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

[its_dad_sanzo]

That earned a happy little applause from Koumyou, even as the movie marched onward on the screen, now thoroughly ignored by the high priest.

"Well I for one will be cheering them on!"

As if.

[fun_thementalist]

Before long, the actual ending of the movie was playing out, and it involved some kind of alien blue beam from the sky and more explosions and robots. Gen liked the design of the robots, anyway. They just looked neat.

He glanced at his new movie-watching companion as the film's hero was receiving his accolades, and asked him curiously, "So, what would you be interested in watching next?"

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Oh, I haven't seen any of these before," Koumyou waved a hand vaguely at the screen, "I wouldn't even know where to start!"

Televisions were rare in Shangri-la, and certainly not something you'd find in most temples.

[fun_thementalist]

"Neither have I, to be honest," Gen said looking amused. "Any movies or shows I've ever seen don't seem to be available here. But you can kind of tell from the covers."

Gen went over to the cabinet and opened it, humming a little. Then, he rifled through the disk boxes and held them up for Koumyou to see.

"Super hero movie, romantic comedy, buddy cop movie, spy flick, frat boy kind of comedy, kiddie cartoon ..."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Oooh," Koumyou considered for a second, then brightened, "super hero! That sounds fun! There can be drama, and friendship, and... heroics? Super heroics?"

Someone doesn't know what a superhero is, but he's on board anyway.

[fun_thementalist]

"There are all of those things, indeed!" Gen laughed a little. "And usually, spandex, or special effects, and lots of explosions. Let's see what happens in this one ... I hope they at least have a creative origin story."

Gen went to set the movie up, before returning to his seat. He picked the same one next to Koumyou, because if the movie proved boring, they could just make up something different instead.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Ooh, explosions!" Koumyou clapped a little for that thought. "These movies seem to use those a lot!"

He... hasn't seen many movies. At all. This might be his second one ever.

[fun_thementalist]

There's a number of different people on this train - from different eras of technology, or even alien worlds. Gen presumed that this man came from such a world, raising his eyebrows.

"These particular kinds of movies do," Gen agreed cheerfully. "Just like if you wandered into a bookstore that only sold historical works, you'd think that all books contained a good deal of murder."

He thought it would be safe the man at least had books, because he often saw him around with a funny little scroll with writing on his shoulders, didn't he?

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou held up a finger at that. "All the good ones do!"

And indeed, that weird scroll was perched on his shoulders even now, just draped there over the train-issued clothing like it was perfectly normal to walk around with paper around your neck.

[fun_thementalist]

Gen giggled a little. "Fair, fair, if that's what you want to go for. This movie might not be quite as bloody as you'd like, but sometimes people watching it a lot different than reading about it."

He hummed a little as the intro music began to play. His glance over at Koumyou, like he's making eye contact during a conversation - helped disguise his curiosity on his unusual scarf. Could he read any of the text on the scroll, perhaps? "I'm a little ashamed to admit I'm really very squeamish, myself."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Life is bloody enough, I just like the mystery in a good book!"

If Koumyou noticed the interest in his sutra, he didn't react. Frankly, any Sanzo who had held the title for more than a week was pretty used to that.

No, instead he seemed quite interested in the movie as the opening scene began. Hero origin story time! "How exciting!"

[fun_thementalist]

It's nothing that Gen could read. A tiny bit disappointing, but only a tiny bit, because, "I can appreciate a good mystery, too. And I suppose those usually have someone dead at the start, if they're not trying to find pilfered jewels or something."

But he didn't talk through the intro once the movie started to get going. If Koumyou was genuinely interested in the film - he wouldn't ruin it for him.

[its_dad_sanzo]

And yet being unreadable was the only visibly remarkable thing about the paper, other than its peculiar placement on the blond man's shoulders.

Koumyou seemed engrossed in the movie almost as soon as the action started. He audibly gasped at the dramatic moments, cheered and clapped above his head during action scenes, and actually got up to dance along with the end credits when it was over.

"Action man, action man, does whatever an action can!"

And no, he hadn't forgotten about Gen, actually wiggling his fingers at him to try to get him to join in on the dancing.

[fun_thementalist]

Koumyuo was in luck - he had someone who was quite willing to play around with is ridiculousness. His fingers were in the air too, as he swayed back and forth with the tune.

Gen sang along as well, though it’s not too long before he started to giggle.

Just what was this person up to, Gen wondered. Was he dealing with another Mentalist, of sorts?

“I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the film, my friend,” Gen told him, once he recovered from his fit of giggles.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou flopped dramatically back down into his seat once he was done dancing around, his own laughter echoing in the car.

And through all of that, the paper on his shoulders hadn't budged. The ends had flapped around with his movements like regular paper, but it had somehow never slipped from his shoulders like regular paper would have.

"Well! That one was much better, I must say!"

[fun_thementalist]

It was odd only because he insisted on wearing it. Wouldn’t that bit of paper be safer folded up somewhere? If it wasn’t important and didn’t need to be kept safe, why wear it all the time?

“It really was,” Gen smiled at him, clearly amused. “It’s my understanding the world you were kidnapped from doesn’t have movies, like this? How about radio?”

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou fanned himself with a hand, having really gotten his groove on during that first song in the credits.

"Mah-aahh, the world has all those things! My country, not so much. And certainly not in a temple!"

[fun_thementalist]

“Ah, forgive me. I was too presumptuous,” Gen knew the best way to get information was to have people correct him. But that statement did invite a straightforward question. “Are you a monk or priest?”

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I am, yes!" One or the other? Both?

[fun_thementalist]

“Oh, you’re going to have me guess,” Gen tapped his chin, thinking. What would be the silliest idea? “Well, well. You’re part of an ancient sect of fire-worshippers. You’re from a hidden island that has a very large volcano. That’s why you’re cut off from modern entertainment. No ISP wants anything to do with digging fiber or cable lines near magma.”

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou laughed again, delighted. "Yes, that sounds about right!"

Oh good now it was a game.

[fun_thementalist]

“I just hope if that’s the case, sacrificing young maidens to the fiery depths of your mountain isn’t your usual practice,” Gen shrugged, looking regretful. “On the train here, it’ll be very difficult for you to perform your rites. Plus - is it a good sacrifice for the gods, if people are revived soon after?”

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Maybe that's why I'm here, to find out!" Like Koumyou was going to dial back the ridiculousness, "As soon as the train stops somewhere with a good volcano, poof! Everyone in!"

[fun_thementalist]

“Ah, but then the super heroes that exist on the train will need to rise up to stop you!” Gen said in a dramatic tone. “Calling forth giant robots of the four cardinal elements, together they’ll form one mega machine that will bring your volcano crashing down!”

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Oh no!" Koumyou gasped, "Is one of them Action Man?! You showed me this movie to change my evil ways!"