voidtreckerooc | Test Drive Meme 023

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Test Drive Meme 023

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!

Dio's Legacy

In an alternate almost exactly like the one inhabited by the Voidtrecker Express, fate went another direction. Instead of the first addition to the train's structure being the games carriage, this train's passengers voted differently.

What makes them happy?

Crocodiles.

The Crocodile carriage isn't a misnomer. It's teeming with reptiles of various sizes, basking under sunlamps or floating lazily in the raised tank built across half of the available space. To be even better for morale, they're all perfectly tame, and unnervingly friendly; it's rare that a passenger is able to cross the carriage without being accosted by some crocodile or gharial looking for attention.

Harvest Void

The greenhouse is a surprisingly bright room, its vaulted ceiling made of a transparent, incredibly tough material that shows the light of the Void along the entire length of the room. The single metal support beam is bedecked in roses. The aisle of grass running through the centre of the carriage is riotous with strange plants and flowers, small stone paths leading off to this patch or that of vegetables or closely clustered fruit trees.

And all of them are laden with produce. Whether a stray spell or a particularly good mood from one of the resident forces of nature, every plant in the carriage has matured at once. Shrubs overflow with berries, rows of stalks groan under beans and tomatoes, apples threaten to fall from overhead branches at any moment.

You may not normally be a gardener, but today it's all hands on deck!

Cold Iron, Warm Hearts

The duchy of Yipre is one of several close-knit factions on one continent, known for both her expansive clockworks and strong links to the Fey. Central to the capital is the Clocktower, the palace home to both the Duchess Stomen and her court of scholars, diplomats and engineers. Home also to a key point in the Ley, where the mundane world and the Fey intersect just enough that one may cross from one to the other.

But the Clocktower is sundered, entire sections of iron and brass sheared away in a great earthquake, and neither world is faring well in the aftermath.

Team One

The gear sprites of the Clocktower are missing, running amok in the streets and squares of the duchy. They're tiny things, fluff, metal filings and dust made quicksilver-fast, with small, glowing eyes and bell-like voices. While normally they keep the machinery of their home running, they aren't nearly as talented with anything else, and are causing general chaos with all devices and machinery they run across. Find them, and herd them back to the Tower. Maybe get them out of the typewriter first.

Team Two

The gateway to the Fey realm is torn, and dreaming magic is spilling out from the Clocktower. Finding the Voidtreckers' minds fertile grounds for its taking, imagined creatures and realms are conjured forth from all kinds of worlds and all kinds of lives. There are many ways to combat these - play them through until the magic is satisfied, for example, or find the Voidtrecker whose mind is the source, and stop them dreaming. It's up to the Voidtreckers on this team to decide.

Team Three

The Clocktower isn't quite in ruins, but large sections are crumpled like tin foil. In other places, steam and magic spill out into the air in a chaotic mix, burning and twisting the air into glittering leaves or long ropes of thorn. And through this, those that called the palace home fight to free themselves from the wreckage. Courtiers, servants, engineers… and, somewhere, the Duchess herself. Help who you can, but find her.

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I. Dio's Legacy

II. Harvest Void

III. Cold Iron, Warm Hearts - Team One

this

If gathering the sprites was like a video game then the passenger who was walking past the alley certainly added to the JRPG aesthetic on account of her brightly coloured hair and her cat-like features. Curious as to who called out to her, Q'uila steps into the alley, her pupils glinting in the dim light as she regards Kasuga and then the sprite at the end of the alley.

"I would be happy to help, although I do not possess a bag to catch the sprite in. I can make it easier for you to capture if you would like?"

Wow, an actual cat lady! This new adventure really was like being thrown into a rpg!

No, focus Ichiban. Don't make it awkward.

He nodded at her. "Yeah, if you could help corner him that'd be great. I'll see to it he gets back home safe, no worries."

"'Tis awfully kind of you," Q'uila grinned widely enough up at Kasuga for the man to be able to spot the hint of fangs, "I will have the sprite ready to capture in a jiffy."

Even without her rapier it was only a few moments of concentration before Q'uila's arms began to glow and spark in a hypnotic swirl of vermillion and gold.

"Bind!"

With a thrust of her hands the sparkling aether leapt down the length of the alley and latched onto the sprite in the form of many looping chains that suspended the creature in place. A success even without her main Red Mage weapon, something to celebrate later even as Q'uila's ears and tail wiggled happily.

"That should not hurt the wayward creature as you collect it."

A moment of silence and awe.

"That was awesome!"

He made the gestures to go along with his excitement. He was a very animated guy when it came down to it. Another second passed though and he quickly regrouped. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and grinned at her.

"Oh, sorry. I should probably..."

Not waste her effort! For one thing. Which was easier to apologize for than his silly excitement. He ran down the length of the alley and approached the sprite. He reached out carefully and grabbed it. The binding certainly did make this a whole lot easier than capturing the last one he'd wrangled.

He carefully placed it into the bag he already had, making certain the first one didn't escape as he opened it up to put the second one in. "Seriously guys, it's only for a little while."

He closed the bag tight and walked back towards the cat lady. "Thanks! That was so much easier than last time... heh. Oh, yeah. I should introduce myself. I'm Kasuga."

"I take it magic is not common where you hail from?"

There was something delightful about the reaction to magic some of the other passengers had to displays of magic and it was a good job that hyurs couldn't see detail very well in low light, it disguised the pleased flush on Q'uila's cheeks at the praise. What wasn't disguised was the happy chirp from the Miqo'te as she followed Kasuga over to the sprite. He was certainly an energic one and apparently quite earnest too, Q'uila liked him already.

"I see I have chanced upon quite the eager Adventurer, you certainly have the attitude for it." He reminded her a lot of O'Rhok, the party tank, and the similarity spurred her into offering him a hand for an arm clasp, "Wellmet Kasuga, my name is Q'uila. 'Tis good to meet you!"

"Nah, not like that. Though I like to believe there's a little bit of magic in the world. But spells and stuff like that are straight outta my favorite fiction."

From video games to manga to movies, Kasuga loved that fantasy genre. It was exciting and made him want to be a hero! He tried his best to emulate that feeling of adventure and kindness of a good protagonist.

Kasuga hesitated half way through a small bow when he saw the arm come out. He'd seen this in that foreign film he'd
watched the other day. So he readily went for a handshake, grasping her hand firmly and shaking it enthusiastically.

"Nice to meet you. It's really cool seeing actual magic from other worlds. Must be pretty interesting where you're from."

Q'uila's grasp of the very eager handshake was a lot more solid than someone of her stature should have been able to manage. Kasuga's good mood was infectious even if it did feel a little bit like he was trying to dislocate her shoulder and so once Q'uila had her hand back she copied his bow from earlier in the proper Doman style.

"Well, if you have any more of these sprites to track down I am sure I could show you a bit more of my magic. Though I must ask, how do you fare when it comes to heights?"

"Uh, I dunno. Fine?" Kasuga replied uncertainly. He'd never really thought about it. He didn't think it would bother him though. What he was more interested in was why she asked.

"Why?"

Working together to catch more of these guys sounded fine to him. He'd love to see more of her magic! It was awesome! But right now he was a little confused, definitely curious.

"Good enough!" Q'uila chirped happily, "We are going to search for these sprites as dragoons."

She waved him over to stand next to her, all feline eagerness in the way her tail curled and her ears perked up. "Now what you need to do is throw you arm over my shoulder. Worry not about the height difference, it shall not matter once we start to travel and I shall have my arm about your waist to lift you."

Once Ichiban had gotten into position Q'uila gave him on final heads up, "I am going to hold the hand you have on my shoulder, you may feel either a quick shock or heat but it should pass. However, should you feel uncomfortable or change your mind just say so and I shall cease, okay?"

Now, Ichiban definitely had an image in his head when she said the word 'dragoon'. That was a standard in a lot of RPGs of course! It distracted him for a moment and when he shook himself out of the daydream he looked a bit confused.

"Huh? Uh, okay."

He moved near her and did as she had instructed. He didn't really get where this was going but if it was where his mind went this was either about to be really awesome or very crazy (scary). Either way it was probably going to be a thrill of a lifetime.

"Sure. I can handle it."

Let the magic begin!

This always took a lot of focus at the beginning, focusing inwards and gently coaxing her aether towards Ichiban, softening the edges and bite to something protective that she then directed across Ichiban's arms and down his legs. For Ichiban it would feel like a quick static shock where Q'uila is touching him that then subsided into of warmth, like sitting next to a large fire, that moved over him alongside an azure glow.

Satisfied that her aether was in place, Q'uila grined up at Ichiban. His reaction was going to be great, she just knew it. "Alright Kasaga, I shall count down and when I say 'Go' I want you to jump and I shall take of care of the rest. 3. 2. 1. GO!"

Coiled, contained aether flashed and skittled across the ground as the force of Q'uila's magic rocketed the two of them up and out of alley in an arc that carried them well clear of the building tops.

" Woooo!"

Edited 2021-04-29 07:19 (UTC)

Phineas hadn't been in the greenhouse at first, but currently he was pressing a sign into the soil next to the path, leaning a metal ...thing up against it. It was a platform two and a half foot squared and three inches thick -- big enough to fit a crate onto.

When Kasuga walked up and addressed him, and he looked over, then smiled, expression almost impish. "Perfect timing. Here." He took the platform and placed it flat on the ground, pressing one of the two buttons on it (with the hopefully-universal 'power' symbol helpfully drawn on); it floated up about a foot into the air and stayed there.

"You can use this. If the train's blueprints are accurate, it should take your crate directly to the storeroom."

Perfect timing was, like, Ksagua's middle name. He just smiled as the old man (white hair meant old, right?) addressed him and then started messing with his contraption.

...that floated in the air!?

"Whoa! That's one heck of a gizmo."

Pardon this guy as he waved a hand under the platform as if trying to figure out it's secret. This was like nothing he'd ever seen before! Outside of a movie, that was. Had technology really come that far already? That was awesome.

(Him being called old was going to be revenge for him referring to every teenager on the train as a kid, wasn't it?)

Phineas's smile was pleased with himself, and he folded his hands behind his back. "I can make it more sophisticated later, but it looked like it would be better to have it in a hurry," he explained, as if there was something lacking about it and Kasuga wasn't waving around underneath it like it was amazing. He did brilliant work and he liked to be appreciated, but he could also do better than this.

"Right now it still needs someone at the other end to unload it, and I hope I can get it controlled via the SCA... But there's so much here that this should save a lot of time and effort getting things from Point A to Point B."

(The ironic part was that Ichiban was no spring chicken himself anymore and many a kid and teenager referred to him as old these days. But, yeah, sorry gramps!)

Kasuga wouldn't have known the difference! It was pretty amazing as it was. "More sophisticated, huh? I can't imagine how but that's why your the genius and I'm not. I'll look forward to seeing what else you come up with."

He sounded as genuine as could be. He looked up at Phineas with a smile. He really did think this was pretty cool.

"So, uh, how does it work?" He looked at the controls as he said it, wondering how complicated it may or may not have been.

The compliment was casual and did felt completely sincere, and Kasuga got a more open smile in return. "I won't disappoint," he assured, and knelt down as well.

"Here. This is the simplest I could possibly make it," Tinkerer explained. "This is the power button, and the other tells it to head to the storeroom. Once the weight is removed from it, it should automatically come back here to the greenhouse. At some point, I'm hoping to make a version that can be controlled by the SCA, be capable of unloading itself, head to different carriages... but this is a start."

He straightened up again, admitting, "At this point, it's mostly untested, but the worst it will do is get stuck before getting to where it needs to go." It didn't move fast enough to be a hazard, luckily.

"That's a lot of future improvements to make. I'm pretty good at gathering supplies for stuff like this so if you need any help, let me know. This thing could be really useful."

In the meantime, Kasuga was inspecting the controls. Certainly did seem simple enough currently.

"All right, let's test it!"

If he was lucky, it wouldn't even turn into an impromptu fight!

He went to lug his crate over and set it on the platform. "So I just press this button..." And he pressed the button.

Edited 2021-04-20 14:40 (UTC)

"I like to keep working on something until it's perfect," Phineas admitted. He brightened a bit when Kasuga offered that, straightening up and looking at him with interest. "Apparently passengers are allowed to salvage technical equipment from more advanced worlds... or so I've been told. That would certainly come in handy."

He added, "And for the record, a lot of what I make, I make on commission. Since money's pretty much useless here, I was going to charge at least in part the cost of materials. If you actually gathered them yourself, though..." He smiled. "It's just an offer." Kasuga might not even be interested, but if he was going to volunteer to gather supplies, the Tinkerer was not at all opposed to rewarding that.

Phineas folded his hands behind his back, pleased, as the platform responded to the button press by heading to the path and then along in towards the carriage door, the one leading to the garden carriage. "You see? --I'll need to follow it, make sure it doesn't have any trouble getting there." And probably unload it, unless someone was there to do it. "I appreciate the help testing it."

'Like a video-game' is a good way to put it. Instead of sitting on your ass in the arcade though, you run and do the fetching yourself. Sometimes you don't even have to look they find you. And get behind the collar, figure it's a bad idea, and then get stuck on the hairtie— please never again.

Cooperation might seem like a good way to go, so when a call for help from the alleyway comes— Look down, lookup, where's the correct route— ah there it is. A balcony, he could get a nice drop-down from there, with an open bag, sprite captured, +100 points for the team! Problem is, it might be too high to reach without something to bounce off from.

"I got you." The assurance, followed right up with "Bet you don't mind if I use yer back for a lil' lift up"

Yes, it's not even a question, more like statement.

Wait, what?

"Ahh--"

Kasuga gave the man a look for the suggested statement. Sure, he didn't mind helping the guy with a boost up if he wanted but did he have to climb his back? He had hands!

"I can... give you a hand?"

And he turned towards Majima with his hands linked together, slung low where they'd make an easy step. He was ready to boost him up with a toss upwards! Let's do this!

...whatever this was the other guy had in mind.

You heard him! The plan was to bounce of Ichiban's back and get onto upper level. Drop down on the sprite with a bag— 100% full proof plan! Looks good in motion too—

"Wait wha—" There's a brief look of a frozen dumbfounded surprise, followed by intense flailing of arms as Majima tries to steer Ichiban back into blocking the corridor "No, no, no— What are you doin'?? Eyes on the gear!"

The sprites are quicksilver fast, and this one might be just about to move

"Dude, if you had just gone already I'd be back to watching it already!"

Stop freaking out and do the thing! You're weirding him out, man.

"Come on!"

Craning his neck to look backwards was starting to get annoying already as he kept looking back and forth. He didn't want to miss either thing from happening.

Then again, he really wasn't certain why this guy wanted to get up high in the first place.

Edited 2021-04-19 23:28 (UTC)

"That's so like you Kasuga-kun. Going into the beast pen not to defeat but to befriend" the always present teasing drawl of familiar voice comes from a bit of distance. Crocodile pen should be added to both, list of the weirdest thing on the train, and to the list 'might want to get one' someday. While he was more than ready to jump in, help wrangle the reptiles should Ichiban be in danger seeing him just casually... befriend them??? Puts Zhao into relaxed mode.

It also doubles as teasing mode. So don't mind him, he's just enjoying the show.

Edited 2021-04-17 07:21 (UTC)

He paused from petting the reptile to glance up at Zhao. Not surprised in the least to hear the guy teasing him slightly in that slow drawl of his. He just smiled at Zhao with a shrug.

"Look, they're tame, okay? I can't help it if they like belly rubs instead of fist-to-claw fights."

And at the insistent (friendly) hissing noise from the crocodilian, Kasuga resumes petting it.

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Test Drive Meme 023

Dio's Legacy

Harvest Void

Cold Iron, Warm Hearts

Team One

Team Two

Team Three

Ichiban Kasuga | Yakuza: Like a Dragon

III

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Ichiban is Such a Good!

He is! He is being such a delight to play, too.

I am very excited to get to LAD soon!!!

It's so good! It's my first Yakuza game. Def gotta go play the rest now!

I started with 0 because of Majima and /chefs kiss

Just finished LaD and started 0. I cannot wait until I get to Majima.

Congrats! Also Majima is just. So so good,especially in 0

II. Harvest Void

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