TEST DRIVE MEME

[behind_the_box]

Starting now, we'll put up a new one of these very month! Feel free to use the current setting of Pandora (Christmas in July) or make up your own! You can also use the following scenarios if you'd prefer:

1. Mushroom Kingdom

Have you ever wanted to be a fairy? Well now you are, even if the answer was no! The City is a big, big place, all of a sudden. Houses are roomy affairs inside giant mushrooms, there are colorful flowers everywhere you look, and the animals are always friendly! Unfortunately, the only food items being sold in the market this month are fruit, fruit, and.... more fruit.

2. School Town

You may be too old to attend the academy, but that doesn't seem to matter; your attendance is mandatory anyway. Or perhaps you're there to teach, because you're the only resident of Pandora that possesses a certain skill. It doesn't matter if it can't be learned; you have to come up with a lesson plan anyway. At least the uniforms aren't some god awful color, right?

3. Zombie Apocalypse.

There's no coming back from death in Pandora, so you'd better do all you can to survive. Three quarters of the city are already infected, and this is the last stand. Are you going to pool your resources and try to make it together, or is it time to stop trusting others and go it alone until the month is over?

Comments

Lancer (Diarmuid Ua Duibhne) | Fate/Zero (Spoiler Warning: Canon Point is Epi 16)

[oathshackledbird]

Prompt: Arriving in the City during the Christmas in July Event!

[The war was not suppose to end like this. His life was not suppose to end like this. Not with another betrayal. Even though Diarmuid had suspected things might have started to twist toward that familiar ending again, he had hoped he would be able to stop it. To keep things from getting that far.

Then the war had ended. His spear in his chest. His blood on the ground. Black and red, hatred and rage filling his vision--his self--until there had been nothing left.

There should have been nothing left. However, instead of nothing there had been the box. And the curiosity.

Did it matter now if he opened it or not?

So he had and here he was, wherever here was. Oh, he had listened to what he had been told during his little introduction, but now that he is standing on his own in the middle of this strangely...festive city, he really has no idea where to start trying to decide what to do.

Or why the residents seem so worried about needing protection from evil spirits that they have mistletoe hung up everywhere...]

[shortafewcircuits]

[Waver is really not in the habit of watching where she's going. There aren't usually enough people out this time of day to bother, and the reindeer-drawn sleds don't venture this close to the side of the street. And so she is rushing down the lane, rummaging through a bag for something, when she crashes right into his back and falls flat on hers in the snow.]

...Bugger.

[proteusmoon]

[ Cecil finds the appearance of the city strange as well, but doesn't recognize it as a festive theme. Having grown up in a coastal kingdom on a fairly warm continent, snow isn't something she's used to seeing. In fact, she's only been exposed to it a few times in her life — the majority of said instances having taken place in the last year, in fact. As such, she's not finding the cold all that enjoyable. It reminds her of the moon, actually— the cold of space and the days' tendency to be short and dark compared to the long, warm days of summer.

This holiday they call "Christmas" doesn't exist on her world. They have their own winter traditions, true, but it's different from this and in Baron it's different from the rest of the world. Cecil pulls her cloak tighter around herself and walks up the ice-covered steps leading to the entranceway of the library carefully, mindful not to slip. There's mistletoe hung in the arched doorway just inside, where Cecil pauses for a moment to shake the snow from her silvery hair and clothes, but she doesn't notice since she's still not accustomed to looking for the little green sprigs at every turn. The warmth of the library is inviting and she shivers slightly from the shock of it sinking into her body. She's going to have to search for more suitable clothing to wear in this weather if it's going to stay this way for a while. ]

[fionnuisce]

[He'd thought the box left upon his desk was at best some kind of gift from one of many admirers or at worst, a harmless prank from Eskardos. Of course he'd opened it, Waver had thought nothing of it to begin with.]

[But this was where 'curiosity' got him? This...this was cruel. Some illusion of a city decorated in mistletoe, with him standing in it? Waver's right hand curled into a fist, still bearing the faded scars that had once been bright scarlet Command Spells.]

What is this? [He barely managed to keep an audible snarl out of his voice--instead his words were forced and even pained.] Some kind of joke? You're not really here--you can't be here.

Saber (Diarmuid Ua Duibhne) | Post-Fate/Zero AU (Canon Point: Post 6th Grail War/Corruption's War)

[shatteredservice]

(OOC: I am indecisive. Leave me alone. *hides*)


Prompt: Arriving in the City during the Christmas in July Event!

[Was it not enough that the Throne of Heroes had shattered? Was it not enough that order and common sense had scattered to the four winds the moment that countless heroes had been returned to the world they had once ruled, fought, and died upon? Had not that insanity been enough to deal with?

Is Diarmuid really standing in the middle of a city made out of gingerbread houses and covered in an impossible amount of snow?

Unconsciously, his left hand lifts to rub at his right shoulder, at the place where his right arm would be if it had not been severed by his master so that the magus could cheat the system and sacrifice his servant to the Corruption for a wish instead of bothering to win the war and earn his wish as it should have been.

Diarmuid sighs, looking around the city again before seeming to come to some kind of conclusion and calling out to those passing nearby.]

Pardon me. I would have a moment of your time...

[allthetime]

(ooc: NO NEVER /slams into <3)

[The troll girl stops to look at him and giggle as though he made a joke, wings fluttering just slightly as she grins at him in the friendliest way possible.]

You look lost. Would you like some help?

I'm sorry; I don't have anyone else to tag with right now. ;;

[proteusmoon]

No, it's fine.

[ The knight in her black gambeson, boots, and breeches turns to look up at the man to her right. Although the expression on his face is telling enough itself, she's guessing he's new because she saw the management representative speaking to him while she was crossing the street. She gives him a friendly smile and inclines her head to one side. ]

Is... everything all right? I saw them talking to you a moment ago. Are you in trouble or...?

[wealthreliant]

[Fending off the snow in an ivory cap and a snow leopard-printed jacket does not seem to be helping Gilgamesh's mood much. A few days of cold, fine. A few inches of snow, fine. But this was unacceptable, and the only reason he wasn't lashing out more was because of the current state of his treasury.

He hears the voice but doesn't acknowledge it as recognizable, turning his head to look back the way he had just walked.

Though his lips somehow manage to remain flat, there is a very obvious snort of amusement as he looks at the decidedly worse-for-wear Lancer.]

Look what the cat dragged in.

[Someone has probably been watching more TV than really necessary.]

[holyswordwielder]

( ooc ; Fate/Zero AU! Because why not. )

[ Arthur is standing at the display window of one of the toy shops, peering inside at the dolls and plush animals on the shelves, when he hears a strangely familiar voice. He looks over his shoulder and feels his stomach drop out from under him. He can't help staring, though he knows it's uncivil to do so. If he looks like he just saw a ghost, it's because he has. ]

...Lancer.

yo dropping ProtoLancer here again

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer turns around, his finger still picking around in his nose. He too was quite lost, but he had settled into this city somewhat. At least, nothing seemed hostile.]

[Nothing except this other Servant. He can feel himself tense up, even though, technically speaking, the Grail War is already over for him.]

Yeah? What?

Javik | Mass Effect 3 | canon point is post-game!

[vengefulancient]

Prompt: Zombie Apocalypse.

*War. War never changes. It always involves reanimated corpses, for instance, though there's a pleasing lack of giant squid-shaped death machines backing the corpses this time around. Indeed, compared to the level of war being Hell Javik is used to, this seems almost like a vacation.*

*So Javik is out in the streets, fighting his way towards a tall building. He's unarmed, but he's got mind powers, which he's using to slam zombies to the pavement at lethal speed and also to ignite them with strange green flames.*

*There's a lot about this situation that's baffling to him. He's not sure why or how he's here, for instance. But that doesn't really matter at this particular moment--survival is all that counts in a situation like this.*

*So, anyone else out there trying to escape the hordes? Wanna join up with the grimly determined four-eyed alien?*

[allthetime]

[Alien team ups are the best team ups. Aradia doesn't seem to mind the zombies as much as one really should; she flutters out of their way when they decide they want an Aradia-flavored snack, but other than that, she only seems to step in when it's for the benefit of someone else.]

Oh hey I've never seen you before!

1

[fureverscrewed]

[Viral has never wanted to be a fairy (just what the hell is it?!) and being part carnivore and part carnivore, he is all carnivore. The beastman dons a brown cloak to keep people from seeing him clearly --he's unsure how these humans will react to him so soon after the war, and all -- as he awkwardly moves through the market, looking for something edible that isn't fruit.]

How can they live like this?

[hortus]

[jade is currently flitting back and forth between the stands in the market, and okay, maybe she was getting tired of all the cake, but...she's also not sure what to make of everything fruit.]

Ugh, are you sure you don't have anything other than the fruit? I mean, it all looks very good, but do you have something with meat? Maybe?

[she looks hopefully at one of the merchants, almost pouting, but when her sensitive nose catches an unfamiliar (and intriguing) smell, she's distracted from her conversation.

she keeps sniffing, wandering away from the stand to the source of the smell. she catches his voice, and just smiles to herself.]

Well, fruit is very nutritious, you know! [because she certainly understands how they can live this way, but it doesn't mean she likes it!]

[whydidithavetobecrows]

Prompt: 1. Mushroom Kingdom


You have got to be kidding me...

[Cu Chulainn looks around himself with disbelieving eyes, before suddenly breaking out into wild--perhaps not quite all there--laughter.]

I know I was drinking the good stuff last night, but seriously? Mushroom houses? Fairies? Fruit? That's a whole different kinda crazy even for me!

Well, maybe not so much the fairies, but...

[He laughs again before setting off to wander around the city, randomly poking the houses to see if they are really what they appear to be. Anyone care to bother the blue-haired guy with really bad fashion sense before he puts a hole in some innocent person's house? Or maybe after he does?]

[shortafewcircuits]

[She's just trying to have a moment of peace and maybe a little kip to pass the time when suddenly someone is poking holes in her wall?! Waver stomps to the window with all the rage a shrimp like her can muster.]

would you mind?! You could have stabbed me!

[proteusmoon]

[ Cecil isn't particularly concerned about the blue-haired guy with really bad fashion sense poking holes into the walls of her house, but that's largely due to the fact that she's far more engrossed with entertaining all the animals on the other side of the mushroom house that suddenly really want her attention. Kneeling in the grass outside, Cecil scoops another young rabbit that's hopped out of her hands onto her shoulder away from her neck and puts him back down with the rest of his family. A mother rabbit and her litter of tiny black, white, brown, and grey offspring aren't the only ones who seem to have found an interest in the paladin; a deer and a few red-breasted birds she doesn't know the name of are suddenly keeping her company too. ]

Not that I dislike making new friends, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you all to visit tomorrow instead...

[ She was trying to tend to the small flowerbeds that have cropped up around the house and though Cecil doesn't have any talent with gardening, she's very confident that leaving the flowers to be eaten by her unwanted guests is a sure-fire way of failing at her task. She tries to who away the bunnies, but they don't seem terribly troubled by her attempts. She sighs with exasperation. ]

You are all just as persistent as Namingway... Are you related somehow?

Lancer | Fate/Zero

[knightwalksintoaboar]

❧ Zombie Apocalypse
[ There are two things that are infinitesimally valuable during these "end of days". Firstly, the ability to execute a silent kill, and secondly, speed.

Both are talents Lancer possesses and despite the risk one takes in traversing the city streets alone, especially at night, he's willing to venture outside of the boarded up apartment he and a small group of fellow "survivors" have made their shelter for the good of everyone. Typically, supplies runs are only ever done during the day, when sunlight tends to keep most of the undead hidden away in the shadows of abandoned and destroyed buildings where the cold keeps their decomposing flesh better preserved. However, the group is running out of food and while he may not need to eat, the others do. Time isn't a luxury they can afford. They're getting weaker. Suffice to say that due to his status as a Heroic Spirit, Lancer can't quite remember what hunger pains feel like in the most visceral of senses, but he is not without compassion and the suffering of his friends isn't a fact of life he can simply accept with detachment when he can actually do something.

It was an easy decision. He's the only one of them who's still in peak physical condition, he's a skilled warrior, and he's fast. He figured he'd be gone and back before anyone noticed. The night would provide for him the cover he chose to deprive himself of by departing on his own, without his usual partner who makes these perilous errand runs with him.

Lancer practically glides along the rooftop of a large grocery store, sleek and silent as a raven, searching for a way in. The normal entrances on the ground level have been barricaded. He can't get in without making a ruckus and that would be a sure way to attract unwanted attention. Though it seemed the store didn't have a second floor when he looked inside through a barred window, he is hoping he'll be able to find structural damage he can exploit more discreetly. After a little bit of testing the flat roof for durability, he finds it-- a place where the stucco and plaster cracks beneath a blow from Gae Dearg. With a smile, he slams his foot down on the weakened area and it crumbles away with a slight groan, revealing wood and padded insulation. He drops in, then uses his spears to cut himself a path through the wall. ]


(( OOC ; Yes, suddenly, this became a Test Drive Your Lancer meme. Canon drop point is post-death and I'm hand-waving that he has been in the city for a while. Your character can either be Lancer's scouting partner, another "survivor" he stumbles upon, or something completely different. |3a Feel free to presume some acquaintanceship between your character and Lancer! Er, and yes, the spot is active if you'd like to play that up. ))

[wealthreliant]

[The King of Heroes stands silent and alone, overlooking the lumbering masses of undead from his perch on a multistory theater complex's roof. It's a decent viewpoint for the night -- one of many spots he had chosen to watch from as the city descended into chaos over the course of the month. His expression is cold and disinterested, a testament to what he thought of the most recent ... turn in the city's environment.

At some level, he could appreciate the situation; after all, this strange city seemed to disrupt the far-reaching sight that was both a boon and a curse, and thus he had no vision of a future for the people of Pandora. He saw no brilliance, no manifestations of greatness that should be preserved, should be watched as they marched to a future far beyond their own imaginations.

Just rotting, mindless corpses that dragged their feet and survived on instinct alone. Worse than those he deigned as mongrels.

The presence of a Servant moving around the city is easy to detect. Divine eyes flit across the nearby rooftops, assuming those to be the most likely areas of travel for a "survivor," until he catches sight of something lingering on a familiar rooftop. The grocery store. Of course. Such a typical place to go for supplies, even with its insides now mostly gutted.

Gilgamesh folds his hands behind his back and strolls to the edge of the rooftop, judging the distance to the grocery store roof for a moment. Then he dematerializes in a flowing current of gold motes, still eying his destination the entire while.]

AU Kayneth

[tenured]

[One moment, he'd been at home, in Paris, safely in his apartment in the 6th arrondissement. The next, he was suddenly in an unfamiliar room, being talked to by someone who seemed nothing less than absolutely mad--and then, without any ceremony or assistance, he was let out into a foreign city in the middle of the night.

A foreign city full of zombies.

Fortunately, Kayneth had protection with him: spelled vials of fluid that he could easily use to defend himself. In his hands, they were as effective and deadly as any weapon, yet he was unused to combat of any kind. He was a sculptor, a scholar, an art professor, not a warrior, and slicing through the stumbling legions of the living dead was both horrifying and draining. This had to be a nightmare--it couldn't be real. He had a lecture to give in the morning. At any moment now, he was going to wake up.

Or so he kept telling himself as he found himself cornered by zombies. The liquid that rose in sharp sheets and desperate waves from where he stood was almost delicately beautiful. Even when in mortal peril, Kayneth retained his sense of aesthetics.]

[marriedthebloke]

[By now, Sola-ui has curled up into an exhausted little ball and despaired of any rescuers. All she can do is wait for the zombies to consume her. However, it seems that she is not meant to die yet, since some new comer had just saved her.]

...Who..?

[She starts to call out, but stops herself. There's a possibility that this "rescuer" would also be hostile toward her.]

Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi | Fate/Zero [AU] | School Town

[tenured]

[He hates it here. Of course he does. There is nothing for him to like about this place. He wants to go home. He misses Paris. He misses his apartment. He misses his school and his lover and his friends and his workshop and even his most infuriating students, the ones how make him want to put his fist through a wall.

At least--"at least" meaning a small step up from excruciating torture--there is something for him to do here, something that he excels at. He is an excellent professor, and he doesn't doubt the superiority of his art history classes. If he buries himself in his work, he might be able to forget this nightmare for a short while. Because burying yourself in your work is always the healthiest response to any problem.

It's with his work in mind that he makes his way across the campus, striding swiftly and purposefully forward, with little thought for anyone who might happen to be in his way.]

[marriedthebloke]

[Sola-ui is one of the people all but shoved aside during his advance.]

Well, excuse me.

Shinji Matou | Fate/Extra (AU) | Mushroom Kingdom

[gamechamp]

OOC Note: Hover over this text for a summary of his AU!

[This place is really weird.]

[This is not an uncommon thought for Shinji to have. However, he thinks it more vehemently today, and with both more exasperation and dread. Some of the changes he has been able to deal with. This fairy bullshit, on the other hand, is just nonsense, and he wants nothing to do with it. Seeing as he isn't being given a choice in the matter, though, he makes his way to the food market with only a moderate amount of grumbling.]

[The selection of fruit is vast, probably more so than any he's seen in his life. Some are common, some are exotic, and some are strange and brightly colored in a way that doesn't seem entirely natural, at least not for anything that would grow on Earth. There's even one variety that seems to be spotted with bright pink hearts, which he immediately decides he should stay away from, all things considered.]

[But— Endless variety or not, there's literally nothing but fruit. Not even a package of cup noodles.]

[His sigh is great and put upon as he tosses the orange in his hand over his shoulder.]

[tenured]

[Kayneth hates this place, every incarnation of it.

He doesn't like it any better now that it's fairyland. Because now he has to deal with a pair of beautiful, golden, gossamer wings. They are quite visually appealing (if not exactly his preferred aesthetic), but they are utterly useless and invariably in his way. No, he can't fly. He can't even wear his proper clothes without cutting holes in them, because he has these damned wings sprouting from his back.

They've gotten caught on something again--this time one of the more whimsically rough-hewn market stalls--and he's busy trying to extricate himself without causing himself too much pain (he's so fortunate his pointless wings also have nerves in them), when suddenly, an orange hits him in the head.

The fruit bounces off his head and falls to earth, and he stares at it for a moment before looking up at the one responsible for throwing it with a glare.]

Thank you for that infantile display. It's so delightful to see proof that no matter what is done to us, human idiocy will never be defeated.

Archer Alter (Fate/stay night AU)

[blackenedideals]

I. School Town
[This is, perhaps, the least fitting setting he has been thrown into yet. Yes, even more so than the fairyland. At least there he had been able to avoid people. Now? Now he has no choice. He tried to stay home, and the Management has already seen to it that he be punished for his truancy—which means there's a new addition to his wardrobe, a shock collar fitted around his throat. Predictably, it buzzes every time he doesn't go to class. Or is late. Or makes some minor infraction in the dress code. Naturally, he hates it, but he can't seem to make it come off...]

[So, he isn't precisely in the best of moods now. Which means the palpable aura of rage and darkness that constantly surrounds him is...even more palpable. And ragey. Also, if these disgustingly twee and irritating fairy dragons don't leave him alone while he waits for this classroom door to be unlocked, he's going to snap their necks one by one.]

II. Zombie Apocalypse
[It's not like he saved you because he likes you or anything!]

[...No, really, he doesn't. After all, whether you were defenseless or simply overwhelmed by sheer numbers, it's both easy and beneficial for him to pick off zombies while their attention is elsewhere. Killing them here and now just means he doesn't have to kill them later, anyway.]

[Maybe the polite thing to do would be to thank him, but... Really, who wants to thank someone that stinks of the all the evils in the world?]

II

[allthetime]

[Yeah, who would want to be near anyone who stinks of all the evils in the world? It's not like that would be a draw for some people or anything.

Nope, not at all.]

That was fun to watch! Good job!

[And really, why should it occur to her to say thanks?]

Diarmuid ua Duibhne [Reincarnation AU] . Fate/Zero

[otherwise_proven]

[It's hard being the new kid. It's even harder when you hadn't planned on going to school, but it's what Diarmuid seems to be meant to do now, so he's going along with it.

This place gets odder by the day. Honestly, he'd take his most difficult table, a cold, rainy day, and a misunderstanding with his landlady all rolled into one over this place. He misses Paris-- hell, right now he misses Ireland-- and his job(s) and his friends, his lover. Not necessarily in that order.

He doesn't particularly like uniforms, either. But what's there to be done about it? At least it fits.
A little lost, Diarmuid makes his way along the hall, books under his arm, looking above the classroom doors for the proper number-- and not looking where he's going. A fellow could run right into someone like that. Or drop all his stuff and look a fool. If he weren't careful.

Diarmuid isn't being all that careful.]

[knightwalksintoaboar]

[ Lancer isn't being all that careful either, but then again, he's not exactly moving. He's sitting leisurely in one of the classrooms, in the front row, staring absent-mindedly out the open door and watching the other "students" hurry past to their own classes in time before the second bell sounds, signalling the actual beginning of class. Details of their faces barely register as they whirl past.

He's just looks away, the thought occurring to him suddenly that perhaps it's not the wisest or safest move ever to be flashing his face like this at everyone who walks past, when he hears the sound of books crashing to the floor and papers scattering. His eyes fly back up from the surface of his desk, his attention caught by the noise, and that's when he finally actually notices a face-- his face.

His face is on someone else.

Lancer gets up right away and before he really understands what he thinks he's doing, he's already heading outside the classroom, bending to pick up the other Diarmuid's things. He hands them over, but doesn't say anything-- just stares. No. This isn't possible. How is this happening? ]

...Management's idea of a joke?