TEST DRIVE

[ironwood]

TEST DRIVE MEME - TU SHANSHU EDITION!

Itching to try out writing a character? Then rev up your engines, grab your accounts, and slam your way into this meme! Here is a venue for you to try out whatever character there might be tickling your fancy, from fandom to OC, for as few as one and as many as MANY. Seriously, there's no limit.

How do you partake in this fantastic congregation of character testing? Why, by following these simple steps:

1. Comment with the journal of a character you want to test; put their name and canon in the subject line for added sparkles.
2. Tag around with everyone!
3. Profit like you live on a the back of a turtle!

But wait, there's more! For the low, low price of $9,999.99, you can even use one of our handy prompts when you tag someone. You could even pick one with a Random Number Generator to help decide which prompt to go with!

1. A Chance Meeting at the Turtle's Head.
   Remember, being here causes a great sense of-- well, shall we say inner peace.
2. Haggling Over Something in the Marketplace!
   Maybe someone else saw the exact same shiny thing you did at the exact same moment! However shall this be resolved? Remember: blood is extremely hard to scrub off of turtleshell!
3. Hey, I Just Met You, and This is Crazy...
   First impressions are always the most important, right?
4. WILDCARD!
   Go nuts. Suddenly your character is fighting dragons! Good God, they've found the Millennium Falcon drifting in the ocean! Do you really feel the need to polish every paving stone in the Earth Sector? Please note, Wildcard options are also what you can choose to do if you aren't yet comfortable in the Tu Shanshu setting and would prefer a more 'dear-mun' esque experience. Please specify in your post!

Comments

Mal Cobb | Inception

[cauchemal]

Option A: Very unhinged, recently-dead, possibly hysterical, thinks-it's-a-dream, looking-for-a-kick Mal

Option B: sort of settled, less unhinged, been-on-the-turtle-a-bit, still-thinks-it's-a-dream, but less-self-destructive Mal. Take your pick.]

Probably A for drama funtiemz

[aloadeddie]

[He's been - well, not expecting it, so much as preparing for the possibility, since they first showed up here. Maybe it was even inevitable, that Mal would someday appear in this dream, or limbo, or whatever it is.

Cobb isn't around, so he approaches carefully - he's learned to be wary of her in the dreams, that's for sure. But it won't stop him from approaching.]

Mal. Hey.

[cauchemal]

[The last thing Mal remembers is falling—but this isn't the result of the kick that she was looking for. She's sitting on a bench in the Metal sector, having discovered to her extreme distress that she hasn't got her totem anywhere on her, looking shell-shocked and numb, so far past fear as to be almost empty.

And it's those nearly-empty blue eyes she turns on Arthur, and a genuine expression of surprise ripples across her face.]

Arthur?

[It can't be him. Can it?]

[aloadeddie]

[Damn, that lost look on her face, in her eyes, cuts him right to the quick. He momentarily forgets about his self-preservation instinct, and he's at her side immediately.]

Yeah, it's me. [Even if she stabs him in the gut for it, or shoots him in the kneecap.] Are you okay?

[cauchemal]

[She chokes out a sad, broken laugh. It's such an absurd question, considering—]

There was supposed to have been a kick, Arthur. I should be home. Were we ... we must have been deeper than I knew.

[She wraps her arms around herself, shivering; she's only wearing that blue dress she wore to the hotel, along with a light shawl some kind passerby left her with.]

Are you trapped here too? Where's Dom?

[aloadeddie]

[He's not sure what she's talking about, or what she thinks she's talking about, but that won't stop him from putting his arm around her shoulders, an attempt to comfort her in her distress.]

Dom and I are here. I assume he's at his suite. It's farther north, in the Earth sector. We're trying to figure out how to wake up.

[At this point, it's probably safer if he doesn't mention Ariadne. He's aware that the shade seems particularly violent towards the young architect.]

[cauchemal]

[Her eyes start to fill with tears. No. No. This wasn't what she wanted, not at all.]

That's what I was trying to do. Dom and I—he never believed me, but I knew we were trapped, I knew, and I thought I'd ...

[She breaks off, staring at him.]

How can I know that you're not a projection? How do I know it's you?

[She pulls away a little.]

[aloadeddie]

[This is why he pulled away from them, towards the end - never knowing how to deal with Mal in such a fragile state, having trouble seeing her like this and knowing how she used to be, but here they are now - and at least she doesn't seem inclined to murder him.

He sighs, resisting the old urge to just leave her with Dom and go to a bar and get really drunk.]

You don't know, I guess. But I won't hurt you, and I'm trying to wake up too. So you can trust me, whether I'm real or not.

[cauchemal]

[She nods, still wary, but what choice does she have? She could always trust Arthur, and even the dream-version of him was always reliable. That's something to hang on to, at least.]

What have you tried? The usual methods?

[There's a shadow there, now, of the old confidence, the competence of a woman known for her skill in working within dreamscapes.]

[aloadeddie]

Oh yeah. [It's easier for him to talk about work stuff, easier for him to push away the emotional fragility of the woman he's next to in the face of their current situation. Whether she's a projection, a shade, or... something else. Doesn't matter.] Shooting myself in the head just sent me right back here. We've been working on it, trying to figure out what the formula might be for this place. None of us has been able to alter the dream.

[cauchemal]

[Mal just shakes her head, feeling queasy with disbelief.] There has to be a way. There's always a kick. Always.

[Oh, and one other thing—]

I've lost my totem.

[aloadeddie]

Yes, there is. And we'll find it. It's just taking some time. [He keeps his voice low, soothing, reassuring.]

I wouldn't worry about that. I've got mine, but it's been really unreliable. They've obviously been tampered with, somehow. So we'll just have to... keep calm and not let each other forget this is a dream.

[cauchemal]

[She nods, folding her hands together tightly.]

Can you take me to Dom?

[Because he's here. That's—well, that's something, isn't it? Maybe he followed her after all.]

B even though nothing really would phase this child.

[victoria_stay]

[Somewhere nearby is a kid with a pad of paper and a small box of crayons. She's drawing. No big deal. Except what she's drawing might be considered a little odd. Two kids, running through the forest on all fours and climbing around the roof of a run-down-as-fuck looking cabin and there's a strange dark figure in the pictures, too.

Nothing to see here. It's just a kid. Drawing creepy pictures like most kids draw puppies and rainbows.]

[cauchemal]

[A child drawing on a table in a park makes Mal's heart ache with the pain of missing her own children. Mal can just see what the girl is drawing and ... well. That's interesting.

She watches for a moment and then says, in the gently solicitous tones of an adult used to talking to small people without condescending to them:]

What's that you're drawing?

Oh gosh this may end up adorable.

[victoria_stay]

[Victoria glances at Mal out of the corner of her eyes. Once. Twice. Again for good measure. She's not one for talking so she slides the sketch pad over. They're basic children's drawings. Not too detailed. One child is clearly older than the other and the dark figure may possibly be female but that's about it. Victoria watches Mals face for a reaction and says nothing.]

ngl, I love writing Mal opposite kids.

[cauchemal]

[Mal raises her eyebrows, but that's about it; she has always tried not to be too quick to judge a child's creative efforts. But there is definitely something eerie about the drawing, and it makes her think of the sorts of things that usually wind up with the teacher calling the school counselor and the parents.]

Is this home?

[She's careful to keep her tone neutral, as if the drawing were of a typical peak-roofed house with a yellow sun and jagged line of green grass.]

Now I want to stuff Victoria in a game with Mal and have them adopt each other.

[victoria_stay]

It was.

[Holy crap. She spoke. She still sounds hesitant but Mal did ask. She wasn't going to be able to stare her way out of answering that. Besides, Malnreminded her of Annabell when she wasn't acting angry that she was suddenly responsible for two feral kids. And of Doctor Dreyfuss when he was talking to her about Mama. It was nice.]

That's Lilly.

[She points out the smaller figure.]

aww

[cauchemal]

[Was. Well ... yes, under the circumstances. Mal feels like she should have phrased the question better.]

And is that you?

[Pointing to the larger child-figure.]

Re: aww

[victoria_stay]

Yes. I'm Victoria. [And the dark figure remains a mystery for now. It might also seem like Victoria is going out of her way to draw anywhere but around that figure. She's adding squirrels to the picture. And what look like butterflies but are probably moths. ]

[cauchemal]

It's nice to meet you, Victoria. I'm Mal.

[victoria_stay]

That's a pretty name. [She's going to stop drawing for a moment, giving Mal her full attention.] Is it short for something?

[cauchemal]

It's short for Mallorie. But I like being called Mal better.

[victoria_stay]

I can call you that. [There's the briefest of smiles from Victoria before her expression shifts to serious.] Do you like it here?

[cauchemal]

[Mal smiles, but something sort of falls out of the bottom of her expression at the question. She's still smiling and trying to keep a good face, but her eyes have gone sad.]

I do, but ... I miss my home. [She manages to brighten a little.] But I have friends here, so it is not too bad.