Test Drive - March Edition

[rekindlemods]

SURPRISE! It's time for our new Rekindle 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's looking gray here, still in that colorless pre-spring phase. There is one bright spot of color, in the form of roses decorating a few tables inside buildings. They even appear to be free for the taking, if you need a little color! And mostly benign. Mostly.]

Option 2

[ The entire city looks pretty new to you, but there seems to be a special amount of shine to one particular spot. Maybe it's just the lights on the ferris wheel, which looks like it could offer a great view of the new city. Only catch is that you're going to end up sharing the ride with another person.]

Option 3

[Apparently this place has a zoo and an aquarium, and is currently holding a special deal and event. Bring a second person in with you, get a special pass to the exhibits! Though why the bath house is ALSO holding a similar event is anyone's guess.]

Option 4

[The slow warming and change in the season has another effect; visibility has a way of suddenly dropping when a cool mist rolls in off the banks of the river and down from the clouds. It's got a chill and dampness to it, and makes it hard to see. You might want to be careful not to bump into anyone while trying to get in out of the fog.]

Option 5

[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 6

[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

Lulu | Final Fantasy X | Options 2 & 5

[stoicwitch]

Option 2

[It was a large contraption she was certain she had never laid eyes on before. It looked to her like some sort of machina- a machine that an Al Bhed might have thought up. The longer she took in the sight of it, watching couples filter on and off from the many compartments, it was clearly a contraption meant for recreation.]

[After much deliberation, she'd decided. Even if she had to sit beside someone she did not know, she was very interested in seeing what this town looked like from such a height. There was only to find someone to pair off with her. Lulu, not one to play passive, spied another that was on their own not far from herself.]

"Excuse me..."

Option 5

[It had only been a week, and Lulu had felt fine. That was, until she realized she could barely make so much as a spark with her magic.]

[Lulu had not been purposefully neglectful, mind. She had spent much of her first week in Saeng Seong exploring and chatting with locals to get a feel for her situation. She was a little embarrassed with herself, truth be told; the regularity most residents of Saeng Seong mentioned their impending crisis she really had no excuse. There had just been so much for her to take in, so much to adjust to. That, and she was more than just a little uncomfortable with the idea of getting overly warm with complete strangers.]

[So here she was, standing around District 5 and feeling like quite the fool. This was just the sort of behaviour she'd have scolded Wakka for.]

[Someone was walking past her now- she couldn't keep standing here all day. How to broach the manner carefully?]

"You."

2, please!

[heretic_hamlet]

[Giant mechanical devices were a thing of legends and lost ages in Ramza's own world, and to see them not only extant but animate was a thing of wonder...! Yet seeing a device of such size and might being used for amusement was almost a disappointment. Well, it beat them being war machines.

But he was pulled from his gawking by a voice from beside, a new face- and attire entirely unlike he'd seen in Saeng Seong- earning his gaze.]

"Yes?"

[stoicwitch]

"The wheel, it only boards in pairs."

[She gestured idly to the ferris wheel with a wave of her hand. If the rules weren't so strictly enforced she'd have gone by herself, but she remained resolute. Surely there was no harm in sharing space together for a short while, was there? She continued on with reluctance, if only to make her point more apparent.]

"Would you care to join me?"

[Her expression was one of apathy and she regarded him in words that were polite, if a little stiff.]

[heretic_hamlet]

"In pairs... small wonder. Every seat in this city seems built for two to share."

[Still, she didn't much have the air of someone who was seeking pleasure; if anything, she seemed a bit begrudging of her own request. Then again, maybe she was just a bit nervous; Ramza had never seen her before, after all, and it was an embarrassing thing to ask of a stranger.]

"I... would not mind, but you do not seem to care much for it yourself."

[stoicwitch]

"It is less for recreation and more to sate my curiosity. We do not have these where I am from."

[Yes. Purely academic curiosity. She rested a hand on her hip. The edges of Lulu's lips quirked up into a fleeting smile and shrugged her shoulders dismissively.]

"...Though I am not against experiencing it for entertainment purposes, either."

[heretic_hamlet]

"A bold move, for true."

[Ramza was left with an idle grin of his own, his gaze staring back up to the enormous, brightly-lit wheel as it turned and creaked.]

"Though I admit I share your wonder. My world had only known such machines in an age long past... Well, then. Let us both sate our curiosities."

[He began meeting her stride and making for the front of the wheel.]

"I am Ramza. Ramza Beoulve."

[stoicwitch]

"Our worlds are alike in that way."

[Lulu remarks this and gives a solemn nod. There is a dull ache that accompanies thoughts of her homeland, of her island, her friends. She had traveled extensively, and yet she had never yearned quite as much then as she did now. She wondered, if only for a moment, if her company felt the same.]

"Lulu. It is a pleasure, Ramza."

[Though her words are scarce, she seems receptive to his courtesy.]

"Thank you for joining me. It is kind of you to humor my curiosity."

[heretic_hamlet]

"And you. 'tis no trouble."

[Whatever nostalgic or sentimental thoughts he had remained either well-hidden or well-buried; for the most part, he matched her formality with his own. A quick, curt nod to the attendant as they approached the front of the line and the gondola door was open to them.

As he stepped in, however, it seemed he could no longer keep his curiosity reined, and Ramza turned to Lulu as he took his seat. Well, by her dress she didn't look like a woman of Ivalice, but...]

"Your world... would you know why it has such things no longer?"

[stoicwitch]

[Lulu was careful of her skirt as she stepped into the cart. She sat with her back straight and her eyes forward, but would occasionally look up to the numerous iron bars that held the great contraption together.]

"There is... was a creature in our world we referred to as Sin. It is said that some thousand years ago the people of my home world were quite advanced. Their advancements made them over indulgent, and they were punished by Sin for their hedonism. Certain contraptions, things we call machina, were banned as a matter of atonement."

[It felt strange to discuss this as a thing of the past. It was only so recently the impending threat had been laid to rest. All things considered this should have made her happy, but all she could think about was whether or not time still marched on at home while she was stranded in Saeng Seong. Lulu spared Ramza many other details, deciding it best not to get more long winded than she may have already.]

"If there was ever a creation like this before... I suppose the schematics have been lost to years of destruction. What of your world?"

[heretic_hamlet]

[Ramza merely gave the walls of their gondola a cursory rap as Lulu settled, attentive to the rull ring of the metal. He would more have expected it to be made of wood, like a carriage.

But Lulu's story soon gripped his attentions, and he dropped his idle pondering in favor of deeper thought that left him looking outwardly pensive. Certainly he had seen kings make such decrees, or Churches proper, but-- a single creature?]

"And Sin's watch and wrath spanned those thousands of years? Was it some manner of God or--"

[He's quickly cut off by the lurching of the wheel- and their little seat along with it- but the startling moment passes swift as it came. He finds his thoughts once more, with a sigh.]

"...Twelve hundred years before my time, a mighty and prosperous empire executed a 'Prophet of the Gods' for the crime of sedition. Upon his death, the earth roared in anger, and the ocean swept the whole of the empire into the sea, and with it the secrets and machines of its prosperity."

[He gives a peek out the window as they begin to rise, but his sight returned over to Lulu.]

"So goes the tale. The truth is... murkier, I am sure."

5 please!

[drivenbatty]

[The man walking past her was slightly overdressed for the weather, with no exposed skin from the neck down, and with sunglasses and an umbrella to boot. It's not even raining. The man has the pale pink skin and white hair of an albino, so that might explain it. He starts a bit when she calls out; he wasn't expecting to see anyone. He glances around him, but there's no one else she could be talking to.]

"Um, yes? Can I help you?"

Absolutely!

[stoicwitch]

[He was walking alone, and perhaps that had been why she had been so drawn to call out him. Most were others that had passed had been in pairs. Typical. She sizes him up a moment and speaks succinctly.]

"I have a favor to ask of you."

[She doesn't wait for him to answer. She continues on, trying to keep proper candor as frustrated with herself as she is. She had thought over and over again about how she might approach someone about assisting her need for contact, but it seemed the words were harder to find now. She inhales slowly through her nose, and she exhales her words.]

"Might I--"

[This was the difficult part.]

"Hold your hand a moment or so?"

[Lulu tries not to sound hopeful, but she does hope he understands her plight without needing more details.]

Re: Absolutely!

[drivenbatty]

[He nods, approaching closer, his posture friendly.]

"Sure thing. What is it?"

[He's been here long enough that he's pretty sure he knows the reason for the request, and that it's nothing personal. But still, he can't help but be taken aback just a little, and his pale skin does absolutely nothing to hide his blush, much to his chagrin.]

"Oh. Oh. Yeah, it's no problem at all."

[He pulls off his gloves and offers a hand, his smile still a bit sheepish.]

"I'm Jeff, by the way. I um...take it you're new?"

Sorry, I got really sick this week! Time to tag! ;_;

[stoicwitch]

[Lulu reaches out to grasp his hand. It is a gentle hold she takes of him at first, but it doesn't take her very long to close her fingers a little tighter around his. For the moment, it is good to know she can cease any further damage due to this lack of contact.]

"My name is Lulu, and... I am. It's certainly been a strange experience. Saeng Seong is very unlike my home."

[She says this in a way she hopes sounds nonchalant, as if it doesn't instill her with a sense of discomfort to be new to an entirely different world.]

"I suspect it is the same for you."