takamagahara | (no subject)

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test drive

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TEST DRIVE # 15

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.

Sneaky Snakes

There are a number of snakes that have become possessed by a bunch of very sneaky ayakashi. They are slithering around, silently, snaring unsuspecting passersby into their trap - their trap to steal money. That's right, these snakes are busy snatching bills and coins from whoever they can. Try to put a stop to their thieving ways, or perhaps get thieved by them yourself.

Tummy Troubles

Many of the customers of a certain restaurant are complaining of the fact that their stomachs hurt after eating there. It could just be food poisoning, but many of these people are winding up in critical condition after a couple of days. It's time to figure out what the heck this cook is actually putting in the food.

Underwhelming Underwear

A family run business has been selling underwear for generations, but the underwear they sell is super boring and bland. Nobody wants to buy from them when cooler underwear is just around the corner. They've asked you to help them bring customers back in - by making their boring underwear seem as cool and hip as possible! How you do that is up to you.

Vividly Violet

There are so many ayakashi making their way through the air that at sunset the sky is turning an absolutely gorgeous shade of purple. Near Shore residents are reacting to this in varying ways. Many are delighted by the beautiful sky, but just as many are terrified that it's a sign of the end of times. Try to take down some ayakashi to make the sky less purple. Or just sit back and watch the beauty.

Wonder Wall

Anyways, there's this college boy who won't stop playing his acoustic guitar. He's from the US and is trying to pick up Japanese chicks. By now he should've somehow realized that they're totally not interested in him. But the song just keeps getting louder and louder and all that the people near the campus can hope is that today is gonna be the day that he stops playing. Maybe you're gonna be the one that saves them.

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!

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I've got it!

[ She screeches a battle cry before tearing into the next one, whipping its body around, trying to use it to bat its fellows out of the sky before Rending it fully. Two....three....four....

She's cutting a zigzag across the sky, which. Might not have been what he'd had in mind, but it's killin' 'em, so all's well ends well and all that jazz, right?

Sheesh, though. Kanade pants between attacks, eyeing the remainder. ] Don't suppose they'd be polite and get in line.

[ She's not much of a conversationalist during battle, however. Some kinda anger always seems to just...come. And she rolls with it.

It makes her stronger. ]

Just make sure it stays that way.

[If there's one thing Shun can say for Kanade's methods, it's that they're the kind of thing he'd probably be doing in her place as well. A few of the ayakashi are battered out of the way by the flying body of their fellow before the rend is completed, and Shun simply flattens himself against Kanade's back for the moment to avoid any unnecessary skin contact with the ayakashi, shifting his weight as he needs to with her aerial motioins.

That anger comes through their bond to him, though, and for a moment, one of his hands rests on her flank. Fueling combat with fury is more than familiar to him, and he's not going to pretend it isn't effective, but he also knows that without something to ground you, it can be dangerous to yourself and everyone around you. He's not interested in losing himself to it again, and not interested in losing anyone else to it either.]

Combat is never that easy. But this is as efficient as we're going to get. [There's something approving about his tone there - for now, she is handling it well.]

That makes it sound boring.

[ You're boring, boss man. Boring boring booo-ring.

She'll just have to keep this up, then, one ayakashi at a time - and if her breast is afire with the desire to get them all now, to finish this, every moment counts, she'll just use that fire to keep her moving till they're all gone!

So Kanade presses on, heedless of whether Shun will start being able to feel her muscles straining to keep up this level of energy, feel her body expanding and contracting as her breath comes shorter. Till they're all gone! Till this sky - is clear - again - and whatever - they're planning - is just as dead -

She's so focused on the ayakashi in front of her she doesn't notice there's a clump of them gearing up to attack from behind. ]

It's not my problem if having lives on the line can be boring to you. [He fights because he has to, and because he's good at it, but in terms of actually enjoying a fight, that comes much more easily when there aren't lives resting on the outcome.

Some of the strain in her motions can be felt under Shun's hands, though - the way her breath is coming so sharply, the labour of her movements. Shun grits his teeth, catching the movements of the pack behind them out of the corner of his eye, but he lets Kanade keep going just long enough to reach the one in front of her and do what she likes to it.

And then he pushes himself up just enough from her back to redistribute his weight, leaning a hard knee into her right side in an attempt to dip her down to somewhere she can respond better to the attack.]

Behind you! [There's no time to alert her to any more than that. He just has to hope the severity of the situation comes through.]

[ Wait, they're smart enough for an ambush?! Not fair. ]

Basta---

[ Kanade whirls around, taking her cues from Shun's "driving". The first ayakashi in the assault falls to her rage at the attempted trap, but the second gets in a hit.

Kanade yells as she's struck across the face. That just makes her madder. Bastards. Bastards, bastards.

Do they think she's the only one who's gonna get hurt?! ]

[Even as Kanade whirls, Shun grips her with one hand while reaching into one of his pockets with another. The first ayakashi goes down easy, but Shun's not quick enough on the draw to stop the second one getting her in the face.

It's a close thing, though, because in the next second, he pulls a metal flask out and sweeps it towards the ayakashi that got Kanade. A line of blessed water flies out and impacts the creature like the slash of a blade might, knocking it back and leaving it trying to shake itself off. It's no more than a distraction, and doesn't mean much in the wake of the larger ambush, but it at least gives Kanade an extra second to gather herself.]

Don't lose it. I want them dead as much as you do, but you're not going to last much longer pushing that far.

I'll last.

[ Why is that so important to her? Why does it hurt to think that she might not have the endurance?

Kanade tears into the ayakashi rather than think about it, but she appreciates the save. ] Just watch. I'll outlast 'em all.

[ Opening her beak, she shrieks more than crows and plunges back in. Finish 'em off...before she...

...she's gonna make it, she's got to make it. He's counting on her. She's dead, so what happens to her doesn't matter.

But Shun's alive. She has to take care of Shun. She wont't give up on his life. ]

[Part of Shun wants to order her out of the sky already. As much as he might force himself on through whatever comes, making himself rise again and again, he's never been as good at watching others do it. Not when he can take up the burden along with them, because in the end, that's what comrades are for. It's what friends are for.

But the utter determination in the voice that cuts through his mind is too familiar, and though he lets out a long, frustrated hiss, he crouches lower against her feathers again, letting her keep going. For now.]

Don't make me carry you out of here, then. [Even as he says that, though, he lifts himself a little from her back, far enough to get a good sight on the incoming ayakashi. He doesn't know how well it will work, but there might be something he can do to help apart from spreading shrine water.

Letting out a breath, he focuses inwards, to the power he's been given here as a god, and then outwards, to the fragmented pack of ayakashi still bearing down on them. With that focus comes a slow tearing at the borders of what constitutes the forms of the ayakashi, their surface degrading and shredding itself only to be blown away by the wind.

By the sounds they're making, it hurts, at least, but it only does a little to slow them down, and whether it makes it any easier to kill them remains to be seen.]

[ She kinda wants to snipe back at that, too, but if she's going to last - no, no "if", she's going to last - then Kanade needs to focus on the fight and just the fight. No leeway for anything but that.

When she sees Shun weakening the ayakashi for her, she doesn't even bristle at the implications. She just dives for them. Nobody cares about fair play or a straight-up bout in a life-or-death situation unless they're some kinda stick-in-the-mud. Shun is welcome to provide backup all he wants as long as it gets these things dead.

And it does seem to be helping. The individual ayakashi aren't much to speak of.

It's the numbers that are a problem. They're gonna have to think of something splashier than this... ]

[At the very least, they've torn some big holes in the purplish blanket that had been covering the night sky. Being able to kill all of them wasn't really what Shun had come into this expecting, but he'll take "as many as possible" anyway.

Still, the numbers are definitely a problem, and Shun looks over the packed ayakashi with a wary eye. Taking them one-by-one would be one thing, but if some of them are going to get pissed off enough to ambush them back, that's a little too much of a risk for the payoff.

It's hard to know what to do about a pack that big, though, so for now, Shun just coasts on using his decay powers to weaken the ayakashi. Eventually, he won't be able to maintain it, but hopefully it'll at least be enough to speed up proceedings.]

All I've got on me is a lighter, a dagger and shrine water. If you've got any ideas on how we can weaken them as a group, I'll take them.

[ Oh great, a logic puzzle. Kanade holds onto an ayakashi and flies right into a few more, basically bowling them over with their comrade before swooping around to finish them off. They're kinda crumbly with the boss man doing his thing...

Hm. ]

Think this dusty stuff's flammable?

[ KANADE NO. ]

[That is exactly as bad of an idea as it needs to be for Shun to immediately take an interest, and with a slight shrug, he fishes his lighter out of his pocket. It's a little harder to light than a disposable one, but he gets it on the first try, presumably because he's been practicing.]

One way to find out. [As they skim by some of the crumbled remains, Shun holds out the lighter close enough to touch them - and not without the kind of coiled wariness that says he wouldn't put it past them to just explode.

Thankfully, they don't, but there is a spark as a few of the flecks catch alight and it moves through the loose particles. It's not perfect, but it gives Shun an idea.]

If we can generate enough of this out of a tightly packed group, we might have somethng.

So I've gotta play rodeo, huh?

[ Or a roundup. Or something. Cows. Kanade beats her wings extra-hard a few times, one part for emphasis and one part to build up a head of steam. ] Don't get bucked off, boss man!

[ Rather than attacking, she starts trying to herd instead - jabbing, snapping, wheeling around, attempting to deny a group of ayakashi any options. Sure, this is hard when they're dealing with three dimensions instead of two, but if it'll give the others the idea that messing with this particular patch of sky ain't worth it.... ]

Worry about yourself before you worry about me. [It's somewhat of an automatic response from Shun to even joking concerns, but it's no less serious for it. Especially with Kanade having started to lose steam earlier, he feels the one that needs that worry more right now is her.

That's not to say he didn't make the correction for more valid reasons, though, because as she starts making those sharper, more unpredictable motions, Shun tightens his grip on her flanks and lowers himself down, the movement of someone who's done this before.

When he gets the chance, he focuses his powers on some of the ayakashi trying to squeeze out of the pack to try and drive them back in. Some respond better than others, but it seems to slow down even the ones who don't take the pain as a cue to turn back.]

[ Nice, this just might work. The ones Shun's hitting the worst also can't move around as much, either. Two for one! Good bargain.

When Kanade thinks she's gotten the group more or less where she wants them, she starts lowering her speed gradually. No point in making aiming any harder than it's already going to be...

Oh, right. She should probably let him know they're ready. ]

EAT SPARKS, YOU BASTARDS!

[ Nailed it. ]

[Taking that lowering of speed as his cue to prepare, Shun opens up the lighter again, flicking the flame back into existence. By the time Kanade makes that warcry, Shun's practically on the same wavelength already, and in a quick, sweeping motion to make sure they don't get caught up in it themselves, he sets the drifting particles alight. In the next instant, he dips his weight towards the open air on their other side, to help Kanade get away from the blaze faster.

The flaming chain reaction moves quickly - it's not quite a flour explosion, but the spread isn't unlike it either. The ayakashi twist and shriek as the fire licks at them, hurting even if it doesn't have the power to kill them, and though the embers die as fragments of the ayakashi go ashen and fall away, there still seems to have been more than sufficient injury and distraction to make this easier.

Crouching low to Kanade's back in readiness, Shun pockets the lighter again and holds on.]

Let's make this quick.

[ You're tellin' her? Kanade actually huffs a laugh at that, bird lungs and all, somehow, before flying straight at the conflagration.

She knows she doesn't have to yell this, even telepathically, for it to work, but she does so anyway - her "voice" as raw as if it'd been torn from her angry throat. This is for everybody you're scarin'! Everybody you might have already hurt, or were going to hurt---

This is for the god that she's never, ever, ever gonna let squander the life that he's still got, and that he's living with all his might even though she can tell he's carrying a lot of burdens that stiffen his shoulders too much--

This is for whatever killed her at seventeen. ]

REND!

[Whether stating the obvious is amusing or not, Shun doesn't seem to care. He'd just rather Kanade finish this and let herself rest sooner rather than later, and if destroying these ayakashi is going to do that, then he's the last person who's going to question it.

As she lets out that cry and they collide with the pack of beasts, there's a moment of pause where they don't quite seem to have registered what happened, as if the pain of the fire made it too hard to sense the follow-up.

But then they tear through and out the other side, and the ayakashi are either ripped asunder or implode into more of those shredded fragments, which dissolve into the night air and extinguish themselves. Though he hadn't been the one to fight them, the power needed for that final rending weighs a little on him too, and his fingers clench in Kanade's feathers as if to make sure she's still fit to fly. Losing people on a routine mission is something he's done more than enough of, and isn't interested in repeating the experience of.]

Find somewhere to land. That's a big enough hole in their numbers for now. [There are still a few floating across the sky, but the thick blanket of ayakashi that had once been there is now a pitiful, shredded mess.]

[ Vwoom. Kanade almost feels in moments like this like the world should be freezing around her, or something, for effect, but she also figures that's just her being weird. Most of her brain is taken up with the grim satisfaction of having gotten the job done.

Or, well, as done as it's probably going to be. She's flagging in the sky, even as she looks up to count the remainder. ] I can still...

[ She staggers in midair and hurries to right herself. She can do this. Can't she? Just one more push...

If they just give it one more push...

She's gonna lose this argument, isn't she. ]

[She's definitely losing this argument. As soon as Shun feels Kanade falter like that in mid-air, he shifts his weight forward and to the side, aiming to lead them down and back towards a rooftop they can land on. It's a firmer motion than his other, guiding ones from earlier in the fight, the kind of movement that says he's not taking no for an answer on this one.]

Nobody's expecting you to die for the sake of clearing out the last few of these. Don't waste your afterlife on something like that. [His tone is blunt, because this in particular is a point he's really not interested in trying to be delicate about. If it were some kind of high-stakes, life-or-death situation, he might understand it more, even if he'd also probably be the one laying his life down first. But this is a case where they can afford to say they're not the only god and shinki in the Heavens, and with a plague of ayakashi that had been this obvious, Shun's confident in assuming they won't be the only ones to take things into their own hands.]

We might have a responsibility to protect lives, but that includes mine to protect yours.

Yeah, yeah.

[ Kanade tenses up her muscles against that guidance, but it's more a surly registration of her own reluctance than an outright refusal. They relax soon enough, and she lets herself be led away from the fight. This isn't right. It's smart, but it isn't - it isn't right. She doesn't want to leave anything to other people that she could do herself. Or is he saying that she couldn't do it herself?

...Is he right about that?

Aaah, no more thinking about difficult stuff. Kanade sighs, mostly mentally (bird lungs), and flaps down onto the rooftop. ] Ahhh.....now I'm hungry. You got bird feed in those wonder pockets?

[ In addition to the lighter, like, dude, why do you carry a lighter, is that a stupid question. ]

[In this state, Shun doesn't think she could do it herself, not without some major damage. While he can respect the desire to take all of this into her own hands, that's backfired on him regularly enough that he can see when it's a bad idea. Usually. Moreso when it doesn't involve him.

As they land, Shun hops off her back, dusting himself off. It seems like his coat has saved him from most of what would've otherwise blighted him - there's a scattering of the distinctive dark bruising around his jaw and a worse patch on the leading edge of the hand that was holding the lighter, but he can deal with it when they get back to the temple. It doesn't hurt enough to bother him too much, and as long as he doesn't touch Kanade with that part of his hand once she changes back, it should be fine.

On that note and with Kanade's question, Shun lets out a slight huff that could be frustrated or amused.]

I doubt it'd do you as much good as real food right now... [He casts one last glance across the sky to ensure they're not about to bear some kind of follow-up attack before settling on bringing her back out of the bird's form.] ...Amou Kanade.

[Nope, still hasn't quite hit first name basis yet.]

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