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+ ENTRANCEWAY TEST DRIVE MEME +

Has this ever happened to you? You are an adventurous and daring roleplayer bursting with motivation and ideas, and Wonderland seems just the place for you to let your creativity flourish, AND YET... you doubt.

Unsure if your grasp on that one character's voice is as firm as you'd like it to be? Wondering how exactly your regular character's quirks will work out, once you've turned them into a Mirror? Curious and curiouser about how your magnificent muse might fit into the world of Wonderland? Or do you simply want to warm up and stretch your legs, before submitting that application and coming to meet

entranceway's characters and players?

THEN WE HAVE JUST THE THING FOR YOU!

If this delicious apple in its constant, looming spin

is the spitting image of the doubts and concerns holding you back from IMMEDIATELY applying one or more characters to this game, then you have come to the right place! Boldly reach for your juicy and vitamin-filled hesitation and crush it between your teeth, with our latest, greatest and most fashionable

♥ ENTRANCEWAY ♥
TEST DRIVE MEME

► Try out any new characters and new Mirrors here! Have a go at the setting, thread with its current players, and see if Wonderland is a good fit for you and/or your character. Post a top level comment, tag into other people's starters, enjoy yourself!

► Thread your character's arrival, set a scene with them as long-established inhabitant, or let one of our past events inspire you. Any starter is fine, and both prose and comment spam are welcome!

► Please only note that threads on the test drive meme ARE NOT GAME CANON. They can't be used as part of the activity check OR as samples for any future applications. Thank you for understanding!

► Intrigued? Check out our...

NAVIGATION | INPUT & INQUIRIES | TAKEN CHARACTERS | WANTED CHARACTERS | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS

AND THAT IS ALL, so go test those drives, drive those tests, and seize the apple! ♥

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We're all different, R. That's what makes us unique.

[ Brilliant smile for the judges annnnnnnnd scene. ]

What happened to you? Have you eaten?

[ She's concerned, okay? The last thing anyone needs is a zombie going full zombie in this place. Because honestly, why would there be two zombies from two totally different worlds??? ]

[He doesn't think she understands. He wants to explain - the thoughts form, coherent and carefully pieced together - but the ability to express himself properly falls apart before he can speak. What comes out instead is a soft sigh, and a flash of a helpless look.

R wants, more fiercely than any hunger he's ever felt, to be able to explain himself in this moment.

He shakes his head.]

No. Don't need--...

[How long has it been? He hasn't eaten since he left the airport with Julie. Since before then, even. It hadn't even occurred to him before now.]

This is... [Frustrating. This is frustrating! It's written all over his face. She thinks there's something wrong with him. Is she worried?] ... normal.

[ That earns a deep frown of concern, and she can definitely tell he's frustrated so she tries to push the beauty queen to the back burner and focus, sitting down with him on a little love seat type decorative piece of furniture. ]

I'm gonna try to help. All you have to do is nod for yes and shake your head for no.

[ That should hopefully make it easy, right? Except now she has to think of yes or no questions that can get her to the bottom of things. ]

Could you talk before you were a zombie?

[When he sits, it's with the same lack of grace as all his other movements have displayed, as if something in his body is a step behind what his mind is telling him to do. There's a keenness in his eyes - an intelligence - but what is going on in his head has a habit of never quite making its way out of his mouth.

He's grateful, though, for many things. First of all, that she isn't immediately running in the other direction. Secondly, and more importantly, she's offering him a simpler way to communicate that makes things.. easier.

A little easier.

R doesn't answer right away, despite the simplicity of the binary responses offered to him. He settles for nodding, but then adds-]

Can't... remember.

[The second word comes out laboriously, but there it is. He's a little proud of himself. He assumes he could talk, because the words he knows now and the words that blossom in brilliant colours in his mind must have come from somewhere. He must have been able to talk, but time took it from him along with his memories of the person he used to be.]

[ He can't remember.

That sounds like a zombie cure gone memory loss, except now that they know Blaine had been lying about that and the memories should come back, maybe this isn't it. Or maybe it is and this is another stage? But then how would R have even gotten an antidote???

Gosh, okay. This is a lot she can't ask simply, so she backs up. Didn't someone say people come from all over different worlds and times? Next question: ]

Were you in Washington State?

[ Liv feels like she's going to get the same response - that he can't remember - which makes sense if somehow he was given a zombie cure that went really, really wrong. ]

[She is trying, and he does appreciate it. He wishes he could give her the answers she wants. He wishes he could introduce himself like she had, so eloquently, or even remember his name to give it to her.

This time, he doesn't nod, or shake his head. He lifts his shoulders in a shrug and a clear repeat of his earlier words, which he might repeat had they not scrambled out of his mouth and into nothingness the moment he'd set his lips around them.

Where was he?]

... Airport. [He offers, though he's sure it won't help.] For... long time.

[His hand comes up, fingers flat and splayed, and he wobbles it from side to side. A long time, but he doesn't know how long.]

[ He was in an airport? There's no way he could have been and not detected or taken somewhere else. You can't just hang out in airports anymore, this isn't a Tom Hanks movie.

So now, Liv's heart breaks a little. He's probably not from her world. He's from somewhere zombies have really taken over and it's Not Good. He's been this way for a long time. Something about zombie life keeps him from being him and she's afraid a person in Wonderland will try to kill him because of it. Not on her watch; he's either living with her or in a room close by so she can keep an eye on him. Maybe she can teach him how to person again. ]

Where I'm from, it's different. Zombies are still pretty human-ish. We have to eat brains at least once a month or we wouldn't be human-ish anymore at all. We'd turn into something that only hurts people.

[ Her voice is soft as she speaks, and she can't help reaching out, covering his hand with hers. ]

But we're not alone in this place. That has to count for something. Right?

['We'd turn into something that only hurts people.'

R looks away. How many people has he hurt? So many, he wouldn't be able to count them even if he remembered how numbers worked. How many people has he hurt, killed, torn apart--

Her hand touches his, covers it, and his fingers twitch beneath her palm. He looks at her hand then up at her like he doesn't quite understand, but what she says sinks in and pricks at something that gently shushes the quiet but gnawing hunger that hasn't yet managed to take him over.]

Right.

[Right.

R closes his eyes. What comes out next clearly takes some effort.]

I don't.. w--.. want to... hurt an..anyone.

[ She understands, and she nods, squeezing his hand before letting go. ]

Do you need to eat?

[ Liv still has beauty pageant brain in her fridge, but also the closets have been pretty accommodating, so she's happy to just show him how it works once she takes care of him. ]

I have to eat at least once a month.

[ Oh, maybe she should ask this: ]

When you eat, do you get flashes of the person's life before they died? Memories, from their point of view?

[He misses the contact immediately, but doesn't reach for it. Instead, he puts his hands together in his lap and almost seems to fidget. 'Eating' is.. a tricky subject, particularly as right now he doesn't really feel the need and only really eats when he's hungry.

He can't get any more dead than he already is.

The question surprises him, once it works his way into his mind and settles there. R looks at her again, the answer in his eyes before he even says it.]

Yes.

[Sometimes. Sometimes it isn't as strong as other times, and only with the brains... M thinks it's sick, but it's the closest to being alive that R ever manages to get.]

Me too!

[ She possibly gets too excited about that, but it's a similarity in their zombie worlds that she can connect with. ]

For us, when we eat a brain we also kind of...become that person. The reason I was balancing a book on my head is because whoever I ate was a beauty queen and always practiced perfect posture. Usually, at home, I know what I'm getting but here...the closet is giving me random brains.

[ But at least it's giving them, so she won't complain. Loudly. ]

[He's listening. He watches her face while she talks - her lips, mostly. She talks like the living do, and it's fascinating, like she bridges the gap between him and them and shows him what might be possible. He had never wanted to give up his fragile grip on what was left of something that might have been called life. M thought that was weird, too.

The effects brains have on her are ones he.. isn't sure he'd like. He takes his time with the brains he gets intact, savours them, saves the best bits until last, but they never stick around quite like that.

R smiles. 'Random brains'? How could he not smile? It is a little funny. The noise he makes catches in his throat, but it might have been a chuckle.]

That's.. awkward.

[So are you, R, but look at you, making conversation!]

[ There's that zombie friend reaction she was going for. Liv smiles at the noise he makes; she can tell, in his eyes, he's there. He just can't get all his words out perfectly. But he's trying, and she's fine with it, so now they're friends. Possibly the only people like this in the entire mansion. ]

It is, but it's better than starving.

[ Looking around a little, Liv wets her lips and looks at him semi-seriously again. ]

I think we should stick together. I can pass as alive and human but I'm...well. I'm worried about you. Has anyone said anything to you or done anything?

[He nods to her offer, then shakes his head slowly to her question.]

No. [But it's not like he can't see what she's getting at. Even in his metaphorical Sunday best R is never going to quite pass as one hundred percent living and anyone with half a mind to take a second look would realise something was wrong with him.

He lets out a quiet, involuntary wheeze of air and waves one hand vaguely in front of him.]

Keep quiet. Keep.. to myself. No one really.. bothers me.

[R shrugs.]

Yet.

Good. That's good, R. Back home, people are starting to figure out that zombies are real. It's been bad. Really bad. People panic.

[ Liv's really worried about that; what if something sparks her aggression here? What if the closets stop working? These events people talk about really freak her out, but she'll just have to cross that bridge when she gets to it. ]

Do you have a room yet?

[ Wherever he is, she's planning on relocating closer to him. ]

[People panic, she says, and he knows exactly what she means. In his world, people panic for good reason. A hoard of hungry Dead is enough to make most Living pray, whether they believe in a god or not. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought far enough ahead, to the eventuality of people finding out what he is.

He really tries not to think too much about what might happen then.]

Mm. [R says, and he nods.] First floor. Less stairs.

[He smiles crookedly. It's a joke.]

[ Liv can't help but smile. She gets it. ]

Then I'll move to the first floor. I've only been here a little while, I think I can manage a move.

[ She'd been on the third, but she's also mobile and spry. She can move if it means making sure no one puts anything sharp through R's brain. ]

If that's okay with you, I mean. I don't mean to come across like a weird zombie babysitter.

[Nailed it.

He hadn't considered that someone here might actually want to make sure he was safe. Even in this short time meeting someone almost just like him, he hadn't thought about it. Connecting with people is still new to him, but he feels that faint tingle like something pricking up his spine again and he realises that she's concerned enough about him to care.

And he shrugs, because if he's honest, he doesn't mind as much as he doesn't expect it of her.]

Okay with me. [He says.] But you don't.. have to.

[ Uh oh. Beauty queen speech coming through and she can't stop it, even if she wanted to. It's just happening. ]

I know I don't have to. But I feel like it's my job, as an advocate for peace in a time when people can judge others based on how pale they are or how many beats per minute their heart pounds, to look out for others. Helping one another get by in this place is the only way we'll ever begin to build a bridge toward a greater understanding and tolerance.

[ Yiiiikes. She pauses, looking somewhat sheepish. ]

And that was the pageant girl in me. Literally. ]

[He stares at her, with the words he'd like to say bubbling up behind his tongue and sticking there. Complex thoughts are still difficult, but mostly he's wondering where she pulled all of that from.]

Beauty queen.. brains?

[R asks, his eyebrows lifting up expressively. He's been following what she's said and he thinks he's got the idea.

He grins.]

Miss.. World Peace?

[ Liv smiles so brightly at that. ]

I should get a sash with an official title: Ms. Zombie, USA.

[ Although, wearing it might lead to some questions being asked that she's not ready for yet. ]

Do you know how old you are? Or...how old you think you are?

[ He looks about her age, but it's hard to tell. ]

I'm twenty-seven. I was studying to be a doctor before all of....this happened.

I'd vote for you.

[Serious nod. Ms. Zombie, USA. That could definitely be a thing. She'd win it hands down where he came from - few of the female zombies he's ever seen have been much to look at.

She asks another question, though, and he shrugs. R does a lot of shrugging. He could be thirty, or more. He doesn't know. He could be younger than her. Years pass in much the same way as months, weeks, days... time doesn't matter to you so much when you're dead.]

Don't know. Dead don't.. age. [And his appearance is no true indicator of how long he's been dead, either. He thinks it's some kind of indication of how fiercely he clings on to some twisted version of hope.] Could be.. older than you. Or... [Another shrug.]

Don't remember.

Aw, thank you!

[ Liv smiles at that, then thinks about his answer. It makes sense, and he's right - zombie's don't age because, well, dead. ]

One day you will. Remember, I mean. I know you will. There's a zombie cure where I'm from, and it comes with memory loss. But it reverses itself eventually. Maybe yours will, too.

[R pauses, teetering on the edge of expressing a complex thought. She just met him, but she's already shown some patience, so perhaps she'll wait.]

Not cured. [He says, concentrating hard to keep hold of the words while they struggle like eels in his grasp. He's not healed, but things have been different ever since he brought Julie back to his cramped 747 and told her he'd keep her safe.]

Changing. Diff..erent.

[R pats his pockets and fishes out a slightly smeared, slightly crumpled polaroid. On the picture is a girl with blonde hair and pale skin - pale but alive - with her hand clasped over her heart and a sad expression on her face.

He holds onto it for a moment, then turns it around to show Liv.]

Because of her.

[ Before she can explain she didn't mean she thought this was zombie cure gone wrong in his case, he's pulling out a picture, and then she leans closer, looking at it. After a few seconds, Liv looks at R again and speaks softly. ]

She's helping you become more human?

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keephersafe - 2017-06-20 18:17 (UTC) - Expand

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