test drive memeeeeee

[veryroundbird]

Throne of Shadows
TEST DRIVE MEME!!!

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. In the Purple Room (aka the pub)
2. In the Blue Room (aka the library)
3. At the rooftop garden
4. In the bathroom
5. Your bedroom
6. Someone else’s bedroom

You’re feeling...

1. Happy
2. Tired
3. Angry
4. Nostalgic
5. Like someone stabbed you—oh, hey, they did, fancy that
6. Horny

Somewhat unusually...

1. The room has been destroyed.
2. There are carnival games set up.
3. You suddenly cannot verbally communicate.
4. There’s a lot of alcohol here!
5. There is a box of adorable kittens here.
6. There is a dead body on the floor.

Comments

3 -2 -1?

[peacekeeperavox]

The view from the rooftop was still staggering to Darius. The sheer beauty of the city, the quiet of the garden. It was here he came to recharge, when he could convince himself he was allowed.

But today, but this morning, he'd come up and found the shattered pots, the trees torn from their beds, the ruined foliage. And now it was afternoon, his hands were black with soil, and he was nowhere near done putting it all right, but he couldn't stop working.

contact?

[notsecondbest]

Martha liked the garden. It was peaceful, and it was sort of outside, and it was the only bit of the Waiting Room that seemed to change at all. Martha had gotten used to a change of scenery. She hadn't expected one quite this dramatic.

She gasped when she came out onto the rooftop, looking around in horror.

"Oh my god," she said. "What happened here?"

[peacekeeperavox]

Darius looked up, startled, from where he was trying to heave one of the flowering trees upright into a hole that had obviously been dug by hands. He nearly dropped it, and had to get his shoulder under the trunk again even as he tried to acknowledge her arrival with a respectful nod.

[notsecondbest]

Instantly, Martha was moving. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," she said, joining him next to the trunk and lending her own weight against it. She wasn't sure what was going on--she'd seen the man around, but he'd been quiet. Now that she thought about it... she wasn't sure she'd heard him speak at all. Whatever he was doing up here, she didn't want the tree to fall on him.

[peacekeeperavox]

With her help, it wasn't hard to get the tree back upright, and he shoved dirt back into the deep hole with his foot, stamping it down before tentatively letting go of the trunk. It leaned a little, but didn't fall back down.

Breathing out in silent relief, he was finally able to give her his usual slight bow. It looked strange, filthy as he was from the day's work.

[notsecondbest]

Martha blinked as she dusted off her hands. Was he... bowing? She frowned her her dirty hands, offering one anyway. His were dirtier, so he couldn't mind.

"I'm Martha," she said. "I'm not sure we've met. You know, officially."

[peacekeeperavox]

People kept introducing themselves to him, and he kept being surprised by it. He didn't quite meet her eyes, but his brows went up, and he couldn't quite help from glancing to either side, checking that no one should see before he took her hand, his grasp light and brief before his hand was suddenly back at his side.

[notsecondbest]

He was afraid. She could see that easily enough. Martha frowned, not sure why he could be so timid. Well, okay, she knew where they were, more or less, but that didn't mean he should live in fear.

"Hey," she said. "It's okay. Or you know, it will be." She smiled--if only he'd look at her. "I know it's not the best situation, but we'll get through it, yeah?"

Her heart went out to him. She was used to this sort of thing, at this point. Not everyone was. She remembered that.

[peacekeeperavox]

Darius was at a loss for what to do. She'd helped him, but he had no way to thank her, nor could he go on with his self-appointed task now that she was there. He nodded agreement with a small, tight movement and the briefest of glances up, then stood attentive, waiting.

[notsecondbest]

Maybe he was just painfully shy, but Martha thought it wasn't just that. For one thing, there was the way he swallowed. Something else was going on here, and she was making him uncomfortable in the bargain. She looked around, trying to piece things together. Okay, so the garden had been torn up. From the way he was working, she didn't think it had been him. And even if it had been, he was trying to put it right.

"Okay," she said decisively. "Looks like there's a lot of work to do. Mind if I help out? I don't have a lot of experience with gardening, but I learn fast."

[peacekeeperavox]

His head came up and he stared at her, slightly agape. He knew this place wasn't like the Capitol, but an actual offer to help him? His mouth hung open a moment as if he could answer her, but there was no sound. The gesture reminded him of Katniss, and it took him a moment to force his gaze properly back down, to nod, as if it was his right to grant her permission.

[notsecondbest]

Martha was beginning to believe he couldn't speak at all. It would make sense--even as it turned her stomach. What had happened to this man? She smiled at him, nodding back. Pretending he'd just simply agreed to her help, and wasn't totally flustered by it. Because as sad as that was, the only way around it she could see was to show him something different than he was used to.

"Right," she said, glancing around. "Where do we start?"

[peacekeeperavox]

He chewed the inside of his lip nervously, trying to look around without looking directly at her again. He had no training for this. There was no way for an Avox to direct a citizen, no protocol. He had to go back to older patterns, half-remembered and dangerous.

Nervous, pale, he gestured with slightly unsteady hands to the next tree. With two of them, they could re-dig the holes and right the rest of them?

[notsecondbest]

Of course, Martha knew none of this. Just that she wanted to help. Wanted him to be less nervous. She followed his gesture and nodded.

"Looks good," she said warmly. "This will definitely go faster with two people, right?"

And maybe, at some point, she could figure out what had happened up here. And what had happened to him.

[peacekeeperavox]

He sank to his knees by the torn-up roots, using his hands to dig out the soil beneath them. Each tree needed a substantial hole. A few scoops, and he glanced up at her. Was this what she wanted to help with?

[notsecondbest]

She dropped to her knees beside him, without a moment's hesitation, smiling over at him briefly before leaning over to scoop out the dirt with him. Simple enough, right? Dig a hole, plant a tree. She'd be sore by the end of it, but it was something to do, and Martha liked feeling useful.

[peacekeeperavox]

His shoulders eased slightly as she worked beside him, as nothing bad happened from allowing a citizen to help him, and he caught himself stealing glances. When the hole looked deep enough, he even dared to touch her hand to stop her.