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TDM: May
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aefenglom's test drive! All threads can be considered game canon, should you choose to do so; regardless of if you pick specific threads to remain canon to the game, the prompts and test drive itself will be. This will be touched on later in-game, so it's fairly important to note! Aside from that, here are some quick reminders:• Reserves Open Today! If you're interested in securing a spot, put one in! We accept applications without reserves too, of course. Reserves will expire three days before the end of the application period, on the 28th.With that taken care of...
• Applications Open The 24th! These will last until the end of the month, the 31st, with the intro log going on up June 1st. The application page can be found here.
• If you have any questions about the game or the world, please refer to the FAQ page; if you still have questions, feel free to ask them! For questions specific to the test drive, please ask them on the appropriate thread.
• For the purposes of the test drive, your character will have access to all magics taught by the Coven if they're a Witch, and as much of their shifted form as you'd like if they're a Monster. Feel free to play around and experiment with each!
• While current players won't be allowed to post top levels on the test drive itself, feel free to reference or play with the dreams in-game.
• Test drive threads can be used as samples for your applications!
You feel like you're floating. Around you, colors and sounds and smells swirl as if trapped in a whirlpool, vibrancy and hue ever shifting. The more you watch them, the less solid they are; they only become clear out of the corner of your eye. The area around you begins to feel more solid as well, until your feet are on the ground, the wind brushes playfully against your face -
and you know one thing, and one thing alone: this is a dream, and an incredibly realistic one at that.
The Eternal Fall
The smell of autumn leaves surrounds you, a myriad of colors sparkling into existence at the same time. Despite the warmth and light, the air feels heavy and stiff, as if on razor's edge. The forest is eerily silent - not a bird, bug, or rodent dares to stir - and when you do hear something, it's the high-pitched crying, whining, weeping, sobbing, howling sounds of something far off. The tunnel of bent branches invites you further with an unpleasant compulsion; though fighting it and turning around finds you in front of a chilly, damp cave alight with the faint, cool glow of bubbling fountains and streams.
 The Compulsion Unable to sway yourself from the call of the forest - or maybe you're simply curious as to where it leads - your feet pull you further and further into the autumnal tunnel. The cry from before grows more distant, but in return, the air weighs even heavier on your shoulders than before. The branches hang lower and lower as well, as if pushed by gravity, until their leaves smack your face, twigs offering small cuts from the thorns protruding from their bark. But you can't stop. Not now. The end of the tunnel seems so close; but it's seemed that way for a while now, you suppose, and you've already come this far - you might as well stay the course, wherever it might lead. The further you go, the brighter everything becomes, and you realize it's the leaves surrounding you; they've begun to glow, encouraged by the sunlight streaming in from above, and the wind begins to whisper in your ear. At first, it's only encouraging things, or silly facts - harmless words, but as the foliage begins to shimmer and reflect your image, the wind's words turn colder. Within those reflections on the autumn tunnel, you begin to see your worst moments - morally, ethically, emotionally. The things you don't want anyone else to know, that you'd feel ashamed or struck for anyone - especially those close to you - to see. The wind becomes louder as the scenes play out one right after another, boldly declaring your true feelings as they were in that moment, good or bad. Worst of all - you still can't bring yourself to turn back, even as your mind begins to free itself from the tunnel's compulsion. Maybe someone else can help out, if they're not too taken by their own memories, or maybe the shock of sharing such private secrets will jolt you and anyone else back to reality. Either way, it's that, or staying stuck watching your worst memories play on repeat for what feels like the rest of your life. |
 The Cry While not compelled by any means, you still feel a curious draw down the path in front of you; as you follow the leaf tunnel, with others or alone, you find another, less-traveled path. Following it reveals a large pond colored orange and gold by the reflection of the area it's in, sunlight and shadows playing on its surface. At a glance, it seems to be rather shallow, but that's hardly the truth. You realize, after a moment, that the crying has continued, evidently coming from the water. Looking closer, the culprit is an infected Merrow, who - upon begin seen - shrieks and dives for whoever's looking at it with the clear intent to drag them down beneath the water. Its claws are extra sharp, its teeth similar to a shark in number and shape, and its scales have turned a pale black; an oil-like substance flows from beneath them and from its gums as well, shimmering the same way gasoline does in the light, and its eyes are the tell-tale white of a Shade. It isn't impossible to fight it to get away, especially as some of you have new abilities at hand, and some of you have a few neat changes to help that along. Once distance is successfully put between you and the infected Merrow, it howls in a wet, warbly voice, visibly frustrated. Unlike ordinary Merrows, who can walk on land and have legs as long as they stay dry, this Merrow can't seem leave its pond at all, and electricity sparks from it like little static shocks in its irritation. It does dive back under once it realizes it can't reach you, resurfacing as your character's most important person in an attempt to lure them back. The expressions are far too real, too genuine; even those aware it's a Merrow might be fooled. While its voice isn't a perfect mimicry, the song it begins to sing has with it notes of yearning and beckoning to join it, join your beloved person, in the water. |
 The Cave Pulling yourself from curiosity or compulsion, the cave behind you - in front of you, if you've turned around - gives off an oddly pure feeling. Like an oasis in a desert, it feels refreshing and calm; incredibly safe, compared to the eerie call of the forest it's in. Within the cave are pools of water that glow and glimmer from the magic runes found around them. The runes shift similar to a mirage whenever you try to focus on them; and try as you might, you can't glimpse what they say exactly. It isn't so hard to figure out though, as the pools of water surrounded by them have a pleasingly cold temperature, while those without them are near scalding. A few of the latter have runes around them, but they're not glowing like the rest - feeding a little magic into them changes this immediately, and steam rises in a sudden blast as the water cools rapidly. The opposite can be done for the colder pools too - taking their magic somehow or ruining the runes will make them bubble and boil as they surge in temperature. But that isn't all the cave has to offer. Moving further inward, you get the feeling you're going down - beneath the ground and the enchanting forest. Eventually, the cave widens out to a massive underground lake, multiple waterfalls pouring into it; despite their number and size, the room is completely silent. All tunnels seem to lead to this one room, with a few of them looking more man-made than natural. Traversing other tunnels leads you into a maze that only ever brings you to the lake, or to the cave's entrance, no matter how many different paths you take. Something different happens eventually though; signs of life begin to appear, or at least signs that life once lived there. Leather pouches rotted by the dampness of the cave hang on sharp nails beaten into the cave walls, with boots in similar condition strewn here and there. Torn, soaking clothing lays in piles in the tunnels, and candles burnt down to their wick's end stand in shelves carved from the navy blue and black stone. There's broken toys and books too waterlogged to read, instruments with snapped strings or clogged holes, and - most peculiarly - smooth, round devices that heavily resemble large pocketwatches or hand mirrors. They refuse to turn on though, either due to age or due to the wetness of the air. |
no subject
"I suppose it is. A foolish decision, but yours nonetheless. But forgiving myself is also my decision, and I do not."
His hand is shaking, so he keeps it close to his side to try to keep her from noticing. It's really the only visible sign of the inner turmoil he's going through. He'd known, when he'd done what he'd done that there would be consequences to pay but facing the women he'd killed, having to endure her forgiveness wasn't one of the consequences he'd anticipated.
"I don't regret doing what I could to save my people. Even if you think I did it for selfish reasons, I know it was the right thing to do. But that does not include what I did to you.
I will never be able to atone for that, no matter what you say."
no subject
"It was not a foolish decision. It was a decision made out of love, and one that I would willingly make again and again if it meant saving the love of my life. Though, had the tables been turned and Ardyn's blade had been aimed at you, I would have done the same for you as well. The love I felt for you may have been different than what I feel for Ardyn, but it was still there."
She looks off to the side, because she does still love this man like the brother she'd never gotten to have. They'd made wonderful memories together growing up, and she can recall so many times that he'd made her laugh or smile, playing out in fields of flowers and even a few times that he'd tolerated her teaching him how to do something silly like make a flower crown or how to identify different subspecies of flowers.
"My life meant nothing, and it still means nothing. A life without Ardyn would not have been a life worth living. Killing him would have killed me as well in one way or another. He was my everything..." her voice cracks, and she reaches up to quickly wipe at her eyes as they begin to fill with tears.
"I don't care what you did to me. Killing me was a mercy, compared to living without Ardyn. I just... will never understand your motives. But you never answered my question, Somnus. What did you do to Ardyn? Did you kill him?"
no subject
He really does, this is not him being obtuse. He’s being stubborn about many things- dealing with the people suffering from the Starscourge in a merciful way, accepting that Ardyn would probably have been a better, kinder and more beloved King that he will ever be, that the Astrals only chose him when Ardyn wasn’t an option anymore.
But he honestly, truly tries to understand loving someone as much as Aera loves her brother, loving someone so much you’d risk the entire world for them. And he just… can’t. He’s too pragmatic, the needs of the many will always outweigh the needs of the few.. If he had been in Aera’s shoes, even if he truly did believe that what Somnus was doing was the wrong choice, he would have never jumped just to save someone like that.
“I tried.” He admits, because he’s… tired. And she will find out sooner or later anyway, since this place seems determined to air out everything he feels guilty about. “But I couldn’t. So I had to imprison him.
You didn’t see him like I did, Oracle. He turned into… “ He shakes his head, glancing away. “He wasn’t Ardyn anymore.”
no subject
What's really sad, is seeing all of that go over Somnus's head. She's not entirely surprised, but it's still a sad situation all around. It's unfortunate that he doesn't understand, that he can't understand, and she truly does hope that will change some day. That he will marry and have children and love them above his own selfish needs.
Her expression tightens again, however, at his admission, and she shakes her head.
"That's not true. Ardyn could never be a monster... but Somnus, do you not realize what you have done?" She looks up at him again, reaching up to lightly take hold of is cheeks in her hands. "You have doomed your entire bloodline..."
no subject
Everything he did, every decision he made… part of it was jealousy, of course. He can admit that was power hungry on some level and that colored his decisions to a point. But he did it for his people, present and future. He did it for his bloodline and to ensure their land had worthy, determined and strong kings and queens that would make the right choices no matter how much it hurt, no matter who they had to lose in the process. If he failed in doing that everything he lost was for nothing.
Aera’s death was for nothing.
“I’m sorry, Oracle. But I saw it with my own two eyes. He was… he was beyond cure, beyond reason. The crystal rejected him, like I predicted it would, because he’d been foolish enough to let the starscourge infect him.
And then he attacked me and Gilgamesh. It is only thanks to my Shield that I live.”
no subject
Her hands drop from his face, and she shakes her head and turns away from him, clearly upset and hurt at the very accusation that Ardyn could do something so heinous. Granted, she'd been in the throne room when their fight began, it was the first she'd ever seen Ardyn draw his weapon and... well, Somnus came at him first. She can only imagine that her death threw him over the edge.
"That cannot be... Ardyn was not meant to be a monster, he was meant to be a savior. The crystal rejected him? But Bahamut himself informed me that Ardyn was chosen. I do not understand... I do not understand any of this. Ardyn was meant to purge the scourge from our star... if that has changed... then a new Savior will need to be sought."
Which is what gets her to turn around, a look of deep sadness written all over her face.
"Somnus, do you not understand? The Gods will need to bestow a new Savior. What happens next... I know not, but it cannot be good. And who knows how long that will take?"
no subject
“I think… I think we thought we knew more than what we actually did. We thought we could interpret what the Astrals had to say but the Astrals will only tell us what we need to know- even to you, Oracle. We assumed we knew what was going to happen, we knew their future plans but all we did was walk blindly into the path they had chosen for us.
All I can say is that I promise I will try to be a good king. You have made your position clear, but I do want to protect my people to the best of my ability.”
no subject
Mostly.
"But that was my job, Somnus... did they really distrust me so? Did I not do everything they asked of me? Ardyn as well. Did we not do their bidding just as foretold?" Her head shakes again, and she buries her face into her hands to hide the oncoming tears. This can't be right, NONE of this is right and she just... doesn't understand any of this. At all.
She wants to snap at Somnus again when he continues, she wants to grab him by the shoulders and shake him until he understands just what he's done. But he's too thick, his ego is far too precious and he just isn't getting it.
"...You are not the chosen, Somnus. You cannot get rid of the Scourge alone," She breathes through her fingers, her entire body slumping slightly in her despair. "Someone else will need to be chosen. Do you know what that entails? The suffering that will need to happen? To a member of your own family?"
Dropping her hands, she looks back over to the young king, no longer embarrassed or upset to show her distress, tears openly falling down her cheeks. "Ours are cursed bloodlines, Somnus. I will pray for the future kings and oracles to come, because the darkness is coming and it is going to get worse and worse. Many will die... but what do I know? Absolutely nothing, apparently."
no subject
He wants to snap at her, yell at her that Ardyn couldn’t have either. He doesn’t know what Bahamut’s real plan was, he knows only glimpses of it for now, but he knows that Ardyn was rejecting by the crystal by taking too much of the scourge on his own body. Exactly like Somnus had predicted it would. So she may be right- they both know what the crystal said, and how Somnus used it to his own advantage to get Ardyn where he wanted him. He wasn’t the chosen one, and he can’t change that.
But Ardyn’s way was obviously doomed to fail, as well. So what was the point of it all? What were they supposed to do? Was this a lose-lose situation where they were supposed to lose to be able to advance the plan? If Aera, who was given the power to interpret the Astral’s will, doesn’t know the answer then what hope do the rest of them have?
He reaches to wrap his arms around her. He doesn’t care if she will push him away, he has to try.
“We will prepare, Aera. I will tell them what’s to come, they may be surrounded by the darkness but they will prepare to fight against it.
I do not understand the gods, not the way you do. But I vow to keep what happened to my brother from happening to any other of my descendants. They will be ready to make the hard decisions, the hard choices, to save their people and their world."
no subject
She wants to snap back at him too, but that will do no good. And honestly? This whole thing is exhausting. She's still not sure if this is real or some sort of hallucination, the Six testing her before she is allowed to cross into the beyond. Or perhaps Ardyn killed Somnus and that is why he is here, too. She's not going to rule anything out at this point, either way.
She blinks when he suddenly wraps her up in a hug, and for a moment she stiffens. Somnus has never been the most affectionate person in the world, and how many years has it been since they have even been in such close proximity?
She is tired. She is tired of fighting, she is tired of Gods and thrones and darkness and daemons and everything in between. She slouches a bit, and lets her head drop onto Somnus's shoulder, her arms coming up to wrap around him finally, too. She can't forgive him for what he did to Ardyn, and yet she can't help but feel some semblance of sympathy for him, too. The path that he has chosen to walk will not be an easy one, nor will it be a life of luxury for his descendants.
"None of this is fair..." Not for Somnus's descendants, and certainly not for Ardyn. "...Why does it have to be our families?"
no subject
If he tells himself Aera pretty much has no choice but to be nice to him, the fact that she’s so, so kind to him even now hurts a little less.
“It isn’t, but life has never been fair. Not to you, not to my family. I don’t know what we were supposed to do, I don’t know what the Astrals want. I thought I did, I thought-
I don’t know anymore, Oracle. Maybe it's a good place we're... here, wherever this is, if this is even real. Maybe we're meant to find our own path, now.”
no subject
It is a frustrating position to be in, indeed.
Somnus is a murderer, and she isn't talking about herself. She speaks about all of the people that he's burned alive. Entire villages of people, even if they were merely suspected of having the Scourge, he lit them all aflame and didn't think a single thing of it. And yet she finds herself practically clinging onto him right now, listening to him talk because he is the only thing that seems somewhat normal at this point.
She doesn't bother lifting her head as she speaks, her voice muffled against the poor man's shoulder.
"It isn't right. I am dead, and this is not natural. This is wrong and I do not want to be here. I wish to return to death. Perhaps there is a path left for you to find, but there is none left for me. I do not even want one."
no subject
Especially if Somnus has anything to say about it. Is it misplaced guilt, is it his own particular way of pretending that if he does this one good thing, if he is good to one good person that deserves it what he did won’t end up being as atrocious? Maybe. But he’s still sticking to it.
She’s partly wrong. He only burned people who actually showed signs of the Starscourge, he hadn’t gone as far as she assumes he did. She’s not wrong, however, in assuming he did not think twice about it because to this day he still thinks that was the right way to protect his people from an illness that was literally sent by the gods to smite them.
They can call him callous if they wish to. All the people that were saved because of his actions are worth it.
“What is your plan, then? Let yourself languish, pretend this isn’t happening?”
no subject
She honestly doesn't know what to do or think at this point. None of this is right, everything is wrong and her entire world has literally been flipped upside down. She is, for the lack of any better sort of terms, a very unhappy camper right now. And she knows that anyone else in her position, who had been sent to the Beyond and given a second chance at life would be ecstatic. But not Aera.
She has no purpose here, and she doesn't particularly want one.
"I will see to it that I find my way back home. Where I belong."
no subject
“Then I suppose I wish you well in your endeavors.” He doesn’t want her to die again, especially not when it was his fault the first time. He doesn’t want her to wake up from this really, really weird dream just to die. But if that’s what she wants, what is he supposed to do to stop her?
Tie her up until she changes her mind?
“I wish to continue, see where this path leads even if I have to endure the guilt and pain. Do you mind if we talk at a later time if our paths cross again?”
no subject
"Thank you, and I wish you the same, dear Somnus." This is not natural, she cannot, she does not want to be here or belong here. This is not what the Gods intended for her, and she will make sure she finds her way home somehow.
"Yes, of course. Tread very carefully, Somnus... be cautious of your surroundings. And take care."