Test Drive Meme #003

[khuimods]

KHU IODUAN; TEST DRIVE MEME #003

I. AROUND AIFARAN - Getting The Perfect Shot! This month in Aifaran, there's a contest being held on the popular social site Xa Xa, which Earth-based Dreamfolk may recognize as vaguely Instagram-like -- it's all about the pretty pictures! With a top prize of 500 Rhinn per category, lots of people are getting into the game. Prizes will be handed out for awards like Best Composition, Most Creative Angle, Best Use of Lighting, etc, and this means that it won't be uncommon to see people in unusual places (even some risky ones) trying to score the perfect shot. Maybe they're bumping accidentally into you on the street, or slipping off the edge of a rooftop, or not paying attention to that train heading their way?? II. BE A GOOD NEIGHBOUR - Surprise Petsitting?! Success! You've scored a quiet day, and you're just about to settle in for a marathon of your favourite Tears of the Ocean Heart episodes when there's a knock on your door. A very distracted looking Castian is standing there, talking away on his yimo, and beside him, a very fancy Inan on a glitzy harness and leash. "Right, right," the Castian says to whomever he's talking to. "I'm just dropping Ruqhina off at the sitter, I'll be there in ten." Shoving the leash at you, he announces, "Thank you again for agreeing to watch my darling Ruqhina, I really appreciate it. Don't forget to exercise early in the day, she likes eating energy of active people only, I don't want her on a lazy person diet. Did you change your hair, I thought you had blue hair? Well nevermind, I have to get going, I'll be back in a week. Goodbye sweetheart, Daddy misses you already!" And then he's gone. III. TALENT IS A MISNOMER - You Didn't Need That Wall Right? There are a lot of Dreamfolk in the city, and all of them are dealing with their own newly gifted Talents in their own ways. Some, especially those who are used to extraordinary abilities from their own worlds, have some idea of how to train on them safely, learning the ins and outs of their new gift. And then you have some whose only exposure to "magic" is through stories, fairy tales, or really entertaining TV, and pointing a finger-gun at a target and saying "boom!" has never actually worked... until now. "Uh," the other Dreamfolk says, staring dumbly at the car-sized hole in the wall, and then glances at you who just happened to be the closest person. "That's... new. Yikes. Should we run? Wait, I've got a better idea--" Cue loud voice and frantic pointing in your direction. "IT WAS THIS ONE! THEY DID IT!" IV. SHADY BUSINESS - It's A Shakedown You're in the right place at the right time (or the wrong ones, depending on your point of view) but you're entering a shop just in time to see some Beika punks accosting the shopkeeper, demanding protection money, which they owner is stammering that they've already paid this month. Upon your entrance, the shopkeeper looks over at you with help me plainly written on their face, while the Beika thugs look very unhappy at being interrupted... V. BEACHFRONT CLEANUP - Oh That's Nasty... It's not a pleasant task, but it does pay volunteers pretty well: following a massive storm, several dozen dead Giant Jellyfish corpses have washed up on the shoreline, and they need to be cleaned and disposed of before they start to decompose. It's dirty, smelly, and slimey work... but the promise of two weeks worth of rhinn for one day's work is hard to pass up! You're assigned to teams and given some shovels and a wheelbarrow, but as you reach the latest jellyfish body, you're surprised to see that this one appears to be covered in... burns?? Is this something you should report? VI. WILDCARD - Because You're Not The Boss Of Me Anything else that doesn't fit the above prompts is welcome, just keep it within the game setting please! Applications • Reservations • Taken List • Game Navigation

Comments

[dendranthema]

III... sort of

When the shouting starts, trying to blame Kaltz for a hole he most definitely did not create, Kaltz barely even considers sticking around and dealing with the outcome. He's no longer trying to hide that he's not a ribika, and so there's a much easier way to deal with this - and that way is to just teleport someplace else entirely.

He blinks back into existence on a sand dune by the ocean. It takes a moment for it to register what he's looking at, what he's hearing. He sort of knows what the ocean is, mostly from having heard the other devils talk about it once or twice. But he'd never been there in life, and never after becoming a devil, either.

It's so much bigger than he'd thought.

[ilda]

A teenage girl stands a short distance away from the sand dune, closer to the water, just enough for the waves to crash at her bare feet. Her thoughts are elsewhere, her gaze far out into the horizon, but she suddenly notices a shift in the breeze, and looks behind her.

“Oh, hello!” Ilda greets, a smile coming easily to her face. She would’ve been surprised by Kaltz’ appearance had her attention not been somewhere else.

[dendranthema]

There were many different species here. This wasn't Kaltz's first time seeing someone who looked like a ribika without visible ears or tail, but he hadn't been spoken to by any of the others so far. Gazing at her curiously, he wonders whether she's a Two Canes... that is, a human, as the others would have said. It's hard to tell for sure, not being used to humans, but she looks young.

"Hello. Do you come here often?" It's hard to imagine, but the island is small enough to make it sound possible.

[ilda]

For a moment Ilda considers bounding over to the stranger, yet he seems quite unsure, although friendly enough. She stops herself from doing so, but her smile widens as he picks up their conversation. “Yes, I do. The ocean... reminds me of home. I never really thought I’d miss it - Mellifera’s really quiet and boring - but here I am.”

Her curiousity wins over politeness, though, so she goes ahead and asks, “How about you? Did you just get here?”

[dendranthema]

She'd lived near an ocean, then. "It always seemed so far away to me."

"Yes. I haven't been here long at all. You?" It's still odd, how no one's scared of him here. Perhaps one day he'd get used to it... to being accepted by people who seemed so normal. Even if there'd always been reasons to be afraid of him, he can't say he misses it. Though maybe they should be.

[ilda]

“A few weeks ago I would’ve told you that once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” Ilda started to say, referring to the ocean, “but I don’t really feel that way anymore. This place... I dunno, it does weird things to people.”

She smiles in understanding, or at least she thinks she understands. “Same here. Maybe a couple of weeks. I’m not really sure.” She fumbles for something in the pockets of her skirt, pulling out her yimo after a while from one of them. “Certainly not long enough to master this, at least!” she exclaims with a laugh.

“Oh, sorry. I’m Ilda, by the way.”

[dendranthema]

"I haven't either. We don't have anything similar where I'm from." He nods at the yimo. It's still amazing that they can communicate over such distances through something so small. He's not sure he'll ever get used to it.

"Kaltz." He hesitates; the question likely sounds strange, but he'll never learn otherwise. "Ilda, am I correct in guessing you're young? Humans don't exist where I'm from." Hopefully he's correct that she's a human.

[ilda]

"I'd like to think so! I'm eighteen-" Ilda starts to answer, but Kaltz' next statement catches her off-guard. She blinks. A world with no humans? There's such a world? Or is he from a kingdom or country where no humans live? But then that means there are many creatures out in the world, undiscovered in places left unexplored! The idea excites her, and she bounces on her heels.

"This is so cool," she says. "The place you're from, what's it called? What's it like?" She almost asks how he can't be human when he looks like one, but she manages to stop herself before she comes off as totally rude. She's asked too many questions already.

[dendranthema]

"You're about the same age as him, then." It's soft, more Kaltz speaking out loud than anything else.

Although he has horns (and a tail, which is mostly hidden under his clothes), it is true he looks otherwise like a human.

"The place I'm from is called Sisa. I've been told humans lived there, a long time ago. But they're long extinct."

[ilda]

“Who?” Ilda asks, unable to help herself. Kaltz’ tone seems to hint that whoever he was, he’s someone important.

Then she looks at Kaltz - really looks at him - when he speaks of Sisa and humans being extinct. Although she’s told herself not do anything that might come off as rude, she ends up searching his face for signs that he’s not human.

Oh, look. He actually has... horns?

She blinks.

Then she shakes her head, smiling apologetically. “Sorry. I... I’ve only ever lived in a world with humans. I think there might be other creatures around, but that’s just me.”

[noteasybeinggreen]

Don has been trying to figure out where he should go next. What he should do. He's hungry, kind of? And he knows that the Galleon should be around here SOMEWHERE, but where?!

He's morosely poking at a sandcastle, with three storeys, and a moat with water that runs improbably uphill, when someone poofs into existence about three inches from his left knee.

He falls back, squawking.

[dendranthema]

Kaltz certainly didn't expect to nearly land on someone. Usually that didn't happen... he'll have to be more careful about choosing his destinations.

"My apologies."

[noteasybeinggreen]

"It's okay, it's okay!" Don yelps, scrambling to his feet. There may be sand in his hair.

This guy is fascinating! "Where did you come from? How did you DO that?"

[dendranthema]

"I came from the city. Someone was trying to cause trouble, and I decided I didn't want to be involved." As for how he did that... he hesitates, unsure how to answer. There are too many potential answers, and in the end he doesn't really know how it's possible.

"It's just something I can do."

[noteasybeinggreen]

"That's always a good thing to avoid," Don says fervently. He tilts his head to the side. "You don't look like you're from any of the planets I know..."

He's being rude. He offers a hand, human-style, for a shake? "I'm Don!"

[dendranthema]

...What an odd thing to say. At least, it sounds so to Kaltz. But perhaps that's normal to this person. "Are there many other planets where you're from?"

"Kaltz." He looks at the hand, not entirely sure what to do with it. It appears to be a greeting of some sort... probably.

[noteasybeinggreen]

"Oh, lots," Don beams about this. It's one of the few good things about the galactic situation just now. That so many other planets exist, and getting to meet other peoples... though to be fair he's mostly been on Earth lately.

"Aren't there for you?"

Don awkwardly shakes his own hand so Kaltz doesn't feel weird about it.

[dendranthema]

"There's Sisa, and the moons and stars. I've never seen another planet before coming here." He tries to imagine what having many planets would be like, but it's too far beyond anything he's heard of.

He didn't, and doesn't, feel particularly weird about it. But he is curious. "Is that a human thing?"

[noteasybeinggreen]

"Sisa?" Where DOES this Kaltz come from. Hmm!

"Yes, humans like to greet each other with shaking hands. Or bowing. But it's best if you don't try to shake hands and bow at the same time," Don says thoughtfully. "It's very easy to end up with your foot in someone else's eye."

[blinkandshoot]

Teleporting sure isn't something she sees every day, and her attention is lasered right on him when he suddenly appears. He's appeared far enough away that the jerk of her head probably isn't noticeable, at least, especially when he has his back to her.

Still, when all he seems to be doing is look at the water, she chills a bit. Enough to stroll right up to him and start a conversation. "I saw that... Do you do that often?"

[dendranthema]

Kaltz turns to see who's talking to him. He hadn't quite realized anyone was there, but he's not surprised, either.

"Often enough." Perhaps not quite every day, but often enough. It's nearly as natural as breathing, now. "Though I'm not surprised if you've never seen anything of the sort before."

[blinkandshoot]

"Because I don't look the type to teleport?"

There a small bit of amusement in her voice, because she's wearing a pantsuit. On the beach. Anyone back home would think it looks strange, regardless, but this isn't home and things are different here.

And who knows, maybe that was even her Talent. (It's not, but hey.)

"Or because it's rare, where you're from?"

[dendranthema]

"The latter." As well as the fact that she asked about it. "I may have been mistaken in thinking it was rare here as well."

[blinkandshoot]

"It might be." If it's not, they certainly don't do around her that often. And anyway, it seems impolite in most circumstances. "There might be an etiquette for that kind of thing."

But she's not here to judge. "So were you just practicing?" If only because, in her experience, rare abilities don't tend to be used unless there's a reason.

[dendranthema]

If there is an etiquette for it, he hasn't heard of it. And wouldn't particularly care, in the end.

"Someone I don't know was trying to cause trouble. I didn't feel like dealing with it." It's possibly too honest an answer, but that doesn't bother him.