The Powers That Be ([personal profile] powersthatbe) wrote in [community profile] synodiporia_ooc2017-03-24 12:01 am
Entry tags:

Test Drive #18

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 March 24th–April 1st. Our next Jaunt will be Olympus Upended: a classical myth and fantasy adventure, set in a Trojan War-era Greece full of gods, monsters, and titans. During the Jaunt, the Olympians and their chosen heroes must deal with the machinations of fate when their powers and domains begin to ebb and flow, faltering or in some cases transferring to others.

Prompt #47 features a liminal space where Travelers find themselves floating down the Tunnel of Love.
Prompt #48 features a liminal space with beds, balloons, and no ground to be seen.
Prompt #49 features a space walk set in the universe from the Escape From Junkworld jaunt. Having escaped the destruction of the prison planet Junkworld Gehenna, these refugees from the four major spacefaring races--crystalline Hecatites, psychic-but-prone-to-hallucination horned Diabolin; scaled Gorgons with their petrifying abilities and tentacled hair, and your bog-standard humans, newcomers to the stars--now finally have a moment where they can slow down.

#47

You find yourself in a boat in a long tunnel, light deliberately kept low. Oh, the sides and the ceiling glitter and sparkle and the dioramas you occasionally pass seem to glow with their own inner light, but unless you’re naturally adapted for low-light, it’s going to take your eyes a little while to adjust. Once they do--or perhaps even before they do--you’ll find that you’re not alone in the boat. There’s someone riding next to you. Maybe they’re a friend among the Travelers, maybe someone you’ve grown to love. Maybe they’re a perfect stranger. Maybe they’re even someone you hate. They’re still stuck in the boat with you.

Once your eyes have adjusted properly, you’ll see that the boat you’re both in is made of chocolate--white, dark, or milk--and carved in the shape of a swan. The ‘water’ it floats down is no such thing, but instead pink champagne. Those dioramas in the wall? They’re dramatizations of various moments of passion and romance in the love-lives of you and your fellow Travelers.

Just when it seems that you’ve been in the tunnel forever, it suddenly widens into a much larger room with a ceiling open to the sky, the underground waterway flowing through the center, constricted until there's barely water in the side, so that you can easily disembark from your swanboat during the minute it takes for the boat to glide through the room, which seems to be some sort of cafe. A ‘Group Date’ cafe, whatever that is, according to the sign. Instead of food on the menu board, there are instead lists of questions to ask your date. The floor is tiled with conversation hearts. The furniture, like the swan boats, is made of chocolate. Finally, the walls are made of valentine’s cards, addressed to initials and signed by Roman numerals, all in the same loopy pink cursive that makes up the questions menu.

#48

You find yourself in bed. In fact, each Traveler starts out in their own private bed, which is suspended from a floating hot air balloon (minus the gas burner) and both balloon and bed are decorated vaguely to the taste of the Traveler therein. It’s a lovely, comfortable bed, perfect for sleeping or just plain lazing around, and it allows a perfect view to all the other beds suspended in the sky--and the doors to created spaces as well, themselves suspended from balloons of their own.

There is no ground in this liminal space. Sky above, sky below, and the great crowd of balloons which are more or less level. Sometimes they drift close enough so that they bump together and you can easily move from one to the other, though of course they’ll soon drift away from each other.

Of course, this being liminal space, there’s no reason why you can’t walk through the thin air or even fly to the other balloons and doors, as long as you realize that’s an option. Just take care you don’t panic and forget you can, because once you forget you can fly the only thing you can do is fall. At least if you do fall into the endless sky, you’ll just have a few harrowing seconds to panic before you land right on your balloon bed again.

#49

It’s been a week since the Empress of Moths reached its destination. The planet below, with no official name, merely numerical designation referring to its star, is not exactly ideal. Its temperature is on the lower end of what humans will tolerate; its bedrock is not the best suited for Gorgon caves; there are few natural resources for the Diabolins to exploit; and its external geology isn’t quite to Hecatite tastes. It is, however, an M-type planet that will support intelligent life and has, in fact, supported a small smuggler’s base for quite some time.

Despite all these shortcomings, it’s much preferable to the radioactive slag heap the refugees formerly called home. Now that arrangements have been made with the local smugglers, most of the refugees have left the ship on outrider shuttles and it’s immediately noticeable how much less crowded the Empress is--even with a few of the local smugglers aboard after the negotiations.

But then, not everyone plans to stay planetside. There’s a sizable contingent who want to keep flying with the Empress, finding work among the stars to support their newfound home. It’s why she still hovers over the planet, instead of coming to an undignified landing on the surface. And before the Empress leaves, her new crew and any visitors currently aboard (smugglers and Investigating Travelers alike) have the opportunity to undertake a space walk together. It’s time to don one’s space suit and helmet, attach one’s air supply, and take a step outside into the beautiful, cold vacuum of the sea of stars.
butthemiracleneverhappen: (:bored)

[personal profile] butthemiracleneverhappen 2017-03-28 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
"You persist in thinking I am the way I am because of physical laws. There are very different worlds than the ones you've traveled - and you must be well traveled to ask about my, what is the phrase? 'Homeworld.'"

She sighs.

"Some worlds are much less probable than others, of course, but I am the Witch of Miracles."
butthemiracleneverhappen: (Default)

[personal profile] butthemiracleneverhappen 2017-03-28 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Curious. That would seem self-defeating."

For a moment, she is speechless, looking into her tea. She drains the cup.

"And are you seeking to find the culprit? Being able to turn the chessboard around seems like it would be a diverting change of pace."
haremtrap: (Up late studying)

[personal profile] haremtrap 2017-03-28 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Well deduced, Sherlock."

She also looked around and saw some flying people, then peered off the edge of the bed. "Optional for them, at least. Bet your life it's optional for you too?"
ladygeryon: (confusion)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
"The...Sad Birthday? What age is that?" she asks. When Sara asks, she lifts a hand to touch her neck. Dang...her bandanna must have slipped off at some point.

"A mutant volcano Houndoom tried to kill my kids. I took care of it while my husband got them out of there."
awitchdidit: (i'm a (wo)man of wealth and taste)

[personal profile] awitchdidit 2017-03-28 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't think you're quite apprehending the nature of this game, Bernkastel," she says, sitting up straighter and looking vaguely amused. "It's not Witch against Detective, or Witch against Witch. You and I are both pieces. Even if we're promoted to Queens, we're still not players, not able to do any turning of any boards or even face our game masters on their own terms."

"Not unless we play along long enough to change the board to our terms."
ladygeryon: (rolling eyes)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
I mean, they already showed off all those images of me and Jake on the way here. They should know I'm not planning to cheat on him anytime. [She glances at him.] How about you? Do you have anyone back home?
otomechapilot: (Default)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-03-28 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Eighteen. We're - we're working on pushing it back."

She got fought a monster for someone she loved from that and offers a fist for bumping. "Totally worth it?" she asks.
ladygeryon: (smile)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I can tell." Nira has a smile on her face. "You do any other sports?"
butthemiracleneverhappen: (:smug)

[personal profile] butthemiracleneverhappen 2017-03-28 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
"I had assumed that the Arcana thought of us that way, yes. Do not misunderstand me. I do look forward to seeing their expressions when you enact your plan."

She reaches for something on the tray - and frowns at it being konpeito.

"Is this one of their boards, or - no, no, this must be where the pieces are stored."
ladygeryon: (grin)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Why, what happens when you turn eighteen?"

She grins at the fist offered though, bumping it. "Definitely," she says. "It managed to pin me at first, but that just gave me better leverage to hit it with."
otomechapilot: (DREAMS INTENSIFY)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-03-28 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
"Nothing good. Blissout after 18 hours sleeping right, earlier if we screw with the Dream without proper protection. I kinda accept my universe is bu- is terrible," she corrects herself to avoid swearing. "I'm just not used to seeing, you know, grownups."

As for that explanation: "Cool. If I get scars from Piloting I want stories to go with them. Hope they're half as good as yours."
awitchdidit: (allow me to introduce myself)

[personal profile] awitchdidit 2017-03-28 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
"More or less, yes. A very amusing box somewhere in the Arcana's parlor," she says.

She's the one providing the refreshments here, and thus, has ultimate power over Bernkastel. Or at least the ultimate power to eventually frustrate her into going and mooching snacks off someone else. "Some of use are placed onto the game boards in particular roles, while some of us remain self-aware pieces. It's quite arbitrary and quite amusing at the same time, until you're stuck inhabiting someone frustrating as they play out a dull and irrelevant story when you could be meddling in the game proper."

She pouts visibly at that. She had gotten rather tired of being an endlessly detached flower in the last Jaunt. "But perhaps that's Magician's influence on me talking. It's not as though secondary characters don't need their stories told as well."
ladygeryon: (intense stare)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
"That doesn't sound good." Nira sounds pretty worried about that. "I'm guessing that's 18 hours total, not at once? Although I guess I understand why you'd think of so many people as being 'old' now."

She blinks. "Wait, Piloting? I'm guessing you don't mean planes?"
otomechapilot: (:))

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-03-28 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
She closes her eyes. "Derp. 18 years WORTH of sleeping properly. Not quite as bad but still bad enough."

She grins. "If this place is as dreamy as I think it is I could show you. Wanna see?"
ladygeryon: (intense stare)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
"Wow. That...sucks. A lot." Who is taking care of these kids???

However, she blinks at Sara's comment about "showing you." "Sure. Would be better than this tunnel, at least."
haremtrap: (Hat)

[personal profile] haremtrap 2017-03-28 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm something of a martial artist. Is martial arts a sport?"

She shrugged, wandering away from the game with Nira before anyone looked too closely at her. "I didn't have a lot of time for sports, really. Too busy with school."
otomechapilot: (beautiful valkyrie sara smith)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-03-28 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
Do she really want to know the answer to that question?

By way of demonstration, Sara closes her eyes, stands up straight - and armor flows out and around her, from her heart and head.

It looks kind of like the icon.

"Guess it's only as big as makes sense for the scene," she says through the faceplate. "Normally I need someone to Anchor me, but this place is weird about it. I think someone IS Anchoring me, but I couldn't say who."
Edited (multiple woman pronoun problem) 2017-03-28 05:40 (UTC)
ladygeryon: (grin)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, there are competitions for it, right? I'd say it counts then."

She nods, before looking confused. "You didn't have a gym class or anything?"
ladygeryon: (grin)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
Nira blinks a few times, backing away a bit in case the boat gets overturned-but it seems to stabilize pretty well.

"Wow, that's cool! I'm guessing you're something of a lucid dreamer then?"

She looks thoughtful at the second comment. "Anchoring you...do you think it could be one of the Arcana? They act a lot like the patrons of this place."
haremtrap: Just this once... (Physically able to dress like a girl)

[personal profile] haremtrap 2017-03-28 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
"Gym class was where we learned martial arts."

Kohaku looked thoughtful. "I guess I didn't really go to a very normal school. It's got a, well, an unusual curriculum."
haremtrap: (Default)

Bonus network post

[personal profile] haremtrap 2017-03-28 07:00 am (UTC)(link)
[Color her intrigued.]

What kind of games are you into?
ladygeryon: (smile)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 07:01 am (UTC)(link)
"Really? Unusual how?" Nira sounds happy to hear that Kohaku's gym class didn't have sports or anything. She's experienced being picked last a bit too many times for comfort.
haremtrap: (Why this?)

[personal profile] haremtrap 2017-03-28 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
"I kinda feel like I should be coy about it and dodge around the issue but I really can't be bothered to give a fuck about it. The school's in another dimension anyways."

She leaned in a bit closer as if about to impart a great secret. "It's a special school for training people who have become hosts to symbiotic monsters from the Deeps to be monster hunters. We learn math and history and stuff alongside combat techniques."
Edited 2017-03-28 07:05 (UTC)
ladygeryon: (intense stare)

[personal profile] ladygeryon 2017-03-28 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
Nira blinks a few times at the comment, but just nods. "I'm guessing the monsters you become hosts for and the ones you hunt are different?" At least she hopes they are. "How do you get into a school like that in the first place?"
haremtrap: You sweat more when you're lying (You smell of lies)

[personal profile] haremtrap 2017-03-28 07:32 am (UTC)(link)
Oh good she took it well. Sort of. Nira looked concerned, which was better than horrified. Of course, she was also starting with the awkward questions.

"You get into the school if a symbiote finds you and bonds with you."

Kohaku's eyes said a lot her words left out. The bonding process was unpleasant at best, but traumatic on average.

Page 12 of 25