Test Drive Meme 022

[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!

Mix It Up

Normally, the morning announcement has you waking up in your designated bed, in your designated cabin, with your three designated roommates. This morning, something's wrong - you're waking up in a bed, in a cabin, with three roommates. But it isn't your bed, your cabin, or your roommates.

It looks like you've all been shuffled during the night. Pity no one's belongings got the memo, you don't recognise any of this stuff. At least you're in your own pyjamas.

Let Slip The Hot Dogs Of War

The carriage-length table and benches of the dining carriage are practical. Sturdy. Easy to clean. It's a good thing, too, because roughly thirty seconds ago, a handful of boiled vegetables went flying across the room and hit someone with a wet splat.

Twenty-nine seconds ago, war was declared.

One overturned bench and three pots of cabbage later, you've picked a side. Or a side has picked you, with a projectile sailing towards your face.

Follow Your Heart

The glittering, futuristic world of Tresques has long been protected by the Ciel Maidens, young women who wield their mighty empathic abilities to subdue and pilot gigantic mechanical monsters called Arc Frames. Now, with disaster on the horizon, their powers have vanished.

Team One

The primary foes of the Ciel Maidens are the Morne, hulking many-limbed shadows born from the nightmares and fears of the people of Tresques. Intangible, they roam the cities feeding on heightened emotions and stirring ill thoughts. Granted emergency Ciel badges and the use of the Arc Frames, team one are to combat the Morne wielding happiness, friendship and love as their weapons. Miniskirts are optional.

Team Two

Camille, ace of the Ciel Maidens, has disappeared, after sealing the empathic powers of the entire order to avoid the loss of any more Maidens to tragedy such as that killed her partner and destroyed their Arc Frame. Team two, based in the order headquarters, are to find out as much as they can about the fate of her beloved, find Camille, and convince her to unseal the powers of the Ciel Maidens.

Team Three

The Ciel Maidens have scattered to the far reaches of Tresques, seeking to restore their own powers and their confidence in themselves and each other. Some are so affected as to have birthed Morne of their own, the creatures possessing the Arc Frames and wreaking havoc. Team three are to search for the Maidens and bring them home.

Comments

[faithfulson]

Luke could relate; he didn't exactly expect to find someone here as fond of space dogfights as he was, so this was a nice change of pace. Also eyeballing the Arc Frame like they were was... probably a little weird, but they were experts. They were allowed.

"I think you're right; just hope the enemy doesn't have any tow cables," he replied, making a face, before he nudged the guy with his elbow. "Your M-ships sound like our TIE fighters. They're pretty small and pretty fast; basically a ball with two solar panels strapped to twin ion engines. Enemy capital ships have the worst time trying to hit one. They're terrible in atmosphere though."

[yondu]

"Aw, dang. You are one hundred percent right. Somethin' around the knees an' that's goin' right on down. But if anotherin' is close by it can cut the cable and provide cover 'til the first gets up?" Which might sound like a vague plan. Even if it turns out the Morne are strong enough to do that kind of thing, if they hang out in the same general vicinity, one could remove obstacles for the other.

But he can't really escape interest on the other topic, too. He'll go check out the specs on this baby as he does because it better have its own melee device- a bladed melee and tag-teaming would take care of that whole obstacle issue.

"So what kinda shields do capital ships got? They go with platin' or hex-grid barriers or do they do both?"

[faithfulson]

"I dunno... we'll have to get a good look at what those Morne are capable of before we can even think of strategies to begin with."

But forget land vehicles, they're talking ships! Luke grinned at the opportunity to just nerd out over spaceships.

"Okay, so the old, pre-Clone War capital ships that weren't broken down for the Imperial-class Star Destroyers only have standard plating and shielding -- really easy to break through," he explained. "If you sling shot your ship, you can easily penetrate it without it even being weakened. Now the new Mon Cala ships? Those are something else."

[yondu]

"They say they ain't too big on strategy but you know how that goes. 'Oh, they ain't thinkin. Oh wait, looks like they're thinkin'.' Yeah dumbass, you was the one not thinkin'. Pay some damn attention."

But that little burst of sass over people just being really bad at their jobs aside, he's happy to continue to nerd out over flight ships.

"What do the Mon Cala got? Kree Accuser warships got a bio-engineer behind their shields an' can weaken an' thicken on the fly with a person as a monitor and hoo, if you don't got an in as to where vents are those things are hell to get past."

[faithfulson]

Mecha what? Despair monsters whomest? Luke doesn't know these things; he's on ship talk now.

"So, the Mon Calamari are an aquatic people, right?" he began. "So their ships basically resemble moving metal reefs in space; their M80 capital ships are bulbous, and it's hard to tell what's a turbo laser array and what's just part of the design. On top of that, their deflector shields are stronger than anything the Empire has for a ship that size, and their targeting system is top notch. They still have trouble locking onto the smaller fighters, but once they have a lock, you're done for."

[yondu]

"Oh, right. So it ain't just that they got good deflection but they got a structure hard to find at distance an' some variance in how they're all put together? From the sound of it, anyhow. I mean, if I was gonna take a party on a ship like that, I'd have a hell of a time weedin' it out of an asteroid field an' then it'd be a whole lotta 'good luck findin' the back door, folks'."

He's definitely interested in the talk, though. It's been so long since he flew that he aches for it, and he actually sits climbs up onto and sits on the foot of the mech like he's making himself comfortable to continue the conversation.

"I wish one of these damned missions would let me get in the cockpit again. Even if it weren't a ship I was familiar with, I'd learn it quick as I could just to feel it again."

[faithfulson]

"Exactly," Luke replied. "You can throw several squadrons at those things, and still not make a dent while trying to figure out where the hell their soft spot is."

Luke hopped himself up on the other end of the mech's foot, reclining against the leg.

"I feel the same way," he admitted. "I miss flying. I miss my team. Things were hard back home, but at least I could hop in my ship whenever I wanted and go on patrol."

[yondu]

"Ah, right? I got so bored I started readin' romance novels in the library." He pulls a hell of a face at that.

"I almost thought of investin' in a flight simulator for the train's game room like that'd scratch the itch? But you know takin' off wouldn't be the same. None of the kneejerk responses would be right anyhow. And when you found map borders? It'd pull ya right out of it." And he'd go looking for map borders immediately, he knows it.

"Might do it eventually, anyway. I taught my boy to fly when he was ten. Some of these kids? I bet they'd take right to it... a few of 'em would sure as hell not, but it'd be nice to give the goodun's a chance to learn on a simulator. The ones that got some decent reflexes."

[faithfulson]

Luke let out a laugh at the confession he was reading romance novels, amused, only because he had been struggling to find something to occupy his time. He could only work out so much in the gym, and his living space and the chores he had to do were perfect. To say he was bored was an understatement.

"If we could get a proper simulator, it would be better," he replied, holding up his hands as if he were miming the shape of one. "A fully enclosed fake cockpit will help with the immersion. It's how I trained when I was younger."

[yondu]

The worst implication there being that he's been through any other fiction he could find and even some biographies. Not that the library is terribly populated but he's only been around for about a month. He's seen the names of the months change in a dramatically stupid way.

But the description makes Yondu grin, all jagged and sharp but genuine, and scootch so he's sitting more facing Luke on his respective mech-foot.

"Yeah, yeah. Like a big enclosed one would be good. I mean, with Quill I could just take over the autopilot when I saw him about to do somethin'. But a fully enclosed number'd be better than them VR headsets they rely on. 'Cause you really need that immediate range of motion when you're turnin' your head, not some sensor register. It just ain't ever quick enough." Still wouldn't give you the take-off rush but it'd be a good learning tool

[faithfulson]

Luke laughed at the mention of taking over the autopilot, a big grin coming to his face.

"So, even when I was really young, I drove my instructors at the academy crazy with the things I would pull off in the sims," he said. "I lost count of how many times they took control of my unit just so I would stop flying circles around the rest of the class."

He couldn't help but smile over the fond memories; it was when times were simpler, and he absolutely drove everyone nuts.

"Now my sister; she flies an X-wing," he began. "I don't know how they managed to stuff a bunch of weaponry into a snub fighter and still make it fast, but they did it."

[yondu]

That grin actually holds, which is strange for a face set to frown. Maybe he really does miss flying that bad.

"I bet they groaned before ever' class began, am I right?" He says with the best humor.

"So how do X-wings do in atmosphere? M-ships do pretty decent, especially if you're goin' in for swarm attacks. M-Ships are also good for quick retrieval? We had short-range grapple and matter transports and enough room to grab someone if you could manage about ten seconds stationary. So you got a man down an' want 'em back? An M-ship could just dip in and grab 'em without even makin' the cockpit vulnerable. A li'l' bit of cover and you got someone back."

[faithfulson]

"I'm sure it was an absolute relief for all of them when I graduated," Luke replied, struggling against busting out into laughter. He took a moment to calm his giggles, rubbing at an eye.

"X-wings are a lot better in atmosphere," he replied. "While TIE's are boards, the wings on an X-wing are out to the sides, and in combat mode they split. They also have a bigger payload and droid assistance. Best way for a Rebel to get an edge on a standard Imperial pilot is to get them in atmosphere."

He shrugged slightly. "Look, I'm not afraid to admit it; TIEs are basically flying coffins. Even if they had shields, crashing one is basically a death sentence. I'm one of the lucky ones."

He raised his prosthetic arm, the one he always had gloved, wiggling his fingers back and forth.

[yondu]

When Luke shows his arm, Yondu whistles in sympathy. But the odd thing about that is that the whistle translates through the SCA. The Centaurian language is all clicks, grunts and whistles. Most of the time he's speaking some form of janked up Kree that wriggles through the translators in the most yokel of fashions. A slave variation on high speech. But his native language caries, too, with a simple Goddamn! feel behind the sound.

But then back to normal talking.

"I bet that gives ya some bad nights. I had some boys with phantom limb? Had a hell of a time. I been in quite a few messes but I ain't lost nothin' real important. Just got a few patched holes here an' there." The mess on half his face doesn't count.

[faithfulson]

"It was bad at first, but not so much anymore," Luke replied. It just... really got bad when he was around ships without functioning life support systems. Or when he was above Yavin IV, as he recently found out the hard way. "Besides, if it hadn't been cut off, I could have died, so I'll take losing a limb over that."

It wasn't like it impeded his ability to fly, or use a lightsaber, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Besides, I got upgraded to a better starfighter after I was put back into active service. Not... intentionally, but no one was about to argue with my commanding officer."