dagung | ☆ TDM: MARCH

Entry tags:

* tdm

☆ TDM: MARCH

Test Drive: March 2021

All threads can be considered game canon,

the prompts and test drive itself will be

• The Application Queue is open. Applications run on a rolling queue system. The application page is always open to submissions, and applications will be processed in order of submission. Verdicts will always go out by the final week of a month, though we can't promise an exact date -- we'll get to them as quickly as we can throughout the month! If your application is submitted during the last week of a month, it may be rolled into next month's batch of applications. The application page can be found here.
• We have a brand new Game World Wiki created with the immense help of our Wiki Bards: Noa, Prince, Maruah and Ran. Thank you so much! It's still being updated, but most of the main game info is there for you in an easily searchable manner. All other info can still also be found through our Navigation page!
• 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!
• For current characters, TDM threads can be used for AC.
• And finally, since this is part of our event, characters already in-game ARE allowed to top-level on this post.

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 Calamity

The taste of magic in the air is electric on your tongue, supercharged, bright, a little tart and fizzy like popping candy. The settlement you find yourself in is unfamiliar to you, but you can tell it is bustling, beautiful, a center of culture and activity for its bygone era. The architecture blooms with elaborately carved flourishes, but you cannot shake the feeling of... otherworldliness that it brings to mind. (Perhaps you are a veteran of these dreams and remember a ship with similar embellishments from far away, that came bearing invaders, in a time long ago.) It is nearly impossible to tell what season you find yourself in - pockets of spring bloom with new life, right next to pockets of winter snowstorms; playful fall winds laden with leaves tug at your hair, and in some spots, it feels hot and muggy like the middle of summer. None of these patches of seasonal mayhem are very large, a few city blocks’ worth at most, and they all butt up against each other, tumultuous, fighting for real estate in a place where the magic bubbles freely up through the ground like a wellspring, uncontrolled. In a way, it seems like a wilder version of Aefenglom’s seasons always being opposite the season in the Wilde, similar but more widespread, more disharmonic.

Fit to Burst
The settlement is bustling and full of that otherworldly architecture, spirals and tendrils and vaguely floral embellishments, except... If you look closer, you can see that only a few of the buildings are really made that way. An illusion covers the rest, purely cosmetic, a glamour; it's a shimmering image laid over reality until you look beneath it at the squat, simple houses made by mortal hands out of rough hewn wood or bricks of packed mud. The people are just as disparate as the buildings beneath it all - glittering-eyed Fae, taller, more elongated and insectoid than those seen around Aefenglom, though many of them use glamours to appear more fantastical and beautiful; humans teeming with magic, who use it freely for anything and everything; other bipedal Monsters with rougher, more bestial features than longtime residents might be used to, more in tune with their natural abilities.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to explore your new surroundings, though you're likely to garner attention. Unless the world you come from is a more medieval time period, your clothing, perhaps even your hair or other aspects of your appearance are likely to stand out. What will make you stand out even more, though, is not drawing on your abundant new magical powers, or strong new Monster abilities. That shop there requires flight to get up to the second story front door. That home down the street can only be unlocked with a burst of flame. Torches when it grows dark? No, don’t be ridiculous, you can't light your own way? Your hair looks hideous, darling, why haven’t you put on a glamour?

Reluctance to use these abilities abundantly and freely garners frowns of scrutiny and disapproval from those natives around you. "We're free here under the Fae folk. They've taught us so much, we never go hungry, we’re never beaten down by the weather." Their words hold truth - their twisted-trunk trees are bursting with fruit, their haphazardly laid out crops flourish in a matter of days rather than a season, rain and snow can be directed at will with just an application of the wild, free magic bubbling up from the ground in rivers.

There is a hierarchy in this settlement. The Fae are above all, and can often be found partying into the night with sweet wine and hallucinogenic mushrooms, teaching humans and Monsters to harness their natural talents and the magic of the land by day. Their attitudes are condescending toward these lesser beings they’ve granted their favor to (including you, now, and aren’t you just the most interesting, darling little things?), delighting in spreading their knowledge. The humans and Monsters still seem awestruck by their benevolent masters - a word they mean in the sense of 'teachers' - accepting their gifts, using their magic, and none of them will so much as whisper a complaint. Not when it’s safe here. Not when all is well.

It's more than they can say for the lands outside of their paradise, even if things do happen here that the Fae do not like to hear them speak of.

Gain the trust of the natives, and you might hear rumors, whispers of a rotting pox hitting other communities far from here, or first hand accounts of how so-and-so witnessed another death just last week, a human woman blew up in town, and some of the Monsters, they been goin’ right bestial. Shh, shh, you didn’t hear it from them! (Don’t let the Fae catch you gossiping. They might just take you and the native both aside, whisper in your ears, let the magic wind its way around your brain until you don't remember any longer what you were talking about or even who you are, where you come from. You were having a good time though, right?)

You can try to leave the settlement, to explore the woods that surround it, but you’re likely to be noticed and warned: "You should stay here, make sure you don’t run into any of the unfriendly locals - they don't care for our masters."

The Emergence
Time passes strangely in a dream. It might feel like a handful of hours, or even a few days, before a change can be felt all throughout the strange, unsettling paradise. If you’ve had a recent brush with it in the waking world, you might recognize the signature of it - the Cwyld. Something in the air feels very wrong, like a chill in the middle of summer, a sudden warm wind in winter; the plant life beneath your very feet begins to blacken in color, with near-indiscernible white lines marring their surfaces, and no matter who you are, no matter the pride you may take in your courage, a shiver raises every hair on your body without fail: Something wicked this way comes.

The wellspring of magical energy flowing like a river beneath your feet takes on a new feeling when you try to draw from it, a dark and heavy sensation, oily and creeping. Reaching for the magic, it feels as though you're reaching into hollow darkness, dried up and consumed, and the disparate plants of different seasons, growing alongside each other, begin to bulge grotesquely and burst, splattering an unknown black substance over anything unfortunate enough to be in the splash zone. Possibly even you. Don't pass under the fruit trees. The infection has seeped into the overtapped leyline, and it bleeds through the settlement quickly, much quicker than it seems to move in the current-day waking world. The plant life, with their roots dug deep into the earth, are only the first casualty, as it spreads rapidly to the animals, and then the natives, blackening and tainting everything it touches.

The village is thrown into chaos. Fae and any who seem to have Dragon in them are the first to show signs of infection, blackened veins visible under paling skin and white film growing over the eyes. Bodies grow brittle and twisted the more it spreads and settles in. Humans with an abundance of magic are the next to lose themselves to it, quickly followed by other Monsters. While in the waking world, infection spreads more slowly, here, it can be almost instantaneous, the process of becoming a Shade, losing all sense of self.

They have no resistance to the Cwyld, and in this dream, neither do you. You're just as susceptible to the infection, and some may find themselves succumbing to the infection spreading to the heart and pumping itself through their veins. Becoming a Shade is a painful experience, a painful existence, as the life is snuffed out of you and your body keeps going. In this dream, you might be lucky (or unlucky) enough to keep your wits about you, to remain sentient and somewhat yourself - or you might become one of the mindless, violent many whose only directive is to spread the Cwyld to everything that lives, including your fellow dreamers. Even if you do stay aware of yourself, it is hard to resist the pull of the Cwyld on your mind, urging you to spread and infect, to leave nothing whole and living.

Before your eyes, the settlement begins to die. You can't help anyone who is already infected, even if you know healing spells that work in the waking world, unless you're willing to put them out of their misery before they become a Shade corrupted beyond all assistance. You might be busier trying to save your fellow Mirrorbound, though, as they try to avoid that fate themselves or fall prey to it in front of you.

And while the earth and plants and people around them turn black and fall to ruin, any of the Fae who managed to remain untainted simply flee, running from the settlement without stopping to help anyone in need, not even the students who so looked up to them.

Note: Becoming a Shade in this prompt is optional, and Mirrorbound Shades may keep their minds or not at player discretion! Infection will not carry over out of the dream. Dying in the dream will put your character back at the edge of the village, uninfected and alive again, to witness the rest of its downfall.

Light It Up
Help comes in an unexpected, unwanted form. Those unfriendly locals the residents of this village spoke of previously appear through the morning mists, shrouded in clumsy protections like masks and gloves, and practical, non-flashy spells. The group is made up of grim-faced humans and Monsters, a surprisingly cohesive unit of people who look out for each other as they make their way through the woods with torches held aloft. They are hardier than those indulged, magic-glutted folks who suffer now. These newcomers are dressed more practically, for working land or fighting battles, but they, too, have humans among them who can harness their magic. Their witches keep their torches lit, and work closely with their Monsters, helping each other in a way that will not feel unfamiliar.

They've come today, they'll say if you get a chance to speak with them, however briefly (they're a little busy to answer too many questions), to try and stop this blight on the land before it can reach their village, some miles to the south. They've seen it before, though never this severe. This Cwyld will spread and spread, until there is nothing left.

Best to burn it all down before its tendrils creep too far, before its roots dig too deep.

They fight and destroy the Shades however they can, showing no mercy, though their spells are crude and simple, and their Monsters use their natural forms without any showy abilities, depending on claws and teeth and strength to do their jobs. Working together, with simple weapons in their hands, they are formidable. Even if you kept your mind, kept your speech, they will not let you live if you were infected - and may not let you live even if you weren’t infected, just to be safe. You may join them, if you wish, help them burn down the blackened trees or even Shades that were once people - or you may fight them, but they won't relent. They burn the whole settlement down, leaving wide patches of scorched earth like blackened scars on the land. It’s the only way, they say, from their limited experience. Everything must return to the earth.

As the settlement goes up in flames fully, they retreat, only remaining long enough to ensure the fire stays where it needs to stay, and will not spread to uninfected forest. For those of you who were completely uninfected and may have thus been spared, they are still unwelcoming and will not allow you to travel back to their own village with them, threatening with swords and flames any who are too insistent. They aren't too keen to talk, but you may get a few answers out of them, the basics - some of their parents originally lived here, learned magic from the Fae, though when they saw the dangers, they left, believing that such power should be used more sparingly, more responsibly. Against the Fae, if at all possible, and against their destructive ways. It was just a matter of time, they thought, until calamity struck, and lo.

You just saw what happens, what that much magic can call down in divine retribution. How magic itself fights back against the excesses of those who would abuse it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ So far, this dream has been a rollercoaster of emotions and unfortunately, she can't help but settle on being very afraid. Afraid to wake up and afraid to stay here. Not that she probably has much choice in the matter. She'll wake when she wakes, after all.

She breathes out a heavy sigh, leaving her head against Maria's arm, her eyes slowly opening. Maybe it would have been better that they stayed behind in that quieter spot. Being in a crowd isn't helping.

But Maria is also doing her best to calm her. There's no need to be difficult. At the very least, she can try to power through this. So, she nods her head in response and lifts her head to look forward again. ]

Thank you. That's comforting... [ Sort of. She's going to pretend that it is, at least and start walking again. ] You said there are street performances?

[She is trying. She is trying her absolutely hardest to keep Adeline calm. The last thing she wants is the other woman to freak out and possibly exacerbate the problems more.] We wil find something, yes. In the meantime, we can marvel at how easily these people use their magic. You see how some of these buildings look or are made? There, see, a roost for harpies. Then, how do you get up there as a Witch? Well, I could teleport up there, or use wind to fly, and there are others doing just that thing.

[ Alright, Adeline. Focus.

She takes a breath and tries to shove all of that apprehension and fear to the back of her mind as she looks toward some of the structures. It is like Maria said: there are different ways of getting around with magic.

It's unfortunate that the circumstances are not so ideal. She would be completely awestruck, otherwise. And maybe she is to some degree. ]

You can... teleport? [ She hums as she looks back up at Maria. ] Could you show me?

[ Look. It's a distraction. If Maria's going to try to keep her calm, she's going to try to stay calm. ]

Would you like me to take you with me? [She nudges into Adeline, just a little bit.] It's a bit disorienting, but it is one advantage over Quickening that I can think of. Master Gehrman could teach you the quickening ability, but it was always only for you. You could never take someone with you. I can, here, if you'd like to find a higher perch.

[ Ah, look. A smile, albeit a small one. Adeline nods her head in response. ]

If you don't mind. I'm very curious, and a higher perch to admire the scenery would be lovely.

Very well.

[She halts them in their place, and turns to get a bit more... physical contact with Adeline, then looks around. There's a promising perch up above a multistoried shop. Looks like a perch for Harpies, but it's unoccupied at the moment. They can go up there for now.

And just like that, there's a flash, a surge of magic, and they're both... there, atop the shop, looking down at the street. Maria motions.] Well, you can survey the kingdom from here. Though I've no idea where we actually are. Do you see anything interesting you wish to do?

[ When physical contact is actually making her feel better, she doesn't protest a bit. She looks up at Maria, as she seems to be searching for a place for them to go and then tightens her hold on her hands. It's a... jarring sensation, to say the least. From the magic and then just from the concept of being one place only to be another in a matter of seconds.

It's a lovely distraction and she'll gladly hold onto it, allowing herself the surprise and awe no sooner can they look out over the space before them. Keeping one hand on Maria's arm, she steps away just enough to look out over the edge of the perch, looking around for anything eye-catching. ]

How very curious this magic is... [ She glances back up at Maria briefly. ] It's such a wonderful view from here.

[ There now. She's actually starting to sound more like herself. ]

Hmmm... There seems to some kind of performance over that way.

[ She gestures toward a large group who appear to be watching a smaller one just off one of the main avenues. She can hear the music even from where they are. ]

[It is very disorienting, and Maria doesn't blame Adeline for needing a moment to figure out where she is and what she's looking at.

And Maria smiles - just a little, that little rare smile she only gets with people she really likes.] It is, isn't it? I am fond of sitting on the clocktower of the city that is usually on the other side of these dreams, and simply looking out upon the world. [Even if she also ends up having to look out over the ocean, and all the uneasy feelings that brings to her. She prefers just to look at the inland areas, to see as far as she can.]

Is there? [And that brings her back from thoughts of just how much she'd like to wake up right now. To go back to Aefenglom, and her gardens. She peers the same way Adeline is looking, and then... nods. Ah, yes, some kind of roving group of street performers. Definitely something to look at.] Alright. Do you want to sit up here a bit longer, and then go over there? Or are you ready for another teleportation?

[ Adeline hums in response to the question at first. It is so much quieter up this high, out of the business of the streets. ]

We could stay up here. Just for a while?

[ The crowds were getting to her when she's really trying to force herself into a calmer state of mind. At least it isn't so overwhelming to sit farther away from everything. ]

I... don't suppose I'll get another chance to spend time with you like this.

We could, yes. I have no opposition for that. Did you want to sit on the edge of the roof? You needn't worry about falling.

[They can dangle their legs off the edge of the high-up building and it's totally fine.

She has to say that, because thinking about what Adeline says otherwise... hits. And it hurts.] I... I work in the Research Hall, you may yet be able to meet up with me, but it won't... be like it is now. Like it was before. You'll be a patient.

[And I'll help them destroy you, and all the other patients, and the city, and then I won't be able to live with myself anymore.

Maria doesn't say it out loud.] It's less... idyllic, certainly. It will be getting back to work when you awaken, so perhaps we'll consider this some time off.

[Stay here. Stay here stay here-

Wake up wake up wake up, Maria.]

[ At the question, Adeline takes a quick glance over the edge of the roof, hesitating before slowly and carefully sitting down, dangling one leg at a time. It is far more comfortable this way, even if it is awfully high up.

Time off. It's a foreign concept; an impossibility when things in Yharnam were getting so dire. ]

I know... I never wanted things between us to change, I hope you realize. I've cherished our friendship and every moment we've been able to spend together.

[ She finally looks down at her hands and tentatively pulls one of her gloves off to actually inspect the patches of fur and how almost clawlike her hands are beginning to appear. It's scary; it's horrifying, but... what can she do? She breathes a sigh and rests both of her hands in her lap, looking back out toward the streets as she idly toys with the fingers of her glove. ]

You've had other dreams like this one, then?

[ How about a change of subject? They need to have a nice time, not a sad one. ]

As have I, but it is your choice to make, and I will respect that, even if it does come at the price of not being able to see each other as we had before. [If Adeline is so set in her decision, and wants to do that... then Maria can't argue. It's about the only thing Adeline's ever asserted herself in doing.

Even if... Maria knows how this ends. More acutely now, but she had an inkling toward it before. She definitely knew it was going to not be favorable then, but if they had a chance of a success...

... Even now, the excuse feels... awful. It makes her stomach roil. This world really has made her weak and soft, but really... knowing how it all ended, she can't say the reaction is too surprising.

Instead, she looks over, and politely glances down toward Adeline's clawed, furred hand. It's not really all that different to what she's seen of the other Monsters here, and she's gotten quite used to it... but... seeing it on such a familiar face is a bit jarring. If she did end up in Aefenglom, eventually she'd become almost unrecognizable, physically... but in her heart and mind, Maria thinks, she'd probably still be the same person.]

I have. I've had these dreams quite often the last... couple of years. Sometimes they are more nightmarish, sometimes they are quite happy and playful. Sometimes, they are both. But I will take them when they are more... gentle than not.

[ A decision that she has been very much encouraged toward. A shame the longer she's here, it feels less and less like the right thing to do. If nothing comes of this experimentation, were would that leave her family? Would they grieve or would they even be told of her passing? She doesn't see them nearly enough as it is.

She closes her eyes and leans over against Maria's shoulder. Through this rollercoaster of emotions, she wouldn't rather have anyone else at her side. At least it's someone familiar and dear to her. ]

Of course... What were the happier ones you've had? I would love to hear about them.

Well, we had one where the faeries - same as they are here - were establishing a civilization, it seemed. It was quite fascinating. The Monsters in the woods were even bigger and scarier, but the city was interesting, and the True Fae were the same.

[Maria hums, and looks upward.] We dreamed of a vast underground civilization, with a curious type of moss that was... hmm... well, it seemed to be spiriting away the Witches here.

[But what about Aefenglom itself, Maria wonders, and she hums. It could be a dream.] But the most common, and most wonderful dream I have is where I am in a bustling shoreside city, beyond a large, magical wall. There are all sorts of people there, and trade with the outside is bustling. I live in a big house, and I have a large garden, where no one really quite bothers me.

Ah, and I also still have magical powers. Does not everyone wish for them? Childish as the wish may be.

[ Adeline slowly closes her eyes; the influx of mana really isn't so discombobulating, now. Either, she's getting used to it, or Maria is helping. The important thing is that she has her mind and she isn't on a vicious, mindless rampage. The sun is warm and she has time to enjoy it. ]

No one bothers you? [ She chuckles. ] Are you really so reclusive in such a lovely sounding place? Surely you have made some friends that you enjoy spending your time with.

No, none tend to bother me in my home. [But... she makes a little noise, and it's a bit like a laugh. So they do have that going for them, at least.] But... I did live with a gaggle of interesting folks for a bit, considering the housing shortage. Most of them are gone now, however. [And the silence is... noticeable.]

But I have made acquaintances, yes. You tend to find like individuals.

[ Ahh, yes. Whatever small laugh that she can manage to get out of Maria is worth it. She smiles a bit to herself. The noise around them is comforting; like a city that's thriving instead of on the brink of madness. ]

I'm happy to hear that. I hate to think of you spending so much time all alone.

[ Even though... Maria doesn't seem to be the most lonely person, everyone needs friends. Even if they're few in number. ]

Plants are perfectly apt company. But... for those times when I do not just wish to work in my garden, I do know a few people.

[Just a few, though, and she keeps the vast majority of them at arm's length. At the end of the day, Maria doesn't like most people. Doesn't trust much.

And most of all, thinks that most of the Mirrorbound are too soft and would not understand her or her world. Soft as Aefenglom itself.]

You see, this dream is such an idyllic little thing, it's difficult to want to wake up from. [There's a brief pause, and then...] I am glad you could share it with me, this once.

Strange and... jarring as it has been, I am glad as well.

[ She sits up a bit straighter, reaching to push her hood back from her head. The movement is a touch hesitant, but she’s clearly a little more comfortable with the situation. A couple of pointed canine ears perk up from her thick brown hair.

She can... no doubt feel them, but she chooses not to investigate further. Not when she’s finally coming down from a full blown panic. ]

Yes, it has its downsides, certainly. But rest assured, I will not allow the Beasthood to take you.

[She watches, and miraculously doesn't flinch when the ears are revealed. She knows what it means to someone from Yharnam, to see themselves exhibiting animal traits like this. She also knows she still doesn't entirely trust the Monsters in Aefenglom.

But she does trust Adeline. And she trusts herself. And, against all odds, she has a certain amount of trust for the world itself, and the way the Bonds work. If Adeline wakes with her in Aefenglom, then they will be Bonded immediately. And if not... then this dream is...

... Is Adeline's last chance at happiness.

But Maria won't think too much about that.]

It is a beautiful day, as well. I don't think we could ask for better weather in this dream. Would that it would stay this way for longer.

I know you won't.

[ It’s a little cooler with her hood down; a little more… freeing to accept things as they are and try to enjoy the dream for what it is. She doesn’t have an overwhelming urge to kill and there’s no bloodlust, only contentment as she sits at Maria’s side.

Adeline turns her head to look up at the other woman, offering her a smile. ]

At least it’s here for us to enjoy now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

☆ TDM: MARCH

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