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

Re: So very well

[bluejade]

If Jade had been dealing with a young male warrior, she would have cuffed him -- not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to get his attention. But that probably didn't work on groundlings, who didn't grow up play fighting. She bared her teeth, though, and let her spines flare. She didn't know what 'radioactive' meant, but firestorm was clear enough.

"That may be, but if people panic, they will block the exits and no one can get out, including you. So stop screaming and save your breath for moving. Which way?"

[failgoyle]

Well, sure, she could try cuffing him if she wanted to deal with possible tears...as though the panic isn't bad enough. He still wilted back from the bared teeth and the flared spines. "Trouble's that way, I'm hoping the escape pods or whatever are this way."

[bluejade]

That was useful information. Not that she knew what an escape pod was, but Jules couldn't know less.

"Here. If you stop screaming, I'll help you get out. Some of the places here are impassible thanks to people tearing the place apart to look for the problem."

Between flight or climbing, Jade could pass through most, and for all of Jules's excitability, he had more of a clue than she did.

[failgoyle]

"Okay, okay, cool, screaming in exchange for a way out sounds like an excellent plan." And he holds out a hand. "Shake on it?"

Granted, it's not like he's about to mention that making any sort of bargain with a fae creature like him--not that he looks it--isn't the best idea in the world, but he genuinely doesn't mean any harm. And he wants to help, in his own small way.

[bluejade]

Jade glanced at the hand. "Shake on it?" She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do here.

[failgoyle]

"Yeah, it's what my people do in this sort of situation. Like this." And he awkwardly grabs his own hand and shakes it. "For luck." And he means that, really. He's a fae creature, and if he wants to give her a little bit of actual, honest-to-goodness good luck in this endeavor, he can.

[bluejade]

Jade took his hand in hers, keeping her claws sheathed for very obvious reasons. "Luck, then."

[failgoyle]

His hand feels almost unnaturally cold for a human's...which it is, but now's not the time to worry about such things, right? He gives her a grin. "For luck." And with that, he quietly works the little bit of magic he can to improve her chances at succeeding at anything she tries for the next few hours.

[bluejade]

Jade doesn't know what species he is; for the moment, she'll assume that his body temperature is normal. (And later, she might just figure he's a got a non-human ancestor -- there are a lot of races in the Three Worlds where she's from, and sometimes they can interbreed.)

"Right. Let's go then. Don't run unless we actually need to; you might need a burst of speed later." Jade didn't know how big the structure was, so keeping a fast pace, but one they could maintain was better than sprinting. She didn't know Jules's race's limits, so she'd have to trust that he could set a reasonable pace if she could motivate him.

[failgoyle]

There's a self-depreciating laugh. "Don't worry, I don't wear out easy." It's always so hard measuring relative speeds against someone who obviously isn't human.

And it's not like it'll be that hard to motivate him; he's jumpy enough that it looks like he's ready to bolt at the first unexpected loud noise that pops up.

[bluejade]

"Good" Jade wasn't sure what direction they should be heading, but Jules had indicated danger was that way, so she was going to steer him in the direction she's heading. "What does radioactive mean, anyway?"

[failgoyle]

"Means it's giving off energy that could potentially be harmful to carbon-based life-forms if we're not careful." It's the simplest way he can think of to explain it, anyway. "We could get sick and die slowly, or we could just get instantly overwhelmed and die instantly, or we could mutate and end up with extra limbs...the terrible possibilities are endless."

[bluejade]

"You can just say it's poisonous," Jade said. That wasn't quite what he said -- poisons didn't give off heat or light; you had to breathe them in or swallow them or touch them. "Do you know how to tell if it's present? Besides the alarm sounds?"

Some toxins had a smell, affer all.

[failgoyle]

"Well, it's kind of like poison, only it can kill you just by existing. Like you need lead shielding to block it off. Like it sends out little poison waves." He's trying. Trying so hard. "And they make special equipment to detect it, but I don't have one of those." He pauses. "Though I guess some of it might be glowing some kind of sick green color. Maybe."

[bluejade]

"So, no smell, but there might be odd light," Jade summarized. "Otherwise, we'll just have to be quick."

[failgoyle]

"Yeah, pretty much. Really quick." Boy, he doesn't like this situation. He doesn't like this situation one bit.

[bluejade]

"Why do ships keep this sort of thing around, anyway? I assume it has some use." Jade knew that some of the herbs the mentors gathered were toxic unless prepared correctly, so presumably this 'radiation' was an important tool when not broken.

[failgoyle]

"Usually, it has something to do with a power source. That's what's making this thing go, I'm guessing." It made sense to Jules, anyway.

[bluejade]

Jade was used to flying ships that were powered by the hearts of floating islands, or awkward-looking gasbags. Jade also didn't really understand what this 'space' was, despite repeated attempts (beyond that she couldn't breathe there). "You'd think they could build ships that ran on something safer," she muttered.

They'd reached an intersection. "Left or right?"

[failgoyle]

"Well, I mean, look at internal combustion engines, that's just a controlled series of tiny explosions...propulsion isn't very inherently safe, I guess." Jules freezes at that intersection. "Uh...I don't...um...that way?" He points down the left corridor. "I guess that works? I...kind of got a little lost on my way in."

[bluejade]

Jade hissed in annoyance. "Well, if you don't see any warning signs, left is fine."

[failgoyle]

"They may not have warning signs in space," Jules muses. "More like loud clanging alarms or blinking flashing lights or something more high-tech than just writing, but yeah, I don't see anything, anyway."

[bluejade]

"Good. My experience with flying ships is... limited."

[failgoyle]

"My only experience with flying ships is flying commercial, so this is entirely different for me, too." He considered this. "But hey, at least there's no screaming toddler kicking my seat the whole time."

[bluejade]

Jade attempted to interpret this... and failed. "What is a commercial and how does it fly?"

She understood about over-tired and bored children, at least. Some things are, if not universal, at least common.