The Lucky Queen Testdrive

[overbringer]

All Aboard The Lucky Queen Olivia









It's one of the many ships that sail the River with Ten Thousand Names, and if it's not the most luxurious and most famous ship in the whole of the multiverse, it's certainly in the top ten. For what other ship can claim its captain to be the centuries old brain of Mark Twain in a jar? Or to have the ghost of John Henry "Doc" Holliday as the first mate?

It's an unusual pair they make, but together they've not just kept what was originally a steam ship right off of he Mississippi together as it sails across the multiverse, but upgraded it into something almost totally unrecognizable. The Lucky Queen is now enormous. Almost half a mile long. It contains everything you expect to see on a luxury cruise ship, from swimming pools to shopping malls (yes, malls. Plural.), from ballrooms to arcades. It also contains fabulous distant technology that lets it sail just as easily in water as in molten lava or currents of empty air. It is on this ship that you have found yourself. Maybe you got lost in a freak transdimensional portal and hitched a ride, hoping to find your way home. Maybe you're on vacation. Maybe you just work here. Regardless, the marvels of the multiverse are just out the porthole, and the cream of high society is right here for you to brush elbows with.

Pick an RP Prompt and an Environment and test out characters who you think would work well in this setting:

RP Prompts
1 - The Ball: The orchestra is flawless, the chandeliers are sparkling. Hobnob with the ridiculously wealthy, dance with the extremely attractive, or just wallflower in the corner and enjoy the view. You have a crossection of the entire mulitverse dancing in front of you after all.

2 - The Break Room: This isn't just a vacation for you, this is your job. You just finished a long shift, possibly as a maid tidying up the hundreds of cabins, or a blackjack dealer getting threatened by hulking aliens who's language the auto-translators couldn't quite make sense of, or an engineer plumbing the depths of the ship which is pieced together from dozens of different kinds of technology and trying to make sure none of them explode. It's a lot of work, keeping a ship this big in working order, but now it's finally break time and you can chat with the rest of the crew while you catch your breath.

3 - Gate jump: It's always something everyone gets onto the deck for, for this is the most reliable form of interdimensional travel anyone has ever found. One moment you'll be in one world, the next you'll be in another. The gravity shifts, the air smells different, the sky changes color, the landscape becomes completely unrecognizable. Is this the first time you've seen it happen, or is this you hundredth jump? Will you calm your neighbor or be excited with them? (Pick two environments for this one.)

4 - River Raiders: Raiders sometimes attack the wealthy cruisers along The River to plunder their amazing wealth, and while the Lucky Queen has forcefields that can defend it, they aren't always enough. Are you crew? Are you a passenger? For once it doesn't matter. Stand to arms mateys, yer being boarded!

5 - Casino: High stakes cards! Slot Machines! Roulette! There's even a fighting ring you can bet on, or participate in. Security SEEMS light, but rumor has it that the ghost of the infamous gambler, gunfighter, and dentist, Doc Holliday, has a tendency to join the games of people who cheat. Such games usually do not end well for the cheater.

6 - Tours: While the ship has docked, the passengers are free to step off and explore whatever world you're currently standing on. There are usually guides available on the ship about the more immediate dangers, but they usually boil down to don't try any local cuisine until you're sure its chemistry matches up with yours, keep an eye on your wallet, and for heaven's sake don't sell your soul to anyone.

7 - Wildcard: Make something up that I didn't think up here.

Environments
A - Earthlike: Blue skies, breathable air, cities full of people. Most of you will feel fairly at home on worlds like this, but they're never QUITE like home, are they? The trees might have an oddly blue tinge to the leaves. The people might be unusually tall or short. The cities might have strange looking architecture.

B - Open ocean: No land in sight, just endless waves all the way to the horizon. The ship sways a bit more than usual out here. Hope you don't get seasick.

C - Noxious: This world clearly isn't meant for humans. Without the Lucky Queen's forcefields that keep breathable air in and poisons out (They can't quite eliminate the strange chemical smells that seep in.), humans would quickly die here. Expect truly alien locals, if anyone lives here at all. Is that a shoggoth waving to you from the shore?

D - Infernal: Did you hear the rumors that the Lucky Queen sails through hell? If it doesn't, this world is close enough that you can't tell the difference. The waters of the previous world have been replaced by bubbling magma. In the distance, you can sometimes make out obsidian cities, gleaming in the red light. Is that sound in the distance the wailing of damned souls or just your imagination?

E - Gas Giant: There's no ground here at all. The river becomes a river of air, and the anti-grav impellers that were installed keep the ship sailing along just fine. Gaze upon pillars of clouds larger than smaller planets. Witness lightning bolts bigger than the Empire State Building. Thank that forcefield that keeps the horrifically potent rainstorms from washing you all off the decks. There are probably sky whales swimming across this world's skies somewhere.

F - Depths of space: Why does the river go through here at all? Who knows, but the view sure is nice. Ten times more stars than you'd see from anywhere on Earth, and also orbital commercial space stations trying to make a quick buck off of wide-eyed tourists.

G - Wild card: Make up your own planet. We're all creative people here, right?

Comments

Big Band / Ben Birdland | Skullgirls

[saxappeal]

2A
[The Lucky Queen has it's own particular sort of security force, comprising of the more physically capable applicants, as well as a few clever sorts that run things from the background. Ben falls squarely into that first camp, with his beige overcoat having been replaced with a Lucky Queen Security uniform custom tailored for him.

Right now, he's not on detail; instead, he clanks and whirrs his way into the break room after a tough shift. A loud and wide plume of steam is released when he takes a "seat" in the corner, having to eschew any of the couches around due to his size.] Anybody else think the bartenders could stand to learn "drink maximum" to make our jobs a little easier?

5F
[If Ben's not on patrol throughout the massive decks of the intergalactic steamer, then he's one of the sparse security detail in the casino. There's a little section of the high-stakes tables that he lays personal claim to, and his eye for cheating and thievery is sharper than some of his coworkers'. Probably not a great thing that he's stomping your way, a massive brass hand clamping over your shoulder.]

Hey, buddy. You wanna maybe try that hand again, just a little cleaner this time?

5F

[papersplz]

Wh-what? My hand is plenty clean!

[ ...Four aces fall out of her jacket sleeve. ]

....Mostly.

[saxappeal]

[Elise, what the hell are you doing at the high-stakes tables.]

... yyyeah. Didn't think so. Anything else you got hidden up your sleeves? Or in your pockets? Those glasses something fancy I should worry about?

[papersplz]

[ Losing everything she has and a bunch of stuff she doesn't, that's what. Despite her cheating, she is so far in last place it's not even funny. ]

My glasses.....

Help me see.

[saxappeal]

What a surprise.

Listen, kid, you sure you wanna be around here? You're in that end of the pool where the players don't care if you're 8 or 80; they'll skin you alive for a few dollars more. I think maybe it's time you call it quits.

[Squeezing just a little harder with his big brass hand.]

[papersplz]

[ Ow okay ow, she's delicate! She's the glass cannon type no need to squeeze that hard.

Still, she smiles at him. ] Yeah, maybe you're right. I should at least learn the rules first.

[saxappeal]

... you mean you just waltzed into the high roller casino, plopped yourself down at a high-stakes table, and don't even know how to play the damn game?

[Ben just... picks up Elise by the shoulders and carts her away from the table. This is the best way to handle this.]

5F

[connivingbird]

[this guy had been blond a few seconds ago but is now slumped over while the rather fancy monster glove he had been wearing was now floating to be talon to face level with Big Band. a slightly hollow and metallic (and mostly disembodied) voice decided to respond.]

If you haven't noticed, officer, the whole table is cheating and that [the arm makes a gesture that ends up with one talon pointing at the dealer] is not what you think it is.

[and of course his cover is blown which means that the server slams both hands on the table, the form blurring into medals and then bolting for it.]

...Great.

[saxappeal]

Half of the damn patrons in here are cheats; I'm just picking out the really obvious-- [oh, hell. What now.

Ben brings up a little walkie-talkie implanted in his collar, speaking quickly into it.] Birdland to all personnel, Birdland to all personnel, I've got a bogie disguised as a dealer making a break for it out of the Deck 11 Casino, all hands report. [While his team radios in, he turns to the... floating gauntlet.]

You mind explainin' what the hell just happened here?

[connivingbird]

[it's not like Ankh was use to cheating with cards of all things and Shingo is completely hopeless in that as well, being such a straight and upstanding police officer that he is. Ankh makes a 'Tch' sound and wags a finger at Ben and then goes right back to Shingo, who returns to being blond and sits upright.]

It's called a Yummy and it is something I've thought I can draw out without having to deal with you humans. [and with that, he goes after it, scattering people because really why should he care when there was Medals running out the window.]

[saxappeal]

[Ben gears up to keep pace with Ankh, gliding across the floor with his hydraulic legs.] Sounds like somethin' you're pretty familiar with, huh? That thing follow you aboard?

[What the hell it is is less important than where it came from and how to deal with it. He's gotta know the details so once this thing gets gotten, he can deliver it to the guys at Dimensional Control and have them ship it back home.]

[connivingbird]

I followed it aboard. [a scattering of notes as he pushes past a counter and slides over another table, keeping a straight line for the echoing sound of medals that the Yummy had been creating inside of this paradise of desires.]

Break it up and it will stop. It's not alive so you don't have to be gentle with it.

[saxappeal]

I didn't have any damn plans otherwise. [His hydraulics speed up, and now he's speeding through the corridors, eventually catching up to the Yummy. He lunges forward with a massive brass hand that comes from under his cloak, grabbing the medal monster before it can turn a corner and get lost in the maze that is belowdecks.] Gotcha.

["Break it up", huh? Well. Nothing says "break it up" like mashing one hand into another, with the poor Yummy caught in the middle. Security served the best way he knows how.] Problem solved.

2A

[kishishi]

[ There's a loud PSSSSH from the witch already seated in the break room. Actually, does she ever actually do any work....? ]

If anything they have the opposite problem.

It's always "No, Kali, you're on the job," or "No, Kali, you still need to pay," or "No, Kali, you can't threaten us with fireballs."

Yes I can! Just give me a drink already!

[saxappeal]

... how old are you, kid? 16? [Ben, be nice.]

Besides, Management's a stickler for that sorta thing. You ain't gonna see 'em givin' out freebies to staff, probably because they don't want us piss-drunk on the job. Fireballs or no.

[kishishi]

Wow, rude. I'll have you know I happen to be eighteen.

....Or nineteen. One of those.

'sides, I'm never actually on the job anyway! So it wouldn't affect a thing! [ She just comes out and admits it, wow. ]

[saxappeal]

[Uh... huh. Okay. He's just going to... write that down on a little pad and paper that popped out of his chest. Don't mind him.] Yeah, that's hilariously under the legal limit for alcohol.

What is it you even got hired to do, kid?

[kishishi]

Since when is there a "legal limit" on alcohol? I call shenanigans.

And I'm security, so you should watch it. [ Says the girl not wearing a security uniform. To the guy who is. ]

[saxappeal]

Age limit. Forget international waters, even interplanetary waters have some standards on--

Wait, wait, wait wait wait. You're security? [... excuse him, he's just gonna have a laughing fit over in his corner.]

5F

[fumorousdischarge]

[Shit shit shit shit what is this guy doing here? He's not even part of the game, it's not his business! By the divine corpse, this thing isn't an angel, is it?

Cio gives her best and fakest smile for the authorities.]

Come now, master, what's a little creative card-handling between friends?

[saxappeal]

Lady, I've seen enough "creative card-handling" for a few lifetimes. [Big Band isn't an angel, at all, just a humble security guard with enough of a reputation. Though it seems that isn't enough for some people.]

I'm gonna have to recommend you stick to the rules of the game... or I'll escort you out. Forcibly. Ya dig?

[fumorousdischarge]

Fine, fine. Listen.

[Leans in, lowers voice.]

Twenty percent.

[saxappeal]

Really? What a generous offer. Why, how could I possibly refuse.

Except for the fact that you picked the wrong guard to bribe. [Gonna try and drag Cio back off of the table, away from her cards and chips.] Now, c'mon along peacefully before I've gotta escalate.

[fumorousdischarge]

[While being dragged off, because she doesn't weigh that much.]

Tha hear from me again, ornerous whinesome overcoat!

[saxappeal]

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure I will. Hopefully as a particularly glowing review during the disembarkation process.

[Once Ben gets to the entrance to the casino, he just stops and drops Cio off.] Listen here, this is for your own safety. Doc Holliday don't abide by cheaters, and he tends to be a "shoot first, ask questions never" kinda spirit.