Test Drive Meme

[crux_mods]

Did you want to test your characters? Do you want something that you can use for an RP sample without digging up an old thread? Well, here you have it. Pick one or multiple prompts below or, if you want, make a prompt of your own. Just be sure to tag around so that everyone gets plenty of exposure.

1: Explosions in space! Space Bandits attacked the space colony everyone was visiting! Dozens of fighters and mobile armors fly through space, locked in deadly combat. Are you among those battling to save lives? Or are you watching from the windows, praying everything will be safe?

2: Explosions underground! You were part of a trading party, exchanging supplies with an underground penal colony when alien animals burrowed through the walls and started assaulting convict and Confederation member alike! What are you going to do?

3: Explosions over the city! The Colosseum is shooting off fireworks as part of a concert or a sporting event! Are you watching in the crowd, a main attraction, or watching the bright colors from the city?

4: Explosions on an asteroid! You're either observing, guarding, or mining an asteroid! It's rather dull, save for the explosions that rock the ground under your feet. It looks like it'll continue to be just as slow, but... was that something moving in the shadows there?

5: Explosions on a space station! As you approached a research station, you receive a distress signal! Fire's broken out and their systems aren't up to spec! Can you do anything? Are you a part of a scouting crew or out for a joyride in your new yacht? And is this an accident, or something more sinister?

6: Explosions at the gym! Explosive competition! Swimming, weightlifting, running, boxing, someone has just challenged you! Whether they know it or not, you're going to do your best to show them up.

7: Explosions in the past! A star has died! The Fleet is flying through the nebula it left behind, with swirls of beauty as far as the eye can see. If you're the type, you can watch it all you like.

8: Explosions on the road! Most of the traffic on the Teuberg is computer controlled, but some young showoff took his off the grid and promptly caused a wreck! Traffic has been backed up for almost half an hour now, with no way out for you and the people in your vehicle. Are you close enough to see if anyone needs help? Or are you just stuck with people who are as late for their appointments as you are?

9: Explosions in the marketplace! Explosive bargains! You're in a trading hub, surrounded by stalls of all kinds selling every type of merchandise you can imagine! Luckily, you've got enough money to handle a few purchases here. Will you buy one of those daggers on display? An incense burner? Some alien fruit? Or maybe you're on the run from the corrupt guards? Or perhaps you're the one doing the chasing, did someone just steal your wallet?

10: Explosions in your mind! The explosive inspiration that drives this world! Make up your own prompt!

Comments

[bestowmercy]

[ Who would, indeed. The tale might ironically be more convincing had the teller of it chosen to describe machines, or aliens, or alien machines, rather than so ordinary a subject (and therefore extraordinary an event.) For the present time, at least, the raiders are either too preoccupied with the battle, or their sensors ignorant of minor heat signatures, to notice the movement of two small lifeforms(?) through the air, where the air is once more cool against the cheek.

Kevin's bundle of cargo stirs a bit in his arms. ]

Mmm...?

[ ...strange, how nice the wind feels. And the sky past Kevin's face (why is Kevin's face there?) seems closer than before. ]

[dreamermoa]

[WOW RUDE. Actually, now that she looks a little closer, she notices his somewhat vacant expression. He doesn't even seem to notice the beautiful starscape they're passing through. Maybe something's wrong with him?

She attempts to jog after him, which works for a minute or two, but then she realizes that he really is athletic and she really is...not. Also, she's running after a stranger, which is slightly weird.]

Hey. Hey! Are you okay?! [Now she's yelling behind you, Rin. HEY LISTEN HEY HEY LISTEN LISTEN.]

Catherine Morland | Northanger Abbey

[heroineintraining]

3.

[ It is a good thing to know that, even in this far flung future, there are somethings that remain from home. Catherine isn't quite brave enough to venture out into the packed crowds on her own, nor is she terribly endeared to whatever attraction seems to be pulling so many people together (music? A sport? It's certainly not a normal dance), but the fireworks pull something out of her.

Like the rough and tumble child she used to be, she seeks a good high place where she can watch the brilliant lights. She is not paying especially close attention to her surroundings, her attention firmly fixed on the dazzling explosions. ]

4.

[ She would not think of herself as terribly reckless. She's merely exploring. An asteroid is nothing like the English country side, but if one were to apply one's imagination, it does seem a bit like a cave. Perhaps a cave with treasure or some other thrilling, horrible thing in it's depths.

Whatever the possibilities, Catherine is honestly trying to be careful not to wander into the areas that seem especially dangers. Mostly.

Somewhere off to her left there is a sound in the darkness and Catherine turns sharply. Her eyesight is too poor too make out anything. ]

...Hello?

10, all over.

[ She can not imagine why she is here. She can hardly grasp the concept of the sheer amount of time that has passed. And yet she is here and at barely 17, she is meant to establish some sort of profession and household for herself.

It's a rather monumental task for a young woman, she can't even imagine what it is that she can do. Catherine spends a great deal of time walking about because the alternative is to despair. She is not sure how to move among all these strange people without so much as a single acquaintance or a means of introduction. She is old enough to be aware of propriety and the conventions of society (the society she had known anyway) and young enough to lack the confidence necessary to break those conventions in the face of so much change.

She flits at the edges; her toes just crossing the thresholds of doorways, as if she were about to step out and be among the rest, but her confidence wavers and she will inevitably draw back if she is not approached. ]

8

[sharkastic]

[Nope, this guy definitely noticed -- probably because he was jogging by the side of the road roughly along the length of the traffic jam. He's dressed in a hoodie and slacks and looks distinctly out of sorts already.

So it's no surprise that once he does reach the site of the problem, he'll at least give it a once-over. Rin's got more class than to rubberneck at an accident, but considering traffic's backed up for miles on end, he can't help but wonder.

So yes, unfortunately, he does spot the kid dragging himself out.]

... Hey. You okay?

this is happening and it's all your fault

[heroineintraining]

[ Catherine can not help but feel she is handling all of this rather well. Indeed, the utter tragedy of never seeing her beloved friends and family again makes her feel a bit like one of her darkly beautiful and tragic heroines.

Torn from a familiar time and place and left to fend for herself amidst this strange new world, peopled with such exotic beings and their very odd chairs.

She is very alarmed to find that the oddly shaped chair is not, in fact, a chair at all. She is further alarmed to find that it seems to belong to an irritable giant man made entierly of metal and that Catherine is farther away from than ground than she would really like to be. ]

Um. Pardon me! But would you mind lowering your hand so that I might get down?

[sharkastic]

[Yep, he's totally out of it, so much so that he doesn't even notice his odd, smaller shadow. If Moa hadn't called out, she could've probably followed him home at this rate. He does slow down once he registers the close-proximity yelling, though. That's a little harder to miss, even if he has no clue why anybody would be yelling at him.

... Much less running after him. He finally stops once he realizes that, yes, he's picked up a straggler. What the--]

--What're you talking about? What do you want?

[He'd normally be at least a little suspicious, but, well... it just comes out confused.]

[senseandcecilbility]

[He didn't expect her to wake up so early. With a determined look on his face, he flies faster towards Zeta-7, which has become much easier to locate from above.

Covering her eyes with a gloved hand, he whispers in her ear:]

Please, madam. It is important that you keep your eyes closed.

[That, of course, will not conceal the flapping of a gigantic wing against the wind.]

[maddeninghatter]

A little hard work never —

[ Break is, fortunately, quick and light enough on his feet to escape most of the shower. As soon as it's over, he dances back, perching at a point just behind Rin's shoulder, so he can look over it at the wine-soaked creatures. ]

I say! Are you trying to get our unexpected little visitors drunk?

[bestowmercy]

[ There is no reason (she feels no reason) not to trust him, and so she does, letting her eyelids close again. The dull throb at the back of her head seems to fill the space within with cotton wool, making proper thinking difficult.

A scrap of memory a year old flits by, of breezes just like these, ridden through on the sway of a great creature's back, rocking up and down with every beat of silver wings. Just as they were doing, now.

Ah, but this Synard is missing... something... ]

Are you... hurt?

[ Reaching up with a hand of her own to cover, gently, the one on her face. ]

8. this is ridiculous, i'm sorry

[heroineintraining]

[ The scenario is alarming for really a number of reasons; not the least of which being that Catherine is still getting the hang of these new carriages. While she has found herself seduced by the comfort and relative ease of the vehicle, the large and irate reptilian individual is something she could really do without.

Catherine does the first sensible thing she can think of and scrambles out the passenger side door to face the brute manhandling her poor vehicle. Squaring her shoulders, she shouts from a relatively safe distance on the other side of the carriage: ]

Here now! Stop that right this instance!

[senseandcecilbility]

[Even as confused as she is, the young lady has good ears. He would rather she didn't notice, and hopes the knowledge will fade away once she is safe. If the ring didn't work on her, it is very likely that his less harmless powers will not work either. Changing her memories is probably out of question, so he'd better make this trip as uneventful as possible. For now, he focus on offering her a smooth flight. After all, she is bleeding, and probably still in pain.]

I am fine, madam. We are almost there, so please try to rest.

[bestowmercy]

[ Rest has a welcome sound to it. But were they not unable to do so, moments ago? They'd had to... no, they were still running, weren't they? To safety. They were getting to safety. They were...

They.

The word lodges in the stream, and she holds fast to it. It's important, because... ]

Where's...?

[senseandcecilbility]

[Fortunately, he alights in front of what he believes is Zeta-7's entrance. It is open and seems to be a straight way to salvation, just like the human predicted.]

I am so sorry.

[He carries her toward the entrance, the sound of collapsing buildings still shaking the ground beneath them.]

[bestowmercy]

[ The area is deserted, what few residents in the area having long made their escape. The green glow of emergency marker strips trail on into the tunnel, both lighting the way in and letting stragglers know that this door yet lies unlocked, and only need be sought and knocked on.

She does not understand, at first, what he is apologizing for, and so is quiet as they touch ground again; only when her closed eyelids tell her they have moved out of the light of day do her fingers tighten around his hand. Just a little more. ]

That's not... [ Possible. (Fair.) He'd been alright, she'd healed him, hadn't she? So why-- ] ...did we leave-- him?

[senseandcecilbility]

[His footsteps echo into the tunnel. After some consideration, he presses a button on the door. Sometimes it is hard to figure out which is the right one, and he has grown to second guess his own choices more often than not.]

...There was an explosion. I believe it was quick.

[It wasn't. It rarely is. One second can unfold into millions of years when a human dies. And he was not there for him.]

[bestowmercy]

[ The button is the right one, as luck would have it (absent as it has been elsewhere today), and the door slides open to permit their entry into the elevator; a utilitarian crate, with room within its reinforced walls for a hundred souls at one time. It might well seem cavernous with only the two of them inside.

An explosion.

Ah. That was the missing piece, then.

How can you be so sure? How did you know? What if there was something---? But that the words stick in her throat, lump heavily there to hitch her breath with quavering; unable to force them out, she shakes her head in mute denial instead. Kevin's gloves might feel a bit damp, now, under the fingers laid over her eyes. ]

[17thangel]

She blinks and stops, "Oh. I'm so sorry. I've been rude. I'm Maria Balthasar of the Shevatan air force."

She bows deeply at that, her hair falling into her face a bit which she flails to brush out of the way.

"Well, not that it matters since Shevat is grounded, but I've been saying that for so long now...."

never be sorry

[tryannsauros]

Hmh?

[ Said irate reptilian individual stops his destruction of other people's property long enough to squint at the space across from him. It takes him a minute to actually notice the girl standing there, like he was looking for something smaller. ]

Who're you...?

[ There are so many things wrong with this question. Mainly the fact that he's the one asking it. ]

[senseandcecilbility]

[He lifts his hand from her eyes, for now there is nothing to hide. The ground keeps trembling around them, the explosions closer and closer. It seems they are leaving just in time.]

You did what you could to save him, madam.

[Those are empty words and he knows it. The young lady stayed behind and risked her life to save the man. No matter how much she did, she will believe she could have done more. ]

[pivotpoint]

[She was simply stating a fact in an unpleasant manner. That's it. Kaname accepts the phone, and her eyes light up with a little wonder. She lives in the late 90s/VERY EARLY 2000s, so touch screen phones aren't really a thing yet. She whispers a small "wow" when her thumbs taps on the camera application.]

Sure... got it. [She looks very engrossed, but won't waste any time when he gets into position.]

[bestowmercy]

[ Nothing to hide but the eyes themselves-- and so she does, with her own grasping hands, smaller and poorer a shield they might be. Her heart aches, more than anything (everything) else of her body.

You cannot save everyone. She knows the truth of this well enough, has lived more than once the reality of too many in need for her to provide for all, even if she were to give up all she had. Of circumstance snatching away too often what had been fought tooth and nail for. But still, even if this man's words are right, even if she had done all she could... ]

...I know. [ Hoarsely, barely above a whisper. Any louder and the words might not come at all. ] I know. But still... he's gone.

[ And is that not, in itself, reason to grieve? Let alone for how close, how close they'd come. ]

[sharkastic]

[His lips twitch a little, watching her get a little too excited over what's a pretty average phone in his day and age; maybe he's not even the most lost person here, even if he still doesn't have a great grasp on what the hell's going on with the spaceship and... everything.

Rin doesn't really have much of an idea what kind of picture this girl's looking for, so he just leans his elbows against the railing she was at and tries to look casual.

... It's still kind of weird.]

[bestowmercy]

Rena stops with her, and cheerfully returns the bow with one of her own.

"Don't worry about it. Everyone has a place they belong to, don't they?" Shevat must be her home, then. Maria'd mentioned it before. From the sound of it, Rena might guess it to be a kind of ship, like the ones in the Fleet.

"Is it alright to call you Maria?"

[17thangel]

"Just don't call me squirt and we're fine. Though I dunno about places to belong, there's not a lot left where I'm from."

She wrinkles her nose a bit, "Getting drug here is probably the only thing that saved my Seibzehn after all and that was pretty dicey."

[bestowmercy]

[ Somehow, despite the talk of astronomy texts before, it's an answer that doesn't surprise her at all from this particular party. ]

Mmm... All stories take you somewhere else, don't they? Not just adventures you haven't been on, but places you've haven't been to, people you've haven't met...