SEPTEMBER TEST DRIVE

[thespaceopera]

THE FALL TEST DRIVE MEME
(Or Spring 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!:

September's Star System

Game Details

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

Comments

[selfhelp]

Shoot, you're gonna guilt me into it, aren't you.

[Is he talking to the lizard, or Kate? Either way he's already trying to extract the rest of them while she's holding the facehugger, before he ends up chosen by and entire pack. Squad? Hatchery? What do you call a group of lizards, anyway?]

Never had a pet before. Except like, a goldfish that died when I was five. I don't know the first thing about it.

[ladybro]

It's not so tough.

[ she answers as though she's some sorta expert when all she's done is play temporary guardian to someone else's old and obedient half-blind mutt. ]

What do lizards even eat? Flies? Worms? You can freeze those bastards. Way, way easier than trying to teach a dog to eat protein gel.

[ at least -- after that dog has been spoiled to ruination by clint feeding him pizza. ]

[selfhelp]

I'm surprised it was any trouble at all. I thought dogs ate everything.

[Then again, Lucky has very discerning pizza-related tastes. He can understand that- pizza is amazing, after all. Old dog has the heart of a teenager.]

[ladybro]

That would require the gel to actually pass itself off as edible in the first place.

[ and it's so very not. to the point where she's even embraced her role as ship's cook -- lo and behold, she's not so bad in the kitchen. who would have thought it. ]

[selfhelp]

Okay, that's fair.

[He hasn't been here long, but ship food is all you can afford when you're this broke, so yeah, he's with you, Lucky. Super gross.

He wiggles his fingers in front of the lizard once of the rest of his body is reptile-free, and it skitters back on, trying to climb up his arm.]

...Maybe I'm naturally drawn to green guys from space. I'm thinking about it.

[He misses Teddy already :c ]

[ladybro]

[ oh. oh, no, the green elephant in the room. kate leans back, arms crossed over her chest as she watches the lizard make himself a happy home in the crook of billy's neck. ]

Look, [ she meets this bull by the horns, ] as long as you don't name him after Teddy. Because that might be weird. Would that be weird? Yeah. Weird.

[selfhelp]

Oh god, no.

[WHAT A TERRIBLE THOUGHT]

I could never. How weird would it be? "This is Teddy, my boyfriend, and Teddy, my pet lizard." I don't know who'd be more embarrassed, him or me.

[Definitely not him, though. Yikes.]

[ladybro]

[ and somehow that look of sheer yikes on billy's face is supremely preferable to the sadness and homesickness she'd seen lingering there a moment earlier. ]

Good. Because if you did, we'd have to have words. [ ... ] If you're gonna use a person-name for a lizard, I feel like it has to be something with some oomph. Fernando, maybe.

[ we all like abba, right? ]

[selfhelp]

[Sorry Kate, keeping him out of the pit of misery is a full-time job. Get used to these moments.]

Fernando? I dunno, he strikes me as more of a Joseph.

[forget abba we're going full musical in this house]

[ladybro]

Joey. For short.

[ because oh, lordy, she is not calling a lizard joseph. ]

[selfhelp]

Little J.

[like some kind of punk gangster spaceman.]

[ladybro]

Little J.

[ she echoes with a smile. then, reaching for her device. ]

So will you let me get him for you?

[ -- so much for floating a loan. we've upgraded straight to impromptu gift. ]

[selfhelp]

I think at this point I'm obligated. I am gonna see if I can get myself some money ASAP, though. He's not that expensive, but a tank and all the set-up stuff is.

[He's all for accepting impromptu gifts but there is a limit.]

[ladybro]

You could always pull an every-starlet-ever and key the drama up to eleven. [ ... ] Our 'hosts' sure do love to pay out dividends for the drama.

[selfhelp]

And how exactly am I supposed to up the drama?

[He doesn't even have a boyfriend to play love-triangle with.]

[ladybro]

...You could steal Little J.

[ is she serious? probably not. stealing seems pretty non-avengery, if you ask her. ]

[selfhelp]

If he was a tamagotchi, maybe.

[YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A CAR, KATE!!

or. maybe you would. he doesn't know what you got up to in Cali.]

Think I should switch my schtick to supervillain? Maybe practice my evil laughter over the network...

[ladybro]

Yeah, no. Shoplifting a reptile still leaves you a few sins short supervillainy.

[ are they joking about this? yes, sure, they're joking about this. you kinda gotta, some days. even when one of you is so damned op that he could do a helluva lot of damage if he went to the dark side. ]

[selfhelp]

Alas. Even with villainy my performance is mediocre.

[/self-deprecating humour.exe

Maybe it's because it's been so close to home lately- the search for Wanda started because the Avengers were worried he'd go darkside, and then he'd unintentionally cooperated with not one but two villains, technically, though Loki only half-counts, and then there was the whole mess with Moridun where he'd become some terrible destroyer of worlds in the future... yeah, he's danced that dance before. No thanks.]

I'll figure something out eventually. How about we find a home for this little guy first?

[ladybro]

Right -- [ a staunch nod as she lets billy dictate the vagaries of how far a joke can go. it's more kindness than she'd show a lot of people, really, but billy's one of hers. she'll think twice before stepping too far.

instead, she breezes through a beaded curtain intends to get a closer look at some of this lizard paraphernalia. ]

His tank is gonna need a theme. Duh. And if you're really stuck on Joseph, then you might want to consider going full ALW.

[ she reaches for a bag of decorative sand. ] Get yourself a little mini crashed chandelier.

[selfhelp]

What, like a generic musical theme?

[because that's definitely Phantom.]

I was imagining tiny sheep foliage... it definitely needs a stage rock, though. Something big and hollow with leafy curtains.

[ladybro]

Less generic. More Andrew Lloyd Webber. [ ...honestly! ]

[selfhelp]

No Fernando, then.

[At least that leaves them with plenty of options.]

I would say we should include lots of colours, but... I'm scared that'll mean I can never find him once he's inside it.

[ladybro]

That's a risk you're just going to have to take, Billy, unless you switch gears entirely and go with a monochromatic theme.

[ said in all seriousness as she tilts a tank with the palm of her hand. the 'glass' doesn't feel like glass at all, but something far superior. technologically advanced. ]

[selfhelp]

Maybe I can bribe him to come to my hand when I call. Do you think lizards can be trained?

[They're probably not dumb, right?? You can train mice to do stuff, and lizards eat mice, so they can't be that smart.

He's probably making too many assumptions. Hopefully they sell a lizard guidebook somewhere in here too.]