dagung | TDM: MARCH

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* tdm

TDM: MARCH

Test Drive: March

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 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!

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Crystal Caverns

[That this is a dream is immediately obvious. The shape of him, his dimensions; they're all wrong. Both longer and lighter than they ought to be, dark feathers blooming where there should only be skin, a glance down at his hands revealing them black-stained and onyx-clawed. The heft of wings curled close to his back. And yet somehow it doesn't feel wrong; just an extension of himself, an opening up into something that seems - in this dream-state - as though it has always been there inside of him, waiting beneath the skin.

And when plunged deep into a dream, what is there to do but ride out the strangeness until he wakes up again? So he wanders the labyrinthine tunnels until the subterranean light glows brighter, casts light and dark across him, over the high sharp angles of his face. Stepping out into the vast cavern has him casting his mismatched gaze upwards, the sudden feeling of space a quiet thrill after the closeness of the tunnels.

And look, here's another dreamer! He'll turn towards you, whoever you are. His smile a sharp-toothed coruscation in the near dark.]

What do you reckon? Think I could fly all the way up to the top?

[And he spreads his dark wings, natural as breathing, in a gesture that would have been elegant...had he not quite accounted for their size and almost knocked you down in the process.]

The Procession

[He feels too big for the little boat, intimately aware - suddenly - of his increased size. Back-bent legs curled beneath him, wings tucked in body-close, he watches the procession through keen eyes. One hand curled tight around an oar.

He'll turn to whoever he happens to be sharing the boat with as the strange ritual unfolds, his voice a hushed and reverent thing, quite undisturbed by the scene playing out before them.]

You know, I've seen something like this once before. One of the more remote Eastern tribes practice something very similar. Some say it's barbaric, but really it's um, well it's quite romantic. If you think about it.

The Marketplace

[This is proving to be a remarkably long dream, and one startlingly unlike any he's accustomed to. His sleep is rarely a gentle thing, sharp-edged with nightmares, ugly memories of failures past and wrongs he believes himself to have perpetrated, both real and imagined.

This though...it's only interesting. Like exploring some far-flung and unknown place on one of his many adventures. As such, he strolls around the market in his new and dramatic shape quite contentedly, at first ignoring some of the looks he receives, the quiet whispers of the other Monsters, the way they subtly edge closer. It's whilst he's admiring a particularly eye-catching stone talisman that a couple of them finally close in on him, their voices catching at his attention, have him glancing up...and then down (he really is stunningly tall) at the little clutch of Monsters now gathered around him.]

Come on, big strong fellow like you. You shouldn't be strutting around the place on your own when there are plenty of Witches who'd be glad to have you!

[He looks just a little confused, head tilting in a gesture quite befitting of his new bird-like form.]

I'm sorry? I'm uh, I'm not sure I follow.

Don't be shy, strapping Monster like you. There are defenceless Witches around, you need to step up! Look...look, here's one now. Come on, over you go...

[And any passing Witch, quietly minding their own business, will now have a towering Harpy thrust in their direction, one who narrowly avoids being shoved right into them with a startled squawk and a flutter of unsteady wings.]

Wildcard!

[Surprise me! Or PM me/message me at brightflowers if you want to run something by me first.]

Edited 2020-03-18 13:19 (UTC)

[At some point, he'd shed the illusive spell concealing his presence from view of the natives, as it had begun to put a drain on his stamina. The telltale marks of exhaustion are well known to him, and Itachi is left discovering and relearning his own body's limits without the reliance of chakra in this foreign world. Magic takes its place instead. It comes naturally to him, but still it's an uncomfortable transition.

In any case, the locals notice him immediately in the corner of shadow by a street vendor, and there's no disguise that will buy him more time to hide. He briefly considers running. With speed at his disposal, he could outpace any pursuers - but then there are monsters here who likely could track him down. It isn't an ideal situation.

Less so when he's herded into yet another poor attempt at matchmaking, Itachi's brow furrowed in the slightest physical indication of annoyance, skin pale with fatigue. Perhaps returning to Sasuke after all would have been preferred. But the complexity of that situation... he turns it from his mind.

Itachi is forced to look up when the harpy is shoved into the realm of his personal space, back-stepping quickly to avoid a collision. He gets a view of sleek feathers, clawed hands, large wings, a towering presence. All of this he reads in a pass of black eyes. Another monster.

His own witch's presence will exude noticeable heat, this physically near, as well as a vague sense of distortion, a creeping sixth sense that things are not as they seem when looking directly at Itachi.]

Your interference won't be necessary any further. [It's spoken to the bothersome, meddling monsters, one hand raised to ward them off.] Leave us.

[He would rather be alone with another non-native than surrounded by a crowd of overeager matchmakers.]

[The span of his wings is wide as they spread on a reflex he isn't wholly conscious of, beat softly - just once - in his own attempt to prevent a collision. Taloned hands spread wide, both to steady himself and in a helpless gesture of apology as he's thrust towards a Witch (apparently) who looks less than impressed. A far cry from the claims of the Monsters who'd pushed him over here to begin with.

They melt swiftly back into the thronging marketplace crowd as the Witch shoos them off, though Julian thinks he can feel their eyes on him as he furls his wings in close to his body, folds feathered arms across a broad, bare chest. Glimpsed from a distance, one would be forgiven for finding his new aspect forbidding; the gleam of dark feathers like spilled ink, the bloodied red sclera of one eye, razorblade glitter of teeth. But here, close up, the slight colour that blooms across his cheeks is quite discernible, as is the way his sharp teeth catch at his lip, an expression of open contrition.]

Well um, hello there. I'm ah, I'm sorry about all that. Quite determined, weren't they?

[And he runs a hand back through the dark crest of feathers that stand in place of hair.]

[After a circuitous tour of the area to grasp his surroundings - and being turned away by the guards - Itachi is not overly intimidated by the sight of another monster. There appear many of them here, in ranging sizes and shapes and species, though it's clear the largest carry status among the settlement's civilians. It only took some time to discover this fierce devotion to strength.

Stranger, then, to find an unbonded with as fierce an appearance as this avian creature, clearly built for the protection and intimacy of a witch companion. Or so it seems is the judgment drawn.

Itachi's gaze lingers longest on those red-colored eyes, familiarity bleeding nostalgia even without the expected tomoe. Still and quiet, he only speaks again once he's addressed.]

You'll find no relief from attention until you've proven you are no longer alone. They value bonds here. Are you native to this place, or do you come from another dimension as well? [Better to clarify outright.]

Edited 2020-03-19 00:33 (UTC)

[If this hadn't been some eerily vivid dream, some strange landscape his mind had somehow cooked up from within the depths of sleep, he may have been paying more attention. May have quizzed the locals on their ways, struck up a conversation or six and really taken the time to know the people he finds himself thrust amongst. As things stand, he's paid relatively little attention, floating about and doing what he will without any particular concerns.

Of course he's noticed the majority of the people here seem to travel in Witch/Monster pairs, but somehow the extent to which such a pairing is rooted has managed to pass him by. It's there again, the little bird-like tilt of his head, a quick blink in the wake of this information, the question--]

I...um, another dimension, you say?

[He seems, temporarily, thrown.]

Well I suppose so, yes. In a sense. One rarely finds oneself in a setting that makes logical sense in a dream. There can be a feeling of dimensional displacement, I suppose. I've never really given it much thought.

[A little ripple of feeling then, the ghost of fingers along his spine, ruffling dark feathers.]

Although...it is all rather lucid, isn't it. For a dream.

[He holds both hands up then, casts his mismatched gaze over them; the inky tips of gleaming claws, skin dyed black as night. The look he wears is one of distant curiosity, and perhaps in that moment it's discernible that this isn't the form he knows.]

[Comparatively, the very fact of those changes in reality - the haziness, the blurred edges of surreality as though disrupted out of sleep and not wholly awake yet - is what sets Itachi so alert. They are the first signals of a mental trap. Details skewed, or repeated, or otherwise wrong. At this point that instinct is more ingrained in him than anything else: the ability to determine what is real and what is lie.

Were it not for his younger brother's intervention, he might not have accepted the truth of what this place is. Simply... a shared dream.

Taking that answer for the information it provides, Itachi nods his head.]

Yes. And our minds aren't alone within it. However, where our bodies may be... that is more difficult to discern. [Dark eyes once more sweep over Julian's changed monster form.] You were not a creature of this nature before, I assume. Has the change affected your sensory perceptions?

Edited (changed a word for more clarity) 2020-03-19 05:47 (UTC)

[Julian looks at him - really looks at him - for the first time. Eyes slightly narrowed in thought, feathered brow creased above the sharp aquiline angle of his nose. It's another thing he hadn't quite stopped to consider, that some of the people populating 'his' dream may be more than fictions his sleeping mind has created.

It's...interesting. Interesting, and just a touch unnerving; shivershudder along his spine and the brief fluffing of feathers giving his uncertainty away. His mind casts quickly over the many strange things he's experienced lately, the many strange things he's encountered over all the years of his restless wandering. Shared dreaming; it's no more outlandish than many of those experiences.

Softly, he frowns.]

You don't er, you don't think they're back where we left them, then?

[Not that he has any recollection of falling asleep. The bright points of his feral-looking teeth find his lip, and he lifts the breadth of his shoulders in a shrug.]

But let me see...I can see further, and more clearly, I think.

[He casts his gaze up, and away from him. Quickly nods.]

No, I certainly can. I hadn't paid much attention to it, but...well. Using both eyes makes a bit of a change, as it is.

[Abruptly, something in his face brightens.]

Perhaps I should do some experiments. You know, figure out the new limits of this body.

Edited 2020-03-20 12:38 (UTC)

I don't believe so.

[Not in his case, at least. Perhaps the same cannot be applied to others, but his body is a corpse with no breath of life left within it, so it wouldn't be there waiting for him to reawaken. Itachi's eyes drift and catch briefly on the other man's - monster's - bright animal teeth, white little triangles with lethal pointed tips. Very familiar to him.

That reply steers Itachi's thoughts in another direction, then. He considers their surroundings: overpopulated, busy, throngs of beasts and witches alike all hemmed into the streets, although it does not feel too crowded. The wide pathways allow for enough space. Nowhere to hide easily.]

You did not have both eyes before? [Then, considering more,] If you'd be inclined, I am also interested in testing the extent my own abilities, as a witch.

[Perhaps they could work collaboratively. In truth he'd prefer to work alone, however... he wouldn't go unnoticed. With a monster at his side, it seems he's more likely to turn attention away.]

[I don't believe so.

Words that knock hollow against his ribs, knifey-winged butterflies in his gut. No way of telling how much stock one should put in the words of a veritable stranger, but the idea of it alone, that his sleeping body could be somewhere other than where he left it-- it isn't one he's particularly fond of.

For the moment he turns that thought aside, in favour of other things. Their more immediate concerns.]

Oh, hah! No. Nothing so dramatic as that. I usually ah, usually keep the right one covered.

[A vague motion of his taloned hand towards the bloody sclera of his right eye, mere moments before he turns his head. He casts his gaze about the wide open stone streets, the tall rock spires into which dwellings have been carved, the buzz and thrum of the morning crowd that surrounds them. Tries picking out a quieter spot where they could experiment in relative peace...but only succeeds in catching the eye of one of the Monsters who'd shoved him in this direction to begin with. She motions at him with her sleek, scaled hands, expression encouraging, clearly believing the two of them have hit it off--

--Julian sighs. Turns back towards the Witch at his side.]

Under usual circumstances the sight of it would cause a good deal of alarm but um...considering all these other monstrous changes, I doubt anyone will notice, eh?

[Again there's the lightning-strike of his smile, good natured, before he continues on.]

But I am so inclined. To test ourselves out, I mean. Think it'd cause too much of a ruckus? Or ah...perhaps they'll take it for, you know...some kind of matching display?

[They’d been quick enough to try and pair him off, after all.]

Julian Devorak | The Arcana | Monster - Harpy

slams in here (marketplace)

<3!!

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The Procession

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crystal caverns.

<3

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