TEST DRIVE MEME.

[soulmods]

Test Drive Meme

Prompts Arrival: So you've just arrived in Nyoi-Cho. Congratulations! You must be so excited about having your wish granted. Or maybe you're upset that the result wasn't quite what you expected? If that's the case, then that's too bad! There are no take backs and no redoes, so you're stuck with what you have! Maybe you should have been more careful about how you worded that wish... Oh well. There's no use in dwelling on it. You're a magi now, and that means adjusting to a whole new lifestyle! Maybe one of the townspeople can help you out. Only... they're acting a bit strangely, aren't they? They're all too happy to show you around, but there's something unsettling about the way they're behaving. Almost cheerfully dissonant. Any questions about the history of the town are met with blank stares and brief silence, before they plaster a smile onto their faces and change the subject. Any attempts to tell them about your duties as a magi or anything else that relates to the magical will get similar reactions. Isn't there anyone normal here that you can talk to at all? Home Improvement: The houses that the magi are given access to really are something, aren't they? There's almost no limit to what they can do! Why don't you create the house of your dreams, or maybe recreate and relive your favorite childhood scenes? Invite some spectators over to marvel! A Corrupted Soul Gem: You neglected to take care of your soul gem, and now you don't feel quite yourself anymore. You feel like you're losing your sense of self - all you seem to be able to focus on is your old regrets and past failures. What's happening to you? A Day in the Life: Everyday hero by day, magician by night! You've got a busy day ahead of you and no time to waste! Maybe it's school, or maybe it's work, maybe it's both! Being magical doesn't make you exempt from paying those shopping bills! May Day: Uh-oh. This magical girl stuff looked easier on TV. You're in some serious trouble! Or maybe you see someone else who is! It's time to pull up your socks and show them what you have. Be the hero you've always wanted to be, or give in and be that damsel in distress. There's no shame in needing a little help now and then. A Successful Mission: Congratulations! You met up with your first Nightmare, and you fought valiantly. You even mastered that tricky power of yours! What sort of power did you get? Is it a useful one, or is it not so useful? Maybe you've mastered it beautifully, and now you're showing off to all of your friends. Maybe you're having a hard time keeping it under wraps, and now you're wreaking havoc across the town without meaning to! A Dreadful Nightmare: You had an absolutely horrid day. As you drift off to sleep, your mind dwells on all the injustices you've had to endure. In response, your bed swallows you up, and your room shifts into a horrific Nightmarescape. What sort of Nightmare are you? What kind of Nightmarescape do you create? Hopefully your fellow magi can stop you before you cause too much damage! Wildcard: Feel free to use any information from the FAQ or the World Info page to make your own prompt!

Comments

[chainsawstick]

[ Kanaya's efforts are always awkward, but she really does care for her friends, something that deep down, she hopes they know. Karkat especially, given just how much she feels like he needs someone in his life. At the same time, she almost wishes she could unload her own one-wheeled hand-propelled load carrying vehicle full of romantic issues on him. But right now doesn't seem to be the time. ]

At first it didn't sound all that different from the game we all played, but I think I can understand the important differences. Sgrub's mechanics appeared to prioritize working together from the very beginning where this Hunger Game did not. I can see how that would be more difficult.

[ Really though, a game where they have to fight monsters, and sometimes came back to life and being involved in a war.. that's not too different. ]

I imagine... that for you it must have been difficult. To leave you this way. Not that you are all that different. But you know. I'm not explaining myself well...

[crabmunicator]

[He shakes his head a bit at the Sgrub comparison, for all she's dismissing it herself, and elaborates.]

Sgrub had other quests and goals. If there were other ones in this, it was always for some better survival tool or weapon. The point was always killing each other for their entertainment. The war was partly because of that, but also other political shit about how the Capitol was treating... these people in the rest of Panem. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore now, does it?

[And he shudders on that thought. He had over a year to get used to that place, and he says the words with no conviction. They're going to keep going without him - a fire stopped is not a war ended - and he wonders, fleetingly, if he could have wished for that if he'd stopped to think longer.]

[He looks at Kanaya properly.]

You've been here longer, right? Tell me the basics.

totally cool!

[chainsawstick]

[ Given just how young Kanaya is at barely 17 human years, there's a good chance that she's being towered over by the other woman herself. Though as intimidating as she may be, she doesn't have the same sort of air about her as an adult troll might have, and then, Kanaya's always been good at managing to not be afraid. After all, she's already dead anyway. ]

...I take it you mean you're searching for humon soporifics. In that case I can't help you.

[ Or more accurately, she won't help the other when it comes to alcohol. Her girlfriend is a straight up alcoholic, and their relationship nearly self-destructed because of it. So it's pretty easy for Kanaya to decide against helping another person drown their sorrows in liquor. ]

[rakuyo]

Yes, those infected with Beastly scourge, a terrible affliction which ravaged my homeland.[Maria is not one to speak down to children, they are only smaller human's, after all. Still, she assumes this girl to be far from fighting monsters.]

Protecting this land is my new charge, I am resolved to my cause.

[rakuyo]

Sir Diarmuid.[she nods in acknowledgement, committing it to memory. If he's going to call her Lady Maria, he would be a Sir. It may lack affection, but it held respect. The former was not something Maria came to easily, the latter was granted outright and could only be lost.]

Jarring... perhaps. I am grateful to feel the warmth of the sun against me skin. [she'll peel her gloves off, hands pale and calloused. She moves them about in the warm air, rubbing them thoughtfully. She'll only indulge for a moment, before slipping the gloves back on and standing from the bench, looking to Diarmuid with a level expression]

I have not. What are the accomidations like, for us Hunters? [it's going to take her a while to adopt "Magi" as the proper term. Hunters is just too natural a term.]

[chainsawstick]

[ As silly as it is.. Kanaya can't say she has a lot of experience in this kind of situation. Usually as a moirail she was called on to keep her eye on her partner. Only.. it was in an effort to keep someone like Vriska from killing everyone who pissed her off. Or just looked at her the wrong way. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.

Karkat isn't the same way. He's damaged, a lot like how Kanaya later realized Vriska was too, but in a different way. He never had a ton of confidence in himself, even when he wanted to be leader he also tried to give it up just as quickly. But this is different than all that. Things happened that Kanaya can't begin to really understand the pain it left on her friend.

So the best thing she can think to do right now is just put her arm around him, to hug the boy closer to her. ]

I'm relatively certain the Universe you were in must still exist. Therefore, in the grand scheme of things, it still matters. [ Does that help? She can only hope so. ]

That's not as easy to sum up as your story. I think it would be easiest to start at the point of saying we are all "Magi" who have magical powers that we are supposed to use to protect this city from Nightmares. Nightmares in this case being creatures that appear at night inside barrier not unlike dream bubbles.

Yuuya Sakazaki | Hatoful Boyfriend

[salutations]

a. Arrival
[Of course, Yuuya had read in textbooks about the times before birdkind had dominated the globe. Before the Sumatran Influenza debacle there were just as many humans as birds, taking up far more. Still, reading about it was profoundly different than experiencing it.]

[And, despite knowing the anatomy of a human body fairly well (too intimately, one could say), that, too, was profoundly different from being in one. When he made his wish he accepted the idea that his life would be over. It was a fair trade. Still, the human body he'd been granted felt unnatural as he moved his limbs. When skin brushed against skin a brief shiver ran through his body. It would take some getting used to, preferably out of human sight while he worked out all the little kinks.]

[Waiting for the right time, however, didn't sit well for him. He pondered what he could do and quickly found a solution. So, if you come upon Yuuya, he'll be leisurely stretched out on a park bench. Surrounding him are a small flock of your usual pigeons, cooing and tapping their beaks against the ground.]

Not even a trace of it, huh. [Yuuya sighs to himself, looking over the mess on the ground. The scraps of paper, half torn to bits by pecking doves, appear to have very basic arithmetic drawn on them.] It's a little demeaning, but perhaps easier to try things like "sit" or "stay"...

b. A Successful Mission
[It was a small Nightmare, a little insecurity, some petty thing like asking a boy to the dance. As the Nightmarescape dissipates, there is a sight only for magi eyes.]

[The hero's golden attire shines, almost gaudily. The chest piece resembles that of a knight's, but the rest is light and airy. One part is meant to be seen and the rest floats with him, translucent pieces shimming as if they had their own light. The whole thing would attract quite a lot of attention...]

[...if not for the fact it adorned a pigeon.]

[The magi swaggering out of the Nightmarescape is an abnormally-sized fantail pigeon, standing about four feet high. It's wearing glasses.]

a

[wounds]

[He's heard of a lot of strange things in his life, people turning into monsters and demanding justice for... something. He's seen only one monster in person, and that was the cyborg that ruined his entire life.

But this is something on a completely different level.]

Are you trying to train pigeons?

[salutations]

Ah, [someone who took notice of his odd behavior? That was a rarity already.]

That might be impossible. The poor things are entirely feral. I would move the sun and moon for a beautiful lady, [not that one is around right now] but this task is beyond even me.

[wounds]

... Why are you so interested in birds?

[And how can you even tell the difference between these birds?]

[crabmunicator]

[He'll take a hug. It's nothing so presumptive as a pap or a shoosh, but friendly, and a comfort besides. He could use one after everything. Better, it's another physical reminder of everything. Strange though everything is here, it's real and happening, and he has no choice but to deal with it.]

[It doesn't make the loss of his friends hurt less, but he never got a choice in coming to Panem, either.]

[Her certainty has his lips pressing flat. It's not a smile, but neither is it a frown, and the faraway look of his eyes is more contemplative than rejecting. He doesn't disbelieve her - he has no reason to think it gone - but he'll wonder still in time to come how it might have gone on without him, whether what he fought for and did might help any now that he's gone.]

[He pushes the thought back down as she goes on.]

That fur noodle was saying something about that before I lost consciousness, but I don't think I heard everything. But magic? I thought he wanted me because I've got training and survival experience. How does it work?

b

[rakuyo]

[There was a certain amount of oddity for Maria to get over, having arrived in such a place. Young girls called to task, sentient Dolls with her face, Nightmares which manifested in all manner of shapes, sizes, and horror.

Then there was doing battle alongside a pidgeon.

She didn't ask. Not in the moment. It was a creature on her side and that's not to be scoffed at. Maria had aided in cutting the beast down, trained well beyond such petty slaughter. Once it begins to retreat, she looks at the bird. She doesn't mean it snarkily, her tone distant and matter of fact to say;]

A city bird is an unexpected ally.

[salutations]

I have certain vested interests with the avian species. [That was hopefully vague enough.]

Are you sure you don't have an interest? Or did I draw your attention?

[salutations]

Well, I can only hope I left a good impression on you, mon amie, to defend the reputation of city birds everywhere. [His powers leaned towards the defensive side, shielding blows and supporting a fighter. Part of him worried about having to rely on others, but it certainly worked for now and worked on the small ones.]

[cyclicalconcept]

Woooooah!

[She clasps her hands together.]

That's so cool! What's it like? Do you get to meet a lot of people? Do you travel a lot? What country do you rule?

[wounds]

That didn't explain anything.

You're being weird. I haven't seen anybody try to train wild pigeons before.

[salutations]

How long have you looked?

[cyclicalconcept]

Ah--it knows my name!?

[Madoka takes a step back, a gasp on her lips and a point of her finger.]

You're...you're a...!

[...She doesn't seem scared, so much shocked. Also, what's the word she's looking for? "Bird" isn't it.

Her finger pointing falters.]

um...a...

[storyofarebel]

[She rubs her arm, a little uncomfortable. Maybe she should just get this over with, and face rejection.]

Before I answer those... Have you heard of the fairy tale, Snow White?

[rakuyo]

Well spoken, how... absurd and charming. [she bows her head to him all the same, respectful. She was adjusted to much more grotesque creatures than this bird, which was more of a bizarre curiosity than a repulsive beast.]

Your support was well placed, I thank you. [her abilities were tuned for aggression, but she wish not to overuse her Quickening on such a weak enemy. Her gem should remain pristine, she would not lose track of herself again.]

[cyclicalconcept]

[A nod! Maybe this is Snow White's daughter?]

[storyofarebel]

... The Evil Queen of that story is my mother.

[salutations]

Your praise is like water after a drought, mon amie. [Humans, on-on-one, weren't very odd. Nothing for Yuuya to be unsettled by. It doesn't even dawn on him that he might be an odd occurrence.]

Anyways, [dropping he lighter tone used for his adulation] that one seemed fairly weak, all things considered. Hopefully, by pruning them down early, we won't end up with anything excessively dangerous.

[wounds]

At you? Or for people training wild birds?

[cyclicalconcept]

...

. . .

Oooooooh.

[Um. Well, that explains the apples. And, uh....why she...didn't seem happy...about it...




QUICK, MADOKA! SAVE THE SITUATION!]

A-ah, well, I can't claim my mama's a queen! She...works with stocks?...

[........ITS NOT WORKING IS IT]