Test Drive Meme 016

[voidtreckermods]

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.

Comments

Meng Yao | The Untamed

[ayao]

Silence in the Library

The first characters that leap from the book in his hands astound him and Meng Yao watches them intently. For safety's sake, he doesn't close the book. What if by doing so he trapped them forever? He certainly doesn't want tiny imps disturbing him at odd hours! It's bad enough that he must be imprisoned on this train.

So he lays the book on the floor and tries to nudge them back onto its pages with the toe of his boot.

"What spell is this?" he queries, pursing his lips when the characters refuse to be led. Taking a seat, he continues to watch them, trying to solve this mystery. It would be thoughtless of him to just leave them. Movement gets his attention and he peers around one of the shelves.

"Hello?"

An Apple A Day

Being tossed down stairs is no small matter. When he arrives on the train, he is limping noticeably. That means he spends at least a few days being healed. If his golden core was stronger, this wouldn't be such a fuss.

It is rather boring after awhile and he can only sleep so much. Meng Yao ends up exploring the other rooms and levels, using a crutch to help him along.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you."

Only he isn't. He longs for any company badly.

Re: Meng Yao | The Untamed

[bluejade]

Given Jade and her stupid bruised ribs were mostly trying to hurry up and heal so she can leave, she isn't going to look company in the mouth, even if she's still learning who (and what) everyone on the train is.

And that some of them weren't used to people not of their own species.
"You're not. I'm very bored."

[ayao]

She...causes him to pause. His eyes widen faintly and then he bows - as deeply as he is able with his crutch. While he has seen many ghosts and demons, he has never seen someone like her.

"I understand! The least they could do is leave us some books."

[bluejade]

"There's supposed to be a library somewhere on this train," Jade said. "I didn't break my legs, so if I could go out, I could bring some back."

Library

[utulien_aure]

"Nothing usual," a voice nearby volunteers, belonging to a figure with long dark hair and oddly bright eyes lingering near a set of shelves.

"If you find it disconcerting, perhaps you should consider putting it aside. These things rarely last longer than a week, in my experience."

[ayao]

Meng Yao is struck by Fingon's beauty and he rises immediately, giving the Elf a deep bow, his hands clasped before him.

"Forgive me, imagining book creations wandering about sets me ill at ease. I have no intention of opening another book, but I have already erred." he motions at the tiny characters running about under the tables.

[utulien_aure]

"I would not say 'erred,'" he says, with a subtle shake of his head.

It's not so far from a normal bard's trick to Fingon, but he won't comment too much on that. He's seen Men get uneasy about such things before.

"The books are going a bit wild, that's all; I imagine it disconcerts many here. Though if you truly dislike the experience, I would advise avoiding the cinema car. The experience is not dissimilar, though on a larger scale."

[ayao]

"What would you call it?" he carefully takes a seat again, crossing his hands in his lap.

The answer confuses him and he shows it, his brow furrowing in thought. So...this...is normal? He really has no idea what to make of this...train.

"I thank you for the warning." his gaze drops to the floor humbly, "I am Meng Yao."

[utulien_aure]

"I would call it..." he pauses, turning his head to the side, "encountering something you could not reasonably expect."

Books generally don't pop up with living characters, after all.

"Fingon son of Fingolfin. Well met."

[ayao]

"And that happens often, I take it." so much so that the other...man?...does not blink? Meng Yao has noticed those pointed ears and the ethereal beauty. If he were to guess, he is not speaking to a regular man - or perhaps not a man at all.

"If I am being too nosy, I apologize, but you are not a man, are you?"

[utulien_aure]

"The train is an unusual place," he shrugs, "and one full of surprises."

An amused look crosses his face.

"I expect that rather depends on what you define as a man, does it not? Here, it often seems to denote males of any race."

Do not go to the Eldar for counsel, for they will delight in giving indirect answers.

Library

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang hears a familiar voice as he is browsing through the shelves of the library. He doesn't do a lot of reading and the books here aren't exactly in his realm of interests but every once in awhile he can find one that can hold his attention.

As he comes around the corner he quirks his eyebrows upwards and there is a smirk that forms on his lips. Of all the people the train decides to bring..this is the last one he would have expected.

"Never expected to see you here."

Not that any of them really had a choice in the matter.

[ayao]

They have pretended to not know one another for the sake of keeping up certain ruses. But all of those plans are rather meaningless onboard this strange contraption. Thus Meng Yao meets Xue Yang's gaze and rises from his seat, doing his best to not step on the heroes and villains gallivanting at his feet.

"A-Yang."

Yes. Not Xue Yang.

"I admit I never suspected a place like this existed."

[xue_yang]

Their history is a complicated one but Xue Yang had always done everything Meng Yao had ever asked of him. Perhaps because he found it interesting to watch him weave his little plan behind everyone's backs. It is truly fascinating to watch someone weave such a complicated web.

"I don't think any of us have." Not in any dark cultivation text did he ever hear about alternative dimensions or voids or any of the crap he has seen since being aboard this train.

"Out of curiosity..what is the last thing you did before coming here?" Because Xue Yang has experienced people from different points of time here and he doesn't want to make a mistake and say something that the man won't understand. Hell..if people who are supposed to be dead can be here then anything is possible. He is one of those people.

[ayao]

If he had known he could be harried off to another dimension on a whim, he would have made provisions for it. He would have studied the phenomena. In a way, strangely, he is glad he didn't know. The entire process would have distracted him with fear, leaving him vulnerable to the matters in their world.

His web requires all of his attention, after all.

"I was pushed down some stairs by my father." he answers tightly, softly, the strain showing on his pale features, "What do you remember, A-Yang? Something good?"

[xue_yang]

The gap in their memories is a little overwhelming. But it is not completely unexpected. Even when Xingchen had been here...he had come from way before as well.

"I wouldn't say it was good. I was whisked away just before my death. My future is now only on this train."

Which he has accepted in a way. He doesn't look forward to going home to his death. And it is okay. He has had some fun moments here too.

"I'm a few years ahead of you in the story of our lives." A playful joke considering they are in a library.

[ayao]

He jerks at the news, his eyes narrowing. Xue Yang...dies? It had always been a possibility and yet he finds the idea unpleasant. Can it be avoided? What causes it?

"What did you do?" his hand rises to rest on the table, his fingers flexing to release some of his tension, "A few years is hardly good enough. I never ordered you to die."

Would he give such an order to anyone? Maybe.

Apple

[marriedanidiot]

Nerdanel looks up and tsks, immediately bustling over to take his elbow and help him to a seat.

"Ai! Young one, what are you doing up! You should still be resting. Sit, sit, my dear. Are you hungry?"

[ayao]

He immediately flushes, awed that she has come to his aid. Her touch makes the color deepen on his cheeks and once he is seated, he gazes up at her shyly.

"I - yes. A little." he admits, "I wanted to understand where I have been taken, that's all."

[marriedanidiot]

She smiles at him, so obviously young and a little flustered, reaching over to smooth his collar down with a maternal hand.

"That is fair, but you must not strain your injuries! Does anything hurt, at the moment? And then you can ask me what you will, and I will try to answer."

[ayao]

She's...a mother. He can tell that much. His mother had been sweet like her and Meng Yao misses her every day. If only she hadn't been trapped in that brothel...

"My leg aches."

He is lucky that only his leg aches. Being thrown down a long flight of stone stairs is enough to kill someone.

"I know we are on a train and that we are meant to traverse between worlds. I just don't understand my purpose for being here."

[marriedanidiot]

"Let me see if I can ease that a bit for you." She smiles at him encouragingly and bends to lay her hand on his leg and Sing the soft charms for easing pain and encouraging healing that every mother knows.

"Did that help?" She sits back on her heels to smile up at him.

"Ah, well, the purpose is to help people, or at least, that is the assumption! We're not exactly told." She smiles wryly. "But that is the basic principle of the missions - we stop somewhere that needs our help. And then we can give it, or not, as we please. But that is clearly why we are here."

[ayao]

He should object, he knows. She is only being polite, he tells himself. Yet there is a part of him that misses this motherly fussing. It has been two years since he lost Meng Shi and he hasn't accepted her death completely.

What he is not expecting is for the charms to work! The tension in his leg eases and he blinks at her in wonder.

"Y-Yes. You have my gratitude." he tries his best to bow to her while still seated. The motion looks a little silly and he knows it, his cheeks reddening.

"Cultivators are supposed to help others. Maybe I'm where I should be." he smiles faintly, trying not to think about any of the Jins.

Apple

[firstjade]

Except someone intercepts him as Meng Yao starts to hobble out of the Medical Carriage. Xichen draws in a quick breath of surprise before smiling, though there's a small crease of concern at the limp.

"Should you be up and about?"

He doubts this! He reaches for an arm to support the other man with the clear intent of getting him right back to bed.

"Would you allow me to sit with you a while?" He doesn't get his hopes up for a positive answer, though he has Liebing, maybe he can help speed up that healing!

[ayao]

His heart leaps the moment he sees him and suddenly his leg doesn't matter at all. This is...Lan Xichen. It must be. Yao inhales sharply and bows - or attempts to. The motion is halted with the hand on his arm.

"...I w-would be honored!"

To put it lightly. Yao may not have his memories of their first meeting though he will when apped, but he is absolutely enchanted by the other man.

There are cuts on his forehead and lip as well as bruising. He looks like he has been in a brawl with some stairs.

"Zewu-Jun, when did you arrive?"

How could he have missed him?