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

[outlawname]

[There's a glance at that arm a moment, before a smile cracks on his face.]

Hey, you know what, man? That's okay. Knew this guy back in prison--had a metal leg and everyone treated him like a....well, whatever he was. Iron-clad prosthetic? Okay by this guy.

[He jabs a thumb at himself, smiling. Conveniently leaving out how he bartered the guy for said leg. That's a tale for when he's drunk. Or when Rocket's drunk.]

Name's Peter Quill, people call me Star-Lord. Maybe you've heard of me. Savor of Galaxies. Infinity stone stealer-slash-toucher.

so peter did u read cap comics...

[heismymission]

[It seems metal prosthetics are less common when it comes to this city. Go figure. He makes a noise of acknowledgement, at least. He's learning conversations... slowly.

He doesn't seem impressed by the resume, but at least it's just his normal blank stare instead of a judging one.]

I haven't heard of a lot of people. [He debates giving his own name for a moment, but honestly? What harm could it do, if this guy isn't around humans often? Using it more often is probably what Steve wants, anyway.

He takes a step out of the shade to properly introduce himself.]

Bucky Barnes. [It feels... strange coming out of his mouth, like his lips have always known how to make the sounds even though his mind forgot.]

YOU BET YOUR BUTT HE PROBABLY DID

[outlawname]

[Sigh. No one is, Bucky. No one is. Then again, he was only recently named that. He'll give you a little leeway.]

Nah, it's understandable. When you're Terran, you don't really get off the planet much. I'd still be stuck in Nowheresville, Missouri if I wasn't picked up.

Apparently we're the strange ones, keeping to ourselves.

...

[But a finger snaps, and he points to him, a smile instantly spreading.]

No way, your parents were comic fans, right?

[heismymission]

[He nods, looking off briefly in thought. He'd certainly never thought he'd be leaving the planet. So what if he can't remember most of his life. It still counts.]

I didn't know about aliens till recently. I was... out when New York was invaded.

[That's a thing he assumes basically everyone but people in comas would know about. It's a pretty big deal for most people on Earth, he's pretty damn sure.]

Comic fans? [What is... a comic. Either way, he guesses he has no answer.] I dunno. Why?

[outlawname]

[Chances are if you can't remember it, it wasn't worth remembering, or you were too drunk. At least, that's how Peter sees it. But wait, you caught his attention.]

Whoa, whoa, New York was invaded? What, like full on War of the Worlds?

[Because he's sure he'd have heard of that--or maybe not. Earth was kind of like that awkward cousin of a planet everyone ignored.]

Okay, alien invasion aside, don't tell me you've never heard of it. Captain America? Star Spangled zero-to-hero?

[There's another bite of his shaved ice, concentrating on getting a considerably stubborn piece onto his spoon.]

Used to collect the cards back home...They're probably worth a fortune now.

[heismymission]

[Come to think of it, he never did get the details on that.]

My friend told me when I met him here. I don't know a lot about it, just that he and a few others had to fight 'em.

[His attention is definitely gotten when Peter mentions Cap, though, and his posture relaxes marginally.]

You know about Steve? [Oh, right. Museum thing. Legacy. Hero stuff.] I guess he is famous.

[He frowns a little, trying to understand the comment about the cards. He guesses it was probably propaganda.]

[outlawname]

Huh. The things you miss when you're out roaming the stars.

[Not that he'd ever been to New York, but it was still a pretty big city when he was a kid...]

[But hold on, you have Peter's full attention now.]

Yeah, who doesn't? He's kind of a not-so-living legend.

...What, you didn't know he had a friend called Bucky Barnes too?

[heismymission]

[He frowns slightly before remembering that Steve was only recovered from the ice in recent years. Makes sense this guy might not know.]

He is alive. Missed several decades being frozen in the Arctic, but he was found and revived. [He doesn't seem to be fazed at all by the information he's giving, but Peter lives in space, so he's probably heard stranger things.]

He keeps saying we're friends, so I guess I'd have to.

[He pauses a second, turning the information over again to get the implications behind it. He seems unsure, almost coy as he looks off before finally glancing back to Peter.]

You know about me?

[outlawname]

[Peter's an odd mix of trying not to have an excited fit like a little kid and wondering what the heck this guy's on. Captain America...alive? Granted being in space he's heard weirder, but that's still a stretch.

Even more so that Bucky's referring to 'Steve's friend' as himself.]


Wait. You're THE Bucky Barnes?

...Huh. You look pretty good for being...dead.

[heismymission]

That's what people tell me.

[Okay, so it's been Steve and a museum narrator, but that is still more than one person.

At the last remark, his eyebrows go up and he lets out a breath through his nose in a breathless laugh, the corner of his mouth twitching up.]

Thanks. [He shrugs his right shoulder briefly.] Long story, but same kinda thing happened with me getting frozen and revived.

[He takes his right hand to knock twice on his opposite shoulder with a dull clunk to show the hard surface under his sleeve.]

Didn't come out in one piece like he did.

[... He honestly doesn't understand why being known is almost exciting. The Winter Soldier is supposed to be a ghost, untraceable and unknowable. But maybe Bucky Barnes likes being popular. Maybe he likes people recognizing him.]

[outlawname]

[It's like you told Peter that Christmas came early--or at all, actually. His eyes literally dance as Bucky talks. Steve and Bucky were both alive? And in present day?

If Quill ever had a reason to go back to Earth, now was one of them.]

This is insane. I mean really, really insane.

[Oh, he's rude. Don't mind if he offers you that shaved ice now.]

[heismymission]

[Free food? Like he'll turn it down. Even if it's not substantial... super soldiers gotta eat. He takes a bite before answering.]

So is this place.

[He can't blame Peter for thinking the situation is strange--it's part of the reason he remained a secret for so long, after all. People don't really come back from falling into ice as far as they did. But he sees the potential for a subject change, so he goes for it.]

What's that?

[He nods at the player clipped to the other man's belt before taking another bite of ice.]

[outlawname]

[And he'll take a bite too. Clearly Bucky understood the rules about eating between bros. It's not awkward silence if you're both eating.]

Yeah, I was actually just gonna ask about that. Did I crash somewhere or was this totally not my fault? Because I'm really okay with the latter. Less phone calls to Yondu equals less headaches for me.

[But he looks at Bucky's traveling eyes, right down to his cassette player.]

Oh that? 's called a Sony Walkman. Basically, it--[Sorry, bite time]--lets you play music that you put on these things called cassettes. And it plays them in order.

...Didn't have anything like that in....what, the 50's?

[heismymission]

They brought us all here by force.

[He doesn't look all that happy about it, but is anyone?

He looks at the separate buttons on the device and the thing he can see from the little window--that must be the cassette.]

The 40s. [It's a neutral correction, no offense behind his tone. He pauses for a second, however, trying to recall what they'd used to play music--he knew damn well they had it...

When he finally comes up with the answer, it comes out a little forcefully, making it somewhat obvious he was just now remembering.]

Record players. [He shoves another spoonful of ice in his mouth with his metal hand.] Not something you can really carry around.

[outlawname]

Force? What, like with an army or something?

[But Bucky's thought process causes a little awkward silence for him, remembering that yeah--people back then didn't exactly have Walkmans. To fill the gap, he puts more shaved ice in his mouth, letting the soldier think it over.

And when the answer comes...fingergun point]

Right! Those old things. Mom used to talk about 'em all the time...Giant things with discs the size of dinner plates.

[heismymission]

I don't know how they got us here.

[It's the truth, as much as he doesn't like it. There's no point in making guesses.

Peter's description brings back some more recollections of the things--he remembers dancing, some. But he has to frown a little.]

Giant? [His eyes flick to the Walkman before returning to the other man's face.] I guess they might be compared to that.