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Test Drive - 002

TEST DRIVE 002

Welcome to Aterat!

Here is our second Test Drive Meme! There are a lot of areas of the city to explore, so please have a look around! In case you need a little help getting started, I've included a few prompts below, or feel free to start your own! Exploration and player initiative are the names of the game here!

NOTE: While you do need an invite to apply to the game, you do NOT need one to tag or top level on the Test Drive!

Helpful Links to Get Started

Arrival & General Information | Locations & Bestiary | Residences & Housing Info | Rules & FAQ (ask questions here!)

A. Free-Fallin'

Not exactly, but close enough. You have just arrived and received a strange satchel from a tiny, strange little man and are left more or less to your own devices (more information on what to expect upon arrival can be found here)! Follow directions to the north and check out the housing, or maybe have a look around the Historium and try to get some information from that giant glowing ball, see what you can waste your meager starter coin on in the Market District, or maybe just meet the neighbors.

B. For the Benefit of Mr. Kite there will be a show tonight on trampolines

Just to the north of the market district, a small carnival has been set up in a square. As the sun sets, the stalls around it come alive with callers, carnival games, roasted meats are available as well as sweet treats. The games have prizes, stuffed animals and the like, and there are musicians. It's almost as though it's all in celebration of something, but what is anyone's guess. You're welcome to attend and see what's what, and any performers among the gathered are welcome to take part. The whole affair is very mirthful and fluid.

C. Delve Down into the Dark and Deep

If you're a more adventurous type, why not see what all the fuss is about in the sewers, or, if heroics are more your style, maybe look into why people seem to think it's fine to have monsters living just under their feet. Or just use the opportunity to keep your skills sharp. The sewers are pretty vast, after all.

D. Tell Phone™

Why not give that phone a shot and see who answers?

If you have any questions at all about setting or what is or isn't acceptable, please submit it on the FAQ!

If you would like to explore any aspect of the setting more indepth, please PM the mod account OR comment here! All comments are screened!

» N A V I G A T I O N

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They are playing music. Lauri-ell tilts her head at the words. Yes, the word means something, but it still leaves her looking confused. It’s almost like the woman hasn’t really heard music before, which is actually quite true.

“Music. I’ve never heard music before. Is it common here?”

This question silently stunned him and had Hendrik wonder what else was different between worlds. He knew for certain he was no longer on Erdrea and that he had somehow lost sight of the Luminary. This had to be corrected at once, and he'd searched high and low in every corner for any sign of the boy. The knight couldn't admit it out loud of course, but he'd come to care for the boy and looked fondly on him even if none of that was ever conveyed in any way. Somehow he still had hope if the boy was indeed here, then he would be drawn to the merrymaking.

"Music is how many people express themselves, though I cannot say for certain if it is commonplace here." Even as he said these words, Hendrik was more than sure his words came off as clumsy. Jasper was always more poetic and well spoken than himself. And the blonde knight would certainly be sweeping the lady into a dance by now and going on endlessly about how wonderful it was to have such a thing.

Poetry would have been so far past her that really, she was lucky she had someone a bit more straightforward around to tell her. And frankly, someone teaching her to dance would be awkward enough, given she was easily somewhere around seven feet which would her a pain to try and lead through dance steps.

But for now she's looking intently at Hendrik, considering what he has to say very seriously.

"Do humans not normally express themselves with words?"

He's not sure what to do with that look but this is a man that wouldn't intentionally steer anyone wrong, since this one is pretty damn serious and without guile. Her question though earned a nod even if his brain was sort of tying onto the fact that if she asked that question she couldn't be human herself.

"Humans do, but I have been told that some find music easier in which to do so." The knight himself wasn't one to find ease or comfort in either if it was personal. And he could never hope to express himself through poetry or music, those were talents best left to others.

Why would music be easier? Clearly the individual playing with the wooden box with strings had to learn a whole new skill. So really, she doesn't look certain by this.

"Why would they find that easier? You are biologically evolved to speak."

Her words of 'biologically evolved' caused Hendrik to cough because he was reminded that he was most certainly out of his element. Music too made him think of Don Rodrigo's son Norberto, or Sylvando as he preferred. And that one would be better suited to this task to explain as well. Still, the knight had to say something.

"Yes of course. But as I have been told where words fail, music speaks." That was from something Jasper had explained to him once. And he could still hear the mocking laughter from his fellow blonde knight when they had been but boys, watching a ball when they were supposed to have been long in bed.

Edited 2020-10-06 05:37 (UTC)

Was he though? They were both warriors. Granted she was made for it and he likely trained, but still, they were what they were.

"Oh? What did the music say?"

Perhaps she was taking it a touch literally. Not her fault. Humans and their metaphors could be very strange, and very beyond her previous realms of experience.

There was another light cough though he was slightly amused at the question posed. "I am afraid that I cannot say for I do not know." Really this was not his thing at all so blue eyes lifted to look at the fellow warrior. "Music and its subtleties are far beyond my rudimentary understanding." His friends understood he was sure of it. Norberto and Jasper would be able to spin this conversation on its head.

He couldn't.

"But I am certain that should you learn to dance, the answers you seek will come."

Should she learn to dance? But how did one learn such a thing? Lauri-Ell doesn't know at all. She frowns and looks to where people were dancing.

"That does not look simple to learn."

That comment earned a nod and a hint of a smile. "I have been told that dancing requires listening to the music." This much he knew, which was the reason he didn't indulge in it often. He knew how to dance because he'd been taught it from Don Rodrigo's training, who considered it a knightly virtue. That had been the man's advice about listening. But that man had a wife and child so there was 'room' in the man's life so to speak for that sort of thing.

This knight said he had (as the expression went) 'two left feet' so his place was in battle and not on the dance floor.

“Would it not be easier to listen to music if one were not occupied by other things?” She asks, very confused.

How did she begin to explain it? Lauri-ELL considers it thoughtfully.

“In battle, when one can, devoting one’s senses to combat, to seeing the flow of it, will be better than those who do not look. I should do this first.”

Hendrik nodded. "Music is soothing if doing something else such as reading." Or training at camp. "Back home there is a lady that can play a harp." He didn't know the song himself, but Veronica requested that her sister Serena play it and he'd both read and trained as that harp had played which was as he'd said, comforting and not distracting at all.

There was only a tiny hint of a nod. "Focusing in battle will save your life. But if you wish to approach dancing like sword play, there may be similarities."

And it was a different point of view he'd never considered before.

What an intriguing concept. Music while training would potentially be quite pleasant she agreed. But how did one try such a thing? Oh all these things she is learning that she can't put to use now.

"To be frank, I'm not familiar with sword play. Kree warriors are trained with firearms, and occasionally other melee weapons, such as a hammer."

"Fire arms?" Hendrik asked. Was that some sort of way to wield fire on a weapon? Well if a sword or such could be set on fire as some of the other things he'd seen done, that would be very effective.

The purple head shook. "Swords take discipline but can be mastered with enough patience and dedication. But I must admit seeing a hammer wielded as something other than a forging weapon might be quite a sight to see."

This conversation was so much easier than dancing.

“Perhaps one day I will be able to show you,” Lauri-Ell suggested, but she didn’t seem pleased by her own suggestion.

She was a weapon, forged by Kree Science, trained to be one of the best. And Lauri-Ell hated it more than anything. Strength and violence was only warranted when it protected the innocent.

"For some reason I do not believe we are going anywhere in a hurry." Much as he'd like to of course because there was a boy to protect, one who would defeat the darkness.

But then a cup was handed to him and the person saw the quizzical look before the knight was informed it was just apple juice. And while Hendrik had to make sure he handled it carefully, he just shook his head. "The people here welcome us as heroes and try to show us kindness and hospitality. It would only be right to give them the same in return."

Whether he was talking directly to his companion or more to himself having had a previous conversation like this it couldn't be known.

They are not going anywhere, it seems, which was its own frustaation. One absolutely written on Lauri-Ell's face in her annoyance.

"The Emperor needs me and I am trapped here? I do not like this at all."

Hendrik shook his head. "I understand, I too have somewhere far more important to be." Like protecting a kid who he swore an oath to and still honouring a perhaps long forgotten promise of protecting a kingdom. He hadn't forgotten but the boy he made that pact with was now a man who had given himself to darkness.

The knight stood slowly, careful not to spill anything remaining in his cup. "As soon as we find a way home, everyone here can return to their previous lives before getting caught up in the nefarious net that brought us to this place." He wasn't happy about it either, but try as he might, the man hadn't been able to return from whence he came. And he imagined others here now and previous arrivals had tried as well.

So if anything happened to the Luminary in his absence would definitely feel his wrath upon his return. Fortunately though he'd accidentally 'left' the boy in a safe place.

“How will justice be served if I am there to manage it?”

She was the highest form of judgement that was not held by the throne itself. It was to her that the responsibility fell for helping keep the peace within the empire itself. And it was quite the empire, still learning how to live with itself.

None of this was easy.

“My Emperor is so young, and so new to the throne. And I fear that the dangers leveled against him shall be great.”

Blue eyes blinked at his companion and he shook his head. "You are not the only one that must serve justice and are not home to do so." And with saying that he had to make sure that he didn't crush the cup in his hand. But the King of Heliodor had said something..

"I understand, as I too have a young charge back home to protect." He was only slightly important to do the whole save the world from darkness thing, no big.

"But I had overheard that time stops back where we are from. I need to find out somehow if those rumours are indeed true."

“I cannot believe so easily that whatever this world is can stop time there. The Prince-Consort might well sense that and alter it back. And then they would not have me.”

No, this place seems a little too hard to believe.

“Your charge is also young?”

Hendrik nodded. "Correct. Rumours are just that until I have solid evidence of things being otherwise." It bothered him a lot, so he just finished the apple juice that he had and felt it satisfyingly crunch in his gloved hand. He wasn't sure if time was somehow stopped on the other side of things and all, it wouldn't make any sense. But would they be able to alter that on their side? These were things that went through his head for a few moments.

Turning to look at the other soldier the knight sighed. "Yes. He is just a man by our standards but he is tasked with an important mission and I was there by his side to help him."

Obviously that's changed.

“What sort of mission?”

If she understands the mission of this man, then perhaps she’ll understand this one who follows the man better. After all, she could be measured by her loyalty to the Emperor.

Tossing the crushed cup into a garbage container, Hendrik turned back, pondering whether or not he should say. But in the end he decided honesty was best. "He was tasked with defeating the Lord of Shadows. And I was tasked with his protection."

It was really a self oath but nudged by the King of Heliodor and he naturally took his oath seriously and would adhere to it with his iron will.

Oh yes, that is very important work. Lauri-ELL believes in it. Very good. It sounds like a very important thing, actually.

“I wish you luck,” she says, her voice soft. “I wish you the best of all things. I hope you succeed.”

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