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Spellbind Mods ([personal profile] spellbindmods) wrote in [community profile] spellgrinders2017-07-22 03:52 pm
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( TDM | #2 )



  • IMPORTANT: This TDM takes place on the current world the coven is part of. Please read the linked Google Doc about the world AND be aware that the world is high-frequency, meaning canon magic and powers can be used.
  • 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.



    WORLD ONE: AIMINTAS






    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...

    Some of you might open your eyes to find yourself wandering around a sandy area, outside of a large stone house. There's a large glimmering caravan floating around outside, which might intrigue you. There's also a lot of supplies, food, clothing...all just laying around outside. It's worth investigating, right?

        A ▢ Your character has found themselves arriving right outside the coven's new digs in Aimintas, and there's a lot of confusing stuff to look at. Th ocean in the sky, that floating caravan...your character probably can't get to that ocean, so they may want to examine the caravan. If they touch it, they'll immediately regret that decision -- the caravan has its own defense mechanism, and you can pick one or the other:

        - A1: Once your character touches the caravan, they can't remove their appendage from it. Kick it? Their foot is stuck. Touch it? Their hand is stuck. Lick it? Their tongue is stuck. They'll remain like this for 15 minutes without magical intervention.
        - A2: Your character's hand doesn't stay for long, but the caravan holds onto that hand for five seconds while giving your character a pretty excruciating burn. Medic!

        B ▢ Maybe they're smart and they don't touch the caravan. Let's go through all of this cool stuff on the ground! It might be sort of obvious that it belongs to someone -- a lot of someone's -- but your character is thirsty, confused...maybe there's some water or answers in this pile. And maybe there's also someone who catches your character going through their shit.



    Other new potential coven members will find themselves in a completely different part of town. These lucky individuals will have suddenly appeared in the marketplace area of Aimintas, surrounded by walking lizard beings that suddenly turn and take an immediate interest in this stranger.

        C ▢ The Palai are very interested in the new coven members, and a new humanoid person -- or anyone that doesn't look like them -- will immediately catch their attention. They'll immediately find your character worth of their undivided attention, talking to them about coven-related things...pretty confusing right? If you need help with the short lizard folk, maybe someone will eventually arrive to help you out.

        On the other hand, you might learn something interesting talking to them. A friend might join in either way!

        D ▢ Once you break free of the Palai, you'll find that this marketplace is pretty interesting. It's a mixture of primitive and semi-modern technology...or is it totally unfamiliar to you? Never seen a cellphone before? Unfamiliar with the concept of women wearing pants? There's certainly something to see that'll interest your character here.

        E ▢ Finally, you might be hungry and thirsty after suddenly appearing. The Palai are masters of making food, including a new concoction of theirs that they're trying out in honor of all the new people. It's a sort of bottled fruit juice that has been energized by the Eltos. It's essentially the first Aimintas Red Bull, except on acid. The drink immediately makes anyone who drinks it extremely giddy, hyper and they may potentially hallucinate. It doesn't seem to bother the Palai's biology, but everyone else...oops!



    The setting found in Aimintas is pretty expansive, so you have a lot of room to wander around. Here are a few things that might catch your eye if you're really committed to wandering around.

        F ▢ A house near the marketplace is incredibly special to the Palai people. Characters who wander near here will find a group of Palai who are even more excited about their new visitors: baby Palai. Some are still in eggs and kept inside, but the juvenile Palai are about two feet tall, rowdy and want to play with these new, bipedal creatures. Some of them still crawl around on all fours and are more lizard-like than others. Hope you're good with kids!

        G ▢ The Palai have constructed a large library in the middle of town. If you wander in here, you'll find a myriad of books in a strange language. The Palai are a rather visual people, though, so many include pictures and illustrations. They also have a collection of computers here that connect to the Aimintas internet, as well as visual media stations that can play videos -- though they're really just powered tablets that play video files. Time to get a little taste of the Palai culture.

        H ▢ 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!

  • bulletbiter: (why do you have a second account)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-07-26 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
    [ For all that he wears, 9S' appearance doesn't seem too strange to Julius. After all, God Eaters had some free rein with their clothes given the endurance of their forms, so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to have shorts. The blindfold, however... perhaps the boy was just sensitive to light? He certainly seems dazed. ]

    Are you alright?

    [ The palai also turns to gape at the youth. Julius has half a mind to perhaps reach out and steady him if needed, but that carried risks of his own. Moving closer might suffice, distancing him from the frog as well. ]
    deem: (say)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-07-26 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
    [Is he alright? It's a good question, 9S realizes with wry bemusement. He's not entirely sure whether he's got the answer to that, between so many factors at play. Many of those he doesn't seem to have much power to do anything about, but at least he can address the matter of what this man had just said]

    What do you mean by "other humans"?

    [There's a guarded nature about his tone that'd be difficult to overlook, a skepticism that bespeaks an analytical mind. He's trying to make sense of something he finds incongruous with his experience — although what doesn't fit that description, now?

    He might've simply misunderstood. After all, he knows his programming assures that he will always long for something that he can't reach. It seems most probable that he'd latched onto the interpretation that best suited that desire.

    And so, he decides he'll get his confirmation of this, not that this would explain what the man actually is if not a human]
    bulletbiter: (unsure........ very unsure)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-07-26 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Other humans...? He had thought the statement was self-explanatory, but perhaps not. Maybe the boy was just isolated from humans, like he was.

    The palai cocks their head. ]
    Other member of the coven, do you not know?

    [ Perhaps they were both not very informed, so Julius tries to explain: ]

    There are others from another world here, humans. I thought it wiser to regroup first.
    deem: (tell)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-07-26 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
    [The explanation does nothing to clear matters up for him. 9S' silence in the wake of that reply is pensive, debating how that could possibly be so. Yet he can't deny that he's speaking to someone both humanoid and organic in nature. As a Scanner, there's no way he couldn't notice those obvious details.

    And yet he finds that reality no less surreal than he had before his question was answered. How could humans be here? Part of this...coven? A human body couldn't be repaired like his own, though he'd believed himself beyond salvaging.

    So then how is this possible?

    Regardless of how, his purpose — the one he had first believed from the time he'd been rolled out — asserts itself. If there are humans, the how is subordinate to his cause. He doesn't know how the coven has the means to achieve this, but androids were meant to protect their creators. That's the bottom line.

    And for all those metaphorical wheels turning, Julius is only left with that heavy silence until 9S speaks up, rather abruptly]


    That would be safest.

    [For the humans, that is]
    Edited 2017-07-26 05:07 (UTC)
    bulletbiter: (princely sparkling)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-07-26 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Most of this goes over Julius' head, but at least 9S' confusion lets him draft up an excuse to leave. Clearly the youth had some sort of disorientation that might be best solved with his comrades... which is, for all intents and purposes, not here. ]

    Let's go.

    [ Nevermind that he only had a vague direction from the palai to work with, but. ]

    What's your name?
    deem: (turn)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-07-26 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
    [It's easy enough to fall into stride behind the man, one thing that doesn't take much thought. The prospect of renewed purpose is something he latches onto automatically, because it's an intrinsic part of him.

    Besides, he'd felt progressively more bereft of meaning the more time had ground on. Though he'd thought he'd seen the end of that, here he is. Here is a chance he never thought he'd have.

    Even now he has his doubts, but he'll see for himself]


    I'm 9S, Sir...

    [He straightens as he walks, squaring his shoulders like he's at attention]
    bulletbiter: (unsure........ very unsure)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-07-26 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
    [ It's easy to walk in silence, though it's quickly broken by 9S reply. The name sounds a little foreign, almost as a unit name - but what throws him off the most is what's appended behind that, a 'sir'.

    He's long since lost the right to use it. ]


    My name is Julius. Please, you don't need to address me with a title.

    [ The thought of it... disturbs him, even. ]
    deem: (say)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-07-26 06:06 am (UTC)(link)
    [That isn't the first time he's been told something like that, and something within him aches for that, but 9S gamely nods along. He'll carry out their mission for her, too. Regardless of what he knows, perhaps he can honor her memory in this way.

    Not that he's a combat unit, but he's seen his share of fights. He'll do whatever is within his power]


    Okay, S- [A pause, as he finds he needs to correct himself] Julius.
    bulletbiter: (Default)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-07-27 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)
    [ Sure makes one wonder why 9S would defer so quickly to a stranger he's just met. ]

    Thank you.

    [ Julius is not one good at small talk, but there's formality that needs to be walked through. ]

    Where do you come from?
    deem: (...)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-07-30 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
    [One day, Julius might understand the weight that comes with being (apparently) human in the eyes of a YoRHa android. Or any android from his era, for that matter.

    Which might come sooner than one might expect, considering that question]


    ...I guess you'd say I came from the Bunker. [Not that it's accessible anymore] Unless you're asking where I was manufactured.

    [There is that, after all]
    bulletbiter: (unsure........ very unsure)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-07-30 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
    [ Wait.

    Manufactured? ]


    Come again?

    [ Manufactured? Well, this youth is either mistaken, or an actual non-human. Machine. Robot. It's enough to make Julius pause and turn around. ]
    deem: (say)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-08-03 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
    [Stumbles to a halt when Julius pauses and turns his way]

    Well, I was stationed at the Bunker [until...recently...] but there aren't manufacturing facilities there.

    [Other orbital facilities handled that, and 9S is nothing if not keen on details]
    bulletbiter: (lineface central)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-08-04 01:39 pm (UTC)(link)
    [ What is a 'Bunker' because he's pretty sure it means something different to the boy than to him. ]

    You... are not human?

    [ This is a Surprise. ]
    deem: (ponder)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-08-07 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
    Of course I'm not.

    [He answers with the ready ease of someone for whom this reality is elementary. Someone like him couldn't be human, and it's a flattering though terribly wrong thing to be taken for one. His programmed unworthiness assures this strange mixture of emotion within him]

    Just like any other android, I'm modeled after mankind, that's all.

    [Though he wonders if he really needs to clarify this to a human. Surely Julius already knows...]
    bulletbiter: (unsure........ very unsure)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-08-07 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Androids are, for the most part, fictional in his world. But given all the strangeness that had elapsed since he had come here, there's a certain level of suspension of disbelief that is needed.

    He'll need a few moments to process it, as the implications click into place... and then reminders of what 9S could possibly fall into. ]


    Can I ask who made you? [ What were you made for? Though such a question does not sit well with him to ask ]
    deem: (ponder)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-08-07 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
    Who...?

    [9S echoes the word dubiously. Considering the expense that went into manufacturing YoRHa units, it is perhaps unsurprising that the system is automated. Overseen, to be certain, but he has no one maker]

    Mankind first developed androids. Now, I suppose we manufacture one another...

    [Although they still all acknowledge humanity as their creators, as part and parcel of their design]
    bulletbiter: (am i still captain)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-08-07 04:59 am (UTC)(link)
    [ There's something unsettling about the way 9S says it as if it was normal... which he supposes is normal back home, but. ]

    Do you have a job?
    deem: (say)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-08-07 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
    I'm a Scanner unit.

    [Which does answer that question, though perhaps not in the manner that Julius may have expected]

    We're um...we're all the same size, you'd know another if you saw one.
    bulletbiter: (princely sparkling)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-08-07 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
    [ That's doll levels of creepy, but - he won't judge. ]

    What do you do as a Scanner, then?
    deem: (box)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-08-07 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
    [At least you can't see his doll joints, right?

    Because those were a thing in the prototype stage]


    Oh, well, mostly recon. Terrain, enemy formations, unit data, that sort of thing.

    [Subdued as he might be after so many crushing revelations about his world and even YoRHa itself, his enthusiasm for his work still perks him up enough to be noticeable. He finds fulfillment in his utility, after all. Any android does]
    bulletbiter: (ok)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-08-08 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
    [ He sounds very much like a combat android, which puts him on some level as a soldier. Perhaps they were made in place of human soldiers. ]

    Do you have a command officer here?

    [ Don't mind the questions, he just wants to sound out what he can say. ]
    deem: (ponder)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-08-08 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
    [9S frowns, letting the silence speak for him for several moments]

    Command was lost with the Bunker.

    [It's shameful to admit, because he could do nothing about it, in the end.

    Now it's just him, 4S, and two units so addicted to E-drugs that they're practically gone anyway]
    bulletbiter: (nami won me a paid so more icons ig)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-08-08 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
    [ He's reminded of what happened to the God Arc Soldiers. ]

    I'm sorry. [ And if the Bunker was something made by humanity too, then... ] What will you do now?
    deem: (say)

    [personal profile] deem 2017-08-08 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
    [It's a good question. One that 9S hasn't really given much conscious thought to, because it's not a simple matter.

    Or perhaps, it's too simple]


    If there are humans here, then...I'll fight for humanity, with all my strength. [He stands as straight and tall as his small frame allows. In this end, his first thought upon rollout was, in its essence, a directive] That's only to be expected of any YoRHa unit.
    bulletbiter: (jiiiiiiii)

    [personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-08-08 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
    [ In a way, 9S reminds him of himself. Fighting for the good of humanity, giving life and limb... and yet, look where it got him? ]

    Not all humans are good. Please be careful.

    [ His failure will stay with him as long as he breathes. Even now his body remembers, the way his life was burned away by the poison that took hold in his blood. ]

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