memesofeternity | TEST DRIVE MEME

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TEST DRIVE MEME

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. None of you know how you came to be here or where you are going, and the door to the cockpit is locked as the pilots focus on navigating the treacherous obstacles of the Dream Width. You might as well take this moment to introduce yourself to your fellow travelers.

B. CURTI CENTER

There’s an almost overwhelming aura of excitement in the tower as researchers rush to document this unprecedented number of interdimensional travelers. Over the commotion, the leaders of the Center struggle to explain, ‘Welcome to Vaikuntha. We don’t know why you’ve been brought here, but this is your new home.’

The staff will do their best to help the off-worlders settle in. They answer the questions they can, provide maps and pamphlets about the world 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 under the circumstances.

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. WILD CARD

Feeling inspired to create your own prompt? The power is yours!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Geez, a kid? Sure, Hunk was pretty young, but this kid looked like he was about Pidge's age, without the constant savvy. It made his heart hurt, especially since he seemed alone. So amidst the din of the footsteps of the passersby, an older, bulkier frame walks up to the stretch of railing next to him, just in time to hear a scrap of that murmur. He prepares his voice to sound reassuring, even a little confident, despite being lost himself.

"Have, uh.... have you eaten anything yet?" Hunk wasn't sure what he'd heard beyond "no idea" but he knew any problem was easier to solve with some food in your stomach. Especially for solitary kids who seem thrown into another dimension.

Hope started a little, lifting his head from his hand and to look over at the big guy addressing him. Hope regarded him silently, a little unsure... and then his stomach growled and he looked a bit embarrassed.

"Uh, I guess I am," He said, his cheeks turning a little pink. When was the last time he ate, anyway? The past few days had been pretty hectic, not even including going to this new world. He obviously ate something but he supposed with all the stress since being pulled from the Dream Width, he hadn't really noticed how much or when. "...have you?"

"Oh yeah I did. Was up cooking bright and early." He looks and sounds confident, smug, even. What he does not say was that he spent most of the night stress-baking because this is all a lot to take in, but a nervous chuckle creeps out of his throat as he takes his backpack off and starts rifling through it, only to pull out...

"Tada!"

...a small box of pork buns, though about half of them look a little more fried.

"There's nothing like home cooking, so figure I might as well take some with me."

"You cook?" That had to be useful. Hope couldn't help but stand a little straighter, even rising a little to his tip toes to see what was in the bag. His eyes widened at the sudden box of pork buns. Except... he had no idea what pork buns were, except from the scent he could gather they had to be tasty. "You made all these last night? What are they?"

"I do! And I'd like to think I'm pretty great at it." He flashes a toothy grin that's covered in confidence, as if the kitchen is his true home. Noticing the kid is on his toes, Hunk gently lowers the box about a foot.

"But these, they're..." He pauses for just a moment, smirk betraying a funny realization: he's not entirely sure what some of these are! He knows they're meat, but he just raided a kitchen while everyone else was asleep. It's mystery meat that should be safe because, well, he ate it.

"Let's call them Hot Pockets." He chuckles, and brings a hand to point at the box's contents. "These pale ones are filled with... pork? Marinated in local sauces. And the toasty ones have some kind of eggs, with some crispy-fried maybe-pork and some cheese for that breakfast-y taste. If we have to stay here, we might as well like the food."

Hope is all of five feet tall, he appreciated the box being lowered a bit.

"Hot... Pockets?" Hope tilted his head at the name as he listened to what was inside them. Well, he supposed the name made some sort of sense. They have meat inside them like a pocket, he supposed, and he was familiar enough with that kind of concept of food from home. But no one straight up just called them hot pockets. He also couldn't help but laugh a little at the rest of the description. "Maybe-pork? Are you sure it's edible, then?"

He's assuming the guy tasted the food or he wouldn't be showing them off, but Hope had to ask anyway.

"Of course they're edible! What kind of cook would I be without a taste test?!" His voice raises just long enough to realize that his honor as a chef has just been questioned by this hungry youth. So he snatches up one of the Possibly Pork Pockets and takes a bite before continuing, chewing be damned.

"Do they even have pigsh here, or do they shoot lasersh out of their noshes? Like can they even get liveshtock or do monsters shwoop in and steal them all?" He's used to indigenous life being more... friendly and sentient. Magical beasts? Not so much.

Look, Hope was just a little worried because the guy didn't even know if the meat was legit, okay? But it amused Hope nonetheless as the chef took a bite and continued on talking, manners be damned. He couldn't help the chuckle. "I believe they have chocobos? That's one the only thing even remotely familiar to me about this place. From the research I've done on these Jobs as well, I know some of the magic that's used too. We could probably go to one of the farmlands and see what their livestock is like though."

Hope really had no other direction than this, but he gave Hunk a placating gesture with his hands and a smile. "May I try one of those, then? My name is Hope, by the way."

He's nothing if not polite, at least.

"Go wild, Hope." He lowers the box onto the railing and... just kinda casually rests a hand on it to keep it steady. Don't need a spill! "My name's Hunk, and, uh..."

Hunk looks a bit uncomfortable as he trails off. This kid seems familiar with the weird magic and some of the jobs, and he's a lot easier to talk to than anyone at the Curti Center. Despite being a clever engineer and a Paladin of Voltron and a galactic defender, he was... more out of his element than he'd want to admit out loud.

"Wh-what's a chocobo? They sound nasty." But most things sound nasty to him.

Hope took a Hot Pocket and bit into it with a nod. This was one of the "breakfast-y" ones, it seemed, as he tasted the egg in it. It was really good! He was about to say as much when Hunk asked the question and he blinked. He really should not have been surprised that there were worlds without chocobos, they just seemed so commonplace and they were on Vaikuntha as well!

He swallowed and hummed in thought. "Well, they aren't nasty in my opinion. They're big yellow birds, to put it simply. They can't fly, but most use them to ride on anyway. Some people don't like the smell of them, they have a pretty distinct smell but I don't really mind it myself. These are good, by the way!"

"Thank you! The pantry was a little bare, so..." Hunk starts grinning ear-to-ear, because while he knows he's a competent chef, it's a boost to his ego to hear it from someone else. And he's gonna try and bask in it.

"They're just... big, smelly birds that people ride on? I'm used to things wanting to kill me, but that just sounds like a horse." He catches himself, stifles a laugh, and keeps going. "A horse is... a weird four-legged mammal with hooves, a long face, and creepy teeth, if you didn't know."

A horse, huh?

"Sounds like Odin. Only he's an Eidolon, but I think the legends say that his Gestalt form is a horse. Don't really have horses on Cocoon or Pulse though." He paused, realizing that this is probably unfamiliar territory for the chef. He already figured out that there weren't anyone from his world here yet and even if they were, this world knew nothing of l'Cie. It was probably safe enough to say a little more. "Eidolons are summons on my world and only a select few can summon them. They arrive when those select few are in need of hope. Odin is one of them."

"Odin, huh..." Hunk had heard the name from Norse mythology, from video games, so the fact that the name showed up across worlds sent a shiver down his spine. In a good way. He remembered reading something about Summons and a Summoner in the list of jobs, so it sounded like they were dealing with some powerful stuff.

But Cocoon? Pulse? Were those places where Hope came from? Cocoons made him think of bugs. Butterflies. Unbuttered flies. There's opened food right in his hand and so he lets the lid lightly fall back to the box.

"Wait, you said you kinda know something about the magic they have here, and you have Summons, whatever those are. So what's your world like?" His eyes light up as he absentmindedly takes a bite of that Hot Pocket he grabbed earlier, remembering to save it from a defiled fate from the flies that are probably around. "Yanno, if you wanna talk about it."

"Um," He started, pausing to properly chew and swallow. Well, Hunk would be thinking incorrectly as the name Cocoon was for a different reason. But not entirely unlike certain bugs. "Well, the planet I'm from is called Gran Pulse, but I tend to just call it Pulse out of habit. But my home was Cocoon, a floating world above the planet. It's probably the size of the moon, I guess? But, like the name suggests, we all lived inside of it. Until recently that is, it's a bit of a long story."

A really long story.

"But the Summons and magic all come from the fal'Cie, these... god-like beings that sort of took care of us. Pulse had their own too, and they didn't like the Cocoon fal'Cie. They were at war and to help fight the war, they made l'Cie. People who they bestowed magic to and those would be the select few who get to use the Eidolons as their Summons. I saw some of the stats on the Jobs they have here and a lot of the spells are the same as the ones l'Cie can use," He knew he didn't have much of a choice but Hunk wasn't from his world, so he didn't think he would need to worry about showing it. With the Hot Pocket in hand, he used his ring and pinky finger to pull back to yellow wristband on his wrist, showing the frozen brand on his wrist. "I'm a l'Cie. Or, I was. I can't seem to use any of the magic or talk to Alexander, my Eidolon. But the brand is still there and it's frozen like this."

Hunk listens intently, taking the occasional bite of his own food. God-like caretakers? Guardian angels who gave magical powers and crazy beasts to chosen warriors, that's the stuff of legends! So he looks more and more interested with each word, and when he pulls back that wristband?

"Whoa, that's cool." Hunk reaches a finger out to touch it, as one does when they see a cool thing, but he stops. "W-wait, you're a kid with silver hair, some kind of magician who lived inside of a floating, terrestrial moon-thing, and Alexander is the most intimidating name they could come up with?"

And he starts laughing! Not in a mean way, but it's clear that that's what he's having trouble wrapping his mind around and he just starts laughing more.

Hope looked suitably offended at that. Why was he laughing at Alexander's name? And what did his hair have to do with all this?!

"I'm not a magician," He said, finishing the last of his Hot Pocket to get his thoughts in order. He didn't exactly look happy now. Sorry, Hunk. "I was a l'Cie, it's not something I enjoyed, alright? Alexander was one of the only things I had to keep me going and you wouldn't be laughing if you saw what he looked like."

Granted, Hope would not be familiar with Voltron or the robot lions that formed it. But Hope is pretty certain his own mecha that also became a giant fortress that shot holy light magic and decimated countless enemies was not something to laugh at.

"What's my hair being silver got to do with all this too? Have you not seen the color before or something?" Hope comes from a place where the pink, blue, and yes, silver hair were normal. He won't understand.

Edited 2018-03-23 04:09 (UTC)

Hunk's eyes went wide as he realized he struck a nerve, and the laughter stopped dead as he listened. "Not something I enjoyed." "One of the only things I had to keep me going." The words almost knocked the wind out of him, because wow could he relate.

So he held his tongue, letting his heart's words sketch a blueprint that showed some more tact as he closed the box of Hot Pockets and slid it into his backpack that was then unceremoniously dropped on the floor. He leaned forward into the rail, and then looked Hope square in the eyes.

"I... I'm sorry. The warriors and magic and summoning made it sound exciting. But war is terrifying." He looked away, shifting his gaze to the window as he spoke, his tone less offended and more... tired.

"I got roped into other people's choices, ripped away from my home, and forced to fight in a war I couldn't comprehend and wanted nothing to do with." His hands grip the rail. Hard, even by his standards. "I've almost died more times than I can count, and if a friend hadn't happened to me when she did..." He thinks of Shay, and how he inspired her, and how much helping her helped him. "...I might've given up."

He looks back over to Hope, realizing how heavy the conversation had gotten... and gives him an uncomfortable, awkward smile. Oops.

Hope looked away when Hunk apologized. Not because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to. He held his arm to his chest, holding it almost protectively at where the brand was. He nodded to Hunk. War was terrifying, even what they'd be doing wasn't the same kind of war that the War of Transgression was 500 years ago. But, he didn't need to explain what he'd went through.

Hunk knew.

"l'Cie don't have a choice," He said softly. "We're branded whether we like it or not." And if they didn't complete their Focus in time, they became monsters. If they did... well, there was the crystal sleep. Not much of an alternative.

"I have a friend too... several, actually, who were in the same boat as me. She, and they, helped keep me going. So, I'm sorry, too," He said, finally look up and returning the smile. "I didn't mean to make your attempt at cheering me up fail."

Hunk's hands gripped the rails even tighter as Hope shared some of his story. He and his friends didn't sound like warriors, they sounded like gladiators in an arena, like prisoners. And man was stripping people's freedoms away from them a great way to make his blood boil. It just might've, if Hunk hadn't known full well that they weren't anywhere near Pulse or Cocoon and couldn't do a thing about it. The fact that Hope also apologized softened his mood a lot, too.

"It's fine." Hunk smiles at the kid, shrugging his shoulders. Time to change the subject.

"But hair colors!" He points a finger towards the sky, boisterously and authoritatively, and starts wagging it into the distance. "Where I come from, it's blacks and browns and oranges and some yellows. First person I ever saw with silver hair was a ten-thousand-year-old alien princess." He says this matter-of-factly, even though he knows how insane it sounds.

"Aaaaand the closest thing I have to an Eidolon, my Alegsander," he chuckles, making a play on words for his own mirth, "is a giant yellow lion with drill claws, armor, and laser cannons." Hunk knows it all sounds insane, because it's too weird to be true, and he's banking on his delivery getting some kind of amusement out of Hope.

His eyebrows rose. A ten-thousand year old alien princess? Fang and Vanille were 500 but they had been in crystal stasis so, he certainly didn't know how to take that. And then, the yellow lion is brought up and he gave a laugh.

"You have a giant yellow lion and you're getting on my case about Alexander?" He asked, smiling. "All of the Eidolons are essentially humanoid robots and very big too. Alexander becomes a giant fortress. Odin, as I mentioned before, is a horse. Bahamut is a dragon. Brynhildr is some kind of race car, the twin sisters Shiva become a motorcycle, and Hecatoncheir is some kind of moving armor? I actually I'm not sure about Hecaton, so I'd have to ask Vanille if I ever see her here. What's your lion's name? Is it a real lion?"

Hunk just gasped, laughed, and clapped his hands together like a child at a magic show as Hope described the Eidolons. They were robots and humanoids and turned into all sorts of stuff? And they were magic?! He exhaled a muted, awestruck "Whaaaaat?" as he tried to process it, envisioning what would undoubtedly be exaggerated depictions.

He was starting to think his universe got the short end of the straw, as far as cool robots went... at least until Hope brought up the Yellow Lion, and he caught himself from transgressing any further against his wonderful giant cat robot leg buddy.

"He, uh... he doesn't have a name, actually. I call him Yellow, if I call him anything." He looks super awkward for a moment as he realized how impersonal that sounded, and made an authoritative wag of the finger as he continued. "He can't talk, but we have this crazy, instinctual, like psychic connection. It's kinda like we're one organism once he's got me."

And then he realized how nonsensical that sounded. "Haha! That sounds so crazy. He's a giant robot cat, not a flesh-and-blood one, but he's also a leg." This is Hunk's favorite part, so he waits, giddily giggling as he looked at Hope, waiting because nobody ever knows how to react to the leg.

Honestly, having someone so excited about this was certainly refreshing to what Hope experienced. That is, being constantly on the run and treated as not human by everyone, the military constantly on their tails. Having Hunk react this way made Hope want to cry, but he managed to refrain because it was Hunk's turn to describe his own guardian and Hope made a face.

"A leg?" Wait, what? That... Didn't make sense. How was it a lion and a leg? The psychic link didn't phase him because it was the same between the l'cie and their Eidolons. But they were whole beings, not... A body part? Hope looked suitably confused and couldn't comprehend exactly what Hunk was saying. "... I'm not following."

Hunk's eyes lit up at Hope's confusion. Just as planned! He sports a nearly-sinister grin as his posture shifts from leaning against the rail into a superhero-esque power pose facing this poor boy.

"While Yellow is great and clearly the best," he boasts, while his grin turns to a smug smirk for a half-second, "he has four siblings: Red, Blue, Green, and Black." He counts them off on his fingers, but not his thumb, because the best digit is clearly reserved for Yellow. "When they and their Paladins, fancy word for pilots, are all attuned to each other..." With the word "attuned," his tone shifts to comedic sophistication, as if he said the word "aflutter" or "scone." But that grin is undying, just like the shift back to boisterous bass.

"They combine, five lions becoming one gallant being: Voltron! Defender of the Universe! KABOOM!" In Hunk's mind, a loud explosion and Voltron logo just appeared beneath a posing Voltron. He's hammier than all the Christmas dinners in the world and basking in it. He might've been taking some notes from when Coran had them on that stage tour, too.

"Voltron is your typical bipedal humanoid, but Yellow and me?" He shoots a knowing smirk at Hope, because Hope asked, and he should know where this is going.

"We're The Leg!" His stance shifts from the power pose, and he is now Captain Morgan-ing on the lower bar of that railing. He won't ruin the wow factor, but the Leg is the best place to be, because everyone always aims for the arms and head. Speaking of heads, Hunk's looks about as smarmy as showy as possible, as if all the Yellow associated with his character was just pure cheese.

Hope was enraptured the more Hunk spoke, now in a near role-reversal at this stage and, if at all possible, there'd be stars around his face at how in awe he was. They combined? That sounded really neat! Voltron, Defender of the Universe? How had his planet never heard of that? Hammy or not, Hunk had Hope. It was obvious the big guy was very proud of his position and the former l'Cie wasn't going to ruin that.

Not that he could find a reason to ruin it because, leg or not, being part of something big like that was really very cool! And, in a way, he could understand it. It reminded him of when they'd crashed the race back on Cocoon, all their Eidolons running around the speedway and causing havoc to start their take down of the fal'Cie.

"Whoa...!" He said, trying imagine it (and failing). "And your friends being Paladins with you, I bet that makes working together a lot easier, Hunk. Did you know them beforehand? What are they like? What are the other lions like? And what about the alien princess?"

Hunk had to restrain a gleeful squeal not just as Hope was guided to the cheese like a mouse in a maze, but because he wanted to know more. The kid was excited and distracted from being so sad.

"So there have been six Paladins across the five Lions, but we're all totally friends. Oh man, where should I start?" He pondered for a second, before looking downright embarrassed.

"So Shiro is the head of Voltron, the Black Lion. He's our leader, and he's... kind of a legend. If you like me, he's so much cooler. You can meet him later if you want! Because I, uh... I actually found him in Vaikuntha!" Hunk lets out a joyous little shout, but then remembers how lonely Hope was, and how it seemed like he and his group were really close. Moving on to keep Hope from dwelling was as good a reason as any!

"I went to school at the Galaxy Garrison with Lance and Pidge, who have the Red and Green Lions. I'm really close with both of them. Pidge is brilliant, and she's about your age, and I think you'd get along with her." He grins, because Pidge is great and Hope is also great. And then he takes a deep breath because he's talking a lot.

"Lance is a great shot, and his heart's in the right place... when it's not throwing itself at the next woman he sees. He's been the most adaptable out of all of us though, so I guess he gets points for that." Hunk lets out a sarcastic laugh, because he's gotta rag on his pal every once in a while.

"Allura is the space princess, and she's piloting the Blue lion. She's been through a lot, and she can shapeshift, no big deal." He makes an uncomfortable, slightly confused look that gradually recedes as he speaks. "And apparently she's a space wizard? She kinda goes into her own little world on that stuff. Her butler Coran runs our giant flying space castle."

Then Hunk rolls his eyes. "And then there's Keith. He's really moody and can get angry, and he stopped being a Paladin to go be a rebel alien ninja, but we love him anyway."

C!

I laughed at the username when I woke up 8D

I aim to entertain. :)

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i'm dying

the idea happened and i had to

yaaass

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i really love these two so much omg

pls tell me you're apping this needs to be legit

i grin like a madman as the void echoes a symphony of "YES"

YAAAAASSSS

that gif made me CHOKE