acatalepsy_ooc | test drive meme # 4

Entry tags:

test drive meme # 4

I ▫ main	IV ▫ premise			XI ▫ applications	XIV ▫ activity
II ▫ logs	V ▫ rules	VII ▫ bestiary	IX ▫ canon updates	XII ▫ taken	XV ▫ drop/hiatus
III ▫ ooc	VI ▫ faq	VIII ▫ setting	X ▫ mods	XIII ▫ reserves	XVI ▫ players

test drive meme #4

It happens in the blink of an eye.

One moment, you are home. Perhaps you are with your family, perhaps you are at work. It's a completely normal day . . . and then, suddenly, your stomach drops. You are overcome with a sudden sense of vertigo. You cannot see up, or down, or where you are.

All you hear is a voice -- light, bubbly, warm, soothing, in your ear:

Don't worry, darling. This won't hurt a bit~ ♥

For those who recognize the voice, it will sound a bit strained. Possibly tired. But the moment happens so quickly it's hard to pin down, and once that moment is over, you fall flat on your face. It's bright, warm, and humid. It takes a few seconds for you to gain composure and catch your breath. You think, for half a moment, that a hand is on your back, rubbing between your shoulder blades in comfort, but when you open your eyes, no one is there. You are surrounded by ancient stone buildings, with carvings you do not recognize etched into the stone. There's a sense of nausea, overwhelming and sudden, when you realize you aren't in Kansas anymore.

Even worse, it looks like Astoria has started to feel a bit festive, maybe even a little spooky.

THE TEMPLE OF BEGINNINGS.

Welcome to the "Home Base" of Astoria's Circle. What the actual name of the base is called is lost to the ages, and there's no sense of where you could find it, unless you started asking around.

At any rate, this is a central hub of the Circle, a place of powerful magic and mysterious energy. It is a scattering of ancient stone buildings and for the most part, it looks abandoned . . . except for what seems to be a few items, some rooms taken, items moved or organized, even a small garden planted. These are just the smallest hints that there are people here that have been here before you arrived.

Overall, it's fairly beautiful. However, it is definitely not modern.

Upon exploration, you find that the buildings are kept up by some kind of magic. Some of the rooms have items, things from other Circle members already settled, and others appear to be unclaimed. Pick your rooms, explore the grounds, see the beauty and wonder all around you in such a magical place. However, be careful -- there is some additional movement around the Temple that seems specific to the time of year.

THE GREAT PUMPKIN.

Fall has certainly arrived in the Circle . . . rich colors adorn the leaves, a crisp breeze is in the air . . . and in the center of the Temple itself appears to be a massive pumpkin. And, really, the word massive doesn't appear to do the gourd justice. It is nearly twelve feet tall and twelve feet wide, round and bulbous in nature. But what is even more bizarre is that the entire structure seems hollow . . . and the front of it, in a Jack-O'-Lantern facade, has a large grinning face.

No one says you have to go inside it, but if you're so inclined to scale through the mouth of the massive Jack-O'-Lantern, you will find a couple of things inside! One, the thing seems to be full of bowls of candy. Some candy might look familiar, but most of it looks a little weird. Two, there are floating candles spread throughout the pumpkin, creating odd shadows that cast about as the sun goes down. Three, the pumpkin changes expressions throughout the day. When you aren't looking, it goes from grimacing to smiling -- and it never seems to happen when you look!

Have fun celebrating the holiday, Circle. Astoria is just getting started.

SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS.

If the pumpkin wasn't quite enough of a giveaway that Astoria has become spookily inspired to welcome her new guests, then this will have to do. Because right along the outside of the Temple of Beginnings, there seems to be a somewhat constant and fairly thick fog. It's the kind of fog that makes you think there's something there. And with some exploration, you'll find...there is.

Right in the distance there is movement, unnatural and sporadic.

Any further investigation into the movement will involve you moving further and further into the fog. But be careful, because this fog is thick enough to lose sight of where you've come from. With enough time, you can catch up with the movement, to find that what you've heard and seen just beyond your peripheral, are...skeletons. Animated skeletons. They're humanoid, almost cartoon, and are moving with little to no direction. They just seem to be shambling in whatever direction they can, with no purpose or reason. They are entirely harmless.

Except that if you get too curious, and get close enough to touch them, their heads will jerk towards you. They won't do much more, until you try and step away. It seems that by touching the skeletons, you've attracted their attention, and as you try to move away from them they will follow. And as they follow, they will attract the attention of other skeletons, and others, and others. If you're not careful, you'll collect an army.

They will not follow you across the boundary around the Temple of Beginnings, but everywhere else you wander, you will have an entourage. Depending on how long you spend with your skeletons friends, you might even find out that they will answer simple commands. Like dance.

FALL FEAST.

No matter how Astoria's thoughts on holiday cheer, she seems to have at least gotten one fall related item down- because on one of the days, you will wake up and find that in the middle of the Temple of Beginnings, where there is usually some green space and open grass, is now a very large table, extravagantly decorated. It seems to go on forever in each direction, which feels...a little impossible (but what isn't impossible here?) with plenty of chairs. The table has been decorated with fall ornaments (anyone familiar with the American 'Thanksgiving' will find quite a few similarities) with the only difference instead being the wide variety of food available.

Astoria is not limited to Turkey and Stuffing on this day - but rather, almost any kind of food or drink (minus any kind of magical abilities it may contain) is here on this table. Food and snacks from every reach of every world and galaxy is on display. Maybe you're going to spend some time searching out your favorite from home, or maybe you're feeling adventurous and want to try a piece of whatever is in front of you - you think it might be some kind of potatoes? If potatoes were slightly bioluminescent? Also, did that side dish move just now?

COMMUNICATIONS.

Upon arriving, you will notice on whichever is your non-dominant hand, you will have a fairly simply screen. A smart watch, if you will. Upon exploration, you will find that it has a directory of all those here with you at the Temple of Beginnings- names, and access to a direct message to them. The watch also has video, audio, and text capabilities, as well as what looks like a collection of messages sent to everyone who wishes to open them. This is your 'network', and also how Astoria can reach out and communicate with you.

There is nothing keeping you from removing and/or losing your watch! But remember that you will not have access to this network without it.

OOC: Also feel free to join us and other possible players on our discord server!

enjoy! ♥

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i.
[ aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--

It takes everything for Yachi not to start crying when she first opens her eyes and the gymnasium is gone and she finds herself outside in a place she's never seen before. She hasn't moved an inch from where she'd started, clutching her backpack to her chest as if she could teleport right back home if she stands here and wishes hard enough, but it's not happening.

Eventually, what gets her to move is the sight of one of the misty servants— she screams and bolts the other way, whether that's straight into you, or face first into a wall. ]

ii.
[ WHY WOULD YOU GO INSIDE ANYTHING'S MOUTH.........

Even though she knows it's just a pumpkin, it's massive and scowling down at her and she can just imagine the jagged teeth slamming down and trapping everybody inside. There's candy inside, yes, but isn't that suspicious? That's so suspicious!! ]

D-d-don't go inside...!!

[ You, who thinks pumpkin climbing is a good idea, please reconsider?! ]

iii.
[ Inside the temple is scary enough, but going outside was an incredibly bad idea and Yachi regrets it almost immediately. Except, when she turns back, the fog is too thick and she loses her way, lost in the chill white and having to clasp both hands over her mouth so she doesn't shriek every time some movement catches her sight.

There's something out there, but she can't tell if it's a person or a monster or what, and she really doesn't want to take her chances in finding out which it is. More likely is a monster, and her means of defending herself is very limited. In her backpack there's a ruler stick, and that's what she takes out gripped tightly in both hands as she inches along blind and steeling herself to take a swing at the first thing that comes her way.

It's a toss-up as to which will snap first, that ruler or her nerves. ]

iv.
[ Haha! This isn't a great time! She had some snacks in her backpack that sustained her for a bit, but her hunger comes back full blast when she passes by the feast laid out outside. There's so much food and it smells so good and she's so hungry...

How it is now, her two options are to die of hunger or to die of poison, but the latter might be a swifter death, so maybe... she can pick up a plate... and eat something...

A chicken(? is this chicken though) leg looks nice and innocent and is the closest thing to her, so she reaches for it and—- the leg jerks as if alive and Yachi screams bloody murder and drops the plate with it shattering on the ground. Every thread is probably going to be like this, since she's just. like this. ]

v.
SOS
MAYDAY
119
HELP

wc.
[ Yachi can be found almost anywhere freaking out over the smallest thing, but she'll calm down once she finds somebody reliable to attach herself to and then she'll just be quietly anxious about everything instead. I'm at

birdseed any time you need to poke me! I currently have Minato from Persona 3 in the game, and am thinking of bringing Yachi in this round :3c ]

[What's out there, you ask? Oh, it's just Atsushi, who is on edge and trying to find his way out of the fog too. He's being relatively quiet, as he doesn't want to draw attention to himself, but that doesn't protect him from being seen.

Which means he is absolutely getting a ruler to the face. And then screaming afterwards, because holy shit what the hell just hit him???]

[ At least it's a bendy plastic ruler and Yachi is so on edge, she drops the ruler the moment it makes contact with something and screams- this probably hurts more than the actual strike does, because she screams when she hits something, screams more when he screams, and then then again when she realizes that this "something" that she hit is a human and oh my god she attacked a person—-

it's a terrible, never ending cycle you're stuck in, Atsushi ]

[It's a cycle of screaming, the screaming never ends.

Now he's screaming because she's screaming at him, but he manages to stutter some words out in the process.]

AAAAAA P-P-Please don't hit me like that!

No more hitting! I won't!! I'm so sorry!!!!

[ Look, as a show of good faith, she'll even throw the ruler away— bringing her arm back and hurtling it as far as she can into the fog. It might have only flown like a pathetic ten feet or something, but it's the thought that counts, and now they're both unarmed. ]

I didn't mean to! I thought you were a monster!!! That was rude of me— I"m sorry!!

[ Good faith is going one step further and bowing her head—- and another step, at which she throws herself to the ground at his feet, please forgive her. ]

[ ...But Yachi, there's candy inside? wait wrong redhead—

Still, like, Halloween is part of his Aesthetic (witchy) so, like. He stares at her for a moment, then looks back that pumpkin, then back at her... Hmmm. ]

Is there something weird about this THING? [ like does she knows something he doesn't

THE SIZE AND EVERYTHING ABOUT IT ASIDE. ]

[ There's dubious candy inside this dubious pumpkin in this dubious place! Maybe she just hasn't been here long enough to accept all the weirdness as being harmless, or maybe she'll never learn to accept it, but in either case— ]

The size?? EVERYTHING ELSE ABOUT IT??!

[ Natsume, you can't just pretend nothing is weird, especially those two very important things. ]

You don't think it's weird at all?

[ Watch Him. ]

Not particularLY.

[ Like, no, yeah, it's weird. But also: no weirder than what some of their stages are. Chocolat Festival has several massive hearts. Repayment Festival does too. Undead's Easter celebration had a bunch of coffins. The latest event he doesn't remember yet takes place in a hotel that's dressed up like a monster's bloody banquet. A giant pumpkin? Whatever. ]

Are you inexperienced with stage PROPS?

[ Undead needs to understand what Easter is really about. Also that latest event sounds terrifying. ]

Stage props? [ She shakes her head, looking from Natsume to the pumpkin. Can it really be a stage prop? It looks so real. ]

Made of wood and paint and everything? Is this place some sort of movie studio?

[ And the skeletons are actors, ghosts simply something being projected, all these weird things she's been seeing- props! If only. ]

hitoka yachi | haikyuu!!

iii

no subject

no subject

no subject

ii

no subject

no subject

no subject

iv

no subject

no subject

no subject

ii; but ever so slightly different

no subject

no subject

ii.

no subject

no subject

i

no subject

no subject

v

no subject

no subject