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

[depicted]

[The heart Toby can hear is a drumbeat. Dorian steps back, but he has nowhere to go. And he isn't certain he could run if he wanted to.

He swallows, and the half-formed plea dies before he speaks it. He has long since understood what it means to be friends. He had just forgotten of late.] You're frightening me.

[monstrous]

[laughs] I'm frightening myself.

Have you any idea what it's like not to know yourself? Not to know what you are? To wake up and find you're something else, something terrifying?

[His moods are erratic, and he finds himself suddenly desperate and pleading, as if Dorian could absolve him of his sins] I keep looking for him, Dorian, I really do, and he's never there. I followed them, you know, and his scent, it was everywhere, but there was no sign of him. I don't know what to do. I can't fight these urges, I try, but I can't.

And do you know what the scariest part is? Sometimes, sometimes I don't even want to fight them. Sometimes they're the only thing that feels right in the world.

[depicted]

[Tobias Matthews is a siren's song, and Dorian takes one step towards him. It is as if his soul calls out to Toby to answer the pain it feels. But his voice still trembles, and fear still has its say.] I don't know if—I don't know what you should do. [His voice becomes small.] I don't know what I should do.

[monstrous]

I think you're right to be afraid.

Call me Toby again. It means we're friends. And friends don't usually devour friends, do they? [he laughs, nervous, but his eyes keep trailing to Dorian's cravat, and he wonders how long it would take to remove it, and he wonders how someone's pulse can sound so melodic and welcoming.]

[depicted]

[The response to the movement of Toby's eyes is instinct. He obeys Toby, because he doesn't know what will happen if he doesn't. But his voice cannot help but break.] Toby. You mustn't do this. We are friends.

[monstrous]

You're right, Dorian. You are right. Just sometimes I lose myself I think. [he reaches out and puts a hand on Dorian's cheek, gentle, like petting a cat] It's alright now though, Dorian. You don't need to be frightened anymore.

[depicted]

It—it will be all right, Toby. [Dorian still speaks quietly, afraid of disturbing this with the wrong word. But although the tremble stays in his voice, every instinct calls for him to relax into that touch. To trust the sensation. To embrace it.] We'll find someone to help you.

[monstrous]

I - I can't tell anyone! And neither can you. I shouldn't have even told you. They'll burn me, or kill me, or leave me out to fry in the sun.

[he releases Dorian, and begins pacing]

I'm hungry, Dorian. And I keep getting hungrier. I just - I wish I had something to tide me over, just a snack. Because if I wait, Dorian, if I wait, I might not be able to stop myself. If I just had - if I just had a small bite to eat, that person could survive, and I would be alright, and my secret would be safe, and no one would even have to get hurt.

[he stops pacing, raking a hand through his hair as he looks at Dorian, desperate again. He gives Dorian a shaky smile] We're friends, yeah? You and me?

[depicted]

[He is watching a rabid lion, and there is nowhere he can run to. Dorian's heart starts to ratchet up the beat, even as he answers,] Yes, Toby. We're friends. Just as you said. [Dorian almost sounds as if he is going to cry.]

[monstrous]

Dorian, Dorian, no, don't be sad. I won't - I won't do anything you don't want. Ivar, when he saved me, when he made me like this, he asked first. We were friends, too.

[a beat and then a thought] I could make you like me. You could live forever, Dorian, never age or die. And everything, all your senses and the world around you, it's all that much more vibrant, too. I can hear your heart beating. I can smell you. I can see you in so many more shades and colours than you could imagine.

[depicted]

[it stops the threat of tears. Every fear, every apprehension, every thought of death, it all stops and crystalizes around one idea.]

. . . I could never become old and ugly?

[monstrous]

Never.

[depicted]

Then give me that. As my friend.

[monstrous]

As your friend.

[he reaches out gently to undo Dorian's cravat] You're sure you're alright with this, Dorian? No more sun, no more warmth, no more reflection, having to feed? That's all alright with you?

[the cravat is finally out of the way, and Toby is restraining himself with all his might as he waits for Dorian's confirmation.]

[depicted]

[The certainty comes over him as it did in Basil Hallward's study. He stays still as Toby undoes his cravat, not even trembling at the intimacy.] I would give up anything not to become old and ugly. I would give up anything at all.

[monstrous]

I'm not sure you could ever be ugly.

[his hand is back on Dorian's face, easing him, calming him]

If you're sure, tell me when you're ready.

[depicted]

[Dorian closes his eyes. He cures his soul and submits to the sensation. His breathing slows, and with it, his pulse.] I am ready, Toby. Change me.

[monstrous]

As you wish. [and...biting noises. Toby is able to feed, and he sires Dorian as well. Win-win!]

crunchy like an apple

[depicted]

[It is a rush of sensation beyond anything he has ever known or felt, which is very little. And when he opens his eyes, he feels more alive than anything has. When he opens his eyes, he sees Toby, and he laughs as if delirious.] I do believe I have just awoken from the most impossible dream, Toby!

mmm

[monstrous]

[and guess who's riding a feeding high? this guy!]

[Toby laughs, delighted, and he really is happy right now, because everything suddenly feels balanced and right and he feels so free in this moment, and for the first time in days, not utterly alone] Have you? Go on then, what was this impossible dream about?

[depicted]

[For a boy who has had little experience with sex and less with mind-altering substances, this high is particularly powerful. All capacity to think clearly flies out of his head.] I dreamt that I was—oh, oh, Toby, look! [He grabs Toby's arm and yanks him to the wall.] Look, look, I can see between the cracks! You see, I dreamt that it wasn't like this—Toby! [Distract again, he takes hold of Toby's face. He peers at it, eyes wide.] I can see all the little flaws in your skin. Oh, Toby. You're beautiful.

This is incredible! [He laughs, loud and unflinching, and grabs Toby's shoulders.] I know what it must have been! I dreamt that I was not alive. But now I'm awake! My soul can never sicken again! [And well beyond thought, he yanks Toby to him for a kiss.]

[monstrous]

[he has no time to even think about being offended about that flaws comment, because he's too swept up in Dorian's enthusiasm. Enjoying a high with someone else is way less lonely or depressing than solo highs, Toby has decided]

Steady - steady on, Dorian. [Toby laughs as he pulls away from the kiss, just so he can actually soak Dorian in] I don't think I've tasted anything as delicious as you in my entire life. [his vampire life has only been a couple days, but he still stands by the sentiment. His hand is gentle as it traces Dorian's face, up to his hairline, and then he yanks roughly at Dorian's hair as he pulls him in for another kiss]

[depicted]

[The mixing of sensations overwhelms him, the high drives him forward to claw at a hold on is companion. When Constance kissed him, he did not know what he was doing. When Toby kisses him, he doesn't need to know anything. He just has to submit to the moment's fire.]

[monstrous]

[Let's have some wall slamming for good measure. With the impact of the slam, Toby pulls away again] And no one will leave either. Now that we're truly friends. [and before Dorian can answer, Toby is kissing him again, fingers fumbling blindly with the buttons of Dorian's shirt]

[depicted]

[It's so easy to give into the moment—pain, pleasure, gentle fingers, hard tile—but Dorian's wild and racing mind comes onto something, just for a second, just long to sputter it out.] Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait wait. We're friends. We're men, and we're friends. Aren't we? We're men. We're men and this isn't Eton. We can't—this isn't—can this be—we can't—

—can we?