MAY - JUNE 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!

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OTHER USEFUL LINKS:
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Comments

[fingersandteeth]

Steven, [he says, as he rests his briefcase on a nearby bench and pops it open.

He hands the granola bar and bottled water to Hythlodaeus.]

[hythlodaeus]

[Both look hilariously tiny in his hands. He carefully opens the package and takes tiny bites to stretch it out.]

Well, it is very much a pleasure to meet you, Steven. You're very kind.

[His head snaps back up from his little snack.]

Oh, my apologies. Did you want some currency for this? I would not ordinarily be without my own supplies, but I seem to have been quite permanently stripped of my magic.

[fingersandteeth]

I try to be.

[He's not a good man, by any means... but he is frequently kind or at least nice. Part of it's habit, from when he used to try to be better than he was. And part of it is that it helps people from suspecting he's a criminal.

Anyway, he shakes his head.]

I'm fine. Everyone's been stripped of magic here and I've got a steady job and. Well. My fiance makes more than me anyway. So I can afford it.

[Technically they're not formally engaged, but that's only technicalities.]

[hythlodaeus]

My, how does anyone get anything done without it...

[Thank goodness he can afford to give granola bars to giants. This day's comin' up Hythlodaeus.]

I'm still trying to grasp this whole currency system. Not that it's especially complicated, but... What's a fellow to do if he's spent all of it? There must be an office to acquire more, but I haven't heard anyone talk about it.

[fingersandteeth]

... I'm not actually sure if there is a welfare program here, [Steven says thoughtfully.] Mostly because this region--the world in general--is a bit government-light.

It's easier to find work here than it is at home, though, Do you have anything you're particularly good at?

[hythlodaeus]

Shouldn't all governing bodies be concerned with welfare? [Don't mind mister casual communist.]

Oh there's plenty I'm good at. Before I was here I was the Chief of the Bureau of the Architect. [Which is a bit of a baffling thing for some robed weirdo to say. "Hey I'm the CEO of making stuff. Where do you find money? I only found so much of it on the ground before I was chased away by a security guard."]

I spent a few thousand years as a researcher at the Akademia, too. Part time animals, part time plants, and then some aetherology for a while...

[fingersandteeth]

You've never been to America, have you? [Said with the sort of wry bitterness one only gets from living there as a gay man of color, who'd only recently learned exactly what it's like to be flat broke in the good old USA.]

Ah. Well, you can try to give them your resume, like I did, but it's even odds as to how much they'll care. I was in broadcast media back home [before the whole kidnapped by fairies thing] and I tried to parlay that into work at the Radio Tower, but they had me at the receptions desk for three months before they let me into the newsroom. And it's going to be some time before they let me host--though they are going to let me do a prerecorded segment later this month, which is something.

Still-- if you did research, have you tried Silph Co? Their main offices are in Saffron, but you can ride the magnet train there--I can get you a round trip pass if you'd like--and see if they'll take you. There's a few affiliated labs here in Goldenrod too, so there's a chance you could stay here.

[hythlodaeus]

I am well traveled, but never have I come across a place with that name. Though I did pass through some places that used currency, but it was a much fairer system.

[ At least he knows how to write a resume. ]

Ah, I’ve heard of Silph Co! [It would be wild if he hadn’t.] Any length of time of waiting is fine. I was a receptionist at my bureau for several hundred years. I admit it was a little bit boring, but it gave me plenty of time to daydream.

I would prefer to stay here or to easily transport myself back to here. After all, my dearest friend lives here.

[fingersandteeth]

Well. I think the train station ought to still be open, if you want to head over so I can get you a round trip ticket to visit their offices--I'm sure they could find you something in Johto at least and then it's just a matter of getting your warps to fast travel back to Goldenrod.

Is your friend from your world, then?

[hythlodaeus]

He is! I hardly know anyone else so closely with how recently I've arrived.

[Even if he tried and failed to befriend the cashier at the shops while a line piled up behind him.]

If you would be so kind to bring me to the station, I would be most pleased! In exchange I can... Oh! [He looks at Tropius, smiling as he holds his hand out. Tropius lowers his head into his hand, and he plucks a banana from his chin.]

Here! He only grows so many in a year, apparently.

[fingersandteeth]

Thank you, [Steven says solemnly. He puts the banana in his briefcase, before closing it once more.]

Well. You know me now, at least. And if you start posting on the otherworld transplant channels of the Pokegear, you'll be able to meet more people that way.

[He'll just start to lead his extremely tall new friend in the direction of the train station.]

[hythlodaeus]

I shall be sure to heed your advice!

[He follows in companionable silence for a few minutes until his mind decides to dump his passing thoughts out of his mouth: ]

Say, did you make those clothes yourself? You little ones are so creative and flamboyant!

[fingersandteeth]

Ah. Not really. I mostly bought these--well. I might have borrowed the shirt from Jack's closet, but he doesn't mind when I do.

... my sister does make clothing, though. Did. She did make clothing.

[hythlodaeus]

[Borrowed from his closet, eh?]

Jack is a love of yours?

[He gazes down. Having... Both recently and not recently lost a great many people, he gets it without prodding unkindly.]

... My own... close friend has an eye for clothing as well.

[If he wants to talk about his sister he'll allow him at his own pace. He thinks that perhaps the confusion of tense meant that it was recent.]

[fingersandteeth]

[Steven's cheeks get warm at the description, which is stupid, because he and Jack said they loved each other six weeks ago.]

Yeah. Yeah, he is. We, ah, live together.

[He's going to marry him someday.]

[hythlodaeus]

Ah, how very nice! Love makes it all worth it, doesn't it? I don't know what I'd do without [He starts to say something and coughs to try to make interrupting himself more natural. He is not a master of deception. He clears his throat.]

Ah, apologies. [He takes a sip of water] Where was I?

Ah, yes. Solus. We always had our own residences, but it was simple enough to go between them.

[fingersandteeth]

[Steven stops in his tracks, looking up at his companion with an expression of dread.]

Not Solus zos Galvus?

[hythlodaeus]

[he stops a beat after and turns and looks down at him. Oh no, there was that familiar expression when he mentioned him.]

The one and the same... Are you quite alright?

[fingersandteeth]

I. That is to say. Your friend and I don't get along.

[hythlodaeus]

Oh, don't look so worried... You're hardly the first, nor will you be the last.

[He sighs. People didn't use to have so much trouble with him before.]

Ah, I have a good idea. I could mediate! Surely you could come to an understanding.

[fingersandteeth]

I... don't know if that would work, unless that understanding would be for him to leave myself and my friend Tyler alone. He's been stalking and harassing us, to put it bluntly.

[And then, awkwardly, he adds,]

I had to get physical with him during one of our encounters to make him leave.

[hythlodaeus]

Physical?

[Oh no, no. That will just simply not do! ...What's become of his friend. He knows, of course. But it's difficult.]

...I could speak with him. Surely he has better things to occupy his time with... [He folds his arms and seems uncomfortable with this development.]

I know it is much to ask... [Probably too much.] But if you could have some patience with him... His burdens have changed him somewhat.

[fingersandteeth]

He was blocking my only way forward, categorically refused to move, and I needed to get back to work.

And I— just want him to really leave us alone. That's all. If you're his friend, can't you make him do that much?

[hythlodaeus]

... I have little true control over him.

[Hythlodaeus puts the pieces together. He's no dummy, after all. He stands up a little straighter, a hand going to his mouth.]

You pushed him down the stairs! He said he simply fell!

[fingersandteeth]

[Steven looks away.] I was originally just going to shove past him, but he said something creepy about my friend, so.