Test Drive 032

Entry tags:

!tdm

Test Drive 032

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...

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

-1: Culinary Containment-

Look we all know those frogs are getting everywhere, despite our heroes' best efforts. That includes, unfortunately, the bathrooms.

After an undignified yelp of surprise, Gilgamesh emerges from the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He's dripping wet and holding a dead frog at arms length by one leg. The poor bastard got stepped on, it seems. Gil doesn't look very happy about the situation.

"Anyone care to explain why there are frogs everywhere?"

-2: Repo-train, team two-

Gilgamesh looked like a kid in a candy store as he stared at the pile of damaged electronics. He was already taking apart what looked to be an old cam-corder with a screwdriver while muttering to himself as he went.

"-enormously complicated but cheaply made, they must make these things by the hundreds, if not thousands! I have no idea what THIS thing is but this looks like some kind of visual recording system so then THIS must be a power supply and I bet if I connect it to these parts over HERE then it looks like I can create a magnetic feedback loop and massively increase the power output! It'll burn out in minutes, but in the mean time I could use THAT to MAGNETIZE THE ENTIRE SHIP! This could be the foundation for a magnetic engine! Imagine it! An engine that grapples the magnetic field of nearby planets and superaccelerates the ship to a fraction of the speed of light! It would turn the crew into tomato soup but that's just an engineering problem! Once I sort THAT out-"

As he goes on, he's sounding steadily more and more unhinged, and also his hands are moving faster and faster. By now it's hard to keep track of what he's doing but he appears to be building some kind of device.

Maybe someone hit him on the head or something before he blows the ship up or worse?

i. Culinary Containment

[Ronan was trying very, very hard not to accidentally squish any frogs while also keeping them as contained as possible. He might have been fighting a losing battle, but that wasn't really enough to deter him.

Currently, he was using a large mixing bowl with a lid to try and gather up as many frogs as he could, scooping them up out of the ovens and diving for them when they hopped towards the transgates. If they'd been more contained and not literally all over the place and in danger, he might have considered dumping the whole bowl of them into the transgate just to hear people scream. But also, he cared more about the frogs' well-being than that.

There were frogs on his shoulders. One was scaling his pant leg. Another, when he reached for it, evaded him and hopped at him to smack him directly in the face. Wordlessly, he recoiled, trying to catch the frog even as it tumbled down from his face. Help him.]

ii. Repo Train - Team One

[He hated the idea of animals being used in experiments. He hated the idea of any kind of creature being locked up for years even more. It made him want to punch something (or someone). Instead, he took a breath to try and even his nerves and approached one of the large containment crates.

Inside was an animal that looked like some kind of sheepdog. Literally, a dog crossed with a sheep. It had thick, dense wool coupled with the face of a dog and dog legs sticking out of the previously mentioned wool.]

You're okay.

[He said gently, crouching down in front of the crate as he wrestled it open. It was a far gentler tone than he ever used on people and there was a reason for that; he didn't think anyone was close enough to hear him.

He held out a hand to the quivering animal, waiting patiently until it crept forward to sniff at his fingers. Only then did he offer it a few pets before reaching into the crate to haul the animal into his arms. Its wool was horribly overgrown and matted, and the creature struggled for a moment or two before seeming to realize he wasn't going to hurt it.

Looking over, Ronan realized there was someone near by and said-]

What do you think's going to happen to-

[He didn't finish, glancing down at the weird animal in his arms, instead.]

iii. Raven Adventures

[Ronan was seated in one of the common carriages, feet kicked up onto the seat next to him while he browsed one of the books from the library. On the floor in the middle of the aisle was Chainsaw, his raven.

Breaking the relative silence was the sound of paper shredding and tearing. No, it wasn't Ronan's book, it was the welcome pamphlet that Chainsaw had gotten her beak on and was happily ripping apart. For the most part, Ronan didn't pay any attention to her, but if someone approached, Chainsaw looked up, cocking her head to the side, and said-]

Krek?

iv. Wildcard

[ooc: got another idea? Toss it my way! I'll also do prose.]

-1: Culinary Containment-

Kohaku wandered the dining car with a sack. She didn't look to be particularly hurried, or even like she was paying that much attention. Despite this, she was dumping a surprising number of frogs into the bag.

It wasn't that she was particularly fast, it was just that she had a perfect sense of timing, and no matter how they jumped, the fleeing amphibians couldn't avoid her hands.

She actually snatched one out of midair as it jumped off of a kitchen counter.

"Oh no you don't. Into the bag with you."

-2: Vote-Rigging-

Did someone say Arcade Car?

An entire two floor car, filled with as many arcade machines as you can fit. Everything from Pong to DDR to Street Fighter V (or the copyright safe equivalent, if we have any Street Fighter characters around) is in here. They even have one of those old mechanical baseball games, which Kohaku was now focusing her attention on.

Despite her superhuman reaction times, Kohaku was having trouble with it. Which is fine, no one can be good at everything, but she was starting to get angry.

"Come ON you piece of shit the bases are LOADED I can't strike out NOW!"

-3: Repo-Train, team one-

If any of the ships had ever had artificial gravity, this one sure didn't. Or if it did, it had long since stopped working. Kohaku was slowly tumbling through the hold, struggling to find something she could grip. Eventually, she managed to grab one of the cargo crates, but the thing was so old that it broke open just from the pressure of her hand, unleashing the contents within.

At some point, it might have been fresh vegetables. Now, it was basically just a big box of slime, which started drifting through the cargo hold, including all over the helmet of Kohaku's space suit.

"FUCK!"

Culinary Containment

With a bit of creative tucking and tying, Bruno had managed to turn his hoodie into a makeshift bag, and was currently snatching up frogs to pile into it. He was taking care not to hurt them as much as possible, but while the efforts to contain them seem to be going reasonably well, there's one big question on his mind as his hoodie-bag begins to fill up. "So... what exactly are we going to do with all these frogs once we catch them?", he asked. "I mean, it's not like there's a river or pond we can release them into on board."

Team Three

So... those sure were a whole race of non-human beings. However strange they appeared to him, though, they certainly seemed nice enough on the whole. And his familiarity with tight spaces certainly helped when navigating their cramped warrens.

While he could certainly understand the original owners of the ships and containers point, the fact was, that the strange little furry people had made this place their home. And he wasn't going to kick anyone out of their home if he could possibly help it. "Look, I know what the official owners are saying," he said. "But they've all been doing alright without these containers and things up until now. They're a lot more important to the Su Samuru than they could ever be to some shipping company."

Ruri is used to crazy ranting like this. Ok, most of what she knows involves pilots egos getting too big, but she has dealt with a few crazy engineers. Letting out a slight breath she looks over at Gil with the deadpan ire only a 16 year old girl can give.

"Do you want me to pull up a holographic schematic for you to try your theories on in a way that won't murder us all? Especially given that it is a......"

She peers over at the camcorder, "Ancient Sorny? It isn't even a Magnetbox.... I'm fairly certain the parts would burn out in seconds, not minutes."

Edited 2022-01-17 12:25 (UTC)

Ruri looked over at the older man and tilted her head, "Do you have a copy of the salvage agreement? Maybe we can find a loop hole in the salvage clause."

"I had a reputation at home for... Doing similar things and costing a few businesses some money, I don't see how this would be much different."

"Considering you're not dead from touching them, I'd say there's a good chance they're edible," Came the admittedly somewhat snarky toned reply from the latest witness to the frogmageddon currently sweeping through the kitchen. Whatever Aden had expected to see upon entering the kitchen on this particular day- and he'd come to expect a lot of different things, really- this wasn't one of them.

A blue hand shot out to catch a runaway amphibian making a dash to escape the kitchen, fingers curling around the small creature lightly so as to not harm it despite his remark that they might just end up being lunch.

"Oh look, we even have a few volunteers," He added, in much the same tone as he tilted his head toward the frogs that had decided that the ovens were a good and safe place to hang out for a time, "Not that I'm volunteering to try and cook them."

While he'd learned to be less than picky about what he turned into a meal, there was a few limits to how adventurous he felt like being. And so, he gestured vaguely toward the other man and his makeshift bag full of frogs with the hand currently holding the squirming almost-escapee, "May I?"

He was already gathering them up in there, after all. Better that than just putting the frog he'd snatched up back down to make more mischief.

Repo Train -- Team Two

Well, he hadn't any need for the provided space-wears. His own garments suited just fine and if anything the rather tall creature faired a lot better here in the darkness of space where the few poisons was the obnoxious artificial oxygen. He didn't seem to keen on buddying up when items came to them for sorting and documenting. Instead, the Svartalfer stayed off to the side on his own documenting his findings in a language that may require later translating to most.

Biding his time, as it were, for opportunity to present itself.

Knowledge, as many know, a powerful tool. Most seem average level of craftmanship. He tinkered with a few that looked a bit worse for wear -- too long stored, or broken in various shuffles. Some more complex, others simply... useful monitoring units. One, in particular, catching his eye. Energy harvester? Don't mind if he does.

WILDCARD --
For anyone that wants to run into a six-foot-seven elf somewhere on the train or what have you.

Edited (MORE AWAKE NOW) 2022-01-18 04:02 (UTC)

1. Culinary Containment

Mala-Tam beams at the mess. "Klatoonian paddy frogs! I know so many recipes for them!" Of course, she recognizes the situation, so she takes a deep breath, raises her hands and starts making cupping motions with them. Frogs start to move and lift, and make startled croaks.

"Could you," she says in a distracted tone, "get something to hold them in?"

2. Repo Train - Team One

Mala-Tam isn't an experienced spacer, but she's traveled and had the basic emergency training you need when you're working supercargo.

She's also a Sith adept, so weird stuff comes with the training.

As the team approaches a large container, she raises one hand and closes her eyes for a moment. "I don't know precisely what it is, but it's angry, hungry, and large. Be ready." She draws the metal tube from the hook on her belt and presses a stud on it, causing an orange bar of energy to emerge from it for about a meter, then nods to show that she's ready. She tries not to show she's eager for the fight.

(She may not be doing very well on that last part.)

Mala-Tam notices Kohaku's work, and starts to cause some of the frogs that are floating in the Force to move towards her.

"Let's see if we can get these locked up." Her gestures literally look like she's giving a bunch of flying frogs go-that-way directions as they float in a line towards Kohaku. As they do, more get swept up and join the conga line.

"What frogs?"

Beetlejuice tilted his head, managing to look as it he were staring right through the dead frog, and ignoring the living ones that were perched on both of his shoulders.

"I don't see any frogs. You havin' some sorta of void-induced hallucination?"

The demon figured if he had to be on the God/Satan forsaken train again, he was going to have fun.

Vote-rigging

Beetlejuice hated with every fibre of his being that he'd been snagged again by the train. So, he was putting forth every effort to be an even bigger pain in the arse than he was normally.

And what better way to do so than by funding a carriage that no one wanted? If he had to suffer, everyone had to suffer.

Frogs

What's worse than living frogs everywhere?

Ghost frogs everywhere!

Beetlejuice had discovered, to his utter delight, he could nab the souls of the little amphibians that had met accidental (or "snack"idental) ends. For the most part he kept them in his pockets, but, a few he set loose in the cinema car and sleeper cars, hoping to annoy his fellow voidtreckers.

On a scale from normal to why is this happening to me, Aden would say this counted as rather normal if somewhat unexpected. A kitchen full of frogs and powers that he was familiar with but didn't possess himself ranked fairly low on the strangeness scale, really. The train itself was much the same, despite the fact that he resented being on it in the first place.

"Sure," He said, delivering the affirmation in a neutral almost disinterested tone, moving to fetch a large stock pot with a lid. Given that he'd heard that exclamation about knowing so many recipes for the frogs, it seemed the logical choice if the amphibians were going to get cooked anyway.

"You're really going to eat them?"

Aden wouldn't call himself particularly picky when it came to food- if anything, he considered himself the adventurous sort. Frogs though. He couldn't say he was a fan conceptually. Maybe if the choice was between cooking and eating a frog and starvation. But then, he felt much the same about some other dishes popular in the wider galaxy too.

"Is it true that they taste similar to poultry when cooked?"

Mala-Tam hasn't looked at the speaker, instead concentrating on the frogs.

"I don't know what other foodstuffs are here, so we may have to use it as the main protein source until there's another chance to take on supplies. As long as there's decent spices to use to flavor it... well, similar in general, but again, the spicing..." She turns to look at the person talking to her, and then the flow of frogs dips and almost falls before it restores its path.

"....are you Chiss?" Her skin is a little lighter blue, and her eyes don't glow as much, but she's got the dark hair and sharp features of a Chiss.

"Spices do make everything more palatable, that's true. Pretty sure you could make an old boot tasty if you had the right spices."

Despite his casual tone, he meant that as a joke. Honestly he supposed he could only hope that there were spices to use similar to the ones he had access to at home. But then, learning what was familiar and unfamiliar was probably something everyone here had to go through. He supposed he was lucky that he wasn't a species in need of a specialized diet.

"I'm a Pantoran with an eye condition, actually," He answered, with a tilt of his head and a smile as aloof as his tone, holding that expression for a moment before letting out a huff of laughter. Never had anyone actually asked him whether or not he was a Chiss, so he was actually a little amused that someone who looked to be Chiss themself would have to ask, "... I am. You too, right?"

A little different, perhaps, but a member of his species nonetheless.

"Nonsense! The odds are FAIRLY low that I'll kill everyone onboard! And even if I do, anyone paying attention should find it a simple matter to deduce what happened and continue my research posthumously!"

Oh dear.

Ruri's shoulders droop a bit more, "But do you really want them stealing your credit for the discovery in that off chance? I mean consider the people here, who among them is an engineer who wouldn't just take it?"

"Better off not to chance the odds and wait till you find at least a Carnivale brand."

"Um."

Kohaku paused. She'd seen a LOT of weird things since boarding the train, but there's something about the conga lying of frogs gently spinning in the air that she just couldn't deal with.

"I, uh...guess that makes it easier?"

"Hmm, that would be a problem..."

Gilgamesh calmed down a bit, finally.

"I suppose the march of science shall have to wait until it can advance without turning me into raspberry jam."

[Kavinsky hadn't really been paying any attention to who else was on this expedition which felt rather like the world's worst fucking treasure hunt. The last crate he'd helped someone open had been significantly less docile, but he doesn't look that much worse for wear.

He'd caught a glimpse of a figure in his periphery, familiar, with the line of their shoulders sending a kick of longing like sparks through his chest. So he followed after him, needing to know for sure. He'd half expected it to just be some other buff guy with a shaved head, without Ronan's blue eyes or his soft touch under a forest of thorns.

But it's him, with some strange half-dog half-sheep creature in his arms, his voice gentle as he speaks to it. It makes K's eyes soften for a moment, thankfully hidden under white-rimmed sunglasses. He's still a bit awed at the whole idea of being here, at fucking-- space travel. This feels like it ought to be a dream, except that it's more hopeful than any dream Kavinsky has had in a while. And Ronan would be wearing far fewer clothes, and paying attention to him and not the weird creature in his arms.

He doesn't immediately answer the question. Instead he stands too close, rubs his fingers against the stubble of the other boy's hair. Always testing boundaries, what he was allowed without Ronan biting him for it. Not that he minded that either, most of the time.]

You planning on adopting it, Lynch?

[His mouth curls into a grin, amused and almost teasing, but not cruel as he could be. They'd been together. Things had been good. So he wasn't feeling as insecure as he could, wasn't feeling the need to lash out. But it was still admittedly an odd way to say hello.]

She's trying not to stare, and her mouth proceeds to outpace her brain as she says, "I'm not sure about mynock, but who'd eat that?"

"Yes," she says. "Not from the Ascendency, from a group of Exiles. I am Malat’amzaar’raat, but I more usually go by Mala-Tam or just Mala."

The line of frogs moves along into the pot, croaking and waving legs lazily, for their part.

"Science, or engineering.... Mister? Doctor?"

Ruri tils her head, she's used to science being purely theory and the crazy stuff being an engineer trying to impress someone, but she will admit to limited experience.

"Because that idea sounded like a fascinating way of engineering a projectile, but of all the ships I've been on, most of them have used phase transposition engines to generate gravity fields to keep the crew intact."

Ruri however, wanted to conduct an experiment. One that if she put forth the worst idea ever the train would either know better, grant it in the short term and then replace it as well as give another car, OR just make the residents suffer through it even though it was never used. None of them struck her as terrible and she didn't know anyone well enough to know what was missing so she just decided to go with it.

Still as she moved behind the ghost with the most, she picked up a dropped vote and looked at it, "And I thought Cats: The Musica: The Movie: The train car was the worst idea. You are very inventive."

"A starving Hutt, maybe? I've seen them eat things that I wouldn't put near my mouth for a million credits."

Aden knew a few Hutts who would resent that statement, but then, those Hutts weren't here right now and couldn't talk his ear off for his insensitivity.

"Pretty sure a Sarlacc wouldn't complain if you shoved one down its throat either."

Not Sarlaccs were capable of complaining in the first place.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mala-Tam. I'm-"

Well, he had a few names, really. Had it not been for that damn roster, he probably would have introduced himself by one of his many aliases, but he didn't really have the luxury of it here. And honestly, given that he was speaking to a fellow Chiss, he was more inclined toward his own brand of friendliness than the usual frigidness.

"Aden Nahain. Just Aden's fine."

It wasn't a proper Chiss name, but he hadn't been a proper Chiss in over a decade, despite his continued loyalty to the Ascendancy.

"Is there something on my face, by the way? I didn't get slimed by a frog without noticing, did I?"

[It was a good thing his arms were full. Maybe that was exactly why Kavinsky had chosen this moment to move in. Ronan could still elbow him though, and he didn't even try to pass it off as just shifting the sheepdog in his arms.

He didn't look as ready to bite as he usually would have though; there was no one else around to posture for, to act like he was upset with the other boy touching him. It had always been easier when it was just the two of them- and then everything had gone to hell. He tried not to think about it or else his chest felt tight and the guilt started creeping in.

The creature in his arms tipped its head back and started nuzzling at his shoulder and under his chin. He was surprised it could reach, with how thick its wool was, but at least it wasn't licking--yet.]

Maybe. Just tell them it ran away or some shit.

[The animal seemed docile enough and friendly, and maybe people on the train could even figure out what to use its wool for. Spin it into yarn or something. But the train was also a little cramped and how did he know if the critter would really be better off with him? Maybe it would be taken someplace where it could frolic through fields and live happily.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 10

Test Drive 032

Culinary Containment

Vote-Rigging

Repo Train

Team One

Team Two

Team Three

Giglamesh Wulfenbach | Girl Genius

Ronan Lynch | The Raven Cycle | OTA

Kohaku Yuhara | Original

Bruno Madrigal | Encanto

Repo Train

Team 3

Culinary Containment

Malekith | Marvel Cinematic Universe

Mala-Tam Zaaraatt | Star Wars (post-ROS) OC

1

1.

Beetlejuice | Beetlejuice the Musical

Culinary Containment

Re: Culinary Containment

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

ii. repo train

no subject

no subject

Vote Rigging

no subject

no subject