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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. |
a treacherous adventure
Although it’s worth noting that being run over by Zelda as she flees the very fire he seeks is probably the closest he’s been to any woman other than his sister in... a while.]
H-hey! Wait! Where are you going?! Civilization’s the other way.
[Civilization smells a little like burning.]
no subject
Anyway, Zelda scrambles to steady herself after crashing into someone else who has apparently gotten themselves lost in these endless woods (why else would he be telling her to run back?), reaching out to catch his shoulder briefly for balance. It takes her a moment to give voice to an answer to his question beyond just shaking her head, as she's panting not unlike she's been running a marathon. Maybe she has - this place is rather like the Lost Woods but Even Worse.]
N-- Nothing lies that way save the cursed dead. [And fire. You know, as you do.] Should you value your life, stay away from there.
no subject
[He echoes her, as his eyes open wide enough that he looks about to panic. He does in fact value his life just enough to not want to die at the hands of the undead.
The way he came was a whole lot of nothing as he passed, but there’s no question when it comes to deciding between cold, shin deep mud and zombies (zombies that might be on fire).]
T, take me with you! You have to take me with you!
[He reaches out to grip her hands. It’s a good thing that he can’t sweat through his white gloves.]
no subject
She is absolutely not in a state to bring someone out of a panic attack, but she forces her voice into an as even tone as she can manage when she asks:]
Which way did you come from?
[They've got at least two directions that do not lead Out, so it's time for some high-stakes process of elimination.]
no subject
[One bit of swamp looks the same as the other, but he has one helpful marker: The fires that he was walking towards. All he has to do is angle himself back to where he was when he was approaching them and then behind him must be where he came from. It’s so simple that it’s almost amazing that he has the presence of mind to pull it off.]
I came that way. Definitely!
[He waits for her to decide which way to go, though. The gentlemanly thing to do, obviously, is let the lady tread first into danger.]
no subject
Right.
[Zelda doesn't mind taking the lead here, at least. She prefers it, in fact, even if the whole situation is giving her major flashbacks to escaping Ganon's tower as it collapsed. Neither remaining direction looks more promising than the other, unfortunately, and so when she starts pulling Nobukatsu one way, it's a decision based entirely on gut feeling. Not that anyone needs to know that but her.]
Come on, we need to run!
[Please be faster than you are decisive, random guy!!]
no subject
Thankfully it’s working out, for once. He prefers taking orders when things are going poorly and he is capable of running so long as he has two legs, heavy with mud though they are. More thankfully, Zelda is competent.]
Wh, when do we stop?!
[All too soon. He has done nothing short of jinxing himself and down he goes as soon as the words leave his mouth, tripping over a dead tree root like a sack of potatoes.
But as quickly as he tries to get to his feet, the tree root tightens around his foot. It starts to pull itself up – white eyes and mouth, with a twisted over-sized body rising up from the water and mud.
It’s not a tree, and it’s not happy with Nobukatsu screaming and kicking it in the face.]
sorry this is so late! rl kicked my butt
She should keep running, she thinks briefly. She can't afford to die here. It'll slow her down. She has to survive.
But instead she closes the distance between them. She can't blast the creature with fire as she did several hundred yards ago - not without the risk of hurting Nobukatsu as well - so she reaches out and tears at its form where she can, trying to force it to let its prey go between all the kicking and screaming. Not the greatest tactic for her, given her slight and waif-y build, but when all you have is a hammer and you're not entirely sure how all your magic works--]
Do you-- have anything else to hit it with!
no worries! ive been getting the old 1-2 from it as well
Options like his sword – with his hands shaking it’s a challenge to draw it at all. He only wears it as a sign of his station but that doesn’t mean the blade is dull. He sinks it into the monster, narrowly missing his own foot.
It doesn’t feel like cutting flesh. The limb restraining him cleaves apart like a plant stalk rather than a human wrist.
There’s not much time to appreciate his freedom; even short an extremity the thing in the mud keeps rising, and it’s far larger than it appeared at first glance – especially its mouth. Nobukatsu stops fussing with the fingers still gripping his ankle as soon as he sees the white expanse of its mouth open wider.]
Back… back to running!
[He gropes for Zelda’s hand. Running really is the best idea.]