souljammed | Test Drive Meme

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test drive

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 Successful Mission: Congratulations! You met up with your first Witch, and you fought valiantly. For your efforts, you've been awarded a grief seed - and with it, access to a brand new power! 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!

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[He furrows his brows.]

What are you talking about, I don't remember any-- oh, you mean the gem monsters?

[Well. Guess who's not very good at not pretending to be Dave Strider?]

[That wasn't his initial thought but yeah, he could sympathize with the gem monsters too all things given and

Whoa. Whoa back up a minute now Pokey just...stares at the dude for a moment, brow furrowing.]

...Dave?

[Oh please tell him he did not just hit Dave with a rock oh come on.]

[Welp. So much for his new identity. Ah well.

He's not really feeling much about it. He's just relieved that Pokey remembers him after all.]

Yo.

Dude, what? Are you just going to gain like a decade every time I'm not looking or something? That's kind of cheating on this crap.

...Didn't hit you too hard, did I?

Hey, I wasted a wish on this shit. I bet you got the better end of the deal.

[STILL PISSED ABOUT THAT FOREVER.]

Nah, it doesn't even hurt. Don't worry about it.

...Yeah. We'll see.

Kinda have to. I just.

[Shit. This is Dave. He can trust the guy.]

They remind me of something from Mayfield. It got me defensive, I guess.

[Oh. He should've guessed.]

Yeah?

[He's kind of concerned now.]

You wanna talk about it?

I....

[Yeah, he does. He just...he doesn't know how to phrase it. How to put into words what he feels and he]

They're like me. These people, Dave? They're like what I am.

[Oh or you can just blurt your insecurities everywhere, good job looking like a loser in front of one of your closest friends the last place you were. No biggie.]

[Okay, now he's more than kind of concerned.]

You're gonna have to elaborate a bit on that, 'cause I'm not seeing any similarities here.

[He recalls what Pokey said earlier.

"Harmless and helpless and screaming in pain on the inside from being trapped in something"? Is that how Pokey viewed himself?]

[Pokey takes a deep breath, running a hand through his hair as he tries to compose himself.]

So...okay. Back where I was from, there are things called drones. They're pre-programmed AI that are basic as crap. They just have basic mannerisms and things they say and they behave on rote. They're the basic state of all the AI personalities programmed into Mayfield.

That's what I am deep down.

I'm, uh...I'm not human, Dave.

...Oh.

[It's funny how human thought works - of all the things that could be running through his mind, the one that sticks out to him is that Pokey looks smaller than he'd remembered; no doubt because of his new form.

He shouldn't look like this right now. It makes him feel... distant. He should be at eye level with Pokey, speaking with Pokey as an equal.

As if responding to this desire of his, his body begins to shrink down until he's regular old Dave again.]

You must've had a hell of a programmer, then. You'd pass the Turing test with flying colors.

Oh yeah, dude was a real peach.

[He isn't even surprised by the amazing shrinking act. Hell. Dave could tear his hair off, show that there was a giant gaping hole there, pull a shotgun out of said hole, and shoot Pokey in the face and he still wouldn't be surprised. Shit like this is just getting too common place. Maybe he should be worried about that. He doesn't know.

Doesn't really matter he guesses.]

Guy could apparently look into other universes but not bring others in to his own, whatever the hell that means. Mayfield was supposed to be this virtual wonderland where people could retreat from the bombed out wasteland they made their own world; thing is, the people ended up dying still because they rebelled against the people in charge of the town. Main dude went crazy, I guess, decided he could prove his virtual world was still worthwhile, and so he started replacing the basic drones personalities with...well. The group I was part of.

I really won out on who I got to be a clone of.

...Dave? You ever wondered what it'd be like to be someone else?

[He listens quietly as Pokey talks, expression unchanging, but a brief pained look flits across his face at Pokey's question.

Has he ever wondered what it'd be like to be someone else? Gee, he wonders. He totally didn't just trade away his old life for a chance to become someone else or anything (thanks for dicking him over on that, Kyuubey; he's pretty sure that gaining the ability to morph into an older version of himself doesn't come anywhere near granting that wish).]

No.

[His reply is instantaneous - almost to the point of defensiveness.

Then he forces the nonchalance back into his expression, hunches over slightly in a slouched pose. Totally relaxed.]

Do you?

[He's the king of stupid, worthless questions today. Like Pokey would be asking if he didn't. Look at him, being all defensive and on-guard like he's in a fucking interrogation. Look at him, interpreting this conversation in a way that makes it all about him yet again when a friend is trying to confide in him. It's not like he didn't do just that not long before arriving here. It's not like he didn't almost irreparably destroy a friendship the last time he did that.

God, this is why he wanted to stop being himself. He's such an incorrigible fuckup in every sense of the word.

Has Dave Strider ever wondered what it would be like to be someone else? Only almost every day of his life.]

[Pokey bites his lip slightly at Dave's 'no'. No, of course Dave wouldn't. The dude was cool as hell; it was part of why Pokey liked the dude so much. He wished he could be as composed as Dave was, instead of just fronting it. Hell, after five years of this crap, he should be able to actually match Dave at being as cool as ice in situations. What a pathetic, weak looking question to ask the dude, and there was no backing out of this now. Not now that he'd thrown the gauntlet.

Hell. Sometimes he thought he saw weakness in Dave. Something that was being exploited but...maybe that was his imagination. His own asshole thoughts running rampant down the dipshit street that was his mind. Dave probably knew what the deal was with Gary and never needed Pokey to tell him; hell, Dave probably secretly had it in lock for the long game. And Pokey almost endangered that shit.

God. What a friggin' scrub he was.]

Yeah. All the time.

I mean. I know no one gets to choose who they are, but when you know you maybe could have been other people - like, not just by chance, you could have been programmed to be someone else, you just. Wonder I guess. ...Why couldn't you be someone else? Why should you have to be hard programmed and locked into being such piece of trash that's only notable skill is poisoning everyone and thing he touches?

[You need to calm down. You've talked with Dave honestly now but this crap has to end right here. You sound like a damn baby and just like a damn baby it's so hard to stop the wailing.]

I mean, like...you just look at people and think "the guy could have programmed me after him or her or that". And you know if he did you and everyone around you would be a thousand times better off for it. Naw. A million.

And even worse is like...you're the one who keeps moving. Everyone else falls behind and might be alive or dead or tortured you don't know but you just keep bouncing from place to place like some ever loving jovial asshole. Everywhere and everyone you left behind might be on fire, but hey you get to survive, you sack of trash, good for you even though you're worthless and crap compared to everyone else you left behind.

[He's trembling now, and just moves a palm to his face to kind of...wipe at it. For a moment.]

Just. All the time. Whether I'm doing bad or trying to do good, there's just a friggin' trail of destruction behind me. And it catches up all those who deserved to survive it and spits my punk ass back out.

I hate it. I could be anyone else, dude. I'd take it.

[He's pathetic. What a damn wimp he is, just blasting this garbage in Dave's ear. Dude isn't going to take him serious anymore after this. And that's no one's fault but his.]

[Godfuckingdammit.

He can relate to everything that Pokey's saying all too well. But none of it makes sense coming out of Pokey's mouth; it shouldn't, because Pokey's one of the greatest people Dave's ever met and he'll be damned if he doesn't get that across to Pokey someday.]

Don't say that.

[His tongue feels like lead in his mouth. Clumsy and heavy, and he his thoughts are being drowned out by the pulse racing in his ears.

He needs to say something. Anything. To convey that he cares. To show Pokey just how wrong he is.]

I mean, I dunno anything about the dude you were based off of or anything. I guess maybe he was a massive asshole?

[Ugh. What the fuck is he saying? Seriously, what the fuck, Strider? What is this garbage?]

It's not like I ever met him or anything. Not... actually, not the way I actually met you and got to know you. So don't take this as this defense of the guy, 'cause I'm not really qualified to be defending him and interested's the last thing I am in doing that. But I'm thinking I've spent enough time around you to get a decent picture of what kind of person you are - and I swear to god, dude, do not start with that "I'm not actually a person" shit on me right here, do not do it - and lemme tell you with a hundred percent certainty that I wouldn't be better off if you weren't here.

I mean... When I got here and I thought that this was it, that I'd never get to see anyone at Waverly Bay again...

[His face falls.]

I pretty much complained about Waverly Bay nonstop when I was there, but there were a few things about the place I wouldn't have traded away for a damn thing.

[So why did he? What compelled him to do it?

He doesn't know anymore.]

I guess what I'm getting at is... I'm glad you're around, dude.

[Yeah, let's just tack that on at the end to wrap this up before he can get too embarrassed about the shit coming out of his mouth again.

Because Pokey is absolutely one of the "few things" about Waverly Bay that Dave wouldn't have traded away for anything.]

Met the dude once. And yeah, he is a massive asshole.

[Pokey tries to remain silent as Dave talks. To let the guy speak. Dave tends to have his head even; again, dude was cool, and that was a certainty. And he wants to show Dave he respects him, trusts him, even though it's hard to believe there's a scrap of decency in him beyond what other people have given him and those that he knows.

Just.

It's so hard to take his compliments. His defenses of him. Hard to listen to when he's almost just so damn against them.

But it does mean something. To hear them. And when the dude talks about Waverly Bay? Hell. Pokey can relate to that easy enough.

He finally trusts himself to look at Dave again, that he isn't crying like a little pansy now. And smiles. Just a little.]

Thanks dude. Sucks we're still doing this crap, but hey. If I'm getting tossed around the universe with people, glad you're one of them too.

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Test Drive Meme

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1/2 probably

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