TEST DRIVE 02

[pluviosamods]

TEST DRIVE

Hello, and welcome to the second Pluviosa Test Drive!

This Test Drive corresponds to Days 4-12 in the ship calendar, and will run until around the game's next major event. You can get a better idea what's going on in the most recent Game Update which covers Days 5-8. Currently, character IC housing is not in operation yet; it is expected to open on Day 9 (part of the way through the Test Drive period). Otherwise, the ship is largely in the state described on the Setting page and in other game information.

Test Drive threads involving characters who are accepted are considered canon to the events of the game unless otherwise agreed by players/mods. Pluviosa does not do welcome mingle logs nor does it have any kind of in-character welcome information, making your test drive threads your character's arrival to the game setting. That said, mod-run interactions such as formal exploration and/or interactions with the Ship as an NPC are not available on the Test Drive.

It is advised that potential players familiarize themselves with the Premise page, the Rules/Session Zero page, and at least the first few paragraphs of the Setting page. As Pluviosa is a horror game, we especially encourage players to be aware of the content warnings that will be major themes of the game. If you have any further questions, you can ask them on the QUESTIONS header in the comments!

If you're test driving a character, you're welcome to join the game Discord and hang out and meet your fellow players!

ARRIVAL - LIKE THE RAIN

You wake up. You remember waking up, right? In another place, another time...

There's blood running down your fingers. Outside, the rain isn't pounding, yet, just a gentle patter...

Or is it?

As characters gain fuller awareness of their surroundings, they will realize that there is, in fact, no blood on their hands (save any that might have already been there). It feels as though they lost focus for a moment and hallucinated, but the hallucination ended with them somewhere else entirely.

There is not actually the sound of rain. If characters are near enough to a window, balcony, or even a hole in the ceiling, they will find that it is cloudless, beaming sunlight outside. The emptiness in the distance rolls on and on, completely absent any signs of life.

That being, of course, because the signs of life are all in here. Characters might wake up on any of the decks on the upper side of the ship - anywhere that isn't the cafeteria or lounge where previous arrivals spend most of their time is free game. This also means, of course, that they have the jungle of plants to contend with...

LIGHTS ON, SHOW START

Most areas in the ship are dark when characters arrive. That doesn't mean that they stay dark. Occasionally, lights overhead flicker on and off for a few minutes at a time.

The problem with this isn't the lights themselves (cool white and kind of industrial). It's the reaction that the addition of the extra light causes the plants in the dark areas of the ship that's cause for alarm. To describe the growth as explosive isn't an understatement - vines, saplings, and even thicker branches surge with growth, pushing outwards towards the distant sunlight and upwards towards the flickering bulbs.

The growth is sudden enough to take all but the most aware characters by surprise, and if they're in the wrong corner of the room, it's very easy to get tangled up, wedged in by a tree trunk, or otherwise trapped against some corner or wall. If you're lucky and skilled, you might be able to cut yourself out from there (or break down the wall you're shoved up against), but otherwise, there's only one solution left.

Yell like your life depends on it, and hope somebody out there can hear you. And that whoever hears is someone who is inclined to help, rather than leaving you there. Or worse.

Oh, and the lights flicker back off after a few minutes, of course. Hopefully you're not waiting for rescue in the dark (with the smell of mold and the general faint dampness of the forest) for too long.

TILT-A-WORLD

Occasionally, the whole ship tilts.

This is not simply the side to side motion of a ship on the water (or the equivalent motion brought on by the way this particular ship moves); it's an extremely forward or backward tilt that sends things sliding across the floor if they aren't secured by roots or something else. Unlike storm-tossed ships, the tilt is somewhat prolonged - rather than everything sliding back and forth a couple times a minute, the tilt lasts for five, ten, maybe as much as twenty minutes.

Although it's not enough to knock a well-balanced character off their feet, it's quite likely that new arrivals will not be particularly on-balance. And attempting to traverse the ship with the tilt is a tall order... especially when the ship's angle does unexpectedly change... to the exact opposite direction. All that goes up the mountain must go back down, and a glance out the windows reveals that that's exactly what's going on, as the ship progresses across a mountainous landscape without real regard for the concept of mountain passes.

And for characters who have managed to make their way to the "civilized" parts of the ship, namely the cafeteria and the lounge above it... None of the furniture in these areas is secured. The cafeteria carts under the direct control of the Ship don't seem as inclined to go anywhere, but the tables and chairs in the cafeteria and the couches and armchairs upstairs... Well, it's a good thing both spaces are surrounded by railings. Large chunks of tree trunk also still littler the lounge, sliding back and forth and occasionally rolling with great force across the floor.

Better hold on tight.

SOMETHING WHISTLING

While wandering around the ship's interior, characters might occasionally hear a person whistling.

The sound always seems to be coming from just around the corner, but it sounds alive in a way that other sounds don't. Maybe more alive, even, than the rustle of leaves, the occasional drip of water, and the sounds of things sliding back and forth across the grimy, leaf-covered floors. The whistler, whoever they are, doesn't actively respond if called out to - but the whistling does pause, as though indicating that the call was heard, before starting up again.

If characters choose to follow the whistling, they're inevitably led to the same place - somewhere overlooking the great gap down the middle of the ship, whether an internal suite's balcony, one of the bridges crossing between the two halves, or one of the hallways that runs alongside it. Once they're there, there's no whistler in sight; however, characters will be filled with the overwhelming urge to look over the edge of the railing and down into the lower parts of the ship.

Exactly what they experience after looking down varies. Some will hallucinate that they've fallen over the side, feeling their balance go haywire and seeing the floor rushing up to them right up until the moment of "impact," at which everything returns to normal. Some will feel a stranger's hands on their shoulders, threatening to push them over with a great shove that goes through them with incorporeal fingers. Some will just hear unidentifiable laughter right up close to their ears, and experience the distinct sensation that there's someone laughing at them, in a haha-made-you-look kind of way.

But whatever happens, when they look up, there's no one there - or at least not anyone that physically close to them. The one good thing about being drawn to the middle section of the ship by whatever prankster this is is that it makes it a lot easier to run into people if you're all drawn to the same, highly visible place.

And at least the other person is flesh and blood, right? Probably.

Comments

Hatsune Miku (Nightcord at 25:00 Variant) | Project SEKAI

[composingthefuture]

i. a real girl (arrival)

Miku startles, staring down at the hands that have no blood on them--hands that of course don't have blood on them, should never have blood on them, because no one should bleed inside a SEKAI. It's a blanket impossibility; a SEKAI is a safe place, where the only wounds that can bleed are the kind that heal over to emotional scars that will hopefully, eventually, fade.

And wherever this is, it has to be a SEKAI--because Miku is a real, physical presence within it, and there's only one kind of space where that's possible (the memory of seeing her first snowfall, even as a hologram who could neither feel the cold of the snowflake nor the warmth of Mafuyu's hands, is both precious and haunting. She knows all too well the limitations of her existence outside of the SEKAI that had birthed her).

So. Where is she?

She doesn't recognise her surroundings; this isn't her Empty SEKAI. Nor is it a SEKAI she's familiar with--not the School, not the Street, not the Stage, and not Wonderland. It's not even that unique aberration of a SEKAI that had popped into existence without a Song that called out to them--the Miku of that SEKAI hadn't even been called Miku, but Margarita. Miku wonders if this place is something similar to that, somehow...because it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel safe, in the way a SEKAI is supposed to.

(She thinks about Mafuyu, and waking up to existing--waking up to a realm devoid of anything but a girl certain that she wanted to die. Maybe...whoever this SEKAI was made for...maybe they're like Mafuyu. Too hurt and too trapped to see a way out, with what is meant to heal them reflecting that?)

It's not completely dark, she notes--there's just enough dim light to see by. She's indoors, though that isn't immediately clear at first, given how overgrown her surroundings are. The rotting leaves beneath her bare foot feel like an omen; she briefly wishes she had more than one sock.

Humming to herself, she sets out to see if she can't find the Heart of this SEKAI.

ii. cat's cradle (lights on, show start)

"Ah," Miku says, when the lights overhead flicker back to life, blinding and brilliant after the constant dimness--when the plants around her surge back to life with it, winding around her like she isn't there at all. A vine around her middle lifts her feet off the ground--sharp tugging at her skull lets her know her hair is equally tangled with the growth.

And then, the light dies down again, and the plants grow still.

And she...is still stuck.

The slight stinging she feels everytime she moves is concerning; even though it's just her hair being pulled, it shouldn't hurt, but it does--it's baffling. Hatsune Miku has never experienced pain a day in her life, but if this SEKAI allows for such a thing to happen, she is deeply concerned about the wellbeing of the person it sprouted for. She isn't the Miku that's meant to help them--she knows this, even if she doesn't know how she got here or where there Miku is, because she's for Mafuyu--but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to, at least while she's here, because she's still Miku.

...she can't do anything until she's free of these plants, though.

Certain that eventually someone will come along--either one of this SEKAI'S VIRTUAL SINGERS or one of the humans that can enter it--she unravels the cord she has wrapped around one wrist and starts playing cat's cradle, singing to herself all the while.

iii. call and response (something whistling)

The first sign of life Miku stumbles across in this baffling, unfamiliar SEKAI is, perhaps, the first appropriate thing she's found in it: a sound.

Ringing out, somewhere in the distance--a sound.

It's not that heart-tune that she used to sing, that incomplete, Untitled song that forms a SEKAI in the first place. From how natural it sounds, she's fairly certain it's not a VIRTUAL SINGER whistling in the first place.

But that just means it's a person. And that's just as good.

Except...no matter where she turns, or how far she chases, she never catches a glimpse of that person. Only the sound of that whistle, growing ever louder...but somehow never closer. Stumbling to a pause, Miku calls out a high, clear note.

The whistling pauses for a moment, before picking up once more, shriller--as if excited to get a response. She follows the sound, and when it pauses once more, she signals it back. Playing this game of vocal hot-and-cold, Miku eventually finds herself...

...staring down into a void.

Uncertainty creeps into her mind. Surely the whistler isn't down there? Somehow, even though this is a SEKAI, where danger shouldn't exist...that doesn't feel safe.

"I should...check," she says aloud, not sure of what she's saying, hugging her clasped hands to her chest. Getting down there...wouldn't be easy. But it's not like a fall would hurt her, if she slipped.

A tugging on her hair--Miku looks over her shoulder, but sees no-one behind her. "The breeze...I think," she says, even though that had sure felt a lot like fingers running through her pigtails. A sound like laughter fills her ears. The breeze, she tells herself again, and swings one leg over the railing.

iv. wildcard

hmu on discord (lyrecho) or plurk (dominionflower) to plot out something specific!

cat's cradle

[mamamias]

Mario's doing his best to make sure there's no one else stuck by the plants, which thankfully Ship seems plenty aware of whether or not more people are trapped - it's just a little nuts, Mario thinks, that more people keep showing up!!! Just to instantly get got by the plants!!!

He's shaking with adrenaline, mind narrowed down to a single point, idly flipping the small axe in his hand as he makes his way through Ship's lower levels. He cuts and burns away plants as he needs to make paths, but otherwise he's just calling, calling, listening. Is someone there? Can he help them?

And then... singing. Singing? He doesn't know the song, but he knows that voice, how could he not know that voice!.

He follows it to its source, disbelieving, but; he finds her.

"M- Miku?! H- Hatsune Miku????????"

He's robbed of all other words. But - it must be her! Her hair is the same, even if its paler - a different costume, a different look, it doesn't matter. It would be impossible to mistake her voice. That's her.

[composingthefuture]

The shocked call of her name gets her attention, but does not distract her. Before answering, she finishes up the verse she's singing, allowing the final note to ring out before looking up in the direction of the one who had spoken to her, and now finds herself truly startled.

"Super Mario!?" Just what kind of SEKAI is this?

[mamamias]

"That's-a me!" Rather than his usual funny catchphrase, this is delivered with sheer incredulity. His words are failing him completely. "That's-a you!!"

At least she's just as surprised to see him as he is to see her. Wait, is that a good thing???

"Just anyone can end up on Ship, huh!!???"

[composingthefuture]

"The Ship?" Miku tilts her head, considering, wincing slightly as the movement tugs at her hair--she'd pretty much forgotten she'd been tangled in place, she'd gotten so distracted moving string amongst fingers. "Is that what this SEKAI is called?"

She has no idea why Mario is in a SEKAI--he's never been in one before, and she's pretty sure he isn't a VIRTUAL SINGER--but maybe that's just proof of how much help whoever this SEKAI belongs to needs. Not only can pain be felt within it, but Super Mario is there.

Though that makes it sound like him being there is a bad thing, which is a rude and hurtful thing to think. Even though she didn't say it aloud, after a moment's thought she pulls her hands apart, strings webbed between her fingers, and wordlessly invites Mario to play cat's cradle with her. That's basically an apology for being unkind, right?

call and response

[luciacorina]

Lucia Corina hears something whistling, and something singing back to it, in the distance, and immediately heads towards the sound without much further consideration. Music draws her nearly as surely as magic, and with nearly as little thought. She tracks the sounds through hallways, and it stops when she fetches up at the edge of the chasm that opens into the bottom of the ship.

There's a young woman with grey hair there, climbing over the railing. She doesn't want to startle her into falling, so she keeps her voice soft when she calls out to her. "Miss? Are you all right? I don't think that's safe."

[composingthefuture]

"I am...alright," Miku reassures the woman, who she had somehow not heard coming. This SEKAI, though, is weird, so she doesn't stress about it too much. "I was just going to see where the whistling led." She looks down into the gaping chasm. "You...hear it too?"

The woman sounds concerned, and Miku was made for Mafuyu--but in a general sense, she was made to ease human hearts, so to help banish that concern she swings her legs back over the railing, so she's standing on the same side as the woman who had spoken to her.

"I'm Miku," she introduces herself. "It is...nice to meet you."

wow weird how you can't hear any heartbeat from lucia corina huh

[luciacorina]

The girl's voice is... strange. It almost reminds her of the Ship's, but that doesn't make sense, because she's clearly a real person. "I did, and was that you singing back to it? I don't think it's... something that should be followed over the edge. It's probably another effect of the ghosts--though it's certainly different from the shouting for help from before." If she was trying to follow it... her priorities are strange, but at least she wasn't trying to fling herself to her death.

She pauses and collects herself-- that isn't the point. This appears to be a new arrival. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miku. My name is Lucia Corina. Have you just arrived on the Ship? I can show you to the areas more suited for habitation--this is getting towards the worse bits."

[composingthefuture]

"Mm...that was my song," Miku says, and tilts her head. Ghosts? "Lucia Corina-san...it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She ducks into a shallow bow with a polite please take care of me; something about Lucia Corina's presence reminds her of Meiko, just...a little less cold and aloof.

"I only just got here," Miku confirms, and feels a little relief that there are apparently 'better' parts somewhere around. If this is a SEKAI, that it's not totally rundown can only mean good things for whoever it was made for, right? "Please lead the way, Lucia Corina-san."

There's no point in lingering here, after all. Not if there really is just ghosts--Miku's duty, beyond her focal point of Mafuyu, is to the living.

Call and response (ie. VERY concerned)

[doomed_gambler]

Aventurine finds himself around the area of the ship he...tends to steer clear of, most of the time. Still, he is interested in exploring, and it might pay a debt of some sort to go check if everything's alright...like those that found him at the ledge before.

So he goes to check on the precarious ledges. Sure enough, he can hear whistling again. He surpresses a shiver, remembering the extremely lucid fall experienced thanks to this thing.

He keeps his wits about him and his steps careful as he follows, puzzled at the responding notes to the whistling. The voice (?) is beautiful yet alien...what is that?

That's when he comes into the clearing with the walkways overlooking a dark pit.

And a small girl with no shoes working to climb over the railing.

"Ah- wait! Hey kid!" He calls out on impulse, hand outstretched to stop her with shields if he has to. He holds back physically, however, knowing one wrong move could startle her over the edge. He's willing to bet on his life, but not...not some kid's. She could have so much ahead of her.

"Whatever you're seeing there, it's not real. Trust me, I've felt it too," He says, his voice carefully steady, with a slight playful note to keep from coming off as intimidating. He smiles. "Why don't we have a chat for awhile, huh? I'll start. I'm Aventurine. And your name is...?"

[composingthefuture]

Halfway through getting her other leg over the railing, Miku pauses. The man standing a small distance away from her could almost be a grown up Len--but his voice is human. Is he the one this SEKAI was made for? Or just one of the humans who have access to it?

"I'm...Miku," she says. She doesn't smile back at him--her face doesn't really do expressions well--but there's an audible friendliness in her tone...if you know how to hear it under the modulated vocal fry all VIRTUAL SINGERS have. "It's nice to meet you, Aventurine-san."

She hasn't forgotten the whistling, or where it led, but...talking to this person in front of her seems more immediately urgent, when she considers how distressed he seems. She can hear how his heart beats just a little faster than what should be normal--adrenaline?

"Not...real?" she questions, and frowns. Sadly, those expressions come to her easily--indicative of Mafuyu's mental state when her SEKAI had bloomed. "Is this your SEKAI, Aventurine-san?" Maybe he'll be able to give her some answers about why it's so weird...

[doomed_gambler]

When the girl turns to look at him, his breath catches in his throat, coming out as a strangled gasp.

"Your eyes-" he blurts without thinking, taking a step forward, towards someone with eyes such a similar color to his. "You...are you...from Sigonia?" It couldn't be....here?? Is he not the last after all? Truly? How...?

But then she uses honorifics and terms very unfamiliar to him. She expresses emotion like the Iudex; more through vocal cues than facial. Her beautiful, strange voice, reminding him oddly of the Harmony, but...the connection somehow not being alarming to him.

He clears his throat, his heart aching. He smiles brightly for her. "Forgive me, I...think you just reminded me of someone. It's so good to meet you too, Miss Miku!" he says, giving her a polite bow. Straightening his posture, he looks to her, still smiling but unable to hide his worry. "Would you mind coming down from there? It's a very long fall below you, and I would hate for a sweet young lady like yourself to get hurt."

His head tilts quizzically at that last question. His synesthesia beacon immediately translates the word "SEKAI" to "world" for him, but also not...quite. It's an odd word. "I'm...not sure I know what you mean, Miss Miku. We do appear to be on a Ship, which has some form of sentience? If you're thinking of dream worlds...are...were you in Penacony too? If so, I believe we are both awake, now. In a world far away." He chuckles, scratching at his neck. "This ship apparently has...residents. Ghosts? One of them pretended to push me down into the hole here, and I suppose I was worried the same was happening to you."

EDITED BECAUSE HOW DID U GET SO SMALL LMAO

[composingthefuture]

When he first gets a good look at her, Aventurine-san goes very pale. Alarmingly so. When he asks about Sigonia...Miku doesn't know where that is, but she can guess. And his eyes...are similar colours to hers, if both in one.

"I'm very sorry...too, Aventurine-san," she says, "but I'm not...from your home."

And it must be 'home' and not 'SEKAI,' she thinks, because he doesn't recognize the term at all, looking at her with polite bafflement. So. He's not the Seed that sprouted this world. That's okay. She'll keep looking--eventually.

For right now...it seems that Aventurine-san has some clarifying information he can share with her. And his heart rate has calmed a little now that she's stepped back from the edge, though it's still higher than a human's should be...he's a little anxious. Miku should stay with him, and try to help.

"I don't know...those terms," Miku says. "And ghosts...should not be real." She frowns down at the chasm. Maybe it's a good thing Aventurine-san turned up to call out to her. If the rules of this place are so warped from what she knows, could the fall have hurt her?

Could it have made her...disappear?

Not to be remiss: "Thank you, Aventurine-san," she says, "for reaching out to me." Positive affirmations for positive behaviour. You should always help if you can. "Good job." She reaches out to pat him on the head.

a real girl

[airplaneskyward]

Shang Beida sees an unfamiliar girl walking down the hallway, and opens his mouth to greet her when... wait a second. The hair isn't teal, but there are some versions where it isn't, aren't there?

"Hatsune Miku?!" comes out of his mouth before he can put in any further thought on the matter. That... might actually be weirder than Super Mario? Like, Mario is a real alive person in his world. Hatsune Miku is a hologram???? Is Hatsune fucking Miku on the goddamn boat now???????

[composingthefuture]

She'd heard the footsteps approaching, and now with the voice, she's sure--a man, not a VIRTUAL SINGER, though he's definitely dressed in an outfit she'd expected to see in a particularly themed SEKAI over the streets of Tokyo.

"Hello," she greets, and ducks into a little bow. "Yes. I'm Miku. What...is your name? Is this your SEKAI?"

[airplaneskyward]

...She really is Hatsune Miku. Holy shit. He bows back absently. "I'm Shang..." Being himself. Not being Qinghua. "Beida. I, uh, I'm not sure what a SEKAI is? But this isn't my anything, this is just... a parallel universe that people keep getting pulled into, I guess would be the fastest description? Not that we can see much of it, since apparently we'd die if we left the Ship, but there is a whole world out there. Um. Did you just get here? Are you, uh... solid? Is that rude to ask? Um." Yeah, he's out of his depth.

[composingthefuture]

"It's nice to meet you, Shang Beida-san," Miku says, tilting her head. Not a SEKAI? A parallel universe?

Miku almost wants to tell him that such things aren't real. But she's also very aware that to most people, things like SEKAI aren't real, and Hatsune Miku is nothing more than a piece of software. A vocal synth.

"I arrived...not long ago," she confirms. "And I am solid, yes...it's why I thought this was a SEKAI."

wildcard miku off the string after she's gone exploring again

[highjustice]

There have been enough new arrivals over the last few days that it's worth taking to the halls again - at least thus far, he seems to be having luck in keeping people calm after they arrive.

(Or as calm as can be expected in the circumstances, and he can hardly blame anyone who isn't.)

The sight of a pale flicker of a girl - for a moment, there's a memory, one that brings mist to the air. But the colors aren't quite right, the pigtails aren't the correct hair...

...Well, probably better for Furina that that's the case, even if there are still so many things he would ask her, if he could.

Instead, Neuvillette makes his way into the girl's line of sight and says, "Excuse me, miss. Have you just arrived?"

[composingthefuture]

Miku startles; to anyone on the outside, it's probably not obvious unless they're very close to her and observant enough to note the brief stutter before her steps draw to a pause; the slight widening of her eyes.

Miku's hearing is very, very good. She's tuned in to her surroundings, even when she's daydreaming. She should have heard someone approaching.

...She should have heard someone approaching, so long as they were human. The man before her has a heartbeat just a little too slow for her mind to automatically register it as belonging to a person. This boat sure is full of very strange things.

"Not...so immediately," she says. "But recently, yes. I have met some people...they took me to where there was food, and safety. I came back out to explore again."

Miku's not happy with the idea of sitting still and doing nothing; she's used to being alone in a wide open space, and she's VIRTUAL. She can handle some energetic plants, guys.

She bows. "My name is Hatsune Miku. Please take care of me." As she straightens up, she tilts her head and asks him: "Are you human?" She's pretty sure the answer is no, but asking what are you seems rude...

[highjustice]

The dirty floor also does a good job at muffling footsteps - even those of a man in high heels.

He gives her another look over, a bit more carefully this time. Unlike the others, he doesn't find anything strange about her coloring, nor any reason to think that she is not just a girl. There is definitely something off about her voice when she does speak, however, buzzing faintly like the hum of Electro, and the name sounds vaguely Inazuman as well, though who knows with other worlds.

Mostly, he's concerned with her shoelessness, but it isn't as though he has much to offer there. She's Furina's size; his own shoes would be comically overlarge, even if his feet are probably less vulnerable underneath than hers are.

"I am not," he admits, though he does not - habitually - elaborate. Plenty of people manage to get that fair just by looking into his eyes; most of them quickly look away again. "My name is Neuvillette. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Hatsune."

[composingthefuture]

Miku nods slowly; she doesn't know what language Neuvillette is a name from, but unlike some she won't stumble on pronouncing it; the syllables that make it up are stored in her now, forever. She's good at more than just hearing when it comes to sounds.

"The pleasure is...mine," she says. He's not human, but...

"Neuvillette-san," she says, "Are you...VIRTUAL?"

Because she gets the feeling, somehow...he isn't. And Mario being here...and Malos-san being here...that's different, she thinks, to someone who isn't VIRTUAL--but still isn't human--being here. It makes it feel. More real, somehow. And that's scary.

call and response

[unihilism]

"Hey, kid! I wouldn't recommend a fall from that height. Trust me."

and then the kid turns around.

"....holy shit are you Hatsune Miku?????"

[composingthefuture]

Miku blinks, one leg hiked over the railing, and then points at herself questioningly. "Yes?"

The answer comes out like a question, but well. In her defense, the last two people to recognise her had been Super Mario and someone at least originally from...her own world? Something akin to her own world, where Hatsune Miku existed.

As she eyes this man, all actual real armour and a glowing crystal in his chest, some vague recognition niggles at the back of her mind...it's the wrong colour, but the shape...

"I've seen that...before." She says and taps at her chest. "In...Super Smash Bros." Mizuki brought their switch into the Empty SEKAI once, and showed Miku the Pneuma spirit attached to Pyra and Mythra, rambling about how they were sure her design had been inspired by Miku. They just went for the one ponytail to be legally distinct, they'd insisted, while Ena rolled her eyes behind them. "You're...from Xenogear?" That's the game, right?

[unihilism]

The. The. It takes Malos a second to catch on, and he has no idea what a Xenogear is, but he sure as hell knows what Super Smash Brothers is. Which means.

"...they got into Smash, and I DIDN'T!?!"

[composingthefuture]

...Miku still doesn't know who this is.

She can understand the feeling, though. She, too, would be upset if a hypothetical Super Smash Brothers game came out and invited Rin or Len but not her.

"There, there," she consoles. "It's okay, Xenogear-san."