crystalclods | Test Drive Meme | August-September 2016


TEST DRIVE MEME
Welcome to the Cosmographia Test Drive Meme! This is a place for you to test out any characters you've been considering for the game or just to splash around in the waters and see what's right for you. Give our infopages a glance over and use the prompts below as a jumping off point! Threads from prompt A and B can be made canon for the game so long as both parties agree to it! Prompts C and D, unfortunately, cannot, as they take their cues from events and Excursions already run in Cosmographia. In short - pick a character, write up a starter and have a blast!
PROMPT A - ARRIVAL
You don't remember getting in this hole but you definitely remember falling out of it. You go tumbling out into the heart of a cavernous temple. Sparkling Gems suspended in bubbles float lazily about the ceiling, just a little out of reach. There's a greenish glow cast over the room by the huge crystal looming before you in the center. It's... curiously heart shaped, now you think to take a closer look at it. If you're curious enough to touch it, you'll get some basic answers about your situation... but then again, there's no guarantee you're just going to walk up to a giant weird thing in the middle of a giant weird room and touch it, right? Why not take a look around and see for yourself what kind of place this is? Perhaps you'll run into someone in the same predicament as you, or perhaps you'll run into someone who can help explain why there's a weird rock now affixed to your body?
PROMPT B - THE FARMER'S MARKET
It's Thursday in Waverly Bay, and that can mean only one thing: the weekly Farmer's Market is here again! The town plaza is all abuzz with activity today. Stalls not only from farmers on the outskirts of town but from crafty residents with interesting homemade items to sell, and businesses looking to attract the Market's crowd are all here! The weather's a little chilly but it's still an excellent place to spend the day, so long as you've got some money to spend. Are you shopping for a good deal on vegetables for dinner? Or perhaps you're getting a feel for the residents, having recently arrived? Or, perhaps, are you an industrious gem who's looking to set up shop? Either way, you're bound to run into somebody in this bustling, busy place.
PROMPT C - INVESTIGATION
Now that you're starting to get a hold of your powers, you've been sent through the warp pads on some kind of mission to the Gem Observatory. From the sounds of things, there's an ancient relic here somewhere that could serve useful for the Gems in the Temple and someone has to go out and find it. ... the only problem is that you're not exactly sure where you should start looking in this place. And on top of that, it's a complete mess. Junk and debris and books and papers everywhere with no clue where this relic could be. You're going to have to do some serious digging to find this thing. And on top of that, you might find that when you try to go back the warp pad you took here has managed to stop working in between your arrival and now. Maybe something went wrong back in the control room? Or the pad itself needs fixing? You'll have to poke around in the guts of the machine to try and figure this one out.
PROMPT D - COMBAT
Uh-oh! Looks like you've run into a monster! These critters can pop up anywhere around Waverly Bay so it doesn't really matter where you were before or what you were up to. All you know now is that you need to buckle down and beat this thing! *Giant Mothwing* - With broad wings that shed scales on the wind, this corrupted Gem bears a striking resemblance to a large moth or butterfly. The body between its wings is no beauty, though - it usually stays rolled into a wheel-like spiral to protect its flat, pinkish gem, but when it uncurls to attack it looks more like a worm with teeth. Yikes! Loud noises make it lash out in agitation. Even when it's not attacking, it flies around restlessly, shedding sharp, glasslike scales that can leave nasty cuts as they whiz past. It'll be hard to get close to it unless it's lured down out of the sky. *Chameleoid* - The shape of this monster's body is more like a tardigrade than a lizard, but its camouflage ability and long, sticky tongue are worth commemorating. The Chameleoid can flatten and expand its body, and change the color and texture of its outer hide to blend in seamlessly with its surroundings, and it uses this ability to duck in and out of battle. Keep an eye out for suspicious movement when it vanishes from view. The Chameleoid shoots out its 20-foot-long tongue to disarm, trip up, and gross out Gems, but it's not averse to eating any small objects it might grab. The inside of its mouth looks softer than the rest of it, so maybe you can turn that to your advantage...? *Strawberry Spider* - Though its long, spindly legs holding it off the ground make it look like a spider, this monster is actually mostly made up of plant material. Trees and strawberry plants are rooted in the corrupted Gem's featureless, geometric body, forming woody legs and blanketing the monster in foliage and strawberries. Its aroma may be sweet, but the Strawberry Spider is ruthless and very, very perturbed. It stands 15 feet tall and 25 feet wide, and its skittering feet move fast to stomp on attacking Gems. Thinking of cutting off a leg? Try it, and hundreds of strawberry runners will immediately sprout from the stump to ensnare you. The strawberries are hungry, and they've got a "taste for blood"... Damaging the plants living on it won't actually hurt the corrupted Gem, and they grow back fast. This will be a tough monster to defeat. *Wildcard Option* - Make your own! You know by now that you've got some special powers just from being a Gem. Apparently, from what little you've heard, you can shapeshift into things and pull a weapon from your gem, and you have some sort of unique special power. But maybe you don't know what it is yet, or you're still not used to using it? Guess you're going to have to learn on the job. Don't leave your fellow gems hanging if you see them fighting one of these little guys either! You're going to need each other to take 'em down!
PROMPT E - WILDCARD
Not into any of these prompts? Thought of something more fun? Go for it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Arrival

Mewtwo is nothing if not a Pokemon of its instincts. (..."Gem" of its instincts.) Of course it touched the Heart.

It's hard to reconcile this feeling of comfort with the rational knowledge that nothing is right, and Sird was not in that hole, and that whatever's just happened to Mewtwo means it can't get back out there and wring her neck. Harder still to get over the realization that its power is gone - it'd taken three steps out of the room and wobbled, taken aback at the resounding emptiness where its psychokinesis usually sat, omnipresent.

So it did what its instincts told him to, and retreated to the Heart. Out there there were sure to be others, other Gems(?!) and Pokemon and humans, and there was that nagging mistrust in its heart that didn't want to see another soul unless it had all the power at its disposal it was used to having. In here, there was this strangely comforting rock, which smoothed out the anger and the ~~fear~~ agitation and welcomed Mewtwo warmly into its sanctuary.

It perches on top of the Heart, with its feet folded under it, closes its eyes, and focuses. On the Heart - why on earth does it cause these feelings? - and on the kunzite stone now set on Mewtwo's stomach, where its navel would be if it had one.

If anyone intrudes on its meditation...it'll figure out what to do about that when it happens.

Combat

Some Gems have swords, some have gauntlets, some have...giant spoons?

At least this is familiar. The weight of the spoon, blessedly, is the same as the one he'd normally create with his psychic powers. It spares Mewtwo about half the stumbles he could be making. The other half are inescapable, as it turns and jumps and expects to lift into the air on reflex and...doesn't.

The Chameleoid should be easy to take down. Mewtwo can imagine exactly how it would go. Not being able to just do it drags out the process - not to mention it frustrates Mewtwo, and the more frustrated it gets, the more it can feel its technique slipping. It leaps over the tongue, tries to lunge in close and jab its spoon into her hide, and - the Chameleoid just vanishes. Dammit.

Mewtwo wobbles backwards, glancing around itself to assess the battlefield by sight. What it wouldn't give for a trainer right now - at its current level of ability, it wouldn't even have to be Red. But nobody here is a proper trainer (and it's not a proper Pokemon), just fellow fighters -

- and the Chameleoid is back, flicking its tongue at one of them. Mewtwo sends a single telepathic "!" at her target, a wordless plea to get the hell out of the way.

[Alice is taking inventory again when she notices another arrival. This one... is a bit different, though, and she stops, hands in front of her cautiously.]

Shadow Marc!?

[...Alice stop.]

Mewtwo's reaction is decidedly less comical; after the split second it takes it to realize that despite the familiar wardrobe that is not Red's friend, it instantly jumps to its feet, hackles up and eyes wide.

In its mind, there is no innocent reason for any human to be mimicking a Pokedex holder.

And it - can't - do anything.

Whoa! [Alice puts her hands up.] Marc isn't here! There's no reason for you to attack anyone!

THAT MEANS NOTHING

But it's mistrustful, not stupid. Mewtwo's eyes dart over her, looking for tension, any sign of a threat, any...Pokeballs...?

It crouches down again, low to the Heart with its tail lashing slowly. The mix of signals here is just too strange - it could strategize if she were hostile, or if she had Pokemon on her, because then it might know what to expect, but it just doesn't know what to make of a Blue look-alike with an empty belt calling it a strange name.

[Alice pauses. She takes her arms down and flips through her notepad, then looks up at Mewtwo for a few seconds.]

...Let me guess, you aren't him and you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Mewtwo tilts its head down slowly, gaze fixed on Alice. It flicks to the notepad for the briefest moment, and to the door out.

Its tail curls around its feet, like a cat resettling itself after an upset which is exactly what's going on here actually.

Go on.

[Alice fidgets and clears her throat.] Ah, well, welcome! My name is Alice. You must be new. I'm sorry, I mistook you for -- naturally, it would've been another version of you, considering how these alternate worlds end up going. All the Gems here are from different worlds, and while some of the others are from worlds similar to mine, no one's ever heard of Voices or a Randomizer or gods like Dome, they're all different. If you're not Marc's Shadow, then do you have a name?

Alternate worlds...

The concept is roughly familiar. It tells Mewtwo what it needs to know - that this girl is a complete stranger.

It responds with a...you could call it a glare, but it's not really angry, just intense. Intense, affirmative eye contact. But Mewtwo can't speak to tell her its name (and, honestly, it wouldn't think it had reason to even if it could.)

[Alice chews the end of her pencil.] Oh, I guess you can't talk. Sorry. Pokémon can communicate with humans in my world, but Marla and Amélie say they can't in theirs.

[It makes a voiceless tchh noise in response, affirmative again, though it's tucking the information away for future reference. A world where Pokemon communicating with humans is commonplace...and the names of two other trainers, neither familiar.

Mewtwo points, steadily, over Alice's head, to the cave exit.

It wants to know about out there.]

This is Waverly Bay's Temple. Outside of the Temple, there's a small town. It's warm, coastal, and full of both regular people and Gems, which is what we are now. [She gestures to the Dome Fossil-shaped gem on her face.] A lot of us work in the town, if just to make money for food, but also to contribute to the town that's housing us. We also fight off these monsters, which used to be Gems at one point, and put their gems in spheres like these bubbles in the Heart Room until we can find a cure.

[While Winston is used to having his mind always occupied with thoughts and calculations. The thoughts of others .. well. The crystalline structure in the temple was the first - but it makes his fur bristle all the same. Thankfully, the unusual warning is enough for Winston to somersault out of the way so the Chameleoid tastes the sand instead of gorilla.]

We have to get the creature further away from the townspeople. If we could just [Swoop! Gotta duck again.] - calculate a way to get into combat range.

[What he wouldn't give to have his inventions right now; even his old jetpack is gone. At home, and even here, Winston still feels like he has a responsibility to be a hero. He has the knowledge - he just has to start from scratch and think through the problem.]

Test Drive Meme | August-September 2016

Mewtwo | Pokemon Special

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Combat, and I almost posted this as Ruby. Help.