Test Drive - April Edition

[rekindlemods]

Happy early April and spring! Here's a new test drive to go with it! 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

[Something went wrong with your arrival, or perhaps the security around the gates was lax. Either way, you find yourself outside the city and in place that's providing a steady drain on your energy and looking a lot less warm and welcoming. Particularly those insects of unusual size skittering down the sides of the buildings, just waiting for the wrong movement to be made before swarming. There's an alarm being raised on the other side of the city walls, and it sounds like help is on the way…But will it come fast enough?]

Option 2

[There's a bustle of activity in some parts of the city; people fussing over generators that look freshly installed (and also look oddly lantern like; one more oddity to add to this place) and trying to get them up and running. It looks like they could use a hand or two to help…And oddly enough, given the instructions, hand holding to help power these devices.]

Option 3

[Spring is here! Or at least close at hand, with all the flowers beginning to bud in the trees and the grassy areas. (There might even be a few small animals on hand, too!) Even a change in decoration as little charms and masks are hung up on buildings and the like. Chances are, there might be some other people out enjoying the spring weather, too.]

Option 4

[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 5

[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

Layer | Megaman X | Option 1

[bridgebunny]

A notification pinged across her vision, strings of errors involving her power core and of some kind of energy leak again. But, again, she ignored them. As alarms sounded from inside the city ahead, it added to the cacophony that already blared away within her, warning her of her energy levels draining and fast. The ETA on complete shut-down couldn't decide on how much time she had left, the numbers recalculating up and down so quickly that she couldn't read them. But she kept moving.

If the Hunters could push themselves against steadily-stacking odds, then so could she.

Drawing her rapier, she decided her best bet was heading for the city. They had lights, electricity, and she hoped she'd be able to find the answers she sought. Why she drew her rapier? Targeting reticules signaled her to incoming foes: Large, malevolent insects.

A whoooole lot of them.

Re: Layer | Megaman X | Option 1

[protomensch]

He was used to seeing a few proverbial red lights showing up for his power supply. But he never saw it suddenly start draining so suddenly. So quickly. And the place around him didn't look like it's life was faring any better.

Except for the bugs. They looked better than ever. And bigger. Much, much bigger. And the only presence apart from that was that blaring siren amidst the one stretch of buildings that looked pretty well-off.

No... it was faint. but there was one other signal out here. Ad hoc, too.

He wasn't fond of killing living creatures, but a couple bugs streaking towards him were quickly fended off with two quick blasts from a cannon he was swift to dispel... he had to save energy as he made his way over to that other little blip on his radar. Maybe with the other one's help he could make it back without a fuss.

[bridgebunny]

A kiai was at her lips, sharp across the heavy air as she leaped, her kick-off sending her into a spin. Spiraling through the air, her blade made quick work of the first group of things that were a baffling mix of locust and something else entirely. They fell in halves against the ground, some wings still uselessly buzzing when Layer landed again, swinging the blade to clear it before racing onward.

Something else alerted her and she wondered just what else was going to greet her today. But the signal was almost like that of a Hunter, coming in fast.

Should she call the user? Perhaps it wasn't wise. Communications was yet another core drain, and it was enough that she was fighting while on the move.

She'd just take her chances with whoever this was, but oh did she wish it was X, Zero or Axl.

[protomensch]

Thankfully it wasn't a decision layer had to make; and though the signal seemed a bit on the weak side to begin with- an older, less efficient transfer protocol- its owner didn't seem much worse for the wear when he finally sprinted into view, slamming a door shut on a trio of enormous bugs and stumbling as he hastily regained his footing and launched back into a sprint.

He was all the more baffled once the signal got stronger. Whatever new model she was, it was impressive stuff. Her communications protocol alone had to be at least a century ahead of his, let alone those flashes he saw of beam weapons ahead.

Did... they even make those? He just hoped she was on his side.

When he finally approached, he couldn't even begin to size her up. But she was a fellow robot, at least- that much was obvious.

"Hey--! Where did all these bugs come from?!"

[bridgebunny]

"I take it you're just as in the dark as I am," she replied, backing off a step.

"I can't tell if they're local or introduced; I'd need pieces of them for study later on, but my priority isn't on data-gathering at the moment." How she managed to stay so calm, goodness knows. But she was slowly pacing herself back toward what could be safety.

"Are you from the city, perchance?"

[protomensch]

"I've got no idea what's going on, if that's what you mean," he replied as he came to stop in his tracks. "I was scanning myself and the next thing I knew, I was here."

Maybe this robot was as puzzled as he was, but she also had tech and weaponry a century ahead of his; what was she getting so apprehensive over?

"I'm not, but I need to make it over there and fast. Something's seriously wrong with my power core."

[bridgebunny]

"...It seems we're in the same predicament. We should move quickly but refrain from dashing, but I'm sure you don't need that sort of reminder," she noted, nodding and picking up the pace. They can make chit-chat later. The beam rapier flared back to life as more insects were incoming.

"I've noted this species can't turn on a dime. As much as I don't like running away, we can surpass these two swarms completely and be gone before they have a chance to turn and renew their assault." She didn't notice any external weaponry on him. She had, however, seen the cannon.

"I'll clear a path! Straight through!" In a blink, she was gone. But then she reappeared a few yards away, trailed by lightning that felled a dozen of the bugs, twitching and sparking.

Her energy levels didn't like that, so she broke into a run. The city was getting close!

[protomensch]

"Dashing? I think I can handle a sprint."

Then again, maybe it was for the best the robots back at home couldn't do that sort of thing. Or, at least, that a certain scientist's robots couldn't. He'd hate to think of what would have happened if those were something other than giant, mutated insects.

But in the present he'd welcome her help. Especially if she was going to keep throwing out moves like... that. He just hoped he'd be able to keep up. He just had to materialize his battle armor.

...But his power core was no longer his only worry, it seemed. Even at its worst, he'd never gotten insufficient allocation when trying to equip himself. The best he could do was pick back up from his stumble and try to match Layer's pace on foot. At least his cannon was still responding, and he gathered it around his fist to pick off a couple stragglers behind them.

"You'll bleed out your reserves if you keep pulling moves like that!"

[bridgebunny]

Keyword was 'keep'. She didn't know if she could even do it again, but didn't tell him that.

"Risky, but better to use less moves and head in a straight line than pausing to expend further energy taking them on with the rapier or the cannon."

But as she looked ahead, something didn't make any sense.

"Their alarms are sounding, but rather than lock out any threat that sounded it, the gates are wide open..." Enter through the front doors, or scale the walls?

[shadowsgambit]

The siren was going off. Fortuna didn't know what that meant, but with people rushing for the gates, she decided it couldn't be anything good.

It was faster for her to find a ladder and scale the walls, however, than it was to divert to the gate, and her unorthodox approach was rewarded with a view of someone being attacked by those damned bugs. As if there weren't enough giant bugs back home.

She pulled her drones up and sent them over the wall, jumping in and taking direct control of them from where she sat. Layer would soon be joined by a pair of roughly cat-sized machines, one round and hovering and launching miniature mortars at the bugs, and the other wheeled and tank-like, firing from a domed turret.

[bridgebunny]

She needed a moment to think. Using one of her more advanced abilities would require energy and she had precious little to spare, but the numbers were too great to risk letting these strange-looking creatures have their way. Those mandibles looked like they could chew through synthetics without much fuss.

A pair of machines rolled right in upon her next thought, and immediately she felt something of a sense of home- machines, or perhaps some sort of defense force from the city ahead! The insects weren't the most impervious to fired rounds, and she could comfortably lower her rapier and move on ahead.

"Thank you!" She addressed the drones, but she scanned the horizon. That wall could be scaled no problem, but what would she find once inside?

[shadowsgambit]

A humanoid being - but not human; much too tall and those horns - sat on the wall, and waved at her with a long arm when she turned to look. At the same time, both drones started making their way towards her.

Fortuna was already feeling the drain through her drones. She needed to get both them and Layer out of there - and hoping that the contact involved in helping pull her over the wall would help keep them both from getting sick.

[bridgebunny]

She reached the wall and started her climb. For a smooth surface with no handholds, she seemed to be doing just fine scaling the thing; it was almost like she stuck to the walls, hopping her way up until she reached the top.

Someone was waving, and she presumed they were the ones responsible for the machines outside. She smiled and reached for the offered hand, accepting the lift up, and somehow those alarm bells shut off. Something in her power cells kicked back on, rejuvenating themselves as she finally made it up top.

"Strange... I was in danger of shut-down just a moment ago," she thought aloud.

[shadowsgambit]

Fortuna was about to ask about shut-down, but then, as she pulled her drones back over the wall too, she realized what had looked like strange armor to match obvious cyberware arms and legs from that distance and through the odd angles of the drones' cameras, looked more like...casing? She wasn't looking at cyberware at all, was she?

In return for that weirdness, Layer might notice a bit of weirdness herself, if she catches sight of the cord that trails from behind her ear to somewhere beneath her coat.

"Yeah, places like outside the walls drain your energy fast."

[bridgebunny]

Hailing from such a technologically-advanced civilization, the cord does catch her eye, but she made no verbal note of it. It does bring up a few questions on the level of tech this place has when, looking out at the place now, she saw nothing that matches it.

"...I did notice that my energy levels evened out once I scaled the wall. What's out there that's causing the drain?"

[shadowsgambit]

"Nobody's really sure," Fortuna said as she took a small black box from her coat - it was connected to the cord trailing up behind her hair - and pressed a couple buttons on it. She disconnected the cord from the box and from whatever it was connected to on her head and tucked both back into her coat.

"Far as I know, there was some kind of disaster a long time ago, trashed the energy levels in the place. So they're bringing people in to be living batteries."

[bridgebunny]

"L-living... living batteries?" Oh. Oh, my.

"Then you would be in thrall with those that originated here?" Not the most delicate subject, but if she had to end some reign of slavery, she darn well could!

"How exactly are you being used in such a manner?"

Re: Layer | Megaman X | Option 1

[strikeachord]

Several fewer bugs now, with the wail of a guitar and bolts of lightning peppering the walls like gunfire. Far be it from Billy to just leave a lady in the lurch no matter how much he feels like passing out.

"You all right there, miss?" he calls, pausing his strumming just long enough to take a few steps forward. Focusing enough to multi-task isn't so easy at the moment.

[bridgebunny]

It was a risk worth taking. She could take them out, then gun straight for the city's walls and hope for the best.

When bolts of lightning seemed to come from out of nowhere, joined by what she identified as guitar, she was perplexed, for nothing in the weather patterns above spoke of storms. Or music.

Addressed, she turned and had her answer. Readings from this man and his guitar were fluctuating off the charts, but it was nothing she had the time or energy to study further at the moment. "As well as I can be, in my current situation."

She had to keep her cool, despite the screaming panic of the error messages going on in her head. "The city... is it friendly? I'm in considerable need of a power source."

Best not to fib. He'd just bailed her out of the bug situation, after all.

[strikeachord]

He has the options of upsetting the little lady or lying to her. Billy decides that lying is a far greater insult in this case, and one not so easily mended. He turns a reluctant, embarrassed look on her.

"'Fraid I'm not sure, miss," he admits. Thankfully, he's got a good charge still built up on the guitar, so he can afford some conversation time. "I'm not from around here, myself. And for all I know, our little friends here came from there." That's how things usually work out back home, anyway. He grins, however, and his guitar hums out a major chord like it's announcing a challenge. "I'm not feelin' too hot myself, so how about we go find out?"

[bridgebunny]

Not the answer she was hoping for, but... "Whatever the city holds, it's got to be better than all the dark rust out here."

Rust. Decay. To her, it was just the same as a human walking through a sea of corpses. The sooner she got someplace lit and warm, the better. She would simply watch the back of this gentleman as well. This... oh-

She offered a smile, a polite tip of her head before she started on the path out of this creepy place. "I'm Layer."

[strikeachord]

"Oh! Pardon me," and Billy gives her an easy, friendly smile, "didn't mean to be rude. The name's Rocketbilly. Rocketbilly Redcadillac." He drawls his last name in proper showman fashion, then chuckles. "But you can just call me Billy." Fending off another bout of light-headedness, he makes a quick skip-step to catch Layer up. She sure doesn't waste time!

Not that he blames her. Best save most of the social niceties for a nicer setting, he decides, and keeps one hand ready on his guitar strings. But saving the social stuff doesn't mean silence, and if it's one thing Billy can't stand, it's long walks without some conversation. Juji was terrible at it.

"Any idea how you got here?" he wonders. He's not sure how he wound up in the middle of a disaster area; doesn't mean Layer mightn't have thought about it.

[bridgebunny]

"It's a pleasure, Billy," she replied warmly, though she was sounding tired now. That wasn't good.

"None," she admitted when he asked, looking disturbed for it.

"I was at my console in Hunter HQ, blinked, and I wound up here. I can't exactly be sure whether I was abducted, transferred or..." No, best not list the negatives. The others would know she was missing and would be on the lookout for her. The Hunter she'd been assigned to would very likely be tearing down walls and turning things upside-down. It was simply how he worked, after all. You weren't an S-Class without getting your hands dirty, though X was a direct contradiction to that.

But that was X.

Lifting a hand to her headset, she risked another scan of the city.

"I wonder to what they're alerting everyone in the city. The alarms have been going off for a while now..."

[strikeachord]

So she isn't sure what happened, either… and it bothers her a lot more than even her expression lets on, or that's the impression Billy gets. And she's wearing down fast. He tries as politely as possible to position himself such that hopefully he can try to shield her if the need arises.

"If I was back home, I'd guess it was my fault," he says with a wry grin, shrugging, "except I ain't done anything yet."

[bridgebunny]

The keyword being 'yet', she presumes, but she makes no remark. It's getting a little harder to speak, energy beginning to direct itself completely to simply putting one foot in front of the other.

She tried thinking of other things. Redcadillac, huh? Sounded nostalgic in a way. She thought of the old cars, their slick shape and the sound of revved engines. Layer was always fond of technological history, to the point of being called a buff of 'history nerd' by her friends.

But she steps wrong and steadies herself, but not without instinctively reaching out and laying a hand on Billy's shoulder.

"I'm- I'm sorry, I-" ...The error messages stopped. Rather than blaring warnings and giving the ETA, something pinged her. Recharging.

But, how? From where? She wasn't sleeping, nor had she gotten her hands on any energy tanks. So-