LET'S [test] DRIVING

[cava]

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN, YOU KNOW THE DRILL. Here's a few options, all stolen shamelessly from previous iterations.

> The Park. Man, what a nice day out. Why not enjoy it? I'm sure -- shit, yep, there's some echo monsters or whatever they're called.
> The Mall. Exactly what it says on the tin! Dodge the hordes of teenage mallrats or take part, whichever suits your tastes.
> Rainy Day. Agh, it's fucking awful out. And is it raining those vermilion things?? Now you've got an Echo to contend with on top of everything else. Find some shelter, quick!
> Arts and Crafts Fair. WILL THE KITSCH OVERWHELM YOU


or make up your own whatever this is basic and just for the purposes of getting a new test drive up.

Comments

:>

[worlddominationbaby]

[ WOOSH. With another curse, Madeline goes sailing right over him, shoulder crashing into the wall. Not a good judge of force-to-distance ratio, apparently.

Groaning, she turns around and wallows in her pain for a few seconds. Then, noticing the dude lying smugly on the floor, her face twists into confusion of the "what the hell" variety. ]

Are you praising yourself... down there?

[amajin]

Why not?

[He sits up.]

Someone needs to praise me for dodging a high kick from a maniac kid.

[He offers her his hand to shake]

Jin Aznable, certified engineering genius. You?

[worlddominationbaby]

[ And now he's introducing himself?

(What a weirdo...)

Wait--

Madeline stomps her foot on the floor. ]

I'm not a maniac kid! I'm Madeline Mayes, future scientific genius!

[ She puts a hand on her hip and looks at him accusingly. ]

What's an old fogey like you doing here anyway?

[amajin]

Guest lecture! I'm gonna talk about robotics in an engineering class.

[He hops up.]

If you're not a genius yet, you gotta lot of work to do, kiddo.

[He pokes her in the nose and then stands up straight, crossing his arms.]

What's your field of study?

[worlddominationbaby]

[ Thrown off by the nose poke, she scuttles back a few steps. Her surprise is quickly overridden by his question, though. TALK ABOUT HERSELF? GLADLY. ]

Science!

[ That... That's a little too broad, Madeline... ]

[amajin]

Oookay...

[He cocks an eyebrow]

Care to narrow that down a little?

[worlddominationbaby]

Genetics! Genetics is the key to power and I'm gonna own it.

[amajin]

Are you kidding? Genetics...

[He rolls his eyes]

It's a field with a lot of potential to help people and cure disease, but power? If you want power, become a robotics engineer! Why try to generate superpowers when you can create something from the ground up that'll give you exactly what you want without having to convince them or wait for them to get control of things?

[worlddominationbaby]

[ Her smile turns REALLY FUCKIN' SMUG. This man doesn't realize that there already are a bunch of super powers ripe for the picking.

Oh yes, Madeline Mayes has been lurking on the network for months. She's going to grab DNA samples of every person with a super power, isolate the genetic "thingy" (her words, not mine) responsible for them, and then...

world domination.

That's the plan, anyway. ]

Finding a cure is power. Think of all the lives saved-- saved by my smarts. My sphere of influence will become huge. Who cares about robots? Those are for dweebs.

[amajin]

[He presses his hand to his chest as if stricken.]

Dweebs....?

[He's probably lucky she didn't realize his last name is a giant robot anime reference, really. But still, it hurts. He regains his composure quickly.]

Robots can save lives too. That's what I do, I build medical robotics. Stuff as simple as a more sensitive reader for vital signs up to something as complicated as a robot that can perform surgery.

[He flips his fingers into his jacket pocket and comes out with a business card, which is ostentatious with gold filigree. He offers it to her]

You still wanna save lives when you get outta here, give me a call. Robots or no robots, I can maybe help you with an internship. I'll tell my boss you almost kicked me in the head and he'll put in a good word for you.