crystalclods | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Beat whips his head around so fast he actually pulls a muscle and forgets to flap his wings, which cause him to drop like a brick for a bit until he batters the air to climb again. His expression morphs from surprise to something infinitely softer before closing off and turning defensive to Neku's words.]

No yo! I di'nt know he showed up too!

[He moves to land again at the cave entrance before turning to Josh, looking him over.]

[Aww, and nothing of what he said was even acknowledged! Oh well. It isn't as if they were particularly urgent or serious, anyway.]

I arrived separately. Before the two of you did, it seems. It's an interesting place, but it doesn't seem to be Ryslig.

[He no longer has his key card or his device, which is one strong indication. Beat's once-over gets one in return, though particularly more scrutinizing. He... looks healthy, at least.]

[Sorry Joshua, he's a little too freaked to even hear the words]

...we kinda figured out I might be from 'earlier' or something. So... lizard. And yeah, this place is FAR from Ryslig.

[Yeah, now that Josh is closer, Beat's going to pick apart how he looks. No injuries, gem like them. He can't see if there are scars anywhere, so he can't pinpoint when Josh might be from.

He catches the manticores eye and shrugs with a little half grin. They'll talk later.]

Yeah, Phones' is from when the mountain all ate us an' spat us out. [A pause and he glances at Neku again.] Dude didchu go into the hole an' come out here or didchu go into another hole?!

[The only thing on him that would indicate anything at all is Shibuya's sigil marked on his forehead. Otherwise, the few scars he has, he's had for a while. But, that could be covered later. At least with that response from Beat, Joshua has a vague idea of where he's from.]

Ah. You must have been expecting me to still be a Shade, then.

[He pushes some hair from his face, but without human ears there to hold it, it doesn't do much. Still habit. He'll have to invest in some new barrettes.]

...another hole. But don't start, you woulda had to have done the exact same thing to show up here.

Ah.. well...

[He rubs the back of his neck - and the stone - awkwardly.]

... Somethin' like that. Maybe.

[He turns his eyes back to Josh, looking for the torture marks. Is he from before that? After? Snorts.]

No wonder he got pissy at me, I was a wolf then.

[He can't stop himself, he lifts a hand and drops it onto Josh's head and ruffles his hair, tail swaying.]

[Aha. Yes. Well. If what Joshua suspects resulted in Beat coming here, it's much, much worse than just a hole. But he won't make that known.

If Beat is looking, there are faint lines on either side of his face where the fur is a bit... off. Beneath his clothes are more, but it seems in coming to this place, the fur has at least mostly replaced itself over those wounds.]

Yes, well, I daresay you gave plenty of reason to--

[--akshjhdg don't do that. Joshua ducks his head, ears flattening back.]

[Well that's new- true, Beat has always been very affectionate with them both. Both due to his nature and due to the... well, the family thing that best not to think about.

So Beat being glad to see him is normal. Joshua putting up with it at all is not. He tilts his head a little]

Did you end up here the same way, Joshua?

[Don't duck away from him, you jerk. In punishment, Beat wraps an arm around Josh's neck and digs his knuckles in instead. His expression turns almost sinisterly gleeful as he realizes: there's no venom in those tails anymore. Excuse him as he just casually locks his arm around Josh's neck like that.]

Yeah dude, how'd you end up here?

[Ignore the gruffer tone.]

[Excuse you. Hair ruffling was one thing. Grabbing him in a headlock and grinding a fist into the top of his head is another. Joshua grits his teeth and tenses up, padded hands pushing at Beat's arm, but to no avail. Venom or no, the tails still lift threateningly. There are still barbs, even if there's no poison.]

Yes, the same way, now let me go.

Let him go Beat- he's this close to biting you.

[Hm. Keep going and get stabbed? Pass. With Neku's coaxing, Beat will let go and step back, hooves clicking on stone as he does.]

Aight aight yo. I'll behave.

[Even if his lashing tail says he might not. At least his mood is improved by a thousand.]

So what we gonna do? Try an' find the perp who brought us here an' knock 'em out?

[Good. For your information, Joshua absolutely is not taking a moment to finger-comb his hair back into place.]

It's all we can do, at this point. Finding out what we can about where we are might be a better start.

Though... can you feel it?

[He touches his own chest, but the rest spot he means is lower, in his belly. Where the snarling hunger lived]

It's gone. [He doesn't have to tell them what 'it' is]

Already this Heart Gem gets points over the Fog God.

Heh, you jus' point me in the right direction!

[Neku's words get him to glance down at his stomach, thoughtfully.]

True bro, ain't got any urge to take a bite outta anyone. There aint that contestant naggin' to go back to Her either so hell, bonus points. [Shifting on his hooves, he scratches at his chin with a hm.] If that heart gem thing brought us here, why don' we jus' go after it til it sends us home? [Home home.]

[... ah. In all the excitement, that was the one thing he hadn't noticed.]

... so, our separation from that world severed our connection to those gods as well as our need to feed on humans. But it didn't revert our bodies. [In fact, it only altered them further. He lifts a hand, rubbing at the gem at the base of his throat.] Until we know whether or not it's malevolent in any way, it might be smarter to take a more friendly approach.

Yeah. I talked to a few people when I got here- well maybe not TALKED... but still.

[He mostly snarled and fled, but he was talked AT]

If we went after the gem it'd be a fight that I dunno if we could win.

TEST DRIVE MEME

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