baby you can drive my car

[rapturemod]

It's anticipated. It's expected. We're all about expectations, aren't we? Sort of? Maybe? Regardless, it's the first official

TEST DRIVE MEME

 

You probably know the drill by now. If you don't, here's a quick rundown: test drive memes are a game's way of gauging interest and such. It's a way to play around in the environment without the commitment of apping, maybe see how well that character you're considering gels with the setting. This one will be open indefinitely, or at least until further notice. You don't need to be apped to the game to test drive a character, or even reserved, or even want to reserve. However, if your interest is indeed piqued, reserves are thisaway, applications thataway.

As of this writing, we don't consider anything that happens in the TDM canon unless you'd like to transfer any threads that happen here to the main comms (provided they don't interfere with pre-established game events, of course). TDM threads are just a way to get a feel for a game, or in case you need that pesky writing sample for an app in progress. We don't recommend you do a standard intro post, however - save that for the game proper!

We don't have a set entry date for the game proper just yet. Once we accumulate some interest, we'll be sure to let you know!

Some resources we recommend that you check out if interest continues to abound:

Cast | Setting | Rules & FAQ | Locations

PROMPTS:

i. do you hear the people sing?
You've heard the rumors circulating about Atlas and his bandits for months. Even the upper echelons of Rapture's high society were having trouble burying their concern under the careful veneer of professionalism. What you didn't expect was an open attack. You'd just been passing by, but the poor souls who lived and shopped and made their living on this street have just found their entire livelihood set aflame. People are saying it's a bombing, while others protest that it must have been something down in maintenance.

Right now, it doesn't really matter one way or the other. The homes and storefronts have been reduced to sheeting flame as hairline cracks go cobwebbing up the glass, the only thing separating the city from a watery grave. Whether you choose to get the hell out of dodge or help the wailing survivors is up to you, but regardless of what you choose to do, this section of Rapture is rapidly coming apart at the seams.
 

ii. who's your daddy?
You've no clue whose bright idea it was to tail the Little Sister. It might have been some gang of spliced-up nobodies thirsty for some extra ADAM. It might have been your best friend's idiot plan. Hell, it might have even been yours. All you know is that no matter how appealing the thought seemed at the time, you and yours are in for a world of hurt. The Little Sister just had to shriek once and her armored protector came barreling into the scene, drill humming to life with a sinister whine. Guilty as charged or caught in the crossfire, you're in for the fight of your life with a Big Daddy, one of the most dangerous things in Rapture. Good luck.
 

iii. a part of the masterpiece

Fort Frolic, they say, is the hub for creative artistry. Sander Cohen is either a wildly inspired artistic genius or a madman depending on who you ask, but the alcohol runs the same no matter how you slice it. For tonight, the Fort is yours to enjoy at your leisure. Take a gander, gamble everything you've got, have a drink, maybe sit in for a show. The only thing Cohen loves more than his exclusivity is rampant attention, and tonight he's on full display. He's even torturing - er, entertaining a lucky pair of dancers in Fleet Hall! Don't mind the wires threaded in and out of their clothing, doubtless unspooled over all those important parts of the nervous system and ready to unleash a burst of fatal electricity at a moment's notice. They've got to be just for show.

One thing is certain about the possibly-deranged Sander Cohen, after all: he certainly keeps you on your toes!
 

iv. wild card! make up your own scenario

We prefer third-person, present tense prose, but if you're just in it for the fun you can write in whatever floats your pontoon. Have fun!
 

Comments

Lapis Lazuli | Steven Universe

[phthalo]

[iv]

She never believed in Earth. She had just wanted to leave. But she knows the sea inside and out, the pattern of the schools of fish and the reflective silver ripple of their scales.

Her hands pull into fists at her sides. She cannot bend or shape the water here. Something - something impossible is preventing it. Once the sea had been her only hope, and now it chains her here, at the bottom of Earth's ocean, alone and surrounded by humans.

Perhaps that's suitable. Lapis wraps her arms around herself. She made the choice to anchor herself in the middle of the ocean before. This is hardly any different.

Looking longingly into the sea will hardly bring her any satisfaction. There's one thing that still she may try.

Lapis closes her eyes. On her back, her gem assumes a luminous glow, its blue radiance shifting into the fluid shape of wings. She flaps them once, delighted, and, without hesitation, launches herself into a low glide through the city.

[johnny_truant]

He's been pretty sure he's seeing things all day, and that's normal, isn't it. When the small blue woman floats past him on wings, he watches her for a second or two, taking a nice slow drag on his cigarette before shuffling after her, following her.

An angel with wings made of water. That sounds like something someone would ask for in ink. Maybe on their back. Shoulder blades. Where people like to get wing art.

He'd never be able to draw something so lovely.

He stops a little beneath her, looking up.

"Are you real?" he asks softly.

[phthalo]

He's the first human to stop and address her directly. Many of them have not bothered to look up, and the rest seem to be accustomed to strange sights. She caught one of them murmuring something about wanting to get his hands on whatever she's taking, but whatever myriad topics humans may chatter about is hardly her concern.

She looks down at the human and touches down lightly, wings still outspread. He doesn't look very threatening, but neither does Lapis. She knows more than anyone how appearances can be the most cunning form of deception. On the ground, she is barely taller than him.

"Yes," she says skeptically. "Why wouldn't I be?"

[johnny_truant]

He shrugs affably, tilting his head to look at her. She's very... blue, and luminous, and probably not human. That's okay. She talks back, at least.

"Lots of stuff lives in my head," he says. "Hard to know the difference." He blows smoke away from her. "What's your name?"

[phthalo]

She doesn't really know what to make of that. 'Lives in his head.' It sounds like a very bizarre affliction, though, granted, Lapis wouldn't know. It could be perfectly commonplace where humans are concerned. She never cared to study many of them closely.

"Lapis," she says. "Lapis Lazuli. You're a human."

She says it seamlessly, with barely a breath between her introduction and that flat observation.

[johnny_truant]

"Yeah," he says. "Johnny Truant."

What the hell. Nobody'll know him here. He doesn't even know where 'here' is.

"Lapis Lazuli, isn't that like a... gemstone?" Not really his forte, but he's heard it somewhere. "What are you?"

He's heard that somewhere too. Lots of places. Usually directed at him. 'Just a piece of shit,' is his stock answer, but here he is, asking and meaning it. Rude question but maybe she won't mind.

[phthalo]

"I'm a gem," she says, her tone one of withering disapproval. He just said it aloud, after all. True, she didn't expect humans here to be familiar with her, much less welcoming. Thus far this one's been fairly tame, but even a lukewarm attitude can change in a heartbeat.

She doesn't need to ask what he is. He's a human, and a curious one, and he doesn't concern her. She moves on to a more pertinent topic.

"Do you know any way out of this place?"

[johnny_truant]

"Uh. Oh." Got it in one, did he? Okay then. Wasn't expecting that, but what was he expecting? A gemstone given life. After all the shit he's read, dreamed, and seen, that's barely anything to swallow.

"I don't, sorry." He shrugs again. "I mean, I don't know a way that doesn't involve drowning. Or there's like... tunnels and things, if you just want to get to another part of the city."

[phthalo]

She hums her acknowledgement, a low, displeased sound. There may be a way out of the city, a way into the water - but without her powers over the sea, she may be just as susceptible to drowning as any human. The thought is both sobering and deeply unnerving.

"I just wanted to go home," she mutters, mostly to herself. "This place, this planet - I don't belong here."

[johnny_truant]

Planet, huh. So she's a gem and an alien and some kind of angel. Sure why not.

Her obvious sadness plucks at something deeply buried in his smoke-blackened heart. He looks at her for a moment, then sighs, drops the cigarette butt, and crushes it gently beneath his shoe.

"I'm sorry," he says. "Neither do I. I don't belong anywhere."

And he doesn't have a home to go back to. Not that she needs his sob story.

"Long as we're stuck here," he says, "you wanna go somewhere nicer than this?" Nothing's free here, and he doesn't have much money, but there's other ways in. "You ever been to Arcadia?"

[phthalo]

"I don't know what that is." She shakes her head, her expression closed. She can think of plenty of places that would be objectively nicer than here - it would hardly be difficult to find one.

He says he doesn't belong here, or anywhere. Is he just as lost as she? She'd have no way to know, and she doesn't entirely know how to parse it. This is still Earth. This is his planet, surely?

[johnny_truant]

"It's like a forest, kind of," he says. "You wanna see?" He starts moving toward the Bathysphere station, motioning for her to follow.

It would be just as well if she chose not to come. Probably better for her in the end. Probably best if he just left her alone.

But she's lost, she's lonely, she's strange and beautiful and blue.

It's too perfect.

[phthalo]

A forest? Here? The only forests that should be here have to be the ones made from coral, the reefs that line the ocean floor. She follows, largely out of a sense of doubt than anything else.

The little metal-and-glass globe labeled BATHYSPHERE looks cramped and uncomfortable, even if the seats are lined with rich red velvet. She perches on one of them uncertainly as the door groans shut. Her shoulders tense. The sensation of being contained doesn't agree with her. Rather, she doesn't agree with it.

"What kind of forest?" she asks skeptically.

[spectrolite]

Spectrolite wanders the city, trying to acclimate to her strange new surroundings. She hadn't expected to get trapped in an underwater city, but she isn't too disturbed with it. It was something new at least.

"This place isn't so bad," she thinks. She looks out at the city, glowing blue with artificial light, then shifts her view to the black abyss above her. Hm. No sky, no sunlight, no birds.

"But then again it's not that great either," she thinks.

She was about to move on when something caught her eye. She catches a glimpse of figure glides over a building about half a block away. Spectrolite quickly climbs up the staircase to the top of the building they were on, eager to see what that thing was.

She sees the figure once she reaches the roof. It looks like a person, except that they are blue and, well, flying towards her. She waves at the girl, motioning for her to land.

[phthalo]

Humans. That's about all she gleans from her first pass around this section of the city. Humans. She's not eager to cross the bulkheads into other parts of the city, no matter what they may promise. The only thing worse than being deprived of her ability to shape the water is being trapped in some cold metal room, helpless to claw her way free.

Then something impossible happens.

She almost doesn't believe it. Here? Here? It looks like another gem. She banks easily, touching down in front of her.

"Are you another gem?" she hazards, eyeing her warily.

[spectrolite]

"Oh, uh, ya I am," she says, taken aback by how fast she figured it out. Although its not too hard to figure out if someone knows what they're looking for. The pale blue skin and orange eyes certainly do help.

"I take it you're a gem too?" she asks. She thinks she knows the answer already, but it is rude to assume.

[phthalo]

"Yes." She looks the other gem up and down speculatively. She doesn't recognize her - but then, so much time had gone by since she last was home. So much had changed. Anything could have taken place in that span of time.

She has no idea what assumptions are safe to make. She feels out of touch, obsolete, even with that which she should have the utmost familiarity.

"I'm Lapis," she says. "Lapis Lazuli."

It hasn't escaped her that an introduction might be unwise. It might betray her intentions. But this is the first taste of home she's gotten since arriving here. Maybe it would be best.

[spectrolite]

"Spectrolite," she responds. She notices the other gem looking her over and stands there a bit awkwardly, though she doesn't blame her. It's better to be safe than sorry, especially with strangers.

"Um, I'm new here," she says, gesturing towards the glowing city. "Is this a nice place?"

[phthalo]

Lapis snorts, folding her arms around herself.

"Maybe," she says, tone dry, "if you're fond of humans. There's no way out. No way home."

She turns away. The name doesn't sound familiar. She really has been gone a long time.

"Something's pulling people in here," she explains quietly, almost to herself. "People - and gems."

[spectrolite]

Spectrolite's brow furrows as she listens to Lapis. Why would she want to go to the surface if she hates humans? Perhaps she lives somewhere secluded. Or maybe... No, no. Gems from Homeworld haven't come to Earth in millennia.

Her chest tightens a little when Lapis explains what has been happening. She had regenerated in the sea, thought the current had pulled her away from land. Had something else brought her here? There's a pause before she starts talking.

"W-well we got in here somehow, right?" she stammers, looking at the ground thinking. "So there must be some way to leave."

[phthalo]

"That's what I thought." She looks up to the high ceiling of the entrance hall for whatever section of the city she's in. The glass is thick, the view of the ocean distorted and rippled. "But I don't know what it is. I just arrived here. It shouldn't have been possible."

It shouldn't have been. There's no reason to disclose the minutiae of that - there's no indication of whether Spectrolite is aligned with Homeworld, if she's even familiar with Jasper, but she can't afford to take that risk. But she'd been fused. She'd been holding everything of herself into that shape, the weight of the ocean yoked over Malachite's shoulders. And then, abruptly, without any warning whatsoever - she's here.

She didn't even know a city could exist in Earth's ocean. Even now that she's seen the living proof of it, she wants nothing more than to leave.

[spectrolite]

She looks up at the ceiling when Lapis does, scanning it for structural flaws or instability. It looked very well made. And tough. Her jaw clenched as she looked back down.

"I don't suppose breaking down the walls is an option," she said with a frown. "How many people live here anyway? Or gems?"

[phthalo]

"I haven't seen enough to count. You're the first other gem I've seen." The rest of the place seems to be populated entirely by humans - though not any humans she's seen. Some demonstrate the sort of powers she'd always assumed were exclusive to gems: shooting fire from their fingertips, moving things without touching them. Even her cursory surveillance of the city has revealed more unsettling ephemera she's not certain she wants to confront.

Even less does she want to admit her own discomfort, but the fact remains that much of her power is inexplicably gone, seemingly dissolved into the ether.

[spectrolite]

"Hmm," she says, thinking. "Well, I mean... we could always try to break through the walls." There is a beat of silence before she quickly adds, "I mean, I like humans, but if there aren't that many here then no one would ever know about them."

She already fells bad about suggesting it, but she does not want to be trapped down here, and from the sound of it neither does Lapis. They wouldn't die if they broke the dome and this seems like their best chance at getting out of here. But breaking the dome is a whole other problem to deal with. She hopes Lapis is a stronger gem than she is, otherwise there might truly be no way out.

[phthalo]

She finds herself agreeing despite the pang of guilt that clenches deep in her chest. Before any of it, she would have no qualms with consigning these humans to their watery fate, no matter how many of them there may be. But since discovering Steven she's found herself - less willing.

"We could," she says, unable to keep the note of resignation from her voice. She's loathe to admit it, but - "but this place - it's done something to me. I used to be stronger than this."

It's worse, almost, than her gem being cracked. At least then her discomfort and her failure had a source, something she could fix or heal. Here, there is no indication of who or what may have sapped her power from her. It's simply gone.