Test Drive Meme 3.

[awashmods]

Mary, Mary, quite contrary How does your garden grow? With silver bells, And cockle shells, And pretty maids all in a row.

Prompt 1: t's probably been at least a little while since you managed to climb out of the well, so hopefully you've dried off by now and are enjoying poking around the Town. But who cares about all of that? More importantly, the Town has a new feature this time, for reasons entirely unknown to everyone. The flowers...seem to be talking. They have no faces, but they will definitely turn to talk to you, and if they have had their color restored, they will very brightly and contentedly compliment you, or your clothing, or wish you well. If they haven't? Prepare yourself for all sorts of horrible, horrible insults, because that's all that's coming your way. Prompt 2: ow are you settling in? Is the Town treating you well? It's not as bad as it used to be; some of the houses have color, some of the food has color and taste as well. It's been polished up a bit since everyone first got here. Granted, when you wake up that morning to find yourself in full fancy wear of many different types (all colorless, and gender has nothing to do with which you might end up in), you'll find that the Town might not be as well put together as it seems. You can't get out of the formal wear. It just won't come off, no matter what you do. Which wouldn't be so bad, but... it seems like these clothes will snag on just about everything in the Town, which is far from smooth. Try not to trip over those loose cobblestones, or your dress snagging on a nail sticking out from a door frame. This is really not the place for this sort of clothing. Prompt 3: e loves me, he loves me not... that's a pretty familiar game, right? For some reason, the urge to pick one of those flowers and casually pluck the petals from it while playing that game is going to grow stronger and stronger the more flowers you see. Eventually? You're just going to have to cave to it. (Certainly it doesn't help that the flowers scream a bit when you pull their petals; they still can talk right now, after all!) She loves you, she loves you not...and by the time you've picked the last petal, you've forgotten who you were even thinking of originally -- instead, the very next person you see is going to be the victim of a very impassioned declaration of love. Don't worry, you'll come back to yourself...after you declare your undying love for everyone to hear. Prompt 4: ut no matter how many people tell you not to go into the forest, however, it's still rather enticing, isn't it? It's sitting right there, waiting for you to explore it, waiting for you to just step a little bit out of the Town... And soon, you're surrounded by the dark boughs of the trees, the twisty, turny paths of the woods, where it feels like you're wandering in circles for hours upon hours -- And then, after ages of tree branches yanking at your hair and roots tripping you up, you find a clearing. And in that clearing? There's a field of flowers. They're colorless -- strangely eerie because of it, but still distinctly recognizable to the flower familiar as Asphodel. And touching any single one of those flowers will suddenly give you vivid memories of one of your precious friends -- so long as they're dead. Anyone around you is going to experience that flash of memory too, so be careful! Extra: Got something in mind? Want to play with the setting more? The sky's the limit, so feel free and make up your own prompts to play with! Welcome to Awash's third Test Drive Meme! Please check out the FAQ and rules as you test your characters out. The setting is yours to play with, so be creative and have a good time with it! An important date to remember is September 1st, 9 PM EST, when Applications will open. There will be no reserves for this app round or any future app rounds, so it will be first come, first served applications. As a side note, TDM threads are not canon, so please feel free to assume established CR for the sake of the TDM if it will make threading or showing off your character's voice easier. If you have any questions about the TDM, feel free to ask us here. If there are any other questions, you can catch us via PM, the FAQ or the contact page. You are of course welcome to use prompts from the previous two test drives. Thank you for your interest in Awash!

Comments

[fineprinted]

[ the flowers did nothing wrong, thought! nothing wrong with a little constructive criticism. he will nod at ryuu though, taking a couple of steps away from the bush until they're out of earshot. whew. ]

Thank you. They do have a point though; my hair's a little more unruly than usual. It must be the weather.

[fistofthejoestar]

[toothy grin or not, Jonathan remains unmoved by her veiled threats. this wasn't something that his brother could coax out of him (in a manner of speaking) and it certainly wouldn't be something that a complete stranger could accomplish.]

You most certainly can, but I won't change my mind. I have obligations to others already.

[not just Erina, if he was including things beyond the romantic. it was unthinkable to drop all of that and pursue a tragedy, no matter how many times the vampire asked. the only thing he regretted about his answer was that he had to disappoint her at all. rejection was never kind to receive, even for the undead.]

[intoningly]

Oh shut up. Don't try and pretend you're all sensitive and lady-like when you single-handedly gave me a fucking concussion and pinned me to the ground.
[ God what IS this woman. ]

I'm not really in the mood to guesstimate how much your tits weigh– since they seem to make up the bulk of your body, so how about you drop this sensitive, sophisticated lady schtick before my legs go numb.

[fistofthejoestar]

I can't say that I know anything about your situation, but there's no one in any world who hasn't made choices they regret.

[lord knows that Jonathan's made them by the dozen. even now with the perspective of having sealed away that tragedy for good, he can't help wishing that he'd been smarter, faster, more certain - anything to have prevented things from going the way that they had.]

So long as you learn from them, it's nothing to make you a lesser person.

[solocheer]

[whoa, excuse you.

she's about to agree to Tsumugi's request and suggest that they find somewhere less floral to linger, but that last jab was just completely uncalled for. her cheeks puff out in hurt anger, bottom lip wobbling briefly as if she were on the verge of tears herself. it's bad enough that Afterglow always left her hanging, but to hear it from a plant now too-!]

What do you know about band cheers anyway? That's it, you're definitely getting a haircut!

[you might want to find a little more of your spine, Tsmoog, because otherwise those lovely flowers are going to be getting little petal mohawks in about five seconds. she's diving in with no regrets and revenge in her heart.]

[umbraportation]

Guess it'll give me the opportunity to work on my people skills. [ Well, alive people skills because Nico spent a lot of time with the dead and most of them don't tend to talk back. It will be like he's at camp still. Part of what Damian says makes him frown. ] That's not a lot of people. No one's mentioned whispering in the forest, have they?

[ He doubts the forest here has the same problem Camp Half-Blood did but it's similar enough Nico has to ask. ] How periodically?

[ Nico's not bothered by the way Damian speaks, after all he's spent hardly any time around people his own age. A few months here and there. Seventy years in the Lotus Hotel don't count because it didn't seem that long and before that Nico was a kid in the 1930s. At least he doesn't have to worry about weird terms being used too much. ] That's convenient.

[ Ignoring the ones praising them is far easier than ignoring the ones spewing hurtful comments. In all honesty, Nico isn't sure if the colorless flowers are talking to him or Damian because everything they say is something he's thought about himself. Words that drove him away from having friends for years, that made him seek becoming stronger, to avoid being around living people.

So while those flowers might be getting in some shots, they die in Nico's wake. Unable to hurt anyone else with their words. Whether Damian notices or not, the other boy doesn't bring it up. Keeping silent and his hands in his pockets as if restraining himself from doing something worse.

When they reach the board he steps up to it and his eyes look over all that's gathered. There's a lot of information but something on the map draws his attention. ] Does the church have a cemetery?

[ Probably not a question that gets asked a lot. ]

...i'd say something but it's recent manga spoilers LMAO

[fineprinted]

Ghost Quartz... [ he repeats, nodding. don't worry though, he's just as stumped as this rock, wishing that there's a library nearby to glean more info on. what he does know by ear is that certain quartz can grant a wearer massive good luck, but it'd probably be in bad taste if he blurts that out right now.

at least he's prompted to introduce himself, so he'll do just that. ]

I'm Aoba Tsumugi. I'm human, as I said, so I'm made with only flesh and bone. [ ... ] These terms sound too alien for you, don't they?

Hopefully with time it'll crystallize into something entirely new!

[overlayed]

[ That's... strange, but not unusual if a Gem was trying to recover energy. Maybe this one is Padparadscha-like, in that sense. They rationalize it away in their head. They don't want to press.

Still, the pulled around thing is interesting. Considering the moment Ghost was pulled from, they can't say they personally relate, but they can empathize. ]

It's happened to you before?

[youwillbeunequaled]

Although he has nothing much good to say about the tight-fitting French clothing he's found himself in, at least he's not having as much trouble moving as the lady on the path ahead of him in that elaborate layered kimono.

When three of those layers somehow, mysteriously, simultaneously snag themselves on a bush, he calls out, "Please wait, you're caught on this. Allow me-" And he quickly bends over to free the tightly caught cloth.

Archer (Tristan) | Fate/Grand Order

[noholdsbard]

Prompt 2
“Please don’t move,” says Archer politely as he stops you in the middle of the road, hand on your shoulder. “Your clothing appears to have snagged onto my harp.” On one of the more pointy bits of it, anyway.

With a reassuring smile, he adds, “Please allow me to free you. But I warn you not to move until I say so—else I might cut off your head by accident.”

Prompt 3
He’s standing by the roadside, judiciously plucking the petals off of a flower with a frown of utmost concentration, even as the tiny thing hurls myriad insults at him—wife-stealer, traitor, your music sucks!!!

Normally, he’d have left such creatures well enough alone—he is a knight, after all, and he cares not to harm the helpless. But the compulsion to reach out and pluck one out of the ground had been a strong one, and before he even realized it, he began plucking a petal, all the while thinking of Iseult.

At first. By the time that last petal has been plucked he turns to you with a look of surprise, the stem of the flower and the memory of Iseult herself slipping forgotten from his fingers. He even cracks open his eyes at this exquisite vision unfolding before him in sparkles and rainbows, as he quickly dashes toward you—be you man, woman, or neither; be you animal, mineral, or vegetable—all’s fair in the matters of the heart, after all, and Tristan has far too much of it to begin with.

So don’t mind him if he gallantly sweeps you off of your feet without warning—or tries to, if you happen to weigh like a horse or worse—laughing all the while as he exclaims, “My dear, you are a sight to behold! Will you be mine?”

Extra
[ Bring your own prompt! I can go with either prose or action, as you please. ]

[ninjanature]

[Gently, his face pinches, and he turns to look once more at the flowers. The fingers of his only hand still tingle from having touched it. Perhaps it's the memory which really tingled.]

The dead are dead. Returning only complicates the lives of the living. [His right arm shifts beneath the cloaked jacket. Most people unsheathe a sword across from the opposite side, but this one is drawn from the same side of the wielding arm. Sasuke does it effortlessly, but the movement flourishes the cloak open and parts it away.

The sleeve on the left is limp and free. He's missing an arm.

It doesn't even look as if he's budged. All that happens is the tops of a long row of flowers separate from the stems and fall to the ground. After a moment or two, new flowers emerge again from the severed stalks.] Burning may not work like you think it will.

I can try.

for houseki? i'm caught up so no worries omg, i'm just riffing

[overlayed]

Mostly. I think the slug Phos encountered once was of flesh, but I didn't see it, so I don't actually know. [ Of course, Ghost doesn't mean Ventricious' real form- just the weird glob she was. ]

It's nice to meet you, though, Tsumugi. [ what are honorifics?? ghost doesn't know 'em ]

[regrede]

I could burn it, but that might hurt you as well, and I don’t want to do that.

[ oddly tender, sierra rests the flat of her palm on the young girl’s shoulder—like petting her, even though she did just threaten burnination. ]

At least get off the ground, darling.

[regrede]

[ the more she looks at him, the more sure she becomes that he, too, is a vampire, but he’s an odd one indeed. she raises her eyebrows, tilting her head this way and that as she regards his lazy form.

he needs someone to whip him into shape, but she’s also lazy, so she’s not going to be the one to do that. ]

Have you tried a coffin?

[ she’s got jokes ]

i've got no doubt they'll mine up something very special

[oceanthief]

[an actual expression floats across Lapis' face, one of extreme distaste.]

It's pretty much the only thing that ever happens.

[when was the last time she'd gone somewhere and been happy about it? it's been so long that she can no longer remember, and that thought itself causes her chest to tighten.]

Kanna | Kobayashi-San Chi no Maid Dragon

[tastingmenu]

iii. these flowers keep screaming, make it stop
[A tiny girl sits surrounded by flowers talking to her, some complimenting her, some saying less than flattering things about her. She lets most of it roll off her back, they were flowers after all and she was of a much higher kind of being than a mere plant. Something like this only happened back in the world she came from. It’s suspicious, of course, but also kind of nostalgic at the same time and she would have been happy to sit here for a little while until she inevitably tired, snacked on a flower or two and then curled up to sleep in the sun.

Too bad something seems to have another plan for her and as she sits here, she fidgets, increasingly wanting not just to snack on a flower but destroy it for what should be no reason.

Finally she gives in, plucking one and then immediately looking quietly horrified when it screams. Are you nearby? Because if so she’s trotting up to you, holding up the flower in the hopes that you are either going to eat it for her and end its pain or that you have some other solution because the urge to pluck a petal is becoming too strong to ignore.]

iv. no big deal just taking a walk
[It’s not hard to follow Kanna’s trail into the forest when she’d knocked over trees and made a path big enough to fit a small bus through as soon as the trees started snagging on her hair. It was much easier to get through anywhere when she was in dragon form and didn’t have to worry about damaging people’s houses or scratching up their cars.

The feathered white dragon pauses at the clearing, purple-tipped tail giving a curious curl before she takes one step and crushes a whole bunch of flowers under her claws. With that there’s suddenly a burst of feelings and memories of Lady Tohru, Kobayashi, Saikawa, Fafnir, Lucoa, Takiya. Except they’re not smiling and welcoming her home or letting her snuggle into their sides as she slept. They’re unmoving and cold and she knows without a doubt that they’ve died in this vision. Her whole body freezes and then bristles suddenly, tensing even as tears start dripping from her eyes.]

That’s a lie. [Snarling, the air starts to crackle with electricity.] That’s a lie!

1/2

[regrede]

[ hm, now she’s irritated.

his cool demeanor rubs her the wrong way, makes her feel petulant, and she’s not happy with that at all. even so, she can’t shake this feeling of destiny, and her expression turns sour. ]

We all have obligations. Mine is to make you my companion in eternity, because I am in love with you.

[ as soon as she says it, though, the spell breaks. ]

Ah?

2/2

[regrede]

…

[ she isn’t the type the get embarrassed, but she’s embarrassed now, her face turning a deep red as she scrambles for her dignity. ]

What the hell did you do?!

[fineprinted]

[ listen........ don't worry about it. he appreciates the dusting-off, at least -

and now he's tilting his head at their words because uh. ]

Pajamas? We did wake up in them, but I'm not sure how anyone can tuck themselves back into bed while wearing these...

[ the material's soft and presumably made from expensive material despite the grayscale, but it'd still be too hot and itchy to lie on... it won't be a problem once tsumugi takes out a needle and some thread out his pocket that he'd gotten from the store earlier. ]

Now stay still. I'm a bit of a slow worker, so please bear with me.

as long as they don't take it for granite

[overlayed]

[ Ghost doesn't know what to say to that, so there's a bit of silence between the two before Ghost speaks again. They try to change the topic. ]

What gem are you?

[hydrokinetics]

[It's a little awkward, he'll admit that. He didn't exactly handle the revelation that Nico had a crush on him with any amount of grace ("what????" seems to have been the main mood of the conversation), but on the other hand he hadn't given it much thought. Nico has Will, Percy has Annabeth, and seeing Nico here actually brings into focus the fact that Annabeth hasn't come back yet and yet here's a different familiar face.

He glances as the flowers go flying but he also doesn't seem to care about them after the fact.]

Probably. You can't make flower crowns without flowers, but it still seemed a little too easy. [He slips his hands into his pockets, giving Nico an appraising look.] You just got out of the well?

["Where the hades did you come from??"]

[neetvampire]

[Kuro lets out a wide yawn as he shoves his hands in his coat pockets, and indeed, those sure are fangs. He fixes Sierra with a 'Really?' deadpan look once he's finished, though. Don't tell him she's that old fashioned--]

I'd prefer a high quality mattress or at least a pillow. Much more comfortable and less cliché.

[See? If Sierra's lazy, she should appreciate his lazy mooch aesthetic. It takes style to be this lazy, ok!]

I miss my bed....

[He lets out a long, dramatic sigh, as if he's been parted from a precious treasure.

...It's a catbed though.]

[umbraportation]

[ Those words aimed at him in particular are ironic because the dead aren't dead and Nico's brought one person back to life already. He couldn't do it for his mother or sister but he'd been able to save his half-sister, at least. It had complicated things but he feels it was for the better. ]

The guys who run the afterlife wouldn't be happy if the dead got away and roamed the world with the living. [ Spoken as if it's a fact and not some idle idea a kid could come up with. Nico has seen it happen, his father hadn't been happy when souls escaped the Underworld or even when Death couldn't collect it in the first place because he'd been captured.

Just like Sasuke draws his sword, the movement draws Nico's gaze - noting how fluid the movement is, how practiced he seemed with the weapon. Missing arm or not. He doesn't seem worried that the blade will be turned on him either.

Merely watches as the man slices the flowers and more emerge, fully grown. It makes him frown for more than one reason. Mostly because it reminds Nico of how he's seen plants sprout up when his stepmother and her mother are around. Which is natural considering who they are. ] I should've known normal blades wouldn't work on it.

[ Yep, he absolutely did call Sasuke's blade normal. Nico pulls his own sword and even the blade is entirely black. ] Let's see if this works.

[ A swipe of his sword and the flowers crumble like dust down to the root. ] That works. For now.

[awamori]

[Still, the flowers could be a little nicer! Now that they're away from the flowers he should be able to calm down.]

You're welcome. Really? It looks alright to me. I wouldn't listen to those flowers, sometimes this town can be very interesting.

[Interesting being the nicest thing he can say about Chroma.]

[fineprinted]

[ nope, sorry, the flowers went up and stole tsumugi's spine a while ago. but himari's also on the brink of tears at the seemingly innocuous comment, something that tsumugi can all but relate to, but going so far as to cut off their heads might be a little too much. even if they do deserve it. ]

W-Wait, snap out of it! I think it's cute!

[ her band cheer, he means... whatever that is. ]