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

Probably chinhands at it. Must be great to know the feelings are returned, huh Kanji?

"Not the teaching type? Weren't you the one who sat me down to teach me how to make puppets?"

That had been a fun lesson, if a bit sudden. But Kanji was always someone who went with his instincts.

Kanji taught by demonstration, not lecturing-- he shouldn't put himself down like that.

"Well, there's always a gap like that. Besides, I'm brand new, so..."

Souji shrugged, still smiling at Kanji as they walked.

"So other than the heightened senses, do you have any other powers?"

"W-well, yeah, but... but that was different! I'm still figuring all that stuff out." He was still not sure if he did as well as he could with the chocolate lesson here, either.

Scratching his cheek, he nodded.

"Yeah, there's the animals I summon. They help me out when I need 'em, but they keep good company, too. But there's somethin' else I gotta talk about, seein' as you're fresh here."

He frowned.

"...So I'm Beast, yeah? You know the story, right? A cursed prince who's turned into a monster."

"Animals? Like, cats and dogs, or wild ones?" He did not put extra emphasis on the 'cats', Kanji. You're hearing things.

But at Kanji's frown, his expression changed to a more neutral one.

"Yeah, read it and seen it before. That's why I was a little confused, since the clothing is all princely, but you look human..." a pause, and a small smirk returned "...Unless you and Naoto broke the curse already?"

You know... the whole true love thing? Sorry Kanji, you kinda left yourself opened for that one... Souji only has so much willpower!

Edited 2016-08-21 21:31 (UTC)

"Wild ones. Wolves, foxes, badgers... but I know what animals say now. It's really weird to carry a conversation with a german shepard." He was a very excitable but good boy. Labrys raised him right.

But that was what he usually heard, notes that he looked human despite his role. But it was the last part that caught him off-guard.

'Gosh, Kanji, you just need to do that thing you've been terrified of doing and you'll be cured!'

'Aren't you guys dating? So why are you still a monster?'

But no. Souji would never do that. He wouldn't ask anything with that implication. In this world where he was surrounded by strangers, battling every day with his own shortened temper, he felt like he could have a better grip on his mood when it came to Senpai.

...Not without first answering his question, however. In the small chip of his resolve, his eyes had darkened and yellowed, and his teeth had grown more pronounced. He turned and smiled humorlessly.

"The shitty thing about curses is that they're a bitch to break no matter what ya do, Senpai."

"...Shit."

His face serious, he stepped closer to Kanji, concern for his kouhai formost in his mind-- forget the fact he was looking a lot more fearsome than usual.

That didn't matter-- he was still Kanji, and--

His hand went to Kanji's shoulder, staring him eye to eye.

"Is there anything I can to do help you?"

He'd meant they just got their happy ending-- heck, embarrassingly his mind had jumped to the cartoon version he'd seen as a kid, not anything... more detailed than that.

That's enough, ya bastard. The chip slowly closed in his mind, and in the same moment of chiding that part of himself he reached for Souji's hand and nudged it off.

"Don't worry about it." He turned away and drew in a breath. As he eased it out, his eyes returned to normal and his teeth receded.

"We met the 'requirement' for the curse goin' away but I'm still the way I am. So the trick's gettin' over it and learning how to keep control of myself, learning how to be a better person for somebody close to ya."

Well. That... that was a hell of a thing to say just then.

But he always worries about you guys.

Is what he wants to say. He can't help it, they're his friends. And seeing Kanji dealing with a bullshit curse like that-- forced after he's already come so far--

But Kanji's response... takes Souji by surprise, in a lot of ways. So, they really had--

But even just beyond the 'dating' thing, Kanji was...

"...Man, you've grown up a lot since I last saw you."

He couldn't really express to the guy how proud he was of him. Going from too nervous to look Naoto in the face to... this?

...He felt bad he missed out on seeing it all happen himself.

"Y-yeah, well... I promised myself that I'd do what I could, yeah? But the shit I've been through wasn't about to lemme take any steps back, neither."

But with a sigh, he hiked the cloth roll up higher as he shrugged.

"But it's hard, y'know? S'why I don't mind a place like this; lets me kinda relax between all the bullshit goin' on, if I ain't gonna be home for a while yet."

"Yeah... learning to change and accept things about yourself is never easy."

His felt a pang of discomfort in his own gut, but ignored it, looking up at Kanji.

"So this basically feels like... some time away from Inaba and all those expectations to actually figure yourself out, huh?"

Souji could appreciate that... maybe that's what he should start viewing this place as, as well.

It might help him deal with some... weighty issues of his own.

"Yeah... I mean, some days I wish I had time to breathe and learn more, but if I don't keep up the pace I feel like I'm gonna get... trampled? I dunno if that makes sense..."

He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.

"But it's like I said. It ain't just about me anymore. I made some promises and I'm gonna keep 'em."

"Well, it makes sense... but you're not really in a race, Kanji."

Kanji was a lot more thoughtful than most people gave him credit for.

"There's a lot to be said to taking a day and just... digesting what you learned or took in."

Digesting... made him think of food. Gem's technically didn't need food, but he was still feeling hunger pangs... Lunch should be soon.

"Hey, if there's one thing I know about you, Kanji, is you keep your promises."

He turned to look at Kanji, offering him a smile.

"And if there was anyone I trusted to do right by Naoto, it's you, Kanji. But I know you'll both have each others backs, either way."

Edited 2016-08-31 07:30 (UTC)

He was right, wasn't he? It wasn't a race, but Kanji couldn't sit well with taking it slow. He had to keep getting better, because nobody was going to accept him dragging his feet, least of all him. But he nodded his agreement: Time to digest was best, too. It was hard to balance.

"H-hell yeah I do. I mean, if I were in the other person's position, I'd be pretty upset if they let me down, so why be the guy to let others down?"

He puffed up proudly, but that veeeery quickly deflated as his face burned and he looked away.

Briefly, the crown appeared on his head, and his hair bled to black.

"Th-thanks. We got it handled pretty good so far, I think."

Then he mussed his hair as it began to shift back to blond, and the crown dissolved.

Test Drive Meme | August-September 2016

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