Test Drive - July Edition

[rekindlemods]

The July Test Drive! Trying to see if a character will fit or work in the setting? Need some interaction samples? Well this meme is for you! Make a post, tag around, and most importantly, have fun! Here's the setting page for those who want to learn a little more about the city itself. And don't forget to go reserve your character, GO GO GO.......

Here's some prompts to help you get started, if you need it:

Option 1

[ It looks like there are preparations underway for some sort of festival or fair. There are various stands and booths being erected along sectioned-off streets and the riverbank, and decorations are slowly but surely being hanged. Fireflies seem to be appearing all along the riverbank as the sun sets, with a few stands set up with mason jars of various sizes as well as paper lanterns, possibly as further decorations. Whatever the case, it looks like those setting up could use some help! ]

Option 2

[ Though most of the stands are being set up, that doesn't mean that there aren't a few vendors looking to help those out and about beat the heat in some fashion. There are some selling shaved ice with various flavors, and others that appear to be handing out water-filled balloons or squirt guns. However, like in the market district, there's a catch – the items are free, so long as you arrive at the stall in pairs or groups larger than two. ]

Option 3

[ Whoops. Looks like you haven't taken the cautionary words of the other NPCs to heart, or maybe you just wanted to take your chances. Either way, the withdrawal symptoms have started and you need to find someone to hug quickly before you get even more sick.]

Option 4

[If there's something else you wanted to play with, that you didn't see here, then have fun with that. You've just arrived in a strange city, after all. There's got to be plenty to explore out and about, not to mention people to meet.]

Comments

Donatello | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)

[purple_chelonian]

Option 1

Of all the various alternate realities, foreign dimensions, strange planets, and different time periods Donatello has visited, this one is the strangest. The whole hugging thing weirds him out. That being said, it's nice to be able to walk around in the street without worrying about being seen. From what he can tell, he's not even the strangest-looking thing here.

He walks into the square where the booths are going up, trying to look non-threatening as he takes in the scenery. "Leo would have loved this," he comments quietly to himself as he investigates a stall selling used books, picking up a dusty tome and cracking it open.

[dadcepticon]

The little green organic isn't the only book-minded browser in the square today; Krok has been eyeing that particular booth with the same sort of eager avarice he once eyed heaps of supplies in the hopes he can expand his book collection. He's almost annoyed someone got there first.

Maybe the organic isn't interested in the same subjects.

"Apologies," Krok murmurs off-handedly as he uses his height to his advantage and peers over his fellow shopper to get a better look at the selection.

[purple_chelonian]

Donnie cranes his neck to look up at the looming robot behind him. "Uhh, hi," he says, scooting to the side so he's not blocking the way. He looks briefly between the book in his hand and the ten-foot tall mechanoid, replacing the leather-bound tome on the table as he does some very quick mental calculations about which is more interesting. "Not to pry, but do you have an organic pilot in there?"

The turtle has discovered a sudden desire to know everything there is to know about the fascinating new piece of technology in front of him. And asking to take it apart is probably rude.

[dadcepticon]

Krok actually drops the book he just picked up in shock that anyone would even ask that sort of question. Even anyone here in Saeng Seong, because rare is the resident who knows nothing about the enclave of Cybertronians now calling the city home. Stiffly, he looks down again.

"…No," he says, very carefully as neutral as possible. He still can't mask all of his bewilderment. Or his indignation. "No, I do not. Why would you ask that?"

[purple_chelonian]

Donnie places one fist in his other palm in front of his chest and makes a formal half-bow. "Sorry if I offended you. I just meet very few autonomous robots, and you're large enough to fit a pilot inside. Not that you're overlarge or anything. I just got here, is all, and I haven't seen one of you up close before."

Smooth. He can almost hear his brothers laughing.

[dadcepticon]

"…I see." Now there's a peculiarity indeed, a race unfamiliar with autonomous mechanisms, and Krok gives the shelled fellow another, more considering look. "I'm not even my proper size," he adds. He isn't terribly smaller than he was originally, but it's enough of a difference for him to notice. "Most of us aren't, I think… the city does something to us when we arrive and makes us… smaller."

At least it keeps complications from having to live here at a minimum.

[purple_chelonian]

Anger passes over the little turtle's face so briefly you could miss it if you blink. "So your people are getting shanghaied and shrunk. I thought I had it bad just being kidnapped."

[dadcepticon]

The… outrage? On behalf of his kind is even more baffling to Krok than anything else in this exchange so far. He supposes it makes a sort of sense that someone who isn't biased against his kind would find it possible to be upset at what seems like unfair treatment, but to actually see it in motion is something else entirely.

"Well," he says, mediating, "we'd find living here a little trickier if we couldn't fit inside the buildings. So it's… awkward at first, yes, but." He shrugs one shoulder.

[purple_chelonian]

"I'd argue that being forcibly yanked into a different part of the space-time continuum is," air quotes, "'awkward at first' regardless of whether the people doing the yanking make modifications to your body without your permission. I should know, I've been through it enough times. I mean, I can't be the only one bothered by the ethics of this whole situation, can I?" he asks, scooping a book of the table without looking at it. He was aiming for a dog-eared copy of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics to brandish at the mech, but ends up with The Prince instead.

"Okay, definitely the wrong book to illustrate my point, but I still think this whole situation is fishy."

[dadcepticon]

"It's not… ideal, no." Krok sighs. "I should focus more on finding a way home, but even if the life here is strange – it's better than where my crew was." A far sight better. Probably too good to be true, yes, and he's waiting for the inevitable crash and burn. "And if here is safer than back there for them, for now, I'll… deal with it."

Not to mention he hasn't found anything indicating he and the others can even return under their own power.

Another topic, however, grabs his attention.

"You're familiar with these books?" he wonders.

Re: Donatello | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)

[swivelrotors]

Blades strolls through the many booths, looking for something that interests him. Meaning he's mostly looking for cute toys and posters with kittens on them. He prefers books when other people are reading them to him. Cody is a great storyteller!

It's not a book that catches his eye as he passes the used-book vendor, however. He almost walks past the little turtle-man, but he quickly does a double-take and can't stop himself from saying, "Whaaaaaaat?"

Re: Donatello | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)

[purple_chelonian]

"What?" the little turtle-man responds, not looking up from the book he's thumbing through. "Oh, sorry," he adds, moving to the side. Clearly some stranger is upset about him monopolizing the book stand. It's only when he catches the glint of metal out of the corner of his eye that he looks up to see who spoke.

The first thing out of his mouth is "Why do you have helicopter parts?"

Re: Donatello | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)

[swivelrotors]

The question takes Blades by surprise, and he answer almost automatically. "Because that's what I transform into."

Then he crosses his arms and eyes the strange little organic appraisingly. "Why do you have... turtle parts?"

[purple_chelonian]

Donatello emits a low, almost reverential "Cooooool," and he moves around Blades in a circle, not touching, but pointing as he inspects the robot, talking as he goes. "So this must move here, and that part folds up over there . . ."

"Because that's what I transformed from!" he answers, smiling.

[swivelrotors]

"Um-" Blades watching with wide eyes as the turtle-man circles around him, apparently trying to solve his transformation. Nobody's really looked him over this closely before, and he pinches his rotors closer together self-consciously.

"Wait. Turtles can transform into people?!" Though Graham and the Mayor did turn into Maine Ridge Monsters that one time. "...You didn't eat Fo-Foo, did you?"

[purple_chelonian]

Donnie blushes a little as he backs off and comes back around in front of Blades. He's not usually this invasive of other people's personal space! It's just . . . giant transforming robot. How can he not examine him?

"No, my brothers, father and I were exposed to a powerful mutagen. What's Fo-Foo?"

[swivelrotors]

"Powerful mutagen?" Blades looks contemplative for a moment. "Nope, haven't dealt with that before..."

He's actually kind of surprised. They deal with a lot of weird science things in Griffin Rock.

"Um, it's like human food, I guess? Except gross. And it turned people into monsters."

[purple_chelonian]

"So it's Fo-Foo like 'faux food'?" Don ventures, cocking his head to one side. "Sounds like a similar mutagenic compound. Where'd it come from?"

[swivelrotors]

"Nooo... I think it was 'Forever Food'." Blades doesn't pay too much attention to the particulars of Griffin Rock science. He mostly just tries to deal with the aftermath.

"It came out of the Best Left Forgotten room in the Hall of Inspiration." Like so many of his town's troubles do.

[purple_chelonian]

"Oh, like food that's supposed to never go bad? We have something like that where I come from! They're called 'Twinkies' and I don't think there's been a single recorded instance of anyone turning into a monster from eating them."

Donnie raises an eyebrow at the admission of where the Fo-Foo came from. "Having a wing of a museum dedicated solely to things best left forgotten seems kind of counter-intuitive. Does the Hall of Inspiration not have basement archives?"

[swivelrotors]

Blades shrugs helplessly. He doesn't know why Fo-Foo turns people into monsters at night, just that it totally happens.

"Well, it's more of a restricted warehouse than part of the museum... Stuff just keeps getting out of it."

[purple_chelonian]

"You make it sound like things are escaping, rather than people taking them," Don says, raising an eyebrow.

[swivelrotors]

"Sometimes the first, sometimes the second." Blades scratches the back of his head. Griffin Rock is certainly... interesting some times.

[purple_chelonian]

The turtle leans against the bookstall and crosses his arms over his chest. "I'm assuming there's a lock on this building?"

[swivelrotors]

"Yes, but... it gets out anyway. It's kind of hard to keep the mayor out of anywhere." He taps his fingers together. A lot of Griffin Rock's troubles are the result of the mayor, honestly.