Test Drive Meme | February 2014

[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!
4. Maybe even reserve so you CAN live on 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. Have Met Before? Because I Could've Sworn I've Seen You In My Dreams.
   Have you wandered into the realm of Dreaming via an archway in Keeliai? Here, everything is shaped to your character's individual mind. Dreams can be shared between characters and will result in a meshing of minds. These dreams can be positive or negative, depending on your character.
4. Dramatic Chase Sequence!
   You're running away from something! It could be anything, from a rampaging kirin to a gaggle of overly enthusiastic children, or even one of the newest editions to Keeliai's menagerie, an incredibly affectionate turtle the size of a minivan! One way or another, you can't stop, and much like a katamari ball, you feel obligated to grab everyone in your path along the way to keep them out of danger! Or perhaps you're more the sort to try and knock them into it as a distraction...?
5. Shapeshifting Shenanigans
   The native kedan are shapeshifters and it seems like something's gotten into the water supply, because you suddenly find yourself able to duplicate that particular skill! Whether you're any good at it or not remains to be seen...
6. 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

3

[alphatar]

Be careful.

Why the ground, both sidewalk and street, suddenly had cracks that seemed to creep apart; why the buildings were slowly decaying from the thin, black fog that covered both city and sky; why the canals in the Water Sector were black and gave no reflection; and why there seemed to be no one else around was simple enough.

The archway led to the Dreaming. Except Dante wasn’t the first one to walk through it.

No one else being the kedan that populated Keeliai. There was movement in the gloom and it was a black mass that was cross hatched with shadows moving in random directions, each changing size from thin to wide. Humanoid shape, flat and looking as if it was hand drawn onto reality itself, the mass was actually moving closer to Dante. The only times that it paused is when the darkness was lit from within by a dull orange light. Like coals atop an ember.

Before it could get within thirty feet of him, the light came again and a section of the mass was pushed outwards until the shadows were punctured and a bright orange flame shot out into the black fog. A gloved hand reached through and grabbed the edge of the tear, a girl’s face barely able to appear. Her cheek was cut and bleeding and her brown hair was frayed from however long she had been there.

Wild blue eyes that stood out against the darkness darted about before finding Dante. She frantically yelled at him as another orange light dimly illuminated the roaming shadows she was trapped in.

"The city's already evacuated, go to the others! There's more of them here! Run whi-" but her hoarse voice was cut off as thousands of tiny black tethers latched onto her face, covered her eyes and mouth to pull her back in.

Her declaration of there being more was like a call, and parts of the black fog coalesced into being. Shadows that had sketches of faces briefly pass over them, unfamiliar ones to Dante, were different shapes and sizes, all looking to do to him what they had done to her. Formless hands took shape and formed pointed fingers, razor sharps claws.

Be careful. The Dreaming isn't safe when you're not the only dreamer.

[fuckchild]

Dante had seen this before.

Back home, this was no dream, no nightmare. This was his reality. All this was, to him, was a new setting, a new shape of a demon. Dante was past fear, past horror, and was well into survival and anger. This is how he survived Limbo City. There were no tears, only bloodshed.

Fuck evacuation.

He grits his teeth. Vergil said it himself, they're not human. They're fucking Nephilim. As much as he hated being half of a thing that destroyed his life, he knew that he could do a hell of a lot others couldn't do and wouldn't imagine of doing.

Dante screams as he hacks through the claws in a wide, dramatic arc. A sword like Rebellion would be difficult to swing with one hand, but not for Dante. He breaks into a run, cutting through shadows.

"Hey!" he shouts at the girl. "Shit!" Dante could cut her out of it, but he doesn't even know where to start.

He jabs his sword at the base of the inky shadow. That. Is probably not a good idea but he doesn't have any better ones.

[alphatar]

Muffled shouting is all she could hear and Korra hoped that was him leaving, whoever it was. Protecting others was the task she was born with, and if that meant being alone to face her worst fear for Tu Vishan and those living on his back; then she’d do it. At the very least her soul would be reincarnated.

Pitch black was all she could see and after spending all that time trying to escape, to break through to taste freedom, that smothering darkness was pervading her thoughts. Fear had been Korra’s worst enemy and her dream was reflecting that. Never did she consider giving up, but all her fighting had gotten her only so much.

Then a sliver of light shone through, reflecting off of metal, and her eyes widened.

A surge of renewed hope came at the sight as the blade sliced through the shifting shadows and she put both her hands outwards. A blast of air swirled around and sent her hair tails flailing about, and she focused on expanding it outwards. The prison of shadows could be ripped through; she did it on her own, but doing so now would be much easier.

The mass grew larger from the inflation and it fought back by trying to latch onto the Rebellion hundreds of thin strands lacing onto it, trying to crawl its way up to the sword’s owner. Patch up the hole by engulfing him along with Korra.

“Don’t let it get you!” She had to shout over the blustering winds and was ready to do everything in her power to make sure he didn’t end up like her. Lost in fear.

[fuckchild]

The shadows clung onto his blade, like gasoline, like tar, but it kept crawling up and up, reforming into a disgusting sort of scorpion/spider hybrid. It lifted its tail, rearing to attack Dante's face, to take him down.

They'll never get me.

The demon-like creature jumps off the blade, eight legs wide open, hissing angrily.

"Fuck you!"

He hacks the beast clean in half, and he's grinning. Yeah, nothing could get him, not those little shits. They could crawl back into the pit of Hell itself, whimpering and crying, for all he cared.

But in all of that, he failed to notice the other shadows slinking towards him, shining in the darkness, crawling like masses of snakes searching for something to strangle. They wrapped around his ankles in thick ropes, dragging him down into a pit.

"What the ---!"

Dante sank faster into the shadowy quicksand. The more he struggled, the harder the shadows pulled. The words KILL HIM flashed across the sky in bold, bright white letters.

The Nephilim struggled. He could feel the shadows working their way up his torso, around his neck, searching for an open mouth to choke him from the inside. His breathing became harder and more panicked. This would probably be one of the less pleasant ways to go, by choking on a giant fucking shadow. In an instant, the shadows around his his ankle spiked abruptly, and he screamed in pain. And it only took that instant for the shadows to plunge into his throat.

Rebellion disappeared, and he was able to focus enough to summon Aquila in both hands, but the choking... his eyes watered and there wasn't enough air in the world to make him withstand the shadows in his throat.

No!

His arms flew out, and Aquila sliced all around him. Yet it only afforded him half a second of reprieve. The shadows were already reforming and attacking him.

[alphatar]

Feeling the rife seep away from her, the prison threatened to rip apart from the air that was pushing it out, Korra rolled her fingers down into fists and slammed them together. Jacket, hair, and pants snapped as they ruffled in the powerful winds that pushed the round cage to its limit. A sickening pop, made of high pitched screeches, preceded the shadows being ripped apart to threads that scattered into the wind.

Touching down from being held aloft by her airbending, Korra looked over to see who helped her; expecting to see the young man she caught a glimpse of. Instead of being able to thank him, he was being choked by the dark figures, the faceless spirits she had almost drowned in.

"No!" Digging her boot into the ground, Korra ran towards the pit he was being dragged into. Both her arms were outstretched and the black waters answered her command, rising up to fly to her hands. When the streams of water touched her, they became clear and slightly light blue. The only color in the city aside from her and him. Lashing out with both long whips of water, one immediately followed by the other, Korra knocked away the reforming shadows. She could deal with them later, right now she was bent on ensuring her life didn't mean the loss of his.

"Hang on, I've got you!" Pressurized water followed her words down into the pit and the clear water broke though the darkness and wrapped around him. Those words she saw in the sky were not coming true, not if the Avatar could still move. Still breathe.

Pulling up, dredging him out of the pit, Korra used all of the strength her body would allow to break off the tendrils that tried clinging to him. The shadow that had choked him earlier took shaped and leapt onto him intent to block off his throat, suffocate him. Just as it rose into the air to dive its way to his demise it was surround by a bright orange light for an instant before becoming engulfed in a huge plume of flame; not one lick of the fire touched him.

Korra stood with the water wrestling the shadows off of him, not letting him get sucked back down into endless despair, and her mouth open breathing a roaring blaze that died away once the shadow was burnt and gone. Straining, Korra pushed her arms apart and the water tentacles separated from the only other person in her horrid dream and then became twisted pillars of ice, trapping the shadows within it.

"Are you all right?" She asked as she caught her breath.

Not that there was time for that. The darkness hadn't interfered for a reason. Far back where her prison had burst, shadows had reformed and were joined by the ones that both of them had been fending off. A gigantic silhouette rose from the ground, monstrously humanoid, towering over the decaying buildings and staring straight them. One hand becoming claws and the other becoming thin wires meant to slice and puncture.

All Korra saw when looked at it was the face of her fear. Though fear never needed a face for her. Simply a mask, slightly mocking, but impassive and constantly threatening to take away what she believed was one of the core fundamentals of her existence.

Amon.

[fuckchild]

Dante gasped hard for breath, crawling out towards more solid ground on all fours and choking.

"I am never sucking a dick," he concluded between coughs and spits. He would never know how any person could deep throat given that he was being suffocated by giant black shadow.

But he never answered he question. Blue-gray eyes fixed on the towering, masked form, a shape too eerily close to his twin's own mask, the front he put on for The Order.

"The fuck?" he asked, rising to his feet. Whatever that thing was, it's got the girl with him scared straight. He couldn't really blame her, that thing looks intimidating as fuck. It almost reminded him of Mundus, too, because of its sheer size.

Was it a demon? It looked a whole lot like a demon.

It didn't matter. The throwing stars had transformed back into Rebellion, and he was ready to fight.

[alphatar]

Had a gigantic, hulking silhouette bearing a darker resemblance to her greatest fear, Korra would have given her new fighting partner the oddest look at his statement. As it was, she was trying to keep herself focused on the present.

If she won against him before one way, it might work again.

Snapping out of her gaze on the monstrosity, Korra looked over to him. "The mask. We have to break it!" It sounded silly, but she was sure that was what needed to be done; the feeling sank into her very core.

Those millions of tendrils extended at an alarming rate from the beast and pierced the ground, shadows rising from the miniscule holes. Unlike the amorphous ones from before, they were humans covered in shadowstuff to look like clothing and a cloth mask that had black glass goggles that reflected grey. All bearing a red dot on their forehead.

"Your sword can cut through them, and maybe him." She spared a glance upward at the titan. "I can get you up there if you think you're up to it." When some of the Equalist shadows crept too close, she let out a sweep of her leg and the earth jutted out with multiple spikes in an arc that impaled a line of them.