aurorastation | Test Drive Meme (12)

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Test Drive Meme (12)

test drive meme

Your character wakes up in a neat bedroom in their team carriage, in nondescript underwear. They might be missing their memories, or their special abilities, or they may just feel a little queasy. Next to them is what seems to be a smartphone, which they know how to use even if they never had before, even if they don't know if they have before. On the screen is a simple message:

Welcome aboard the Aurora!

You have been selected by the Star Prince as a potential hero, tasked with saving the universe from Malice. As a passenger I, your Construct and Conductor, will attempt to provide you with quality lodgings and safety. In return, we ask that you join your fellows in making bonds and doing your utmost to bring joy back to the Stars.

Due to the process of restoring your body, you may find some things are missing. We apologise for the inconvenience and hope to return them to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.

★ One

Upon investigation, you'll find some basic clothes matching your team's theme in the storage provided in your room. Or, perhaps, you're wandering out of the room still undressed. Either way, downstairs you'll find someone has left a tray of cups of hot tea on the living room table. Drinking it may be simply pleasant, or it may cause you to feel a sudden need to warm up to the others in your carriage -- emotionally or physically. Welcome to the team, newbie!

☆ Two

Shortly after your arrival, you find yourself wrapped up in some monster NPC's Game. You're inside what appears to be a stone temple, with a massive golden scale on one wall. Suddenly, on one side, a heavy metal weight is dropped. As the scales tip out of balance, the floor begins to slowly disappear, brick by brick, ready to drop you -- and whoever is with you -- into an abyss. Your only hope comes in the form of an inscription on the altar:

How much do your secrets weigh?

Every secret you tell causes a weight to fall onto the other side of the scale. The bigger the secret, the bigger the weight. If you can collectively tip the scales, the floor will quit dropping bricks and a door will appear to allow you back to the train. If you can't, you'll fall, seemingly forever, til you pass out. When you wake up you'll find yourself unable to lie.

★ Three

You've been on the Aurora for awhile, but this is new. One morning, you awaken to find yourself in the lounge, rather than your own bed. On your Chain is a screen showing a key, with three unmarked check boxes and a note: you've been locked out of your carriage, and must make a meaningful pact of some sort with three people, on or off your team, to enter. Pinky promises are always encouraged!

☆ Four

Wildcard. Make up your own prompt! Check out the setting and team pages for info on the train. If you have any questions, ask on the q&a page. Otherwise, apps open on January 8! In the meantime you're free to join us on Discord.

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1.

[a young man is sprawled in a chair in the lounge, dressed in his team clothing, hands wrapped around a mug of tea, frowning as he peers at the Chain hovering unassisted in front of his face. he glances up if approached, flashing a brilliant smile.]

Surely this can't be everything that's known. Will you tell me more of it, friend?

4.

[that same young man has made his way to a clearing also occupied by a pair of tigers, who do not seem to appreciate being disturbed. he seems remarkably unconcerned, though, but he glances aside at whoever enters.]

Stand back. This challenge is mine to overcome.

((4 can be a fight thread if you like!))

Edited 2019-12-13 13:17 (UTC)

Ummm, by all means, they're all yours.

[hanging back from the clearing, SHE'S not going to mess with tigers. she doesn't seem too alarmed by their presence though

but that might be due to the hellhound at her side— as tall as a man with a borzoi's sleekness, and eyes that are pits of fire. it's watching the tigers alertly.]

[he nods, almost graciously, and apparently that's all it takes.

in that apparent moment of inattention one tiger springs forward, only to be met halfway across the clearing by an unseen force that tears a long gash across its side, as precise as a scalpel. it tumbles away with a yowl, and white flame gushes from the wound, filling the clearing with the smell of burned flesh and knocking it from its feet again in a twitching heap. it still moves, but only barely.

(if Eliza has magesight, she'll easily see the power he reached out with, a crystalline construct of grasping force that briefly shone with a blinding white flame as he struck with it. the nature of the power is clearly inhuman, though he wields it as though it were natural to him.)

the second tiger crouches, reevaluates the situation, then darts low and fast for the hellhound. Xian's eyes narrow and he raises a hand, another wave of unseen force rippling our from him, but it leaps and is only knocked askew from its path, curving back in towards its chosen opponent...]

Edited 2019-12-14 05:35 (UTC)

Enya!

[Eliza takes a quick step backwards, but her caution isn't needed— the hellhound darts like a shot to meet the cat. Her pawprints smolder behind her and when she opens her long, long jaws to snap at the sabertooth's face, there's fire down her throat.]

[the tiger realizes its poor life choice and tries to evade at the last minute, but it's not quick enough to dodge those jaws; Enya can get a good solid grip. it's probably helped by the way that the ground under the tiger's feet surges upwards, clamping around its hind legs like a vise.

the other tiger manages to make it back to its feet, its wound still smouldering, and Xian glances back over to it. another wave of invisible force hammers it to the ground, and this time the accompanying white fire consumes it in the blink of an eye, leaving only a statue of delicate white ash.

meanwhile, xian addresses eliza as though the battle is already over.]

You have a fine familiar there.

Oh, um, thank you! Technically she's not one of my familiars, she's a beast summons, but—

[squeaks and cuts off, looking at the ash that's left of the other tiger. whipping back around towards her hellhound as Enya starts to shake her head like a dog with a rabbit, dragging the tiger back and forth, flames spilling out of her mouth]

Enya, don't burn it all! Consume the flesh, not the bones!

A newly-called one, I see. Are the bones bad for her digestion?

No, fresh bones like that would be okay, but I want the skeleton.

If you like, then feel free.

[he raises a hand, and a stream of pale light pours from it, billowing with hints of color. it washes over the tiger and its flesh begins to ripple, taking on the characteristics of colored mist to show the still-solid bones beneath. the mist shreds away in an unseen wind, leaving only clean white bone behind and the parts Enya was chewing on behind.]

[claps her hands together]

Wow, oh wow! You cleaned that beautifully!

[he nods a bit, graciously acknowledging]

A small matter; I'm pleased that it suits your purposes. Though I am curious as to what those are.

I'm a necromancer and a researcher. I've been studying the orbital structures of these guys, especially! A lot of the animals here have multiple pairs of eyes, which is super interesting with its similarity to a sabertooth tiger and other big cats.

Oh? I have some familiarity with the art myself, though it would be a stretch to call me anything but a novice. I'll be interested to hear your conclusions.

If you can help me carry these bones back to my lab, I can show you some my findings. I have other specimens!

Of course.

[he doesn't do it physically, of course. the bones rise up and order themselves into a neat bundle that hovers at his shoulder.]

Oh! That's handy.

I've found it useful. You mentioned a laboratory?

[leading him towards the train. enya loiters behind to roll in the ashes of the other tiger real quick.]

Yes, in Thyme. I upgraded my room so I have a workspace for my necromancy studies, since I was running out of floorspace and room to keep the bones.

I hadn't realized our rooms could be upgraded to such an extent. That is useful to know.

[following, though he glances back at enya with the fond look of someone watching a dog do something cute]

Re: 4

bowtiedbones - 2019-12-19 00:10 (UTC) - Expand

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shintaiprotagonist - 2019-12-19 01:57 (UTC) - Expand

[ A dragon — around the size of a Very Large Dog, covered from snout to tail-tip in brilliantly iridescent feathers, and also extremely magically powerful — blinks back at him from across the clearing. ]

[ Cheeps like a giant canary. ]

[ And parks her butt on the ground with her tail draped loosely around her paws, ears pricked. ]

Okay!

[he doesn't double-take at the dragon or the obvious magical power, just nods to her graciously]

Thank you.

[one of the tigers, of course, chooses his moment of inattention to spring, halfway across the clearing in the blink of an eye -- but something unseen catches it in mid-bound, cutting a surgically-precise gash down its side and knocking it sprawling off-course. white flame erupts from the wound, and the odor of cooked meat is heavy in the air. Xian turns to track the tiger as it struggles, reeling, to its feet, the only move he's made since the battle began.

the second tiger eyes this, then turns its head towards the dog-sized dragon, obviously considering a change of target.]

[ She is so here for the scent of cooked meat. … Or, well. She's here for the smell of most meat, cooked or otherwise, honestly. Food is great. Are these big cats food? It'd be a shame to waste them, wouldn't it? ]

[ She's distracted from her curiosity and idle musing by the second cat's attention, and looks towards it quizzically. She cocks her head, letting out another one of those cheerful, musical chirrups. ]

Hullo!

[sadly, the tiger does not seem inclined to engage in conversation. it crouches, teeth and claws bared, and leaps straight at her...and encounters another unseen force in midair, sending it tumbling to the ground with a surprisingly catlike I-meant-to-do-that-really squall of complaint.

xian narrows his eyes, and an unseen edge opens the first tiger's throat before it can decide to change targets as well.]

[ Between the tiger's crouch and its ill-fated attempt to leap, the dragon is no longer dog-sized — between one breath and the next she's shifted to her natural size, on a par with the largest draught horses. She bares her teeth with a low, rumbling growl of warning, her spined tail swaying in a clear threat. ]

[ The human wants to fight alone, and that's fine by her. But she's more than ready to defend herself if she has to. ]

[the tiger immediately recoils, clearly wanting no part of something that much larger and more threatening than it, and darts towards Xian again. predictably, this is also a poor life choice.

an aura of white light ignites around Xian's body, stopping the tiger's charge ten feet away, as effectively as a wall. it growls and tries to swat at him, but its wicked claws deflect from the light as if from a solid barrier. his gaze seethes with divine fire, and then that fire erupts from the tiger's fur, consuming it with deadly swiftness until only a charred corpse remains.

xian turns away from it, his aura fading, his eyes still pits of blinding white flame.]

I appreciate your restraint.

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Test Drive Meme (12)

Xian | Shards of the Exalted Dream (Exalted Canon AU OC)

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