crystalclods | Test Drive Meme | December-February 2016/17

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!tdm

Test Drive Meme | December-February 2016/17


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 Bricktown, the nearby city. As it turns out, the town is suffering from an infestation of small, bird-like creatures that have taken to nesting around town and letting out the most awful of rackets. Poofing these creatures will net you a small Gem shard. Poof as many as you can and bubble all those shards! You won't be able to do it alone, though. Maybe one of these birbs is just a bit out of reach or maybe you've not gotten a hang of your powers yet. Either way, working with your fellow Gems is the best way for you to get to the bottom of this and find where these birds are coming from!
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...? *Hippocampus* - A serpentine monster from the sea that sports a pair of razor-sharp forelimbs, two tusks, two horns, and a wicked set of jaws. Where's the protection for the rest of her body? She has a soft belly and a slightly more armored back. Luckily - for her, not you - she can breathe fire to respond to attacks on her tail. Why does an aquatic monster breathe fire?? Sometimes the world just doesn't have to make sense. She's about three three elephants long and faster on sand than she looks, preferring in battle to slither around swiftly and spit fire, but if caught, she'll turn her horns on you! *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!

Threaded | Flat

A. Arrival

[Boyce falls through a hole near the ceiling, one of the larger creatures to be deposited in the heart of the temple save perhaps the gems that were obviously inhuman to begin with. This gem, crashing through a field of lightly phosphorescent bubbles and onto the steps leading up to the crystal heart, is certainly human in shape, if no longer in hue. He's large, made larger by his heavy woolen sweater and the cap only just now thrown off of his dishevelled, hairy head... but the colour has been drained mostly from his face, and true to the gem now lodged, hidden, against his breastbone, a marbled line of grey and black cross his face from temple to opposite jaw. The rest of him is covered by winter-wear, which luckily has done a little to dampen his fall.

He is not prone to theatrics. Cussing quietly, but shortly, he pushes himself to hands and knees and takes this alien space in with a wary kind of uncertainty, before retrieving his hat and his footing. A silver tint colours his weathered cheekbones: embarrassment for the abrupt entrance, confusion and mortification for this unknown situation.

Usually he doesn't reach out, much. Usually he keeps himself to himself, but this is... too strange.]

What are you? Is this a dream?

[Surely you've summoned him here. He hasn't even caught on that the heart-gem is pulsing gently behind him, enigmatically setting the scene.]

B. Market

[He's had a little bit of time to cope with the massive amount of change he's had to undergo over the course of a couple of weeks. Its a begrudging change: Boyce doesn't like being intruded upon, and he still feels as though some core part of him has been invaded in some horrible way... but given the fact that apparently his life-long problems with lycanthropy are at an end, and that he's spent much of his life wrangling monsters even if he's always felt very strongly for their protection... both are helping him cope.

So is the fact that most of his compatriots share the same fate as he does. It's not a lot, but it's something... and quietly the heart of the temple pulses with its soothing magic. That helps probably more than he knows.

Currently he's avoiding the current of people milling around him at the farmer's market by towering over an eddy of human traffic, admiring some woodwork crafts, trying to look like he belongs. He's asked to have a guide show him the sights as where he's from the cart and buggy have only just been re-invented. He's not familiar with current-day technology so most of this boggles him. It's... embarrassing.]

This is nice. What is it... for?

[It's nice, but he has no idea what cribbage is, nor why someone would create a board shaped to resemble a fish to play the game.]

With any luck, Yayoi could consider this a vacation.

She was no stranger to other worlds, having gone to Marchenland numerous times in the past, going to the Land of Picture Books with that mess with Miyuki's totally not past jilted girlfriend, the numerous fairy worlds over the years for the Precure Parties that inevitably ended in fighting some big world ending threat, all of it.

And yet, Yayoi was glad that some comforts of home, mostly her trusty old laptop, her Smile Pact and a couple of other things made the trip in her bag. She had been on her way to a book signing when she had been brought here, and Yayoi sighed deeply.

"Well, at least it's a vacation to deal with my burnout," said Yayoi, shaking her head. "I should get to checking this place out, before the inevitable Feeling of Doom sets in."

Genre savvy, she was. Call it a hangover from being a superhero for ten years running.

~*Arrival*~

There's a young girl wandering around the Heart Room, looking lost as she calls for...something?

"Teatime? My Queen♥?"

There's a long pause.

"Nebby?"

~*Investigation*~

Moon is staring with round eyes at one of the small birbs. Want. She makes a small leap, trying to catch it, but doesn't manage to get anywhere near it. Probably because she's tiny and can't jump.

Cheeks puffed out, she makes a sulky face as she stomps petulantly on the ground.

"Get down here and become mine!"

There are now lots of little hops as she tries desperately to grab the birb.

1. The Heart Room

[ "I'm just going to investigate this," she'd told Aster, running her hands along the outline of the hole in fascination. "Stay there. I'll be right back."

It takes forever and no time at all for her to arrive on the other side. Alalia has no idea what to expect but once she manages to steady herself and take in her surroundings... she can say for sure it wasn't this. She spends a few moments gazing around, taking in the site of the Heart and the gems suspended in bubbles before turning to the hole to call Aster over.

... except there is no hole. Just a smooth expanse of blank, solid rock. Alalia stares at it for a long moment. Then she sucks in a breath and mutters a soft but incredibly heartfelt; ]

Shit.

[ And then from the Heart room starts up a most... puzzled racket. The sound of someone singing -- vocalizing notes in a do-re-mi-fa scale -- punctuated by the sound of someone pounding their fist against rock. If you're so inclined as to come and see what the hell is going on, you'll find a red-haired young woman doing just that. She's pounding her fist against the wall like she expects to break it open. But now and then she just... stops. And sings. And scowls to herself when nothing happens.

... huh. ]

2. The Market

[ SO THIS WHOLE TOWN IS PRETTY FUCKY but Alalia is... nothing if not dedicated to her work. Aster hired her for an investigation and you can be damn sure that Alalia is going to investigate. The farmer's market draws her attention the most. It's familiar enough that she doesn't feel quite as lost here. She even starts to relax a little.

... at least until she starts getting into a spat with a stallholder over the fact that her money apparently isn't worth anything here. Maybe you're running a stall yourself and faced with this, or you're just overhearing the commotion. Either way, Alalia's stood tall, scowling with her fists planted on her hips. ]

I'm sorry, what do you mean I can't pay with these?! They're perfectly good merins. Silvers. You do trade in silvers here, don't you?

3. Arena

[ Now this is more like it.

It's been a few days since Alalia landed in Waverly Bay and for the most part she's been stiff, overly formal and just a touch too polite and together for someone who's been dropped into a brand new world. But she seems to be handling things... passably well. She can only resist the siren call of the arena for so long, though. It's been so long and she's itching to get some training in.

And it's as good an excuse as any to test out this new power.

If you're visiting the Arena today, you'll see a bit of a weird sight. Not one Alalia but two trading blow after blow with their swords. At first glance it's hard to tell them apart. But eventually you'll notice that one is handling her sword with a left-handed stance and seems washed out, desaturated. And her expression is dead and calm. The vibrantly bright, right-handed Alalia, on the other hand, is wild-eyed and grinning, looking utterly exhilarated.

They continue to trade blows for a few minutes until the right-handed Alalia -- the real one -- does something a little strange. She vocalizes a long, drawn-out note just in the instant before landing the finishing blow. The desaturated copy bursts into a flurry of glass shards and then even they vanish into nothing.

Alalia stares at the spot her copy had vanished with an odd expression. She looks... dissatisfied? Something like that at least. Eventually she just clicks her tongue. ]

So. It's like that, is it?

[ Like what, exactly?

She turns as if to leave or at least to take a break before realizing she's not alone in the arena. She blinks and looks a little flustered at being caught off guard before taking a half step back. ]

Um. Yes? Can I help you with something?

Edited 2017-01-09 00:05 (UTC)

[Prompt A]
[Being in a room surrounded by gemstones isn't an odd thing, exactly, for Scrooge McDuck. Them being suspended in midair and obvious magical is something new, but he was taking it in stride, relatively. You didn't get to be where he was by being unable to handle whatever life throws your way, and with what he's lived through so far, falling through a hole into a room full of floating rocks was almost mundane.

Certainly it was the pull of the Heart that had him standing by it, one hand idly resting on a cane and the other behind his back, his head tilted up with a captivated stare locked on the gem. In this world of offworlders of all shapes and sizes, a dapper duck probably sticks out more than others would. He's staring at the Heart pretty intently, but that doesn't mean he's not interruptable.]

[Prompt B]
[Ever see a duck argue with a shopkeeper over the price of one apple? Well if not, now's an excellent time for just that. Scrooge has decided to check out the city at large, and has wound his way to the farmer's market, where he's been browsing the various wares. Not necessarily to buy, though judging by his current activity he'd at least picked something.

The shopkeep wasn't too pleased with it, though. The prices of the apples were set! ...Except this damn duck was persistent, and he made a good point about the condition of the apple he was currently holding. Fine, fine, a few cents on the dollar and it was his.

With a happy smile Scrooge paid the man and tossed the apple up in the air, catching it and walking off down the sidewalk, to see the rest of the market at hand.]

[Wildcard]
[Wanna do something different? Feel free to tag with anything or if you like, hit me up at

zumidotexe for plotting~]

Threaded | Flat

Jack Boyce [aka Howlite] | OC | ota

Yayoi Kise - Smile Precure 10 Years Later

Moon | Pokemon Moon | Moonstone

Alalia Ridgely ♫ OC ♫ Selenite

Scrooge McDuck | Disney Comics/DuckTales | Pyrite