![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
☆ TDM: SEPTEMBER
- Welcome to
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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 27th.With that taken care of...
• Applications Open The 24th! These will last until the end of the month, the 30th, with the intro log going on up October 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 Wilde
For once, the forest that comes to view isn’t flecked with autumnal colors, with leaves that fall without the touch of wind. Each branch blossoms with life, flowers of all shades dotting their surfaces as spring rears its head, and you’re tugged from the edge, through a worn path, and deeper than ever before. The gentle laughter and chatter of living creatures filters in through petals that you brush past, hanging from flowering vines winding downward like delicate curtains.
There’s something new to this though, eyes that see and a growing excitement among the forests’ inhabitants: You’re more known to them than you might guess, it would seem.
 Outskirts The meadow where you find yourself is fresh and green, an explosion of color and the sweet scents of flowers and rain. Wildflowers dot the grass, all beginning to open, in sprays of purple and pink and orange. To one end, the stream flows clear over smooth river rocks into a small pond dotted with vibrant blue fish and turtle-shelled ducks floating without a care in the world. To the other, the forest begins with tall, white-barked trees and saplings in various stages of new growth, pushing out tender green leaves. It's pleasant, but strange, because... There is next to no sign of the Cwyld here in this idyllic patch of the Wilde, no blackened foliage or shadows hiding white-eyed Cwyldtid. The wildlife seem similarly unaffected, even thriving - watch out for the mama petalwolves with their brilliantly-colored floral coverings. Most of them camouflaging themselves in the thickets of wildflowers are followed by bushy, green-leafed cubs, and they're widely known to be aggressive when threatened. The most inspiring sight, however, is one not seen in the Wilde of Geardagas for many years, due to the wide spread of the Cwyld. A silvery, equine creature emerges from the treeline, trotting slowly toward the pond on iridescent hooves. A single white horn protrudes from its head, and its mane shimmers pearlescent in the morning sunlight. Following it is a smaller, clumsier unicorn with a gold-tinged coat, happy to be out and about. Unicorns are known to be exceedingly rare - to spot a foal in the Wilde is unheard of. You're all very lucky to see the way the forest is healing. While some may know that the Coven itself has a unicorn in its stables, this wild one is unused to the hands of humans and may hold her ground in protection of her baby, threatening with her horn and performing small feats of magic to that end -- illusion and physical enhancements are its more core offensives, though it can do healing and shields on the other side. The foal, for the most part, doesn’t seem to have a lick of self-preservation (perhaps it’s been living in safety for too long) and won’t mind bounding up to something, or someone, new and interesting, nickering in asking to play. |
 The Path Through Onward and inward, traveler. The healing forest is vast, but a particular route is clearly outlined to lead toward something. As you head past the treeline, more saplings of varying heights and ages shoot forth from the ground between the large-trunked trees that survived. Warm sunlight dapples the ground in an irregular pattern of light and shade, and shines off a series of mirrors, each about the size of a large hardcover book, hanging from the tree trunks to either side to form a path. No two mirrors are alike. Similar to the mirrors within the Looking-Glass House, each is framed in different decorations and different materials, with different engravings or embossings, but unlike the Looking-Glass House, all the mirrors' decorations are visible to passersby. They're well-cared for out here, polished to a shine and picked clean of leaf-litter and outdoor debris; distant, happy voices reveal that the area is far from abandoned. Each of these mirrors is placed in honor of a Mirrorbound, and all contain an enchantment that, when the surface of the glass is touched, causes it to display short, silent 'moving pictures' of that Mirrorbound's heroic deeds, in Aefenglom, in Dorchacht, or maybe even from the character's home, whatever they may have done to earn this high regard. Whether the retellings are true to life, or completely dramatized, it's clear that much care was put into remembering their individual stories and personalizing the frames of their mirrors. The path between the mirrors serves the dual purpose of memorializing, and leading the way deeper into the forest... |
 Within the Wilde ... Where the sound of creatures grow louder and more plentiful, shaping into actual words as characters step into a clearing, more familiar to those who’d dreamed the first dream than most: There may be no long tables set up with food and drink, but the sight of Fae flitting about and gossiping is certainly something all its own. They, along with Dryads, seem to be plentiful in comparison to the waking world, and once they’ve taken notice of the new faces... immediately begin to ask questions. From whence did they come? Were they filled with new magic power, or had they already begun to change? It’s exciting -- they haven’t had new connections to the world in some time, most of the old Bound having returned beyond their glass some time ago, and while it could mean there was trouble on the horizon they don’t seem too bothered by that fact. “Most” returned, it’s said, because there’s plenty of creatures who claim to have been descended from those who helped to restore the balance of the world, proudly claiming so to any who spend half a minute with them. While they can be spoken to in a sense, characters won’t get anything too crazy out of them -- they’re willing to speak on present happenings (or what’d be present for characters in game) and how that played out, such as how Dorchacht was far more free than it had been centuries hence in example. Anything more pressing, such as how it may have come about, is unable to be understood despite everything else being able to. They tease new dreamers that those of old were brought here, as far as the stories go, to help cleanse the world and return it to what it once was, and joke that they’d better prepare for the same trouble -- what a laugh, their Wilde as it is now, desecrated once more. But the Fae in particular are tricksy and prefer pranks to actual conversation, picking on anyone in sight to see how true it was that Mirrorbound -- you, apparently -- had powerful magic and amazing abilities as Monsters: Give it a shot, cast a spell or two, show off your more Monstrous talents, they’ll find it a genuine hoot. |
no subject
Yeah, I am—seems like you're from there, too. [There's a hint of nostalgia in Oda's expression.]
So, was the tiger your gifted ability? And how did the real ending go, to your recollection?
no subject
Y-yes, I am.
[ While he wasn't born in Yokohama, he's come to see it as his proper home. ]
Ah, yes. . . it is, actually. The real ending wasn't so bright. In fact, even though Dazai-san had stopped the ability of that doll, it didn't mean that the battle with Guild was over.
sorry for taking a while getting back to this
[Oda's eyebrows knit slightly.
There's that doll—does that mean the Port Mafia was battling the Guild? Going by the vision, all of Yokohama was going mad.
While he might know bits and pieces of information, he can't really weave together any context.]
How long ago did this take place?
it's no problem at all!
[ He answers rather simply; it's been quite a bit of time since that happened, truthfully, so he can't exactly give Oda an exact answer. ]
Why?
no subject
He doesn't have the right, and he has to make up for the lives he'd taken before dying himself. Yet Dazai still supports Oda's long lost dream...
For some moments, Oda silently looks away.]
I'm told a lot has changed from what I recall of it. So I was wondering how much time has passed...
[Four years. Both Akutagawa and Dazai have confirmed it's been four years since Oda's death.]
no subject
[ Which he absolutely doesn't know the answer to in the slightest bit. ]
no subject
He swallows the dry lump that had suddenly formed in his throat, and then he lets out a deep, long-suffering sigh. When had he started shaking? It's really hard to tell...
His voice sounds slightly dry when he speaks again.]
Well, it still feels like barely a couple months, but I'm told I've been gone for years...
no subject
This seems to be the former.
It's enough to make his shoulders slump, wondering what exactly this man - this person he just met who seems to also be from Yokohama is thinking.
And the gears in his head start to turn before he speaks up, albeit a little awkwardly. ]
Ah. . .
Well, I couldn't tell you one way or another the answer to that-- but it was definitely--
[ He'll speak of the month and year that he recalls, at least; it's definitely some time in Oda's future, for certain. Leaps ahead, in fact. ]
Is that date also years ahead for you?
no subject
[But that's all come to a close. In the end, Oda couldn't stop himself choosing vengeance—it was the only thing left, and Oda no longer saw any purpose in living. That was his own decision.
After he takes a slow, deep breath, Oda comes to some measure of peace. When he finally opens his eyes and exhales a long breath, he glances at young man before him and then studies his expression.
Dazai had mentioned saving someone. Is this another protege?
Having been a little quiet composing himself and reorganizing his thoughts,] Thanks for telling me.
I'm Oda Sakunosuke. What's your name?
no subject
[ And then he introduces himself and Atsushi's eyes grow wide in a mixture of emotions. He's certainly surprised, yes, but more than that. . . he's caught completely off guard to the point where he's stilled to silence for five seconds.
But only in those five seconds before he finally opens his mouth again: ]
Eeeeh?! Wait, you're the 'Odasaku-san' that Dazai-san was talking about, aren't you?!
[ Atsushi.
That's not introducing yourself. Now he's looking a little nervous before he stutters out his proper reply. ]
Ah, uh, well. I-I-I'm Nakajima Atsushi! [ Nailed it. He bows from the waist down, trying his best to be polite. ] It's nice to properly meet you. . .!
no subject
Same, nice to meet you, too. [So please stop bowing.
He takes a breath and sighs.]
You've also heard of me from Dazai, then. [Really, Oda's more amused than put upon, even if his face doesn't show it.] Have you seen him around here, by the way?
no subject
Yes. He said you were -- [...] -- are really important to him. I did see him earlier, but it seems we got separated after a bit.
no subject
[Dazai's mentioned Oda to quite a few people since their arrival in Aefenglom, though they're all mainly from different places or worlds. Oda's never met this other man until now, but he's definitely from the same Yokohama that Oda remembers.
Does Dazai tell others of Oda's death, too? It's still a bit of a sore point since the memories of events leading to it are still somewhat raw even now.
—Oda actually shakes his head before lifting a hand to pinch his own forehead.] Heh, Dazai certainly still is Dazai.
[He'll get Dazai back—tickles, maybe? or noogies? both?]
Anyway, I've had luck running into him in other dreams until now, so I want to check up on him. Wanna come along? Besides, we haven't met before—how about we get to know each other?
no subject
[ His words trail off for a moment. Even though he's very much aware that the person in front of him is dead, back in his world, that doesn't make him any less important to Dazai in the slightest bit. At least that's how he feels.
And more importantly, it isn't as if he has the right to talk about this sort of thing outside of Oda himself or even Dazai. ]
-- Ah, you saw Dazai-san here? Or was it another dream? [ He's admittedly a little curious, but in the end he does wind up nodding with quite a bit of enthusiasm. ] And yes, of course!
no subject
[Oda's experienced these sorts of hyper-realistic dreams at least three times if he's to include this one.]
So far, these dreams with us transformed as various monsters or witches have all taken place in different parts of the same world: all places in the country of Geardagas.
[They're still moving, still walking as Oda keeps an eye peeled for his treasure. But he falls silent to give the other man a chance to process this information and ask questions or comment as necessary.]
no subject
[ He's noticed the plural there, meaning that this hasn't happened just once, or even twice. But multiple times, in fact. ]
I did see Dazai-san earlier, but a dream could actually be a part of another world...?