contagio | ( MEMES ) TEST DRIVE >> 6

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( MEMES ) TEST DRIVE >> 6

THE TEST DRIVE

Like it or not, you've been dragged from your world into the sanctum. It's a pretty nice city, all things considered--sci-fi, high-tech, glamourous.... Except, of course, for the giant dome encircling it, and the threat of glitching, contaminated zombies at your door. Looks like humanity's built itself a fortress that looks suspiciously like a cage, too. Toss in the odd memory blanks and the everpresent logo of Bifrons incorporated and it's enough to make someone paranoid.

The object of this meme is to get people familiar with the world of the Sanctum, and to try to see if their characters would fit in a sci-fi utopia such as this. Here are your options:
1. Intro: Waking Up. Make your intro post, folks. You wake up in a strange place, and get a strange transmission to go with it. There's a pair of glasses connected to some sort of communications network, but otherwise not much else in the room with you. What are you going to do?

2. Environmental Glitching. You know the story of Noah? No? Now you're living it. Sealed portions of the districts are overfilling with water, flooding streets, fields, and select city blocks. Do you climb up to get to safety, shut off the water, or find a way to break down the barrier to the next sector over?

3. Genetic Altering. What it says on the tin. Except...it's not quite gone right, has it? Are you supposed to spit acid when you hiccup? Are your insides acid resistant? No? Oh dear. Warped experiments gone wrong, your augmentation has twisted around on you for horrific or hilarious results.

4. Memory Glitch. No one knows your face. You don't exist on the network. In fact...you're not all that certain you are who you think you are anyway. Haven't you always lived here?

5. Military Training. Everyone's got to start somewhere. You're training the green folks, maybe you're one of the newcomers yourself. Maybe you haven't even touched a gun before in your life. Either way, you'd better start now.

6. Outside the Dome You're out and about without an armed escort, suited up against the atmosphere and dysthropes. It's supposed to be a green sector in this run down shell of what used to be a suburb, right? Nothing could possibly go wrong

7. Wildcard. Choose your own adventure or create a cocktail from the presented options! The choice is YOURS.

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She can see this is a weapon, and she lifts it with the care and caution of someone well used to weapons of various sorts. This, though, is not a sword, not a shield. If it's close to anything she knows, it's closest to a crossbow, but that's never been her weapon of choice. Oh, she knows the basics of how to use a bow, perhaps, if only because that's the most basic of training, but she would never choose that over a sword, never choose distance over being in the thick of battle.

Aveline turns the gun over in her hands, lifts it, stares down its sights at the target. It's all wrong: the weight, the shape, power behind it, and she lowers it again without firing.

And she sighs. Somehow, she doubts this will ever feel right.

Edited 2014-11-05 04:50 (UTC)

"You care little for their rifles." Something they have in common. While there is skill to be had in the use of these ranged arms it lacks the artistry of a blade. The heft of a spear. The solidity and sense of rightness one might find with a shield. Adjusting can be difficult but no more than any other part of living under the dome.

But to a warrior? A true warrior. Tis almost insult to put them on the range and expect them to like the advancement. Thor has watched this copper haired warrior manage the rifle with some discontent and has approached with one of the spears he'd had designed for use by the infantry. "What arms are you most accustomed to?"

"No, I don't."

She looks over at him, an eyebrow raised, sizing him up. Someone else, then, from a similar point of reference? Someone else who doesn't quite feel at ease with a device like this? There's something reassuring in that.

"I prefer a sword and shield," Aveline says, "though I'll make due with a two-handed sword just as easily."

"A shield I have for you, then. Though a sword may take a moment's search." Tis a small, strange thing he offers her. A flat discus that is light and evenly balanced. There is a small indicator, a port for a charge, and a small switch.

"But a flick of the wrist and..." He does so with one in his free hand, a thick, dined shield flashing to life surrounding the disk. The shape odd his I'd tall, angular. The cut of the guards shields in the palace. "Shape, color, and resistance as well as the command to wake it are yours to choose if you wish."

This is... strange. Aveline takes it, turns it over in her hands almost suspiciously. It's not like anything she's seen before, that's for certain. It doesn't look... strong enough. She gives it a flick; the first couple of attempts she doesn't manage it properly, but the third one reveals the trick, and the shield opens.

Okay, she's impressed.

"You can change the shape?" That seems even more impossible than anything else. "Can you show me?"

"Aye. There is the small dial on the center-" He rests a finger against, dragging it in a circle. The shape of the shield warps and flexes, shifting from angular to round to square to elliptical, the thickness of the hardened light altering at each stroke. Another twist of the hand made the light shift from blue to red to copper easily. "We have not quite managed to work out heraldry- they do not see much use for them here."

Colour, too. This is... she doesn't even have words for this. It doesn't seem like it could be solid, much less strong enough to hold back a substantial blow. Aveline adjusts it, cycling through colours -- green, to yellow, to orange, to red.

"This will really hold?" There's a share of scepticism to her tone. It's definitely lighter than a metal shield, which is a huge advantage, and she'd have to get used to it, but that's not so impossible, either. "This is... is this some sort of magic? I was beginning to think this place had none."

Because while she's seen spells that are something like this, she's never seen anything else even close.

"If you truly doubt- strike at me. I shall block." Lighter, easier to maneuver, something a soldier could strap on and never forget- A bit of Midgard, a bit of Asgard, entirely applicable for close quarters with a Dysthrope. "Tis technology, Lady Warrior. Such things can seem much like magic to those unaccustomed to seeing it."

"There certainly isn't anything like this in Kirkwall. I wish there was. If I could arm my guards with these, it could do a world of good." Maybe nothing like this at home, but it's something closer to... this place, and the sort of wonders she's seen here. It's... a bit much to take in, sometimes.

And 'Lady Warrior' might be accurate, but it's a bit embarrassing, too. "I'm Aveline," she says. "Aveline Vallen."

"You are a leader of men? I knew you had great skill from your stance and your bearing, but leaders we need far more than mere soldiers." He will see what he can do about bumping her into a more prominent position. Anyone with experience in leading is invaluable to the Militia.

"Warrior Vallen." Thor amends, offering his hand and forearm. "I am Thor Odinson of Asgard. Well met."

She takes his hand, though frankly she's a bit taken aback by so much faith in her so quickly. She's flattered, of course, that goes without saying, but she can't shake the feeling she hasn't earned that yet, at least not with him. In Kirkwall? Yes. But not here. She hasn't had the opportunity to prove herself yet.

"I've noticed the need," she says, a bit dryly. "I would be honoured to help where I can, in any capacity. And yes, I was Captain of the Guard in Kirkwall." There's pride there -- a small amount, a trifle, underneath the calmness of her manner. She worked for that, she has every right to feel proud of what she's done.

There was a way warriors of Midgard and their like held themselves and moved, how their eyes would flick to sources of potential threat and assess them quickly and cleanly. Tis something that remains constant no matter the means of combat, no matter the age. "Then we shall have need of you. Unfortunately it will require some time on the range to become accustomed to the rifles. One cannot demand from their men that which they would not do themselves."

"Yes."

There's a faint grimace, and she looks at the gun warily. She certainly doesn't have anything against anyone who would choose to fight from a distance. Mages (most mages) do. She'd gladly rely on Varric and his crossbow in a pinch. It's just not her preferred method.

"Can you show me the basics, at least?"

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As a mage, Anders has never really had to learn how to use a weapon before. He knows the theory behind it, and he can stab an enemy at a pinch, but here he is, defenceless in a strange new place and all they're giving them are these...portable lightning generators? If his magic still worked he could do this with his hands...

But despite his unwillingness to join any form of law enforcement here, despite his intent to learn to heal here as much as he did in Kirkwall before, he can't leave his safety solely in the hands of Hawke. That sounds like a good way to make an even greater burden of himself. So, self-defence, the important thing-to-learn of the day.

Naturally, this means that as soon as he works his way in, trying to be unobtrusive and inoffensive, he's faced with Aveline holding one of those guns. And him without his Hawke. Ha. Now the thing to do here is...hazy, actually, she can't actually shoot him, after all, not in the middle of everything, and he doesn't think she would, either. But she wants him to face justice as much as that driving force inside him had wanted him to before...well. He's mostly diverted that now. Do the people in charge here know he's a fugitive?

But then, of course, his cause, surely that deserves him standing firm in the face of Aveline, and he really did want to learn how to use those weapons, after all.

He's just standing here like an utter fool, waffling. He should leave. He can come back another day--she can't possibly ALWAYS be here.

"Aah," he says, instead of leaving. He walks over and touches a gun, turns it over, looks at it instead of her. He's so tired. "Did I miss the lesson on which side the lightning shoots out of?" he tries. He's rusty at this, really, he's left it to Hawke for years. "That seems like an important first step, knowing that. Not, you know, shooting my foot..."

"This end," Aveline says, curtly, "is the end you point away from yourself."

And to her credit, she is actually pointing at the right end, because lying about that would be the absolute worst thing to do, even to Anders. She eyes him carefully, for the moment not really sure how to respond. This place... this place isn't where Anders should be, and taken out of Kirkwall, it's hard to know what to say to him.

"Give me one reason I should show you anything about this."

A very good question. Aveline has no reason to trust him. He's given her every reason to the contrary.

"I'd like to be able to help," he says, honestly but still feeling stilted. He pauses, breathes out, and adds, "There aren't any mages, here." There are at least two without magic, but there is no Circle, no Templars, which is really what he means. At the end of that sentence, he looks up, meets her gaze again. It's...difficult. He doesn't regret what he did, but he is sorry it had to come to that.

"I'm not sure that lacking magic now makes up for what you've done."

She sighs, a heavy sound touched with anger, but it's a cold rage rather than a hot rage. Aveline runs her hand over her face, trying to find some place to even start. She'd drag him in and turn him over to the authorities, but who even is that, here? She doesn't know, at least not yet. It's all too new, too alien.

"If you're not a mage," she asks, bluntly, "are you still an abomination?" Because Justice is a concern, here and everywhere.

"I was never--" he starts, because that's not fair to Justice, even if he corrupted him with his anger. But that's a pointless argument right now.

"He's still with me," he says instead. "We're the same person, he was always with me, not the Fade. I don't glow now, though. Which is what you're really asking, isn't it."

"Actually, I'm asking because I have a vested interest in making sure you don't blow up any more buildings."

Although the glowing is probably part of it. How dangerous is a demon -- or a spirit, sorry Justice -- without any magic? Is there really is no magic here, because that sounds impossible on so many levels. How does that even work?

"How does that work, without magic?"

"That was a last resort. I wouldn't have done it if I'd seen any other option. I don't...do that sort of thing on a whim. Peaceful solutions weren't working, no matter how much I wished they could...I gave them every chance. If mages keep their heads down forever, the atrocities of the Templars will continue, slavery in the name of the Maker." Haha he could keep going for hours...but at this point, Aveline's glare is something solid, enough to stop him dead, licking his lips nervously.

"...it...works the way it always has. We share our thoughts, our goals. All it means is now we've both lost our connection to the Fade. And yet we're not Tranquil." He says this part quieter, more to himself. "Was that always an option the Templars chose not to take? Or is it just this place?"

"You gave Meredith exactly the excuse she was waiting for," Aveline points out, but she's not exactly looking at Anders either. She was there, after all. She chose her side and it was the same side as Anders, to her very great surprise.

Meredith was insane. She would have found an excuse one way or another.

"All you did is prove that mages are dangerous and apostates can't be trusted. How many innocent people's deaths are you responsible for now? How does that help anyone?"

Anders breathes out, a long sigh. "I didn't prove anything the Templars all didn't already believe. Anything was taken as proof in the Circle, especially in Kirkwall but everywhere else as well. Templars take everything away from you until you're desperate, until you'd do anything just to feel human again, and then you're labelled as another reason why mages shouldn't be allowed to exist. They made Karl Tranquil for writing letters to me. Desperation and necessity can make anyone dangerous. It isn't limited to mages. I....don't know how many died." Probably quite a lot. The Chantry square was always busy, as was the Chantry itself. "But someone needed to take action. While Meredith and Orsino were in their stalemate, more mages were abused every day in Kirkwall, made Tranquil for looking at a Templar too long, or drinking too much. Any compromise could only leave things stagnant, the mages still imprisoned and controlled."

"Of course it was a mess."

Maker, she's not arguing that. Everything in Kirkwall was a mess, from Meredith and Orsino down to the slums. What else was she trying to do with her guards? If the letter of the law was all she cared about, she would have had to arrest, well... pretty much all of her friends.

"It was a mess and maybe something drastic did need to be done." Aveline runs her fingers over the rifle she's been toying with, and she lifts it to aim at the target.
She fires, but the recoil is still unfamiliar, and her aim suffers for it. She grimaces.

"I don't think there was justice in what you did."

Anders flinches very slightly when she fires the rifle. He still isn't sure what to make of it.

"In the act itself? Maybe not. But as a catalyst for justice for the mages? It was the only way I could see. There was supposed to be justice for those sacrificed, but if I'm still alive to see my first task through, then that can wait. Or...I would, if I were still in Thedas." He shifts his weight from foot to foot, touches the gun again without picking it up. "I only want to help here in whatever way I can, Aveline. That's all I've ever wanted."

"You have a lot to make up for, then," Aveline says shortly.

She puts the rifle down; she doesn't like it, it's all wrong, it's not her sort of weapon but is it the only option available to her? She hopes not. Also, she will never, ever agree with Anders on this. Never.

"Fortunately, this place needs a lot of help."

Aveline Vallen / Dragon Age 2 / #5

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