TDM #4

[vivalamods]

TEST DRIVE #4

The day begins as any other, you’re going about your day, living your life, when, without warning, you feel the world around you shift on its axis. You feel a great tear, welling from the depths of your soul as you are ripped from all you have known. If you’re lucky, you arrive in the wilderness of an unfamiliar world, where the language is foreign and the people are hostile. To make your escape, you must learn some language, flee, and occasionally fight, all to find your way off the floating isles you find yourself on and to the great ocean below, where rebel forces will welcome you.

If you’re unlucky, you materialize within a room full of armed guards and are quickly subdued with charged nets, stripped of your belongings, fitted with strange devices that suppress your powers and pressed into servitude. Your days are unimaginable pain and toil.

Fortunately, even in this world, there is still hope. For the denizens of this world have not given up. And it is for that dream of salvation that the Crimson Corsairs raise their flags and sail - for liberation. Perhaps you are one who has lived their entire life under the oppressive yoke of the Empire. Perhaps you have seen first hand your family and friends cut down by nobles hunting men for sport, or perhaps you have run afoul with the church and barely escaped with your life. No matter your origin, the Corsairs sail for you, for your freedom, for your life. And today, a taste of freedom will be won for all.


ARRIVAL/LIBERATION
The oil that greases the Imperial War Machine is slaves - aboard every airship are cooks, manservants, physicians, and a whole host of other labor provided exclusively by “servants”. In the last battle, the Corsairs managed to sink seven ships, two in Hesaeth province as they abandoned and collapsed the mine and five in the fight against the Imperial Legion in Flotsam where they successfully repelled the attack. And you, fortunately or unfortunately, were on board one of these ships.

While the Corsairs are in no position to hold themselves back, one of their top priorities after a finished battle is to hit the water and trawl for survivors. Imperial Ships don’t hold enough lifeboats for the servants, and when a ship goes down the servants are left to their own devices - any servant attempting to board one is killed on the spot. And thus, servants have learned through the grapevine to find good places to hide and brace themselves, to grab whatever you can and abandon ship once they hit the water or, Divine forbid, the ground. And, once there, to wait. If the old gods favor you, you will be found. You will be saved.


FUNERALS

While the Empire was repelled, it was not without cost. The amount of dead significantly outweighs what might normally be seen if the Corsairs had decided to flee. There is triumph in achievements, yes, but the cost still weighs heavy. When a Corsair passes, their friends and acquaintances will all meet in the deceased person’s quarters and sort through their personal effects. It’s common for Corsairs to maintain a will of sorts - every Corsair knows that their end could come at any time and it’s good to be prepared.

Once the will is read, personal effects will be doled out. As supplies are always a concern, any useful items will be returned to the Corsair leadership. Any personal mementos not claimed by friends or comrades will be returned to the Eternal Ocean along with the body, if it can be recovered. While there is always an official funeral with a reading of names for large engagements, it is common for wakes to be held for several months following a major engagement and loss of life.


A VICTORY LIKE NONE BEFORE

While there is mourning to be had, there is also much raucous cheering. Today, the Corsairs achieved what they had believed to be impossible. They stood against an Imperial Legion and won. Tonight, the grog flows freely. The sound of celebration can be heard echoing through Flotsam. In the halls of the Vault, the noise of partying for perhaps the first time ever drowns out the sounds of the constant bombardment. And even in Elysium, muted celebrations are occurring where it is safe to do so.


INFIRMARY

There were many wounded during the battle. These people have been taken to the Vault in order to convalesce, their wounds being treated in the underground hospital and those in need of certain therapies able to make use of the spas built into the natural hot springs unearthed underground. Even still, the medical staff are pushed to their limits with the influx of people, so there is a call for any available Corsair to come assist during this trying time. With so many wounded, everyone is going to need to step up their efforts to make sure the Crimson Corsairs keep their momentum.


WILDCARD

Have an idea for your own prompt? Feel free to make any prompt that you think would fit!

OOC
Welcome to the fourth Test-Drive Meme for Viva La! All threads here may be considered canon once characters have entered the game. Threads here are eligible for use as a roleplay sample for applications, which will open on the 5th of the month at midnight.
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Jesse Faden | Control | OU

[has_a_gun]

-1: Arrival-

The Director of the Federal Bureau of Control had found a new job as a cook assistant on an Imperial warship. It had been hard work, especially when you're picking up the local language as you go, but honestly it could have been worse. At least she hadn't been sent to the mines.

She was pretty confident that normally she could have ripped the damn ship in half with her mind, if she had to, but with the suppression band that fit snugly around her neck cut off her connection to the objects of power. She couldn't even hear Polaris like this. She had never felt so alone.

FORTUNATELY, someone else had seen fit to blow the ship in half. Jesse had never even seen them. She'd just been hiding in an out of the way corner while the battle had happened, hoping no one expected her to fight. Then there had been an explosion, and suddenly the darkness of the airship's hold had been flooded with daylight. Then there had been the confusing, suffocating darkness as the ship had hit the sea...

And then she'd popped to the surface like a cork. She clung to a chunk of wood while looking around in desperation for SOME way to get out of this. She knew what the other servants had said about the lifeboats, but just hanging here would be just as fatal, if on a slightly longer time frame.

"*HELP!*" She shouted, in English, but then struggled to call to mind the Imperial word. "HELP! IS ANYONE ELSE HERE!?"

-2: A Victory Like None Before-

Some time later, Jesse sat in the corner of a mess hall in Flotsam. She had a blanket over her shoulders and a mug of hot mulled cider in her hands. She wasn't the most social of people, even in the best of circumstances, but now that suppression band had finally been taken off, she was busy catching up with an old friend.

As her "old friend" lives in her head, from the outside it just looks like she's sitting there, mostly silent but occasionally muttering to herself in English.

-3: Wildcard-

Yet again some time later, the new arrivals with powers had been asked to demonstrate what they could do, partially as a tactical assessment, but also because months under the suppression band often to a while to recover from.

Jesse stood in front of a pile of debris from the previous battle and strained herself, trying to reach out for the connection that had started to feel like an extension of herself. It was still there, but it was tenuous and weak. It took her several second and a few false starts, but eventually a broken blank of wood shakily levitated up into the air and drifted over towards her hand, floating in mid air.

After a few seconds, she felt it coming back to her. Jesse pulled her arm back like she was going to throw a javelin, and the floating board followed it. When she threw her arm forwards, the board shot off the edge of the ship like a cannonball and splashed into the water about a hundred feet away.

"...It should be stronger than that."

-42069: ??????-

Or just freeform it! Jesse is a powerful psychic who found herself stuck in a locked down government facility with entrances to a variety of alternate dimensions. I'm soft headcanoning that she ended up in this world because she got too close to it while exploring the Oldest House.

1

[sapphirecontess]

How odd, icicles are starting to form in a semi-circle around Jesse. As they solidify into a kind of barrier, she will see a small search ship approaching, a young girl with mint green hair chanting a spell as she carefully weaves ether.

[has_a_gun]

Jesse was already pretty cold, having been dumped into the ocean, and all this ice wasn't helping matters. Eventually she located the source of it in the form of a young woman chanting at her. Well, rituals were important everywhere humans went, and she had seen the "magic" they used here before.

The important thing was...was this some form of attack, or a rescue attempt? There wasn't much she could do about it either way so, shivering, Jesse waved at her.

"Hello!?"

[sapphirecontess]

Musse gives a little wave and turns to the man at the tiller.

"Bring her around, I'll keep the ice stable so you can use it as a temporary dock."

The man nods and sure enough, the small boat pulls itself around, parking right next to the ice.

"You look like you might be in a touch of trouble!" Musse says pleasantly. "Care for a ride?"

[has_a_gun]

Oh good, she's trying to save me.

...It's no good if you can't hear me, Polaris.

Jesse slowly clambered up onto the ice, gasping for breath, and just looked up at Musse for a minute, trying to work out how to make sure dry sarcasm would translate properly into Imperial.

"...I don't think there's much else to do around here, so sure."

3

[upupatomway]

Atom had been asked to join the other newer members and demonstrate his skills, and he waits and watches the others who go before him.

After he had run a system diagnostic and been through a few tight spots, he was already aware of some kind of limitation to his normal abilities. Jesse's reaction to her still impressive levitation and throw catches his attention.

"It's not just you," he tries to reassure her. "I haven't been as strong as usual either since coming to this world."

[has_a_gun]

Jesse stared out to see, flexing her hand. "Physically I feel fine, but paranturally..."

Probably the aftereffects of that damn suppression band.

"...I'm definitely not at my best, right now."

She actually homed in on the voice. It was a kid. Or at least he looked like a kid. Jesse had learned not to take everything at face value by now.

"...How strong are you supposed to be?"

[upupatomway]

He looks a little bashful when he answers, not used to bragging about his strength. This was typically where his sister would have jumped into the conversation and spilled everything.

"Breaking rocks or metal easily kind of strong," he replies, rubbing the back of his neck. He also doesn't tell everyone because it would mean dashing people's hopes finding out he had the potential but not the power to make a big difference in the war. Bending or smashing Imperial weapons would have been easy.

"How far would you normally be able to throw a piece of wood that big?" he asks. "It's still amazing how you can move something that big without even touching it!"

Nekoyashiki Yuki / Cure Nyammy | Wonderful Pretty Cure! | OU

[nyammy]

[ 1: Liberation ]

Nobody really saw the newest rescue come aboard the rescue ship. But as their trawl for survivors continued, there seemed to be a new addition to the rescue ship in the form of a white cat, cleaning it paws while looking out over the wreckage where rescue operations were still underway.

If you're a normal person with normal priorities, you might note the cat and move on. Or you might approach, wondering how and why a cat got on board. If so, a scene can be initiated here.

If not, there's some moments later when a sudden voice grabs your attention. A smooth, melodious female voice, saying, "There's another survivor over there, to the right. Behind where the main mast has fallen."

Turning to the sound of the voice.... the only "person" in that direction.... is that cat.


[ 2: Victory ]

A girl with long blond hair, apparently in her teens, is wandering around the outskirts of any parties or celebrations going on, no matter which of the Corsair locations it takes place in. She occasionally grabs a bit of food or drink, but mostly seems to be observing the people going about and celebrating.

Her bright blue and white dress might stand out, especially as it's an outlander garment, as might the fact that she's avoiding any of the actual celebrating herself. She's not quite used to avoiding attention, at least not like this...


[ 3: Finding a Place to Sleep ]

Did you, perchance, leave your door unlocked? A window open? Even, perhaps, a vent of some sort?

If so, you now have an uninvited house guest - a white cat with a pink heart-shaped patch of fur on the back of her head. She's obviously owned, judging by the blue ribbon and bow acting as a collar, but this unknown cat is now... sleeping? In your house? Up on a shelf, probably, or under a desk.

What do you do with this mysterious(?) housemate?

3

[relentless_sentinel]

On one night when the ship Nephenee has a cabin in is docked, the door has come open a small crack as she works on the myriad plants in her little room. It's more than enough for a little kitty to sneak through while her back is turned. This room is nice and cozy, and there's a warm, lit lantern on the table helping illuminate her work in the night...perfect for a nice catnap.

Nephenee doesn't hear anything as she's too absorbed in her work and her thoughts, but the light level changing gets her attention well enough. She turns, and is surprised to see a fluffy white cat dozing next to her lantern and blocking some of the light. "Oh! Well, hi there..."

She comes up to the mysterious creature, and bends over to peer closely at it. "How'd ya get in here, lil' one..."

[nyammy]

The cat cracks open her eyes, but doesn't react much. It's obvious, at least, that she's used to dealing with humans? But, well, given the ribbon and bow around her neck, that much has to be a given anyway, right?

Nephenee is being watched through half-lidded eyes, but the cat isn't pulling away or anything like that. How does this continue?

[relentless_sentinel]

Darn, the cat already has an owner...shame. Still, she is awfully cute, and a lot fluffier than the barncats back home. Carefully, slowly, Nephenee holds out a hand for the kitty to sniff - she smells like dirt, flowers, and some sweat - and keeps her voice low.

"Wonder if ya got a name on your ribbon...you're a real pretty thing."

3

[has_a_gun]

"Hello there. Where did you come from?"

Jesse has had a weird life, but she still figures a solid 80% chance the cat will NOT answer her with anything stranger than a meow. She reaches over to scritch the kitty under the chin.

[nyammy]

The response Jesse gets is a paw blocking and pushing away her hand - not hard, she's just a normal cat, but the intention is clear, whether or not Jesse powers through it.

In addition, a kitty glare, one which seems to say: hey, I'm trying to nap over here.

[has_a_gun]

"Okay okay, I get it. No petting."

A cat you can't pet is a tragedy!

It looks like this cat has a ribbon or collar though. Maybe that has a name tag on it? Let's see if we can check that without getting swatted.

1

[upupatomway]

After narrowly escaping from slave labor via rescue from a similar ship, Atom is quick to volunteer to help search for any servants onboard this one. He turns up his hearing and looks over the interior of the ship to scan for signs of life. Several people turn up.

As he explores, he thinks he sees some heat signatures ahead near the collapsed mast. At first he heads straight for the larger, human sized sign of someone to start unburying them from the rubble. "If you can hear me, hang on! I'll have you out soon!" He's small, but he lifts the rubble at least as easily as a strong adult human would.

A glance aside is enough for his eyes to catch the bright white fur of the cat on board. Odd. Were servants allowed to have pets?

"Um. Your cat is safe too!" he shouts for good measure.

[nyammy]

Whomp! That's the sound of a cat jumping, landing on the rescuer-boy's head, and then jumping back off to higher ground.

"Good job. You're a bit young for this kind of work, but you're doing well enough."

That cat sure is... complimenting? criticizing? discussing the boy.

[upupatomway]

He stops for a second when the cat jumps on him, surprised by the sudden movement. Then the cat starts talking. Out of habit, his sensors check if he's looking at a robot. Usually a talking animal was an animal model. Immediately his sensor reminds him of the heat signature the cat has. Conclusion: It's a cat.

"Hi. Are you one of the servants on this ship?" he asks as he starts to resume moving the rubble to find the larger person trapped under.

1

[fish4science]

Angelika has hobbled aboard, and while she favors the cat with a smile she's not exactly wild about her. A cat is, to Angel, a working animal, a remover of pests-something to bother about later. If it's sensible, it will evacuate a sinking ship anyways. Instead, she turns away, and starts looking for either salvage or survivors.

But when the melodious voice calls out, she spins around, bringing her baton up in a gesture that's half warding off, and half on-guard to attack. "Who's there?"

[nyammy]

"You're looking for people to rescue, aren't you? Behind the mast." Yeah that's definitely just a cat there, sounding like an oujo-sama.

She licks a paw while watching the blond girl.

[fish4science]

"Thank...you?" Angelika turns slightly and gestures with her baton, scattering a shower of blue sparks, causing the sea to rise-in a giant tendril that seizes the mast and lifts it away so she can see the spot that the cat indicates. But her eyes keep flicking back to the talking cat, which is...

"Are you a cat who has been given the gift of speech, or a person who was turned into a cat?"

Cidolfus Telamon | Final Fantasy XVI | OU

[thunderwarden]

-01- arrival

It had been a tumultuous few weeks for Cidolfus Telamon. He'd been sure the savage pulling sensation he'd felt had been whatever afterlife was awaiting him, but instead he'd been snared and slapped with a band that blocked his access to the thunder bolts of Ramuh before he could even tell which way was up. What's more, his captors, surrounded by their cold metal, rambled at him at a language that almost sounded familiar, if it didn't also sound like the ramblings of a drunkard after a week long bender.

And then he was stripped of all his belongings, shoved into common cotton cloths, and 'acclimated'. That was to say he was given a rudimentary introduction to the language, than Greagor he was a quick study, and then put to work. He didn't even have much time to be awestruck by the reality of airships or the fact that he was pressed into service aboard one. His days were spend in maintenance, under the oppressive heat of boilers because of his experience when machinery and he was beginning to think his afterlife was some akin to a seventh Hell.

Until the call of alarm sounded through the boiler room. There was an announcement, something about being under attack if his language primer was serving him well enough. The Imperials were running around, preparing for whatever it was that was attacking them, and paying little heed to the slaves. Likely that meant they didn't care whether they lived or died, and that sat just fine with Cid. If they weren't accounting for him, they weren't paying attention to him, either. Some heavy artillery slammed into the ship's hull not far from him and the world faltered. The blast sent of his superiors to the floor, though, shrapnel catching the man in the temple. He was dead before he hit the floor, but he wouldn't miss the short sword at his hip Cid helped himself to.

He was even plotting how he would get some more gear from his poor, unfortunate slave drivers when the ship shuddered again under the force of the barrage outside and the floor gave way beneath him as the airship listed in its death throes. The last thing he saw before he slipped out of the hole that had opened in the side of the ship was the boiler sparking as the unbalance unmoored it from its mounts, sending it rolling across the deck surface he'd so recently been occupying.

And then the heard screaming and realized it was himself as the roiling surface of the Eternal Ocean (that's what they called it wasn't it?) was coming up far too fast for the old mercenary's comfort. He had the presence of mind to try to angle his body so he slipped under the surface rather than slamming into it like a floor of solid rock but the impact still knocked the breath out of him.

He fought his way back to the surface, gasping for air and treading water to keep himself afloat, his sword hand still keeping a death grip on the short sword he'd liberated. He swam for a hulk of floating flotsam, hauling himself up onto its bulk and laying flat on his back, breathing deep. He'd survived coming to another world, slavery, and falling from a sodding airship, and now he was going to starve to death, floating on the surface of the Eternal Sea. Great Greagor's gash but fate had a funny way of testing a man.

-02- Funerals

Watching these people bury their dead was enough to drive home how big this movement was, how long it had been going. He'd been under the Imperial yoke for weeks, he knew what these Crimson Corsairs were fighting against, and if he was honest, it was personal. His tale had already been told in Valisthea, he'd departed that world with a gaping hole in his chest for proof, but here the Empire had robbed him of the rest he'd been due, and that deserved the fight of a firebrand he hadn't been in some time. After their dead were laid to rest, he'd been assured the restraining cuff would be removed and he could begin training in earnest. He hadn't had the heart at the time to tell them he didn't need any training.

Beside, it would give him a chance to see how well Ramuh could manifest here, let him ease the aches out of his bones, and get a feel for the others he'd be fighting alongside. He reached toward his coat pocket, frowning when he found it to be empty instead of holding the cigarillos he typically kept there. Did these rebels have tobacco? He really needed to know the answer to that question.

"Sod it," he'd taken to talking to himself over the weeks of his captivity, even though it had earned him more than a few bruises from his 'betters' for speaking out of turn. He nodded to the processions, reverently entrusting the remains of loved ones to the ocean below. "I'll see you didn't die in vain, lads. Least I can do for ya." He wasn't mindful of anyone who may have been lurking nearby.

-03- Ethernet

[ It's clear from the tapping that's transmitted over the Net, Cid is still working on figuring out exactly how this device works to broadcast anything. When he does speak, his voice is deep and rich, if not peppered, when when what he's saying is serious, with an undercurrent of flippancy. ]

Hello, out there. I've been studying up on the language spoken here, and if the lot of you wouldn't mind, I'd like to practice, conversational like. The name's Cid, if we're unacquainted. Oh, and, thanks, in advance.

-04- Wildcard

( OOC: If you'd like another prompt, or to do another type of thread, I'm available on discord at vikael and you're free to hit me up! )

3, voice

[lightnovelexperiences]

[A somewhat nasal alto voice answers.]

I've been there. Not knowing the language here, I mean. My name's Deedee, a cleric and healer, and I run a bathhouse in Elysium. Nice to meet you, Cid.

I take it you were rescued from a sinking Imperial airship?

3, voice

[thunderwarden]

Pleasure's mine, Deedee. In my experience, you can't know too many clerics, or get enough practice in the local dialect.

A sight after it sank, but I can't fault them for tardiness. They were a smidge preoccupied, but rescued, aye. You?

Re: 3, voice

[lightnovelexperiences]

From an earlier batch. The Corsairs raided a logging camp, and freed me in the process. Imps didn't bother teaching me the language. I took lessons from the Vault for that. Thinking of going back to get better at magic, now.

Do you know where in the Corsairs you'll be going?