JUNE - JULY TEST DRIVE MEME

[indigo_events]

➞ Post with a character you wish to test drive in this game's setting.
➞ Tag other people's starters and thread out shenanigans!
➞ Invite your friends! Try out new characters! Come play with us!
➞ Have fun!

NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN YOUR TEST-DRIVE JOURNEY?
CHECK OUT ALL THE LOCATIONS WE HAVE AVAILABLE IN:

JOHTO | KANTO | SEVII ISLANDS

Feel free to make various prompts in multiple locations!

✭ ✭ ✭


OTHER USEFUL LINKS:
NAVIGATION | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS

Comments

[neverstudied]

[Three rapid-fire messages follow, one after the other, and still with no elaboration of who's speaking.]

I DONT CARE WHAT TOPIC IT IS

YOURE IN VIOLET RIGHT

I'LL BE THERE SOON

[yousayyes]

Viridian.

You'd have to have actually read the initial post to know that, though... so I guess I can see why that bit slipped past you.

[...whoever this is.]

[neverstudied]

DONT GET SMART WITH ME IVE BEEN WAITING ALMSOT 8 MONTHS TO SEE YOU AGAIN FORGIVE ME FOR NOT HAVIGN READING COMPREHENSION WHILE HAVING A HEART ATTACK

christ wait thats a 6 hour train ride away why'd you have to go to kanto you dick

[yousayyes]

["See him again"? So, wait, is this somebody he's actually supposed to know?]

...I haven't even been here for ONE month, let alone eight.

[How could they be missing him for that long? ...why were they making sure to keep track of the exact number of months?]

[...]

Who is this?

[neverstudied]

i KNOW you havent been here thats the fucking problem

WAIT

shit

goddamnit

its peter

[The crushing realization that he's just been yelling at his poor long-suffering partner while completely anonymous.]

[yousayyes]

[It's good Venkman managed to tell him that now, because Winston was getting dangerously close to breaking out the user manual and figuring out how to block numbers on this thing.]

Ah.

That makes sense.

[...well, it really doesn't, not entirely. Winston could've sworn he was with everybody back at the firehouse not long before arriving here- Venkman included- so he doesn't understand why Peter would say it's been eight months since they've seen each other. Winston might chalk it up to him being overdramatic, but... then again, it's always possible that time just works differently here.]

[Given their circumstances, it can be hard to tell what bizarre statements are hyperbole or not. ...and communicating over text messages doesn't exactly help with clarity of tone.]

[...]

...has it really been eight months? [There's no judgement in his voice as he speaks, only concern.]

audio

[neverstudied]

[Venkman picks up the call within seconds. And any of Winston's doubts about how serious Venkman was are probably shattered the second he hears the harsh intake of breath on the other end.]

God- it's been so long since I've heard your voice.

[He laughs- shakily.]

Yeah, probably sounds stupid to you- apparently, whenever someone shows up in this dimension, no time passes back home. Me, Ray, 'nd Egon've been here since Christmas Eve in this place.

... I knew you'd get here eventually. But why'd you have to take so long? I was starting to think it'd be another 12 or so years.

[Teasing, obviously- it's not like Winston had any actual control over getting here. But no amount of teasing can cover up the fact that there's a very slight waver to his voice, and Winston can definitely tell that Venkman is feeling some kind of emotional over this. No matter how he tries to hide it.]

[yousayyes]

[Winston knows Peter well enough that he instantly feels a gaping hole form in the pit of his stomach hearing this much vulnerability coming out of him. It... comes as a real shock to find out he's been this worried in Winston's absence.]

[...and it's not just because of the difference in time between their perspectives. But he doesn't want to linger on that thought.]

Hey, it's not stupid. I mean, Fleischmann spent forty years in that cartoon world of his- and he didn't age a day. We know different dimensions have their own rules about how time works in them. ...I believe you about this.

...and you know me, I've learned to accept a lot more out-there stuff as true in the past. We've been through it together.

[...]

...I'm sorry. If I knew you were here- if I knew how long it's been for you here- I would've put everything off until we were caught back up again.

[neverstudied]

... Cartoon world's not a bad analogy. Full of colorful little animals. Can't die in this place. Everything operates on its own, weird little logic.

Not your fault, Win. Don't worry about it.

[His voice takes on a far more energetic quality- the heavy emotion is still there, but it's smothered in genuine excitement.]

Now we just gotta get a train ride over to you, and I'll fly or warp down to meet ya- Ray and Egon haven't been to Viridian before, so they'll have to be late. Which means I get you all to myself for a while...

[He couldn't even wait five minutes to say some dumb shit huh]

[yousayyes]

[The levity returning to Venkman's voice gives Winston some much needed relief from his worry- ...okay, he's still a little concerned as to how Venkman knows death isn't possible here, and what that implies about where this world's ghosts come from. But a discussion about that is more Egon and Ray's speed, anyway. And if Peter's right about them not coming over for a while...]

So, I'm all yours and you're taking the train to get to me? Man... my heart goes out to the conductors- you're wild enough about riding the rails as-is, I don't know if they'd be able to handle you when you've got a date waiting at the end of the tunnel.

[He teases out of love.]

[neverstudied]

Oh, shut up. [Good-naturedly.] I could always make you do what I had to do to meet up with Egon and Ray, and walk all the way to Saffron yourself. That'll take a few weeks, even if you get a Pokemon you can ride like I did.

[More seriously, if the train ride to Ray and Egon back in February is any indication, it's far more likely that Venkman will spend the whole ride harassing Winston with constant messages, not the people on the train.

Technology is amazing.]

[yousayyes]

Uh-huh- so I take it I wasn't the only one that took the ferry. [What was that about him being a dick for going to Kanto again, Venkman?]

...you know, I might already have something that'd work as a ride... well, maybe not yet- she'd need to evolve first, but... Hang on, I'll send you a picture.

[file uploaded: BrooklynSupreme_Route1_1.jpeg]

[If Venkman opens it, he'll see a photo of Winston kneeling down in front of a sign that reads "ROUTE 1", with one arm slung around his mudbray, and the other holding the Pokégear's camera out in front of them both. Winston's giving the camera a good smile, while his mudbray has its head down, much more interested in licking a patch of dirt on the ground.]

[neverstudied]

[There's no good way to answer that, so he just rolls his eyes and declines to answer. And the image attachment makes it even easier to ignore that question, because seeing Winston's face again makes Venkman's heart hurt in ways he didn't think were possible. There's another sharp little intake of breath as he takes the image in, and he barely notices the Mudbray at first.

It takes a few seconds for him to actually respond.]

... Huh. I think you're the only one of us that might wind up with a ride Pokemon that isn't completely weird. Egon's got an eight-foot-tall centipede, for Christ's sake.

[yousayyes]

That sounds about right. [He'd be hard pressed to name a more "Egon" thing to do than "willingly decide to sit on the back of a massive venomous bug". Although... according to Venkman, he wasn't alone when it came to having an unconventional means of travel.]

[He almost doesn't want to ask, but...]

...should I be worried about the ride you took to get to Saffron.

[neverstudied]

... Well, they're definitely not one of the weirdest Pokemon we've got- and compared to most of Egon's, they're pretty normal. But here-

[Winston gets an image attachment of his own- "motherfucker.png".

Most of the pictures of Venkman's Dodrio are blurry as hell, and this is no exception. One head is throw back with its beak wide open; one eyes the camera with clear disgust; the third just looks like its slightly uncomfortable with whatever's going on here.]

They're one of the ones that's tried to kill me the most, if you're wondering. Or three of the ones. Never quite figured out which of those is the more accurate way to describe it.

[yousayyes]

[Winston struggles for a bit trying to make out the image. ...but before he can even fully form an opinion about what he's seeing, he quickly shifts his focus from the picture to what Venkman says shortly after sending it.]

Peter-! [He blurts out in a fit of panic, before catching himself and trying to keep his voice down again... this is a library, after all.] Forget the terminology, what was that about them trying to kill you?

[Aw, would you look at that, he's worried.]

[neverstudied]

[Venkman laughs- a real one, this time, not one broken up with emotion.]

Hey, I told you, we can't die here. Figured that out mostly 'cause other people told me, but the fact that I've gotten tossed around like a ragdoll, burned, bitten, attacked by a swarm of origami aliens, had my life force taken by Egon's stupid mushroom and my own candle, smacked by a god's tail and thrown back onto a cruise ship...

Well, all of that adds up. Don't worry, I'm fine. The only thing that's really put me in a hospital for a bit is some bikers, and they've got free healthcare here. Amazing, huh?