The Powers That Be ([personal profile] powersthatbe) wrote in [community profile] synodiporia_ooc2015-08-28 06:41 pm
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Test Drive #11.

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 September 1st-7th. Our next Jaunt, The Lightning Age, a postcolonial steampunk romp with a hunt for a fugitive disordering a peaceful flying city, will run September 12th-October 19th, and an alternate player-driven setting, or Walkabout, will be available (but the specific setting has yet to be voted upon).

Prompt #33 is set in the sometimes Mad-Max like post-apocalyptic academia of the Ivory Tower jaunt, where an isolated school works to restore civilization decades after a brutal war destroyed it. But off-campus, things can get a little rougher…

Prompt #34 is set in the world of Heartbreak Academy, a shoujo high school world where Social Technology, or S. Tech, allows the physical conjuration of emotions - sparkles, roses, soundtracks, emotes and rainclouds. Heartbreak Academy teaches elite students how to better master their S. Tech - and as you could imagine, this makes practical exams… very interesting...


Prompt #33: Pop Quiz.

There are chlorine bombs in the library, and snipers outside.

To be more specific, the library is an open-air market set up in a suburban French high-rise parking garage, one of the few buildings on this side of the city to survive intact, and a good place for gatherings that might need a quick getaway. Academics from across Europe use it as a trading post - bringing old books, or bringing computer printouts collected in three-ring binders, driving up in dune buggies or armored trucks, landing on the ceiling in helicopters, conducting a rapid swap of the valuables, and leaving.

But this time, the warlords knew they were coming. On each floor, among the parked cars, there’s a truck or van with deflated tires and an empty gas tank, in which an oil-drum and a detonator have been mounted. It’s overkill, but worse is the fact that in half-demolished buildings to either side are snipers. To the west, they only have crossbows, but the raider on the northeast has some sort of pre-War antimateriel rifle, and he’s already scragged a buggy in the exit ramp and shot a chopper pilot on the roof.

So now, it’s up to the academics. Those who study environmental sciences are trying to find ways to neutralize the chemicals. Engineers are working to disarm the detonators or fix the vehicles enough to safely transport the bombs. The history and humanities students are given the job of finding some way to stop the snipers, and stop raiders from getting in to steal any of their texts or other resources.

And some, of course, are caught in the fine traditions of academic debate, and may need Travelers to steer them to more decisive action… but of course, there might be Travelers among the raiders, too.


Prompt #34 Partner Exercise

The exam is simple. Each of you’s been given a spare, teacher-monitored Moe-Meter and left alone in the exam hall. Using S. Tech - not just fancy manifestations, but your words and actions, your persuasive skill and acting ability, all the skills that make you effective with S. Tech - you and your partner for this exam have to bury the needle. The problem is, you have to do it in both directions - positive emotion, maxing things out with cuteness, fondness, or warm feelings - and negative emotion, hitting empty on the meter through sadness, anger, or fear. Any sort of against-the-rules physical contact is an automatic F (if your partner reports it), but apart from that, it’s up to your imagination. You have fifteen minutes - that’s like Seven Minutes In Heaven and Seven in Hell, with one minute of cooldown in between.
bypartisan: (by(ped))

[personal profile] bypartisan 2015-09-04 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Mm." By nods as he reclines himself along a pair of desks he'd previously pushed together for that very purpose. "I can see how it would be much more satisfying for the competitors. Rather hard on the audience, one would think, however. It's much easier to lay bets on two things punching each other--or at least, that's been my experience."
claudiometer: eyeroll, text: bitch please (bitch please)

[personal profile] claudiometer 2015-09-04 04:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Claudia snorts. "Yeah, well, I'm not in this for the audience's enjoyment. I'm in it to challenge myself and see what I can build something to do."

If the audience is that bored, they can go watch something else.
bypartisan: (by(plane))

[personal profile] bypartisan 2015-09-04 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"Of course," By replies with a lazy smile. "How foolish of me to ever assume otherwise. You do feel challenged, right?"
claudiometer: onna laptop (research-fu: new school)

[personal profile] claudiometer 2015-09-04 04:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"If I didn't, I wouldn't still be here."

She means the school as much as anything else. Okay, so languages aren't her strong suit and she'd stand out in mainstream Japan like a sore thumb, but if she really wanted to get herself back to the States it wouldn't take much work at all.
bypartisan: (by(plane))

[personal profile] bypartisan 2015-09-05 12:39 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, I don't know," he says airily. "There could be other reasons you might be here besides robotics. The school isn't famous for its robotics program after all. Or would notorious be a better word? I rather like it better."
claudiometer: on the phone (the phone rings!)

[personal profile] claudiometer 2015-09-05 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
"Infamous, I'd go with." The ghost of a smirk crosses her face - progress! If he keeps this up, they might pass both parts of the assignment after all.

"There are other reasons I got sent here, but the robotics team is why I'm staying."
bypartisan: (by(partisan))

[personal profile] bypartisan 2015-09-05 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh do tell," he purrs. "This is all so very fascinating." Is he serious or has he just realized that if he feeds into the robotics conversation he'll win a pass out of her after all? It's hard to tell.
claudiometer: arms crossed, wearing sunglasses (future's so bright I gotta wear shades)

[personal profile] claudiometer 2015-09-05 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
She almost doesn't care if he's just trying to wheedle a pass out of this mess. They both want it over, and she can't argue with a mercenary approach to grades.

"Yeah, well. Those of us who give negative fucks about everyone's dating drama gotta do something with our time. It keeps my hands busy and I get to make some cool stuff, what's not to like?"
bypartisan: (by(partisan))

[personal profile] bypartisan 2015-09-07 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
"But the dating drama is so interesting," he argues. "Especially when you're not a part of it. But I suppose if you're not one to gossip, then the robotics team is a better use of your time. And it probably keeps one's life less... complicated.