Testrun Meme - March

[bravenewmods]

This is an open testrun meme. Posts here may be used in lieu of a sample entry for any applications. For your convenience, we've provided a few prompts, but feel free to make your own!

1. Team Evolution is looking to set up a new machine test near Union. Are you here to help? Stop them? Observe?

2. A day at the races! Today in the Rhyhorn track, it's a complex course with several barricades, vertical climbs, and downhill slopes. Are you a racer? Spectator? What brings you here this fine day?

3. You're out exploring, be it at sea, or perhaps expanding into new, uncharted territories. Where are you? What are you doing?

4. Pokemon Battle! Perhaps it's training, perhaps you're protecting something important, perhaps you're striking out against something vile. Why are you in this fight and what are you doing?

5. Wildcard! Invent a prompt!

Comments

[actsmagnificent]

[ ......Erk. If you grow up to be a small Michiru, she swears to the God they're trying to find....

Haruka snorts noncommittally, in part to clear something that just caught in her throat. Yeah, about that. ] You're observant.

[ Shoot, that came out rude. Haruka should know better than to be snippy with the kid. She's the adult here! So she tries again, in a lighter tone. Show interest in the child, be bigger than this. Until the girl is proven to be a threat to the city, Haruka has no reason for ill will - even though Hotaru does. ] Did you want to be in the plays, too?

[threemoms]

In the plays? [ That actually catches her off guard for a moment, allowing her to momentarily forget both her sass and attitude. ] You mean... up on stage?

No thank you. [ She doesn't even consider that. ] I don't know the first thing about acting. And the people... [ Too many people. ]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Hotaru off guard means Haruka also opens up, a little. Enough to smile. Almost. It's probably there. ] They're not all that bad, you know.

[threemoms]

There's too many of them. [ It's not about good or bad, not for something like that. She's had no socialization for, like, most of her life. Baby steps. ]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Haruka's starting to get it, and is amused at the bias her own blinders show. Martyr complex much, self? Absurd.

So she dips her head in concession of the point. ] I won't argue with that.

[ She's playing hooky from rehearsal herself, after all. ]

1/2

[threemoms]

[ Hotaru's willing to leave it at that. She went back to what she was doing originally - checking out the lamps. There were a few that caught her eye, here. A purple desk lamp, intricate designs in black swirling over it. Another with varying shades of blue. They'd both do nicely, but there was no way Hotaru could.... ]

[threemoms]

[ ...Do you see this expression, Haruka? She learned it from watching how Michiru handled you. ]

Harukaaa.... since you're hanging out with me instead of being at your rehearsal, would you mind carrying some of these back with me? [ And by "with" she means that Haruka will be doing all of the carrying. ]

1/2 as well for a+ daughter

[actsmagnificent]

Eh?

[ At first she thought she hadn't heard you. Then she thought she hadn't heard you correctly. Did you just - seriously -

oh dear god, that's uncanny. ]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Exhaling, she laughs. It's a bit nervous, but she's trying to gain her confidence back as quickly as she can. And yet, a chill of foreboding shoots down her spine.... ] Blackmail's a nasty habit.

[ She had been right about this girl all along. Tomoe Hotaru is a dangerous individual.

Just not in the way she'd been thinking. ]

[threemoms]

[ Hotaru hadn't been sure that was going to work. Dealing with people wasn't her forte, but, besides a mother she couldn't remember and her father, she had already spent more time with Haruka and Michiru than anybody else in her life. So she had tried reading the mood, and imitated how she had seen Michiru act.

If it hadn't worked, she would have been mortified. But it had, and so she mentally patted herself on the back and gave a genuine smile. ]

So is skipping out on practice. [ The momentum was going now. ]

[actsmagnificent]

[ ......Furthermore, Tomoe Hotaru is a ruthless creature who must be placed under close surveillance. One's guard must be up at all times.

Oh, for crying out loud. Haruka is far too mature (or, if nothing else, far too bishounen) to roll her eyes, but she does narrow her gaze and chuckle before adopting a long-suffering expression and lifting up one of the lamps she thinks Hotaru's had her eye on. Let her guess. She has to pay for these, too. ] For the record, I know my lines.

[threemoms]

[ Hotaru doesn't reply to that. Instead, she picks up the other lamp she was eying. ] And this one, too!

[ But doesn't Hotaru look like she's having fun? Doesn't that make all of this worthwhile? ]

[actsmagnificent]

[ For you, maybe. Sure. Still, it's the first time the girl has acted anything close to her age, and even if that's not quite heartwarming it's....what? A good omen, perhaps.

Haruka doesn't even ask whether Hotaru was going to try and pay for these. She just pulls out her wallet, takes the lamps to the shopkeeper, and trades a bit of meaningless, if pleasant, smalltalk while making the purchases. There you go. The shopkeeper begins boxing them up so they won't get broken in transit, shooting glances at Haruka as if trying to figure out where he's seen that young man before.

Said young man, however, is addressing his companion. ] Was there anywhere else on your shopping list?

[ In for a penny, in for a pound. Whatever that saying means. ]

[threemoms]

Ah... [ Truthfully, there wasn't. And as fun as the past few minutes had been, she doesn't have anything else she needs to do. ] No. I was just browsing for lamps.

[ She glances at the boxes, then back to Haruka. ] And... thank you.

[actsmagnificent]

[ Haruka shrugs, careful that this doesn't upset her grip on the lamp boxes. ] Don't mention it.

[ Seriously, don't. But her shoulders relax. She appreciates the thought, all the same.

They're back out on the street before she finally asks the obvious question. ] So. Lamps, huh?

[threemoms]

...Is there something wrong with liking lamps?

[ Is it considered weird? ...It's considered weird, isn't it? ]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Haruka regularly says things like "I am the wind" and means it. You don't have to worry about weird. ]

Not really. It's just a first.

[ And somehow humanizing. She adjusts her grip on the packages. ] I've never been a collector, myself.

[ It's hard to collect things to ride when the things you ride are sentient. She's yet to find a Rhyhorn she likes more than World Shaking. ]

[threemoms]

[ Hmm. ] I remember having a lot of lamps, when I was younger. [ Back when she lived in Union City, before the lab accident that caused her father to take her and flee the city.

That was a long time ago, though. She couldn't remember much from back then. She had managed to get a hold of a few lamps in the lab, but that was different.

Not that she was going to divulge that much information. She was just trying to... converse. ]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Younger? Oh, so before the.....yeah. This isn't awkward. Haruka looks away. ] I see.

[ She doesn't look judgmental or harsh, though. Just thoughtful. And maybe even a little sad. ]