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

[its_dad_sanzo]

Signals?

[ Koumyou finds it after ramping up the pinching just enough, lingers for a second as though trying to figure out what that is, and then lets go. Huh. ]

Like... your pulse? Or... oh! Like that mudra you tried to do, when you gave me your name?

[ And he demonstrates the hand gesture he'd seen, because it had been enough of a curiosity to stick in his memory for at least a little while. Middle finger to thumb, and a flick. ]

[subcircuits]

No, the one that monitors my pulse is here. [He draws his hand back and turns it over, tapping the center of his wrist.] Well, one of them.

Mudra? [He tilts his head, brow furrowing-- then his expression clears when Sanzo imitates his gesture from before. He shifts a little self-consciously.] Oh, that. Well, yes, actually; I was trying to send my public cookie to the Interface that you don't. have.

[its_dad_sanzo]

I was slightly confused when you didn't chant, and when nothing happened.

[ Koumyou admits it easily, and then something dawns on him and he claps his hands together once, enthused. ]

You use gestures like for spellcasting, to use your technology!

[ Is that neat or what? ]

[subcircuits]

Unfortunately, I'm still getting used to nothing happening when I do that. [He shakes his head.] It's so automatic.

[His face lights up when Sanzo draws that comparison.] I never thought of it like that!

[its_dad_sanzo]

How fun!

[ Get high enough in technology, and maybe the lines between it and magic started to get a little bit blurred! ]

What other gestures do you do that usually does something?

[subcircuits]

[It's almost like there's some kind of platitude from Before about that-- not that Devero would know it.]

That's like asking what functions of my body usually do something. A lot of the gestures repeat; it's what system you're networked with that interprets them. [A laugh.] But since the only network I've got right is with this--

[He taps his interface, and then heaves up out of the cinema seat.] Let's see... This activates low-light mode on the forward camera, this switches it to no-light, and this resets it back to normal. This to playback from the video buffer, this to clip and this to save, this to start active recording...

[Each this is accompanied by a movement. Sometimes it's as small as just the fingers on one hand, sometimes of the hand and arm together. All the gestures are quick, and back in his home reality would be subtle. Maybe not so much in places where people don't use their hands to control the technology around them, though.]

[its_dad_sanzo]

[ And Koumyou watches with full attention, so curious it's almost palpable. The gestures really are quite similar to some he'd seen other monks use in the past, but not exactly. That would have been a little too weird! ]

Oh! That one's similar to making a fire!

[ He remembered that one! Even if he'd never needed it, himself. ]

And I understood... some of those words!

[subcircuits]

[This is all so mundane to him that Sanzo's interest almost makes him a little uncomfortable. But turnabout is only fair play, and it wasn't too long ago that he'd been just as intent on learning about the other man's magic.]

Huh! This one? [He repeats the gesture in question, which once again triggers the last 20 seconds or so of his video buffer to play back in his eyes screen. A quick wiping motion with the same hand clear the image away again.

He taps his Interface.] Basically what that all means is I can see in the dark using this, and I can record videos of things I see. Is that any better?

I just wanted to start a fire in a (non) crowded theater

[its_dad_sanzo]

That is! That sounds very useful, if also maybe a bit troublesome.

[ Gods know Koumyou has little reason to ever want to play back anything he's seen. He's usually doing his best to forget most of it as quickly as he can.

But maybe in some situations? Like during all that shit that had gone down during the Nion mission. How much easier might it be, to just post a video to the network and let everyone figure out for themselves what was so important about the futile, botched attempt to rescue Halo, or what her strange SCA had had recorded on it for them to find.

Koumyou certainly didn't feel up to the task of explaining it. Good thing there had been four other people there, each with more context at their disposal than the last!

But he shoves all of that out of his mind just as fast as he shoves most things he doesn't want to dwell on. ]

--See, the one the other monks use is like... this.

[ And Koumyou makes a gesture that's similar to the one Devero had just repeated. It's not the same, but the basic idea is there. And he holds it in place. ]

And the chant is um... how did that go...

[ He's really visibly wracking his brain, here. ]

On taritsu tabori-tsu para-boriysu shayan-mei shayan-mei tara-rasan-tan... uh... raeinbi... so... sowaka?

[ And the back of the seat Devero had just vacated earlier, suddenly lights up in flames! Really big ones! Oh, shit! ]

[subcircuits]

It's been pretty useful for me.

[Devero stands back and watches with interest. Interest enough, in fact, that he triggers the video recorder on his Interface Eye to record the demonstration, in case he wants to relive how cool this is review the footage later.

So his Eye records the gesture-- similar indeed to the one he'd made-- and records Sanzo's struggle to remember the chant, and records--]

Shit!

[--as Devero jumps back from the sudden flames.

Recording forgotten, Devero stares shocked for a second at the robust fire consuming the top of the seat. Then his Guard training kicks in and, without really consciously deciding to, he strips off his shirt and hoodie in one motion and rushes forward to try and smother the flames.]

Tell me you can turn this off again!

[its_dad_sanzo]

--Ah...

[ Koumyou hesitates, and then points a finger up at the fire sprinklers overhead. Just gonna borrow some water, here.

In a hurry, too. So.

So not only does a loudly-roaring Eastern dragon made out of water come speeding down from the ceiling to drench the fire...

And maybe also Devero and his very possibly also-on-fire shirt and hoodie...

But then the water keeps coming down in a sporadic spray, the sprinkler head hitting the carpet with a loud thump. ]

[subcircuits]

[Yup, Dev is absolutely in the splash zone where the water dragon comes down. The impact of the water actually knocks his Eye off his face and staggers him back from the cinema seat.

He backs off further than that, stunned at first by the deluge. His eyes are a little shell-shocked when he turns to face Sanzo-- and his hair is plastered over his eyes and his tattoos are on full display and his muscles are-- Anyway.]

...Ah. Well. The fire's out.

[But he pulls himself together, looking up at the spitting sprinkler pipe in the ceiling and then around for the head. He walks over and toes it where it hit the carpet, then looks up at Sanzo.]

This is what you meant about restraint, isn't it?

[its_dad_sanzo]

...I'm really bad at it!

[ Koumyou shields his eyes with one hand, and squints up at the burst sprinkler line. A second to think about it, and he raises a hand to make a sharp grabbing motion at the hole in the pipe.

The metal kinks shut, just barely dripping now. ]

...Might be time to run, before someone comes in and finds us!

[ Time to not get in trouble! Maybe! It's more fun to at least try. Which is why as Koumyou goes sprinting out of the cinema carriage, he's already laughing. ]

[subcircuits]

[Well, that solves that problem, at least. Not for the first time, though, Devero wishes he had Babysitter here. It would be so easy to position the exo, lock it, and then just climb up and replace the head. The ceiling wasn't that high in here.

But he doesn't have his exo, and his wetware alone isn't enough to get up there. Damn it. He turns to ask Sanzo what they can do next--

Oh. There he goes.

He has an instant to make a decision. Stay, and try to get this fixed, or make like his new friend and bolt. His conscience tells him to remain and accept culpability for his part in this, like a good boy citizen--

But this isn't his home, and things don't work the way he expects them to here. He scoops up his soaked garments from the back of the scorched chair, snatches his Interface up from where it had skittered off to, and takes off after the other man.]

Sanzo, wait for me!

[its_dad_sanzo]

[ Koumyou does let him catch up, but otherwise... they're off! And he doesn't stop running until they're in the garden car, where the humidity might help cover their tracks.

The priest leans a hand against a wall and just laughs, slightly out of breath. ]

[subcircuits]

[Devero puts his back to the same wall and braces his hands on his knees, a touch winded himself. He looks sidelong at the laughing Sanzo.] Do we report that? We should probably report that.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Should we, though?

[ If the highest-ranking priest in all of Buddhism is supposed to be a good influence, no one's told Koumyou that.

For now, he just plucks the sutra from his shoulders and tucks it into one of his billowing sleeves. The breastplate comes off over his head next, vanishing into his Arms Band with a brief pop of golden light.

Then he's busy shrugging out of the top of his robes, letting the heavy silk hang down off his waist to dry. ]

...Hey, are those wires, too?

[ Complete with a curious finger-poke at some of Devero's circuitry tattoos. ]

[subcircuits]

[Bafflement.] Yes? We broke it. [Technically you broke it, pal, but Dev still considers himself culpable. He's like that.

He straightens up, watching-- oh, hello soldier. Devero is a man who very much appreciates a trained physique when he sees one, and he appreciates what he's seeing right now as Sanzo partially disrobes. He tries not to stare too obviously, because that's rude, but damn.

He's shaking out his bundle of clothes when he gets poked, and jumps a little.] Wha-- oh! [A laugh.] No, those are just tattoos. My Implant looks a lot different from my ink.

[its_dad_sanzo]

[ The fact that the skin-tight... leather? that can't be leather, it's too form-fitting ...whatever it is, is wet, probably doesn't help matters any, either. Got a little extra shine to it. A little shimmer, over every sleek muscle.

Sanzo robes have layers, just like the priests. ]

Tattoos, huh?

[ But that jump amuses Koumyou, so he pokes again. ]

Did you get them because you like technology so much?

[subcircuits]

[It is a lot harder not to stare at him up close, especially given that there's even more to see from this distance. He's tempted by that leather, so shining and sleek. As a matter of fact, he knows how fine and well-worked leather has to be to hold that tightly to the body wearing it. He would know.

This time when he flinches it's from embarrassment more than surprise. Don't stare!]

--Y-yes. Er-- a lot of hiteks get circuits inked up somewhere. Where I come from, if you see somebody with circuit-work like this, it's a safe bet they've got an extensive Implant of some kind hiding under their skin.

[its_dad_sanzo]

You're so jumpy!

[ Koumyou laughs, and goes to sneakily poke at a line over a rib, next. ]

Is it because you think we're going to get in trouble?

[subcircuits]

S-sorry--

[There is no way he's going to tell the other man it's because of his proximity. The poke in the rib elicits a choked sound of protest, and he slides hurriedly away and out from the wall, putting a couple of paces between them.]

Will we? We wouldn't at home, but I-- I don't know what to expect, here.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Are you running away?

[ Koumyou is horribly amused, considering all the shit they've gotten up to before now.

And so he just trots after him, one hand poised for more tattoo-poking. ]

I don't think there'll be trouble, no. Besides, I set the fire and broke the sprinkler. If anyone wants to yell at me about it, I'll just ignore them!

[ He really would, too. ]

[subcircuits]

No! [Yes.

He holds his scorched hoodie-and-shirt up in front of his torso like a shield, continuing to back off.]

But-- but we both-- [Ah but Dev, you're not home. He doesn't understand how this place works yet, but he's seen enough to know it's not the way he's used to. The man pauses, and makes a conscious decision to drop it. The ruined clothes droop in his hands as he releases a deep breath.] --You'd know better than I would. All right.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Are you ticklish?

[ Just gonna... just gonna... get closer and-- poke! Over the top of Devero's drooping clothes in his hands. ]

Even if anyone here had any authority, I barely even answer to the gods themselves! It could certainly be amusing if they tried.