Test Drive Meme II

[eternitymods]

A. RETRIEVAL Dreams fade slowly, and awareness returns in increments. The hum of machinery, the smell of recycled air, the murmurs of others waking up around you. The interior of the ship has been outfitted with cots for those Biggs and Wedge retrieve from the Dream Width. Outside of the makeshift infirmary, windows set into the walls of the worn lounge area offer a view of space. It’s time to meet your fellow new arrivals who have been brought together on Biggs and Wedge’s airship. The other newly-awakened people have no idea how they came to be here, but now's a good time as ever to introduce yourself to the others on the airship and glean what information you can. B. CURTI CENTER The researchers at the Curti Center are not quite so unprepared as last time, but it is still obvious that they are struggling to understand the sudden influx of interdimensional travelers from the Dream Width. "Please step into the lobby for a quick survey. Perhaps there is some common thread we haven't discovered yet..." The staff will do their best to help the off-worlders settle in. They answer the questions they can, write down all proffered information they can about the arrivals' homeworlds, provide maps and pamphlets about Vaikuntha and the destinations within it, and even guide the arrivals to a neighborhood where housing has been provided for you. Yes, due to the strange influx of arrivals, you’ll be expected to share, but the Curti staff are doing the best they can, considering they are still housing the previous arrivals here on the island. Experiences like these bring people together. Perhaps you are the only one here from your world, but at least you are not alone in this experience. Others are right beside you, learning the same information, planning trips to visit the same new cities, checking out these Job things, and settling in to their new (temporary) homes. C. UP IN THE SKY There’s a whole new world to explore. It’s almost enough to distract from the fact that there’s one place you can’t go- home. You are on an Airship, the main mode of transportation between the major cities of Vaikuntha. While the majority are owned by airlines, perhaps you hitched a ride with a friend that has their own. You can go anywhere in a matter of hours — One can only hope you don’t have motion sickness. D. GUILDS Proud representatives of the Guild are lined up, ready to demonstrate their skills for the new initiates. Make sure to stay behind the designated line, this might get dangerous. So you want a new Job? You'll have to first travel to the Guilds, sign the papers, go through the orientation and introductory lectures, and get basic training. Afterwards, you can freely chat and practice with your fellow members, celebrating your new powers, and checking out your new wardrobe. E. LET'S BE ADVENTURERS Separated from all of your material possessions, connections, and everything you know, and really, what you’re left with is time. Better try to make the most of it. Enough expository banter. It's explorin' time. Maybe instead of spending every day in your room, you'd rather spend it living it up in the city of Lavode, or betting on Chocobo Races in Sparks Goldsaucia. Or maybe you'd rather go and explore the caves and ruins near Arito. With Airships and Chocobos at your disposal, you can go nearly anywhere! F. SIDEQUESTS Maybe you’re telling yourself, ‘I didn’t sign up for this.’ But wait, you did. At least it pays. It all started when you checked the Quest Board.  All you wanted was a few gil to spend, and here you are in the wild, hunting for a Malboro Vine. Or maybe you are in some ancient and decrepit ruins looking for an artifact. Or you could be asked to be janitor for a week. Consider yourself lucky though, at least you don't have to do that alone. G. GET A JOB (THE OTHER KIND) You’ve got a Job, but Claire keeps sighing and muttering about layabout space-people not earning their keep, so it might be time to seek out Employment as well. There are plenty of opportunities to earn some gil in Vaikuntha, no matter where you choose to settle down. Your iMog slate includes listing for employment opportunities. Hopefully you can find something you can live with so that you can start saving up for an airship or the security payment for your permanent housing. H. MOGNET *Ding!* You’ve got Mog-Mail! Thankfully, you can instantaneously chat with your friends around the world thanks to you iMog Slate. And unlike old-fashioned Moogle Letters, you can even send messages to everyone in a blink of an eye! However, despite the change in technology, the old tradition of Mognet Strikes have never gone away. Nobody knows any more whether the Moogles have legitimate reasons to go on strike or if they are just lazy. But today, Mognet is down, and to get information you have no choice but going to the public boards or risk message corruption and mishandling. I. RANDOM ENCOUNTER The ground trembles, and out of nowhere, something hostile appears! Is that battle music playing? You were minding your own business walking around, and suddenly monsters attacked you! Time to put to use the skills you've learned with your Jobs! Will you try to fight on your own or seek help? And remember, you die in random battle, you die FOR REAL. There’s no shame from running from enemies that are a higher level than you! J. CHOCOBO MADNESS You look at the giant chicken, and the giant chicken looks back at you. Could this be the beginning of a beautiful relationship? The kind folks at the Chocobo Farm have provided you with the tools of the chocobo-catching trade: greens, a bridle, and more advice than you can remember. Time to go find your new steed. Or perhaps you have already captured a chocobo, and your friend has captured a chocobo, and now you'd like to bring some chicks into the equation. Chocobo breeding may be the minigame for you! K. WILD CARD Feeling inspired to create your own prompt? The power is yours!

Comments

[sassafrisk]

Retrieval
Frisk groans, their eyes fluttering open as the low murmur of conversation reaches their ears. Must've been one wild trial. Is this what being hungover felt like? More importantly, why did they feel hungover? "Ugh, Papyrus, who are you-" Their eyes widen--not that it helps much--and they take in their new surroundings. "Papyrus!"

Getting to their feet and stumbling through the crowd, the strange, yellow-skinned child with brown hair and a pink shirt that proudly proclaims "COOL DUDE!" stumbles through the crowd, muttering, "Sorry, excuse me, coming through, looking for a skeleton, has anybody seen a skeleton? Where am I anyways? Who are all you- Woah!" Frisk comes to the window and gawks out at space. It was at times like this that they wished that they hadn't been so stubborn about getting glasses. But still... where was Papyrus?

Curti Center
Frisk wanders aimlessly through the Curti Center, wincing at the bright light. It was all so... future-y. And not crazy "I am going to kill and/or torture you in the most horrible way possible" like in Hotland. It would've been nice... if they could still save and load. After three days Underground, it would take some time to get used to not having the world's best safety net. Too busy people-watching the crowd and aimlessly worrying to pay attention to their surroundings, Frisk trips over somebody's shoes. They pry their face off the ground and look up at whoever they tripped over, smiling cheesily. "Are you gravity? Because I'm falling for you," they say, waggling their eyebrows and making finger guns.

Random Encounter
"Nope nope nope nope nope!" Frisk yells, running at top speed away from an angry monster, springboarding from tree to tree and grinding down logs as fast as their sneakered feet can take them. Thank the stars for the ninja job that they took, because if they didn't have the asterisk Frisk was fairly certain they'd be dead meat.

Curti Center

[immortalmarshal]

Cor's just trying to stay in one place and get his own assessment of the crowd at large. From what information he's been given so far, he has somehow ended up in another world, with no mamory of how in the Six that came to be. And this isn't new to the natives, people coming in from another world...

What is distracting, though, is when some young person trips over his shoes. He glances down at...them? Them, trying to see if they're alright...

And then they pull some of the lamest pick-up lines he's ever heard. Was that some kind of setup to get a quick date, or is he just siezing the moment? Giving the kid a disappointing look, he simply speaks in two words: "Not interested."

Re: Curti Center

[sassafrisk]

Well, darn. Frisk couldn't remember the last time they'd been completely stonewalled like that. They didn't even get a confused or angry reaction? Really? Oh well. Frisk pulls themself to their feet, giving Cor a wry glance. "Wow. I usually at least get a groan out of my audience for a pun that horrible. Do you just have the grumps or are you desensitized to that sort of thing?"

[immortalmarshal]

"More like the latter...and I have more important things to focus on right now, anyway." Not to mention, they just seem a bit too young for his taste. "Do you always hit upon everyone you meet?"

[sassafrisk]

That was fair, really. Pretty much the only reason why Frisk wasn't literally or mentally screaming and running in circles was that they had the good luck to stumble across Papyrus. The whole situation was rather disorienting, to say the least. They shrug at Cor's question. "It's how I say hello."

[immortalmarshal]

Cor looks at the kid, wondering if they're joking about that being their way of greeting people. But he soon realizes that no, they really do mean that. He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"...what kind of parents teaches their kid that..." he mutters to himself, under his breath. He then takes a deep breath and looks at the youngster again. "There's better ways to do that, kid."

[sassafrisk]

Frisk keeps smiling easily, putting their hands behind their head. This guy sure was a grump. At least grumps could be fun to mess with. "Who knows? I might be one of those vengeful orphan types whose parents got killed by the evil overlord and I'm out on a quest for revenge," they joke.

"Eh, there may be technically better ways to greet someone, but to my knowledge there isn't a funnier way. At least not without a lot of setup, some serious dedication, and the willingness to take a gamble on them not giving you the Looney Tunes Chase treatment for the prank."

[immortalmarshal]

"Uh-huh." Yeah, no, Cor doesn't buy that one bit. Even if he did, though, he'd wonder if it'd be worth keeping an eye on this young...person. One such 'orphan' is enough of a responsibility for him as it is, back home...

"Are you always this much of a jokester, kid?" A pause. "And what's your name, anyway?"

[sassafrisk]

"Eh, it's better than just brooding all the time. Which would be a pretty easy thing to do, especially in- ah, nevermind." Frisk shakes their head. Explaining their current, er, well, previous situation would take waaaay too much time. "It's Frisk. And yours?"

[immortalmarshal]

Cor looks curious for a brief moment. It was almost like this young person was about to mention where they're from. Are things that bad? Or did this kid (also) start out with a rough upbringing?

Well...maybe another thing to pursue later.

"It's Cor - Cor Leonis." He holds a hand out to shake.

[sassafrisk]

Frisk gives a dramatic sigh, looking at their empty pockets. Maybe. It's hard to tell with their eyes squinted so much. "Alas. If only I remembered to bring my joybuzzer through an interdimensional void. Woe is me." Regardless, they shake Cor's hand, and say, "The name's Frisk. I wish I had a last name so I could do the whole James Bond introduction thing, but sadly not."

[immortalmarshal]

It's very hard to tell with such squinted eyes, even with Cor's own sharp ones. Still, Cor let the handshake last a moment or so before disengaging. "Must be quite a disappointment," he mutters in a dry, deadpanned tone.

He then looks a little confused at the movie reference, mainly because he doesn't get it. They may have something similar back on Eos, but Cor doesn't even recognize it as a movie reference of any kind. "...right. You got anyone from your world here, Frisk?"

[sassafrisk]

Frisk nods. And thank goodness that they did, Frisk was well aware that they'd probably be breaking down in a corner if they didn't have Papyrus with them. "Yup! You've probably at least heard him, he's a very loud skeleton. Don't know what I'd do without Papyrus, honestly." Realizing something, they add, "No, I'm not joking. He really is a skeleton."

[immortalmarshal]

Cor seems pretty satisfied for a moment; it's good that this...youth isn't here on their own. He was about to suggest that he goes find his friend when that little confirmation about Papyrus hit.

"...A sentient skeleton?" He's really...uncertain about entrusting some human's life with what he normally sees as a monster back home.

[sassafrisk]

Frisk can see Cor's dubiousness. Heck, four days ago, they would've been dubious too. Smiling, Frisk reassures him, saying, "Trust me, he wouldn't hurt a fly. If anything, you're more dangerous to him than he is to you, monsters have a tendency to just kinda... collapse if anybody even punches them while being just an eensy weensy bit tetchy. At least that's how it works on my world. It's a miracle he's survived so long on a world like this, really."

Curti Center

[einspine]

Papyrus really shoulda seen this coming. Frisk is a flirt machine. It's a scientific fact! But... another gravity-based pun. Oh no! It's too strong! So, naturally, cue the googly eyes as Papyrus shouts...

"OH NOOOO! ANOTHER GRAVITY-BASED PICKUP LINE! YOUR FLIRTING PROWESS HAS PEAKED YET AGAIN!!!"

Wowie. And it's been so long. Is he gonna have to make a new D.A.T.E at this rate?!

Re: Curti Center

[sassafrisk]

Never in their entire life had Frisk been so lucky. They could still hardly believe that they had the fortune to land in the same world as Papyrus. Then again, they did lose their save state, so there was a trade off... but still. Frisk picks themself off the floor and shrugs, grinning. "It was just right there! How was I supposed to resist?"

[einspine]

Papyrus pauses for several seconds, squinting as he searches VERY HARD for an answer... But ultimately, this is Frisk. Frisk dabbles in the forbidden art of flirtism. An art beyond his scientific comprehension... and frankly, this is to be expected.

So instead, he just laughs. "I'D BE A BIT WORRIED IF YOU HAD! IT WOULD BE VERY UNLIKE YOU."

[sassafrisk]

"If I'm ever having a dance-off with an evil clone, throw out a painfully obvious setup for a pun. Whoever makes the cheesiest joke is the real Frisk." Stretching their arms, they ask, "Soooo, what's been going on in my absence? I trust that at least some scientific hijinks have ensued."

[einspine]

"YES, THOUGH NOT AS MUCH AS I'D LIKE. MAINLY BECAUSE I HAVE FEWER RESOURCES. RIGHT NOW, I'M ONLY WIELDING THE CHEMIST AND GOURMAND ASTERISKS, SO I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I DABBLE IN MAGITECH KNIGHT TO REGAIN MY TECHNICAL PROWESS." Which makes him huff a bit. It's such an inconvenience! Why can't he just keep his practical skills?

[sassafrisk]

Frisk raises a finger, then pauses, digging out a flyer and a pencil that they'd borrowed, scrawling "YOUR POINT" on the front of the flyer, before lifting it high above their head and waving it back and forth. In case that didn't get their point across, they say, "...pardon?"

[einspine]

Oh. Was that too much jargon? He blinks a few times, then rubs his neck. Whoopsy doopsy! Let's try another angle.

"OH! WELL. THIS WORLD IS WEIRD, FRISK! IN ORDER TO USE POWERS AND EVEN ESSENTIAL JOB SKILLS, WE NEED THESE THINGS CALLED ASTERISKS. I CAN'T EVEN SUMMON MY BONES LIKE THIS!!!"

[sassafrisk]

Frisk's eyes widen. That sounded... very familiar. "Wait wait wait. Hold on. Are you telling me this world operates like some unholy hybrid between Ultimate Saga Strategy and Courageously Normal?" The videogame parallels continued to mount with each passing moment.

[einspine]

"I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHAT YOU MEAN, BUT! IT'S VERY MUCH LIKE THOSE HUMAN VIDEO GAMES. WITH THE EPIC QUESTS AND THE RANDOM BATTLES AND COOL ARMOR... JUST IT'S ALL REAL." There! That seems straightforward enough. Easy to understand. Maybe? Probably. Hopefully.

[sassafrisk]

If only Cap or Alphys were here. Either of them could probably snark with Frisk for days about their current situation. But thinking about that only made Frisk feel even more internally panicky than they already were, so it was probably best to just... compartmentalize those thoughts. "Does improbably-colored spiky hair come with the package?"