SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER TEST DRIVE MEME

[indigo_league]

➞ 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:
NAVIGATION | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS

Comments

[cardinaldirections]

Y-yeah, well-!

[He snapped, paused, then sighed and grumbled.]

I don't know all this stuff, okay?? I never had to learn before.

[soupguy]

[Boober isn't fazed by the snippy response, he just shakes his head.]

And that's fine, you have to start somewhere if you want to learn about it. But to learn, you'll have to listen, okay? Instead of getting defensive.

[cardinaldirections]

[The blush again. And do his ears droop a bit?]

...Sorry. I- No. Nevermind.

[A clearing, huff of a breath, and a nod.]

Alright. What do I need to do?

[soupguy]

[Boober hadn't really been expecting the other teen to cooperate. He smiles, pleased that someone wants to learn.]

The good news is that you can cook spring onions like that in a pan, but if I had to guess, I'd say you didn't use any cooking oil, so they burned. That or the fire was going too hot.

[cardinaldirections]

No, I had oil. I discovered pretty quickly stuff sticks without it. Must've been the fire...

How do I even control that, though?

[Meanwhile behind him, Shellos had finished their job, and was watching with amusement as Skorupi was busy scraping the charcoal out. They paused, then drew a line on Shellos' nose- and received a spurt of water to the face for their efforts.]

[soupguy]

Oh, good! In that case, your best bet will probably be not putting the pan too close to the flames. There can be space and things will still cook from the heat.

Or, if you have any Pokemon with fire-type moves, they're sometimes good at keeping those flames not too hot if you explain what you're trying to do.

[cardinaldirections]

[Right. Fire indeed hot. Hunter nodded, taking this advice to heart.]

Thanks. I'll see about moving the pan next time- [He glanced behind him, watching his Pokemon for a moment, and the pan between them.] -probably once I get a new pan in the first place.

[soupguy]

You're welcome. I'm glad I could help.

Oh, and see if you can find a non-stick pan. You'll still want to use oil, and they're harder to clean... But you can use them for most kinds of cooking, and they won't get damaged by heat as easily as other pans.

[cardinaldirections]

They make non-stick pans??

[He put a hand to his head, breathing out a little.]

Wow. I feel like I don't know anything...

[soupguy]

Yeah... I know what you mean. This place is so different from my home that even things I'm good at, I've needed to learn a lot more about.

[cardinaldirections]

You too, huh?

[Casually breaking apart the shoving match (well, poke-and-glop match) between his Pokemon, Hunter sighed.]

I'd already gone to one totally different realm, and I was just getting my bearings there before I wound up here. Now I'm having to get used to all of this, too. On top of trying to figure out getting to go where I want and all that junk in the first place.

It's just been a lot to take in.

[soupguy]

That sounds pretty awful. It's hard enough getting used to being here without being in the middle of figuring out a new place already, beforehand.

Beause, I mean... Even though this can be a nice place, and I've made some good friends, it's hard being here. [He scoffs.] And I don't think I'll ever get used to being a human.

[cardinaldirections]

Yeah, it is hard being here.

[Then he blinked and looked up.]

You're not human? I mean- where you come from.

[soupguy]

No, I'm a Fraggle. I'm supposed to be a lot smaller, and have fur and a tail.

[cardinaldirections]

A Fraggle? Never heard of those. But you sound like you'd fit right in on the Boiling Isles, where I'm from. All kinds of creatures and demons there. And no humans. ...Well. [Pale already, he somehow got a bit paler.] More or less.

[soupguy]

[Boober is confused before the clarification and, especially, the reaction that comes with it. This guy sure looks human to him, because Boober has no reason to assume just having pointed ears would be a dealbreaker on that front. Everything else about him looks like all the other humans here, more or less. But the way Hunter seems upset by there being mostly no humans where he's from...]

Oh... Were you the only human there? [Boober knows the feeling that comes with thinking you're the only different one around, so this assumption deeply resonates with him.] Because that's hard, too. Being the strange one.

[cardinaldirections]

It's... a really long story. Suffice to say I have no idea what I am.

[There's a deep sincerity to the Fraggle's tone that hits him a bit deeper than the words by themselves did, though. It's enough to have empathy easily show in his face and his own tone as he spoke.]

Being the weird one out is pretty hard, isn't it...? Worst part is, you don't even really have anyone to talk to about it. Oh sure, maybe your friends show sympathy, but they can't understand it on the same level. So you just stand out even more for it.

[soupguy]

Mm-hmm. As much as they love you and tell you it's okay, you're still not like them. So even if being different isn't bad, maybe even good, you just... Feel out of place.

[He ducks his head down as he shrugs.]

I was lucky, and met someone else like me. She helped me, but it's still not easy. Especially here, because no one knows what a Fraggle is to begin with, and it's just me. My friends aren't around.

[cardinaldirections]

That's lucky. That you met someone else like you. There's... no one like me, which is- [He sighed, flinching a bit] -part of the problem.

But I can't imagine how isolating it is to not have your friends around, when you're used to them being there. [Taking a stab in the dark there; most people seem to spend their free time with their friends.] Even on top of the other stuff.

[soupguy]

I feel homesick a lot. I've made friends here, and they really are good ones, and that is nice. Sometimes we'll talk about our friends form our homes together for hours. [The faintest smile forms on his face.] That helps, but at the end of the day it doesn't bring them here.

[He sighs, smile fading away.]

Anyway, I'm sorry you don't have anyone like you. I really am. I used to think that was true for me too... I hated the feeling, it made-- [He cuts himself off and winces.] Sorry, I guess that's not helpful. Hearing that it's bad; you know it's bad.

I'm not very good at seeing the bright side of things.

[cardinaldirections]

[He's on the cusp of saying that it's probably for the best no one's like him, but catches himself before he really can say it, "hearing" what that would sound like to someone who doesn't have the full context. So instead, he just flashes a weak, helpless smile.]

Yeah. Neither am I. Guess we've got that in common too, huh?

My name's Hunter, by the way. And uh. [What would Luz say in this situation?] You can talk to me whenever you want, if, y'know, if you want.

[soupguy]

[Boober pauses. He's already met a few people here who don't mind, even understand, his negativity... But it's still unexpected every time, coming from a community of happy-go-lucky, playful creatures.]

I guess we do, yeah. [He smiles again, still nothing big but not a sad one this time.] My name's Boober, and thanks. I'd like to talk to you some more. You can talk to me, too.

[cardinaldirections]

[He seems almost surprised at the return offer. Maybe not as much as he might've been in the past but still, it was there.]

...Thanks, I'll do my best to remember that.

[A brief twiddling of his thumbs as he searches for continuing conversation.]

So. Where did you learn about cooking?

[soupguy]

Oh, well, I've learned from a lot of people. Sometimes they'd teach me things, but a lot of it was just me watching what they did and seeing what went right... [A soft chuckle.] And what didn't. Then I started reading any cookbooks I could find, and eventually I started trying things myself.

[cardinaldirections]

Ohh, that's pretty cool. [Right? It sounds cool anyway.] You sound like you know a lot about it. More than me, anyway.

[A small, only slightly forced laugh.]

Not that that's... exactly hard right now.

[Then he cleared his throat and lapsed into a bit of a bashful silence.]