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synodiporia_ooc2014-11-21 06:44 pm
powersthatbe) wrote in synodiporia_ooc2014-11-21 06:44 pm
Entry tags:
Test Drive #5.
Welcome to the Synodiporia Test Drive Meme! Below the cuts there are three 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!
Prompt #17 is set in an unknown location, probably Liminal Space, where Travelers have little except their imagination to guide them. Confusion is expected, but what would you do, if you were floating in the shadows of the night sky, surrounded by unseen strangers and animate constellations?
Prompt #18 is an example of a steampunk jaunt, either far in the game’s past or somewhere in its unknowable future. Improvising Infiltrator backstory and playing out diplomacy, intrigue, or mad science in the skies above the Takla Makan desert is greatly encouraged!
Prompt #19 is a popular Liminal Space the travelers have visited before, a look at the dream-logic and nonsensical whimsy Travelers are trapped in during their downtime - though it can also be a source of clues they desperately need, the only form of communication from the Trumps they ever get. What does it all mean? If anything.
Prompt #17: Starry Night
You are floating in a weightless, lightless space, slightly chill. In the distance, motes of light forming abstract shapes move, jerky, robotic perambulations as they circle, but the light is too dim to show anything but the phosphor-dots itself. Whenever you speak, stardust spills from your mouth, illuminating, for just a moment, the lower portion of the speaker’s face, and there are other twinkles of stardust in the distance, but the cool air feels thick, and the light does not travel far before dissipating. What do you do, here in the dark?
Prompt #18: A Zeppelin called Zeitgeist
You’re on the observation deck of a luxury zeppelin. It's a rocky ride, the craft being buffeted below by a swirling sandstorm, but perhaps of more interest to most inside are the furnishings. A steam-powered calliope plays music in the corner. The bar, an elegant contraption of brass and stained glass, is automated and coin-operated, a rube-goldbergian series of chutes and levers clicking and unlocking bottle and glass, pouring and mixing as the coins slide down through the mechanism and click the right counterweights into place. And scattered across the floor is a late gentleman of similar composition, six spiderlike telescoping arms connected to pneumatic pumps; his face a marble mask, but his tuxedo is torn and the arachno-mechanical marvel was apparently dismantled by repeated collisions with sharp objects.
Anyone who finds the scene familiar will remember that this airship, the Zeitgeist, is the Flying Cossacks' primary exploration craft, now taking one last tour over the Golden Khanate before being mothballed. A diplomatic voyage, it's been marked so far with a number of dangerous assassins striking at the envoys aboard... it's the summer of 1896, if you're an undercover agent of the Vatican (Vatican librarians being among the most fearsome and well-informed secret agents in the world); or 1314 if, like most of Europe, you're a Sufi and part of the Ummah Caliphate. Steam power rules the world, although clockwork is fast catching up. And you might be on some sort of mission yourself…
Prompt #19: The Bouncy Castle
Color is everywhere in Liminal Space. A giant moon-bounce castle dominates the landscape, surrounded by a ball-pit moat. The sky beyond is very obviously a matte painting and not a real sky; turning slowly above them, the sun and moon as tinted spotlights. Gummy fish jump and swim in the moat, and balloon animals wander the halls, gliding along the walls thanks to helium and friction.
There are a number of more remote locations - the dungeons, accessible down a slide in one corner. The gatehouse, which has floors which are entirely trampolines, with no pretense, nothing to mitigate the bounciness - and cushioned ceilings. The cistern, a dark little room in one corner which has its own deep, round pool of multicolored balls. These places, at least, are a little more private, for anyone looking for peace and quiet amidst the rainbow extravaganza.
Prompt #17 is set in an unknown location, probably Liminal Space, where Travelers have little except their imagination to guide them. Confusion is expected, but what would you do, if you were floating in the shadows of the night sky, surrounded by unseen strangers and animate constellations?
Prompt #18 is an example of a steampunk jaunt, either far in the game’s past or somewhere in its unknowable future. Improvising Infiltrator backstory and playing out diplomacy, intrigue, or mad science in the skies above the Takla Makan desert is greatly encouraged!
Prompt #19 is a popular Liminal Space the travelers have visited before, a look at the dream-logic and nonsensical whimsy Travelers are trapped in during their downtime - though it can also be a source of clues they desperately need, the only form of communication from the Trumps they ever get. What does it all mean? If anything.
Prompt #17: Starry Night
You are floating in a weightless, lightless space, slightly chill. In the distance, motes of light forming abstract shapes move, jerky, robotic perambulations as they circle, but the light is too dim to show anything but the phosphor-dots itself. Whenever you speak, stardust spills from your mouth, illuminating, for just a moment, the lower portion of the speaker’s face, and there are other twinkles of stardust in the distance, but the cool air feels thick, and the light does not travel far before dissipating. What do you do, here in the dark?
Prompt #18: A Zeppelin called Zeitgeist
You’re on the observation deck of a luxury zeppelin. It's a rocky ride, the craft being buffeted below by a swirling sandstorm, but perhaps of more interest to most inside are the furnishings. A steam-powered calliope plays music in the corner. The bar, an elegant contraption of brass and stained glass, is automated and coin-operated, a rube-goldbergian series of chutes and levers clicking and unlocking bottle and glass, pouring and mixing as the coins slide down through the mechanism and click the right counterweights into place. And scattered across the floor is a late gentleman of similar composition, six spiderlike telescoping arms connected to pneumatic pumps; his face a marble mask, but his tuxedo is torn and the arachno-mechanical marvel was apparently dismantled by repeated collisions with sharp objects.
Anyone who finds the scene familiar will remember that this airship, the Zeitgeist, is the Flying Cossacks' primary exploration craft, now taking one last tour over the Golden Khanate before being mothballed. A diplomatic voyage, it's been marked so far with a number of dangerous assassins striking at the envoys aboard... it's the summer of 1896, if you're an undercover agent of the Vatican (Vatican librarians being among the most fearsome and well-informed secret agents in the world); or 1314 if, like most of Europe, you're a Sufi and part of the Ummah Caliphate. Steam power rules the world, although clockwork is fast catching up. And you might be on some sort of mission yourself…
Prompt #19: The Bouncy Castle
Color is everywhere in Liminal Space. A giant moon-bounce castle dominates the landscape, surrounded by a ball-pit moat. The sky beyond is very obviously a matte painting and not a real sky; turning slowly above them, the sun and moon as tinted spotlights. Gummy fish jump and swim in the moat, and balloon animals wander the halls, gliding along the walls thanks to helium and friction.
There are a number of more remote locations - the dungeons, accessible down a slide in one corner. The gatehouse, which has floors which are entirely trampolines, with no pretense, nothing to mitigate the bounciness - and cushioned ceilings. The cistern, a dark little room in one corner which has its own deep, round pool of multicolored balls. These places, at least, are a little more private, for anyone looking for peace and quiet amidst the rainbow extravaganza.
19
Hard to tell gender with balloons.
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[The only alternative would be to let him win. And that was just unacceptable.]
Well, I felt bad just calling him-or-her an "it", but-- [she was watching him reach for a ball out of the corner of her eye, and very discreetly shifted so that her hand was now further away from where he sat. Gonna have to do better than that.] --there really aren't a whole lot of pronoun options to choose from.
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You could use gender neutral pronouns instead? Look at nem go!
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I don't know. "Nem" sounds like something my dad would mutter first thing in the morning, before he's had his coffee. These poor animals deserve better than that.
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[Of course he managed to catch her in the one moment her guard was down; she pulled back reflexively, which sent both the balls in hand flying aimlessly into the air. One of them practically flew over her head, landing somewhere on the padded floor behind here.]
There were plenty of balls in the moat, you know. You didn't need to swipe mine.
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[Pauses. Looks sheepish.]
... Uh, that was too Wally, wasn't it? Sorry.
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Maybe a little too kindergarten...which, come to think of it, is probably about the same thing.
[Sorry, Wally
not sorry]I still don't mind.
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[He brightens on seeing the smile and knowing he hasn't offended her by accident.]
Anyway, maybe you should try juggling the animals - they seem more difficult to handle than balls.
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I didn't realize I would be putting on an impromptu performance today. I'm not even dressed for the part.
[She said, as if she didn't have the ability to change her clothes in a single gust of wind.]
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Don't worry, I won't tell and I don't think these guys will either. [Points a thumb over his shoulder at an aligator balloon floating by. Probably off to hunt the gummy fish.]
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I don't know... [She but her lower lip to keep from grinning too much. Glancing in the direction he indicated through peripheral vision. Was that an alligator or a crocodile?] What would I get out of it? I mean, I can't be doing all the work here, can I?
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I have an idea.
A show for a show. I show you one of my talents, you show me one of yours?
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Sure. I think I can pull off some moves here. [Bouncy castle + acrobats = flippin' good time.]
so there is a slight chance i might be working on an app for next cycle....
Alright, then.
Show me your moves.
eeeeeeeeeee :D!
just trying to figure the best canon point rn
[She shifted her weight a little to turn and face him. The juggling balls were all but forgotten now. No point. He'd already seen that trick, and would be looking for a new one. Also forgotten--or attempted to be forgotten--was the fact that, as this was her idea, she technically should have gone first. I show you one of my talents, you show me one of yours?]
Let's see... [A finger rose to her chin, lightly tapping at her lower lip. Pretending like she were in deep contemplation, and certainly not drawing any attention to that particular area of her face. Nope.] How about your favorite? Something that really catches the bad guys off-guard every time you pull it.
I've brought Dick from the end of S1 if that helps
Something like that? [He at least doesn't sound distracted and just chuckles, tossing the stolen ball right in her face to make her blink and immediately vanishing in that split second, his laugh echoing hollowly around the area as he takes to the shadows.]
I could do the end of S1
[The ball in her face was the most shocking part of the whole trick, if only because she hadn't expected him to throw anything at her. R U D E--hey, where'd you go? For someone without any magical powers whatsoever, it was beyond impressive. Here one second, gone the next. A trick of light and distraction, perhaps, but knowing (roughly) how the trick was done never actually took away from the magic.]
[If anything, she was even more impressed.]
That'll do. [Head darting around, she tried to pinpoint his voice. The echo made it exceedingly difficult.] Never thought I'd be so amused at a boy running away from me.
...Team business aside, of course.
\
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[She was there for that birthday party. She witnessed horrors that, despite what Robin had promised, she never did get used to witnessing.]
But if you're going to keep running.... [She picked up one of the plastic balls that had fallen to the side. Turning it over a couple times, she tossed it up in the air once and caught it. Twice. The third time, she curled her ringers around it, pulling the ball tightly to her wrist. A moment later, she released it. Revealing not the plastic ball, but an object that looked very familiar to one of his birdarangs.] ...you might want to bring this with you.
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That's the idea.
[He'll get as far as his fingers brushing against it, confirming the object to be solid...before she curls her fingers around it once more, concealing it from his view. When next her fingers open, the ball pit ball would be back. Ready for her to lightly toss his way, figuring he would instinctively catch it.]
The best way to trick the eye is to make it think it's seeing something it already knows.
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Neat, and not even with real magic.
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