ph_memes | [Special Test Drive] Villain's Lounge

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You find yourself in a lounge.

You're not sure how you got here, or when you got here. The phrase "pulled from the mouth of Hell" springs to mind, unbidden. Assuming you have hands, there's a drink in one of them. A drink you like. If not, then perhaps something else will strike your fancy. Some lavish treat that is to your tastes. Someone has spared no expense making you comfortable.

"I'm so glad you all could make it," croons the Deer-Headed Man. He wears a business suit and carries a cane. You know him. He offered you something, shook your hand (or whatever you have) and promised you exactly what you wanted. All you had to do was "what you do best..."

"The casino will be open to the public before too long, and we'll begin assigning you prey," the Deer-Headed Man continues. "But for now, please enjoy this VIP lounge. I'd love it if you all took the chance to mingle, get to know each other. The bar is open, as is the kitchen. Anything you want is on my tab. I've got a lot to do, but I'll try to swing by later to answer any questions."

He disappears, leaving you and a strange collection of... colleagues, ostensibly, alone in the lounge. Deep blue plush furniture. Wood stained a deep black and polished expertly. Gold trim tastefully slipped in where appropriate. This place is classy. And you have the run of it.

What will you do?

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[ The Villain's Lounge is a special test drive meme for guest villains for our Halloween Special. You do not have to apply officially to test drive, but you must apply officially in order to participate in the Special. Applications are due October 1st and can be done here. This is just an opportunity to test and practice! Have fun, and stay spooky! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"In general, though these days that mostly means killing." She sees no reason to be less than blunt about it, given the apparent qualifications of all present company and the assumption there'll be no seeing these people again when all is said and done. "There's a lot of things out that that need putting down, for everyone's sake. So that's what me and my hunting partner do. We put them down."

Her grip on her drink tightens a bit when she mentions the hunting partner. Been a long time since she was away from Trevor for even this long. Feels... uncomfortable.

Augustine's eyes narrow just a hair at the way this woman talks about things needing to be put down. She doesn't react more strongly than that, though. She's good at not showing her hand without meaning to, for one thing, and for another by now she's gathered that not everyone comes from the same place she does. If she wants to be generous, she can assume her conversation partner here hunts prey much more genuinely dangerous than the average Conduit.

She's not sure she wants to be generous. But she'll reserve judgment.

"For a good cause, then," she says, nodding. "But, tell me. What do you plan to do if our host asks you to kill someone... less deserving, than your usual quarry?"

Now, Trevor probably would have noticed even the subtle reaction, but, for all that he's taught her, Julia is not Trevor, so she doesn't register it at all.

"It wouldn't be the first time. Accidents happen. And if it fulfils my side of the deal to get what I want, it'll be worth it." Not that she's entirely clear on how this all works, that fuzziness around their arrivals lingering as it does. "I'm sure you've made a choice much the same, if you're standing here."

She's honest with herself, then. That's a point in her favor, at least. Work like theirs, whether to capture or to kill, rarely goes without good or at least innocent people getting caught up in the crossfire. Nothing good comes of failing to recognize that.

In any case, Augustine nods.

"Some things are too important to leave to chance," she says, fully certain that leaving the future of Curdun Cay Station in anyone's hands but her own would be rolling the dice with the lives of hundreds of Conduits. "I don't like it, but I've done worse."

Julia makes a vague noise of agreement whilst drinking. "You do what you've got to do to get the job done. A lot of people just don't seem to realise doing that means getting your hands dirty."

She understands that, now. Understands why her father turned to the methods he did to try and free them. Sometimes, you've got to spill a little blood to make things better.

And if she's having fun along the way... well. You should love your work, right?

"It's a thankless line of work, protecting what needs protecting. Everyone thinks they could do better - make smarter, kinder, wiser decisions, until they're the ones being asked."

She's letting a little more slip than she might otherwise, but here, away from any of her subordinates and in the company of someone who does seem to get it, at least a little, it's hard not to try to get some of it off her chest. There's still the suspicion that her definition of what needs to be put down is different from Augustine's, of course, but beggars can't be choosers.

Hunters' ideas of suitable prey have always been... hypocritical. Monster hunting monsters. It's not a hypocrisy Julia's entirely unaware of, but it isn't one she finds to be a problem, either.

"Exactly. Even I didn't always get it, but I learned from the best. Though," she huffs a laugh, "if the old man heard me call him that he'd get a big head about it."

Augustine snorts, subtly, a flicker of a smile crossing her features as she thinks about her own mentors - and her own students. She can only hope they think of her half as fondly. Ultimately, she doubts it. They all have good reasons not trust her, much less like her.

"Sounds like you'll be well-equipped to do what you need to, then," she says, her tone something like approving. In the space of a breath, though, her expression goes carefully guarded again. "That does leave the... elephant in the room, though. I have to ask - just what or who is it that you're used to hunting?"

Asking this opens her up to being asked the same question in turn, which she doesn't love, but the curiosity and desire to get the measure of this woman wins out in the end. Her suspicion is vigilante, one of a two-person mob by the sound of it. But she could be wrong.

"Monsters," Julia answers matter-of-factly. "All the things that go bump in the night. The details vary. There's a lot of different supernatural forces at play pulling everyone in all sorts of directions, but most of them lead to things that attack innocent people or try to end the world."

She shrugs. "Old man got his start hunting vampires."

"Vampires."

Augustine has her composure locked down enough not to snort derisively or anything of the sort, but it is clearly a bit of an adjustment in thinking for her to consider that with any real seriousness.

"Well. Here I was worried I might be speaking to someone who hunts monsters in the more ethical dilemma, man's inhumanity to man sense of the word. I suppose that is a relief. By the sounds of it you and I come from fairly different worlds."

In that there's no such thing as vampires or the supernatural in her estimation back home, and in terms of how she and this other woman operate, and their attitudes towards it, despite some admittedly interesting similarities. Though that reminds her.

"My name is Brooke, by the way. Brooke Augustine. It seems only fair to introduce myself after I've interrogated you like this."

[Special Test Drive] Villain's Lounge

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