TDM: MARCH

[faileas]

Test Drive: March

Welcome to 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 character, put one in! This time around, reserves will expire after the first 48 hours of applications being opened. Those first 48 hours will be open to those who have reserves only, so we recommend placing one. It will not guarantee you a spot, but it will guarantee you can post your app immediately when they open.
• Applications Open The 24th! There will be a cap of 30 applications accepted this round, and apps will close whenever we've reached that cap. If there are slots left after the reserves-only period, apps will open to those without reserves. 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!



With that taken care of...

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 Underground

Take a moment. Let your eyes adjust to the dark, your ears to echoing silence, but for the steady drip of condensation down the stone walls that surround you. The tunnels down here are wide, the ceilings high, but they are dim, devoid of sunlight and breeze. The only light, in fact, comes from the shards of softly-glowing shards of quartz lining the ground and the bio-luminescent algae that smears the stone in long, blue veins, pulsing gently, pushing breathable air into the otherwise-stale passageways. The air is damp, but the temperature is moderate - almost comfortable. The tunnels fork off and meander from where you are, some narrowing and some widening, but none seem to lead you to the surface, no matter how long you wander. Is it a trick of the light, that the algae glows a little brighter, pulses a little quicker, when you head in a particular direction? It's hard to sort your senses so deep underground, far from the world above where things make sense. Hopefully you've found a friend by now.

The Crystal Cavern Many of the tunnels, both wide and narrow, lead to the same place: a massive chamber hewn out of the stone by time, and the drip-drip of water from the ceiling into the central lake. Perhaps you came out toward the bottom, and the ceiling is a thousand feet above you, or maybe you came out toward the top, and the lake is a thousand feet below. There are a hundred or more holes in the sloping stone walls that lead to more tunnels, and something like natural steps down from most of them. In a way, it resembles a beehive, this room acting as a central hub of sorts. This is also the first place you find signs of life. Short, tough little tufts of grass growing from the thin soil, bone white in color, having long abandoned photosynthesis and chlorophyll. More of the glowing algae. Small, skittering insects - beetles, grubs and worms. The occasional albino rat, much larger and louder than rats have any right to be. Ruffled and capped fungi growing on the wet rock like parasites, some as large as a grown man. Blind, slimy cave fish wriggling around in the still waters of the lake. And milling around the great stone cavern, slurping up the glowing algae that covers the rocks and grows in lacy sheets across the water, are dozens of great beasts, bigger than horses. Shaped like worms, but with dozens and dozens of stubby, fleshy legs, these creatures are huge, with velvety, multi-colored hides, and though their antennae wave in curiosity when approached, they don't seem aggressive. At least, as long as you avoid the big silk-wrapped bundles stuck to the walls and ground all over the cavern. These are their egg sacs, and if their young are threatened, they'll quickly shoot jets of viscous slime, a quick drying adhesive, that can slow and trap even the strongest adult. If you find yourself in a sticky situation, you better hope someone can wrench you loose - the worms seem content to eat algae, until they've caught prey. Each worm has a long, hooked, chitinous blade concealed within its fleshy jaws to tear and shred, and a nightmarish round mouth full of multiple rows of teeth. Navigate carefully. There at the bottom of the lake, where it feeds into an underground stream that leads down another wide tunnel, there are a few small rowboats, some missing oars, certainly not enough for everyone. You'll have to share if you want to get out of here. Or you can keep hanging out with the giant wormipedes.

The Procession As you proceed down the stream by boat, the lighting grows just a little brighter, seeming a little more purposeful in how the glowing algae is planted, how the softly glowing crystals are placed. You start seeing a new type of moss, greyish-green and growing in ragged sheets from the ceiling of the tunnel. Watch your head - it's near impossible to cut through this stuff should you get tangled. For a while, you only hear the soft splashing of the gentle stream, but then... there is a flash of torch light, up ahead. The boat ahead is longer than the one you use, better kept, and full of people - three Monsters, all whose forms are based on creatures that thrive underground, in pieces of armor, holding spears, and one very elderly Witch woman, seated in the middle, wrinkled hands folded primly in her lap. Her milky gaze stares straight ahead, with something soft and proud in the set of her face. One of the Monsters holds the torch, the other rows the boat, and the third settles down next to her; they speak in hushed voices, with little smiles. After a while, the rowing Monster slows the boat, before they can bump into a thick, heavy, impenetrable curtain of grayish-green moss that stretches across the whole tunnel, blocking the way, like a gate. The other two help the woman to her feet, and guide her toward the front of the boat - and the curtain of moss. She reaches out for it blindly, and they help her step onto the edge. There is something almost ritual or reverent about the movements, the way they regard the Witch as she touches the curtain of moss... and is wrapped into it quickly, swallowed up, absorbed. After twenty minutes of gentle pulsing, the lump that used to be the Witch is no more, and the whole of the moss pulses with light and magic. The Monsters watch this whole process vigilantly, and once the lights die down, they continue on. The moss parts to allow the boat through, brushing against the Monsters but not swallowing them. The procession happens a few more times, in separate boats, with separate victims - but all are very, very elderly, and seem proud, even happy to meet their fates. Trying to follow them further after the ritual will have the same thing happen for your boat - the moss will part, and brush over those in the boat without causing harm. If you happen to be infected with the Cwyld, however... you might meet the same fate as the old woman, with the moss reaching and grabbing for you. The procession can be stopped, but drawing attention will draw the ire of the Monster guards, and, strangely, the victims themselves, who will fly into a distressed rage at the interruption.

The Marketplace Beyond the veil of moss lies... civilization? The cavern is enormous, big enough to contain a city at least as big as Aefenglom, if not larger, though the population at a glance seems to be much smaller. Twenty thousand people, perhaps, give or take. Buildings have been carved out of huge stone spires, or formed by draping cloth around and between the natural stalactites and stalagmites. Monsters tend to be quite tall or bulky, possessing obvious physical strength, while Witches and humans tend to be shorter than in Aefenglom. They all mingle on the streets together, with no immediately obvious class difference. Since there is no weather to dress for, some don't bother to dress at all, though humans at least tend to wear flowy silks or simple clothes made from wormipede hides. The streets are wide and the buildings far-spaced, and many get around on the backs of those worm creatures, having made them saddles and reins. The stream ends in a lake right next to a marketplace, with many small boats docked on its pebbled shores. The stalls sell all kinds of goods: clothing made from fine silk and worm hide or rat fur, skewered meat (It's bug.), weapons, armor, jewelry made from chunks of beautiful stone. Your arrival is bound to cause a stir though, so keep your head down, and maybe it's time to snatch a disguise from one of the clothing stalls. Monster guards, occasionally flanked by Witches, patrol the streets and keep the peace, and stopping to talk to anyone will make one thing clear: they are not at all used to outsiders. They won't believe a word you say about being from above ground, and they've never heard of your world or Aefenglom. You're nomads from the tunnels, right? Of course, don't be ridiculous, you can't fool them with tall tales! At least they're usually willing to talk - briefly, of course, everyone is very busy down here, it's morning and many will be heading to tend to the herd soon. Those who are subtle and pointed in their questions can learn a lot about the vast but also small civilization below the surface of the world. Strength is valued here - the stronger the Monster or more powerful the Witch, the higher their rank in society, and the closer they live to the center, largest spires of stone. Monster-Witch Bonded pairs are the be-all-end-all, and often wear matching wrist-guards or pendants proudly. Pretending to be Bonded to another will put many of the natives at ease, though Monster-Monster pairs get snide comments about how you have to team up to find a good Witch, and Witch-Witch pairs will get odd looks and assume you both have a very strong Monster partner somewhere. It must be quite rare for Witches to go un-bonded here, and any who pass through without an obvious partner may be propositioned by young Monsters showing off their various talents. Unbonded Monsters may be nudged in the direction of any strange, unbonded Witches - usually fellow Mirrorbound - in a poor attempt at matchmaking. Those poor unbonded Witches need protection, right? Or so the locals think. It's too bad trying to go any farther than the Marketplace will get you stopped by guards and turned back, however. They don't allow nomads into the inner city.

Comments

[anbu]

[As though the realization of his own discomfort has just occurred to him, Itachi frowns. Perhaps it isn't a simple thing, to be part of society once more, even if in this situation he remains on the outskirts. There is no reason to cover his face or conceal his identity; that alone is a new phenomenon.

Anyway, he's going to slide right past that implication, thanks.]

... More on the organizational structure of this settlement. This area is only one of many. They value the bonds between witches and monsters, but what is the foundation of their city? Their laws? Do they have political leaders?

[Information on the authority of a place is crucial. He'd learned that many years ago.]

[anbu]

If a character were to ask questions about what the authority/laws were in this city, what would they be told? Is there some form of political power? Leaders? The stronger the Monster/Witch, the highest in status they are, and I'm assuming also the more power they hold over the settlement?

I may have missed this somewhere, too, but does the settlement have a name?

[doublearia]

[ A2's reaction reminds her of new performers at the opera reacting to meeting nobility for the first time. dorothea doesn't figure she's worth all the commotion--they're strangers, after all, and she's a commoner. or rather, an ex-commoner, now that the war is over and titles such as "count" and "baron" won't have much meaning soon.

she steps aside when A2 passes her by, silently assessing her white hair (an all too familiar sign of past cruelty) and odd...floating box? maybe the box is a local thing. ]

Oh, how resourceful! [ she adjusts her pace so they can walk side-by-side. dorothea hopes that will put her new companion at ease. ] If there was ever a desperate time that called for a desperate measure, getting trapped in a cave should count, shouldn't it?

[moustre]

They will be told that all defer to someone called 'the Matriarch', who leads the city and upholds their traditions with a handful of advisers. According to marketplace gossip, a new woman won the title (in what sounds like a cage match) just a few years ago, and has recently taken a new Bonded Witch, who will claim their rightful role as headmistress of their Academy in due time.

It does have a name, but characters will not learn it from any of the natives - they just call it 'the city', because they think theirs is the only city in existence, not knowing that people still live on the surface.

[turmoiling]

[When they finally edge out into the main cavern, Jin Guangyao helps guide her along over the cavern floor. They're not the first, but also not the last, picking their way across the slippery algae-covered rocks and staying well clear of the grazing wormlike things.

He looks back at her, the bruises and blood on her clothes.]

Is it? If so, I'm sorry.

[He says sympathetically. As bad as things had been, he would still rather be alive, no matter the cost. But he can at least understand that there are reasons some people might think differently.]

[anbu]

This is awesome, thank you!

[anbu]

[His immediate thought goes to Sasuke, a fixation easily revisited after all these years of preoccupation. Still, he doesn't allow himself to linger on concern for too long, with everything else at hand. It can be addressed later.]

So this effect is of mutual benefit. One can't survive without the other.

[Itachi's not thinking of himself or the future; he'd rather remain objective for now.]

You must come from the other place as well, Aefenglom, beyond this dream. Have you been there long?

[Thankfully he already got the 411 on all this shit.]

[rowdyraven]

Hmmm.

[His feathered brow furrows, the line of his jaw pulling tight. That what began as an unusual dream now has the potential to turn into another strange and protracted adventure; he isn't sure what to make of it.

His silence holds for only a moment, but then he's lifting broad shoulders in a shrug, wings shifting slightly in the wake of it. Smiles his sharp-toothed smile.]

Well. No use worrying about it now, I suppose. It'll either happen or it won't, and until then...perhaps we should test out a few more things. If we are going to end up in some other place, one that follows the rules we're experiencing right now...better to be prepared, eh?

[rowdyraven]

Oh. Hah. Well of course I er, I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't. I'm sure you're more than capable of looking after yourself. I just meant um, that is...

[It's just what he does, who he is. Flustered now, colour rising beneath the scant, downy feathers that highlight the high angles of his cheeks, he clears his throat. Looks away.]

Never mind. Let's get moving, shall we? See what adventure awaits.

[And he'll dip the oar into the still, dark waters running beneath them. Begins angling the boat - regardless of what she says - to place himself in harm's way, should it befall them.]

[doublearia]

[ rude response, yes, but hazuki's "all-business and straight to the point" bedside manner is familiar enough that it doesn't bother her all that much. thanks, hubert and lysithea.

she glances down at her weapon and huffs a laugh at the question. fair point. ]

I'm only a passing swordswoman at best. [ is dorothea gonna mention that she's actually pretty decent at her weapon of choice or that the powerful magic she knows from home feels supercharged ever since she's arrived in this strange dream? nope. just gonna keep her capabilities under her hat for now. ] Besides, you're the one who's managed to make a light spell. You seem pretty capable yourself.

[anbu]

[Hardly a threat. An interesting choice of words, one which draws Itachi's eyes in another drag of black irises over the Monster, remembering the flicker of that forked tongue.

He takes a few moments to respond to that question. (You can't just say the F word like that...)]

Is my demeanor uncomfortable to you?

[This conversation is about to go in circles, given how avoidant he is by nature even to the most general topics.]

[anbu]

[A logical if almost whimsical outlook. Itachi's thoughts had followed a somewhat similar trajectory, picking apart the possibilities of future best and worst case scenarios, although he's burdened by doubt he will carry on to Aefenglom. It seems too impossible for someone like him.]

You're correct. That was my goal in investigating this place and the dynamic between Witch and Monster.

[If nothing else, he can relay the information to Sasuke before the dream ends.]

There is more magic I could experiment in using, but perhaps we ought to take a more direct approach, to test both of us. Are you capable in combat?

[sharmat]

(a curious use for them that'd make mephala proud, one of the many "good" gods in their pantheon. following her teachings, the chimer became an elf race involved in sex, secrets, prevarication, and assassination. it drives the way they live and their culture now. the webspinner, the teacher, the spider.

still, voryn looks upon stiles as an accident. a cursed creature being pulled together onto ill-fitting pieces. it shows in his glance up.)

No. You are right, and I won't be. (he's already shedding the first layer of robe, a second beneath it, as he turns away to navigate through the bloody muck.) Any concerns you have for me are likely warranted, but ultimately unnecessary as I'll be taking to that stream down this escarpment. You may join me.

... what is your name?

[wylderrant]

Oh, no, it's quite alright. I find it quite charming and dashing.

[ Iramaat laughs quietly, her own oar dipping into the water, matching his stroke. She's positively gleeful watching his cheeks start to flush. ]

Having someone wanting to look after me for once - it's enough to make a lady knight swoon.

[ Is she flirting or making fun? Hard to tell. ]

[rowdyraven]

[Something he should have been doing himself, perhaps-- asking questions, getting to know the lay of the land, the ways of the people. Something he would have been doing, if he suspected for even a moment that he'd end up thrust amongst them, that this isn't some strange and overlong dream.

Uncertainty remains in him, and perhaps the shadow of something hopeful; that he'll wake up somewhere within the palace, perhaps having succumbed to exhaution following too much work and not enough rest. Flung out across a chaise lounge, or face pressed to inky pages at his desk in the library.

But now the possibility of a longer stay than he'd anticipated has been brought to his attention, and there's still time. They're still here. He can still walk among the Monsters and Witches below, ask them questions.

For now, though-- he stands a little straighter, towering above his companion with the added inches to his height, measuring in somewhere closer to 6'8 in his new and altered form. Wings thrown back in a dramatic display, chest puffed out, he does his utmost best to seem fierce. Intimidating.]

I know my way around a bar room brawl. I can hold my own with a sword. But um...

[His bravado falters just a little as he glanced down at his talons, the new and animal shape of him.]

...I'm not sure that's the kind of battle this body is made for.

[A pause, just the length of one unsteady heartbeat.]

You don't think that's what I'll be expected to do, do you? I'm more of a healer than a fighter. A doctor, you know. I'm better at saving lives than taking them.

[He's never killed another person in his life. Thought he had once, and the guilt had very nearly eaten him alive.]

[rowdyraven]

Well then, Milady. I'll do my utmost to ensure no harm befalls you.

[The colour is still there, sliding high along his cheeks, but his sharp-toothed smile is a wily thing when he flashes it in her direction. Whether she's teasing him or playing along, it really hardly matters. It gives him the opportunity to indulge in a little drama, an opportunity he's quick to take by the horns.

After a few faltering moments they seem to find their stride, oars beginning to move in sync, propelling them gently forward. Water laps soft against the sides of their little wooden boat, and there's something comforting in the sound, the movement underneath them. He always has felt at home on the water, and apparently this applies even here, in some weird dream state, however many miles below ground.]

Well. Here we go, then.

[The words are half-muttered as they approach the mossy curtains...only to have them gently part for them, letting them pass without fanfare or trouble. Almost, he's disappointed.]

[anbu]

[Although not intimidated to be loomed over by an entire additional foot of height, there's no denying the view of fierce bestial nature. Clawed hands, sharp-fanged teeth, blackly sleek feathers, powerful span of wings. The image of a Monster at their highest peak of transformation, no doubt, if what he'd come to understand of this dream was true.

Itachi doesn't balk at it, but he does seem to be studying the form of the harpy more closely. Dark eyes follow over every inch of muscle and sinew, claw and feather on display. It's unsubtle, and unhindered by worry of accepted social behavior... like the rudeness of staring too much.]

It's possible. In the world of Geargadas, there is an infection called the Cwyld. A corruption. If it possesses a sentient creature and takes them over, they become wild and bloodthirsty.

[All of this relayed by his brother, but again, he believes it.]

You may encounter these creatures if you do continue past this dream. I imagine your healing capabilities will be useful, but in a Monster's body, it would do well to understand the basics of defense.

[It's easier to focus on someone else's situation than his own, and yet still, it's difficult to unhinge his mind from its own biases and experiences. Saving lives, rather than taking them... a luxury afforded to few shinobi. He'd lost count of the people he'd killed by the time he was eleven years old.]

Would you prefer to practice defensive techniques, as you are now?

[wylderrant]

Do well enough and I may reward you with a favor at the end of all of this. Seems proper, doesn't it?

[ She laughs and then bends herself to their journey. The soft lap of water and the distant echo of dripping water fill the air around them, broken only by their breathing and the dip and brush of their oars - although even that is nearly soundless, when they hit their stride.

She watches as they glide toward the mossy curtain - and then it parts for them. She glances back as they clear it with a little 'hmm'. ]

Maybe it only likes witches.

[hegemonwings]

... I wouldn't know what children are normally like.

[ her brow furrows, as she says it. it's not something that's crossed her mind in those terms. ]

But she does have that effect.

[rowdyraven]

[An infection. A corruption. There's a feeling in him then, the dizzying lurch from stomach to throat the moment before a fall. The strangers words ring heavy in his mind, and suddenly he's alert, sharply focused. Mismatched eyes narrow down to dangerous slits, the angle of his jaw showing hard.]

Like a plague.

[The words are clipped and matter of fact, none of stutter-start uncertainty that had been there before. Something settles into him like the feel of a heavy bolt sliding home, iron bars around his chest, constricting him. Hemming him in. If this isn't a dream, if this is as the other man says, and he ends up waking in some other place, riddled by some monstrous infection--

--suddenly, he thinks he knows precisely why he's here. A plague doctor. Brought to a world inflicted with plague. There's a cold and ugly sense to it.

He doesn't want this. Not again. Not when the words - a corruption - fill his mind's eye with bodies piled high in the streets, the stench of rot and decay so thick it can almost be felt, and out across the open water, dark on the horizon...the lazaret. Black clouds billowing from it, all those bodies, burning.

He takes a slow breath. In-out. One-two.]

I'm not worried about defending myself. Pain doesn't worry me one little bit.

[His smile, there's something in it now. A little hard. A little sharp. Though in less than a moment that hardness wears away at the edges, reveals - once more - the true shape of him underneath.]

But I er, I suppose I ought to know how best to defend someone else. It seems like Monsters are meant to protect Witches? I'll gladly place myself in harm's way for the sake of someone who needs it.

[bergamotrose]

[He was quite proud of his job! But, he understood the extreme important of cats as well. Chuckling, he elaborated.]

He's a clever black gentleman, about six months old. When he's not eating home made treats, getting into my plants, or causing trouble with my Bonded's pet Pumpkin, I take him out on a leash so he can get some air and explore.

His name... Is Claude.

[rowdyraven]

My darling, your sparkling company is reward enough for me.

[Said with the daring waggle of an avian brow, his smile bright and shameless.

But they move forward, and when the word witches leaves her lips, he looks across at her, oar almost missing it's rhythm.]

Witches?

[The world feels heavy on his tongue, guilt-laden.]

You think that lady just now was a ah, was a witch?

[An insult, where he's from. One he's shamed to have used before, to describe someone who had once hurt him.]

[betweenduskanddawn]

[Corrin giggled.]

I can imagine. I don't think she realizes how distracting she can be.

[wylderrant]

[ Interesting. She cocks her head at her companion with a curious little look. ]

There are two kinds of people in this world. Witches and monsters. And both need the other - although relations can be fraught.

[ She shrugs. ]

It's just what they call their magic-users.

[doublearia]

There is a reason people say caves are labyrinthine. [ she kids, she kids. ] Maybe we should leave markings on the wall to keep track of where we've been? It'll be better than walking around the same set of stones for a few hours.

[ so that tail is an actual thing. she's not gonna stare. not gonna stare, at all.

okay, dorothea will stare a little bit, but refocus on her traveling companion's face once she's asked for her name. staring is probably considered rude in the country of...whatever country they're in. ]

Dorothea Arnault. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss....?