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

Kujo Jotaro | JJBA

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

1: All the flowers would have very extra special powers

[At this point, Jotaro feels like he's used to weird. People acting weird? Cultural differences. People acting weird and the world is partially devoid of color? Probably an enemy Stand user. The world is partially devoid of color and the flowers are talking? Definitely an enemy Stand user. Or, you know, any other weird paranormal phenomena, but until he actually talks to somebody he's gonna go with what he knows.

Either way, the flowers are starting to piss him off. The insults he can handle--when you spend all your time socializing with delinquents, a certain amount of fielding and countering insults is to be expected. The compliments, on the other hand, remind him of the girls at home trying to butter him up, and that's something Jotaro doesn't care to deal with. In between all the colorless flowers' insults he keeps hearing someone gushing about his clothes or his body or his earrings or his eyes, and it's just so annoying.

Finally he can't take it anymore. He whirls around to yell the last flower to compliment him.] Shut the hell up, you shitty Alice in Wonderland reject!

[Aaaand then he realizes someone saw him. Great. With a muttered "gimme a break", his posture relaxes in embarrassment. Are you gonna give him shit or what?]

4: All my friends expired last Tuesday

[Jotaro touches the flowers, curious and unafraid, and suddenly finds himself thinking of Star Platinum winding up and launching Iggy at their enemy in the distance. Iggy was only a little Boston terrier, but Jotaro had known he would be fine--his Stand was powerful in its simplicity and his survival instincts were clearly sharp--so he'd been able to enjoy the harmless delight of watching watching him rocket into the distance.

He remembers the joy of Kakyoin rejoining the group in Cairo at the last minute, sunglasses over his scarred eyes and the brief, gut-twisting moment of guilt and sympathy when Kakyoin acted like he'd never see again, because he was a bastard like that.

He remembers Avdol offering his deck of tarot cards, the strange sense of rightness as Avdol used the card Jotaro drew to name his Stand, to explain what Star Platinum represented within him. He'd felt recognized, and comfortable with that recognition for the first time in a long time.

The pang of fresh grief hangs over his memories, but whoever's lucky enough to get stuck eavesdropping on his memories at least doesn't have to see the bodies.]

5: Wildcard

[Anything else! Feel free to tag with prose if you prefer, I'll match.]

4

[tropism]

[ the images he'd seen flashed briefly in his head, and giorno had to wonder if he was hallucinating or was under attack. for a moment he stood absolutely still before realizing that he'd briefly ... stumbled, for the lack of a better term, into something else. a memory? perhaps. is that what touching them does? he keeps his hands in his pockets and refuses to move for a while.

but something odd was bothering him. ] Why did that man use a card for you?

[ for his stand. what an odd gesture. he didn't name it himself?

but more importantly .... he's a stand user? what a pain that was. he'll be keeping his distance, thanks. ]

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[The question distracts Jotaro before his grief has the chance to settle too deeply. It strikes him as odd that someone should know what he was just thinking here, but he gets the feeling this guy isn't looking to stuff his soul in a creepy puppet, so he answers without really thinking.]

To reveal the nature of my power. Haven't you ever met a fortune teller before? It's kinda what they do. [Or-- well-- anyway, he probably gets the point, which leaves the really pressing question, unless Blondie is just fixating on the wrong parts and isn't actually a Stand user.] I was starting to think I was the only one here.

[tropism]

'To reveal' - [ another frown. something like dread settles in the pit of his stomach. ] - were you born with it? Or were you made like the rest of them? [ with the arrow, with black sabbath. that didn't look like italy from what he'd seen briefly of his memories, but who knows.

he looks at him suspiciously. ]

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

It was complicated. A family thing. [He remembers Dio's diary, remembers an entry dated mere days before the first time Star Platinum lashed out at someone on his behalf: the old woman shot Dio with a bow and arrow, and that was how the whole mess began.

Shit. If Dio's got more followers still out there...]

How many were made?

[tropism]

[ family always is. (family? like a regular family, or -)

but then he asks that question and giorno isn't quite sure how to answer it. ]

Let's start from the beginning.

[ this guy could easily pass off as a thug. ] I got my Stand powers in Italy, Naples. 2001. Middle school. You?

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[2001...? Jotaro glares.]

Is this gonna be some Terminator bullshit?

[He's not here to fuck with time travel, alright?]

one

[oceanthief]

[the good news: the person who's accidentally entered in on this little fit of pique doesn't seem to be particularly interested in giving any shit, and if she had she'd be an easy fight given the fact she's over two feet shorter than Jotaro. the bad news: she's blue. honestly she looks more like a stand herself than an actual person, but Lapis is definitely regarding the taller boy with sentience and curiosity.]

If you pull their heads off they stop talking.

[uh...thanks, Lapis. that's way more morbid than you meant helpful advice to be.]

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[What the hell. Either this is some tag-team bullshit or something a lot weirder is going on, and Jotaro honestly can't be sure which it is. Yet. Instead of responding, he walks over to the weird blue girl and jabs a finger at her chest to see if he can even touch her. It's not 100% foolproof, but so far in Jotaro's experience he shouldn't be able to touch a Stand that isn't tied to an inanimate object, so if he can touch her she's probably... well, not normal, but not a Stand.]

[oceanthief]

[boop. Jotaro's finger collides softly with her chest, staying exactly where one would expect it to when they go around poking anything. although the mystification is written all over her face as she looks down at the offending digit, she makes no attempt to brush it away or otherwise retaliate.

humans were super weird, after all, and it's not like it really mattered if he was tapping at her or not in the grand scheme of things. oh, but maybe her suggestion had confused him..?]

No, this is my chest.

[it's like she;s correcting a toddler, although her voice remains completely sincere. there's not a hint of mockery anywhere, from her words to her posture.]

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[This still makes no sense, but you know what, if it means she's not gonna try to kill him in the next five minutes Jotaro is gonna roll with it.]

Just making sure you're real. Most people aren't blue.

["Your mother is even more useless than you are!" one of the colorless flowers yells, and yeah, hold on, Jotaro's gonna whirl around and punch... the flower... Lapis may or may not see Star Platinum's entire upper body emerging from Jotaro's torso because I haven't checked to see how we're handling those in game yet but she'll definitely see the offending flower getting flattened, along with those around it unfortunate enough to be caught in the impact area of Star Platinum's fist. There's a brief collective scream, and then--]

You're right, they do shut up.

[...Man, he's gonna feel bad later if those things turn out to be sentient.]

[oceanthief]

That's because I'm not a person.

[which she thought would be obvious just looking at her, but she guesses that not every human has personally encountered a gem in their lives. it still seems a little silly to think that something so clearly different from yourself would still be the same species, but humans just seemed to be like that. if they could squeeze it into one of their little boxes, then they absolutely would.

I don't know how stands work here either but to be perfectly honest Lapis would react about the same whether she can see it or not, aka not at all. she's from a race of sentient rocks with some really weird abilities, summoning another person/invisible power waves just aren't that unusual for her, although she does watch with a vague sort of interest. she waits to see if any of the squished flowers bounce back before nodding in agreement.]

That's a lot faster than the way I was doing it earlier.

[nice.]

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[The other flowers actually shut up for a minute at the sudden massacre of their brethren, so Jotaro puts Star Platinum away and focus on the "not a person" thing, turning back to give Lapis a curious look. If she's not phased, he's not about to be either.]

What the hell are you, then, because you're sure as hell not an animal.

[He Is Trying, but alien rocks who make their own bodies out of light aren't really a thing where he comes from.]

one

[fistofthejoestar]

[sadly this isn't the first time he's witnessed someone get aggressive over being treated kindly, although Jotaro seems to have the good sense to be embarrassed about someone having witnessed his outburst rather than doubling down on the irrational behavior. (looking at you, Dio)

he probably shouldn't, but Jonathan's kind of amused by the whole thing. he's polite enough not to express any of that mirth, however, leaving only his usual soft smile to greet the other boy.]

I can't imagine they're much of a partner for arguments.

[you know. flowers and all. not a lot going on upstairs.]

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

If they could find some new material I might not be tempted to find a weed wacker.

[It's so incredibly stupid, though, and Jotaro tugs at the bill of his hat to hide what feels like a mortified expression but is really pretty much the same one he was already wearing. Tiiiime to keep the conversation moving and try to divert attention from his inability to take a compliment.]

You got any idea why they're like this? [The talking, the lack of colors, the personalities, anything.]

[fistofthejoestar]

You can hardly blame them for that. It isn't as if they can pop around the block and take suggestions.

[is that a little too close to teasing? he thinks it might be, or at least close enough to cause his shoulders to shake briefly in silent amusement at his own stupid joke. you know, because flowers were rooted in place?


yeah, it's time for another subject of conversation.]

I'm afraid I couldn't really say for sure why they're acting this way, but some of it seems to be native to this place as a whole.

[the plants were hardly the only ones lacking color, after all.]

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[What. A nerd. (Except Jotaro kind of wants to see little cars for flowers now, just to say he has. Not mentioning it! He's trying to repair his image here!) He can at least agree that it's probably part of this weird-ass place, though.]

It's weird. Kinda like if you combined the beginning of The Wizard of Oz with the rest of the movie. [Because everyone around here is totally from the same time period and the same world, right??? Jotaro looks around as he speaks, trying to figure out literally anything else about this place, but he's not getting anything he hasn't already seen.]

[fistofthejoestar]

I'm afraid I wouldn't know anything about that.

[film has just barely begun to make its way into the world at Jonathan's time, so he understands the very basics of what Jotaro's referencing. rather than assume some strange temporal idiocy, he simply figures that it's a relatively newer movie that he hasn't had a chance to see. it wasn't as if the opportunity to watch them was all that common, and he's been rather busy the past few months at home...]

But I can't help wondering if there's something that can't be done about it. Surely the other flowers aren't colorful by chance.

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[Who hasn't seen The Wizard of Oz? His comment about the flowers not being colorful by chance gets Jotaro thinking, though, and he squats to get a closer look at the flowers.]

In the first part of the movie, in Kansas, everything was black and white, but otherwise it looked normal. Then the twister took Dorothy to Oz, and everything was colorful and full of magic.

[Jotaro pokes one of the gray flowers with Star Platinum's hand overlapping his own, but all the flower does is tell him he hits like a girl.]

one

[lavabend]

[ It's very, very frustrating to be lost in a mysterious world but at least it doesn't look like a very dangerous place so far. So far it's just been a very ... dull place, with barely any food. He's actually used to the latter, having grown up in the streets, but this town doesn't even seem to have a market. It's been a real bummer so far. At least the strange talking flowers are saying some very nice things about him?

He does enjoy a good compliment. ] Oh, you're too kind, I don't even know how you're talking but I like what I'm hearing. Yes, I did work hard for these guns.

[ He gives a little flex. If you've got it, flaunt it!!

But the guy somewhere in front of him doesn't seem to feel the same way. ] Whoa. Okay. Tense. For the record, I happen to think those sunflowers have a point.

[ You do look like the cool, rugged type, Jotaro! ]

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[Jotaro questions the judgment of anyone who can be so easily charmed by a bunch of chatty rabbit food, but some of his best friends are idiots so you know what? He'll go with it.]

They should keep their points to themselves, I hear enough shallow bullshit at home. ["You care so much about your family!" a flower coos just then, as if deliberately dismantling his super witty comeback, and Jotaro pulls out his cigarettes and lighter to channel his irritation into something other than violence.]

[lavabend]

[ That's fine, because his judgement has never been that great. ]

Really? I don't think it's like that. [ But how do you know if a compliment is shallow or isn't? He certainly can't tell. Bolin just takes any compliment that comes his way, because he doesn't get many. ]

I've never seen someone so irritated by nice words.

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[This guy is either the most innocent person in the world or real good at faking it. Since Jotaro hasn't yet seen anything to set off his Enemy Stand User alarm, he assumes the first and takes pity on him.]

A lot of people will tell you whatever they think makes you happy if it'll get them what they want. At least if they're insulting me I know they're just an asshole. [Aw, how cynical. He taps out a cigarette and puts the rest of the pack away as he talks, waiting until he's done talking to stick the filtered end between his lips and light up; he doesn't want to be completely rude.]

[lavabend]

Okay. But, counterpoint: They could just be saying those things because it's how they really feel. I'd rather have someone say something nice about me than tell me I'm stupid to my face.

[ Which happens more often than he would like, and makes him sad? Being told he's got a nice bod is a much better experience. Hmm, Bolin doesn't like the smoke too much but he's too nice to outwardly show it. ]

What could a bunch of flowers possibly want from us anyway?

[fivefingerdeathpunch]

[Aw, look at him, expecting the best out of people. Jotaro sighs smoke, turning his head so he doesn't give this poor giant child as big a dose of lung cancer as he could.]

Could be a trap, could be a freaky magic way to get help pollinating. The way this place looks, it's hard to be sure. Unless all this gray looks normal to you?