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synodiporia_ooc2017-01-28 01:41 am
powersthatbe) wrote in synodiporia_ooc2017-01-28 01:41 am
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Test Drive #17
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 January 28th–February 4th, during which time the current members of the game will be voting on the next Jaunt. The current options are: Beastfolk: A Pastoral, in which a village of half-humans grapple with questions of survival; Gransalis Abbey, in which medieval talking animals come into conflict; and Pogemon, in which dueling monsters that live in pogs may determine the fate of two worlds. Rest assured that no matter which one wins, the rest will be shuffled back into our stack of Jaunt Ideas and may show up for future votes!
Prompt #45 is set in a liminal space in which the riverbanks contain some very unusual wildlife.
Prompt #46 is set on an athletic field near the Tiber in the world the Travelers visited during last year’s Roman Holiday.
Prompt #45
At first glance, the Amazonian riverbanks of this liminal space seem all too mundane. Sure, the color is faded, like a photograph from the 70s, but the water is water. The mud is mud. The trees and grass and swamps, they’re very nearly standard.
That’s when one notices the liminal wildlife.
It might be the latex prophylactics prowling around in the grass. It might be the hypodermic needles that howl like monkeys. It might be the stalagmites sliding for their lives away from the stalactites and vicious-looking vertebrae. It might be the swarms of green-colored apostrophes or the wheeled velocipedes lurking in the weeds. It might be the metronomes hidden in the swamp or the blood-sucking strips of kodachrome film.
Just try to avoid the stethoscopes. They might be the most dangerous of them all.
Prompt #46
It’s a sunny day and the Field of Mars is packed.
Lying on the banks of the Tiber River, this public bit of parkland is often used by soldiers for their training exercises, but when the soldiers are not there--and they aren’t today, at least en masse, although there’s certainly the occasional soldier mixed in with the greater crowd--the field is turned over for the pursuit of athletics. Young men from all over the city of Rome have gathered today for sport: running footraces, shooting at targets set up for archery, wrestling each other… there’s even some sort of ad hoc game being played that involves kicking a leather ball around.
The women, unfortunately, have not been included in these games, but they’re there too, in small groups or alone with chaperones, watching the men at play--some with looks of envy on their faces, some with appreciation for the youthful forms on display. There are men in the crowd, too, and not just women: older men, young ones that are too busy to play but not to busy to look, and boys too small to be included.
Some enterprising person has set up a stand selling jars filled with sausages flavored with the ever-present garum and they are doing a brisk business.
It’s here that the Travelers have been dropped. With their normal clothes exchanged for Roman, they might look the part, but who knows if the Investigators will be able to act it. And what’s this rumor going through the crowd about a Titan-sighting last summer in Stabiae?
Our upcoming app round runs January 28th–February 4th, during which time the current members of the game will be voting on the next Jaunt. The current options are: Beastfolk: A Pastoral, in which a village of half-humans grapple with questions of survival; Gransalis Abbey, in which medieval talking animals come into conflict; and Pogemon, in which dueling monsters that live in pogs may determine the fate of two worlds. Rest assured that no matter which one wins, the rest will be shuffled back into our stack of Jaunt Ideas and may show up for future votes!
Prompt #45 is set in a liminal space in which the riverbanks contain some very unusual wildlife.
Prompt #46 is set on an athletic field near the Tiber in the world the Travelers visited during last year’s Roman Holiday.
Prompt #45
At first glance, the Amazonian riverbanks of this liminal space seem all too mundane. Sure, the color is faded, like a photograph from the 70s, but the water is water. The mud is mud. The trees and grass and swamps, they’re very nearly standard.
That’s when one notices the liminal wildlife.
It might be the latex prophylactics prowling around in the grass. It might be the hypodermic needles that howl like monkeys. It might be the stalagmites sliding for their lives away from the stalactites and vicious-looking vertebrae. It might be the swarms of green-colored apostrophes or the wheeled velocipedes lurking in the weeds. It might be the metronomes hidden in the swamp or the blood-sucking strips of kodachrome film.
Just try to avoid the stethoscopes. They might be the most dangerous of them all.
Prompt #46
It’s a sunny day and the Field of Mars is packed.
Lying on the banks of the Tiber River, this public bit of parkland is often used by soldiers for their training exercises, but when the soldiers are not there--and they aren’t today, at least en masse, although there’s certainly the occasional soldier mixed in with the greater crowd--the field is turned over for the pursuit of athletics. Young men from all over the city of Rome have gathered today for sport: running footraces, shooting at targets set up for archery, wrestling each other… there’s even some sort of ad hoc game being played that involves kicking a leather ball around.
The women, unfortunately, have not been included in these games, but they’re there too, in small groups or alone with chaperones, watching the men at play--some with looks of envy on their faces, some with appreciation for the youthful forms on display. There are men in the crowd, too, and not just women: older men, young ones that are too busy to play but not to busy to look, and boys too small to be included.
Some enterprising person has set up a stand selling jars filled with sausages flavored with the ever-present garum and they are doing a brisk business.
It’s here that the Travelers have been dropped. With their normal clothes exchanged for Roman, they might look the part, but who knows if the Investigators will be able to act it. And what’s this rumor going through the crowd about a Titan-sighting last summer in Stabiae?
/slides in
And have that man casually and easily attempt to slither past Artemis' guard and snag a few of those sausages for himself.
Don't worry though, because the man has at least one thing that might kind of keep Artemis from immediately attempting to stab him in the throat]
I always took you for more of an oyster lover.
[OH.
OH THAT.
VOICE.
SOUNDS.
FAMILIAR.
Those eyes might have been brown but there was no denying the puckish light and the faint hint of ruby in the furthest most reaches of the iris.]
/screams
[DAMN.]
[TIME.]
[THIS IS WHY HE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.]
[But speaking up when he does does do exactly that, keeping Artemis from stabbing the thief without a second though as he rounds on him. It takes half a beat for the voice to sink in, and another before it connects to the unfamiliar face, but-]
And I almost took you for a corpse. [Because uuuuuh. Yeah. There's kind of a dagger hovering in the vicinity of Jarlaxle's gut. Though if he's honest with himself, even knowing that this is Jarlaxle, Artemis isn't entirely sure that he shouldn't finish that follow through anyway. On principle. But the weapon is sheathed again a moment later, and Artemis shakes his head incredulously.]
Not your best look, I have to admit.
/hideous laughter
It doesn't, as he knew it wouldn't, and he flashes a charming grin. Not as dazzling as it normally would have been against black skin, but it was still pretty damn bright, all things considered.]
I'd rather not die like this, what if I never changed back after?
[Still, there was almost a comical pout on the rogues face, touching a rounded ear]
I suppose we'll both suffer.
no subject
Well, you're half right, at any rate. [Honestly, once he's able to get around the shock of seeing him human, it's...kind of funny. Really funny, actually, when he starts to pout. There might even be smirking.]
[Or maybe that's just because while Jarlaxle is being dramatic, Artemis is grabbing the sausage away. Look, he paid for that okay.] I just hope this body has all the tricks of your old one. I'd hate to have a find a new partner.
no subject
It's awful and now he has to be awful to you, Artemis.]
Well if you want, you could always take me for a test drive, Artemis.
again though OH MY GOD
[He really should have just stabbed him.]
Yeah, hold that thought. [And the jar, too, because it's unceremoniously shoved into the man's hands before Artemis starts walking away. If nothing else, it might give Jarlaxle something to do that isn't talking.]
I WIN
There's an awful cackle, and the former drow trails after poor Artemis, because like he's gonna let his partner just wander off without him.
WE RIDE TOGETHER.
WE DIE TOGETHER]
I mean if you'd rather just give everything a quick pat down to make sure it's all still there.
[STOP.
STOP NOW]
no subject
[FRIENDSHIP DOESN'T MEAN MURDER IS COMPLETELY OFF THE TABLE.]
I'm more than happy to take your word for it. [Except moving in this armor still feels so unbalanced and unnatural, and while blending in is easy, actually disappearing is a chore. Is he still being followed? He doesn't even need to look because of course he is.]
And we have more important things to be doing right now.
[And don't you dare tell him he was the one slacking off okay.]
no subject
You mean like watching wrestling and eating sausages?
I agree.
Highly important.
[He said as he totally ate some more of those sausages.
SUPER IMPORTANT]
no subject
[Shut up.]
It does the job. [Ugh, and he already regrets giving the jar away when he ate so little of it. Too bad his pride won't let him take it back. Why eat in front of him like this that's terrible.] And it's far easier to watch than a foot race.
A few people have been mentioning a Titan. Have you heard anything about that?
no subject
I might have.
[Since you're gonna be a dick though, he's gonna eat these sausages and remain as vague as possible. You wanted him to shut up after all.]