Test Drive #34

[godsoffortune]

TEST DRIVE # 34



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.



Jingle Jeans
The fresh new spring fashion trend is accessorized denim. Super-accessorized! Bells, chains, beads, zippers, belts and more drip from every inch of this season's hot styles, and the stores need someone to model their new stock -- and bring in the buyers. It's your job to convince the fashion-savvy residents of Tokyo that these new jeans are exactly what their wardrobe needs, without getting your five chain belts tangled.


Kitty Kibble
A huge, panther-shaped ayakashi is haunting the streets of Asakusa, and the pigeons at the local pigeon shrine have disappeared! Take care of this feline predator so the surviving sacred birds won't end up as dinner on the wing.


Lagging Laundry
The residents of an Ikebukuro high-rise have an unusual problem: no matter how sunny the day or how long it's been hanging, their laundry just won't dry! Do they have a moist microclimate? An ayakashi of mold and despair? Or do they just need someone to get all that wet laundry to the nearest laundromat with a dryer until the weather warms up?


Melon Mania
A gardener in Ueno has planted a brand-new strain of muskmelon in his window boxes, and this plant is going wild! Vines have taken over the exterior of his apartment building, and beach-ball-sized fruit are popping up all over. He needs help bringing in the harvest… but his neighbors are begging for this plant to wind up in the compost heap so their lives can go back to normal. Whose side will you take?


Nice & Neat
A community art project is being hosted at the Tokyo Art Museum! Jigsaw-shaped pieces of wood about the size of a hand have been handed out to artists and crafters throughout Japan, and the pieces have just been shipped back. Now, they have to be assembled into one giant jigsaw puzzle for display. There's just one problem: someone forgot to number the pieces before they were shipped! Now they've got a 20,000 piece puzzle whose pieces don't match, and it has to be finished this weekend for the grand opening. Help!



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

A Friendlier Kitty

[distantfuture]

Pretty sure they all could smell the food.

[Hope knelt down to lightly scritch at one of the cat's ears, although it was quite preoccupied with the food.]

They're just going to follow you if you keep feeding them.

laundry

[priforprince]

Beyond useless.

[ The person standing behind Chris has someone else's tighty whities draped atop their head.

Just a guess from body language: they are not happy. ]

[alchemists]

[ Picturing it isn't helping. ]

I understand now.

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ When fighting is all you do, it becomes mechanical. He's nothing more than a machine that fights and kills. The name is meaningless, but it's better to have a name than not.

The use of his True Name gets a slight reaction: his lip curls back to reveal his sharp teeth and the grip on Gae Bolg tightens. It's a momentary reaction, but it's still noticeable. ]

Then you'll notice I share very little in common with my lighter side. [ His eyes narrow. ] If all I am is a curiosity to you, then we have nothing more to talk about.

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ Berserker doesn't even turn towards the voice, he just lifts his head slightly. It's the barest acknowledgement that he's being spoken to, nothing more. ]

No, but if I am, I don't care. If you're picking it up, you don't need to do that. It's not your problem.

[unlucky7]

[Ginia's free hand twitches, pinky and ring finger bending back, a line ready on her mind. Does it bother him his 'lighter' side is here as himself (themselves, now, maybe) or is he indifferent to it?

She relaxes her hand and sighs.]

You are your own person as he is his. It's probably best both of you are here as gods. [Context for your being is a hell of a thing to have.] New allies are always worth seeking out.

[virtuousdogma]

Yeah.

[Tyzias squared her shoulders. She's as ready as she'll ever be. The armor and crossbows were new, but not unusual. Plenty of other trolls carried personal weapons around, in plain sight or hidden as something else entirely. Axes, claws, knives. Some with psionics took advantage of appearing unarmed to get the upper hand.]

After you.

[Her soulless shinki, a curved shortsword that she now held in one hand, was all she needed to get ready. Other than a plan of course, but it seems as if the two of them weren't going to be given the time to plan anything in advance.]

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ The presence of his lighter side doesn't concern him. It's simply a fact of life. They existed together in Chaldea and existing in a different place, no matter what they may be now, didn't change anything. Two sides of a coin, even if Berserker represents a possibility that doesn't exist within Cú Chulainn due to the corrupting influence of Medb's wishes.

The tension leaves him slowly once again. ]

Are you saying you want to be my ally? [ How strange. ] I have no interest in it, but I won't stop you if that's your choice.

[unlucky7]

I'm entertaining the possibility.

[Things are hardly so dire politically that knowing the right person is a matter of life or death, but it's always worth forming alliances as soon as possible. Alex is not a war god nor is Ebisu, and Ebisu is already under Heavens watch enough. Allying with the right gods means passing on ayakashi extermination prayers to someone reliable, but it might also mean stopping another massacre if push comes to shove (or turning the tables on would be attackers).

It's a way to figure out what kind of person Berserker is too. Curiosity, but maybe odd sentiment too.]

Who is your shinki?

[There's another glance to his spear then over him, looking for anyone that might stand out as a vesseled shinki.]

[fingerwiggle]

Shouldn't that be my line? I'm not the one getting turned into an inanimate object.

[Not exactly the time for that though]

Come, Aki!

[futhark]

[ Of course, so quick to wield that. His eyes stay probably a bit too long on the corrupted, but immediately recognizable spear. There is a stupid thought that he maybe could take a hold of it-- even if logically he knows it would mean his death. But at least a death with "hell yeah I tried!!"

Anyway a swarm of small, moldy ayakashi escapes the cloth he's been holding and pool at their feet, before trying to form something bigger, with more of a concrete shape ]

Hold it, the spear alone will be useless against it.

[ Humans have not yet figured out how to deal with this threat, but once they do, the need for gods will diminish. Until then... they've got work to do ]

Do you have your shinki with you? [ Caster does, a red pendant on his neck. So he knows a vesseled shinki might be something inconspicuous. Might even grant Berserker the privilege of rending the ayakashi with his own weapon of choice. ]

[faithstaynight]

[The giggling has given way to full-blown laughter - if a group of birds trying to intimidate Caster wasn't a hilarious enough image, them making him dance was enough to do it. It's also enough for her to take pity on him, so when a few of the more stubborn pigeons refuse to chase after the rice, she crouches down and (gently) tries to shoo them away.]

Ah, but did the rice do it? Or were they appeased by your eccentric display?

melon mania

[galrarm]

She has a point, [ Shiro says as he crosses his arms. He's pretty impressed by Ruler's ability to settle things; it shows in the way he nods approvingly. ]

In the end, teamwork is always better.

[faithstaynight]

[Whether it's helping the citizens of the Near Shore with mundane problems or fighting off ayakashi, Ruler's always downplayed all her achievements since awakening as Zelda's shinki. Her humble attitude has never once wavered in that time, so... it can't be anything but genuine, right?]

All I did was calm them down. The solution I offered... I think they would've come to it on their own. They just needed to listen to each other.

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ The pile of laundry is dropped and he takes a step back.

Berserker wouldn't hesitate to kill Caster if his fingers so much as brush against Gae Bolg without his permission. He's a bit possessive. ]

Don't stare so jealously. [ Cold. ] And of course I do.

[ A glove on one hand, beneath the bestial armor. It allows him to use Curruid Coinchenn to rend ayakashi, a brutal method befitting him. Until then, he uses the twisted spear in his hand to do as he wishes. ]

[curruid_coinchenn]

I have no interest in telling you their name. Just know that I have one.

[ There's no need to be guarded about this information, but he chooses to be difficult. His shinki is on his right hand as a glove -- it allows him to use not Gae Bolg, but his other Noble Phantasm Curruid Coinchenn to rend ayakashi. Extremely brutal, but very fitting. ]

And it's as I said, I don't care what choice you make. If you wish to follow a god of blight, so be it.

Kitty Kibble

[tinygreen]

[Pidge can't help with pigeons. She's tiny and they wouldn't fear her much.]

Are you covered in bird seed or something?

[Or the bird equivalent of cat nip? Because this is a first. And Pidge is trying not to let a laugh escape.]

[unlucky7]

I don't know whether to admire your shinki's fortitude or hope you have a soulless shinki.

[Ginia smirks lightly, but continues to appraise him. Does his indifference extend to someone in his care? Few care about soulless shinki, but most would still take offense at one being treated poorly. And if he has a new shinki and there are problems...

Hm. Time will tell.]

Is there anything you care about?

[immafrog]

Does it really matter?

[An amused grin before complying to the command, becoming a thick, black and gold Power Axe. It was still a bit weird to become a weapon, at the mercy of his god. Adam couldn't see anything now, but he could still talk to Bridge and he could perceive the area around him.

It was all around weird and kind of cool.]

We got this, Bridge.

[faithstaynight]

[With the way Chris is dragging herself and the melons along, it's hard not to notice. And Ruler, being Ruler, doesn't hesitate to (thankfully not literally) drop her armful into the nearby produce crate and head over to where Chris is struggling, scooping up one of the melons.]

That won't do... you shouldn't be afraid to ask for help. We're all working together, after all.

[faithstaynight]

[Siiiiigh. Ruler's pretty much resigned herself to being the laughingstock of the day after this. Oh well... it could be worse, she guesses? At least this isn't something seriously degrading.]

Not that I'm aware of?? [At least the ones nibbling at her hair are focused mainly on the chopped short bits. It would be a bit more serious problem if they were clinging to her long braid...] That ayakashi... I was more concerned that they'd be afraid of me, if any of its scent lingered around.

[tinygreen]

[Sorry, Ruler, sorry. It's just not everyday Pidge sees someone in this situation without an outside stimulus to have caused it.]

Maybe they're so grateful they don't care how you smell? Though I doubt ayakashi actually have a scent. They just feel like a weird darkness to me. Never noticed a smell...

Kitty Kibble

[redmare]

[ Buddy? Really?

She was planning to help, but ir seemed like for a little bit he didn’t need it. So why step in when you can see what he guy had up his sleeves? Seemed he was physically adept at least. ]

Already?

[curruid_coinchenn]

That's not your concern, is it?

[ Apathy is truly all he knows. To care about something would mean being more than just a machine. He does seem slightly offended by that implication, but only slightly. ]

Achieving my goals and killing anything in the way of those goals.

[ But he doesn't have any goals right now, though, so...no. He cares about nothing and no one. An empty, meaningless existence. ]

[unlucky7]

It becomes my concern if you're mistreating your shinki.

[It's stated in the pamphlet given to shinki when they arrive that there's nothing wrong with leaving a god if things aren't working out. And if the god refuses to let a shinki go or is causing other problems, there's a list of gods and shinki to contact for emergency action. As it happens, Ginia is one of the volunteers.

He's nothing like the Cú Chulainn she knows, but, perhaps foolishly, she wonders if there's some similar core somewhere. For someone with so much life, it's a little sad to see a version so single-minded.

But while she might worry over other shinki, it's not her role to manage a god that isn't hers. Ginia sighs again, shakes her head.]

May you achieve your goals, but not at the expense of others or yourself.