( 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!

GAME NAVIGATION

Comments

[adamand]

[That's... actually a pretty good question, so of course he's not going to acknowledge it. The other machine lifeforms could have probably salvaged him, especially since he hadn't disconnected from the network, but that still didn't explain how he got here.

Wherever 'here' was.]

Because whoever brought us to wherever this is must have realized that we're just better than you. [Duh.] So here I am.

[That was... simple enough, right? It was even an acceptable explanation, so long as he didn't think too hard about the intricacies of it all. And that was never really his cup of tea anyway, so he was just content to explore and learn new things for the moment. Wouldn't Adam be proud of him if he had so much to tell him whenever he gets here? (Because obviously if they bothered with an android, then they'd bring his niichan. Obviously.)]

Maybe if you weren't so useless...

[deem]

Because you're so useful around here, right...

[How much he absolutely doesn't agree with that is clear enough in his tone. Machines aren't superior to androids, so far as he's concerned, and Eve hadn't won out over him and 2B. By performance standards alone the difference is clear. There's no logical reason to have beings from opposing sides in the same organization though.

Especially when they were literally built to destroy each other]

If that were true, there wouldn't be several of us and just you.

[Unless Adam's skulking around here, but the notion makes his skin crawl. The last machine he ever wants to see is the same one who cracked his memory open like a walnut and jeered at what he found inside]

[adamand]

You're not being useful right now either.

[Clearly the proper response to that was to be defensive, instead of outright admitting that he had no idea he was expected to make himself useful here instead of just. Getting a second chance at life and gathering data for whenever Adam showed up. Because if he died, and could be brought here, then Adam could too.

And as far as he's concerned, 2B only beat Adam because he wasn't there, and they'd only beaten him because he'd let his mental defenses drop enough for long enough that 9S could hack him. If they fought again, he'd know not to leave him alone long enough to do that.]

That just means they need several of you to equal me.

[Unless Adam is here, then it's several of them to equal him, and Eve is a convenient accessory.]

[deem]

You've got no idea how much I've done around here. Not surprised.

[Because why would a machine without a network be informed in the slightest? 9S my no longer possess the hostility that he once did toward machines on the whole, but that doesn't mean that his core programming is gone. Doesn't mean that, despite what he saw in his last moments, he's any more comfortable with the idea of a machine just casually existing here.

Mostly because he's not sure what they'll do when mankind exists. He recalls the proposition Adam made, the one he and 2B were so disgusted by. And he wonders if in the absence of Adam, Eve will attack the humans here. If he does...then fighting is inevitable.

And that alone is enough to keep him rooted right where he is, posture rigid, just waiting for an attack that hasn't yet come]

I could've hacked you before you even noticed.

[And he says that with full confidence, well aware that he's leveled up since Eve's demise. Because androids, for whatever reason, have a conception of levels]

[adamand]

Haa? Why would I? I just got here.

[And there's a certain level of disgust in his tone, a strong undercurrent of 'isn't that obvious?' because... even if the android had been as helpful as he claimed his programming would force him to be (press x to doubt), then there was no way for Eve to know any of that, network or no network. Sure, a network might give him more information about where he is or what all this is about... but he doubted that any machine lifeforms would take special note of any meddling androids got up to, unless that meddling included murder.

He should probably pop up and be more on guard, but just how on edge 9S was put him at ease. If he really had leveled up enough to be able to take him easily, then he'd be more self-assured, less tense, ready to plant him right back in the ground. But he wasn't. Advantage: Eve.

Though perhaps his suspicions aren't entirely unfounded. In the absence of Adam, Eve... never knew what to do with himself. Falling back on his programming seemed impossible, now, after learning so much about their creators, after assuming the role of god for half of the machine lifeforms... But he was still in a new place, without his brother, but with one of his brother's murderers. Ugh.]

I noticed you before you were standing right there, you know. I let you get this close.

[Mostly because he didn't know just who it was, exactly. Details.]

[deem]

And I picked up on your signal from much further away.

["You're no Scanner" is the implication thick in his tone, and for all that 9S' confidence in some areas had been shaken if not broken, what he's capable of certainly doesn't number among these areas. He knows exactly what he can do. By now he's well aware of machines' inability to pick up on him from greater distances if he isn't running about drawing attention to himself.

Approaching any machine, of course, had always prompted their notice. So Eve making such a claim doesn't mean much to him when any old Small Stubby could do exactly the same thing. And he's just going to tell himself that's what Eve is. A big Stubby prone to tantrums with a disturbingly humanandroid-like appearance.

But he knows Eve to be brutish and volatile, so there's no surprise that despite a gap in experience and in his mind the skill that comes with it, he's nevertheless on his guard. He's only seen this machine behave one way in the absence of Adam]

Fact is, I let you notice I was here.

[Which was, honestly, a bizarre decision on his part. He knows it. But something about having hacked this machine before had a strange influence on him. Enough so that in his own final moments he'd seen the network administrators in some sympathetic manner, even questioned what purpose and reason there was in hating them.

But he needs no hatred to fuel well-placed distrust]

[adamand]

...And?

[Of course he's no Scanner. Of the two of them, Adam was closer to being a Scanner, and even he wasn't one. Not that they'd want to be one, because... androids... but the point still remained. He picked up on him from a far enough distance that he could probably get to him before he was hacked completely, and all it would really take to get him to stop that was a punch to... well... anywhere. Some broken concentration and that was it. It would be all over.

9S is probably right to be on his guard - and obviously so - and Eve was as well, to some extent, but while there had always been a disparity in experience, he was still under the impression that the android wasn't a threat. It had taken two of them to beat him, after all, and the Scanner was here without his backup muscle. He'd be fine. Still no reason to pop up for him.

And less of a reason to be overly violent. 9S hadn't started anything with him, and there was no proof - yet - that Adam wasn't here, so loathe as he was to admit it, there was value in keeping familiar faces alive, for a little while.]

And I let you get close.

[Another bizarre decision when he could have left or threatened or done anything other than stay put.

Maybe his hatred had simmered down in his final moments. Maybe the unfamiliar darkness of night had shifted him into something akin to a power saving mode. Maybe it was something else entirely.]

[deem]

[They're doubtless likely to disagree on just how much proximity Eve actually allowed, and how much 9S simply gained by virtue of his own skills. Considering who he's talking to, it's easy for him to come to that conclusion. He can only hope that the presence of this machine doesn't mean that Adam is also here, because that's one problem they most certainly don't need on top of everything else they have to contend with]

You'll think what you want to, regardless of the facts.

[Which is his simultaneous suggestion that Eve is most definitely wrong, but also an admission that they're not liable to reach a consensus. It's a pointless waste of time for the two of them to go around in circles as-is, and so 9S opts to leave it at that.

So he moves right along to other business]

So, that signet that's been embedded in you—

[9S starts, only to pause and reassess. He probably could trick Eve into removing the thing and paralyzing himself until one of Qri's underlings happens along to fix him, but he thinks better of it. Grudgingly. Eve would, no doubt, just cause more trouble than it's worth afterward.

Perfectly sound reasoning, that]

If you're smart, you won't mess with it.