nashira_ooc | Test Drive Meme

Entry tags:

!tdm

Test Drive Meme

Info: Setting ⭐︎ Key Locations ⭐︎ Full Navigation ⭐︎ Monster Info
Prompts: Awakening ⭐︎ By Daylight ⭐︎ By Starlight

WELCOME TO CHALRA CITY!
You live in a bustling modern metropolis situated on the coast of the Everwave Sea. Lively and ever-changing, it’s been riding the wave of the recent techno-economic boom, and business has never been better! The city has thawed into spring, bringing with it the balmy breezes and blooms of April, although the mornings are still chilly and damp. Students and their teachers around the city are settling into the new school year a little under a month before its start, and with the weather turning warmer, the city seems even livelier in anticipation of one of the hottest music tours of the year.

awakening
You lead a more or less ordinary life in the bustling Chalra City — this is the world you live in, and it’s the only world you know. And then one day you feel something stir in you — perhaps it comes to you in a dream, or you receive a vivid waking vision upon walking into someone else — and in the back of your mind, you hear a voice that sounds very much like your own, uttering a wish with its dying breath.

You awaken to your destiny as a Nova Knight, a reincarnation of an alien from a dead planet who once fought against the Abyss. With your new transformation charm in hand, it's time to go supernova and, with the help of your comrades, save the world.

by daylight
Now you lead two lives: your everyday life as one of the many citizens of Chalra City, and your life as a reincarnated magical crime fighter. Will you manage to balance the demands of your double lives, or will you buckle under the pressure? Will you trust your fellow Nova Knights, or will you keep your identity a secret? And when your back is against the wall, who will you call for help?

PLAYING PLOT-MANDATED HOOKY
Real life means real obligations, and you're at one right now — whether it's work, school, or a family gathering, you're expected to be there, and you can't just leave without raising a few eyebrows (or questions).

Unfortunately, the ship's computer Nautis has been blowing up your phone with texts, urging you to ditch your responsibilities so you can take care of an urgent threat: innocent cityfolk are mysteriously disappearing under a famously haunted overpass, and it’s most certainly the work of the enemy. The person next to you is also a fellow Nova Knight, and they're getting the same messages. The question is, do you know each other as Nova Knights, or only as colleagues or classmates? And either way, how are you both going to manage to sneak out and take care of business — without being seen transforming in broad daylight?

SUSPICIOUS SCALPER
The entertainment industry in Chalra City is booming, as evidenced by the fact that most of their performance venues are booked year round. And one of the hottest new artists on the Atlace scene has arrived at the Chalra City stop of their nationwide tour! Indie sensation the beautiful unit., comprised of Jana The (vocals and acoustic guitar), Eliza Beautiful (upright bass), and Blair Unit (shakers), has made its mark on Chalra City's pop culture scene before they've even arrived. The tour has attracted enough attention from smaller nearby cities that every light rail car is packed, making an already busy commute even more hectic for the locals, and many a local shop is cashing in on the craze by selling unlicensed the beautiful unit. merch. There's even a new ticket reseller downtown selling tickets to the sold-out show at astonishingly low prices. It seems too good to be true, but some fans' loyalty outweighs their common sense, and on the day of the show, the line goes out the door and halfway around the block. It probably wouldn't hurt to investigate… Wait, with all the tickets they're reselling, does the math even add up?

by starlight
A CAPTIVATING AUDIENCE
When night falls, the curtain rises on the beautiful unit.'s highly anticipated show in the Four Clover Stadium. After a seventeen minute silent intro, the crowd breaks into a roar when Jana The plucks the first note on her acoustic guitar. But as the show goes on, some fans seem to be a little too amped up. Any the beautiful unit. fan who bought tickets from the suspicious new reseller will begin to turn into a blacklit monster, the light sticks clutched in their hands now transformed into fearsome weapons. Before long, dozens of fans have transformed into monsters, and more are following with every beat. The band keeps on playing as the monsters advance towards the stage — it looks like they're trying to kidnap the beautiful unit.!

You can fight off the monsters' advance with your powers, but they outnumber you and they're closing in fast. These monsters are still people, though, and those people are the beautiful unit. fans through and through, so maybe if you can get the band to play a track off their unreleased new album, they'll turn back to normal.

THE DEATH JITTERBUG
The the beautiful unit. craze is inescapable. From banners to badges, you can't turn a corner in Chalra City without seeing their logo (the beautiful unit. in an Arial variant designed as part of an artistic collaboration with the band). You don't even need to go to a show to hear their music — the shopping center at the train station is blasting all their best singles, such as "It's Time To Talk (About You (And Me))" and "Let's! (Family Restaurant)", a jingle originally written for a diner in their hometown that stayed on the Top 40 charts for a record-breaking nine weeks. Their music is popular for a reason, though, and plenty of shoppers are dancing along to the beat. The only problem is…they don't seem to be able to stop!

If you investigate, you'll discover that the small crystals attached to the shopping center's speakers are draining the energy of anyone under the hipster dance curse. If you destroy the crystals, the shoppers should go back to normal, but you never know which one of them is an appropriately themed monster in disguise. If you're not careful, you might find yourself in for a serious dance off.

⭐︎ ⭐︎ ⭐︎
MONSTER INFO
Here's some convenient info about various monsters for use in TDM threads. For the purposes of the TDM, there aren't hard and fast rules about how they work, so have fun and go wild!

tbu. GROUPIES: Those desperate fans who bought suspiciously scalped tickets will turn into monstrous versions of themselves upon reaching a certain hype level: some of them grow in size; others grow claws, fangs, or hand-crocheted beanies; any fan merch on their person becomes a grotesque weapon. Somehow, they always look like they're under a blacklight, and if you listen closely, their seemingly meaningless grunts comprise an infinite chorus of I was into them before they got big. They're still fans at heart and will probably turn back to normal if you can get their favorite band to play an unreleased single!

THE SOFT SHOE STINGER: Anywhere people seem to be compelled to dance, there's a human-disguised monster in the crowd, poised to attack if any Nova Knights show up. Once unveiled, it's clear from those brightly-colored antennae and compound eyes that this guy is allied with the enemy, and his dance moves truly out of this world. You can defeat this monster by winning in a dance-off, but if enough of you just pummel him with your powers he'll leave. Either way, it's a win.

GROOVE GHOSTS: Any time people are possessed by the spirit of dance, whether at a concert or under the influence of a monster's spell, these guys might show up to jeer at your pitiful moves and heckle you about being off-beat. They can be dispelled by Silver-level powers, but if enough of them gather, it might take a bit more coordination to beat them all.

Note: While the TDM has some specific prompts, you are not limited to these options for threading! Please feel free to use any elements of the setting you see in the info pages.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Natalia you have NO idea. You don't need leverage on this guy. You don't need to make sure it's small. In time you will learn it is almost embarrassingly easy to get Kalim to do stuff for you.

For now, though –

"Awesome, thanks!"

When she turns round, he's like halfway stepping towards the back of a dumpster, but he pauses, like something has only just occurred to him – it would be really bad to transform in front of someone who knows him personally and might tell his parents, but transforming in front of a random stranger... is also no good!

"Oh, um," he rubs the back of his head sheepishly, "are you gonna...stay there...?"

"Don't mind me, I just wonder what all the secrecy's for. You're not meeting anyone, or you wouldn't have put me on lookout." She doesn't even hum, simply rattling things off. "There's been a lot of suspicious activity lately, surrounding the beautiful unit., and you appear to be neither their staff nor their agent."

She is-- kind of right, but in several other, more important ways, dead wrong. "Add in that petty crime is suspiciously low, and I really do have to wonder what you're doing, and if you're sabotaging a rock band for mercenary reasons. Which, not my monkeys, I just want to know what I'll have to tell the cops."

Edited 2025-04-07 05:52 (UTC)

He does tense nervously at that initial question, but... when she starts to extrapolate on her suspicions, he just looks confused.

"Huh...? Why would I want to do something to The Beautiful Unit?" You can hear him saying it wrong, even though that shouldn't technically be possible.

"You need the money." She looks him up and down, clearly unimpressed. "You're wearing designer clothing, but you're nervous around shopkeepers and hang out next to trash cans. You're perhaps not accustomed to living within the means which you suddenly find yourself.

"Again, not my circus, not my monkeys, but most of what I want is what I'm going to tell the cops later to get them off my ass."

"Uhhh..." Kalim blinks at her, bewildered. "Yeah, that's definitely not at all what's going on here, haha! I kind of can't tell you what is, though. Sorry!"

He clasps his hands together and gives Natalia a winning smile.

"You should really just go. I'm kind of in a hurry... Please?"

"... Are you in trouble, then?"

He considers this.

"Kiiiind of? Or, I guess, someone is!"

"Stars above." She rubs her eyes. "Fine. I will accompany you to the site and render what assistance I can. Move."

"Oh!" He waves his hands, refusing. "Oh, no – thank you, so much, but you can't come. I've got it handled, I promise!"

"... I don't believe you." She rolls up her sleeves and shoulders her satchel. "You have no rescue equipment, limited understanding of tactical considerations, and not even any plasters, never mind an actual first aid kit. I have several of these. I am coming with you."

She wasn't going to mention her tae kwon do or other talents.

"Uhhhh, I don't know how much help any of those things will be! Seriously, it'll be fine, I just need to go right now. Trust me, okay?"

There is a short pause, as she takes in the rest of the alley, and grasps the bottom of an external fire escape. "Fine." She hauls herself up by one arm, swings her legs quietly over on to the platform, and starts heading up towards the roofs.

She'd follow whatever came out of the alley that way.

Kalim thanks her eagerly – apparently he's taking her completely at her word, because as soon as she's out of sight he sags slightly in relief.

He shoots a quick message to Nautis apologising for the delay. Then he snaps his flip phone shut and holds it aloft to transform into Nova Sunbeam. I haven't decided what he says to do this yet! Watch this space! Anyway, when he exits the alley it's in full Nova Knight getup, white and gold and blue, with his Sun Prism Sceptre or whatever, and in far too much of a hurry to notice if anyone's watching.

And now? Now it's time to see what's going on. She travels closer to how the bird flies compared to Nova Sunbeam, though she has to take slight detours for infrastructure as she, too, rushes to the scene.

Despite herself, the wind running through her hair, the movement with genuine purpose, begins to shake off her fatigue. In the distance, storm clouds rise.

He really books it across town towards that haunted overpass, only ever pausing very briefly to wave at a couple of people who are excited to see a Nova Knight. He doesn't notice his pursuer; he has superpowers, so he's even less wary about his surroundings in this form than he would be normally.

The timing is off – and this place too out of the way – for whatever's down here to be a the beautiful unit. tie-in. It's more generic Abyss-stuff that's been mysteriously disappearing people out here, something menacing, hollow-feeling, and potentially seashell-themed. Kalim hesitates for a moment on the threshold of the overpass. He can see it lurking in there.

As she follows, she finds that she has a slightly tough time keeping up with the Knight-- partly because she's running on a purely human engine-- for now-- and partly because Nova Sunbeam is just plain faster in this form.

Still, slowly and by turns they come to the overpass. She spots the hesitance from here. ... "Idiot's going to get himself killed..."

She looks around, and spots a ladder down from the structure's roof, which she takes, but loses sight of Nova Sunbeam, or whatever his name is. How's she supposed to know? She can barely hear anything up here.

There's a moment, of apprehension. Of raw fear. An instinct, telling her to flee.

But she knows he has to be in there.

So. She walks in.

Kalim had been kind of hoping, when Nautis texted him that people had been going missing under an overpass that's rumoured to be haunted, that it would turn out to be the kind of overpass that's just a road on stilts. Now he's here, though, he has to admit that realistically speaking no one would be spreading rumours that a place like that was haunted. No, this is a full on bunnyman bridge situation – light at the other side of the pass, but so dark in between that it's really easy to imagine something could be hidden in the shadows somehow. Even if you can't see the monster.

Well. That's okay.

The second after Natalia steps into the shade of the overpass, that shade is gone. The sky in Chalra City is grey today, but the space under the haunted overpass is suddenly lit up like it's noon on a midsummer day, the hot sun beating down onto the asphalt so hard the air shimmers.

"Okay, monster, you know how this is going to go! Buuut if you don't want to get beat up, how about just letting all those missing people go and I'll let you off lightly...? Ah ha ha, yeah, I figured not. Alright! Let's heat it up! Mirage flare!"

Nova Sunbeam swings his raised prism staff and the shimmer intensifies, obscuring the shape of the monster lurking across the road from him.

It's then he notices there's someone behind him. He turns round with a start and locks eyes with... Okay, it does take a couple of seconds for him to realise this is the same girl he just spoke to before. It really doesn't make sense? For this to be the same girl he just spoke to before? How did she even get here???

"Wh-what are you doing here?! Did you follow me the whole way?? Ah, sheesh, that doesn't matter – you've gotta get out of here! My mirage is only gonna confuse this thing for so long!"

"Then I best get to work." She's confident. Effortless. She runs in and gets it a solid kick right in the midsection and--

Discovers that, in fact, she does not have this. That she swiftly ends up tossed, through a wild swing, into the crowd of mesmerized prey. It shall deal with her later, it seems.

She feels her heartbeat as it swings wildly at shadows of herself. And regardless of that touch of fear, regardless of that pain, she's picking herself up. She's realizing the state these people are in.

And the pain, and fear, are slowly replaced with determination. Whatever it takes...

Her voice echoes, past and present. I shall walk this burning path!

There is, suddenly, something in her fist. A tiny star, which shines.

Her unhesitating confidence takes Kalim by surprise; he doesn't react fast enough to get between her and the monster, only managing to rush in the moment after she's tossed away to swing the heavy end of his staff down on the monster's armoured carapace. In combination with his Mirage Flare, that sends it reeling for long enough for him to rush over to Natalia, but...

"Whoah, wait, what...?"

There is a moment where she says words, without thinking. "Shine, O holy beacon... Stars' Light!"

And then there is a flash, and--

While her outfit changes, the panoply of Temples' Knight does not. Her eyes are sea-green, matching the color of the gems inset into her pauldrons, and the star-shaped gem at her chest. A golden ribbon is in a neat little bow under each. Her skirt looks hewn from a thick block of jade, yet flows like cloth. Her solid combat boots might have fallen off a truck back home, save that they are as sea-green as the gems.

As the monster begins to recover, she looks to Nova Sunbeam. "What do I do?"

"Whoah!" he says, clearly impressed. "Great timing! Buuut... I can't tell you that! It's different for everyone." He tosses his staff from one hand to the other by way of demonstration, and grins at her. "You just gotta feel it!"

Very helpful, Kalim! With that he darts back in to give the monster another clobbering with his staff; the prism glows as he slams it into the creature, sending it sprawling against the tarmac, and he glances back at his new companion to see if she's figured anything out yet.

'Just feel it', huh? Neos's estimation of Sunbeam dropped from 'potential mentor' to 'natural talent who doesn't know how to teach'.

Well, then.

If one fall was enough to determine a fight, no one would ever get up, and she would have never been who she is. If one scratch was enough to ruin a temple, no one would build or maintain them.

So when the monster realizes there is a Nova Knight amongst its prey, and rushes forward...

Neos is ready to meet it with a cross-counter all assembled can hear. "You tread on sacred ground!"

Nova Sunbeam hurries to use the haze of his mirage to slow the monster down, throwing its perception off and giving his new teammate more time to react, to find her new abilities.

When she does, he's thrilled.

"Yessss!" he cheers, punching the air. "That was SO COOL!"

This to the follow-up that sent the monster sprawling to the mat, breaking the hold on its prey.

Still, the difference in power was... Incredible. She had to wonder what it was about the outfit that did it, exactly.

Though... Speaking of... "... what am I dressed in!?"

She definitely would not, normally, be caught dead in such a getup, but here she is. ... Though. Maybe it's not that bad... "-- Do not think I did not see you aiding me. Thank you."

Edited 2025-04-21 04:34 (UTC)

He gives her a big thumbs up. "Yeah, of course – we're teammates now, I gotta look out for you! You look awesome, by the way!"

Test Drive Meme

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