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spellgrinders2017-06-17 07:42 pm
spellbindmods) wrote in spellgrinders2017-06-17 07:42 pm
( TDM | #1 )
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?
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?
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?
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.
|
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.
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."
...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!
|
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Just as he would expect her to be.]
That's an essentially unknown quantity in my life at the moment, but I am willing to hazard a 'for all intents and purposes' on it. You're good at bein' vague and mysterious, huh.
[Just an observation? He's fond, really.]
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That's fair. Oh, am I? Here I thought I was so forthcoming.
[ she doesn't sound sarcastic and yet, she is. she's not sure what to make of dirk, he seems less like dave than she might have presumed. ]
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[His of course is a deadpan response. Rose is... easier to be around than Dave. Which is to say he's less terrified. And it feels less awkward than with John and Jake.]
So what did you get out of the magic bingo ball tumbler?
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[ no, it's natural. ]
Magic bingo ball tumbler makes it sound rather random, wouldn't you say? [ but she will actually answer ] The ability to enchant my knitting projects with a single magical property. Like I said, I know someone who could perhaps make you a scabbard. What about you?
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[His power, though.]
It's on theme with my mythological role. The power to destroy that which I can 'fully conceptualize.'
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[ anyone who can appreciate a knitted magic scabbard must be a decent person, clearly. ]
... All right, you win. [ THAT'S WAY COOLER says rose, who maybe likes destroying things on rare occasions. ]
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[Re: battles, he puts a hand on his sword.]
There hasn't been a shortage of them for the past six months. [So yes? But also, he nods towards the forest.] If nothing else, we'll need to hunt to live.
[Arm him vs boars]
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[ that's apparently a compliment?? let her be the final boss. ]
The last three years for me have been dull, I'm afraid. Until we reached your session. [ dull and also rose was kind of drunk but god she's. not mentioning that, ever. ] Hm, I hope that isn't the case, but. I suppose unless we want to live off of granola bars and candy found in felt pouches, you may be right.
[ sidenote ftr rose is wearing a mood ring that dirk may recognize apparently. ]
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[His eyes flicker over to the ring. And... what's that? It's the hint of a little smile? Realizing that this is what Dave wanted it for.]
Dave wanted it for you.
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[ wow so dirk is capable of smiling? she wasn't sure. ]
He said it matched my "aesthetic". [ she says as if she doesn't know that it totally does. ]
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[Ok that's like mostly false he is PRETTY SURE that any aesthetic that came out so strong as Rose's is not going to falter between universes.]
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[ she could just answer but she wants to know what he's assuming first?? ]
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[ 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. ]
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[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.
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[ 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. ]
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[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.
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[ 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.
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[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.]
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[ 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".
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[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.
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[ 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
[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.