dagung | ☆ TDM: SEPTEMBER

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* tdm

☆ TDM: SEPTEMBER

Test Drive: September

All threads can be considered game canon,

the prompts and test drive itself will be

• The Application Queue is open. Apps can be submitted at any time but will only be processed as space opens up and game plot allows. 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!

• And finally, since this is part of our event, characters already in-game ARE allowed to top-level on this post.

Mirrorbound who come to the Coven after dark on the 27th, who have volunteered to assist in waking the sleeping citizens of Dorchacht, are ushered into a large room laid with pallets on the floor inside a huge chalk circle. With Nessie are a group of sleepy-eyed Witches in loose robes, their expressions calm and almost dreamy despite the seriousness of the situation. These are the Dreamers, an oft-secluded group of Witches who study Divination and dream magic almost exclusively. They show signs of suffering some of the dangers of dreamwalking - they space out often, or doze off and have to be woken by one of their fellows. Still, they seem to know what they’re doing as they prepare candles and fragrant incense. Magic pulses through the floor, tingling threads of it escaping to reach out harmlessly toward the Mirrorbound who filter in.

Miss Nessie is the one to explain the ritual in a solemn tone as she oversees the final preparations and the other gathered Witches. "You all seem to have an uncanny ability to dreamwalk that we do not fully understand. Normally such a thing is difficult, it is, but the Mirrorbound are capable without even trying." She takes a breath and lets it go, standing straighter, determined. "Hopefully we can trigger that ability tonight. Theoretically, magical energy can be harvested from the dream planes. While you sleep, and dream, we will perform a spell to allow you all to bring back that energy crystallized into a physical form, and that is what we will use to wake the citizens of Dorchacht. The more you can collect, the more people we can help."

Her determination gives way briefly to open worry, and she admits, "We don't know what form this shared dream will take, or what dangers it may hold. With the spell going, any injuries you sustain in the dream will also carry over to your physical body, so be careful, yes? You can still back out, of course, and none will hold it against you. For those who stay, healers will be on-site and monitoring your physical forms."

Those who stay will be given a piece of a very rare lavender mushroom used by the Dreamers called Faecap, which works quickly to induce sleep - and shared dreaming. As they drift off, the sounds of soft chanting fill the large room.

[Due to the untested nature of dreamwalking, IC volunteering isn't necessary to participate in the TDM - your character may simply find themselves in the shared dream when they go to sleep that night, similar to how TDM characters will just find themselves in it.]

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, and a sour wind brushes across your face and through your hair. It seems to claw at your consciousness like chilling, spindly fingers -

and you know one thing, and one thing alone: this is a dream, and an incredibly realistic one at that.

The Nightmarescape

This is Aefenglom, and yet it isn't, at the same time. A large Victorian-styled city of cobblestone streets and close-together buildings, cut through the center by the River Temese. Whether you recognize its specific features and structures or not, you know deep in your bones it isn't meant to look like this. It's subtle at first, but it becomes more and more obvious the longer you walk the cobblestone streets. Everything is... almost gray, desaturated in color. Buildings are crooked, tilting at improbable angles. Clocks are upside-down. Writing is backwards or unrecognizable. The night sky above bears a greenish hue to it, and the stars seem to swim in and out of different formations. The city is also hauntingly empty - except for your fellow dreamers. The space yawns like it wants to be filled with life; it craves, it's hungry for it.

A City Void of Life
It does begin to fill, in time. The longer you're present in the dream, the more things shift and slide. You can feel it drawing from you, your memories, your thoughts and feelings, seeking out your fears and anxieties, your worries and your upsets. It slips right into your cracks and it digs out what it seeks. It turns the shadows of your mind into horrifying possibilities. Twisted features from your life overlay themselves on the empty city of Aefenglom - a single room, a building, a creature, a person. Not quite memories, they're all off in some way, adapting to the dream, warping. Don't get taken in by familiarity: whatever has drawn itself from your head is very, very dangerous. Shadows lurk where they shouldn't, once welcoming rooms close in on and threaten to suffocate you, a friendly creature's teeth and claws become pronounced and vicious, the darkened figure of a loved one watches you with blank eyes and malice in their smile.

Whatever has appeared, it's a manifestation of your nightmares, and it wants to hurt you and the other dreamers around you. Maybe it's a dark what-if that has whispered in your ear at night, a bad end that you feared but never came to fruition, or maybe it's simply just the ugly representation of your greatest fear. Whatever it is, it's out for blood, and it's joined by fragments from the other dreamers. Hopefully you find a friend to help you out. If there was ever a time for a team-up.

It's possible to leave the nightmarescape Aefenglom to try and escape these bad ends and what ifs. Time and space work strangely in this dream, and it's just a few steps to Dorchacht or the Wilde, or a quick tumble to the caverns Underground. Movement seems to be more about intent than direction. But it just gives a new backdrop for your nightmares, because they will follow, they will pursue you doggedly, melding into the scenery.

Face Your Fears
Those who came here on purpose know what the mission is: to collect the crystallized magical energy present in this dreamscape to wake a city cursed to sleep forever. Let the others know, the ones who wound up here on accident, and maybe they can help you - each fragment of a nightmare contains this energy, even theirs, and can be collected and brought back by the dreamers who will wake at the Coven. The energy presents as black orbs, hard and clear like glass, no bigger than large marbles, with images of your terrors dancing deep within them.

Coming by these orbs isn't exactly easy, however. To do so, you have to face manifestations of your worst fears. Defeat them - physically, emotionally, by standing up to them and staring them in the face, there are many ways to banish a nightmare - and they'll condense down into the dark glass pieces. With each defeat, the changes to the landscape sprung out of your head will disappear, and that part of Aefenglom (or Dorchacht, or the Underground, or the Wilde) will right itself, ease back into something normal, the oppressive air fading. The shadows will shorten and color will seep back into that patch of scenery.

And hold tight to those crystals if you dare - other nightmares are drawn to them. These may not even belong to anyone in particular, but to the continent of Geardagas itself: grasping Shades of Monsters and Witches both, with white eyes and blackened skin, who wish to spread their infection; half-burned Dryads screaming for help; gleeful, malicious Fae playing terrible tricks, more twisted and insectoid than the Fae most know; a growing, creeping blackness that can only be the Cwyld itself. Even the land you walk on, or may walk on in the future, has many fears.

It's a good thing some of you have new abilities at hand, and some of you have a few neat changes to help, or perhaps they aren't new at all. Regardless, use your abilities well and work together, it's time to face your fears.

Flitting Shadows
Those who are attuned to their surroundings might notice something off - beyond everything else that is already quite off, that is. The sense of being watched, wherever you go, no matter where you turn, is strong and creeping, until it consumes your consciousness. Always just outside your peripheral vision is a presence, a shadow, lean and cloaked. No matter how quickly you run or how suddenly you turn to catch it, you can never quite get a glimpse of the figure's face, if it even has one. Trying too hard will make you dizzy, nauseous, as it evades and evades and evades. You might not be able to see a face, or much more than the vaguest hint of a shape, but it sees you.

Don't let yourself be distracted from your mission, or from simple survival if you aren't the heroic type. If you linger trying to catch the specter at the edge of your vision, the nightmares will find you, readily and easily, vicious and ready to make you fight for your life. Ignore the sound of wings flapping in the distance, a whisper in an indistinct voice, words you can't hope to understand or even separate from the gnawing paranoia that roars in your ears.

The presence never reveals itself, and never attacks you directly. You get the sense that it's trying to determine what, exactly, you're doing - and that maybe it's trying to sabotage your efforts to collect the hard glass marbles of energy from this plane.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Near hears the voice, recognizing it even after all these years. He can't see the figure fully in this light but he doesn't have to. His mind can fill in every line, every curve. When he came from doesn't matter, he has a whole timeline that he couldn't erase from his memory even if he wanted to.

The naga shifts from where he was leaning, the coils of his tail winding over each other in scaled spirals of black, gray, and white. He could laugh, and part of him wants to. Maybe he should welcome his old opponent with open arms, invite him back to his place for dinner. They could talk about old times, if the other man even remembered them. After all, in this world of nightmares he's anything but.

Near is still small, not much of an imposing figure even with the tail. His hair is down past his waist now, but he still manages to twirl a finger casually in a lock of it.]

Where will we go, then?

[ In the future, it'll be a figure that infuriates him, a man who will take what he's built and watch as it crumbles around him; Near dethrones a god and denounces that Light had ever played such a role. His hair is longer now, and he's slightly older but should Light have also been older, the changes would have made no difference. Instead, Near is offered a Light, a Kira, younger than he remembers which means the future enemy sparks no recognition. ]

The destination isn't as important, not yet.

[ Of course he's looking for an exit, but the ability to stop and think isn't a luxury they're offered no matter how much Near sparks Light's curiosity. A monster. That's real, too. It lends credence to the danger of the beast stalking them. ]

There's an exit around here, but we have to keep moving to find it. I'm not sure what it is, but there's something tracking me. It moves closer when I'm stationary. There's no reason that shouldn't apply to you, too.

How quickly can you move?

Not very quickly, I'm afraid. You'll no doubt be able to run faster.

[This body is still awkward to Near, even though he's had a fair amount of time to adjust to it. The torso of a human doesn't belong with the lower half of a snake, in his opinion. If he wanted to slither with any amount of speed he'd have to get all the way down on his belly and figure out what to do with his arms. It's not a very appealing method of travel to him.

He moves closer, head canting to listen for the sounds of a pursuer.]

What are you planning to do if you're caught?

[This is a dream of some sort. Near has been in in them before, but this one is far more twisted and dark than the ones he's used to. If not for his own curiosity, he wouldn't have come - but he trusts his mental strength more than his physical strength.]

[ It's understandable, even if Light wishes Near answered in the negative and proved him wrong. Snakes can be surprisingly fast, but they're also completely made of scales and smaller. If his theory is right, speed may not be as crucial as motion. It may be their saving grace. ]

Even if it's awkward, let's keep moving.

[There's no reason a conversation can't happen while they're walking. Light isn't actually psychic but there's a weight to its presence. If the feeling stays, he'll know if their stalker is gaining ground. ]

As for my plan if I'm captured, I hope it's not something I'll have to show you. I don't plan on dying here. It doesn't feel like it's actively trying to catch me, but it doesn't like when I'm standing still. We have that in common.

[ So, Light is making what he sees as the best move: keep moving and find an exit. ]

[Near is fine with following - even, or perhaps especially, if the one he's following is this particular individual. He would love a chance to see Light's nightmares, or at least how he manages to get by in this unfamiliar territory. He never had the pleasure of studying the man before he was his enemy.

Now he's just a curiosity.]

So we keep moving. That sounds reasonable.

[Thankfully he's gotten a handle on slithering. A few weeks back he would have had a much harder time, and his stamina is still abysmal.]

Do you do a lot of thinking on your feet?

[ The questions results in a curious glance. Their pace isn't one of such speed that he has to keep a constant eye on where he's going. A part of him still feels for the presence that lingers just out of sight, but it doesn't require his full attention either. ]

I'd prefer being able to prepare for something beforehand, but I think most of us would have to think on our feet sometimes.

[ Is he worried about being captured? He's not emoting, and it's almost as if it Light is speaking to a doll. If not for the monochrome world around them, Light would have chalked Near up to another dream figure. ]

If you're worried about making a mistake that might allow it to catch up to us, I don't plan to let that happen. Just keep moving. There's an exit here somewhere.

[ Even if it might be an idea instead of a door. Light's not sure yet. ]

[It takes a lot to truly make Near afraid - not because he's particularly brave, but because he simply doesn't feel most emotions as deeply as others.

This world is nothing but nightmares. Its sole purpose is to cause fear. Knowing that makes it less impressive to him, even if it remains dangerous. It's too basic. Too cliche. So no, he doesn't worry about being captured - if only because he might get to see how Light reacts to it. And he wouldn't mind a challenge right now, even if involves this place pulling dark things from the deepest recesses of his mind.

He's been bored for too long.]

Is there? For all we know, this road goes on forever.

Most things that have an entrance, have an exit.

[ He came here. If there's a way in, there's a way out. ]

This road might go on forever, but if that's true, I'll find a different path.

[ As confident and sure of himself as ever, Light bothers to hide nothing. Near isn't inherently an enemy, not yet. One day. An enemy that bests him. It would surely change their interactions if he knew who slithered beside him, but the future is still in the future. ]

Things that don't belong have made a habit of standing out. It's a matter of finding them.

[ There's another glance to Near. ]

You'd normally be included. Are you in a habit of being in other people's dreams?

I'm probably at least one person's nightmare, but I don't make a habit of it, no.

[He makes a lazy gesture at the world around them.] This dream is shared. It's not uncommon here. [Especially before new people arrive.] But the nightmarish aspect is a new one.

[There are shared dreams that might have been a bit like nightmares to some participants, but nothing so clearly designed to attack visitors with their own fears.]

You just haven't run into any other monsters yet who aren't part of the scenario.

No, I haven't.

[ Light agrees that he's still new and his experience with others here is limited. Near is the first monster he's met in this nightmare. If you exclude Shinigami, the first monsters he's met at all. ]

Since you seem to have experience here, when the dreams merge, does that mean the dreamer is nearby?

[ Is he more likely to see Near's dreams than a someone he hasn't met at all? Not that Near is anything more than a stranger, but at least he's physically present. ]

Oh, you think this belongs to any one person?

[Near shakes his head.] I couldn't give you the specifics, but from my experiences in the past you can run into any number of people here, all sharing the same experience that may or may not have been pieced together from the minds of others. In fact, I can safely say that none of us could tell you where the dreams originated from before.

[Most likely they weren't the creation of any of the Mirrorbound. Their experiences typically involved various locations in this world, particularly ones they'd never even been to.] Having it be here, involving our own nightmares and keeping within the familiar setting of this city - this is new.

You're separating 'this' from the nightmare we're in.

[ The nightmare is all that Light knows, but Near's reply suggests that there are two things happening at once. It's the nightmare that has his 'ownership', though he wouldn't use the word. Should this be his in that sense, he'd have much more control. Before moving very fair from the beginning point, Light tried several experiments, curious if his wishes or thoughts would come to fruition but to no avail. ]

It seems like it was a good thing I was able to meet you. You seem knowledgable about this world. What's here aside from the nightmare we're in now? What is 'this'?

Our shared dreams normally take place in areas outside the city - places most of us haven't visited before. It happens before new people are drawn into this world completely.

[Near is open with this information because anyone else Light ran into in this place would be, and for him to keep things to himself would make him look cagey in comparison. He already has the inherently negative aspects of his snake-like appearance to deal with. As far as their relationship is concerned now, Light is a stranger.]

And it isn't so obviously dream-like. I couldn't tell you where we are right now, but I bet I could take us somewhere I do know.

[ Which gives Near an advantage. Should he have experimented more? Tried something different? Is it a learned ability? Something more inherent in those not 'new'. ]

Where could you take us?

[ It's too dangerous to just ask Near to show him, not without knowing their destination. It may not be somewhere Light wants to go. It would be a mistake to think anywhere is better than here, especially if the beast follows. ]

To my shop, perhaps. Or some other familiar landmark in town.

[Maybe not his house. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary for anyone to want to withhold that bit of information.]

I managed something accidentally earlier, when trying to escape a nightmare. I couldn't get away from it then, so I doubt we'd be able to get away from whatever's following us now.

[But it could still be something to try. If they felt like it.]

A neutral landmark would be the safest for us both.

[ It's very natural for Near to avoid taking home a stranger, and it's equally natural for Light to dislike the idea of going to a stranger's home, especially with the stranger being a creature he knows nothing about. It'd be far too reckless to even consider the idea. ]

If you'd like to tell me how it's done, I can try too as long as familiarity with the place isn't necessary.

Well I couldn't tell you how it's done. Not exactly. I did say I did it accidentally before.

[It could be as simple as calling up a place in his mind, or it might specifically have to happen in the heat of the moment. Maybe it can only be done while fleeing. He's only done it the one time. He might not even be able to take someone else along. It just feels like something he should be able to repeat.

He shrugs his shoulders.]

I was fleeing and I thought... "Wouldn't it be nice to be out of the open?" and my mind went to the underground. Then I was there. I didn't stay for long, as that place is definitely not any less frightening than the city. I was back aboveground before I knew it.

[ He hides his displeasure well. Force of will was among the first tactics Light tried. It didn't work, but that doesn't mean it won't work someone who's obviously better acclimated than himself. Whatever the reason may be, Light will need to figure it out and learn to recreate the teleportation.

Should it happen. ]

Then, if you don't mind trying, the town seems like a better backdrop.

[Near tilts his head thoughtfully at that, then holds out one heavily scaled hand. If he's going to do this, he doesn't trust in this place allowing him to take someone along without them being in contact with each other. It will be an interesting experiment, even if he loses Light in the process.

That would be an honest shame.]

I'll need you not to think if I'm going to do it.

[If this was anyone else, they might be smiling as they said that, but Near manages it completely straight-faced.]

[ It's a risk. If Light had more faith in his ability to manipulate their destination, he'd make an effort to do so, but his own experiments have already failed. Besides, it isn't as if they're not alone in a secluded space now. If Near plans to harm him, there's nothing to gain by changing environments.

Understanding why a physical connection might be vital to the transition, Light accepts the hand. ]

If it works, how long before the connection is stable?

[ Not thinking at all is probably one of the harder things Near could ask of him. ]

This is my first time trying with another person, so I couldn't say.

[But he's sure the less mental chatter, the better. Between the two of them constantly pondering this or that he'll be surprised if they can get anywhere.

The scales on Near's hand are cool to the touch, but there's a slight warmth beneath them that a cold-blooded creature shouldn't have - on account of the enchanted talisman he wears to keep his body temperature regulated.]

Maybe it will be immediate. Stop thinking.

[Those last two words are the only warning Near gives before slithering forward rapidly. The less he says, the better he'll be able to throw Light off guard and keep him from thinking of another location accidentally.

The world fades out and back in, though the street beneath them still seems very much the same. The moment a brightly colored sign with toys on it appears, Near releases the other man's hand.]

[ Don't think means don't react. It's difficult to do as the world literally changes around you, especially for someone capable of thinking as swiftly as Light. It's possibly lucky for them both that the transition is quick, almost as if a channel has been switched on a television. Once his hand's released, Light takes it as a sign that they're safely deposited in yet another dream.

Somehow, a toy store doesn't strike him as a neutral location within the town. It earns a look to Near, though not one of suspicion. Even if it's not their intended destination, can one be blamed considering the complexity of dreams? ]

A toy store?

[ Odd. The man doesn't look young enough to have a draw to toys. ]

Do you know where we are?

Yes.

[Near tilts his head up toward the familiar sign, pleased to see that the trip had been successful. The words on the awning above the entrance say Life's Playthings, but the sign itself has no lettering. It's a simple colorful image of toys that easily gets across the store's purpose even to the illiterate.]

This is my shop. I own it.

[Please feel free to send customers his way at any time.]

[ This isn't neutral, but it's also not as private as Near's home. Light would be more worried if they'd shown up in a bedroom or basement.

If Light knew what Near would eventually do, he'd be glad to send as many people his way as possible so that he was too busy selling toys to stop Kira. Surely that would be a masterful plan. ]

This is the spot you thought of when closing your eyes?

[ Taking another step away, Light turns around to try and pinpoint their location. ]

How far is it from the rest of the town?

[It would be a great plan if the timeline worked that way.]

This was the easiest.

[He's looking over the front of the store, seeing if everything is as he left it, or if the dream has warped the details. As far as he can tell, it appears as it should. He isn't going inside, however. It would be too easy to be trapped in there.]

We're in the northeast section of the shopping district. Not too close to anything central. The docks are to the south. West and north will take you to the town center.

☆ TDM: SEPTEMBER

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