SPRING TEST DRIVE

[thespaceopera]

THE SPRING TEST DRIVE MEME
(Or Fall Test Drive for you Southern Hemisphere folks!)

Got someone you want to try out before you app? Well this is the post for it! Feel free to use anything that fits in the setting of Drift Fleet! Want to play bumper shuttles? Want to go wild in a med bay? Play around with the current plot? Have at it!

Threads from the Test-Drive may be made game "canon" but DO NOT count toward AC!

FOR NEW PLAYERS: You DO NOT NEED an invite to participate in the TEST DRIVE! If you decide to APP into the game, ONLY THEN will you need an invite from a current player!

Helpful Info for Ideas!:

March's Star System

Game Details

Test drives are posted SEASONALLY, so the next one will be in June!

Comments

[pb_n_jocular]

Pinning a biotic wouldn't have gone very well for him, so it's a good thing Aglidus found reason to be civil. However most Asari would have found his comment to be an outright insult. Lucky for him Peebee isn't like most Asari, instead blowing a raspberry and waving her hand dismissively at him.

"Nah, I'm not the least bit human. I'm an Asari. Eh, we got similar legs and stuff so I can get the confusion. Okay, so I get to ask you four questions because I answered all of yours;" That's totally how this is working. "Number none; what are you? Besides looking like the galaxy's coldest Turian."

[thecoldshoulder]

Algidus pulls a face when this nuisance makes a crude mouth-sound, followed by an exasperated, full-throated growl that rattles from his gills. "You've only answered one of my questions, Asari. The rest of the information you've provided me with has been thoroughly useless. If you want me to owe you something, perhaps you should work on finding a way off this damn ship, then get back to me."

Turning around to leave again now. Is she going to keep following him? He really doesn't have the time--nor patience--for this.

[pb_n_jocular]

"Hey, I gave you answers even if it wasn't what you were hoping. 'I'm not answering that question' would have been not answering that question. Or, ignoring you entirely, which I'm almost sorry I didn't do."

She's totally going to keep following him; he's too fascinating to ignore, "With how rude you're being right now, if I find a way off this ship I'm taking it. Without you. So, maybe lighten up if you want my help? Also, I have a name. You could use that instead of calling me Asari like a superior asshole. It's Peebee. Call me that or I'm calling you Dumbutt Icecube."

[thecoldshoulder]

"I'm already sorry you didn't," the bulky alien grumbles under his breath, heaving an exasperated sigh. Then, lifting his voice again, he responds further. "Leave if you want; I don't need your help. And you will not call me that, not unless you want to have my blade at your throat. I have a name too--"

He just hasn't really decided on it yet; he's been trying one out in his head, but if he's not in the Box any more, then does that mean he's finally free of his original's presence? Could he reclaim his old name? Either way, the realization that he doesn't quite have an answer here is enough to finally break his near constant-scowling open into a more startled expression. He tries to mask it quickly, glaring down at the Asari again, his gaze even darker before.

[pb_n_jocular]

"Yeah if you've got one why don't you tell me what it is .... HAH!"

Sorry if you were looking to be discreet, giant ice alien. Peebee happened to look up at just the right moment to catch his shifting expression. "I saw that, I saw that!" She points up at him enthusiastically, although she has absolutely no idea what it was she even saw. Perhaps just that he's more complex than a grumpy block of ice resembling a sentient creature.

[thecoldshoulder]

Complex indeed--the ice alien has been through a whole heap of trauma by this point in his life that has knotted him up with various personal issues. His grumpy and harsh exterior is as much a direct result of that trauma as it is a cover for said issues. It means he takes being laughed at extremely personally, but he's also mortified for letting even a trace of anything but that cold, hard front show through.

Algidus' gills flare like a cobra's hood as he emits a bone-chilling hiss, one so loud and harsh it rattles ominously in his gill arches. One of his hands tenses, a spark of some strange energy crackling across it "Don't laugh at me!! You didn't see anything. You don't know what you're talking about!"

[pb_n_jocular]

Wow that's intense.

It's also confusing because Peebee recognizes she should be scared/back off/take it as a warning, but hot damn is he a biotic too?. Yes she actually leans slightly forward to look at the energy cracking over his hand.

"Sorry, I did't mean to offend ... I just think you're more than you let on. I'll pretend you're still some super-grumpy icecube, though, if that'll make you feel better." She's being sincere, at least.

"The big question is, what's up with your hand?" She's not letting that go, though.

[thecoldshoulder]

... What.

No, seriously, what the hell is going on here. After his cloning had forcibly estranged him from the rag-tag society he was dropped into, Algidus has all but forgotten what it's like to have people be nice to him; he certainly isn't used to having someone actively looking for good in him when he is point-blank intimidating them. Up until this point, people were so ready to see him as the monster that he'd been created to be that he's all but given up on ever being anything but.

It's a habit that's going to be hard to change, especially given how wary he is to trust; one of the many issues he's been left with is the fear that letting people in is just inviting yourself to be hurt by them later down the road. While there are a few more moments where he's so baffled by the turn this exchange has taken that he can't do much but stare blankly, he once again tries to mask it in a scowl... though the way he averts his eyes and immediately latches on to the subject change probably says a fair bit for him.

"Nothing is 'up' with it," he replies, his voice low. "My people are simple very in-tune with the natural energies that course through our bodies and flow through the universe, and can use it to various ends." Whatever he was planning on doing with it here, he seems to have abandoned entirely, which also says a lot given how eager he usually is to vent his frustration with his lot in life through conflict.

[pb_n_jocular]

If she were more astute about people she might have noticed, but whereas she got lucky the first time, this time not so much.

In personal issues they are equally matched; once burnt, twice shy, part of her own vivaciousness is the mask she wears. She's curious enough to poke her nose into other peoples' business without dropping too much of herself in the process.

While her experience with Ryder and the crew of the Tempest helped lay to rest some of those demons, this is a new crew and a new experience, and it still takes time for her to align her personal journey with others.

"Various ends? Like, violent ones?" She squints her eyes at him, "Were you going to barbaque me?"

[thecoldshoulder]

"Various as in various," Algidus responds, his voice tight, like he's trying to keep a growl out of it.It's actually a shocking level of control for him, a courtesy he wouldn't offer to just anyone, though it might be hard to tell given that this is their first interaction. apparently he's been somewhat tempered by her previous offer of understanding, though he's unable to completely hold back his scathing sarcasm: "You do know the definition of the word, right? It can be offensive, defensive, or for support. It does not have to be violent."

Though he's not ruling out that his original intent was--lying is something his people find most unbecoming--it seems to be something he's trying to turn away from now, which is more than most get with him.

[pb_n_jocular]

"Nah, I know. Just pretending you're a grumpy icecube so didn't think support applied. Or defensive, because I'm just an innocent youngster, what am I going to be able to do to you?" She gives him a coy, innocent smile. Nope, certainly not hiding any mysterious body energy powers here! It's something of a defense mechanism, to keep her biotics under the table. If this was a whole other universe (she hasn't seen any asari, let alone humans, turians, or anything else familiar yet), she's going to have to be careful how she reveals her abilities.

"You still haven't told me your name. Maybe McGrumps Icealot? Freezy Von Obstinate? Rockhead Icetoes?"

SORRY FOR THE LATE I would love to continue this if it's okay with you!! ;n;

[thecoldshoulder]

"O-oh... oh!" Algidus suddenly perks up as the Asari's intents catch up to him. While he doesn't like being assumed to be a creature intent on little more than trouble-making or violence--it's too much a reminder of the damnable knowledge that's exactly what he was made to be--he is completely alright with keeping up pretenses. In fact, nowadays that's a huge chunk of what his existence consists of. He puffs up as if to boast along with her suggestion that he is powerful indeed, only to deflate into disgruntlement when she starts slinging nicknames again.

"No--no, no no no! Stop!" He finally outright stomps his foot, worked up more and more by the indignity of each new suggestion. "None of them are my name! My name is Algidus!"

The dark, seething creature squawks it out harshly, suddenly. At least being pressed over and over again didn't afford him much time to think on his existential crisis this time, and now he's finding an avenue to try the new name out for himself. It's... alright.

of course!

[pb_n_jocular]

Peebee now wears a very satisfied expression, rocking back on her heels and crossing her arms.

"See, Algidus, that wasn't so hard now, was it?"

Because of course she hammered him with infuriating nicknames to get him to reveal his, and she certainly wasn't wrong about the effectiveness of that tactic.

aw yay! <3

[thecoldshoulder]

That self-satisfied expression that she's wearing is not helping. Algidus scowls, tossing his head. "What a completely tactless... tactic. Are all your people like this, or is it just my luck that I've met the one of you that doesn't know when to quit?"

[pb_n_jocular]

"It's all me. But don't worry, I've got many redeeming qualities, too."

She tilts her head at him curiously, "Are we still pretending you're 100% grump?"