crystalclods | TEST DRIVE MEME

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test drive

TEST DRIVE MEME

Hello and welcome to the COSMOGRAPHIA TEST DRIVE MEME! This is a place where you can get a feel for your character(s) in the game's setting! A couple quick points before we get down to business:

☆ Please take a look at our Premise, World Information, and our FAQ to get a feel for the rules and setting. This is great if you want to see what the game is about before jumping in!

☆ Test Drive threads are certainly allowed to be used for samples for your application, should you choose to submit one!

SAMPLE SCENARIOS:

A: By whatever means, you've tumbled through a hole into a cavernous temple. Gems suspended in bubbles float about the ceiling, and a large Heartlike gem looms before you. Touching it, whether out of curiosity or frustration, will give you some basic information, 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?

B: It's Thursday in Waverly Bay, and that can mean only one thing: the weekly Farmer's Market is here again! 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! 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.

C: Uh-oh! Looks like you've run into a monster! 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 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!

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[Karamatsu might be Karamatsu, but he isn't stupid. Not completely, anyway, and certainly not when his brothers are involved. He knows Ichimatsu won't talk to him about this, and he doesn't actually plan on making him right now. He's not sure he can, even though he knows he wants to. Needs to.

Stiffly, he wills himself to stand. He half expects to suddenly lose control of his legs, but it never comes. Arms, legs, everything is still his and as it should be. Once there, he slowly makes his way over to Ichimatsu, kneeling next to him before putting a hand on his shoulder.

It's not a gentle grip, not exactly. It's urgent the way Karamatsu's fingers dig into his brother's hoodie, as if that will make him peel himself off the floor.]

We should leave.

[That's... dammit Karamatsu. Him and his fucking kindness.

Ichimatsu does move, stiffly and jerkily, but only to shift to his side and pull his knees to his chest, facing away from his brother. He's not... honestly sure how to respond to that. Part of him wants to just lie here for ~~hours~~ ~~days~~ ~~years~~ ~~forever~~ a while until he can pull himself somewhat back together, but part of him definitely wants to get the hell out of this damn room too. Even if there are no familiar corners here for him to hide in.]

...Karamatsu-niisan.

[Mumbled, quiet enough to be barely audible, but... it's not often Ichimatsu actually calls his brother that.]

Where....

[Where the hell can they even go, you idiot?? They don't even have their parents' house to return to now!!]

[He never lets go of Ichimatsu's shoulder, simply waiting for him to sit up. The problem here was that Karamatsu hadn't been here much longer than Ichimatsu. He'd explored a very small part of the Temple. He knew there were rooms, but there were hundreds of them, none of which he knew anything about. He didn't think they could afford to wander cluelessly until they found someplace that they might be bothered anyway.

But this was still a building. All buildings had exits. And when Karamatsu was feeling lost, there was only one place he went.]

Outside. Come on.

...Ah.

[He does sit up, slowly, as if he's making absolutely sure that his body is working properly. His eyes meet Karamatsu's once as he turns around and immediately flinch away, dropping to the ground.

He won't reciprocate the touch - in fact, he leans away from it, not sure he wants to get too close again after all that - but he will stand, shoving his hands into his hoodie's pockets and following his brother with his head lowered and his shoulders hunched.]

[In spite of everything that just happened, Karamatsu doesn't feel that same need to stay separate from his brother. Perhaps it's in knowing that if he hadn't urged him to stand, Ichimatsu would have just stayed on the floor for who knows how long. Still, he's careful not to get much closer than he is already.

Now it's just a matter of finding the exit. The Heart seems to lay in the center of the Temple, so Karamatsu tries to walk straight from where they came in the hopes that they'll come across the way out. Unsurprisingly, he gets turned around a couple times before actually finding the exit that leads straight to the beach. A beach wasn't quite what he was expecting to see, and as such he ends up faltering for just a moment before looking for someplace they can go that they won't be bothered.

Since there's a town off in the distance, Karamatsu heads the opposite way with Ichimatsu in tow, toward the cliff by the Temple with large boulders high enough to block anyone on the other side from view. The rush of the waves is loud out here, and Karamatsu doesn't stop until they're a respectable distance away from the Temple.

He lets Ichimatsu go, his attention on the water to their immediate right. It's peaceful. Something that could serve to help calm both of their nerves, maybe.]

[Ichimatsu is staring at the ground the entire time, following Karamatsu's steps and watching different kinds of stone pass by, until it turns to sand. He can smell the salt and hear the waves, but he doesn't look up until Karamatsu stops, only glancing at his brother to see him staring off across the water. He immediately looks off in the other direction, expression blank.

Ichimatsu sinks down to sit on the sand, again pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them as he stares into nothing. It's usually a comforting position for him, but he can feel that stone against his legs now, and there's a short grunt of annoyance and disgust from him.

...It is peaceful though, and his shoulders do slacken the tiniest bit.]

[For a moment, Karamatsu just stands there, watching as the waves slowly lap up onto the shore before pulling back out to see. Normally, this is where he'd have some sort of incredibly cheesy phrase or statement to give, but...there's nothing. Just nothing. For the first time, he can't even think of anything to restore his own confidence to what it once was.

With his body feeling unusually heavy (and empty, now that's weird), Karamatsu moves to sit down next to Ichimatsu in the sand, not bothered by his turning away to look elsewhere. At least he's acting normally, but it's hard to get any lower when you're at your lowest to begin with, isn't it?

A long time passes before he tries saying anything to break the silence that forms between them, one hand rising so his fingers can anxiously pull at his bangs at a spot just covering his forehead, curling them around and around his finger as he tries to think of something to say. Come on, since when has he ever been at a loss for words?]

...that was...

[...]

...different.

[The long silence from Karamatsu of all people is more than noticeable, and Ichimatsu finds himself wondering if he's finally broken. The thought makes his heart leap a bit, but for once, he's not quite sure if it's in joy or... something else. Either way, it doesn't show on his face.

It gets heavier and heavier as the seconds pass, and Ichimatsu is just about to be pushed to the point of yelling at him - yelling what he doesn't know, just anything to make this a little more normal - when Karamatsu does indeed speak up.

..."Different?" Different?? NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. Ichi fixes his brother with a frustrated glare.]

...Yeah.

[He doesn't have to be looking at Ichi to feel that glare, and he very nearly withers beneath it. Why is it so different now? Is it because he knows - quite intimately- exactly what Ichimatsu is thinking right now? What he's feeling? The memory of it is enough to make his stomach turn, and he has to swallow hard before he can continue.]

...I'm sorry. I didn't-

[Know that would happen? Understand just how much pain you were going through on a constant, daily basis?

...maybe he wouldn't say that part. Not right now. Maybe not ever.]

...I don't know what just happened.

Don't.

[Don't waste time being sorry for him. It's not worth it.

What just happened was that they learned a lot more about each other than they ever needed to, and they both know it. Ichimatsu feels like it was a little lopsided, though. What exactly did HE learn?? That Kara's stupid confidence just seems to spring from some eternal damn well inside him?? Seriously, how does he DO that?? Is it really something as stupid as those ~~cool~~ awful outfits?

...But he doesn't remember feeling any less pained or lonely during... that... either.]

Ah... must be a gem thing...

[But then he suddenly tenses, alarmed, as a realization dawns on him. Was that fusion hell something these "gems" just DID!?!? Would they be expected to do that AGAIN??? With... OTHER gems, even???? Nnnnnope nope nope NOPE oh god no please.]

[That certainly was going to be something to think about, wasn't it? They both had a lot to think about now, and it was already making Karamatsu's head spin.]

Mm. That seems likely...it would have been preferable if that Heart warned us, don't you think?

[Why wouldn't it tell them about something that serious and invasive, especially if it could just happen so...easily? It made him want to be wary about how close he got to people anymore.]

[Granted, the Heart HAD mentioned powers, but with the sheer amount of new information in the entire dump, Ichimatsu had missed that one of them was fusing with another gem entirely. What the hell! That definitely should've had a better warning label on it!! More importantly, why the heck was it so easy to do?? He grits his teeth, nodding in agreement.

Agreeing with Karamatsu. What is the world coming to.]

Do you think we'll have to do it again?

[The words are forced out; it's hard not to choke on them.]

I don't know.

[There's no getting around it, really. He can't imagine they'd be forced to do something like that, but...he also doesn't know how "gem" culture operates. Maybe it's just something they do fairly often? Would it be considered rude or unusual not to do it?

Karamatsu shakes his head, wincing as his fingers pull roughly at his hair before he remembers they're there and gently untangles them from his bangs.]

B-but I- I wouldn't concern myself with it too much, Brother. I'm sure that was just a fluke, that's all. It probably won't happen again.

[I hope you wanted a deadpan stare, Kara, because there is no WAY you didn't just jinx the hell out of them and that's what you're getting in return.

After a long moment, Ichi decides that screw this, he's going to go find a cat. Somehow. Standing up wordlessly, he starts off back around the cliffside towards the temple and town, not really caring if Karamatsu chooses to follow or not.]

[Aaand there he goes.

Now, normally Karamatsu would just leave him be to go off...wherever Ichimatsu goes during the day. But this time, he's scrambling to his feet again without thinking, nearly stumbling in the sand as he goes.]

Wait wait! I-Ichimatsu, where are you going?

[YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE WE WERE HAVING A MOMENT.]

[HE DOESN'T REALLY WANT TO HAVE A MOMENT WITH YOU well okay a proper talk probably SHOULD be pried out of him at some point but right now he's still weirded out and needs something to ground him. In a completely alien dimension, in a completely alien town, while turned into some kind of magic rock person of all things.

Yeah, he's gonna need a cat. Or fifty. And none of the cats around here are going to know him, and he doesn't have any cat treats in his pockets right now. Certainly no money, either. But dammit, he is going to find and play with a cat if it kills him.

Normally, he'd completely ignore Karamatsu. But enough is tugging at him - and he also really doesn't want to be left completely alone here, even if the only company is Karamatsu - that he mutters an explanation anyway.]

Cat.

[Ah. Karamatsu slows once he's caught up with Ichimatsu, not quite ready to just let him alone just yet. Ichimatsu and his cats...Karamatsu just wonders if there are even any cats around. Stray cats in town, perhaps, but there's no way of knowing for sure without investigating, and that seems to be exactly what he's planning on doing now.]

Right...

[He guesses. Cats are more important to Ichimatsu than most things, but that's a given so Karamatsu isn't completely insulted. He's pretty well used to this kind of treatment back home, after all.]

They're usually somewhere in town if there are any, right? I suppose this is as good a time as any to see where we are...

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TEST DRIVE MEME

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