test drive 01

[thestewards]

'Cause I have these new fears I carry with me
So you can feel stronger, you can know peace

► All TDM threads may be considered canon provided both parties agree and are accepted into the game.

► Canon threads may be redeemed for influence and reputation, depending on how you solve the issue at hand or how you engage with the prompt.

► Feel free to switch up your character's Jewel from thread to thread. Get a feel for how a Birthright Jewel may limit or enchance your character's abilities.

GOOD MORNING, DRAEGA
The psychic summons comes with the first light of dawn, waking you from a dream of home. It takes you a minute to remember where you are (a warm, comfortable room in Queen Fayura's residence) and then a moment longer to parse the words.

*Your presence is requested in the training field behind the Queen's Residence. You have ten minutes to get your ass out of bed on your own, or ten minutes to decide you want to be up to your neck in ice-cold mountain water. Your choice.* Gray power flavors the voice. Ah, you recognize that psychic touch. Allairavar, the Master of the Guard.

You remember, too, that he warned the household at last night's supper: if you live in the Queen's Residence, you practice with the Queen's court. You…

i. Drag yourself out of bed with an aching groan, dress with the bleary-eyed confusion of one too suddenly forced awake, and amble onto the training field to avoid the promise of a much more shocking wake up call. Or maybe you make your way quickly with a skip in your step and a twinkle in your eye. You haven't realized yet that Allairavar does not like morning people. Even so, you don't want to get dunked in ice water in the middle of winter.

ii. Roll over and go back to sleep. The Master of the Guard isn't really going to carry through with his threat. In your defense, he doesn't. But one of the First Circle does. You're not sure how you got from your room to a large barrel full of water that could freeze open flame, but here you are, soaked and shivering and very much awake.

Regardless of how you get to the training field, Allairavar pairs you with another Stranger and puts you through your paces. It's barely above freezing, but you're going to need a shower when you're done.


BUILD BETTER BOMBS
There are three rows of four tables set up in the Tinker Guild Hall's auditorium, all heavy laden with materials. Bits of wires, buttons both small and large, ticking clocks. A tank full of goldfish. Sand, canisters of gasses, a strange viscous liquid in a bowl of lead.

"Handle that with gloves," Master Tinker Mari warns you with a wink and a grin. "The bowl, I mean. Don't handle the liquid or you'll lose your hand." She waves her hands at you.

This is supposed to be a crash course in bomb making, and in a way it is. Master Tinker Mari crashes into person after person, pushing them into pairs. She shoves someone up to you. "Blow my mind!" she whispers dramatically, and then she vaults the table, making something in a vial smoke, bubble, and pop.

Around the edge of the auditorium are four chalkboards, each with several diagrams on them. Presumably, these are schematics for you to follow. Smoke bombs, flour bombs. Fireworks and sparklers. Water bombs—maybe she means water balloons? One schematic requires a hamster wheel.

You might as well give it a go.

Note: Master Tinker Mari won't let anyone blow themselves up (or blow up the building). In the event Strangers make something truly dangerous and not just inconvenient, she will hurry over with a much more serious demeanor and disarm the bomb they've created with a suggestion that they take her advanced course.


CHARITY IS AS CHARITY DOES
You were sent here to help, so help you have: by letting the Ebon Council auction off three hours of your time and the power in your Jewels to help with local troubles. Maybe someone's cold box has lost its cooling spell—that's basic Craft and you can help with that—or maybe someone needs you to fetch their cat down from a tree. Whatever it is, you're here to take care of it.

The stage you stand on creaks beneath your feet as a polite older witch bids on you and your partner (the Ebon Council would never let you work alone, no, the landens are too dangerous for you to be out on your own!) with three jars of pear preserves. No money exchanges hands here, just items like non-perishable foods and handmade clothing or blankets.

You'll help the little old witch who needs some rocks moved from the fields just outside Draega's walls, but it occurs to you that only the Blood were at this auction, and only they will reap the rewards. That's hardly charity… but that's also not your problem, is it? Maybe it is. You could always ask that landen couple hovering just to the side of the stage what they need (their roof is leaking, and the man's right hand is crippled, twisted into a rigid claw). Or maybe you won't. They don't have anything to offer, and everything has a price, even your time.


HIT AND RUN
Chill winter air doesn't keep anyone inside in Draega. Stalls line the streets of the Old Town Bazaar, and vendors hawk their curious wares. Blood and landen mingle here, each a little wary of the other but with the affect of those who have accepted they must live alongside their enemy. Expressions are shuttered, but marks are marks no matter who hands them over. No shopkeeper denies a customer just because the money comes from someone they don't like, not in times like these.

As you make your way through the Bazaar, perhaps in search of something or someone or a place to eat (the scent of meat pies is thick in the air), you hear a shout and a cry of pain. People peel back as one, revealing a group of young landen men carrying clubs and wearing cruel sneers. At their feet, a young boy sprawls across a puppy in the muddy slush that covers the road.

You catch the flavor of his psychic scent: he's half-Blood, one of those pitiable creatures accepted by neither the Blood or the landens.

"Y-you can't hurt him!" the little boy cries, curling around the puppy. "P-Prince Verim will stop you!"

The young men laugh. "Prince Verim isn't here," one spits, raising his club.

You could step back. After all, this isn't your problem. You could just alert the First Circle and call it done; they patrol the area, one of those males will surely be here soon. Or you could step in. Everything has a price, and the price of attacking a helpless child and a puppy is a tussle with you.


WALKIE-TALKIE
Catch up with a new acquaintance you met at the Queen's Residence or simply pause to listen to the news playing in a store you're passing through. Far-casters come in all shapes and sizes, from the held-held device that's a bit clunky to the radios that stand at a man's height in some restaurants. If you're spinning the dial and listening to some radio programs, you'll hear…

etiquette with evandra and aren.
[A woman's voice leads. It's a little bit rough and a little bit husky, the kind of voice that gives bad ideas to young men and headaches to fathers.] …just as well. Since you don't want to die for offending a Warlord Prince's lady, what do you do, Lord Aren?

[A man's voice, chipper and bright. He sounds more like an eager boy than the full-grown man he is.] Apologize immediately to her, but meet his gaze so he knows the apology is for him as well. Remember, dear listeners: a Warlord Prince's lady may be all that stands between you and a violent end. Make sure she likes you!

[The woman laughs.] Or at least doesn't think killing you is worth the trouble. If we all learn a little more about each other, we can learn to live together. As always, I'm Evandra.

[With great gusto, Lord Aren says:] I'm Aren, and you've been listening to…

[Together:] Etiquette with Evandra and Aren! [Jaunty outro music plays, a complete tonal dissonance with the fact that the two were just educating landens on how to avoid murder.]

the weather
[A soft-spoken man's voice rumbles out of the Far-caster. He's pleasant to listen to, with a soothing cadence to his voice.] …rain tomorrow with overcast skies through the morning and afternoon. Landen weather devices indicate a decrease in sky-pressure, so those of you who suffer from migraines may want to talk to your Healers or Medicos now.

There's possibility of snow later in the week from the northwest. Questions about snow removal? Reach out to your local Transport Guild rep or your Ebon Council chairperson.

the news
…Blood family of four found murdered in their homes. The Queen's Court assures Draega that no payment for the murders is being asked for at this time. [The man speaks at a brisk pace, hurried and harried as though he has too much to say and not enough time to say it.]

That's right, Garret. [Another man, nasally in tone. He doesn't sound rushed so much as put upon.] Preliminary investigations do indicate the Hunter Guild may be responsible for the deaths.

[Garret:] Indeed they do, Wilt. Evidence at the scene supports the use of Breakers on the family. Turning now from the grisly murder to the surprising way the Queen's Winsol gift to the city is being used to benefit both Blood and landens.

Comments

Charity is as Charity Does

[mint_and_bronze]

[The elbow hits Maeve in her ribs. It doesn't make much of an impact; her six-foot-and-change frame's solid and broad, though she carries herself with a deliberateness that's leans toward the elegant. She was focused on the preserves and the nudge derails her train of thought.

It takes her a moment to figure out what the catman's indicating, to try and make her own evaluation of just what, precisely, he's trying to suggest, and to give up and ask. She looks from landens to catman and raises her eyebrows.]

What?

[verstoned]

Rocks or fixin' a roof? [Meaning, pear preserves, or potentially nothing?

Because Rhus knows how to extract goods and favours for a job well done, and will insist on getting paid. But he's doing this because he... he honestly feels terrible for the couple, knows how bad leaky roofs are, especially during the winter.]

I'll be asking those folk what they can give us in exchange, or mayhap wrangle a promise to be paid in some way later.

[mint_and_bronze]

[Her eyebrows loft a bit higher, an she swivels to study the landens off to the side. Well, fuck. They certainly did look like they were lingering hopefully (and maybe a bit despairingly) at the edge of things, didn't they.]

This place has some shit ideals about how to keep people happy and healthy.

[Everything has a price her whole entire ass. You don't grow up on a dying world without understanding that sometimes that you can't squeeze blood from a stone. And if you can, something's really, really wrong.]

Roof. It'll only get worse if we don't catch it now.

[verstoned]

[So glad they're on the same page here-- relatively speaking.]

Aye. Just give me a moment? We'll need to make this all official-like, I suspect.

[Then he points at the distraught landen couple.]

You two there, what 'ave you to ask, and what 'ave you to offer in return? [Hells, but he feels like Hancock in this moment, a smiley, slimy merchant. Alphinaud would likely burst his gut and likely his spleen laughing if he heard of Rhus of all people working out a negotiation with his words rather than his fists.

Or perhaps disgusted that the Miqo'te took his cues from the merchant and not the diplomat. But Alphinaud has such terrible money sense, Rhus refilled the Scions' coffers from the disaster with Gosetsu's sword with his own coin.

Startled at being addressed, the landen couple are dumbstruck at the moment, though the woman manages to repeat their plight, though Rhus manages to cut her off before she says that they have nothing to give to the pair of Strangers.]

S'pose we'll negotiate later, then?

[mint_and_bronze]

[With an only slightly sarcastic 'as you wish' gesture, she let the catman take point in talking to the couple. At least for a the moment. And regretted it just slightly when he lead with the whole 'what'll ya give us...' spiel. With a wince, managed to cut in on his heels, reinforcing the 'later' notion.]

We'll have to see what sort of job it'll be before we can properly settle up.

[Done and done. The landen couple decide not to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, and while there's a bit of shuffling, they do end up leading the way to wherever their hovel is. On the way there, Maeve tries out their new ability to kick up psychic threads with other Strangers. On a private, personal thread, she zips a question to her companion.]

*Someone teach you how to negotiate like that, catman?*

[Her thought is tinged with a sharp sort of amusement.]

[verstoned]

[Rhus bares his teeth enough that his fangs show, not just in sheer embarrassment at himself, but also in sheer dislike for the nickname cat. The voice in his head, he can deal. After all, this is not the first time, and he knows it wont be the last.]

Merchant I've met before. In hindsight, he's not the best role model.

[On the other hand, Hancock is not a complete slimeball, and he has been an immense help, hasn't ruined the Scions even if it could be profitable... Except Rhus has never forgotten who he works for, that the man truly holding Hancock's strings was responsible for a good deal of trouble in Rhus' life.

He doesn't truly trust those Ul'dahn merchants.]

[mint_and_bronze]

[With the mental communication, Maeve registers more of her companion's reaction than she might otherwise have without it. As such, she doesn't respond to the bared teeth with agreement, but instead glosses over the moment by introducing herself instead.]

*Maeve. Figure we should at least be proper introduced if we're going to be working side-by-side.*

[The route is taking them out of the area they'd set up their...peddling of skills, she supposes, and into a significantly less affluent area of Draega. Not that Draega's in its prime, but even so. She doesn't bother to make smalltalk with the landens, just moseys in their wake.

Along with her name, she also offers an olive-branch, so to speak, in the form of an observation.]

*Us only helping Blood doesn't mend many rifts, for all that we're supposed to be fixing things up. Good spot of these two. I was focused on the fruit.*

[verstoned]

Rhus.

[If she wont give a family name, neither will he-- especially when he has none, having only used his mother as a matronymic surname whenever needed.]

I still want the pears, but I'll just ask for a nap in their bed after in return.

[mint_and_bronze]

*Rhus.*

[An acknowledgement in echoing his name. She bobs her head, glancing at their escorts and their relatively slow progress compared to the two healthy and strapping Strangers following them to help out.]

*Guess it's nice to meet you, considering. You know how to use that thing?*

[There's a tiny mental indication of his greatsword.]

[verstoned]

[Rhus merely nods in response. Of course he knows how to use his blade-- the edges are well-sharpened, but there are notches in the handle where his hands have worn, and he moves easily and gracefully despite it being nearly two heads longer than he is tall.

That should be enough of a response, honestly.

Especially when the Miqo'te is busying himself with the state of the house-- more like a small cottage, really, given the size of it-- peeking around to check just how extensive the damage is.

It's... unfortunately extensive.]

I'll need a nap after this. You'll not mind me commandeering your bed after, do you? [That's for the landen couple, who don't know what to say to that.]

[mint_and_bronze]

*Classic.*

[A comment about his sword. A greatsword always had been one of her favorites, even if she favored other weaponry for herself. And a second look suggests that it was well-used indeed.

But the house claims her attention. Damn, the thing was barely habitable. Well, no, that's uncharitable of her. She and Rhus can fix things up to baseline livable within the day if they stretch their new powers a bit, but it's going to take actual work. And probably Maeve tapping into some of her own kenning skills.

She links back up with Rhus when he 'negotiates' with the landen couple. Well, he had said he wanted a nap as payment, however bizarre that struck her.]

And if I can use your kitchen, we can regain our strength before we leave you be.

[The couple probably wouldn't balk at the extra groceries she'd leave behind, either.

The gawping landen couple doesn't seem to have any objections to that, though she's not sure whether it's because of who she and Rhus were or the couple's sheer bafflement at their requested payment.]

We could start with the roof.

[verstoned]

Might need to work on reinforcin' it from the inside first, else it falls underneath us while we're up there. [It has... happened before. He's done this far too many times to count. He's lived in a cottage in a fishing village for his formative years after all.] And if the roof's fallen in, there's usually a reason.

[Hopefully there's no rot, otherwise no amount of patching would save this house.

So the Miqo'te gestures at the front door, before leading the way in.]

[mint_and_bronze]

Damn.

[Maeve nods at Rhus' logic and then follows him inside. She might need to actually admit that she'd not been a part of any construction crews in her home bio-dome since she was a teenager, and their construction material and trended a little more space-age.]

You might need to give me a sense of what we're looking at.

[She's asking for help, sure, but with all the finesse of giving a command.]

I specialized my way out of Infrastructure early, so it's been a long time since I've messed with a house.

[verstoned]

Mm.

Let's hope we'll not have to chop a tree down. [Because he has no hatchets just his greatsword, and he doesn't want to use Caladbolg on wood.

Inside the house, a cursory glance up at the affected ceiling, around the hole, tells the Miqo'te what he needs to know.]

Over there-- the beams gave way. Broken rather than rotted.

[Still, Rhus thinks he should have brought his pipe. Even without rot, they have their work cut out for them.

[mint_and_bronze]

Pretty sure we wouldn't have to chop anything. I've got some tricks up my sleeve if these Jewels don't do anything.

[She's pretty amused about that fact, to be honest. Though it'd be hard to tell, what with her wrinkling her nose up at the hole in the roof. That sure is something.]

Broken's better than anything. Too bad we don't have banding metal or anything. That'd be best.

[Steel beams, maybe. Heh. Yeah, she's way out of her depth.]

Thinking we need to replace it or just reinforce it?

[verstoned]

[Rhus begins to climb one of the walls to get to the beams of the roof, despite the greatsword still strapped to his back. And once there, he crouches down low until his knees are nearly touching his chest, tail dangling underneath him.

He's completely unmindful of the mess just above his head, and he can almost hear what Fray would be telling him at this moment, that he's a reckless son of a barnacle-faced Sahagin.

... He thinks he might not be imagining it, actually. One never knows with Fray, if that person is awake or not.]

Best to replace, honestly. If it broke, it shall simply break again. See any extra wooden planks?

[mint_and_bronze]

No planks here.

[Her words are dry as she considers her companion and who'd just hopped up and crouched on the ceiling beams. Athletic guy.]

Let me ask.

[A query to the couple earns her a couple of blanches and a hand-flailing explanation. They've managed to secure the actual repair material from a neighbor, but it's not here. She doesn't catch all the details. Something something generosity something something that's why they'd been hopeful about willing hands at the market today.]

You get that? [She calls that up to him.] I'll go get 'em. Unless you want to accompany me?

[verstoned]

[Rhus' tail flicks once, and he sits down on the beam, legs dangling in the air.]

I'll stay here and get what tools we need. ... And make sure it doesn't keep falling down on us.

[Because if broken, there's still a chance for it to collapse even more, and Rhus would rather avoid that, or take note if it happens, so he can alert Maeve just in case and have her bring more supplies, rather than them returning and finding the hole to be much bigger than before.]

[mint_and_bronze]

Suit yourself.

[Not at all bothered, she moseys her way right back out and vanishes for a good twenty or so minutes. Talking to people, securing the aforementioned supplies, despairing a little bit about how they're actually going to use the thing to repair the hole in the roof, and then reappearing with a motley collection of planking of varying lengths under her arms. And a couple floating behind her. (She is VERY much enjoying her new telekinesis.)]

Come and get it!

[She drops the odds and ends of someone else's construction project in a pile in the middle of the floor, floats the two planks that were either all she could carry telekinetically or all she couldn't carry physically, and then calls in the tools that the neighbor decided lend them out of pity.]

This enough?

[verstoned]

[Rhus is far more used to what he has, what he knows.

And luckily for him, what he has is his dark knight soul crystal, which allows him far more physical strength than he would have had a healer, or indeed, just himself without a soul stone.

Though having one of those Jewels is rather helpful, when he is definitely much stronger with it than without.]

That's fine. [Rhus has his own tools right beside him on the beam, but he reaches down for what Maeve has as well.] Pass 'em up here, then. And then you can come up here yourself.

[mint_and_bronze]

I'm sorry? [She blinks up at Rhus.] You want me up there?

[She duly passes up the extra tools, though, even though she's positively radiating skepticism. Actually, considering they're psychic now, she actually is radiating the emotion.]

Is there anything I can do up there to actually help? Because I'm warning you now that I might fall on my head if I try.