the road's got me hypnotized

[herotypical]

the luceti test drive meme

Reserves have just opened and apps are right around the corner. But are you still on the fence about any of your would-be characters? Well -- here is your chance to take them out for a spin!

▣ TAG IN or reply to others with characters you would like to test drive for Luceti.
▣ ONLY add top-level comments for characters who are not yet in the game. You're free to reply to others with Luceti characters (because that's half the fun) but remember that the whole point of this meme is for potential characters.
▣ PLEASE do not post duplicates of characters already in Luceti.
▣ GO AHEAD and give us a brief description of your character in the top-level comment, along with one or two possible ways to run into your test-driven character around town.
▣ YOU MAY use these threads for your first person samples on your app -- just make sure that you link threads of a goodly length (i.e., threads with at least ten comments from your character).

Need a little help getting started? Remember, you needn't post here as though your character is still brand-spankin' new. It'll probably be more fun for all involved if this isn't a simple dress rehearsal for showing up. Here are a few scenario ideas:

o1. The grocery store is out of food. What do you do?
o2. Wing injury! Call for help or stagger your way to one of our fine clinics.
o3. It's a busy evening at Good Spirits, one of Luceti's local bars. Do you dare try the drink specials?
o4. Have a talent for playing music? Try Cloud Nine's open mic night!
o5. Beach party? Snow party? Leaf-raking party? Gardening party? YOU DECIDE.

Okay. So my examples are pretty non-exciting. But they're really just suggestions. I'm POSITIVE you kids can come up with more creative things.

Above all? HAVE FUN. Oh. And don't forget to RESERVE your characters.

Comments

[selfhelp]

[Billy frowns at that - mementos from home can be the best and the worst in this place - but after a moment's pause he heads around to the side of the bridge to come and sit with her, if she has no protests. The only way to really get around it is with familiar company, whether you find it or built it up with the otherworldly strangers.]

Before you left? You mean the Runaways?

[skrullbucks]

Yes. [She turns the compass a little, watching the plastic needle spin in it's wonky little way, smoothing her thumbs over patches where the paint has worn away.]

A small group of Majesdanians, Karolina's people came to find her. They wanted to take her away and put her on trial for her father's actions in giving the Skrulls the location of the home world. The homeworld and my own were completely destroyed during events set off in our wedding, and because of that they wanted to punish her.

They weren't going to leave without her. And she has always had more to stay here for. It seemed fitting for me to take her place. After all it all happened simply because I asked her to give up all she knew and loved to try and create a peace.

[selfhelp]

[Billy can't help but stop and stare at her, hearing that. It makes him think of the situation Teddy had narrowly avoided, with the Skrulls and Kree fighting over him; if it hadn't been for Kl'rt switching places with him, they'd have been separated forever. Karolina and Xavin weren't so lucky.]

Oh, god... I'm really sorry, Xavin.

[It's such an empty response, to him, but he doesn't know what else to say.]

What about you, though? That means you're still in danger...

[skrullbucks]

[She stares back, carefully, trying her best to work out his expressions as he thinks. It's half of how she works people out down on Earth, a culture that isn't as blunt as her own. Find others weaknesses, and use them against them was one of her lessons, and it's left a mark, in a way. It helps her work out why she doesn't always understand.]

Why are you sorry? It's not as if you played a hand in their arrival. If anything I should have been more aware that there would be survivors on military bases. I was the one who would know that, and I lapsed.

[Its a response she doesn't fully get, but she shrugs it off and moves on]

It does, but I am not unused to danger. And I fully intend on returning to my beloveded, once I have explained what happened during the ceremony and made the see she is innocent. Though Majesdanians can be surprisingly stubborn, so yes that may take a few months.

[selfhelp]

Oh, it's... kind of a thing we do here. Or on Earth, usually. It's not so much "I'm sorry for something I was responsible for", but more like "I'm sorry that happened to you."

I hope you do get back to Earth, though. I know we didn't get to know each other for long, but... I can only imagine how hard that would be for the both of you.

[If Teddy had been taken like that... god, he'd learn to teleport across the universe if he had to.]

[skrullbucks]

Ah. Like a million deaths being a statistic, but one a tragedy. [A small nod. Earthisims] Humans view many things different to Skrulls, something I doubt surprises you. We don't often show our sympathies. It is too risky to show an obvious weakness.

I fully intend to. And it is... strange. She is not with me, yet she is. [And slowly Xavin shifts, skin paling and hair turning blonde as it spills down to her waist, and she becomes a perfect replica of Karolina] In a way, it almost makes it harder.

[selfhelp]

[Billy watches the change, lips pursing. It's... sad and comforting and beautiful all at once. Shapeshifting is a useful skill, but he can imagine how much it must hurt to have to use it that way.]

...I did that, once. Before Teddy got here, I mean. There was an experiment that gave me his powers, so...

[He shrugs, offering up a weak smile. He gets it.]

It did help, for a while. But it hurt, too.

[skrullbucks]

[She drops it soon enough, hair returning to its usual thick brown, Xavin brushing it back behind her ears as she does. Ever since she's found herself stuck in one form one day, energy too low to make the shift until a good night's sleep she's been careful. If Karolina ever does appear in this place she wants to be sure she can great her in the form her beloved likes.]

It can be comforting. But it is not the same. In the end it can be more painful.

[But moving on. Because it helps, because Xavin's never really been taught how to deal with her emotions.]

How is Dor-Teddy? [one day she'll get used to the human name. Maybe.]

[selfhelp]

[Meanwhile Billy's not used to "Dorrek", so he's grateful for the correction. He knows hearing the Skrull name just makes Teddy uncomfortable.]

He's... good. I mean, we all miss home, but this place isn't so bad most of the time. Just weird.

[There's really no better way to describe it.]

[skrullbucks]

[It's hard. Mostly because she's grown up with the stories, the prophecy. And then to find him living like a human. It was a surprise, and the human name was hard and foreign on her tongue.

But learning to be human includes learning to understand preferences. So she tries.]

It is good that you are with him. He may be half Kree, [excuse the 'ew gross' face there] but we Skrulls can be exceedingly stubborn with our point of view. We often can need someone to help us see more clearly.

I still do not trust this place though.

[selfhelp]

Oh god, no. I don't trust it either, and I don't think anyone should. People get hurt in too many ways here for it to be a safe place.

[He glances down at the water, nudging a stone into the flow with his foot.]

But I know it could be worse, so... I guess I'm grateful for what little we have.

[skrullbucks]

Good. That is the right mindset to have. We need to be soldiers here, not willing guests or else they will believe that they have won.

[She watches the ripples, distorted by the flow, before slowly picking up her own pebble and dropping it in]

Yes... I must confess, I meet each cycle with a small hope of another familiar face. I often feel quite guilty for it.

[selfhelp]

I was the same way until Teddy got here. And even with him, there's still people I miss.

[His family, the rest of the team, the Avengers of their universe... it's hard, being in a place with so little that's familiar.]

I don't think it's wrong to want to see the people you love.

[skrullbucks]

Yes... I feel the same concerning Karolina and the others.

[It doesn't help that it's already been weeks, a month? She's not really sure, since she's seen her fiancé]

But it is wrong to wish them to a place that could do them harm. And it... simply isn't what Skrulls are supposed to do. We are not supposed to cling so to things.

[selfhelp]

[....Ugh. You know, he tries in general to respect other cultures and all, but...]

Forget what you're supposed to do. You don't have to be exactly what the rest of your people expect you to be, especially when none of them are even here. My people aren't supposed to eat pork but I'd never turn down a BLT.

[Not quite a perfect comparison, but the sentiment is there.]

Feel whatever you want. Hiding it's just pointless.

[skrullbucks]

[Man Xavin is perfectly aware Skrull culture is strange to humans. Human culture is strange to her though, and she often sticks her foot in her mouth over it. Metaphorically of course. So you're excused.]

Why would you be unable to eat Pork? Are you a vegan, like Karolina? It is a difficult life I have seen, and the pork is quite delicious.

[yes that's what she got out of that. And yeah religions in general confuse her and so does not eating meat.]

It is not pointless. Showing too much can be quite deadly in combat. You are showing a weakness a smart opponent will only use it against you.

[selfhelp]

Well, yeah, showing your enemy stuff like that- but what about friends?

[skrullbucks]

Are you my friend then? [a genuine question, sincere and all. After all friendship is hard to grasp and define. She's had comrades, in training. And he's had acquaintances, as any young prince did. But being a prince meant that there was always going to be a gap with you and others no matter how distant in line you were.

Karolina was her beloveded, her fiancée. More then friend. Molly was her sister. Klara was still unsure around her and Victor and her still clashed at times. And Nico... Well that was always going to be awkward. Chase possibly was a friend but at the same time she wasn't going to seek him out unless he was needed. And Old Lace was a dinosaur.

And so Xavin keeps on staring, waiting for an answer first]

[selfhelp]

What? Yeah, of course you are. You and all the Runaways.

[The ones he's met, anyway. They were a good bunch, really interesting and fun to be around (when they weren't fighting off bug-aliens or SHIELD agents). He'd have liked to get the chance to get to know them better, which is why he's glad to see Xavin here. Albeit selfishly.]

[skrullbucks]

Ah. [she pauses to consider this. In her definitions she had assumed they were only allies. Aside from Teddy of course, his destiny meant that she really should be protecting him when around him. And with Billy's relationship to Teddy she supposed that protection would extend to him.

But friends. An odd word, yet it brings a faint smile to her lips] Then I suppose I could do that.