voidtreckerooc | Test Drive Meme 013

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!tdm

Test Drive Meme 013

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The moment Inigo was in movement, so was Gerome. A small step back and arms lifted to cross his chest. Inigo's own hand missed him by a mile.

"I have tried enough." He scoffed, giving the 'game' a hard look, not quite forgiving it for the shock from earlier. How was he supposed to know there were moving pieces like that?

"... There is no force in this world, or the next, that will cause me to sit down." That was better than no, less succinct, more words than he would prefer, but Inigo seemed to need more words than most to get the picture.

The moment Inigo's hand misses the other's - and not even narrowly! - he gives it a momentary glare as if it's all his own hand's fault for not being fast enough. Darnit, hand, he almost got Gerome there! He could have dragged him over to sit down if only he had been faster!

But his attention quickly turns back towards the other instead. Especially at those last words. Sure, those are clear to anyone else. Gerome's opinion on all this? Totally obvious. There's no force that can cause him to sit down. Uh-huh. Understood.

But to Inigo, those just sound like a challenge.

"Ooh, wait. I think I understand." This kind of approach may find more success with someone like Owain, considering how rambunctious he is, but Inigo feels like it's at least worth a try here. "Aren't you just unwilling to play because you know you will lose?"

Gerome's back stiffened. His eyes narrowed. Cheeks pinkened.

Did Inigo just suggest what he thought he was suggesting? That he was too coward to play this ridiculous game of his?

There was, of course, a part of Gerome that knew what was going on. That could see the blatant manipulation. Inigo was an imbecile, but he was a clever one. And he used that cleverness to great effect.

Gerome huffed, scowled and grabbed a seat and dropped down. His arms crossed again.

He was going to make this as difficult as he could. Just because he could... and maybe a bit as a punishment to himself for allowing Inigo to play him so easily.

Honestly? Inigo half expects Gerome to just try and walk out of the room at it. He's ready to dash after the other in case that would happen.

But it doesn't. Instead there's that reaction. It's obvious his words did have some effect when that slight hint of pink shows up on Gerome's cheeks, and a moment later the other is actually sitting down.

Inigo's grin somehow manages to get even wider at the sight. He feels like he just won some big battle. But even with some sort of gloating in that grin, it's not just all mocking. There seems to be something genuinely excited in it, almost puppy-like. After all, he does want Gerome to have fun. And he wants to have fun with Gerome. So this works out in every single possible way.

He still smiles as he sits down on the opposite side of the game. Inigo should probably move on to explaining the rules already, but he can't help but just let a liiittle bit more slip out first, giving him the chance for a mental victory lap--

"So, did you decide to give it a try?"

He would tolerate the gloating. For now. Gerome kept his eyes forward, not entertaining the harlequin and his playacting. It was sheer stubbornness that kept him seated. He wanted to prove he wasn't a coward. Somehow it meant something to him that Inigo didn't think he was...

But then Inigo had to open his mouth and speak.

Victory lap denied!

Gerome stood back up. "... I refuse." And off he went. Turning on his heel he headed for the door. Stubbornness be damned. Inigo could think he was a coward. He wouldn't be mocked.

.. Ack! He pushed his luck too far, didn't he! He should've shut up when he had the chance, now he's all the way back at square one!

Inigo quickly rises to his feet, pacing after the other as fast as he can. He can't just let Gerome walk out of that door now, after all!

"Gerome-- come on! You know I didn't mean it that way!" Inigo may be 17, but honestly, his tone is slowly sliding down so far into whining territory that it's almost as if they're little kids again.

Once he's close enough, he reaches out, putting his hand on Gerome's shoulder to try and keep him in place.

"Just one game. Please?"

Can you refuse this ~~whiny~~ adorable puppy face, Gerome? Can you?

That tone was like nails on a board... and yet it put a brief hesitation in Gerome's step. Brief enough that Inigo was able to catch him and grab him. Luckily just by the shoulder. No cling to his hand this time or just throwing himself bodily at him.

He didn't immediately shake the hand off. He even stopped, against his better judgement. And when his head turned just a little to see Inigo, he regretted everything.

Gerome quickly looked away, a hand lifted to seemingly adjust his mask, but really it was to hide the slight flush to his cheeks. Inigo had no right having eyes that big. Nor any right to use them against him like that. And yes, he could resist... Just about.

"... Will you stop that incessant whining if I say yes?" He asked, tone just a little harsher than he'd intended to mask his embarrassment.

Honestly, Inigo's whining comes so naturally, instinctively even, that he has absolutely no idea of the power his puppy eyes hold over the other. It's not even a tool he's using on purpose - it's just what Inigo is naturally inclined to look like when someone tries to walk away from him.

So when Gerome actually stops walking, he looks a little surprised. And then when a moment later Gerome even asks that, Inigo's eyes grow wide with the same surprise.

.. well, surprise, and also excitement.

He knows he can't respond too enthusiastically or he may just scare Gerome away again, but it's so hard to contain his excitement at Gerome giving in even when it's not happening in any gloating kind of way.

"Yes!" Inigo takes his hand off the other's shoulder so he can put it over his own heart instead. "I formally swear that I definitely will not bother you with my whining again.. for the rest of the day, anyway!"

Look, he just can't make promises about the further future...

He if was going to admit to it, he would admit that there was a part of him that had wanted to examine the game more. If Inigo hadn't have startled him, he might have sat down on his own to look it over in more detail. But having been found out, pride flared up and stopped him. Or at the very least made him throw out some token resistance...

But Inigo didn't need to know that he had actually wanted to see more of the game...

This world was so strange. There were so many peculiar things on board this train that Gerome sometimes struggled to keep it all straight in his mind.

The masked teen sniffed and stepped past Inigo, ignoring his dramatics, and went straight back to the chair and dropped himself down again. Once more crossing his arms. He was not going to make any of this easy at all, was he?

Okay, at least Inigo has got Gerome where he wants him again now. All he has to do is just.. not ruin it. Which seems like an easy task, but ruining things is kind of Inigo's special talent, even though often an involuntary one.

But he's going to try anyway! Inigo moves back over to the table as well, sitting down again, and this time making sure to not make the dumb mistake of gloating. Right! No gloating! This is Serious Time now!

"Right, so this game is called.." He glances at the box lid. Look, this isn't one he's often played, okay! "Erm, apparently it's called Hungry Hungry Hippos? These hippos kind of look like what would happen if bears and wyverns had babies, right?"

He's just running his idiot mouth, honestly, but that seems to give him an idea for a good angle to spin this.

"And this game is about them being hungry and you having to feed them! Right! Doesn't this sound like a game for you, Gerome? Don't you want to feed the poor little wyvern-bear-babies? They eat about 40 kilos a day, you know!" (That last part is totally just something someone here told him, but he wants to seem impressive, okay..)

Gerome very nearly gave Inigo a smack.

A bear and a wyvern? He looked down at the coloured creatures he'd called 'hippos' and didn't see any correlation between them and wyverns. Was he using that word because he thought it would make him happy? Maybe it would have, if he wasn't besmirching their good name by associating them with these... things.

"... Have you forgotten what a Wyvern looks like, Inigo?" He asked cooly, finally looking at the other. It was hard to tell because of the mask, but he was totally glaring.

"I-- Well!"

He opens and closes his mouth a few times, sputtering various attempts at the start of a sentence before giving up. He wildly gestures at the game with the colourful plastic hippos.

"Usually hippos aren't these colours, you know! They're dark! Just like wyverns!" .. Okay, so that may be one of the few things, if not the only thing, that would connect them to the creatures they know from back home, but it's something, right? This clearly counts in Inigo's mind.

He pouts.

"Besides, I thought you might be missing them since there's none here."

It was irritating how much Inigo was intent on associating these creatures with his beloved wyverns, but... he wasn't so dense he couldn't see what Inigo was trying to do. The fact he'd resorted to calling on their colour to show how similar these creatures were was almost laughable.

And then the idiot pouted.

Gerome refused to look at him.

"I do..." miss them. It wasn't a hard admission to admit to, of course he missed them. He missed Minerva. It disappointed him that he could not have her here, though he did understand that size indeed mattered in these instances. She deserved space to roam. Keeping her cooped up inside this dreaded contraption would bother him deeply.

He shook his head.

"What does any of this have to do with playing this game?"

That's.. just so Gerome! The way he actually admits to something so personal and kind of emotional - even if he's not trying to show much as he says it, Inigo knows there has to be more, everyone knows how much Minerva means to Gerome - and then just immediately shoving it all off the table with that last much more down-to-business statement.

Okay, maybe Inigo is more than just slightly a hypocrite for getting exasperated at other people refusing to show their true feelings, but.. well, he'll just have to be one!

He groans, very dramatically dropping his head onto the table for a moment.

"I'm trying to cheer you up. Isn't that clear?" He thought it was pretty clear! And it's not like Gerome has really looked sad ever since showing up here, but.. you know. Inigo can't help but worry about his friend. Being dragged off to this place right after getting reunited with his parents was tough for him too.

"That's why we're playing this game too! To have fun!"

Where Inigo can't see it because he'd dropped his head onto the table, Gerome's lips had twitched into an almost smile. Amused by his behaviour, even though he wasn't entirely sure what had caused it, all he could do was shake his head.

"As muddy water." He replied to him.

"Do I look like I require cheering?" Had he looked sad? He hadn't felt sad. At least not until Inigo had started to talk about wyverns and Minerva... Now he was thinking about her. Missing her. But yes, it was being pushed to the side. Why? Because what could he do about it? It was beyond his abilities to call her to his side here. Missing her would help no one. Least of all himself.

"... I see." And here he thought it was because he'd pressed a thing and jumped, and Inigo had found it oh so funny.

Inigo totally missed the near-smile. By the time he lifts his head again (it's exactly right after Gerome asks that question) it's already gone, and instead Inigo opens his mouth as if to reply.. and then closes it again. Because it is a good question, and maybe his initial answer is not as good as he thought it was. Which is why it comes out a little more hesitant rather than determined.

Because is he maybe projecting a little too much here? Maybe Gerome genuinely is okay with this situation. Or more okay than Inigo himself has been. Maybe Gerome isn't constantly trying to hold himself together mentally under a paperthin exterior the way Inigo himself does. It makes him a little self-conscious.

"I.. well, you usually look that way. It's just.." His voice momentarily trails off. Inigo raises a hand to his face, vaguely waving it around in front of it. ".. you know. Your general face area. You never really look happy."

Gerome's mask hid a great many things. Currently it hid the mild look of concern at Inigo's uncharacteristic behaviour.

While he didn't consider himself an expert by any means, he had watched Inigo enough to believe he could work out some of his emotions, even if most baffled him. And there was a look on his face now that was puzzling Gerome. And he didn't know why.

And almost... Almost he was tempted to ask. Almost, the words were on the tip of his tongue to say. Almost he asked if Inigo was alright.

Until the idiot goes and says that.

Gerome's back straightened and his brows knitted together in a frown of irritation.

"... Are you deliberately trying to annoy me? Or is this a side effect of something I am unaware of? Have you hit your head and lost the rest of your mind?" Because it was starting to seem a little like he was trying to hurt him. Unless Gerome was just being more sensitive than normal. He was in a strange place, after all. The only familiar thing anywhere... was Inigo. The same Inigo who was, apparently, judging him for not looking happy. When did he ever? Why was it so important now?

"I'm not!" The faint hint of desperation in his tone as he says that is proof that Inigo seems to mean that very genuinely. There definitely are times where he does tease the other on purpose, but this is not one of those moments. If anything, it's more one of Inigo's dumb foot in mouth moments... "Trying to annoy you, I mean. I swear by Naga that I'm not!"

That's just about the last thing he wants to do here. But while Inigo is at least pretty okay with sharing his concern for others, it's harder in this case. Expressing his concern about how Gerome is handling being here might say a lot about how Inigo felt - feels? - about being here, and talking about his own negative feelings is an absolute no-no. Inigo is here to make others smile, not to bother them with his own misery. It feels even more important to be consistent with that with Gerome of all people, considering he's the one person present on this train who has been through everything with him.

But on the other hand.. he feels like if he doesn't at least admit to his true concern here, Gerome might just think he really has gone totally crazy, and that won't get him anywhere either.

So even though Inigo looks strangely reluctant, he does slowly speak up.

"It's just.." There may even be the faintest hint of colour on his cheeks. "I'm well aware you're going to think that I'm stupid, but I am just worried about how you are doing while you're still new to this entire train thing. I know it's not as if it's the first time we've travelled across time and space or that we ended up seperated from our friends, but this situation is still.. Let's say fairly unique."

Maybe he's dumb. Maybe Gerome is dealing with this much better than he was. Inigo wouldn't be too surprised by that - despite his whining about how girls could possibly like Gerome more than him, he's always thought the other was stronger than him.

Gerome was quiet for a long moment, just staring at Inigo, is expression unreadable.

When he spoke, his voice was low, though not so low Inigo wouldn't hear him.

"... Unsettling." He corrected. "Not unique. Unsettling." Because no, he wasn't doing well and he knew that. It was one thing to travel to the past. But this felt like travelling thousands of years into the future. A strange and alien future he wasn't prepared for. At least in their past there had been familiar things. There was very little that was familiar now. Not even the clothes he wore.

It's hard to predict how Gerome might react. Even with Inigo knowing him better than anyone else on the train would, there's still very much that mask on the other's face, keeping Inigo from being fully clued in as to what exactly Gerome is thinking right now.

But for once Inigo manages to remain quiet for a few moments instead of saying something dumb - just patiently waiting to hear what Gerome has to say.

.. And what a thing it is that Gerome has to say. Inigo isn't quite sure whether to feel relieved that his initial reaction at this place wasn't so odd or to feel sorry for the other for having to deal with it now. Maybe it's a little bit of both.

"It is very different from what we are used to, isn't it?" He's speaking slightly more slowly than usually. Mostly since he's trying to pick his words carefully, not wanting to be an ass while Gerome may be having a more sensitive moment. "The people too."

"Everything." There was no need to get emotional about it or beat around the bush. They both came from vastly different places. He would have gone so far as to say they didn't belong. But Inigo had clearly made a place for himself and had acclimatised himself well. He'd made friends. So it was odd to hear him voice these concerns himself.

Not even realising he was doing it, Gerome found himself leaning forward just a little. His back not as stiff, his posture almost relaxing.

"... How did you..." He stopped, frowned and then tried again. "... This place, how is it you can walk these corridors with such ease?" Gerome didn't scare easily. But every time he turned a corner there was something shocking that his mind struggled to comprehend. How long did it take fr Inigo to get used to that feeling, he wondered?

"Does it look that way?"

Granted, he's been here for a while. He still discovers something new practically daily, but there are a lot of things that are familiar to him now, but that must still be completely new to Gerome. So it'd make sense if it would seem that way.

Maybe he's actually even slightly glad if it does. It's the kind of impression he wants to pass onto others, after all. That everything is easy for him. That he never seems to worry, so there's no need for anyone else to worry about him either. Even though all of that is nothing more than a big fat lie. After all, it was only recently when their ability to communicate in the same language started malfunctioning that Inigo once again realised how different he was from everyone else here. How alone he was, hiding all the hurt he couldn't explain to anyone else.

It's tempting to confide in Gerome. Back home he had good reasons to hide his hurt from the other, considering they were all stuck in the same crappy circumstances. All of them were hurting, so it didn't feel fair to complain and only add to the problems. It was easier to smile, to remove himself from the sum of people who needed to be looked after. But this place is different. They're on an entirely different level than the other people here, and Gerome would understand that better than anyone, considering what they have been through together.

But at the same time, it's kind of terrifying. He's sure he's cultivated a certain image of himself to his friends now. What would they think of him for not turning out to be as carefree as they assumed?

Inigo is quiet for a moment as he overthinks it all, making sure to keep a small smile on his face all the same and idly pressing down on one of the hippo's heads.

"I suppose I just got used to it. I've already been here for months now. If you have no choice but to adjust, it naturally happens down the line." He then glances up, gaze meeting the other's-- well, mask. "But that's a good thing for you, isn't it? It means that I can help you adjust to all the new things here. You don't have to do it by yourself."

The beauty of his mask was that he could see people, but they couldn't see him. So, Gerome was looking forward, not facing Inigo... but his eyes were on the other. Watching him carefully.

There was a long silence between Inigo's first words and his last and Gerome said nothing. He just waited. And it was only once the other started to speak that Gerome realised what was wrong in what he was seeing. The words and tone didn't match the expression. It didn't match Inigo's eyes.

Inigo was lying to him.

He did it often, but sometimes he was better at it and Gerome had a hard time picking up on it. The key here was the last of bravado. There was no laughter, no enthusiasm and waving of limbs and silliness to distract him from what was going on in Inigo's eyes. He remained sat where he was, quiet. It was... disturbing, somehow. Unnatural. Un-Inigo-like.

Gerome reached out and dropped a hand over Inigo's to stop him from playing with the coloured creature and making that snapping sound.

"I'm not sure you can help me." He said calmly. "Until you help yourself."

Just that sudden touch may have been enough under normal circumstances to snap Inigo out of his touch. Because while he himself may be a very, very clingy and touchy person with other people, he knows that Gerome isn't the same way. He doesn't just touch someone else for no reason. So of course even the slightest touch coming from the other - like the hand on top of his own to draw his attention - immediately gets him to look up at Gerome.

But then there's those words. Of all things to say, he just had to flip over the conversation's topic towards Inigo. Which is honestly the last thing he wants here. He was trying so hard to tuck everything away only a moment ago, why does Gerome have to try to uncover it all the same now?

Inigo definitely looks at the other with surprise in his eyes, though he wills the emotion off his face a moment later - but a moment too late.

".. What do you mean?"

He knows damn well what Gerome means. But with his stomach turning, that's all he can think of what to say.

Gerome hadn't really meant anything by the touch, all he'd wanted was to stop that incessant noise. And yet... he didn't immediately pull his hand away. Because the look on Inigo's face stopped him. He hadn't been quick enough to hide it at all.

"I think you know..."

Honestly, Gerome was just flailing in the darkness and hoping he would hit something that made sense to him. Inigo was being difficult. He was hiding something. And while he had done the same thing back home, he had to wonder if somehow he had been doing it more here... He seemed more hedgy than ever.

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who needs sleep when i can have gerome!!!

Can't help myself. Has to be done!

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