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TDM: January
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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 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. |
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[She sounds more resigned than sad about this.]
If this dream is really from many people's dreams...this might be my fault.
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[That made horrible sense. The giant creatures, the mocking smiles. But wasn't thinking on it going to make it worse? More real? And she's almost cringing.]
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It's just a theory I made up! I don't have anything to prove it at all, but -- dreams are usually all inside someone's head, right? So I thought that maybe if a lot of people are dreaming this, it might be inside all our heads. I've never even heard of multiple people sharing a dream before, though, so I might be completely off.
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I have. Everyone was in the same dream...
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[Leslie reacts with surprise to that new piece of information. It wasn’t the first person she’d met who had been in a dream with another person, but that had been deliberate and one on one.]
Then you’d know much more about what might be going on than me. Was it anything like this one?
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[And she shifts, unsure what the make of the event herself. Her eyes drifting around, thinking more.]
No. It wasn't. There was a lots of people scattered around. But no animals, no plants.
[Nothing but sand and the night sky.]
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[Leslie sounds a little disappointed, because a possible lead into what the heck is going on here has turned out to be a dead end, but the disappointment leaves pretty quickly.]
It's a little closer than the other person I met who has shared a dream before, I think. Your experience had more than two people, and didn't have a member who brought the other person deliberately. I don't think I've seen a lot of people all at once here -- that are obviously not from here, that is.
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This has lasted a lot longer than then.
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[Leslie trails off. How long has this dream gone on for? It should be gated by one night’s sleep, since nothing happened to make her think she’d pass out for longer than that. She’s about to ask for the other woman’s opinion, but she notices that Mikasa hasn’t moved and has ducked her head.]
Are you feeling okay?
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Fine, just thinking.
[She'd rather not say what she was thinking.]
You said this had happened where you're from?
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No, I met the other person who'd shared a dream with people before here. I've never heard of it happening in the empire -- though there is a lot I haven't heard about. I suppose it could have happened. I'd have to ask someone, but I haven't seen anyone I know here. Or even from the Rucardius Empire, that they've said.
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[She knew the island she'd grown up on. Marley, Hizuru and that was just about it.
They'd only know there was life outside the walls for a few years]
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[Leslie has no idea just how much was happening for Mikasa, but it just feels like everyone must have so much to keep track of, with her personal world only very recently opening up to get an idea of just how wide it is.]
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It doesn't help how quickly things change. It can take just one day to change everything...There's no way to know it all.
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Yeah. Even though some things feel like they will take forever, others can be as fast as that.
...Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. I’m sorry. It was very hectic when we met, so I forgot.
[By hectic, read: I threw myself bodily at you. She curtsies.]
My name is Leslie. May I know yours?
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I'm Mikasa.
[It wasn't meant to be rude. She just didn't use more words than she had to.]
...I haven't asked the names of a lot of people here.
[Some. But not all.]
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I think I've eventually learned the names of most of the people I have met in this dream, but they often remembered before I did. It's hard to remember to do so when so many strange things are happening here, but I should know better than to forget.
[Not that she thinks Mikasa should feel the same guilt. But she has to uphold the Salvatore name! ...Even if she still doesn't feel able to bear it! She has to do better than this at etiquette!!!]
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[Wasn't that maybe a reason to ask, to remember them? But... She'd just been expecting to wake up again at any moment.]
I wonder why this is lasting so long.
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I don’t know. I don’t have a very good grasp on time in my dreams, even with one as realistic as this one. Maybe it’s only really been a few hours.
[Not that she could remember a dream that went on this long before.]
You might be right, though, that I likely won’t see the people I meet here again. And I often forget my dreams, except for the nightmares, so I don’t know if I’ll even remember them. But you’re here now, and it would feel wrong to me to not treat you the way I would any other person I met.
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Not that I mean your way is wrong or anything. It’s just how I like to do things.
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There's nothing wrong with it, you're more polite. I normally don't have time to be.
[If anything Mikasa was the rude one. But she was too used to using as few words as possible.]
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Sometimes, being efficient is very important. I think both ways are okay.
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[It hadn't really upset her. Because she called him names back. But it's something she'd never truly thought about. Like with smiling, until Sasha pointed it out.]
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[Leslie's biggest brother has been smiling more and more around her lately, but he wasn't the most emotive when they met and she could still tell he was a kind person. Later, she'll see him with his coworkers and they will all be amazed he can make those kinds of expressions.]
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I'm not sure. I was told it was strange a few times when I was younger.
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You okay moving on to game proper thread?