( 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

[antemeridian]

[ Homura schools the involuntary shiver that runs through her when Madoka takes her hand in hers as best she can, but doesn't manage to rid herself of it completely. Which is silly, and doesn't make sense, even, as a reaction. Madoka is here, and she's been holding on to her this entire time.

Madoka is here, and alive, and... real. And yet... ]

... Of course.

[ She grasps Madoka's hand back, tentatively, before glancing over at the things she'd scattered to the side when Madoka had rushed toward her. A quick weighting of objects and vague notions of value later and she's picked up the pack and its small, odd collection of items, with the sword left lying where she'd left it- out of the way and unlikely to be tripped or sat on.

Homura dips her head in quiet acquiescence. ]

Lead the way, Madoka.

[soulcomet]

[by the time they've arrived at the hut Madoka's claimed for herself — a cramped, but somehow still cozy little space that she's filled with books, notebooks, random trinkets from friends — she's decided how she best wants to share what Bebe looks like.]

[she lets go of Homura's hand and grabs a notebook and pen, and settles herself down on the cot that's situated in the corner to start sketching.]

Bebe is sort of ... like this. [a creature that looks like a doll of some sort, with large, oval eyes and sleeves that extend longer than her body. her head almost resembles a piece of candy.]

[a witch, clearly. but Madoka wouldn't be able to conjure that word on her own; she only knows her as Bebe.]

Does she look familiar to you at all?

[antemeridian]

[ when they arrive Homura glances around the living space a bit — it's all new, nothing she could have ever seen before, but the details match up. the hut looks lived in, and the little things, the trinkets and books— they're quintessentially Madoka. Madoka has been here for a while, and if Homura thinks about it a bit she can even come up with a possible, reasonable explanation for why or how.

but she isn't thinking about that, right now.

she folds in on herself, a little, as she hesitantly settles down on a stool. the living space is so small; it almost feels as if she's intruding, even though Madoka is the one who invited her here.

she peers over once Madoka indicates the notebook, and doesn't quite manage to smooth the furrow in her brow before it forms. ]

That's... Bebe?

[ a familiar shape. the Sweets Witch- Charlotte, her name would be, if any of them actually understood the runes. ]

I remember something a lot like her.

[ similar, but altered. less expressive, a more solemn sort of cute, disarming in its apparent harmlessness. minor differences, really, akin to how the Mermaid Witch changed across timelines. not enough, then, to mark them as different entities. an anomalous timeline, then, treat this as such? ]

But that something was dangerous.

[ not something to be told stories about over tea, unless 'meeting' in this case meant 'how the witch was defeated' instead.

...somehow, she doesn't think that's the case. but she leaves it at that, her question instead plain in the features of her face as she waits to see how Madoka wants to continue. ]

[soulcomet]

Dangerous? No, not at all — I mean ... she helps us out a lot in fights, but I would never think of her as dangerous.

[she falls silent, staring down at her drawing. for an agonizing moment, she's at a loss for what to say.]

... To be honest, ever since I got here, I've sort of had this feeling that something about home wasn't quite adding up. But I never really worried about it too much.

I know you wouldn't lie to me, Homura-chan. [she's still staring down at her notebook. Bebe.] There's something wrong here, and ... it sort of feels like it might be me.

[antemeridian]

[ Homura, surprisingly, or maybe not that much so, shakes her head in vehement denial. ]

There's nothing wrong with you, Madoka. You're you, and that's... what matters.

[ but, then again, this is a Homura more used to seeing Madoka talk herself down more and more in recent timelines. and it hurt, seeing Madoka think so little of herself. it's her fault, she knows, for not letting Madoka fight, for not letting her do anything but watch as her friends got hurt again and again... but that's Homura's fault, and not Madoka's. never Madoka's.

but after her outburst, Homura falls silent for a moment. she looks down to the open pages at first, then glances from one corner of the cot to another, searching for words. ]

You aren't wrong, [ she repeats, voice small, but starting again to carry in it a thin undercurrent of steel now ] but I think ... something else might be. [ was it Qri? did she-- do something, to Madoka? for a moment Homura thinks of her own memory magic, and something in her goes cold at the thought. ]

Madoka. Start ... start from the beginning. What makes you think that something is wrong?

[soulcomet]

I just ... [where to start?]

[by the time Madoka was pulled here, reality had already started to slowly unravel for some of the other girls. it hadn't for her (she's also operating under different circumstances, of course), but here, when people who had no initial perspective on Mitakihara City or magical girls asked her questions, she ... just had this odd sensation that something wasn't quite right.]

[what season was it back home, before she came here? what had she wished for? she didn't even have any inkling of what was really housed in her Soul Gem, before she came here.]

[Madoka shakes her head.]

It just doesn't make sense ... our stories aren't matching up at all. It doesn't feel like there might just be a time difference — it feels more like we're living in two different worlds entirely.

[one more question would confirm it for her.]

Do you know what a Nightmare is?

[antemeridian]

[ Homura looks up. brushes away with one hand the hair that had fallen forward into her face, unrestrained by its missing accessory. focus, compartmentalize, one thing at a time, even if the weight of what Madoka's saying is too much. ]

I do not. I'm sorry. I think...

[ but she trails off, leaving whatever the thought was unvoiced. even if Madoka was— somehow— remembering a timeline Homura had never traveled, with her reach her wish had given her...

why only this one? why only one?

there could still... be another explanation for this. but Homura's already set on edge by the idea that something could keep Madoka here, and pull her where she hadn't meant to be pulled. that, more than anything, is what makes her suspect foul play.

(but before, or after here...?) ]

... My best guess. A creature, born from and given form by the curses of humanity?

[ that much... has to be the same, doesn't it? ]

[soulcomet]

[Homura's best guess is exactly what Madoka needed to hear — she's almost instantly reassured, despite it all, and she manages the tiniest of smiles.]

That's exactly it. [this whole conversation has been the two of them trying to meet — trying to remember something about their world that they still share — but they've been hitting a barrier just barely out of each other's reach.]

[Homura doesn't know what a Nightmare is, but at least she understands the concept. they still have that in common. it's enough for Madoka.]

I don't know what's going on ... I couldn't even begin to guess why the home that you know is so different than the one I do.

But I do know that you're still Homura-chan, no matter what. [her very best friend.] We can figure it out together, right?

[antemeridian]

I... [ it's a small, short intake of breath — not even a hitch in her voice, not yet — but it seems so loud to her. so many timelines, and yet Madoka can still catch her aback.

she nods, faintly, and manages the barest of genuine smiles. it's almost, almost timid in nature. she didn't think anything like this could ever happen again. and though none of their questions have been answered and their specter still looms ominously over the entire situation, Madoka is right. Madoka will always be Madoka, no matter what, and like that, with her worries pushed aside even for this briefest of moments the relief of their reunion comes flooding in all at once. ]

Yes, of course. We'll face it together. No matter what.

I'll always do my best to protect you, Madoka, no matter what happens. No matter what world this is. I promise, I won't leave you alone if I can help it.

[soulcomet]

I know you won't. I'm just ... sorry that it sounds like I did.

[with these memories, never in her wildest dreams could she imagine doing what she did. making that final wish.]

I think you'll really like everyone else here, though — I can't wait to introduce you to the friends I've made here.

[antemeridian]

Mm-mm. [ a small shake of the head, this time. it doesn't quite manage to be a rebuttal, but it's something like a denial, at least. ] You... did a good thing, Madoka. Something wonderful, and great. And if you were happy, doing it, then I'm happy too.

[ Madoka doesn't have to worry herself over someone like Homura. if she tells herself that enough times she'll start believing it. ]

But... yes, I would like that, Madoka. [ a breath — does she still even remember how to make a good first impression, outside of the posturing and curtness involved in magical girl confrontations? — but ] I'd love to meet the friends you've made.