// TEST DRIVE MEME_

[eluviomods]

// TEST DRIVE_ Welcome to Eluvio's Test Drive Meme! Whether you'd like to try out a character in the setting, get some samples for your application, or just mess around and have fun, this is the place to do it. If you're getting samples together, remember that you need at least four comments made by you in the thread for it to count. Pick any of the scenarios below or make up any of your own. This is space! There are infinite worlds and possibilities. If you'd like to thread out hijacking a ship, do it! If you'd like to get stuck on a remote planet with only one other person for company, do it! Take the wheel and guide your own adventure! The most important thing is to have fun! ➣ SCENARIO 001. It's a normal day aboard the Eluvio. Maybe you're on your way to work. Maybe you're hanging out with friends. You can even be up to nefarious misdeeds. Whatever the case, you're having a relatively uneventful day. And then you see it. From a distance, it looks like a ball of fur. Up close, it looks like a ball of fur. If you touch it, it will chitter at you. It will vibrate and purr. Where this is coming from is anyone's guess because even if you turn it over, there's nothing to see but more fur. It's pretty harmless, though. Leave it there. Take it with you. The choice is yours. As you continue about your day, you'll begin to notice more of these little furballs. On the ground. Sitting on tables. Here and there at random intervals. By the end of the day, they're fucking everywhere. Good luck! If you get overwhelmed, maybe go talk to that bald starship captain who showed up last week. He might know something about the furry invaders. ➣ SCENARIO 002. Congratulations! You've been selected to be part of the team being sent down to the planet around which the fleet is currently orbiting. Initial scans of the surface show that oxygen is in abundance, temperatures support carbon-based life-forms, and there aren't any large quantities of poisonous gases that might pose problems. Your mission is to secure a landing site, set up a camp, and locate edible flora and fauna. Stores aboard ship are running a bit low on food and it's projected to be another three weeks before the fleet reaches a station large enough to replenish supplies. Once identified, larger parties will be sent to the surface to help hunt and gather. The good news is, scans show fruits, vegetables, and animals are plentiful. The bad news is that once your ship lands on the planet, everything goes sideways. An unexpected ion storm sweeps through the solar system, shorting out communications between the fleet and the team. It wreaks havoc with the electronics planet-side too, temporarily shorting out the smaller craft's navigational array. Until it passes, about six standard days, you're stuck down there. And the bountiful harvest isn't without its dangers. Even the most docile looking animal will attack. Sampling the fruits and vegetables will cause temporary paralysis, hallucinations, and psychosis. Inhaling pollen will bring out a person's baser instincts. The planet itself is predatory, you see. Everything on it has evolved to entice visitors from nearby systems and kill them. And the fleet's unwittingly taken the bait. ➣ SCENARIO 003. It's been a rough day. Everything's going wrong. Machines are breaking down everywhere. The owner of your favorite business wasn't there today and the store was closed when you stopped by to pick something up. A coworker didn't show up for work, leaving you with an interested workload. And now it feels like you're being watched. It started about ten minutes ago, but whenever you turn to look, there's no one there. The feeling doesn't go away, though. No matter where you are, it feels like eyes are watching. Did you hear something? A quiet, scuffling scratching sound just for a second? Maybe you did. Maybe you didn't. But it came from the misshapen monstrosity that just punched a hole through the bulkhead right beside you. The creature makes a low, wet gargling noises and darts toward you: six to seven feet tall, vaguely humanoid, and covered in strange growths over which is stretched bubbling grayish-brown skin. Maybe you notice tatters of familiar clothing hanging off of it. Or there's enough left of its eyes to recognize the shape and color. Or maybe something about the noises it's making sound familiar. It's your missing coworker and it looks like the unfortunate soul ran afoul of that weird slimy creature the science team brought back from that jungle planet a month ago. The good news: you can kill it. The bad news: it can kill you. It's fast, it's hungry, and it reproduces at an alarming rate. A single bite can transfer the parasites in its bloodstream to you. Then you'll be just like your buddy. And that shop owner you like so much. And all of the people on Level 12. And... ➣ SCENARIO 004. You're welcomed and encouraged to make up your own scenarios. As you can see, there will be a wide variety of the types of things your character will encounter in this game. So feel free to make your starters as horrific, sexy, lighthearted, action-packed, or slice of life as you'd like. Make up a planet, make up a location on the Eluvio, make up a ship in the fleet, fight off a zombie alien invasion, NPC Captain Picard, there's no limit to what you can do on the TDM.

Comments

[bird_boy]

[ Tobias had been taller than Marco when he was a human - but now, looming over him like he is, Marco is a giant. He seems impossibly big and Tobias's instincts are telling him to get away, to flip over and fly off as fast as he can. It's wrong, for a bird to be lying with its wings to the ground, belly facing the sky. But at least he has his talons, his sharp hooked beak. He would grab and bite and try to fend off death for as long as-

But then something in his brain shifts, the fog clears enough for him to recognize that this is Marco. His friend. ]

< It was the shrew. It must've just eaten some of the berries when I- >

[ As Marco reaches towards him to clear away some of the ferns and ask if he can pick him up, Tobias feels a stab of shame. He knows that Marco means well, but he doesn't want to be picked up. Doesn't want to be treated like some kind of helpless pet. He reaches out with his talons, glad that his legs at least are still working fine even if his wings are not. He snags at the fabric of Marco's sleeve and hauls himself out of the bush. There's some wobbling and pathetic flapping, but he manages to scrabble his way upright and then he is side-stepping his way up Marco's arm, onto his shoulder, where he hunkers down.

Tobias' body is shaking, feathers wet and puffed up, but he tells himself it is entirely because of the berries and no other reason. He digs his talons in as tightly as he dares, grateful that Marco's shirt is thick enough to keep him from scratching his shoulder.

He hunches there, shivering and catching his breath. He knows he should say thank you to Marco, but the words won't seem to come. It's just so deeply embarrassing. He and Marco have saved each other's lives more times than either can count, but that was in battle. Just falling out of a tree and getting tangled up is so much worse... ]

< If we go to camp I can- >

[ But Tobias doesn't have time to finish that thought. In the corner of his vision it happens again; that flash of long blond hair, just for an instant. Tobias whips his head around, staring hard. ]

< Did you see that? >

[ He tightens his grip on Marco's shoulder, lifting his head and trying to look hard through the gloom, to watch for any more movement. ]

< I think it's- >

[ He stops himself a split second before he says Rachel. ]

[brightline]

[Tobias doesn't answer, but Marco doesn't really need him to. It isn't like he really even needs an answer, because even if Tobias' silent insistence on righting himself on his own strength wasn't enough, Marco knows all too well how humiliating it is to take a handout when you're feeling vulnerable. Weak. It's bad enough he's seeing Tobias right now, let alone offering to pick him up, even if he only meant it as a worst case scenario. So instead, when Tobias starts plucking at the fabric of his shirt, yanking at it to get the leverage to right himself, Marco just looks fastidiously in the other direction, tenses the muscles in his arm to give Tobias something solid to grab onto, doesn't wince or complain when Tobias' sharp talons cut straight through his shirt like knives and the tips of them press uncomfortably into his skin.]

Yeah, those berries are a trip, man. Definitely do not recommend, from personal experience. You're just lucky none of the future roadkill here eats the weird spotty apples because those are killer. I completely lost my filter, I was saying every word that went through my head, which is actually the worst. The absolute worst...

[He goes on for a while, complaining loudly about the embarrassing things he'd said, mostly to make Tobias feel better about being a wet, trembling bird who just had to crawl out of some probably-toxic ferns. There's zero expectation of a thank you, because Marco wouldn't be able to say it himself - that's a blank he can fill in himself, barely even mentally acknowledges. He's about to answer Tobias about going back to camp when he feels the hawk's head jerk around and he's immediately following Tobias' line of sight.]

I didn't see anything, but your vision's better than mine. If you saw it, it's probably there. You wanna go investigate?

[And it isn't just because he believes what he's saying, but also because he wants to reinforce that a little falling out of a tree and flailing isn't enough to shake his confidence in Tobias' surveillance skills.]

[bird_boy]

[ If he were feeling more himself, Tobias would probably have made some remark about the apples having no effect on Marco whatsoever because he already has no filter. It was the sort of teasing remark that Rachel would have made. Tobias had always been a little jealous of it: the way Marco and her could trade insults and lightning-quick comebacks, make each other laugh even in the midst of battle and despair and extreme stress. He could get a dig in now and then but he'd never been as fast as her, never as clever or as funny.

Some days he misses her so much he can barely stand it.

He turns his gaze in the direction where he thought he saw the blond hair and directs: ]

<That way, between those two big trees, with the vines.>

[ He holds on tight as Marco starts to walk in the direction he indicated, trying to ignore how dizzy he feels, and how fast his heart is still beating even though he is comparatively safe perched on Marco's shoulder. There are a few minutes of tense silence, in which Tobias keeps looking around, thinking he hears rustling in the leaves, that he sees something in the shadows.

The next time that flash of light appears he doesn't think twice. Doesn't stop to think about how impossible it is. Instead, desperate and hopeful, in shared thought speak he says: ]

<Rachel!>

[brightline]

[Marco was expecting an insult on that one, but it doesn't come, which is his second clue that Tobias isn't in a real great place right now. Tobias might not be the most witty of the group, but he gets in some really good burns sometimes, especially since they'd hung out together for so long after Marco faked his death and they got to know each other better. And he'd left himself wide open for that one.

Instead, Tobias just turns his head back and forth, and then tells him where to go.

With a little sigh, Marco starts moving, biting the inside of his lip when Tobias' claws dig through fabric and into skin, piercing through it. He can feel the blood welling a little, but he ignores it. He's had worse. A lot worse. Enough that Tobias' talons are little more than a pinprick.

He's looking around as much as Tobias is, eyes scanning the bushes around them, until suddenly Tobias is jerking a little, calling out for Rachel in open thought-speak, and suddenly Marco realizes with a sickening jolt what's happening. Tobias is hallucinating. And of course, of course he'd be hallucinating her.

It's stupid, but his throat feels tight suddenly, his stomach clenches, his heart is pounding, and his eyes feel hot. But he stays still for a moment, his hands closing into fists, his teeth closing on his lip. And he doesn't know if the emotion is more wishing that it actually was Rachel out here, or feeling sorry for Tobias. Not pity, but empathy.

Marco knows how it feels to lose someone.]

Man... [His voice is soft. Softer than he wishes it were.] ...I didn't see her.

[bird_boy]

[ Tobias wants to fly, to launch himself from Marco's shoulder and go after her. His restlessness is obvious. He rustles his wings, readying himself for the takeoff, forgetting the other side-effects of the berries, just like he's forgotten that Rachel is long-dead, and even if she weren't, there is no reason she'd be here on this nameless planet. He wobbles but manages to catch his balance.

But why didn't she answer him? It isn't like her. He had called out to her, loud, a little desperate. For all she knew, he was being attacked by Taxxons. Why didn't she answer him? Was she too far away for his thought-speech to reach? ]

<She was there.>

[ There is conviction in his voice; he can tell something's weird about the way Marco is talking to him, responding to the situation, but Tobias is too distracted to focus on him much. His mind shuffles things around and grasps the most obvious explanation: Marco is probably suspicious of the situation. After all, nine times out of ten, Marco was going to respond in the most paranoid way possible. That is just his nature. ]

<C'mon, we gotta go after her, she's too far away to hear and who knows what kind of trouble she's getting into... >

[brightline]

[That confirms it - Marco doesn't like feeling pity any more than he likes being the object of it. It's definitely what he's feeling for Tobias, and it twists in his gut like some kind of illness, like he's on whatever berries Tobias got second-hand and they're making his stomach queasy.

Pushing the thought aside, he sets his jaw and tries to figure out how to respond without letting Tobias know how much this whole thing is bothering him. The last thing he wants is for Tobias to feel pitied, and Marco's jaw tenses as he tries to push it down until the pity is gone.]

Sure thing, man.

[It isn't pity that makes him humor Tobias, but something else. Empathy, maybe, though he wouldn't want to admit it. Some understanding of what Tobias has gone through. How often had he been going to school, walking down the street, and thought he'd seen his mother, after her 'death'? How many times had he wanted it so badly to be true?

So he moves, heading in the direction that Tobias indicates. Because dangerous planet be damned, hallucinations be damned, Animorphs can take care of themselves. And each other. They'll be okay.]

This way?

[bird_boy]

[ When Marco asks if he's going in the right direction still, Tobias is gripped with uncertainty. ]

< I don't know...>

[ He doesn't know. He'd seen her in the trees... but every direction looks the same to him. He can't seem to remember which way he'd come to get here, or distinguish between the separate patches of forest. He's still coherent enough to know that he ought to be able to tell. Navigating would be easier from high in the air, but Tobias can feel the weakness in his wings. It's taking all his concentration to grip Marco's shoulder and balance and not fall off ]

<Why aren't you complaining?>

[ Something is off. Marco is never this ready to just go along with things. And Marco is definitely never this quiet, even after he's been convinced of a plan. Even when he's messed up - too messed up for his terrible jokes - Marco still usually finds something to talk about.

Tobias turns his head from side to side. The plants are from an ecosystem he doesn't know. It's like an uncanny valley effect, but with nature. On the ship, at least, everything was obviously unfamiliar. But this place is just close enough to his own habitat back home to be creepy. ]

<Where are we, again?>