Test Drive Meme | #35

[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: → Comment with the journal of a character you want to test; put their name and canon in the subject line for added sparkles. → Tag around with everyone! → Profit like you live on a the back of a turtle! → 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! 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 turtle shell! Dramatic Chase Sequence! You're running away from something! It could be anything, from a rampaging kirin to a gaggle of overly enthusiastic children! 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...? Where There's A Will, There's A...? The Life and Dreaming Planes have been merged, and sometimes what starts out as wishful thinking becomes lured into reality. That slick new motorcycle or pile of kingly treasure you were just daydreaming about? Surprise! It's just appeared in front of you. Though, it may only stay for a short while before it disappears again, so make it count. Hopefully you're not the type to daydream about terrible things befalling people you don't like... SECRET UNDERCOVER MODE ACTIVATE! The three major kedan families all have their own agendas, and you've chosen to entangle yourselves with one (or more!) of them. Are you hoping to shift the balance of power? Gain some favours? Perhaps you're on a mission to bring a criminal to justice, or maybe you just want to get the cream of the crop from the black market. Maybe you haven't been hired by them at all, but are using their name for your own goals... as long as no one discovers the lie! Wait... you want my what now?! The kedan are a curious folk, and the Foreigners are entertainment in conveniently arriving packages, especially when they come along with unique items that the kedan might not have seen before. Maybe it's your cellphone... or maybe it's your knickers! How badly do you want to keep your stuff from some overeager native shapeshifters who want to buy, bribe, or burglarize it right off your person? Sea prunes, get your sea prunes right here! Life in Keeliai can take a little getting used to: the chickens have scales, the cows have feathers, and the fruits come in more colour and pattern combinations than your average tye-dye shirt. Not to mention that meal you just ordered from the food vendor? Has arrived on the plate, and you're pretty sure you just saw it move. Everybody needs a little darkness... The Great Enemy may have been defeated over two years ago, and people are even willing to speak Malicant's name aloud now, but there remains a taint in the city never fully purged. Those who consider Malicant a dark god whose end was unjust are the cultists of Keeliai, and they aren't always so easy to identify as one might think. Sometimes their presence is felt in the growing urge to give into one's darker instincts, especially in such a foreign place... Illicit substances, anyone? Every city has its vices, and Keeliai is no different. Perhaps you actively sought it out, or perhaps an opportunistic dealer saw you as a potential customer needing a free sample, but you're now in possession of a packet of Lucid, an emotion-enhancing drug. Interested in finding out what happens when you crush that colourful crystal and ingest it? Incoming! Tu Vishan's latest landfall stop has brought an unwelcome problem to its residents: enormous, toothy creatures who look more like pterosaurs than most people are comfortable with! With a twenty-foot wingspan, these aren't exactly harmless local wildlife, and they have a nasty habit of swooping down on targets both Foreigner and kedan! How are you going to fend them off, or help someone who might have been injured by the latest dive bombing?? 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? Anything goes!

Comments

Spoilers for Skulduggery Pleasant through the end of book 8

[edgeoftheknife]

It's easy to spot a new Foreigner in Keeliai. No matter how savvy they are, no matter how composed or self-assured, there's almost always something that gives them away. Maybe it's how they look at the shapeshifting kedan, or the way the kedan can zero in on them as potential targets. Oftentimes it's simply the fact that Erskine hasn't seen them at the Hotel before, or on the network--and Foreigners usually look quite a bit different than kedan. So while Erskine waits patiently for his turn with the merchant, huddled in his hooded jacket with his shoulders curled inward, he can clearly see that the man with the eyepatch is a Foreigner, and probably new. And definitely getting swindled.

When the man turns away to deal with the children pestering him, it's to Erskine that the merchant turns next. Erskine doesn't get out much, aside from his forays into the poorer parts of town, but he does a fair amount of the shopping for the Midnight Hotel and the merchants in this part of the city recognize him on sight. Erskine doesn't respond right away, sure that the other man was trying to deal with the merchant...but.

He relays his list to the merchant quickly, inciting a similar bit of haste in the kedan, and tacks the compass onto the end of the list. The merchant shoots the man with the eyepatch a quick look but says nothing. He hadn't been able to close the deal anyway, and Erskine is a familiar face and a certain source of juulan. The knowledge of who Erskine's employer is means that he doesn't pay more than is strictly fair for the trinket.

When his purchases are wrapped and bagged and safely tucked under his left arm, Erskine makes his way through the throng of kedan children and holds the compass out to the Foreigner. What parts of his face are visible beneath the hood of the jacket show that he's quite beautiful, with stunning golden eyes. At first he doesn't say anything, merely offers the compass.

[judicatus]

The children are taking up enough of his attention that it takes Gabranth a moment to notice the proffered compass, but when he does, his focus snaps instantly to the stranger before him. Not someone he recognizes — but there's hardly any meaning in that, is there, when he's had little opportunity to know anyone from this land.

In any case, his eye narrows as he regards the other man, and he takes the compass with a cautious stare.

"I've no need of charity," he says, and spares a glance for the kedan still crowded around him before he reaches for his coin pouch. "Whatever price you paid, I'll meet it."

[edgeoftheknife]

The money isn't important. Up until recently Erskine was all but penniless, living off Anton's kindness at the Midnight Hotel, but he took the little bit of juulan that Anton lent him before Christmas and turned a tidy profit in the gambling halls. He's been using it to help some of the less fortunate kedan in the city, but it might not be a bad idea to start using it to help some of the newer Foreigners as well.

So he has a choice. Take the juulan back, because he knows that feeling of pride quite well, or--

"Pay it forward," he says with a slight smile. "Plenty of other Foreigners around who could use the help." His voice has a lilting accent--Irish, if Gabranth has ever heard that particular one before.

[judicatus]

It's an accent Gabranth may have in the Drabwurld, in passing at least, but it isn't one he can presently place. More than the accent, though, it's the smile that puts a knit in Gabranth's brow.

"Very well," he says, replacing his coin pouch before any opportunistic kedan can get their hands on it. "I've yet to acquaint myself with many others, but I suppose I can do naught but take you at your word."

[edgeoftheknife]

"I thought you might be new," Erskine says with a nod. "I like to keep an eye on the network, and I haven't seen you in the Hotel--though I suppose that doesn't necessarily mean anything." Many of the Foreigners have taken to living in the Sky Sector in the past few months, after all, and Erskine does tend to hide when he isn't working. "There are several of us around. Not as many as there were. Maybe more than I know about, if they haven't passed through the Hotel."

He falls quiet for a moment, considering. His natural inclination these days is to retreat, to avoid any social interactions that aren't over the network or with people he already knows and trusts. Then again, he's already put himself out there this far.

"Have you been to the Welcome Center, then? Found a place to live and all that?"

[judicatus]

Already Gabranth suspects, based on this man's words and what he's learned on his own so far, that the "Foreigners" of this world are not unlike the shardbearers of the Drabwurld. Of course, whether he possesses similar power here remains to be seen.

"I have, aye," he says with a careful nod, before he realizes he ought to specify. "Visited the Welcome Center, but I've yet to find permanent lodging. I have little income to spare at present."

[edgeoftheknife]

Erskine nods. It's a common theme among new arrivals. "I'm pretty sure the Sky Sector housing for Foreigners is free of charge. I'm not positive--I've never been there--but it might be worth a look. Otherwise, Anton is good about working with new arrivals for a way to pay at the Midnight Hotel." He shrugs a little. "You can do odd jobs around the Hotel until you have a steady source of income, or he might be able to find you a permanent job at the Hotel, depending on what you do."

"Speaking of which, I'm headed back there now. If you haven't eaten yet I can at least offer you a warm meal."