acatalepsy_ooc | TDM # 6

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TDM # 6

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 #6

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.

You fall flat on your face. It takes a few seconds for you to gain composure and catch your breath. 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.

. . . or maybe you are. It seems oddly like a state fair, except a bit more mystical, and a bit more . . . well, touched by faerie-magic..

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.

Once you're done with that, though, get ready -- there's a carnival in town.

FEAST FOR THE PEOPLE.

An array of familiar scents welcomes you — it reminds you so terribly of your roots. Perhaps it’s the clam chowder your grandmother used to make, or the distinct smell of your least favorite kind of enchanted crabapple pie traveling through the air.

Regardless, it leads you to a variety of food stands, each and everyone being manned by one of the unseen servants.And lo and behold, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for: food from the very place you’ve come from. The plates and portions are . . . er, floating in air due to how unseen the servants are, but when you reach forward to have a bite, you are promptly stopped. It seems as though the servants are asking for something in exchange.

A sign floats up before you…

“The food is free ♥ But first, find someone and show them…
Your best smile!
A flower! Spring is abound ♥
A neat trick using the power I gave you~”

You’d best get on it — of course, you could try to simply steal if you’re hungry enough, but well...we’ll see how well that goes over.

Ironically enough, the foods you may not be especially partial to will be offered to you without any trouble. Huh.

TEN TICKETS GETS A PENCIL.

There are a large variety of other stalls too. While the food definitely follows you wherever you go, there are small booths set up with games. Anything from a ring toss, target practice, games of strength or games of balance have been constructed and set up all around this patch of grass. You might notice a game from home, no matter how specific or seemingly out of place it appears to be in this festival. You’re here to have fun! And maybe the person standing next to you does too. Will you challenge them? Or let them go ahead?

Besides, don’t you want those prizes? There is a wide selection of "stuffed animals" made out of grass and flowers to be won, but it all comes down to you. These prizes won't wilt or die, either! How lovely. Additionally, some of the booths give you out some arbitrary amount of tickets, regardless of how well you do. If you win, you seem to get . . . less tickets? But if you lose, you get the lot.

Astoria doesn't seem to really get the point of carnival games.

There is a booth to turn in said tickets, though! Ten tickets will get you a bright pink pencil. Fifty tickets will get you a kazoo that makes you irresistibly happy for thirty minutes at a time. A hundred tickets will get you a massive stuffed puppy made out of flowers. And two hundred tickets will get you a tiara made out of flowers. . . . these gifts seem to be Astoria-centric, but you'll surely like them, right?

LOVE IS IN THE AIR.

What is a festival without some carnival rides? They’re scattered around the faire grounds at random intervals, and seem familiar enough, if not for the fact they seem to be held together primarily through magic.

The ferris wheel is made entirely from giant leaves and vines, but is still running, and absolutely safe. You might want to jump on it to see the entirety of the Temple . . . in the (near-ish) distance, you can see Lake Dona, stretching on for what appears to be miles. You can see the Forest of the Fey, equally massive and sprawling . . . and neither seems to have an end in sight. But hey, at least you got a free carnival ride.

Bumper cars? More like bumper logs, floating in a small lake of sorts that (for those who have been in the Circle for some time) definitely wasn’t there before. Crashing into one another is a load of fun, but if you get up-ended, you might wind up being shoved back into the logs unceremoniously by some kelpies. Where in the heck did they come from? (They're harmless, for the most part. Astoria seems to have recruited the more tame ones.)

And, even better, the unseen servants are keen to get new people to know one another! Are you in line with someone you know? Or next to a complete stranger? Either way, you’ll get shuffled into the next cart and put on your way. The Tunnel of Roses is a great place to meet someone, right? It's seemingly sprung up out of absolutely nowhere . . . a dark, quiet, romantic ride on a tiny little boat, just big enough for two! You’ve got some...time to break the ice. The ride apparently lasts four hours.

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

arrival
[ Luckily, Rhys is definitely no stranger to falling on his face. It's just different this time around. As he gets to his feet and looks around, it's pretty obvious that this has got to be something he's made up in his head. Places like this don't exist on Pandora. Places like this, he hasn't even dreamed of.

Obviously, he's having some sort of crisis-dream. ]

Uh. This is-- like. We're dreaming, right? Definitely. We're definitely dreaming.

[ If he tells himself that enough, it's surely true. ]

feast
[ Food. This is pretty much the best dream he's ever had, even if he knows it won't taste like anything. He starts to reach for it, but he's stopped very suddenly-- ]

Oh, whaaaat? Come on, just-- [ He groans. ] Please?

[ When it's obvious asking nicely--or whining--isn't going to help, Rhys let's out a groan and crosses his arms. He's pouting. ]

Fine, I'll play your game. Hey! [ he calls out to the nearest person.

And he gives them a smile. Amazing. ]

rides
tunnel of roses

Oh, no. No no no. No. Nope. Not happening, I am not going in there.

[ Too bad!! Rhys gets shoved into the next cart, and he looks extremely unhappy about it. Even though he has a partner, he folds his arms tight across his chest and grumbles. ]

Aren't these supposed to be fun? I'm not having fun here.

bumper cars?

[ This he can get behind. Rhys is competitive, but it's not exactly the best quality to have. Especially if he keeps gloating ever time he knocks into someone. ]

Hah, got you! Why don't you come over and try to--

[ But then he gets up-ended, tragically, and he lets out a scream. ]

Not fair! Just-- totally not cool!

wildcard
[ Hit me with your best shot! Or hit me up at

sweetstacks for planning. ]

[ Not too far away, Angel has made an ungraceful landing of her own.

Peeling herself off the unfamiliar ground, and faced with the presence of a sky, a real sky, the first conclusion Angel can come to is what the nearby man is already voicing. ]

It's been a long time since I've dreamed of outside... and even longer since I've had one this...vivid.

[ She's partially talking to herself, partially talking generally to the dream-stranger. Her limbs feel so heavy that all she can manage to do is get herself into a kneeling position, turning herself slightly to get a better look at her company.

She doesn't recognize him, but then again she does sift through thousands of profiles in the EchoNets system regularly, does constant monitoring of all Hyperion surveillance footage as well. And this guy, he looks pretty corporate to her. ]

[ Well, he's definitely not alone. Rhys doesn't register her appearance, at first; he's too busy dusting off his (very nice) clothes, and only when he's as satisfied as he'll possibly get does he turn to her. ]

I'm guessing you don't get out--

[ He stops dead in the middle of his sentence. ]

Holy shit.

[ Ah. This is definitely a dream. ]

[ Angel begins to give him a small smile, ready with a response of "try ever." Which would include now, this being a dream and all, but she can play pretend with her dream people, right?

That is before he interrupts himself.

She looks behind herself, up, to the side. Nothing has happened as far as she can tell that would warrant that kind of reaction. ]

Is there a problem?

N-- nope. Nope. No problems here, dream girl! I mean-- girl that's in my dreams.

[ This is definitely a dream. It's a dream and his subconscious is making him remember one of the worst days of his entire life. What the fuck, brain? This isn't cool. He just wants to go off to the dream-carnival and try to enjoy the dream-games and dream-rides.

He'd like a return on his stupid idiot brain. ]

Uhhh. So. Weird dream, right?

[ Angels brow furrows at that ascertain. ]

Your dream.

[ That's an...interesting turn for her subconscious to take. ]

I hate to be the barer of bad news, but I'm fairly certain it's my dream we're currently in, sorry. I'm sure there are benefits to being a figment of my imagination, though.

What? No, definitely not.

[ He raises his eyebrows and puts his hands on his hips. ]

This is-- this is definitely my dream. Fell asleep in the office or something. Meetings, am I right?

[ Okay, this is new and already she's tired of it. The waking world is bad enough as it is, what with Jacks plan to attack Sanctuary coming into fruition...all thanks to her. She shakes her head, urging those thoughts away. There will be more than enough time to dwell, an infinite amount.

She sighs ]

Please, let's not argue.

[ She makes a move to stand, her legs still feeling as though they're filled with sand, unused for so long ]

Let us say, for the sake of getting along, that this is your dream. Where are we?

[ Aaaand nope, standing is not happening. As she makes an attempt to push herself upwards, the strength in her legs give and she promptly lands back on the ground. ]

[ Rhys opens his mouth to argue, but.... he cuts himself off when he sees her try and fail to stand. It occurs to him he knows nothing about her, just that she's Jack's daughter. Seeing her puts a lump in his throat; why is it her he's dreaming of?

That's... my Angel. Don't usually like people knowin' about her, but... you and me are pretty tight.

There's something sour tinging the fringes of the memory of his words. ]

Uhhh. [ Right. ] ... It's-- It's a carnival?

You don't recognize it?

[ Kind of a pointless question, why would he? She doesn't know this place either. It's certainly not Pandora with how civilized and clean everything seems to be.

Again, she struggles to stand, she'd like to enjoy this dream for what it is. Weird companion aside, the atmosphere here is nice, peaceful almost. She doesn't know when- if ever, she'll get something like this again. ]

Rhys | Borderlands | OTA | cw eye trauma in the video link

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Feast

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arrival

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