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seasonsgreetings2023-10-13 12:35 am
seasonsmods) wrote in seasonsgreetings2023-10-13 12:35 am
Entry tags:
Test Drive Meme #5
Test Drive Meme #5
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 Welcome Center 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 Welcome Center 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?
All throughout the city, a festival is taking place. It's the festival to honor the dead. The areas are decorated with aesthetically appropriate lights and different flowers. Upon a closer look it becomes clear that all the flowers are bundles of flowers, based on the otherworlders' flower charms. Where a characters' flower is depends on their Season, but all of the appear in the Nightwake Center district.
The main part of the festivities is to light candles in various places. There are even floating lanterns, that can be either launched to the skies or put on surfaces of water. Those who have lost (= to death) someone at any point in their life will receive a message from them in their dreams and otherwise pleasant dreams about them if they light up a candle during the festivities.
Those who have died before (back in their world or on Ellipsa) will receive a protective light around them if they light up a candle. This light will also let the natives know to treat them with kindness and respect during the festivities. They will even receive special bonuses at some of the shops and restaurants, like discounts or extra items. The light itself will decrease any damage done to them for the rest of the month. The light will dim "when needed", but even as it's not easily noticeable, it will continue to protect.
Characters may receive both of these effects.
The second part of the festivities involves making small ghosts made out of paper or cloth. These crafts are for the local ghosts to possess so they can be seen by everyone. Once the ghosts have possessed the crafts they will hover around the place, experiencing the festivities better than in their ethereal form. Only ghosts that wish to move on to the afterlife will possess the crafts.
Some of the ghosts gather at the Blossomcrown Park where magical crests have been set on various tables there. These ghosts are those who have been waiting for this moment to pass onto afterlife. Everyone visiting the bonfire will be given a special flower wreath. The goal is to wait for one of the ghosts to move and take hold of the wreath (literally holding onto it with their craft ghost forms) before placing it on the crests together with another person. This will help the ghosts to cross the border into afterlife. The wreath disappears after the ghost has passed on. This ritual can only be done at this time of the year, as the air is filled with a mysterious essence that helps with passing on. The scientists have yet to properly determine what the essence truly is, but it seems to concentrate on the park and at least it's not dangerous for the living.
The park also has some places to just sit down and enjoy the atmosphere at the park. There are also some food and drink stalls.
The final part of the festivities is the multi-day Costume Party Masquerade happening in the largest airship of the city. The ship circles around the whole city of Nightwake, occasionally stopping at the dock and taking new passengers (or letting old ones out) before continuing on again. The airship is special, as it has a giant ballroom in the middle. There are also cabins, some more private and some more communal for those who just want a quick place to crash rather than a proper room.
Everyone who boards the airship must wear some sort of a mask, but they also have to be in a costume of some sort. Those who don't have either or both will be guided to a dressing room where the magic will pick them whatever they are missing at random (= of player's choosing) and dress them (their current clothes will be waiting for them at the airship station later). No one escapes the rule of a costume and a mask around here!
A magic is also applied to everyone's mask, making it harder for anyone to recognize the person wearing it (possibly even those who know them very well). This is said to add some level of mystery to the evening. Of course the spell will pause whenever someone takes off their mask and that may reveal a secret to someone. No one will just automatically forget if they saw someone take off their mask.
The music encourages people to dance and be brave in asking a stranger to dance with them. Thanks to the atmosphere of the masquerade, touch energy will feel even better than usual, even if you'd be "fully loaded".
Another sort of magic sneaks into the party, as people's costumes start to take over their personalities. Someone dressed up as a king might start acting all regal, while a vampire look-a-like might try to bite someone in their neck. Some might even lose the sight of who they really are and completely take on their new roles for the time they're in the airship and in the costume.
Fairies will start trying to bomb people gone weird with water balloons, as a splash of water on their faces will wake them up from the trance (even if the said person is wearing a mask). They're even teleporting water balloons for others to toss - especially if it looks like someone is acting a bit too dangerously.
Another way is to strip them out of their clothes, but that might be something reserved for the privacy of a cabin, rather than the ballroom.
Even once someone has been freed from the spell they can unfortunately be spellbound again later on - but it's just less likely.
- 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.
no subject
It's especially pointless to worry about now, but it doesn't stop the guilt. That is a weight he hadn't missed, being dead. The dead are free of their burdens, but also, apparently, of the depth of human emotion, lacking a true tether to life and the world.
So Erwin is grateful when Hange's mood brightens again - something he realizes he's sorely missed. He smiles gratefully, then laughs a little as he's dragged off, long legs keeping up easily as they walk arm in arm. They had never really done this sort of thing back home, but this place, Erwin has decided, is about shaking off all the restrictions he'd shackled himself with as commander.
"That all sounds incredible," he agrees - it's taken him all day just to get to this location, stopping and inspecting things along the way as he wandered through the city. There is so much to learn, and Erwin is glad he doesn't have to do it alone.
"Tell me about the food that comes from the sea." He imagines fish, but are there other things?
no subject
"They have fish, obviously, but so many different kinds! And crabs! Not like those tiny, puny crabs you could sometimes find in the river. Proper ones!" As Hange excitedly chatters, they continue down the road. There are far too many places to check out, but since they are talking about seafood, the perfect spot comes to mind.
"They also have prawns! They look like this-" Hange hunches over, doing a weird thing with both arms in an attempt to imitate all the spiny legs and feelers. "And water scorpions! Well, they call them lobsters, but I like water scorpions better."
"And the sea also has something called a jellyfish! But it has poisoned noodles, except they aren't really noodles. They really hurt! I got stung once, and Levi got really pissed off, you know how he is." Erwin surely remembers well, the bollocking you can get from Levi after putting yourself in danger. It's how he shows that the cares, right?
And so they continue down the road, Hange babbling away at the speed of light (had you missed this?) until they reach the market stall that sells seafood- all different varieties all laid out over ice.
"See? Look!"
no subject
"I agree, water scorpion is quite evocative." He's imagining something spindly but with fins, and manages to only be about halfway correct by the time he actually sees one. At the mention of Levi's famous anger, Erwin's gaze softens, both from fondness and empathy (having been both a victim and a witness to it). "Yes, I know."
They really kept him on his toes in their own ways, hadn't they? And then...
Erwin happily listens, nodding or making appropriately (and genuinely) impressed and interested noises along the way, but when they finally stop at the stall, blue eyes go wide with amazement. He takes it all in, and then systematically looks at each thing, spying the crabs and water scorpions and all the different kinds of shellfish (literally in shells).
"This is incredible..." He picks up a large creature with a wavy shell - a scallop, apparently, examining it from all sides before putting it down.
"Ah, there are your water scorpions, I take it? They're much larger than I expected." They look like overlarge insects, truthfully.
"Can all of these be found on the shores of our island, too?"
no subject
Hange picks up one of the lobsters by the tail, dangling it in front of the (other) former Commander. The vendor shoots them a dirty look but it's fine- they'll pay for it anyone once the two of them are done prodding at it, because if nothing else they can take the shell apart and snoop at the insides if Erwin wants to. It's already dead, after all.
"Look at the size of its pincers! I bet it could chop a finger off if it wanted!" The thought of which only serves to make Hange's smile brighten even further, the world truly is full of wonderful and delightful creatures!
After a moment of bickering with the vendor- Hange assuring him that they are going to pay for anything they pick up- the man seems to relax and in spying an opportunity to make some money, hands over a basket so they may collect whatever they wish.
"I don't know if our own shores had them or not... Honestly, even once we finally discovered it, I feel like I couldn't spend the time that I wanted to seeking things out like sea life. Not when everything else was happening..."
"You know what I'm getting at, right, Erwin?" He knows better than anybody else, the price needing to be paid once you sit in the commander's seat. Too often than not, your own personal desires or hobbies are shoved into the back burner for the good of the scouts...
no subject
Clarification is important, here.
The get a basket, and Erwin has no idea how to cook any of these things, picking up and examining nearly everything - scallops, oysters, lobster, things that look like mini-lobsters that are apparently called 'shrimp', some small fish called mackerel.
Hange's answer, though, does draw a little ache to his heart.
"...yes, I do." Of course he does. Arguably his entire life could have been something more like this, if not for their government's desire to silence almost anyone who sought to know the truth, who had a desire to know more than what their tightly controlled histories allowed. If he hadn't been so, incredibly foolish as a child.
Hange was always going to be his successor. That, Erwin had decided on long before his insane gamble to overthrow the government, on the eve of his potential execution for treason and endangering humanity for personal gain. The accusation still twisted ironically in his mind, that his accusers had managed to be correct without knowing it, even if they'd charged him for the wrong reasons. It was their hypocrisy that had outdone them in the end.
Nearly as soon as he'd taken over command, Erwin had always intended Hange to follow him. No one else came close to the same level of curiosity, the same drive for discovery that would push the Survey Corps through the challenges they would face. No one else sought to understand titans in the same way. Political maneuvering was always a factor, but he'd been confident that they could manage that well enough when needed.
He could never have expected the way the world turned out to be, even if he had believed, as his father did, that humanity existed beyond the walls.
Erwin only knew glimpses of what had happened, all of them filtered through a haze of incorporeality. He could only understand a fraction of what those years after his death had been like, but what he does know feels like a perpetual fracture in his heart.
In a more generous world, Hange would never have had to take command, would have been free to discover and learn and document everything.
"Hange..." Erwin reaches to touch their shoulder, a look of regret and contrition and gratitude drawn in his eyes.
"Thank you, for all of your hard work and dedication to the Corps. I know it wasn't easy," especially after the tragedy of Shiganshina. "You did well."