Seasons Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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seasonsgreetings2023-08-18 12:00 am
seasonsmods) wrote in seasonsgreetings2023-08-18 12:00 am
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Test Drive Meme #4
Test Drive Meme #4
LOGS | NETWORK | OOC | MEMES | NAVIGATION
You arrive in an unknown space, dressed in white clothes (player choice what kind of clothes, as long as they cover everything). Whatever was happening to you before no longer happens. It's like everything was put on a pause and you were transferred away from the situation without you realizing it happened.
The space that you find yourself in is one of these four options:
An empty landscape filled with snow and ice, almost like a blank canvas.
A field with cherry blossom trees and spring flowers.
A sunny beach near an ocean that seems never ending.
A quiet forest with falling autumn leaves.
All of the spaces seem to continue endlessly. No matter where or how far you walk it almost seems like you're not moving at all. There are no animals here - just those who happened to wake up there at the same time, in the same place. Everyone is wearing the same kind of plain, white clothes.
Despite the possible rollercoaster of emotions you might be feeling, the place somehow feels familiar. Like somehow you belong there.
And it looks like you're not alone.
After half an hour has passed the surroundings change as everyone is teleported into a room with all the other new arrivals, no matter what space they woke up in. It's a large place with plenty of seats to sit in and beverages to enjoy. Medical attention is offered to those who need it and the doctors here are very prepared for any challenging situations.
Here, in this room, everyone gets an answer to where they are and why. A hologram of a man appears at the center of the room, waiting to be heard. He brings a message on behalf of the leaders of Ellipsa.
The Message [ Click to Expand ]
Hello, my name is Olwen. I'm one of the leaders of Ellipsa as it currently is. I'm also one of the four who summoned you here.
Our world is in trouble and we need your help. I apologize for tearing you away from your world and forcing you to come here but I hope you understand. The magic we used doesn't let us ask in advance, nor does it let us choose who we bring here.
This world is composed of four Seasonal Segments. All of them represent one of the seasons. They were the places we used to get our resources from, but now they're dangerous places no one should go into unless they have the power to fight back. All of them have their own sets of powerful monsters and natural catastrophes.
We used to have plenty of people here who could control the powers of the four Seasons. We called them Seasonal Power Holders. Unfortunately, due to a tragedy you can read about later, we lost almost all of them. Now only four of us remain and the world is in chaos. We have done our best to protect the world, but we need more power holders to do that.
That's where you come in.
All of you have been assigned to one of the seasons. Whatever space you were in just now is what season you represent. You will learn different skills based on the season and those skills are going to help you save this world.
These powers don't interfere with your own natural powers. They use a new energy that has formed inside of you. It's harmless to your health, but it's vital to your seasonal powers. Your own powers should still work, even if the dark energy outside the city might interfere with them.
Unfortunately bringing you here wasn't as simple as it sounds. We couldn't do anything about how to keep you anchored to this world other than making a simple spell that helps with it. That is, you need to touch someone else who is not from this world ideally at least once a day. It will help you stay in control of your powers and boost your magical energy. If you don't, the consequences aren't very good. But as long as you hold someone's hand or give someone a handshake, you should be fine.
That's all I have to say about the situation. The staff of the Research Center will give you more information about housing and other necessary things. I will, however, promise that you will be sent home once the situation becomes better. That's the least we can do.
The hologram can be viewed in private in a separate room later, should someone wish to look at it again. For now, the staff of the Research Center hands everyone their new smartphones with their small flower lucky charms (the flower is anything the player decides). They're also told that the building next door is where everyone can find a room assigned to them with some of their belongings there and possibly even any animal companions. Those concerned about their mount-sizes companions are welcomed to the stables downstairs to see if their friends are there. The mounts are allowed to stay there until you find a place more suitable for them.
In the Arrival's hall there are also several stands with information pamphlets.
First type of stand is for the local Guilds and about the benefits or joining one.
Second type of stands is for the Welcoming Committee that aim to show otherworlders what the world is like and help guide people in the beginning of the journey and helps in getting settled into the new world. They even have people to help if you're unfamiliar with the new phones.
Third type of the stands is for The In Touch Support Group that is led by the Otherwordly Ambassador, Kamisato Ayato. The pamphlets have contact information for businesses looking to help Otherworlders. They also focus more on the lore of the World and what they have discovered so far, as well as a guide on what to think about when preparing to venture out to the Segments.
Once you get your smartphone and necessary information, you're urged to go out and find your apartment. After that whatever you want to do is up to you.
Part 3
The building next door is where everyone can find their new apartments. As you enter, you're told by a friendly native that for the first two months you can live anywhere rent-free and five meals a day are paid for you. After that they get a monthly payment that helps with some of their living expenses, but otherwise they have to have a job to support themselves.
All of the apartments are comfortable, two bedroom apartments with all necessary utilities. They are also completely soundproof. Sometimes the magic system, however, does glitch and you might find yourself rooming with a stranger. This is not the intention and the staff will immediately prepare you your own room if you ask them. But maybe having a roommate isn't all that bad?
In the Arrival's hall there are also several stands with information pamphlets.
First type of stand is for the local Guilds and about the benefits or joining one.
Second type of stands is for the Welcoming Committee that aim to show otherworlders what the world is like and help guide people in the beginning of the journey and helps in getting settled into the new world. They even have people to help if you're unfamiliar with the new phones.
Third type of the stands is for The In Touch Support Group that is led by the Otherwordly Ambassador, Kamisato Ayato. The pamphlets have contact information for businesses looking to help Otherworlders. They also focus more on the lore of the World and what they have discovered so far, as well as a guide on what to think about when preparing to venture out to the Segments.
Once you get your smartphone and necessary information, you're urged to go out and find your apartment. After that whatever you want to do is up to you.
The building next door is where everyone can find their new apartments. As you enter, you're told by a friendly native that for the first two months you can live anywhere rent-free and five meals a day are paid for you. After that they get a monthly payment that helps with some of their living expenses, but otherwise they have to have a job to support themselves.
All of the apartments are comfortable, two bedroom apartments with all necessary utilities. They are also completely soundproof. Sometimes the magic system, however, does glitch and you might find yourself rooming with a stranger. This is not the intention and the staff will immediately prepare you your own room if you ask them. But maybe having a roommate isn't all that bad?
Over the course of one night, fairies have decorated various trees all over the districts with special fairy lights. It's the 200th birth anniversary of the Fairy Queen coming up, so the lights are up for the duration of the celebration. The queen herself may be currently missing, but the fairies have not lost hope in finding her one day, hiding from the Darkness somewhere.
The lights are beautiful and in various different colors. Some even change colors occasionally. They seem very harmless, but some of the lights have been altered with mischievous fairy magic. Touching a tree affected by the magic will make characters act like a dere.
Just a light touch is all it takes. Even a falling leaf from the tree can trigger its effect. Suddenly you're acting just like a (player chosen) dere. Some trees also have an additional effect on making the character like the person who touched the tree at the same time, either in a temporary romantic way or a completely platonic manner, making the 'dere-effect' manifest in its full glory.
The effect usually lasts for an hour or two, but in rare cases the effect has been known to last for the rest of the day. No one really knows why that happens, it just does.
All of the districts now have an aesthetically appropriate party going on, with food and drink for anyone to try. As long as it's normal-sized, it's safe to eat. All of the districts also have small hanging platforms that look like stages or treehouses for the fairies to hang out and dance in. They're mostly visible for the duration of the celebration.
Those who want to help the fairies celebrate are asked to make miniature furniture for the hanging party spots. This also includes making cups and plates from leaves. Those that help the fairies with this will have the chance to receive genuine fairy wings on their back for the rest of the week (or for the rest of the month, if you ask nicely). These wings enable them to be able fly short distances (across a normal sized street, for example).
However those who are mean to fairies in any way will instead get a pig tail and ears, with a possible pig snout for the same amount of time. The effect can be reversed by apologizing to the fairies in earnest.
There are several ways to party and some fairies are more mischievous than others. They have taken upon themselves to do fairy pranks. They're all very harmless and silly and they don't want to actually hurt anyone. Just have a little fun.
Some examples include: hair braided into small braids, a glitter bomb exploding on characters, items teleporting from one person to another and people being tricked into eating fairy food (makes random, small fairy wings appear on random parts of their body that fades in a few hours).
During the dark of the night another magical thing has happened. The fairies claim that it has nothing to do with their magic if asked, but they're sure it's a miracle produced by the celebrations itself.
A large variety of mushrooms and forest berries have grown all over the districts, no matter what climate they have. Scientists (and fairy helpers) have determined that all of them are safe to eat and have decided to challenge anyone to gather these nutritious and tasty treats the earth has offered them.
Most of the mushrooms are quite normal, in both taste and how they look. There's one particular glowing mushroom that causes hallucinations, but no poisonous ones have been detected. Among the berries there are some interesting ones that have magical effects; wild strawberries make people burst into song, wild blueberries make people poetic and lingonberries appear to cause an increase in philosophical thoughts.
Upon later investigation, it seems the berries were, in fact, a fairy prank. But the mushrooms they haven't touched.
During the evening of the third day the mushrooms appeared, some chosen people get a message straight into their minds. Its telling them repeatedly to go to the Mushroom Sanctuary, slowly trying to gain control over the characters' bodies and mind. It seems some of the mushrooms were actually fae mushrooms, a dangerous mind controlling mushroom that is near impossible to detect before it's too late.
Should characters fall victims to the fae mushroom they will start making their way to the Mushroom Sanctuary in the Autumn Segment. They will do whatever it takes to continue making their way there, including fighting anyone who tries to stop them or even hitching someone's vehicle of choice to get there faster. All they have to say is "I need to go. I'm needed."
The only way to stop the mushroom's effect is to find translucent cordyceps, native to Autumn Segment, and make them eat them somehow.
Click on the image or here to make the map bigger.
Uninterrupted, those affected by the fae mushrooms, native or otherworldly, will make their way into their destination. The Mushroom Sanctuary is home to many peculiar mushrooms, big and small. It's light up by the glowing ones, making it look quite beautiful during the night. But no one is here to do sightseeing.
Instead, inside two of the biggest mushrooms, there are two stairways into the underground. After leaving all of their items, except their clothing, inside a third giant mushroom, the affected walk down these stairs and end up in an underground area. Once they get inside, the fae mushroom effect fades into a faint voice at the back of their mind, letting the people take in where they are.
They are surrounded by native mushroom people, who are now identified as Mushroom Fae (mushroom at max height of 1 meter/3'3 feet that have arms, legs and faces, as well as now revealed fairy wings). Everyone here has been brought here to work for the fae in order to build their Underground Kingdom. Food and other necessities like sleeping area have been provided, as well as a bathing area since they know how some humans are particular about their hygiene. Work includes digging tunnels, carrying away dirt, carrying the building material down, putting up support pillars and even building stone walls.
Animosity towards the Mushroom Fae and any attempts to attack them will trigger the Fae Mushroom control again, making the person essentially an obedient doll again. But the Mushroom Fae promise that after a few days (or a week, depending on how fast they work) they'll be released again. They just need a little bit of raw power to help with their project and this was the best way they could come up with.
Rescuing the workers is always an option, but those controlled by the Fae Mushroom will attack people who try to rescue them unless the spell is undo for them.
After the people have been rescued from the Mushroom Sanctuary, the fairies living inside the city will make an announcement that they have nothing to do with the Mushroom Fae. In fact, they had no idea they had survived the Darkness and transformed into regular looking sentient mushrooms.
As an apology for not realizing this sooner they will offer free delivery services for the rest of the year, meaning anyone can call upon a fairy to teleport an item (a non-sentient one) from place A to place B at anytime. The fairies may be invisible but usually always hear a plea even if further away.
- Lore Related: In Ellipsa fairy and fae, while similar creatures, are different species; fairy are generally nice and fun-loving creatures who do harmless pranks while fae are usually very suspicious and may even cause harm to achieve their goals.
- Map Related: The flowers and trees are all fae made things that give light to the underground space. They're otherwise not harmful. There are plenty of places to sit down and tables to eat at (food will be basic vegetable or meat stew with mushrooms, depending on if characters eat meat or not). The bathing area has water orbs that acts as shower heads, but also big public baths that are mixed gender.
- Ask your questions related to the TDM here.
- The TDM is available only to friends of the mods and their friends. If you want to play in the TDM, please leave a note here to inform us who invited you over. We will get to you as soon as possible.
- Test Drive is open for current characters to make a top level as well. New characters can add TDM on their subject line to indicate they're new!
- Current characters cannot access the starting area again to meet new arrivals. They can, however, be at the Research Center when the newbies are teleported in.
- The TDM is game canon so anything in the TDM can happen for your character(s) in the game as well.
- Smut is not allowed on the TDM. You can play situations leading to it, but if the thread is turning into smut, please move it to a private space such a post in your character's journal, or a locked post in the game's log community if you decide to app!
- Check Locations: City to find more areas to explore inside the city. Every place in the districts are open.
- Similarly, Locations: Segments is useful for outdoors adventures.
- You can find monsters to encounter on Beastiary.
- FAQ has information on characters' smartphones as well as general things about the world that might be handy.
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And turns back to Hakkai with a nod.]
It's a closet.
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Ahaha, well... It was plenty big for our needs... Though I admit the lack of a bath was disappointing. The shower works perfectly well.
[He wasn't trying to cram himself into the smallest space possible to keep from feeling alone, nope.]
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Bed's kinda small, but we've made worse work.
[He shrugs, looking back at Hakkai.]
And if it don't work we could always use the place they gave me instead. Or get a place with a bigger bed. Between the two of us we could afford it.
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[Yep, that's it. Not Hakkai's guilt complex he doesn't know how to get over. Even with the assurance it's only been a couple hours...]
Why don't you lie down just to see if you'll fit?
[That part, at least, has no ulterior or guilty motive. There's not a lot of room and he has groceries to put away.]
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[Gojyo's looking at him like he's speaking Mongolian. Or hit his head really hard. Did Hakkai hit his head really hard?
He does sit down on the bed though, to get out of the way more than anything else.]
You gonna tell me why you're being weird yet?
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[So he unpacks. He organizes. Keeps his hands busy. Recognizable actions, probably.]
This is the second time this has happened. First Trench, now this... it's a lot, I suppose. Leaving one so unexpectedly...
[Leaving you, is what he means.]
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"I missed you."
His body moves before he realizes he's doing it. In this small space Hakkais only a couple short strides away, and wrapping around him from behind is as easy as breathing. His hands lace together, pressed against Hakkais abdomen. His chin rests on his shoulder.
Two months of being caught up on his own head. Fuck.]
It's shit. But looks like whatever fucked up world we find ourselves in we still find each other, yeah?
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[Well... he never professed to be a good man.]
[So he turns around. He has to sort of wiggle to finagle it, without pulling away, but he turns. Leans into the offered contact, into the long, familiar arms.]
So it seems. [I missed you for two months - I don't deserve this.]
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Gojyo likes to call this mood of Hakkai's "smoldering sad." He's still working himself into a tizzy over whatever's trapped in his head, but the fires are banked. He's simmering, not boiling.
Gojyo makes a sound low in his throat.]
I can still smell the wood burning up there. You're caught on something real good.
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[Not right now. Because explaining might push this all away. As much as he probably does not deserve this much comfort, this much contact - he can't bring himself to drive anything between them. Even to chance it. He just wants to stay like this a while longer.]
[Until he can put together the words "why don't you hate me" because "I left you".]
Later. Please.
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Gojyo nodded, rubbing large hands up and down his back soothingly.]
You got it.
[ I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere. ]
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[He has to pay for it somehow.]
Thank you. I - am glad to see you. Please, don't think otherwise.
[Because he knows his reaction has been muted. He knows Gojyo, of all people, can tell. He's being honest now, and it comes much easier. This feeling of right oozing its way into his bones and loosening the lock on his tongue.]
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[His breathless laugh is as much relief as it was reassurance. He presses another kiss to the top of his head.]
You're too hard on yourself, yanno.
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[That gets him to lift his head slightly. To study Gojyo's face - the red eyes he knows so well.]
I don't take these things very lightly.
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A lot can happen in a couple months. It was just yesterday for me, but...
[He clicks his tongue.]
You know, all kinds of reasons.
[Hakkai knows what kind of a man Gojyo is. Not exactly classy.]
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[There's a definite raise to his eyebrows - even if Gojyo isn't looking at his face, it's probably audible.]
Someone who knows more of my past than anyone else. And who has, more or less accepted it. Who has called me his lifeline.
In two months.
[Now those raised eyebrows are creaking into something bordering on amusement.]
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Yeah, well... I was a squid for awhile in the last place so anything's possible. And--
[His eyes dart briefly, nervously to Hakkai's.]
You ever want something so bad you're afraid you're gonna wake up and find out it was all a mirage or something?
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[It's a simple, easy answer. And it's the truth. He drops his eyes as well, studying somewhere along Gojyo's collarbone.]
Every day for some time, when we were in Trench. [He'd expected to wake up and have it be the town playing a trick on him, after all.] And... I expect I'll feel similarly here. For some time.
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Ain't so much I thought you'd hook up with someone else, but maybe ... rethink us, I guess. You got stuck here all by yourself again.
[He didn't come with him, couldn't come with him. That could give a man a long time to think. Reconsider how invested he wanted to be in a guy who could barely manage an ashtray.]
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[Of course, saying that out loud is what smart, logical people would do. Instead, he says, just as quietly:]
I have done nothing but think of you. How could I not? It was too quiet, otherwise. And the air was far too clean.
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And he knew what an expert Hakkai was at shoving unpleasant shit into corners he didn't have to look at.]
You askin' me to start smoking inside? Thought you hated that shit.
[The corners of his mouth drop a touch.]
Still. Sorry I kept you waiting.
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[Like how cigarette smoke of all things had done something to cure corruption, back in Trench. Like how just the proximity of someone familiar had helped smooth out the monstrous features.]
Again, I don't blame you. [I blame me.] You've no need to apologize. [Hakkai does. But, being Hakkai, he will just cycle through the guilt over and over before figuring out how to even start to apologize.]
[This hypocrite.]
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[His chest heaves with the weight of his put upon sigh even as his hands return to wrap around Hakkai's waist, keeping him close.]
Good thing about small places like this, it'll be hard to miss me.
[He wiggles his eyebrows.] Ain't got to worry about quiet no more, baby.
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[It's very tempting just to stay like this. Just stay wrapped up. Ignore the drum beating in his ears of how much he does not deserve this.]
Hahah, that's very true. And likely for the best... apparently a lack of physical contact can turn one to stone here.
[... Hakkai.]
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