test drive meme

[airlockedmods]

Since we know a lot of people are ready and eager to start playing around in this setting, welcome to the official Airlocked Test Drive! For this test drive, we do have a posting format:

In the header of your comment, put your Character's Name and their Champion title. You don't have to put in the canon if you don't want, but you can if you feel the need.

And the guidelines we ask you to follow are, please try to include at least one prompt in your top-level to reply to, and if you make a top-level try to tag out to at least one other person. We want everyone to get a chance to give their choices a fair shake, after all.

Here are some examples to get you started:

A - Arrival
You wake up in a bed that's not your own, in a shiny chrome room that has bright fluorescent lights that light up along the floor as soon as your feet hit it and glowing sconces on the walls. Whether it's much different from what you're used to or not different at all, it's time to figure out where you are and more importantly, whether you're alone.

B - Mealtime
Well sweet, at least there's a cafeteria! But wait, it seems like there's only hot food during certain times of day. The rest of the time if you go foraging in the kitchen you can find weird silver packages with the name of food on the side that...definitely don't seem big enough to hold the food in question. If you open it up, it seems oddly dry...

C - Zero G
A zero gravity room! Awesome! The walls and floor are textured to give you something to hang onto to crawl across back to the control panel, but if you're floating in the middle of the room you might need someone to give you a push.

D - Holo Deck
A room where all your dreams come true. Kind of. In a photorealistic display of light and sound.

E - Anything else!
Or Create your own!

This is not an official reserve, nor does it guarantee a slot in the game, but if you do choose to app a character that you test drove, you can use two minimum 20-comment threads or one minimum 40-comment thread (so at least 20 total comments from your character) in place of writing a sample. So have fun with it!

Comments

[cameupshort]

That doesn't sound like any standard I've heard of. And what does blood have to do with the date?

[misanthropicprinciple]

Nothing! That's what I'm...

[S I G H.]

I think we must be from very different places, bud.

[serrata]

That's one way of getting it in your stomach a little quicker.

[ were you expecting horror. a lecture about proper eating, perhaps.

Nope. Yuuri's just watching him with a bemused smile on her face as she peers somewhat suspiciously at her own freeze-dried meal. It claims on the packet to be wagyu but you'll forgive her for not immediately trusting the weird dehydrated space food. ]

Does it even taste that much different dry?

[misanthropicprinciple]

Mmh...

[Hold on, hold on. He's chewing. He raises a hand for Yuuri to wait, and then, when the abominable bite has been swallowed, he reports:]

Dunno. I don't have a control sandwich for a proper scientific comparison. [With a considering hum, he tries another, smaller bite.] Off the cuff, I'd say, yeah, a little? I mean, obviously these meals have been salted to hell and back to get here. But probably mostly it's a difference of texture.

d

[serrata]

[ ... whyyyyy does she keep running into unsettling shit in the holo deck. Is this place cursed. It has to be cursed.

She hovers a little awkwardly at the entrance like she's not sure just what she'll find inside but... who else is here on the station except her fellow Champions?

So. ]

... are you alright? I can hear you from all the way over here. You're not hurt, are you?

[tacomeme]

[There's a small muffled yelp of surprise inside, then a familiar voice calling out- though gummed up and rough. Like someone that's been crying.]

I'm fine. Get outta here.

[serrata]

[ ... ah, yes. it's Mai. she sort of asked for that one. ]

No, I meant... what's all this? The school and um...

[ she looks around, a little uncomfortable. it's just the holodeck after all it's not like anything can hurt her here. but. old habits are hard to shake, especially in the murdercan. ]

Is this your school?

[serrata]

You don't sound fine.

[ She takes that as her cue to walk into the room instead of leaving and she squints into the darkness as she follows his voice. You can't hide Takumi. You're gonna get supported and cared for. ]

What are you lurking in here for?

[serrata]

That makes two of us.

[ She's a bit worried that maybe the prying is a little rude -- she doesn't want to turn Angel off her meal so she just tilts her head and sets a hand on top of the back of the chair opposite her at the table. ]

Would you mind if I joined you, then?

[tacomeme]

[Excuse You he didn't ask for this]

I'm not lurking! I just... n-needed to be alone!

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai nods, but stops. Suddenly, the presence at the end of the hall shifts, and she's bolting towards it with her plastic sword. Something invisible barrels forward, windows breaking as it moves, and she slashes deep at it, even though she can't see anything but a slight disturbance of light.

The thing, whatever it was, bursts into sparkles and fades away. Mai stops and turns to walk back to Yuuri, breathing to calm herself down.]

Yes. It's my school.

[goteachother]

[Pressing her lips together in a thoughtful frown.]

I s'pose the only things I can do are the stuff I don' need my wand for. I mean, I probably make thirty cups a coffee a day at work so... I could do this in my sleep.

[serrata]

[ you do realize the more upset you sound, the less inclined she is to take it at face value that you are, in fact, okay takumi. have you learned nothing. ]

Wouldn't your room be better for that than in here? You know how often people come wandering in to use it.

[ you know, like she did. ]

... I'm not trying to pry, though. I just want to make sure you're alright.

[tacomeme]

...

[He can't deny that. He's caught.]

I woke up here.

[serrata]

[ Even though she knows nothing in this room can hurt them, Yuuri is still in the verge of bolting for the door and getting the hell out of dodge when she realizes something is charging at them. She forces herself to stand her guard but she still flinches and takes a quick step back before Mai destroys or disrupts the... whatever it was.

She can't hide her expression of shock when Mai turns to face her and she can't stop herself babbling a bit before she can come up with a more coherent response. ]

I... wh...

[ okay. just. give her a second. ]

W--was that from your school as well?

[serrata]

[ ... okay she wasn't expecting that.

She squints through the dark again and... aaah, there's Takumi. She makes her way towards him, taking her steps slow so she doesn't spook him by looming out of the dark all of a sudden. ]

... When you put it like that, I take it you didn't mean to wake up here, then.

Did you sleepwalk?

[tacomeme]

..yeah. It happens sometimes.

['When I'm stressed' is left unsaid]

I think I pulled up something on the machine in my sleep.

[serrata]

Hm.

[ That gets a considering little noise from her as she peers down at the beef she's been inspecting.

...

still inspecting.

...

welp. you only live once. at least she has a witness in case she drops dead and her body needs investigating. She takes a bite of the dehydrated wagyu and... makes a bit of a face. It definitely loses something without the texture but it's not as bad as she was expecting.

She makes herself swallow it but her face doesn't unscrunch. ]

It's definitely... edible. Which I suppose is good if we ever have to conserve water for whatever reason. Dry beef is one thing, but this...

[serrata]

Ah.

[ Now she gets the ragged breathing. ]

I'd say we should be used to waking up in unexpected places by now but that might be a bit of a tasteless joke considering the circumstances...

[ there's a long pause, like she's trying to feel him out and work out how much would be overstepping her bounds. ]

Do you need to talk about it?

[tacomeme]

No.

[Said too fast and too hard]

... you can stay if you want though.

[please stay]

[serrata]

[ Mhhm. That's what she thought. ]

Should we turn it on? Just so it's not so dark and quiet in here. A change of scenery might be nice.

[ especially if it's a change away from whatever he was dreaming about that got him into such a state. ]

[tacomeme]

If you want.

[in the dark it's impossible to see his face well, but he hides it in his knees regardless]

...maybe someplace from your realm?

[serrata]

... That might be nice.

[ If she can get this right, anyway. There's a reason she hasn't used the holodeck to 'visit' home like the others have.

She slowly sits herself down on the floor next to him taking the time to try and remember the right school and the right garden. It takes a moment but eventually the room shimmers into life and the two of them are sat on the Megurigaoka High School's rooftop garden.

Yuuri's quiet for a moment but when the sound of chatter and shrieking comes filtering up from the grounds below she gives a small smile. ]

... There. Or close enough, anyway.

[ there's no zombies so she supposes she loses some points for accuracy. ]

The school I used to go to... our gardening club had free reign over this garden. We used to grow whatever we'd like... as long as we could actually get it to start taking root, of course.

[tacomeme]

[The vegetables aren't that strange to him- but the building and the foggy, indistinct signs of modern civilization in the distance are a bit much for him to take in. He's seen glimpses in other people's holograms and books but... right now, with his mind so raw, he doesn't have the reserves to spare for taking it in.

So he focuses on the plants]

Oh, you're in schooling for farming?

[it wasn't so different from the people Mikoto would send to help farmers learn new techniques. Just on a larger scale! How clever]

[serrata]

[ That gets a laugh. ]

For everything, really. The gardening club was just an after-school activity but some of the other girls were so serious about it. I think they were planning to go to school for farming once they graduated.

It was only really ever a hobby for me, though. I enjoyed it but I don't think I ever saw myself making a life out of it.