trainingwings | don't stop me now

Entry tags:

[*] test drive meme

don't stop me now

the luceti test drive meme

Reserves have just opened and apps are right around the corner. But are you still on the fence about any of your would-be characters? Well -- here is your chance to take them out for a spin!

▣ TAG IN or reply to others with characters you would like to test drive for Luceti.
▣ ONLY add top-level comments for characters who are not yet in the game. You're free to reply to others with Luceti characters (because that's half the fun) but remember that the whole point of this meme is for potential characters.
▣ PLEASE do not post duplicates of characters already in Luceti.
▣ GO AHEAD and give us a brief description of your character in the top-level comment, along with one or two possible ways to run into your test-driven character around town.
▣ YOU MAY use these threads for your first person samples on your app -- just make sure that you link threads of a goodly length (i.e., threads with at least ten comments from your character).

Need a little help getting started? Remember, you needn't post here as though your character is still brand-spankin' new. It'll probably be more fun for all involved if this isn't a simple dress rehearsal for showing up. Here are a few scenario ideas:

o1. The grocery store is out of food. What do you do?
o2. Wing injury! Call for help or stagger your way to one of our fine clinics.
o3. It's a busy evening at Good Spirits, one of Luceti's local bars. Do you dare try the drink specials?
o4. Have a talent for playing music? Try Cloud Nine's open mic night!
o5. Beach party? Snow party? Leaf-raking party? Gardening party? YOU DECIDE.

Okay. So my examples are pretty non-exciting. But they're really just suggestions. I'm POSITIVE you kids can come up with more creative things.

Above all? HAVE FUN. Oh. And don't forget to RESERVE your characters.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[What else can she do? Especially with him standing right before her?

She can understand his hesitation, but it is unlike him. However, she won't mention it.]

I can see the wisdom in that. It is unknown when we might return to Konoha.

[Ouch. Those words bring a flinch. She doesn't know when she'll return to Konoha -- but he knows he never will.

The thought is bitter enough to shock him a little, a whole new wave of disorientation catching hold of him. Never go home... I'll never go home...

But he forces himself to conceal it. Hinata does not need any more guilt to bear.]

Indeed. A few possessions can trickle through from the Malnosso; I suggest guarding them carefully. They're another good reminder.

[She silently curses herself when she sees his flinch. How careless her words were! He would never...She and the others might return to Konoha, but not him. The thought is enough to make her bite her bottom lip to keep the tears from falling.

She's almost successful, except for one renegade tear that she acts as if she doesn't notice. She must respond to his words that she's barely heard.]

I-I will take that into consideration, should the Malnosso be so...kind as to send me anything.

[He sees that tear -- and it helps him refocus. His own issues can be dismissed in favor of hers; he takes his duty, his debt to her seriously enough for that.

So his own emotions are pushed back, retreated into a corner where he can deal with them later. For now, his focus is on Hinata -- on helping her find peace and normalcy.

He wants to say something comforting, but it's difficult; for all that things are generally comfortable in Luceti, it's still a cage.]

I'm sure you'll find something. They have offered me a few things over the past year.

[She feels the difference when a breeze blows through and dries the last of the moisture from her face. With a brief gesture, she wipes at her eye to get rid of the evidence.

She doesn't want his pity. Nor does she want to make things between them any more difficult than it seems to be. She could feel the weight of the words they weren't saying lying between them.

However, dwelling will do neither of them any good, so she takes a deep breath and attempts to smile.]

You have been here that long? But when I...you were with me before I...

[It seems she missed a few things when she arrived.]

Yes. This place... it does strange things with time. We are taken from a moment, any particular one, and returned back to the same moment when we leave. So to our own worlds, it is as though we never left. And... and we will have no memory of it when we return. [So it's not like she'll even get to have any real extra time with him; she'll go back home someday without any of this.]

I don't know how much time has passed between the last I have witnessed and the last you have. But I doubt it's even close to that long. [His voice takes on a dry, bitter note.] As much as I might wish otherwise.

[So, despite the fact that they were here together again, she would never remember this. She would go back to that moment, never to realize that she had extra time with him. It was a horrible, daunting thought. Why hadn't anyone told her this before she'd come across her cousin?]

You are not the only one who wishes it was much longer, Neji-niisan.

[Because he's just everyone's fucking ray of sunshine right now.]

But as it is... I suppose I'll simply have to hope that my time in Luceti is long. [Because it's something. A half-life separated from his village, from the war, but not from his friends and family, is at least something of a life. Hinata's here -- and Lee, and Tenten, and so many others. He has connections.]

[Since she has discovered that there is no way to leave, she will content herself with the time she has with her cousin while she still has him. Even though it is awkward now.]

I-I hope so too.

[She gathers herself and looks at him with as much warmth as she dares, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth just for him. She can do this. She will do this.]

Shall we?

[It is extremely awkward, but the only real way to remedy that is to push through it and find a new normal. So Neji nods his assent to her question and steps into the field to face her properly, letting out a slow, measured breath to center himself for the spar.]

Let's begin.

[She lets her smile fade as she falls into her usual mindset of sparring with Neji. Her body both relaxes and tenses in all the appropriate places. Her hands come up to defend herself and her byakugan activates, leaving her fast looking different from before.]

Let's.

[That's the only warning she gives him before she steps forward, palms aiming for his arms first.]

[He brings up his own Byakugan, echoing hers; this is familiar, almost a comforting ritual as their spar opens. They've done this for years, ever since they first started working their way toward a mended relationship.

He twists away from the blows, following the motion through to strike for her back; with the Byakugan, there's no concern that she won't see what he's doing, and it's a somewhat unconventional strike.

Falling into the forms of the Gentle Fist is comforting and natural; he's been doing this all his life, and his body knows the way.]

[She expected him to dodge and the attack to her back. She dropped low and aimed for a leg, thankful for the training sessions with Lee-san that Neji had insisted she engage in from time to time.

The taijutsu expert had made sure that Hinata was limber as she moved, and she'd incorporated more fluid movements into her routine for practicine.

So, while she still used the Gentle Fist style, she also moved more on the battlefield.]

[Mixing a little Strong Fist in with the Gentle has been one of the best things for them, Neji has discovered. While he can, when he chooses, work in a pure form of their family's style, he's learned a great deal from Gai about hybridizing their forms, and it pays off.

He's glad to see Hinata using it now. It's stood her in good stead.

He steps back from her kick and drops to grab at her ankle, intending to pull her off her balance and perhaps to the ground entirely.]

[Truthfully, it was Kurenai-sensei who suggested that Hinata spend more time trying to get into actually hit her targets, as well as use her Gentle Fist techniques if she could, to make her taijutsu better. Between Kiba-kun, Akamaru and Lee-san, Hinata's had plenty of practice at it.

And it's nice to be able to do this with Neji now. It's something they haven't done lately, what with the war coming, and rebuilding of the village and other duties.

She knows that she can't dodge the grab at her ankle, but she can move with it. And while he attempts to pull her to the ground, she aims a hand to his throat, close to the jugular and stops before she connects.]

Good.

[He means it; that was an excellent response to this attack, and he gives her full approval for it.]

The first hit to you, Hinata-sama.

[Since, had the Gentle Fist been truly active, had that been a strike made in combat, even pulled it would have disrupted his breathing, and the flow of blood to his brain. A very good, solid hit.

He backs off for a moment, letting her rise; he's not fully interested right now in turning this into a grapple situation.]

Th-thank you.

[She gives him a brief, sunny smile as she pulls her hand away. She knows that it would have been pretty much a killing blow in actual combat. And his acknowledgement is better than even that of her father's.

Once she's able to stand on her own, she moves back into position.]

Again.

Again.

[This time he comes in on the attack first, a swift flurry of blows that would, even if not pulled, only land lightly -- but light is all the Gentle Fist needs. There is an art to committing the lightest force needed, to preserve mobility. It's an almost delicate art, their clan heritage.]

[She attempts to block his blows and is mildly successful. Despite the fact that she's improved since their first encounter, she is still slower than she would like. She knew that after the Pein fight, when the man basically treated her as nothing more than a bug in his way.

However, she'd accomplished what she wished to at that time, but not the way she'd hoped. She'd nearly died to do that. And Neji had never forgiven her for practically throwing her life away while he was gone.

But, she knew that she was going to lose this particular round just by watching Neji's ferocity in the attacks. That didn't mean she was going to give in though. She met him blow-for-blow, allowing herself to move more than she would against another opponent to dodge a few of the blows that would have crushed her liver, stomach and her heart—his favorite spots to attack, even now.

One slip was all it took though.]

[She has improved, and Neji is proud of her for it. The strides she has made forward in the last four years have been tremendous, and it pleases him right to the bone to see her blossoming into such a talented kunoichi.

That said, he's still better.

He pulls the strike, naturally -- a bare tingle of chakra, a brush of fingers against her abdomen, it's only a hint at an attack that would have ruptured her stomach, flinging acid through her abdominal cavity.]

The second strike to me, Hinata-sama.

[She can barely contain the urge to wince as his chakra grazes her skin, even through her clothes. Sometimes, she still has nightmares about their first fight, usually on the days that she's pushed herself too far in training with him and is face-to-face with his disappointment because of it.

She can never hope to be as good as him, because his talent comes naturally while she must work for every inch she can get.

That being said, it is with a mix of relief and reluctance that she backs away from him.]

Y-yes.

[Reaching for normalcy isn't working too well; something still sits unsettled between them, something that leaves Neji feeling empty, unconnected. Their training sessions in the past, although sometimes cautious and awkward, have never felt this disjointed.

But he doesn't know how to fix it.

He draws a slow breath.]

Again.

[And sweeps forward in a graceful attack.]

[She is determined this time to not lose. She drops to the ground as he approaches and aims a hand at his stomach before he can strike out, surprising herself with the ruthlessness of the act. Her eyes grow wide as she realizes this is the same spot that...

It is only with extreme luck that she is able to avoid vomiting, but it takes everything she has, leaving her open as she gags repeatedly.]

[The moment he hears her start to gag, he pulls his attack, probably straining at least a few muscles as he does but ignoring them in his concern for his cousin.]

Hinata-sama! Are you...?

[Injured, she can't be injured, he knows he didn't hit her that hard, but she looks like she's about to vomit.]

[She keeps her head down, cheeks flushed in anger at herself and embarrassment that Neji should see her like this. It wasn't her who had been impaled like a piece of meat. It could have been, and she would have been happy to die so that Naruto lived, but it was Neji who did that.

Once she stopped gagging, she lifted her hands to cover her face, realizing that the tears she had struggled with since she'd seen him again had begun falling without her permission. She tried valiantly to get them to stop, but she couldn't. And she wouldn't face him like this.

So, she was forced to hide her face as much as she could while the moisture continued to fall and bite back the sobs that were starting to bubble up inside her chest.]

don't stop me now

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