saveyourbrain | Test drive

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test drive meme

Test drive

Scenarios:

> Transportation/travel. You're at an airport or train station, whether to escape or take a tour to a strange-events hotspot, or plain go on an innocent vacation. Mix up your bags or timetables, grab a pre-ride snack, chat up those with the same destination, get or give directions, find yourself receiving an ill-timed item Echo in front of security - whatever you can think up!
> It's raining men vi har paraply It's raining, so seek shelter... Or run into someone because your umbrella is blocking your view, or jump into puddles and get everyone else wetter than they should be.
> Grab a coffee or get a letter You're at work, whatever that is; a coffee shop perhaps, or maybe you work for the FBI or as a kindergarten teacher, or something else entirely. Either way, things happen - maybe you only do your job, but maybe the supernatural suddenly impacts you in ways that you didn't plan on...
> Say - is that one of those superhumans you've spied on the street? Yes, I do believe it is - you've seen them on the news/read about them, that or their looks give them away! Go on and ask questions of them, be it for serious answers or an autograph, depending on who you are.
> ...And it looks like you're a superhuman yourself. Looks like that hollowed-out feeling you got was followed by a mutation, or some strange thing in your brain. How're you going to come to grips with it? Maybe you received something right in the middle of the street, or while riding the bus, at school, or maybe on a date...
> Wildcard/Etc. Make up your own!

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A
[Talk about your sticky situations. Harry had known that trouble was going to find him eventually if he, intrepid reporter that he is, kept poking his nose into the recent rash of mob attacks. And found him trouble had in the form of some augmented mob goons who were intent on roughing him up. He'd evaded them for awhile before they'd caught up with him in a blind alley. It all seemed lost until that weird hollowness struck again and when it cleared, he was holding a six foot length of carved oak in his hand. He didn't have time to think about it, though, when one of the goons came for him. Instinctively, he whipped the staff out and shouted the word that had come to him in a previous Echo.]

Forzare!

[And the blast of force erupts like a cannonball from the staff, streaks across the alley and catches the mobster square in the chest. The impact carries him up and out of the alley and through a window all the way across the street. Whoah, that was... way more than he'd ever thrown into that spell before and for a second, he's just staring across the road with the thugs.]

Whoah....

B
[This time, for once, Harry isn't sticking his nose into things that will get him into trouble. He's actually just out, minding his own damn business, even drinking a coffee when randomly, out of the blue, an Echo comes in.

Spacing out for a few steps, he barely notices the person coming up to him before he bumps into them. Fortunately, the impact knocks him out of the Echo trance.]

Oops, sorry.

[Unfortunately, he's not yet aware of just what this Echo returns and makes the mistake of making and holding eye contact with this person for a split second too long....]

C
[Wildcard. Hit me with one of the other options or come at me with your own. Whatever.]

[Okay Robyn, you can do this. You can get in the door and sneak over to your without waking him up. That is assuming he's asleep, right? I mean he can't stay up forever, right? He's gotta sleep sometime.

All this could have been easily avoided if she had of just called him and said she'd be late getting home but well... She got a little caught up with the whole superhero thing tonight. Not that anything really happened but she was... distracted by the possibilities of what could happen.

She'll take a deep breath, turn the knob, slowly push the door open and peek her head in to see if there's any sign of him lurking about.]

[Sorry, Robyn, but you've sorely underestimated Harry's ability at staying up to crazy hours of the night. There are plenty of times he does this, when he's working, when he's reading a good book, or enjoying a fun time with friends.

Or when his daughter is out until the wee hours of the morning and not answering her phone. That's a good one too.

Robyn gets her head in the door before there's a snap of fingers from the living room, where Harry's sitting in a chair where he can easily see the door.]

Well, hey, there, strange person. You know, you look an awful lot like my daughter. I'd almost say you were her but that can't be right because she was supposed to be home almost three hours ago.

[He's joking, of course, but there's that little something to his tone that says Robyn's facing some deep trouble right now.]

[...Next time she wont underestimate this ability.

Okay she'll probably underestimate it a couple times before she gets it down.

When those fingers snap, she'll literally jump like a foot off the ground in surprise.]

Jeez! You scared m-Three hours? H-hey, that's a new record isn't it?

[Oh no. She's totally going to get it. She doesn't normally pick up on tones very well, but she can tell she's about to firm talking to.

She'll just slide in the door and close it behind her for now.]

[And she'll continue to fail. Harry spent years being a responsible big brother to her aunt, Melissa. Robyn's got nothing.]

Haha. [That's not a sincere laugh. Harry sets his can of Coke down and leans forward in his chair, looking at her expectantly.] Okay, I like to consider myself a fair guy. So, before I ground you from now until the continents fall into the ocean, let's hear what was so important that you couldn't even take a second to call home to let me know you weren't dead in a ditch somewhere.

[Hey. Robyn's got-

...Stuff!]

[She'll laugh nervously when he does and eye the door to the her room longingly. She really wished she could just disappear through the that door and not have to explain herself right now.]

I was busy not dying in a dit-

[Okay that is not the route she wants to take at all and she stops herself before she makes this situation any worse.]

-I was out hanging out with friends, I-I just lost track of time. It's the whole summer thing, Y'know? Don't have to worry about school in the morning.

[Sure she does.]

[Harry's eyebrow twitches upwards slightly as Robyn starts to open up with some sass and then drops back down when she backs off from that particular bad idea.]

Friends, huh?

[On the one hand, not exactly a great excuse. On the other... it is good to hear. He knows how tough this whole transition has been on her, being shuttled across the country to live with some guy she barely knows outside of phone conversations. Keeping that in mind, he can't be too upset that she's made friends to go out and get into trouble with. Plus, she's back home safe and sober which is definitely among the better-case scenarios he'd cooked up.

Still....]

And are we talking lost track of time as in "got caught up in a movie marathon" or as in "we knocked over a 7-11 and had to wait for the heat to die down?"

[It's a good thing she dropped the sass when she did. That eyebrow twitch made her nervous, it could have meant a possible doubling in the time she spent grounded.]

Y-yeah. I might have made a... a couple over the last couple months.

[She'll give him a slightly confused look before she lifts both her arms.]

The first one. Do I look like I have the upper body strength to take a building down?

[She should be so lucky if it was only a doubling. As of now, she could be looking forward to being on lockdown until school started--

... which is what he wants to say but things have been rocky enough between them since the move, and playing the tyrant now probably wouldn't help that. Besides, again, she was back home safe and not drunk or whatever else which meant she'd made friends with good people, or she had made some smart choices over the course of the night. Sighing, he scrubs a hand over his face before declaring his verdict.]

Okay. Considering this is a first offense and there hasn't been any acts of unlicensed demolition, I guess I can let this slide with three days of hard labor. Dishwashing duty. By hand, no appliances allowed.

[She lets out a big sigh of relief. She wasn't grounded, she wasn't going to get one of her ears yelled off, or any other worst case scenario. Not that she really thought the worst of what her dad might do, she just... Didn't really know how upset he'd get about things. She hadn't lived with him since she a quite a bit younger, so a she really just had a lot of guess work to work with.]

Dishes, right. I can do that. Even if my hands get all pruney and gross.

...What happens on the second offense?

[He actually grins a bit before nodding. It's still something of a learning curve for Harry as well. The last time he'd seen Robyn she'd been so much younger, and now... well, she's not a child anymore. She'd grown up a lot in that time, and it stings a little to think about how much he'd missed.

There might be no making up for lost time here, but he could still try to make the best of how things are now.]

Well... [and his expression becomes very, very serious all of a sudden... although perhaps too much to be taken too seriously with his frowniness and squinted eyes.] let's hope we never have to find that out.

[And she immediately takes a step back when he takes on that all too serious expression. Her hands pop up into the air in surrender.]

We wont, we definitely wont have to find out! Promise!

[Insert one nervous smile here.

...Wait is he squinting his eyes? She can't help but giggle a little bit at that expression.]

[Sure is. He's giving her his best Clint Eastwood spaghetti western look. For a minute anyway, before he lets out a small laugh of his own.]

Just don't make a habit out of it, call if you're going to be out late and maybe we can talk about some more curfew leniency for the summer.

[Her eyes go bright at the mention of some curfew leniency.]

Really?

[She'll throw up a quick salute.]

I mean, yes sir! It won't happen again!

Keep in mind, extended curfews are on a one-strike system. You're either home at the agreed-upon time or calling to say you're on your way.

[Now with that taken care of.]

There's food for you in the fridge in case you haven't eaten yet.

[She thinks it over for a little, and then nods.]

I think I can manage that. No problem!

[Her eyes brighten up at the mention of food. But she's already turned toward the fridge before she's says.]

Thanks! What did you make?

[Jacob was minding his own business. Really. He was just grabbing a coffee today. So when he bumps into someone and spills his latte all over himself, he's quick to brush it off.]

Nah, its fine. I should've been working harder at paying attention, super soldie-

[But before he can finish whatever baffling nickname he's come up with this time, he makes eye contact.

Harry gets the treat of seeing the life of a young man. A normal life. Go to work, go home, pay some bills. A couple interesting things here and there, girlfriend or two. But otherwise, a normal life.

And then he became a purple alien. A thirst for the devastation of humanity grows and grows, along with an increasing friendliness and good will toward everyone. Jacob was planning on bombing a college and give a homeless man a $20 on the very same day.

Jacob steps back a moment after the soulgaze, needing a moment to recover. Was that real?]

[Harry's just as unprepared for the soulgaze as Jacob is, and even as Harry sees those images, Jacob is treated to a few of his own. Not much different, a normal man, hoping for a normal life and marked with a few scars. Loss, fear, pain.

And then something else, something reaching even deeper. The image of a tall man in a black coat, clutching a staff with blazing runes. A man surrounded by fire and death and war--

--and then it's over and Harry's blinking as well, shaking his head.]

What the hell...?

[Jacob tries to clear his head for a moment, hoping all of that was just a new echo. If he could learn someone's entire life, it'd be much easier to shapeshift and impersonate them. But glancing up at the other man, its almost immediately clear that something has been communicated between the both of them.]

Wow, did you just get a doozy of a headache too? [He still has his goofy smile plastered on his face, but he's watching for any specific reaction from Mr. Dresden here.]

[As a cop, naturally it's Melissa's job to look into any mafia meddlings. Especially since she is technically working undercover at ThunderCorp, who have a specific interest in the mafia. She has plenty of reasons to be out, in uniform no less, exploring the alleys where she hears someone yell, and as she rushes to the scene what should she see but her oldest brother, holding a giant stick with an unconscious mafia member on the ground.]

...Harry, what the hell?! [Shit. Shit, this has better not mean--]

[Melissa's shout brings an end to the awkward silent staring and three heads turn to whip around to look at her. Harry blinks once or twice, until it sinks in.

Oh. Busted.

Shit.]

Uuhh... hey.

[Unfortunately, the mafia guys are moving again too. Harry catches the movement of their hands, reaching into their coats. The sons of bitches were about to pull a gun on him. More importantly, following the gaze of one of them, they were about to pull a gun on his little sister. Now that. That pisses him off.

Harry's come a long way over the last few months, way past nearly blasting himself to jelly trying to knock over a big snake. Reading that book, "Elementary Magic" helped too, and as he did, words had started to come to him. Words and weird, arcane concepts that had to do more with imagination and will than words. He's mad, and scared, and he seizes both of those, focuses them and channels them through the staff in his hand as he points it toward the scumbag eyeing Melissa.

Then he barks one of those words.]

Fuego!

[The jet of fire catches the hitman and sends him tumbling to the ground, rolling and shrieking with that unique pain that only comes with instant third-degree burns. The other guy stumbles back out of reach of the column of fire, scrambling both for his weapon and to get out of the line of fire.]

[Haha. Line of fire. Get it?]

[Ok in hindsight maybe she shouldn't have yelled like that. But that had not been what she was expecting to see, and Melissa has enough experience to get her out of this. Hopefully. The fact that her brother is apparently a fucking wizard now helps that.

She grabs both of her guns, pointing at the remaining gang member and shooting off a few rounds, each gun firing right after the other in what is probably a slap in the face to the physics of shooting. It doesn't take long before he's down, too.

Melissa doesn't lower her guns, keeping an eye out for any others but also giving Harry a look. There is no way in hell he's running off after that.]

You ok?

[And apparently his sister is Annie freaking Oakley now.

Harry's been to warzones, he's no stranger to the sounds of gunfire or of seeing people dropped by it but he still grimaces at the sound of bullets hitting human meat... not to mention the smell of cooked gangster that drifts up from the smoldering thug. He'd at least stopped howling in pain in favor of rolling on the ground, whimpering. The guy who'd taken the cannonball is still across the street with his arms wrapped around his ribs.

Fucking hell. He'd done that much and he barely even feels a dent in the power still running through him. What the hell could he do if he really cut loose?]

Peachy. [He looks toward Melissa, planting one end of his staff against the ground in what he figures is a suitably cool stance.] I think these guys need to get to a hospital though.

[Damn right she is. She's not putting those guns way yet, either, sighing slightly in relief that no one important is hurt. As for the people that are...]

Right. [She pulls out her phone, calling up 911 and rolling her red at her brother.] put that damn thing away. And you-- [she addresses the man that had gotten a magic blast to the chest.] You were shot point blank. Got it?

[Melissa is intimidating enough that even gangsters know better than to argue.]

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Test drive

Harry Dresden | The Dresden Files

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