IT'S TIME FOR DIPPING STICKS AND...

[erewhile]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Are you thinking about apping to to Cape & Cowl, but you want to get a feel of the setting and how your character will fit in it? Then you’ve come to the right place! Pick any of the following scenarios below or feel free to make up your own, and don’t be afraid to throw yourself at anyone’s thread, either!

And remember to have fun!

1. As you exit the Porter Building, the ambient noises you heard, so faint back inside where you found yourself at the center of glowing platform alone – save for the black screen and the female voice who greeted you – erupt in every direction. Every corner you look is bustling with people and cars and bicycles; people going about their everyday life, unaware you’re one of them: an imPort.

2. Or perhaps your bizarre behaviour or appearance catches their attention. Maybe it’s the communicator you picked up before leaving. Either way, several Cityzens headed your way come to a full stop immediately, each one eyeing you differently. Some looks outright afraid, others seem intrigued, and then there are the others whose surprise fades quickly and they carry on past you without as much a second glance.

3. Confused? The Network seems like a good place to start with soliciting information. There appear to be three functions for you to access: AUDIO, VIDEO, and TEXT. Make some friends while you’re at it!

4. Maybe you’re just thrilled to be here and help. The night time is a great time to scope out the underbelly of the City and its criminals. There’s always something going on in its more troubled corners: breaking and entering, drugs or arms trafficking, an attempting kidnapping... the list goes on. The question is: what will you do, Hero?

5. Make up your own scenario, if you wish! You may have discovered the Porter has granted you the ability to make it hail cats. Or that your power of super speed is gone entirely. Maybe you’ve noticed the Statue of Liberty’s sporting a new look. It’s up to you!

Comments

Abigail Hobbs | Hannibal

[alure]

[[Video post]]

[Abigail is seated alone on a part bench, apparently not that concerned about being in Central Park after dark. She keeps glancing away from the screen and up at the sky as she speaks.]

I knew there would be a lot of changes. That comes with any kind of a move, doesn't it?

[She frowns at the camera for a brief moment, the hand not holding the device quickly coming up to lightly touch the silk scarf around her neck. Then she turns the camera up towards the moon. Specifically, what's carved into the moon.]

But how do parents take their children stargazing with that watching them?

[invoking]

[ VIDEO RIGHT BACK.

His gold eyes roll skyward, remembering what's there on the moon. It's the main reason he tries not to look at that anymore. ]

Ah... I suppose they ignore it. Or don't look at all. I know, it's foul.

[alure]

It's really that easy to pretend things you don't want to see just aren't there at all?

[The camera shakes again as she brings it back to her face. Whatever expression went with that idle tone is gone now, a pleasant smile in its place.]

[invoking]

It's likely for the best in this case.

[ His is less so, though not directed at her, but the thought of the offensive carving on the moon. ]

[alure]

Do you always overlook foul things?

[invoking]

I would prefer that to having to deal with them.

[ But that's not always the case and he sighs, making it clear enough. ]

You mentioned changes... did you just arrive?

[slightlyoffchilt]

It's a touch overtly Freudian, isn't it?

[alure]

I don't know if he was the best authority on women.

[slightlyoffchilt]

He seemed to assume that one needn't be intimately acquainted with women to claim authority of them. Or over them.

I prefer the Jungian school of thought, if that helps.

[alure]

I haven't gone to college yet. I have to rely on you have to tell me if that's better or worse when it comes to women and penis complexes.

[whocouldwinarabbit]

[text!]

SEX ED STARTS REAL EARLY FOR CITY TYKES.

[alure]

They could always just lie.

[whocouldwinarabbit]

IT'S THE AGE OF THE INTERNET, HONEYBUNCH. "THE STORK DID IT" ONLY LASTS SO LONG.

[alure]

I like to know someone's name before we start picking out nicknames.

voice;

[hotbrains]

[oh god. oh god oh god oh god oh god. it's really her -- scarf and all. there's a few seconds where the only sound is will's breathing, as he tries to settle his nerves.]

A- Abi- You...

[a very long few seconds. it takes him a few half-stammered sentence starts before he plunges forward into a full phrase. will does his best to sound confident and bemused, as though these conversations are no big deal.]

It takes some getting used to, doesn't it? [he is trying his best not to leap on the mention of parents and stargazing and gosh does she want to go out and watch the comet this fall huh HUH?? HUH????]

Re: voice;

[alure]

[Yes Will, she really, really does. Abigail, on the other hand, fails the cool test. The camera visibly jerks, but stays focused on the moon. Her voice, on the other hand, starts going a bit faster.]

It does. I- I just started being happy in my old life.

[hotbrains]

[while he really doesn't know her as well as he'd like to think, some cues are fairly universal. there's a surge of something instinctive in will (guilt and protectiveness are so easily mistaken, sometimes), and his voice steadies. he can be the stable one, the one who knows what's going on and isn't scared. he can manage that for just a moment for abigail, of all people, in a new goddam dimension.]

Hey, hey. You know, most don't stay here forever. Most get sent back at some point, and from what I hear, you don't even remember the time here. It'll be like a bad dream. [WOW he is really bad at being comforting.]

[alure]

Would it be horrible if I wouldn't mind if it was the other way around?

[Okay, Abigail. Play it cool. The camera comes slowly back around. Uncertainty is written all over her face, but she's trying for a smile. For Will.]

The company isn't turning out too bad.

[buttpatting]

[It's definitely unsettling to see her again, even though he's come to live in a world where there's this abomination of a moon in the sky. Stranger things have happened, certainly, so he takes a moment to school his expression into something fond and concerned before he pops up on the video and replies.]

Change is not always such a bad thing, Abigail.

Nor is it always bad for a child to learn early about genitalia, if their parents or guardians handle the subject with tact and honesty. Why does it bother you so?

[Honesty. Hannibal knows so much about it, he's definitely an expert and should be talked to at length about how to be honest and pure.]

[alure]

No matter how the parents react, it's still not normally something small children learn about.

[There's a pause. Considering all she's confessed, all that has happened, it's hard for Abigail to assert a definitive position on what normal children learn about. So her confidence somewhat falters as she goes on.]

Is it?

[buttpatting]

Abigail.

[He'll gloss over the fact of the matter that she has probably gotten a strange sense of "normal" and has no real room to talk, if only because a) he's not that cruel (yet), b) he's trying to make sure he's not asleep, and c) there's a better way to go about it than turning the topic to her troubles.]

In the world we come from, such a thing would be taken as abnormal, this much is true. Children rarely learn until parents "think they're ready" and some are never as ready as they would like to be. But here is a different place altogether, and what we presume to be normal where we come from is irrelevant.

What is not irrelevant is to see you once more. I'm very glad to hear your voice, even if you are discussing a carved penis.

[That's totally normal.]

[alure]

[There's a tiny scoff, the camera finally coming to focus on her face once more as Hannibal continues. In the midst of all the insanity, this was familiar. This was normal. If not a touch dangerous. It was impossible to start over, after all, when a keeper of your secrets was present.]

I'm glad to hear yours, too. I thought I was all alone. In a Brave New World.

[enabeled]

If it makes you feel any better, it can't really watch them.

You know... doesn't have eyes.

[ His tone is dry enough that it isn't obvious if he's making a joke or not. Either way... ]

[alure]

Logic doesn't really seem to be one of the problems this City has. Maybe it can see us.

[enabeled]

Logic is a problem every city has. Just not always the same kind. Baltimore and New York, for example, very different cities. Can't count on them to be any more interchangeably logical than you can count on people for the same.