TEST DRIVE #24

[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 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 April 21-28. Our next Jaunt will be Digital Frontier: Legacy Mode, a return visit to the Grid, where investigation of the secrets held by a new computer system will be investigated. The jaunt will be accompanied by the walkabout Northern Lights, where a ski resort in Finland is subject to some unusual happenings during the longest night of the year.

Prompt #62 is a Liminal Space that offers a chance to get clean, if you can work with its quirks.
Prompt #63 gives players a taste of the exploration setup used on the Grid previously.

#62

Liminal Space is a laundromat - the rows of washers and dryers stretch into the distance, occasionally punctuated by the doors to Travelers’ private created spaces. If you’ve been looking for a chance to wash your clothes, you can even do that; there are stacks of odd gold coins marked with five-pointed stars around, apparently of a perfect size to slot into the machines.

Of course, first you have to free a machine of its resident hamsters.

They’re not true animals - instead, they’re made of cloth. One might be flannel, another denim, and so on. They’re all running endlessly in the washer and dryers like they’re hamster wheels, and the detergent and fabric softener dispensers in the Liminal Laundromat look more like a drip-feed water bottle you’d leave upended in an actual hamster’s cage.

#63

(For a quick rundown of the Grid’s various factions, see here. Automata are not on this short list, since their functions changed significantly after the last jaunt and we haven’t formally sorted out how yet.)

It took quite a bit of scanning, but the Defenders in this system are now satisfied that the Programs visiting from the Grid to help with their data reclamation didn’t come bearing new and unusual strains of corruption. Their wariness isn’t uncalled for, given that Programs come in one of two colors, and the Grid’s visitors apparently have another three to come to grips with.

With the conclusion of the quarantine protocol, all Programs are now free to explore the area and see what they can find. The task goes faster in groups of Programs, and a fair amount of work is required before a sector is considered fully processed. You might find nothing, or you might find something - or you might find danger, in the form of corrupted data.

Comments

[teamblue]

If Drake remembered anything of wolves, or for that matter even dogs, he'd understand that this steady watchfulness might not be ordinary. But he doesn't, and as far as he knows this is ordinary for any animal. He's watching them, why shouldn't they watch him?

Besides, their stillness is making it much easier to get a nice picture or two for data collection (and bragging and proof) purposes even though he's not entirely sure of what category he should be filing them under. Nothing in his training or experience among the Brutes really told him what to do when surrounded by nature and being eyed by a pair of canines.

It also means he doesn't understand that he shouldn't approach wild animals. After making certain he has a decent record, the device is put away and sunglasses back on (finally he understands the PURPOSE of sunglasses, there weren't lights bright enough for that in the Junkyard usually), and then he levers himself to his feet and begins looking for an easy way down. He could just jump, it's not that far really, but loud noises and fast movements would reasonably set anyone off.

It seems the wolves won't have to do any intercepting, he seems intent on doing it himself, with all the utter guileless fearlessness of a child, not an adult.

[finalizes]

There is a path down, secure and wide enough for Drake to walk it down the hillside. It ends near the pond, but leads him away from it at first, off to the side and around a few rocks and trees.

When he arrives at the pond, the adult wolf is still there, but the cub is gone. Or at least out of sight - Laughs-at-the-Storm doesn't think that this man will be a danger for Saffron, but he's not going to chance much. Safety before curiosity.

Up close, the sense of similarity with Gale is stronger, and Laughs slowly trots towards the man to have an even closer look.

"Hello," he greets him - and it does indeed sound like speech to Drake, though close attention to the wolf while he's talking will reveal that Laughs doesn't strictly make enough sounds to convey that much. Liminal autotranslate also takes into account all other parts of wolf language when conveying sense, and translates body language, scents, and so on also.

[teamblue]

And down he goes, interested too in the smaller plants than full grown trees, or how natural rocks look or what a flower even is. He's not going to linger too long on them simply because they're not moving and the wolves could move, he can always backtrack to check out a bit of green later.

The little one, Drake notes immediately, has gone missing. He's not in the right shape to put a better sense of smell to work and try to determine where she went, but that was alright. Surely too small to be a threat. Maybe he was the threat instead! Except the adult is still here and doesn't seem to be acting in ways he associates with canine hostility thanks to the occasional dog or wolf-leaning asura - no teeth, no hackles.

And then it says something and Drake slams to an abrupt halt, visibly surprised. He'd been assuming til now he was dealing with an animal, like those cloth hamsters, incapable of communication and uninterested in trying, thus fine to approach and do as he pleased. Suddenly he has to reassess both his own actions and the actions the wolves have taken - if one can talk the other probably can too, and this is NOT Brutes territory. If push came to shove, he's an invader in another predator's space.

"Ah," is the supremely clever response as he frantically works on figuring out whether or not anything he knows applies to this situation, "Hello." The strangeness of the werewolf's communication doesn't occur to him, speech for demons didn't even always require a mouth, but this isn't a species he recognizes at all. "...Is this your tribe's territory? I didn't see any markers, but I'm not looking to trespass."

Well. He's polite enough about it; Laughs is an unknown, but intelligent, and likely not from another Junkyard group, so there's really no need to start trouble on purpose.

[finalizes]

Laughs-at-the-Storm definitely approves of Drake's reaction to him, and the following words. Respect for another predator's territory is an excellent notion - understanding territory, and understanding the nature of predators, is rare enough among the residents of Liminal. It works together with the positive notions that he has regarding Drake by virtue of him seeming to be the same species as Gale and Lupa, and his tone is guarded, cautious and attentive, but unmistakably friendly and approving when he responds.

"It is."

In as far as he has a tribe here. ...Actually, phrasing it like that brings up an interesting question. Would Griffon mind the visitors? Probably. Not this specific one, he's sure of that, considering the sense of Wyld that his whole species projects, but all the human and homid visitors... But then, it's just territory. There is no Caern here.

So it should be fine. Or at least not as much of a problem with the humans. Griffon isn't completely unreasonable; the circumstances must be taken into consideration. Strategic tolerance.

"But you are welcome."

There is a very specific you here. Not everyone is strictly welcome. Dragons and other animal companions are, his pack and some people that he considers family are. Everyone else is just tolerated.

"I assume my tribe's markers are different from yours'." Likely more focused on visual things than scent.

[teamblue]

It's sensible as far as Drake is concerned. In the Junkyard EVERY bit of territory was marked as someone's, usually in bold colors and lights, and being caught in the wrong place alone would ordinarily be a death sentence. With the addition of their demons, the awareness of territoriality seemed to be ... heightened. Sometimes ignored, sometimes running into trouble was the specific goal, but here? There was no war on here. There were no advantages to going looking for trouble, and potentially a lot of drawbacks.

Drake was alone and there could be many wolves in the trees. The Colonel didn't tolerate stupid soldiers.

".. I'm glad. This is a ... an amazing place." He'll take that welcome, even if it's for him alone. It meant he could enjoy the feeling of the sun's warmth on his skin a little while longer, a thing that simply never happens under the grey skies of 'home'.

There's a faint snort at the thought of different markers. That's probably very true. "We usually rely on sight. Lights. Colors. I can see that wouldn't work well here." Except for the Vanguards, who favored green and thus would likely claim the entire natural world was their space because of it. "Other ways are ... ah. Unreliable. You never know if someone will be able to smell a scent trail, or even have a nose. If others of my tribe arrive, I will be certain they ask permission to visit."

But they would inevitably want to see. Sunlight, trees, ponds. Everything here was a mindbogglingly unfamiliar masterpiece. The DOOR at least could be remembered and recognized, even if scent marks inside would likely be missed.

[finalizes]

"You never know if another will be able to see colours, either. Or consider them markers."

He decides that Drake is likely not a danger - not right now, not under these circumstances, not to him, anyway - and sits his butt down, tilting his head to the side in question.

"You've never seen something like this?" He wouldn't be surprised. Going by what he knows about the other two of Drake's kind.

[teamblue]

That draws a brief, toothless smile. It's taking a bit of effort to weigh the furry shape and guess what might be seen as a friendly gesture versus one that might be hostile. Showing teeth in a smile had once been friendly even to the Brutes, but that changed when fangs happened.. "In that place, all could recognize them, and lived or died based on their ability to mind them. It is the way things are." There's a slight shrug. Many things just were the way they were, and Drake didn't spend a lot of time wondering why. "Expecting it to be elsewhere the same way would be silly. Especially when there's small rodents running around the cleaning machines."

His first taste of liminal: exceedingly bizarre.

When Laughs sits, it seems appropriate that he does too simply so he's not looming about. The stone here is nearly as good as the warm stone above, he has no complaints, and plunks down as gracelessly as he had before.

"I .. might have." His brow furrows, gaze tracking out across the open space to the mountains far distant. "But those memories were ... a lifetime ago." Literally, in this case. "Nothing in this lifetime compares. The colors, the sounds. What little I can smell. This light." He turns one hand palm-up to the sunlight, thoughtful. "It's warm, not hateful. It feels ..."

Articulating things of that nature seem to be a bit of a struggle, as after a few moments he gives up with another bit of a shrug. "A little closer to 'Nirvana' than any world I've known. You're lucky it's yours."

[finalizes]

"It isn't mine. It just is."

Yes, he created it, and he controls this space - and it is nothing but a weak copy of true wilderness, in his mind. It seems alive and right, it breathes and lives like true wilderness does because he knows it so intimately, because he doesn't truly try to control it past how he has to.

But, of course - it is not true wilderness, exactly because it isn't just. Because he made it, because it only is because of him. Making it permanent at least helped a little bit with that, and introducing the bunnies and having others around the place helped, too.

Nirvana means nothing to him, but he thinks he understands anyway. A memory of a space closer to Wyld than Weaver or Wyrm resonating somewhere in the soul of a creature of the Wyld.

"You lived before?"

[teamblue]

Something in what the wolf says draws a puzzled look from Drake, who doesn't say anything immediately, instead trying to work it out for himself.

This effort fails, after several long moments.

"Of course. ...Doesn't everybody?"

This comes with the thought that maybe not everyone did. That was somehow more disturbing than the sun's warmth was pleasant.

[finalizes]

It's easier for him to grasp since back where he's from, some select few people are reborn while the vast majority aren't, and he knows some people who are. So he's had that discussion a good long while ago from the other side.

"Most people here don't. In Liminal, those who die come back to life, but that's different, they come back as they were and the process is traumatic.

So there's no point in killing for other reasons than food." He doesn't know how much Drake has been told already, so he feels like that should be said. "And there is no reason to kill for food because maybe half of everyone here can just create food items, so if you need food just ask me or someone else who can."

[teamblue]

A resurrection that while traumatic, puts people back the way they are instead of beginning a new life? Drake looks thoughtful, but doesn't say anything on it immediately. That didn't remove the point, that made death a viable tool in far more situations.

"If I can't even help in catching it and killing it, I don't deserve to eat it." He's not going to be very interested in 'created food items', he can't hunt them. "And if killing it is only a temporary inconvenience for it, then there's even less of a problem doing it than usual." That's not how he's supposed to be taking that information, but he sounds a little bit relieved, whatever way he IS taking it.

Of course in turn it means he's likely to get eaten at some point in the future too, but he'd deal with that and the connected trauma when the time came. Karma spins on. "There has always been worse things than death, it seems now even more than usual. That's good, something nice to tell my Leader when he arrives." Now death can be a proper education tool and not just an object lesson for other people!