Test Drive #13.

[powersthatbe]

Welcome to the Synodiporia Test Drive Meme! Below the cuts there are two new prompts, and here are the prompts from previous test-drives, which you’re still welcome to use in this post. When you comment, be sure you specify what prompt you want to play with, and please put up your own threadstarter - it makes for a much more friendly environment that a forest of bare toplevels! OCs are especially welcome! Please take a quick look at our Directory & familiarize yourself with the concept and setting of the game before you jump in.

Our upcoming app round runs December 18th-31st. Our next Jaunt, Escape from Junkworld, is a space opera romp where humans, aliens, and androids work together on mysterious scavenged, malfunctioning ships to outrun an interstellar disaster. Our next Walkabout (a more casual alternative event, for those not interested in the Jaunt) will revisit Heartbreak Academy, a shoujo anime setting where high-schoolers use Social Technology to bring shoujo special effects to life, from glitter to roses, transformation sequences to sad rainclouds, these cartoony powers are at the height of education for those who want a career in media or diplomacy, or some other means of big-stage self-expression. Both Jaunt & Walkabout will begin January 7th & run for approximately six weeks.

Prompt #37 is set in the Escape from Junkworld jaunt, as an advance taste of the fun available there.

Prompt #38 is set in a created landscape within the Telepathic Network all Travelers can access, and features characters facing their inner demons and traumatic memories together.


Prompt #37

The Coronation's coolant system has sprung a leak somewhere in its kilometers of pressurized tubing - near enough to the diagnostic centers to short out the readouts, meaning half the crew is up to their elbows in the decking, ceramic floor plates scattered along the corridors like loose shingles, making traveling between workstations like a game of holy grail hopscotch between the tiles and the potholes they left.

Besides that, the leak leaves the entirety of the ship smelling like a cross between pond scum and burned espresso, and set the radiation alarms to a distracting buzz - not enough for klaxons, just a constant, low-level warning that set the teeth on edge.

In the ship’s simulator chambers, anyone visored and gloved to work in virtual space can ignore it - but the computer environment may experience glitches in its programs, whether functional or recreational. On the bridge, other systems are experiencing occasional failures - from sensor shadows hinting at unreal pursuit and activating automated combat routines, to the translators in the comm system shorting out and creating a momentary babel.

Meanwhile, between evacuating irradiated areas, crawling through the conduits looking for the problem to fix, or quietly shooing smuggler-snails full of contraband out of the way of the search parties, there’s something for everyone to be doing...


Prompt #38


Sometimes someone’s issues lead to them being swallowed by a dungeon in Liminal Space and forced to confront their darker side, their repressed issues - but you can’t always wait for an arbitrary interdimensional force to kidnap you. Here in the Mind Palace, the world is simply a vast, blank white space, and glittering glass cubes float in the air, each holding within it a freeze-framed memory of a traumatic moment, something you’ve chosen to face here together with your companions. Maybe only one of you is going through this gauntlet, or maybe you’ve opted to face your fears together, but whatever this captive image is, you’ll have to explain it or let it play out, and come to grips with what it means to you - whether a happy memory you’ve lost, something that makes you sad or afraid or angry, or even a piece of your past that had been buried or forgotten until now - there it is, in front of you, waiting.

What happens next?

Comments

Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan - The Vorkosigan Saga

[theadmiralscaptain]

37 - Investigating

Damnit.

Cordelia is not an engineer- not that that would likely help, because she's not sure how much the methods of space travel are similar to the ones she's familiar with. But she does fully grasp how dangerous the situation is for them at the moment, so she will be doing what she can, which is mostly evacuating the affected areas. Which isn't made easier with have the ship being torn up looking for the problem.

"Come on," she says to whomever she's getting out of the area at the moment, "This way- we need to get out of this area as fast as possible." Maybe the radiation isn't that bad yet, but it easily could be.

38

Honestly these things have plenty of things to pick from, even if they just restricted their choices to the last couple of months. Cordelia's not sure why they're bothering showing things to her, honestly- she hasn't forgotten. She's not sure she can forget.

The one it's showing right now is particularly fresh, to the point that she not only hasn't gotten over it, she hasn't really had the time to deal with it yet. There's a scene in a beautiful room, Cordelia standing there with a young woman and a rather ugly man. They're surrounded by guards, a clearly aristocratic man and woman in front of them. This is not a good starting point, but Cordelia hands the woman a small shoe, which she takes almost in awe as the redhaired woman assures her than 'Gregor' is still alive. The woman begins to pull away from the man, who is trying to deny Cordelia's claim, but she continues to deny him and pulls out a weapon, she's killed instead by one of the guards.

As the memory ends, Cordelia just turns away. Kareen has been avenged, at least. But that doesn't make her feel much better.

you can choose whether or not cordelia and byerly already know each other

[bypartisan]

"That was her, wasn't it?" Byerly says, quietly. "Princess Kareen, I mean. I've seen her in pictures and recordings, of course. I was too young to remember otherwise."

He'd been a mere toddler when Vordarian's Pretendership had happened, after all.

37

[bluejade]

Jade had wished to be an Infiltrator this Jaunt. Raksura are not particularly technologically advanced, though Jade had seen advanced technology on some of her travels. The closest point of reference was the flying ship they had taken back with their mountain-tree's seed.

So she was watching the veterans and anyone who seemed to know what they were doing. And this one seemed to be clearing people out. The tunnels were narrow enough that she was in her wingless form, and she could still shout loud enough to be heard, even if she didn't have the effect she'd have on Indigo Cloud.

Jade turned a corner and hissed, the spines on her head flaring with displeasure, and the claws on her feet dug into the floor as best they could. "The way is rough up ahead. I might be able to climb over the obstruction and then we can boost people over."

Asaraanda Adaar | Dragon Age: Inquisition

[galvanizer]

#38

The Qunari mage is no stranger to the Mind Palace... but that doesn't mean she's happy to be here or to see her memories laid out and contained in each of those floating cubes.

Staff heavy against her back, she slowly walks up to one of her memories, fingers brushing over the glass but not 'loading' it yet, she brushes back heavy braid from her shoulder and asks her companion(s), "Are you sure you want to go through this? They aren't... pretty."

[willyousee]

"I would rather assist you than remain behind, my lady," Alcuin says, remaining a respectful half step behind her. "You shall not have to face this alone, whatever it may be."

[higherthaneverybody]

The big man just chuckles darkly, shaking his head. "If it was pretty, I wouldn't be coming. Go on then."

[pseudologist]

Varric eyes the cube, head tipped back so he can clearly see the image - eye level for a qunari is, after all, rather above his own eye level. He runs a thumb idly over Bianca's stock, tracing the old, familiar wear patterns left by long years of not pretty.

"Inquisitor, if what's in there manages to be uglier than the shit we saw at Adamant, I'll owe you a whole year of rounds at the Herald's Rest."

[getalilweird]

Star peers around the Qunari- it's tempting for her to just dart between the other's legs to get a look, but she opts for a slightly less bubbly approach right now. She can tell Asa's a little troubled- troubled people normally like quiet, after all.

She gives a little fist pump though, beaming up at her. "That's what friends are for, right?" That is probably not normally what friends are for- trudging, literally, through your past memories. But given the life of a traveler, it's become half normal.

Jules Thibault | Changeling the Lost OC, info in journal

[failgoyle]

[37]
So. Radiation leaks. Really, there was only one thing that such a fine, upstanding member of this crazy little traveling repair brigade Jules had found himself sucked into could do.

Pay no attention to the man running through the corridors of the ship and away from the irradiated areas, screaming at the top of his lungs. He doesn't really handle pressure well.

If he should happen to slam into someone else, there's barely a yelp of "Sorry!" before he'll try to scramble off and away to somewhere that is hopefully less likely to make him glow and/or grow extra body parts; he's got enough of those already. Not that anyone else can really see that.

[anothercoldwar]

Nikolas was heading towards the irradiated areas--it might have seemed foolish, but it was really the least he could do to help out--and was not quite prepared to instead be involved in a whole-body collision with a screaming person.

Most people might have sworn, at that point, but Nikolas just tries to steady him back on his feet, arching an eyebrow slightly.

"Are things really so bad?"

He was going to continue on his way, regardless, but it would be good to know if, say, there were murderous aliens or something as well as radiation.

[anothercoldwar]

37

A malfunctioning spaceship was not so terribly different than a malfunctioning spacestation, apart from size and general maneuverability, and as such was giving Nikolas a very strange sense of deja vu. He'd already given up on trying to work out how or why, exactly, he was there, and he was actually feeling a little bit of relief at having something to do. He wasn't particularly fixing things that couldn't be beaten into submission, granted, but radiation? Well, that was something he was well suited for.

Which was why he was not brushing his way past techs warning of the danger, taking an unconcerned stroll through the contaminated halls and, eventually, glowing a very faint blue.

Jaina Solo | Star Wars (Legends) | My timing is perfect.

[forcechanic]

[Prompt 37]

Jaina's never been particularly good at holding still. But that goes double when there are warning alarms going off and the problem seems to be mechanical. She's sure she can do something about this problem. She's never met a spaceship malfunction she couldn't handle, after all.

She dashes down the hall, using every sense to find the source of the leak. The sounds, the sights, the smells and of course, the Force. "This way." It's more a feeling than anything else. But she sounds confident that she knows what she's doing and that counts for something.

[Prompt 38]

This was spooky. This was... kinda like the sort of thing Uncle Luke said happened with Master Yoda, actually. But she had to face this. Calmly. If she'd learned nothing else in her training, it was that drawing a lightsaber on a test of one's personal issues never helped.

And sooner or later, it was inevitable that there would be a black armored figure. Raspy breathing that she never heard in life. "A Jedi knows no fear..."

But it sure was trying to introduce itself to her right now.

37

[failgoyle]

"What do you mean, 'this way?'" Why, no, no, that way is the exact way Jules doesn't want to go. "'This way" is a way to certain radioactive doom, thank you very much!" He's now insistently pointing in the opposite direction. "But that way means away from certain radioactive doom. It's much better, really. I bet they even have, I dunno, cookies or something. Puppies, even." That's how you try to get a kid to stop trying to be a hero, right? Heroes get killed. Jules has no interest in getting killed.

He also probably feels a little weird in the Force. The magic that's clinging to him is strong enough to make him look perfectly human, even if he isn't anymore.

Pod - The Dragonlord Trilogy

[wolvering]

Prompt #37 (investigating!)
Pod is at more than a little bit of a loss. All of this is so strange that it might well be magic. It isn't, and she knows that, but she's capable of doing things with it about as well as she could cast a mage's spell. She was very confused at first about what was even happening, but now that it's explained what the spell means, and what could happen if the leak isn't found, well!

She and Kiga (a very large wolverine to other investigator's eyes, at least) are pretty good at finding things as a team. Kiga is not happy about tracking down the smell, and his grumpy noises testify to that, but his person wants to find them (it's important too), but his nose is better than anything here. And he's proud of that fact.

Pod, trailing behind the wolverine, offers encouragement and helps him navigate where claws and stout legs can't give him much purchase on slick tile. She's just a little nervous about behing herself for once, but offers a cheery smile and wave at anyone else in the corridors.

Prompt #38
There is a tiny girl that might be thirteen, and might be younger, standing near a cluster of cubes. Her hair is white as snow, and she's dressed in brown and green clothes that look medieval. Beside her is a massive wolverine, snarling quietly at the cubes. She puts her hand down to calm the wolverine, and then turns her head to look at her current companions. Her expression is turned down in discomfort, and what's probably embarrassment.

"You needn't look; I've no idea why these appeared."

There are several of her memories freeze framed, but the two closest show very different portions of her life. In the first, there is a tiny, tiny malnourished child, no older than four at the very most. She's dressed in rags held together by grime, with skin just as covered in muck. Under the dirt there are numerous cuts, oozing sores, and harder to see, bruises. Her hair is so thickly coated with filth and so very tangled that it's impossible to tell the color. It's probably never been cut. Her eyes and the way she holds herself are so full of wariness and fear that it could almost cut like a knife, and crouched before her is a young (and quite exhausted looking) man in brown and green, an expression of horrified pity on his face as he stretches out his hand like one would try to calm a hurt animal. At that man's back is another that might be a mercenary if his height and very large sword is any indication, looking quietly furious at another crowd far in the background. Those people are well dressed, looking like some servants and a representative of a minor noble family. Not a one of their frozen expression has any reaction to the girl, only concern and perhaps fear and frustration directed at the men.

The other, Pod is recognizable as her current age, but clearly been having a hard time of it. There's dirt and tears and cuts in her clothing and on her skin, probably from trekking through a forest, or running, and her face looks like she's trying with all her might to open her mouth and scream with at least some defiance, but her body is held very unnaturally, as if forced to stop moving mid-motion and held that way by some invisible force. Another girl with a splinted arm is next to her, looking terrified and equally helpless, and a man with crazed eyes and a very, very sharp knife has been caught mid-bound over a wide stump of a recently cut spruce.

Around the group are vile gray mushrooms that look downright evil demarking a wide clearing with the cut tree in the center, flowers the color of fresh spilled blood, scattered from a torn pack, two hand-whittled spears, and further out a forest that looks subtly wrong, like it's sinister and means ill to any who pass through.

37

[forcechanic]

Jaina, on the other hand, seems quite at home in this environment. Not quite comfortable, because of course there's something wrong, but she doesn't seem out of place. She's pretty sure she can figure this out.

She returns the smile in kind. "We're getting close to the problem now." She's very confident in that.

Rommie | Andromeda

[doesntrunfromafight]

#37 - Investigating
Rommie isn't one to judge the technological advancements of other cultures. It kind of doesn't do her any good. But there's a part of her that is immensely glad that The Coronation isn't her. That the only time she has ever looked this bad as she navigates corridors is after a fight with the Magog or the Drago-Kazov fleet. And she's done both in the last year and she is incredibly grateful for Harper's ingenuity and genius right now.

An while she's hearing snippets of conversation about a VR interface to monitor and repair the ships computer system she's hearing nothing of an AI inhabiting the matrix to control the ship. Which isn't strange either, a lot has changed since the fall, but even the Maru has some level of interface for Becca and the crew to interact with to get things done.

Bottom line Rommie is perplexed. One minute she's assisting a would be informant evade capture on Mobeius and the net minute she's here getting flagged into the trenches as it were while leaking conducting fluid from her abdomen and upper back thanks to taking several gauss gun rounds while fending off four highly trained members of the Mobeius military in Kim's apartment. Meanwhile Rev. Bem, Harper, and Tyr all sinking to the bottom of the ocean. She doesn't have time for this distraction, but it seems like the quickest way to find answers to what she's doing here is strip off her trench coat (she's keeping the force lance strapped to her thigh) and help find the leak they're all searching for, with her sensors and hope she gets back in time to keep the others from drowning or being crushed in the Maru.

Faed pa'Varuun || Original Character

[virioncomplex]

Prompt #37 - GOD DAMN PAKSHIT STUPID SHIP

Whoever designed this ship needs a swift kick to the tenderest parts of their alien anatomy. To be fair, Faed tends to think that about any piece of machinery he didn't make. If he didn't build it, he doesn't trust it. At least not until he's crawled completely around in all it's vital areas so he knows he can fix it if something goes wrong. That's all well and good, but being thrust upon a dying ship in the midst of its own meltdown puts him outside both of those prefered scenarios, leaving him to deal with someone else's mess.

He's a bounty hunter. He's supposed to be saving his own, green plated ass, not everyone else's. Luckily for them, saving his own ass will have the added benefit of saving everyone else in the process.

Faed is tiny, easily mistaken for a child. Until it comes to the attention that not only is he tiny, but he's also green, foul mouthed, and also a giant, walking, humanoid bug. The fact that he actually has four arms is hidden by the fact that he keeps two of them strapped down under his jacket. Across the back of his shoulders is perched a robot that looks like it was built around the skeleton of something akin to a large rat.

Wandering through the fray, he seems to be completely unconcerned about the dangers around him. It's not that he's being brave in the face of danger, he just doesn't appear to have much in the way of self preservation. If nact he seems to blatantly ignore warnings like he doesn't give a damn.

His antennae twitch overhead, and he'll occasionally lift a hand to turn the dial on one of the large headphones he has plugged into his ears. When he's not ripping something apart in an attempt to figure out how to fix it, he's ripping something apart in an attempt to salvage things he can use.

[chalicejoker]

There's another humanoid bug wandering around the ship, though this one's almost seven feet tall and missing that extra pair of arms. He's mostly just looking for things he can fight and people he can pull out of trouble, hopefully by fighting said trouble. "Hey, you alright there?" For that is the sort of question one asks when one thinks one has found a kid ripping apart a thing.

Alexander Hamilton | Hamilton

[aimedhigh]

37

Alexander Hamilton doesn't have the slightest idea what's going on. All of this is strange and modern and -- once he's pulled someone aside to demand an explanation for all the frantic work and noise underway, it's a little understandable. Granted, he's never had to deal with the possibility of death by irradiation and coolant explosions, but hey, he's faced down a good amount of almost-dying in his time.

With the situation explained, military training kicks in. He is clever enough to know that he won't be of any use with the crew taking things apart -- so he opts for evacuation. "Come, this way," he offers to whomever he might be helping, not demanding in tone, but it's clearly an order. "We need to move quickly." Should his follower be a lady, he is likely offering them an arm at various difficult points. It may seem a little old-fashioned, but he is a gentleman, after all.

[volving]

Cass wants to be able to help with the crisis, but unfortunately she cannot punch it, so there's only so much she can do. She slips into an irradiated area to do a quick sweep for anyone who somehow missed the alarms and evacuation notices, and runs into Alexander on her way back out, having verified no one was left needing to evacuate.

She would've just passed him with little more than a nod, if not for the underlying current of confusion that's bleeding into all his movements. She slows, then stops, tilting her head slightly at him.

"You're... new," she says after a long moment.

[higherthaneverybody]

There's a tall man walking through the bustle of the ship looking distinctly out of place. For one, he's quite enormous for a human, and for another, his clothing doesn't really fit - a dark purple and black robe worn open to reveal a black suit underneath. He's also carrying a thin bit of wood, like a wand of some sort, in one hand, and occasionally he flicks it. The flicks seem to correspond to various obstacles in his path rapidly flying out of the way - perhaps it's some kind of force generator? The man doesn't seem to have any particular purpose, though he also doesn't seem to be meandering aimlessly. More, he just moves through and examines things along the way, curious but not terribly concerned about the goings-on.

[virioncomplex]

Faed is easily overlooked by larger creatures, as insects often are. He has a panel off a wall and he's half repairing, half salvaging what he can of the ship around him. Outwardly, he's telling himself he's doing this because he doesn't want to find out what being kept alive in the vacuum of space would be like. He imagines he would end up in a constant state of dying and repair and that scares the living shit out of him.

Besides the selfish (though that is quite a legitimate fear) he's begrudgingly more honorable than that. He hates the universe as much as it hates him, but he still can't bring himself to do something as low as abandoning a ship full of people to their fate. Considering how much of a giant pile of pakshit this ship is, he won't be surprised it it starts to crumble around him.

He's amidst some debris while half inside a panel along a wall, trying to figure out what systems are routed where and how. He's suddenly hit from behind and knocked forward into the panel, gaining himself a sudden, but thankfully not fatal electric shock as he comes in contact with the exposed circuits. He screeches and hisses, neither sound very loud but the subsequent flailing and sparks are noticeable enough.

Gathering himself again, he grabs in his rage a heavy metal tool and hurls it towards the large man's head. He looks like he's yelling but what he manages is not much more than a harsh whisper. "Watch yourself you-"

And then it dissolves into unrecognizable cursing in various languages not known to earth.

Rise Kujikawa | Persona 4 (OU)

[senpaidol]

New Prompt: 38 (Liminal)

Rise walks calmly in the monochrome space of the Mind Palace, looking glumly at the assorted hovering glass cubes. A (thankfully very) blurred rainbow image of her giant nude Shadow Self floats in a nearby one, while a larger cube filled with another blurred image of something horrible and skeletal menaces nearby.

"So..." she explains to the person who ventured in here with her. "These are the two big recent things. Honestly, if you've met my friends, you probably already know about them."

She takes a couple steps further, and more glass cubes pop up from the ground. Smaller ones, but ones that cause a momentary wince unlike the first two - the image of a suited man with glasses and a severe expression, one of a train, one looking out onto a sea of black, shadowy faces from the bright lights of a stage.

"Gee, guess we're going for the personal touch here too...," she says, not really feeling the sarcasm. "Um...was there anywhere you wanted to start, or should I just pick one and get this over with?"

Old Prompt: 34 (Infiltrating)



"Hi there!" Rise greets her assigned partner with a smile, a bow, and a bright, cutesy five-pointed star coming from her eye. "Sorry if we haven't been introduced! I'm Rise Kujikawa and I guess we'll be partners on this one."

Rise's Moe Meter is already hovering around 2/3 full on the positive side - the useful thing about all that idol training is it's easy to psych yourself up. She's feeling very confident about herself for this assignment, at least, since it's the kind of thing school idols are made for, it's more a question of whether she can inspire her partner. Or be mean enough, to complete the second half.

"Just tell me what you like to talk about, and we can go from there."

34 (infiltrator)

[creativefool]

Rise's partner today? A student council member, vice president of the sewing club, an active presence in school life. Probably not something anyone'd have expected from him once upon a time, back before he'd come to this school...

A tall, smiling, dark-haired boy with white-tipped bunny ears to match. He's flourished, here.

"Hey," he says, letting a happy exclamation point pop over his head and giving her a cheery wave. "Keiji Tanigawa. And man, starting with the tough questions, huh?" He looks thoughtful. "Well, my usual interests are arts - especially textile work - animals, and cookery..."

Jade | Book of the Raksura

[bluejade]

[37 -- investigator]
Jade didn't know what was going on, or what anything meant, which meant she was wandering around until someone would point her towards a task, or steer her away from this radiation leak.

A new alarm started up as she turned a corner. "What now?" Jade asked, giving the nearest panel an experimental tap. She probably shouldn't be touching whatever she was touching, but she was hoping someone would give her a hint.

[38]
Jade had taken one of the cubes in her hands, her attention fixed on it. The contents were a bit obscured by her body, and her attention was on it. Hearing someone approach, she looked up, and hissed. "What do you want?"

cecil lewis solastrus | original character

[virtuedlight]

37;

[ Cecil is no stranger to contained spaces, but that didn't mean he liked them one bit. Especially with the smell - he has one handkerchief (lightly soaked in the cleanest water he could find) over his nose, while his other hand clutched a rosary tightly to his chest.

He knows he isn't a useful person here. His specialty had never been engineering nor combat, which left him practically a civilian and stranded on this ship. His only asset here is to help himself survive, but what else could he do? Not much. ]

... um, hello? Is... anyone there?

[ A soft blue light emanates from his hands, ready to expand into a full shield if necessary. He really doesn't like to get hurt. ]

leo's workshop;

[ It's quiet this Liminal, which Cecil greatly appreciates. He's seated in a corner in the common area, withdrawn to himself with a cup of tea in his hands. Though his attention is mostly somewhere else now - he says a short prayer before tucking his rosary back into his shirt and resumes staring into the brown liquid with a darkened intensity. ]

37

[failgoyle]

[There is no answer. Only screaming as a lanky guy yelling his head off comes tearing around the corner and not watching where he's going too well.]

Out of the way! Out of the way!

Edward Elric - Fullmetal Alchemist (manga/Brotherhood)

[heartofmetal]

#37; Investigating

The ship had been one big adventure for one Edward Elric. Everything was new to him and he had seen nothing like it in Amestris. He bet that Winry would love to investigate all of the new things - Ed on the other hand was more stressed over them right now.

It was already the fourth time the automatic combat procedures were activated within two hours of time. Each time had been a false alarm. Each time he's always ran up to help with the fight, but every time there's nothing to be worried about.

... scratch that, make it five alarms.

"WILL YOU FIX THAT THING ALREADY?!"

[librariansheart]

"Y-YES SIR!" Sheska yelps, jumping to attention before quite realizing who it was. "Ah... That is, I'm trying, but I haven't had a chance to read all the manuals yet, so I'm not certain what's causing it!"

Lord Light | Original Character

[accordance]

37;
[ The pale deity moves through the ship's pockmarked corridors with surprising ease, his steps light upon the broken tiles with a form of almost unnatural grace. Once in a while he stops to inspect some loose tubing or a display panel with a mildly curious eye - but other than that, he seems rather unperturbed by all the commotion.

If you happen to be nearby, he might turn to ask you a question. Or two. ]

Pardon me. Do you know what these numbers mean?

[ He comes from a time before spacefaring technologies. Please excuse him. ]

liminal; - fourth wall setting, jetways
[ The jetways of this concourse are quiet and calm, it's something he likes. The silence of it all helps him to think back on what had happened and sort through the memories in his head. Absentmindedly he lifts a finger and starts tracing patterns in the air in front of him, leaving lines of solid light hanging in the air for a few seconds before they fade into golden sparks. They happen to be quite pretty light shows, if anything else - just byproducts of an immortal trying to think and re-evaluate his situation.

Being away from Krythe would have unsettled him otherwise if he could not feel the pulse of his people. It was the same as ever - slowly growing, sometimes ebbing, a faint whisper at the back of his mind much like waves upon a distant shore.

At least he knows they are still well, if the word could be applied loosely. His vision was not so omniscient after all, but so be it. ]

[timelesssurprises]

[Surprising that someone would ask him for advice. Like him, Tsurumaru was just a sword who had no clue about the bits of technology he was working, or rather playing with.]

Nope, let's find out then.

[As he decides to press every number like it was a toy.]

Temari | Naruto

[abluntwind]

#37 - Investigating

The buzz is annoying, worse than the red pulse of her scroll when the Kazekage sends out a high priority message, and just as hard for her to ignore. And believe her, Temari has had plenty of practice ignoring things she doesn't want to hear or deal with. But she can't tune out the buzz amd worse she doesn't know how to help. Technology at home isn't anywhere near this sophisticated due entirely to the way it and chakra tend to get into huge fights typically ending in the piece of tech shorting out or frying itself while being used.

No here in the corridors of this strange vessel (she's worked that much ou already), Temari feels like a stowaway. And she doesn't like it. If she's going to travel she's going to do so via seal point not some ship with no way to escape if a fellow passenger happens to be gunning for her. That's just plain stupid of a Suna shinobi and she is anything but stupid.

So she keeps to the shadows and searches. Tries to avoid being spotted or roped into repair work as she explores the ship and familiarizes herself in case she needs to make a quick escape or hide. Not that she's invisible or doesn't stand out, it wouldn't be hard to catch her if a crew member or other investigator wanted to since she's trying to keep a low profile right now.

#38
It's too bright, which is saying something considering where Temari grew up. Too much white reflecting and stabbing painfully into her eyes and she can't wait to get this over with. Deal with what needs to be dealt with and go back where it might not be as bright or deafeningly quiet. Her steps light with years of training as she approaches the nearest of the floating cubes.

One glance, it's all Temari needs to recognize the moment in perfect freeze-frame within. It's one that haunted her for months. Left her raw and angry in the immediate aftermath, that even her brothers gave her a wide berth at first until Knakuro couldn't leave it to blow over on its own anymore. She wasn't here to watch that again. She was so sure she'd dealt with that moment before being kidnapped. Positive that she'd moved forward and beyond, Tenari wasn't helpless. Not then and not now, she knows that. The assassination of her father wasn't her fault, the ambush had been too well planned and she and her family too sure of their capabilities. She'd broken that much down already so why.

"Okay this funny and all, but I've already worked out this moment." She waves a hand at the cub as she grumbles at the sky/ceiling/more white above her head. "So you can let me out now."

Argilla | Digital Devil Saga

[mother_earth]

37 - Investigating
Malfunctioning tech isn't abnormal, and neither are corridors laden with debris if Argilla is entirely honest. Reclaiming sections of Muladhara had taken work, and the equipment could be finicky from the rebuilding and repair it often underwent. There wasn't much to the Junkyard after all, equipment was used until it was impossibly to repair and limped along as long as possible if it could be.

Not that it stops her from marveling at the inky blackness beyond a tiny porthole on an exterior bulkhead. She's never seen light that shimmers like that. Even the sky once outside of Junkyard was shrouded in red clouds as opposed to the harsh yellow of the daytime sky with the black sun hanging in the air. But this is ...beautiful is the only word she can find, the only word that feels right.

But there's no time to let her awe linger. She takes one look at the crew digging in the deck and she knows that helping would be wiser than watching. It seems here, much like home, everyone pulls there weight and she would not be one that didn't. "How can I help?" She asks from the edge of one of the holes in the deck.

38
The mind palace is horrible Argilla decides. She barely wandered a few steps when a cube rose up in front of her and the image on the screen is not one that sits well. She will remember that moment always. They way Heat's fist drove through Serph's stomach piecing armor, flesh, and organ like it was no more than paper.

She can feel the echo of disbelief and anger welling up as she looks on, studies the faces of her comrades. The shocked looks on their face and Heat's. Heat who thought Serph would evade rather than die for his tribe. She can feel anger aimed at him but there's also a need to know why. And an overpowering need to grieve. There hadn't been time before, and it wasn't long after that moment that she... she died. She sacrificed herself to help Roland buy the others time.

Falling to her knees Argilla can feel tears well. And she knows that if she let's them free she won't stop until there's nothing left. Because under the anger and the grief there's guilt. She went after Roland when together they might have escaped together to return to the EGG. And now she's here, alive and Roland and the others (the ones not travelling with her) could be dead and the world nothing more than a memory as the sun finished absorbing it.

She doesn't realize the tears are falling as she sobs half sentences about their missing comrades. Her companions forgotten as she languishes in the guilt that she wasn't able to save Roland or Jinana (though someone should remind her that she knew going after Roland was a death sentence).

38

[papacerberus]

Lupa doesn't know the details of what is presented in that cube, but he recognizes enough of the emotions flickering over Argilla's face to be concerned.

Carefully he approaches, making sure to have his footsteps make sounds, and kneels next to her. After a moment more of contemplation, he reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder. He doesn't know her as well as he's come to know Sera, or feel the connection he feels to Gale, but she is still his comrade.

"I am sorry." Is that the right thing to say? Lupa isn't completely sure, but it's a start, at least.

AkaRed - Boukenger Vs Super Sentai/Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (AU)

[inheritstheredsouls]

37 - Investigating

AkaRed is jolted away from his slumber thanks to the blaring alarms. Quickly hopping out of bed - and making sure that no one's about to come into his quarters at that moment - he goes through the familiar movements of transformation, finishing with the triggering phrase: "Soul Summon - AkaRed!"

Once the familiar, comforting feeling of being encased within his suit takes hold, he rushes out into the hallway and takes a moment to assess the situation. People carrying injured and sick are coming in from one direction of the hallway - coolant leak, someone says; people trapped, claims another. That's enough to send him running in the direction people are running from, readying himself to summon a certain Red Sentai's form when needed.

[whydoyoushine]

Look, it's not like he was the one responsible for those alarms...but the sight of the guy in a red Sentai suit makes Zed try to slink back and hide in the shadows. Now there is a sight he doesn't need to see.