voidtreckerooc | Test Drive Meme 016

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!tdm

Test Drive Meme 016

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

1. Post with your character, including their name and series in the subject. We’ve written out some prompts but feel free to make up your own, you have a whole train to play with!

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

3. Have lots of fun. Mandatory, mod-sanctioned fun.

Happy testing!

Silence in the Library

The library is a double carriage. Downstairs is brightly-coloured, with cover posters across the walls, tables and chairs in the strong colours of the team uniforms, and a wooden model train placed as though winding its way through the carriage with carriages of shelves in tow. The walls are shelving, and beanbags litter the floor. Upstairs is quieter, rows of nonfiction shelves with private desks at the end of each row; the sound up here is muffled.

You don't know who, you don't know why, but someone or something has had a bad power day. How do you know? Well, the fact that the characters of any book you read keep coming to life as tiny versions of themselves and running riot around the carriage... that might have been a clue.

You just wish you'd picked a different book before realising it.

An Apple a Day

Medical is another double carriage, though it boasts one of the few person-sized lifts on the train as well as stairs. On the bottom floor, two of the three rooms are examination rooms, with simple beds, equipment and first-aid capacity. The third is a surgical bay, albeit a simpler one than some passengers may anticipate. All three rooms have ICPs with instructions and manuals for all equipment and a number of medical procedures.

Upstairs, there are four private recovery rooms, with a medical bed and an accessible en-suite. It's possible to check a passenger into one of these rooms, at which point they cannot leave until discharged by the person who checked them in.

Which, unfortunately, you are entirely aware of. You've been here for three days, and you're climbing the walls. But that'll teach you to get injured in such a stupid way. Or so they hope.

Sprockets and Skysong

In which a train arrives among the smokestacks of Little Underpool with some unexpected visitors.

Little Underpool is a township on Void world #30630687444. Caught up in the middle of what appears to be a series of industrial revolutions, the world is in a state of constant, chaotic innovation. Currently, that means that there is a power struggle going on between the skywhaling megacorporation Scrimshaw Inc and the Zephyr Company, an airship manufacturer, over control of the skies above Underpool, and the rapidly diminishing population of skywhales, whose bones are used in most modern airships, and whose blood is a key fuel source for a great number of new devices and engines. The voidtreckers are, this mission, to rescue the whales, rather than any humanoids.

Team One

Infiltrating Scrimshaw Inc, this team's job is to sabotage the tracking drones used to locate the whale pods, to allow the great beasts to migrate successfully away from Underpool. The offices of the corporation are in a series of spiralling brass and bone towers in the centre of the town, connected by exposed cable bridges that run to dizzying heights. Their clockwork guards are numerous, but often faulty, and highly vulnerable to tinkering.

Team Two

This team's job is to hijack some of the Zephyr Company's airships, and use them to defend the whale pods closest to Underpool. Several pods contain whale calves, and cannot evacuate as fast as the larger bachelor groups. The airships are light, and handle well, but their oddly organic design can be rather unsettling. The primary weapons are harpoons and short-range bomb slings, both as deadly against other airships as they are against their original targets.

Team Three

The final team's task is less direct - they must go among the populace of Underpool and spread unrest, redirecting the attention of the people towards the plight of their nonhuman neighbours in the sky, and the wrongdoings of their resident megacorporations. The people are not aware that the whales are an entirely sentient species, which appears to be a deliberate obfuscation by the town's council and sponsors. Your job is to change that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ran into him downstairs. He seemed so worried I half expected to find somebody with two broken legs or bleeding out.

[At least he didn't seem too annoyed, leaning back against the wall with hands folded loosely on his cane.]

You alright?

Ah...[ Ken shifts his bandaged leg atop the bed. ] I ran into some trouble at the train's last stop.

A sword. You ran into a sword. [ Wormmon may never part from Ken's lap. He is one with it now. ] Pushing someone out of the way, because you're so kind......!!

...It wasn't your fault, Wormmon.

But I'm supposed to PROTECT you.....

You protected me just now, by finding me help.

[ Aaaand Wormmon's crying again. Ken pats his partner's head, shooting a "give us one second" appreciative glance at Waver. ]

[He at least had the decency to act like he was muffling a cough with his hand rather than laugh at the poor little bug. Go ahead and console your weird pal, kid.]

[ This patience is appreciated by all parties involved. ]

Sorry to make you worry, Wormmon. [ Wormmon tilts his head up to look at Ken, but continues to receive head pats. ] I knew you were looking for someone. I should have waited.

It really - doesn't hurt?

It doesn't.

It isn't [ gulp ] bleeding again?

Mm.

[ Relieved, Wormmon just about collapses. The injured party is not the one feeling the most strain from this hospitalization.

Which leaves Ken with expressing gratitude to a stranger willing to follow a hysterical overgrown larva into a medical bay. He's aware that's an unusual circumstance, so it means a lot. ]

...Were you busy?

[ If so he is even more grateful. ]

Hm, not really. [He shrugged, apparently indifferent to a giant talking green worm and its general sense of urgency.] I keep ending up with a lot of free time around here, so it's fine.

Things do seem to happen in waves, don't they.

[ Either you're sitting in a train enjoying a garden or you're rescuing villages from a tyrant and getting your leg sliced open by using yourself as a human shield for helpless bystanders.

...But those are always the two extremes of Ken's life, so upon reflection, this is not that unusual. ]

--Ichijouji Ken, by the way. [ He's better at talking to strangers now but the name-exchange part is always awkward. Ken pats Wormmon again. ] This is Wormmon.

I'm Wormmon.

[ Agrees a voice smushed against Ken's solar plexus. ]

Nice to meet you...er, both.

[He seemed to debate over how to introduce himself for a moment; glancing briefly from Ken to Wormmon while almost nervously tapping his fingers on the handle of the cane at his right side.]

...Waver. [Things happened in waves, indeed.] Waver Velvet. Just call me 'Professor', most people do.

You're an instructor, then?

[ Now Ken feels bad about something completely different: a teacher caught him having accidentally crumpled pages in his psychology textbook.

Wormmon had been trying to carry it to him, and it....had not worked...

Thus: large book on the floor. ]

Yeah--I teach alchemy at the Clock Tower. [Under his breath:] That's still a little weird to admit to openly.

Alchemy...

[ ...is a debunked subject where Ken is from, but any number of worlds exist, so it's entirely possible there's another one where its principles are sound.

Thus: thoughtfulness. As a Chosen Child, he receives email updates about Takenouchi-san's father's research on possible ties between the occult and Digimon ~~and makes a point of reading them so he can summarize for Daisuke later~~, so if he remembers correctly from there... ]

That's why you called Wormmon a familiar.

Is he not? It is pretty rare in my world to find ones that talk quite so much or so clearly, but it does happen.

[we do not talk about kaleido ruby in this house.]

He's what's called a "Digimon".

[ Wormmon turns around so he can slump in Ken's lap and look up at him adoringly. If he's going to be the topic of discussion he figures he should be on display. To assist Ken-chan. ]

If you're familiar with computers, Digimon are data that's taken physical form. He's completely real, though.

[ Real and alive and all those other things a certain kid desperate to lash out without consequences had refused to think about. So Ken makes a point of including this detail when he gives this talk. ]

I'm probably the only mage that is, or close enough to it.

[He said that with some exasperation, sighing before looking to Wormmon with some interest.]

Hm. I'd ask how data being made physical even works, but I think the particulars might elude me a little. Suppose it can't be much different from spirit particles taking form, really. At least not in concept...

[ Ken, catching the muttering, nods. ] There's definitely a relationship to human hearts and emotions. The details are unknown, but they and their world respond to and manifest our thoughts.

[ Ken has a walking metaphor in his lap. A walking metaphor that worries and clings a lot. Make of that what one will. ]

[Waver hummed thoughtfully to himself, free hand brought to his face as he thought over the implications of that.]

Sensible enough, even if I can't say any such concept truly exists in my own world. Not that I'm aware of, at least. Familiars of varying types often have direct links to their maste-... [He paused, apparently bothered by his own terminology.] -to the mages that conjure them. The idea of an entire world that would essentially be extrapolating on that base concept is...not impossible, but certainly a new idea as far as I know.

We're still researching it ourselves.

[ Pause. That sounds like he's not giving credit where credit is due. Ken finds it interesting, and helps where and how he can, but...

He's much better at seeing how the pieces fit together once they're already there. Or at digging into whys, not hows (and, frankly, when he thinks metaphysics it's usually related to the negative-emotions side of things; not proud, but that's where he's got the experience, he might as well use it for good now). He admires everyone who's been working to piece this together. ]

--Some friends of mine are.

[ Wormmon continues to gaze upwards in utter adoration. Ken-chan is so smart! But so modest! ]

[He raised an eyebrow at the correction, barely concealing a smirk that might have been very nearly a smile.]

You don't say. [That kind of deflection sounded...very familiar.] You make it sound like you're not researching it with them.

Mostly I listen. [ It's accurate, right? He's...nothing special, here. It's Koushirou-san who's the amazing one, and Miyako-san, and...

Wormmon sits up straighter. Even though he's a Digimon himself, talk about what make Digimon Digimon tends to go over his head, but -

Mister Waver Professor should know exactly what an incredible person he helped out today, and Wormmon is going to make sure this happens! ]

Ken-chan is clever! He listens and then he figures out what it means!

Does he, now?

[busted]

Exactly as I suspected. The ones who speak the most about their talents are often the ones who have the least of it.

[ Ken laces his fingers together, arms looped around Wormmon. Hi pal.

Does he really contribute...? Maybe....he does. In his own way. He's not sure "talent" is the word he'd use to describe himself, but -

He's glad. If he's contributing, that means he's been of help to his friends. ] I'm just looking for the things I can do.

...Come to think of it, I knew a student once, a long while ago. [not necessarily his student, just a student.]

He couldn't do anything without downplaying it, talking about how other mages could achieve a similar result in however many different ways. Not an ounce of common sense to his name, this kid. Reckless, too. But he wasn't stupid by any means; he just had to learn what only he was capable of and celebrating it instead of measuring himself next to everyone else and suffering with what he thought he lacked. I'm sure he didn't find it all that easy, clueless as he was, but it came down to adjusting how he saw things.

[ A student. Got it. (Possibly. He doesn't want to jump to conclusions.)

Ken assessed himself accurately in one regard: he's an attentive listener. He blinks a few times at the words "measuring himself next to everyone else" and their aftermath, but other than that, his gaze is level, thoughtful.

He's being told this story because.... ]

I hope he did adjust.

Who knows? Maybe he got lucky.

[Boy, had he ever.]

What I'm saying is, you seem like a smart kid and it's pointless to sell yourself short. Modesty's one thing, but downplaying whatever you do contribute is only going to start making you believe the idea that it's never enough. That'll make you second-guess where you shouldn't until you drive yourself crazy.

I see. Even when not comparing yourself, if you don't accurately assess your own efforts, your mind can still impose pressure.

[ He'd never thought of it like that before. No wonder this man is an instructor!

And...it's kind of nice. To know that "a student" had been out there like that, not just Ken. ]

Thank you, Professor.

I'll help! [ Wormmon has reached the part of the conversation he understands again. ] When Ken-chan can't believe in himself, I'll believe in him until he does too! So it'll be all right.

[ ....Ken loves this bug. ]

Don't mention it.

[Waver laughed under his breath, shrugging with his left shoulder.]

You will, hm? I hear that dumbass kid had a partner talking sense into him too, so maybe you'll manage to keep your friend straightened out.

Silence in the Library

An Apple a Day

Sprockets and Skysong

Team One

Team Two

Team Three

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it has also just occurred to me that these two boys with same hair grow up to solve MYSTERIES

such is life as the ensemble darkhorse.

and yet i'm at the wrong age for a romi park joke in this tag

alas

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