( TDM | #1 )

[spellbindmods]

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.

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. Depending on your situation and ability to acclimate, you may not fully understand what's happening. A dream, a hallucination. But when you feel the trunk of the trees surrounding you, it's oddly...real. The smell is real. The moisture on the ground is real. The small grass snake you find slithering close to your feet seems very real as well. There are a few other sensations that also begin to feel a little more like reality with every passing second. Like the fact that your intuition is trying to tell you something that doesn't seem plausible. One is more obvious -- you now have a new piece of jewelry inserted snuggly between your collarbones. Maybe that's when you realize it is real. When you realize that there's no delusion here -- you aren't where you once were. But if that's the case...where are you? 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. There's also a mysterious trail of soft, felt bags, tied off with thin rope, leading your character to what appears to be a specific destination. These items can be as useful as a granola bar to as seemingly useless as a stapler. Let's just say that some of these mysterious objects are pretty out there. They're free to travel off the beaten path, but that comes with its own perils. Maybe your character has a power that could fend these creatures off...? They aren't exactly happy about sharing their territory.

After an hour or so of trekking through the forest, you finally come upon a break in the tree line that reveals to you an area that appears to be inhabitable. Your first stop is the large mansion that sits in the valley of the opening...if anyone is here or there's a way to get out of here, the house makes the most sense, right? There are a variety of rooms in this mansion, and you're free to explore them. You also spy a lot of crates sitting in the middle of the floor in one of the main rooms...are you curious enough to open them? B ▢ Feel free to have your character explore the mansion (the won't find much but you can take some liberties with the TDM), and they're free to open these mysterious crates. In them they'll find edible fruit and bread, modern clothing in a variety of sizes and portable medical kits. Characters who apply using the TDM are free to carry these objects into the game opening. If you want some specifics, there are a few rooms of note: the game room (containing a working pool table, non-electric pinball machines and a card table with supplied chips and multiple decks), the cellar (filled with a variety of liquor and wines, all aged quite well) and a large room upstairs that contains a glass ceiling and a variety of books in a foreign language. One more thing -- if you happen to go rummaging around, you may find tiny pin cameras. They're minuscule...you may not even notice them unless you look hard enough. At this point you notice that you aren't alone -- there are other people in the same boat as you! When they're around you, that signet you feel in your chest tingles slightly. The sensation isn't unpleasant, but instead like a warm tingle is spreading from their neck outward. You instinctively attempt to talk to your fellow kidnapping victims, and that works just fine...but what are all these voices you hear in your head now? Are you crazier than you thought you were? C ▢ Here's where you can play around with the telepathy mechanic. It's likely your character won't be used to it which can lead to accidental broadcasting. If they happen to tap the signet purposefully or try to pull it out, everyone within a radius of 100 feet will feel a throbbing pain in their head. But your character won't know that, will they? For those more inclined to adventure, there's also another building to investigate. From the outside, it looks very circular and unidentifiable, but upon entering you'll discover that it's a fully-functioning bath house. D ▢ Despite containing steamy water and luxury bathing accommodations, the bathhouse is currently being overrun with crabs. The not-so-smart members of this species have fallen into the extremely hot water, flash boiling themselves after being unable to get back out. Others are a little more intelligent but equally aggressive. Characters: watch your toes and be cautious if you really want to take a much-needed bath! They may also want to check twice before using the restroom, otherwise the experience might be more painful than they're used to.

Exploring the mansion and the bathhouse was fun and all, but aside from the crates they didn't prove to be very useful. When you came into the clearing, you also saw a row of very colorful buildings down near the beach. It makes sense that this area may be more beneficial to any escape plans you have, and taking a dip in the ocean might be nice! It's not until you reach the beach huts that you realize that murky blue color you spied wasn't the ocean. It's outter space. There goes any hopes you had of swimming to safety. E ▢ Time to explore the beach huts! Most of them are abandoned, but your characters will notice they seem to be more livable than the mansion somehow. This is in part due to a little note tacked to the door of each beach hut that reports in scrawling script "Claim your hut, please!" Will your character listen or reject the sinking feeling that they may not be leaving anytime soon? Some huts are also bigger than others, and a few even contain small sinks and softer beds. Grab these while they're available! Even though it turns out the ocean was a lie and you're precariously close to falling off the edge of the world, the area around the huts is decidedly beachy. Sitting on the beach is a lobster trap, though about 10 times the size of any you might have seen before. Inside are more felt sacks, though larger. The weirdest part is that peering through the bars, you notice each has a nametag attached. The reason you know this to be true is because you just spied your own name written on one of the labels. There's also something else underneath it. The descriptor may not mean much to you yet, but it will soon: it's the title of their newfound magic. In each felt sack is a sort of starter kit: a set of dated and drapey plainclothes, a bag of dried boar jerky, a leather flask filled with water and a small tube of sunblock (the writing is in a bizarre pictograph language, but the giant picture of the sun on the tube should explain the purpose). There's also a rolled up paper tied with a string that reads as follows: "Welcome. Things will be explained in due time. For now, understand that you have been blessed with a gift of magic. Look into your brain and feel the instinct for both. Practice makes perfect." F ▢ Here's the official prompt for playing with newfound magic (and telepathy if you want more practice). It's likely characters have already accidentally broadcast their thoughts, utilized the C prompt or used their magic inadvertently, but maybe this new information and small explanation has motivated them to try and see what they're truly capable of. Don't worry. If they're lucky enough to stick around, all will be explained. ...What if you're a wildcard, though? Someone who doesn't play by the rules and follows a different path, no matter what direction the world may be guiding you in? This island is large and contains many areas of interest, from crystal streams to hidden locations. Maybe you want to do something different...so break the mold and explore! G ▢ 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

[grimdeity]

I'm surprised you weren't deterred in that assumption by my intensely orange and yellow robes of light.

[ but he's not wrong?? she has perhaps grown up from those leanings, via character arc and not having a choice in clothes, but. high goth aesthetic is still something she would choose for herself. ]

[splinten]

I don't normally choose to dress in maroon pantaloons.

[God Tier outfits are not necessarily appropriate.]

I'm a major fan of the literary work and martial efforts your post-Scratch counterpart was responsible for in her lifetime. It will be a point of interest to see where things line up and where they differ, albeit a comparison made faulty by the lack of first-hand experience of your post-Scratch self.

[grimdeity]

No? I'm shocked.

[ john and dave are the only ones who ended up with the right aesthetics, aren't they, ]

It sounds like my post-Scratch counterpart was quite illustrious. I hope I live up to such a legacy. I must say, I'm curious as well, though all my knowledge of your pre-Scratch self comes from Dave.

[ and she's. not sure anything dave has ever said about his bro speaks well to dirk's character, but. she guesses it will require further investigating. ]

[splinten]

It's a pretty big plot twist. I just seem like a pantaloons and tiara guy.

[They are. Lucky bastards.]

I'm just interested in getting to know what you did with this life. [Legacies don't matter. He wants to know who Rose is as who she is. And he's aware of possible wryness in it, but it's one of those comments that's worth a genuine response even at the risk of meeting irony with sincerity. Dirk doesn't actually worry about that kind of thing.

He pauses a little, though. He's definitely curious. But also... nervous?

Look, he has never met a version of him that he has liked.]

Dave didn't really talk about that version of me when we met.

[grimdeity]

You really do.

[ throws john and dave in the trash. ]

I did... things. [ that's. hm. she's very aware she hasn't exactly done much lately, particularly the last three years where she wound up drunk on a meteor and making an idiot of herself like. alot. and before that she fucked up blowing up a sun? so like. uh.

ok better to focus on dirk and bro!! yes!! ]

No? Hm. Well. [ pause. ] You had a porn empire and an extensive puppet collection. I liked your websites. [ and then ] Dave hero-worshipped you, I think. I suppose he didn't want to admit that. [ pAUSE ] Not hero-worshipped for the puppets and porn, to clarify, just in general.

[splinten]

Specific. Did you also get up to stuff?

[It's ironic, but lightly. Besides, she's blowing him out of the water with... whatever the fuck is up with this?]

I hero-worshipped him, but then he was an actual bonafide hero to the human race. So were you.

[So he thinks that's fair? He's a little 'huh' about the porn and puppet thing.] The puppets thing carries over. [NOT AS MUCH AS YOU'D THINK but Dirk doesn't realize.] I consider porn a pretty fascinating industry at the nexus of human psychology and social constraints. I can see a porn empire being an interesting project to undertake. [Like. It'd be fascinating to see what would happen? Also it'd be funny.]

[grimdeity]

Oh, maybe.

[ god forbid she not be cagey as shit. ]

Sometime I would like to hear the details of that.

[ since while rose could believe it it still sounds?? ridiculous?? ] ... Hm. [ someone save dirk because now rose thinks he has a puppet fetish 100%. ] That's an interesting way of viewing it. Dave believed both the puppets and porn were "for the ironies".

[splinten]

That's a surprise. I expected 'perhaps.'

[Clearly the more vague word!

They are so silly. Unaware that he has been pegged as a puppet fetishist, he says,] You're welcome to ask questions about it at any time. I spent a lot of time researching the history of that time period and the actions your counterparts took to fight the Baroness's tyranny.

[This is related to the next point, where he considers what she is saying.]

I supposed an ironic reasoning wouldn't be unlikely. Admittedly, that seems to be a case where the interpretation might be confusing. A lot of my own theories of irony were based on studying my Bro's work in the subject and developing ideas from them. I can't be sure what would result if that were flipped.

[grimdeity]

I like to subvert or thwart expectations when I can.

[ they're the worst ] It certainly sounds like an exciting history.

I've always felt Dave's estimation of his Bro's irony has been grossly overinflated in an attempt to make hobbies that are generally seen as "uncool" into "cool" ones by way of irony being the coolness superhighway. But, I never met the guy, so I cannot say for certain and can only judge by Dave's descriptions. I know that the rest of us tended to exaggerate our parental struggles to some extent.

this icon is appropriate now

[splinten]

I expect you to stop subverting expectations when I least anticipate it.

[stop him]

As much as I enjoy irony, I wouldn't argue that it necessarily guarantees "coolness," at least not of the kind that matters, and probably not of the kind that doesn't really matter anyway. My relationship with my Bro was obviously highly mediated, in both a figurative and literal sense, but it seems probable that all relationships would in some way feature some kind of misunderstanding, or rather a lack of full understanding, of the parties. It is after all nearly impossible for any individual to grasp their own full reality; asking them to understand all the dimensions of another person, who they don't have access to the interiority of, is demanding an impossible task, and a potentially unethical one besides.