Spellbind Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spellbindmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
spellgrinders2017-09-23 07:53 pm
spellbindmods) wrote in spellgrinders2017-09-23 07:53 pm
Entry tags:
( TDM | #4 )
You blink and that's all it takes. At first the picture doesn't come in clear, like you're waiting for a screen to fully load -- more aptly, it's like you're waiting for a camera to focus so you can find image clarity. Before you happened to rapidly close your eyes and open them, your life was normal...well, normal for you, anyway. Fighting an alien, making a quesadilla, dying. And then that blurry picture suddenly takes over. There's a lot to take in here -- you feel weird, your surroundings are weird. Everything is just weird. For starters, there's that new piece of jewelry inserted in the space above your chest. That certainly wasn't there before you opened your eyes.
If this new little signet catches their interest, fiddling with it will result in a bit of a neural vibration in everyone else with telepathy. Nothing painful; it's actually quite pleasant. But if they do decide to play with this new jewelry, they're likely to find some seasoned telepaths (aka old coven members) in their brain space, wondering that's up. A2 ▢ Alternatively, new coven members are notorious for being bad at telepathy from the jump. Their panicked reation to this journey or confused mental state may send out some network messages that maybe they didn't realize they were sending out. Or, maybe what's pushing them over the edge are all the other voices already doing exactly that in their brain. B ▢ Unlike the previous coven members who found themselves on the hub, new recruits won't find as many supplies randomly in the forest they're suddenly in. However, like old coven members, they will come across some wild boars that aren't too happy to see the humans have returned to their stomping ground. Your character may also come across a boar with babies in tow, which means that they're even more likely to be aggressive. If your character has useful magic within them somewhere, now may be a good time to discover how to use it...? C ▢ Whether you've braved a boar encounter or avoided one entirely, there's a lot to do and see in the forest, as well as other areas of the hub! Well, "do" is debatable. But! Coven members before them have discovered some pretty nifty locations that can be stumbled upon, from a phallic fertility shrine to tree homes and passageways. |
If you eventually make it out of the forest and aren't devoured by a boar, you'll eventually come upon your new base camp. Someone (Genette) will be there with your introductory letter and a brief description of magic you now have. If you didn't discover it earlier...surprise! One thing of comfort might be that you aren't alone in this journey. There are other coven members here, fresh back from a journey to another world. If your character wants to get the lay of the land or understand what's going on a little better, they may want to hit up some of these folk for information. There's a large, gold, floating caravan hanging around next to a bonfire, and there's a back gate open that reveals something of a space pocket containing lots of different things. Luckily for new characters, the Palai from the previous world didn't want them to go hungry...which also means they'll be inundated with shrimp to eat. Hopefully they like shellfish!
E ▢ This will also be the place where they're given their first provisions. In a woven knapsack, they'll find a bag of cooked shrimp, a set of clothes (you pick the style) that may not fit, a toothbrush, and three other random objects -- dealer's choice! It's very likely that your character got something useful in there, but it's also likely you got something that your character would never use in a million years, or that doesn't fit. Time to start trading! F ▢ Finally, there's always the chance for your character to explore the big mansion next to the beach area. Actually, they may be asked to lend a hand. Everyone is tasked with unloading supplies from the caravan to the front foyer of the mansion, and there are quite a few trips to be mad. Or, alternatively, your character can slack off and play in the game room that they have. How good is your character at pool? |
If you're much more of a loner and don't want to follow the flow of things, there are of course other locations that you should probably check out. Travel to your heart's content and find something new...but there are two other points of interest you may want to discover.
H ▢ Your character may want to claim a beach house while they're at it. Some characters have disappeared from the coven over time, and some of these few may have left their belongings before departing. This makes it hard to tell what huts are free and which need to be cleared out. Might as well play roulette and see if you picked one that doesn't have an owner or not. (For the sake of the prompt, you might want to choose the former, just saying). I ▢ Wildcard prompt. Go nuts and utilize your own creativity within the setting. This can mean striking out on your own or utilizing a certain location in a different way. The world is your oyster! |
no subject
Such cool words from so petite a thing; humor ghosts over his mouth.
Sentiment that would be more fleeting, but for her reasoning. Something more worthy than a blade, when vicious boars roamed the woods? ]
To you, what would be worth the trade?
[ What sort of object would hold weight for a serious, composed teenaged girl. He finds he's actually interested in the answer. Even if his items--hand axe, deck of cards, handball--are unlikely to qualify. ]
no subject
Firearms. [ Even if the ammo for it would be limited and carrying it may prove inconvenient at times, depending, having it available as an option... ] A bow I wouldn't have to craft myself, and arrows for such. [ Because even if she's familiar enough with using them, she does not quite have the knowledgebase or resources, separated from the internet as they are, to be making them on her own, at least for them to turn out of acceptable quality. The arrows at least might be easier than the bow. ] More information than the letter we were given.
[ A pause, then a slight exhalation of breath. ]
Failing all else? A greater need of it than mine.
no subject
...Maybe kids getting dragged into things they shouldn't wasn't unusual in her world, too. Strange enough to need now to think of separate worlds for categories, never mind their respective features. For the most part, his interest would begin and end with any potential utility toward the problem of the witch. He isn't discounting a possible pattern to the worlds or people, but for now...
His own breath sounds amused, if faintly. ]
Aa, I'd accept information.
[ But... ]
A greater need, huh. So, you're that type of person?
[ His eyes wander, slipping to his hand against his thigh, watching the deliberate curl of index to palm. What would she do, he wonders, if given the choice: one would trade a gun, and another had tremendous need. Failing all else suggested her priorities, but if she was that type, it could be conflicting. Still. He doesn't care enough to ask. ]
no subject
Please do not mistake me for something I am not. [ Whether it be some flavor of naive, or easily taken advantage of; or if he thinks she's a 'good' person, or anything of the sort... such a description would better be applied to others, she believes. ]
I simply believe the magic that I was given might be more useful to me than others' would be to them, in any situation where self-defense would be necessary. Is it not in everyone's best interests that every able body here remains so, if possible?
no subject
However rational her explanation, he isn't convinced. But, he doesn't need to be. She isn't wrong, and he agrees readily. ]
As far as we've been told, it is. Then, what are you?
[ Having asked it, he tilts his head slightly, then shakes it. ]
No, nevermind. I should ask who, though I waste your time. I neither need that, nor have anything worth trading.
no subject
[ It's not like she has any reason to be reticent about her name. And he gave her such an easy out to neatly sidestep the question of what she is, too.
(Not... good enough where it counts, for one. Never enough.) ]
Though, I believe asking such and then immediately going back on it... makes you seem disingenuous.
If you have something to ask of me, I would prefer you be direct, rather than couch your inquiries in apologies that you may not actually mean.
no subject
Much more interesting is what follows. He feels an unfamiliar expression, though Julieta came closest to stirring it. No, not unfamiliar, so much as coated with the dust and rust of disuse, no longer sure of its place, where once it had slotted so easy.
A proper smile. ]
What if I am disingenuous?
[ He might have used indecisive, himself, but he's not committed to it. ]
Besides... I never apologized. If it sounded as though I implied an apology, then allow me to correct you.
no subject
[ Asking a question, then changing one's mind and offering what could be read as excuses, or apologies, but weren't really? Could be construed as a pathos ploy by some, or obfuscation by others. Pity the one who has nothing to offer. But she'll allow that perhaps she is hypervigilant to that sort of thing, to the point of seeing it where it isn't.
Kyubey's fault, then. But. Perhaps it was not his intention, but she is made aware as a result that her perceptions could perhaps use adjustment, if she is to be on cooperative terms with the others here for the foreseeable future.
... hm.
Homura runs a hand through her hair, though the motion's slowed by a few tangles she's yet to work out. ]
I meant to speak in a hypothetical, but you may consider me corrected then. That said. If you are disingenuous, and that is your nature, then I have already expressed a preference for directness.
no subject
[ Sometimes, assuming good faith was dangerous. In an unknown environment such as this, though the concept of teamwork toward a greater cause sounded pleasant, and the nature of their shared abduction and confinement might guarantee camaraderie, to assume the best of all would be foolish.
And he has been foolish. He's lost his taste for it. Death, and by the hands of the man he'd believed to be his best friend, will do that.
Out of his periphery, he watches the impeded path of her hand. An idle thought of shampoo passes swiftly from mind. ]
Hypothetically corrected, then. My nature, huh...
[ An elusive concept. One he needn't determine now, regardless. If he isn't disingenuous, then be direct. If he is, then also be direct. Simple. ]
I have nothing to ask of you. I'd been pursuing my curiosity, before I thought to give you an out.
no subject
[ It's spoken more mildly than it might have once been, not that he would know. There's a glint of- something, in her eyes. Odd as it might be, her shoulders are more lax now. As if she's more comfortable with the tension and uncertainty involved in evaluating others and being evaluated in return, rather than starting from assumed mutual cooperation and goodwill.
Perhaps it says something about her that she'd rather trust in ambiguity or admitted self-interest, mild as the sort involved in curiosity would be, over a friendly front, these days. ]
But... thank you. I believe that is all I needed to know.
[ It's not happiness or even contentment as it is... acceptance, or satisfaction, rather, that colours her tone then. But she tilts her head after she says this, fixing him with a look into which she allows to leak a little of her own inquisitiveness. ]
Have you satisfied your curiosity, then?
no subject
Legally, or morally?
[ Or neither. Either way, he thinks no. The absence of one intention does not necessarily imply the presence of another, though it's easier to be sure with clear opposites. Good faith; bad faith. There were more elusive sentiments and motivations -- love, revenge, trust, hatred, rage -- with counterpoints more difficult to define.
Either way, she is an interesting, strange girl. He does not look to study directly, to notice the subtle easing in her body language. Some of it discernable by the the difference in her eyes. By the tone with which she thanks him, to which he lifts one shoulder, a half-shrug of acknowledgment.
It may say something, and if so, the statement further piques. ]
A little. The more you say, the less I'm satisfied. You're young to be so...
[ Raising now his hand, he gestures in the air, vague in it. ]
...but I shouldn't mistake you for what you aren't.
no subject
[ Her gaze tracks the movement of his hand out of the corner of her eyes before she hums, quietly. His last statement gives her pause for a moment, but it's brief; she opts to answer the obvious interpretation, hands plaited in her lap. ]
You wouldn't be wrong. Fourteen would be considered young to most people, would it not?
[ Something like a fourteen year old girl, with all the mentality and maturity entailed, but with twelve or so more years of experience to her name... She's quite aware that she's an oddity. ]
no subject
A less compelling one, too, than such a sober teenager. Her incongruent maturity might have disarmed him two years ago, but in the moment, he files it alongside the neat fold of her hands. Public perception and fourteen. ]
Maybe.
[ Thoughtful, glancing to the fire, flames flickering in his eyes as he draws a long leg up, knee near to chest. His index finger drums once against the cap. Almiria betrothed at nine, married at ten. Society jeering, but not disgusted. Julieta must have been a child soldier beneath Galan Mossa. Tekkadan, brutal children he'd also seen as space rats, now allied with a monster. ]
Maybe youth is a luxury, when there is utility against it.
[ If she knows how to wield bows and guns, she might understand. ]