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synodiporia_ooc2014-12-26 04:17 pm
powersthatbe) wrote in 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...
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...
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[It's said halfway under his breath, because it's not really the point at all, anyway.
Ken still remembers just before he joined SEES, when he'd overheard Akihiko talking to Shinjiro. When he'd realized that he'd just found exactly the person to blame for everything. How mad it made him when he heard Shinji say that he wanted to forget about it -
- how that had been the easy part to focus on, instead of Akihiko's how long do you plan to beat yourself up over it?
It was easier to get angry then, when he didn't realize what it felt like to know someone was dead because of you.]
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So instead he almost looks like he's about to pull his hand out of his pocket (for once), but nope, instead he just shoves it further in there. Almost as if he doesn't even know what to do with himself in the scenario of this kind of talk he was not prepared for at all. The afterlife would've been kinder, probably. ]
Had a change of heart? [ It's the only thing he can say - it's what it sounds like, anyway. ]
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[Because a question like that is hard, when he's hardly had a day to think about this and he still can't put words to half of what he's feeling about the whole thing.]
I'm still mad. But...
[Mad for more reasons. Mad at more people. Mad at Shinji, yes, but also mad at Takaya for making everything even worse. Mad at the police, who he already knows are going to just treat it the same way as his mother's case and sweeping everything under the rug.
Mad at himself, for being someone people think they have to protect.]
1 / 2
[ With the way Ken's voice trails off like that, he figures it's the best way to pull the other's attention again. Not that his own thoughts aren't just as hard to put in a line, but like hell he's just going to give up because of that when Ken still has a chance at life. ]
Ken. [ -- for once. Instead of "kid" or.. well, whatever have you. It's a little more effective when he really wants to get something across. ] It's only natural to be mad. It's okay to have my guts-- nah, it's natural. Even if you think a little better about it now, not like it's gonna change anything for me. I don't need any of it where I am. Or where I'm going, or.. ugh. Whatever.
[ THANKS, SUDDEN WEIRD REVIVAL IN A WEIRD PLACE THAT COMPLICATES SHIT ONLY FURTHER.. ]
What I'm saying, what I was trying to say that night too, is.. you can't let that shit control the rest of your life. Even if it sucks, you gotta move on. Whether it was by shoving a spear into me that night [ which was not the favourable option, since it would just mean more weight for Ken to carry, but at least that's out of the options right now anyway ] or by doing it yourself. Not for anyone else, but for you.
[ Don't do the same thing he did and just.. ruin the rest of your life. Don't run away from everything you still give a fraction of a shit about. ]
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I mean, hell, who else's gonna feed Koromaru?
1/2
[It's not a very easy thing to wrap his mind around. He's been telling himself for two years that his mother wouldn't want to just be forgotten, that she'd want justice to come to her killer.
It's easier to tell himself what she would want, and decide that must be what he wants too.
Ken has no idea what he wants, but he doesn't think it's for anyone else to be dead.]
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You're the one who knows how to make all of his favorites! I don't even -
[This attempt at levity is just making him really upset now.]
I don't even know what you always give him! [Because he never wanted to get close enough to Shinjiro to find out and now he's never going to know and Koromaru is going to get sub-par treats forever this is not fair to anyone.
(It's not really about dog food. It's about the fact that trying to calm down and talk quietly about this only works in small chunks before he just wants to scream or cry or something all over again.)]
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Still, all of this is taking a lot out of Shinji (it's what happens when your last memory is of bleeding out on the cold
hard floorpavement) and after letting out a sigh he lets himself just plop down on the floor to sit there for a bit, weapon right next to him so he can pick it up right away if anything shows up.Right now though? The biggest enemy is himself. The fact that he's supposed to be dead, but he can still fuck things up. He can still accidentally steer Ken off the right path just by saying something wrong. ]
Well, I'd explain it to you, but this doesn't exactly seem like a place to share dog food recipes. [ A little dryly. Almost as if he's trying his hardest to cancel out Ken's anger with his own hollow calm.
-- a breath, and.. ]
Listen. All this shit? It would've happened if you'd have killed me too instead of that asshole. You also would've had to figure out on your own what to give him now. It's the same deal. [ He quirks an eyebrow, his expression a little wry. He's mostly trying to make Ken figure it out already for himself. ] Didn't you think about that?
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That's uncomfortable.
So Ken lets his own head drop, gaze on the ground. The hand that's still got his spear is clinging to it in a death grip - mostly so it doesn't start shaking, like his other hand just won't stop doing.]
...no.
[Of course he didn't think about that. He was angry. He was upset. He was planning to be just as dead as Shinji by the time the night was over, so he wouldn't have to think about what came after that. About being alone.
About whether there were still people who would've cared after all, about what he might be doing to them.
They weren't Mom. They wouldn't miss him that much, would they?]
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You get it now, right?
[ Something about the way Ken's hand shakes tells him that, about that small answer - especially compared to his yelling from earlier. ]
You thought you wouldn't leave anything behind. That it wouldn't matter. [ How does he know? Well, he thought the exact same thing. And it's exactly as he was dying that he realised why that was such a fucking dumb idea to begin with. Aki, Mitsuru, Koromaru - even everyone else. He's been a selfish asshole, huh. ]
Take some advice from an as-- [ .. ah, awkward. Just as he's about to say that, the words echo in his head. ...I don't think you're...as much of one as you keep saying. ] -- from someone who realised it just a moment too late.
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[He gets it, sort of - he comprehends it, at least, but he's still only halfway got his mind wrapped around the idea. That anyone's still going to care, that maybe it's real concern and not just pity that's been making them treat him so kindly since he moved into the SEES dorms.
If he hasn't already completely ruined that.]
I just don't want to be alone.
[His free hand clenches into a fist.]
Mom left me behind and now you're leaving me behind and everyone -
[The spear slips from his hand and clatters to the ground as he drops to his knees, so abruptly he can feel a sharp sting and he probably just scraped them but who even cares -]
They're going to hate me for this and I feel so stupid -
[His voice chokes up and he stops, taking a deep breath.]
MY RIGHT ICON FOR THIS IS INACTIVE SO EXCUSE ME
[ If Shinjiro would admit to ever seeing anything utterly soul-crushing in his life, this is it.
The knowledge that it's all his fault doesn't make it any easier. Especially not since he doesn't feel like he properly paid Ken back - not even by dying to protect him. The only proper way to pay him back would be to un-break his life, to do everything Shinjiro's done wrong, but he can't. He can't work miracles like that. The fact that his mother died, that he's grown up with those thoughts, that he's the way he is now..
It's all his fault. His fucking fault.
And now he's dead and somehow that's made it even worse, like the next mistake in a long line of mistakes he just can't stop making.
But at the least, at the very least, he just doesn't want Ken to have to cry
again-- ]No one's going to hate you.
[ God, he's.. he's so bad at this, he's always been, even at the most important moments. Especially at the most important moments. But after a slight moment of hesitation, he reaches out, and plops his hand down on Ken's head. ]
It's not your fault, everything that happened. [ Not as directly as it was Shinjiro's fault for fucking up in the first place, all those years ago. ] They might get all worked up about it, but they won't be upset with you. You know how they are. They'll all be with you, so the least you gotta worry about is being alone.
[ For a moment his shoulders are tense, but then he releases a breath, lightly ruffling the boy's hair. ]
.. didn't know I was apparently special enough to get a mention, though. [ Even if it's only a bittersweet reminder that he knows he's never there when he actually should be for anyone. ]
NO EXCUSE, WOW
Maybe that's exactly what he needed to hear, because on his own, he can't come up with a reason for it not to be. Ken asked Shinjiro to be there in the first place. Ken fully intended for them both to die there. Ken provoked Takaya into shooting at him first, completely on purpose.
Trying to deny it doesn't seem fair. Trying to deny it feels wrong in the same way he used to feel like letting Shinji off the hook for his mother would be wrong.
...but when he's not so sure that would be wrong, now, what does that say about this?
He swallows a sob before it can find its way out.]
...it never felt like you just...pitied me.
[Despite everything else, something in Ken always appreciated that. Two years has been more than enough time to get sick of being pitied.]
fine, never tags you again!!!!
I was way too busy feeling guilty every fucking moment. Think I had time to pity you in the meantime?
[ Sure, he felt bad for Ken, but not in a pity kind of sense.. he mostly felt bad because he knew that he fucked up Ken's life so badly, not anything else. It's all because he couldn't control his Persona just one time.
With another small ruffle, his hand leaves Ken's head. ]
Why do you think I came back to S.E.E.S. to begin with?
[
ok, so having a dog with them was a nice perk, but that's not it.]lies here.......
Because Sanada-san wouldn't leave you alone.
[Or at least, that was what he'd figured, even if this conversation is implying there was something more to it than that.]
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Well, Aki is pretty damn insistent when he wants to be. [ Read: always.
Stop talking about protein.]But that ain't it. I came back since he told me you joined.
[ He doesn't say more, doesn't explain more. Ken's a smart kid, he doesn't need to have his hand held that badly. Shinjiro's sure he can understand it with just those words. ]
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But it's an easy enough conclusion that that - isn't what Shinji's telling him for, that this isn't meant to kick off another bout of Ken feeling like an awful person. Though privately, Ken definitely still feels like an awful person, for getting someone killed not once but twice, for wanting to kill someone who was looking out for him (in some weird awkward way) the entire time -
He can feel his hands starting to shake again, and he leans forward enough to plant them on the ground.]
I'm sorry.
[It comes out quietly the first time, barely above a whisper, but that doesn't feel good enough, and he takes a choking breath and blurts it out again, louder.]
I'm sorry!
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But it's a start, even if Ken's slumped over on the ground like that, making his expression sober up a little again. ]
Sorry for what?
[ It's not that he doesn't know. But what he really means to say with those words is - "I don't need apologies."
Because there's nothing Ken should have to be sorry for, if Shinjiro was the one who intended to get himself offed anyway. ]
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[He stops, swallows. Takes a breath.]
I didn't think. I didn't want to think. That maybe you weren't so bad...
[It may have been a rhetorical question, but whether Shinji wants or needs apologies, Ken needs to say them. Nothing feels right anymore, and even if apologizing isn't going to make it right, at least it's one less thing that's going to be hanging over his head for the rest of his life.
He was so wrapped up in what he thought was right that he missed the most important parts.]
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Just a sigh. ]
Yeah, me neither.
[ He didn't want to think either that maybe he wasn't so bad. He didn't want to let go for even a moment of the notion that he was a piece of shit for ruining someone else's life. ]
So if it's gonna be anyone's fault, it's both of ours. [ Because Ken might have started it, but Shinjiro willingly went to seek it out, to let it happen. ]
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Maybe that's easier to swallow. It doesn't seem fair for him to keep blaming Shinjiro, not when he knows what he does now - but Shinji's insistence at it not being Ken's fault entirely does mean something now, too.
He always wanted what he thought was fair. He just wasn't looking hard enough to understand why it was fair.]
...yeah.
[Whether everyone else will see it that way...is a thought that makes him more nervous, even though on some level, he knows Shinji's right. They're not the kind of people who are just going to - write him off for this.]
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It's why he reaches out, giving the other another quick hair ruffle. ]
You going to be alright then?
[ And.. well, even though it's tiny, he smiles. ]
Got high expectations for you, kid. Don't disappoint a dead guy or it might come back to haunt you.
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Life is strange and he still isn't sure what the heck he's supposed to do with it.]
I still don't know what I'm supposed to do, though!
[He's not so set on dying anymore, but living is still a big question mark. What now?]
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[ Don't think he didn't spot you watching while you thought no one else was looking, Ken!! It's like his cooking shows while he's cuddling with Koromaru on his lap deal. Nothing escapes anyone's notice in that dorm. ]
There's so much shit out there to do, don't tell me you can't think something up.
[ You know, like going to a horror game and getting his coat in your closet.
On second thought, don't do that. ]
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and WOW RUDE excuse him while he casually uses that coat as a blanket every time he tries to ignore the horrors long enough to take a nap.]
...you noticed?
[Clearly his secret love for Featherman is the thing to focus on here. Clearly.]
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