The Powers That Be ([personal profile] powersthatbe) wrote in [community profile] synodiporia_ooc2014-12-26 04:17 pm
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Test Drive #6

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!

Our upcoming app round runs January 1st-7th, after which we’ll have a Victorian Cosmic Horror Jaunt - the madness of the Cthulhu Mythos in rural 1800s England. With that in mind, here are some darker prompts, to catch the feel of how your characters react in troubling times...

Prompt #20 is a flashback to the Cursed Kingdom jaunt, where werewolves hunted, deadly magical creatures roamed, and magical curses and traps struck without warning. Feel free to play an investigator, a werewolf, or simply a citizen of the magical kingdom who’s become unfortunately lost...

Prompt #21 is a glimpse of a Jaunt, either far in the past or sometime in the future. In the mining village of Enterrado, a gang has taken control of the flow of silver into and out of town, and the only folks with the hope of running them out are a vengeful band of vigilantes and outlaws. With half the Travelers brainwashed into believing they belong to one gang or another, friends are ready to kill friends, and it doesn’t seem like the few sane folks remaining can stop the bloodshed...

Prompt #22 is set in Liminal Space, during a time of instability, where buildings are collapsing and re-forming, and the worst fears or greatest desires of Travelers are appearing (and vanishing again) like all-too-solid mirages. What would your character imagine, and what kind of threat would it present… ?


Prompt #20: Dark Forest
The trees are too thick to let in any hint of sunlight, if there is any, but more likely the world is just as dark everywhere else by now. Tendrils of mist wind between the trees - most of them harmless, but every now and then one will latch onto a passerby like a leech and begin to turn pink as it drains blood. In the open hollows between the trees, shallow puddles of brackish green water contain hidden sinkholes, or startling arcane visions of the dead. Slowly, snakelike, briars grow and slither like a cage from tree to tree, enclosing anyone too slow and cautious in a pointed hedge-maze. And somewhere nearby, a wolf howls...



Prompt #21: Wild West
They've taken to calling the tavern at the end of the street the Bastille. Its windows have been shot out and barricaded, and some of the tables inside have been upturned for cover. But still, despite the tension, people come in to drink. For all that the miners and the vigilantes have exchanged fire in the streets, and three men have been shot dead in this very saloon in the last day, it's the closest thing left to neutral territory. Desperate bargains and parleys are discussed, struck, and abandoned. Drinks are downed in quantity, and it's almost true that nobody gives a damn any more who's cheating at poker. If you're looking for an old friend, or one of the mad strangers from out of town, or even for someone to draw down on, you won't get better terms anywhere else than you will in the Bastille. Come for the whiskey, stay for the knife-fights.



Prompt #22: Chaos Given Shape
Liminal Space bends and drips like a Dali painting, one landscape sagging into another, buildings settling, leaking water or dirt from whatever alien environment is above them; walls collapsing only to reveal something new on the other side, like a caterpillar molting into a butterfly. Calm meditation and focus by Travelers seems to stabilize the environment briefly, but if one person exerts too much mental influence, the surroundings begin to resemble the territory inside their heads. Old fears and nightmares, lost loves, desperate desires all form out of the fluidic landscape - and that's enough to break almost anyone's calm. But two people, working together, can sometimes strike a safe equilibrium...
stophamatime: (018)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2014-12-29 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
"I know about Personas."

Maybe it's not the smartest thing to just admit he's got a clue about, to a stranger. But she doesn't seem like she has much in common with Strega, who never exactly made overtures of being anything but the enemy, and maybe that's good enough to put whatever worries he has to rest.

Or perhaps - far more likely - Ken's still just not in a mental place to pay more than cursory attention to self-preservation.

"...I'm Ken Amada."
shiroganeheir: (persona get)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-01 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
"You do?" Naoto looks curiously at the boy. "Do you have one yourself?" Yamato-Takeru looks over for a moment, then goes back to ignoring the entire situation.

"It is good to meet you, Ken-chan."
stophamatime: (064)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-01 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
He's nodding in response to the question when she calls him Ken-chan...and his brain comes screeching to a dead halt.

Okay, he's definitely younger and shorter (despite all his best efforts to at least do something about the second), but he's not as tiny as he used to be and surely that's got to be worth a -kun by now, right? Right?

"Please don't call me -chan!"
shiroganeheir: (surprise)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-01 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
Naoto winces visibly, kicking herself. "I apologise, Ken-kun. I should know better." And of all people, she should. "I understand how bothersome it is when people insist on calling one a child."
stophamatime: (018)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-01 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
"Thank you." He didn't intend to cause any self-flagellation, so he feels a little awkward, but -

"Um. I do have a Persona." Go back to the other topic. That's an easy fix, right?
shiroganeheir: (Detective Prince)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-01 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
"Would you tell me about it?" Naoto smiles, in what she hopes is a disarming manner. "I am very interested in others' Personas."
stophamatime: (072)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-01 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Mine's Nemesis. It's Justice arcana...I'm best with Hama skills, but I can use some other stuff too."

Not a word about how fast Mudo knocks him flat on his ass, because a kid's gotta have boundaries.
shiroganeheir: (Persona)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-01 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Yamato-Takeru and I are the Fortune Arcana." She holds out her hand, and a Tarot card materializes in it, twirling in a shine of blue light. "I use both Dark and Light, and some physical skills." And Megadolaon, but that's beside the point.
stophamatime: (009)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-01 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
He watches the card appear, a look of interest on his face - because he's never seen anyone do that. "Where'd the card come from?"

No, Ken, not everyone summons by shooting themselves in the head.
shiroganeheir: (detecting)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-01 02:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"I have a physical card, however, as Yamato-Takeru is over there, I cannot show it to you. This is how we summon our Personas."

A pause. "If you do not know about cards, how do you summon?" Uh-oh. Detective mode, activate.
stophamatime: (004)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-02 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
Well. There's no way this won't be delightfully awkward.

"We use Evokers." He shifts to display the gun that's holstered against his leg.
shiroganeheir: (wtf)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-03 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
"What do you shoot with them?" She's used to shooting her card to summon, but she has a very bad feeling about this.
stophamatime: (054)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-03 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
It's weird to have to try and explain it, because when Ken joined SEES, everyone else already seemed so used to it that he wasn't about to make himself the confused new kid by asking why on earth they used something that worked that way. (There was something about adrenaline and instinctive responses and it sounded like it made sense, but it doesn't exactly make the entire concept any less bizarre, when one thinks about it for too long.)

But despite Ken's unusual priorities...it is weird, and trying to explain it to someone else when he never quite got a good and satisfying explanation himself is weirder still.

He doesn't say anything; just makes a gun shape with his hand and points his finger at his forehead.
shiroganeheir: (unimpressed)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-03 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
"There has to be a better way than that." No, Naoto is not happy at this. Granted, she's not blaming Ken in any way, just whoever thought up that nonsense.

"Smashing a card is strange, I will agree to that, but... no." It goes against every firearms training she has ever had.
stophamatime: (023)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-03 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know how they came up with it. I was one of the last ones to join."

He'd always figured it was some result of the Kirijo Group's research, and that seemed logical enough, but it does make him wonder why that was the best they came up with.
shiroganeheir: (grumpy)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-03 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
"I can understand being one of the last to join the group, I was as well. However..." She makes another face. "It is just startling to me, that is all."

Yamato-Takeru is glaring at nothing in particular, arms crossed over his chest.
stophamatime: (058)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-03 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
"I didn't really ask a lot of questions about it." Because it was awfully secondary in comparison to his purpose for joining SEES, and because it would've made him feel even more like a child in comparison to all the cool high schoolers who were apparently totally fine with pointing fake guns at their heads.

"But it...is kind of weird, I guess."
shiroganeheir: (small smile)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-03 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
"To be honest, I am not certain I would have asked that many questions either. As much as I search for the truth, I would not want to know that one."

She shakes her head, chuckling a bit. "Well, summoning methods aside, it is good to meet another Persona user."
stophamatime: (071)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-03 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm glad there's a friendly group out there somewhere."

You know, as opposed to the unfriendly one.
shiroganeheir: (detecting)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-03 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
"Absolutely." A pause. "Would that mean that you have encountered an unfriendly group of Persona users? We have actually never encountered anyone else who has this power." Well, other than the antagonists, but that's beside the point.
stophamatime: (006)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-03 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
"...yeah."

It's a remarkably uninformative answer, although the look on his face probably says more than his words alone do.
shiroganeheir: (serious face)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-03 02:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"I must admit, that is slightly disconcerting." Naoto thinks for a moment, then looks at him, an odd look crossing her face. What could this young person be suppressing that he had to face?

After a moment: "So, if it is not too forward of a question, how did you face your Shadow? You need not tell me what it was, but I am admittedly slightly curious."
stophamatime: (058)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-04 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
"Um...my Shadow?"

Something's getting lost in translation here, it would seem.
shiroganeheir: (wtf)

[personal profile] shiroganeheir 2015-01-05 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
"How did you gain your Persona, if you did not face your Shadow?" A pause. "Or were you granted the power outright?"
stophamatime: (004)

[personal profile] stophamatime 2015-01-05 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
"We all found out we had the potential because we stayed awake during the Dark Hour."