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[godsoffortune]

TEST DRIVE # 09



Whether you're trying to figure out how your character would fare in this setting, trying to get some samples together, or just dipping your toes in the water, you've come to the right place! The Test Drive is here to make your life easy by letting you see what the game is like without actually joining it first. So here is how it works:

1: Post a starter with your character, including whether they are a god or shinki in the subject line.
2: Act like your character is established enough in the setting to allow your thread to go places.
3: Take on any god/shinki of your choosing, as long as they're not already in the game!
4: Comment around to the other people on the meme.
5: Have lots of fun!

To get you started, here are some ideas for thread-starters! Feel free to come up with your own ideas if these don't strike your fancy, though.



Old Officials

There's a business that is desperately wishing the older members of their workforce would bow out. They've been sitting on death's door for so long and are doing little to help the company. The younger managers only want to step up and take their place! Help convince these ancient businessmen to step down.

Peanut Party

A celebration for peanuts is sweeping through the city. Peanut butter, peanut cookies, even just plain peanuts are being sold, thrown, and praised all over. It's your job to help spread the peanut love, either by helping to make the tasty treats or by buying more peanuts from the next town over.

Quiet Quail

Oddly enough, a request has come in from a quail, of all creatures. It thinks very highly of itself and knows that it's super mega important, but it has such a hard time being anything but quiet. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to draw attention to this quail - make it stand out like not other quail has done before.

Roaring Riders

A rowdy motorcycle gang has been plaguing the streets for a few weeks. Every night, at midnight, they make their engines roar out in unison, waking everybody in town. The riders themselves are good guys, they just have this one nasty habit that they refuse to give up because it pays tribute to their patron god. Do you have the heart to get them to quiet down?

Slick Sevens

The newest tourist stop is a large casino. It's said that everyone who enters the casino has their luck stolen from them at the door. That might just be silly superstitions and bad gamblers talking, but there is definitely an ayakashi there who seems to feed on people's luck. Maybe that's what's causing everyone to lose so much.



If you're uncertain about anything, feel free to check out the Premise, Rules, and FAQ posts. And don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have on the FAQ!
When and if you're ready to join the game, check out the Taken Characters before throwing in a Reserve and starting on your Application
Have fun!

Comments

The Medicine Seller | Mononoke | Shinki

[tadanokusuriuri]

Old Officials

[It's difficult to get much of a read on Hakari, as he's taken to calling himself since receiving his name. He spends most of his time with a small, bland smile that doesn't say very much about what he's thinking, or a more or less expressionless face, and his voice doesn't give away much more.]

[As he and his god approach the restaurant where the troubled company's staff are having their company drinking party tonight, though, he pauses. For a second, he actually looks like he might be frowning.]

There are...

...no ayakashi here.

Peanut Party

[There don't really seem to be any malevolent spirits lurking around the festival, either... but festivals are strange times, and strange things can happen. The shinki looks decorative enough in his bright, elaborate robes, anyway... He's somehow been drafted into working at a snack stand, and he's not really complaining; it's a chance to talk to some people, and that's a chance to sniff out a place where he's actually needed.]

[He smiles up at a passing god or shinki -- a strange, enigmatic smile, as he gestures to an array of candies, baked goods, and souvenirs on the table before him.]

Come in, please. What, I wonder... could catch such a discerning customer's interest?

Quiet Quail

[Honestly? This doesn't seem any stranger to him than a human's wish.]

[And it should be simply enough done, shouldn't it? Even without his god around, perhaps.]

[That's why, a few minutes after he finds the quail, someone might find him sitting cross-legged on the ground in a public park, carefully painting bright, glittering, apparently kabuki-influenced makeup onto a slightly fretful quail draped in colorful veils.]

Now, now. Hold still... just a little longer, I implore you.

[Nothing weird going on here, definitely.]

Roaring Riders

[Honestly, he just... doesn't see the point. Surely the annoyance of waking up once a night isn't enough for an ayakashi to really grow strong on, so why should it be their problem? If they do have to care, why not just take it up with the god in question and have them deal with their followers?]

[It's a nuisance, fine, but why waste time running after every little nuisance?]

[He glances sideways at his god, hands tucked into his voluminous sleeves to ward against a slight evening chill.]

...You're certain... this is important?

Slick Sevens

[Something is different about this mission. Strange shadows are gathering in the air, and something feels...]

[Something feels right about it.]

[There's a new light in his eyes, but even so, there's no sense in rushing in without investigating. It's important to understand the source of the problem at its roots first, after all.]

[It's important.]

[All evening, he's been going from table to table, trying his hand at all of the games, mingling with the patrons. He's spent the last hour or so at a poker table, and as he lays down a fairly miserable hand on the table after a few winning hands, his little smile remains as unshakable as ever.]

My, my.

Perhaps... my luck is finally... running thin.

[He sounds completely unconcerned by the thought, and he honestly is. What he's winning is the reactions he can read on the other players' faces -- and those are what he's been in it to win from the beginning, even if he's been careful to more or less break even. That's what gives his smile a tiny edge of victory, for a brief moment, as he glances over to where his god is.]

[backwatertrooper]

It's been a few strange, awkward - unpleasant - days in Nibelheim before he even got here and the clear displeasure in Sephiroth's tone makes Cloud want to cringe, but there's also a sullen wish for it to have been Zack instead...

Though not if he didn't remember him. That would be worse than... this. This is at least somewhat familiar and expected, even if Sephiroth also had paid more attention than he'd have expected to be given before their visit to the reactor...

Flushing at the question, Cloud opens his mouth, then snaps it closed.

"Um---" scrambling for something to say and not ask a commanding officer who appears not to be aware that's what he is for forgiveness because it feels like he should, Cloud finally looks up at Sephiroth, "... it's well past midnight already. If nothing else they won't start up again tonight."

He doesn't add 'sir' at the end, but it's a near thing. And that's not a perfect solution, but it'll give him another day to try to come with something better.

Peanut Party

[skyleopardess]

[Yoruichi has nothing against peanuts, but she's pretty sure this town has overdone it. The dust has made her sneeze one time too many, so she's taken to traveling by rooftop in search of anything interesting.

His reiatsu hits her before she sees him, and her heart leaps in her chest. What the hell is he doing here? This place is steadily bringing in people from their world, and Yoruichi's not at all sure how to take it.

But regardless, it's good to see him, even if he's already managed to build something stupid and unnecessary. Her own reiatsu is banked, so he may or may not be surprised to find her appearing at his feet in her cat form, tail lazily curling at the tip.]

Is this really the best use of your time?

[Her voice is dry, with the built-in gruffness of her scratchy old-man voice. BUt he knows her well enough to know there's no venom in her words.]

[prideinthefall]

"That's an assessment with a temporary reprieve, not a solution." He says after a moment. Then Sephiroth falls silent again, debating his options. Walking away is the most appealing for a variety of reasons. This matter doesn't concern him and aiding in it will not directly benefit Sephiroth or his god. However, there is the academic possibility. The structure and use of granting prayers has been explained to him, but he's yet to witness a direct outcome.

"They wish to pay tribute to their god in a manner that reflects their individual fascination with these motorcycles. So, offer them a compromise."

Or kill them. But as Sephiroth takes another look at Cloud, the shinki is more than certain that this god doesn't have the stomach for the unspoken solution.

[shockshot]

[She giggles quietly; the thought of mysteriously opening desks and people freaking out of them sounds funny. She wouldn't want that to happen, but it's funny to picture.]

Right. And he might have pictures around his desk, maybe from former trips?

[Or a computer with a desktop picture. That'd work nicely. She follows him, though not with one longing glance over to the break room.]

...you don't think they'd miss any tea or coffee once we're done, do you?

[sunshineprincess]

Uhm, excuse me? There's places with magic, like mine, and birds can do whatever they want.

[You can teach some to speak!]

[koukai_kirai]

[So she's definitely from the Far Shore, at least. Or just insane. He'll find out, he guesses.]

It may have escaped your attention, but the mortal world here hasn't got any magic. And I don't care what it wants, it hasn't got the right sort of voice for speech, has it?

[heatupnever]

[Cuz she does what she wan—]

Spreading the love.

[... what do you mean that doesn't make sense]

What's it to you?

[makinuscream]

[ Between her hiding her reiatsu ad Kisuke's involvement with his contraption, she does 'sneak' up on him. So much so that the feeling of something rubbing against his leg startles him enough for him to end up bonking his head on a complicated armature. ]

Ow! [ But pained expression turns into pleasant surprise quickly. Leaning down and scooping her up Kisuke grins wide from underneath hat. ] Well, well look who also got dragged way out here to whatever alternate reality we're in.

[ No one should say 'whatever alternate reality we're in' both calmly and seriously, but he does and completes it with a scratch right between her ears. At least there's no audience or his attention would probably be more grand and embarrassing. ]

The name of the game is answering prayers, right? By the time I'm finished, this is a Peanut Festival that will go down in the history books. If I'm lucky, someone will write a hymn or two. What brings you to the celebration of this most illustrious legume? I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're not just here to stuff yourself free peanuts.

[sunshineprincess]

So? There's magic everywhere if you know what you're looking for! I mean, look at us! Gods are definitely magical.

[She puts her hands on her hips.]

And this bird is just quiet.

[koukai_kirai]

["There's magic everywhere if you know what you're looking for."]

[Hell. What is he even supposed to say to that sort of nonsense?]

[He gives Anna a long, skeptical look, then gives another to the quail for good measure.]

[Magic everywhere, honestly...]

[sunshineprincess]

[Anna picks up the bird and it fluffs itself up.]

Plus, it's super cute. Can't deny that!

I'm sorry about him, by the way, he's like this all the time with everyone, he's a grumpy menace

[koukai_kirai]

...Cute.

[That word, too, just drips with skepticism, as if to ask why on Earth would I care if it's cute?]

[erogappa]

The stairwell was guarded by a couple folks with badges and tasers -- this was Japan, after all -- but it shouldn't be any challenge at all to liberate one of those badges and get the door open. Gojyo tagged after his new partner, willing to let the guy take point... and to be the one to deal first with whatever they stumbled into.

"Something you should know about ayakashi," he responded, gesturing towards the stairwell door in a here, it's all you manner. "It's always worse than you thought it was gonna be." Sometimes staff calling in sick leads to a monster trying to murder a school full of kids, sometimes asking too many questions gets your friend turned into a mindless beast, and sometimes your god-given power makes you the equivalent of ayakashi catnip. Don't ask.

"This thing might not being doin' this on purpose." He tapped out a cigarette and tucked it into the corner of his mouth. "Sometimes they make stuff happen just by being there."

XD omfg. Well, she's not going to relent

[sunshineprincess]

[Hey. Cute can get you somewhere in life if you know how to use it.]

Yep. Super cute. And fluffy, and it runs super fast to get away from danger, and the way it eats with those tiny little pecks...

[This princess loves animals.]

I figured as much -- do carry on :D

[koukai_kirai]

[He's... reminded of Souji, actually. Souji, and his damn rainbow-colored ducklings here, and his damn piglet back at home, and the damn kid...]

[She'd be having a lot more luck if she'd run into Souji. He almost feels a little bit bad that she's stuck trying to talk to him instead, but not quite bad enough to humor her. Still got his dignity, after all.]

That's... nice.

[That was possibly the most half-hearted effort to be polite that's ever happened.]

Maybe show it to someone who likes cute things.

[sunshineprincess]

... You're super grumpy, aren't you. There's gotta be something you find cute!

[It can be anything!]

[koukai_kirai]

[Something he finds cute...]

[He thinks immediately of the way Souji smiles when he's really happy, bright and bubbly when he's playing jokes, or soft and affectionate in the dim light of the moon...]

[NO, he is absolutely not putting himself through that particular form of emotional self-torture right now!]

Not especially. Never been interested in "cute".

[sunshineprincess]

[She watches him intently before brightening up. He took too long!]

Is it a girl? [She's about to have a scandalous thought, so she lowers her voice.] Or a boy?

[makinuscream]

[ Kisuke flashes a grin when Masaki giggles. He can certainly appreciate the love of a good prank! ]

Let's hope we're that lucky. [ Stopping outside the breakroom, Urahara chuckles and shakes his head. ] Probably not and even if they do no one will know who took it. Go grab some and we'll get started. I wouldn't mind a cup of coffee for this myself.

[ Strolling inside the room and making sure no one will notice the pilfering, Kisuke chants a quick silencing kidou around the room to keep any noise from clanging cups from carrying. ]

[koukai_kirai]

[He did take too long, and winces very slightly when he realizes that he's been caught.]

[It would probably be a bit of an abuse of power to try and magically remove her interest in cross-examining him about his personal life, he guesses. Like, if his old friends were alive, they would definitely give him some really disappointed looks for pulling something like that.]

Does it matter which?

[sunshineprincess]

Hmm.. I guess not. Love is love after all. Everyone deserves it.

[EXCEPT HANS]

[koukai_kirai]

[He looks much more embarrassed about love than he did about it being a boy. Ugh, talking about feelings.]

...I suppose.

[backwatertrooper]

"Yes, sir." It's a soft mutter, said reflexively - because he's right, it isn't a solution... Unless the bikers all actually take his suggestion in the end and move this outside of town. Then it would be, but so far there's been no indication that they'll do that.

At least not from what he's heard, but they're still arguing about it so Cloud hasn't given up entirely.

"That's what the first suggestion was supposed to be," Cloud says after several moments of silence, grimacing and feeling vaguely... frustrated. But weirdly enough - maybe it's the tone, similar enough to the one Sephiroth had used during his explanation by the mako fountain - it makes him think, too.

"... there's a gas station at the outskirts. Maybe that'll work if this doesn't work..." Maybe they feel they need people actually listening to them? Not that the employees there will be pleased, but that's less than are impacted now.

[shockshot]

[Can't go wrong with a good natured prank! She follows him inside, and heads straight for the cups. She knows that clanging or not, Urahara has her back.]

Two cups of coffee it is! Did you want anything in yours?

[And maybe a cracker or two. It wouldn't be so bad if they took one cracker or cookie each; it looks like they've got plenty.]

Here, catch.

[She'll toss one Urahara's way. Can't ransack a desk without a snack!]