➸ TEST DRIVE MEME #001

[hall_monitors]

TEST DRIVE MEME



Welcome to Clarion Preparatory Academy for Young Ladies and Gentlemen, where you'll be given (or be giving) the finest education money can buy. Come from a poor family? Don't worry, that's what scholarships are for. Just don't be surprised if the old money kids look down their noses at you.

The Headmistress is preparing everything for the start of the semester, so now is the time to have a look around the school and grounds and to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. It might be best to get all your mischief-making out of the way now, before the teachers can give you demerits for bad behavior. Teachers and students alike are given the day to relax and get settled in.

Maybe you'd like to get settled into your dormitory room and meet your roommate and the other occupants of your floor? Or perhaps you've been there, done that and you'd rather poke around the drafty attic in search of those ghosts you've heard about.

Once that's done, you can take a look around the grounds, say hi to the horses in their stables, or play croquet with a new friend. The lunch ladies are in a good mood today, so you could pop into the cafeteria for a cold glass of lemonade. Or maybe you're lured in by the library, preferring to while away your free hours between dusty, sweet-smelling stacks of books. Just don't investigate the sounds coming from behind those stacks too closely...

The school is yours for the exploring. Your Clarion adventure begins today!

———

Feel free to tag around and get a feel for the setting and prospective game mates! If you'd like, you can take a look at this 1920s slang guide to help you get into character.

Comments

[suitsme]

[Nick doesn't have a horse, so he pretty much as absolutely no reason to be in the stables apart from the occasional privacy. It makes it a little easier to have sneaky conversations, but mostly it's because his damn stupid friend loves hanging around here. Nick tries to tell him it'll make him stink (more) but he doesn't seem to care.

He's navigating the stable carefully, he can't risk getting horse shit on his nice, shiny school shoes. He doesn't see his friend around, but he does hear the sounds of someone talking to their horse. Like the horse cares.

Nick sidles behind Tony, cupping his hands over his mouth for some echo and imitating a horses wicker.] I love you Tony. Neigh. Kiss me, Tony.

[youngengineer]

Even without being a genius, Tony could easily tell that in no way was his horse talking to him. Even ignoring the obvious 'horses can't talk' part. His horse was female. And if she could talk he fancies she'd call him Boss and not Tony.

He stops in his brushing to look over his shoulder at Nick, looking bored at him.

"You're a riot, Sorrentino. No really, I'd be splitting my sides, but who are we kidding, this is a tailored shirt." He offers the words with a dry sarcasm learnt from his butler.

[suitsme]

"'Ey, I'll take that as a compliment." Nick retorts, expression smug even if he failed to surprise Tony. He got his own amusement out of it, that's all that matters.

"And who the hell wears a tailored shirt to brush a stinkin' horse." Nick asks, tucking his hands into his pockets while he gives Friday a look of disdain.

[youngengineer]

"Someone who just finished riding."

While Tony could just as easily have a stable hand deal with the after ride care of his horse flesh. It had been almost beaten into Tony that caring about his property is important and you shouldn't always rely on others to look after what is yours as well as you can.

He goes back to brushing Friday, who clearly doesn't care in the slightest about the conversation going on around her. Tony hears the disdain in Nick's voice and it does irritate him a little.

"let me guess, you're here to shake someone down for their homework?"

[suitsme]

"Isn't that what stablehands are for?" Ruthlessly logical as ever, Nick holds no mercy in his scathing observations of shirt ruining. He can just imagine the smell, the stains. It's a downright disgrace.

"If I was looking for someone clever I wouldn't be in the stables. That's whatta library is for." He points out with a shrug. "Nah. I'm just here for the ambiance."

[youngengineer]

"They've already put the wrong shoes on her. If you believe I'm going to let them ruin her further? Then I have have a special offer on Poughkeepsie I'm sure you'd love to hear." Tony huffs a little. Besides the stains and smell of his tailored shirt won't bother him, and if it does. Well he can afford a new one.

He finishes grooming the horse and then gives Nick an incredulous look.

"You know where the library is? I think my heart skipped in shock." He pats Friday's flank and tosses the curry comb in a bucket hanging from the pens wall before pushing the pen door open to get out. "And sure, ambiance. That's why you're nose is crinkling in on itself I bet."

[suitsme]

"Whatsa horse need shoes for?" The disdain returns, even if he damn well knows the answer because he's not an idiot. He glances down at his own shoes, just to make sure they haven't yet been ruined.

"Nice one, Stark. Classic. I'm real tickled." He drawls, stepping back as Tony opens the pen as if he expects the horse will follow him. "Maybe I'm martyring myself for a little peace and quiet. What's it to you?"

[youngengineer]

"Looking better than you." Tony offers and closes the pen door behind him, Friday's only response to the situation is to turn around and face the boys, Tony pays her no mind as he kicks the ground to work out the dirt that has compacted itself into the grooves of his boots.

"Peace and quiet? You're from New York. Do you even know what those words mean?" Because growing up in New York himself, of course Tony was going to know where Nick was from, the best thing about New York was that it didn't know the meaning of peace and quiet.