The Powers That Be ([personal profile] powersthatbe) wrote in [community profile] synodiporia_ooc2017-03-24 12:01 am
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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.
pearlyspirit: (Pearl [Gushing])

[personal profile] pearlyspirit 2017-03-24 11:13 am (UTC)(link)
47

This is probably not the kind of place one should put a ten year old child with anyone, but Lovers clearly doesn't care. And while Pearl is a bit confused at quite a bit of it, she is looking over the pictograms on the wall and the couples who are clearly actual couples in other boats.

"It's so ~romantic~!"

49

The tiniest Hecatite of them all is a little bit nervous about this whole thing, looking out at the others anxiously and down at her own space suit. Pearl really like space, for the little time she's been in it, but she knows basically nothing about it and--

"I--is it safe?"
thornsofmalkav: (happy (rock))

49

[personal profile] thornsofmalkav 2017-03-24 12:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"As long as you follow the proper precautions," Charoite promises her, bending down to put herself level with the young Hecatite. "Do you want me to check you over so you've got everything on correctly?"
runs: (the sky has stars out here)

[personal profile] runs 2017-03-24 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
47

I hope you weren't attached to this boat, because as soon as Kitty realized what material the boat they'd found themselves in was made of, she climbed out of her seat and checked for pieces that would be easy to break off. So within two minutes of waking up, she's stuffing chocolate into her mouth.

"It's good! You should get some, too."

48

Walking in the air was fun for a bit, but it is a lot MORE fun to jump from one bed to the next. Or onto the balloon of the next. Sometimes she misses, but after the first scares she realized that she'd find herself in her bed again, and that kind of failsafe freefall is almost as much fun as the triumph of having made it to the target.

...She doesn't always check if the other bed is already occupied, though, so at times she might land on a person, or just narrowly miss them.
pearlyspirit: (Default)

[personal profile] pearlyspirit 2017-03-24 04:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Pearl smiles shyly, but nods. "Yes please," she says politely, putting the remainder of the space suit on before standing very still so Charoite could check.
noboatbigenough: (Let's talk about murders!)

Hoshigaki Kisame | Naruto | AU + PG + mobius vet. (full permission for knowing his canon)

[personal profile] noboatbigenough 2017-03-24 04:50 pm (UTC)(link)
47
Kisame ends up emerging from a glowing portal and tumbling right into the champaigne. Or he would, if he wasn't a ninja. Instead he lands on top of it in a three-point stance, hardly making a ripple. Considering that he's almost six-five, blue, and has visible gills and a really, really big sword strapped to his back, he makes quite an arresting picture. After a moment of quick assessing glances at the surrounding he stands up, pulls off a hat that says "water" on it in kanji, and drawls.

"Back here again, eh?"

Then he approaches the nearest boat, walking across the water like it's normal. "You there, I need an update. Last thing I remember was trying to swim away from a place called Belljar. What's happened since? Have we found out anything more about these Champs?"

49
The massive (for a Gorgon) man known only as "Key" does not play well with others, even for a Gorgon. But he's still a skilled engineer, when he isn't finding inventive ways to intimidate (or occasionally murder) other sentients. But whatever they need to spacewalk for is important for survival, so he's willing to help the others with this. His pale blue tentacles curl around his face in an expression of amusement as he holds the last piece of his suit in his hands.

"Make sure you get it right. Your suit malfunctions, don't expect me to come rushing to help you out."

Bonus Psychic Post Wildcard!
So you all are still using this invitation for the Champs to probe our minds. Do any of you actually trust that they aren't, or are you just using it because it's convenient?

[That's it. That's the way Kisame introduces himself on the network.]

If it's the latter, I have a way around it. I won't guarantee that the Champs can't spy on this method either, but at least it's less mentally risky. I have two conditions. First- No using it outside Liminal; I don't trust any of you brats not to let it end up in the hands of a native. Second- You learn at least one cypher before I let you have it full time.

If any of you are interested, don't attempt to contact me this way. I won't respond. I'll be training by the lake I made, however, so if you can find that, you can find me.

Hoshigaki Kisame, out.

[There is indeed a very large blue man with an equally large sword doing sword forms on top of a lake that definitely wasn't previously a part of Liminal, if anyone goes to look.]
runs: (duh)

Psychic

[personal profile] runs 2017-03-24 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
And you think Liminal isn't bugged just as much as the network?
runs: (what the heck)

47

[personal profile] runs 2017-03-24 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"You mean gross."

There is only one place where being all lovey-dovey and making out are appropriate, in her opinion, and that is when it distracts the people in question so she can sneak past them.
willworkfordps: (Default)

Orion Kislev | OC

[personal profile] willworkfordps 2017-03-24 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
-47-

Orion floats, apparently impervious to the sappy mood, down the Tunnel of Love, peering over the edge of the boat. He pointedly ignores the dioramas on the wall, a fair number of which show a blonde teenage girl who doesn't look anything like him. Damn place can't keep its mind-reading to itself, so as far as he's concerned, the least he can do in protest is not get provoked.

"Unless we're the first boat to go through here, this champagne has got to be what, ten percent chocolate by now? Who thought this was a good idea?"


-48-

Along floats a second bed, containing a cleric, sitting cross-legged and looking slightly bored and slightly exasperated. The drop of infinity feet waiting below the bed is substantial, but when you used to spend most of your time on an airship, it's not too terrible.

As he approaches, he monologues in the least-dramatic tone of voice imaginable. "Answer me these questions three, and I shall use my phenomenal divine powers to grant your every desire. Question the first: Why this?"

Hopefully the sarcastic delivery will make it clear that he's not actually here to grant any wishes, but if someone gets the wrong idea, that's their problem. Right?


Bonus network post

Attention all. Being from the mysterious future year of 20XX has been fun and all, but I'm going to lose my mind if I don't play a game with a bunch of numbers in it soon. I didn't get whisked out of a dimension without video games just to wind up in another dimension without video games.

TLDR I'm going to go figure out which gods I need to butter up and/or murder to get a decent gaming setup in the phantom zone. If you come from a dimension where video games are a thing, or if you're tired of hearing the phrase "video games" over and over and want to know what the fuss is about, feel free to drop in once I get it set up. Let's get some good old fashioned LAN parties going.

Anyway, taking game requests in the off chance that I can pull this off. No promises.
snaptrap: (an' fuk yer face 2)

Hare Becile | Steam Powered Giraffe OC

[personal profile] snaptrap 2017-03-24 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
47

[No. Nope don't like it. Do not like it. The only reason Hare hasn't kicked a hole in his chocolate swan and tried to book it is because he has no idea how deep the champagne is, and dying of a snuffed furnace isn't high on his priority list.

But he is going to blow smoke and cover his face for the entire time they pass through the tunnel, awkwardly refusing to talk about the various romantic scenes involving himself and a very old electric hand drill.

Don't fucking judge him.

The robot all but hurls himself from the boat the second he sees a chance to and-
]

THAT WAS HORSESHIT!

48

[Also heights are bad.

Yeah he's not even going to try to leave his bed.

Dreaming, oddly, isn't new for Hare, and he knows he's been told if you fall and hit the ground in a dream you die in real life sooooo.

He's not a transformer, he can't become a fucking plane.

Nah fam, he's gonna sit in this hot air balloon bed and panic in helpless silence.

This is a good plan.
]
all_onis_are_true: (Riiiiiiiight)

Hiroshi | Ao Oni

[personal profile] all_onis_are_true 2017-03-24 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
47

Sure, the walls would display his love life - if he'd ever bothered to cultivate one. Right now, it mostly just seems to be a huge joke at his expense. And now that he thinks about it, he's not sure what he's actually applying that to: the fact he's in a tunnel of love, or the fact that he seems to have been whisked here not of his own volition, in a way he doesn't remember, in a manner that is surely not very scientific.

(Not that science has had as much of a role in shaping his life as he'd like. But you have to maintain a belief in SOMETHING.)

He pokes lightly at the chocolate boat. "This is surprisingly durable considering the materials," he comments. "Or the fact that it is currently floating in a substance that should be dissolving it."

48

Hiroshi is thankful he doesn't have a fear of heights. Or falling, for that matter.

He does have a rankling sense of irritation for the irrationality of the situation, however. The balloon shouldn't be floating without hot air. There's no reason for it to be supporting a bed. And are those doors floating in the middle of nowhere? The only rational explanation is that he is in a dream at the moment.

That's fine. He likes dreams. Better than "memories."

His bed is immaculate; crisp, simple sheets, well made. Just as he prefers it. He sits up, watching the other balloons pass by. It's peaceful, in a way.
Edited 2017-03-24 21:01 (UTC)
neverturnshisback: The Bolin quality (Goofy smile)

Bolin | Legend of Korra (post season 4, spoilers can happen)

[personal profile] neverturnshisback 2017-03-24 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
#47

The saddest thing about floating along in a tunnel of love like this is when you don't have anyone to share the ride with. At least that's how it seems like at first - once it's apparent there's someone else, Bolin gets into a better position (he had been moping in an almost lying position at his end of the boat) and smile.

"Hey there! Nice ride, don't you think?"

Of course whoever it is, it's not the one he'd like the person to be - but that doesn't mean he can't be friendly towards this new person.

#48

When you're an earthbender being suspended in midair is not an ideal position. No matter how much it's modeled after his tastes, he's clinging to the bed with his life.

"No no no! Didn't they get the memo?! We earthbenders are most comfortable down there! Not up here! Please tell me there's a ground down there I can go to!"

Sorry Bolin, but your ground is on another Liminal.
goestoextremes: (There's no sense in going on)

still screaming

[personal profile] goestoextremes 2017-03-24 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Korra airbends herself onto his bed, where she sits down as calm as ever.

"Okay so I tried to look but... Nope, sorry. There's no ground in this Liminal. I mean I guess all the created spaces look like they always do if that makes it any better, but --"

She shrugs. Sorry friend, you are kind of stuck in this situation and Korra isn't very helpful considering this is totally fine for her.
Edited 2017-03-24 22:17 (UTC)
noboatbigenough: (You're cute. ...Still gonna kill you.)

[personal profile] noboatbigenough 2017-03-24 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[Kisame doesn't reply, but if she persists, he's already considering tracking her down. Sounds like an actual young kid to him, and, well, if nobody else is going to make sure the actual kids know the horrors of what the Arcana do to them, he'll do it in this one instance. Better than finding out the hard way.]
abluntwind: (Default)

Bonus Option

[personal profile] abluntwind 2017-03-24 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[That wasn't a name she'd been expecting to hear. And while Temari doesn't entirely grasp this talk about Champs, she can understand the hesitance to communicate in such an intimate manner. Even on the scrolls cyphers and seals were used to ensure privacy of the messages.

But if there's even one person from home even if they're from a neighboring village rather than Sunagakure itself, she'll take the chance of strengthening that alliance over walking blindly into alliances with other travelers. As such she begins the less than easy task of navigating liminal space and it's peculiar gravity. And it's a task only made more difficult by how large the place is and Kisame-san decided to leave exactly zero other information on where about this lake of his was.

She can't say she hasn't typically liked a challenge. And when she finally drops to the bank of the lake she looks carefully neutral. Just as she had when she met him after the vast lake he'd made just beyond the village walls.]


Just one cypher Kisame-san? At least tell me it'd be something more complicated than a substitution cypher.
noboatbigenough: (Might be a cunning linguist.)

[personal profile] noboatbigenough 2017-03-24 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Temari-san, isn't it?

[No, he hasn't forgotten her name, but it's... been a while, for him. Kisame looks vaguely surprised, but not displeased to see someone from home. Probably. Alternate timelines are something that happens to Travelers from time to time, he knows.There are a few more scars visible than he had back home on him, even, although those are a testament to time spent Traveling and Mobius, as far as his lost memory gives him. Samehada goes back on his back and he walks over at her arrival.]

I see you managed to find my lake. [A grin.] If I thought they could keep more than one cypher straight, I'd demand more, but at this point I'm not even expecting most of them to take me up on the offer, much less find me.

[He shrugs.] Do you still have your scroll, here?
noboatbigenough: (You're cute. ...Still gonna kill you.)

48

[personal profile] noboatbigenough 2017-03-24 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Kisame is taking the location as a way to get some training in, using chakra to fuel jumps that most people could never hope to make, and then to stick the landing without a skid. In this case he manages to land on the side of Bolin's balloon just in time to hear the plea. So he peers down from where he's crouched on the side with two feet and a hand braced against the surface (poor landing; he can do better. He will do better!).

"I know being in an area with a dearth of your element is a handicap, but if you let it control you like that, where are you going to go in your life, kid?"

Look, he's being helpful! Sort of.
runs: (seriously?)

[personal profile] runs 2017-03-24 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[She quickly loses interest when no answer comes forth, but shoots a quick] You shouldn't trust them at all, you know. [before abandoning the one-sided conversation and moving on to something more responsive.]
otomechapilot: (Default)

Sara Smith || Bliss Stage (Tabletop Game)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-03-24 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
47

There's romance and there's trying too hard, and this is definitely the latter. Sara Smith breaks off a bit of dark chocolate swan boat and eats it, leaning her cheek on her fist. If rolling her eyes was a gunshot, her expression is the hammer drawn back and ready to fire.

It's good chocolate, though. She adjusts her arm-guard and the collar of her wetsuit.

"Everyone here is super old," she mutters. "This is the weirdest dream I've ever been in."

49

Sara steps off the open airlock and trusts the rest of her flight to math.

The view from orbit is always killer. The dusty, cold little rock below them is one of a million others that Sara's seen on planetary recon missions, but seeing suns rise over the terminator line never gets old. She doesn't usually get to see it outside of a full-blown mech; taking a spacewalk in just an armored skinsuit with a jetpack is a treat for her.

She takes out a data pad and a stylus and starts drawing the view from orbit. She could just take a picture, and probably will later - but she likes the act of drawing. It gives her some white noise through the suit.
runs: (I got this)

47

[personal profile] runs 2017-03-24 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
You say that, but if people will pay for it someone will probably invent it... and try! It's tasty.

[She shoves a broken-off piece of the boat at him.]
noboatbigenough: (This is my good side.)

[personal profile] noboatbigenough 2017-03-24 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[It takes him some time, because he only has a voice to go on (and a mental one at that, although there are similarities), but he's patient, waiting until he's about 90% sure he has the right girl.

So have a blue man who was in the distance doing something else for a while suddenly turn and walk right up!]

Who said I trusted the Champs, kid? Of course Liminal is being constantly monitored by them, but that's not the most potent danger of the Psychic Network by any means. There's ways to go a lot farther than just listening to conversations, and if they don't have that ability I'd be very surprised.
all_onis_are_true: (Default)

Re: 47

[personal profile] all_onis_are_true 2017-03-24 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)


I question the wisdom of dismantling the vessel keeping us afloat regardless of the flavor.
runs: (seriously?)

Re: 47

[personal profile] runs 2017-03-24 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Only the upper parts! They're only decorative anyway.

[She shrugs, still holding up the piece for him.]
butthemiracleneverhappen: (:3)

Bernkastel, the Witch of Miracles || Umineko no NAku Koro Ni

[personal profile] butthemiracleneverhappen 2017-03-24 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
(Endgame spoilers for Umineko Chiru and for Higurashi are likely in the comments.)

48

Bernkastel takes one look at this particular reality shard and then, without changing her bored expression, starts to clap.

"A lovely aesthetic," she says. "My compliments to whichever Arcana crafted this space."

She then steps off the edge and allows gravity to assert itself, seeing if there's anything below. When she grows tired of that, she floats up again and starts to inspect the other balloons, looking for anything that might hold her interest.

49

Another interesting fragment. And how sweet it is for things to be interesting again.

Outwardly, Bernkastel is a Diabolin - she checks herself in the mirror and smirks at her horns. Then she extends the senses of a Diabolin outwards, playing with the psionic empathy she now has in this role, and tasting the excitement of it's players.

And finds other Infiltrators. Maybe worth her time. She treads softly through the ship's corridors looking for fellow travellers.
runs: (considering all that)

[personal profile] runs 2017-03-24 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[She blinks up at him in confusion, trying to figure out what he's getting at.]

Why'd they need the network to read minds?
all_onis_are_true: (Default)

[personal profile] all_onis_are_true 2017-03-24 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)


[He eyes it cautiously for a bit, then slowly reaches out to it. No sense being impolite.]

Ah... thank you. You seem to be taking this whole situation well in stride.

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