takamagahara | Test Drive #34

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test drive

Test Drive #34

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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?

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. ]

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.

I treat them as I see fit. They suit my purposes well and there are no complaints. They're a tool, like I was.

[ Servants are tools, familiars for mages to use, nothing more and nothing less. To Berserker, his shinki serves the same purpose -- a tool.

The only similarities between the two are the fact that this cold killing machine is a part of him. Remove the empathy, remove any joy and warmth, and this is what remains. He is too corrupted by the Grail, by the circumstances of his summoning to have that warmth. A possibility that could not be, that shouldn't be. ]

Hmph, don't concern yourself with how I achieve my goals. Don't stand in my way and there won't be a problem.

[There's a tightening in her jaw. Yeah, it's an attitude she's heard before, not only about shinki, but also from the few Servants that are gods and know the context of their existence. She can't speak to the relationship of Masters and Servants, but there is an important part about the relationship of a shinki and god that's easy to overlook.

Blight can take a god down faster than it can taken down a shinki.

Ginia smiles.]

Hey, give me a name.

[ It doesn't concern him. Even if he ends up blighted, it's simply a side effect. It will hasten his death, something he doesn't mind. Much of his existence is aimed at ending his life, at finding a place to die. ]

If you mean what you may call me, Berserker.

It isn't, but good to know.

[Caster may not be her god anymore, but she keeps in touch with her old temple. News travels fast after new arrivals come in, especially when one of them shares a face with one of the few gods here as himself.]

I meant name me. I'm a shinki, right? What's another tool for your arsenal?

I don't need one.

[ Is it petty? Probably. But he has no interest in taking her on as another shinki. His look just grows colder as he stares at Ginia. ]

You serve other gods already. A tool that's used by others won't serve my purpose. Your loyalties lie elsewhere.

[Of course. It would have been too easy that way. Ginia huffs out a laugh at his answer, genuinely amused despite herself. She covers her mouth and shakes her head as she taps out a reply.]

For as different as you say you are from Caster, you two are still similar in very specific ways.

We are two sides of the same coin, so there are still similarities. It doesn't bother me, just don't expect me to be anything like him. Be surprised when I am.

[ Loyalty is still something he values deeply, even in this form. His own form of loyalty is deeply twisted, like everything else about him, but it's still there. without loyalty, there is too much of a possibility of betrayal. Betrayal is something he will kill someone over. ]

[Of the similarities to keep, loyalty is one of the better ones. There's something he still believes in in some way. That much she can respect. The rest... her brief burst of mirth fades into a serious neutral.

A lot of people around are dangerous. If the Heavens choose shinki and gods based on how well they can exterminate ayakashi (and maybe each other), they've pulled in a fine selection of fighters and killers. In that regard, even with his brutality, Berserker isn't that much more dangerous than some of the people here.

It's his apathy that leaves her uneasy. Not only because of her sentiment to Caster - and dammit, it's not fair to compare but it's hard not to either - but because it's a bad way to life.

But. Not her god. Not her friend. If there's anyone she'd rather focus energy on, it's Caster.]

What are you going to do now?

[ His apathy is simply who he is. Worn down by endless battles and endless violence, he became a hollow shell. Strength was all that mattered, so that's all he focused on. There's no joy left in him, all of the emotions he deemed useless turned to strength.

Berserker simply shrugs at the question, as if it's one of the most pointless things he's been asked. There's only one answer, of course. ]

I'm going to find something else to do. The battles never end, so there must be another one for me to fight.

Heard there's an art project at the Tokyo Art Museum that could use some help.

[Ginia smirks faintly, finding it hard to imagine Berserker helping out with a giant jigsaw puzzle. Or who knows, maybe it's the perfect non-fight prayer he needs. If everything is equally tedious, no prayer is worse than the other.]

But if you want to fight, I can point you toward an ayakashi lurking in the canals.

[ The fight would be easier. Even though a simple, mechanical task like a puzzle is not beyond him, his presence has the tendency to disturb people. Not that it bothers him, it's simply easier to fight. The path of least resistance is generally the one he takes. ]

Point me to it, then, and I will take care of it.

[Unsure how familiar he is with the area and unsure whether he's any better with technology than Caster, the best way is to lead him there. Pocking her phone, Ginia gestures for him to follow before she takes off running, leaping effortlessly onto the nearest lamppost.

She moves with the long, weightless leaps a shinki can do, but also with the ease of someone used to running and fighting and comfortable with it. Lamppost to lamppost to lamppost to rooftop she moves without ever losing or wasting momentum, sparing only a glance over her shoulder to see if he's following.]

[ Berserker has no issue keeping up. Servants are capable of moving faster with more agility than a human, capable of running and jumping great distances. He looks more annoyed at having to be led instead of just being pointed in the direction.

If anything, he'd like to do the work by himself. That's where his annoyance comes from -- despite the nature of the work requiring him to work with someone, he's solitary. He prefers to take care of his business by himself. ]

[The canals and rivers are vast and varied. Ginia knows where the ayakashi is hanging out, but it could have easily moved from the area. Her suggestion, she'll take responsibility for it before getting out of his way.

If nothing else, she's good bait for the ayakashi.

Their rooftop run takes them into a quieter neighborhood, traffic noise falling behind as the streets mix into a more gentle blend of local eateries, shops, and smaller offices or apartments. Ginia lands on a rooftop and points into the stretching canal, deep with water. Ribbon-like shapes move about under the surface, flashes of blurred neon pinpointing their location until it vanishes deeper in the water. There's a higher concentration by a pedestrian bridge.]

Snake ayakashi. They lure people into the water to drown them. The smaller ones concentrate around the bridge, but there's a large one controlling them.

Stay out of my way.

[ Berserker doesn't even let her finish as he rushes into canal. Risk to himself be damned, he's more interested in fighting. It's still methodical, mechanical, and only out of necessity, but it's a drive within him. A beast that fights to survive, nothing more.

Bestial armor comes to surround him, covering his arms and head completely. His Noble Phantasm, something he shouldn't rely so heavily on because it's taxing, and yet he choose to, regardless. Tearing, shredding, destroying anything around him. It's what the Mad King does -- conquer, take, destroy.

Nothing else matters to him but the task at hand, achieving his goals. The water churns around him as he rends the ayakashi, ignoring any threats to himself. ]

[Ginia holds her position as Berserker dives in. The water reches up to his shoulders, but it doesn't seem to stop him at all. Swirls of neon dart through the water toward him. The snakes try to wrap around his limbs and drag him down, futilely trying to bite through his armor before he claws through them. They are weak, but they are numerous and even the lightest graze against exposed skin or prolonged contact through clothes will leave stripes of blight on him.]

y̠̜̤o̺̺u͉͖ ̢s̞̯̥̘m̶̘͇̜͕̩͉e͕͍͓͇͎l̫̲͚̖̻̬͈͠l̴͇̪̻̮ͅ ̯̥̕d̺̮̭e͏͇̼̙̖͇l̬̹̯i̞̠͈̜͕cị̘͎̙̤͇͔o̝͎̘̠͎̼u҉̯͓s̥

[The rumbling hiss rolls through the air, water churning as an ayakashi thrashes toward him. It rears out of the water, at least two stories tall, colors shifting and rolling like spilled oil as bloodshot eyes twitch in every direction along its body. It strikes at a him with its open gaping mouth, far too many rows of teeth for a snake to have.]

[ Blight is not his concern. It will hurt him, certainly, but he has no concern for his own well being. All that matters is taking down this threat, in completing his task. Berserker is single-minded on the best of days and in a fight, it's magnified. Killing his enemy is his one job. Tearing through so many of them isn't even slowing him down.

The hiss makes him turn, a snarl on his face as he leaps out of the water and onto the head of the giant ayakashi, claws piercing into it to maintain a grip. There is no fear, no caution, no hesitation...but there's no passion in it. It's mechanical, it's what he must do.

Survive. ]

[The ayakashi tries to toss off Berserker with a toss of its head. Failing that, it dives underwater, rolling to drag the god against the bottom of the canal. Water churns and thrashes as it lashes about, hissing and mumbling as the larger ayakshi do in the presence of gods or shinki. The smaller snakes hone in on Berseker, wrapping around his limbs and biting where they can, but no ayakashi can stand up against a god with a shinki for too long.

On the rooftop, Ginia maintains her position, lips pressed tight. Her hand twitches, eager to throw down a borderline and block out some of the smaller ayakashi so he can focus on the target, but she had her warning. She'll stay out of his way.]

[ Being dragged into the water doesn't slow him down. He is a machine, refusing to be deterred from his task. Tearing and tearing and tearing into the ayakashi, ignoring the smaller ones that try to bypass his armor. He could rely on his shinki for a borderline, but he doesn't. Despite using it to rend the ayakashi, he is still a one man war.

He never stops, never slows. It'd be impressive for anyone else, someone not so twisted by the circumstances of their being. It's kind of sad for Berserker, as this is all he knows. ]

[The giant ayakashi lashes about, Berserker's claws digging in deep and deeper. Were the ayakashi anything closer to a real animal, the skull would be visible by now, but as it's nothing more than a beast made of hatred, deep jagged cuts tears across its neon scales. It lashes about, a low hiss of nonsense spilling out as Berserker rends it. Its body fades into bits of black dust drifting away into nothingness.

The water ripples as any remaining ayakashi flee from him.]

[ As his task is finished, the armor fades away. Berserker is left standing in the canal, panting from the effort. The same indifferent expression comes back to his face. A machine meant to kill and nothing else.

He turns to Ginia now.

It's done. [ He calls out before leaping out of the water and up to her level. ] And you didn't interfere. I'm surprised.

Test Drive #34

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