TEST DRIVE - Part 3

[stigematize]

Maybe you've been here for a while, or maybe you just got here. Either way, you're all in the same situation - you've been turned into a magical gemstone and stranded in a foreign world! And all you've been left with is the clothes on your back, stripped of all powers except one.

Clearly, you’ll just have to make the best of it.

How this works:

☆ This is a test drive for cosmographia, which means you should get a little familiar with the setting and premise.

☆ Otherwise, this is just meant to help you feel out how you may play and serves mainly as a chill interest gathering and get together kind of post! No app necessary, and you don't need to play in this post to apply - or vice versa.

☆ Everybody is welcome! There are no character limitations; pg au oc canon pigeon whatever. Just toss up a topcomment and/or jump any threads that pique your interest.

☆ This post will remain open until it begins to approach 5000 comments! Then a new test-drive post will be made.

☆ Rules-wise: Be cool to yourself and others, and keep in mind the other game rules too.

☆ If you do apply to the game and are accepted, and you want to keep the CR, you may so long as what you did isn't setting breaking and everyone involved agrees.


YOUR OPTIONS:

☆ You find yourself in the Heart of a ruined temple. There is a large glowing gem that thrums with some kind of rhythm, and jewels scattered all over the room, kept in strange bubbles. At the very least, touching the large gem will give you a standard info-dump, but some of you might be a little cautious about touching weird luminescent gems. Good thing that there are other people there too!

☆ Or perhaps you already know everything there is to know, and are there in the Heart of the Ruined Temple to greet new arrivals. Or perhaps you simply had business there already, like storing away a corrupted gem from a monster, when someone new seemingly dropped in from no where.

☆ It's Farmer's Market day in the plaza of Waverly Bay! Perhaps you're there perusing the goods and strike up conversation, or accidentally bump into someone and get to know them that way. It's a fairly standard day.

☆ There's an event! You don't really know what else to call them - missions, perhaps? But something in the temple was triggered, and the glowy Heart gem has something new to "tell" you: If you want a new power, you should try telling other people two truths and a lie. Those who you interact with must try and divine the lie from your statements.

You have no idea how something this simple will get you a power, but hey.

Comments

[ironicoolly]

[He raises an eyebrow at that, almost asks, "are you sure?" He manages to stop himself short, though. This is Bro he's talking to. Of course he's sure.]

If you say so.

[HE GUESSES. But... oh, wait. There's something he absolutely needs to tell Bro, isn't there?

Shit. He doesn't really want to approach this topic, but it's better that Bro find out from him now than from someone else later.]

There's something I've gotta tell you, though.

[airwalks]

Yeah?

( So just tell him already. No need to lead into it. )

[ironicoolly]

...Yeah.

[Fuck. Fuck. He doesn't want to tell Bro this. He's pressing the points of his thumbs into his thighs, and every instinct in his body is screaming out for him to flee. He can't... he doesn't know how to do this, doesn't know how Bro will react or think when he hears. He's such a fuckup, god. He never wanted Bro to find out this way. Or at all.

But...

"If your real brother ever comes here, you'd better hope you get to him first."

He has to warn Bro. Has to let him know. Has to own up to this, because he's had it with causing the death of his brothers. Whether it's this one or the other one, he refuses to let anything happen to them because of him again.]

There's... a guy here you need to be on the lookout for. Goes by Kurosaki. Has the air of a complete douche, got a gem in his eye.

[He pulls the collar of his shirt down to reveal his gem.]

This one. He, uh. He knows what you look like. I think, if he bumps into you, he'll probably want to fight you. I don't... really know if he fights fair or not. Wouldn't put it past him to try something dirty, so just. Yeah. Something to watch out for.

[airwalks]

( So. He's been here for all of one day, and already there's a guy here with a bone to pick with him. That's gotta be a new record.

He can tell this subject's making Dave really uncomfortable, and he can tell that there's a lot more to this than Dave's letting on. Immediately his mind jumps to the thought that this guy did something to Dave. hurt Dave. wants to hurt him to get at Dave more and the muscles in his arm tense imperceptibly.

Something protective and dangerous flares up in him, and for an instant all he can think to say in reply is, "Where is he. I'll cut him open."

He knows better, though, so he gives himself time to calm down. Lets himself soak in the implications of what Dave's saying. Draws out the silence.

Then he speaks, keeping his voice even and calm. Casual as can be. )

I thought you'd know better than to worry about me.

[ironicoolly]

[Typical Bro. As Dave expected, he isn't taking this seriously at all.]

I-- I know. But we all get nerfed when we get here, and this place rewards everybody with new powers every once in a while. I guess it's to give us an incentive to carry out our missions? But...

[Can Bro even still flashstep? If he can, he could probably still hold his own in a fight. If this place has taken that from him, then...]

He's equipped with these crazy light powers, and...

[He's sorry. He's so sorry, this is all his fault.]

Just. It takes a while to get the hang of this place, so I don't think... I mean, he's kind of a complete prick. He might, um.

[...take advantage of a powerless Bro who's still not familiar with his surroundings.]

He's not worth your time.

[airwalks]

( Jesus Christ.

Whoever this fucker is, he's got Dave genuinely scared. What the hell did he do?

Bro should ask. Should make certain of the situation, because his mind's already jumping to the worst conclusions. But Dave's so obviously nervous about approaching him about this topic that he's hesitant to push. )

If he's not worth my time, then he ain't worth your consideration.

( Giving Dave the out. Now's the time to change the topic if Dave doesn't want to discuss this any further. )

[ironicoolly]

[He hesitates.

He couldn't be more grateful for the chance to jump ship from this flaming wreckage of a topic. At the same time, though, he's not sure he can let things drop as they are. Bro still isn't getting it, still isn't taking this seriously.

Maybe it's impossible for him to understand, but Dave's had to watch some iteration of his brother die too many times now. Far, far too many times to be content to let things drop like this.]

You're not gonna go looking for him, are you?

[airwalks]

( He clicks his tongue.

Should've taken the out, Dave. )

It's not my style to ignore this type of thing.

[ironicoolly]

[...Yeah. Yeah. That's what he was afraid of.]

He doesn't have to know you're here.

[airwalks]

He'd find out sooner or later. I'm not about to spend my days hiding.

[ironicoolly]

...Yeah, I know.

Maybe I could talk it out with him. Sort things out.

[Shun's a stubborn asshole, and he doesn't want to talk to him. He doesn't even want to see him again. But if it has the slightest chance of stopping things from getting physical, he'll do it.]

[airwalks]

( There's red-hot anger threatening to boil over and spill from the pits of his stomach again. )

Don't do that.

( If even talking about the guy's taking this much of an emotional toll on Dave, he doesn't want to think about how bad it could get if Dave has to confront the guy face-to-face. )

It's between me and him now. There's no need for you to get involved.

( The way things are, he can just kick the guy's ass and make sure he stays away for good. If Dave involves himself and gets hurt, Bro doesn't think he'll be satisfied to end things with an ass-kicking. )

You said he was a douchebag, yeah? There's no reasoning with those.

[ironicoolly]

[Shit. Shit, shit. Shit. He knows Bro's right. His chances of a successful negotiation with Shun are slim to none. The most he'll get out of it is a hell of a headache and even more anxiety.]

But. It's pretty much impossible for me to not be involved, since I've basically been involved from the get-go. This whole thing is kinda my fault.

[airwalks]

( Well.
He'd wanted to avoid pushing the subject before.
He'd given Dave plenty of opportunities to drop the topic.

Dave hadn't taken any of them. There's only one thing to do now. )

Tell me what happened.

[ironicoolly]

[Oh god, oh fuck, he isn't ready to broach this topic.]

We...

[His voice comes out tiny, barely audible. He bites his lip and tries again.]

We fused. It's a thing here - first power they slapped everybody with, apparently. You can probably do it too.

[Not that Bro would fuck up in such a way. Not that Bro would be stupid enough to slip up.]

I... didn't really mean for it to happen, it just sorta did and then both our brains got overloaded with an infodump the likes of which the universe's never seen before. I'm talking detailed accounts full of irrelevant minutiae that would put shitty television recaps to shame.

[airwalks]

( Okay. So not only is he a dangerous prick who's emotionally compromised Dave, he's a dangerous prick with the knowledge to do so much worse.

... The inside of his mouth tastes like copper. How long's he been biting at his tongue? )

So where do I come into this.

( He thinks he might have an idea. If this guy's seen his memories and wants to fish out the perfect thing to hurt Dave with, it makes sense that he'd target Dave's one and only family. )

[ironicoolly]

[fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

Does he... say it? Does he tell Bro the truth? He'd managed to bring himself to tell Dirk, but Bro is different. Bro is intimidating in all the ways that Dirk isn't.

Plus, Dirk had known of a version of Dave who wasn't such a screwup. Had wanted to meeted Dave for the longest time, and that surely colored their interactions. Things are different with Bro.]

I, uh.

[He looks down. He can't bring himself to look at Bro.]

I don't exactly know. He just... after we fused we got into this argument, and the next thing I knew he was threatening to do something to you if you ever showed up where he could get his hands on you.

[A lie. A lie. He told a lie and he knows it's doubtful Bro will let that fly, because he's never been good at lying to Bro's face.

But he can't bring himself to tell the truth, because that would open up the doors to a conversation he absolutely cannot be having.]

[airwalks]

( If that's all there was to it, Dave's head wouldn't be drooping low like a wilting flower in an arctic wasteland.

He's sure he can extract more information with the right leverage. Get to the bottom of this. It wouldn't even be difficult.

But he won't. If Dave isn't ready to tell him yet, then he'll respect that. )

I'll handle it.

( Simple as. His tone is firm; a this discussion is over. )

[ironicoolly]

[His head shoots back up, and he's giving Bro one of those wide-eyed, anxious looks that has confusion written all over it. He likes to think that maybe his shades keep his eyes from being visible, but given how close they're standing it's hard to say for sure. He furrows his brows, and his mouth opens wordlessly.

A few seconds pass. He shuts it again. Protesting won't get him anywhere, and Bro's tone has made that much obvious.]

When?

[airwalks]

Dunno. Whenever I run into him.

Could be today. Could be weeks from now.

( Don't look at him like that, kid. It won't get you anywhere. )

[ironicoolly]

[Okay, well... That's sort of promising? It sounds like Bro isn't going to go out of his way to look for Shun, at least.]

I'll alchemize up some sort of communication device for you.

[It's a silent plea: keep him updated. Let him know when this is going down.

Please don't just disappear on him one day and leave him wondering whether you're alive or dead.]

[airwalks]

'Kay.

( He knows what Dave's asking, but he's not making any promises. He doesn't trust Dave to not come running if he receives any sort of forewarning that a strife's about to go down.

Davesprite is firsthand proof that the kid's dumb enough to pull a stunt like that. )

[ironicoolly]

[He lets the conversation sit in silence for a good while. Just waiting, hoping against all hopes that Bro will say something else.

It's obvious that Dave's not going to be getting anything else out of him, though. Maybe he could just... find excuses to stick around Bro. Bro doesn't want him involved, so as long as he's around, he can prevent Bro from seeking Shun out on his own.

It does bring up another problem, though: Shun said he'd be keeping tabs on Dave, whether Dave wanted him to or not. If he sticks around Bro all the time, he might just be pushing the date of their meeting forward.

He doesn't know what to do. He feels like he should be apologizing, but he isn't sure how to.]

This conversation sort of went off the rails. My bad. Here you are trying to get all situated in the neighborhood, newest kid on the block, and before you've even had time to get the movers help you carry your brand new bed into your bedroom you find that I'm already there snoozin' on it, and to make matters worse I'm still a bedwetter.

[airwalks]

( Man, Dave's really letting this whole situation bother him, isn't he?

And maybe Bro'd made things worse by reacting the way he did. Maybe he'd let his anger spill out a little where Dave could see it. Gotta fix that. Gotta show him it isn't a big deal. )

Don't sweat it. I ain't fussed. Keep the bed, and I'll crash on the futon.

( Leave it to the two of them to only be able to communicate through dumb extended metaphors. )

[ironicoolly]

[This is a nostalgic feeling. Just like old times, huh? Before meteors came and made everything awful. Just a couple of dudes in a cramped apartment filled with godawful puppets.

What a strange mix of emotions this evokes. So much has changed, and he does... miss a lot about his old life. How much simpler things were back then, for one. He misses the rap battles and the days spent working the turntables, the moments spent lazing around without the weight of the universe on his shoulders.

But he also remembers the resentment, the pressure - an incessant need to impress and be approved of, a need that was never fulfilled. Years spent living in the shadow of a man who was always too cool, too awesome, too skilled to take any real notice of him. The ideal hero up high he could never hope to live up to.]

The piss-soaked bed? Real magnanimous of you, bro.