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

[galvanizer]

She can't help but pull a face at the title, sighing in a long-suffering way to bring some light to the situation.

"You make me sound like some powdered noblewoman when you call me that," she comments in a deadpan voice, fingers dancing along the memory cube and making it twirl mid-air.

[willyousee]

He hides a smile, giving her an innocent look. "I could omit it should you like. But then what should I call you?"

[galvanizer]

"Anything but 'oxman'. Or 'buckles'," she answers with a roll of the eyes, though there's a smile playing over her lips. "Or, I don't know, you could try using my name, strange as the thought might seem. I'll even settle for 'Adaar' if mine's too long for you."

[willyousee]

"Forgive me, I simply wished to give no offense." He bows gracefully, contrite but unafraid. "I fear I am unfamiliar with your customs... Asaraanda, correct?"

[galvanizer]

"More or less. You can even just point and say 'you' if that's easier."

She's not even joking on that part.

Returning her fiery eyes to the cube, she mutters, "Let's get started," and activates it, gritting her teeth when it lets out a burst of light to envelop them in the memory it contains.

When the light fades, they're standing at the rocky shoreline of the Free Marches on a cloudy afternoon. The seagulls are flying overhead and the weather is almost stifling in its heat. On seeing the two horned figures under the shade of trees a short distance away, Asaraanda's face darkens and she crosses her arms.

The larger of the two is a full-grown male Qunari, heavily scarred around his lips and eyes, the bindings of a Saarebas long gone but still leaving their mark all over his powerful body. The smaller is Asa herself, barely a teen yet easily taller than Alcuin is presently, hot, sweaty and scowling up at her teacher.

"Concentrate," the man rumbles, while his disheveled pupil grunts and holds up her hands, face screwing up as she tries to do as he orders. In the distance, there's the rumble of an approaching storm, and violet-tinted light dances along her fingers almost in answer... before going out in a pathetic 'bzzt'.

"It's too hot," she complains, shaking her hands to rid them of the lingering static and swiping one over her face to wipe away the sweat. "Can't we-"

"No, you must concentrate and do it now."

The adult Asa shifts on her feet and she glances at Alcuin. "Look away, Alcuin. You don't want to see this."

[willyousee]

Alcuin watches with a calm, keen interest, though initially startled by the sheer size of the male - not to mention all the marks of old wounds. He almost wishes they had entered earlier, that he might observe the full lesson and perhaps learn to imitate it on his own.

He looks up *always up) at her, puzzled, and politely turns halfway, knowing his peripheral vision ought to pick it up regardless. "If you are certain... We cannot be truly injured in a memory, you understand."

[galvanizer]

"I don't want you to see this," she answers quietly, her own eyes fixed on the scene playing out before them.

The former Saarebas continues to drive Asa to complete the spell, and each time the little darting electricity fizzles out, the girl grows increasingly frustrated.

"If you do not concentrate, you will not master it."

"I'm tired!" she snaps, clenching her fists and glaring up at the horned man.

"You are being lazy-"

"Shut. Up!" the girl yells, and the lightning returns, this time summoned down from the roiling clouds above them and engulfing the young Qunari before lashing out at her teacher. The mage is knocked back with a surprised grunt and the air is filled with the scent of burning flesh.

Asaraanda watches in stony silence as the child cries out with surprise and fights to control the magic, hands outstretched and willing it to die down even as her mentor holds back his sounds of pain. It works, eventually, and the rain pours down, sizzling on impact with the Qunari's flesh, and he falls to his knees, breathing heavily.

Sobbing and quietly repeating "I'm sorry, I'm sorry-", the girl is immediately at his side, hands glowing a weak green as she tries to heal the horrific flesh that had been effectively fried. Regardless of his injuries, the giant gathers her to his front and holds her as she cries, still smoking as he checks her hands and grunts on seeing they've also been burned in her flash of anger.

"Magic is dangerous," he rumbles, using a healing spell on both of them, though the scars remain along his arms and torso. "That is why you must learn to control it. Never forget that."

[willyousee]

Alcuin cries out in shock, throwing up a hand as the lightning blazes. As it dies down, he lowers his arm, blinking watering eyes, but hastily looks aside as per her wishes. He rubs away the after images and listens hard to the two Qunari sorting themselves out.

Snippets of his own history flicker in the back of his mind, leading him to brush his fingertips briefly across a dagger hilt before looking up to his guide's face. "...Asaraanda?" he asks, soft and empathetic, touching her arm gently.

[galvanizer]

Face grim, she at first doesn't notice that Alcuin's addressing her. This, this one incident was enough to make her so fearful of her own magic for years until she felt she'd tamed it, like some beast to be caged, and then to gradually come to embrace it as a part of her. A wary respect of magic, that it is a dual-edged blade. What was it Vivienne had said to her?

Magic is dangerous, just as fire is dangerous. Anyone who forgets this truth gets burned.

Asa never needed to be reminded of that, not after seeing those burn scars on her mentor every day after this incident.

She jerks out of her musings and glances at Alcuin with mild surprise. "I'm fine. It's a memory. You can look now, the worst is past."

The memory is actually finished now, everything freezing in place, even the rain and the steam rising from her teacher. She approaches the two frozen Qunari and squats down, examining the burned man's face with gentle fondness and respect in her eyes.

"This was my most memorable lesson, and I've never forgotten it. You would do well to remember it yourself, Alcuin, now that you've started tapping into your own magic."