Test Drive

[medietas_mods]

Welcome to Medietas! Are you interested in joining the game? Do you have an old muse you want to dust off? Are you looking for a place to voice test a brand new character and would like to do so in our little island setting? Well, you've come to the right place!

You all know what to do but if you don’t, just follow the instructions and HAVE FUN!

How To Play:

→ Comment with the character you’d like to test drive. Don’t forget to add their name and canon in the subject line.
→ Choose a scenario, or start your own!
→ Tag around!

Possible Scenarios:

1. New Arrival: You have just arrived on the island of Medietas, in the city of Aerilon via a floating boat with people you may or may not know. Of course, you can't help wondering what the heck is going on here, or how you even got on the boat in the first place. But as soon as the vessel docks you are greeted by some lovely locals who offer you a map and a communications device before leaving you to your own. You probably have questions and there seems to be a number of people there already who may or may not have those answers. Talk to them! Or, get on the network and introduce yourself!

2. Getting Settled: So, you've arrived, but now there's five islands you should get yourself acquainted with. Meet your starter home neighbors! Start your new job! Check out the market on Aerilon. Or, attend one of the many block parties!

3. Lost!: Somehow you got yourself turned around and confused and getting back to where you want to be is looking impossible.

4. Wild Card: Got something else in mind and want to create your own scenario? Go for it!

Comments

Benjen Stark | ASOIAF |

[nightwatcher]

New Arrival.
( The Docks )

The last thing Benjen remembers before arriving to Medietas is the taste of his own blood.

It was coppery taste, thick and smooth. He painted the snowy ground under him in red before collapsing to his knees. There in that twilight state, Benjen laid nestled within the snow with a seven inch gash along his side. While the pain had subsided some time ago, Benjen still felt the frost nipping at his limbs as he laid there motionless with his eyes towards the sky. He had thought he would die there gazing at the stars.

It would've been a fitting end for the First Ranger's illustrious career in the Night's Watch. Bravely did he serve his brothers in black faithfully despite their jeers and grumbling. Not all of the men were as dutiful as him. This Benjen knew and accepted long ago when he first joined their ranks. However, a terrible storm now brewed upon the heels of an endless winter. Benjen had hoped to unearth the truth behind this premonition only to find himself gazing at the stars at the hour of his death.

Nevertheless, he had no regrets. Well, at least not at first...

As one would imagine, Benjen is more than surprised to be rescued from the lull of death only to be placed in some strange floating island out in the middle of nowhere. Despite the eagerness of a few locals who attempted to aid him, Benjen finds himself just staring blankly at the map they gave him. Gone were the familiar snowy fields and the bare branches of the woods. They had been replaced by green, endless green, and a sunny sky.

The ranger slowly lowered his map as he shuffled through the docks. His all-black attire won a few strange looks from onlookers but for the most part, no one seemed bothered by his presence. If anything, the locals seemed oddly intrigued with him, which is fine by him. Benjen much rather deal with friendly onlookers than possible threats.

His body still ached terribly from his wounds and the chill that claimed him beyond the Wall still had a hold of him now. This is why he kept his cloak so tightly bound to him as he walks. That and the fact he felt the need to obscure his face.

( season six spoilers )

[iron_beneath_beauty]

Since Ned's arrival, Lyanna stopped regularly visiting the docks. Already the Gods had smiled on her once, granting her Ned's appearance. It seemed greedy to hope and expect anything more, but it didn't extinguish her curiosity or interest in others that were brought to the island. There were so many that had come that she hadn't expected: nieces and nephews that she might have never known, a Targaryen queen with dragons that hatched from stone eggs, and figures that had been aged past her memory.

It almost seemed like a game to guess who might be next.

But never in all of her trying would she have expected another of her brothers to appear. Fate had been cruel in so much else, why would it offer her another glimmer of happiness in her life? After all she had learned of what her choices had lead to, she should not be so blessed.

The sight of Benjen stilled those thoughts and questions, forcing them to seep away from her conscious mind. He was older, as Ned had been, cold and pale in a way she didn't recognize. He was battle hardened and scarred, but his eyes still held the boy she remembered from her youth. The child that she had played at swords with.

"Benjen?" She asked, approaching him slowly. "Is that you?" She didn't need to ask. She knew it was him.

[nightwatcher]

He froze instantly once he heard someone call his name.

It didn't take Benjen long to spot her among the crowd but once he did, Benjen couldn't ignore the ache within his heart. "...Lyanna?" He whispers as he inches his way towards her. His face is contorted with confusion and disbelief.

There's simply no possible way that his dear sister is alive and well. No, he knows she's gone. Lyanna died so long ago that he almost couldn't recognize naught else other than her voice. How could he forget his sister's voice? The two had been terribly close in their youth and even so prior to her death. Neither Ned or he fully healed after losing their dear sister.

The Starks have forever been plagued with misfortune but it seems as if Fate makes it a sport. This is why Benjen is hesitant to believe that Lyanna stands before him now.

"Have I crossed to the other side?" He asks more to himself than to the supposed specter before him. "Is that...no, it can't--" Benjen doesn't exactly trust his eyes anymore but he can't deny the truth before him.

That's Lyanna. That's...really her!

[iron_beneath_beauty]

It was a question she heard repeatedly, as well as the details of her own death. She could almost recite it for him, but his amazement and emotion sparked a longing in her that put aside everything else. They had played together as children, found mischief and been the bane of Old Nan's existence. There was so much of each other that they shared in their hearts and spirits, that for the first time in a long while, she felt whole again.

She didn't bother to reassure him, darting forward instead, seeking his embrace. Her smile was so wide, it hurt. Two brothers that were said to be dead, both returned to her. Death had a funny fascination with the Starks, but it didn't seem to extend to this realm. They had been plucked from the Stranger's hold and deposited in a place where things could be just as they were before.

Long before her brothers grew older and she had died.

"It's the magic of this place." She offered him gently. "Time from our world has no meaning. It's why I am here and Ned's children are as well. Ned too. Now you! You haven't changed at all!"

[nightwatcher]

It isn't until she embraced him that he realizes that she's indeed real.

Benjen's confusion turned into relief and his surprise into happiness. Tears dampened his cold cheeks as he hugged his sister as tightly as he could. The warmth that radiated from her warmed his heart literally and figuratively. He's longed to see Lyanna again but only could see her in his dreams. "It's really you." He whispers as he reluctantly pulls back. Benjen stares down at her with a look of sheer joy upon his weathered face. Lyanna looks exactly as he remembered her. Young and full of wild eagerness. It's almost as if she hadn't aged a day since her death and was left immortal and flawless.

"The magic...?" Benjen pauses for a moment as he glances along the pier briefly. This place is indeed magical but it seems oddly mundane to him. "They're here too?" He can't help but be elated to hear that. As he laid there dying on the snow, Benjen longed to see his family again. He missed the little ones and missed his brother most.

"Ha, you humor me! I know I'm old." He says with a grin.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

After seeing Ned, there was less shock to how much her siblings had aged and how long they had lived after her. With his dark features, he bore the traces of their mother, the lingering reminders of the woman who had passed far too soon. Something that could be said for each of them. It was strange for Lyanna to see him so much older. He had been her younger brother, the boy at her heels. The pair of them forever pestering Ned and Brandon to let them join them in their games.

Now, he was the age of their father, something that had been hard for her to picture as a child. Her brothers were far ahead of her while she remained the age when last she saw them.

The cold of his body sent a shiver up her spine, his form leaner and more muscular than the boy she used to push in the mud. But he was still Benjen. His smile, his eyes, his warm heart...he was always her brother.

"It's hard to explain. This place seems to have some sort of magic about it. You noticed the floating islands and ships that could sail across the sky!" It wouldn't surprise him to know that when she arrived, she was practically leaning over the sides.

"Yes, Sansa, Arya and Jon. There are others that I didn't know. Poderick Payne, he is apparently in service to Sansa's husband, Tyrion Lannister." That earns a look of disgust. "A Tyrell girl. Rhaegar and his sister are here too."

She laughed in return. "You really are old. You're almost as old as Old Nan!"

[nightwatcher]

Benjen could still remember the follies of his youth here and now. His brothers had always made it a point to try and leave Lyanna and him out of all the fun but they honestly couldn't. Wherever they went, Benjen would follow. He was the youngest pup in the pack but the second-most mischievous. He looked up to his brothers back then and even now still somewhat does. Though, Benjen honestly misses Brandon more than he could ever say. He wishes that Ned's children could've met their uncle. Brandon would've loved to all of his nieces and nephews as much as he does.

"Believe me, I noticed that this island floats." He still doesn't bloody know what to think about this island. They're so close to the sun that he swears he could touch it. "I never thought that men could fly but I must admit, I'm true believer now." Benjen says with a jovial chuckle.

"Sansa is married?" His laughter dies suddenly at that bit of news. "To Tyrion?" Now just wait a minute here! Benjen's dear niece was supposed to be married to Robert's first born, Joffery and yet Lyanna claims she married "The Imp" instead?

His brows knit together in confusion.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

"Wait until you see the dragon." Lyanna said with obvious glee in her voice. "They young Targaryen princess hatched them from stone eggs. She has one with her and I've seen it flying in the sky. It's incredible." It was almost like stepping into the stories they heard as children. They played at being dragons when they were small. Lyanna had even named one of their father's hounds "Balerion." But never did she imagine seeing one flying above her.

"It is what she told me." She doesn't know very much about the state of the family from when Sansa or Benjen were taken from. She only heard snippets and had to piece together their lives from there. It seemed minuscule compared to the war everyone spoke of, the war that toppled the Mad King.

"So much seems to have happened since Ned..." she hadn't been there to witness it, but the idea still hurt her all the same. "He didn't...die? Not the way they said..." Would he know? Had he heard?

[nightwatcher]

Dragon? There's an actual dragon here and a Targaryen at that?!

Benjen's face shifts from muted surprise to something akin to wonder. "But the last dragon that Westeros ever seen died thousands of years ago--" He pauses for a moment as he tries to muddle through his thoughts.

After the rebellion, House Baratheon slaughtered anyone bearing the Targaryen name. There were rumors that two children of House Targaryen escaped but Benjen made certain to keep his mouth shut in regards to that matter. He has no need for idle gossip and has even little need to hear it. Though, if this alleged princess is truly a Targaryen; she better damn well look like one.

For good or ill, the three Starks could easily spot a fake after dealing so closely with the Targaryens.

"Easy there--" He pleas with his sister. "So much seems to have happened since Ned---what?" Benjen doesn't dare fill in the blanks but it seems that he didn't have to. "Who are they? Lyanna, who told you this?" A sense of dread washes over him. "Ned is here, isn't he? He's alive, yes?"

No one told him.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

"I thought the same!" She said excitedly, clutching at him in the same manner she had whenever a good bad idea struck her. It always resulted in them being punished by there father, but it didn't mute her enthusiasm, no matter the result. "But somehow dragons have come back!"

Given the resemblance and Rhaegar's response to Dany, it was hard to doubt the woman was anything other than what she claimed to be. It was hard to replicate those eyes and that hair. A Targaryen bore their name on their features, plain for all to see. Their beauty was close to a badge of honor, as rare and precious as a true dragon.

She shook her head, lowering her eyes. So he didn't know. It was strange to speak to someone as lost about the future as she was. Somehow, she never expected to be the one to tell him, to deliver the painful blow. "His children. They told me that Ned was killed...the Lannisters." She whispered the words, trying to shield her heart from the pain and anger that heated her blood. "He was treated little better than a dog! The Others take them!"

[nightwatcher]

All this talk about dragons and Targaryens will have to wait. As of right now, Benjen is having some trouble processing the possible truth of his dear brother being dead.

The shock upon his face is clear as the day itself. It's almost as if the wind was knocked out of him by a hardy jab to the gut. He stands there in complete silence with muted terror upon his face. Benjen shakily raises his hand to his hair and brushes the long unkempt strands back. "The Lannisters." He says their name with enough venom to curse all of their line. "The Lannisters killed our brother?" He stares at Lyanna for a long time in silence before suddenly turning away.

This is a bit much. Not only did he somehow cheat death but he meets with his sister again in some magical island only to find out his brother is dead. How? Just how does any of this makes any sense?

Benjen let's out a quiet sigh. It's taking all of his willpower not to scream and curse at the heavens right now. He's so angry. He's livid. His lips fall into a grim line and his brows knit together in muted anger and pain. His breathing is harsher now and the pulse quickened a bit.

Ned is dead. His brother was killed.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

The moment she saw those tell tale signs of his anger (always quiet but fierce as a wolf's), she pulls him into a tight hug. If he was hurt and fuming, let it be in the safety of her embrace, shutting out the rest of the world, save for their mutual pain. They were Starks. They could not survive alone, always meant to be in a pack. If the Lannisters declared war on their family, they would come to fear their combined fury.

It wasn't as though this was the first blow they suffered...or at least he suffered. He had likely lived through Brandon's death, their father's death. Her death. Losing the last of his family, it had to be too much for him.

Without his parents and siblings, he was the last surviving pup. It was a heavy burden to bear, one that she feared would break his strength. Perhaps it was a mercy that this world had granted them the chance to be a family again. Whatever happened in Westeros, it was a distant memory. They were reunited, as they should have been there.

"He's here now. He's safe."

[nightwatcher]

Her embrace brings Benjen back to reality in a heartbeat.

It brings him out of his dark thoughts and the murderous rage that boils his blood but it also spares him for the fear that crept into his heart. Ned is the patriarch of their family now, the one who carried on their father's legacy. For Ned to be killed by one of the other noble houses not only dishonors him but their family name. Such a injustice can only be repaid in blood and Benjen is more than willing to have that debt paid for the sake of his brother. That much is certain given the murderous look that lingers in Benjen's dark gaze. He doesn't dare voice such a morbid thought especially since he knows, without asking, that Lyanna feels the same.

Benjen isn't a petty man but hearing of Ned's death makes him wish he could be one. That alone scares him a little.

He holds onto his sister like his very sanity depends upon her. It isn't until Lyanna proclaims that their brother is safe that he finally speaks. "...Good." Benjen replies in a harsh whisper.

"If I had known sooner---" Benjen would've gone home.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

"If we had the gift of foresight, a great many things would be different." Her voice soft and pained. Had she known what would happen to Westeros, she would have found a way to calm Brandon and keep him from igniting the Mad King's paranoia. Had she been aware what Robert Baratheon would do, she would have fought her father about the betrothal all together. Had she known that she would die without her lover, she would have prevented him from going to war.

Unfortunately, foresight was not a gift that the Gods readily bestowed. It was only hindsight that they were permitted.

"What happened to you?" She asked him, curious to know if he had been spared some dark fate. Starks seemed cursed of late. Yet Benjen had only been missing. There was a chance that he had survived peril.

[a_deadman]

Unlike his sister, Ned is down at the same time everyday. He knows when the boats shuttle in the new arrivals and he stands back far enough that once it's realised no one else from his family has come to these strange lands the elder Stark can leave without needing to talk to anyone who might see him as someone with answers.

Truthfully, it's to hide the sorrow of knowing about his wife, his oldest son and what would have been his daughter in law who had been with child. Ned would turn away out of frustration in not knowing what became of his younger sons Bran and Rickon. Whom else from his family would someday walk down the ramp of those floating boats?

Today, Ned decided to not go at that same specific time he normally went. Instead, he walked from Mundus and then through Aerilon before finding himself at the market. After awhile, he walked down to the docks knowing that the area would be mostly empty.

But not today.

When he saw his little brother it was at a distance. But, as soon as he blinked enough times and realised it was him, Ned moved quickly towards him.

"Benjen!"

[nightwatcher]

Benjen turns around slowly once he heard his name called but he needn't do so. He knows that voice anywhere. A warm smile touches his lips once he sees his brother rushing towards him. "Ned?" A laugh escapes him as he makes his way over. Despite being quite hesitant about arriving to this queer place, Benjen is actually quite grateful to see his older brother gain.

It's been several months since he last laid eyes on him and his family. Far too long.

"Ned!" Another chuckle leaves Benjen once he reaches Ned. He gives his brother a bear-like hug and pats him on the shoulder with a large silly grin upon his face. He's smiling so much that it actually hurts. "By the gods, what are you doing here? I didn't expect to find a familiar face in the crowds."

He's really glad that he did.

[summerswarg]

Bran was finally getting used to the wheelchair. It was hard to move around alone but he was happy to have his family and Summer with him. And it was Summer who noticed the shadowy figure first. He walked up and sniffed him and then started headbutting the back of Bran's chair so it moved in Benjen's direction. Clearly, Bran had to meet this man.

"Summer likes you." Bran spoke aloud, trying to get his attention. It was hard to see his face but there was one thing he knew for certain. "You must be a Stark. And judging by your clothes, a man of the Night's Watch." He smiled. "Uncle Benjen?" He asked.

[nightwatcher]

Benjen is just prowling around the docks once he spots a dog nearby. Upon first glance, Benjen had thought the creature to be nothing more than a mere hound but once it approached, he realized just how wrong he was. "A direwolf?" His eyes lit up in surprise as the creature sniffs him. He leans down and reaches out to it before it could turn away. That thick shaggy coat reminds him so much of Ghost minus the obvious color difference.

A smile lingers upon his lips briefly until he sees the boy. Bound to a chair with metal wheels, the boy rolls over towards him with such a tentative smile upon his face. It doesn't take Benjen long to recognize the youth but once he does, a strange sense of elation washes over him.

"Bran." He whispers as he knelt down before his nephew. "Yes, you're quite astute for someone so young. You figured me out long before I could utter an answer." Benjen takes a moment to pull back the hood of his cloak and all the dark scarves obscuring his face but once he does, Bran is rewarded with the sight of his uncle despite the slight scars upon his face and the odd chill that clings to his skin.

"You're looking well, Bran."

[summerswarg]

"I have to be." He responded, smiling wider when his suspicions were confirmed. Summer came back to sit beside Bran and the boy praised him for his actions. "Not as well as when I last saw you though." Back in Winterfell, back when he could walk.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Uncle Benjen. I'm sure my father will be just as pleased."