takamagahara | 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

[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.

[Ginia huffs at his words, raising a brow at him.]

Why would I interfere? You had it handled and you told me to stay out of the way.

[Water sloughs off him and pools at his feet and she finds herself looking over him for any sign of injury. She's fought snake ayakashi before, she knows how they work, and she's not surprised at stripes of blight bruising his skin. Ginia reaches into her coat and pulls out a silver flask and tosses it to him.]

Blessed water, for the blight.

Because some people don't pay attention and don't listen.

[ He catches the flask without looking. The blight is certainly painful, but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. ]

It's nothing.

[ He still makes use of it, of course, meticulously cleansing himself of the blight before handing the flask back with an impassive glance. ]

[Ginia half expected him to refuse the offer of blessed water, but apathy does not mean a lack of practicality. She takes the flask back and tucks it back into her coat, pausing to type up a message informing her temple of the status of the ayakashi. Her phone vibrates as a reply returns.]

Which god are you? Ebisu's temple wishes to pass along their gratitude.

[ It would be foolish to refuse that kind of help. While he could handle the pain of being blighted, he has no interest in the risk of passing it to his shinki. ]

Balor.

[ Which...explains a lot. A deity of blight and drought who brought nothing but ruin. ]

If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving.

[Balor, king of the Fomorians. She's heard stories from Caster and belatedly, she'll remember Balor is also the grandfather of Lugh. What a strange, twisted family tree the Celtic pantheon has become in the Far Shore.]

You have the thanks of the temple of Ebisu.

[She pauses, adding on another brief message.]

Be well, Berserker.

[And with that, Ginia turns and bounds off.]

Test Drive #34

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