synodiporia_ooc | Test Drive #21

Entry tags:

test drive

Test Drive #21

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 than 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 16th–26th. Our next Jaunt will be Night Falls on Yensid, a fantasy Jaunt taking place in a formerly magic kingdom whose history went awry when other Travelers failed to properly complete a previous Jaunt there, one of the many forgotten Jaunts from before Synodiporia properly began as a Dreamwidth game. There will be no Walkabout run alongside this Jaunt.

Prompt #55 takes place in a punishment Liminal Space for a Jaunt that the Travelers failed to solve.
Prompt #56 takes place during the first Jaunt the Travelers made to the Kingdom of Yensid, during its Golden Age.

#55

It’s difficult to make out the shape of this Liminal Space, at first, thanks to the decor; it’s somehow both pitch black and eye-searingly bright at the same time, the pulsing rainbow patterns cutting through the darkness making it all but impossible to properly judge distance. The truly persistent, or those who manage to abuse Liminal ‘down is relative’ gravity without hitting a pitfall for long enough, may eventually determine that it seems to be a giant egg. More so than many iterations of Liminal Space, it’s completely closed off.

Unfortunately, that’s going to be very difficult indeed to figure out. It’s not just the impossible coloration that makes navigation difficult; there’s a terrible storm raging, and the whipping winds and cracking thunder make it all too easy to stumble into a pitfall by accident. And those pitfalls don’t exactly want to let go of anyone they ensnare, either. Errant Travelers may find themselves supporting an impossibly heavy overhead weight, or pushing a boulder eternally uphill, or trying to catch an ever-lowering drink of water, or pouring water into a tub riddled with gaping cracks, or any number of other seemingly endless, pointless tasks. They can be escaped with help from another Traveler, or one person can be released from the task when another stumbles in.

The only respite from this - the colors, the storm, the punishments - is in the form of Travelers’ created spaces, but those are as difficult to get to right now as everything else. Good luck.

#56

It's a chaotic time for the Kingdom of Yensid. The Amulet of Yensid, that fabled magical artifact that must be rejoined each lunar year so that the kingdom's three races can continue their peaceful magical coexistence, has gone missing. Two-thirds of it, the humans' fragment and the Forest Folk's fragment, are nowhere to be found. The capital city is just as bustling as ever despite this, with reptilian Stonefolk flitting from place to place in their usual parkour-like fashion, small animal-like Forest Folk hawking various potions and crafts, and humans making all sorts of deals.

There's an undercurrent of urgency to the day's business. Small groups of three or four of various species move through the city with enchanted mirrors, dowsing rods, fishing lures, and all other manner of magical items designed to aid in the act of finding something, but so far, no one's turned up anything solid yet. A few of the stronger magicked items are leading their owners out towards the foreboding Birdlime Mountains, but that's the most promising lead anyone has.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Who's Lucien?" Eliot asks, blinking, though his mind is moving forward as soon as the words exit his mouth - Prompto isn't naming a person, he's naming a language. And as far as the magician knows, no one calls Latin 'Lucien'.

" ... where are you from?"

"I am!" Wow, this conversation is going in weird circles. Prompto is starting to think this guy managed to actually get into that wine at some point.

"Okay, hold up. Let's start over. I am from Lucis, making me, and my name, Lucien! Get it?"

"I'm starting to," Eliot says, lips pursed slightly. "And what is the name of the world you're from? The planet, I guess?"

"You mean star?" Who calls a world a planet? "... Eos?"

"You live on a star. Of course you do." Eliot snorts and shakes his head. "I suppose it's like everyone in Fillory speaking English, apparently. All right, I'll roll with it. So you're Speedy from star-Italy. Got it."

He glances around.

"Well, I'm stumped on a witty play on Eliot, because my parents named me something religious, so let's just try and find somewhere in out of the rain. I was heading toward those doors," he points at a set of two barely visible through the storm, "When I fell in that literal hell hole. And anything other than simple spells is beyond me right now - the circumstances here are completely weird - so we'll just have to walk it. Unless you have a vehicle of some kind you're hiding around here? Or wings?"

"Where else is someone gonna live?" The rest of that just ends up making him stutter incoherently for a moment before he gives up, shaking his head.

Following Eliot's gesture, he can sort of make out the doors in the distance. The blond side-eyes the taller man again when he mentions spells, but considering they're surrounded by enchanted pockets of unfortunate events, he's just going to run with it for now.

"I got a flashlight?" he says, tapping at the little device on his chest. "We can at least see where the pits are before we hit them."

"I live on a planet. It's called Dirt," Eliot replies simply, and he glances at Prompto's flashlight. It gives him an idea - light spells are first year stuff, after all, as are basic levitation spells. Something he should be able to get right in his sleep, on the moon. "Hold on."

He crouches down, and feels around, finding a small rock and standing with it.

"Hold this," he tells Prompto, and unceremoniously deposits the rock in his hand. "Palm open and flat."

It becomes immediately apparent why he's requesting this - he starts using both his hands to make some very odd gestures, his fingers twisting and curling in a bizarre, practiced manner. Eliot murmurs to himself, the words of the spell flowing from his lips with only a pause here and there as he tries to adjust to the circumstances of liminal space, so completely alien, shifting the way it does.

But after a few moments of this, the stone in the gunner's hand starts to glow - a pale, ghostly light that grows slowly into something brighter and brighter, until the small rock emits about 3-4 lanterns' worth of light. Then the magician makes a pinching motion over the rock, and it floats up into the air, then starts to orbit Eliot's head and he makes an irritable gesture, sending it ahead of them to light their path.

"We'll use yours for close up, mine for path-finding."

"Sounds fun." He says sarcastically.

Prompto raises a brow when Eliot starts poking around on the ground, then scrambles a moment not to drop the stone once it's deposited in his hand. Bewildered, he complies, opening his hand so the rock rests in the palm of his glove.

"What are you-?" He falls silent as he watches the stranger going through some sort of weird arcane ritual. Despite what his best friend can do, things like this only happen in movies and video games. His eyes widen in shock when the little rock starts to glow, and he has to shield his eyes with his free hand.

He lets out a soft squeal when the rock suddenly takes off, both of his hands going to his mouth.

"How did- You did- holy shit!"

Back home, Eliot can't show his magic to any non-magical people - it's pretty strongly proscribed by just about everyone. So he's never gotten the satisfaction of a reaction like he's getting from Prompto now, and he can't help but break out in a very smug, self-satisfied smile. But that reaction, too, reminds him - magic is pretty cool. Even the simple things. There was a time when he would have been as impressed, if he'd seen someone make a rock glow and fly.

"I'm a magicians. It's what we do. Though I usually do it with more style than the rest of them ... "

The rock darts back, like a dog eager to return to its master, and then it circles Prompto once before Eliot sends it ahead of them once more.

Prompto grins and turns, watching the stone fly around, actually laughing in amazement. "That's so awesome! We don't have magic like that where I'm from." He says as they start to follow it into the darkness, readjusting his flashlight so it casts ahead of them again. He knows exactly why that is, but it's still the principal of the thing.

"I can't call my weapons but you can still do all that? Dude, that is so unfair!"

Eliot doesn't explain that such a basic spell was so difficult for him because of the weird feel of where they are, not that one of the reasons he could probably pull it off successfully is because his discipline is a physical one. No, he'd rather bask in the blond's amazement a little longer.

"First year stuff," he says instead, casually. "What do you mean, call your weapons?"

It becomes clear that the blond is a bit jumpy as they make their way along, especially at random unexpected sounds or movements at the edges of their light. He still keeps going though, keeping himself in front.

"Technically, I can keep all my weapons on me in a magic armory thing and just summon the ones I want when I need them. But our magic is granted by our king and if he's not here I... think I'm kinda screwed."

Eliot himself feels none too comfortable in this setting - he's not exactly a hardened adventurer - but he hides it much better. Still, he looks around fairly frequently himself, and also watches the ground. A lot. He's not about to wind up in one of those pits again.

"So you haven't got anything to defend yourself with?" Well, Eliot just hopes they won't wind up in a fight. His battle magic isn't the best, since he's only recently learned a few highly illegal spells, and he hasn't had to use them in any real combat situations yet at all.

"N-not unless we find any loaded guns lying around." Prompto is not so good with his hands. He's not bad, but he's far more likely to get his ass kicked without a weapon. A ranged weapon.

"Hell, I'd take a bow and arrow about now."

"I suppose I could make one, but not being an afficianado of archery, I suspect the balance would be completely off," Eliot says with a frown. "Or the tension or whatever it is bows and arrows need to function."

He glances over at Prompto, and his lips quirk up wryly. "I guess this is the part here I say, 'Don't worry, I'll protect you,' and strike a heroic pose or whatever."

"My hero~!" He says, mocking distress and resting the back of his hand against his forehead for a moment. Never mind that he was the one that just did the rescuing. Technically.

"I'd be doomed without you! Doomed I say!"

"I think you're meant to be swooning against me," Eliot comments with a critical rub of his chin. "Or holding on to my thigh wearing considerably less clothing, or possibly with some of it artfully torn off."

"You mean the artfully torn clothing but no actual injuries with perfectly groomed hair and makeup?" He asks with a silly smile. "The rain's gonna make it rough but I can probably pull it off."

"God, if you can, will you do something about my hair?" Eliot asks plaintively. "It's completely ruined."

They're getting closer to one of the doors now, and the glowing rock darts back to them, circling the pair, then flies forward again, like a dog trying to get the attention of its master.

"Aww man. Left my emergency hair gel in the car." Which is honestly, legitimately distressing.

Prompto's face actually lights up a bit as the rock comes darting around again. "Dude, you really need to teach me that."

"Have you got a few years?" Eliot asks, sounding amused. "Also, are you the smartest person in the room wherever you go? Are you utterly miserable and obsessive? Have you got tough, starchy moral fiber? Oh, and a natural aptitude for magic?"

"Uh..." His expression falls for a moment, but he keeps his eyes on the flying, glowing stone. "No?"

"Magic is ridiculously difficult to learn," Eliot explains casually. "And you generally have to be a very specific kind of person to do it. But I can teach you some of the hand gestures and words, if you want."

After all, he doesn't even know that it would work for someone not from Earth. What's the harm?

"Never know." He says, turning that silly smile because up at the magician. "I might surprise you~!"

God, he's just exactly like a puppy, isn't he? Eliot's not sure whether to be annoyed or charmed, but the fact that he's been rescued by this man pushes him more toward the latter. He suppresses, however, the urge to ruffle the blond's hair.

"Why not?" he says instead. "I should expect that by now."

And now they're very nearly to the door, and Eliot's steps slow, examining it critically. Perhaps it leads to another hell-pit? Or maybe just somewhere out of the cold and rain ...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject