Test Drive for January 2014 Apps

[highseasmods]

Welcome to your monthly Test Drive for high_seas! Here is where new players can test out their characters' voices, old players can try out new muses, and everyone can help each other get some threads for their applications! Feel free to use one of the prompts below, or come up with something on your own! Comment around, have fun, and remember that any CR formed here does not carry over to the game!

See you during the application round!

♦ So you're new to this world and have just woken up in the Town Square. How do you react? What do you do?

♦ You're lost at sea. Maybe you got separated from your crew. Or perhaps you're on an abandoned island. You need help!

♦ "Pirates off the starboard bow!" It's an enemy ship! Attack!!

♦ You and your crew are hanging out on your ship. Just another day at sea!

♦ "LAND, HO!" Hey look, a new island! How about you go explore it? Tell us what you find!

Comments

[bloodandbattle]

Sydni stilled for a moment, head tilting to the side before his smile softened and he nodded, "I do. You are surprisingly comfortable speaking of the Fade. And yet... I do not know you from the Ferelden Circle."

He straightened his shoulders and started to walk in a slow circle around Hawke, looking him over more thoroughly, "You do not wear the clothes of a Templar, nor do you carry yourself as one. Even the Ferelden Circle does not allow Mabari as pets for the Mages and Apprentices within it's walls, so I do not believe you would be allowed to have one in any other Circle, even if you were transferred to it... That leaves only a couple options as to your status, my friend." Surana stopped once he was back in front of Hawke again, putting his hand on Cuddle's head and scratching the spot between his eyes that Hawke had been scratching on Champion. "You don't seem like a Tevinter to me, you aren't a Warden... so that leaves apostate. If this isn't Thedas, then lady luck must hold quite the flame for you."

[hawkethat]

There was little point in dissembling, as Hawke wore his staff slung over his back as usual, where it was convenient to access. He stood still while Surana circled around him, somewhat bemused by his analysis. If the templars in Kirkwall had paid half as much attention to him, doubtless he would have been imprisoned years ago for the grievous sin of being born with magic. But they never had, and he had never been. Not that he was complaining.

"I don't think that's a very fair assessment at all. I could be any number of things besides an apostate. A scholar, for example, or a well-educated noble, or even an initiate who was caught in a compromising position with a pretty Sister and was expelled for wanton impropriety and complete and utter disregard for Chantry rules, but whose loyal hound would not be separated from his side--" Here Champion interrupted him with a vaguely disgusted noise somewhere between a whine and a growl, and he grinned and smooshed the loose skin of the dog's eyebrows downward, briefly causing his eyes to close. "My father was very good at eluding templars and keeping the family together. So in that, I suppose, yes, you could say I was lucky."

Now it was his turn to eye Surana speculatively. "So you're a Grey Warden, then?"

[bloodandbattle]

Surana didn't carry an obvious staff. His robes were much more on the 'scholarly' side of things, but at his waist hung one very fine sword and an even finer dagger. The backpack he carried was a rather basic, if somewhat larger than normal, travel bag.

"Smarter than you look," he replied with a chuckle. Perhaps if he had had a different life, he would have continued that discussion about family. But he hadn't, and he'd been given to the Chantry when he was very young. He couldn't even remember his relatives and the records were long gone for which family in the Denerim Alienage he came from. If they ever existed at all. "Very few people would have picked up on that just from me mentioning it.

"And actually... you couldn't be a well-educated noble or scholar... I've seen a fair share and you simply don't have that pompous air... and I've met initiates caught in compromising positions. With an apprentice mage, not a sister, but all the same... so no. You couldn't have been any of those. Not in my experience."

[hawkethat]

"Don't go spreading that around, please," Hawke said, though he didn't sound particularly worried. "Life is so much easier when people think you're stupid. If they start to think that you might not be, they start expecting things from you, and then it's 'Hawke this' and 'Hawke that,' and that's the end of a quiet life drinking and whoring and sleeping until noon."

Family for Hawke wasn't exactly a sore subject - the blows of his father's and sister's deaths had been softened somewhat by intervening years - but it also wasn't exactly an appropriate subject for conversation with a new acquaintance, so he was more than happy to drop it. Besides, Surana didn't have any tattoos that Hawke could see, which meant - from what he understood of elven culture, at least - that he'd either been born in or raised in an alienage or the Circle, and was not Dalish. As such, family was likely to be a sensitive topic for him as well. So moving right along, he let out a dramatic sigh, though he was still smiling.

"Foiled in yet another deception by my own good looks and refreshingly humble attitude once again. When will I learn?"

[bloodandbattle]

"Refreshingly humble is it?" That got an even bigger laugh out of the Warden. Whomever this Hawke was, he was certainly an easy person to to talk to. It made him wonder if it was an act, or the genuine thing. Sydni hadn't met many apostates that weren't also maleficarum out to kill him for power. And those that weren't were either part of the Mage's Collective or were Morrigan or Anvernus... or Jowan.

Ah, but that was getting into memories he'd rather not think about. And Hawke made him remember a much better friend, anyway. "You remind me of a friend of mine. Though he would never dare to claim the title of humble... but both of you have mouths on you that I expect have gotten you into and out of as many problems as the other. And brothels."

[hawkethat]

"You think so too? It's awfully kind of you to say so, Serah."

Lucky for Surana, Hawke had no interest in killing anybody for power. Or any interest in killing anybody for any reason, really. Whether or not he's able to avoid that second one, though, really depends on what sort of plots are afoot on the streets of Kirkwall on any given day. Best not to think about that.

"Do I? I hope it's a favorable recollection." It probably was, judging from the way Surana was smiling, but it never hurt to make sure.

[bloodandbattle]

Surana gave Hawke a very obvious look-over. One that edged away from friendly and into friendly before averting his eyes and clearing his throat in a fairly obvious manner, "Indeed it is, serrah. Indeed, it is. Though, you pull off a beard better than he ever could. Not that a beard on an elf is possible..."

[hawkethat]

Oh, it was like that, was it? If Surana had been hoping to discomfit Hawke by flirting with him, he was in for some disappointment, because there were few things Hawke liked better than a bit of indiscriminate flirting.

"Elves are pretty enough already. If they started growing beards that would make things incredibly unfair for the rest of us, don't you think?"

[bloodandbattle]

He hadn't really been out to cause any discomfort in Hawke. Surana had mostly been trying to not embarrass himself as untoward thoughts of a particular Antivan were brought to mind by the easy going nature of the human he was speaking to. The warden gave another chuckle, keeping his eyes averted from Hawke to better control his own urge to up the ante. There were few pasttimes Surana enjoyed as much as a good bout of flirting - should it have a chance of going anywhere more physical. Which was not something he should be thinking about five minutes after meeting a man his dog had goosed.

"That implies that all beards are half as pretty as elves. It might be the case with yours, serrah, but you're the exception, not the rule."

[hawkethat]

"Such flattery." Hawke tsk'd, though he was clearly amused. "It'll get you everywhere, you know." If there was one thing Hawke loved, it was compliments. Not that he needed them, with the size of his ego, but who even cared about that? "If you're not in the middle of anything, could I tempt you to join me for a drink? There's a tavern around here with ale to rival the best of the Hanged Man. I was just trying to find it again when your dog stopped me."