TEST DRIVE ; no. 1

[powergamer]

TEST DRIVE MEME

So first of all, welcome to Dyspros' very first test drive meme! We're happy that you're interested in the game, and we hope that you have some fun playing with the setting, regardless of whether you decide to join or not.

As a general reminder, we recommend that you look over the game information before jumping in. In addition, if you decide you're ready to join, you're welcome to put in a reserve, and applications will open on May 4th at 12:01 AM (EST). Finally, if you have any questions or concerns, please send us a message!

So now, without further ado, let's get to playing:

A ; NEW RECRUIT

Well then, welcome to the guild, Initiate! After some thought (or maybe the choice was obvious), you've finally settled on a guild, and you're ready to get started. You're welcome to check out your accommodations and see what kind of people you'll be living with for the foreseeable future. This is your home now, so hopefully you get alone with them. If not, then you can just spend all of your time sharpening your skills!

Whether you're just claiming your bed or you're jumping right into the thick of things to practice or sign up for a mission, a new recruit is unlikely to go unnoticed.

B ; MISSION TIME

It's your first mission, which is pretty exciting, right? You have all these pictures in your head of going off to fight a dragon, to come home with great riches and valor...

Too bad those missions are for the higher ups.

No, it's the middle of the night, and you're out guarding the small fields just outside of town from wild animals. Right now you're standing by the cucumbers, which are considered especially important to guard, for some reason. You have to fight off sleepiness somehow, so maybe an animal will come out for you to scare off, or maybe you'll just end up chatting with whoever is stuck doing this with you.

Or you know, if you're a dick, you'll steal the vegetables for yourself.

C ; STORM THE CASTLE

Okay, the missions for initiates are pretty lame, and you're ready for some real fighting. You can go alone, or you can go with some other people, but it's off to Castle Dyspros! You'll find a variety of creatures to fight, and the power of teamwork will help you make progress through the castle!

Or you'll die. There's that too. Good thing it's fairly inconsequential, if weird!

Either way, have fun fighting to your heart's content!

D ; PICK YOUR OWN

Just like it says, if none of the others appeal to you, feel free to make up your own prompt!

Comments

dio eraclea ♦ last exile

[lucena]

B.
[The mission is one of tedium, but that can't be helped. Being of low rank is still new and exciting to Dio, and yes: he did sign up for this specific mission intentionally. It gives him liberty to do whatever he wants, for the most part, which he's probably said to whoever's with him at least once on the way out here.

Currently he is lying in the grass, looking for all the world like he was born to lie in the grass next to a cucumber patch. He isn't tired, though, and after a spot of idle humming he sits up suddenly, with an excited Oh! and a point up into the sky.]

Shooting star!

[He laughs, then flops back down with both his arms raised, making a frame with his hands around some more stationary stars. The next time he speaks it's most definitely to his favorite new partner:]

Don't you love a clear sky?


D.
[Check out Ironwall, they said. It's fantastic, they said. But somehow Dio's wandered into Nickelhollow and, wow, it's pretty rough around the edges here. He isn't exactly worried for his safety as he wanders the streets, occasionally stopping to get very excited about something strange being peddled by a nearby seller and then moving on without buying anything.

Tiring of that, he finds a tall wooden something, presumably a something that transports something else, to climb on top of and perch there, watching the crowd below. The market is starting to lose its charm already, and he's thinking about maybe making his way back to Ironwall to properly judge just how fantastic it is when he spots some shady behavior out of the corner of his eye.

Which is why you, the passerby, are suddenly tapped on the shoulder, and when you turn around you'll meet Dio, hanging upside down from the top of his crate-thing, holding something that's decidedly yours and pointing at someone else's retreating back.]

That guy just robbed you!

B

[urdr]

[ In comparison to Dio's whimsy, Gwendolyn is serious and stoic, and has been standing alert nearby with her spear leaning on her shoulder more casually, but her hands never leave it. She's diligent with looking over the field, though even she would admit to herself that this was hardly the most exciting mission to have...

Though as her partner suddenly sits up, she looks to the sky too, and for the first time that night, smiles. ]

'Tis a beautiful thing. Though... [ She hesitates, since she's not really one for idle conversation, but continues out of politeness, ] 'Tis also strange, to see the sky so still. For a shooting star to be so rare, it feels odd. Perhaps it is an sign of good luck to come for you.

[lucena]

[Stoicism is not even a problem for Dio; indeed, he hasn't given any indication all night that he's bothered at all. Getting her to smile is a kind of private victory and he sits up again, looking through his finger-frame at her instead of the sky.]

Think so? Wait for another one, then. You can have one too.

[Dio that's not how space works... It's the thought that counts.]

[urdr]

Perhaps.

[ After the glance to him, she looks up, half wishing to see one too, since it would be an odd comfort. ]

Where I am from, the sky constantly swirls, and the stars are never as still as this. You can see shooting stars often, if not constantly. [ She shakes her head lightly, but she's still smiling, since it's oddly nostalgic. ] It is odd, how even such basic things seem to stray from what is expected in this place.

[lucena]

[Dio hums and looks up, too. A swirling sky... truthfully, stars are beyond his concern, as skies go. Adjusting to a new world, as well - he's experienced, and he sympathizes, but--]

Constantly? [He almost doesn't believe it, it sounds so unreal.] Then you must have all the luck you need!

[urdr]

[ She wonders about that much, and brushes a lock of hair behind her ear idly. ]

I would not say that much. If it is commonplace, then it would not be so lucky an event, would it?

[lucena]

It's lucky if you want it to be.

[He tilts his head to smile broadly at her. Don't be so strict!!]

I don't want to think of a world where good luck is rare. How bleak!

[urdr]

...I apologize. I did not mean to imply that luck is rare.

[ She can't turn off her strictness, sorry!! But she does look genuinely apologetic, and maybe a little surprised. After a somewhat awkward pause, she offers, like it's consolation: ] —Instead, we find luck in other phenomenon, if that should be more of a comfort.

[lucena]

[He thinks about that. If she comes from a place with a strange sky, are her lucky phenomena completely ordinary to him? That makes sense.]

Like what? Is it interesting?

D 1/2

[peachbaths]

[ Huh? What? What's happening? This doesn't happen very often to sheltered princesses, you see. Give her a few seconds to register what was going on. Let's see, he's holding her hair pin... she'll take that back now. ]

Oh, thank you.

[ ... Wait a second— ]

D

[peachbaths]

You stole it, didn't you!? Why you, why you-!

[ Time for the angry stomping dance. ]

[lucena]

[The angry what now--oh. Oh, it's funny, oh no!! Dio laughs and uprights himself, but stays up there on the crate. Wow she is really getting into that stomping.]

It's a nice pin, but I don't need it. [He's still grinning, but he holds up his hands and waves them, he's innocent!!] I swear I'm not in the thieves' guild!

[peachbaths]

[ Oh no, she's easily offended — she's fuming. But she miraculously stops herself before she chases him down the streets with a sword. ]

Hmph, I suppose you aren't. [ She holds the pin close. ] Only foolish thieves would take a metal vessel for their own.

[lucena]

Metal... vessel?

[That thing is definitely a pin. He leans toward her, trying to see it - not touch it!! Just see it. It's a pin, isn't it, what would it be carrying...]

Do you carry water in it? [A whole sip??]

[peachbaths]

Of course not. It contains the djinn, Vinea!

[ She stretches her arm holding the pin out and shows it to him again. ]

It's a being with magical power. [ Implying that she's super strong. Hint, hint. ]

[lucena]

[He believes her, mostly because he has no idea what any of that... means... What is a djinn, how do you fit a powerful being in a hairpin, what???

Congrats, Kougyoku, he is enthralled.]

How do you use it? What do you say?

[Because literally every vaguely magical thing he's familiar with requires a password, so there must be one here!! Quickly, explain, before he tries to make a grab for it.]

[peachbaths]

[ Uh oh, maybe she shouldn't have said that. She pulls it back close and out of reach. ]

Um! "Dwell in me, Vinea..." Something like that, it's a little long.

[lucena]

[Oh nooo, but it's so interesting...]

Don't be shy! [He leans down a little, the very picture of encouraging.] It's something you're proud of, right? Why don't you show off?

B...

[soarloser]

[There is merit in having years of training in the military. For one, standing at attention all night comes second nature. The downside is having reached the rank of major and being thrust back into grunt work with no warning. But his serious nature won't let him slack off, like some, even though it was just a cucumber patch.

Mahmut can't really blame the other guard for slacking off but that doesn't mean he has to like it. Which is why he has been throwing annoyed looks at his partner all night long.

He glances at the sky after Dio's outburst. He ponders the question for a second, debating whether to make small talk at all, but there was no reason not to.]

I prefer it, yes. It provides good light and you can tell time and direction as well.

[He has probably never sat around star gazing in his life.]

[lucena]

[What a hardass. Does he think Dio doesn't notice the looks he keeps getting? Because he does. He's too young & wild & free (Bryan Adams ver.) to stand still and actually do - work. "Work" in the vegetable field.

That answer is more practical (and uptight) than he had predicted - do you know how to make small talk? - but he actually agrees. That's the kind of practical he's interested in, and he has a faint, glimmering hope! that maybe this person is also totally obsessed with flying. So.]

Are you a pilot?

[This question comes complete with a wavy path of his hand through the air, it's a ship it's flying, and a vroooom. He beams. Please, crush his hopes and dreams of having pilot friends.]

[soarloser]

[Mahmut stares.]

Pilot? Do you mean a captain?

[Like, on the sea? Is that what the waving means? It's the only thing he can think of that it could be, really. Is it really so strange to tell direction from the stars? All travelers have to.]

I'm not one either way.

[lucena]

[Faintly, you can hear the sound of Dio's heart breaking. All of him droops - it's like he wilts, like these cucumbers they're totally doing a great job of guarding. His waving hand drops sadly.

But more importantly:] A captain in the sky, maybe. You don't know?

[Like, he knew Guild technology is pretty high end, but not understanding the word pilot? Why this.]

You really don't know? [He might be actually whining.]

[soarloser]

[Does he really look like someone who knows airplanes are a thing? Cause he totally doesn't.

He had no idea this meant so much to Dio though. He actually feels bad just seeing how disappointed he is at the lack of understand. So he eases up a bit. It's not like he's the type to turn his nose up at new information. A nod of his head: no.]

The only thing in the sky are birds.

[Which he knows tons about btw.]

[lucena]

[Does Dio look like someone who can fly a ship, though? He has golden dinner plates on his torso, think about this for a second.

It also means very much, and his life is now over. Once he's done being disappointed he'll switch over to deep pity, because flying is really great and everyone should be able to do it.

God at least this guy knows what a bird is.]

You're missing out! What do you do?

[People who don't spend most of their time in the air... have hobbies, right? They do stuff.]

[soarloser]

[He still doesn't know what a pilot is. What is a captain in the sky? Is this a riddle? He will have to figure it out and get back to him one day.

But fine, he will accept this change of conversation. Even though it's surprisingly difficult. He's a lot of things after all.]

I travel. [on boat and caravans like real people do.] I'm on leave from the army.

[On leave, on probation. Same thing. Still better than saying he's acting as a spy during political upheaval.]