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Test Drive Meme


Applications will open on July 25th at 00:00 GMT and close on July 31st at 23:59 GMT
The game will open on August 3rd.
— Reply with a character you wish to test in the Melodies of Life's setting.
— Feel free to use one of the prompt below or make one of your own!
— Tag around! This is a panfandom RP, so don't hesitate to tag both castmates and non-castmates.
— Most importantly, have fun!
1/ Welcome to the world of Crystallis! You have seen reality shatter and collapse around you, in the depths of the void you found a Crystal and now you are in the city of Aqures Ixen, surrounded by Moogles and people as lost and confused as you are. On the bright side, everyone thinks you're a hero! On the downside, they expect you to save the world. Maybe their expectations are a bit too much. Thankfully, you're not abandoned to your fate as a Moogle explains to you everything you need to know. Maybe it's time to get to know your companions in misfortune. 2/ Do you like your new life? No? Well, either way, you better get used to it, to your new powers, to your new house, to the ball of fur that follows your every steps—Who knows, maybe you'll even make some friends here. Besides, even if everyone expects you to save the world, fighting isn't the only way to do so. Maybe you could open a shop to help and properly equip your friends who are actually eager to fight. Maybe you could try and gather people who think diplomacy can stop war, you could even start your own researches on the Crystals— Or you could make sure your house is the prettiest in all of Aqures Ixen. Anything is possible. 3/ Ukulele de Chocobo Upon arrival, your Moogle gave you a map of Crystallis. This world may be a bit big for you to explore, so why not go to the Chocobo Farm and ask for a Chocobo? These big birds can't fly, but they're much more efficient than horses when it comes to travelling. Maybe it's your first time riding a Chocobo; it might be a good idea to have someone with you in case something goes wrong. Or maybe the old man at the farm didn't have any Chocobos left and gave you some Chocobo-Bait© so you can go and capture your own. 4/ A thing called Mognet Hopefully you weren't used to Internet and cellphones back home. Otherwise, you might be a tiny bit confused when your Moogle returns to you with a stack of letters. Or maybe someone else's Moogle is coming to you with a voice message it learnt by heart and is now going to recite to you with a lot of Kupo. That's how the "network" works here. 5/ I believe I can fly~ You are on an Airship! Airships regularly depart from Aqures Ixen and stop by most major cities in the world, so they're the perfect means of transportation for you to go and explore this world. You can go anywhere in a matter of hours — One can only hope you don’t have motion sickness. 6/ Exploration Enough expository banter. Now is the time to explore. Maybe rather than spending most of your time in Aqures Ixen, you'd rather spend it living in Balicea, or betting on Chocobo Races in Trano Golsaucia. Or maybe you'd rather go and explore some ancient ruins that may hold some precious information. With Airships and Chocobos at your disposal, you can go nearly anywhere that isn't under imperial control; unless you have a death wish of course. 7/ Random Encounter You were minding your own business walking around, and suddenly monsters attacked you! Time to put to use the skills you've learned with your Jobs! Alternatively, maybe this encounter isn't random at all, and you have been sent on a mission to kick some imperial asses in the war confronting the Heran Empire and the Republic of Esdham. Good luck! 8/ Getting Jobs is hard It all started when you asked Jessie to give you a new Job. What could and should have been a formality, quickly turned into a trial. All you wanted was a Job, and here you are in the wild, hunting for a Malboro Vine. Or maybe you are in some ancient and decrepit ruins looking for an artifact. Or yet again, maybe she simply asked you to assist her in her researches on the Crystals. Getting new Jobs is not easy. Consider yourself happy though, at least you don't have to do that alone. 9/ The world is subject to unrelenting pain and suffering… This is why you should play a game. After all, there are things a lot more important than saving the world: Blitzball is one of them. Triple Triad is another. Why don't you take a break and do something different for once; anyone wanting to play Blitzball is given a special potion allowing them to breath underwater, whereas someone who wants to play Triple Triad should have no difficulties finding veterans more than happy to get rid of their low level cards. 10/ Wild Card Don't like the options offered here? Go crazy and choose what you want to do in this world! |


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Oh wow! Dissidia!Tifa!
He was a delivery man, a man who faced the end of the world with his friends and came out a stronger person for it. He lived a new life with his childhood friend, Marlene and Denzel under their care as a happy and
almostnormal functioning family. But in the end, despite all those changes, there was something that would never change about Cloud. He was a fighter, with the heart of a SOLDIER.Cloud must have been seriously out of his element and wits because he hadn't even felt her presence nearing, or even her footsteps on the deck approaching him. When the kneading pressure between his shoulder blades seemed to grow more firm (but not painful), Cloud's back responded accordingly as he arched very slightly at first. Instead of saying anything though? His moogle seemed amused at the sight, not knowing who Tifa was and letting Cloud believe that his partner just upped his game. After all, how often was it that some pretty little thing came up and started rubbing your back?
Who knew that moogles could be such good wingmen? ...no pun intended.
"Ngh... Ah...yeah, that's better."
"S'what I do kupo."
"How'd you make your paws feel...like...?"
Hands?
Cloud didn't feel any impending danger as he did this, but he had no idea who he was going to see when he finally straightened up against the railing somewhat, his head turning over his shoulder to spot just who was behind him. At first his breath caught in the back of his throat for a second, blinking a good couple of times as if to try and dispel any illusions. But that was her alright. At least, she looked so much like her. Why else would anyone randomly just come up to a stranger and rub their back?
"Tifa..?"
"Oh hey! You know her kupo."
lol, yep! I don't bring her out often but it seemed like a good time
The second his head turned though her hands drew back, almost as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't and she probably had been. He didn't move, not really, but she still took a couple steps back, out of arm's range. It didn't stop her from tucking her hands behind her back and offering a tentative smile all the same. They didn't have to fight, not here. Maybe... maybe they could try something else. She'd hoped she'd have something to say by the time he caught her but all she could think of to offer with her questioning hopeful smile was:
"hi."
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"Hey." he didn't question the alternate take on what she once wore considering how much changed when they arrived in Crystallis. While he felt dizzy somewhat, focusing on Tifa was going to help at least a little bit.
"When did you get here?"
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"A couple of weeks," she had to stop herself from moving to join him at the railing, remind herself that out of arm's reach was still the sensible thing to be. It was too easy to treat him like a teammate - like a friend, and it was the same problem she'd felt the last time they'd talked too. "I was going by chocobo but - " a hand moved at her side, a kind of shrugging gesture that someone that knew her well would have understood meant she'd gotten lonely or felt lost or wanted her friends. "Well, the airship's faster, right?" Then her eyes changed and she edged forward despite herself, just a little, watching his eyes and giving away both that she remembered more than she knew... and that she'd been thinking more about him than her answer. Her offering was intentionally vague for him to fill in however he wanted.
"You - don't like airships?"
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He waited, listened to what she had to say before gently nodding in agreeance. "Mm. Can't beat the Highwind or Shera, that's for sure..." Speaking of airships... "Ulp--" Cloud gulped in some fresh air before putting his hands over his head, thinking it would help him. But it was Tifa's next question that got him to raise an eyebrow. He paused, long enough that it would have made anyone feel like they just said something completely off key. By the time he found his voice, Cloud had also taken a step towards her, but there was something else within those faintly glowing sapphire eyes of his. Was it concern?
"You don't remember, Tifa? I get motion sickness."
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Her own crystal was a distinct electric shade of blue -
"You do?" They were just words to fill the space after his question, a soft response to stave off the all too familiar sense of not knowing things she felt she should. Of course she didn't know. They'd only talked once, and not about motion sickness. Why would he even ask her a question like that? She couldn't imagine that it was useful information to know in a fight against him, that someone on her team might have learned and passed along. Slim fingers curved and tucked into red leather palms and she shook her head, a small move that still swept her hair against the backs of her knees. Inside her stomach, guilt coiled, for no reason she could think of. "I didn't know that. I'm sorry." The apology felt less specific than it should to her ears.
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"Tifa... What's the last thing that you remember before coming to Crystallis?"
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Her hand finds her elbow, a self-protective move, and she doesn't say it. Isn't about to tell him and the aversion of talking about it is stronger than it usually is. Dying and glowing and knowing that, this time, there would be no coming back for another round. Dying and feeling satisfaction for a job finished and friends saved - and the inner scream at knowing there were things, only half realized, left unfinished. Abandoned. Left behind. Her lips pressed together and there was almost another head shake but it tapered off into simply a move sideways of her chin.
"Fighting," the covering smile was route by this point and felt less fake every time she used it. "Manikins. We'd gone to close the rift. Yuna, Lightning, Kain, Laguna, Vaan and I." It was very important to her to say their names, to remember them. She'd forgotten so much. An entire life. She wouldn't forget them too. "We ran into some of Chaos' warriors on the way but - you weren't there."
It wasn't exactly a question, but it wasn't entirely not one either. She didn't know where he'd gone after she'd seen him last and - she hadn't wanted to fight him but...
something inside her had wanted to see him again. One more time at least before the end, before she lost everything. She still wasn't sure if she was glad she hadn't or not.
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Unfortunately for Tifa, he could only assume that she was from an alternate reality. Which...wasn't so far from the truth, but her memories were close enough. Absorbing this information in, the blond felt it best to just give it to her straight.
"I don't remember any of that. I've never fought in a war like that."
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"You don't - "
Remember. Any of it? Chaos and Cosmos and the war? The endless, forever cycle of war. Had he somehow been on the losing side since she'd seen him last? Lost all his memories, even of that, before he'd come here? In a land of emptiness, little things were doubly precious and the thought of losing what few memories any of them had managed to grasp -
He didn't remember the war. Inside her stuttered as the thought finally caught. He didn't remember. Didn't remember the constant fighting, the fight to stay positive when you knew it was just going to happen again, the sometimes fruitless feeling searching for a way to end it all for good, the empty, dead places outside and inside them all. It... she didn't know, suddenly, if it was a blessing or not, the possibility of it's potential surprising her. On the deck, her boots shifted again, just another sneaking fraction closer to him and it was a question and a statement, somewhere between the beginning of a mystified smile and puzzled curiosity.
"But... you remember me - "
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There were enough hardships that he and Tifa suffered back at home to have to endure this ruthless war. Unfortunately for Tifa, her view of him was rather one-sided considering her handicap of her memories being out of sorts. The only thing that CLoud could conclude was that she and him were from different dimensions entirely. But did he have the heart to tell her that? No... He couldn't think she was brainwashed either. That wasn't fair to her.
The acerbic swordsman didn't budge however, the motion sickness he was experiencing all but forgotten now that his mind was busy with trying to understand where the brawler was coming from.
"Mm." He nodded without a moment's hesitation. "Of course I remember you." If he was going to drop information on her, he may as well have just come out with it. "You've been my friend since we were kids." Distant friends once the truth about their relationship when they were younger was revealed...but that night under the stars at the well was as clear as the sky to him. That promise he made to her wasn't any less important.
"Do you remember our home? Nibelheim? Midgar?"
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And she hadn't entirely believed him then. Hearing his answer now wasn't a surprise and the chiding was on the tip of her tongue for that second. It didn't come though. Because he obviously didn't remember telling her that, or anything about that time at all apparently and the next second the rest of what he was telling her flooded through and it was enough to have every expression but silent shock washing out of her face. For that second, she froze. Then her heart turned over in her chest and her stomach lurched for a sick instant before the heavy thud of her blood went through her ears again and caught up to her. The edges of her skin felt numb, the ice of the upper wind across the deck suddenly irrelevant. Her throat hurt it felt so tight. She stepped forward and her hand moved, almost but not quite touching, catching and missing at black armor and scarlet fabric, like someone catching at a ghost. None of the names he said made sense but -
"You remember?" it was a whisper. "You remember where we're from? Your life before the war?"
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He couldn't turn her away or ignore her advances now, even if she looked like she was teetering between discovering what was real or not. He was so close now, and it was a relief to see her again. But...he didn't imagine that it would be anything like this. Granted he didn't imagine himself becoming a chosen Hero of Light. Granted that must have been why both he and Tifa were here. His breath hitched for a second as he struggled with what he could say or do at that point. Molg simply hovered over them, wondering just what would happen. How many more bombs could be dropped between the two of them?
Admittedly, Cloud was just as confused as Tifa was, though it sounded as if he had more stories to tell. Their own world was a more favorable one despite the despair they faced. At least it wasn't an all-out war. His armor left him feeling warm in this cool night air.
He couldn't just be a voice forever though. He had to be more then that right now if he was going to try and explain anything to her. And if it turned out their realities were different? So be it. Allies in this world were better than making enemies over lost memories. So without any further hesitation on Cloud's part, he made the move that Tifa wouldn't.
"If there even was a war." In that moment, Cloud's leather-clad hand closed over Tifa's where it failed to reach out to him, taking it in his before calmly sighing. It was him. He was real, even if he was a bit scattered from her own thoughts and time.
"Something tells me you don't." A joke? At this time?
Cloud is Cloud.
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Except he didn't remember. The tips of her fingers could feel the worn leather of his glove, feel the solid strength of his hand under it, the warmth that had soaked from his skin into the fabric. That was real. Somehow more real to her than anything else. The war. Here. His hand was solid. Her fingers curved to his in his grip and the look she gave him when she raised her eyes again was somewhere between puzzled and an old familiar affectionate humoring her head didn't entirely understand. 'You sure are messed up' hovered just on the edge of her mind but didn't form entirely. She hadn't thought he would tell jokes, somehow she wasn't surprised when he did.
"The war was real. Every time it came." She couldn't help it, searching his face and his eyes, comparing it against what little she'd been given the last time they'd been together that she remembered. "But we weren't from there, the place we all fought. We were all called from somewhere else. Somewhere elses. We just couldn't remember them." Holes. Great voids in all of them that they never talked about, rarely gave voice to because it was so horrible, so private, so intimate an invasion. Her fingers tightened on his. "But you remember now." Forget the wars and the costs and the lost companions but remember your past - and your future. Who'd balanced the scales that way and judged the weight fair? The trembling hope was back. "And - our worlds, yours and mine, they were the same?"
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Which was nothing. Cloud had no recollection of any of it, as if he was born into a proper life growing up in Nibelheim, turning to become a member of SOLDIER, his meeting with Zack, the struggles through Nibelheim, the search for Sephiroth and his real self... It was all so cinematic in his mind at this point that it was puzzling to think he'd forget about such a terrible war that Tifa was involved with. But maybe that meant something- either he hadn't experienced it yet or that by being back home they eventually succeeded.
"Yeah. About as close as I can think of...if you're the same Tifa I know."
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She inched just a little close to him at his confirmation, now well within his shadow, eyes on his face, watching intently, that flicker of hope warring in her eyes. Home. He knew what her home was, what it felt like, smelled like, tasted like. All this time, fighting the likes of Kefka and Cloud of Darkness and it never crossed her mind that the man in front of her would lie to her. It wasn't in her to not trust him. His stipend had her wavering, had the doubt flickering through her. Of course she was Tifa. How could there be more than one of her?
Except -
Except she'd fought manikins that looked like her friends. It - had passed through her, when she was all alone in the darkness, surrounded by emptiness and feeling it's echo inside her that - that maybe manikins believed they were real too. Maybe, if they lived long enough, they started to remember too... Except all she had left to cling to, with her memories gone, was the surety of who she knew she was. If she didn't have that - what did she have? So she pushed the thought back and out of mind again, buried it and pulled in a deep breath. He had - very blue eyes. They were reassuring.
"You knew me during war. I - didn't recognize you but I know you knew me even if you said you didn't. You saved me. So I must be close enough to the same Tifa to count for something." The nail of her thumb picked for a second at the worn leather of his glove. A nervous habit from long ago. "Tell me something about where we're from?"
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Cloud wasn't about to dismiss her however. What reason would he have to at this point? She needed him more than ever by this point, and perhaps talking about the Planet would help jog her memory in some parts.
"Where we're from?" That was a loaded question. Did he talk about Nibelheim? Did he discuss Midgar with her? Edge? Did she even know about Edge?
"Let's see..." Placing a hand on his hip in thought, he closed his eyes as he mused over where to start. "We grew up in Nibelheim. A little town in the mountains. There was a Mako Reactor higher up in the mountains too... To be honest we didn't talk much when we were little."
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Her eyes narrowed and she let his voice roll through her, listened and tried to catch after sparks that could have been broken memories. He said Nibelheim and there was a taste in the back of her mouth, something like ice, cold and burning at the same time but it wasn't until he said 'mako' that anything shivered through her and it was - anger. Or hate. Something dark that didn't make sense. Something tied up and rolled together, confusing and - guilt. She felt guilt. The fingers of her free hand curved inward. Mako... but she didn't even know what that was, couldn't picture it in her mind, couldn't begin to put a form on it to know why the thought of it did that to her.
It was something. It wasn't much but it was more than she'd had before. Some kind of emotional response to a past she couldn't remember and she wasn't sure she was happy that her first reaction was such a dark, confused one. She'd always just assumed whoever she was now was who she'd always been but, if all her memories were that strong and bitter - she latched on to the next thing anyway, like a metal spike beaten into an endless wall, determined to pull herself further out, further along now that there was something there, even if she wasn't sure what it was.
"Why didn't we talk much? Weren't we friends?"
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"I kept my distance because I thought I was better than the other kids you hung out with, to be honest..." It was kind of hard to explain to someone who knew nothing about what he was talking about, even after the two of them had pieced his memories back together properly. What was he supposed to say? How much could he tell her? At this point nothing was really sacred and he knew that she would have been upset with him if he stopped now. Dropping his gaze from her only briefly as he found the right words, Cloud continued. "When your Mom died, you thought you could meet her again in Mt. Nibel. I followed you when the bridge broke and we fell...but I got blamed for the idea. Your Dad didn't really take well to me after that." His tone wasn't somber, though failing to protect her that one time and nearly losing her in the process had helped to spark his inspiration to join SOLDIER. If he was a hero, maybe he could impress her and save her just in time.
"We were friends, we just weren't as close as some people would think at first."
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"I'm sorry," Sorry he'd been blamed for something that was her fault, sorry, for a reason she couldn't remember that she must have never said anything to fix that as a child. She didn't know if that meant much, now, without her memories to back that but - whether he'd kept his distance or not, he'd apparently followed her somewhere dangerous and taken the blame for it afterward. Her hand gave his a little squeeze, hoping she'd made it up to him, somehow, in whatever memories he had that she didn't share any more. Hoped it wasn't the first time she'd apologized for failing him as a child. "When did we become friends?"
Memories lost, she'd only had one thing to cling to in the world she'd known before this one, one thing that she'd found to draw strength from and that had made her whole and the fight worthwhile. It hadn't been some nebulous balance of Chaos verses Cosmos. It had been her teammates. Her friends. Instinctively she reached for the same thing here, the only anchor she knew of to give her purpose.
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The stars were out and...to be honest? They looked almost the same as they were on that night he made that promise to her.
"When we got closer...was probably that one night I called you out to the well in the middle of town. I didn't know if you were going to come or not, but...you did. That was the night I told you that I was going to leave and join SOLDIER- so that I could get stronger, like Sephiroth." After his last encounter with his nemesis, the name wasn't even spoken with any sense of spite in it anymore. If anything, the name brought about sadness and pity, emotions that followed his hatred of the man that he had finally put away within his memories; hopefully forever. Suddenly Cloud smiled as he remembered this next part, but he wasn't certain how much of it would mean anything to her either.
"Don't know if you'll remember this...but you made me keep a promise to you that night as well. If you were ever in trouble, that I would come and save you when I joined SOLDIER."
It sounded so childlike in hindsight, but that was the beauty of that promise in the end. Children were pure and honest.
"Like a knight in shining armor."
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Except something about Cloud's voice, the way he met her eyes and the look in that blue - it was enough to keep her attention, to keep her listening completely to what he was saying. A night... a well under the stars... For the first time, it was more than a tug, a hollow echo in an empty chamber inside her. A night under the stars... did you imagine the sky? no. You remembered it She shut her eyes because - she could almost see it, almost feel something rough under her legs, night air on her face, almost -
She felt his smile, missed seeing something that precious but she heard it in his voice all the same and her own lips curved in automatic answer but what he said - mentally she strained after it, like a song heard from a passing vehicle, a melody down an alleyway, something important and precious and played over and over inside her until it was a familiar groove down through the very core of her.
promise me! in a bind - comebacktome, don'tforgetme, rememberme. Save me.
"...like a hero, charging in to save the girl..."
Her eyes opened, startled, surprised. She'd never remembered anything. He'd said his name and it had been as close as she'd come before, whispers somewhere in the back of her mind - but. Stars. She remembered stars. And a longing so bad it had burned her. And - hope. Belief. Trust. There was nothing sharp about the memory, it wavered like a reflection in the water but - she recognized it. Knew it was hers.
"My hero will come and rescue me..." it came out of her in surprise. She'd forgotten. How had she forgotten that? A little wondering, she looked up at him, a tiny piece of herself back in place, like a fixed star. "You were my hero. All along, it was you, wasn't it?"
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"Yeah. Don't ask me how I pulled it off," he lightheartedly joked.
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"Hm." She agreed it with a nod, feeling lighter inside than she had in a long time. It was only one memory in a sea of darkness but - it was hers. She could follow it now. It made her want to dance. It made her want to hug herself and sit absolutely quiet to savor it. It made her want to share her happiness. "We're getting somewhere." She didn't even try to hold it back when she smiled up at him, quiet whisper of something almost laughing in her throat at his joke, lighthearted teasing back of her own but it didn't mean she didn't believe it as she agreed. "Looks like you're still saving me. Let's just keep doing that and I won't ask how, okay?"
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"Right."
But he knew that it wasn't over yet, a notion that almost seemed to go hand in hand with the faint nausea in the back of his mind that hadn't quite left yet. If he stayed out here for too long, even with Tifa providing a good distraction, it would catch up to him soon enough. Resting a hand on the brawler's shoulder as a sudden breeze nipped at the two, his cape blowing to the side as Molg finally perched down on his shoulder, the acerbic swordsman offered a change of scenery. "Wanna head back inside?" He didn't wanna say it so bluntly, but he didn't feel like getting sick in front of Tifa after all this time. Whether it was to her room or to his room, it didn't matter so much.
"We'll catch up some more or take it slow for now. Up to you."
(no subject)