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TDM: April
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aefenglom's test drive! All threads can be considered game canon, should you choose to do so; regardless of if you pick specific threads to remain canon to the game, the prompts and test drive itself will be. This will be touched on later in-game, so it's fairly important to note! Aside from that, here are some quick reminders:• Reserves Open Today! If you're interested in securing a spot, put one in! We accept applications without reserves too, of course. Reserves will expire three days before the end of the application period, on the 28th.With that taken care of...
• Applications Open The 24th! These will last until the end of the month, the 30th, with the game formally beginning on May 1st. The application page can be found here.
• If you have any questions about the game or the world, please refer to the FAQ page; if you still have questions, feel free to ask them! For questions specific to the test drive, please ask them on the appropriate thread.
• For the purposes of the test drive, your character will have access to all magics taught by the Coven if they're a Witch, and as much of their shifted form as you'd like if they're a Monster. Feel free to play around and experiment with each!
• Test drive threads can be used as samples for your applications!
You feel like you're floating. Around you, colors and sounds and smells swirl as if trapped in a whirlpool, vibrancy and hue ever shifting. The more you watch them, the less solid they are; they only become clear out of the corner of your eye. The area around you begins to feel more solid as well, until your feet are on the ground, the wind brushes playfully against your face -
and you know one thing, and one thing alone: this is a dream, and an incredibly realistic one at that.
The Tea Party
The air turns a sweeter smell, almost like a bakery; the gentle laughter and chatter of living creatures filters in through leaves that brush against you, hanging from winding vines that hang from above. Flowers in shades of orange and red glow faintly among the greenery, their petals curling in shyly once they're paid attention to. As the area comes more into focus, the shadows of insect-winged forms become clearer, flitting about - talking about some kind of party, about a Queen, about the Courts meeting on neutral ground for the first time in a thousand years.
You're not entirely sure what's going on, and it doesn't seem as if anyone's noticed you've arrived - but three different paths unfurl in your mind's eye, vague in shape and meaning.
 A Taste of Faeryland... Following the voices, you find them: smaller-than-average humanoids with thin limbs, a variety of wings (prismatic butterfly, fuzzy moth, delicate bee - all of it), large, glittering compound eyes, antennas fitting their winged insect-type... Those familiar with the tales of the fae might recognize these Monsters as something similar. They greet you as if you were an old friend regardless of your appearance, inviting you to sit down at the table - which seems to go on forever in the large dining hall-esque canopy of nature they have set up, lined with elegant porcelain tableware and shimmering orbs of magic. The food is similarly endless, ranging from the familiar to the unusual, and careful observation (or just plain digging in) shows the following effects: breakfast foods make you glow and emit colorful sparks, brunch foods get you floating as if filled with bubbles, lunch foods will make you feel as if you've taken part in happy hour, dinner foods will make you insatiably hungry, and dessert will make you feel as if you should simply stay in Faeryland forever... It's possible to mix and match these with effects, but do be careful. The creatures present speak in high, lilting voices about nothing in particular at all - if asked anything serious, they merely give the character a curious if disproving look and say it's impolite to speak of politics over a meal. Ask something a little more lighthearted though, and they laugh and still... don't quite answer, patting your hand and asking if you'd like an extra slice of buttered bread and jam. The tables aren't exactly the best place for eavesdropping and learning what's going on, it seems - but there are plenty of exits out of the dining hall. Large, beetle-like Fae stand guard at the entrances of various hallways outside of the hall in the castle though, preventing anyone from entering them. When asked, they simply reply these are to private quarters that ordinary guests aren't allowed into and refuse to budge on the matter. |
 A Coalition of Interests... The Seelie and the Unseelie Courts of the Fae - whether you know them or not, evidently it's a big deal that they're meeting tonight. Or over several days and nights; the Fae themselves seem to be in a bit of an argument over how long they actually want to stay in the same company as their counterparts, neutral ground of the Dewaint Forest. Regardless, there are no marked differences between the two physically, and they all speak of a singular Queen heading them; behaviorally, though, that's another thing entirely. Those of the Seelie Court are quicker to engage in conversation and prefer it one-on-one, hardly allowing a word in edgewise and getting irritated when interrupted; their pranks are usually mildly malicious, with spells causing uncontrollable laughter, color changes, and charms to make the charmee fall in love at first sight with whomever they see first peppering their repertoire. Returning to their good graces is fairly easy - the gift of something pretty as an apology tends to work, but each Fae has their own very particular gift they like. If it's messed up even a little bit, they won't accept it, and will merely play another trick upon the giftee. Those of the Unseelie Court, meanwhile, are a little harder to talk to; they prefer to prank and trick first to test those they might be interested in as a group, not unlike children trying to get the attention of someone they like by pulling their hair. Their pranks usually range from genuine hurt (such as pulling hair, stinging nettles, or simply beating them with bound vines) to curses (losing one's voice, the head of an ass, or full-scale animal transformations). Withstanding these, or standing up to these Fae, earns as much of their ire as it does their respect - the truly respectful human will be subjected to headpats and collars, like a pet. |
 A Treacherous Adventure... As beautiful as it is outside of the main dining hall and newly-grown castle (just for the momentous occasion itself, going by the rumors!), Faeryland as a whole is mired in danger. The wrong step sends one tumbling down a rabbit hole full of interesting sights, landing in a wide field of drooping flowers that snore softly and scream bloodcurdling loud when awoken. No matter how long one walks, discovering both familiar and unfamiliar sights, never ends in finding the castle again. In fact, it's much easier to find yourself accidentally going deeper into the woods. The exceptionally tall trees of the Dewaint Forest show hints of decay and rot, the smell of the dead barely covered by the flowers desperately growing across the blackened bodies of Fae and other animals that wandered too close to the growing infection in the area. What look like corpses will tremble and rise when they sense someone is close by - their eyes and mouth are pure white, contrasting with the darkness around them, and throughout the shell are cracks of a similarly pulsing whiteness; it smells magical, it feels incredibly heavy and overpowering, and it might just be too powerful for those most sensitive to the corruption and to magic. The shadowy creatures' wings are larger than normal and monstrous, with their bodies held up by the dew-crying flowers that simultaneously hold them back yet sneak their roots closer to grab those who awakened them and drag them closer. Where the monster begins and ends with the corrupted nature it's made its bed in isn't completely clear, but one thing is: it's very, very hungry. Thankfully, it's a good thing some of you have new abilities at hand, and some of you have a few neat changes to help. Teaming up makes things go quicker, and once defeated, these creatures bleed white magic and disappear in ashy smoke, shell breaking off in bits to reveal a dried-up corpse of a Fae. Nothing else remains, not even a hint to their identity, and the more of these monstrously-turned Monsters characters meet, the bigger and more terrifying they get. |
no subject
[... Oh? She goes wide-eyed.]
What's starting?
[Oh she knew it, the moment she gives in to the sweets is the moment she's cursed finally. Damn her sweet tooth!]
no subject
Change.
[ Would be dramatic, if not for his flat delivery. ]
If human food is made to sustain the human body, then Otherworld's food is made for its inhabitants- [ And then there is the whole "you are what you eat" logic. At least in the lore, he's familiar with - so yes he is extrapolating a lot. ]
no subject
... Did that mean they would change just from eating it then? It didn't seem to be a harmful change though.
She pauses to look around the room again at all the assorted collection of beings. She had been struck by how roughly the same they looked and she finds herself now noting it again. Aside from ladybug wings there or mother wings here or differences in heads, it wasn't that wide of a gap between them all in her view.]
You called them 'Otherworlders'?
[Her tone is curious and indeed she doesn't look so much afraid as she does intrigued. She hadn't been attacked so far and if the food didn't kill you or some such, she saw little reason to be too fearful. On guard perhaps but fear did no one any good.]
no subject
Where I come from, we had many names for them. They, in turn, had many more names for themselves, and it would be proper to call them how they prefer. [ Which is something they don't know- at least he doesn't remember hearing that. ] Have you heard of The Fair Folk, miss?
[ "Fairies" would probably ring the bell far better. Sídhe is the word he'd use. But they might fit neither. No matter that, he keeps a look on her. If the food made him glow, who knows what happens to her? ]
no subject
Once she's swallowed, she speaks again.]
They sound something like the sânziană. I believe they are fairies though. Would those be the same, do you think?
no subject
That would do. We're in a Court of Fairy King- or Queen. Fairies are mischievous creatures, aren't they? Maybe I'm speaking with the Queen right now. [ He frames it as a tease, but he could be careful enough to not offend a Queen- should he really be speaking with her ] If that was the case, you wouldn't give me your name if I asked for it-
[ Smartass playing he might be, there is a special power to True Names among magical beings. ]
no subject
I'm no fairy, much less a queen. And the name is Maria.
[True, she might have participated in the Sânziene acting as a fairy at times but that didn't mean she was one.
If she knew better she might hesitate but at least in her profession, giving names meant little. The only bindings she knew of were curses and perhaps those were easier to give with names but that didn't seem likely either.]
no subject
That puts us even in this mess, we're both just guests. [ Maria is a good name, and a courtesy warrants that he gives her his name back. Which he can't. Hah. ] To make it even more even- I go by Caster.
[ His gaze wanders now on the table, because- those desserts, they weren't here a moment ago? Is the food magically refilling itself, or what..? ]
no subject
Thankfully she catches herself before she seems overly friendly with a near stranger, instead turning her glance to the desserts. She blinks and it's almost as if a few more things crop up as she does so.]
I wonder what the desserts do.
[Assuming all the food have magical effects, of course.]
no subject
They're enchanted, that's for sure. [ That much he can tell. That strange tingling, that faint smell that suggests magic is in the work- it's present on the table, but it's present everywhere. ] Bah, I know.
[ He got this all figured out, see- ]
Let's observe someone eating dessert and see what happens.
[ It's foolproof ]
no subject
Of course now the spirits had gone silent within her. And there was more than a little disquiet within her at that
She turns a slight sideways glance in his direction, a faint frown tugging at her lips. Maria was never one to let others go first and just observe, not if the situation had some sort of unknown factor to it. Equally though just charging the table and testing the foods for herself seems foolhardy as well.
Hmph. Asking the fairies wouldn't help either. They couldn't manage to give any straight answers.
She doesn't get much time to chew on the question of what she ought to do before someone really does come to the dessert table and gives it a try. And... nothing happens? Or nothing overt? If anything by their body language... well.
Maria's shoulders slump a little, confusion clear.]
They just look... relaxed.
no subject
There must be something...
[ A closer look will note that people gathering around certain tables have different afflictions. A rowdy and happy table, change of colours, sparkles, bubbles or whatever else.
He'd probably skip dessert and not notice this fact but now he just can't unsee it. ]
The relaxing itself could be the effect though. Just eat and enjoy to your heart content, uncaring about the burdens of the world. [ That would fit. ] Do you happen to have a world to cast away for sweets?
no subject
I'm afraid not.
no subject
So, not risking it? [ Fancy sweets weren't really A Thing back in his time, but given how delicious the food looks here, no matter the type- everything is just tempting to eat. To which he decides to act on the contrary ] Do you think bringing some of these sweets to the guard would make it- easier to get past them?
[ That's bribery. But hey if these sweets are indeed relaxing... let the guards live their life a bit. ]