TEST DRIVE MEME

[rysligmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to Ryslig's test drive meme! If you're considering apping here, this is where you can try your characters out in the game's setting. A few things to note: The State of the Game Discussion produced a lot of great suggestions and we now have a post for Plot Suggestions and Monster Questions. The NETWORK VOTE results are in and PRIVATE MESSAGING will be added some time in November. Lots of people have asked good questions on the FAQ, so do take a look. You can only app ONE character per round so choose wisely. Reserve and application dates have been announced. Test drive meme threads can be used for your roleplay sample! Sample scenarios: SCENARIO ONE: You've just been released from the hospital in Vandare and no one really seems to know what to do with you. The locals offer polite advice but don't seem to want to spend a lot of time with you. You and the other new arrivals stick out like sore thumbs, so perhaps one will spot you wandering about town. SCENARIO TWO: You've become hopelessly lost in Lager Woods. Paths don't seem to lead where you remember them leading, and you feel as if you're going around in circles. Childlike giggling can be heard from no direction in particular. Suddenly, you stumble upon another character, who seems to be just as lost as you! Perhaps you can find a way out together. SCENARIO THREE: The time has come and you've found yourself becoming a monster. Is the change instant, or gradual? Are you familiar enough with monsters to know what's happening, or is it a complete shock? NOTE: Feel free to pick any monster type for this prompt, but note that you may not get the same one in game.

Comments

[going_my_way]

Jetstorm isn't half again Thrust's height, so of course he's not as tall as he should be, but that's the least weird thing that's happened... to Thrust, anyway. "If that thing came with a decent nav system, I'd say woods."

He is not betting on the nav system.

He is not particularly aware one can backtrack with a really good nose.

(He's also not a huge fan of places without roads.)

[says_say_what]

"No nav system," Jetstorm confirms, his ears and nose twitching as he tests them out. "The ones I still had decided to go into overdrive, though. I can smell the woods from here."

And not smell like before in human mode, where scent only really popped up when he was close to something. This is something he knows is a ways off, and yet he's picking up on it easily. Jetstorm turns in the direction of the scent, beginning to walk in its direction. He's still not entirely steady, but it's still a determined sort of walk. "Hello woods full of helpless woodland creatures. We're going to frolic together."

His tone makes it clear that this is going to be the sort of frolicking that ends with everything a pretty shade of red.

[going_my_way]

Thrust keeps up-- maybe half a step behind Jetstorm, but not much more than that. He's not going to let Jetstorm go tromp through the woods in a brand-new upgrade alone, because he currently can't process all the ways that would be stupid. (It is a lot of ways.)

"... Looks like you'd be faster on all fours," he observes, tentatively. Very tentatively.

Don't make him find a leash, Jetstorm.

[says_say_what]

"Isn't it bad enough that I have to use two feet in the first place?" Feet are for Maximals, or for dim, departed Tankorr-people too dumb to manage locomotion without them.

But, Thrust has a point. Four limbs are more to balance on, at least, and balance seems to be one of the sticking points with organic downgrade. Jetstorm splays out his hands-close enough forefeet, especially with those claws to grip with-and lets out an exaggerated sigh. "But, I guess you have to give a new body the full test run..."

He drops down to all four, experimentally shifting his weight a little to get a feel for things before setting off again. His nose goes to the ground without him even really thinking about it-this scent is the woods, and this is the trail of someone who walked by an hour ago, and this was a monster who just ate-after having what felt like a mostly dampened sensory system, the new blast of information is thrilling.

[going_my_way]

"Fraggin' things don't come with programming updates," Thrust agrees. What kind of upgrade system is that?

Thrust spends most of the walk to the woods keeping an eye on Jetstorm and on their six. Just a perfectly normal human walking his perfectly-normal off-leash werewolf, nothing to break out the torches and pitchforks for.

In between noting that Jetstorm's new shell seems to have olfactory set as its primary sense and glowering away anyone who comes up behind them, curious, Thrust keeps rubbing at his forehead.

Frag, did something bite him? There are bumps above his eyebrows, and they're swollen and tender.

[says_say_what]

"Yet another reason why squish is inferior," Jetstorm agrees, while temporarily distracted by sniffing at a light post. His tail wags a little as he focuses on a particular scent. "Somebody had a fiesta a few days ago," he says, sounding amused. "Too bad they didn't leave anything for the rest of us to have fun with."

His tongue lolls out as he looks back to Thrust, then cocks his head to the side-it's a movement that's both very canine and very Jetstorm. "Glitch? Or getting that feeling that somehow, we've climbed to the very top of a mountain of weird slag and trying to deal with it?"

[going_my_way]

"I think somethin' bit me."

He's not as unfamiliar with mosquito bites as he'd like to be, and that's what his forehead feels like right now-- well, maybe not the itch. They're tight and the pressure hurts.

But when he takes his hand away... if those are mosquito bites, they're very evenly spaced. Two large, round bumps just to the sides of his eyebrows are angry and red, and kept company by two smaller ones closer to his hairline.

And Thrust doesn't smell quite as human as he did when Jetstorm got his new nose installed.

[says_say_what]

It's the scent more than the bumps that invite Jetstorm's curiosity. He steps away from the street lamp and rears back up onto two legs, his ears flicking forward in interest. "Think that would explain the new reading I'm getting?"

He steps closer to sniff at Thrust's head, giving Thrust an unpleasant introduction to what, exactly, werewolf breath smells like. "...Can't quite place it, but it's pinging my radar."

[going_my_way]

The werewolf breath probably explains Thrust's expression more than the discomfort. "Back the frag up, exhaust-breath." Yep, definitely.

But the scrunch of his forehead pulls at the bumps beside his eyebrows, and one of them splits a little, revealing something black and glittery.

"... Is it me or is that light real bright?"

It's no brighter than it was a second ago.

[says_say_what]

Jetstorm pulls his head back, but it's more because of the sudden appearance of the extra feature, rather than Thrust's shooing. He steeples his claws as he stares at the split, his ears splaying to the side. "Light hasn't changed, but you have. Either you've got an upgrade in progress...or you head's breaking."

Jetstorm probably shouldn't be allowed to alert people to things like this.

[going_my_way]

"Frag. Well. Knew that was incoming." Everybody who got fished out of the water changed into something. Thrust was a little frustrated his 'upgrade' isn't planning on waiting until after Jetstorm goes frolicking with the innocent woodland creatures. He closes his eyes for a moment, and starts to shake his head-- then frowns.

Then opens his eyes again.

Then closes them again.

"... Aw, slag."

That's a different go-to swear word.

[says_say_what]

Meanwhile, Jetstorm is unhelpfully waving a clawed finger in front of the new eye, trying to see if it reacts to the movement. At least he's not trying to poke directly at it?

"So, just to recap," he says as he pulls his hand back, "I get a kick-aft upgrade that, while unfortunately fuzzy, is a warbuild. You get some extra optics and new olfactory signature." He pauses. "Thrust, old buddy, old pal? I think the universe hates you. Just a little."

[going_my_way]

As Jetstorm waves at the new eye, Thrust's skin splits open over it.

Then the one on his other eyebrow unseals itself.

Thrust still has the human set closed.

"I'm mostly pickin' up light an' movement," he says, which means frag you Jetstorm he can see you. "For now, anyway. Least the ones that opened up don't hurt."

Thrust is aware the universe hates him, but he's also noticed it tends to be kind of bad news, good news. (Jetstorm is proof of that.) "Bet me it's done?" he asks, teasing.

[says_say_what]

"Frag, no," Jetstorm says, laying his ears back, though his expression isn't really annoyed. "My bet is that you're slower than me, like usual. Give it a few kliks; something will kick in. ...No promises it's a good something."

He pauses. "Actually, I'll bet that it's a bad something. Keep the 'universe hates you' thing going."

[going_my_way]

Thrust chuckles, and works his eyebrows up and down-- moving the muscles of his face made the first two... eyes, or motion sensors, or whatever they were... pop open, maybe it would work for the last two.

... Oh, frag it all straight to the pit.

"I'll bet," he says, "however bad you think it is? It's gonna get worse."

Probably the only reason Jetstorm hasn't reached the same conclusion Thrust has is that the six eyes aren't in two parallel lines (maybe that they're not all the same kind of eyes). ... Actually...

"Or you're gonna laugh your aft off at me." Could go either way.

[says_say_what]

"You know that's always a possibility, even when you aren't sprouting new optics, right?" Jetstorm takes a few steps back to get a better look at Thrust overall, tilting his head again.

"And that olfactory signature of yours is going to drive me up a wall. It's familiar, and not in a 'this is my unicyclic compadre's energy signature' kind of way."

[going_my_way]

The two eyes near his hairline have split open, too. Like the larger set, they're black and solid; they glitter under the streetlight but don't blink. If it weren't for the slightly-raw looking skin around them, Thrust would look like somebody had stuck (slightly austere) plastic gems on his head.

"You'll figure it out," Thrust assures him. That was when Jetstorm would start laughing. "Still wanna kill something?"

[says_say_what]

"When don't I?" Jetstorm drops back to all fours, turning back in the direction of the woods. "Try to not scare off anything small and defenseless while you're sprouting new body parts. Small and defenseless ones are the most fun."

Then he begins to head back towards the woods again, picking up his pace more than before-he's getting a better feel for movement on all fours.

[going_my_way]

For as long as it took Jetstorm to get the hang of two feet instead of all hovering all the time, four feet sure looks easier for him.

"Yeah, yeah," and he's not sure whether he should attribute the headache brewing to whatever's incoming or the eyeball surprise that just happened. "That's only 'cause you don't know how to handle a challenge."

When in doubt, mock your best friend.

[says_say_what]

Four feet have the advantage of giving more to balance on! ...Unfortunately, better, quicker locomotion means Jetstorm has pretty much doubled his chances of pancaking himself into something. Damn you, high speed!

"Not being able to handle a challenge? Moi? Ohhhh no, multiclops, you're the one with challenge issues. All it takes to slow you down is a chance to stare broodily."

[going_my_way]

He doesn't seem to be having trouble getting them all moving in the right order, either, which is one Pit of a bonus, in Thrust's opinion.

"Don't blame you bein' confused. I know it's hard to spot somebody thinkin' when you don't do much yourself."

Thrust is starting to sound a little... sinus-y. (Still amused, still having fun, just... stuffed up. It's been kinda hard to kill his good mood for a while.)

[says_say_what]

Jetstorm snorts-both at the comment and the latest thing he's found to sniff. As they get closer to the woods, he keeps stopping to circle around, snuffling at anything that catches his nose's attention.

"You call it thinking, I call it locking up. I can do all my planning before I'm staring the target right in their squishy face, thanks."

[going_my_way]

"Worked on you." It's not like Thrust hadn't known which targets, back on Cybertron, were the 'shoot first' type and which were the 'talk first' type, even if it was just trash talk.

(Jetstorm is so the talk-first type.)

And that familiar smell is getting stronger. Thrust sniffles. It's instinctive and weird.

[says_say_what]

"For all of five kliks, before you tried to drop a building on me. Which, by the way, you're slag at, compared to the petting zoo." Jetstorm sounds amused, rather than miffed. They had their brawl, then they worked things out, and now they try to drop buildings on other people.

Or did, anyway. The architecture here seems to be far more solid and less explosion-prone than what they had on Cybertron.

The familiar scent makes Jetstorm shake his head, turning and walking back over to Thrust to sniff at him again. "Whatever you're upgrading into, it's pinging stronger now. What the frag is up with that body of yours?"

[going_my_way]

Points for Ryslig, because it's actually kind of reassuring to know nothing's gonna explode if you bump into a wall (or your friend faceplants into a billboard).

On the other hand, Thrust feels like there's something pushing at the inside of his head. "I dunno," well, no, he's got a guess, but he's not really focused on the guess right now, because, "feels like somethin's pushin' inside my face." It's making his eyes-- well, the original set-- water for some reason. "Makin' it hard to breathe."

It's in his face, not his cranium, so that means the danger of pressure to that lump of fat that works as the squishy excuse for a CPU isn't in any danger, right? Right? (Shut up, anatomy books had played a role in Thrust's research into How To Not Kill This Body.)