Test Drive 018

[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.

Happy testing!

Heated Debate

The spa carriage, the newest addition to the train, boasts sunlamps and loungers, massage tables stocked with fluffy towels and a variety of oils and lotions, an enclosed sauna… Soothing birdsong fills the warm, scented air, and the terminals offer several masseuse courses or a playlist of relaxing music.

In pride of place, a three-tiered heated bath in the centre of the room, each tier able to fit five people comfortably.

‘Comfortably’? Well, it could definitely fit more, but it might get a little awkward, depending on your feelings on personal space. Ditto with the sauna, really. But the important thing is, you got here first.

Didn’t you?

Getting Draughty In Here

The lower floor of this carriage is open and sprawling, with two wide, low tables and plenty of cushions and beanbags. The walls are lined with shelves and wooden chests, both filled with games. Board games, card games, you name it, though train themes feature heavily. On a shelf of its own sits a case of Duel Monsters cards.

The upper floor is split into two. One half has a pile of oversized games - lawn jenga, twister, giant connect4 - and the other, sectioned off with soft rope barriers, hosts a screen, a console, and a variety of video game controllers, including four VR headsets.

Perhaps you’re testing yourself in one of the VR Crisis simulators. Perhaps you’re learning the rules of a competitive card game a little too well, and your friendships are suffering accordingly. Perhaps you’ve convinced someone to play twister with you..?

Shiver Me Timbers

You are aboard the PNV Vexation, a first-rate ship accompanied by several escort vessels currently halfway through a voyage across the Sunsea of Yarra, AKA #59352110. The cargo she carries is of utmost importance, and must reach the Shining Port intact.

The pirates who sail the Sunsea have other plans.

Team One

The Vexation has several sloops in tow - the best of which are the Gemstone Heart, the Fallen Lord and the Duckling. Team One is split across the three sloops, and can use their greater speed to good effect in boarding actions. Your job is simple - sink every unmarked ship that approaches the Vexation. The captains are cooperative and daring, and happy to lend out boarding axes and pistols. The pirates are less happy.

Team Two

Back aboard the Vexation, it seems that either the crew are playing tricks, or something more sinister is going on - whispers of spirits roaming the deck at night, strange screams or whimpers in the hold. Lights off the starboard bow. The day holds no such terrors, and shipboard life is mostly ropes, deckwork and stints on the masts, but as the mission continues, the crew are getting more and more restless… Team Two needs to figure out the source of these strange events, before they incite the crew to mutiny.

Team Three

Unbeknownst to the crew, on the second day of the mission, the precious cargo is loaded onto the fourth and fastest of the Vexation’s escorts, the Sun’s Edge, and sent ahead, while the fleet remains as as a decoy. Team Three are sent aboard the Edge to crew the ship and keep the treasure - something sealed in a large, padded steel pyramid - safe. The pirates don’t notice the deception, but the sea serpents definitely do, and with just one serpent able to wrap its entire length around the Edge, the third day is a harrowing one.

Comments

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[deferences]

He himself has only played a few of the actual console sort of games and definitely not anything where one needs to wear a headset alongside wielding a controller. When Lan Sizhui peeks into the game room, his eyes widen almost comically at the sight of Wen Ning, mouth dropping open with surprise. How many people is this train going to take from his homeworld for immortals' sake? (Too many, it would seem, but he can't deny being happy to see someone he actually knows.)

“Uncle Ning?” comes his soft inquiry as he steps further into the car, head slightly tilted, considering. “You... you're holding it upside-down.” Because what else can he say at the moment?

[deadwenwalking]

"A-Yuan!" Wen Ning's face brightens, though he doesn't seem to surprised to see Sizhui there. After all, they'd been together at the time of his capture. In a way it's a relief, since if he wasn't here he'd be left to fret over what had happened to him in his absence or wonder if he'd been injured in the process.

He motions for the boy to come sit beside him, patting the spot with one hand. "Come show me, then. There's all these... these knobs?" He flips it over so that the buttons are up top, but also turns it around. It's now right-side-up one way and still upside-down another way. "I heard this would be a fun way to improve my hand-eye coordination." As if that needs improvement.

[deferences]

Sizhui's heartbeat jackhammers the moment Wen Ning uses his nickname, a wide, enthusiastic grin momentarily overtaking his expression. The last time he saw his uncle, they'd been seeing Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji off before heading out on their own adventure to honor their ancestors. It was both a bittersweet reunion and a promising goodbye, reassurance they'd all see each other again soon, but with the pledge to branch out afterward.

Without hesitation, he moves closer, sits down beside the older male, reaching to take the controller to flip it right-side-up properly so he can help position his thumbs on the ‘knobs.’ At least he tried and trying is what matters. “It can be, yes, but it takes some getting used to. I've played ‘Knight Quest’ quite often, it takes practice to not die.”

[deadwenwalking]

Wen Ning lets Sizhui take and readjust the controller without any argument. He stares at it in his hands afterward, letting the image of the correct position settle in his mind so he won't get it wrong next time. It makes sense, now that he looks at it - though it doesn't bring him any closer to figuring out the game itself.

Then the boy mentions dying, and Wen Ning's expression shifts to one of horror. The controller drops from his fingers.

"This game is lethal?" He wants to reach over and grab Sizhui by the shoulders, but he doesn't. They might be related, but he doesn't actually have any say over what he does. It's ultimately the boy's choice whether or not he wants to get involved in deadly video games, but he would very much like him to reconsider further attempts at them.

[deferences]

Once he's settled, the boy casts a glance around them, locating another controller that he can hold in his own hands. Not for playing – unless Wen Ning wants him to? – but feeling the device mostly helps him remember what buttons to push and how he should move the knobs for control.

Thud goes the controller from Wen Ning's hands and his head whips in that direction, eyes widened with astonishment at the reaction before he realizes— “Ah! No, no, not an actual death.” Honestly, it takes some willpower for Sizhui to not laugh at the thought, but in Wen Ning's defense, he didn't actually explain it all that well. Although, had the man grabbed him, he would've been absolutely surprised by such an outright gesture. Meanwhile, let him explain a little better to help ease the sudden panic.

“In the game, the character you're playing can die, but nothing happens to you outside of it. There are also magical healing items that keep you from expiring.” Sorry for the mild heart attack, uncle, he didn't mean to!

[deadwenwalking]

The relief shows on Wen Ning's face immediately. His shoulders relax and he allows himself to look embarrassed, even though he had no way of knowing what playing the game really entailed. He should have guessed from Sizhui's calm description.

"O-oh good. Sorry." Death in game terms only. Harmless. How silly of him. He picks up the controller again, following the boys' example in regards to holding it. In hindsight, this position makes the most sense. Or does he only think that because now he knows what the right way is?

"Not that dying in the game would be much of a concern anyway... I can't seem to get it started." The controller has to control something. So what is he controlling? Are there more knobs he needs to press?

[deferences]

Sizhui shakes his head, “It's alright, no harm done.” Maybe it should've been realized, but he could have also just explained better. Acting so nonchalant about death of all things shouldn't be something he's used to, even with a game, but especially since it's something his uncle doesn't understand.

Frankly, it's more than likely the latter rather than the former, although neither of them has anything like this back in their homeworld to make proper sense of it. If it'd been something created there, maybe positioning would make more sense? But as it stands, this was how he was taught, so Sizhui's guessing it's the only way to teach others, too.

Ah, of course. That's why they aren't doing anything yet. “Right, uhm, we should probably turn the game on.” He shifts, moves toward the console and the screen, turns both of them on before scooting back to sit beside Wen Ning once more. “Now, we might get somewhere.”