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

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?

[monstrous]

[You know who's a buzzkill? Dorian Gray.]

[Toby pushes himself away, trying to collect himself. It's hard, with how good Dorian smells right now]

You're right, we're friends, and it wouldn't, I mean we can't -

[and then a thought hits Toby, and he smiles, his heart racing again] Except we're not men, are we? Not really, I mean. Mere men don't get to feel like this, like we do now. We're more like gods than men, and all those other rules, they can't apply to us now.

Can they?

[depicted]

[Oh. Dorian pauses. That makes sense to him. They're not men. They're Gods. And Dorian knows what Gods are allowed to do.]

You're right. They must not. We're won against Time. We've defeated it. So of course we mustn't be beholden to any of the rules that govern those beholden to Time.

[Perfect logic. With a smile and a laugh, Dorian drags Toby back into his arms.

Kids when they're high, eh?]

[monstrous]

[stupid, high kids. Toby is gladly pulled back. And then everything fades to a platonic black. When all is said and done, and it's time to dress again, Toby puts on Dorian's clothes instead of his own or the Drabwurld ones that Dorian brought him.]

[Looking down at Dorian, he tries his best to tie the cravat] How do I look?

[depicted]

[Dorian laughs a little, tired now after all that energy and after coming down from the high of the siring. But Toby is still so attractive, and it's hard to keep his eyes off of him.] Like the most beautiful creature I've ever seen or imagined.

[And then Dorian pauses. Because . . . wait. Waiiiit. Wait one second. Dorian frowns, having dressed in the Drabwurld clothing, and walks over to Toby. He touches his face, and it is cold to his fingers.] I can't see the flaws any longer.

[monstrous]

[Toby was about to banter some comeback, but the touch startles him] And you, you're, you're warm.

[He grabs Dorian and drags him to the mirror again] You're there, and I'm not anywhere.

[depicted]

What happened? [He stares at Toby.] What did you do? [He presses his hand there, and there is dried blood, but no injury.] Am I punished?

[monstrous]

I - I don't know. [he notices Dorian's now healed neck, too] It's like it never even happened. I don't understand.

[a broken laugh] Punished? Dorian, you're alive! You - you're some sort of miracle.

[depicted]

[Like most people who experience a surge of sensation only to come crashing into dullness, Dorian is feeling a little delicate right now. Which is probably why he might start crying.] A miracle? What sort of miracle is it that a person will grow old and ugly and die? What miracle is it that I lose something essential at every passing moment? I'm a human, Toby.

[Wait. Oh no. Oh noooo. Horrified, he steps back.] I'm a human, and I have done what I shouldn't have.

[monstrous]

But you should be dead! Don't you understand? I - what I did, if it didn't turn you it should've killed you. I drank so much...

I don't know what you are Dorian, but I don't think you're human. You're something else entirely. You can't even sustain an injury, let alone death or age or decay. Even I have scars that won't fade, but you, your wounds have faded as if they never existed in the first place.

[Toby steps forward, a hand reaching out for Dorian's face] What are you, Dorian Gray?

[depicted]

[Not drawing away from the contact, Dorian still shakes his head.] Of course I'm human! What else would I be? I've had all kinds of injury before, and you must have—the—whatever you did must have healed me before it faded. I am a human.

[monstrous]

It doesn't work that way, Dorian.

Here, look. [Toby pulls away from Dorian and takes off his shirt quickly and none too gracefully. He takes Dorian's hand and guides it towards the scars from his "mauling" that will never heal, and then moves Dorian's hand towards the wounds from Ivar turning him that are nearly healed] I've got scars, traces, imperfections that will never go away. I don't just magically heal like you did. These are days old, these are from when I turned, and they're still not gone away. But you, you healed in hours.

I'm not like you, Dorian. No one is like you.

[depicted]

[Toby's touch is the only thing that grounds him, stops his fingers trembling and his body from running. But his voice shakes.] How could I be anything but human?

[monstrous]

[Even if his fingers aren't trembling, Toby can still feel that flutter of emotion somewhere deep.] It must be this place. It must've done something to you. That's all. A gift for bringing you here.

[smiling, he tries to think of something reassuring to say] I - I bet that even the forces behind all of this couldn't stand to see you age or bruise.

[depicted]

[Dorian laughs a little like that—his vanity is very easy to flatter—and takes hold of Toby's wrist. He looks Toby in the eyes, really looks at him, as if to make this stranger, this monster, the centre of gravity in a world that has been overturned.]

Toby, you are my friend, aren't you? I can trust you, with my secrets?

[monstrous]

[Toby wonders for a moment just who or what he stumbled upon. Maybe he's not the only monster here, maybe he's not even the scariest one. The thought is terrifying and exhilarating]

Yeah, yeah, course you can, Dorian. We are friends, fast friends, but friends all the same.

[depicted]

[Delicate fingers touch the back of Toby's neck. He draws his new friend towards him, and he whispers what he cannot believe.] I made a wish to stay young and beautiful, today, when I was where I belong. I wished it, and I said I would give up my soul.

[monstrous]

[Toby is at a loss. If it could still race, that's what his heart would be doing. His breathing needs to catch up with him before he can speak] I knew there was something special about you, Dorian. The boy who doesn't die, doesn't age, doesn't scar or blemish.

[depicted]

[Dorian shrinks back. It's too much, too much emotion and revelation and action all at once, and his head is a mess.] Stop! Please, stop. Give me time to think. Or time not to think. This is too much.