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test drive

Test Drive Meme (June + July)

TEST DRIVE MEME: JUNE + JULY EDITION

Welcome to

bravenewworld's test drive meme! This post is designed to help players test out their characters within the setting, as well as give them an opportunity to collect samples for their future application. The prompts below are all optional, and can be used to get a feel for the game, but we encourage players to get creative and use this post however best suits their needs. Players are welcome to use either prose or brackets for their threads.

When creating a thread, it is advised that players give their prospective thread partners a bit of information in the subject line, such as the characters name and canon, or a possible typing and Enlightened ability (if this is applicable). These are not required, but will make it easier for any prospective players to thread with you. While not required, we also encourage you to take a look at the most recent AU Planning post.

THIS CYCLE'S PROMPTS
#1 Summer means it's time for a vacation! You and your Pokémon have hit the beach only to discover that not only has everyone else had the exact same idea, there's a bullying Raichu and Snubbull wandering around stepping on people's sandcastles! Will you stand up to them or let the squabble pass you by?

#2 A Noctowl has delivered you a message inviting you to enroll in Sanctuary's "Spoinkwarts School of Magecraft". How will you respond? If you say yes, you'd better head there for your supplies....it's doubtful you're able to buy cauldrons and Swellow-feather quills in Union.

#3 Perhaps it's time to beat the heat by heading to Refuge. But you've ventured there as evening is falling, and that can only mean one things: Zubats. Zubats everywhere. All at once. Suddenly. There is no escape, there is no release. There is only Zubat, and this cave.

#4 Aggron from the northern mountains have discovered Glacier music and are trying it out for themselves! Unfortunately, the only parts they've mastered are the grunting, yelling, and whipping their heads (and tails) around violently. Enjoy the concert!

#5 The Verdant Forest is full of pollen this time of year! And it looks like this Petilil that won't stop following you is allergic to....itself. It's also giving off pollen. Everywhere. Seriously, even if you don't have allergies, you're in trouble.

#6 Wildcard! Come up with your own prompt!

If you have any setting questions, or want to do some reading before posting a thread, you can find the setting directory here! Happy tagging!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[1 + 6]

Aila felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb. She was one of the few people on the beach not dressed for the occasion, as she was just standing there, off away from other people in garb that included a fur-lined collar and hat. Considering the time of year and the fact this was the beach, you'd think she'd be rather hot dressed like that.

You'd think, certainly. Maybe she was fine with being hot. Maybe her enlightened abilities made it so the heat wasn't any concern. Or maybe the Vanillite at her side was keeping her cool somehow. There were possibilities, certainly.

But all in all, she seemed to be focused on observing people. Watching. Looking like she was thinking about what she was seeing. What she wasn't doing, however, was having fun, unlike everyone else who had come out here. She simply continued hovering on the periphery, a sour look on her face as she looked on, never being a part of anything.

What was a girl like this doing here?

[Used the setting of the first prompt without so much the details; I hope that's okay.]

[6]

That stoic girl who kept to herself at the beach? Didn't talk much? Seemed to be focused on watching people? Well, now she's in a restaurant in the heart of Union, and... well, she might as well be a different person.

There was wide, happy smile on Aila's face as she sat at her table, which was covered with food. The phrase "one of everything" might well have applied, though it's hard to tell the way she was going at it. The dish she was currently enjoying? A dessert, which seemed to be making her Vanillite particularly uncomfortable.

After a few minutes, Aila finished, and let out a happy, satisfied sigh. "Isn't this all so good, Vanillite?" she says, with a bit of chocolate at the corner of her mouth. The Ice-type Pokemon simply looked at her with a dull, unamused look, before handing her a slip of paper... which happened to be their bill.

Aila took it, and... she froze. Seeing the price, the girl's expression changed from one of happiness to one of fear and urgency, and she instantly pulled out a money purse and began to check through her funds. Judging by the sound she made... what she discovered there was not at all reassuring.

Minami didn't usually make a habit of staring after people, normally. It was rude - most importantly - not to mention more than a little creepy. Still, it was hard not to take notice of the platinum haired girl's appetite, and she was hardly the only one in the establishment to do so.

She didn't stare much though, and went about her meal. She was finishing up, bowing and thanking the waiter gratefully when she heard the rattling from Aila's purse and at the sound from her, Minami looked over. While it may be a bit beyond her responsibility to do so, she took a few steps over towards her.

"Ah, are you quite all right, Miss?"

Aila was in the middle of recounting her money in the distant hope that she was wrong when Minami started to approach. How had she been so stupid?! A lifetime of making sure you had everything she needed, managing every resource no matter how meager, and she messes up like this?

When she heard Minami's voice, she looked up, clearly embarrassed and beginning to put her money back.

"I'm fine!" she all but snapped, her face quite red. "Nothing... Nothing's wrong...!"

The Vanillite looked up, regarding Minami with an expression that seemed to say "no, nothing was alright at all."

Nothing like someone in need to get Minami's attention, really. It's pretty easy to read through Aila's denial that she's not telling the truth, but her eyes drift to the Vanillite. She flashes it a smile, and there's a flash of realization which shows she probably read through that expression even easier than one could Aila's.

Stepping back, she nods knowingly. "Are you... absolutely certain? It may be reaching beyond my bounds, but you just sounded a little bit alarmed..."

Aila sees Minami's eyes flash to Vanillite, who she exchanges a glance with. Then, she turns back to Minami, looking absolutely mortified.

"It is none of your bussiness, but... I can't afford my meal," she admitted, begrudgingly, her voice barely over a mumble at the last part. She didn't want the patrons around them to hear.

For what it's worth, Minami seems nonplussed at the start of that comment. She knows that very well, but she wouldn't have said anything if she hadn't expected some manner of resistance. She nods reassuringly, lowering her own voice.

"Ah, yes... that's what it looked like, so I was a little concerned. It wouldn't do for you to have to wash dishes the rest of the night, so would you mind me helping you a bit there?"

Aila grit her teeth, looking to the side, her cheeks flaring with embarrassment. Just accepting help from anyone... that had got her into too many bad situations already.

"It's... not going to cost me anything more from you later, is it?"

Minami's eyelashes flutter, with a look of confusion as if she couldn't possibly understand what Aila meant at first. Of course, she understood but it took a moment to click. She laughed a bit, and shook her head.

"Of course not. I mean, I wouldn't encourage making a habit of it, but... It wouldn't be a problem this once."

Aila's frown grew deeper. She looked over at Vanillite, who seemed to be giving her a firm, expectant glare... and so she eventually sighed, and lowered her head.

"I guess I don't really have a choice," she said, continuing to keep her voice low.

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[It was late in the afternoon, and the heat was getting to him big time-- to the point that the cool of the ocean water was the only way for him to find any solace in the summery inferno while the sun took it's sweet time in relenting for the day. Crouched in the water so he was submerged up to his neck, with a little Swinub languishing on his head, he couldn't help but watch the girl curiosly while he waited out the heat.

Sure, it would be no small matter for him to freeze some of the water and make a quick escape, but that would ruin the fun for everyone else at the beach too.

Still...the least he could do was see what was up. Gently poking his Swinub awake, he spoke up in a hushed voice:]

Hey, Rolo. Think we oughta play a game?

[Aila was beginning to feel like things should wind down, until she caught sight of the man staring at her from the water. ~~Who did that to people? How rude.~~

Making a face, she stood up, and moved to find somewhere that seemed less conspicuous.]

[The little Swinub snuffled and squeaked as the giant man explained what the plan was in hushed tones before jumping off of his head to swim over-- piggy paddle style. With the stranger on the move, she needed to go fast!

Hina, on the other hand, took a deep breath and dove under water for parts unknown.

For now.

They'll come into play later.]

[In any case, Aila thought she had finally lost him when she no longer saw his head sticking out of the water. With a sigh, she sat down on a large rock, and looked out over the water.]

What are we even doing here, Vanillite? Why did I ever think I'd learn something useful here...? This was a waste of time.

[Vanillite frowned. He was about to reassure his partner, when he caught sight of the Swinub paddling in the ocean. Letting out a noise of surprise, he turned towards his partner. Seeing it once the Ice-type pointed it out, Aila blinked and stood back up.]

... I saw that Pokemon before, with... with the man who was watching us...

[Maybe she had seen that Swinub, maybe she hadn't-- there was no doubting that ice types at the beach, and ground types who were comfortable swimming, were dreadfull uncommon...

But, this little Swinub had somehow acquired a Beach Ball, which she was nosing along ahead of her in the water as she paddled along.

Stopping once more within range of the strangers, the Swinub let out a playful little squeak, and with a triumphant splash flung the inflatable ball at them!]

[This looked like a job for Vanillite! Getting between Aila and the projectile it used Harden and... its now reinforced body bounced the beach ball right back.

Aila however continued to frown. Walking up beside her Pokemon, she motioned for him to follow.]

We don't need this. Let's get out of here.

[Sorry-- this is now a game of Volley Ball!

The Swinub all but flips over in the water as she smacks the ball back at the duo-- come on! You can't leave her hangng!]

[Sorry, Swinub. Aila is already walking away as fast as she can. Vanillite offers the pig Pokemon an apologetic shrug, before moving to follow his partner.]

The little restaurant isn't one of Harry's typical stops, kind of pricey, but he'd just been compensated for a job that had gone deep, deep south and that meant a significant payday so the heck with it. He'd figured he'd stop in and grab something to go for a treat.

He'd just paid for his food and was about on his way out when he heard the cry of dismay from a nearby table. It didn't take much to figure out what happened and normally, Harry'd leave the poor kid to learn a valuable life lesson but... something on her features gave away that there was more at stake here than an awkward call to her parents and an allowance advance. Too scared....

"Let me guess, eyes were bigger than your wallet?" He remarked, walking up beside Aila's table. He was tall enough to practically cast a shadow over the young lady and if it weren't for the bright, happy bag in his hand he'd pretty much be an absolute grim figure with his heavy black coat and day or three of stubble. The mountainous Stoutland at his side matched him pretty well in that regard.

He nodded to her purse and then to the bill.

"What's the damage?"

Aila nearly jumped out of her skin. Normally, her sense of awareness was... sharper Unfortunately, she was too absorbed in her own plight to realize it before Harry's shadow fell over her, and all she could do was turn around, eyes wide as the man loomed over her.

Her expression turned cross, and she clutched the bill to her chest. "What business is it of yours?" she said, eyes narrowing. She didn't want to owe anything to yet another person, let alone a man like this one appeared to be.

Vanillite, meanwhile, sighed and sat there, frowning. He had expected something like this to happen, and regarded Harry and his Pokemon with a firm (yet apologetic) glare.

Edited 2016-06-19 22:29 (UTC)

Well, that was a pretty defensive posture if he's ever seen one. Getting angry at somebody sneaking up on them wasn't an uncommon reaction but she seemed pretty on edge. Then there was all the food...

That meal would have been big for him, nevermind a girl her size and age. She didn't seem unhealthy but the question of when the last time she actually ate crossed his mind briefly.

"None, and if you tell me to turn around and be on my way I'll do just that." He nodded toward the bill clutched in her hands. "But if you need a little help, I wouldn't mind splitting the difference. I'm sure your parents wouldn't be happy to hear you were out all night mopping floors to work off a check."

That last part was tossed out as a feeler more than anything. Just to see how close his hunch was.

Aila was just about to tell Harry to be on his way, when he mentioned her parents, and Aila just froze like she'd been caught in a spotlight. Her breath hitched and her body tensed in a split moment, and she grit her teeth. The way he mentioned it, it sounded like he knew what the situation with her "parents" was after all.

"Vanillite."

Aila's eyes widened again, as her Pokemon flew between them, and nodded to Harry. The Ice-Type looked back at her with a serious expression, which caused the girl to shirk back a bit.

"Looks like my Pokemon has made the decision for me..."

Well, that reaction solidified his hunch a little. Either she couldn't go to her parents with this problem... or she didn't have anywhere to go with it to begin with. Either way, it wasn't a good situation.

What he could do about it was a question that was still up in the air though.

"They like to do that, yeah. One sec." He started heading back toward the counter to speak with one of the servers about picking up the tab at that table back there. If Aila wanted to get out of dodge, this might be the time to do it.

... Except that giant Stoutland is still sitting there, looking at her with a dumb grin on his face.

Aila was ready to leave. Push came to shove, the worst that would happen was the bill would get paid and she couldn't come back here again. But as she started to make her move, she felt Vanillite tug at her sleeve, followed by her seeing the Stoutland there with the expression on his face.

The only response she could make to all that?

"Ugh..."

Mouse just continued to grin at her, sitting down heavily and thumping his tail on the floor. If he even realized that Aila had just made an attempt to bail, he sure seemed to be too busy being a big, dumb happy dog to do anything about it.

Harry returned momentarily anyway, heading back around to Aila's table with his hands in his pockets.

"Okay, all taken care of. You're free to go." He paused for a moment, before adding. "Unless you're interested in a chance to pay back the favor and make a little extra cash on top of it."

Oh thank god. He said "free to go". Aila and Vanillite can get away from this embarassing scene and this overly happy dog and-

... And he just mentioned making money. Aila turned towards him with a distrusting look on her ace.

"Extra cash? Doing what? It depends. This isn't some scheme to lure me in and get me to do whatever you want, is it?"

Her tone of voice, the way she was looking at him... this wasn't a girl who made a habit of trusting adults. And she'd already taken a chance on relying on him once already.

Edited 2016-07-02 05:31 (UTC)