Test Drive 017

[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!

Pumpkin Patch

It seems the ingredient of the month is pumpkins. The store room is full of them, in all sort of sizes all ready to be made into delicious meals. Pumpkin soup, roasted pumpkin seeds, stuffed pumpkin, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pie. All the recipes are on the ICP and are easy enough to follow, even for those who have never seen a pumpkin before in their life.

Get cooking or perhaps passengers from worlds with Halloween festivals wish to carve the pumpkins first, creating grotesque faces or fancy works of art.

Hopefully no one eats a masterpiece!

Movie Wars

The Cinema carriage is as tall as a double carriage, but has only the one floor. Instead it features sloped seating. To enter the carriage from the sleeper carriage side you must first go upstairs. You enter at the top of the carriage, in the centre aisle with paired seating sloping downwards on either side. On the opposite wall there is a large screen and there is a door to the left of the screen once you get to ground level, to allow you into the next carriage.

On the right of the screen there is an ICP and in this carriage it has a catalogue of films and TV series. There are hundreds to chose from.

Hundreds of films to chose from and hundreds of passengers to share it with. Choosing what to watch can be difficult, agreeing what to watch can be impossible.

Are they a fan of Merry Little Voidtrain- the long running cartoon series about a Voidtrain and captain Kheli. Or perhaps a hard hitting drama about cross alien-species romance. Or an action film? A heal tapping musical about robot mice?

Choose a film, try not to argue, grab some popcorn and hope your fellow cinema goers understand cinema etiquette...

Spookstown

A series of mysterious events have struck a small town. The Voidtreckers are in need of help.

The train has brought the Voidtreckers to the town of Carcel. It is a small town with a small population in a world that is low in technology. A town of cobbled streets lined with gas lanterns. The occasional carriage drawn by strange creatures with six legs and long necks. The town is far away from any of the larger population centres of the world and yet it is here where the Voidtreckers must help.

A series of strange disappearances have rocked the town. People vanishing, sometimes from the streets but more recently from their own homes. To make matters worse the town is plagued by ghosts, invisible yet dangerous. They attack by manipulating the environment, throwing knives, tables and even people across a room. The town has descended into chaos and are in desperate need of help.

Team One

There has been some investigation into the missing people and there have been rumours of cries for help in the woods.

A thick, dark, slightly scary woods. The townspeople who are left have lanterns to borrow and promises that the path is safe and easy to follow. Don't worry about that howling, it's just the wind...

Team One must make their way through the woods to find the missing townspeople. Unfortunately for the Voidtreckers the cries and calls for help don't come from the safe paths and so they must move through the undergrowth to find the lost and confused townspeople. What's that creaking noise? Is that a shadow? What lurks in the bushes?

Team Two

Back in the village team two must try and help the villagers who are plagued by ghosts. The ghosts roam around unhindered by walls or doors. Sometimes they are just mischievous, blowing out lanterns, knocking books off shelves. Other times they are violent, throwing objects, throwing people, locking people in or out of their houses.

Protecting people against invisible enemies is no easy task. Help the town gather together, set up barricades, try and hide any dangerous objects before they can be used against the townspeople.

Or perhaps try out some traditional ghostbusting techniques. What harm can it do?

Team Three

Of course all this must have been caused by something. It seems some of the towns teenagers had found a strange cave in their ramblings not a week before. It had been full of strange objects, small gems, daggers, ancient books.

All the sort of things that probably should not be taken from their ancient resting place but of course someone had taken something. Maybe. Few of the teenagers are willing to talk and those that do are unwilling to get their friends into trouble.

Investigate, try and convince them to do the right thing. Round up the items that have been taken and return them to the cave. Hopefully that will end this nightmare!

Comments

Lan Xichen | Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

[lanxichen]

Team One

In the tense shadows of the forest, there is suddenly a soft sound of music. A xiao is being played, the sounds clear and gentle - it is easy to recognize that even if the melody may be strange, the player is highly skilled.

But more, those who move closer to the sound will discover that the forest is calmer, and even they themselves are less frightened or agitated by the surroundings. There is power in the music, and it is used to make the finding of the missing villagers - and the way back - easier.

The source of the music is an exquisitely beautiful Chinese man with long hair, straight stature, and elegant bearing. Anyone who knows Lan Wangji on the train will find he looks familiar, though the eyes are darker, warmer, if infinitely sad. But that grief does not leak into the music. There is work to do.

Team Two

Inside the village, Lan Xichen has put the xiao away, and instead is sitting cross-legged, a seven-stringed zither - a guqin - settled across his knees. The skill with the music is no less, but this time, the music is less soothing and slightly more imperative. Even though Xichen himself looks like he might be a ghost, he is that pale. But his hands are steady.

"If you have a question to ask of the ghosts, think wisely. For a while, they will answer."

Wildcard

ooc: Choose your own adventure. Ghost hunting is kind of usual for him so his skills are very good, but he is trying to understand where he is an why, so he's not going all out unless there is specific damage. Also, his item is a qiankun pouch / small bag of holding with the guqin, the flute, a set of acupuncture needles, a writing brush, and an ink/graphite stick. No forehead ribbon for him right now.

Team One

[brightjade]

Music. Familiar music. Mingjue grits his teeth, Baxia leaping into his hand as he stalks through the trees despite the soothing effect of the tune.

Had Meng Yao lied and taken up music again?

No - the source of the melody becomes clear quickly and stops him short before he lets out a relieved breath. Baxia settles. Xichen's music is safe.

"Xichen," he greets when he moves closer, pulling two of the missing people along with him.

[lanxichen]

The xiao is parted from Xichen's lips, which utter a helpless, startled, "da ge?" as he spins around to face the familiar voice...

... only to pause, blinking slightly.

Everything about being here is extremely strange, and the man standing there in a purple hoodie is ... both familiar and not.

The jade token, on the other hand. He knows that.

For another moment, he blinks in uncertainty.

Then he breathes in, pulling himself a little bit more together.

"Have any of you been hurt?" Meaning the two villagers mostly.

[brightjade]

He's slowly adjusting to the strange new style, but there is one thing he wears openly even with it. The token Xichen gave him so long ago. Mingjue studies the other, noting the differences similar to Wangji.

But still clearly Xichen, so it hardly matters. There's a smile only Xichen ever gets and he nods in greeting before encouraging the villagers to answer with a glance.

"Bumps and bruises, mostly," he suggests, and the vigorous nods agree.

[lanxichen]

Xichen is... nearly overwhelmed. The strangeness of the place is its own complication, but...

But da ge...

It has been more than ten years.

He breathes out, long and quiet.

"The woods should be safer now, at least for a little while. Let us return you home, and after, we can seek out more who have been lost."

It sounds like a statement, but there is just enough of a waver in his voice to be half a question, too.

[lanerguniang]

When she hears the soft sounds of the xiao, Lan Zhan stops.

"Jie."

She silently and quickly makes her way toward it. There is only one person she knows that would play with such skill. When she arrives in the area, her eyes narrow. The robes are vaguely familiar, the music is very familiar. The stance is very much like her sister and yet. Lan Zhan stays aside but within view, keeping an eye out for any spirits that would come forth.

She awaits for him to finish playing before she speaks.

"Where did you learn that song?"

[lanxichen]

Xichen blinks at the young woman, a stranger to his eyes, though the way she speaks sounds very familiar. He cups his hands before him in greeting--

And the slight motion brings a whiff of an also familiar scent. His eyes widen, the seemingly only part alive of a face that's far, far too fallen to belong to the first jade of Lan.

After a moment, he does speak out his guess, his voice gentle as always, but very quiet.

"Wangji?"

He might be wrong. He probably is, and he will find excuses, weak and useless, if that is the case. And... yet.

"I learned it in the Cloud Recesses, studying to ready for a night hunt."

[lanerguniang]

She gracefully moves her hands in front of her and bows back, glad for familiar manners. But when he speaks, she freezes. Her eyes narrow a little as she steps closer, searching his face.

Cloud Recesses? Then this man is a Lan. This man called her by her name without her introducing herself.

The features are familiar and Wangji lowers her guard for a moment. The sorrowful look on his features familiar to her as it is fresh in her mind. That broken look that her sister had before she locked herself away.

Wangji frowns imperceptibly. This cannot be Lan Xichen. Her sister is in seclusion. Her sister is her sister. But the calming presence, the sorrowful look deep within his eyes, the xiao. How could it not be.

"Xichen?"

[lanxichen]

Xichen's eyebrows twitch ever so slightly, because never in their lives has his brother used his courtesy name, but then.

This is not his brother. Whatever this whole situation is, and as it seems this young woman is Wangji, probably, she cannot possibly be his brother.

And, at the same time, it is not that she is not. And he is ... not focused enough to understand.

For now, he inclines his head. Then... observing, because the two of them are how they are, he swallows. "Have you found any of those lost?"

She may have, and returned to seek out more.

Team One

[ayao]

The music is unmistakably Xichen's. He rushes towards the sound before considering that maybe he shouldn't. What if Lan Xichen has the same poor opinion of him as Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang? Meng Yao trembles at the thought and yet...

He wants to see him.

That desperate, clawing need wins out and he smooths out his robe, approaching with caution. No, he won't interrupt that beautiful song. He is patient enough to wait for the man to finish, feeling breathless all the while.

[lanxichen]

The young man's face is not quite the one he remembers, when he opens his eyes and seeks out the person who waited respectfully for him to finish, but - after the previous two encounters...

There is neither resentment nor fear in anything about him. Not the eyes, not the posture. There is ... anxiousness, he thinks.

Xichen knows that Jin Guangyao is a flawless actor, and yet. He can see this kind of expression, pose, and imagine him dressed in Nie colors. Not before that, when they first met; not after that, in Jin colors. Neither while he was ... he must have been performing his father's errands, and not after, when all the world could bow before him.

He takes a breath, and realizes even the simple greeting is hard for him to get out.

But he must.

He cups his hands, but doesn't look down or away. How the address will be taken will tell him, the thinks, a lot about his guesses.

"Young master Meng."

Did he space out while trying to sort himself out? Probably. Did blood drain from his face, leaving his lips pale, when he thought he recognized the slighter figure? Also yes. But at least his voice is quiet and steady. Neutral, almost.

[ayao]

He mirrors Xichen immediately, bowing at the waist fully. And, yet, he can't look away from the other man's face either. Those handsome features are paler than he recalls - as if some great burden wears him down. Does he know? Meng Yao knows it is best to assume he does.

"Lan Xichen..." his face heats immediately upon saying the name, his heart beating harder and faster, "May I be of assistance? I have little knowledge of music..." and he has promised to stay away from it, "but I can carry a message."

No, he is a coward. Meng Yao winces at himself, hating how he avoids asking the obvious. But if he causes Lan Xichen any pain, he doesn't want to know about it. This one man...surely...has been spared?

[lanxichen]

It is the absence of a flinch, of pain, at Xichen calling him that which persuades Xichen most of all. Not even resignation clouds the sweet features, and Xichen's heart twists, painfully.

This is a Meng Yao who has not been called aught else by him. Somehow...

Somehow. Xichen's throat gets closed up for a moment, then he shakes his head slightly.

"There are villagers lost in the forest. I only wish to soothe the spirits making it difficult to find them. If you can join me, perhaps it will be easier to calm them down when we find them."

There is ... no good choice in which he sends Meng Yao away, out of his sight.

Team One

[achickenformylove]

WangJi had learned that forests were never a good place to be when it came to the Voidtrecker train. How many weird places had they been before? Too many of them.

But as he was out in the forest, guqin at his back, exploring the paths to find those who were lost, he heard the sound of the xiao. A sound that he had been hearing most of his life. Of course, he was going to follow the sound.

"Brother."

He was probably not that hard to spot, given that he was wearing his sect robes and not the clothes that the train had given them.

[lanxichen]

"Wangji."

Sect robes or not, Xichen would not mistake his brother. Sunken eyes brighten a little as they take him in, trying to orient himself.

With Wangji here, it is not as alien a place as a moment before.

He does take in the robes, after a moment, tilting his head.

"Have you been away from the Cloud Recesses for long?"

Are you all right? - but how would Wangji even put into words the answer to that question?

[achickenformylove]

And just as Xichen would always recognize him, he would always recognize him in turn. As he turned to him, eyes brightening just a little, WangJi did clasp his hands and bow to him, as a good younger brother should to their older brother.

"Months. You have just arrived?"

[lanxichen]

"I have just arrived. Before that, I have been in secluded meditation for some moons. This is all... Surprising."

Xichen returned the salute, motions less energetic than usual but no less sincere.

"Are there things I need to know?"

Or questions that Xichen could answer. He hoped that Wangji knew it still, all that Xichen knew he would share with Wangji if Wangji wanted it.

Team Two

[comefadeaway]

Yoite hadn't seen an instrument like that before, and it caught his interest, even though he couldn't hear the music it was playing. He wondered what kind of music it was, what kind of tone it could have.

He was watching his hands, yes, but also when Lan Xichen spoke and he responded.

"Are they at peace?" It was the first question he couldn't help but ask.

... welcome to hanging out with people who transfer qi/ki for healing?

[lanxichen]

Xichen looked up, nodding slightly, and played the question. He suspected the answer - spirits at peace would not cause this kind of commotion - but it was best to ask than to assume.

After he played the question, he withdrew his fingers - and the vibration of the answer, a string plucked without his touch, could be seen plainly.

"They are not." Unfortunately, ghosts did tend to answer directly the questions asked.

That's a skill he has, technically. Or he can explode people from the inside out. Choices.

[comefadeaway]

It did make sense and stand to reason that that was the case, and yet that was somehow the first question that came to mind.

Yoite frowned a little bit, but he nodded, watching the string move on its own. Presumably that had meant something to the musician.

"I see."

they have golden cores that generate/store/regulate it so if he needs a boost.

[lanxichen]

The Song of Inquiry could pose questions and, if the skill is high enough, compel to answers; the knowledge of the qin language made it possible to interpret the answers.

Xichen looked up at the young man questioning him.

"Have you encountered ghosts before?"

Team One

[eternalgrief]

The music is familiar, very familiar and Huaisang is very not happy about being in the forest and he'd been there just for numbers or something -- the usual. But following the music proves a good choice as the forest gets a little less terrifying as he went.

When he got to the source it's Lan Xichen and not... and that's a relief on several fronts.

"Zewu Jun," he bows after coming up to him, fan now closed

[lanxichen]

Xichen's breath ceases, and blood drains from his face, leaving his lips pale.

Then he cups his hands and bows back. With what he has seen and guessed, so far...

"Sect Leader Nie."

Soft, polite... Quiet. Gone are the smiles and the sweetness, but most of the time, he can manage... composure.

[eternalgrief]

Being called that is still new, still a fresh pain. He tries to keep that masked, studying the other's face.

"I'm sorry for intruding," he starts, holding his hands behind his back. "I couldn't help but follow the calmer forest."

He's not one for fighting so heading away from where it might be more dangerous is certainly natural.

"I didn't expect to find you."

[lanxichen]

Xichen blinks. The absence of I don't know, the reaction accumulated over a decade, startles him. Especially given the last time Huaisang gave him that as reaction.

"You will be safe if you stay close." It's a commitment given without hesitation. But then, after a slight pause.

"Forgive me the question, but it seems... there may be a difference between what I know and what you do. May I ask what it is you last know of home?"