Test Drive for October 2013 Apps

[highseasmods]

Welcome to your monthly Test Drive for high_seas! Here is where new players can test out their characters' voices, old players can try out new muses, and everyone can help each other get some threads for their applications! Feel free to use one of the prompts below, or come up with something on your own! Comment around, have fun, and remember that any CR formed here does not carry over to the game!

See you during the application round!

♦ So you're new to this world and have just woken up in the Town Square. How do you react? What do you do?

♦ You're lost at sea. Maybe you got separated from your crew. Or perhaps you're on an abandoned island. You need help!

♦ "Pirates off the starboard bow!" It's an enemy ship! Attack!!

♦ You and your crew are hanging out on your ship. Just another day at sea!

♦ "LAND, HO!" Hey look, a new island! How about you go explore it? Tell us what you find!

Comments

[wavesoakedlegs]

[...what?]

[Was this man claiming to be Chousokabe Motochika? That is a strange thing to try and do in their circumstances. Worse, it's one that angers Mitsuhide deeply, and this shows. His stance grows tense and his expression changes to match his feeling in an instant.]

You are not Lord Motochika.

[Mitsuhide cannot stand the idea of anyone putting his Lord Motochika's name to acts he has not done, whatever they might be. His hand comes to rest lightly on his katana.]

You make that claim to one who has known him since childhood. I suggest you cease whatever it is you intend to do under his name.

[seadevil]

I damn well am Motochika, Sea Devil of the West, Conqueror of Shikoku, and the best damn pirate in Japan! [Motochika shrugs his anchor off his shoulder and slams it into the ground, sending poor Pi-chan flying.]

Ask any man on my crew and they'll tell you the same. I don't know whether it's the sun or the sea that's addled your brain, but you'd best put an end to your nonsense before I put an end to it myself. What right do you have to tell me who I am when you haven't even given your own name?

[wavesoakedlegs]

You...

[Those words anger Mitsuhide further; his voice is steely cold right now.]

I am Akechi Mitsuhide, unworthy of my name as I am.

[The young samurai does not draw his sword yet, but the grip on the hilt tightens. A flood of emotion cascades through him, carrying pain and rage both. Too much has happened to him recently for him to keep a cool head in a moment such as this.]

[He will not let anyone speak about Motochika in such a way, nor act as a threat to him. Mitsuhide will protect his dearest friend.]

I do not care what they say; I have known Lord Motochika for almost my entire life. He fought with me against Lord Nobunaga, he acted as my his strength when I faltered, he died for me! No man can forget the grief of losing the one closest to him like that; it still lives in my heart, even though this world has brought him back to my side.

[He shakes his head.]

And you talk about him like he was a pirate, when the shores of his beloved Shikoku were plagued and harmed by such people?

[seadevil]

Akechi...Mitsuhide... [He doesn't have much recollection of the man himself, but he has a pretty clear mental image of the crazy bastard from other people's stories, and he wasn't this sort of crazy bastard. As nonsensical as this man's words were, he felt them deeply, and Motochika has seen enough of that sort of grief, felt enough of that sort of grief, to not just brush it aside as the words of a madman. Somewhere in the back of his mind, his better judgment (which sounds suspiciously female and pissy) demands that he think this through. He can almost feel the sore spot on his head where Sayaka walloped him last.]

Um...

[But that means thinking, and unless it's one of his engineering projects, thinking isn't something he much enjoys. That spot on his head throbs again.]

Mōri Motonari. Tell me of him. [It was that bastard's fault the last time. Let's blame him again.]

[wavesoakedlegs]

[That question surprises Mitsuhide, to say the least; his eyes widen and he seems incredibly confused for a moment, voice softening to reflect that.]

What?

[It takes a moment for him to collect himself. When he does, Mitsuhide sounds cold as steel once more (though an edge of confusion remains). What on earth does Mōri Motonari have to do with this?]

The former Lord of Chugoku, known as a man of great wisdom and intellect... he faked his death to withdraw from society but came back in order to defend the Mōri lands from Lord Nobunaga. Ultimately, he failed, because I called on Lord Motochika and he brought his navy into the battle.

[seadevil]

Former? Faked his death? That pitiful blackguard's grasp didn't loosen from Chugoku until I killed him, nor would it ever have if he'd had his way. [If Motochika were one of his own clockwork constructs, smoke would be issuing from his ears about now.]

Tokugawa Ieyasu, then, what of him? [He's going to figure this one out, dammit. He'll show Sayaka that he can think about things. Wherever the hell she is.]

[wavesoakedlegs]

[Mitsuhide looks even more baffled now, though still wary. What on earth is this about? He almost stutters his next answer.]

He was my friend. A man of Mikawa, servant to Lord Nobunaga while he lived, and blessed with the service of Honda Tadakatsu.

[Another wave of pain and regret passes through Mitsuhide as he recalls some of the conversations he and Ieyasu had once shared. Back then, Mitsuhide had believed in Nobunaga without doubt.]

One of the two likely to seize the land now that my... now that Lord Nobunaga is gone, though most would bet that Hideyoshi will eventually win that battle. His momentum is too strong.

[A pause, and then he adds in a less severe voice:]

What are your intentions with this? Why do you ask me questions you will only refute?

[seadevil]

Because it's damned confusing, that's why! You've got me and Mōri all wrong, but that does sound more or less like Ieyasu, and that big gorilla Hideyoshi did pick up where the Demon King left off...gah! [Motochika slams the butt of his anchor into the ground again in frustration, then points at Mitsuhide.]

At least I'm trying to think about it instead of making weepy, tragic faces and accusing men of not being who they say they are!

...I'm so sorry this got fiery quicker than I thought it would

[wavesoakedlegs]

Someone comes along calling themselves by the name of my dearest friend and making claims that he would find offensive, and you expect me to be amiable about it? To merely accept what I have been told?

[That anger is back again, in full force. Mitsuhide is having doubts about the situation now, about whether or not this man really is an imposter or something else is going on, but he's not going to back down.]

[Some things are far too important to risk.]

People have called my Lord Motochika many things and accused him of much. He is stubborn and unique and blunt in his ways, and soft with no-one. He has made many enemies! But he is a good man who thinks more highly of me than I deserve and defends me during the darkest times. I held his hand when he died and grieved for him as I ran from an army that wanted me dead.

[He draws his hand away from his blade, but stands straighter than ever and glares Motochika's way. This is a rare state for Mitsuhide to be in; it takes a lot to make him angry.]

I am unworthy of most things, but do not insult me for seeking to defend the one who would give everything for me! I daresay you would react the same, if a stranger claimed to be someone you held dear!

[seadevil]

Stand down, man. If this "Lord Motochika" of yours would be so offended by my words, no wonder he gets along so well with a delicate flower such as yourself. [Motochika sneers and spits on the ground.] "Offensive." Offensive, indeed. What's so offensive about a man bowing down to no one and living his life as he pleases? You insult many a good man when you insult the path I've chosen and you don't see me throwing a tantrum about it. I'm trying to THINK about this and dammit, you're NOT HELPING.

[wavesoakedlegs]

There is plenty wrong with such a path when it bring suffering to others. [He snaps back.] Living your life as you please is an admirable thing, yes, but not when it gets innocents hurt! The people of my land suffer enough through the constant war without having to deal with the chance that the little they do have will be stolen from them!

[There is so much more he could say, but Mitsuhide's initial anger is thinning out enough to give him some kind of clarity. He pinches his nose, closes his eyes and sighs, taking a moment to breathe in deeply.]

[His head hurts, this really isn't getting him anywhere and yes, he really isn't helping. It's hard to push aside his emotional response, but Mitsuhide attempts it and opens his eyes again. His hand drops fully by his side.]

I have lost my temper, and been unfair in many ways. That, I will offer my apologies for. This world is strange enough that perhaps there is nothing to make sense of and this merely must be accepted.

[seadevil]

[That self righteousness. These assumptions. That single-minded fixation on some incredibly wonderful flawless person who can do no wrong. He knows two people like this, one of whom he likes well enough worries a bit how they're faring in his absence and the other of whom needs to take a long walk off a short pier and spare the rest of the world their nonsense. He'll be a generous man and give Mitsuhide the benefit of the doubt for now, but the prospect of tossing him in the ocean and being done with this is an attractive one.]

Spectral pirates, magic storms, men and women wrested from their lives and brought to a strange ocean and NOW you stop to think that maybe something is up? [It took him a while, but he's not going to say that. No one has to know.] I've said naught of this before, but you're nothing like the Mitsuhide I've heard tell of, more so even than I'm not like your precious Lord Motochika. He at least sounds like a stand-up fellow. I thought for a bit maybe you were trying to pull one over on me, but you're damn well married to those convictions of yours. [He scratches his head and continues to scowl. He's so close to putting this all together. Maybe.]

[wavesoakedlegs]

Even in a world like the one we stand on, this is strange. You cannot claim otherwise. Assuming you were telling the truth from the start would have been the more dangerous option.

[Mitsuhide is genuinely deflating now, the anger quickly draining out of his expression to be replaced with something tired and low. This man, whoever he is (because Mitsuhide would never be able to think of him as Chosokabe Motochika), seems genuine in his confusion. Perhaps that's enough, for now, though Mitsuhide will have to keep tabs on him.]

[He bows his head and bites his lip briefly.]

Too much ill has happened because of the choices I have made in the past, because I have trusted the wrong people...

[Mitsuhide sighs, and raises his hands up in a peacemaking gesture. He really does need to talk to his Motochika about this as soon as he can.]

Fine. He will no doubt become indignant when he finds out that I was trying to protect him as it is; backing down would be wise for that reason, as much as any other.

[seadevil]

Keeps you on a short leash, does he? Not healthy, that. [He's seen the end result of that sort of devotion and it's not pretty, not at all.] Does a man no good and plenty of ill, though he fails to see it until it's too late, or he never does and he dies without ever living his own life.

[He doesn't like this turn of conversation at all. Too vivid is the memory of mad eyes at Osaka Castle and an apology of his own in the sunset at Itsukushima.]

But anyway, strange as it is, you can't say it's out of the question that among all the different people that've ended up on this ocean, there might be a few that are more similar than you'd expect.

[wavesoakedlegs]

[Mitsuhide inhales sharply. This man has gotten his connection with Lord Motochika wrong, though he can't be blamed for that considering Mitsuhide's wording... the problem is that it reminds him of someone else. Another life lost because of his own treachery.]

[He shakes his head, and makes no mention of Mori Ranmaru at all.]

No. He would never restrict my freedom. He just likes to think he doesn't ever need protecting, that being a guardian is his role. Lord Motochika as I know him is simply very headstrong and stubborn.

[There is a ghost of a smile on Mitsuhide's lips, small and brief but definitely fond, as he says that.]

Might be, perhaps, but still strange and hard to wrap one's head around. I have to remain cautious.

[seadevil]

Throw caution to the wind, man! You're lucky I'm a generous, patient man to have put up with your "caution" for so long! If you'd been a bit braver, we wouldn't have had to go through all this nonsense.

[Motochika claps Mitsuhide on the shoulder, probably a bit rougher than is strictly necessary. Best to shake him up a bit.]