Test Drive 032

[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!

Culinary Containment

Every month, the train's stores are filled with crates of ingredients for use by its passengers. And every month, one ingredient is the focal point of all recipes. Potatoes, cinnamon, seaweed… but as the train pulls away from the station this month, there seems to have been a blip in the system when it comes to deciding on a biologically-appropriate foodstuff.

Spilling out from the storage carriage and into the kitchen are hundreds of live frogs. They're in the sinks, they're in the ovens, they're hopping alarmingly close to the transgates that link the area up to the sleepers...

Vote-Rigging

At the behest of its passengers, the train has instituted a voting system to allow for more carriage options and upgrades. Passengers are able to submit new ideas, or crowdfund those already suggested...

It's the night before platform, and all through the train, no one was stirring... Apart from your group, with your stockpile of a thousand points and the luminous voting panel you're all currently pouring them into. Bouncy castle carriage? Funded! Fishing carriage? Funded! Clocks? Eh... You have the points. Funded!

Then it's simply a matter of waiting for the morning, and seeing the chaos you've caused to the layout of the Voidtrecker Express. What new delights have you discovered?

Repo Train

The Void Ministry have another task for the Express: locating and repossessing the contents of a number of minor storage craft in an old mercantile zone. The coordinates are given, a small fleet of space-worthy craft and sufficient hazmat gear has been deposited at the meeting site for Voidtrecker use.

The main area is cushy enough, a round communal area surrounded by living pods renovated for basic Voidtrecker requirements. The hangar above allows for groups to head to the next assigned storage location, or to return with their piles of lawfully impounded gains.

Team One

High-risk storage locations are this team's priority. Potentially explosive material, artifacts or experiments without the requisite paperwork explaining how or why they were made, sometimes living creatures, the kind that shouldn't have been left in a large metal crate habitat for a decade. Opening these areas is a study in initiative and dealing with unpleasant surprises!

Team Two

This team are the back-up for the first group - once the artifacts, creatures or hazardous material has been made safe and brought back, they have to be recorded. Scanned. Studied, and compared to the extensive lists of potential contraband or lost goods. Sometimes, they're not quite as safe as you'd like.

Team Three

Some locations, rather than being used for the storage for which they were intended, have been repurposed by sapients who have developed within the system since the depot was created. Short, furred people with clever, webbed hands and high voices, they've turned crates and ships into cramped, partially-submerged warrens. This team is cleared to assess the damage done, and, if the current official owners of the stores will agree, process the change in ownership to the Su Samuru. Not all owners are happy with their squatters, however...

Comments

[devilofaboy]

[He snorted. Yeah, he was sure hand-delivering the animal and threatening harm upon someone he'd probably never see again would have a lot of weight. It wasn't a bad idea, though. It was more or less the most he could do besides trying to smuggle the thing onto the train. Sometimes though, the most he could do wasn't enough. Or it came too late.

The truth was, if he'd been nicer in other situations, Kavinsky might not have died. Ronan wouldn't have to keep looking at him half like he expected him to just disappear. What did he want? To make up for the shit that had happened before. How was he going to do that? He didn't know. Could you make up for someone's death?

He rubbed a hand over the back of his head, watching as the sheepdog moved on to sniffing Kavinsky's shoes, now. Probably, it hadn't had anything new to smell in a long time.]

As if they're going to care about what I have to say. But yeah, it's worth a shot. And if it fails, we punch them, take it, and run.

[He grinned, pretending his stomach wasn't flip-flopping from the way Kavinsky was looking at him.]

[dreamforger]

[Ronan keeps looking at him in a way that Kavinsky doesn't quite know how to process. He likes it, because of course he fucking does. He just doesn't know what it means. He keeps wanting to say something about it, accuse him of wanting to kiss him or something. Because Kavinsky wants him to, because he wants to get under his skin. It's always seemed like his best chance at parsing out this thing they've been doing for months.

But maybe it's just the closest that K knows how to get to saying the words outloud.

There's something about the strange little dogsheep that gets to Kavinsky, mostly because Ronan gives a shit about it, he's sure. Certainly not because he had a fucked up childhood and he'd always wanted a dog. He wouldn't argue, even with one that was badly in need of shearing. So he lets it sniff at his shoes, and shoots Ronan a vaguely amused look.]

C'mon, man. This stuff is all fucking- unlawful experiments with no paperwork. That container is animal neglect at best. You can probably throw around some other bullshit, too. Tell them you'll be remotely monitoring or something. I'm sure there's some sort of interstellar bureau of shitstacks you can threaten to report it to if it sounds like they wont play nice.

[He grins, shifting so that he can lean into Ronan's personal space, look up the few inches into his blue eyes. He brushes his thumb against his cheekbone, like there was something on his face, and it's not just an excuse to touch him.]

Though I still vote we punch 'em, take it and run.

[devilofaboy]

[Of course, Kavinsky would be right. Of course, he would vote for punching people and taking the sheepdog with them. Of course, he would just invade Ronan's personal space and touch him. Ronan's heart fluttered, but he pulled back just a little, flicking his fingers against Kavinsky's sunglasses.

He wasn't sure what he felt, not when he was still torn up over Adam--and Declan and the Moderators and having the people he loved betray him. He was pretty sure 'sided with the people trying to kill you' was grounds for a break-up, but... he still loved Adam. Things were just so complicated.]

Alright. So how would you suggest we smuggle it back to the train?

[It didn't take much to make him cave, sometimes. Especially not when he'd already been leaning towards taking the animal back to the train to start with.

He wasn't necessarily the best at planning though, and his previous attempts at smuggling things places had involved muck boots. He was pretty sure four little boots on this little guy would still make it obvious what it was. Kavinsky seemed like he was better at that kind of thing.]

[dreamforger]

[Ronan pulls back, and Kavinsky lets his fingers fall away, though he smiles at the way that the other dreamer flicks his fingers against his sunglasses. His heart skips a beat and he grins, wicked as he shakes his head, considering the question. Space travel is a new domain for him to figure out, but at the same time, the same principals seem to carry over, so he's not too concerned about it.]

First thing, would be to dream some shears. Think you can manage that, farm boy?

[He's pretty sure that he can pull this off. He's pretty sure that Ronan's already hooked on the weird thing. And K's never been able to resist the urge to do something stupidly complicated just because he thinks it'll make Ronan happy.]

It's not that complicated. This isn't the only animal on the list to requisition -- just the only cute one, far as I can tell. Most of the things we're recovering from the storage units are getting taken back to the hangar and then to the train. We just gotta sneak it in with us instead of into holding.

[It's at least half a plan. And better than muckboots, at least.]

Which oughta be easier when it isn't covered in ten pounds of wool.

[What could go wrong?]

[devilofaboy]

[He nodded while he listened, attention divided between the sheepdog and Kavinsky to make sure the former didn't make a break for it. He could manage shears just fine, that wouldn't be the hard part. The hard part would be...what, smuggling the dog on board in someone's hoodie?]

I can handle dreaming shears.

[He had a sleep mask with him, though it felt like some kind of betrayal to use it instead of the green pills he'd used before that. It hadn't felt like betrayal before he'd been standing here with Kavinsky, but-

There was a lot that could go wrong with this idea, but odds like that had never stopped him before. He glanced around, making sure there was no one around out of habit, before reaching into his pocket for the mask.

Maybe he could dream something to throw over the animal too when they were smuggling it in, something to make it not-really-invisible-but-kind-of.]

You'll keep watch?

[He didn't say it in so many words, but he was trusting Kavinsky with this. He could count on one hand the number of people he trusted with dreamer things like this, and K was now one of them.]

[dreamforger]

Let's do this, then.

[Kavinsky raised a slight eyebrow at Ronan's confidence that he could handle dreaming the shears, but he didn't question it. He certainly seemed more confident in his dreaming than the boy Kavinsky had last seen, but in his opinion this wasn't a bad thing. Just a little bit- different.

Sure, there was a lot that could go wrong, but Kavinsky couldn't imagine that they'd get in trouble for it ... Or at least not much. The Void Ministry seemed strangely tolerant of fuck ups, or else Kavinsky wouldn't be here in the first place. Or that was how he looked at it, anyway.

At the question he smiles, not harsh- just honest- looking at Ronan intently, and maybe a little too long as he takes a step back.]

Course I'll watch. I'd say get comfortable, but this isn't exactly the backseat of the Mistu, is it?

[There's something vaguely suggestive in how he says that. Not overt, but a slight way that his New Jersey accent lingers on the words. He doesn't really know about Ronan and the mask yet, so he slips one of those green pills from somewhere, holding it temptingly between two slender fingers that bob in the air.]

[devilofaboy]

[No matter how confident he came across as, he knew he was still a shit show. Especially away from ley lines. There was just as good a chance that he would fuck this up as there was that he'd get it right.

There was something about Kavinsky saying he'd watch that- Ronan had literally asked him and yet- he didn't pursue that thought. Instead, he pulled the sleep mask out at the same time he saw the green pill.]

Oh.

[Of course, he should have expected Kavinsky to be prepared. This still felt like betrayal, somehow. Even if he remembered Bryde telling him he shouldn't eat dreams. He'd taken Kavinsky's pills for so long after he'd been gone, like he was clinging to his memory.

He stared for a moment too long, not at the pill, exactly, but Kavinsky's hand, the lines of his fingers, the shape of his knuckles. Then he averted his gaze, looking down at the mask.]

I've got this.

[He sat on the floor, leaning against the side of the opened crate. The sheepdog took it as an invitation and immediately climbed into his lap. He petted it for a moment before looking up.]

There's- [a lot we need to talk about.] Fuck. I'll see you in a minute.

[He slipped on the mask. Within moments, he was asleep. The sheepdog settled happily on his lap, even though it wasn't being petted anymore. The minutes crawled by and then all at once, Ronan was awake again. At one side of him were shears but at his other side was a scattering of book pages with a single word repeated on every page, front and back--tamquam.]

[dreamforger]

[Kavinsky knows it isn't a betrayal, even if there's a moment where acid eats between his ribs. But there's something in the way that Ronan's looking at his fingers, and the warmth of it manages to quiet the sensation, even if his mouth feels dry, and there's a disappointment there. But really it's just-- strange. So there's an odd moment where his hand hovers on the air a breath longer than it should. And maybe there's a bit more flourish than needed as he shrugs and slips the pill from his fingers, tucking it away for later.

He is curious about the sleep mask, though. Something in how his eyes linger on it, sharp- like he's still trying to put the puzzle of it all together, even when Ronan holds most of the pieces. Asking isn't his style, so he doesn't. Instead he makes a grand gesture with his other hand, a smile teasing at one edge of his mouth.]

Be my guest.

[He settles down near Ronan, close but not touching, alert but easy as he watches him. It's easier to scrutinize the other boy once he's sleeping, mask over his eyes. Same idea as his pills, he supposed- probably a gentler drop into dreaming; he couldn't blame the other boy for that. But when had Kavinsky ever done anything the easy way?

There's something in Ronan's face that he can't quite put his finger on. Like in sleep he looks less worn, more like the boy from the dream field and his substance parties, and K can only see the difference because of the absence. Because he's alert and looking for it, now. Not just basking in the feeling of having him here with him. He reaches out and pets the dog-sheep-thing a few times. Yeah, okay, the fucking thing was pretty cute, he guessed.

And then there was the shears, and the pages, and Kavinsky has one of the pages in his fingers as Ronan jerks awake.]

Ex vita ita discedo tamquam ex hospitio, non tamquam e domo.

[He wasn't as good with Latin as Adam and Latin, but he wasn't bad at it, either, even if his pronunciation is maybe a bit off. But he'd had a B+ in the class, until their teacher had been wanted in connection with murder and vanished under mysterious circumstances.

It's the wrong Cicero quote, though: I depart this life as if from an inn, not as if from a home. But it's one that Kavinsky remembered.]

[devilofaboy]

[Ronan was embarrassed when he removed the sleep mask and saw the pages he'd brought with him. Those weren't supposed to leave the dream, and yet just like he'd done countless times before, he brought everything within reach with him. He hoped Kavinsky wouldn't notice the way his face was a little red, or the hard line of his mouth.

If the sheepdog hadn't been sitting on his lap still he would've flung himself to his feet, maybe punched something. Instead, he took a deep breath, looking over at Kavinsky and then the page he was holding. He wasn't going to tell the other boy what tamquam was really part of in this context. Not yet, at least. He frowned at the other pages scattered next to him like they'd personally ruined his life before picking them up one by one, aggressively crumpling them into balls, and throwing them as hard as he could.

Unfortunately, the sheepdog thought he was playing and lifted its head before dashing off after one of the paper balls. When he was sure the animal was actually coming back, Ronan picked up the shears he'd dreamed, turning them over in his hands. They looked alright, and they'd worked in the dream, so. He had confidence in them.

Glancing over at Kavinsky again, he muttered;]

Errare Humanum est.

[To err is human. He knew he'd fucked up a little, but he still had his prize.

The sheepdog came back over, dropping the crumpled paper next to Ronan, looking at him expectantly.]

No, we're not playing. [He told it.] Hold onto it.

[The last part was to Kavinsky, though he didn't actually look at him when he said it.]