TEST DRIVE MEME #5

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

Dorian Gray | The Confessions of Dorian Gray | Seelie

[depicted]

[HOLY EARLY CANONPOINT, BATMAN]

[Station]

[There is a youth with a tablet, frowning at the device with curiosity and muttering to himself.] Why 'fie'? I don't understand what there is to 'fie' about.

[He holds it close to his face. He holds it up over his head. He holds it so hard the frame begins to crack.

His open, boyish face falls. He has realized what there is to fie about.] Oh. Oh no. Oh, no.

[The youth turns to you when he spots you. He voice flutters with nervousness and uncertainty; his pretty face tells his anxiety clear. Dorian Gray isn't used to talking to people, and he isn't used to people being forgiving when he breaks things. The fear of talking to someone to get help is only added to the fear of what will happen for what he has done.] I apologize—I don't meant to intrude—would you be familiar with these 'fie' devices?

[The burst of trembling volume is followed by a moment of fragile quietness. His voice cracks.] And how to fix them?

[prioritise]

[what a cute loser...] I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with these things as well. [oh no, he looks like he's going to break, too. Mary gives an encouraging smile, and a reassuring hand on the hand holding the device] But I am sure we can find some craftsman easily enough. After all, it wouldn't make much sense to create something that could be so easily damaged, now would it?

[depicted]

[Dorian mutters under his breath] I don't much see what sense has to do with this device at all. [But immediately he thinks he shouldn't have, and he flushes a little.] I mean—no doubt you're entirely right. I shall—I'll inquire with—but I can't ask the person who gave this to me, he will see I have broken it.

[He looks up to her in hope.] Have you seen anyone else with an object like this? One who seems comfortable with its use?

[prioritise]

[she sizes Dorian up and down, and then holds out her own device] Here. We will switch.

[cagedinflesh]

Ah-

[Berserker was just about to show him how to use it properly, or anyway his nearest approximation to that, only having knowledge up to 1991. He may not have done much better, really. But it breaks before he can speak up, and oh, oh no indeed. So instead he can only offer an apologetic smile.]

Not particularly, I'm afraid it's rather advanced. Although we might figure it out between the two of us yet.

[depicted]

Would you—[Dorian offers the broken object to Jekyll as if Jekyll may magically figure it out if he holds it

And then he realizes he is being a terrible and ill-mannered boy and yanks it back.] I'm so sorry, I've forgotten myself. My name is—I'm Dorian Gray. [He extends his hand to Jekyll.] It is my pleasure to meet you.

[cagedinflesh]

[His smile grows as he accepts Dorian's hand.] Doctor Henry Jekyll, my pleasure as well, Mr. Gray. And I would be happy to take a look at it for you, no need to apologise.

[aureinsof]

[Emil - or rather the Other Emil or Ratatosk Mode or whatever the hell they want to call him today - didn't want to be here. And he definitely didn't want to be addressed by this weakling. He deals with one enough! He doesn't need two.]

Stop looking at me like you're going to cry. You're the one who broke whatever it is. You think that's my problem? Just put it near someone else and say they broke it, unless you're too much of a coward to do even that.

[depicted]

[While Dorian can take being rebuffed, and indeed has, Ratatosk has the roughness of the lower classes. It startles Dorian more than the content of the reply, and certainly enough to shake him out of his anxiety and make him bristle with all the wounded indignation of an eighteen year old.] My apologies for attempting to infringe on your courtesy; I hadn't realized you were so lacking.

[aureinsof]

[He puts a hand on his hip, shifting his weight to one foot. This cowardly boy was actually trying to talk down on him, huh? He had some guts after all. He just had them at the wrong person.]

You wanna tell me what I'm so 'lacking' in before I decide to pulverize that pretty face into dust?

[knockedaboutthehead]

[Allow a fairly out of place looking aviator to answer. If the vaguely Napoleonic era uniform doesn't immediately identify him as a relative newcomer to the Drabwurld and the time represented in the Station, the look of utter confusion on his face should do the job nicely.]

Damned if I know.

[To be fair, Granby is less than helpful. Both because he is still in a rather peevish mood thanks to constant worrying about Iskierka, and due to the fact that his canon exit point likely predates Dorian's own birth by at least fifty years. He is just as confused as the other man when it comes to the devices, if not more so.]

I've quite given up trying to puzzle the things out. After all, how useful can they be?

[depicted]

[It does seem rather . . . historic, which at least is something Dorian can appreciate. No one from the Napoleonic era would be any better at this than he is.

(Even if they get dragons.)

So Dorian smiles a little, delicate expression as it is, and exhales a flickering laugh of agreement.] Certainly, I have more than done without for my whole life. I wouldn't mind so much if it hadn't been loaned to me, but now it is broken, and I without even a sense of how it is meant to be used.

[knockedaboutthehead]

Well, it seems we've both managed to muddle through our lives well enough without whatever it may be before now.

[He pokes unhelpfully at the device. Of course his gesture accomplishes nothing when it comes to fixing the thing, but Granby does like to think it proves a point. One flat piece of glass and metal can hardly be of much importance overall.]

Perhaps the thing hasn't broken entirely and the friend that loaned it to you can repair it?

WHEN IN ROME

[bornsoldier]

[Steve is wandering, somehow more uneasy here than he is outside of the ring that surrounds it. It's so close to being familiar. It's so close to being normal. But there are some places too old, and others... they look like staged scenes from pulp stories. Steve studies a group of fairies, all of them gathered around a thin, flat square and watching something that looks like a movie in full color and painfully bright detail.

He shakes his head, turning in time to hear Dorian's lament before the boy - he can't be that much younger than Steve, but he seems it - speaks to Steve himself.

Oh dear.

This kid needs looking after.

Steve scratches the back of his head before holding out both hands, shaking too-long sleeves back over his wrists.] I'm not much of a mechanic. We don't have anything like this where I'm from.

[He more means "Brooklyn" than "my world" but both frameworks apply.]

[depicted]

[Dorian's expression falls, but he musters a smile. No need to be harsh on this person who is probably an American, lbr. They are not precisely at the cutting edge of technology.] It is no matter. Thank you very much for your time.

[Dorian manages the words because he knows what sorts of scripts he is supposed to follow, but the fall of voice and expression can't be disguised.]

[bornsoldier]

[The outstretched hands promptly wrap into scarred fists.] Something wrong?

THIS DUMB BABY

[showmeyourwreath]

[Oh no, this precious guy. Flora's voice is friendly, soothing, and reassuring, her smile much the same way.] You're not intruding at all, and it just so happens I would be familiar. It's called a tablet, and it's actually "wi-fi". Both words, because it stands for something else: wireless fidelity.

[She's not sure if any of that will stick for the moment, and there are bigger priorities here, like calming him down, but Flora can't help providing answers anyway, just in case.

The fact that he's nervous and implies unfamiliarity enables her to put two and two together.]

Please don't worry about it. It was an accident, and it's easily amended, I promise. What's your name?

[depicted]

[She is calming, reassuring in her expression and tone. It helps a lot.] My name is—I'm Dorian Gray, Miss. What is your name?

[a slight pause] And what would this device be faithful to?

oh no i can't handle him

[showmeyourwreath]

[She dips her head.] Flora. It's very nice to meet you, Dorian.

[Oh wow, but he's so unwittingly charming. She very much understands, though. Technology is forbidden at home, so there was time where she didn't know much of anything.] The faithfulness, in this case, is more about accuracy. The point of it is to faithfully replicate the conditions that facilitate a certain means of communication that can and does use wires, wirelessly. That's more or less how it's explained, at least. On Ear--uh, I mean, to the people who are familiar with this sort of thing "wi-fi" was just something someone made up, the definition came after, but it works.

[Someone probably came up with wireless fidelity on Zenith first, though.]

If that makes a little bit of sense at all.

[monstrous]

[WHEN EARLY CANONPOINTS MEET]

Can't say that I know anything about those, but I can tell when you've broken one. Have you got something against fie then?

[Toby is dressed in fancy 18th century clothes he's actually dressed up!, although they are a bit bloody and disheveled. He feels feels like a nervous ball of energy. Somehow for the first time in his life though, that nervous energy is transformed into a strange sort of confidence and brashness. His eyes scan the station, looking to see if he can spot a familiar face. Instead he smiles back at Dorian. He expects his voice to sound just as shaky and unsure as Dorian's, and is surprised when it comes out so smoothly]

You are a regular brute!

[depicted]

[Dorian turns towards the boy, to the person with a beautiful voice and an incredible face, and he is instantly enchanted

or would be, if it weren't for that blood.

Dorian turns absolutely pale, and he can't speak. His throat closes up, his stomach twists. He remembers stairs and a pool of blood and oh God, oh Lord—]

Are you—my god, are you all right? Can I—are you all right?

[monstrous]

[Toby laughs, and it's not all completely there] That, that is a very good question. Apparently, I was nearly mauled by a bear, at the circus of all places, if you can believe that!

But I think I'm all right now. I should be. A friend saved me. I just can't seem to find him. I keep looking for him, but he's never there.

[Toby drifts off, scanning the station one more time, before looking at Dorian again, perking up and smiling] More importantly though, what are we going to do about you and your broken fie? Someone is going to be very cross about that.

HELLO FRIEND

[aheartoffire]

[Someone is not frowning. Someone is delighted by this whole affair, by the miraculous machines and the magical creatures and the fact that somehow she's a part of it all. It's so fitting that she's a part of it all, now, which all on its own is a marvel.

So here she is, in a pearl-pink dress of beads, sequins, and delicate fringe, her choice and Thomas's money. She looks down at the thing in Dorian's hands, then back at his face, and grins.] Not a bit, kitten. But whoever gave it to your should have explained it if they didn't want it broken.

[depicted]

[—Kitten? There is this—person, and she called him kitten, and she looks—

Simply put, Dorian has never in his life been in the physical presence of someone who was not of Western European blood, and even then only select nationalities. So he does pause a little, uncertain of what to do with himself.

Also she called him 'kitten' and that's new. And she's American.]

Oh. I see.

Thank you?

[In which natural social awkwardness is amplified by prejudice.]

[aheartoffire]

You're welcome. [She leans in, fluttering her eyelashes at him since he's clearly bothered by something about her, and she couldn't care less what it might be.] Can I see it?