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TDM: May
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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 on up June 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!
• While current players won't be allowed to post top levels on the test drive itself, feel free to reference or play with the dreams in-game.
• 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 Eternal Fall
The smell of autumn leaves surrounds you, a myriad of colors sparkling into existence at the same time. Despite the warmth and light, the air feels heavy and stiff, as if on razor's edge. The forest is eerily silent - not a bird, bug, or rodent dares to stir - and when you do hear something, it's the high-pitched crying, whining, weeping, sobbing, howling sounds of something far off. The tunnel of bent branches invites you further with an unpleasant compulsion; though fighting it and turning around finds you in front of a chilly, damp cave alight with the faint, cool glow of bubbling fountains and streams.
 The Compulsion Unable to sway yourself from the call of the forest - or maybe you're simply curious as to where it leads - your feet pull you further and further into the autumnal tunnel. The cry from before grows more distant, but in return, the air weighs even heavier on your shoulders than before. The branches hang lower and lower as well, as if pushed by gravity, until their leaves smack your face, twigs offering small cuts from the thorns protruding from their bark. But you can't stop. Not now. The end of the tunnel seems so close; but it's seemed that way for a while now, you suppose, and you've already come this far - you might as well stay the course, wherever it might lead. The further you go, the brighter everything becomes, and you realize it's the leaves surrounding you; they've begun to glow, encouraged by the sunlight streaming in from above, and the wind begins to whisper in your ear. At first, it's only encouraging things, or silly facts - harmless words, but as the foliage begins to shimmer and reflect your image, the wind's words turn colder. Within those reflections on the autumn tunnel, you begin to see your worst moments - morally, ethically, emotionally. The things you don't want anyone else to know, that you'd feel ashamed or struck for anyone - especially those close to you - to see. The wind becomes louder as the scenes play out one right after another, boldly declaring your true feelings as they were in that moment, good or bad. Worst of all - you still can't bring yourself to turn back, even as your mind begins to free itself from the tunnel's compulsion. Maybe someone else can help out, if they're not too taken by their own memories, or maybe the shock of sharing such private secrets will jolt you and anyone else back to reality. Either way, it's that, or staying stuck watching your worst memories play on repeat for what feels like the rest of your life. |
 The Cry While not compelled by any means, you still feel a curious draw down the path in front of you; as you follow the leaf tunnel, with others or alone, you find another, less-traveled path. Following it reveals a large pond colored orange and gold by the reflection of the area it's in, sunlight and shadows playing on its surface. At a glance, it seems to be rather shallow, but that's hardly the truth. You realize, after a moment, that the crying has continued, evidently coming from the water. Looking closer, the culprit is an infected Merrow, who - upon begin seen - shrieks and dives for whoever's looking at it with the clear intent to drag them down beneath the water. Its claws are extra sharp, its teeth similar to a shark in number and shape, and its scales have turned a pale black; an oil-like substance flows from beneath them and from its gums as well, shimmering the same way gasoline does in the light, and its eyes are the tell-tale white of a Shade. It isn't impossible to fight it to get away, especially as some of you have new abilities at hand, and some of you have a few neat changes to help that along. Once distance is successfully put between you and the infected Merrow, it howls in a wet, warbly voice, visibly frustrated. Unlike ordinary Merrows, who can walk on land and have legs as long as they stay dry, this Merrow can't seem leave its pond at all, and electricity sparks from it like little static shocks in its irritation. It does dive back under once it realizes it can't reach you, resurfacing as your character's most important person in an attempt to lure them back. The expressions are far too real, too genuine; even those aware it's a Merrow might be fooled. While its voice isn't a perfect mimicry, the song it begins to sing has with it notes of yearning and beckoning to join it, join your beloved person, in the water. |
 The Cave Pulling yourself from curiosity or compulsion, the cave behind you - in front of you, if you've turned around - gives off an oddly pure feeling. Like an oasis in a desert, it feels refreshing and calm; incredibly safe, compared to the eerie call of the forest it's in. Within the cave are pools of water that glow and glimmer from the magic runes found around them. The runes shift similar to a mirage whenever you try to focus on them; and try as you might, you can't glimpse what they say exactly. It isn't so hard to figure out though, as the pools of water surrounded by them have a pleasingly cold temperature, while those without them are near scalding. A few of the latter have runes around them, but they're not glowing like the rest - feeding a little magic into them changes this immediately, and steam rises in a sudden blast as the water cools rapidly. The opposite can be done for the colder pools too - taking their magic somehow or ruining the runes will make them bubble and boil as they surge in temperature. But that isn't all the cave has to offer. Moving further inward, you get the feeling you're going down - beneath the ground and the enchanting forest. Eventually, the cave widens out to a massive underground lake, multiple waterfalls pouring into it; despite their number and size, the room is completely silent. All tunnels seem to lead to this one room, with a few of them looking more man-made than natural. Traversing other tunnels leads you into a maze that only ever brings you to the lake, or to the cave's entrance, no matter how many different paths you take. Something different happens eventually though; signs of life begin to appear, or at least signs that life once lived there. Leather pouches rotted by the dampness of the cave hang on sharp nails beaten into the cave walls, with boots in similar condition strewn here and there. Torn, soaking clothing lays in piles in the tunnels, and candles burnt down to their wick's end stand in shelves carved from the navy blue and black stone. There's broken toys and books too waterlogged to read, instruments with snapped strings or clogged holes, and - most peculiarly - smooth, round devices that heavily resemble large pocketwatches or hand mirrors. They refuse to turn on though, either due to age or due to the wetness of the air. |
no subject
There's nothing wrong with having fun, but there are plenty of ways to do that without going to war for it. [ Her fingers worry at the hem of her sleeve, absently. ]
I'm sure to those soldiers, you looked like a bad guy too. [ Her lips quirk slightly, as though at some private thought, and she shakes her head slightly, putting a hand to her chin. ] I guess ... it just feels like the way a child would think? Doing things just because it feels good.
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[Henry's smile grows, and he snickers. He's getting the feeling that Yako's on a different wavelength from him, as are a lot of the people he's met during his journey with the Shepherds. All he can do is affirm that she's got the right idea, all while explaining his stance. Henry clasps his hands behind his back as he sways idly.]
Otherwise, you've pretty much got it. I'm TOTALLY the bad guy in somebody's story. There are families without mothers and fathers and siblings, all bcause I crushed their heads like watermelons before they could say their last words! [Henry pinches his fingers together.] It's this really neat technique I came up with all by myself... Buuuut I get the feeling you don't want the nitty-gritty. I dunno. People hate war and dying and stuff, but war and dying... are just part of life! Being all somber about it sounds like a real drag.
no subject
...You’re right, I’d rather not hear the details. But I don’t think ending someone else’s life is so easy when you can put yourselves in their shoes ... or think about how the people they care about must feel when they’re gone. Every person is unique — they’re not something you can replace as easily as you can destroy it. Thinking that loss doesn’t matter is what’s childlike, I think. [ Though her tone isn’t so much lecturing as puzzling something out. Ah, she’s got it. ]
The way you talk reminds me of someone I used to know. [ Sai, before they became XI, who’d thought the best way to understand the self was to take apart others and study their makeup. The leaves shiver and Henry’s memories waver, like they’re responding to her words. ]
no subject
[Henry's memory sequence may have been successfully disengaged at the prompting of her recollection bringing the dark mage out of his own headspace. He leans forward.
Can't be replaced? Of course they can't be. Once they're gone, they're gone for keeps; Henry knows this all too well. He doesn't flinch at her description of the difficulties of death, and for a moment, he even tenses. He finds himself feeling misunderstood, but it's not uncommon for people to assume that his attitude on death is so broadly dismissive of its damage.]
I never said the losses don't matter. Of course they do! But hey, if I remind you of someone you used to know... Is that a good thing, or not? [A beat.] Oh! Are they dead? Is that why you're so bothered by this stuff?
spoilers for chapter 57 of her canon onward ... also sorry for poor scanlation dialog @@;
I suppose it’s a good thing. Yes, they died a few years ago. [ Feeling unhappy that Henry speaks so lightly about killing people is more just from thinking that’s not something anyone should do rather than relating to Sai, thought. There’s a hint of sadness in her voice, but she gestures at the leaves, its images reconfigured to show a scene she recalls from her own memories. ]
This is ... the first time I met them.
[ Theres a tableau of something out of the denouement of a detective story — former suspects and police officers gathered around the living room, including a much younger Yako in her school uniform — but all of that is irrelevant. Everyone’s attention is on the half-transformed human figure casually ripping off dog ears from their own head while their lower body remains a dog’s, like they had forgotten how to transform halfway through. They’re much more interested in the immobile, blue-suited body laying in the rubble on the ground, wondering out loud about what damage a point-blank hit with a shotgun might’ve done. When no response seems forthcoming, they frown like a disappointed child.
"These aren’t the insides I was hoping to see," they declare, raising the shotgun in their hand and taking aim. The wind murmurs Yako’s emotions in that moment: helpless, terrified, worried —before a series of shots ring out and Sai crashes to the ground, more surprised than in pain. Henry can see it as clear as day as anyone in that room can — although they look injured, they’re already beginning to heal. The police officer who took the shot shouts for everyone to stay back, but one of the other civilians in the room makes the mistake of getting too close.
Moving with inhuman speed, Sai uncoils from the floor and smashes his head right into the wall, the impact of his skull splitting leaving a blood spatter that extends halfway to the ceiling. In the present, Yako winces. ]
I’d almost forgotten about that...
no subject
That is, until the wind informs him of Yako's feelings. Worry? Terror? He doesn't even have a chance to wrap his brain around those emotions, for that's when the gunshots cause Henry to jump with a yelp. Sai falls, and Henry lets out a series of airy giggles on reflex, almost relating to the sheer force with which they tumble. But miraculously, they look okay, and that hunch is only confirmed when they lunge for that bystander. Henry, too, winces; but his is with grinning teeth.]
Yeowch! That's gotta hurt! Look at all of that pretty blood...
[The dark mage turns his attention fully toward Yako.]
You've seen some pretty twisted stuff, if you ask me. And I'm a preeetty reliable judge on the gruesome and macabre. This Sai person... How come they're doing all this stuff? Did you figure them out?
[And, given her previous likening to him, what does that mean she thinks of him? He's curious to know how her thoughts on him run, based on her previous experiences.]
no subject
Actually ... that's what they were trying to do. To figure themself out.
[ The memory continues to spool out even without their attention. Sai straightens up, bottom half having morphed now into bare but unmistakably human legs. The man who fired the gun earlier fumbles for something in his shirt, but in a blur of movement too quick to follow, Sai closes the distance between them to embrace him like a child hugging a father.
"Mr. Detective, if you'd attacked with the intent to kill from the beginning, you would have got me." There's a short, violent movement and the indistinct sound of breaking bone, and the man collapses, though unlike the first, he's still alive. Sai steps away, disinterested now that there isn't an immediate threat in their vicinity, and the memory blurs back into leaves just as Yako's younger self starts to step forward. ]
Sai was born with the ability to change their form into anything they wanted. But apparently, every time they changed, their mind would too -- until they completely forgot who they were. All in all, this was for the sake of recognizing a part of the 'self' they'd forgot in other people. They just, erm, thought the best way to do that was grinding people up and putting them in glass boxes. [ Wow, it sounds so bad when she says it like that!!! Hopefully he's not offended at the comparison now. ]
no subject
And one of those things is the turbulent life this Sai person led. It sounds complicated, complicated beyond his own perspective. But there's one thing that he identifies in her explanation, like some kind of common ground besides the ruthlessness.]
...
[He wonders what having a sense of 'self' is intended to feel like, now that he knows so many colorful personalities. So many kind personalities who express so many feelings and thoughts, wondering why he doesn't feel anger or resentment when they might. Henry shakes his head.]
Yeah. I think I get it? I mean, I wasn't born with any cool abilities like shapeshifting, though it would be super awesome if I could change into a Risen, or a wolf, or— no, wait! A bird. Definitely a bird. [Back on track, Henry. He simmers back down.] What I'm trying to say is... I dunno. A lot of people have told me I should be feeling this way, or that way, and I didn't feel anything at all. I wasn't waltzing around and shoving people's bones and eyeballs into boxes, but I definitely never used to care who lived and who died! And stuff. I thiiink I kinda feel for that person. Lacking a sense of self.
[Henry averts his eyes and gives Yako a shrug, edging along his own comfort zone when it comes to talking about anything remotely close to troublesome, burdensome feelings. He forces himself to shudder comically, and laughs.]
That's enough weirdness, though! I'm totally fine. But maybe you're onto something. You a psychiatrist or something?
no subject
Oh, no. I'm just a detective. Though to be honest, I'm not very good at the mystery-solving part. [ She laughs, like she doesn't see that as a downside at all, some slight tension she'd been holding until now finally coming off her shoulders with his reply. Somewhere, in what he's said just now, is what she was looking for, giving her an ease she didn't have before. ]
A lot happened after that, but Sai did manage to find what they were looking for in the end. Or rather... [ She taps her finger to her chin. ] Mm... I suppose it wasn't so much about finding something they lost, but recognizing something they'd gained. [ Sometimes the reward is actually the friends you didn't murder along the way, and all that. However, saying as much is only to make the gentle implication that Yako sees that similarity between himself and Sai, too.
Since he's clearly eager to change the subject, though, she'll take the hint and move the conversation along, giving him a quick bob of a bow. ]
I'm Yako Katsuragi, by the way. And you are...?
no subject
He thinks about a friend's concern for his smiles, but this isn't the time to perform another exhausting emotional deep dive. Yako has presented Henry with a perfect out, a rescue rope, and he'll grasp it with all of his might.]
I'm Henry! Nice to meetcha, Yako. Guess you've decided to give this childish bad guy a chance after all, huh? [Is that what introductions mean, Henry?] Not that I'd fault you for turning your nose up at me, after all of that.
[Then again, he doesn't really know how she feels about Sai. Is she disgusted by them? Does she forgive them? Whatever the case, he feels reassured by her demeanor and assumes that she's not as put off by him as he thought she'd be.]
no subject
The world's full of all kinds of people. It's no good if you decide to write them off before you've even gotten to know them. Besides ...
[ At this point, she'll look around them, at the seemingly endless tunnel around them, that whispers and beckons them to remain transfixed by their past. ]
This isn't a good place to be alone ... is it? [ Under all that brilliant color lies the promise of imminent decay. ]
no subject
[Henry takes that opportunity to let his eyes wander, off into the distance and back from where he came from. He scratches the side of his head, behind his ear with a sheepish giggle.]
I get that I'm dreaming. You see, I already tested the ol' pinching trick, only with a bit more BITE to it, 'cause I'm not so great at feeling pain. And it turns out I bled! And even though it's just as transfixing as it is in my dreams, this wound also kinda smarts. Which means...
[Henry idly rubs the side of his hand, the black fabric of his cuff doing a poor job at concealing a fresh wound at the base of his thumb. That's a bit excessive, Henry...]
This isn't any ordinary dream. I had a feeling, anyhow. Sooo... Um, where are we? [Where are they, and how are they sharing a dream? Henry easily grows wise to this, in his own weird way.]
no subject
[ But, first things first. She holds out a hand to him. ]
I should be able to do something about your hand, though, if you don't mind letting me. [ Again, like that dream before ... she somehow instinctively knows the spell she could use to knit torn flesh back together again. ]
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Aw, you caught me red-handed. I didn't mean for you to notice it too much. It's really not troubling me. Promise! [He waves it around.] I've dealt with worse.
[He won't force her to heal him but with the way he lets her examine his hand, it looks like he won't stop her.]
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In any case, once she's holding his hand in hers, Yako squints down at it, trying to decide how she'd like to go about it. Inspiration strikes, and she reaches up to unfasten the red, grin-shaped clip in her hair. Holding it so one of the corners points down, she concentrates, moving it in the air over Henry's hand and murmuring inaudibly.
It takes a moment or two to kick in, but motes of light begin to manifest in the air and drift idly down onto Henry's skin, attracted to the lacerations in his skin. Once they've covered it completely, they start to sink in. It's a sensation not entirely unlike someone applying a hot compress, and once they're gone, the broken skin will be pinkish and tender, but unmistakably healed. ]
no subject
[In place of it is a medium nonetheless: the clip from her hair, that one with the odd shape. In that, it's not so weird to him after all. It's not as though she's performing miracles out of thin air, healing with the touch of her hand and nothing to channel that power. Henry watches it, then the way his skin weaves together under her spell. Magic seems to follow different rules in this dream, and he wonders who conjured it in the first place.
When Yako finishes up, he balls up his fist then stretches his fingers again experimentally, as though testing the elasticity of her handiwork. It passes, and he smiles.]
Thanks a bunch, Yako! That's a big help. Now I don't have to worry about dream infections.
no subject
Well, it's to be expected that it's weird. In a dream, you can have whatever talent you want. I can't actually do something like this when I'm awake, yet. [ She clips it back into her hair, then looks around. ]
The last time I had a dream like this, I was able to find a way out. [ She cups her hands in front of her, concentrating a moment, and light starts to gather in her fingers, separating into individual dots of light. As though stirred by an invisible wind, they start to drift off her palms like lazy, sleepy fireflies ... though ones with a purpose. They alight on the path of leaves like beacons leading to an exit, and Yako huffs softly in relief, glancing to Henry. ]
You should try to wake up, if you can. You don't want to be stuck watching the past forever, do you?
no subject
...
[The light in her hands is a beacon to help him out of the dream, but the thought of waking up puts him at unease. His memories are familiar. The present is full of promise, a brand new world of peace for the continent of Ylisse.
He takes a long moment to consider it. He knows what he wants, but...]
Do you wanna wake up, Yako? [Any disturbance to his smile is gone, the mask pulled over his face nice and tight.] If I had to guess... I bet you've been doing some interesting stuff since you found a way out. And I doubt you wanna be stuck here, watching every side-splitting and gut-punching detail of my history! If I wake up, will you get to wake up, too?
no subject
That’s assuming the dream belongs to one of us. [ She says, shaking her head. ] I just have this feeling this dream ... might be someone else’s.
I think, if I wake up, I might be able to find whose it is.
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[She has purpose, and he respects that. Her company's been enjoyable, but it's time for them to part ways, whether that's just for now, or for good. Henry nods, shutting his eyes.]
Okay, okay. I guess I'll try waking up. But if I see you again, you have to tell me what you figured out! About anything, really. Deal?
no subject
I will. I promise. Goodbye, Henry.
[ Footsteps crunch through leaves, and then stop completely. Should Henry open his eyes again, he’ll find her gone. ]