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.

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The sound of her voice was enough to make his entire body tense all at once. Sitting on the ground after hitting himself in the face was not the way he would want any interactions of theirs to go. There was a time he didn't care too much if he acted like an idiot around her, because they got each other. He was the idiot they needed, and she was the woman who kept them all together. Now he didn't know who either of them were, in general or to each other.

He never knew it was possible to hate the sight of someone and yet want it at the same time. His brain was a confusing mess or emotions and paranoia as usual. So yeah. Par for the course.

Do you care? He thought as a response, but he doesn't want to just start out throwing insults at each other right then. It was still there in his glance her way as he got up to his feet. "What time are you referencing when you didn't agree with me?" Desmond snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, pretty much every time, right?" That was sour too, but it didn't have the same personal bite to it. It wasn't that far off how he and Shaun ripped at each other.

They were walking on eggshells and for good reason. There were only two ways to deal with this tension; walk away and never face it, or confront it head on. Walking away wasn’t something she would do. Lucy wouldn’t pull a Bill, she wouldn’t abandon this, whatever this was between them. As far as she was aware, things were strained because of his actions. She still had to wonder what had happened in the temple.

He wasn’t answering her question, she’d noted then, watching on.

“It wasn’t every time, Desmond.” Her side of the argument was quietly spoken, a stiff insistence.

Desmond, frankly, was the refuse to confront it type. Or at least he had been. His father criticized him on that flaw, but he was getting better. At a point, there was no longer an option to walk or run away. He only had one path ahead of him. Lucy was partially responsible for that change, for better or for worse. Worse for her, better for the world. She represented his greatest regret, his worst choice, and all he wanted to do was apologize until his voice got hoarse and he couldn't speak anymore. But they were circling each other instead, so much unsaid.

"Wasn't it?" The hardest part of this was how easy it would be to get back in their rhythm. They didn't know each other long, although it felt like a lifetime, but it was long enough. "Luce," he started and stopped. He scrubbed a hand across his face, looking away. "You know they're here, right? The Assassins. Be careful. Altair might have married a Templar, but he's unbearably rigid."

That was not the topic of conversation she wanted to dive into, not yet. She would have preferred if he’d continue feigning ignorance. For both their sakes. But here they were. Although her arms remained folded, her hands stayed hidden, curling until her nails could dig into her palms. Lucy didn’t want to hear the way he let her name out, the alternative leaving its mark and bringing on a tightness to her throat. She had to swallow past it.

“You can skip the history lesson, Desmond.” Her words were clipped, a hint of strain behind them. “I was there with you.”

And look where it’d gotten her.

You weren't with me. Desmond felt that flare of temper, and he gritted his teeth to hold back from spitting the accusation at her. "You watched it, I lived it." It wasn't the same. He was in their body, in their mind, a passenger in a very personal way. It was his mind that started to blend in the Bleeding Effect, his mind that became so fragile he was stuck in the Animus. "As good as I've become at fighting, I probably can't fight both of them off at once, so let's just keep the details to us, alright?"

Connor might be more understanding. He was kind and vulnerable in a way the others wren't, although he had a spine of steel too. And he was a terrifying giant of death, so there was that. It doesn't occur to Desmond that it's weird, the implication he'd fight them for her, because it's just how it is. "I tried to tell Altair that shit doesn't matter anymore, but it was probably stupid to tell the father of the Order that."

“I’m not asking you to fight for me. I’m not expecting it, either. You have your people here, don’t mess with that.” Lucy half turned away so she wouldn’t have to keep looking at him. Yeah, he was good looking, and she’d even told Shaun, once upon a time, that she’d liked him. But that was before everything had blown up on her face, somehow, and she’d been found out.

“It matters. It’s always going to matter. This fight has been going on for far too long for it not to, for some of them. So yeah, it probably was kind of stupid to tell Altaïr of all people that.”

May the Father of Understanding guide us... and all that.

"My people. Just because we share the same DNA? I carry the DNA of a few people I would rather not too." Like his father. Like Haytham Kenway, who was a real prick too. Desmond shook his head and moved until he stepped in front of her. Not in her space at all, but blocking her way if she planned on abandoning the conversation. It shouldn't be that easy for her. Or for him.

"I thought I had people, but that was just a load of bullshit, wasn't it, Lucy?" Desmond glared at her, forcing himself not too look away even if it hurt to look at her. "I didn't want this fight. I didn't want any of this." She and the Templars forced him into it, and he's smart enough to know the Assassins would eventually too anyway. It was a no-win situation for Desmond Miles. "But no, trust me, it doesn't matter. I've been to the end of this little war and none of it does."

“You completely missed the point—“ And then he was right there in front of her. While Desmond wasn’t close enough to breach her personal space, as she last remembered him to, it was still enough for Lucy to take a step back on reflex. She wanted to keep maintaining that distance, still not ready to face him head on while she might’ve been ready for everything else. It was different with him, a little more personal.

He was snapping that barb, his words hitting low, and boy was she ready to snap back; why couldn’t he understand that no matter her allegiance, she had truly cared for him. He’d meant something to her in that short time that they’d spent together. “What...are you talking about?” Oh, oh she knew. She knew what would’ve happened, that they’d been on a tight schedule to begin with.

Her arms dropped to her sides as she stared up at him.

Desmond noticed the step back, and it made him feel a little sick, but he didn't blame her. The last time they were face to face exactly like this, he killed her. Similarly in reflex he took a step back, putting even more space between them. Man, for once he'd like to have an uncomplicated relationship with someone, anyone. He thought that their little team was the closest thing to that; complicated by the situation they were in but working together well. He wondered what Shaun and Rebecca would say, if they saw her now. What she would say to them.

"We all got played. Juno stacked the deck. It was free her and save the world, leading to her conquest, or let the world burn." Desmond wasn't close to dealing with any of that. It made him feel furious and raw and disgusted, with her and with himself. The picture Minerva painted wasn't acceptable to him. He should've never had to make that choice or hold that many lives in his hands. "She didn't care about the sides. But if you brought the Apple to them, the world would've burned. It had to be me." He really was the key. More than his memories. Always his blood.

His step back had her letting out a soft exhale of relief. That distance was what was keeping her together.

He needed to backtrack for a moment, because suddenly she was too focused on what he’d just said about her and the Apple. “How did you know...?” Lucy needed to know. She stared at him. All that time playing the Assassins, playing the Templars, she’d been so careful. Even when leaving Desmond little clues through the rooms at Abstergo... She took a step forward without thinking, brows knitting. “Who told you?”

"The world almost burned to dust and that's what you focus on." Desmond smiled without any warmth to it and rubbed the back of his neck. He really didn't want to relive all the worst parts of their time together, but honestly, that was all it was in the end. Because none of the rest of it turned out to be real. He thought she saved him. That was how he saw her. His savior, from his lock up. He was such a damn fool. Her beauty and her determination drew him in. She would have succeeded, given the chance.

"Juno showed me. You were outed by a god, so it wasn't like you gave anything away. No, you were very good at what you did." No small amount of bitterness there. "It's crazy none of your people thought about the fact that my DNA started all this, so it could probably end it too." Desmond swallowed through the strange pain in his throat. "So I did. I died doing it."

No, that wasn’t true. If he’d come out and asked her if any of their time together had been real, well, Lucy would be honest and tell him that yes, yes it had been. Of course when she wasn’t leading him on with all those dropped clues. Those moments they’d had alone, without Shaun and Rebecca eavesdropping, away from it all—yes, it had been real for her. That she’d truly cared for him, worried he would become like Subject 16, that she would lose him in the same way, determined not to...

“No, your father might have abandoned me to the Templars, but the Brotherhood, they were also my people.” It sounded ridiculous to say. The pain and anger she quietly harboured wasn’t towards the Assassins as a whole, it was towards her mentor leaving her behind. The man who’d practically raised her, trained her for so long.

Lucy went quiet and was back to staring across at him. The words I died doing it drew her closer yet again, instinctively wanting to reach for him, to comfort him, somehow, although she had no right. “Desmond... But that’s...”

"My father is an asshole, Luce. He was an asshole to me, an asshole to you, and to everyone." Desmond had intense feelings about his father. Yes, he saved him. It wasn't so solely because of William; it gave him the opportunity to take out the enemy for real. That left them free to get to the end. But. He hadn't really hesitated. The bastard was in trouble and he took the risk. He was positive that William wouldn't do the same for him, outside of thinking they needed him. Not even after they tried to mend bridges.

Desmond rubbed a hand across his eyes and sighed. "I know ... I know at first you couldn't be sure that I'd be cool with things, but we got close. I thought we were ...." Close. Something. This was so complicated and he was sick of complicated all the time. "You could have told me, you get that? You could have." And if she had, she might be alive, and they could have finished it together. He would probably still die, there was no way around it, but he wouldn't have her death on him. His guilt over her death on him.

Something flickered in his eyes, something uncertain, and his bluster lost its strength. "No, it's ... I shouldn't be ...." Frustrated, Desmond made an irritated sound and frowned. "After what I did, I don't really get to say anything." She betrayed him, but he killed her.

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Test Drive 21 (October & November)

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Of course that’s all she cares about 💁🏼😂🤷🏼‍♀️

🤦