brethrencourt | TEST DRIVE 001b

Try on those ridiculous clothes, sample the catering, and run through your lines. It's time for the Long 18th Test Drive.

ARRIVAL: Characters come to in a dark, tropical forest in a huddle. There are the sounds of strange birds, animals, and insects all around, some of them perhaps worryingly close. With a closer inspection, arrivals realize they're on an incline: Going up will prove fruitless, no matter who they are. The ground there starts to grow rocky the further they climb, and they may find themselves slipping back down to their arrival point, even if they're expert mountain climbers. The ground sloping downward will eventually level out leading toward light, music, and noise. But for the moment, they're simply a group of lost people (or monsters/bipedal animals/robots/etc) with no idea where they are or how they got here. Now's probably a good time to ask, "Who the hell are you? Where am I?" Time to use the buddy system.

TORTUGA: There's a town off the coast of Hispaniola that never sleeps, and that town is Tortuga. It's swapped hands more times than anyone can count, but for now, the French have it. And they do like the extra money the pirates that frequent it bring in; they like it so much that they imported over 1600 prostitutes from Europe to keep them happy. So you might as well relax while you're here, as much as you can with random gunshots and fist fights, anyway. Drop in for a drink at the Faithful Bride, check out the wares for sale (provided to you tax-free thanks to piracy) near the dock front. Visit the warehouse where those ill-gotten goods are stored and distributed. Maybe you're looking for work on a ship? The captains can usually be found - frazzled and busy - in the taverns and at the shipwrights and everywhere in between (just look for the hats), and if they're in a good mood, they might be willing. But the key point of Tortuga is this: Have fun. Some examples might include: A barfight! Wandering into a brothel (maybe by mistake)! Getting duped into joining a crew! There's no end of trouble to get into.

MIRROR POST: When they arrived, every person found, in a pocket or a bag or tucked away somewhere on their person, a little compact mirror. It's nothing fancy: Square, with hinges and a latch that keep it closed, the outer casing carved from seashell, the inner mirror a little spotted with age. But if it's played around with enough, it quickly becomes apparent it works as a communication device. Here you have access to all of the marked folks, no matter how far and wide they might spread. Need to have a heart to heart with a buddy in Singapore? Want to send out a general ad to everyone at large? Looking for answers to questions? This is the quickest way to get all of that.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: The world is open, and it's full of pearls that are just waiting for you to take them. Maybe you want to have some quiet time to scrub clean in a bathhouse in Singapore. Perhaps you're visiting the fabled pirate city of Libertalia in Madagascar. Maybe you've found yourself lost in Mayan ruins or stranded on an island. Or you were shipwrecked in a hurricane. Or you've decided to relocate to Port Royal or one of the American colonies for a quieter sort of life. Either way, this is your story, might as well make it a good one.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Everyone? Ugh, fine. Kara drops the act with a frustrated huff, shoving her hands into her dress pockets and hunching her shoulders the way she used to when she hadn't wanted to be seen.]

I didn't mean—I just wanted him to stop doing that. I didn't want him to fall in the...stuff. [In the horror of indescribable stuff that the 'road' is made from.

The woman who had answered her might not be an ally, exactly, but she's at least cared enough to say something. Kara leaves off her plan to go inside.]

Okay...okay. I can do this. I learned to blend in once before, I can do that again. I can totally do that again. Um, is there a place I can get something to wear that's a little more... [She looks down at her dress, buttercup yellow and hitting just above her knee, a perfect summer dress for working at Catco, not so much for...here.] A little more not this?

Aye. [There's a laugh to her voice as she juts her chin off down the road.] C'mon. I'll show ye th' way.

[Mary starts off toward the closest tailor, talking as they go. She walks with complete confidence, not minding the filthy muck of the streets. The soles of her boots are already covered in it. That's just the way it is.]

So what's yer name, lass?

Thank you. [Kara falls silent, concentrating on absorbing everything her rescuer is saying, trying her hardest to learn enough to blend in before she gets in trouble. Or more trouble.

The smell is unbelievable, but by concentrating on what's being said, she can filter it out a little. And the weird constant squelch under the soles of her shoes. At least she's wearing flats, it would be harder to look natural if she had to try to walk through this in heels or wedges.]

Kara, it's Kara. I don't really know...where I am. I should probably know that.

Kara. [She dips her head in the playful mockery of a polite greeting.]

You're in Tortuga. The Caribbean. West Indies. [Mary spreads her arms wide, hips swaying and a smirk on her face.] The New World.

[She says "new world" like it's a magic phrase, meant to inspire adventure and action. Anything can happen here. Mary isn't one for magic on her best days, or the formless idea of "adventure" on her worst, but when you've spent most of your life on the seas, it's difficult to not find this band of islands home.]

East of Mexico, if that's a help.

Have an idea? [of where they are now, that is.]

'New World'? Really?

[She sounds surprised at first, mostly because the directions are so precise while still being really distressingly old-fashioned. But "new world" could arguably refer to the whole entire planet, at least for Kara: even after this many years, she still feels like the alien she is sometimes. Being lost and bewildered doesn't help. Which is probably why Mary's excited 'new world' makes her laugh.]

The whole place used to be the New World for me. ...um, I mean. Yes. That, um, that helps. I was in the Caribbean once, actually, when there was a storm and I was helping...helping. That's what I do. I help people.

Ye ain't in the right place, then. Tortuga is a world away from helping others. [She flops a hand at a tavern as they pass it, the threshold occupied by a drunk and a bouncer in yet another common scuffle.] This is a place for pirates.

[Being one herself, there's no disgust in her voice. But the word carries a warning. Know what you're getting into.]

Ye might be better off joining the Navy or the like, though know we'd be enemies.

TEST DRIVE 001b

Can't wait until she tries to speak pirate lingo :3

the first avast out of her mouth and the whole block laughs

it'll be the first and last avast she ever tries

insert obligatory "welcome to the Caribbean, love"

can't even get drunk off the rum ;_;

poor girl. they'll have to concoct some stronger stuff, get Captain America involved