August Test Drive!

[rubycitymods]

Thinking of apping a character but not sure they'll fit in the city walls?

Have no fear, a meme for you is here.

Directions:

• Use an RNG to choose a location and prompt, or wait for someone else to tag.


• Post with your character with their name and canon on top!


• If you'd like, leave contact info for people to get in contact for plotting and other such shenans.


• Tag around! Make friends. Don't be afraid to chat OOC while tagging.

Locations

1.TRAIN STATION - The place where everyone gets dumped off at. Your first view of Ruby City, complete with informational posters telling you all about where you've ended up.
2. THE BEACH - Lovely year-round, though in the winter months, you're probably not likely to dip your toes in.
3. THE BLACK STALLION - A rather quaint bar. Supposedly, the burgers are great, but you don't see anyone immediately who's willing to serve you. Maybe you're meant to get it yourself.
4. THE OBELISK - The tall monolith in the center of the city marks the gathering place of many events, though right now it seems to be cold and dark.
5. THE CLOCKTOWER - Offering an impressive view of the city, several residents come here to clear their heads, if they don't mind braving the narrow staircase.
6. THE COFFEE JOINT - the front windows are warm and welcoming, and it seems there's always someone friendly enough to fix you a cup when you wander through.
7. THE CATACOMBS - Intrepid, aren't you? Those weird holes may beg exploring, but go too deep and you're going to be in a lot of trouble, considering the viciousness of the creatures held within.
8. THE CITY STREETS - All told, Ruby City is a lovely place, once you get past the fact that several of the buildings look derelict and on the verge of falling down. There's no harm in doing a little sightseeing.
9. THE PARK - You thought it'd be a lovely stroll, but the park is anything but friendly, if those approaching wolf-like creatures are any indication.
10. CHOOSE YOUR OWN - Don't like what we've come up with? Feel like picking your own place? There's a whole host of lovely locations to choose from in the City.


Scenarios


1. NEW ARRIVAL - Step off that train, walk down the street. People usually latch on to newcomers to try and help them out. Even if you look shy, the other residents probably won't be!
2. WATCH TALK - Feeling lost? Disoriented? Don't worry, everyone feels that way on their first day. Fortunately - if the signs at the station are to believed - the watch in your pocket can be used to talk to whoever else might be here.
3. BAD WEATHER - Aw, man. Whether it's snow, or rain, or just plain cold, today was definitely the wrong day to get dumped off in a City in the middle of nowhere.
4. A RUN-IN - Maybe you weren't watching. Maybe they weren't. Either way, you just bumped into someone. Perhaps apologies are in order?
5. HELP, IT HURTS - Clumsy, aren't you? Perhaps wherever the train brought you from wasn't so friendly, or you just tripped and twisted your ankle. Either way, you're in a bit of pain. Hopefully someone will notice your booboos and help patch you up.
6. HUNGRY - It isn't very obvious sometimes that restaurants are what they are, especially in a place like Ruby City. Where can a person go to get a bite to eat around here?
7. MISTAKEN IDENTITY - Hey, there's someone you know! --Or maybe not.
8. BEING FOLLOWED - Maybe you're just being paranoid, or maybe you've got a reason to be afraid. Whatever it is, it feels like there's eyes on you...
9. CURRENT EVENTS - None at the moment, but feel free to look through our event tag!
10. CHOOSE YOUR OWN - Don't like any of these ideas? Feel free to come up with your own!

Comments

[lapidarius]

...That implies you think there's something I should know, doesn't it? What aren't you telling me?

[Spoken, of course, with an undercurrent of 'if you're dead too you will be choking on emeralds in .02 seconds.']

[starmark]

...Polnareff's alive.

[BECAUSE THAT WAS CLEARLY WHAT HE MEANT. CLEARLY.]

[lapidarius]

While that's good to know, what else aren't you telling me?

[starmark]

...I'm not reciting everything that happened. The point is it's over. There's no way he's coming back.

[Coincidentally, though, his hat was looking slightly more ragged than usual, like it'd taken a beating in battle.

...And possibly stopped a knife while it was at it.]

[lapidarius]

...So look me in the eye and tell me you're alright.

[It was a peculiar talent of Kakyoin's to switch from 'stammering concern' to 'team mom voice' in a matter of seconds.]

[starmark]

We're in the middle of a street. You're really going to do this right now?

[Deflect enough and you will never actually have to give an answer "yes" or "no" either way.]

[lapidarius]

Oh, I am absolutely doing this right now, and don't dodge the question.

[This is what happens when the responsible teammate knows you too well, Jotaro.]

[starmark]

Fine. I'm all right.

[He said, leveling his vaguely irritated gaze at Kakyoin — and to his credit, he wasn't looking away, but that didn't mean he wasn't just doing it out of sheer stubborn will, either.]

I don't have any right to say something like that in front of you, but if that's what you want, then fine.

[lapidarius]

What--what's that supposed to mean? I've been worried out of my damned mind about you since I got here, and I get 'I don't have any right to say that'?! Why, is that just because you think I have it worse or something?

[He couldn't really call that wrong, but something about the concept still managed to get Kakyoin incredibly pissed off.]

I made my choice, and I don't regret it just because things didn't go as planned. I sure as hell didn't fight him just so you could say something ridiculous like that.

[starmark]

...You don't want to ask it any more than I want to tell it. Isn't that right? You've said everything else — "is it over", "are you all right", "what aren't you telling me", but you already know what I'm not telling you is what you don't want to ask, don't you?

[He drew in a slow breath, letting it out again with a hiss.]

You know the secret of The World, and you still won't ask how I beat something like that. And that's what I'm not telling you. So leave it alone.

[lapidarius]

I'm sorry, I was more worried about you than thinking about how the hell you managed that.

[Which, as sarcastic as it came out...actually raised a valid point. He'd never once doubted that Jotaro would do anything but win, and yet...he'd never questioned how.]

[A little more calmly, he continued with:]

Tell me what happened, Jojo. Don't start hiding things from me now, not after all this.

[starmark]

I said no. Now stop pushing it.

[He took another of those long breaths, slower this time, as he jammed his hands deeper into his pockets.]

At least let me get used to the idea that you're even alive first.

[lapidarius]

... [Kakyoin crossed his arms again, making an effort not to push the matter like he wanted to. This wasn't the situation for it, Jotaro was right.]

[But what else was really left to say?]

[starmark]

[It was better this way. They'd have to have that conversation sooner or later; there was no getting around it. But they didn't have to have it now, not like this.

...Funny how just minutes ago he'd thought that getting it all out in the open was what was best, but then when the prospect of actually talking about it arose, it had proved vastly harder than he'd expected.

But this wasn't the time. Not if Kakyoin was going to demand answers to things like "are you all right" and expect honesty out of him, not when he knew full well that he wasn't all right but had absolutely no grounds to complain about it while looking into the eyes of someone who'd died to give him the chance he'd needed to bring an end to everything they'd fought for back home.

To say nothing of the fact that he'd barely even come to terms with Star Platinum's hidden power, much less being able to admit it to the person whose death had been sealed by that same exact power.

No. They'd have that conversation, but not now. Not...not like this.]

...How long have you been here? You said you came in on a train. What do we know about all this?

[lapidarius]

This place is--it's weird. basically, it's a world in itself--there are people here from so many different parallel universes and points in time, it's actually kind of fascinating. For now, there's no readily available way back, which is kind of obvious at this point. As for how long I've been here, let me think...

[He stopped abruptly after doing some quick math in his head; today was the second, and he'd arrived on the fourteenth of June by this city's perception of time.]

[That meant it was...]

-forty-nine. [He pressed a hand to his head--god, had it really been a day short of the entire trip to Cairo? Why did this feel almost longer than even that? Was it because of how desperate he'd been to find a way back, or because of how isolated he'd felt as the only Stand user in the city?]

[Did someone just up and decide fifty days was the equivalent of an eternity now?]

It's been forty-nine days since I got here.

[starmark]

...Forty-nine.

[From the looks of things, the significance wasn't lost on Jotaro, either; it proved to be enough to make him avert his eyes a few seconds before dragging his gaze back again.]

I guess that leaves me to start from "one".

[lapidarius]

[Kakyoin laughed before he could think to stop himself. It came out as a sharp, humorless sound that was cut off as soon as the student realized how unbalanced it made him seem.]

[Was he? Kakyoin wasn't even sure himself. He wanted to think he'd managed to get a better hold on the entire situation in the past week or two, but...he was still a scared teenager that wouldn't dare even admit to being afraid.]

Y--you're right. We can start over and...figure this whole disaster out.

[He couldn't let himself snap, no matter how much pressure he was under. Even if he could never go back home (and it was determination or denial that led him to be adamant that he could), there was no way he could just give in to his own fear and give up.]

...It's good to see you again.

[starmark]

...I guess I'm going to be relying on you to help me get the lay of the land, as usual.

[Isn't that right, Tourguide-kun.]

How are your eyes...? They haven't started hurting you again here?

[lapidarius]

Yeah--I can do that.

[He seemed to get a handle on his own uncertainty quickly, managing to recover and sound a little more normal.]

My eyes are fine. They haven't hurt at all since I got here.

[Everything else was another story, but 'everything else' wasn't what he was asked about yet.]

[starmark]

[...No relying on the Speedwagon Foundation here; what a sobering thought. It was sort of strange, how he'd barely even registered the organization's existence more than fifty days ago, and yet in the preceding seven weeks he'd come to take the foundation's presence as a given and a reliable constant.

There was no way their reach extended to a place like this. That wasn't very comforting.]

Good. And you're okay besides that?

[...If Kakyoin decided to dodge that one, he couldn't really blame him; he'd done as much himself, but it was worth putting out there.]

[lapidarius]

...Yeah. I'm okay.

[It wasn't dodging the question as far as Kakyoin was concerned--he really didn't have it in him to do that right now. He'd answered honestly: it wasn't a fatal injury anymore, and the occasional pain hadn't yet gotten worse than an inconvenience. 'Okay' was a good enough summary.]

[Even if he couldn't look Jotaro in the eye when he said it.]

I'll be fine.

[starmark]

...I'll be here now.

[Apparently. He still hadn't really made sense of it yet, having no real opportunity to just sit and absorb it all, but that seemed to be the natural conclusion and forty-nine days alone had probably been brutal on Kakyoin in ways he couldn't possibly yet comprehend.

...Maybe that was something. If they had to be stuck like this, so much the better that they at least be stuck together.

...

Kakyoin was alive here. It still didn't seem real.

Apparently it was.]

I guess there must be a hotel or something?

[lapidarius]

Kind of--I mean, this place isn't exactly strict about where anyone ends up living. I'm pretty sure the general idea is as long as nobody's already there, it's more or less fair game.

[well about that whole 'alone' thing...]

I've been living at a school for combat training, with a few other people. They aren't Stand users like us, but...they can definitely be trusted, at least.

[starmark]

[...what the fuck you tragic-backstoried loser don't just go making a bunch of friends behind his back when he leaves you alone for five minutes or fifty days whatever]

...You're sure? Who are they?

[lapidarius]

[THEY WERE AGGRESSIVELY FRIENDLY AND THEY CAN SEE HIEROPHANT HE HAD NO CHANCE.]

I wouldn't say that if I wasn't sure--you're going to need to trust me on this, Jotaro. I know I've made...mistakes, as far as befriending people goes, but this is different. We're going to have to rely on some of the others stuck in this city as well as each other.

Their names are Diarmuid, Ishimaru, and Afonso--I'll have to introduce you later. They've been exceptionally kind in the time that I've been here, so try not to be too suspicious of them.