( TDM | #5 )

[spellbindmods]

IMPORTANT: This TDM is something a little different -- it's a mix of 4th Wall shenanigans and test driving. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come and make this spooky experience even more creeptacular, and all threads are canon. Any weird happenings, magic shortages or flip-flopping for new characters will just be considered part of the strangeness of the night.

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.

The foreign moon has come as close to the hub island as it possibly can, and the nocturnal deer aren't the only things acting up at this point. Those with intact spiritual intuition or with the power of emotional understanding will have felt the heaviness in the air, and as the days have dragged on that thickness has only intensified. Tonight that thickness might be explained by the heavy fog that's settled in on the island. However, that doesn't mean it's all that's making the night unsettling. All across the island, spirits are taking shape. They're humanoid in nature and completely devoid of sound -- like holographic projections with the audio broken. They flashstep around at times, and other instances they'll walk around like a normal person. Their mouths move and yet no sound escapes. They tangibility is as erratic as their movements. In one moment they have control over their solid mass, despite being translucent, but other times they can walk through walls or pass right through flesh. Their clothes are indicative of a somewhat modern time period, and sometimes they're indistinguishable from other coven members outside of their blue, sepia-toned hue. Another inconsistency is that their demeanor and actions are as varied as any modern society's. Some of these spirits are confused and angry. Some are trying to go about life as best they can. One might be able to pick up a sword and swing it, while another might want to braid your hair. Ages, strengths, dispositions...they match the state of the person as they once were. But where do new, potential coven members come into this equation. A ▢ Some "new coven members" will come to the island as they are. That's your choice. Others, however, are also affected by the bizarreness of the moonlight. Unlike other spirits, characters affected by the moon will be able to talk, but everything else will match their new spirit friends -- from translucence to physical inconsistency. B ▢ No matter whether your character is spirit-y or 100% as they were, the spirits in question are still going to interact with them. For this prompt, they've run into a kind spirit. Whether this is a child spirit tying to round them up into a game of tag or an adult spirit who is trying to communicate with them in some way, this spirit will be neutral or welcoming to their presence, as well as to the presence of other coven members. C ▢ Other spirits may not be so friendly. While their demeanor will mirror the type of person they were when they were alive, the spirits run on very simple and exaggerated emotions. A person with a gruff demeanor in their life will exist as an aggravated spirit. A person with violent tendencies when alive will exhibit as a malevolent ghost. This is the type of spirit you happen to have encountered. How will this interaction turn out?

Brie's been pretty busy trying to fix the wild boar problem that the island has been having, which the results? It's hard to tell if they're paying off, yet. She's somehow smuggled out some Elto bones and tried to use them as something of an electric fence system around the boar-dense areas. The boars who are alive seem to be reacting well! Others, however, are not. D ▢ Dead boars are now waking up around the island, somehow affected by a combination of magic and the moon's spiritual awakening. Some are a little more like their alive cousins -- undead flesh still pretty much in place. Others are totally skeletal, roaming around and thrusting their tusks anywhere they please. E ▢ These boars and spirits happen to be attracted to several shrines located on the island. While the religious affiliations of these shrines are unknown and vastly differ from one another, the spirits seem to be drawn towards them. If your character happens to be exploring the island and finds one of these unique locations...good luck with that hoard of spirits and/or boar zombies. F ▢ Boar zombie tusks should be avoided at all costs, but there's also another threat they pose: their bite. Instead of turning characters into the undead, their bites or their saliva results in something of an instant poisoning. Characters touched by their mouths will die temporarily, just without the whole gaudy spectacle of death. Everything will stay exactly as normal, except they too will be turned spirited. This counts for new characters and old characters -- so if you don't want your character to go ghost, you should avoid their gnashing teeth at all costs.

Despite the creepy air the island holds right now, let's say you want to do something...normal. No boars, no spirits. Just some good ol' fashioned test driving. You have a few options, though they still may be tinged with the spirit of...spirits. G ▢ Despite the moon causing a lot of craziness on the island, there's a lot of beauty in how close it is. You can't reach out and touch it -- everyone would be dead and frozen to death, let's be honest -- but it does cast a lovely cool glow on the entirety of the island. The moonflowers are in full bloom, with the nocturnal deer dancing around through the foliage. There's a lot to see on the island that isn't necessarily overrun by spooky spirits. H ▢ There's also the issue of NPCs preparing for new characters -- which they did! There's the beginning of a welcome party set up, though it's obviously abandoned. With all the craziness going on, the base camp is thrown into chaos. If your character makes it here from wherever they spawned (or if they spawned here in the first place), they may be confused by the chaos. Asking questions might be good, especially since there's still so many to ask outside of dead people suddenly coming back from the grave. 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!

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Comments

hiyori iki | noragami

[obe]

b.
[her friends would probably be freaking out right about now. understandable, it's what would be expected of most teenage girls when they encounter a ghost. hiyori hasn't been "most" teenage girls for awhile now, not since a run-in with a certain tracksuit wearing god, a day that changed her physically as well, putting her in the middle of the living and the non-living.

at least the little boy in front of her isn't sprouting eyeballs all over his body. a day without an ayakashi attack is a good day, especially when yato and yukine aren't around. hiyori's wrestling moves can only do so much, especially while she's still in her body. she smiles at the child, crouching down to be more on his level as she greets him.]

Hello there. Don't worry, I can - wait! [the boy smiles and waves at her, but turns to run before she's finished speaking. he disappears from her sight completely, only to reappear several yards away. it's startling for sure, but mostly because he's running deeper into the darkness, the type of darkness where the bad things like to hide. hiyori stands and starts running after him. she doesn't know if she'll be able to help him, but she'd like to try, so she questions anyone that she might come across.]

Excuse me, this might sound a little strange, but did you see a little ghost boy run by?

e.
[she can't just stand around doing nothing, so hiyori goes exploring, trying to learn as much about her situation and the place around her as possible. but when she comes across a shrine, she actually lingers there. it reminds her of the one that she made for yato, the tiny one that seemed to make him so happy.

maybe someday he will have one like this. i hope so.

the thought makes her fingers curl into the fabric of her shirt. she's scared, and she already misses them so much, and there's zombie pigs staring at her-

cue a girl's scream in the darkness as hiyori climbs one of the shrine's pillars, furiously kicking at the zombie swine.]

Shoo! Get away from me! I didn't even eat that bacon this morning!

b

[splinten]

[This entire ghost thing feels a little irritating. He has been dead. He's been in dream bubbles hanging out with dead people. They're being so damn overdramatic.

At Hiyori's interruption, Dirk pauses his efforts to pick non-poisonous food from some bushes (he's learning, okay).]

No. You're looking for one in particular?

[obe]

A little boy. He had dark hair and looked like he was elementary school age.

[he might've looked that way for a long time, maybe even before hiyori was born. she is worrying about a ghost, after all. it's just that bad things can happen to them too.

hiyori frowns as she looks around once more, her attention coming back to dirk.]

I'm sorry if I interrupted your...what are you doing?

[splinten]

Embracing the second half of my hunter-gatherer roots.

[He is holding berries.]

Why were you looking for him?

[obe]

Are you sure they're safe? The wrong ones could make you very sick.

[hiyori leans forward a little, hands against her knees as she takes a closer look at the berries. but the reminder of the boy puts a soft frown back on her lips.]

I'm worried that this place might have ayakashi too - bad spirits that could corrupt him.

[splinten]

I, and the rest of the camp, are very conscious of the consequences of food poisoning.

[God. God, the things this camp has stupidly eaten.]

That sounds less like you're worried they'll teach him to steal bubblegum and skip class and more like a literal threat of corruption.

[obe]

It's horrible. Like...dying all over again.

[or worse, being eaten and changed into one of those things. hiyori shudders softly at the thought of it. she looks around again, hoping against hope that the boy will come back once he realizes that he lost his potential playmate.]

Camp? So you've had it before?

e

[isolates]

[A lot of weird things have happened to Yuuta before but waking up in an unfamiliar place without any knowledge of getting there is definitely a first. He keeps his cool though and opts to explore to see if he can find out more about his current situation. It's in the middle of this exploring that he suddenly hears a scream. He wastes no time to run in the direction of the scream.

What he finds is a shrine, some half decayed pigs and a girl atop one of the shrine's pillars. He raises his hands in front of him and aims at the pigs, a response that comes naturally to him.]

Isolate.

[Nothing happens.

That's... weird?? He tries a couple more times and still, his ability doesn't trigger. Out of options but still wanting to help the girl, he picks up some rocks from the forest floor and chucks them at the pigs instead to get their attention.]

Hey, ugly! Over here!!

[obe]

[the situation is a first for hiyori too, but she has seen some unusual things - some terrifying, but some that are really amazing too. so when her would-be hero lifts his hands and shouts that single word, she almost forgets her fear, because something's definitely about to happen.

except it doesn't. hiyori's eyes widen, and she slides down the pillar again as soon as the zombie pig turns its attention away from her. it's her turn to save him, save them both, so she holds her breath as she pushes against the door of the shrine. to her relief, it opens, and she quickly waves to him.]

Circle around it! You can make it, I know you can!

[isolates]

[The boars charge at him. Honestly, he had no plan beyond "distract them from the girl," so he's thankful at least she came up with one for him. He waits for them to get close to him before sidestepping around a tree to confuse them and then bolting as quick as he can towards the shrine. He stumbles a bit when he gets the shrine but he's able to make it inside. Behind him, he can hear the boars rushing after him.]

Close the door! Close the door!

[Even as he shouts, he reaches for the door to help her push it shut.]

[obe]

[she starts pushing the door closed the second he's across the threshold, and it's only a second after they manage to close it that a loud thump threatens to turn the wooden door to splinters. hiyori backs away and holds her breath, a breath that she exhales after a few seconds pass.]

You made it...I'm so glad.

[she was worried in spite of what she said to him before. hiyori looks up and smiles at him.]

That was close. Thank you. I'm not sure what I would've done if you hadn't came along when you did.

[she probably would've been perched on top of the shrine until morning.]