// 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

agent carolina | red vs blue

[leaderboards]

scenario one

[ whatever this is, it's... kind of cute, actually. that's carolina's reaction to the first tribble she comes across and exactly the reason why she's carrying it around with her as she gets whatever she needs to done for the day. the trilling noises the little furball keeps making are surprisingly soothing and even she's allowed to indulge in something nearly relaxing every now and again.

so you might catch this particularly serious-looking woman as she's toting around a tribble as if it ain't no thang. or you might catch her after she's put it down to do something and then turned back to pick it up only to find three sitting on the same table. ]

Shit, which one was mine? [ it's really not her fault they look so nondescript and similar. ]

scenario two

[ this is fine. honestly, this isn't the first time she's been on a mission gone this wrong and it won't be the last, so carolina is rolling with these punches. whether or not she was in charge on everyone's way into this, she's acting it now if no one else beats her to it- or if she decides they're not up for the task. camps need to be set up, patrols need to be established, and food and water that isn't going to put some of the team out of commission needs to be rationed.

except not even the boss can avoid mishap and there's a really bad afternoon with berries and hallucinations and carolina hiding away from makeshift camp for a while. when she comes back, she's a little twitchier than usual. so it would really, really suck if someone were to come up beside her and startle her into punching them as hard as she can.

spoilers: as hard as she can is pretty damn hard and probably would have killed or seriously wounded whatever animal she thinks is trying to get the jump on her. ]

scenario four

[ did someone say training rooms? don't mind carolina if she lives there during her downtime. pushing herself to be that little bit better is all she really knows and the least she can do while she's stuck here is keep herself in shape. she's got a pretty solid workout routine going on, but mindlessly running away at a treadmill seems to be a daily go-to and anyone starting up on a machine anywhere near her gets a nod of acknowledgement.

but of course, if anyone's going into the martial arts rooms and looks like they could take a punch or two in hand-to-hand, she's going to stop them. even if she's clearly already sweaty and gross and finished her own workout. ] You wanna go a round?

[ this is how you make friends right? ]

one

[sixth]

[ Walking into the room, Wash pauses, nearly doing a double take at the sight of that oh so familiar face. Carolina's here? He almost blurts it out in his surprise but at the last second catches himself. Obviously she's here. He's looking at her. And it stands to reason that if Maine wasn't a hallucination brought on by stress and the muddle of Epsilon and Church's memories, she probably isn't either.

And thank fucking God for that. ]

It probably doesn't matter. [ He offers the answer in lieu of a greeting, though the crooked smile he gives her is absolutely a hello. Wash jerks a thumb over his shoulder. ] I passed like twenty of the things out in the hallway.

[ The crooked smile turns just a tiny bit sly and teasing as he arches an eyebrow. ]

You can have them all if you want them.

[leaderboards]

[ anyone hearing her worry over these furry things would have gotten carolina looking for justification, but for some reason it comes quicker as soon as she recognizes her company. by voice first, of course, helmet filtering or not, and then when she turns to look at him, green eyes briefly wide with surprise. ]

I don't need all of them. [ and there's the surprise faded away, something settled and reassured to see him of all people (the only other one left from freelancer, the only one likely to get her anymore) inside of her as she falls back to the justification she was searching for. not even wash is going to get her to admit that she was really liking the damn things. ]

I just wanted to put the first one back where I found it.

[sixth]

Oh yeah?

[ It's been a long road, getting back to who he was before Freelancer fucked him up, and he still isn't there yet. But he's closer than he was. Time spent with the Reds and Blues helped. Learning Carolina survived helped.

So it isn't difficult to keep teasing. Just a little. That he's relieved to see another familiar face probably has something to do with that, too. ]

You sure? [ He points toward a pile of the furballs in the corner that he hadn't seen when he walked in. Have they multipled since then or had he simply not noticed? It's hard to tell. ] They seem to like forming clusters. You could drop them off there. If you want to get rid of them.

[leaderboards]

Which I do. Good idea.

[ turning back to the table that holds not only the tribble that's been keeping her company today but two of its... siblings? whatever - carolina is as matter-of-fact as anything as she scoops them all up into one arm, cradling them against her chest to carry them over to the corner. wash must be onto something, so they'll like being together.

except... yeah, they're still kind of nice to hold, purring against her chest like this. there's a soft, sudden moment of pure awwww on carolina's face as she stops above the pile in the corner, hesitating to drop her armful. before wash can comment on it (and if he does, there's every chance he'll get hit for it) she crouches to drop them from a much lesser height, being downright gentle about it.

even if they would probably bounce no problem, now that she thinks of it. ]

[sixth]

[ Wisely, for once, Wash keeps his mouth shut. But as he watches her take more care with fluffballs than he can recall her taking with anything, he entertains the brief fantasy of telling Tucker about this. If only he and Epsilon and the others could see her now.

He can feel a smirk starting and wrestles it back off his face by the time she's done setting the... things... free. It lingers, itching at the corners of his mouth. Nonchalantly, he rubs at his face like he's tired, just the picture of innocence, before he gives up. ]

I have one. [ By some herculean force of willpower, he manages to keep it casual instead of gleefully smug. He doesn't want to get hit. ] It's kind of greyish. Woke up one morning and found it in my quarters. [ He shrugs one shoulder. ] It's all right.

[leaderboards]

[ something sounds suspicious in wash's voice and it draws carolina's attention with a glance over her shoulder. but he's not visibly up to anything so she shrugs it off, straightening back up and turning to take a few steps closer to him. and away from the cooing pile behind her. ]

Really? [ she crosses her arms loosely over her chest, as if this is the most perfectly way to have a casual reunion with your teammate. under circumstances like this, it might as well be. ] Why keep it?

[sixth]

[ It's a little weird, this situation they've found themselves in, but by now, Wash figures they've been through worse. Maybe. He hopes the worst is behind them.

And maybe he's feeling a little on the spot right now, trying to explain something that's silly to someone he really doesn't want to look stupid in front of. It's been years since he was a rookie Freelancer, but Carolina can still make him feel like a bumbling idiot when she tries. ]

I don't know. Figured it wasn't hurting anything and I didn't know what else to do with it. [ He probably could have dropped it off at work, but for the time being, he's content to not bring up that he's the director of cativities, of all dumb things, to his sometimes boss. A shade of doubt crosses his face as he glances toward the pile of things. Are there more already? It looks like it. ] There's only the one though. I don't know where all of these are coming from.

[leaderboards]

Huh. I guess not everyone is as responsible a fluffball owner as you are.

[ there's nothing to indicate that the rest of these things have multiplied because others have forgotten to spay/neuter/whatever their trilling puffs. looking at them, carolina would have no way to start guessing how they got around, let alone reproduced. but wash caught her being soft and the payment for that is carolina putting him on the spot and finding something to give him shit about. ]

Your little guy's lucky to have you, I'm sure.

[ carolina pushing her project freelancer teammates for motivation is just as old as doing it to give them a bit of affectionate hell sometimes; she just gets to do it a lot less. ]

( four )

[rumbling]

[ One gym rat for another, right?

Maine hangs out here as often as he can. It's easier to come here and work off the pent up energy ( "energy" ) built up inside him than take it out on someone else. Not that he's in the best frame of mind one hundred percent of the time, but he's working at it, trying to clear out all the cobwebs that Sigma left behind. There's still a lot left, but he's not going to sit around and let it let it fester even more.

Each day he's been here, he's come to the training room and not run into any familiar face. So, of course it stands to reason that one day things are going to change. He's just not expecting it to change this much. Maybe he should have since his past already began coming back to haunt him. Maine stops in his tracks and looks over; what he should do is walk away, what he does is lift his shoulder in a rolling shrug.

Who knows. It might help... ( ??????? ) ]

[leaderboards]

[ for a woman who doesn't second-guess herself often, damn if she isn't doing it now. maine is a hard person to miss, even if her mind had been kind enough not to recognize him at first. just another tall guy with a soldier's build. a heartbeat to consider a sparring partner the size of her old friend and then a good enough look at his face to thoroughly pop any remaining bubbles of suspended belief. the challenge had came out without any real thought and that had been fine until she'd met maine's eyes.

but then it's a tightness in her throat and the mother of invention going down. and tex and york and the shiny gold front of maine's helmet. it's so much snow and ice.

carolina forces herself to exhale, raises a hand to casually fix one of the clips keeping her bangs off her face, and inclines her head in the direction of training mats. ]

Come on, big guy. [ nothing about carolina ever sounds this non-chalant unless she's overcompensating for something. ] I'd hate to know you've been slacking.

[rumbling]

[ He remembers it, too. In pieces and snatches and that feeling thrumming through his veins. It's hot, burning; yearning in a way he never really wanted or expected. In a way he hated but couldn't fucking stop for the life of him. Nothing else mattered beyond achieving his goal. Sigma's goal. Maybe his, too. He still doesn't know what to separate out that was his and what belonged to the AI. There are so many scorched battlefields in Maine's mind that will probably never heal and renew.

But, he's trying to fix the parts that might be salvaged. If Carolina's here, maybe it's just another step to fixing things. Or making things worse. What the fuck does he know? ( Not that he wants to jinx it, but things are going better with Wash now, so maybe this won't turn into a huge clusterfuck. )

Not that Carolina can't be casual, but Maine is hard-pressed to remember the last time she was. ( Especially after the whole thing with Tex; but no one was really casual after that. ) He doesn't think she's scared of him, but there's definitely something here. Not that he can blame her; he did throw her off a cliff without any regard for camaraderie. He'd been surprised to hear of her still being alive, but some part had been glad to hear it. One less death on his hands, anyway. Doesn't erase the others, but. If anyone could survive him, it'd be her.

He huffs an almost amused sounding breath and the corner of his mouth twitches up in a barely there sort of grin. There and gone like it's some hallucination. A head tip in acquiesce and he heads over to the mats and settles into a ready stance. Maine's not going to throw in the towel and go easy on her, but after the bad blood between them, he's going to let her get first strike. Even if it pisses her off. ]

[leaderboards]

[ there's that moment of old maine in the huff, in the acquiescing to carolina's call for a training throwdown without pomp or circumstance. her team, her family, had been so used to that. and shit, for all the hurt, she really has missed maine.

whether she imagines his expression changing or not, she forces herself on that instead of their last meeting as she mirrors his stance, readying herself. flexing her fingers, she curls them into fists, shifting her weight back and forth on her feet a few times to keep herself light; fighting out of armour is always different to fighting in it, but she's tried not to let herself grow lax either way. still, being out of practice will show here even if it hasn't anywhere else. maine knows how to fight her. ]

Alright.

[ a rally for both of them. before, she would have hung back to offer him the first swing. but the second she holds now, snow flickers at the corner of her vision and she can't tolerate that gesture of friendship. the first punch is for his face, as sure and as confident a swing as ever. ]