Test Drive #7!

[powersthatbe]

Welcome to the Synodiporia Test Drive Meme! Below the cuts there are three 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!

Our upcoming app round runs February 1st-7th, after which we’ll have our Shoujo/Otome Plot, Doki Doki no Gakuen, ins which high school rivalry blossoms into friendship and romance, and competitive students work to fill one another's moe-meters, sabotage hammerspace resources, and sparkle with determination.

Prompt #23 is a darker moment of surrealism - the Liminal Space Travelers inhabit between Jaunts sometimes draws in the characters' dreams - or in this case, their nightmares, colliding, competing, drawing people in.

Prompt #24 is a flashback to the Ivory Tower jaunt, our last stay at a school - an idealistic postapocalyptic academy where students, being students, cared as much for the fate of the coffee shop as for the world. When the coffee shop's funding is threatened, the students solicited donations during Open Mic Night...

Prompt #25 is a glimpse of a jaunt in the far past or future, a virtual world where intelligent algorithms lead lives just like people, and out on the edge of the mainframe, an ambitious group pursues semi-legal hobbies... even a computer world has squatters and bohemians, although those within the firewalls may think of them as viruses or junk data.


Prompt #23: Nightmare Dreamscape
Liminal Space suddenly fills with the sound of whispers, secretive voices that grow louder and louder until they almost sound like deafening static. Everything tilts sideways for a moment, and Travelers will experience a nauseating rush of sensations to their minds, like being blown around in a hurricane, or being sucked up into a tornado. This sensation disappears almost as quickly as it comes, and the whispers that had become so prevalent suddenly grow silent as the scenery changes. At first, each Traveler will find themselves alone, in a scene of their mind's own making. And it is not a pretty sight for anyone.

Veterans will recognize what this is - a dreamscape - and they will remember that it is very jeopardizing place to be, both emotionally and physically, as these places come directly from their own minds and the minds of their fellow Travelers. For those ill prepared, it can be traumatizing, physically harmful, perhaps even deadly. And ill prepared many will be, for these dreamscapes are nightmares, pure and simple. Even the most pleasant of dreams might appear as a twisted, blackened version of itself, and each Travelers' worst nightmares are bound to make an appearance. The dreamscapes have been notorious for shorting out the Telepathic Network that connects all Investigators, making it doubly hard to call for help. Even more dangerous are when two of these dreamscapes intersect, causing a terrifying hybrid that will likely be even more nightmarish than before... but helping other Travelers with their own nightmares may very well provide an ally to deal with yours.



Prompt #24: Ivory Tower
La Tour Ivoire Academe is a beautiful university with an equally stunning and lush campus, gleaming white against the stark gray of the post-apocalyptic wasteland outside. But neither the students nor the Travelers need worry about the radiation seeping through and harming them; the quarter-mile wide, four-story high walls filter out any of the harmful radiation from outside. With no windows in the lead-lined walls, it is hard to tell when night has come, other than the radiant light levels decreasing as the sun goes down behind hazy, toxic clouds. But evening brings about an event that everyone knows about from the brightly-colored fliers that have littered every vertical surface on campus - Open Mic Night at the Ground, the Ivory Tower's very own coffee shop, and for many its pride and joy. This is the chance for anyone to speak their mind or to sing badly at karaoke, and more than a few flasks of various alcohols will be slipped around to students and poured in coffees, while largely ignored by the teachers. Even if the thought of getting on stage is frightening, it's always possible to find a nice, quiet corner and watch the proceedings, perhaps quietly talking with some pleasant company in between acts.

Alternatively, for those who don't wish to participate or even watch, there are a few night classes being held for students in all three departments: Cultures and Humanities, Technology and Salvage, and Ecological Sciences. They are considered optional, but could very well gain some extra credit for those students lagging behind after midterms, or provide fascinating insight for Investigators that aren't familiar with this modern-day world, and wish to learn more.



Prompt #25: The Digital Frontier
The black glass plain beneath them matches the depthless black sky, but there are lights - white and orange and blue, tracing lines and shapes, the geometry of a city skyline in the distance. Here, unshielded conduits beam data and energy in streams of smooth white lightning through shallow grooves in the glass, and Travelers and programs take turns skipping across them, or using copper rods to divert them into other channels, sifting the data with pans for valuable bits and bites, or pouring it into molds to shape it.

On the digital frontier, there’s not much else to do - except practice for the Games. The Games can be a program’s big shot. Disc-dueling isn’t fatal, here, but solid impacts do cause momentary glitching when a throw lands rather than being deflected. And there are a few light-cycles racing in the night, but they’re old models, only able to turn at a ninety-degree angle, their solid-light wake having a length of only about a hundred feet before it derezzes.

Comments

élise de la serre | assassin's creed: unity

[seventythreesteps]

#23 // cw: decapitation/gore

Élise, wait!

[She ignores the voice calling after her and moves quickly, chasing after a lone figure ahead of her. But this isn't exactly as she remembers it. Instead of the small line of people bunched together and the occasional disruption from guards through the streets of 18th century Paris trying to slow her progress, the crowd only seems to thicken around her. They grab at her, some even swipe a hit or two at her as they cheer over the execution of a monarch and call for blood (in French, of course). Élise does what she can to wrench herself free of the hands that grab onto her sleeves and arms, ducks when she can to avoid a fist coming for the side of her head, but it's of little use. She can't see the man she was chasing anywhere and before long, she stumbles and falls hard onto the ground.]

[The moment she hits the ground, it seems the crowd is less interested in her. Everything seems to fall deafeningly silent until there is a loud thump of the guillotine. Something in the pit of her stomach drops and she pushes herself back onto her feet. The crowd is even louder than before and yet, somehow, she cannot hear them even as they whoop, holler, and jump about in celebration.]

[It is not King Louis XVI's head that is held for all the crowd, but the head of her father. She stands there numb, eyes wide in confusion and grief for a long moment.]

[It's not until she hears footsteps approaching that she turns quickly, gun raised. Although the rest of her face might give the appearance of calm, her eyes tell another story as she tries to steady her breathing.]

Who are you?

#24

[Élise will not be performing tonight. Bold as she may be, she's more content to be a spectator this evening. The past few nights, she had slipped into a few of the night classes, trying to make sense of this place. While she wouldn't say that it was a pointless venture, she thinks she might perhaps learn more of the people here by coming to the coffee shop tonight.]

[She finds a table out of the way and sits with her cup of coffee. She declined any offers for alcohol tonight, wanting to keep her senses sharp and stay alert. Rather than finding much information, however, she instead finds a great deal of entertainment. Some of the students who stand up and speak are actually quite talented. Others? Well, she's polite enough to keep her smile concealed behind her hand, and only allow a laugh to slip out while clapping with the others where it's likely she won't be heard.]

[Any who approach the table are given a warm enough smile even if they are merely passing by or looking to sit. Of course, anyone looking to sit is more than welcome to pull up a chair. She finds herself relaxing more tonight than she had intended, but she thinks a break every once a while is not such a bad thing.]

[You still aren't convincing her to get up there though.]

((ooc: i'll match your format if you prefer prose! c:))

23

[howexciting]

[The footsteps halt a little before Élise draws her gun, having been running and very suddenly coming to a stop. As she turns, she'll see a man in a bright red hat and cape, panting slightly from running, perhaps in his mid thirties at most, relatively handsome were it not for his clothes, which look at least three hundred years outdated. But the more important thing of note is that he is suddenly staring up at the platform in shock, drawing in one long gasp that can only be from terror, and then looking positively pale at the sight, almost as if he's going to be sick.

The second the gun draws up and lines up directly at his heart, Leonardo's eyes immediately snap back to attention, his first instinct to coil away, arms reaching up to cover himself. He speaks quickly, terrified.]

Per favore, I-I mean you no harm--

[Someone in the crowd pushes against him in their celebration, and he gets knocked forward a little, stumbling a bit on his feet but catching himself. He looks confusedly at his surroundings, very pointedly not glancing onto the platform, yet not able to discern anything about where he is.]

Please, I need somewhere to hide! They are after me! I am Leonar--

[It is then that two men in heavy armor turn the corner from where Leonardo apparently came, jerking unnaturally like they are puppets on strings rather than men. They pause for a moment, before turning towards him, armor clanking as they continue their eerily sharp but fast steps. He turns at the sound, eyes widening in fright as he tries to dive into the crowd for help. But as he tries that, the sea of people immediately part around him as if they knew he was there, but they do not respond any differently.

He looks to Élise, eyes pleading.]

[seventythreesteps]

[Élise lowers her gun as she hears the clanking of armor and turns her head to look at them. Whatever those things are, they don't look like a) they belong in Paris and b) at all human. It would be easy to leave the stranger to his fate and take no part in it, but she looks over at him and meets his eyes as he's trying to convince anyone to intervene.]

Merde, [she breathes.]

[Élise holsters her gun and moves quickly to stand between Leonardo and the men after him. She has no idea if she'll be able to put these men down with as heavily armored they are or unnatural their movements are, but she won't leave him. Drawing her sword, she glances over her shoulder at him.]

Stay behind me.

23

[gitanes]

[Lila holds up her hand, a gesture of peace, but like Elise, her eyes tell a different story. She is too calm, too grimly certain of herself to have any instinct to reach for peace. She's doing this because it's what people expect, and because it's the only way to get anywhere in a dreamscape.]

[Behind her, a trail of visions cascade in her wake, a kaleidoscopic trail of parts and pieces of things. Sharp teeth, twitching tails, wicked Cheshire grins disappearing and reappearing in different places. Enough to make clear that this is not just Elise's dream anymore.]

I'm here to help. Put the gun down.

[seventythreesteps]

[If there's one thing Élise is not about to do, it's putting her gun down. She doesn't know this girl and therefore, there's no reason to trust her. Especially with the strange visions that are following this young woman around. Élise narrows her eyes at them momentarily before focusing on Lila. She stands a little taller, keeping aim right where it is.]

I asked you question. You would do well to answer it.

Shay Patrick Cormac | Assassin's Creed: Rogue

[morrioghain]

#23 - NIGHTMARE DREAMSCAPE

[Shay finds himself in what he recognises as Lisbon, Portugal. Bright strings of flags and decorations bedeck the city for All Saints' Day. In spite of the warm autumn Mediterranean sun, he's dressed in his blue and white Assassin robes again. Before he can get his bearings, his feet guide him to the Carmo Convent, through the church doors. It's the middle of mass, and a service is being given in Latin.]

Kyrie, rex genitor ingenite, vera essentia, eleison.

[Despite the confusion of the dream, his heart stops. He suddenly recognises this place, this time, the tree on stained glass. He jogs to to the pews, not wanting to disturb the service out of respect, but at the same time driven by the rational part of him that knows all of this is wrong.

He approaches an elderly woman sitting by the aisle with her husband and touches her shoulder, speaking quietly.] Please, you have to leave. Everyone has to leave.

[The woman looks at the foreigner, in his strange clothes, like she's being grabbed by a madman.] Quem é você? O que você está dizendo?

Por Favor-- [His Portuguese is rudimentary at best, and, frantic as he is, he can't even string enough of it together in a sentence, reverting back to English,] --get up, I'm begging you. For Christ's sake, everyone has to run!

[He tugs at her arm, but she's immovable as stone, her eyes sliding away from him and back to the altar.]

Kyrie, luminis fons rerumque conditor, eleison.

[Then an enormous tremor rocks the church. The earthquake begins, and the service dissolves into screams.]

#25 - THE DIGITAL FRONTIER

[Shay is trying his hand at disc duelling with a program. Not for the first time today -- if days even exist here, there's so much about this place he still doesn't understand -- he's managed to outwit programming with human ingenuity, and finishes this sparring match with a decisive victory.

Out of breath but grinning, Shay holds out a hand to catch his disc as it flies back to him.]

I think I'm getting the hang of this. Anyone else up for a round?

23

[howexciting]

[Stumbling in the dark with little but a small dim candle to keep his path lit is one thing, but doing so while being gently caressed in the dark by phantom hands that are not there when he turns the light to them is completely another. Leonardo tries to hurry, but move too fast and the candle might put itself out; move too slow and whatever is touching him may very well try to grab him instead.

As he quickly wanders down the tunnel with only one branch, he can hear what sounds like Latin coming up from somewhere above him. Kyrie, luminis fons rerumque conditor, eleison. It's familiar, something he knows quite well from mass--

-- but then a tremor rocks him almost off his feet, instead sending him smacking into the wall. The next tremor erupts and the ceiling above his head suddenly cracks, letting light stream through. He gasps as he pulls away, just in time for the ceiling to come crashing down right in front of him, a carpeted aisle of a church followed shortly thereafter by a pew that immediately crushes those who were sitting in it.

Despite the terrible sight before him. Leonardo can't help but try and scramble out of the hole he's found himself in, even as the congregation screams for mercy. He's dropped the candle, he doesn't know where, but a shadow tentacle seems to follow him out because of it (or perhaps in spite of it) and tries to latch onto his ankle to drag him back down. He manages to get a quick foothold and latch onto the edge of the sagging floor, trying to pull himself up even as the very earth shakes.]

Help, please-!

[morrioghain]

[Shay can only stand and watch the destruction as history repeats itself. This time, he can't even bring himself to run and save his own skin, and that if he's fated to die here, so be it. He knows this is his fault, and he knows that this time he could have prevented it... he could have saved the city...

A voice crying out for help from somewhere behind him is enough to snap Shay out of his daze. He turns to the great hole that has ripped its way through where the aisle used to be, and he runs to the edge and kneels, extending a hand for the man to grab onto.]

I've got you! Hold on!

Ky Kiske | Guilty Gear

[closedcircuit]

#25

Ky is sulking. Not that he would claim himself to be sulking, no, instead he is trying to poke at the edges of this place, to find either a way out or clear proof to hold up to other people for why they should limit their interactions with this place, with this sort of technology. He feels observed everywhere he goes, but Ky’s too stubborn to admit it or let it change his actions.

Instead he focuses on trying to find an area free of the terrible sort of beauty this environment represents, and trying to keep other people from engaging with it. “You should be careful,” he says, in all earnestness. “Too much exposure to this sort of technology can have all sorts of negative effects.”

[darkhourdear]

Phillip, on the other hand, is a child of the 21st century. He grew up with and around technology, and with the exception of specific religious groups that he is only vaguely aware of, he's never really thought people would be just against technology.

It is that mindset that earns Ky a puzzled frown from the twelve year old child. "What do you mean?" Is it bad for your eyes? Or, he heard sitting at the computer all day hurt your posture...

[closedcircuit]

The fact that Philip is twelve is all the more reason for Ky to be careful what he says. He’ll have to persuasive, it’s clear that this child has been subject to some bad influences if he’s truly comfortable here. Twelve can be a difficult age.

(Never mind that Ky at twelve was an orphan, one who’d committed himself to fighting in a holy war, and who worked daily on his swordfighting technique. Clearly Philip is the one in need of guidance.) “It’s forbidden for a reason. Black tech like this can have a negative effect on the environment, as well as being immoral in other ways.”

jason todd (robin) / dc comics!

[curiositykills]

( 23: nightmare dreamscape )
[There's a reasonable part of Jason that's sure he's hallucinating. This place is familiar—he hasn't been in a lot of sewers, believe it or not, so any sewers automatically remind him of the ones he rescued Batman from. The problem is, he's not sure why he's hallucinating. The sudden assault on his mind and the way the scenery suddenly changes makes him think he must have gotten... struck with something, maybe. If that's true, that means there's probably someone out there, someone bad, and— Batman. He should probably find Batman.

(Sure, he's been kind of a jerk lately, but Batman is still Batman and he is still Robin. He had to be someone that people could count on.)

With his colorful costume, Jason kind of stands out, even with how dark it is down here, but he moves quietly anyway, as carefully as he can. With batarangs in hand, he's prepared for anything—

—or so he thinks. He might be a little jumpy?! HE'LL BE SORRY IF HE HITS YOU.]

[backwordscompatible]

[Well. This was gross.]

[Still relatively knew to the concept of Liminal Space, and the effects one's subconscious might have on it, Zatanna could only wonder why she suddenly found herself in a sewer. With all the delightful sights, sounds and--of course--smells that came with the territory. After the second time she stepped into a surprise puddle, a few choice words in Italian escaped her before she prepared to switch to backwards speech and levitate herself--]

[--when she heard another presence. And turn to see...granted, it was dark, and she just barely caught a glimpse of that brightly colored uniform--only later would she realize it was a little too bright--on a dark-haired boy wearing a...was that a mask?]

Robin?

/excuse my quiet internal screams of joy

[turbedon]

[Dick has been swooping through the sewer, unwilling to let his feet hit the ground when he doesn't know how soon he'll be able to do his laundry. It's when he stops to take a breath that he hears barest noise of the other masked vigilante sneaking about, then he starts with his own sneaking, scurrying along the walls like some overgrown gecko and squinting in the dark at the bright costumed boy.

... The boy with a batarang in hand.]

... Seriously? Another one?

Warden Mahariel | DA:O

[dalectable]

Dreamscape
For Vilari, the world around her is covered in a haze, the colours shifting from greys to greens and the occasional streak of red. She recognises it at least as the Fade. Pale eyes narrow as the short elf spots the figures roaming in the dim, blurry world, the few people she can actually make out looking leeched of colour and left grey. "Not this again..."

There go the customary echoing cries and growls of lost souls and demons lurking about in the darkness, making the woman immediately unsheathe her sword and dagger as she advances, knowing she needs to find a way out somehow. As she starts moving, she comes across familiar scenes from the winter wasteland of Ostagar she'd returned to once, the frozen rotting heads of fallen soldiers placed on spears gruesomely on display, then it's the Mother's lair with the sickening squelch of Children undoubtedly hatching in the distance.

When she hears movement behind her, she immediately turns with her teeth bared, no different to the wolf she favors summoning in combat. "Who goes there?"

Minako Arisato | Persona 3 Portable

[seestheworld]

23

Honestly, she's a little surprised to be seeing anything at all, considering. She supposes a nightmarish hellscape could be considered an improvement over that. Maybe. Possibly. Except not, because if she's walking around freely, then that means Nyx probably isn't sealed anymore, and that is very, very bad.

Did the Fall happen after all?

She needs to find the others, to see if they're still all right, still fighting, but... that could go poorly considering that the last time any of them had probably seen her, she'd been kind of dead.

24

...Nope, still not used to being alive again.

She's acclimating to things here, at least; being in school again is weirdly comforting, even if it is temporary. La Tour Ivoire Academe doesn't have anything on Gekkoukan, of course, but given the conditions here, that's understandable. (Besides, Gekkoukan has the backing of the Kirijo Group, and that's hard to compete with even at the best of times.)

Her old study habits are serving her well here, but tonight, she's taking a break. She hasn't taken a turn at the mic yet, and she's not sure she's going to (she's brave enough, sure, but it's nice to just sit back and watch sometimes), but she's certainly not going to object to a little company either way.

23, whoops

[stophamatime]

Or they hadn't seen her at all, maybe.

Ken hasn't seen Liminal Space turn into a dreamscape before, but he's also at least self-aware enough to recognize that whatever just happened, he must have something to do with it. There's no other reason for this alley, of all the alleys in the multiverse, to be here, after all, and he's pretty sure that it only ever looked this dark and bloody in his own nightmares. But he doesn't want to stay put and find out if it means anything.

He starts moving, and it's not too long before it looks like it - cuts off, almost, turning into some other place entirely. Someone else's? It doesn't exactly look like any kind of improvement, but...

Three steps closer and he stops; was that just him, or did the alley keep...coming with him? Not pushing back the other place, more like...more like it just got a little darker and creepier and more like the other place.

Crossing the streams suddenly doesn't seem like such a hot idea.

23 this will be interesting

[darkhourdear]

Phillip is a chatty kid. Really chatty. Even when things are going terribly like they are right now, with what the nightmares and everything. But he sees something that makes all his words vanish. Namely, that girl.

He doesn't know her name, he's only seen her in Echos, that one person that Pharos actually got to talk to (who was like Minato maybe except not? He and Matt never did figure that out). He wants to go and talk to her, because... well, Pharos was kind of creepy, but she was important to him. And Phillip already finds himself being drawn to her. On the other hand, he really, really does not want to be mistaken for Pharos.

When Minako spots him (which is hopefully not until he taps her shoulder from behind- yes, he's still good at creeping up on people), she will at least be able to see a few obvious differences. Namely, he's a little bit older (12, to be exact), and not dressed in stripped pajamas. Instead, he's wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a simple gray hoodie... and a very familiar yellow and black scarf.

"Um... hi!" he says, and he knows he's about to ramble but he doesn't much care, "I'm Phillip! ...And I'm from New Jersey. Which is in America." You know. Just so it's clear that he's not Pharos. "...What's your name?"

23

[shiroganeheir]

The dreamscape coming up looks like a secret base of some sort, green goop on the walls and floor, and a bird motif on the walls. From around a corner, a small figure in a blue hat, plaid pants and a blue coat appears, holding a gun and leading what is possibly obviously a Persona.

Naoto stops, looking over her shoulder, and then on in front of her. Pausing, she lowers her gun. "Are you alright?"

Kongou | Kantai Collection

[offshoreigner]

24; did you say karaoke

[Some other place in some other universe, Kongou would have other people singing with her.

But this is not that world, and she is not at home. Instead, she's grabbed the mic and begun to sing this whole sequence on her own. Because fuck studying when you can just sing to yourself all alone, right?]

No matter how many seas of the heart I traverse~! My bullets of love don't ever reach you!

[Has she gone native or not? It's almost impossible to tell. Perhaps you could ask her? Or sing along?

No, really, someone needs to join in and sing along. She's getting a bit breathless here.]

25; muffled action music in the distance

Hey, you there!

[Once again, in another world, she'd have something else to fight with. But whether Infiltrator or Investigator, there is one thing these Jaunts can never take from her. She dashes across the floor, discs in hand, going left right left right and never stopping while she trains. Because she's a battleship, she's quick and she's nimble-- she might not have the best aim, but she'll sure as hell beat you down with her firepower when she does hit.]

Come on, let's go! Don't be shy!

[She is indeed challenging you. Kongou will go easy on you if you look weak, don't worry.]

hi

[thirdarrow]

[ Takakage doesn't fight. It's not in his nature to duke things - if it is absolutely necessary, he would rather use his mind instead of his hands.

He raises his head from where he had been taking notes on the various styles of disc-fighting, blinking slightly. ]

You are asking me?

[ It's a little tempting, but he knows that he can't do it by himself. He will need his Persona's help. ]

24!

[junesprince]

[It wasn't supposed to be like this...

"Whoa, she's cute," he'd said. "Man, she could be an idol!" he'd said. Yosuke had no intentions of joining in on the karaoke thing, but apparently, the people he was with had a sense of humor and took his comments as a sign that he belonged onstage, too. He was rudely shoved onstage during the girl's performance, which is the complete opposite of what he'd wanted!

There's a brief moment of panic ("Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!"), but not wanting to ruin her song, he did what any reasonable person would do in a situation like this: join in!

...awkwardly. Really, really awkwardly.]

Uh... Please... save me, compass fairies...?

[He looks (and sounds) so uncomfortable... But he's a bro, so even if he feels awkward, he's determined to see this through to the end!!]

24

[shantiprayer]

[This song didn't really make a lot of sense to Sera. But the tune was catchy and the singer's enthusiasm was rather contagious as well. So with just a little bit of prompting on Kongou's part, she got up on stage to sing along.

Still, not being familiar with the song, she inevitably messed it up a little bit. She gave the other girl a sheepish smile. Hopefully it was all in good fun and Kongou wouldn't be offended by a less than perfect performance?]

Closed to Imriel - #24 Ivory Tower

[willyousee]

Alcuin steps onstage to cheers from the team of hecklers who badgered him up here in the first place, laughing and waving them down. He's not entirely certain when they decided he has a good singing voice, but he will never hear the end of it if he doesn't attend. Consulting with the DJ, he is glad to find that there is one song he's heard before and made an effort to memorize.

Lyrical, quiet guitar music begins and a moment later Alcuin is taking hold of the microphone and singing rapid-fire French that somehow manages to still be relaxing and sweet. He sways into the microphone, stage lights shimmering in his hair, pulling a girl up on stage during the interlude to dance with him and then holding her out for a bow as he continues the song. He finishes to a wide range of applause and cat-calls, bowing and laughing and heading off-stage.

He definitely needs a drink after that and pauses at the barista's counter to get an Italian soda.

[tobegood]

Imri had appeared in liminal space straight from the festal hall in Darsanga - and had immediately hidden from everyone, too dazed and hurt to figure out what was going on. He took sick that night, and as he has only just recovered, he still hasn't had long to figure out the story - or the voices in his head! - so he's kept out of sight, and no one's come looking for him yet. None of it makes any sense - he doesn't understand who he's with, where they are, or how they got here, so he has no idea who to trust. As a result, he's even more hungry, dirty, and disheveled than when he arrived.

He's been stealing food when he can, and the karaoke makes for both a convenient distraction and a nice crowd to cover his getaway should he be discovered.

...Or it would have, anyway, had he not frozen halfway out the pantry door as the music hits him - ill-gotten gains poorly hidden under his ratty shirt. Death's whore aside, it's been nearly half a year since he's heard D'Angeline spoken aloud - but he recognizes the accent instantly, even through the network's translation.

He stares in shock, taking a shuddering breath when he sees that familiar sharp-edged beauty - longing for it and everything it represents, everything he's been missing for half a year, for home. It's an ache in his breast that he's long suppressed, but as it hits him anew and he feels it full force, briefly overcoming concerns of food and safety.

The song ends, and he lets out an unconscious noise of protest as Alcuin steps off the stage and he loses sight of him in the crowd. Unfortunately, the noise is enough to draw the attention of the barista behind the counter - or perhaps Imri had simply lingered in the doorway for too long. Either way, he lets out a shout, and calls for bystanders to 'stop that thief' as Imri jumps in alarm and scampers away into the crowd.