( 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

[lalliho]

[what the heck!!! He dislikes this ghost. He's slightly terrified of this ghost, even through his annoyance and frustration.

So when he hears the knock on the door, he jumps first and thinks a second later. Ghosts...don't knock... They weren't capable of knocking. Still paranoid, Lalli slinks over to the door with his hand on his knife's hilt and quickly steps back after turning the knob and cracking it open the slightest bit. come at me scrublord i'm ripped]

...You're not a spirit. Are you stupid?

[p_mortem]

[ No he's not. To, like, both those things, though the second might be questionable as Minato proceeds to ignore Lalli at first in favor of glancing around him, to the walls and the ceiling and then back.

He's still picking up snippets of conversation in his head, too many voices.

So he fixes Lalli with a stare and thinks of him, sort of at him, not intending to have him hear it but I guess that's how telepathy works. ]

...can't even do his job...

[lalliho]

[Oh no you did not.]

Shut up!

[He's not going to haul off and stab the dude, but he will absolutely reel back a fist for a solid punch, at that insult. It's highly possible he's heard this one a little too often for his liking.]

You don't know anything. No one knows anything. Just shut up, shut up...!

[p_mortem]

[ He did, and is momentarily stunned by the outburst, enough that he gets clocked in the jaw and his back hits the door frame in trying to get out of the way before Lalli lands another one on him.

He'd like to respond with something like, "I can't know unless you talk to me," or maybe "No, you shut up," he does what he's told and keeps his mouth shut, his mind closed off, and raises the sword in his hands in warning.

He's not opposed to stabbing, if it comes to it. ]

[lalliho]

[Thankfully he's satisfied with the ONE PUUUUNCH and takes his own step back so he can glare more effectively at this not-ghost. The sword...is not ideal, but he plucks out his knife in reply -- he can deal with this. He'd rather not, especially since quickened recovery spells are out, but he can. Now...]

You're not a spirit. It doesn't work like that, so be quiet! [he literally is] You don't know me or my job!

[p_mortem]

[ Quiet, Minato just kind of stands there and lets Lalli talk, with no agreeable method of nonverbal communication aside from his brows coming together, because him not being a spirit should have nothing to do with anything— it's those other voices he'd liked banished.

Time to not be quiet, or he won't get anywhere. ]

So, who are you? Can you help?

[lalliho]

[Well, too bad. The banishment offer -- threat, actually -- had been for the one annoying him. And from before he realized it was empty.

His ready stance falters a little at the question.]

...No.

[Because even if he hated hearing it and wanted to fight, he couldn't do anything. Not how he'd wanted.]

...Lalli. My name. I'm a mage, but they -- they took everything away.

[p_mortem]

Minato.

[ He points to his chest, right below the signet, and keeps his finger there. He can suspect a little, that it's quieter without the familiar presence of soul monsters rampaging around inside, but he hasn't tried summoning anything to be sure. ]

What did they take?

[ Spell book? Wand? Maybe Lalli has a soul pet too, he doesn't know how mages work, universally. ]

[lalliho]

[funny you should mention it actually -- his soul pet was still around, but he had no hope of manifesting it as long as they were at the hub.]

My magic. [Duh? Not-ghost-Minato is not helping Lalli's opinion that he's very stupid.] I can't reach my gods anymore. Or hear the forest. So I can't do magic.

[p_mortem]

Maybe not inside, but if you go back to the forest, maybe you could hear it?

[ Like... the rustling of leaves or something. Minato is a city boy, he doesn't know what forests are supposed to sound like. He also feels very stupid in offering this suggestion. ]

[lalliho]

No. I was already out there for a long time.

[Aaand now he slumps, letting his hand wielding the dagger fall limply to his side. He used to feel at home in the forest. The one here had...broken him in ways he didn't think a forest could. Everything had been taken from him there, and he'd been left more alone than he'd ever considered possible.]

They took it away.

[p_mortem]

[ A frown tugs at Minato's lips. He thinks he prefers the angry Lalli than the dejected one sitting before him, because he can't help alleviate that sort of feeling by letting Lalli punch him in the face again.

He wishes he could give false hope, despite knowing it's not for the best. Something like gods existing because people believe in them, so if Lalli believes hard enough, maybe they'll return, and his magic will return. But he can't promise that, and can't really think of anything that doesn't sound callous in his mind. ]

If it was taken, it can be given back. [ is the best he can come up with, useless because he can't begin to suggest how to make it happen. ]

[lalliho]

[Maybe they can duel with their respective blades later to make up for this garbage. He doesn't react right away, but after a bit, he gives a sharp nod and sheathes his knife. He's fast enough that he can dig it out again if Minato makes a move, he's sure.]

You don't like the voices, either.

[p_mortem]

I don't.

[ Who does? Voices out loud drive him crazy sometimes, and ones in his head that he cannot shut out are even more maddening. ]

There are too many. They're too loud. I can't understand what they're staying if they overlap.

[ Whatever ghosts are shouting into the void at them like this, he hopes they'll settle down soon or learn to direct their thoughts, and maybe he won't have this growing headache every time somebody tries to pick at their signet, as... almost everybody probably tried to do when they first realized it was there. ]

It's worse here, in this house, than the forest. I'm going to leave.

[lalliho]

[Ah... As a ghost, this boy maybe have been an idiot, but as a human, he was a kindred spirit. How ironic.]

I...know spots. Emptier spots.

[There would still be voices, because there would always be some voices, but if Minato really was like him, then maybe he'd enjoy the same places... Feel blessed, boy, because these are basically holy grounds he's offering, for how protective he is over them.]

I could show you.

[p_mortem]

Alright.

[ Minato does feel blessed. Know that he will never leave that empty, quiet spot, he will lie down and fall asleep and disengage from the world for days at a time if he can.

With just that one word, he leaves the doorway and steps aside for Lalli to take the lead. ]

[lalliho]

[Okay, just starve or whatever... Lalli gives a small nod and steps out, starting to lead Minato out of the mansion and into the forest. It takes a lot of stopping and looking around, unused to this area and having run through it earlier in a bit of a panic, but eventually he finds a somewhat familiar path. He'd work on finding the shortest way soon.

He comes around to a tipped tree and ducks under it, gesturing for Minato to follow him down an off a ledge, which...turns out to be a kind of burrow. Sometime in the past, it might have been a clubhouse or a safe camping hole, but Lalli had inspected it for a while to determine that it had been abandoned for its purpose long ago. Now he can hunch down against one side and leave the other free for this weird boy to relax.]

It's safe. It made me feel better and then the voices got quieter.

[p_mortem]

[ Every tree looks the same, no street signs or landmarks around to differentiate paths for Minato to navigate this place on his own later, but Lalli never looks lost. If he needs a temporary navigator, Lalli would be the first he would try to recruit.

Especially if he needs to leave the forest for any reason. No reason to now, though, lowering himself across from Lalli, back pressed against cold soil and both hands in his pants pockets in no way that looks comfortable, but Minato just closes his eyes, mumbles his thanks, and nods right off to sleep.

It's three or four in the morning according to his internal clock. Give him a few hours. ]

[lalliho]

[...He hadn't liked him before, but... Hmn. He might have to adopt this one.

Fuck.]