( 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

[splinten]

[...???]

He... had to have?

[????]

[parodeity]

That's a solid hypothesis.

[ however, can you fucking prove it. ]

[splinten]

[....]

I'm not ... sure what's happening here. What... was your brother like?

[parodeity]

[ ... ]

He was a hero. [ he completely ruined the idea of heroism. ] Competent. Strong. Liked puppets.

[ LEAST FAVORITE TOPIC, and he shifts: ]

Are you gonna warn me before you pass out for twelve hours.

[ if he does, and if that's legit, maybe dave can catch a nap somewhere in that timeframe without the too-familiar background noise of "where the fuck is he now". ]

[splinten]

[That seems... wrong. Truncated and wrong and he doesn't understand what's happening.]

Do you want a warning?

[It's with the same hesitant confusion as Dirk has run almost all of this conversation.]

[parodeity]

You don't gotta give me one.

[ backtracking again, which seems to be a theme. this is going well, so far he's expressed discomfort about dirk sleeping Somewhere Random and now he's being weird about when he sleeps

PULL IT TOGETHER, STRIDER, JESUS ]

[splinten]

[Ugh. This is stupid and difficult and very unsure.]

Do you... um, I can't tell if you ... [God.]

If you, uh, don't want a shitty knockoff version of your Bro....

[parodeity]

S'that how you're thinkin' of me?

[ eyebrows going up. he's used to the concept of bargain-bin daves, but.

...

apparently while rose got roxy's confidence dave got. whatever the fuck dirk has hidden in there. ]

[splinten]

No!

[Holy shit, no. Dirk's eyes widen behind his shades and there is even a hint of a head shake.]

No, fuck. I don't know you but you seem like the kind of person I'd want to know.

[parodeity]

[ he feels like he should start humming the twilight zone theme.

like, he doesn't. but it feels appropriate to maybe do so, anyway. ]

You...seem okay. [ nervous and awkward as fuck but so far not. too dangerous.

oh. shit. swords. dave didn't even consider strifing being a thing again. ]

I promised to meet up with Rose after this sometime, we gotta go find John I guess now.

[ he crosses his arms, shifts, but doesn't make any move to...leave. ]

[splinten]

Oh.

Sorry for keepin' you.

[parodeity]

I didn't - [ mean right now (he still wants to know what the sleeping plan is exactly and still can't ask) but. ] I mean, yeah. I should go...do that.

[ fuck ]

Rose'll probably want to do a group meetin' at some point. She used to be very into those.

[splinten]

[Oh.]

Were you... not going to go now?

[fuck]

It'd be cool for everyone to meet up.

[parodeity]

I...have some time.

[ this is an awkward conversation. instead of being punctuated by long periods of silence where dave lies on the ground he's apparently just shoving in asides with rose and rose&john.

he is not sure he has enough time in the world to even touch about what dirk isn't sure how to ask about. maybe, he thinks, it is better he just does not? dirk's being semi nice to him. why ruin it before it has to be ruined? ]

It'd probably go a little ways to actin' halfway competent. John won't really think to set one up, unless he were plannin' like some sort of game or fun activity probably?

[ their leader is kind of a fucking goober. dave defaults to just listening to rose's orders even though he acknowledges john is the leader. ]

[splinten]

[Dirk actually kinda perks up at the idea of a game or fun activity.]

Like what?

[He wants to play dumb games tbh. Although he worries about Jake and if Jake will be able to handle it or if he'll like, have a nervous breakdown. Which is Dirk's fault. Dirk should really stop bothering Jake with his existence.

He should stop bothering Dave with his existence. Fuck.]

Look, do you. Um.

Do you not want to hang out with me?

[parodeity]

[ there is still no answer for that, so dave just kind of shrugs. ]

If you really wanna hang out with me I'm not...objectin'?

[ shoves responsibility for that decision anywhere else but with him. ]

I'd prefer to delay any trainin' 'till tomorrow though. [ he just died. a day's break seems...

not like something bro would approve of but the haphazard request seems fair to make of this guy, even if dave makes it warily and as casually as he possibly can. an afterthought, almost. ]

[splinten]

Um.

Training?

[parodeity]

[ GESTURES AT SWORDS that neither of them is actually holding apparently anymore. ]

[splinten]

[Haha Dave are you ready for this? Dirk looks at the swords in confusion, and then over to Dave.]

Do you want to train me?

[joking i know Dave isn't ready]

[parodeity]

[









]

What?

[ there is no internal dialogue the internal dialogue is a lie ]

[splinten]

Um.

[That's stupid. Dave is the same age as him, he's being an idiot.]

Sorry, that was fuckin' idiotic. You mean, like. Us trainin' each other.

[parodeity]

[ well no he meant it the other way around but god forbid he explain himself now.

more importantly: ]

Why do you keep askin' what I want?

[splinten]

[????????????? Dirk is totally baffled by this.]

Should I not?

[parodeity]

[ what the fuck!!!!!!!!!

maybe if he just says whatever it is dirk will stop with

whatever the fuck he is doing. dave knows he can break this, so he simply shoves the vase off the counter. ]

I want you to pick a damn hut within range of mine and tell me when you sleep.

[ then he can like, watch it shatter on the ground. his arms are already crossed but a little more wariness creeps in.

not that he's relaxed out of battle ready so much as an inch since dirk came over, but. ]

[splinten]

[The vase falls

falls

f

a

l

l

s

and]

Ok. Where is yours?

[Defying all laws of physics, it bounces, undamaged, several times, before rolling gently across the floor.]