ASGARD GENESIS - TEST DRIVE #1

[asgardmods]

the test drive meme. ❧ let's do this. Anyone can post to the test drive meme, including duplicates! Please put your character name and canon in the title of your comment. All threads are considered open to everyone! Tag around and make some friends (or enemies)! If you decide to apply to the game, you can use your TDM threads for your app samples! You only need to provide seven comments if you use TDM samples. You can't be "late" to a TDM! This will be considered open until the next one goes live next month. You can make up your own scenario, interact with one of the locations in the game, use the welcome process of your character selecting a god house, or use our optional prompt below! You do not need to pick a god house to play on the TDM! You can have your character still in the process of discussing/deciding/despairing instead. If you are accepted to the game, you can keep TDM threads as game canon as long as you fudge some of the details depending on your original thread. If you aren't sure exactly how to do this, you can always ask a mod. Reserves open on May 25 at 12:01AM PST and close on May 31 at 11:59PM PST. Applications open on June 1 at 12:01AM PST and close on June 7 at 11:59PM PST. Please always feel free to contact the mods if you have any questions! Have fun, dear (future?) Wanderers. ♥ ❧ optional scenario. As you enter Asgard proper, many of the natives have gathered into curious crowds to greet these mysterious children of the World Tree. Some of them carry baskets of flowers and nervously offer one to any Wanderers that come near. They are vibrant and colorful, picked from the wilds surrounding Asgard, and they might have an odd effect on your character if they sniff the flowers directly. Purple flowers will make your character very giggly and easily amused by everything they see and hear. Orange flowers will make your character feel very warm all over, like the sun is beating down on them directly. Blue flowers will make your character somewhat short and impatient with anything that seems like even a minor inconvenience to them. Effects of the flowers can wear off anywhere between a few minutes to an hour. And for those new to Asgard, this scenario aligns with some of the general curses we might have in the game! navigation.

Comments

[mycitynow]

[ This woman is imposing in a way that Kyoko knows she can never reach. But, she's a shitty teenager full of bluster and gumption, someone so dedicated to coming off in a particular way that she tries to hide just how imposing she finds Melisandre. Instead, she gives the woman a little nod. ]

I've been sitting here for the past ten minutes and at least three people have thrown away some stuff that's perfectly fine to eat. I don't care if they're sad cause we're stuck here or what the hell ever, I just hate it when people waste food.

[ Having her own childhood of hunger, Kyoko has some very strong opinions as well about people's relationship with food. ]

[voktys]

[ It works well enough – Melisandre can't tell that the girl considers her somewhat intimidating-looking. She merely attributes any hints to the fact that, just as Kyoko's manner of dress is strange to her, hers must be intensely odd in turn. Besides, she wears a golden choker with a large ruby in it. That tends to get some looks, even in Westeros, so why not here? ]

It is frustrating to witness, while there are people somewhere without food or shelter who would give their all to be here.

[ At least, that is what she tries to see in this situation now that she has been ripped away from her purpose, from her duty. If she does not make the best of it, who would she be? ]

May I join you? I won't distract you from your purpose.

[mycitynow]

[ There's a brief moment where Kyoko thinks it over. She desperately wants to be seen as someone who can take care of herself, who's got things under control, and letting some strange woman sit next to her might be a sign of weakness or (even worse) a sign that she's interested in making friends...

...but this strange woman seems pretty cool. So after a brief moment, Kyoko nods. ]

Feel free. I don't mind eating with company. [ She shrugs a little, takes a bite out of her roll, swallows it, then continues talking. ] That's a really impressive necklace. Did you get that here?

[voktys]

[ She offers a small smile in return, and then all roughly 6'0 worth of Melisandre fold themselves into a chair next to Kyoko. In some ways, she feels herself fiercely reminded of the stray cats she has observed at the docks by Dragonstone – the kind who are never quite sure if their next encounter with a person will bring food and affection, or a rough kick into the water.

It is a private observation, though, she won't push the girl on the matter. In her world, the war has made many such children, and will make many more before it is done, and for all she can tell, this one has a good head on her shoulders.

At the question, her hand involuntarily darts to the ruby around her neck. and for a moment, it looks as if the red stone pulses with light of its own. ]

No, I have had it for many years. [ Her hand lowers again, and then, with a smooth motion, she produces a short knife from seemingly nowhere, and cuts an apple she'd brought from the buffet into two even halves. It wasn't magic, of course, all of that has been taken from her, but she is so much in the habit of feigning that none of her actions are that of a normal human being that it might look like it to the naked eye. ] It means I am a priestess in service of the true God.

[ She offers Kyoko some of the apple. ]

Half an apple for half of one of your rolls?

[mycitynow]

[ That causes Kyoko to perk up a bit in interest. The true God. As someone with a complicated relationship with religion, that makes Kyoko perk up a little. Sure, she believes in God (and is accidentally assuming that her God and Melisandre's God are the same one, good job kid) and the idea of a priestess sounds cool...but considering that the last religious person she knew reacted poorly, Kyoko just doesn't know how well Melisandre would react to the whole 'magical girl' thing that Kyoko has in her backstory.

She doesn't have to tell Melisandre right away, though. Or she doesn't have to tell her at all. One thing that Kyoko does know is that the apple looks delicious. As Melisandre offers to share it, her mouth waters for a little bit before she nods. Tearing her roll in half, she offers the larger half to Melisandre. ]

You're a priestess, huh? That's pretty cool. The only priests I've ever met before were men. [ Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Kyoko continues talking. ] So what d'you do? Do you get to say the service?

[voktys]

[ She takes the roll with thanks, and then takes a bite off her half of the apple as Kyoko poses her questions. For a moment, she's honestly lost in the piece of fruit – it's juicier, and more delicious than any of the ones she'd eaten in the past months since winter has come over Westeros.

Alright, granted, there is a look of genuine amusement at the thought of only male priests. What kind of odd temple would that be? ]

Usually. And I lead in prayer, light the fires, [ take care of the human sacrifices, though even in Essos, that one is... heavily debated. Not in Asshai, of course, where every kind of practice is accepted, and Stannis has begun to see the point in what she does with them wherever his rule was accepted. Long story short, she'll save that for another time. ] teach the scripture – all that the male priests of yours would likely do.

[ She pauses, considers, and then decides that if all of Westeros is free to know, then so is this girl. It's hardly a secret. ] Back home, priests and priestesses are sought for the visions they see in the flames, for healing, and all manners of other magic. I was taught Shadowbinding, but I know of a priest who has performed no less than six resurrections on the same man.

[mycitynow]

[ Though she's trying to keep her cool, Kyoko visibly tenses when Melisandre mentions her magic. That is so radically unlike the relationship between magic and religion that Kyoko knows that it takes her aback for a moment.

And secretly? She's intensely jealous that this isn't the case back in her world. ]

Get outta here. You're cool with magic? The priest that I knew said that my magic was the work of the devil.

[ It's an unintentional slip: my magic, instead of magic in general. But Kyoko's looking at Melisandre with an expression that's pure yearning for validation. ]

[voktys]

[ Some other time, she might have to ask about this devil, but not when this girl is looking up at her with so much craving in her eyes, like someone who has not heard many good things in a very long time. She feels starkly reminded of the temple, perhaps not her own initiation into it, but that of many others – how many had wanted to believe that the hand of the Lord was real, had reached out to them, and was now truly offering them something good in the hell that is their world? ]

I have heard preachers and septas and maesters and the like say similar things. [ Her tone is dismissive, but turns warmer on the next part: ] Magic is a blessing, the Lord leads us to it, and it is his power we feel, to be used to enact his will where others can't.

[ A pulsing of the ruby around her neck. ] It doesn't mean that it has never lead anyone astray, the scripture is rich in such stories. Nothing to do there but to get up, dust off, and try again.

[ She tilts her head, curiosity does overcome her, a little. ] What do you think of your own magic?

[mycitynow]

[ She knows that there's no way of knowing if other people think like Melisandre does. Likewise, Kyoko knows that there's no way of knowing if everybody thinks like Melisandre does. Her father was excommunicated. Maybe Melisandre was as well?

But one thing doesn't change: it feels so good to hear someone who's a priestess say that magic is a blessing that the Lord leads people to. Granted, Kyoko isn't so sure if some of the aspects of her magic are a blessing. Half the time, they feel more like a curse than anything. But just hearing Melisandre say these words feels amazing.

At her question, Kyoko pauses a little, biting her lip before deciding to explain. ]

I used to think it was a gift. I could protect people with it, saving lives with my actions instead of words. Now...I ain't really sure. I'm still helping people, of course, but it's not like before.

[voktys]

[ It would be wild for her to hear – after all, those who were blessed with the spark of magic are specifically chosen to become priests and priestesses, within the walls of the Red Temples. The idea that one could be rejected over it is so against her worldview that it might just shake her up a bit.

Now, what could get her rejected is her claim to have found Azor Ahai, the saviour, almost a Jesus-figure, if it is proven to be untrue. But it's not. Not yet.

Anyway, she isn't rushing Kyoko, eating some of her roll and giving her the space to think of her reply. This is clearly a difficult subject for her, it's brave enough to speak of it at all. ]

At the risk of sounding properly ancient [ which she is, never mind that ] I felt much the same, when I was your age. I had just been initiated to be trained for priesthood, and I thought my powers would be so many things. All my visions would be clear, and people would listen to all I said, and of course, I would make miracles happen so easily at the Lord's behest.

[ She sniffs one of the strange, bread-like things she had gotten at the buffet – it's a cookie, but how would she know, but upon discovering it to be sweet, she offers some to Kyoko. ] As it turned out, none of it was as easy as I had hoped. Still isn't. But it rather sounds like you had to learn that lesson already, and I am sorry for it. It can be brutal.

[mycitynow]

[ This is sounding super familiar. As Melisandre tells an abridged version of her backstory, Kyoko shifts awkwardly. She focuses on the food as she takes all of the other woman's words in. ]

Yeah, [ Kyoko says, as she looks away from Melisandre for a moment. ] Someone who I trust learned about my magic. I thought that he'd be cool with it, you know? After all, we were fighting for the same cause. But it...he changed after he learned about my magic. He wasn't the same anymore. And he hurt some people I cared about 'cause of it.

[ There's definitely the undercurrent that Kyoko isn't telling Melisandre something about her story. But behind all her bluster and fronts, she is a very lonely girl. The fact that this woman shares some of her experiences is enough to make Kyoko want to learn more about her and maybe, hopefully, try to be friends. ]

[voktys]

[ It isn't the whole story, this much she is willing to guess. But then, Melisandre reminds herself that she did not tell her story in its more gruesome entirety, either, for many reasons – the red girl is so very likely to have similar reasons of her own.

Of course, she should not be sentimental like this. Soon enough, they will both leave this world to return to their own, it should, in fact, be her only goal and her one duty. And yet... she seems a little lost, looking off into nowhere like this. As much as Melisandre is in the middle of a war she has been fighting for years beyond count, as much she remains a priestess, somehow, somewhere. ]

Even those we trust can lose themselves in fear. In my land, they say fear cuts deeper than swords, but they don't often specify who is most wounded by it. [ She thinks of Stannis sending her away, on some lordling's behalf no less, before the battle of the Blackwater. She thinks of the hundreds, the thousands of lives lost in the flames that day. ] Someone I know very well likes to say we must move forward, always forward. It isn't easy when we are leaving pieces of ourselves behind.

[ Not that she has a self that she hasn't given to the Lord of Light. ]

My name is Melisandre. [ Another half-truth, a lie by omission – Melisandre is the priestess she is, Melony is the girl she was many, many years ago. ] Would you tell me yours?