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graveyardsmash2016-01-13 12:29 am
rysligmods) wrote in graveyardsmash2016-01-13 12:29 am
Entry tags:
JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME
- You can only app ONE character per round so choose wisely.
- We now have a Quick Game Facts that simplifies the basic information about the game. Good if you want to see what the game is at a glance!
- Ryslig's FAQ is located here, so please take a look if you have questions.
- The Reserve date is 01/29.
- Test drive meme threads can be used for your roleplay sample!
- Players with characters already in the game can earn up to a maximum of 6 coins by replying to potential character threads! You cannot use this to go over the bonus 20 coins per month total, but you can use it to reach that coin total. Same rules as normal bonuses apply.
Sample scenarios:
SCENARIO ONE: So you've just arrived, fresh out of the hospital, and already the natives are trying to get on your good side. Offers of food, shelter and other luxuries in return for hoping you don't eat them. They even have some helpful pamphlets to share with you. "How To Deal With Changes", "Alternatives to Human Flesh", "What to Expect When You're Expecting (to turn into a monster)" are all great pamphlets. There's even some detailing certain monsters, and the changes they go through. Some of these seem to have been passed down from one monster to the next.
Among these however, are some... not so helpful ones. "Bunnyipyips And You", "Axe Thief Axehounds," and "So you're becoming a Fur Bearing Trout" among others. Sometimes they have marks on them from previous people who had them saying they are lies, or pointing out good "jokes."
SCENARIO TWO: You've become hopelessly lost in Lager Woods. Paths don't seem to lead where you remember them leading, and you feel as if you're going around in circles. Childlike giggling can be heard from no direction in particular. Suddenly, you stumble upon another character, who seems to be just as lost as you! Perhaps you can find a way out together. Or maybe they want you for lunch...
SCENARIO THREE: The time has come and you've found yourself becoming a monster. Is the change instant, or gradual? Are you familiar enough with monsters to know what's happening, or is it a complete shock? NOTE: Feel free to pick any monster type for this prompt, but note that you may not get the same one in game.
SCENARIO FOUR:The claws, the fangs, the pangs of hunger - horrible as they all are, it's manageable given enough time and perseverance. Local monster hunters, though, not so much.
Maybe it started with a few wayward glances on the outskirts of town, critical stares and disapproving whispers, or just the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever it was, deserved or entirely unprovoked, you're being hunted: a handful of aggressive, well-armed humans doggedly chase your trail throughout city streets and out into the open, and if you're not careful (if you don't find help soon) you might wind up as the next trophy kill claim on one of those hunter's walls.
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Understanding this doesn't make the situation any less surreal. It still feels as if the other man's corpse is being animated by an unseen force. But he doesn't have the luxury of letting this bother him. Out of anyone in this place who could give him the information he needs, L is the best candidate. At least, if he's willing to share enough. He might know L better than some, but that only means he knows he'll never know everything.
Linden Tailor. Not much information survived the purge of the files on Kira's case, but L's address to the user of the Death Note through a criminal on death row had been broadcast for everyone to see, and therefore couldn't be covered up. Lind L. Tailor had been the man's name. Interesting that he should choose something so close. It's as if he's hoping Kira will make an appearance as well.
But he still owes a name in return.]
Mello.
[No alias save for the one he's always had. He hadn't been as well known a detective as L. The only case he'd ever actually worked on had been the Kira case, and he was too brazen to hide his identity when out in public, at least at first. Now he sees no reason to start, and he's making his mentor aware of this fact.]
And I'd appreciate it.
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The corner of his mouth twitches in something like a half-smile at that name; he knows it, even missed it now that he is facing someone he can rely on to be an ally right from the starting gate. He is absolutely the best Mello could hope for, guarding both their secrets and sharing what he can that is vital and pertinent. He knows the history and priorities of his successor, or... At least he did, until five years ago.]
Well, Mello... it happens there is a cafe nearby where we can find a quiet corner. Please accompany me.
[He starts walking, gait as hunched and shuffling as always, if slightly brisker. He trusts Mello to follow, and true to his word, the shop is very close... and very fragrant. Gourmet coffee and fine chocolate can be smelled from the street, but if L could be caught reacting to any of it at all, it's the people leaving the cafe and passing them as they enter with sugar and caffeine singing rich, sweet harmony through their veins. For just a moment, his eyes follow them and he cranes his neck to watch them go, and then his attnetion is fully on Mello again. He pushes some money into the other man's much, much warmer hand.]
It should be enough for whatever you might like... when you've purchased it, join me at the booth in the back, OK?
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Observing he is, though. There isn't a single movement of L's that goes unnoticed as he follows behind, so the attention he gives to those parting the cafe is noted in heavy detail. He forces himself not to follow that glance, even if it might just be someone L knows, and instead watches his mentor's expression. It's not typical for him to even take notice of someone else at a time like this unless they're of interest to him, and Mello is fully aware that hunger could be responsible for that interest. A subject for another time.
He blinks a moment at the offered money. A part of him is embarrassed to even take it, but the rest of him is desperately claiming his main vice - and the smell of chocolate is far too strong in here.]
... That's generous of you.
[Hopefully they have actual bars with the goodies back there, as he'll drink water if means he can get a couple of those in his pocket.
A cafe isn't his preferred location for a meeting like this, but sometimes the best place to avoid being heard is when you're actually surrounded by ears. All those ears have mouths to go with them. Nodding in agreement, he leaves L to go find their table while he procures the desired sweets. He doesn't like feeling like he already owes someone either, but he'll make an exception in this case.
It's with chocolate squares already gripped in his teeth that he returns to take a seat across from L.]
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He tilts his head at Mello's hesitation, but doesn't urge him or reassure him that it's all right. He knows that someone who loves the rich, melting taste of chocolate as much as Mello would be hard-pressed to decline. The offer and the amount both are generous, but L raises a shoulder in a stiff, deliberate shrug.]
Not at all. It's the least I can do...
[For a successor, one who have given so much of himself to a legacy built by another...
He turns and takes his seat at the back booth, drawing his knees to his chest. He has nothing before him, no food or drink, because they stopped tasting good to his palette almost as soon as he began to change. The irony was cruel, but though he misses the way those things used to taste, he's reminded of how much he dislikes them now every time he tries to indulge again. No... the only thing that comes close now is the blood of a diabetic.
When Mello returns, he offers a pale, wan smile.]
I'd say you haven't changed, but that's not true. The last I knew you weren't yet fifteen years old.
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... I'd also say you haven't changed, if this place hadn't take care of that already.
[Though at least L is the same age. He knows he won't be able to veer the topic away from himself long so he doesn't bother.]
Yeah, it's been a while. You left us quite a mess.
[If they'd had all the information L had gathered, everything would have gone a lot differently. He also knows it's not his mentor's fault they had to start practically fresh. That blame lies elsewhere. He just needs to know that his successors did continue things as he wanted (maybe not exactly as he wanted) and that it took them some time to get anywhere.
It would be nice to know if everything had paid out in the end, but unfortunately he can't offer L what he doesn't know himself.]
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Yes, I thought as much. I remember Watari's death, but not my own... I take that as confirmation that it did in fact happen.
[The other one, anyway, that hasn't left him looking frost-touched, pale and gaunt. His tone does sound regretful, not so much for the opportunities his lost life robbed him of, but because of the mess his game became as a result of his passing.]
If I could have done it any other way I would have tried. You understand.
[Probably better than Near ever could, actually. Final rash and risky decisions have always been more Mello's bag.]
Was Kira captured and convicted? And what happened to...?
[He touches his own cheek, indicating the burns on the other man's scarred face.]
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But if that stare made things awkward, what follows knocked things off the charts. He expects the questions, of course, but having those two given in succession like that causes him to be at a momentary loss for words. He lets his somberness answer the first question for him, skipping to the second as he knows he'll be dragged back to the other soon enough.]
...I'm sure you know how it is. Sometimes in order to make the grandest escape possible you have to blow up your own headquarters.
[Despite the words, there's little humor in Mello's tone. He's about to have to admit his failures to the man he tried to match up to. They'd all been playing against a deck stacked in Kira's favor. Even if he'd wanted to blame L for the way things had turned out, he didn't have the right.]
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L was never known for his social grace, and though he tries when it matters, the line between idiotic act and genuine ineptness is thin and ill-defined. Genius usually comes at the expense of other things. Mello's answer has him restless and anxious, at least as much as a dead man can be.]
Yes, I know... I understand...
[At the end, he had been a man obsessed, absolutely willing to self-destruct if it meant winning. It had mattered then and it matters now, and he stubbornly returns to the subject. As committed as he is to helping his successor acclimate to life in Ryslig, there are ghosts that L absolutely must grow acquainted with before they move on.]
The case, Mello? Is that what you were escaping from?
[I need to know. I don't feel this kind of need much, these days, but now that I do, it won't just go away...]
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He'd been so determined to catch Kira before near, but now that L is sitting in front of him he finds himself having to quell the thought that his desire to do so possibly hindered things in the long run. His mentor's last goal still isn't completed.
This is the first time he'll be sharing a story with L, rather than the other way around, and it's like this.]
Look... It's more complicated than that.
[Technically speaking, he'd been escaping from the very group L had worked with in the past, where someone else was now using a title that didn't belong to him.]
I'll tell you about everything. It's no less than I owe.
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Stacking, unstacking, doing so in a way that hopefully doesn't give away his agitation. Not at Mello, certainly, but at the one who put all of them in this situation where all is unfulfilled and incomplete and monstrously unfair.]
This rhetoric... it's unnecessary. It would be a favor, but you don't owe me anything.
[Even if I wanted to use those feelings, now, it wouldn't matter here.]
That being said... it's a favor I sorely need. It isn't just something I can put from my mind. It would give me peace to know, and I have always been good at following complicated things...
[A little bit of self-deprecating humor, perhaps, a genius downplaying the fixated and vicious way his mind operates like a steel trap. It seizes things and doesn't relinquish them until they are literally pried from his cold, dead hands.]
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To answer your question: no. Kira hasn't yet been apprehended, and he has more supporters than ever. But if Near can't finish things from this point then I've underestimated him.
[Or more to the point, Near has to finish things now. There's no other acceptable resolution. He refuses to believe that he and Matt both might have lost their lives on a mission that had absolutely no impact.]
You were gone before you could choose a successor. Roger thought Near and I should work together, but I'm sure you know about how well that went. I left Wammy's and its resources to him and went off to find my own way shortly after.
[Watching L go through familiar motions is a little comforting. For a few moments things between the two of them can have some semblance of normalcy. When Near held a serious conversation while playing with dolls it was irritating, but L is L.]
I eventually found myself working directly against the Japanese Taskforce, and I temporarily gained control of the Death Note in their possession. You might like to know that it was stolen from another Shinigami who wanted it back, and that two of the rules written inside were fake.
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L's face remains placid throughout Mello's reluctant and carefully-worded discourse, even as his hand closes around a creamer package and crushes it slowly, the thick, white liquid leaking out between his fingers and making them look grey by contrast.
He knows he should appreciate Mello's restraint, the fact that he's not blaming L for dying and leaving them driftless to scatter and prioritize pride over substance. They were children behaving childishly, and that gave them more of an excuse than L ever had for the stunts he pulled. That being said... while L knows full well that it would have been difficult for them to work together, a part of him is staggered that they couldn't at least try with so much on the line.
He needs a moment to let some of this sink in. He's silent and staring and seemingly numb to the slight mess he's made of his creamer.]
You... just told me that the man who killed me and Watari is winning. That he has support and followers, and that you worked against my team and somehow managed to get the case's most valuable artifact from them.
[That raises so many questions. Most of them would be troubling regardless of the answer.]
The fake rules were the linchpin that the case hinged on at the end of my involvement. I couldn't get a straight answer out of the Shinigami that killed Watari, but before that happened I was making arrangements to test them. Just prior, in fact. The task force was against it but I saw no other way.
[His voice is flat and sounds about as dead as he looks. While he appreciates Mello's honesty, these aren't the answers he wanted to hear, with the exception of hearing that his suspicion about the rules was correct.]
How did you find out? Did the other Shinigami who wanted the notebook back tell you?
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[He knows none of this is sitting well with his mentor, just as he'd expected. The matter of Sidoh isn't even the most important thing in the long run. There's so much he needs to explain all at once. L must be getting angry and Mello wants to get angry right back, but he needs to keep his cool or they'll draw attention to themselves. Still, the next response has a bit of an edge to it.]
No offense, L, but your task force had gone several years without any progress - and what's worse, they were continuing to use your name as though you were still alive. Near cooperated with them, but had his own unit from the U.S.
[That he'd killed several members of, but still.]
...He would have worked with me, but I couldn't work in his shadow. We both got results.
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I can't say that I'm terribly surprised. Like many they had a hard time seeing what was right in front of their faces.
[It's as graceful and charitable as he can be. It's still barely restrained animosity toward those who are not present and who have let him down.
He takes a deep breath, for no other reason than he remembers it used to calm him.]
...Tell me about your results.
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I told you some of what I learned from the Shinigami. On top of that, it's possible to make a deal with one of them for the ability to see a person's name and lifespan just by looking at them in exchange for half your own remaining life. This is what the second Kira must have done. The original Kira's own life would have been too important to him for him to squander it with that deal.
[Mistake: Having his henchmen grab the Death Note instead of taking the second or two needed to grab it himself. He would have made it out, as their fumbling and hesitation were what kept them from being able to escape in time.]
I had a contact within Near's unit, allowing me to be privy to a lot of what he gathered himself. For many reasons, he suspected that whoever was currently using the name L was actually Kira, and that this person was Yagami Light.
[Mistake: Taking the word of Yagami Soichiro. He might have been an honest individual, but he wasn't the one pulling the strings within the Japanese Task Force.]
Kira was working through two other individuals. Having figured all this out, Near planned on meeting with Light and his task force in a final showdown of sorts. But I know Near and I had some idea of how Kira would operate too. They both would be sure they had each other, but Kira has always had too many unknowns on his side. I had to be an unexpected outside influence.
[Mistake: Not assuming Matt would simply be killed rather than taken in. Mistake: Not forcing Takada to strip down completely while he watched. Mistake: ...]
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When opposing forces exert equal pressure on a body, it remains in place. L merely continues to tear his napkin into neat strips, organized and orderly destruction as Mello speaks of things he never would have allowed to happen if he'd lived. Every time Mello reflects on a mistake he can see a red marker behind his eyes, circling and striking with vicious motions.
Not ready, neither of them were ready...]
Yes... that all sounds right. Given the way the pieces were set... it's a very natural way for it to all play out.
[The words sound dead and wooden. It's still sinking in.]
I would have hoped that the two of you could have survived. You're not saying it outright, but "unexpected outside influences" tend not to last long. Given my own experiences with Kira's unknowns... my impression is that you didn't make it.
[His mistakes, circled in glaring red on L's mental template, can't have helped matters, but L doesn't say so aloud. He made his own, after all; neither of them survived this case, and performing a drawn-out postmortem at this point isn't going to help either of them and might breed resentment at worst.]
Speaking of unknowns... if anyone else involved with this case shows up, it would benefit us to work together, Mello. We're harder to kill as monsters, but it's still possible for us to die.
[He notably doesn't assume an alliance, leaving that decision in Mello's hands. He's pretty sure that the young man will agree and see the wisdom in it, but if it's the headstrong Mello's own choice and he feels like he actually has some say in the matter, he's far more likely to dedicate himself fully to a cause.]
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Is that what this is? Is that the lesson?
It would benefit us to work together, Mello. There had been a point in time when hearing this from L would have thrilled him beyond belief. But as he looks across the table now he has a hard time not seeing Near's eyes under that dark mess of hair. Working with others had always come easier for Mello when he'd been the one calling the shots, not taking his place as a piece on the board.
He raises a hand to his chest, cross dangling from his wrist to clink lightly against leather. His eyes focus on the table in front of him, in the space just before L's napkin carnage.]
There's just a moment, two, when your heart throbs hard against your rib cage and then shuts itself off. One infinitely long but far too short period of time to wonder about the impact of everything you've ever done with your life. It's probably best that you don't remember that.
[Mello lifts his eyes, gaze hardening.]
I'll work with whoever I need to, but only on my own terms.
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Cruelty would be seizing the back of his neck like a dog and rubbing his face in it, but L reserves that kind of malice for those who aren't on his side. There's a time and place to linger on shortcomings, and courting an alliance with Mello isn't it. No, it might be better to remind the other man that while there is something uncanny he shares with Near, the two are far from the same person, and they value different things more often than Mello might expect.]
Actually, while it's true that I don't remember that quick death, I remember the slow one that did this to me very clearly.
["This", of course, being L's current state of pale, cold undeath. Though it suiits him in an unhappy way to have the life and vitality drained the rest of the way from his already dull and lackluster visage, it's clear that he doesn't revel in it or feel quite at-peace with what the change has left him with.]
Not only was there time to know what was happening and to think about the impact of my life, there was time to go through every phase of grief acceptance in a matter of days. At first I denied it and tried to keep going as usual, but it wasn't long before I had to accept the inevitable: that I couldn't fight it and every second I tried would just prolong my suffering. By the time my heart stopped I had to think about every breath and I couldn't stay warm, and while I didn't want to die... I guess you could say that death was stronger. There wasn't shame in admitting it by that point. It hurt for a second but then I was stronger, too.
That being said, I miss my heartbeat every second, so...
[He abandons his napkin-tearing to unfasten a couple of his shirt's buttons; close-fitting leather straps are visible over his collarbone and his ribs as he takes something metal and moving out of a pouch situated just over his sternum and sets it precisely on the surface of the table where Mello's eyes have settled. It's clever and exquisite, a small clockwork heart that beats rhythmically and pulses through a tympanic apparatus. Nudging aside the napkins, he rests his palms facedown on the table.]
The secret is that there is always a way for a partnership to be on your own terms.
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Stronger after death, though. That would be just like him.
He leans forward, dirty blond hair curtaining either side of his face as he bends to get a better look. When he reaches a hand out, though, it isn't to feel that fake heartbeat against his palm, but rather to make a grab for one of L's wrists. He needs to feel the lack of a pulse against cold, dead skin. It may be the first time he's tried to touch the other man of his own accord.
His voice lowers.]
And how do you feel now? What about your weaknesses now?
[Don't think he's forgotten the glances given those departing the cafe previously.]
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For better or worse, his cold wrist has no blood pulsing through it, and his eyes widen when Mello reaches out and seizes it.
He pulls away, not powerfully, but pleadingly.]
MellO! Let go, please...!
[He's having a tough time coping with it. He shakes his head, an automatic gesture of denial and rejection, before he answers.]
Silver... sunlight. Please stop...
[There's a silver coin strapped to the underside of his wrist, which Mello can likely feel through the gauze binding it now that he's grasping it. L is pulling back, clearly coveting his own space.]
I feel dead, but... please stop...
[He's clearly hurt. If Mello has any empathy at all, he might feel compelled to let him go.]
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The other part of him is so fascinated that he can't bring himself to break contact just yet. He turns L's wrist just slightly, gently, running his thumb over the gauzed up coin as the other man pleads with him. At that final 'please' he lets it go.
Silver and sunlight. So a vampire almost certainly. But why the coin? Do they make silver coins here? He can't think of any other reason for L to have something like that strapped to himself. Either he's testing for when the silver weakness actually kicks in, or he's determined not to be caught without money for a pay phone.]
... Sorry.
[And he is, for the most part. It wasn't his intention to cause L that much discomfort.]
Are you alright?
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He shudders noticeably when Mello's finger passes over the covered coin, and then the moment he's released, he recoils warily.
His stricken and rigid face tells a different story, but he nods numbly when Mello asks him if he's all right.]
Do not do that again without warning. I prefer to know...
[It might or might not have to do with his death, because of course, he is extremely frigid, and the blood beneath his skin is perfectly stagnant and pulse-less.]
It's different now. When people touch and hold. The advice is for both of us...
[Because being pulled back into life means risking a draining bite. Perhaps that doesn't need to be said; L certainly hopes so.]
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Yet he isn't quite done. His curiosity has gotten the best of him. He doesn't pull back, but instead begins to pull back the sleeve of his jacket (stolen, to help keep off the cold). If L is a vampire, then it's important that he know the limits of the man's restraint, something he won't be able to get simply from asking, no matter how well L thinks he's aware of it.]
Alright. I'll remember. Try to calm down.
[That's probably not the best thing to say now that he's baring his wrist.]
Will it help your nerves if you feed?
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Though he is impressed that his successor has managed to become very skilled at getting reactions out of people (even him, maybe even Near...?), L knows that he has to turn this around fast.
...and then Mello pulls up his sleeve, showing him that little bouquet of stems standing out under fair skin. L hasn't gone long enough since he last fed to make him desperate, but he is being asked, blatantly, to think of Mello as food, a sacrifice in a chillingly literal sense to his legacy.
He reaches across the table, but it's to close his fingers around the clockwork heart, not Mello's wrist. He pulls it back, slipping it into its pouch under his shirt, feeling the reassurance of a false beat against his chest again.]
What would help my nerves, Mello, is if I didn't have to worry about you courting death at every opportunity.
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[L's reaction is promising, at least compared to what he'd seen a minute before. The man had been shaken for sure, but he's still in control of himself. The L Mello is familiar with is still there, and that's the most important thing.
He pulls back, slowly tugging his sleeve back into place. It had been a dangerous move, certainly. There was no way for him to know just how long it had been since L had fed, and if he'd faltered he might have drained more than his share.]
I was offering a sip, not a banquet. But I'm glad to see it's not needed.
[And though the thought of his mentor feeding on others might be a little disturbing, he wouldn't expect him to do anything else. Mello knows that once he starts his own transformation (as all signs point to there being no other possibility) that he won't hold off from doing what he has to do. If L couldn't find a way to avoid it in the time given, then Mello isn't going to be so prideful that he'll make the attempt and risk losing control. More damage would be done during a rampage than if the matter was handled with care from the start.]
Don't worry. This might not be much of a second opportunity, but most people don't even get this. No point in squandering it.
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