forum Blake's Interdimensional Taxi Service (open for one and all)

Started February 12, 2020 by @Young-Dusty-the-Monarch-of-Dusteria group

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So this is maybe an odd idea for a roleplay, but hear me out. My character is a taxi driver with mysterious powers. He shows up wherever he's needed and provides rides to anyone, anywhere in the universe–as long as he's paid something and given adequate directions. Due to the fact that he'll only meet a character once unless they become regular customers, this rp will remain open forever with no player limit just to keep things rolling. I guess you could also create multiple separate characters if you want to hang around ^^ Like I said this is highly experimental, but I thought it might be fun.

Rules:

• No damaging the taxi or attacking the driver unless you want to get dumped in the nether-space between dimensions and charged five thousand monetary units in compensation fees.
• Be polite to others and communicate as clearly as you can. It's fine if your character is a bit rude or doesn't talk much, but don't start fights outside the rp and at least participate so I'm not doing all the talking.
• When multiple people are using the taxi together, please try not to talk all at once. I may have the magical ability to chauffeur you between worlds, but I only have one set of ears. I apologize if I can't give you all 100% of my attention.
• You may roleplay your actions a bit when not using the taxi service for the sake of context, but please take all major sidebar roleplaying to your PMs for the sake of keeping things on track. If you want to use the taxi service again after a while, feel free to come back and do so!

How the taxi works: There are magical silvery business cards for my service scattered across the universe, and anyone can find one. The cards have a black symbol printed on them. When you need a ride, have your character tap the symbol four times and wait near a road or open space. For better results, please describe your location, the era/genre of your world, and your character's race. For emergencies, press and hold the symbol for a count of three. Have a payment ready, bartering is allowed. For any questions or complaints about the service, there is a mirror on the back of the card. Dial me by drawing a circle on the mirror with your finger, and we can video-call at our leisure. ^^

(Final Note: I, Dusty, work two days a week and some weekends, so I may be slow then, but otherwise I'll try to provide prompt and convenient taxi rides as much as possible.)

Yama's eye picked up a flash of light as he steered his sandskiff through the heart of the Shiara Desert. Pulling the sail and tugging the rudder, the Half-Dragon banked left and leaned precariously off of the side to snatch the shiny object. Rerouting the sandskiff, he tied off the sail and kicked back to focus on the object he grabbed. It was thin and tough like pressed metal. He couldn't tell how long this could have been lying in the desert, but the faintest hint of moisture meant that this was recently regurgitated by a Delex or some other desert-dwelling monster.

Yeesh, Yama thought to himself. Brushing off some of the sand that had wedged itself within the raised lettering, he noticed that it read, in plain Dragontongue:
Blake's Interdimensional Taxi Service. Going Everywhere and Nowhere All at the Same Time!

"The fuck?" he said, confused. Unless this Blake person was a dragon, there would be no way anyone could understand that language. The only human that both made the effort and succeeded was his mother. This could either be a nasty trap or a really convenient way home, but he wasn't willing to hold his breath on that.

As the sunbaked desert gave way to black sand and perilous crags, Yama knew he was heading the right way. The Shiara Desert was vast, created by volcanic activity thousands of years ago. The high winds eroded everything to dust and sand, but there were still remnants of creatures that used to live here. If his father was correct, then he just needed to take a right by the next crag and… There! Pulling the two shovel-like brakes near his hands, the sandskiff made a slow and complete stop. Once the wind wasn't in his face anymore, Yama realized just how hot it was out there. The heat rising off of the tar sands out here would kill a human, but his heat-resistant scales gave him an edge. Setting a foot down, however, proved to be difficult.

"AH! Hot! HOT!" he cried, yanking his talons out of the sand and back into the safety of the boat. Yama decided to get what he needed from within his skiff. Focusing his thoughts on the massive, calcified bones that lay just beneath the surface, he forced his hand upward like he was lifting a box. The ground rumbled and shifted as a gigantic rib bone pierced the sand and stood defiantly among the waste surrounding it. Unfurling his wings, Yama took flight from the boat and landed on the tip of the rib. He then hugged the side and scooched his way down until he had about eight feet of rib above him. He scratched a line in with his claw and turned to the sand below him. Focusing his mind on that, he willed it to float in front of his hands. Keeping his legs secured around the rib, he used his other hand to pull one side like he was pulling taffy. Another thought entered his mind and the tar sand flattened like paper and stretched out to gain saw teeth on the front. Dragging the saw side to side, Yama eventually cut through the bone and grabbed it before it fell back into the sand below. By this point, he was standing on the now-flat end of the rib, which was at least two-and-a-half feet thick.

"Ha ha! I did it!" the Half-Dragon cried. "Oh fuck!"

Looking back to his skiff, the heat combined with not having Yama's weight to press it down meant fire was licking the sides of the boat. Before he could react, the sail had a burning edge that slowly crept its way through the ropes and up the rest of the sail.

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" he shouted. His back bristled, quite literally, as the scales stood up on edge from rage. Taking a deep breath from his nose, he let a blast of smoke pour out of his ears like a steam whistle. "Wait, shit!" He blasted through the air, leaving the rib piece behind, as he grabbed the silver card. Flying back to the rib platform, he read the bottom text of the card. Tap the black symbol four times to call me! The symbol was an embossed vehicle, a car from the looks of it, but the checkered pattern was new to him. Cars were usually reserved for the rich and famous back in places like Mordaria, but there were shuttling services similar to what Blake was offering.

Figuring that his situation couldn't get much worse, he tapped the symbol four times and waited.

Blake had been taking his lunch break on the cold white cliff overlooking the Sea of Tranquility when he got the summons. Judging by the coordinates attached, it seemed he'd have to modify his vehicle a bit to manage the terrain. Folding his napkin around the last of his meal, he turned on his iridescent black limo and glided into the air, unfolding a pair of steel wings and a sail from the car's metal exterior.
A moment later he appeared on the sun-scorched horizon, humming along just above the ground until he spotted a figure perched up ahead. He made it to that point and parked the limo, still hovering, next to the person and rolled down his window, smiling.
"Good day," he said cheerfully. "Blake's Interdimensional Taxi Service. Are you the one that used my card?"

"Dah- uh… Yes?" Yama stammered out a reply, his eyes slowly shifting from the car to its driver. "First thing, am I dead? Am I dead and you're the courier to take me to the afterlife?"

"What? Oh no, not at all!" Blake beckoned for Yama to get into the limo, his grey eyes friendly. "It seems to me that you're alive and well, and have no need for a visit to the afterlife, sir–ah wait, do you accept male pronouns? Terribly sorry."

"He/him is preferred, thank you," Yama said before focusing on the rib piece and levitating it up to his level. "Can you take cargo, too? I know it's a little big, but I can cut it down to make it easier."

"Oh, just pop it in the trunk, no need to resize it." Blake put the limo in park and hopped out, also not touching the ground as he rounded the back to open the trunk. "Here you are. That's a very nice levitation ability you have there, I must say. Oh silly me, I haven't asked your name yet. I'm Mr. Lonan Blake, and you are?"

"Nice," Yama said. He shoved the eight-foot-long, two-and-a-half-foot thick rib into the trunk before shutting the door.

"The name's Yamatsukami, call me Yama," the Half-Dragon said, reaching out for a handshake. Blake returned with a firm grip before they both got into the taxi, with Yama taking shotgun. "It's not levitation. I have the ability to control earth and metal with my mind. The calcifications in the bones made it so that I could move them," he explained. "My home's not that far from here, about a hundred and twenty peds due northwest. It's a hole in the ground with a river flowing through it, I can guide you if necessary."

(Edited)

(It's all good)
Blake guided the limo up to a higher altitude and set a course in the direction Yama had indicated. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Yama. Just let me know when we are close to your destination, and I'll drop you off. And since your trip probably requires no interdimensional travel, the cost will be quite small. What unit of value will you be using today? I accept many."

"Well, I've got some gold of course, but I can maybe give you a little piece of that bone I scavenged? I'm a weaponsmith, you see. I take stuff from all over and make 'em into works of art. A dagger made from the rib of an ancient Elder Leviathan might look nice mounted on your dash, at least?" Yama was in full-on salesman mode, now.

"Ooh, now there's a nice idea! It could sit right next to my Chaos God bobblehead!" Blake tapped the small, eerily-grinning figurine in front of him, making it nod in agreement. "What's the turnaround for an item like a dagger? Would it take much time or effort for you to craft?"

"I mean, I have most of the parts already made. Give me a little under an hour and I can have that ready and wrapped up for you."

"Lovely! I can certainly wait that long, provided I don't get another summons." Blake adjusted their course slightly, admiring the view below them. "So tell me a bit about yourself, Yama. I don't think I've ever encountered someone of your race before."

"To be honest, neither have I," Yama said. "I've literally lived under a rock for most of my life, so the chances of another one of me happening are slim-to-none unless a whole lot of people become cool with a lot of things really quick. My dad escaped from his abusive criminal family and my mom was kicked out of the Hunters Guild due to her relationship with my dad, so they decided to hide and raise a kid in peace. I certainly don't blame them."

The Half-Dragon stared out the window for a while before continuing. "My dad, a mountain dragon, taught me how to Earthbend. Mom taught me how to fight. I didn't learn about weaponsmithing 'til I saw one of her old swords. She ended up buying a book for me from Bahron, a big city on the outskirts of the desert, and I basically taught myself. When you've been doing this for 30-some-odd years, you get to be real good. I actually managed to get some clients, but by mail-order only. Not even the postman knows who I am."

"I see." Blake nodded thoughtfully. "It seems I'm lucky to have met you at all, then. I certainly hope that someday you and your family can live together in a place were no one will judge you for who you are."

"I do too, man. Duh– take left by the edge of that shrubby patch down there and set us down," Yama said, pointing to his desired location. A small ridge stood proud among the flat steppe, and a small river poured into the mouth of a cave on the opposite side of the ridge.

(aright I have to head to bed now but I'll drop a reply here before I leave)
Blake cruised down to earth and landed smoothly, unlocking the car doors with a soft click. "Here we are, then. Thank-you for choosing Blake Enterprises! I'll just wait out here for you to finish making that dagger, is that right?

"Yep, I'll be quick!" Yama said, popping the trunk and grabbing the rib piece. His workshop nearly filled the underground cavern that seemed so inconspicuous from the outside. Various smithing equipment stood around the edge of a wooden platform that was raised above the river where it ran past a waterwheel that controlled the function of many of his machines. The Half-Dragon set the bone down in front of his workbench and used his claw to score an eighteen-by-eight centiped rectangle. Grabbing a set of woodworking chisels and a mallet from a drawer, he set to cutting out a plate of bone to use for the knife.

Ancient Elder Leviathan bone was a pain in the ass to work with, Yama soon found out. It was extremely hard, but he was afraid to put more force in and accidentally crack it. So, he went slow and steady and finally pried the piece out 5 minutes later.

"Alright, now what?" Yama said to himself, studying the grain of the bones. "Hmm… Karambit? Nah, I don't have time to make a thumb ring. Drop point seems like a good idea given the curve…" He thought for a while longer before finally settling on a design. Taking a piece of charcoal, he scratched out the blade design and handle. Yama then took the plate to his fancy new belt sander. The 18-inch contact wheel allowed him to get straight edges and beautiful plunge grinds, and once the shape was roughed out, he then began hogging off material to achieve the beveled edge he desired. The spine was also sharpened, but it had a slight curve that followed both the grain of the bone and the curve of the original rib. Yama changed belts a few more times before getting the knife to be razor-sharp and took it back to his bench.

There were a bunch of pieces that Yama had made previously so builds like this wouldn't take long, so he grabbed a premade handle, a brass-colored steel crossguard and pommel, and some quick-dry epoxy. It took about thirty minutes to finish the blade, with most of that time being spent waiting for the glue to dry.

Blake sat patiently in his shady, air-conditioned car, finishing off the last of his lunch. After a while he tilted his rear-view mirror down and swiped his finger cross the glass, turning it from a reflective surface to a screen. His favorite video-streaming platform was always online and always free, thanks to an insider who owed him some favors. He leaned back in his seat, chuckling his way through a comedy series while he waited for Yama to return.

"Hey, hey!" A call came from the cave as Yama emerged into the daylight once again. He was flipping the knife between his fingers as he strutted over to Blake's taxi, and he tapped on the window to get his attention.

"One fancy-ass knife as payment for getting me home. May it serve you well!"

Blake paused the video and rolled down his window. "Many thanks! That's quite the fine-looking knife, I must say. I believe that makes us even, then." He accepted the knife and admired it before placing it carefully on his dash. "Perfect. I will definitely recommend you to my associates if they ever need a good weapon!"