dagung | TDM: January

Test Drive: January

All threads can be considered game canon,

the prompts and test drive itself will be

• 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.
• Applications Open The 24th! These will last until the end of the month, the 31st, with the intro log going up on February 1st. The application page can be found here. As a reminder, this will be our last uncapped application round!
• 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 Prehistoric Wilde

Thick summer heat hangs heavy over the uninfected landscape like a damp blanket, smothering. The jungle around you is thick and wet, full of the sounds of chittering animals and the high-pitched drone of insects. The flora and fauna are like nothing you've ever seen before, large and alien in colors and shapes, though they bear no signs of the Cwyld. Flowers the size of a man's head and brightly colored in rainbow hues curl their tendrils invitingly, and giant mosquitoes buzz through the air seeking a meal. You can barely see the glow of the twin moons through the thick canopy above. There are no signs of civilization - at least, not the civilization most will be used to; only the distant sound of the river, compelling you to follow its winding path. But will you go forward, or will you go back?

Rumble in the Jungle
Making headway through the jungle at night is a chore. The foliage grows thick and the humid heat is oppressive for even those who enjoy the warmth. There are no clear paths here, no easy way through. The canopy of the ancient trees far, far over your head is just as dense, but the faintest moonlight filters through the holes left by the huge leaves in stippling patterns across the musty forest floor. 'Large' seems to be the theme - lining whatever path you pick your way through, there are pitcher plants massive enough to swallow a grown man, with small animals and giant insects being digested down inside the sticky liquid that fills them. The flowers are as big as a man's head, and come in a rainbow of colors, their venomous tendrils curling toward signs of life. The trunks of some of the trees are as thick as houses, and shade the ground beneath them with leaves like umbrellas. The hand-sized mosquitoes thrive in the sticky heat and if not killed first, can make off with a full pint of blood from an unsuspecting person.

At some point in your journey, the ground begins to rumble beneath your feet. The farther you go, the longer you walk, the more signs of life become visible: thick, winding trails of crushed foliage, huge, animalistic footprints in the mud. Luckily, to this world, you are small and insignificant, and may escape the notice of the local Monsters - the massive, prehistoric ancestors of today's Monsters.

They seem like giants, colossal Titanoboa Nagas with hollow fangs like swords, towering Fauns with the lower halves of mammoths, sabertooth Turnskins, pterodactyl Harpies with leathery wings. Even the parts of them that resemble humans (and they have far fewer human-like parts than their modern counterparts) are larger than any actual human being. They operate primarily on instinct, made even stronger by the full moons above, and perceive the strange new creatures as threats - or food.

Sticking to the river seems safest - at least until you run into megalodon Merrow, singing an alien, but alluring, song to draw in prey, or the apex predator of this prehistoric world - Dragons, bigger and scalier than the ones Mirrorbound may know, stopped to drink at the river. All other Monsters flee from the huge reptiles, lest they become food themselves. Luckily you can defend yourself with your new abilities, or your neat changes - you're small, but not totally helpless.

Interesting to note... while all other Monster types are represented, there are no Fae or Chimeras in the Wilde here, and the Vampires are more like huge bat-monsters that traverse the jungle on all fours than humanoid bloodsuckers.

The Natives
Going backward, away from the distant sounds of the sea and against the current of the river, leads you through dense jungle. How long have you traversed the landscape? Hours? Days? Time passes funny in dreams. Eventually the trees thin out, grow taller and less leafy, and the air becomes drier. Instead of loamy soil beneath your feet, you start to feel rocky, harder earth, and spot outcroppings of stone. The sun begins to rise, which makes it easier to spot people on the horizon, a little settlement coming to life in the morning, nestled where the river forks into two.

They're much hardier than the familiar people of Aefenglom, sunburned and dressed in natural, rough fabrics. Their homes, if one can call them that, are shoddy little structures made of sticks and leaves and mud, pressed up against the sturdiness of the stone formations. And, when they spot strangers approaching their village, they scramble for their weapons - crude clubs, stone axes, even just large rocks snatched up off the ground.

The translation magic works on them, thankfully. Their speech is halted and simple, but they get their point across. Tell them who you are, or they'll beat your brains in. Monsters might get their brains beat in anyway if they aren't careful, even though they're much smaller than the Monsters these humans are used to. And Witches? May the gods help you if you use magic in front of these terrified, unevolved people, lest they mistake you for a Fae (the word is whispered with fear and revulsion in their voices) and swarm you with simple iron tools. If you're an actual Fae, an obvious Fae? They'll whisk their children into their huts protectively and then run you right out of the village. Violently.

The truly observant, or those who can see through illusions, among you may notice something strange, though. Some Fae actually seem to live among them, heavily cloaked in natural illusions, with the primitive humans none the wiser. There are just a few, but all of them look young, twelve or thirteen at the oldest, and they are all scared of their secret coming to light. Fae who get caught tend to be burned at the stake around here.

The Invaders
Perhaps you chose to go forward, with the current and toward the distant sound of ocean waves, where the river pours into the sea. More long-time residents of Aefenglom may notice that the shoreline is familiarly-shaped, but wider, bigger, not yet worn down by thousands of years of erosion. There is no bustling Harbor, only the waves crashing on the rocks, small islands dotting the water near the shore. There is no Bright Wall - there is no city, even, only an expanse of beach transitioning gently into an idyllic grove dotted with gauzy, pointed tents, and a beautiful, gilded ship half sunk into the sandy earth.

It seems safer than the jungle, at first - until you notice all the Fae. They're more insectoid than the ones many are familiar with, with big, glittering eyes and either bright, jewel-toned wings like dragonflies or butterflies, or delicate, leafy wings in greens and browns. They're also taller than modern, lesser Fae, though not by much, and they're thin and angular, standing on spindly limbs that barely seem able to hold them.

Characters receive a warmer welcome here, by the band of true Fae that have made their camp in the grove, though the alien-looking beings have a tendency to treat them like toys, children, or both, cooing over their sizes and their magic.
"Look at the little Monsters! Aren't they cute!"
"We should make some of our own! And oh, the little humans have magic! Delightful!"
It's hard to have a conversation with one - they're condescending at best, and at worst, flit off to another entertainment out of boredom while you're mid-sentence.

And entertainments abound in their camp. They're served and tended to like emperors by collared humans - adults and young adults do the heavy labor, including pulling grand little chariots for transportation, though there are some highly-supervised human children running about fetching drinks and fanning their Fae masters with palm leaves.

Farther out, a large, deep pit has been dug out of the earth, ringed by a waist-high barrier of logs, a few Fae gathering at the barrier and leaning over, talking in conversational, happy voices. Down below, Chimera gladiators fight for their amusement, while the Fae keep up running commentary, discussing each warrior's chances, new breeding prospects, interesting crossbreeds their fellows have come up with ("She's trying an Arachne and a Turnskin together, how delightful!"). Trying to disrupt the proceedings will only result in the Fae turning their magic on you - illusions and curses, nasty little tricks. Sit down, silly little ones! The fight is just getting good! Or maybe... Maybe they'll toss you into the pit to see what your chances are in battle.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[If he weren't clinging to a wildly flailing four-story primordial bat creature from hell, Emil would probably preen a little over Kaden being impressed by him. After all, he is a hero in the making, who has lots of experience fighting giant creatures from hell, and it's nice to have his talents recognized. Not that he's coming across particularly talented right now, still yelping and clinging to the creature's fur, his eyes wide and his teeth grit, adrenaline coursing through his system.

And then Kaden is calling back for him to hold on tight as he can-]

As if I'm not doing that already!

[-and throwing a punch? Except the punch seems to be surrounded by a giant ball of energy that slams into the bat thing's face and it starts stumbling backwards a little, more still than it has been so far. Emil notices that Kaden falls backward, lands on the ground in the mud (oh that has to suck, Emil hates being dirty too) and it's abruptly all up to him because Kaden looks not only covered in mud, but pretty defenseless like that.

Scrambling the last few feet up to the monster's head, he clings to the fur at its neck and shoves the lit explosive down its giant ear. Kind of brutal, and he feels a very deep stab of guilt over it because that would probably be a terrible way to go, but what else can he do? Letting go of the creature's fur, he lets himself skid at top speed down its back and onto the ground with a painful thump, calculating maybe only 20 seconds before that explosive goes off, and he wants himself and Kaden out of the way before it does.

Running at top speed over to the other boy, he grabs at his arm and only succeeds in hauling him off the ground before the explosive goes off. Messily.]

Oh gross!

[ from a spectator's perspective, this is probably pretty badass--- one hero carrying another as they're both flung off screen by a gory explosion that probably covers the camera's lens with all kinds of gross stuff? except it's really not that much of a spectacle and Kaden is too dazed to really acknowledge or question it; he's dimly aware of how grotesque whatever is left of the proto-vampire, only feeling even more disgusting as something splatters on him.

he groans, one ear flicking weakly as he looks back and immediately regrets it. ]

Oh... ew, what did you do?!

[ half-amazed and half-freaked out, he's not thinking about escaping Emil's grasp yet. besides, this human effectively saved his life. whether it was out of convenience or kindness or some mixture of both, he can't say. but he's thankful, nonetheless. ]

Was that magic? What you did, I mean. I think I did some too.

[ and he immediately starts to wipe himself off on Emil. ]

[It probably really does look impressive from an outsider's perspective, but Emil is more preoccupied with the ringing in his ears from the explosion and the fact he's covered in bat-monster goo. And, vaguely, he's aware of the adrenaline coursing through his system, the fact that it's setting his whole system alight with jittery energy, that his eyes are wide and his body is tense.

Blinking a couple of times, he looks over at the other boy, abruptly notices that he's got cat-like ears and a tail but is also covered in gore from the monster whose head he'd just blown up. Oh god, he'd just blown up something's head. Turning away from the other boy for a moment and letting go of him, he leans over, throws up into the mud, and then turns back, wiping his mouth, his whole body shaking a little.]

Sorry, sorry about that. I blew up its head.

[Reaching out, he tugs at the other guy's sleeve, then starts moving toward dry ground, out of the mud, and away from the gross bat carcass they'd left behind.]

No, no I'm not a mage, it was an explosive. I lit it and shoved it down its ear. Oh god.

[Exhaling roughly, he shakes his head and glances back, makes a wan little smile.]

You definitely did some magic. It was really cool, like some blue orbs and a big fist thing to punch it. I couldn't have done that alone, thanks.

[A beat, and then suddenly he stops dead.]

Oh my god, where's Kitty? Kitty?!

[ those 'cat'-like ears and tail both flick, but immediately go low once Emil has to relieve himself of... well, whatever's inside of him. he turns his head and closes his eyes, doing his best to be as polite as possible, though Kaden's still feeling the shock of what could've been and what really happened.

he's not trembling or anything! it's clearly still vibrations from the explosion, that's all. very tiny, local ones. ]

You don't have to apologize. [ Emil saved him, after all. ] I should be thanking you and trying to find us somewhere to clean because ugh, I've never felt this gross before in my life and I've slept by a wolfskin before.

[ it's easy to follow Emil, though it seems short-lived. ears now alert, he quickly turns around as well, wondering if anything will come charging at them as the other boy calls out for Kitty. whoever Kitty is, anyway. ]

Kitty? Is that your friend? I haven't seen anyone else around here...

[It's embarrassing, of course, to throw up right in front of a brand new acquaintance, but Emil has never really held his adrenaline very well. He's always nauseous and on edge after a fight like that, his nerves grated raw, and it isn't exactly pleasant. At least when he looks at Kaden, he realizes he's not the only one trembling.

Of course, he's not going to be so crass as to actually mention that, not that he'd have any right to after throwing up.

Then Kaden is refusing his apology and being generally polite in return and saying they need to find somewhere to clean up because he's feeling gross, and Emil can't help but let out a shaky, relieved laugh.]

God, right? I haven't felt this gross in a really long time, it's absolutely disgusting. Mud and monster goop and...ugh.

[A shiver goes down his spine, and he starts trudging out of the mud, green-blue eyes sweeping the edge of the brush trying to spot Kitty.]

Oh, no, not exactly. She's my cat, I had her just before you ran into me...oh! There she is, Kitty, c'mere!

[He'd spotted her sitting on a tree branch halfway up a tall tree, hunched up and staring down at him. Holding his arms out, he makes eyes at her, smiling slightly.]

C'mon, good girl, come down here, the monster is gone...

[Thankfully, she believes him and starts carefully picking her way down the tree until she's low enough that she can jump into Emil's arms. He catches her with a little 'oof' and glances back at Kaden.]

This is Kitty. And I'm Emil. Uh...pleased to meet you?

[ Emil's laugh does wonders for Kaden's nerves, and though he doesn't find it within himself to laugh, he can still smile despite the fact that he's going to need to take a week to get himself and everything on him clean and back to normal. the smile grows even further once the cat is found and back in Emil's arms, where she looks like she belongs.

and she looks pristine, which makes Kaden a tinge jealous of her. ]

Hm... she's cute! I've seen cats around the human towns before, but never one up close.

[ because kitsune don't keep pets. they already had a handful with their other issues to begin with. it doesn't stop him right now from reaching out slowly, wondering if she'd let him touch her. ]

I'm Kaden. [ his eyes flick up to Emil's face. there's something about his look, something very real and genuine. something that a lot of his Hoshidan and Nohrian allies had. ] Um... are we really dreaming?

TDM: January

<3

<3

I love this thread. Also cw: very mild emeto and monster gore

I TOO LOVE THIS THREAD thank you very much for it

you're welcome and thank you too. this CR is super fun so far.

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