wakingthedead | testdrive | welcome to the new age.

Entry tags:

testdrive | welcome to the new age.

testdrive meme.

1. First Day At Falner
You have just arrived at Falner Estate, a sprawling, beautiful, 400-hectare co-located space between Britain, Germany, and the Philippines, and the main base of Netsach. The flora and fauna in the area gives both a sense of familiarity as it looks at first glance like things you’ll find on Earth, and a weird sense of otherworldliness. Given the size of the place, the Estate is less of a compound and more like a town unto itself. The older buildings within the estate are gothic in their construction, and clear throwbacks to 19th Century Europe. The newer facilities, however, sport cutting edge contemporary designs that were clearly inspired by Fourth World architecture and technology.

If you want a better idea on what can be found on the estate, you can refer to this link.

2. A Day On The Job
You are pushing papers at Methuselah, doing research at the Arcanum, or going out on patrol -- whatever it is that you're doing, it's just another day for you as a Hunter of the Vigil.

3. Let's Head Down to Haven
Find yourself itching for a night out on the town? Why not head over to Haven, the classy nightclub that looks like a large, monolithic black building with no visible windows from the outside and the name of the club emblazoned in bold, white letters on one side.

Haven is located in Makati City, and is open to the public (especially the local supernatural community), but you might want to prepare yourself to wait in line for a very, very long time – unless you’re a Hunter, of course.

Falner’s Maenad Division holds office on top of Haven, as does Ordo Daywalker. Some of Haven’s staff also live above the night club.

4. The Awakening
Want to tag out your character's origin story? Set the stage and let's see where things go.

5. Choose Your Own Adventure
If none of the suggested premises hit the mark, feel free to set things up and let's do a tag round.

Instructions for the Testdrive:
1. Specify your chosen scenario number on the subject line.
2. Should you wish to tag with a specific character already established within Waking the Dead, indicate who. The current list of available NPCs can be found over here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Liandrin Delacroix is our Kaiser."

He lifts an eyebrow in her direction, but the rest of his expression is genuinely concerned.

"Sorry. I was hoping to get to the serious talk and the more clear explanations on what just happened to you once we've both sat down."

The name clicks after a moment. Sophies expression hardens a bit. "I appreciate that, but if you know me, you also know just what I just went through. I'd rather get comfy and have easy going conversations after I'm done losing my mind, if possible."

She looks and sounds completely in control, but that's just a lifetime of training put into use. That and the fact she's slowly realizing her ability to empathize with her family might be a bit off.

Edited 2014-07-09 13:53 (UTC)

"You're only going to lose it if you let that happen to yourself."

His expression hasn't changed, but the look in his eyes has grown quiet. It's almost like he understands what's happening to Sophie on a much deeper level than what a hunter of his level would know.

"Granted, I plan on doing everything that I can to make that easier for you. Staying in control, I mean."

"I just-"

What was going to be a full volume rant dies on her lips after she realizes they're not even inside the house (house? mansion? offices?). There's little to no people coming in and out, but she can't just scream about the craziness of the few hours outside, can she?

"Can we go sit somewhere?"

"Of course. How does the garden out back sound to you?"

They weren't going to be interrupted there, and Hikaru figures that he could always have somebody pop in really quick to get them both something to drink, and maybe some food.

At the end of it all, though, he wanted to leave the decision up to his companion of the moment. Awakenings had the tendency to be traumatic, and hers was pretty high up there on THAT scale.

"The garden sounds good."

Truth to be told, anywhere sounded good, as long as they got moving. "Lead the way? I don't think I can even enter on my own."

"Come on."

He starts walking again, and keeps pace to make sure that he's right at Sophie's side as they cross through the the manor. They do cross a few operatives in the colors of Netsach, but the moment the operatives see Hikaru, they merely lift their hands or nod in greeting before going on their business. There are also a few servants tending to this and that around the house.

The garden behind the manor opens up into a hedge maze in the distance. Its well maintained, and more than a few trees and bushes are flowering even at this time of night. It's also well lit.

Hikaru turns back to his companion once they're outside, and brings out his cigarettes.

"Pick a bench."

It's a silent walk, as Sophie takes the chance to look around, although there isn't nearly as much interest in her gaze as it would usually be on someone who is crossing those halls for the first time. She's more than likely going to re-walk the mansion at some point and gasp at every turn she takes, most likely.

The garden looks just as impressive, and this time she does stop for a moment to take all that greenery in. She then picks a bench completely at random, motioning him to sit next to her.

Hikaru complies, of course, and makes sure to keep a respectable amount of space between them. He sets his pack down there after thumbing one out, bringing it to his lips, and lighting up. He blows the smoke away from Sophie, of course; it's only polite.

"Well, you had questions. Let's start from there, and work our way through everything that needs to get covered."

After a few moments of silence, Sophie huffed loudly.

"I don't even know where to being. What am I? Am I going to die? Or go insane? Did I really kill all those guys?"

"You're a Bladian. You're going to die eventually, and you won't go insane now that we've recovered you."

He pauses there, to take another drag.

"And I read the post-engagement report. Yes, you killed all of those people. You had help."

Sophie's face remains neutral. "Eventually." But she doesn't know if she wants to press that matter.

She does want to ask about the the last thing he said, though. So she did. "Help? I thought everyone else was already dead. They all had guns, not to mention I was shot-"

She stops there to look at herself; certainly not the looks of someone that had gotten shot. Suddenly she's feeling ridiculously tired.

"You were shot, and the Bloodsinger inside of you didn't want you to die. Not dying, I believe, entailed waking up, sealing the fact that the two of you are joined in a pact of blood, and using your own inherent desire to stay alive to eliminate all of the threats in the area."

Hikaru deliberately holds off on a lot of details because he's certain that they could get to that later. They had all night; he could make time for it.

"I'm a good fighter, I know that, but I'm hardly that good." Eyes still cast down, she stares at her hands. "And why did I have a Bloodsinger inside of me? Is it gone now?"

"No, it isn't."

He's looking over at her now, right into her eyes - maybe past her eyes, and closer towards the thing that's resting within her head. She probably can't feel its presence; it's staying quiet now that it's been satiated. Now that it knows whom its vessel is with.

"From the looks of it, for reasons that the other Malice Kings of Netsach and I can't determine just yet, it's bound to you. To your blood."

"Just like that? But does that mean it has a reason to do that?" And then the idea hits her, because why not? "But you must have seen this happen before, right? Like vampires or weres or what not, there's got to be other people like me."

That look he's giving her is a bit unnerving, but she can't look away. "Right?"

"If you're asking whether there are other Bladians beyond you and me, then yes, there are other people like you."

He stops seeking the other creature inside of her out. It isn't ready to talk yet, it seems.

All in due time. Hopefully, for its sake, he won't have to force the issue.

"If you're asking whether there's any case specifically like yours... that's a little trickier. I'll need more information before we can talk about that in detail, but I can tell you what we do know."

"Oh-Oh." At least that explained why he was the one talking to her. And she wasn't completely alone, which was... nice?

She takes a moment before asking the next question. "So how does a Bladian usually come to be? I take it not everyone gets shot in the chest and left to die."

That makes him smile again.

"No, not everyone. A lot of Bladians do end up with their Singers because of a life-or-death situation, but there are also a lot of cases of Bladians simply making deals with Singers in order to get an extra edge of out life."

His tone turns wry at that point. When he continues, though, he sounds serious.

"Making a Pact, though, isn't a joke. To become a Bladian means that you have something else in your head that may be inclined to view you as little else but a tool that allows it to eat and survive. The weight of its presence alone shortens your lifespan considerably."

"Who the hell would want this?"

A bit insensitive, of course, but she was in no position to empathize. "And I made no pact. Sure, I didn't want to die, but I didn't agree to this."

The rest of what he's saying doesn't help either. "How shortened, exactly?"

He'll withhold his own input on her reaction. No need to go into that just yet, not while they still needed to clear up a few things. What she'll see instead, then, is the way that his eyes drift up, albeit briefly, to the air right above her head. He could have hidden that gesture; he chose not to.

"On average, Bladians die in their thirties or forties - fifties, if they're very lucky. It all depends on when they awakened, and how they handle the time that they have left." He takes another drag from his cigarette before going on. "You have about thirty more years on you."

She looks up, confused, but ultimately decides she's probably better off not asking.

"So they usually become Bladians at a way younger age than me? That's rough." It's the best way she can put it without being even less sensible. "Can a Pact be undone? I clearly didn't agree to anything here, right?"

"They can be now, but you're a bit of a special case."

Special case. He's always been amused by that denomination, if only because it usually WASN'T very funny. In fact, sometimes, it was so bad that the only thing one could really do was laugh about it.

"Bloodsingers make a Pact with individuals who wanted, at least on some level, wanted to take their deal. From the looks of it, you ended up inheriting your Bloodsinger. That isn't supposed to happen."

Sophie just grunted at that word. Special case couldn't mean anything good in this situation. It only meant the guys that were supposed to know about this sort of things were probably as long as her.

"Wait a minute, we weren't so many in my family, and I'm pretty sure I would've noticed if someone had a crazy evil killing spirit inside." A beat. "I think. And besides, how something that's not supposed to happen goes and happen anyway?"

"Something with the ability to fuck with the status quo got involved."

He puts out his cigarette, and goes for another. Before he speaks again, though, he catches sight of one of the house servants hovering close by. He nods once to the servant, then turns back to Sophie.

"What do you want to eat, and what kind of booze do you like? We can have them bring stuff out to us here."

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