souljammed | Test Drive Meme

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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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Arrival

['Be careful what you wish for' has never been more literal than at this moment. Then again, for her whole life, throwaway "I wish" sentences had never been anything to worry about. All those wishes Dana had made on her brother's birthday hadn't changed the fact that he'd survived the accident and was only waiting for the day he would be free to fight her and their father, and when she'd become a Ranger, there'd been no time for wishes.

And yet, somehow, wishing for a way to help her brother adjust more easily to normal human life had landed her here. With a new mission. And, clearly, new powers.

She touches the gem on the back of her hand, twisting her lips in a small, forlorn smile.] I thought I was done fighting monsters. But if it'll help Ryan, and if the people here really need my help, then... it's worth it.

[She looks up and meets the gaze of the first person she sees.] Excuse me. Do you know where I should go to get start getting settled in?

Nightmare

[Dana sinks into what feels like tar, and the world goes dark.

The inside of her house is the boardwalk back home, rubble-strewn and overcast where it should be clean and bright. The ocean is angry, waves beating against the shore as storm gusts blow in from the open sea-- or so it seems, as shadows twist the image in and out of focus. Voices of children and adults cry for help, and Dana is... in her tattered uniform, with dirty hands that she can see through -- a spirit, powerless to help herself or the wounded.

She's never been more than this, has she? She's always been a drain, and it's her fault her brother suffered so much, her fault the city has fallen, her fault, her fault...

That wailing--it's her voice, as pathetic as she herself is as she wanders the ruins, the sound spilling out into the street, perhaps.]

Edited 2015-11-30 20:45 (UTC)

[The street? Gentaro could practically hear her from the next block over. At first he'd hoped it was just somebody getting their thumb caught in a door or something, but as soon as he rushed over to peer through the open door, he can see what's going on. He doesn't really understand it, but he can tell somebody's in trouble, and that's enough reason to intervene as far as he's concerned.

He doesn't bother to transform before stepping through ~~mostly because he hasn't figured out how yet~~, but it's starting to sound like a better and better idea the more he picks his way through the rubble. It looks like a storm just hit, a real nasty one.

That doesn't matter, though. There's people here, calling for help, and he couldn't call himself a Kamen Rider if he just sat there.]

Hey! [He calls, clambering over the wreckage towards the first human-ish person he can see. He recognizes her voice, the wailing. Is this her house?] Yo, are you okay over there?! Don't move, I'm gonna come get you!

[That voice-- clear, strong-- someone unwounded, someone doing what she should do, what she should've done, what she could have done if she weren't see-through, weak as a breeze, troublesome as a gust blowing picnics off the grass--

The voice, the person-- they're going to get hurt, and she can't help them, she's going to hear this one get crushed under a palm tree or a wall--

But he has heard her. She looks up, sees him picking his way towards her. No, run away, Mariner Bay is gone, and nothing can help him. She's drawing more people to their death, a siren on a quest to destroy.

She has to warn him.]

Leave. Run! You'll die, I can't help you. [All of it said in that wailing tone, filled with the sorrow that seems to hang around her like a storm cloud, grey and angry, twisting through and around her.] Go back.

[He pauses, considering his options. For someone in the middle of... whatever this is, she sure doesn't sound like she wants to be saved. Not that that's going to stop him. He shakes his head, the wind already having blown his pompadour out of shape, and keeps crawling towards the voice.

Gen swore he was going to be friends with everybody in this town, and there's no way he'd leave a friend in danger like this.]

The only one who needs help is you, lady! [At least, he's pretty sure it's a lady. They're all weird and translucent, and it's kinda hard to see with one hand shielding his face from the rain.] I'll be fine! Honest!

[Why-- why isn't he running? Why is he walking into the hell she's caused? Another life lost on her watch, as the wind gusts hard, as if agreeing with her.

Dana sinks to her knees as he draws nearer. Are those tears running down her cheeks, or is it rain? It's hard to tell. It's cold, and the storm won't stop, and neither will the person who just won't listen to her. She's failed again.

Maybe, at least, he'll let her stay with him until he dies. She's certain she will outlive him in this awful place, certain her curse is to see people lose their lives because she's so useless, so awful at saving people, gosh, if only she could save someone...!

When he's close enough, she'll meet his gaze and hold up her hands to him, inviting him to sit with her, to let her lead him gently into death.]

[He stands there for a moment, watching her, more than a little unsure as to what he was supposed to be doing. She was inviting him over, but is it really a good idea to sit down with her, in this weather? Of course not.

But Gentaro's never let bad ideas stop him before, and he sure as hell won't now.

He draws his jacket closer around him, like it'll help against the cold, and sets himself down on the rainslick boardwalk, putting his own rough, calloused hand in hers. He sits crosslegged, like a schoolboy, and watches the storm rage.]

So, what is this place?

[If it's in her house, it's gotta mean something to her, right? Maybe she just needs somebody to talk to.]

[It feels a lot warmer when he touches her hand. No, no -- it's still cold and windy and rainy. But she feels warmer. More... real. How strange.

She watches the storm-swept boardwalk, the broken down stores, the shattered glass windows of the shops across the street, and the shadow clouds weaving their way in and out and through everything, all while she thinks over his question. Dana knows what this place was. That's not what he's asked her, but it's all she can think to say.]

This used to be my home. I couldn't save it.

[Every word is heavy, thick with tears and sorrow as she tries to picture it, bright and beautiful, a place she'd come to with her friends-- oh, they've died too, surely, and so will this poor fool who walked over when she told him to run. She'd always feared this, and now it's true, it's real.]

[There's a brief period of uneasy silence while Gentaro mulls over her words. Normally, he wouldn't be considering his answer so heavily, but this is a really delicate situation. There's a weariness to her words, and he can't help but feel it a little too.

Still, he smiles as he grips her hand. Not a fake, reassuring smile, but a genuine one, gap-toothed and beaming. No sense in them both being gloomy, right?] It's not your fault. [He turns his face to her, trying to at least make eye contact.] I don't even know your name yet, but I know you wouldn't have let this happen if you could stop it.

There's just some stuff you can't do on your own, yknow?

[She's shaking her head almost as soon as he starts speaking. It is her fault. She should have stopped it, or died trying. And she's going to say those things, too, until he gets to 'on your own'.

She used to have friends. Teammates. Right? They would fight bad guys in bright sunlight, stop them destroying the city, then go pull people out of the wreckage-- right?

Half aware of it, she stops shaking her head and looks at him.] Who are you? [How could he dare to say those things? What does he know that she doesn't?]

[Okay, maybe not the response he was hoping for, but they're getting somewhere! He points to himself, as if to say "me?", and smiles wider. The temptation to bust out his catchphrase is very real, and very powerful, but he manages to hold it back.]

Just a guy tryin' to look out for his buddies, is all. [A pause, before he tilts his head towards her in a slight nod. How 'bout you?

[Looking out for people. Looking out for his buddies. His friends. Dana shuts her eyes a moment, holding on to his hand a little tighter, as if the storm will wash her away if she lets go. Besides, he is anchoring her, somehow. His presence chases away the chill in her bones.

She used to look out for people too. Not the whole city. Just those few people. The shone bright like suns in the darkness. They were hope.

They're... gone. She's gone and left them, and now she's here, too late.

The wind gusts again, but not as violently as before. It's... starting to calm down as she starts to talk with this stranger, who she looks at again, eyes narrowed as if she's looking towards a light.]

I'm-- I just want to help people. [There's a pause as she starts to remember people she's helped. A little kid in a car accident. His mother. Talking to them as she tended to their wounds. Unlike here and now, where she was too late.] I used to be good at it.

[When approached, Oriko gave a polite smile, and a bit of a curtsy to Dana. At her question she paused, carefully considering it before she replied in a voice to match her demeanor.]

Whatever do you mean? Are you perhaps, lost? I can show you around if you need a bit of a tour around this place.

[Of course what Dana didn't know was the fact she too, was new to the area. Yet her powers gave her foresight in what she needed. First thing was first: to make allies. Surely, Dana could become one of them.]

[Oh, good, she was willing to help! Dana might know what she needs to do, but this place is still new to her. She smiles, nodding.] That would be great, thank you.

[Dana's power afforded her no such advantages. She'd wished to be able to help her brother adjust, which had resulted in a sort of empathic healing. Soothing frazzled nerves, calming anxiety and panic, easing people's mood, all with intent and a touch. All of it great, if she were home. Here, she's not quite sure how to use it in battle except to encourage actual fighters. And won't that be strange, having to hang back from a fight?

To her new guide, she lets none of this on, only smiles.] I'm Dana, by the way.

[She's smiling back to Dana to show that she was indeed here to help. At her new companion's introduction she gave pause and placed a hand upon her chest.]

Please, pardon my rudeness. My name is Oriko Mikuni. It's very nice to meet you.

That's all right! It's nice to meet you, too, Oriko. [Dana hadn't considered her rude at all. In fact, being new here, she's been wondering if there are cultural norms she'll have to learn and adapt to.]

Are you from here? Or, if not, have you been here for very long? I only just got in, myself. [Her soul gem feels strange against the back of her hand, in the same way that her morpher felt strange the first few days she'd worn it. She'll get used to that soon enough. She wants to peek and see if Oriko has a soul gem, but that doesn't seem very polite. It's her soul, after all, if she has a gem. It seems rude to try and see someone's soul without asking first.

But given the terms of the agreement mean she'll be staying here for the rest of her life, she's in no hurry, so she keeps a friendly smile on her face.]

No, I am not. I've only been here for a short while so I suppose you can say I am new to this place as well.

[She's smiling still. Personally she was glad to see that Dana seemed quite amicable so far. Perhaps becoming potential allies with her wouldn't be a bad choice on her part.

With that in mind, Oriko will gesture for Dana to follow along.]

I'll show you where the train station is at, and where the stores are. It would be useful to know where they are, won't they?

[Oriko will give a momentary pause when she took notice at Dana's stares. Oriko will stop and fully turn to Dana.]

Is there something wrong, Dana? If there is something else you wish to discuss, I wouldn't mind talking about it either.

[She's following along and nodding at Oriko's suggestions, happy to have company here and maybe make a friend, and then--

Oh, gosh, she's so obvious, isn't she! Dana's smile immediately turns apologetic, embarrassment obvious in the pink blush that overtakes her cheeks.] Sorry, I was just... I was just thinking about soul gems. [She holds up her hand, showing hers to Oriko.] What will you do with yours? I think I'd like a necklace, to keep it on all the time.

Oh... they are quite lovely, but I usually have mine out of sight from others even if I do have it on me.

[Oriko admitted. Dana seemed nice enough that she didn't mind being truthful to her.]

Although a necklace does sound like a good idea. Mine is on a broach, when I transform. If you'd like we can look around for a nice locket, or a necklace to put your gem into.

[That seems like a smart thing to do, to keep one's soul gem hidden away and safe as possible. It's... her soul, after all. So strange to think about it that way, as something visible. But she nodded to Oriko.]

That sounds great, thank you. I never thought I'd be looking for a piece of jewelry for something so special that wasn't a gift from someone else.

[She'd had dreams. She'd hoped to get married someday. But... this is good, too, because it means her brother is going to be okay. That will keep her smiling from now on.]

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Test Drive Meme

Dana Mitchell | Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue

nightmare!

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Arrival

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500 years later.. (sorry this took so long!)

It's all good! : D

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