doing, it just isn't something that he is capable of doing himself. He gets antsy and edgy and he just can't focus then.

That need to do, to move, to get involved with things to find out where they stand is important to him. For both their sake.

"Well if it was easy to understand, they wouldn't likely have gotten to the point of bringing in several assassins," he points out, not that he is any more amused by it than she is. If only for her sake.

But then she goes there and his jaw tightens as Jacob folds his arms over his chest. His head cocks to one side, giving her a pointed look.

"I really should have found someone to take a bet on that, because I definitely would have won. Not even a week, and we're already here." Not that he can outright deny it. They someone managed to bring assassins to this place, and more than one, and what did that mean about their abilities and what this place was. He can't deny that she is likely right, but that doesn't mean he's not going to give her shit for going there.

"If you think..." And he kind of pauses there, which is rude and he knows it but there's that balance between her being his sister and being unwilling to let things go, and knowing that between them they can work this out. "That finding it will help us, then look for it. Between us, we'll find the answer to this place."

Despite how many times she's argued with Jacob about being off gallivanting around instead of focusing on more serious pursuits, Evie knows he's not stupid. He's actually very bright, and if he wanted to, he could help her with her research — which is probably part of what's at the root of her frustration every time they butt heads over strategy or methodology. Given enough time for self-reflection, she does realize she's expecting him to try to be something he's not — she's expecting him to try to be her, and maybe that isn't entirely fair of her.

But now, of course, he gives her that look, and that's really enough to make her lift her chin slightly and put both hands on her hips in a stubborn defensive posture she falls into almost reflexively. There may never be a time when Evie says the words Piece of Eden and Jacob doesn't choose to be, well, a bit of a tit about it.

"Jacob, really—" There's more she could say there, for God's sake would you just listen for once, but she cuts herself off forcibly. His last words visibly startle her, prepared as she was for another confrontation the likes of which they've had too often in recent memory. And then she just sort of... deflates a little bit, hands relaxing at her sides as she looks away. When she meets his gaze again, it's with a bit of a rueful look.

She'd meant it when she'd said she missed him, after they fought Starrick. She'd missed when they'd been able to work together instead of fighting each other constantly. What's most important of all, everything else aside, is that Jacob is her brother and she loves him — and maybe she ought to remind herself of that more often.

"It's a place to start," she suggests, and that's a concession to the fact that she might be wrong. "Frankly I think I'd prefer it if this place wasn't the doing of a precursor artifact of any sort." The trouble with the Pieces of Eden is they're a bit unpredictable. The Apples could control minds, impart information, bestow what looked like miracles; the Shroud, or at least the one they retrieved from Starrick under Buckingham Palace, provided virtual immortality. But there's still so much Evie doesn't know, even with all her research. If this place is the work of a person or organization instead, then perhaps that's something a bit more comprehensible, easier to define and easier to tear down.

She arches her brows a little. "And what did you have in mind for this place?" she says, an obvious attempt to bridge things between them by inviting his input. And here she smirks a little, and bumps his shoulder with hers, just briefly. "Sir Frye."

The knighthood is still new and strange, and he can tease her about it right back.

Edited (it's half past midnight and what are words) 2018-11-13 05:34 (UTC)

Neither of them are good about seeing the other's side. Not only that but in rushing in as he does, being brash and excitable and not looking at all angles he's caused Evie more work in cleaning up all that he's done. Knowing that and accepting his fault are not the same thing. It's not easy to accept that, and focusing on them having their place in their life is easier than finding a way to calm the way his mind raced and he let his body follow along.

But if it wasn't for Evie, for her research and her abilities and her skills, he would have crashed and burned a long time ago. No matter how hard it is to admit, they need one another.

So of course, even recognizing that, he pushes those buttons and watches for a reaction that he knows so well. Smiling widely as she goes on the defensive, all flashing eyes and attitude and he's almost as proud as he is amused. Not that he ever tells her that, which is part of what they needed to overcome between them. Maybe this place will be the chance they need. Though apparently not entirely in this moment.

"We have that in common," he points out, glancing to one side, looking out over the village. "Problem is... It would make sense with the things we've seen, with what they've managed here. But if they do, and with those they've gathered here..." None of that is reassuring, not in the least.

Oh but he grins then, chin lifting a bit as he canted his head, considering. Both how good the name sounds as well as what he is considering. "Well, Lady Frye, I am considering how to assure ourselves that any of those here aren't Templars waiting to invite me to delightful dinners and flirting beautifully with me while making me think the Templars here are likely behind this place."

In other words, he's looking to try and party a bit, and enjoy all of the beauty this place has to offer. The very not grown up plan for a very serious answer.

Evie manages not to roll her eyes. But only just.

"Well, do try not to get too distracted," she cautions, meaning it even though her tone is light. She has enough tact not to actually come out and remind him about Maxwell Roth, because underneath his cavalier attitude she imagines that must still be a sore spot. "And if you do discover anything that's likely to be a Templar plot I hope you'll warn me first." Before you rush in and cause a fuss goes unspoken. When they've had problems it's usually — not always, she does remember Lucy Thorne, but usually — because Jacob got ahead of himself in dealing with a Templar threat and didn't tell Evie in advance.

Is she ever going to forget that time he almost broke the British economy and she had to hear about it from Sergeant Abberline? Probably not.

"I think we've a responsibility to protect these people now we're here. If there are Templars involved, this could all get out of hand rather quickly."

Which, of course, doesn't mean they can't have fun while they're here. It just also means Evie's keeping that responsibility in the back of her head, and she hopes Jacob's going to do the same.

"Trust me," he says, looking less than amused, even if he is the one that broached that subject when he mentioned it. "There are mistakes I have no intention of making again." Except that they both know that it's likely to happen again. Between ego and a desire to be easily charmed, Jacob doesn't entirely make it hard for someone to use him in those ways if they tried. Though one could hope he might well be more on guard than he's been in the past.

Of course, if there's lessons he should learn, not rushing off on a whim before seeking out Evie first is something one might hope he's learned at this point. There's no guarantees on that either.

"Of course," he says, his face screwing up and making a face at her as if that was preposterous to insinuate that he wouldn't do just that. "We have one another in this place, Evie, and we have to be there for one another. Not that it will always be like that," he allows, not wanting to strike a sore spot about the lack of a certain other from their life in this place. Much as he might chide Evie about him, he knows how much they could use him here. If nothing else. But even if he won't admit it, part of it is for her sake.

'And if there's not templars it may get worse trying to work out who. Templars at least make sense." To them and perhaps others. "Not sure which is worse to think about though."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive 21 (October & November)

GOOD i literally just beat syndicate the other day and i'm about 99% sure i'm apping evie

I am so new to this, and so in love with Jacob, and should not but likely will app him next month

no one in the village would even know what to do with the frye twins, it'd be gr8

I suspect they're going to learn

oh no i love these two a lot, send help

I am so happy you brought Evie to the tdm

c: i'm so glad i picked her up tbh

I'm glad you did too. I have his app done >.> but have to wait until 12/1