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

[lovelikeyou]

[Rose giggles.]

Oh, no. I know a ruby and sapphire, but I'm just a rose quartz. My gem's right here, see?

[She gestures towards the gem in her stomach, turning a little so he can see it better. It's definitely not as cloudy as a typical rose quartz, but like, apparently clear ones can happen rarely and also she's a magic lady from space.]

[deferences]

Ah! Are they friends of yours, then? Being a gem yourself and all.

[when she gestures toward the gem, he scooches just the slightest bit closer to get a better look, eyebrows arched with curiosity at the sight. his first thought is that he'd like to touch it, get a feel and see if it's actually a stone, but that seems like overstepping a boundary.

so, instead, he marvels at the clearness of it, a faint smile curving his mouth before he inquires,] Are you a shapeshifter of some kind?

[lovelikeyou]

They are!

[Usually they're a singular garnet, but that's a little complex, maybe.]

Oh! Well - I can shapeshift?

[deferences]

That's amazing! [and he sounds absolutely genuine about this, despite what little information he knows.] Have you seen them here?

[wait, really? just nevermind how wide his eyes get.] What can you shapeshift into?

[lovelikeyou]

Oh - no. They aren't here, I think. But that's okay.

[Of course Rose misses them, but Garnet is doubtless better off at home. The others will need her, too.

But hey! Let's just talk about fun things!]

Nothing a lot bigger than I am, and nothing smaller than my gem, or it would just be silly. And it's hard to keep it up for too long.

[Or at least, that's what she's told. Rose has always found shapeshifting very easy. But, forget that - Rose glances around quickly, and then her form briefly glows as she shifts herself into a duplicate of Sizhui himself! With her own color palette, of course, so she's still very pink and white, but the shape's all there. She giggles.]

[deferences]

It's possibly better that way, I'd imagine.

[if people continue showing up from the worlds, who will be left to protect them? that is such an important thing too, after all!]

Oh, yes, anything smaller than your gem wouldn't... make much sense. [how would she hold such a shape without the physical form to do so? while he's considering this, his attention is more on the water, but once he notices her looking around, sizhui raises an eyebrow, tilts his head with curiosity.

then his mouth drops open in surprise. she... she's shapeshifted into him of all things! while most people might think it a bit unnerving, he's the direct opposite, looking excited and astonished, mixed with faint amusement at the fact she's still quite pink and white.] How absolutely wonderful, miss Rose! You look just like me. [he shifts even closer, considers her new form, enthralled by the idea that he's seeing himself in a way that isn't a reflection.] Well, aside from being quite pink, that is.

[lovelikeyou]

Oh - yes, that's another thing. We have to stick to the colors we have, mostly. You might be able to go a little bit lighter or darker, but I'm always going to be mostly pink.

[It's horribly inescapable! 8D 8D 8D]

[deferences]

[how...unfortunate....? oh dear.]

Is that because you are a quartz? A rose, to be specific, I suppose. Hmmm... that seems like it would make it difficult to blend in if you were trying to be inconspicuous.

[lovelikeyou]

[Rose giggles.]

I guess it would. We don't use it for that too much anymore - we mostly use it for fun, sometimes. Just to change our clothes, or our hair, for a little bit.

[deferences]

[well, that's a relief. he's certainly curious enough to inquire about why they would need to hide, keeping in mind how many different people he's met on the train, but perhaps he shouldn't dig too much on a first meeting.]

How fun! Convenient, too. Part of me wishes I could do such a thing so easily.