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!
Winter Wonderland
Experienced Voidtreckers will be the first to recognise when the announcement of a stop comes over the speakers: “Arriving at world 9126110 in ten, nine, eight…”
The doors don’t open, the train doesn’t stop. Instead, it slows, and the garden carriage opens its curved, clear roof as though it were a convertible, both sides folding back until the carriage is open to the air. The world is a picture of snow-covered mountains and sparse conifers, and within minutes the garden’s fountain and streams have iced over, soft snow coating the cobbles and benches.
The stop lasts all day, the vending machines dispense free hot chocolate, and the dressing carriage is filled with thick coats, wooly hats, and warm gloves.
Void Santa Is Coming To Town
It’s a day like any other, except that the morning announcement has a rider.
“There are packages in the luggage car for all passengers. Enjoy. ”
And indeed, it seems that something has visited during the night - the carriage at the back of the train is unusually neat, the piles of empty luggage stacked carefully near the back to make room for a huge array of wrapped objects. Void Santa, maybe? The difference between Void Santa and, say, one of the many Earth Santas or the Gyueran Spirit of Generosity, is that Void Santa doesn’t give you what you asked for.
It gives you something you wouldn’t have dared to ask for. That nerdy figurine that you eyed in the window of the store, the dress you weren’t brave enough to try on, the device you decided was too expensive. The poster of your favourite holostar, the latest risque novel from the local printworks… the list goes on.
You’ve got a present in here, better find it before someone else does!
Animal at Heart
Seibairen, world #671155003, is a world of dualities. Technologically advanced but also deeply mystical, its population is currently suffering under the rule of a nameless arcanist, a genius of artificial intelligence and magecraft who seeks to elevate her own mechanical brethren above their biological creators. Unfortunately, she is far too powerful to face directly.
Team One
The arcanist holding the world of Seibairen in thrall is particularly skilled with polymorph spells, and her first move as the Voidtreckers enter the conflict is to cast one over a wide area, transforming almost half of the force into various animals. The spell seems to be mildly incompatible with void-travellers, as those affected have turned into creatures from their homeworlds, if possible, rather than the local wildlife. The fight is still on, no time to panic!
… Or maybe some time to panic, it’s looking permanent for now. Still, the civilians need the Voidtreckers’ protection, animal or not, and it isn’t like they’ve lost any of their abilities.
Team Two
The monks of the deep peaks, trained in anti-magic combat and able to counter the arcanist and her forces, are the best hope for turning the tides. Unfortunately, their remote stronghold is blockaded the moment the Voidtreckers arrive, trapping them under a shield of pale metal and harsh light. There are several ways they and the unlucky early Voidtreckers might be freed: the power sources of the barrier, held in the centre of the arcanist’s camps, could be destroyed or sabotaged. Alternatively, the barrier could be overloaded or even broken from the inside by an ancient artefact held within the inner temple. The monks are able to guide the Voidtreckers through a telepathic metaconcert, but hurry, time is running out...
Team Three
A thaumatologist somewhere within the capital is rumoured to be able to reverse the arcanist’s strange spells, which would give the Voidtreckers a fighting chance against her directly. Several different people are claiming to be this thaumatologist, and they all have a list of ingredients they’ll need for the protective ritual and/or devices they’re offering.
At least one of them is sure to work, but there’s going to be some experimenting before that happens. Alternatively, force would find the correct researcher fairly quickly, but it would also attract attention.
Her purr grew louder. Thank you! But then she backed up to sneeze, briefly. Not that she was sick, just his comment about not being smart enough!
I think you're plenty smart enough, but Ailurin is difficult for most non-People to learn, much less master. There's such a difference between numbers of vowels and consonants! Was I being rude? I hope not, but I apologize if I was. Humans call my city 'New York', if that helps at all.
[ What if there wasn't a person but a small grey mouse hovering in the air next to Ryo? One with a serious expression and busy reading his own list?
Thanatos can't do much in his tiny state, even with his powers over death. He doesn't like to fight living beings either. All in all, the God of Death is surprisingly useless in the battle going on, so he's opting to find a way to fix this mess.
Getting work done while others go for glory isn't that much different than the usual. ]
“Yeah. A mikura is a yokai - Japanese folklore creature, basically - that Eko, the Karas before me, merged with some kind of metal and magic. They had big monster forms, but could also look like humans. And they fed on blood.”
He hesitated before continuing. “The amulet is a sign of her contract with me. It has my soul in it.”
“No, you weren’t being rude. Even if you were, I’m used to it. New York, huh... I’ve never been. But it’s pretty far away... it seems like it’s pretty different from what I’ve seen on TV.” Not like he could ever go there now, even if he wanted to.
She nodded through the first part of the explanation - that sort of change couldn't be any sort of good for the beings, if the rest of Otoha's story was anything to go by - and then her motions all drew to a standstill.
"So it's your source, not hers. Did... did it come with you?"
On the one hand, wandering souls were definitely a thing; her own experience just previous to arriving on a platform was evidence of that, but on the other.
'AND HOW!' did not come close to describing this, if Nita was imagining things correctly...
“Yeah. You can understand if I don’t tell you where it is.” It wasn’t really a suggestion. “The amulet cracked, but didn’t break... that’s how I got my memories back.”
Nita was silent for several seconds, slowly shaking her head at how it all sounded...
"So, she took your memories, as part of that contract?"
Keeping the worst of the bafflement out of her voice took effort, but she put it forth all the same.
On the one hand, it made a sort of sense - a change of physicality and spirit affecting the state of one's memory by requirement seemed far too familiar to her just now - but it still seemed incredibly unfair.
"I'd say it was a 'best of both worlds' compromise, but..."
That doesn't mean I have to continue. I'm sorry. But yes, I suppose it is. Where are you from, then? And oh, I suspect it is. I don't think I've ever watched TV myself, but Rhiow's humans do, and she says they like to dramatize things...perhaps a bit overmuch.
There might have been a few around Grand Central, but TV wasn't the sort of thing to catch Saash's attention.
She obliged by arching on her hind legs to let his fingers brush her head, whiskers still forward and eyes closing. Her tailtip vibrated slightly, and Saash began to purr.
So what were you building this for? The others seem to be play fighting in the snow, but this is a bit more of a true shelter than something one can merely duck behind to not be pelted by snow...
[It is, and it will be, but Vegeta being Vegeta needs a moment to just let out that indignation and rage at this even happening to him. Ignoring that he really should had known better, that he should and was more than capable of dodging that spell, but hadn't... And right now that can't be expressed in words, he letting loose a snarl that, well, sounded a lot more animal than normal, for a rather obvious reason as energy sparked around him.
Before letting it erupt outwards. Hopefully Saash isn't that close to him as that wave of energy exploded off him, breaking and tearing at the ground underfoot. This was all so aggravating! What kind of coward fought like this rather than facing their enemies head on?! After a few moments of letting his anger out through the blast of ki, Vegeta let out hiss of a breath before letting it dissipate off him, calming enough to allow himself to actually think clearly again.]
It is. [He finally answered, sounded more settled than before and losing a bit of tension to his new body. There's one more huff before he refocused on that beyond himself, looking to Saash as if seeing her for the first time.] Did the same happen to you?
“A little... my brother liked movies and some were set there. I’m from Shinjuku. It’s part of the Tokyo area. It has -“ ... Wait. “Had about three hundred thousand people, I think. Don’t know the death toll from Eko’s mess yet. It’s a colorful mess of bright lights and shady deals. There’s a lot of company headquarters there, too.”
“... I don’t know what the plan was. Try to get people to believe in yokai again... but now I think the plan is to watch as the city rebuilds. Eko’s machines, even the ones that weren’t mikura, tore through a lot of buildings.”
Then, almost as an afterthought - “And people. I don’t have a clue what the death toll is.”
[Luckily, she's good with shields, and she's sort of expecting, well. Something to happen. Saash doesn't blame him for his fit of pique, at least--if she'd been transformed to something not herself, she'd probably be as angry and discombobulated as he is.]
Me? Oh, sweet Iau, no! I've always been a cat. [Though she can't help but express a bit of whisker-forward amusement at the question.]
This was unusual, and Trunks wasn't surprised to find he was the only one who was curious. He was only mildly surprised to find Vegeta there. It was still weird to him that his father was there--a mostly good weird though.
So Trunks floated up to be nearby, bundled up only slightly, and with two hot chocolates. One offered out to the saiyan prince silently.
[ The last time Bulma had been caught out in the snow hadn’t been all that long ago. Then, of course, she’d been in a full body snow suit (What? She’s used to more tropical weather in West City!) and accompanied by Whis – IE, much more protected from the chil and imminent explosionsl. To say the least she isn’t too thrilled about a train situation, much less with the top open and the temperatures dipping below what she’d like.
Warm options available or not, Bulma is more than a little sour about the change in weather, as evidenced by the annoyed pucker of her lips that seems to fall on her face whenever she’s not chit chatting or otherwise emoting in conversation.
She also has the option to stick close to her overly warm husband, which is what she tends to do unless breaking away to hit up the vending machine for more hot cocoa, grumbling to herself : ]
I swear, this is the last time I go somewhere cold.. who the hell enjoys this weather other than Vegeta?
ii. void…. santa… ?
“There are packages in the luggage car for all passengers. Enjoy. ”
[ Sorry any nearby fellows on the train, there’s a quick view of one Spoiled Bulma Briefs’ nose wrinkling for a moment as she thinks about a gift being picked for her. There’s just something inherent about being the richest woman in her world that makes her skeptical about a train picking out a gift that might actually be useable.
… And maybe she’s just a little salty that it could literally be any lab equipment and she’d be forced to be at least passably happy about it because she has exactly zero lab equipment on board at the moment.
Still, she can be found with a package in hand, rolling it over as if debating opening it up, a little, unsure frown on her face at the news that some of the presents haven’t quite been .. up to snuff. If she catches someone lingering too long, her brows will shoot up for a moment, as if asking ‘what?’
Perhaps she’s picked a few things up from her grumpy Saiyan husband after all. ]
How was your gift? Any good?
iii. animal at heart – team three
[ Bulma may not be a fighter like the rest of her family, but she is a scientist. Naturally this means she drifts toward testing thaumatologists and their recipes… well, and the fact that she very much would prefer Vegeta in his human instead of cat form, thankyouverymuch.
So, with that little force of will in mind, Bulma will, in her usual way, try to take control of the situation, trying to catch the eye of others walking away from supposed ‘thaumatologists’ with lists in hand with a quick ‘come here’ gesture, pointing to her own list to compare ingredients and parts lists. Naturally, parts lists are more her thing, as a woman who’s made a couple time machines and other things in her time, so there are two questions on the docket here for anyone that she catches : ]
So, do you have a parts list or an ingredient list?
[ Or, alternately, asked loudly : ]
Does anyone around here know spells?! It’s not really my thing but I don’t have time to gather all of this and test them. There’s gotta be a system of elimination we can do here, right?
[ Scientific method for magic… sure… plausible? ]
iv. wildcard
[ Of course! Is there a prompt you want to do but I don’t quite have it here for you? Hit me with it! Unsure about it? Shoot me a PM and we can chat! C: ]
[ Koumyou's certain he hasn't met this guy before, so that means... ]
We must be from the same world!
[ Tormenting Zechs entirely forgotten (for now), the priest invites himself to slide into the seat across the table from Gojyo. ]
No one else has known what I am just from looking. What region are you from?
[ Somewhere within Shangri-La, surely, as the Sanzos all tended to stay within it, for the most part. But as Gojyo well knew, it was a truly massive land. ]
Oh, in Japan? I've been to Japan, but I don't think I went to that area. Mostly because she'd been busy at the time. Saash and her team had been there to take care of the local gating complex. No time to carouse or play--which Urruah had been rather sad about. His favorite thing was sampling the local cuisine, after all. He was definitely a foodie, that tom was.
You miss it. I understand. I miss my home, too...and even Abha'h. And his flea powder..."
"It's really not that bad, is it?" Trunks was slightly bundled up--more as a just in case measure than anything else, as the cold didn't bother him so much. But he has two hot chocolates in his hand, and offers one to his-but-not-his-mother.
He'd be surprised; Saash had visited the library often enough on her own, to say nothing about doing so with the rest of the gate team for various reasons...
You don't mind having a break to pet me? There was amusement in her voice, to say nothing of the expression she wore--blinking slowly, whiskers forward, and purring rather loudly. Oooh, yes, there, right there! Harder!
She didn't seem to be shy about giving direction, when she felt it necessary.
[Raven had tried, and failed, to dodge the polymorph spell. Nor is she at all happy to be changed, once again, into a small white bunny. At least her powers seem to still work.
She slides a glance over to the house cat, and sighs.]
I'm sure this could be worse somehow, but this seems bad enough.
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