Sodder (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sodder) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
soddersays2019-06-25 12:24 am
sodder) wrote in soddersays2019-06-25 12:24 am
Entry tags:
JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME
JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME
Welcome to July's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: DREAM HORROR.
All Test Drive Memes contain at least one clue to the Deerington's upcoming in-game events for the month! Keep your eyes peeled! But...not literally.
Characters may die during TDMs, but you do not need to count it towards a game-canonical death unless you want to. Consider it a freebie. All TDMs can be considered game canon as TDMs introduce minor aspects about the world of Deerington that can be revisited by characters later on in the game. You may also use TDMs for your application writing sample as well as AC.
CW: Violence, Freddie Kreuger references, fire, forced sleep with some drug-like references, stabbing, nightmares, monsters, possibility for extreme alcohol consumption, and lobster festivals
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!
WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN
It’s July and July in Maine means lobster! The Lobster Festival springs up seemingly overnight down near Koji Pond. In the morning, there’s a large parade that makes its way through town, starting from the top of East Main Street and all the way down through West Main St until they hit the festival. There are tents, a few rides, games, arts and crafts, and most importantly, food pretty much everywhere behind the hotel and you can help yourself to free ice cream at the ice cream shop! Lobster ice cream and Blueberry ice cream are pushed to the forefront, but you can get just about any flavor you could possibly dream of in the long run. You can hear live music playing and a stage has been set up on the roof of the arcade. Live bands play everything from folk music to jazz to classic rock that you may or may not have heard in your lifetime. There’s a tent where local artists (including sleepers) are selling art, a craft tent where people are selling goods they’ve made such as pottery and homemade fudge, and a Do It Yourself tent where people are teaching you how to make your own buoy decoration for your front yard or how to weave your own baskets!
A seafood cooking contest is held for anyone who may want to show off their culinary skills. Any kind of seafood dishes are allowed, but they highly encourage showing your abilities to cook with lobster! Think you can beat the longstanding champions from Deerington? It’s pretty unlikely, especially since it looks like the townspeople keep trying to sabotage your meal as you’re making it. Did you mean to put in an entire half cup of salt to your stew? Oops. Guess you better figure out how to work with it anyway.
Across Koji Pond, there are floating crates set up for the great crate race! See if you can make it across the lake fastest – challenge a friend! These lobster crates wobble pretty heavily, but each runner is given a life vest for when they might inevitably fall in. Be careful if you do! Some of those strange looking fish in there definitely bite.
Each morning at the festival there will be an all you can eat blueberry pancake breakfast. Surprisingly, nothing drastic seems to happen, so have as many pancakes as your body can hold! They’re delicious, after all. Through the rest of the day, it’s easy to get your hands on lobster rolls of varying sizes, full steamed lobster meals (with corn on the cob and a buttered dinner roll), lobster salad, steamed mussels, scallops, haddock (baked or fried), fried clams, lobster stuffed risotto balls, blueberry cobbler, and strawberry shortcake are all available at any of the food stands. All the food seems perfectly safe. But you’re gonna need something to wash it down with…
The drink stand has a great deal to offer, but every drink seems to come with a particularly strange side effect to it. People who enjoy the hand crafted beers will find that it gets them drunk twice as fast and can even make people who would normally never drink completely wasted after just a glass or two. Every glass you have makes you thirstier than the last and it can be easy to want to reach for another beer to try and get yourself together. In fact, it’s particularly hard to reach for anything else. Urges to drink the beer will last for at least one full hour or can be cut short by being responsible and going to drink some water instead.
So maybe beer isn’t your thing; that’s okay! There’s also blueberry lemonade which will turn you the color of blueberries from head to toe! Fresh iced tea will make you feel particularly sarcastic, prone to mocking even your closest friends and gossiping with complete strangers about the things you may or may not have heard about the town. Got a juicy secret you were trying to keep for someone? Well, it’s out in the open now. Cream sodas will make you extremely cuddly, wanting to cozy up next to the closest person to you for a little while. The more you drink, the more touchy-feely you may get, so maybe try and stick to just one or two unless you’re looking for some afternoon delight. Hot tea will make you feel calm and relaxed to an extent you never have before. To the point where you might even want to just go lay down on one of the docks and take a quick catnap in the middle of the afternoon sun. Hopefully you wore sunscreen.
Effects from any drink will last for one to three hours or until you have some strawberry shortcake from one of the food vendors.
BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL
So maybe the lobster festival isn’t your thing or you got tired of all the crowds and wanted to go and do something else fun. Strangely enough, some of the fields out near the farmhouses apparently have a bunch of blueberry bushes that no one’s ever noticed before! They’re in full bloom and the berries look ripe for the picking. Perfectly round, juicy, warm from the sun – you could eat a whole handful of these and maybe never feel more satisfied. They’re deliciously sweet, perfect for pies and cobblers. And a whole basket seems to be reasonably priced, so why not go out and pick as many as you can!The longer you’re out in the fields, the more you’ll start to feel a little groggy. It’s easy to shake off as just being from the sun at first and you might think about heading back, but something in you wants to keep picking. So you trudge in deeper into the fields, and that sleepy feeling becomes more and more difficult to ignore. Eventually, you might find that you’re ready to just lay down and take a nap in the shade of a particularly large blueberry bush. It seems like a good a spot as any – the ground is nice and soft. Just curl up for a little while and close your eyes. Even people who are normally not prone to sleeping will find that they are compelled and even capable of taking a quick nap in these fields.
Any dreams you may have while sleeping will feel more vivid than normal – to the point where it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. Did you actually manage to find your way out of Deerington and back home? You can pinch yourself, but you won’t wake up, and it’ll hurt like a bitch, so it’s hard to be sure. Dreams seem to mostly be pleasant ones, but the occasional nightmare might find its way in to your otherwise restful sleep. Anyone who stumbles on you asleep in the fields might even hear you talking in your sleep, rambling out conversations and feelings you might normally have kept quiet. Got feelings for someone you were trying to bury? They might just hear you mutter them out loud if they’ve found you there in the dirt. Wanted to make sure no one in Deerington found out you had no home to go back to? That sucks, it sounds like you might have just spilled the beans without even knowing.
The real question is if the person who finds you will wake you up or just keep listening to find out more of your secrets without having to pry for them.
NINE, TEN, NEVER SLEEP AGAIN
It’s not just in the blueberry fields that sleepiness seems to be catching. Throughout Deerington, people seem to be having a harder and harder time staying awake for long stretches. The desire for a quick nap or even a long snooze becomes harder to fight as each day passes and you might find yourself nodding off in places you normally wouldn’t – behind the wheel of a car, in the middle of a store, at work… Hopefully no one gets too hurt or loses a job during these strange episodes.Only unlike in the fields, when you do give in to sleep, the dreams you have are now far from pleasant. Nightmares are running amok in your mind, but that vivid realism? That inability to tell when you’re awake or asleep? That has definitely not changed. You might not have even realized you’ve fallen asleep at all – most of the scenery around you seems to be Deerington itself, but something just seems off. You don’t have time to think about it though because it’s then that things start to get scary. Whether it’s reliving your most traumatic experiences, running in to your worst enemies, or seeing monster of your own creation popping up and chasing you, danger and fear are permeating every corner of these dreams. Horror movie fans might find they’re being chased by Freddie Kreuger, hunted down by Jason, cornered by the aliens from Alien. Or maybe there are terrifying monsters from your own world that have started to come for you and are trying to tear you limb from limb. It feels impossible to outrun, and maybe in the end, you don’t. But if you die in your dreams, you don’t really die in real life, right? So you might just snap awake with a particularly frightening jolt.
You think when you wake up that everything is fine. That sense of fear is gone and you’re able to just breathe. But as you go about your day, you start to see images from your nightmares out of the corner of your eyes. Was that Freddie’s claws scratching against the blackboard? Did you just hear the strange clicking of alien feet against the tiles? You hope it’s in your imagination, but this is Deerington. When does anything ever stay normal?
The danger from your nightmares is definitely invading your personal space and it will try to kill you. Anyone else can see these images just as plain as day as you can and they are welcome to either sit and watch or help you fight. Whatever is trying to kill you will go down in the same manner it would have back home – that means that it could be as easy as a bullet between the eyes or it could be as complex as an intense ritual. Guess you’ll have to figure it out for yourself before it really does kill you.
Character Arrival
You can read how all characters arrive in Deerington here.There is not a collective "all these characters showed up at the exact same moment" occurrence in Deerington. Since characters fall asleep, die, or pass out at various times throughout all their worlds, it wouldn't make too much sense if they arrived in game all at the exact same time. There should be some discrepancy between character arrival, whether by a couple minutes, hours, or even days up to a week.
The players are entirely in control of how/when they want to play their characters arriving in Deerington. For TDMs, you can play it like your character has just arrived and that can be maintained as your game canon, or you can wait until game events for that moment. Or you don't need to acknowledge it at all. The flexibility for character allows a bit more of an organic feel to the character arrival situation, so please play it to whatever feels right for you.
If you are interested in having an "arrival" introduction for one of your TDM prompts, you are more than welcome to explore that option.
no subject
Yeah! Otherwise we'll fall back asleep! Or at least I will. I was out on a jog, but they overcame me. What were you doing?
no subject
[Crowley finally finds a steady pace with long strides that keep him in sync with her running.]
Exploring and looking for someone. Caught your scent and thought I couldn't leave you out here alone. You humans are prone to trouble. Believe me, I would know.
[He might've been looking for his angel. He found the Doctor's angel instead.]
You two--You and the doctor, you travel the universe together? You were rambling a bit in your sleep.
no subject
[But then the humor fades and she slows down the jogging outside of the field with a frown.] We did, but we got separated. I got trapped in another universe where he can't reach me. Time is extra tricky out there, so i don't even know if he's reached that point yet, and this doesn't seem to be his universe, so it looks like I might have to keep looking when we fix things here.
no subject
You'll find him. You lot are persistent. Love is persistent. That's why you're Her favourites, I think. [He also thinks that's why She didn't smite them outright for protecting humanity. Just his own little though. No one knew the blasted Ineffable Plan, after all.
Their jog slowed and he glanced around with the field in their wake. He squirmed his hand out of her hold and brushed a few lingering snowflakes off her shoulder.]
He knows you love him, doesn't he?
1/2
I don't know. [Pink cheeks.] I didn't tell him until I was trapped in another universe, and he thought we'd never see each other again without destroying two universes in the process. We've gone through a lot of trouble to save the Universe, not so keen on blowing it up, yeah?
That's why I thought you, he, would be more surprised to see me. Buuuut time travel. It doesn't look like he got that far yet.
Annnnd if he were anyone else, I'd say, even my mother and ex-boyfriend knew long before I ever did. But he's always been so alone. He's the last of his people, and I'm all he's got. That's why I didn't tell him until it was my last chance. Because I didn't want to pressure him or make him think we couldn't just be friends when he'd already almost sacrifice a world for me.
He needs someone to hold his hand. Sometimes I think--
2/2
Look at me goin' on!
[Inwardly she's wincing. It's been a good year of traveling between the universes, where simultaneously everything she said, and nothing she said might stick. It's deeply affected the way she talked to people, and she's only just now realizing that with a kind of personal horror.]
It's not like I'm tryin' ta come back just for him!
[Her eyes get a little flinty and serious. Because as embarrassing as it was to even be so hung up on an alien man, she truly wasn't willing to risk the lives of untold googles on anyone's idea of a fairy tale romance, which was plenty impossible and disastrous, she'd add; since he still had his "curse of the timelords" in which he'd outlive her but was also a thousand years older.]
It's for me. And maybe I won't give up if I find the solution before I get back to him, but it's not like I'm going to stay in a room pining forever if I fail. [She kind of... pouts at that. She means it... but she might also do it out of sheer stubbornness and a refusal to join in on less of a life than what she'd already experienced as the absolute best existence had to offer her. And what good was settling? She'd never be able to in good conscience date anyone else who would have to always compare themselves to the Doctor. Still, it does remind her a lot of the arguments with her Mum, about growing old, not being able to keep up physically, never settling down. Hah. Didn't matter. Rose didn't want to settle down yet even without the Doctor, so if that changed, then she'd deal with it then, but not until. Right? Right!]
no subject
You kids are so daft. [Yes, even the old Doctor was a young-in to him. Boy, he has 5000 years on you. If anyone is old, it's Crowley.] You aught be telling him this, yeah? Maybe not 'bout the future, but the rest. Feelings and the like. I don't know, I'm not an expert in human emotions, but I've been around for long enough to learn a thing or two about them. Yours are eating you up inside. I can feel that.
no subject
[Mildly starry eyed!] That's so amazing! Although I guess it must be kind of obnoxious, huh? Do you get to do anything fun with it? Instead o' just bein' overwhelmed by how pesky humans are?
[Blows cheeks out in a huff.] I don't want to talk about emotions with him. I spent way too long thinking he's kind of asexual as it is. If I tried to have a serious conversation like that, he'd bolt. I'd bolt. And the first thing he ever told me was not to make everything domestic. And that's what he always says what I'm doin'. Domestics.
no subject
It's my job. I tempt humans to do things and Aziraphale thwarts my wiles. We've been cancelling eachother out for thousands of years, and we're just fine with that. Doesn't mean it's any less fun in modern times. So many wiles to tempt.
[They're not an old married couple. They're not.]
He's not as asexual as you'd think. [No, there was not a smug upturn of his lips there. Wiles, remember?] As for the other bit, can't help you there. Some are domestic, some aren't.
no subject
[ :| innocent or evil? It's a tough call to be honest.]
[She bites her bottom lip at the information that the Doctor isn't completely asexual. She knows, but how much...]
[Also should she value his privacy? Yes. Yes, she should, right? And tempted for the sake of tempted was a dumb reason to anything.]
I'm not domestic! [Depending on your definition, but insofar as Rose thinks it means "tame" and "settled down," she refuses to be.]
How not-asexual are we talkin'?
[Yes, see? She's completely evil.] Because I know he gets jealous, but he also used to flirt with my other best mate, Jack, a lot, and --
[GAH! Overwhelming flood of jealousy and general tsundere rage. See the worst part about Rose for Crowley is that all that emotions? That's her normal. It's 24/7 raging inferno that most sane humans just don't have. Not so much the temptation, because she cheerfully does what she wants, but the emotions? Those all but overwhelm her constantly.]
Cleo. Reinette. Sarah Jane. [Red cheeks. Huff. PUFF.]
[So not jealous.]
[So a little jealous.]
[Grrrr.]
[She could go get married and have a normal life without him.]
[She just doesn't want to!]
[The ironic thing was when she finally needed Sarah Jane and would have taken up her advice, it was still too late, she could no more reach the other woman than the Doctor.]
[Rose throws her hands up in exasperation.] I know he's not asexual. Now. Doesn't mean --
[Closes her eyes and sighs.] Curse of the TimeLords, yeah? He's going to live indefinitely long, and I've got what? A couple more decades? IF I don't fall into the void or all my other jeopardy-friendly-whatever tendencies catch up with me. And he promised my Mum he'd always send me back to her. I've fought my way back to him hundreds of times, and it never changes. The first opportunity it gets where he just embraces dying on his own, boom, back I get sent and he tries to close the walls of the universe behind me. [Fuming. So grumpy.]
[A beat, and she quizzically looks at him.] Is this some other sort of demon power? I haven't told anyone all this. Not Micks, definitely not parents... I've barely been able to tell people my real name for the last two years until I got here and you...
[Headshake.] I don't get it. [A small laugh.] Satan just seemed to want to scare me, I think because he was scared, believe it or not. He took a gamble, he could have had his freedom, but he would have had to do it the right way, and if he did it the wrong, it's like the story about the sun and the storm trying to get the man to take off his coat, yeah?
Is it the temptation thing? [Head tilt.] Not even Jack could get me to say all that, and you... you're not even trying. [Wolf whine!] No fair! Can you teach me?
no subject
Because it's his job. To thwart wiles. We learned a long, long, long time ago that in order to make both our bosses happy, we had to go about doing what we were told, but that didn't mean it had to amount to anything. As long as we were both doing what we were told, the results didn't matter. It also meant we could spend more time doing things we enjoyed.
[Crowley let the next few waves of emotion just roll on by. She was quite a fiery one. He thought to nudge her jealousy down a hair, just to get a calmer experience out of her, but that was just it, wasn't it? Humans. He enjoyed them in all their quirks. So, he didn't.]
Oh, no. I'm not going there. Demon-patient confidentiality. I have standards in my demonic practises, thank you. [The smirk was still in place.] That's up to him. I've been around. Around. I've watched civilisations rise and fall. I've watched species go extinct. I've watched humans grow and die since the dawn of time. I'm responsible for Eve getting thrown out of the Garden. Personally responsible for it. And it doesn't get any easier. But neither does trying to ignore feelings. I'm not the best for advice on what's better. I'm a demon, I'm incapable of love. [Liar] But you're good for him. I saw you dissolve his rage with a touch. That's power. Bloody brilliant humans.
[The demon chuckled at her insinuation that he was using some demonic powers on her.]
This is all you, Ms. Tyler. I haven't touched you with a single temptation. Haven't even pried into your mind and looked. Honestly, don't need to. Might be that I share his face and voice? Sets you at ease?
[That, though. The mention of that one name and Crowley's entire mood plummeted through the sun-beaten earth. He only recoiled slightly, visibly anyway. The name put a bad taste in his mouth, and frankly, nothing could feed ice through Crowley's veins faster.]
He isn't afraid of anything. [He shoved both his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched forward a bit, as if trying to make himself appear less apparent to the entirety of the universe.] Sat-- Luci-- My Boss is not this awful force. Wants nothing but the End Times and to prove He is stronger. He is fear incarnate.
[Crowley's thoughts might have strayed to a darker part of his mind. When she whined, he almost seemed to not hear her right off.]
...what? No, sorry. I'm-- [He was still glaring at the ground.] --I'm not. Not tempting you, I mean. It's a passive thing, this.
no subject
[And she giggles about Demon-patient confidentiality.] Just as well, I shouldn't have asked.
[A tongue-touched grin. And as he starts talking about civilizations falling, she can't help it, she hugs him anyway. He isn't the Doctor, but it's not his face that reminds her of the Doctor either. Just as Jack reminded her of the Doctor but with flirting and dancing.] Can you still be a snake or are you stuck like this? [THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION.]
[She wants to say the Doctor didn't need Rose to dissolve his rage, he handled himself just fine. But she remembers the dalek, the Stormcage, the Delta waves, the seething fury of when he undermined Harriet Jones in penance for Sycorax... and okay maybe.] He's more fun when he's excited about werewolves and being a dopey puppy anyway...
[A small snort at why she's trusting Crowley so easily.] Maybe. He is my best mate, but this isn't the face I think of him as. When I first met him he had a different one, and when I was investigatin' him, he's been through like a dozen. So I don't think it's just physical.
[And Crowley is scared of Lucifer. Well, it made sense. And answered her previous questions about angels and demons getting along. They're not supposed to, and Lucifer wouldn't want that.]
Hey Crowley? Want to work for me instead? I think the temptin' thing reminds me a lot of Jack. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. He's a top-tier Torchwood agent, and that's where I work now. My dad runs his universe's version. We'll take Azira-- [Face scrunch, did she say that right?] -phale too, yeah? Torchwood does a lot of different things, but the Doctor's universe version is part of why I fell into Dad's Universe, and they protect Earth, even against the Doctor, or at the expense of killing aliens, so he hates it. But they also explored the black hole, the impossible planet, where L-- your old boss [A giggle and she can't help but derail it.] Lord Voldemort who shall not be named -- where he was chained up. My Dad's universe version -- well it's really long and complicated, but... I already shot your old boss into a black hole once. Between the two of us, he'll be angrier at me. [Winks.] So I'll take him and shoot him back into the void, especially because it's just a simple reversing the polarity on my cannon. It's rigged so I use the void stuff on me to repel me into not void. So if I flip it, then I can just stick it on him and send him directly into the void! Eaaaasy peasy. Except that I can only do it the once, but then I'll have time to make more to do it again.
Oh! I forgot the important part! My Dad's Torchwood's primary mission is to protect Earth and other dimensions! Usually from aliens, but sometimes humans do some really really dumb things to themselves. Anyway, I'll look after you, and then you won't have to be scared of You-know-Who. And Aziraphale -- yay I said it!!! -- won't have to worry about anyone else either.
1/2
Crowley opened his mouth to retort, but really, that was something he'd never been asked before. Granted, not too many knew of his origins, and he was sure Aziraphale preferred him in this form anyway. He had spent a decent chunk of time in Eden as a snake. When he'd decided he just didn't fancy being a snake, he'd shed his old name like the serpent's skin. That didn't mean his old name didn't still have power over him, just as his serpent's form.]
You ask some unique questions. [For the time being, he brushed it off, however. She went on, shooting a hole in his theory, and he would be quite honest, he was curious too. If it wasn't because he resembled her Doctor and he wasn't actively using his powers on her, what was it?]
Could be that, before I fell, I was an angel. You lot pray to Heaven all the time. Maybe not all of that was burned out of me. Enough that you feel comfortable around me instinctively? I can't stop that. Well, I suppose I could plant a suggestion in your head to keep you from being so comfortable around me? Would that... make it easier?
[He wasn't sure that was something he wanted to do, but it was something he would do if she asked. Some demon he was. Worrying about whether a human felt comfortable around him because she felt too comfortable?
Rose posed her new question and rambled on about it. He only followed half of what she was on about, but her point still came across loud and clear. When she tried Aziraphale's name, it made him smirk.] A-zira-fail. As in, he's a failure at running a bookshop. Who runs a bookshop that doesn't sell books? It's his own personal library, is what it is. Can't bring himself to part with them.
I don't know if it would be that easy. [He was a cinephile. The Voldemort reference wasn't lost on him, and he appreciated it, actually.] He Who Shall Not Be Named, at least in my universe, doesn't take kindly to defiance. Funny thing, yeah? Guy who defied Heaven not liking defiance from His own? Hypocrite. [But just as the word left his mouth, Crowley nearly ducked, expecting the Dark Council or Satan Himself to retaliate.]
But that might be a good escape plan, yeah? So long as we don't go collapsing any universes in the process. I helped build some of it, you know. I'd hate for it to go up in flames. Unlike the Almighty, I don't fancy destroying my things. You ever been to Alpha Centauri? Triple star system. Pair of binary stars and a red dwarf. Gorgeous system.
That's very kind of you. Very daft to offer shelter to a demon and angel fugitive, but kind. [He reflected back on her earlier question. Might as well, right?]
2/2
You asked about my serpent form,
[Crowley closed his eyes, touching both hands to his temples and felt around them, wrapping both of them in a spell of perception. This was not something he would share as willy nilly as his serpent's eyes. When he was certain no one was around, and they were both firmly hidden from perception, Crowley lowered his hands back to his sides and stopped walking.] Truthfully, I haven't ever been asked to take on that form again.
[Crowley took off his shades, dropping them in his pocket and rolled his neck from side to side, loosening up the vertebrae with a few subtle pops. The demon braced himself for the shift. It was gradual and very awkward for the demon. Rearranging the entirety of his form was different than releasing his wings from the Ethereal plane. They weren't truly gone, just out of sight. Fortunately, even after 6000 years, he still knew how to fully shift.
The serpent wasn't small. Slick, jet black scales covered the majority of his body while fiery orange scoots lined his stomach and the underside of his jaw. He coiled himself up to rise his upper body back to height. Yes, he was quite large as a serpent.]
Do I frighten you like thissss?
[It was a curious question, not a threat at all. A natural hiss hung on the end of his words that didn't seem to be spoken as much as just floated into the air on a whisper.]
I wouldn't blame you if you sssssaid yesss. There'ssss a reassson I maintain that other form.
[The serpent gave her one last glance in this form before pulling back in on himself and reversing the shift. When he was finally standing tall beside her, human in appearance again, he realised he'd gone a step too far. Black wings were reaching towards the sun as they stretched themselves out.] Bloody heaven, be gone with you. [He rolled his shoulders and pulled the black wings back to the ethereal plane.] There, that's better.
Still want me around?
Lol um comic book spoilers for hungry void and the 2016 9th doctor run
Could be another kind of instinct! Like I said, you remind me of Jack. Could be I'm so used to just living alongside temptation, having it personified in the Doctor's latest face is just natural.
Oh! But don't take it away, please! Unless I'm bugging you. It's new, but I don't want to give it up just yet.
[And she giggles.] No destroying universes, I promise. Only saving them!
Yeah! There's centaurs there. I know, right? Centaurs, Alpha Centauri... At first Jack and I thought they were taking the Doctor hostage, so I got all ready to fight the whole lot of 'em and kidnap him to rescue him -- that was when he had the different face. Believe it or not, he was twice as daft and half again as angry back then. Jack had to save him hundreds of times. I still have no idea how Jack came to be working for his Torchwood, must be some incredible story.
[At the reveal of his snake form, Rose laughs in pure delight and of course, reaches out to touch and even gently rub his head.] Nuh-uh!!! You're cute!!!
[And when he changes back again, pulling wings out of appearance or existence, and asks that question, she gives him a giant glomping hug again!]
Of course I do!!!
[That reminds her of the Doctor, all dopey and thinking she could love him any less if his hair was silly or whatever rubbish. Jack too though. Ex-assassin, not allowed to have guns on board, constantly worried the Doctor might kick him out. Well, was Rose really that much better? Maybe it was because the Doctor was so temperamental and nothing to do with their own perfectly logical concerns. Then again, Rose wasn't too afraid to fight the Doctor when she felt it necessary, but much like Satan, Rose was willing to fight everyone and anyone if she thought she should.]
And if you ever need a hiding space, I will keep you warm in my shirt and fight both heaven and hell at once as needed! It'll be fun!
When you first said scaled, I was thinking like silurians! I'm guessing your Earth doesn't have them though. They're lizard people! Very pretty! Evolved alongside the dinosaurs. One of the Doctor's best mates is one! Madame Vastra. She's got a snakey tongue too. She's cold blooded too, so he had to rig a thing to keep her warm when her wife Jenny isn't quite enough.
So you see, [Broad, cheeky, even trolling grin.] it will take a lot more than being a very cute serpent to scare me.
no subject
[He was Temptation personified? He supposed that was accurate. Very accurate, actually.]
Not a bother at all. [He flashed her a charming grin.] Though, I still think it's unwise to be so comfortable around demons. I can't seem to get that message across to you youths.
See? I thought it was brilliant! Centaurs on Alpha Centauri! But it sounds like you lot get yourselves into all kinds of trouble wherever you go. Addicted to adrenaline, aren't you?
[After Crowley had shifted back, he replaced the sunglasses over his eyes and gave her an incredulous look that still managed to look incredulous despite being unable to see his eyes.]
Cute? I'm a demon. And a wiley serpent, no less! I'm the stuff of nightmares, not cute. [Yes, he was a wee bit worked up, but he was mostly just huffy. He wasn't cute. He wasn't good and he wasn't nice. None of the above! But as she pressed on about keeping him warm and protected, he couldn't help but feel... Domesticated.
She brought up the Silurians and their tongues and Crowley couldn't help but flick a forked tongue past his lips into the air. Oh, he could do things with his tongue. Very interesting things. But that was not a conversation for today. Or ever, for that matter. Leave it up to the imagination.] Yeah, not a fan of the cold either. It's a serpent thing.
I still think you need to work on your trust placement. I could be dangerous, Rose. [Aru had been the same way. She just trusted him for no apparent reason and it concerned him. They could get hurt being so trusting. He wasn't the only demon here, and he was sure some of them had no qualms killing like he did.]
no subject
Oh! The centaurs was your idea? Thank you then, I love it! Whose idea was the ood though? Because I need to file some complaints there.
Yeaaaah might be a bit of an adrenaline junkie. One time we went bungie jumping down this ravine and accidentally became part of a wedding ceremony, and the Doctor caught the bouquet in his teeth. You should have seen the look on the priests' face!! Mind, it wasn't a human wedding party, so I say face, but it was all covered in fur, but you would have loved it!
He still owes me lava surfing come to think! He wound me up talking about the most exciting place he could think of, even greater than asteroid jumping, and then took me to 19th century Earth, to look at a telescope. Unbelievable, I swear.
[Gently pokes his cheeks.] Nah.
I don't trust everyone easily. Only wily serpents who are fun to be around and remind me of my best mates.
no subject
[Crowley couldn't help but let her infectious mood act as a buoy. She was excitable and adventurous and full of joy, which was as exhausting as it was refreshing. It also made him feel old.]
Alien wedding? Can't believe the angel and I missed that one. Though, the lava surfing. You might be better off for having missed that. Lava's tricky business. Melts the skin all off. Nasty sight.
[He was poked. He was much like a cat in that he really didn't like physical contact unless it was something he initiated. But Rose just continued to poke, pet, and hug him. He also took note that he hadn't done anything to really stop her, either. So maybe it didn't annoy him as much as he'd like.]
But that's just it, isn't it? I am a wily serpent. I could be-- [Oh, he gives up. She'd made up her mind and he was learning that changing it wouldn't be an easy task, if at all possible.] You think I'm fun to be around? I have it on very good authority that I am, [Prissiest, uptight imitation of his best friend's voice when he quotes him,] no fun.
You need better mates if I remind you that much of them. I suppose if you're not extending this trust to all demons and aliens you see on the street, you might be more sensible than I thought.
no subject
[All the giggles.] No way! I'd be safe! The Doctor would make force field shield. He's a genius with gadgets like that. That's why he carries a screwdriver. Although ever since I got him to read Harry Potter, he definitely keeps using it like a wand, and I swear that's why he wants to be ginger. He wants to be Harry, Dumbledore, and a Weasley all at once, yeah?
Mmmmm nope! You're lots of fun! And oi! [Gentle fist bap.] Don't insult my friends! They're great! And if I wasn't a little trusting, I'd've died and no one would have known it. The Doctor saved me, and then Jack did too, and I didn't exactly trust Adam, I just felt bad for him. But even though the archaeologist You-Know-Who possessed was hella dodgy, I just gave him chances until he went full fire-breathing and ranting against life and then -- [Dusts her hands.] I ditched him like Jimmy, my ex. Life's too short to waste on idiots, yeah? [Nod!] Same with Adam.
But if you come to work for my Dad's Torchwood, you can be in charge of making sure I don't accidentally pick up the wrong blokes thinking they're lost puppies when they're actually werewolves and demons and I dunno... idiots who get gates installed in their skulls. That sort of thing.
Only one wily snake demon unless you decide otherwise, deal?