Test Drive Meme 013

[voidtreckermods]

Welcome to our Test Drive Meme! Here is the place to see how your character might fit the setting, grab some samples and start having fun!

1. Post with your character. I’ve written out some prompts but feel free to make up your own, you have a whole train to play with!

2. Assume they have been around long enough for threads to jump right into the action!

3. Have much fun!

Happy testing!

Training Gym

Fight club have finally gotten a gym to train in. Train carriages make strange gyms, long narrow spaces. But this has mats, balance beams, climbing apparatus. Pads and training dummies for punching. It also has large blocks that look a little like what you might find in a children's play centre but can be used to make obstacle courses or provide cover in training exercises.

Set up a course, practice fighting or try and learn how to throw a punch! There are plenty who will help, people who take training super seriously and let's face it, people who want to ambush others from behind oversized foam blocks.

Games

For those for whom fighting is not an idea of fun, or those wanting more relaxation, the games carriage has a whole collection of different games. Board games, card games, dice games. There are many games about trains but they aren't the only type.

There are low tables in the carriage to set a game up on and plenty of beanbags and cushions to sit on. Grab a game, grab a friend or a complete stranger and get playing!

Water Maze

The latest mission has taken the voidtreckers to an underwater maze. They have been given wet suits, helmets and breathing apparatus- lightweight boxes that strap to their back, connect to their helmet and filter air from the water. A powerful and dangerous artifact has been stolen and the race is on to get it back before it is used for ill.

Team One

Plenty of monsters and foes have been sent to try and retrieve the item. Giant crabs, strange eels. Even people with fish tails and the ability to breathe underwater. All are dangerous foes and fighting underwater is difficult.

But team one are the vanguard, keeping the monster levels low to allow team two to push on through the maze.

Team Two

Hopefully team one will deal with the monsters, but the odd one might sneak through. Team two's main job is to solve the maze, because the thief is in the centre in order to perform his ritual.

It's a race against time, the maze is made of coral and walls of seaweed that are impossible to cut through. Solving it requires a quick mind and some determined swimming.

Team Three

For those not wishing to brave the water, or those whose skills lie more in helping others. The island where the artefact was stolen from needs help. The temple was ransacked and some of the islanders were injured. Help them fix their homes, put the temple back to rights, tend to the injured.

Cleaning the temple is a big job, but hopefully by the time the artefact has been retrieved it will be able to be restored to it's rightful place.

Comments

[ambitiousblond]

"Yes, please join me, Elena." He gestures to the cushion opposite of him, watching her carefully. He hadn't been the only one who had survived what would have completely broken someone without their strength. Here they stood nonetheless, even if Rufus had to lean on a cane for now.

He can't fault her for watching him carefully and following closely behind him. It's a bit of normalcy in this strange world since he couldn't remember a part of his life when he was away from the Turks. And after everything the five of them had been through in the last two years alone, he can't fault her for wanting to be close to him.

"Here, you'll go first." He moves the board around so the white side was facing her. "Take your time before making your move. Consider your options." Veld had used the game to teach Rufus to think strategically, thinking things through several steps ahead while also being able to adapt when needed. He had thought it tedious then as a child but now he can't help but be grateful for those lessons.

[rookiemistakes]

“Yes, sir.”

Elena sits across from the President and looks down at the board. She has no doubt that she is about to lose spectacularly. She’d had some skill at this game long ago, but that was when she was still in pigtails and her primary concerns in life revolved around scoring higher on every test and doing better in every match than her older sister had done. She hadn’t played chess as a teenager because she actually enjoyed it; she just wanted to have another way in which she could beat Emma. Too bad that Emma never wanted to play after she joined the Turks.

God, so much has changed since then.

Elena takes a white pawn and makes her opening move. It’s a well known gambit, one she’d read about in a book almost ten years ago and never tried in real life.

[ambitiousblond]

Rufus knows he doesn't have to tell her that he's not going to go easy on her simply because she had never played him before. Either she would win on her own merits or learn from the defeat.

His own moves were careful and precise, taking the time to think out each one. Pieces were removed in swift motions and set to the side. He's silent for a bit before speaking once more.

"How long have you been here?" She seemed fairly familiar with the train but for him he had seen her only moments before he arrived here. "I trust you have gathered information about how things work and identified potential allies."

If they had managed to find their way here then there was the potential for others such as Sephiroth to do the same. He wasn't going to let Sephiroth do to this reality, or whatever this was, what he had tried to do to their planet. History wouldn't repeat itself if he had any say it in.

[rookiemistakes]

“Not long,” Elena admits, rolling one of Rufus’ fallen knights in her palm as she considers her next move. “Two weeks. I was incapacitated for the first couple days; when I came here my injuries from my...disagreement with Kadaj and his brothers were still fresh. Time apparently works differently here. Reno told me that I’m several days behind him in his timeline. For me, Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz are still a threat. Reno says that they’ve been neutralized. Given that you no longer seem to be experiencing the effects of the Geostigma, sir, I assume you are from a similar timeline.” She moves her bishop, threatening Rufus’s king. “Check, sir.”

There are still ways Rufus can get out of check; by moving to capture the King, Elena has left her other pieces vulnerable. She’s still impulsive, hot headed, even after more than two years as a Turk.

As for allies...

“You’ll want to talk to someone named Stark. Tony Stark. He’s the leader of the ‘train counsel,’ and seems to be what passes for the authority figure on the train.”

[ambitiousblond]

Rufus sets her rook down so that he could pull up one sleeve of his coat to show her that the black sore that was there was gone now. He hadn't had the chance to check the rest of his body when he had pulled the bandages off but the pain wasn't there anymore. It had been such a constant presence for so long that now that it was gone it felt like there was a hole where it used to be.

"It seems to be gone." He can at least give her that reassurance. The last two years hadn't been easy on either of them and she had seen him practically waste away from the disease. He pulls his coat sleeve down as he made his next move. It's not something he's prepared to even consider by himself just yet, let alone discuss with anyone else even if they are one of his Turks.

He raises his eyebrows as he looks up at her, intrigued. "There is a train counsel? What exactly does it do?" He has his attention mostly on what she's telling him but he's still considering the game before him. "Who are the other members of this council?"

He sweeps up one of her pieces in his fingers in a sudden and swift movement. "And checkmate."

[rookiemistakes]

Even though Elena knows intellectually that Rufus had been cured, it’s still startling to see smooth, unblemished skin where she knows very well a mark had once been. Her eyes go wide, and she has to fight back the urge to exclaim in surprise. She can almost hear Tseng’s sharp voice in her head commanding her to calm down, though, so she does. Instead, she asks only one thing: “How?”

While Rufus contemplates his next move, Elena pulls out her notebook and flips to the page with relevant info.

“The train council...okay, here. It’s a group, elected by the other passengers, that tries to keep order on the train and handle everyone’s concerns. From what I’ve gathered, the election was some weeks before I got here. The members are...Tony Stark, President. Bucky, Curufin, Eva, Feanor, Kaiba, Nita, Nerdanel, Sarai, someone calling himself The Doctor, Ignis, and Yuffie Kisaragi from AVALANCHE.” She stumbles slightly over the elvish names, but it feels wonderful to be giving intel reports again.

“I believe their powers are actually quite limited, as there’s no evidence they have managed to communicate with whatever powers that be that operate the train.”

Rufus finally makes his move and Elena’s professional demeanor drops, just for a moment. “Wait, how did you...?!” Then she sees the wide open hole she’d left around her king in her eagerness to capture Rufus’s and groans. “...Oh, right. Excellent game, Mr. President.”

[ambitiousblond]

"You played well but you focused on short term advantages and left yourself open in favor of capturing my pieces. I'll show you what I mean when we play again." He was sure that they would have time on their hands with being stuck on a train hurtling through the void. For a moment he's reminded of his time under house arrest in the fortress in Junon, how the walls had felt like they were closing in on him when he wasn't allowed even set foot outside.

"How do they handle concerns if they can't communicate with whoever is responsible for all of this?" he asks, gesturing still holding one of her chess pieces in one hand. "I'm curious as to how they actually handle any real conflict. Is there a away to enforce any kind of rule structure or is it just a way of playing pretend to pass the time?"

He supposes he can't fault anyone here for doing that if there isn't much else to do. He just wanted to be prepared for what he would have to deal with here. He made a mental note of all the names she had mentioned, he would make a point of speaking to each of them in the future. "What else have you found out about the train?"

[rookiemistakes]

Elena nods. They’re stuck here for the foreseeable future; might as well make some use of it. And playing chess with her boss, while a bit stressful, certainly sounds a lot more appealing than him finding out her newfound obsession with an otherworldly children’s cartoon. (Merry Little Voidtrain forever.)

“There is a bit of communication—but it’s one-sided. There’s a suggestions box. You type something in and it’ll disappear a moment later. A generic confirmation pops up.” Elena’s job is to gather intel, but the train isn’t exactly making it easy. “I would agree with your assessment, sir. The council seems to be a way to maintain something like control in an uncontrollable situation. I haven’t seen them do much actual rule making or legislating.”

She cracks a wry grin. “We found out the other day that we’re on a rogue train,” she says, and she seems genuinely excited about it. She slides her notebook across to Rufus, showing him her transcription of the message that had popped up on the ICP before everything went to hell. “After this came up, the train shut off the translator that keeps everyone understanding each other, probably to distract us from the message. After 24 hours, it was like nothing had even happened.”

[ambitiousblond]

"You can't tell me everyone on this train just gets along without conflict," he remarks with amusement but he doesn't elaborate on that as he leans forward to look at what she had written in her notebook.

"A rogue train? How exciting." He picks up the notebook to read what she had transcribed, his lips pressing into a thin line as his eyes moved down the page. If this was all true and he wasn't just having some strange surreal dream again -which he still hadn't entirely ruled out yet- then this information raised several concerning questions. He's not sure what purpose it would be to operate a train in a void like this for any kind of criminal organization, it seemed like it was more trouble than it was worth.

He flips over the page to see if there is any more before he looks back at her "What are these 'void missions' this message is referring to? Have you experienced any of these?" He looks back down at the notebook to see if he can pick out any more clues.

"Where else does this train stop? Does it just stop at the station?" If they couldn't step foot out of the train than his years of house arrest being locked away in the fortress in Junon was going to become a fond memory. He inwardly shudders.