phantasmemes | TEST DRIVE 004

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!test drive

TEST DRIVE 004

Hello and welcome to the fourth test drive for Phantasmal Rift!

Test drive threads are assumed to be game canon for accepted characters unless otherwise noted, so don't feel like you'll have to introduce yourself a second time to everyone you meet! As an added bonus, participation in the test drive comes with the chance to earn up to two items of loot for your trouble! Characters who are accepted can earn one item for having a top level, and one for tagging out to someone else's top level! Your SWEET LOOT will be included with your acceptance notice.

Additionally, characters currently in game can earn themselves a piece of bonus loot for the dungeon by tagging people's top-levels on the test drive! Existing characters get their bonus loot along with the rest of their loot at the conclusion of the dungeon.

This test drive takes place in Keystone Reef, a water-influenced Fissure to the northeast of the station. It is home to numerous fish and coral species, as well as a very interesting magical effect...

OPTION ONE: FINNY FUN

Under the water is where you woke up, and under the water is where you might be stuck for a while. The magic is lodged in you and has changed your form -- maybe a little, maybe a lot. Perhaps you only have gills, but you may also have a full set of changes, fins and no feet to speak of. Don't panic, you'll surely be fine if you just keep swimming...

Aside from the strange changes, it's a pretty cool place to be. If you've ever dreamed about scuba diving on a coral reef, the place that you've found yourself is perfect for that (minus the needing to scuba part). Curious fish swim up and then dart away into rock crevices, coral growths, and even down to bury themselves in the layer of sand at the bottom. The water is also fairly shallow, allowing you to surface if you so desire.

Even the sharks are friendly and just want to have as much a look at you as you want to look at them. Don't harass the glowing eels tucked into cracks between the rocks, though, they bite and don't particularly let go.

OPTION TWO: WORLD'S SMALLEST JUNGLE

This must certainly be an oceanside jungle - in spite of the humidity, the smell of salt on the air is strong. Brilliant greens and the occasional bright flowers, accompanied by island birdsong... It could be a nice place to spend an afternoon. There's not even that many bugs that want to drink your blood (though bugs in general are, well, quite plentiful).

Eventually, though, however far you go, you'll reach the beach and be met with the expanse of the ocean - blue, uncaring, and real big. While one side of the little island thankfully has land visible in the distance, the outer side just overlooks a near-endless expanse of blue. If you're a very good swimmer, you could probably make your way to land past the rocks of the reef itself... Otherwise, though, you might be just a bit stuck on your jungle island paradise.

At least until someone brings a boat.

OPTION THREE: SHIPWRECK

Both above and below the waterline are the remains of ships crashed upon the rocks, just waiting to be explored. Even though it has clearly been an incredibly long time, the chunks of wood and metal are still in fairly good condition, and the chance of finding something nice tucked in with them among the rocks is surely tempting to anyone with an adventurous spirit.

The wrecks beneath the waves also grow coral and seaweed, and provide havens for larger fish, dragon eels, and sharks. Those along the rocks above the waterline, on the other hand, provide a home for seabirds of all varieties. Most notable is the hulking shell of a shipping craft in the distance, looking very much modern if ruined by some centuries of exposure...

For right now, though, you'd best contend with the flotsam a bit closer to you, and the wildlife that might not take too kindly to your exploring. Below the waterline, the dragon eels found in a few places don't take kindly to being disturbed; above, you might run afoul of some overprotective seabirds protecting their nests. Maybe even an invisible seagull (normal sized) - how ridiculous would that be?

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001;; Unfamiliar territory -- A --

[ Everything had wrapped up nicely after the Culture Festival had ended, even with the brief derailment of dealing with Gentle and La Brava. He'd been fine with that anyway, able to help everyone still enjoy the festival and even Eri had learned how to smile for real and it made him happier than he'd ever be able to express.

He'd allowed himself to fully relax when he'd gotten into his room, but when he'd drifted off? Izuku hadn't quite realized how tired he was until he woke with a small start, sitting upright and blinking a bit at seeing his new surroundings. He was... underwater? Wait a second! If he was underwater then he couldn't breathe, setting in panic until Izuku tried to stand up and realized he couldn't due to having not a pair of feet but distinctively colored fins instead.

Was this a dream?! How was this even happening?! Why was he some kind of mermaid?

Izuku reached down to touch it and the fact he could feel it, said it was real but it was still kind of sinking in. He also noted that he wasn't wearing any of his normal clothes he'd had before, resulting in that all of his scars were visible to anyone who looked at him. Not that it was his main focus as he decided to not panic and instead was attempting to try and learn how to swim with his new set of fins.

Having at least some margin of success until he spotted a shark swimming nearby. ]

Gah! Nonono... Why now? It's probably gonna try and eat me, isn't it?!

[ Cue the panic setting in as he makes to try and swim up to the surface but ends up catching his fins between a few pieces of coral, freezing up instinctively. That's when he spots someone else swimming nearby and he waves his arms frantically. ]

Can I get your help for a second?? Please?

001 - Not quite used to it -- B --

[ Many can catch this green-haired child in his attempts to learn how to swim, including one where he started going a bit too fast and ended up running into some coral face-first since he didn't know how to stop himself in the water. Which resulted in him rubbing at his face with a small whine. ]

Learning my quirk was just about easier than this. Why is it so hard to get the hang of it?

[ Spoken to nobody in particular as he moves his fins back and forth, trying to figure out things while not realizing his last encounter with the coral had scuffed his nose a bit with a small scrape. ]

003;; So much to see || Exploration

[ Once Izuku had gotten past his panic attack of this all happening, and he'd learned to swim without smacking into something - the small scuff on his nose was proof of his earlier attempts, he'd actually begun to be fascinated by this beyond thinking it really was some kind of weird dream or some kind of odd quirk.

So that meant being attracted to the shipwrecks, eyes alight with interest as he swam closer, touching against a piece of wood on one of them. Tracing along the surface with an apt interest, but mindful not to get too close to those dragon eels in the process. ]

...Incredible! These are in such good condition even for being in the water like this. It should be all eroded and worn down more than this but it's still in such a state that I wonder if there's some kind of magical effects in the water that's causing it to be this way or something else...

[ Don't mind him mumbling away to himself, getting lost in thought without entirely realizing it. Someone stop him before he gets himself in trouble because of it. ]

3: By the grace of the gods go I

[The last Juliette remembers was the cries of the sailors and the sound of the storm. Now, thankfully, she's got her violin in its waterproof case, her rapier, her bag and her boots. And that's about all she's got - her pants are gone, so but at least she's got her shirt.

Looking around from the bit of ship poking above the water, she looks about thoughtfully.

Well, I'm sure I have been in a worse spot. But I wish I had a glass, or even my feather!

[And then:]

I do wonder if I can make it to those islands.

2: The Land Abides

[She's managed to make it to the island, only to find that she may have judged a bit poorly - now that she's here, it's quite obvious she should have gone the other way. Still, she's a bit tired, and so she sits underneath a tree.]

"Pardieu, this was not my brightest choice. Well. I shall rest, then see if I cna find some clean water. Besides my thirst, I need to get the salt off me."

[She opens the case to the violin, checks it carefully, then smiles, and leans back, closes her eyes, and starts to play and sing a sea-shanty she'd found the sailors had appreciated on the ship she was on.]

From Cassomir docks we bid adieu
To Suke, and Sal, and Kittie too
The anchor's weighed and the sails unfurl
We're bound to cross the watery row
For we know we're outward bound
Hurrah, we're outward bound

1: I did not expect this, but one must ride the tide, yes?

[She's tried, now, to get into the water and see what she can do. As she slips below, she gasps, and in that moment she feels her throat change, and then her hands. She smiles, and laughs, bubbles escaping her mouth with the air in her lungs, and then she swims, happily.

A song from one of her off-Golarion trips comes to mind, and despite the water, whether it be magic or just how it works here, she starts to sing it:]

Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more is you lookin' for?

Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it's better
Down where it's wetter
Take it from me...

[Laughing, she swims about, feeling the freedom of the water, and not caring about the fact she's only got the fundaments on between her shirt and her boots.]

Edited (fixing subject) 2018-05-25 14:43 (UTC)

i
[No.

Whatever this is, he's already done with it, like, before he even opens his eyes. It's actually worse when he opens his eyes.

Oh, the sight at first is fine, really! A coral reef? Clear beautiful water and sandy beaches? Reminds him of Alola. It's gorgeous, really. But he shouldn't be here. Unexpectedly. Out of the blue. Suddenly. When he thrashes for the surface, something holds him back, and it's the fact that his legs are no longer legs, just a long fishy tail, blue as his armor ever was, with pretty trailing ends he does. not. want. Swimming as a human is fine! He'd been in enough pools and oceans to get swimming. What is this fin bullshit???

He is, also, seemingly alone at first. Which also isn't right. By any means. He hurls himself at the surface, pulling himself along with drags of his arms, letting his tail dangle uselessly except for a few abortive twitches where he's got that urge to kick his legs. He'd been holding his breath since the feeling of water hit his face, and it hasn't hit him yet that he doesn't feel the burning need to breathe as he moves. All he knows is that his lungs need air and he does not have air.

When he breaches the surface, he gasps and heaves, despite, again, not actually needing to, arms flailing, tail also flailing up and out of the water in unglamorous splashes.

When he finally calms down--oh, let's be honest, he's not going to calm down, but when he's calmer anyway, he'll try to flag down any boats or other persons who may or may not be fish-like, because he needs information, and the question at the forefront is 'what the fuck'.]

ii
[There's little sadder than a beached sea critter. Unless it's a mermaid. Mermaids sitting on rocks and piers and beaches are hot, right? Like old sailor tales. (Heh. Tails.) Church managed to work his way to the island and hauled himself up onto the beach with his arms. They're nice arms. If anyone cares.

He's realized though that he can't just exist by dragging himself around on his arms. What if his tail dries out? What about stairs? Does this place have stairs? Is this just a tropical paradise? He's pretty sure he sees an old-ass shipwreck in the distance, so this place must have stairs in this world, just not here.

Despite being covered in sand, if anyone who stumbles on him wants to look, his back has an expansive design in black, and his chest has a bird with wings outstretched in blue, and down the inside of his right arm? Handwriting in black, some sort of Latin phrase.]

Fuck, I could use a bite to eat. How the fuck am I gonna get a coconut down? Maybe there's a crab I can crack open...

[Or you could, y'know, catch some fish, you mermaid fuck. At one point, before he ends up back in the ocean, because drying out actually really starts hurting his legs/tail, he looks contemplative at the offending fishiness. Rock in hand. I'm sure this is Fine.]

iii
[After being spooked by sharks that don't seem to want to eat him, and trying to get used to the idea that he doesn't need to breathe underwater--or really that he can breathe underwater--then it's time to explore, because fuck if he's gonna sit around and wait for answers to come to him. For long.

So shipwreck it is! Maybe it'll give him some clues. So long as he doesn't get eaten by eels. Fuck those guys. What if there's treasure, guys? Some Spanish galleons or something!!! Time to try and get into whatever's left of the cargo hold.]

[Juliette swims over, auburn hair cascading about and legs bare. She's got a sword on her belt, a bag and an instrument case over one shoulder, and for some reason a pair of boots on.]

Ah, ma foi, the sharks do not seem so mean. But I see the problem you have! Hold still, then.

[She swims down a bit, and tries to move his fins free, tugging a bit to get him to move backwards, so she can then move them out. Of course, the question is... how ticklish are fins?]

Edited (readability) 2018-05-25 14:43 (UTC)

[So, here's a familiar figure!

...Sort of. The hair is more Fantasy-Sweet length, and that tattoo certainly wasn't there before? (Also there's the whole half-octopus thing, that's definitely new, but, you know.)

Probably the most telling thing, though, is that the eyes of the man watching Church with a slowly growing expression of realization are bright Noctis-level blue, about the furthest thing from Ardyn's gold you can get.

...Of course, some people here might not be in a state to notice details such as that.]

[He can swim, and at some point, out in the middle of the water, you gotta swim. He has to try and figure out this tail bullshit. He's used to kicking his legs, not...fuckin...undulating his entire body, so it's still, uh. A work in progress.

So seeing a familiar figure is really quite nice thank god Ardyn's here with him!!! Nyoom, awkward undulation swimming as fast as he can straight into are you sure that's Ardyn?

The thought hits him mere moments before he collides with the tentacled figure. Hm. Tentacles. He was too tunnel vision to notice that before.]

[Yeah okay so he's getting tackled and - ]

Wrong twin!

[The response is basically automatic because god damn it he's trying to untangle immediately but tentacles have enough of a nervous system that they kinda? Have a mind of their own? And they wanna Hold Things.]

[Now there's flailing in the mix because Mistakes Were Made and now there are tentacles trying to eat him!

Give him a minute, he still has yet to truly realize 1) breathing underwater is a thing, and 2) speaking underwater is a thing, too, apparently, even though that doesn't seem physically possible. So there is desperate thrashing as he tries to reach his fingers to the surface and fails. His lungs aren't actually burning, and now he's just confused??? And attacked by an imposter monster octopus.

His fingertips crackle with electric energy as he shoves against the tentacles.]

Get the fuck off me!

[oh so that's a thing he can do what is this magical disney bullshit]

I'm trying, it's not my fault these things have a mind of their own!

[Why are you sparking at him do not do that underwater oh god Ardyn was not kidding about how stupid you are, was he.]

Stop moving for one second, this actually requires some concentration!

[Tentacling count: 3 and a half. So at least it's not all of them?]

So what's a quirk? [ 'sup, Izuku? There's a girl about your age floatin' in the water right behind you. Which means she just saw the whole thing.

Notably, she's dressed in a bodysuit, and... no fin. She doesn't seem to have a problem being underwater, though. ]

Why can't you control your own fish-body?!

[stop moving means STRUGGLE HARDER right?] I don't wanna be a tentacle porn hentai!

Because I suddenly sprouted an additional half a nervous system and for dawn's sake I'm not interested in fucking you, you're my brother in law.

[He's going to pause long enough in this idiocy to facepalm. Don't mind as he just. Tries to keep peeling himself off by grabbing onto a nearby rock instead.

Distract tentacle!]

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON, AND HOW AM I NOT DROWNING RIGHT NOW?

[The yells and heightened reaction of everything makes one of his sparking fingers go off into a mild thunder attack, except we're underwater, so guess what? Now they're both feeling electrified.

To his...credit? It's less deliberate and more a fight or flight reaction that is fight more than flight.] FUCK! FUCK! FUCKING SHIT! THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!

[Something large, dark, and densely furred sticks its head out of the water as whatever's in its mouth disappears in a flash of familiar magenta. It starts to bob nimbly towards shore, then stops when the sea breeze carries a familiar voice to its ears.]

Church?

[Splashing back underwater, Junpei speeds onto the sand and shakes out his thick otter fur, then runs four-legged--thanks, funky weasel spine--towards his best friend in this history.]

Church! Man! You... [He slows, taking in Church's new, ah. Length.] ...You're a mermaid.

[Snrk.]

What's up, Zoolander?

Because you have gills, you absolute -

[Zap.

Guess what, that makes the tentacles reflexively cling harder because ow. Izunia flinches hard and turns to stare at the surface with an expression of "why this."

Knowing his luck, someone's catching this on video from behind a rock or something.]

Can we stop being a comedy of errors now before someone needs a potion?

No! You wanna know why? Cuz you're crushing me with your porn tentacles, and also, because welcome to my life! Constant comedy of fucking errors! I didn't mean to do that! Magic is finicky! It's tricky! Sound doesn't move this way under water!

[It's hard to tell what she might notice first: that Mai has a bronze swordfish tail and back fin, that she also has a swordfish horn sticking out of the top of her head, or that she has very prominent scars -- what looks like impalement through the chest and claw slashes on the neck. Mai stares silently and swims over.]

...appropriate.

Junpei, what the fuck. You look adorable and cuddly, c'mere so I can hug you!

[His tail flops on the sand. It looks majestic in the water! Less so when he's just...flop.] I'm a merman, thank you very much. Somehow you're not a spider. I don't know if I'm thankful or just kinda disappointed.

For the love of - just try not to zap us again, I'm going to call Ardyn and if you manage to nuke my phone this is all going to be even more incredibly stupid.

[He wrenches a tentacle off Church's hips with a vague sort of popping sensation, wraps it around the rock before it starts to wander, and pulls a phone out of his Armiger in a flash of blue.]

[HEY BRO your phone is fucking ringing feat good ole elevencrows, who surely would not call you without an actual reason. Surely not.

Hopefully you like have it to hand instead of just fucking leaving it in your Armiger.]

Maybe it's not really wood.

[That's a familiar voice behind you, Izuku. He doesn't exactly look familiar any more - he woke up under the water with a strange tail, too, but unlike Izuku his tail isn't exactly flowing and graceful. It's a pale, ghostly white with bright red splotches on it.

Waking up part koi was weird, but there's not much time to dwell on that.]

Or it's not really real...

This had better be vitally important, Izunia, I am dealing with far more than I would like to already.

Heads up, eel nest.

[ A short distance away is a slightly cranky-looking angelshark mermaid in a purple t-shirt, in the process of wrapping up her wrist in kelp as a makeshift bandage. Those things are not nice. ]

[Junpei shakes his fur out again, grinning, and runs over to bellyflop on Church.]

Yeah, looks like it's just sea animals, dude, and I don't think water spiders dive. Or they're just crabs. Crab wouldn't be a good look for me.

[Who knows if this is sea otter instinct or just Junpei, but he immediately starts ruffling (or maybe grooming?) Church's hair with his clever paws. Even his robot arm is now a robot otter arm. He's adorable.]

Where have you been, asshole? Actually, has time even passed for you back home? There's an ongoing debate. We've been here about a month.

[Clonk. Clonk. Clonk.

If Church follows the sound, he'll find a figure that's half familiar, half swordfish, trying and failing to pull the pointed horn on her head out of a hole in the ceiling of this level of the ship.]

...Help.

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TEST DRIVE 004

Izuku Midoriya | My Hero Academia

Juliette d'Aubigniy | OC/CRAU (Pathfinder)

Leonard Lucis Caelum | Red vs Blue | it's another airlocked crau folks

A!

take your fucking pick honestly

no subject

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B

no subject

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ii

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no subject

1

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1/2

2/2

c!

no subject

C

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iii