outofshadows | Test Drive Meme

Throne of Shadows
TEST DRIVE MEME!!!

New to Throne of Shadows? Long time player thinking of apping a new character? Welcome to our test drive meme! Experiment with active and potential muses! Here is a place where you can test out characters for the setting and accrue samples for your applications! Roll on the scenarios provided below, or come up with your own!

Scenario Builder

You are...

1. Working in the lava lamp factory
2. Watching "The History of Twine" in the cinema
3. Admiring the fish in the barracks tunnel
4. Lost in a topiary maze
5. Riding the shuttle between buildings
6. Trying to sneak into the administrative offices

You’re feeling...

1. Inexplicably happy
2. Like you could fall asleep at any moment
3. Angry enough to punch someone
4. Nostalgic or sentimental
5. Like someone stabbed you—oh, hey, they did, fancy that
6. As if life really ought to be more like a Broadway musical

Somewhat unusually...

1. You can only speak in rhyme
2. The room is full of old-fashioned toys
3. A box covered in runes drops down from the sky and lands at your feet
4. You hear the voice of your worst enemy in the walls
5. You would do anything for a grilled cheese sandwich
6. You have a cute and cuddly kitten...where did that come from?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I...cry your pardon, sai?"

The question about the exit was lost on Bert, usually one to note everything spoken or implied. His manner changed, a curious sort of wonder and disbelief coming upon him. But the moment the man had offered his name his mind had begun to race. Because he swore the man said Arthur Pendragon. Bert had read the Earth legends, he knew full well the man that in his world bore the name Arthur Eld had been named Pendragon in that one.

And Arthur was Arthur, no matter the name that followed or what city his throne had sat in. Gilead or Camelot, they were mirrors set against one another across a foggy glass. It made no difference, Arthur was king of kings, touched by God, he of the most holy blood to ever walk the mortal soil.

It was a touch hard to reconcile that with the pleasant looking blond fellow holding a wee kitty.

Brilliant, a daft one. Arthur's first thought is to compare this man to his fool of a servant. If it was Merlin, he wouldn't hesitate to insult Robert but he held his tongue. For now. It wasn't becoming of a king to talk to a stranger in that manner on the first meeting. He'd come a long way from the way he had been as a prince.

The mere surprise Robert displayed at his name and title surely meant that his identity had not been known beforehand. Had this been one of Morgana's plans the need for deception would not be necessary. It didn't mean Arthur wouldn't keep a hint of vigilance while the other was around.

"So I take it you've heard of me," he stated. Not a question.

"If you are truly who you say, aye, I have more'n heard of you, my lord."

And he had no reason to doubt the man. Didn't he count the wizard Merlin amongst his friends? They'd shared stories of the knights and kings of their respective homes. No, Bert had no reason to doubt that he stood in the presence of the first king of the round table.

Swallowing hard, he did the only thing he could think of. He dropped to one knee and bowed his head. There was nothing else a gunslinger could do, when faced with the father of their entire civilization and code. It would be like the Man Jesus appearing to a Christian man, or Oriza to one of the warrior women of the plains.

The last son of Allgood was awed and humbled, wondering at how he had come to be in a place to kneel before a man that was more legend than anything else.

"I hail from a world that was once united beneath Excalibur, wielded by Arthur, the first king of Gilead who gathered his knights about the round table. A world that is a twin of yours, that has kept the traditions of Arthur alive for two thousand years. My grandsire was his right hand, and I served as knight to my king for all of my days. I am...honored to meet you, to put it quite mildly."

Claiming to be Arthur in this time was a foolish move, especially considering how much Morgana wanted him dead. There were situations where he barely escaped with his life - and one he was certain he wouldn't. It was also the same for his knights.

So when Robert knelt at his feet it was nearly impossible not to believe that this man was who he claimed to be. As hard it was to accept.

Merlin had told him of his magic - that he had only used to for him and for Camelot despite his father's laws against it that had carried over when Arthur took over ruling the kingdom. He was in a land where magical beings lived beneath the ocean waves. Why could there not be a land that was identical to his own? One where it was the great future he could only dream about.

So Arthur looked down upon this man and accepted him as one of his own. If he were truthful, he could use all of the allies he could get in a place such as this one.

"Rise Sir Robert of Gilead. There are no crowns or thrones here, simply two men trapped in a world far from their own." Arthur reached out a hand to help Robert back to his feet.

"Cuthbert, m'lord," Bert politely corrected. Though there was a pride in King Arthur addressing him by his father's name. "Robert was my da, though I'll answer to his name with honor! We've all been 'Berts' of some sort, all the way back to Bertrand Allgood! Ah, the knight known as Lancelot on Earth. He was my great ancient grandsire."

And Bert clasped Arthur's hand and took his feet, awash with some sort of thrumming energy. Arthur. He'd known, of course, that the man was real. Roland bore his blood. But it was something to know that once upon a time there was a great king who united the chaos of the ancient world, another to have the fellow telling you to stop making a fuss.

Eld's balls, he'd have to tell Roland and Aileen....

And mayhap he ought to stop swearing on the fellow's tackle, all things considered. Considering those balls had suddenly stopped being theoretical and were, in a quite literal sense, standing in front of him.

Was that blasphemy?

"My apologies, Bert." Arthur had no issue addressing someone casually. He had done it with his wife long before he'd taken an interest in her that way. If one had a preferred nickname he would use it.

Once Bert was on his feet, he laid that hand on the other man's shoulder. Eyes watch the man's face for a moment. "Lancelot was a good man, and a better knight." Sure they'd had their moments of discord, especially when it came to Gwen but the man had be loyal. In the end Lancelot had sacrificed his life to save king and country.

After a moment he let his hand fall away. "Now, about that exit to this blasted maze."

"Nothing to apologize for! I have been called many things in my life, and that's among the best of'em!"

He straightened and felt a strange little thrill of pride run through him. "I'm glad to hear yeh say that, sai. The stories out of England that I've read...I'm afraid they paint a poorer picture of the man. And I know that my grandsire was a good and honorable knight, and a true friend to his king."

Not the wife-fucking braggart that Bert had discovered in the pages of the little book he'd taken from Dagaz. That had been the greatest shock to him, in the differences between the legends of the two worlds.

"As for the exit, it is easy to get turned about, innit? Too many halls for my liking. Here, we'll want to head down this way." Bert gestured before striking out to lead on. "S'a good place to be alone with your thoughts, though."

That does earn Bert a smile and an accompanying laugh. "As have I, my good man. Mostly by my own servant, Merlin."

Arthur will put that free arm around the knight's shoulders briefly before letting it drop. There was once a time when he suspected Lancelot and Gwen were having secret lover's meetings but it was before Arthur's marriage to the woman. "I don't know what these stories say but he was a man I trusted my life and my kingdom with on more than one occasion."

It was true down to the core. Gwen may have loved Lancelot and still did but Arthur would let the knight stand at his side to face down any foe.

"Considering I'm not entirely sure how I got here in the first place, it is." Alone with his thoughts was not something he wanted at the moment. Not when it meant facing his fate and all that he had left behind.

Test Drive Meme

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that is what I get for tagging while distracted...

No worries!

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