( TDM | #4 )

[spellbindmods]

IMPORTANT: The weekly update post will go up later than usual tonight to give time for any other barrier quest responses to come in. Nothing major will be affecting how old players respond to newbies on this post, so tag away! Threads here do count for September bonus AC for old players.

TDMs can be used for anyone interested in the game and/or testing out a new muse.

Test Drive samples are encouraged to be used for your application sample, though they are NOT a requirement.

Feel free to use one prompt, multiple prompts or make up your own!

These threads can be considered game canon upon game opening if you so choose.

Telepathy and magic can be used at any point in time on the TDM, from Prompt A to your wildcard prompt. A specific prompt exists, however, that makes sure all characters have an equal chance to use this mechanic within the TDM. You're encouraged to have characters use telepathy and their magic accidentally or even purposefully on any TDM prompt.

If you aren't set on your character's power yet or want to try out a few, you're still able to use the test drive. Maybe your character is a late bloomer and hasn't fully unlocked their intuitive drive yet. In the case of multiple powers, only prompts that contain the power you choose for your application will count as potential game canon threads.

While only one character can be apped or reserved during a cycle, feel free to post with more than one character if you like! This is for those who are uncertain of their first choice or who would like to try out different characters within the setting.

IMPORTANT: This world is low-frequency. No canon powers or abilities are allowed! Also check out the setting information for more info about what the hub island looks like and what can be found there.

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. A ▢ Your character's first experience here will be waking up in a forest. Specifically, located here. It's up to them to traverse and try to figure out where they are, whether they make it to the beach or the main house area. 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! D ▢ Many of the old bloods in the coven can be found hanging around this area. Of course, a few of them have gone off on their own to do whatever it is they do, but since they just got back this is a good place to hang out if a new character wants to see a familiar face, ask questions or steal someone's belongings. You never know! 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. G ▢ There's that bathhouse that's nearby, for starters. Your character won't encounter any snapping crabs, like last time, though the water for some reason isn't as hot as it once was. Whatever was previously heating the bathhouse seems to have died out, so there aren't any steamy, comfortable pools to take a dip in. There are, however, acrid waters with pond scum floating on the surface. The showers also spew out a greenish liquid, so any hope your character had at having a relaxing bath is gone. However, the lack of heat and many closed off rooms can make for some nice alone time. 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!

GAME NAVIGATION

Comments

rose lalonde | homestuck

[knitpick]

a. altar of the glasscocks
[Rose makes for a striking figure in all the forest's greenery, pale and blonde and wearing a rather onoxiously orange tunic. It kinda stands out. It also clashes something awful with her black lipstick and heavy eyeliner, but a goth heart beats within her, and it will not be quenched by the contrastingly sunshiney brightness of her godtier garb.

She has no idea where she is -- a bit unsettling, when knowing shit had kinda become her Thing. But she can manage. The more aggressive wildlife aside, the forest seems peaceful enough, and wandering seems as good a plan as any to start. Surely she'll find some sign of other people eventually, right?

Well, the shrine she comes across is certainly man-made. Almost certainly, anyway. She can't say for sure that small glass dicks aren't a naturally occurring phenomena here, wherever "here" is, but it seems unlikely. And any clue that might lead her towards civilization is a potentially useful one, so she crouches before the menagerie of glass cocks surrounding the central phallic slab, seemingly unphased but for an arched eyebrow as she examines them.]

Amazing.

[And tragic. So tragic. Why is she alone when coming across something like this? An experience like this should be shared.]


b. > rose: ride
[The boar were bound to be a problem eventually. Although "problem" is prpbably too strong a word for the situation. "Minor inconvenience", maybe.

Because Rose does happen to have her endgame needles with her, the Quills of Echidna. And they might not be working as wands at the moment for some reason, but she was using needles as stabbing implements long before she was using them for magic.

One might be drawn to the sound of thundering hooves and angry boar-noises, but worry not. The aggressive snorts suddenly turn to pained squealing, as a boar comes rushing through the trees with a teenage girl perched on its back, digging her ballet flat-clad heels in for support while clinging to a pair of white needles she has rammed into the flesh of its neck.

See? Minor inconvenience.]


c. wildcard
((ooc: throw something entirely different at me! hit me up at tinybro if you wanna discuss something first.))

a

[splinten]

[Dirk wants to say 'haha, shit.' He wants to find a stupid joke about glass dicks. He wants to really embrace the absurdity of it. A dick that is hard and yet fragile—isn't that worthy of analysis?

Sadly, seeing Rose changes all this. The whole Ensemble is impossible to mix. Dirk sort of... freezes near a tree.




Look, shit was awkward the last time there were betas here. He's very uncomfortable.]

Agreed.

[Witty. Smart. Well-phrased. Genius.]

[knitpick]

[Rose half turns, quietly delighted to not be alone here after all, and--

Huh. Right. Dave's teenage alt-universe Bro. Not anyone she might have expected to see. And technically her genetic father. That last part is kind of a weird thing to think about when she considers her lack of interaction with this person. She'd...waved at him, she thinks, in the midst of all the lotus pad reunions just a little while ago? But that's it. There hadn't really been a chance before the fighting, of course, with how quickly Dave and him had scurried off to go deal with their shit, and after she'd been a bit distracted greeting the people she actually knew and getting dragged around by Kanaya.

Was it weirder that she hadn't gone out of her way to make time for her technical-dad? It's not like she was never planning on it, she'd at least expected there to be time for that sort of thing once everything had settled down... But then, Dave had been pretty quick to shove himself in Roxy's face and make a connection with his kinda-mom. Does that make her kind of distant, that she hadn't done the equivalent? Or was that just Dave being his normal needy self?

This probably isn't the time to analyze her own behavior, with the ectodad right there waiting on a response from her. Right.]

Where is Dave when I need him? I would have liked to welcome him home.

[There. Their point of connection, other than shared genetics. That's a tactful choice of subject with a near-stranger, right?]

[splinten]

[Ah. There's a weird, uncomfortable pause when Rose says Dave's name.]

Is that a general declaration of residency, or are you implyin' home is where the glass dicks are?

[knitpick]

More a running joke. Harassing Dave over his eternal fixation on male genitalia is something of a hobby for me by now.

[It's more an "I told you so" kinda thing these days, but. Hmm. That part probably isn't here place to mention. She doesn't know what exactly the Striders had talked about when they ran off pre-endgame, and there hadn't been time since to drag a jam out of Dave about it.

She should probably alter course.]

Charming as it may be, this probably isn't the best place to take up residence. Glass penises don't make up for a lack of a roof, shockingly enough.

[splinten]

[So she doesn't remember the beach huts. Does she remember anything? Man, timelines and alternate universes are a pain in the ass. A heart player sort of has to deal with them, but his shit has never been this precise kind of obnoxious.]

There are huts on the beach and other residences scattered about. You can probably take the phallus as a house-warming gift to bestow upon your abode Priapus's blessing.

[Weird erudite dick jokes, yes. This is his comfort zone.]

[knitpick]

[Violet eyes cut up to her sorta-dad just briefly, piercing and thoughtful. Dave's teen guardian seems a fair bit more...eloquent, maybe. Not that what comes out of Dave's mouth isn't its own form of eloquence, but this is more refined, kinda. It's not what she would have expected based on what she knew of Bro.]

I'd worry that stealing from a such a shrine might curse me with infertility. Then again, given my situation, having biological children was already unlikely anyway.

[Yeah, she's...actually taking a glass dick.]

[splinten]

[From his last experience, he has realized that Rose doesn't take after Roxy in terms of speech patterns, particularly when compared with Dave. He really enjoys just falling into that kind of conversation.]

Alternatively, by taking the phallus you're showing the initiative to seize reproduction even where it might not be immediately yours to possess. A certain kind of God would embrace exactly that kind of tribute.

Congratulations, Rose Lalonde. The Boner God is going to bless your ovaries.

[knitpick]

[The glass phallus is already in her hand. There's no taking this back now. She glances down at it, arching an eyebrow.]

And what degree of hyper-fertility, exactly, would such a blessing entail? I'm going to have quite a bit of explaining to do if I become pregnant by my alien girlfriend, after all, and I'm not sure the world is ready for troll-human hybrids.

[Just the faintest curve of her painted lips to give away her amusement. Total poker faces are for the Strider half of the family.]

[splinten]

That's up to Priapus himself. Personally, I don't doubt your ability to make the world ready itself for alien hybrid lesbian babies.

[HE FUCKING KNOWS ABOUT YOU ROSE LALONDE]

[knitpick]

I'm a lucky girl to have such a supportive father.

[Yes she is going there. In the most nonchalant manner, too, as she steps away from the shrine, glasscock in hand.]

So. Beach huts and other residences?

[splinten]

[There's the slightest shift—just the barest hint that she got him. Then he locks into full irony mode. Rose Lalonde is as dangerous as the stories said.]

Dilapidated huts that way [points]. If you prefer the ruins of old mansions eerily abandoned in their prime, go West or East. For those who prefer a more rustic setting, pick a fuckin' tree.

[knitpick]

[There's a brief glance and a slight quirk at the corner of her mouth to suggest that she might have noticed. It's hard to say. If she did, she's at least nice enough not to mention it.

Now, as far as possible shelters go: spooky old mansions are her aesthetic.]

You've mapped out the local real estate quickly.

[She only just saw him a short while earlier on the lotus platform, after all. And her flying wasn't working for some reason, preventing her from figuring out where the hell she was more easily, so unless whatever was happening was limited to her she'd assume he's also flightless...

This is probably a time shenanigans thing. It's always a time shenanigans thing.]

[splinten]

Didn't anyone tell you? I'm a professional realtor. Strider Homes Inc.

[Realtors probably aren't incorporated? He doesn't fucking know. He'll roll with it.]

Establishing my business over several weeks here on the hub definitely helped.

[knitpick]

Several weeks. I see.

[She hates being right all the time.








That's a fucking lie, she loves being right. But this seems like a particularly bullshit situation in the grand scheme of their bullshit lives.]

And how booming is the business?

[splinten]

[Dirk looks Rose dead in the eye.]

Darling, your father is a billionaire.

[knitpick]

[Eye fucking contact. And she smirks just a little, oddly pleased.]

And here I thought our riches all came from the puppet pornography. We're more respectable than I thought.

[splinten]

Of course not. Early on in my financial career I learned that great truism of capitalism: diversify, diversity, and don't fuckin' look at your own hands.

[He tilts his head.]

I was going to ask your preference, but it's going to be the Gothic reprisal, huh.

[knitpick]

Of course. Find me my dream home, Mr. Strider. And then pay for it, because the best way to make up for being absent during childhood is to buy the child's love during adulthood.

[Too real, Rose. Chill. And maybe focus for a moment on the bullshit that is your life, however surprisingly fun it may be to snark with daddy.]

Where is everyone else?

b

[potentite]

[Jesus Christ. Jake came because he heard the boar and worried it might be attacking someone who couldn't handle it. As it turns out, he probably should have been more worried about the boar. He hasn't seen Rose for a while and he was certain she was gone but maybe he was wrong? She seems fine. Casually murdering a boar but fine.]

Sweet Sally May, looks like you, um— have everything under control...?

Re: b

[knitpick]

[She takes a moment to finish the boar off, wrenching a needle from its neck in a spurt of blood before re-stabbing it into an eye, deep enough to lance thw poor thing through the brain. With a shriek, the boar tumbles to a halt, and she hops neatly off as it goes down.

Look, it started the fight. She just finished it.

Glancing up at her unexpected company, for half a moment Rose thinks it's John. But the details are wrong -- different build, hair sweeping the wrong way, wrong voice, that ridiculous manner of speech. Right, Grandpa Harley. English. Whatever. She straightens, shakes her bangs out of her eyes, and lightly steps over to retrieve her needles from the corpse.]

After the Condesce, I should hope I can handle a single angry pig.

[potentite]

[The Condesce? Oh, right. The Batterwitch.] Wow, you tussled with her and emerged victorious?

a

[rebells]

[The shrine he had heard about from Hibiki, but only in the most vague of terms--that it was a fertility shrine, and that there were . . . figures . . . Hibiki didn't seem to particularly want to dwell on. So he'd been picturing something like this, rather than . . . these dildos-in-waiting.

So he stops short, as he comes into view of the shrine. He is bright red.]

Oh.

[knitpick]

[The sound of movement behind her makes her glance backwards, and...that's a complete stranger. Well. Good sign, since she was searching for signs of civilization. But said stranger is blushing like a virgin at a strip club, presumably over the assortment of glass penises, and unfortunately Rose is completely unable to resist any such sign of weakness. She just can't.

So she smiles pleasantly, turning to the stranger and making a welcoming gesture, sweeping a hand grandly over the lineup of glassware cocks.]

Come to offer a prayer to our almighty Lord of Phalluses?

[Sorry, stranger. She's kinda awful.]

[rebells]

[He makes a choking noise. The red does not diminish.]

E-excuse me?!