TEST DRIVE #2

[collectedmods]

TEST DRIVE #2

Hi shoppers! Welcome to the second Test Drive Meme for COLLECTED. A few things before we get started:

» This TDM is open to any players who are interested in applying. Collected is an invite-only game, meaning that invites come from being on the mod plurklists, but for this round, our TDM is open to anyone who has an interest. If you are interested in applying but do not have an invite, please PM our mod account (collectedmods) with a link to your toplevel on this TDM and we will extend an invitation to you! Please note that you can only reserve and apply if you have an invite.

» As was the case in the first TDM, TDM threads are not canon. Because of this, feel free to assume CR for the ease of threads.

» While we’ve listed out some prompts here, feel free to make up your own prompts using the setting, or use any of the prompts from our last TDM as well!

» If you have any questions about what you can and can’t do (or about anything else) reply to the QUESTIONS comment below, and we’ll get back to you soon.

Most importantly, have fun! And thank you so much for your interest in Collected! 🧡

PROMPTS

Have you ever been to a parking lot circus? Well, they exist, and you’re in luck - the circus has come to town! Or rather, it’s come to the mall. For a limited time, a big top has appeared in the dusty, desolate parking lot of the mall. You’ll find a big tunnel vacuum sealed to the front doors of the mall that allows access to and from the tent, so how much could it hurt to go inside?

The tunnel and tent seem to have been crafted with the same skill as the mall was - it somehow keeps the toxic air from outside out. The only difference between the mall and the tent is that the big top doesn’t do as good of a job of keeping the blistering heat out - it’ll protect you from burns, but it’s going to be pretty hot in there underneath the summer sun! Be sure to bring a cold drink on your way in.

Inside the tent, you won’t find any staff or performers, unfortunately. Everything inside the tent seems to be in mint condition, though, strangely enough, as though restored to its former glory - not unlike how some of the stores in the abandoned mall revert back to their pristine states sometimes. While there’s no performance to catch, there is plenty to look at and experience:

I.

Right after coming in through the fun tunnel, the first thing to your right is a collection of popcorn machines, the same kind you’d see at an amusement park where kernels must be poured in. You’ll find several unmarked bags of popcorn right near the machines, and they look decidedly not rotten, unlike most of the food in the mall.

Things are never that easy and simple here, though! Pop a bag of these bad boys and consume some of it and you’ll find yourself with one of the following afflictions:

A. Caramel corn flavor: Loss of sight. Hopefully you trust your companion enough not to attack or steal from you, because you’ll need to navigate to somewhere safe until this one wears off!
B. Extra butter flavor: Loss of hearing. No matter how hard you try, it seems you can’t hear anything around you anymore! Learn to communicate non-verbally with your companion, and quick!
C. Cheddar flavor: Literally just food poisoning. You won’t be feeling so hot!

The only saving grace of these cursed popcorn bags is that there’s an antidote to be found if you have a careful eye: an inscription on the popcorn machines appears once they’ve been warmed from use, and it says, in the case of illness, have a taste of each flavor to get back to square one! You’ll have to suffer a bit more to get back to normal quickly, but.. it’s better than waiting out the effects, right?

II.

While there are no performers to be seen, their costumes can be found in the wardrobes in the back of the circus. They are typical of what you’d expect of a circus: colorful, frilly, and easy to put on, given their stretch. There are even props and accessories lying around like clown noses, jewelry, hula hoops, juggling balls, the whole nine yards. Given the horrible state of all the clothes and other fun items inside the mall, it might be tempting to take some of these outfits and items to repurpose them for your own wardrobe and use.

But be careful: donning these clothes or taking these items will give you the abilities of that circus performer. Wear or pick up anything belonging to a:

A. Clown, and you’ll feel like you need to make your companion laugh. Whether that’s through corny jokes, physical comedy, or other means, you won’t be able to resist.
B. Trapeze artist, and you’ll be blessed with great flexibility, and feel utterly fearless. Maybe that translates into being unafraid to speak your mind, or maybe you’re feeling brave enough to walk the tightrope - either way, nothing’s scaring you anymore.
C. Animal tamer, and you’ll want to train your companion to do tricks and follow your will (and not in the fun way, unless you’re into that).

Costumes of all kinds are here, though, so feel free to find anything that might belong to a circus performer and have the costumes possess you!

III.

All good things must come to an end, sadly. Whatever material the tent and tunnel is made of is not completely as sturdy as what the mall is built of - and after a fun day of activities, the tent and tunnel will begin to deteriorate and be destroyed.

Due to the radioactive sun outside, the top of the tent and tunnel will start to burn and get holes in it eventually, which will let in toxic air and harmful rays - not only that, but fires will start catching inside the tent as well. You’ll need to high tail it out of the circus and head back to the safety of the mall unless you want to fry in the horrible conditions outside. Exposure to the sunlight from outside will give you painful burns and welts, and it’s near impossible to inhale the thick, poisonous air from outside without keeling over.

While you’ll be able to survive limited exposure, it’s not wise to get stuck out here. Besides, you’ll find that upon returning to the mall, your wounds will mysteriously begin to heal, slowly and painfully. So, run quickly, and make sure not to leave anyone behind!

NAVIGATION

Comments

QUESTIONS

[collectedmods]

abby anderson | the last of us part II (no spoilers but a warning just in case!)

[strictpress]

The tent
[This place is kinda terrifying. And coming from a place where a mushroom fungus killed most of the human race, that's a high bar! But for Abby, it's the combination of the intact status of the tent combined with the complete absence of anyone that seems to belong there that completely sets her nerves on end.

So she creeps around corners with her pistol out like she's sure something is gonna jump out and bite her face off. If she sees you, someone around the mall and not some weird ghost circus worker or whatever, she'll shrug.]

Haven't seen a killer clown yet, at least.

Costumes
[Okay, so the costumes are kinda cool? Or at least some of them. They're shiny and intricate and Abby has the capacity to appreciate these things.

Except the clown shit.]

Seriously, who ever actually thought these clowns were funny? I feel like it's something people made up and then everyone else had to pretend to agree.

[Then she makes the fatal mistake of picking up one of the poles that tightrope walkers use. Just because she literally can't fathom what it would be for. Circus lore beyond the clowns didn't really survive the apocalypse.

Then the next thing she knows she's up on the tightrope platform and peering down over the edge (a move that would usually involve a serious panic attack and maybe some vomiting for good measure). She'll call down to anyone on the ground]

H-hey. I don't know why I'm up here. I hate heights. I think I've gone crazy. Or maybe I'm dreaming. Please tell me I'm dreaming. God, I better be dreaming.

Escape
[Oh well, the tent's just going to collapse and leave them to the elements. That's... cool! Awesome! Great! Thankfully, Abby's fit enough herself to haul it across the parking lot with minimal injuries but... if you find yourself stumbling, she'll take you by the arm and grab you to run along beside her. Or pull you into the safe haven of the mall and out of the elements. Once safe and able to catch her breath, she mutters-]

Holy shit. Officially not a fan of the circus.

Wildcard
[feel free to hit me up for anything via pm or at mythal]

claudia / the dragon prince

[darkbound]

the circus tent.

[ claudia is certainly no stranger to the circus, but she's never seen anything quite like this before. a large tent covered in stripes, standing right in the middle of the parking lot -- curiosity gets the best of her and she sets out to investigate the mysterious area. she's prepared to use her magic to light up the area if she needs to, but it seems as though that won't be needed.

which is odd, because nobody seems to be present inside. it's clearly been occupied, what with all of the equipment. this place does look like some kind of circus -- she can at least discern that with the equipment here that she does recognize -- but there's nobody here...

she decides to take her chances. ]

Hello? Anyone in here? [ help her investigate, maybe? ]

popcorn.

[ popcorn is so fascinating to her. claudia comes from before a time when such a commodity existed, and she’s completely entranced, watching the machines do their work on the kernels. when they first start popping, she feels a little nervous, like she’s expecting them to explode the contraption that seems to be heating them up -- but she’s excited to see what happens regardless. technology here is amazing…!

anyone who happens to be popping their own popcorn will be met with claudia standing on the opposite side of the machine, leaning in to watch the machine do its work. she’s gently rubbing her chin, thoughtfully. ]

So! How does this work? Is it using some kind of sun magic spell to heat all of this up?

[ man, if only she had the sun primal stone… she could experiment with all of this and learn to make her own popcorn even without the machines. that’d be cool. ]

fires.

[ the tent’s already started to collapse. dozens of holes are appearing on the ceiling, letting in the harmful rays of the sun. claudia hadn’t realized that the sun in this world was so dangerous, so she gets caught standing in the sunlight for a moment and recoils in pain. her body feels like it’s being lit on fire, and she nearly keels over from how sore it is.

and she very well might have, if the inside of the tent weren’t being lit on fire. she lets out a gasp and starts to make a run for it -- but she sees someone (you!) behind her nearly surrounded by burning objects. claudia’s instincts are telling her to run, but her conscience is telling her that she needs to help. so she listens to that better half of herself and makes her way over to whoever’s stuck. there’s a small, narrow walkway that the person can use to slither out and away from being trapped completely. claudia stands at the end of that walkway and calls out: ]

Hey! Over here, c’mon!

[ she holds out her hand towards them, trying to avoid being burned by the flames.

alternatively, catch her getting stopped in her tracks by a shelf that falls in front of her. it, too, is ablaze, and as other objects start toppling over around her, she may need a little help getting out of here. ]

wildcard.

[ anything else? feel free to throw anything on here, or hmu via pm or amplitude ! ]

Oscar Pine | RWBY | Vol. 4-7 Spoilers inside, read ooc first!

[longmemories]

[OOC - DISCLAIMER/EXPLANATION: !!RWBY Volume 4-7 Spoilers ahead!! Oscar is unique in that he's not just one person; he also lives with the spirit of a man named Ozma/Ozpin inhabiting his body. They're inseperable and share a consciousness, though at present in canon Ozpin has retreated from the forefront of Oscar's mind and has left him largely alone. He only presents himself in times of crisis when Oscar is in danger and cannot protect or save himself. In these moments, Ozpin can assume control of Oscar's body and speak as if he were himself again (just with Oscar's voice, it's got an ethereal sound to it like Ozpin's old voice is overlayed atop Oscar's). Ozpin won't be present for threads unless specified within the prompt. If you'd like to plot anything specific, DM me!]

1) Exploration

[It was hard enough to find himself trapped with someone else due to the spirit occupying his mind and body on a permanent basis, but now that Ozpin is absent more likely than not most of the time...Oscar finds himself missing the company. Mainly in a place like this, where signs of life are scarce and inhabitable areas are even scarcer. The tent, though, seems stable and fine enough...and it's better to investigate than to just sit around waiting for something terrible to happen.]

Okay, Oscar. It's fine. Just...a spooky, abandoned tent. Honestly no worse than the rest of the mall, really...

[He regrets entering about as soon as he gets to the tunnel though, it's far too hot for the clothing he usually wears. By the time he gets inside proper, he has to unfasten the belt across his abdomen so he can slip his coat off for the time being. After that, he'll start to investigate.]

2) Popcorn

[Normally Oscar wouldn't just eat random shit he's found unlike some people, but he hasn't eaten anything at all in some time. The popcorn bags seem more well preserved and not gross than a lot of the food the mall has to offer, and how could unpopped kernels go bad, really? Once he discovers the machine for popping it works, he'll choose one of the bags to try.

Unfortunately, it's the caramel flavor. Of all the days to be craving something sweet...

He's at least sitting somewhere eating when the effect kicks in, and it's startling enough to cause him to drop the bag, scattering its contents. He lifts his hands reflexively, waving them in front of his face while he can still make out vague shapes and shadows before everything finally just...blips into blackness. Nothing.]

Wh- Ozpin? Hey-!

[Usually, he can still see when Ozpin takes over, but what if he's figured out some way to assume more full control over his senses? He can't claim to understand how it works fully, just that whatever is happening he'd appreciate an explanation right now...yet of course, the man says nothing. He's still alone.]

3) Costumes

[He's not going to be putting on any costumes, thanks...but you know what they say about curiosity and cats. It's enough to cause him to wander over to a box of supplies among the wardrobe proper, what looks to be a bunch of equipment for a clown act. He ends up picking up one of the juggling pins to heft in one hand, smiling a little at it.]

You know, I bet these could be used as a weapon in a pinch.

[He muses to himself, tossing it up into the air only to catch it as it comes back down. Then he'll grab a second, third, and toss those up in the air too, throwing each in sequence so he can catch them as they come back down. It's...weirdly fluid and flawless juggling he's doing until he snaps out of it and they all fall back down into his arms just in time for him to barely manage to catch them together.]

...okay, hooow did I do that.

4) Fire | Ozpin

[Oscar doesn't realize the tent is starting to fall apart until it's already too late. Whatever he was doing is quickly interrupted by the awful sound of the top of the tent beginning to tear as it catches fire above, searing rays of the deadly sun beaming in with enough force to start setting even more fires beyond that.

He makes a break for the exit, only to find that is starting to collapse as well. It doesn't help that he's starting to get cut off from any actual path by the sun and fires continuing to spread. He's been through worse before, he just has to keep looking to find an escape-

Only for something to ominously creak to his left, just in time for him to look to see a big wooden trapeze ladder (that's also on fire) break free of its bearings and start to collapse towards him.

In that moment, Oscar's grasp on himself is totally wrenched away as his consciousness flees to make room for someone else, the color of his eyes flickering briefly as he reaches for the cane at his side. He pulls it free and presses down on the handle's release, extending it just in time to swing hard to his left and block one of the falling chunks of wood to take him out. The rest he has to dodge wholesale, rolling as the ladder hits the ground in a spray of embers and toxic dust forced up into the air. It's rapidly getting harder to breathe, so there's no time to waste.

If you're nearby, Ozpin will reach for and grab your arm, helping you to your feet or using his cane to prop up something you're stuck under so you can get out.]

There's no time, we have to hurry.

Gwendolyn | Odin Sphere

[royaliability]

Popcorn

[Gwendolyn has never seen popcorn before, but she's somewhat of a glutton given the opportunity. Right now? This is an opportunity, because she's hungry and it does smell appealing despite the fact she doesn't know what it is. After a few popped experimental kernels are tested, especially given that cheddar flavour really is tasty, she ends up pouring a lot of kernels in afterwards to make more.

Way more.

Jesus that's a lot of popcorn.

But it's likely you come across Gwendolyn in the aftermath of her having eaten it, with a dropped bag on the ground and a (admittedly, small) pile of spilled popcorn trailing out of it. She's hunched over next to the machine, a hand clutching her stomach.]

Poison...how foolish...

[She shouldn't eat so recklessly, yet here she is.]

clown emoji

[Gwendolyn's wearing a little black bowler hat with a rainbow rim, three daisies tucked in between. When she does see you coming, she doesn't really emote beyond her usual stoic demeanour, but she does hold the bottom of her spear towards her mouth like it's a microphone on a stand.]

How do you heal a sick bird?

[She extends the bottom of that spear towards you, awaiting an answer.]

Escape

i.
[With the situation requiring immediate action, Gwendolyn's more interested in helping other people escape to fulfill her Knightly Duty, no matter how hurt she might get in the process. If someone seems like they're seconds away from being exposed to the heat of the sun above, she suddenly whips her spear in an arc overhead, a trail of ice following the tip of her spear and creating a makeshift cover of thick, solid ice above them extending from the ground, like a little archway.

But it really won't last long, a few seconds at best, which also tells her just how deadly the sun must really be. Gungnir's ice withstood the intense heat of the inferno king's lair, so for something to make even that look like nothing...

Well, there's no time.]

I shall create a path towards the building! But you must move with me, and quickly!

[DON'T TAKE YOUR TIME ANSWERING.]

ii

[Sometimes there's no time for caution, so in this scenario you're suddenly scooped up by a woman with wings and princess carried all the way to that entrance. Unfortunately it's speed over safety, meaning as the door is breached (slammed through) she drops you and drops to the floor herself, her exposed shoulders covered in burns even from that brief exposure.

It'll be a very rough landing, so sorry if you landed on any burnt skin.]

gideon nav | the locked tomb | **MASSIVE** SPOILERS FOR GIDEON/HARROW THE 9TH

[goldenize]

arrival

[ harsh white lights flooding each room. water that could be straight from a blessed sister's decaying chamberpot. and all the damn windows, pouring in a golden orange so blinding that she can't even look at it through her sunglasses.

this place would suck even on the best of days. and gideon nav would just like to say? she has had a pretty fucking awful day.

point the first: being stuck in someone else's body. point the second: that someone else being harrowhark fucking nonagesimus, who, point the third, is only slightly more in shape than the corpses she loves so much. she's discovered this through- ]

-shit. Fuck. You couldn't even take the stairs, you bony sack of consecrated shit-

[ -point the fourth, having to stop to catch her breath at the top of a staircase. because as it turns out lugging a two-hander, the two-hander she'd literally fucking died to give her, up a broken escalator is just too much.

she props herself up and leans on the sword, panting and sweating. the only way this could get worse is-

point the fifth: the footsteps getting closer.

fuck. ]

popcorn

[ whoever invented caramel corn, she's decided, is too dangerous to still be alive. john caramel was dragged out back somewhere and ritually executed, not for his crimes against the empire, but as a preemptive strike. because if this motherfucker had set his mind to world domination? nobody could have stopped him.

gideon nav - who looks suspiciously like a clone of harrowhark nonagesimus in the douchiest shades imaginable - is sitting in a chair in the performers' wardrobes. she is taking up as much space as is physically possible, which isn't much given how fucking small harrow is but is still an admirable attempt. she's manspreading. she's got her hands behind her head with her elbows all the way out. she's got an enormous fuck-off sword in her lap, and upon the wide blade is rested a red and white bag of caramel popcorn.

she is also completely fucking blind at the moment. not that you could tell behind those sunglasses, and also how she hasn't stopped munching down and acting like nothing's wrong.

what? sometimes you have to make sacrifices in the name of progress. delicious, crunchy, caramelized progress. ]

arrival | ADDITIONAL WARNING FOR HUGE GIDEON & HARROW THE NINTH SPOILERS

[skeletonize]

( it had only been a few short weeks ago that the duplicate bodies of many of those trapped within this facility had started showing up — floating like flotsam in the foul waters of the ground floor, cooking to radioactive crisps outside the front door. those that hadn't been found a corpse had been found committing all manner of mischief; harrow had been grateful, then, that hers had had the decency to drown itself. she knew not what sort of foul wizardry had created a copy so meticulous, but at the end of the day, it didn't matter. a corpse had its uses to a necromancer, and with the doppelgangers already having yielded their thanergy, she had put a day's worth of effort into skeletonizing the body so that it could also provide the use of its parts.

there were rumors of something new, and given her previous experience with happenstance outside the norm in this accursed place, her response was mingled intrigued and deeply mistrustful. but before she went to investigate whatever that was, she instead does a sweep of the building to be certain it was the only change. harrow was the type to foil a sleight-of-hand magician — while nearly anyone else would watch the flourish, her dark eyes remain unsettlingly on that which the performer attempted to distract from.

when she nears the landing from the ground floor, she pauses. the mall is typically silent in a way that felt remarkable, even to her. even the Ninth House was not "silent as the grave" (which might be more apt) when the wheezing breath of the life support systems rattled through the vents at all hours, but this husk of prehistoric capitalism typically held the silence of a breath drawn and then suspended in the immediate instant before a scream. this means that the very different sound of wheezing — that of a flesh-and-bone human being and not of mammoth thousands-year-old machines — stands out very clearly. harrow scans the floor. no watery footprints. or, at least, not yet. she approaches, expression dark.

when she gets close enough for the figure to coalesce into something recognizable — someone entirely too recognizable — leaning heavily over a similarly familiar two-handed sword, she stops dead in her tracks. for a moment, harrowhark nonagesimus' carefully-constructed countenance slips, revealing an uncharacteristic blankness of surprise. but then it fall back down as heavily as the hatch over an air lock, warping with contempt as she pulls from one sleeve the smooth, rounded form of a sesamoid bone. her fingers pass with loving familiarity over it before she tosses the pistiform into the space between them, giving rise to a skeletal construct with a right arm she had sacrificed painstaking anatomical accuracy for pure, straight-forward function. the radius lengthened and tapered to a razor-sharp point where the hand might otherwise terminate, and the spar of ulna shored up this make-shift spear until roughly its mid-way point.

these constructs lacked an elegance she typically preferred, but, hell, who is she trying to impress here? it gets the job done.

harrow doesn't bother to say anything at all as the skeletal construct takes a few brisk, well-coordinated steps forward. with the few short interactions she had had with the copies, she found there was no point in interrogating them. there was only making sure they couldn't cause further trouble.

the skeleton raises its killing arm, lethal intent apparent in the over-exaggerated anticipatory line of motion. but it would be overly apparent that its raiser had fuck all understanding of what it was playing at, leaving it an embarrassingly open book. )

Connor-60 | Detroit: Become Human

[313_248_317_60]

A. Poor Decisions (Popcorn)

Popping popcorn is a task suited for androids. Service androids. Connor is Cyberlife's newest (and most functional) prototype detective, and he has no intention of descending so far from his given role.

Still, the dark stain on the inside of the glass does leave him curious. Connor angles his head, scanning for fingerprints before he reaches out to swipe two fingers across the smeared fluid. It receives a brief visual inspection before he opens his mouth, touching the substance to the top of his tongue for chemical analysis.

difructose anhydride, glucose, diacetyl...

...Caramel.


B. Opportunism (Props Area)

Clothes would be redundant. Connor is wearing his own: a neatly tailored suit jacket covered with glowing labels denoting his nature (ANDROID), model (RK800), and origin (Designed by Cyberlife, Made in Detroit). Of course, no one present is likely to enforce the American Android Act, but Connor isn't some deviant seeking "uniqueness".

He is, however, frustratingly unarmed. Any newcomers to this section of the tent will find an android sorting quickly through the props. His mouth is pressed to a thin line, blue LED blinking with irritation as he inspects and moves on from one container after the next. Aren't circuses supposed to have knives?


C. Edgelords gotta Edge (Fire)

"Listen, asshole. If it was up to me, I'd throw the lot of you in a dumpster and set a match to it."

Hank Anderson hadn't been speaking to him. Not to this Connor: the loyal, obedient machine Cyberlife had sent to correct their failure's mistakes. Which made it all the more ironic, considering how they'd wound up.

This Connor doesn't feel fear. Or pain, or the disgusting, crawling weakness that had led his predecessor to disgrace their line in search of freedom. He isn't deviant, and as the tent bursts into flame around him, he stands and watches, perfectly still. The only motion is the spinning LED at his temple: yellow, yellow as this newest wing of their confinement goes up in brilliant twists of flame. Connor breathes in the toxic smoke. Eyes the gaps the fire opens in the tent. It would be easy to start off into the wasteland. To wander off until the sun destroyed him, or he found a way back home.

(Would Cyberlife still want him if he did?)

WARNING: Core temperature rising—

As Lieutenant Anderson had doubtless known, androids burn quite well. Probably, Connor should go in now.

[[ooc: I'll match spam or prose!]]

figaro / mahoutsukai no yakusoku

[extinctive]

you are not a clown. you are the entire circus.

[ even the resident doctor is curious about the sudden appearance of a circus in this dingy mall, and after he's helped a couple of residents deal with their unfortunate popcorn poisoning, he goes on to investigate the costumes. he may not have an eye for it like chloe back home, but he's worn something similar to it back home so it should be okay --

and at first glance, he looks pretty fine if not funny as fuck. he'd even flash a kiddy grin and a peace sign to anyone who throws a cursory glance at him, along with some Jokes to tell. ]

So did you hear about the guy who lost his entire left side? He's all right now!

[ of course it'd be crappy medical humor. please clap. he'll be here all millenia, people. ]

the sweet escape

[ being a wizard can be a blessing in times like this, especially when most people here don't seem to be too judgmental in what he can do. he managed to escape the dying circus with minimal injuries, but not everyone is lucky in that regard.

whether you're wounded or relatively fine, this good doctor will come to you in this time of need. ]

Here, give me your hand.

[ even making something so basic as sugar out of magic gives him great pain. but he chooses to suck it up as he grits his teeth, sucks in a breath, and gives you a handful of sugar crystals for your own consumption. ]

...Hopefully this'll speed up the healing process. It's a small protection charm too, just in case.

[ all in a day's work for good doctor like him. ]

CLOWN TOWN

[strictpress]

Uh.

I dunno, did you... find a bird or something?

[BRUH. Abby has the worst sense of humor ever (even though she wishes she were funny).

Endure and survive.]

C

[bindsthedead]

"Come on!" She needs to leave. But Sabriel's not going to leave some other poor soul to burn to death here, in this place so far from anyone's home.

She doesn't want to find out what it's like to feel someone burn to death.

If he doesn't seem like he's following her, she'll grab his hand and start pulling him along. For someone who looks as pale as death, Sabriel is surprisingly strong.

clown emoji

[313_248_317_60]

[The fact that the weapon is being pointed blunt end first detracts considerably from the potential implications. Still, Connor's eyes narrow slightly.]

I'd recommend a handgun.

[313_248_317_60]

At the shout, Connor does glance—or, perhaps, glower—over. He doesn't, however, start moving quickly enough to prevent the human reaching out and grabbing him. Connor stiffens immediately, jaw tightening as he stumbles after her.

"Let go."

On the bright side, he's now running to keep up—and to get enough leverage to yank his hand free of her grasp. On the other... if Connor wasn't glaring before, he definitely is now.

[goldenize]

[ this might not be her body. actually, scratch that. there's no fucking might about it. but one flesh, one end, like the queen bitch herself would've said, and she has no intent to let said bitch's one flesh meet its one end yet.

the muscles may not respond as fast as she'd like, but there's no erasing instinct. in a single motion, harrow's body ducks in, towards the skeleton and to the side of the telegraphed blow. the momentum carries her forward, her flexor muscles screaming as the weight of the two-hander is brought up and through her assailant. she falls into an almost defensive stance as the weight of the blade returns to a downward point, covered eyes scanning the area. she can't fucking see anyone. cool. her eyes still haven't adjusted to the harsh lights of this place, a blur of whitish-blue fluorescents and black shadows to contrast it.

but she can at least piss them off. so she calls out- ]

Only one? Come on, I'm at least worth two, right?

[ -in the striking tones of harrowhark nonagesimus.

fuck, that would have sounded a lot cooler in her voice. ]

[bindsthedead]

Sabriel doesn't respond verbally, but she doesn't try to grab him again. She does look back at him a few times though, to make sure he's keeping up.

When he does, he might see the ugly burn forming on her cheek, before she turns back to the door, covering the distance in long, quick strides, apparently unencumbered by her armor or sword.

Costumes

[313_248_317_60]

[The figure Abby calls to is neatly dressed in a suit jacket and tie. Glowing labels and indicators cover the former, and a small circular light sits on his temple. At Abby's call, he glances up, and the light spins—flickering briefly yellow as he preconstructs the odds of her success.]

Insanity seems much more likely.

[Humans are prone to that. Excessively so, in Connor's opinion. His assessment sounds calm and unbothered.]

Are you going to try it?

[skeletonize]

( a clean line forms between harrow's brows as she watches the sodden duplicate dodge inwards towards its skeletal assailant; her jaw sets. she hadn't had the opportunity to deal with her previous doppelganger herself, and reports she had received from others about their own dealings had come up varied. they had largely tried to escape, sometimes resorting to attempting to sew confusion as to which was the real version when the walls closed in.

but the puzzle before her is one with additional pieces that don't fit in with what she knew of their recent rash of body-doubles. two of those pieces were trappings of her erstwhile cavalier — those ridiculous mirrored shades, making a further parody of the running skull marked on the copy's face, and that horrid steel monstrosity she had always been so fond of. the last piece was the fact that this creature doesn't move like she would, and not in the ways she had seen the doppelgangers move. it fought like it knew what it was doing which, if it truly was trying to emulate harrowhark nonagesimus, was missing the point so much it might as well have relocated to the next star system.

the longsword shears through the construct at the mid-point of its spine. that would have been the end of that, were she the harrowhark who had existed just before departing the Ninth House on a mission of immortality. but the trials and research of canaan house had given her a few new toys, necromantically-speaking, and now her martial constructs came standard with regenerating ash. as the skeleton begins to fall towards the floor in its two halves, the two pulverized ends of linked vertebrae that had been its undoing shift sand-like towards one another, knitting themselves back together. the construct catches itself as it falls, then it carefully gets to its feet as harrow tosses another fragment of bone — a thin curve of occipital — and raises a second to join it. )

As you say.

( her tones are reserved, cold, but there's a sharp glint of morbid curiosity in her dark eyes. in this moment, she has no reason to suspect the truth of the situation, but there is something nagging at the corner of her mind — something which bristled almost instinctually at the manner of speaking, and not simply because it came ignobly from her own mouth.

a moment after, the two skeletons attack simultaneously — one high, one low. )

Sabriel | Old Kingdom Chronicles

[bindsthedead]

Arrival

Sabriel drifts through the halls, intact but wary. The black water that had greeted her upon her arrival was uncomfortably familiar, but Death didn't smell so foul- and it was far colder than this. And even if she can't sense the immediate presence of any Dead... there doesn't seem to be much alive in here, and even less outside, save for a few recent signs of human habitation.

But Sabriel has her sword and bells, and she arrived in her armor, which is some comfort- she isn't defenseless, so her next concern is finding food, and drinkable water-

Sabriel's train of thought is cut off by the sound of opposing footsteps, and she whirls around- one hand drawing her sword from her hip, the other tracing a glowing mark in the air.

Circus; popcorn

It looks in better shape than much of the food she's seen so far- and to Sabriel, popcorn brings back memories of her time in Ancelstierre- back when she was a student, instead of Abhorsen. There's just one question.

"How does it work?"

Misc: Magic

After some time exploring the building as much as she can, and growing frustrated with all that she can't find, Sabriel retreats to an out of the way corner with a scavenged bowl.

Sitting in front of it, Sabriel reaches into the Charter- and for all that it's draining, there's some relief in focusing on nothing but the flow and the symbols she needs as she traces them out in the air- and watching as water condenses around them and drops into the bowl before she does it again, generating around a cup of water with each casting.

whole circus

[strictpress]

[Objectively. The joke is fucking bad. Abby knows that somewhere in her heart but despite herself, she finds that kind of funny. It's the dumb sort of joke her dad would make.]

That's...

[She shakes her head and grins, despite herself.]

Kinda funny.

[strictpress]

If I'm insane, then I shouldn't try it, right? Because... I'm fucking insane. Which means I'm gonna do shit that makes no sense. It's a... a fucking cycle, you know.

[She wants to do it. But she's been afraid of heights so long that it just feels... unnatural. She wavers on the platform.]

[goldenize]

[ she knows that voice. ]

Wait-

[ she's known that voice for her entire miserable life.. ]

Fuck-

[ something in her brain- harrow's brain- screams to duck, and gideon doesn't think twice. (she usually doesn't, in fairness. thinking twice is how you get stabbed.) she throws herself flat on the ground just as the first skeleton whizzes safely over her head - regenerating ash, harrow's memories supply, of course it wouldn't be that easy.

from there, her left hand pushes down hard, hard enough that her shoulder screams in protest, and she rolls to the side while slashing out the new skeleton's tibias. it's painful. it's inelegant. it's, if nothing else, kept her arms intact. but more importantly, it means she has to get up now, with these spindly legs and wussy arms and muscles that someone's refused to work on like the jackass nerd that she is.

it means that one last surprise attack should be enough to seal the deal. ]

popcorn

[oomfies]

[ How does it work? Well.. That's a good question. One Lottie has never really bothered to ask in a long time (that length, sadly, includes her time in the mall - she hasn't touched a working microwave in ages). So while the machine does what it does best, Lottie unintentionally mimics the same pose Claudia has while in thought. ]

Uh.. No? [ Then, more firmly, because magic definitely isn't what popcorn makes. ] No.

[ After a moment of just trading glances from Claudia, to the popcorn slowly filling up in the side compartment of the machine, she decides to elaborate a little more - and, you know, be helpful!! ]

It's just heat. I've never used one of these things before but in the microwave you just leave it and.. I don't know, science happens.

[313_248_317_60]

If the human didn't want to be burned, she shouldn't have lingered. Particularly to harass him. When Connor catches her glancing backwards, he's tempted to stop running, but in the end, momentum wins out.

He makes it through the door just after she does, and in comparable condition: a cloudy white shows beneath the right side of his face, synthetic skin bubbling away to show plastic. The errors have multiplied across his field of vision, and Connor staggers to a stop not far inside, one hand braced against the wall as he exhales the caustic, heated fumes still occupying his insides. The cooler air helps some, though his LED is still solid red.

"What—was that—for?"

[313_248_317_60]

I suppose.

[His lips curve up, polite and meaningless. It's Connor's eyes that gleam with interest. Curiosity.

He takes a slight step to the side: clearing the splatter range of her most likely fall.]

Why else would you climb up there?

circus...

[globs]

[ they don't know what this is supposed to be?? they don't know what the popcorn is. They definitely don't know what the weird colorful clothes are for, either, but Cinnabar has already decided they look incredibly silly, even if the bright colors are pretty shocking to see. Lack of comprehension aside, this place has to have suddenly appeared for a reason, so Cinnabar is there, doing what they do best: sticking to the walls and hoping nobody looks at them.

Tragically, they fail in their task. Not only that, but they have to hear this terrible joke. I'd like to say they humor him, but they super don't... They just stare at him with the flattest expression imaginable, not even dignifying it with a response. ]