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

Valvatorez | Disgaea 4

[promissum]

Prompt 1

[Valvatorez goes about his business when the colorful flowers go about praising him. It's not too different from what he hears at home. Between Fenrich and his hordes of Prinnies, he's heard plenty of this before.

But he does stop when the colorless flowers start to insult him.]

Elf eared bastard! Weakling! Fool!

[Instead of just walking off he stops and considers them.]

Are you attempting to insult me? You know you're not doing a very good job of it. I suppose you only have surface level details to go off of, but if you'd like to properly insult somebody, you should get to know them.

Prompt 4

[He's wandered into a forest. Surely he could take whatever happened to be in there? After all, he's a highly regarded Prinny Instructor! He's faced God and walked backward into Hades.

There's nothing here but flowers. Gray and colorless flowers, but flowers nonetheless. He reaches down and touches one of them, curious about what sure innocuous flowers are doing in the forest.

As soon as his hand brushes against it, a memory begins to play. A beautiful pink haired woman in a nun's outfit is dying in his arms.

Val looks older than he does now, dressed more like a classical, powerful vampire. "-Hold it together!"

"Mr. Vampire," says the woman, her voice shaking.

"Don't try to talk. I'll find whoever did this to you, and I'll tear him to pieces," he replies.

The memory is abruptly cut off, Val taking several steps away from the flowers.]

1.

[messianic]

Are you...pep talking them into insulting you better? [Or is it worse...?

Either way.

Why. This is definitely... a Reaction of sorts.]

[promissum]

Of course! [As enthusiastically as ever. Which is to say, with way too much energy for a task like this.]

If they're insulting people, they should be doing it properly. Surface level insults can only get them so far.

[messianic]

[...]

No, actually, I don't think that's how it works at all. Please don't help them insult people even better here.

Everyone's going to be tense enough as it is...

[promissum]

It is unforgivable not to put your all into something that you are doing. If they're going to do this, they should be good at it.

[messianic]

[.... That logic makes a weird amount of sense, and Minato isn't sure what to make of it.]

That's...

I guess that's true... but still, it's just going to upset people even more.

[promissum]

That's what the flowers are attempting. They're doing a poor job of it.

[It's a very "Yes, and?" kind of response.

But he is a demon.]

[messianic]

[Is this what being demonic is truly like, though...]

... Right. Is that a bad thing? I guess I'm getting a little stuck on why you want to be upset more.

[...]

Are you a masochist?

[promissum]

There's nothing I fear but tiny sardine bones that get stuck in my teeth and breaking promises.

There aren't words these flowers could say that would upset me.

[He absolutely didn't answer any of those questions.]

[messianic]

[He absolutely didn't.

So.

Minato is choosing to interpret that as him being too shy to admit to it.]

It's okay that you are. I won't judge--you can enjoy whatever you want to enjoy.

[Congrats ont he kink pep talk.]

[promissum]

What are you talking about, lad?

[He stopped thinking about it because it clearly didn't apply to him.]

[messianic]

[... Well. That just gets a placid blink, and:]

If you like people trash-talking you, that's okay. It takes all sorts of types of people, right...?

[promissum]

I don't have any particular feelings on being trash-talked. Insults are often thrown my way. No matter, those that throw them never seem to know what they're getting into.

[messianic]

Oh...

[A beat.]

Wait, why are you used to being insulted...?

4

[superwaifu]

[It's been a WILD RIDE so far, culminating in a labyrinthine forest. Hatoko's uniform looks less than its best, and her pale hair is mussed. A unnoticed leaf sticks out the back.]

Eeeh....

[The tragic memory assaults her senses. How cruel! The flowers have no right at all to expose a painful moment like that -- !]

[promissum]

[As long as Valvatorez has something else to focus on, that's better than this. It's not the first time he's been over this story, but it's the first time he's been forced into it. This was much better when he chose to share.

His eyes snap to her once she's made a sound.]

Did you witness that as well, lass?

[superwaifu]

[Startled - ]

Me??

[There is literally no one else around.]

Of course not! Ahaha, was there something to see?

[She's kicking dirt over top of the flowers. Jerks!]

[promissum]

[He should question that, but he doesn't. What reason does she have to lie? While she's kicking dirt over the flowers Val steps away from them and looks towards the direction of the town.]

Don't touch them. They seem to have an unpleasant defense mechanism in place.

[superwaifu]

[Going along with an obvious lie?! He doesn't want to talk about his heartbreaking grief with a complete stranger! What a normal reaction! Mission success.]

'kaaay~

[There's a note in her voice; the one Mom uses when her kid's acting up in public. The tone that says I'll deal with you later.]

[promissum]

[This is tame compared to the other lies Val has believed.

But, as an old vampire he doesn't recognize the Mom Voice Hatoko's using.]

Come along, let's get back to the town. At least the flowers there only hurl insults.

[superwaifu]

[His obliviousness is very convenient. No witnesses to lay blame at her feet for the charred (evil)flower husks which are likely to be discovered at a future time. Nobody else will endure Mr. Vampire's stoic emotional exposure!]

[I mean, not that she knows he's a vampire but that's a nifty cosplay? Surely?]

They're pretty silly. 'Flat as a pancake!', haha.

[She isn't, like, at all. But what girl wants to hear that?!]

[promissum]

[Mr. Vampire doesn't mind talking about his dark past that much, though he much prefers actually talking about it to whatever these flowers did. An unfortunate memory share.]

Yes, those flowers aren't nearly as insulting as they could be. The ones I've heard have all been surface level insults, nothing to get upset over.

[superwaifu]

[Somehow, none of this telepathic flora nonsense phases her. Maybe once their CR levels up they can exchange backstories the old fashioned way, verbally. Until then, she respectfully pretends nothing happened, like when someone farts in public.]

I thought so too. [nodding along to his analysis] It's the accuracy that really hurts!

[You can do it, flower bullies! Try your best!]

[promissum]

Exactly! The flowers I've run into have been awful at being insulting. I've heard all of that before. They could try being more creative than "weakling".

[They need training!]

[superwaifu]

[Why go halfway? These flowers need a training montage. IT'S THE - EYE OF THE TIGER]

Maybe if you gave them a few hints...?