MARCH 2015

[thecanopycrew]

Uncertain if this is a game for you? Curious to see how your character would act in it? Testing the waters? Then take them on this very first Home Tree Test Drive! directions ❀ Don't forget to read the Introduction , our Rules and the F.A.Q ❀ Post with your character with their name and canon in the subject line. ❀ Use the prompt(s) given here or make up your own! ❀ Both prose and comment spam format are welcome. ❀ Tag around! Make friends. Don't be afraid to discuss OOCly while tagging. ❀ The Test Drive Meme can be used for your application's first person sample. ❀ This meme is is considered as OOC and not part of the game's canon. prompt Welcome to the Faerie Feast! After your have gained your wings, you are met by a feast on the second floor with all that the forest can offer you. Tables and chairs are set up everywhere along the walkway between the houses, allowing the new visitors to meet and greet - or try to hide in the corners and eat berries all by themselves. Try your new wings to be the first to grab those delicious crumbs of walnut bread? Or say hi to your party lights, courtesy of some excited glow worms and flies that just want to be your best friends. Explore how your new gem works, try put your leaf clothes or decide to head further into the tree, seeing just what kind of place your have stumbled into. Maybe you will even get a glimpse of those hairy legs on the fourth floor?

Night Gem Wing Inspiration ❀ Day Gem Wing Inspiration

Comments

A

[ladiesknight]

"I certainly am now," said Kyle, tipping Peach a quick wink to assure her that he meant no harm. "You seem to be taking things in stride. Maybe you're used to being whisked off to faraway places?"

He wasn't eating anything, but he was taking a sip of some of the offered drink. "I'm Kyle, from the Queendom of Falena. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

[princesspeach]

"Oh! You could say that..." Her response is light and pleasant, as she takes a bite out of the breadcrumb. "I'm actually a princess, so I have plenty of experience being well traveled against my will." There's a giggle at that-- it's usually such an exhausting topic that it feels nice to lightly joke about it. She knows people will often make fun of her for it-- but it isn't as though she can help it, most days.

"I'm Princess Peach, of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

[ladiesknight]

There was a brief hint of... something in his expression when she mentioned being kidnapped. Discomfort? Regret? But Peach seemed to take her lot in stride.

Kyle swept into a surprisingly practiced formal bow. "Well, then. I guess I should be addressing you as 'Your Majesty'. You'll have to forgive my manners; I didn't think I'd be running into royalty again quite so soon."

[princesspeach]

"Oh, please... there's no need to be so formal around me. I'm a new person, just like everyone else. I don't think my title holds all that much weight here." She waves off the gesture, though she clearly appreciates it. She's used to the formality, and the being treated like royalty. Feeling a little more comfortable with the welcoming, she presses on. "But you have experience with royalty, then?"

It was an innocent question. She didn't know yet about any faerie royals, so she hazarded a guess that he was a newly displaced person, just like her.

[dissemblance]

[He's not quiet.

The Winter Soldier moves with little more than the distilled intent of a killer. Nothing extraneous. No wasted movement, and silent. She has no idea if he could creep up on her or not, and she in no way would want to test that assessment in a practical scenario.

But this man has boots that echo on the floor, and a blue jacket she recognizes from old photographs and filmreels, and a museum exhibit she visited only once. It's the eyes, the hair, the accent (Brooklyn, not a trace of anything Russian) and - the hand, when her gaze falls to it. James Barnes. Threat assessment: unknown. For now.

She's tense, but no more so than your average woman would be at meeting a stranger, and he gets a crooked little smile. She's dressed in the tunic offered, rather than her catsuit. Which, while granting a considerable amount of utility, rather marked her as something other than a civilian. It's tucked into the backpack, folded up and wrapped with a leaf, in the knapsack at her side.]

Yeah. I'm-- kind of just waiting to wake up, you know?

[ladiesknight]

"Oh yeah?" His playful manner was back, just like that -- as was the mischievous look in his eye. "You might regret saying that down the road, you know..."

"I'm a member of the Queen's Knights. We're kind of like Her Majesy's personal guard, though we take most of our orders from the Commander. Or did, anyway... you might say things are a little up in the air right now."

[redactions]

[ Blissfully unaware of her thought process, he enters and sits opposite, on a sturdier branch that fits the wings. He's careful not to move with his back to her, harmless as she looks he's minutely wary of his surroundings. ]

You and me both, sweetheart. [ a beat ] James Barnes.

b;

[dissemblance]

[She won't say she's seen everything, but this has certainly added a few scenarios she'd never before considered to her roster.

Glow worms. Fairies. And then there's the part about people being three inches tall, that one's new. She knows full well the technology is being worked on, but-- last she heard, it didn't give people wings.

Her money's still on this being some manner of hallucination, shared or dreamed, which is one of the reasons she doesn't feel so bad about interrupting the young woman's light doze.]

I'm not sure falling asleep out here is such a good idea.

[She says it playfully, in the sort of manner a stranger might attempt to strike up a conversation. It's obvious (well, 'obvious') that she doesn't actually feel that way, and hasn't a care for the security of this place.]

[princesspeach]

Oho! That glint in his eyes won't go unnoticed. She'll offer a wink and a nod in return. "I'm sure I'll be able to deal with it just fine-- if you insist on calling me princess, that is all well and good... but I'll be just as pleased to go by 'Peach' as well."

"The Queen's Knights? It sounds like you had a very important job! I know I have a hard time going anywhere without my entourage-- well, in this case, that'd be Toadsworth, but..." She'll tap her finger to her chin, as if she's ruminating on something. "In any case, it sounds like things are complicated for you right now. I won't pry-- but I'd be happy to listen. I always love learning about kingdoms outside of my own-- or in this case, queendoms!"

[dissemblance]

[She flashes him a brief smile at that sweetheart, mostly to hide her discomfort. It's eerie. No doubt the Soldier could be wiped and programmed with any number of extraneous personalities, but seeing him like this--

She wonders, not for the first time, how deep this rabbit hole goes.]

Tatiana Orlova. It's nice to meet you.

[She says it with a faint mispronunciation. Second generation Russian, American citizen. Let him decide what it means.]

Mind if I call you Jim?

[It's interesting, that he doesn't call himself Bucky. It means something, although she's as yet unsure of what.]

[princesspeach]

Oh!

[ She'll sit upright and look just a touch embarrassed. Natasha is right-- this is no place for a princess to be sleeping! She'll gently set the glow worm down to go crawl off somewhere else, while straightening up with proper posture in the company of the other woman. It wouldn't do to be un-Princess-like, even in a new and foreign place. Perhaps especially so. ]

You're right... it's just been such a long day, and I still have no word from anyone that someone might be coming to help. But you're right-- sleeping is best reserved for a bed.

[ She'll cover her mouth with a slight yawn, though-- it was too hard to bite it back. ]

I don't think I've seen you around just yet... allow me to introduce myself. My name is Princess Peach, of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's a pleasure to meet you!

[redactions]

Pleasure's all mine, Tatiana.

[ The answering smile is a ghost of rakish, just worn at the edges, though he doesn't seem to notice. Dead's dead. Nothing to be done about here but wait. ]

You can call me whatever you want, long as it ain't Jimmy.

[dissemblance]

[If she doubts the veracity of the claim, it doesn't show in her face. Instead, Natasha gives her a hasty, flustered little smile.]

Tatiana Orlova, Your-- [a slight pause, 'Tatiana' obviously has no idea how to address royalty, having never met anyone in that capacity before. She looks faintly, apologetically bemused before she continues,] Highness.

[If anyone asks, she watched a lot of Disney growing up.]

It is 'Highness', right? Are you really expecting a rescue?

[dissemblance]

[She laughs, light and pleasant. Tatiana has none of the usual ghosts.]

Cross my heart. No Jimmy from me.

[She toes at the water, which is cooler than she likes, and then she glances back up at him.]

Bad form to ask where you're from? Because I was on a subway in the Bronx when I-- before I came here. You think there was an accident?

[princesspeach]

It is, but you don't have to address me so formally in a situation like this. I've been kidnapped here the same as everyone else. And of course-- I always have someone who comes to my aide.

[ Thinking about her mustachioed hero is enough to make her feel a lot better-- not that this particular kidnapping has been giving her a whole lot of reason to worry. Being shrunk is one thing and given fairy wings is certainly another, but there's been a sort of peaceful, non-aggression to the whole thing that she's found mostly agreeable. ]

Tatiana is a lovely name, by the way.

[redactions]

[ Now the smile reaches his eyes. A New Yorker. ]

Brooklyn, if ya hadn't already guessed. I haven't seen any other folks around.

[dissemblance]

[A small, genuine little smile.]

Thank you, um-- Peach. Yours is pretty lovely too.

And, oh, I don't know. A real princess is a lot more important than [hmm, time for a cover story-- consistency is key when dealing with an entirely new populace.] me. I'm the director of an art gallery, for pete's sake.

[A bit of a laugh, it's perhaps a bit forced. 'Tatiana' is trying to be brave, by all accounts.]

You think this hero of yours will mind rescuing the rest of us, too?

[dissemblance]

The accent kind of gave it away, yeah.

[A flash of a smile. James Barnes liked baseball, and the rivalry between the Bronx and Brooklyn is a longstanding part of New York history. Conspiratorially,]

Don't worry, I'm not my grandfather. He's still bringing up the Yankees versus the Dodgers like it was yesterday, he'd be threatening you with his walker right about now.

[redactions]

[ He laughs, surprising himself with the intensity of it. ]

The old man'll just have to live with it, sorry t'say. [ a soft, pleased huff ] So what're you workin' as, if you don't mind me asking?

[millionyearsentence]

[ She'd almost have laughed then, if this wasn't such an alien situation. People must live really different lives in other places. ]

We don't have a choice. [ She shakes her head slightly. ] Evading surveillance is an offense worth millenia in jail sentence. I'm not going to force myself to work that off. [ She's gotten to about five hundred thousand years already, that's halfway there. ] Plus, if you're without your Accessory on the field and die, you'll be dead permanently. They're important, whether we like it or not.

[ Though she turns around and puts a finger to her lips before returning her attention to the conversation. ]

Though some of the more proficient sinners can get their Accessories modified. Just not permanently. If that matters.

[ She's learned to play by the rules. ]

[dissemblance]

Um, right now? Moonlighting as a kidnap victim.

[A little wave, just the tips of her fingers.]

Back in the Bronx, I'm the director of an art gallery. Riverside?

[She says that hopefully, obviously wanting him to have heard of it. It gives the impression she's a lot more freaked out than she seems on the surface.]

[redactions]

[ He frowns. He's familiar with almost all of them, as well as the major supply stores, courtesy growing up with Steve. ]

Sorry, can't say I have. When did it open?

[ladiesknight]

"Princess it is," he said, smiling. "Well, I can tell you a little about Falena, since you're interested. It's a great place, really -- we're just... kind of in the middle of a lot right now."

"Like I mentioned before, it's a Queendom, so only female members of the royal family can claim rightful rulership. Makes it a little tough on the sons; they're usually married off to noble families.

"Anyway, it's a huge country, but that's not too bad since the Feitas River runs through it and you can get around by boat. Most of the time, we don't have trouble with surrounding countries, either. I'm not saying we don't have our problems -- there are parts of our history that we should all be ashamed of. But things were really improving lately under Queen Arshtat."

[dissemblance]

1993?

[She blinks at him and, as if it's only just dawned on her--]

Why do you ask?

(B)

[redactions]

[ Rather high indeed, as Bucky watches him from where he is. His own wings are mothlike, and he hasn't tested them much yet. ]

Hey pal, that was a pretty nasty crash.

[ People who heal faster than normal aren't new to him - Steve's bruises disappear within the span of an hour. Maybe it's the same case but he can't tell from here. ]