crystalclods | Test Drive Meme | August-September 2016

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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

[The girl sitting not far up on top of the Heart itself seems fairly amused with this sight, all things considered. She herself has taken more than a few hours to acquaint herself with the surroundings-her heart (?) still beats with anxiety toward the situation, but she can at least try to rationalize most of it.

Even if she always had this diamond shaped cabochon over her throat.

The idocrase shines with a touch of red from the heart's own pulse, and Masumi herself stare down with seemingly pupil-less eyes, a potential cause of coming in regenerating.]

A good try, [She 'compliments', chuckling slightly.] but it seems two legs don't agree with you~

I would almost assume you were new to more than just this place here.

[One hand flops from the ground a bit like a dying fish. It SHOULD be an almost dismissive gesture but that would require sitting back up and she hasn't quite gotten that far. Something's said but it's also muffled by the floor.

After another minute she jerks back to an upright position, and works once more at standing and STAYING up.]

After a while you get kind of used to not having two legs! I've been around a while, things have just gotten really .. really different.

[REALLY different, like she didn't have claws anymore and for the first time since she could remember her mind was clear, she could think of more than safe place and fight for territory and hunt and kill it was NICE. Strange but nice. Whatever gem managed to find a way to fix it, she was going to kiss them!]

You'd think it'd be like falling off a rock!

More different than what seems to happen here? [Or so she's been 'told' in any case.

What a strange way of putting things though.] I'd think falling off a rock would be worse than walking, if anything... [There is a dry stare.] ...actually, if anything it sounds like something that would make it worse.

I don't know what seems to happen here, I just got here.

[She wobbles unsteadily to a stop, deciding to just practice standing again and doing her best to ignore the urge to drop back to four legs. She didn't have paws or hooves anymore, she had hands and feet and she was going to use them right.]

Falling off of rocks is very easy though. This isn't.

[And it should be.]

Hmnn. Easy to fall, certainly...easy to land safely though...

[Well, that's up for debate.] Unfortunately for you, as 'strange' as things are here, that's all I know about it myself-beyond that, we're in the same situation.

Safety's overrated anyway. I'm really surprised they let a human in here, but the more the merrier I guess. Did you touch the thing?

[A vague gesture in the direction of the temple's heart, as she cautiously tries this 'walking' thing again. The sign said 'touch me!' after all, and though Carnelian intended to do so, it was going to take some careful work to actually get there.]

I wasn't 'let' in by anyone, [She grumbles, crossing her arms.] And if you noticed, I'm sitting on it-I had to get up here somehow, neh?

[Well. She flips a bit of hair over her shoulder, shrugging.] If the 'Heart' brings in whoever it desires, then why shouldn't humans be part of it? Everyone gets a stone, after all...

[She has yet to realize she is not the only one who started with one, though.]

[She wiggles a hand at the stranger's general direction, flexing her fingers a bit.]

Gotta use your hands for our stuff, not bottoms.

[It's important! Hands! With fingers! Which ... is why she could never get home again. Nothing worked. She didn't have hands anym-- no. Don't think about that. She shakes off the thought visibly, shaking her head. Nope!]

We're not brought here, we arrive on ships or pop out of the ground, and we are a stone. See, like this one.

[She taps her chest, or more accurately the gem there.]

This IS me. It doesn't have me and I don't have it.

Yes~ Including climbing. [The shots have been fired, and unjustly so-

There is a slight shift in her expression the more Carnelian speaks. A smile fading into a shadow, only half as present as it was from the start.

She hides it well, but keeps a mental warning in mind. After all, when she awoke, she remembered seeing a hole slowly disappear near her...]

From what I've seen, everyone arriving thus far came out through such a hole however! Unless there was another hole, before the one here?

Including 'humans'.

Don't usually have to climb for any of it!

[If you listen you can hear the whoosh as that went over her head. It doesn't seem to bother her at all, or perhaps this walking thing, which she seems to be getting the hang of again rather well, was more preoccupying.]

Most everyone here came out of a hole probably, yep.

[That's just how it works! ..Except for the 'humans' bit. She was fairly sure those popped out of other humans. Which might explain the odd look she gives Masumi.]

I'm pretty sure organics don't work that way. You're saying you came out of the ground too?

I'm saying, [she starts, hopping off the heart to land carefully on her feet,] That one moment I was elsewhere...and then the next, I was here, next to a hole.

[She brushes some wrinkles off her shoulder, flipping her hair back into place as she goes on.] Did you remember how you got here then, if it was somehow different? [If it was different, she would certainly like to know at least.]

[She's pretty sure that's not how it works. She had no memories at all from before she emerged.

There's a pause, and then she shakes her head, sober.]

I don't remember much. I haven't been able to for a while.

[A long... long while. Everything blurred. Years, centuries.]

But you do look pretty organic and I think you sorts pop out of each other, not the ground.

Let's not get into that. [There are classes and lessons she does not wish to relive, thank you.]

My point is that this is mine, [She continues, gesturing to her throat.] Just as much as anyone's gem is their own, here. Whether it was there to start or otherwise.

That's not how it works. Come here, let me see that.

[She beckons, mostly because she's not entirely sure she could get over THERE without falling over.]

And what do you intend to do when I do come over there then? [Be Wary, he had said, after all. Run if you see someone with a stone like 'yours'.

It is hardly another idocrase stone, but a gem is a gem, and that warning peals through her ears regardless of how friendly Carnelian seems.]

I'm not going to hurt you. If you're here then you're an ally, we don't hurt our own. We'd never get anywhere if we did.

[She doesn't seem like she intends harm, but she is big, she does look strong, and could be easily seen as pretty intimidating.]

[Very big. Very intimidating. Masumi is already mentally noting as many ways to bolt for those hallways as she can, if need be.

...But, with a suspicious frown, she approaches all the same, gem shining dully as she steps near.]

[And it's with the carefulness of someone who's handled very fragile things before that Carnelian reaches out to touch. First the gem at Masum's throat, then one wrist easily dwarfed by her large hands, turning it over to examine the paler underside. Her grip, in spite of being a rock projecting a hologram, is warm.

Unless prevented, her cautious examination will continue, circling Masumi once at the unsteady pace of someone unsure of their footing still, picking briefly at her clothing, her hair. Eventually she lets go entirely.]

Hm. Well. If you're human, you're very strange for one, and if you're a gem, you're not a type I've seen before. But given your lack of that beat under the skin that humans have, I'm going to go with you being a new sort of gem. Which means this.. isn't something you have.

[Another delicate touch to the green gem.]

This IS you. The rest of this.. all of it, that's just something you wear to interact with all of the world. The gem is you. Your 'mind', your .. uh. ... 'Soul', I think the word is. Bodies can break, you'll be fine. But your gem, it breaks, you break.

[She holds her breath, or the illusion of it. Holds it nervously, her eyes careful to keep Carnelian in the corners of her vision. There is an uneasy swallow, and she keeps her mouth shut.

At least until it occurs to her what 'that beat' refers to. Her thoughts churn, internal constructs practically bursting in demand to fill the void that came of an absent mind, to replace the sound of blood rushing behind her ears where it had not been there before, drowning out Carnelian's words as the girl forces her own forward.]

What do you mean lack of a beat..?

You can usually feel it, on organics. About here.

[She rests her palm against her own wrist, but she has no heart TO beat, of course she has no pulse either.]

You look so much like one otherwise that it's astonishing. Your colors don't match your gem at all.

[That's not possible that's not possible that's not-

Her hands fly to her throat, feeling for the usual pulse and beat as she breathes rapidly, not even attempting to hide her fear.] That's not supposed to happen... [she starts, her voice breaking.] It's supposed-

I've always had a heart beat..!

Hey, hey!

[She holds her hands up, startled. This wasn't right at all! Why was any of this worth freaking out about? It wasn't that bad!]

Easy there! Nothing's wrong, this is how we all are!

How 'we' are?! [She repeats, wrenching her hands from her neck before it makes things worse.] I've lived long enough to know how my body works..! And it cuts..! It has a pulse..!

They're not things that humans lack..!

Well.. maybe you're not human. Maybe you're a gem, like me, and the rest of us.

[Wow, this is weird. She wasn't good at things like tact but she was going to try.]

And maybe you decided without really thinking about it, to be a little different now. It happens sometimes.

[....That way of thinking is so horrendously off the wall that it actually manages to calm her down.

If only so she can stare, frown, and judge.]

...That's not how being human works. I have parents-a parent-you know.

[She's never even SEEN a picture of her mother now that she thinks of it.]

Test Drive Meme | August-September 2016

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