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

Come on, hurry up! Bring your garbage bags, it'll be fine.

[And keep these petty assholes busy for hours, too, considering how big the plant's grown. A few of the complaining neighbors try to stick around and keep whining at him; he has to physically turn one of them around and give her a gentle shove in the direction of the retreating crowd, but, at last, she stalks away.

He turns back to the other man.]

Right, now that that's taken care of. Let's go see what the hell made this plant get so big, shall we?

[That was more like it. Investigating something strange was much better than listening to petty humans whining.]

The old man said it was planted in a window box. Third floor.

Let's go. [There's a green sign for the stairs glowing at the end of the hallway, bright in the leaf-shaded gloom; Zhao points it out and heads for them, taking them up two at a time. Normal window boxes can't generally hold a plant big enough to take over an entire building. What the heck is this guy putting on his flower garden?

It's obvious when they get to the third floor which apartment they're looking for. There's several muttering residents crowded outside, and small vines curling enthusiastically out under the door.]

[Da Qing follows, the source of the problem is not difficult to find at all, even if there weren't yet more people milling around muttering.] Looks like this is the place, we probably need to have a look at that window box. Surely it's not big enough to hold all of this.

[He eyes up the residents.]

Do we try and get them to leave or sneak in without noticing. [If it's the former this other man can do it, he seems to have a skill for making people listen to him.]

You know what? Let's just sneak in. Not being noticed is annoying enough when I'm trying to order lunch -- I might as well get some real use out of it. Come on.

[He breezes forward towards the door, checking the handle; it's locked, but the door hasn't quite latched, the force of the vines behind it pressing it in enough that it comes open in Zhao's hand.

Inside, there's a middle-aged man carefully watering a pot that's barely big enough around to contain the massive vine emerging from it and snaking its way out the window.]

Huh.

[Sneaking around was much more like it. Rather than getting gossipy humans to do as they were told and get out of the way.

He follows the man in and looks around the room, moving to the side to get a better look. It's very clear where the source of the problem is.] Well this is suspicious. Even I know a plant that size can't grow from a pot that small and yet this man, he doesn't seem surprised or worried at all.

[The man can't see them so Da Qing sees no problem in jabbing his finger towards him to punctuate his words. He is far too calm for this situation.]

Think it snuck up on him? [Zhao's pacing forward, circling around the pot and its massive viney inhabitant until he's facing the gardener.]

Hello there, friend!

[The man jolts, dropping his watering can. The water inside falls onto the pot and seems to vanish at once, sucked up by the vine before it can even spill. Zhao's eyes narrow in interest.]

You sure have a special plant there. Want to tell us a little about how you got it to grow?

[The man stands up, stepping forward as if to protect the pot. "Did my neighbors send you in here?" he demands. "They don't understand. This is my property!"]

[Da Qing also circled the plant peering at it curiously. It indeed did not look like a normal plant, he would have expected the roots to have burst out of the pot when the plant got this big.

He watched in interest as the water was gobbled up by the plant and he poked at the soil a little, taking advantage of the fact he was still unnoticed by the man. Not that he knows much about plants really. The soil feels normal, but it's not as wet as it should be considering all the water that just got spilled.]

Where did you get it? [If the man had been surprised to see Zhao he full on jumped when he heard Da Qing's voice and he span round to glare at him. "How did you get here? I bought it... It's none of your business."]

What kind of plant food are you giving it?

[Da Qing's poking the soil in the pot; Zhao holds off on poking at bits of the plant and makes eye contact with its weirdo gardener instead as he glares huffily.

At last, he nods in the direction of a plant supply shelf, and Zhao strolls that way, poking through boxes and jars. A surprising number of them aren't labeled.]

Hmm, this one? [He holds up a jar half-full of a white powder with blue specks in it, and the gardener scoffs. "That's rooting hormone."]

This? [A big bag; this powder is pale tan. The man's silent for a minute before saying suspiciously, "Yeah."

Zhao pats his pockets and, at last produces a baggie to sample some of the fertilizer.]

[Da Qing meanwhile is still studying the plant, he digs in the soil a little more to learn that yes this monster plant does have roots. He picks up one of the vines and begins following it, with everything so tabled it is hard to get a judge on just how long one vine really is.

When he's finally at the window and he's pretty certain the other man is distracting the gardener he breaks a piece off and pockets it.] Anything interesting? [He makes his way over to the plant food shelf.]

I couldn't say. [The baggie goes in his pocket, and he holds the bag out to Da Qing.] Does this smell weird to you?

[There's an oddly metallic odor to it to Zhao's nose, a little like old blood. The gardener jolts to his feet at last, scowl going threatening as he steps towards the two of them. Zhao steps back, hands up, smiling, letting Da Qing take the bag.]

Hey now, why don't you settle down? Right over there. Have a seat.

[The gardener doesn't sit down. Instead, he lunges for Zhao's throat.]

[Cats have a much stronger sense of smell, Da Qing's nose was already wrinkling as the bag was passed over and his face set into a frown as he smelled it. Blood. Unmistakably blood.

He looked up just as the gardener lunges.] Hey! [He springs forwards as well to try and pull him away from the other man.] Come on, calm down. Let him go.

[Da Qing's grabbing at the guy's shoulders, slowing him down, and Zhao's discovering that, while not fast and definitely not any kind of trained, their weirdo gardener is strong. He grabs for the hands on his throat as black sparks bloom across his vision, and throws his thumbs right against the nerves in the wrists, forcing the fingers to spasm and let him drag them away.]

Fuck--

[First things first: get out of arm's reach. He takes a big step back, rubbing at red marks that are going to be bruised tomorrow.]

All right, you're sitting down.

[He steps back in, prepared this time, with a foot sweep that sends him sagging back against Da Qing.]

And then we've got some questions to ask you, asshole.

[Da Qing catches the gardener, pulling him towards the sofa and letting him fall onto it. Luckily the man seems dazed enough from being knocked off balance that Da Qing kneeling half on him, claws at his shoulder is enough for him to not struggle, for the moment.]

I wouldn't move if I were you and answer our questions. Best you cooperate.

[He gives the other man a quick look over, he doesn't seem too worse for wear despite being strangled.]

Test Drive #34

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