tabularasa_memes | August Test Drive Meme

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August Test Drive Meme

Test Drive Meme #4 Welcome to Tabula Rasa's Test Drive Meme! Starting in September, secondary character apps will be open for current players and will remain open until further notice. New player apps will be opening in early September under a new queue system. We'll have more specific details for everyone on this soon!

Whether you plan to app or not, anyone is welcome to use this meme as a way to try out the setting, test out a character for future app cycles, or just for fun. You may also borrow ideas from this meme’s prompts for use in the main game.

Threads from the TDM may be used as samples on your application. TDM samples must be 2 threads with different characters, each with at least 5 comments from your character. You may include your top-level comment if it is a thread you started.

Current players in the game may also claim an AC bonus by tagging other characters on the TDM. Please see the Activity Check page for details.

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Scenario A: Bite Here, Bite Now
"Food" is still a loose concept, as anything one can take fit in their mouth and swallow is considered close enough to count. While people can differentiate between things that should and shouldn't be eaten, the wildlife does not hold such views. Though at first they seemed to prefer whatever objects people deemed edible, they’ve now begun to experiment with some interesting alternatives.

Rocks, dirt, glass, tree trunks, corners of buildings, beach trash, chair legs, books, clothing, jewellery, prized possessions, the kitchen sink - there doesn't seem to be anything an animal won't try to eat at least once, and bite marks are quickly becoming a common sight in the most bizarre of places. You may even head home and find one of the red toothless dragons hanging off of a doorknob, trying its best. If an animal can get to it and fit its mouth around it, chances are it will try to eat it.

While the creatures can be coaxed and trained off of these behaviors, it's no small feat. And along the way, they might even find something else more appetizing than what you're trying to offer them. If you lose something important, hopefully it’ll still be intact when you finally fish it back out of them.

Scenario B: Blowing Hot and Cold
Random snowstorms are still a common sight, carried by powerful winds from the peak of Mount Silver to the furthest reaches of the known world. The snow never seems to stay on the ground for long, but it brings with it a frigid chill that could drive anyone back to the relative safety of indoors. A storm can last seconds or hours - not that it's easy to tell the difference - so it can be quite troublesome if you're not prepared for it.

Recently, a new type of "weather" has emerged. Fire has many uses, and it can be made quite easily by anyone... perhaps a little too easily. Most of the time, a strong breeze will blow out a growing flame, but occasionally something different will happen: the wind itself will catch on fire, carrying those flames far and wide in the blink of an eye. Within moments any place can be turned into a raging wildfire, blindingly bright and hellishly warm.

The flames will burn themselves out eventually, leaving everything coated in soot, but unharmed. It’s a good thing that fire doesn’t actually hurt yet or everyone might be in trouble! That may not be a comfort for everyone, though, especially if you're stuck cleaning up the mess. Sometimes it might take a little too long for the fire to die down on its own, too. If the wind won't do it, water is the way to go.

Scenario C: Long Distance
Distance and sound are not mutually exclusive just yet, and they both seem to be a bit out of whack at the moment. No matter how much you walk toward another person, you can't seem to close the distance between the two of you, as if you're on some sort of invisible treadmill. When you speak, however, it sounds like whoever you're speaking to is standing right beside you. Distance doesn't seem to be an issue if you're looking to converse.

However, this means you can hear others who are even farther away just as clearly. Someone on the beach might be able to hear another muttering to him or herself as they scale Mount Silver. Like dialing a random phone number, you now have to speak to a mysterious voice to figure out who it belongs to. Hopefully you weren't just muttering a deep, dark secret.

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code bases by tricklet

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hot and cold;

[ When all you had was a suit, a snowstorm was a pretty big problem. Rude couldn't tell where the storm was coming from, or why, or how long it lasted. All standard procedure here, apparently, for whatever measure of "here" this was.

Not for the first time, he was thankful for his tailored, hard-wearing gear. The gust of snow hit him in the back and ran cold right down to his bones. He hunched in on himself, powering through for a minute's more hard walking, before making an executive decision: it wasn't worth it. Wherever the first likely hiding spot was, an empty building or bar or nearby cave, he made a beeline right for that and ducked inside without announcement. ]

give me something hard;

[ His first, and clearest, thought is this: what kind of name is Heavenly Blanc?

It probably doesn't matter. After a long 'day' of walking, there's nothing he wants more than a drink and a place to cool his heels. There's certain things about the place that look excessively familiar...perhaps that's why he pushes open the doors and steps inside, looking for some sign of human life.

He never did get to go inside that place, did he? There's certainly no chance he will now. Another regret for the pile. ]

...you open?

[ Time and space aren't exactly playing nicely. That voice might carry across the bar normally, or someone on the other side of the mountain might suddenly hear a questioning word right in their ear. ]

wildcard;

[ Rude is from the current end of Remake, so hit me up with anything in any location! He'll have been patiently exploring around everywhere he can, save for the really treacherous spots. ]

Edited 2020-08-29 21:41 (UTC)

Jeez. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you guys still somehow managed to find me here. No unexplained mystery location is too remote for the Turks!

[ Guess who is also taking refuge in this particular cave? A somewhat sullen and unimpressed Aerith is frowning at Rude as he enters, arms crossed. She'd arrived with Cloud and Tifa, all at the same time, and had wondered if others from Midgar might appear, too...though, admittedly, she'd been hoping for a different face than the one before her now.

There's a little, impatient sigh before she throws up her hands, half-turning away. ]

Where's your partner? I'd think having an open shirt like that would be a problem in weather like this.

[ :l ]

[ Of all the faces to see, Rude might be most surprised to see hers. In a cave, within a mountain, in some featureless expanse of nothing...and still they couldn't escape each other.

So he hesitates by the entrance, staring her down, until the cold drives him further in. ]

Haven't seen him yet.

[ Her irritation is met with a matter-of-fact shrug. It's fair enough. If he was her, he wouldn't want to see him either. ]

This is remote, even for us.

Yeah, yeah... [ Maybe Rude wasn't so lucky and he arrived alone, unlike their little band. Aerith watches him for another moment before planting her hands on her hips, brows knit in a chiding expression. ]

You'd better steer clear of Tifa, okay? You and Reno did something really, really terrible, and she'd definitely have a good reason to beat you up. That's all I'm saying.

[ That isn't true - Aerith always has a lot to see and feels comfortable saying it when it comes to mind - but he probably already knows that. ]

[ It's easier, somehow, to be honest with Aerith. She's got a way of seeing things that he still doesn't quite understand, despite all these years of the Turks chasing after her. Even if he did lie - and his first instinct is to do so - she'd know.

So he shrugs a you're-not-wrong shrug and approaches her, dusting some of the piled-up snow off the shoulders of his jacket. ]

Shinra gave the order. If we didn't do it, somebody else would have.

[ Already he's using the excuse Tseng gave. It tastes bad in his mouth. ]

Where are we?

Oh, please. You can come up with something better than that.

[ He and Reno could have stalled, or do something to try and stop it. Even if they did all they could and someone still pushed the button, at least they'd be able to say they tried.

As it is, Aerith's mouth is a flat, unhappy line as she watches Rude enter the cave more fully. ]

No idea. [ Didn't think you'd be getting nice, easy answers from her, did you? ] Definitely nowhere I've ever heard of. There're people here from all kinds of places...outside Midgar, and not from our planet, even.

[ Something she'd been surprisingly (or maybe not) quick to accept. ]

[ Another unspecified unit of time, another snowstorm. Thankfully, Mt. Silver is near enough to her that she can duck one of the caverns. She's knelt down and brushing the cold dust of snow out of Felix's fur and feathers when she hears the crunch of footsteps against the ground.

Another victim of the storm? It seems like it, from the fine white coating on what looks like it's meant to be a brown suit, the hunched shoulders of the man who slips into the cave, silent except his footsteps. She's not seen this particular guy around the place before... is he new?

Felix chirps a greeting, and Rinoa straightens up again, offering the temporary shelter's newcomer a smile. ]

Hi. Caught in the storm?

[ It's more of a rhetorical question than anything, of course, what with the frost perfectly visible on his suit... ]

[ It's so damn cold out there that, head down and hustling, he hardly notices his new companion until he's well in the cave. Briefly, he's startled, before the reality of things catches up to his instinctive reaction.

It's no danger. Just a young girl and a strange animal. ]

Mm. [ He straightens and tries to swat some of the snow off his suit. ] Hope you don't mind me joining you.

[ Rinoa shakes her head in answer to his statement, smile still there, a hint of amusement in the edges of it as she watches him try to brush some of the snow away. He looks even worse for wear than she and Felix did by the time they made it to the cave, although she's sure the dark color of his suit only accentuates the problem. Her companion is still shaking off some of the clinging frost, and flakes have started to melt into the knit fabric of her arm warmers and duster jacket.

His suit looks to be a much thinner material than what she's wearing, though. And while no one she knows here has managed to get sick so far, she can't help but worry that the cold will be worse for him if he ends up damp; it's with that in mind that she moves up to him, standing on tip-toes to dust snow off his shoulders, the top of his arms. ]

I'm Rinoa. [ It's said by way of introduction as she brushes him off, that smile still on her lips. ] And you are?

[ Stubbornly, he had pushed on through the storm until it was too fierce to continue. The snow had piled up more than most as a result. Rude had his jaw set, forcing himself to shiver as little as possible.

Head down, smacking the snow from the front of his suit, Rude is concentrating too much to really notice Rinoa's approach. It only registers when he looks up and, oh, there she is. Right in his bubble, helping out. ]

...Rude. [ Wait, no. It never works when he says it like that. ] My name is Rude.

[ He stands still, letting her do her part. Freezes, he might say, if his inner Reno wouldn't lambast him for such a terrible line. ]

[ For a moment, she thinks he's calling her rude for her treatment of the situation; where others might be cowed by the admonishment though, Rinoa lets it breeze by - only to find out a moment later that it wasn't an admonishment at all. ]

Sounds like your name's given you some trouble, huh?

[ It's said with a lilt of amusement, a twinkle in her eyes as she finishes brushing off his shoulders, taking a few steps back afterwards. There's more snow, but that's at least the worst of it taken care of.

A chirp behind her draws her attention, and Rinoa laughs, turning and gesturing for her companion to come to her side. When he does, she lifts him into her arms, running fingers over the soft feathers on his head. ]

This is Felix. He's being shy right now, I guess!

Sometimes.

[ All the time. It's sort of bittersweet, losing that warmth and proximity. Rude busies himself with straightening his suit, putting everything back in order that had become rumpled over his travels. Anything to avoid eye contact.

At least until that...thing...joins the party. Rude stares at it, his regular frown caught between confusion and concern. ]

...hello. [ His eyes flick up to Rinoa's face. ] You're both pretty comfortable here.

[ "Comfortable"? It's probably the wrong word, but... compared to this man she's never seen here before, she supposes she probably is. She smiles, and puts Felix back on the floor of the cave, letting him skitter up to Rude to investigate for himself. ]

I guess so, yeah. As comfortable as you can get here, anyway. You're new, right?

[ Of course, with no way to tell time, she can't exactly tell him how new, but... ]

[ While Tifa may have taken a leave of absence from her bar duties for a while, Cloud still checks in on the place for her whenever he can. Not as a owner or in any capacity like that, he's a customer as much as Rude is at the moment, although he can't simply ignore the man's presence when he enters the bar either. ]

Depends who's asking.

[ He downs his drink before he turns on his stool to face Rude. Also why is Cloud acting like he owns this place?! ]

Isn't there a place for Shinra's lap dogs somewhere?

[ Now it clicked in his head, why this place felt so familiar. With the spiky-haired nuisance sitting at the bar, all those hints fell into place. For whatever reason, the bar was here too.

Rude's jaw sets, silent and severe. ]

If there is, I haven't found it.

[ After his several recent defeats, even Rude's ego is more than a little damaged. He remains on guard as he approaches the bar, just in case. ]

You found me.

[ Cloud says, assuming that Rude is currently on duty. If a Turk has found him, it means they're closing in on their real target soon. That alone rings some alarm bells for him. ]

You're not taking Aerith again. You're just wasting your time here.

[ There's no need to tell him this was entirely by accident. Rude sniffs out a short, amused noise and stops at the bar. Cloud's right to be wary. Were this any other situation, he'd be right on the money. ]

I'll decide that.

[ Rude leans on the countertop, gloved hands pressed palm-down against the surface. Rather than look at Cloud, he surveys the rows of bottles behind the counter, searching for something worth drinking. ]

...even if I did, there's nowhere to take her to.

But you would if there was, right? Your mission hasn't changed.

[ Which still makes them enemies, even if their current conflict has come to a standstill. ]

So you just stumbled your way here then?

[ Maybe he did give the Turks a little too much credit... ]

[ He doesn't answer that question. Either of them. Confirming that he didn't know where he was or what he was doing here - that this broad, empty world disturbed him mightily - would be an absolute rookie error. ]

Sounds like you did the same.

[ Rude keeps his eyes on the bottle, very much avoiding the question. He needs a drink right now more than he ever has before. ]

Without Shinra, there is no mission. You can relax.

I'm afraid it's a little more complicated than that.

[ Even if Cloud were to let bygones be for now, there's no chance of him simply relaxing with a Turk around. Rude shouldn't be so quick to let his guard down either. ]

This bar you're in now? It used to be whole... 'til you guys dropped an entire plate on it. I wouldn't relax if I were you, because the owner is here, too.

[No longer the unofficial bartender of Heavenly Blanc, Tifa is in the middle of gathering some of her personal belongings to take back to the apartment with her when the ever familiar jingle of the bell prompts her to glance up and welcome the person inside. She would have offered a drink or a place to sit, but when she sees who's in the doorway, her friendly smile disappears.

The pristine suit. The sunglasses. She'd recognize a Turk anywhere.]

We're closed.

[Rage swells up inside her. Those sunglasses were the last thing she saw before she was knocked to the ground, and when she was up again, alarms were wailing throughout the entire sector and debris fell around them while she stood there, helpless.

Because of him.

Total plate separation imminent. Evacuate the area immediately. Total plate separation imminent. Evacuate the area immediately. Total plate separation imminent. Evacuate the area—

The anger blinds her, balling her hands into fists and spurs her into action. Without so much as a second thought, she dashes across the bar, faster than she's ever moved while here, and her foot kicks up between his legs, too close for comfort, and she slams the door shut behind him.]

Give me one good reason I shouldn't rip these off for showing your face in here.

[She nudges her foot a little higher.]

Edited 2020-08-30 17:53 (UTC)

[ Everything happens in just a couple of seconds. He realises now why this place looked so familiar. He had seen it through a dozen different security videos: watching Avalanche, watching Cloud, watching her. Of course it should be here too. Why should he escape his greatest sin just because they were no longer in Midgar?

Rude is still paused in the doorway, grasping for words, when Tifa closes the distance. She's fast. Fast in the way only someone truly enraged can be. His fists only get halfway up before the door bangs shut. ]

...

[ He has to admire her battle sense. That foot immobilises him just as well as any gun to the head.

What is there to say, really? He deserves every bit of it. There isn't a good reason. Rude slowly drops his hands back down to his sides, keeping every other muscle as still as he can make them. ]

Didn't know this was your place.

You wouldn't, would you?

[Had he ever stepped foot in Seventh Heaven, or Sector Seven before he went ahead and pressed that button? Does he know the number of homes he destroyed, lives he's ruined because Shinra wanted to make a point, and blame the destruction on them?

The fact that he doesn't move a muscle, or that he drops his hands down to his sides only makes her angrier. He should be upset. He should be fighting back. He should be saying something more than that. Explaining himself! But instead, he remains still, even as her foot inches up again before she finally lowers it with a stomp.]

Where's your partner? He didn't make it here, or is he waiting outside?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

August Test Drive Meme

rude | final fantasy vii

hot and cold!!!

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hot and cold!

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something hard

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👀 something hard

the gang's all here for a fun, relaxing time

she just wants to talk