test drive meme 1.

[awashmods]

Her Pa committed suicide By biting off his head. Her mother saw her uncle's ghost And died of fright, she said. So her unpleasant habits Seem most curious to me, Because she seems to come from such A happy family.

Prompt 1: he forest looms as ever, colorless but not at all dead. The leaves are full, fluttering in the silence, but there's no scent to them, no color. The effect is eerily hard to navigate, almost like an optical illusion, leaves, branches and trunk blending together with the small path -- which already disappears and reappears at a whim. But even so... If you brave the path, it seems as though there is something leading you onwards. A trail of... something, crumbs, maybe, the same shade of colorless as everything else, almost impossible to see. Following those might be a bad idea -- your chances of getting lost, tangled in random underbrush, or wandering aimlessly for hours are pretty high... to say nothing of what you might encounter if you stray too far (hint: even the small, fuzzy things have nasty bites). Still, it's there, and if you follow them... eventually you will come to a small house. It's decrepit, falling apart and in shambles... do you really want to go inside? Perhaps armed with one of the many convenient tree branches that have probably smacked you thus far? Prompt 2: hould you enter the house, you'll be greeted with a creepy, creepy doorman. Aw, how cute! And in that doll's hand, there's...a message. On a slip of paper, it reads, simply and plainly: The more you take, the more you leave behind. Curious! (And yeah, you can destroy the doll. It's just a normal doll. You may even come across said doll already crushed by an intrepid explorer.) Of course, it's a riddle, and the answer's a warning -- the longer you walk around and about the house, the less you'll remember about yourself, until you forget why you were there and why you should leave, and who you are at all, doomed to wander forever. Or someone saves you, that's fine too. Prompt 3: roblem: There are no fresh eggs in the Town. Solution: Catch a feral chicken, and keep it for eggs. That seems simple enough, right? You're totally up for the task... right? But why do all of the animals look so strange in the forest? Mutated, with teeth, or wings that don't belong, or claws. That's... a chicken, right? Catching it will allow you to get some eggs, but that beak looks pretty nasty -- it might be harder than it looks. But you're intrepid and clever, right? Why not demonstrate your Chicken Wrangling Skills that won you the championship so many years ago? Or try to serenade the savage beast? Or wuss out and form a coalition with which you draw lots to see who has to do battle with the chicken? There's safety in numbers! But the prize will surely be worth a bit of blood loss and fowl-related trauma. Do it for the eggs. Prompt 4: here's a new quest on the forum today, and it looks awfully easy! It's listed simply as: Quest XXII. Talk to someone you've never met about their childhood. Quest will be completed when you have reached an acceptable level of knowledge. On the other hand, that's a little vague, isn't it... ? How will you even know when you've completed a quest like that? Still, it looks easy! Maybe go give it a try. You could respond to the forum post to try to find people, or just go on outside, go harass someone about their past. If you're lucky, you'll drag it out of them with very little hassle and it won't take you a good chunk of the day. If you're unlucky, that's what highly persistent stalking is for! But don't forget, you'll likely have to return the favor. And your new friend might not be the only one listening. 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 first 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! Important dates to remember are March 1st, 9 PM EST, when Reserves will open, and March 7th, 9 PM EST when Applications will open. Keep an eye out for it! 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. Thank you for your interest in Awash!

Comments

Minato Arisato | Persona 3

[messianic]

Prompt 1:

[Minato's a city boy.

Which means that creepy forest? Not exactly in his general grasp. He's wandering, hands shoved in his pocket and mp3 player and headphones around his neck, peering around thoughtfully. Hm...!!

Really, he's so distracted inspecting the weird, colorless trees that he doesn't even notice the small stream; he steps on a slick rock, and his heel slips right out from under him. Into the steam he goes with the tiniest of gasps and a far more unfortunate splash.

Oops.]

Prompt 3:

[Doing it for eggs seems reasonable to Minato. Eggs are delicious, and also they'll add some variety to a diet of like....berries and fish or what-have-you. It all seemed logical enough when he was signing up, but seeing the "chicken" now...

"""""Chicken""""", that is, he's starting to have some doubts.

He hesitates, hands in his pockets as the creature hisses at them, and then:]

Do you think it really lays eggs?

[Is that really the major concern here.]

three!

[subvassal]

[ Fun fact: Anri is small enough to crawl inside of a coop. Of course, feral cuccoos are far preferable to domestic, pliable chickens. Apparently. Stomach rumbling with hunger - a common thing for an orphan - she lingers a bit behind Minato, curious but a bit non-committal. (It's just how her face is.) ]

Um... If it's a rooster, it can't.

[ She's helping. ]

[messianic]

[She is helping.

Did you know that Minato is kind of... uncertain what to do about that information, in fact. All of the eggs he gets are from the supermarket...?]

Ah...

How can you tell if it is?

[subvassal]

I learned in school, um...

[ Silly Anri, no one learns anything academic at Raira. ]

"If it crows, it's a rooster. If it lays eggs, it's a hen."

[ Anri looks thoughtful, considering the implications of this fact. ]

Maybe we should see if we can get it to crow? That way, we'll know either way.

one!

[jokered]

[akira's much less of a city boy by upbringing, but it doesn't really mean he has that much of a fondness for creepy grey forests. not that it matters, he's here anyway, because much like a cat—he is curious and unable to resist the call of a little exploration. so he's off—and not quite expecting company.

headphoneless, he can hear the crunch of leaves nearby, and he's following that sound—whether he'll find friend or foe, he isn't sure. if it's the latter, he might be in some trouble; if the former, then it would probably be a good think to travel in a group, right? not knowing where the path could lead makes something like that possible. but when akira rounds past a pretty large tree, he spots two things just barely out of arm's reach—minato, looking distracted, and a stream with a slippery rock.

annnnnddd....

there he goes?

almost, but only because akira's swift enough to leap in and grab minato by the arm to keep him from breaking his face on some rocks.]

Whoa—careful, there.

[messianic]

[Minato was definitely expecting to possibly break his face there--but instead, he's caught! Which is kind of nice, actually, and a lack of pain is always a good thing.

He blinks, and then slowly straightens as Akira steadies him.]

...Thanks.

[Huh.]

I didn't realize it was slippery.

[Since like... it's not shiny? There's no color? Help.]

[jokered]

[that's pretty fair, he can't really fault minato for that when everything really does look so samey at first glance. he exhales a breath of relief, feeling at least that much for preventing minato from losing a battle to a rock.

he'll draw back once minato is steady, shoving his hands back into his pocket and nodding.]

Lesson learned. Keep a good look at the ground when we don't know what's here.

[since it's that hard to differential things. minato could probably stand to not get distracted, but he didn't see what was going on long enough to really be able to offer that kind of a warning.]

i

[appraiser]

[ Laughter sounds from behind him, soft and full of delight if Minato can hear it through those headphones of his. Ryoji picks his way towards the stream, careful to follow the bent grass up until footprints become a smear of a fall. He pauses there for all but a second before his shoes and socks come off, and he jumps right in, joining Minato in the water with a tentative wiggle of his toes and a widening smile as he picks his feet out of the water and splashes Minato's knees. ]

It's cold.

[ He says it like this is important, somehow. ]

[messianic]

[This is the usual thought process when it comes to Ryoji:

Ryoji, no.

Only one of them had to suffer through this stream nonsense, but then Ryoji's jumping in with reckless abandon, splashing Minato a bit with the water (he shields his mp3 player more than his head. Priorities and all).]

Ryoji... [...] It's very cold. [And very nature-y, and they don't even have dry socks.]

Let's get out of the water, okay?

[appraiser]

[ But what if: Ryoji, yes?

The water definitely is cold, so much so that his toes are quickly becoming numb from it. ...Yeah, maybe it's time to get out.

His own shoes and socks are safe and dry, half the pair in either hand, but he transfers one to the other so that he can offer a free one to help Minato up. ]

Here... What were you doing?

1

[spinatalltale]

[good people would help a poor guy out when he slips on a rock and falls into a stream]

[assholes-- like this girl, dressed to the nines in some fantastical jrpg costume, lying on her side on top of a floating guardian doll with her cheek in her palm-- just watch]

[and commentate]

My, what impressive form. I think that dive is worthy of a solid six point three.

[messianic]

[Par for the course, it's fine.]

Oh...thanks.

[Minato.

Stop.

He just...slowly pushes himself up, wringing out a sleeve as he tilts his head at her. Cosplayer...??]

What would I have to do to get a 10?

[spinatalltale]

A triple somersault back handspring aerial tuck flip double axle.

Twice.

In a row.

[yeah she just strung together a bunch of random terms, that is not actually a real thing]

[inyourlight]

Mmmmmm.

[Killua, meanwhile, is unfazed by this creature. It hisses. It looks weird. But he's seen weirder. Weird enough that it doesn't exactly even count under "weird," if he were to be completely honest. After all, his dad's pet dogs were twenty feet tall man-eating beasts with cat names. If those were cute pets, this thing (as long as it isn't an ant) is stuffed animal level.

That doesn't mean this isn't a drag though.]

Even if it does lay eggs, who knows if it's even edible? Maybe the egg's acidic. What if you crack the egg and lose your fingers or something?

[What if it's not even a chicken? It could totally be, like, an ant?]

Do you want to catch it?

[messianic]

[That's...also true. Minato pauses, tilting his head a little as he contemplates that possibility.

Hmmm...!! Acid eggs. That would... that would really suck.]

I guess we won't know until we try. [This is a terrible plan.] Do you think it's possible...?

If it really lays eggs, it'd be nice to have them--unless they're acid eggs. [Then it would suck. More.]

[inyourlight]

Only one way to find out. And yeah, it's possible -- easy!

[In fact, did you blink? Because in that blink of an eye, Killua's got the chicken thing cornered, picking it up by its feet, somehow, and dangling it in front of his face. It squawks and screams and struggles, but unfortunately for it, Killua's got a death grip.]

I guess we've gotta figure out if these things have genders and if it matters in egg-making.

1!

[darkduelist]

[And his fall is witnessed by this boy here. Yuto runs up to him with a worried frown on his face.]

...Are you hurt?

[He extends his hand to help him out of the cold water. Hopefully the other is not injured.]

[messianic]

Ah...thank you.

[Bless your soul, Yuto. Minato gratefully takes that hand, accepting the help up before he starts to wring out a sleeve half-heartedly.

It's cold...]

I'm okay. [No wounds here, only wet.] I guess I should've been paying more attention, but...

[It's so hard when everything looks the same...?]

[darkduelist]

[No wounds? That's good.

Yuto gives Minato an understanding look, before he casts a glance around.]

In a place like this you need to be extra careful... [He frowns, arms crossed over his chest.] ...But even then, I guess, an accident can still happen.

[This place is starting to give him a headache.]

3

[extrapolating]

[ They've been watching in silence for at least a bit, which is partially because Minato just seems like a fairly quiet person. Elizabeth goes along with that quiet without complaint, since there's not much you can say about the idea of hunting down chickens. At least... Until they actually see them. At that point, it's probably more of a stunned silence than anything.

By the time he speaks, Elizabeth's expression is twisted up in slight displeasure. She's having second thoughts about trying to catch it now, and his question just brings up another question for her. ]

Even if it does... Would you want to eat them?

[ If it looks as charming as the chicken itself... Maybe not... ]

[messianic]

[Maybe not.

Minato can appreciate anyone who doesn't mind silence; he really is a pretty quiet person, especially when faced with a task like this. But... her observation is not wrong, and he tilts his head, expression ever-so-slightly contemplative.]

I guess that depends on what they look like. ...And taste like.

[AN ADVENTUROUS SOUL... when it comes to food.]

We might be in over our heads a little with this task, though.

1

[imperialsun]

[Naoya's done his amount of required creepy crawling into forests but nothing this grey before. Where was the bright pink tree to talk to him?

When he hears a splash close by he runs towards the color before realizing it belonged to a boy who was more tripping than about to drown. Still, he gets close to make sure the other is fine.]

Are you alright?

[messianic]

[Oh, sup. Minato looks up from his unfortunate, soaked state, and tilts his head rather calmly, all things considered.]

I'm okay.

[HEAVING HIMSELF UP NOW and resignedly trying to squeeze water from his clothing.]

Sorry if I alarmed you, I didn't notice how slippery it was.

[bu773rfly]

[There's a sharp giggle. Two, in fact; one girlish and quiet, and one sort of odd and squeaky.

The squeaky one pipes up first, as the both of them pick their way over the bank with much more cautious steps - Wormmon lumping along cautiously but at a decent pace, Erika on tiptoes, grabbing onto branches as she goes, her total lack of athleticism on parade.] Hey, are you okay?

You have to pay more attention here. [That's the girl. She's not quite looking at Minato, heeding her own words and watching where she's going instead, but the corners of her mouth twitch a little with the remnants of that giggle.

(It's not that suffering is funny. Watching people inconvenience themselves? Peak humor.)]

It's just familiar enough to play mind tricks on you.

[messianic]

[What is that?

It's enough to distract Minato from his current situation in the stream, because really it's... (it's weird but also kind of cute...?) it kind of makes him think of something incredibly anime, as it lumps along.

Huh...]

Yeah... I'm okay. Thanks.

[He shifts his gaze to the girl when she speaks, tilting his head. There's a lot going on here, but as per usual with him, he's going to just sort of roll with it.]

Oh... yeah, you're right.

[Slowly, he pushes himself up, apparently unbothered by the way that she's pretty much laughing at him in a subtle sort of way. IT'S FINE.]

It's sort of like an illusion, the way things look like this. [Idly he's going to tidy his hair, even though he should probably worry about his soaked clothing. (Kind of a lost cause though.)]