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acatalepsy_ooc2019-03-24 04:24 pm
acatamods) wrote in acatalepsy_ooc2019-03-24 04:24 pm
Entry tags:
TDM # 6
 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! ♥ |
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[ He turns to the food readily available, then to the food he actually wants to eat, then lastly to the sign. Alto shook his head. While he wasn't a 'foodie,' he did like good food. However, he was not about to force himself to endure any kind of humiliation to get it. ]
Are you hungry?
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[Smiling is fine, but she doesn't know what power she's supposed to have, and she'd probably have to rip a bush out of the ground to get a "flower" of any noticeable size in her hair when she's this tall.]
Though if there's anything you hate that I like or vice versa, I guess we can game the system.
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He smiles anyway, glad that at least one of them was happy and made this spontaneous visit here worth it. That smile probably wasn't the smile these people were looking for and he was not about to do more.
Her idea was actually quite smart. ]
A game. I suppose there is nothing wrong with giving it a try.
I am not a fan of Natto. What do you think?
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I think that's just as bad...some of the things humans come up with... [She shakes her head before considering, making a circle with her fingers as she tries to remember the term for something.] I think I saw those fried squid things over there when I looked? Or squid tempura, or whatever you call it. I've never really liked that.
[She's not huge on seafood in general compared to other meats, honestly, but squid is definitely down near the bottom.]
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At the mention of fried squid, Alto perked up. He did like those. He and the other pilots ate them a lot back in their training days.
This felt like cheating, but he was grateful for it. He took a portion of it and turned to Klan. It was strange being with her right now. ]
Thanks. What about you? Tell me something you like.
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A lot of the things I like are things I know you like anyway. Give me a minute to think of something you might think is gross. [It takes her a few moments before she lands on an idea, though it's not necessarily a guaranteed one.] Oh, blood sausage, maybe? I like it, but I know some humans get weird about eating certain parts of animals.
[Like offal in general, but blood-based foods seem to be even less common to find than those.]
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Alto gives a look of pure disgust at the thought.He had grown up in a very Japanese environment and mostly enjoyed simply Japanese dishes. Some of which he could actually cook himself, like Miso soup, ramen or sushi. To keep himself in shape, both as a Kabuki dancer and pilot, his diet never really consisted a lot of meat in the first place. Maybe this game was working, but it was strange to learn such strange things about Klan.
He really didn't know her strange taste though. ]
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She can't help but raise a brow at Alto's expression, though.] Seriously, I don't know why it's such a big deal to eat something made of blood. You eat stuff with blood in it, right?
[She's thinking more of rare steak and much more mundane sorts of meats, but to her it's not that big a step from one to the other.]
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I just don't like it. There is nothing wrong not liking something.
[ He kept his gaze directly at his own food and began eating. There was no rice to come with this meal, and it is a shame but he was at least able to enjoy some of the stir fry too. While this meal isn't "good" by all means, it was passable and could at least get him through the day. ]
I was thinking we should look around after we finish eating. Maybe we can find the others.
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She raises a brow at his suggestion of finding the others, though.] Do you think we're gonna find many? It looks like the people here come from all kinds of places. I'm surprised there's even more than one person from the same world here.
[Space is a big place, and they both know it. There's ample opportunity to draw from places other than the Frontier.]
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[ Alto answered smiling. It wouldn't hurt to hope to see some of their friends again. Many of them probably thought he was dead. He wouldn't blame, because he thought he would be dead too. The chances of him surviving that canon had already been slim at best. ]
Don't tell me there isn't someone you'd wish to be here.
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Nobody that I expect to see here, unless this place can break some fundamental rules. [Alto landed with the rest of them in her world, so there's no reason for her to think it might've taken him from beyond death. And while she'd be more than happy to see Mikhail here, unless the witch that brings them can resurrect the dead, she's not going to count on it.]
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While he didn't know what, he knew something was wrong. ]
Hey, Klan. Whats wrong?
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[Mikhail is important to both of them, she knows, but in the middle of all this doesn't seem like the time for heavy talk about death.]
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He had been to engrossed in his own battles, he had not checked on how the others were before that canon was shot.
Mikahail ... couldn't be gone. That idiot wouldn't die. ]
Klan, if this is your idea of a joke ---!
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What's the last thing you remember?
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We were on the Vajra's planet. Somehow, we had managed to free most of the Vajra from the enemy's control.
They had took control of the queen. The only way to break it free was get close enough for the queen to hear Ranka and Sheryl's song. It worked ... [ But. ]
... I had to eject from my plane and my pack broke. I couldn't get away. the last thing I saw was the canon fire. [ With Ranka and Sheryl watching. ]
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That's definitely not how I remember it happening. We took out the head, because that's where the Galaxy had tried to take control, but Vajra think with their guts so losing it wouldn't kill the queen. But you were definitely out of the way by then. I remember seeing you fly over the planet when we landed.
[So the implication that Alto might be dead in an alternate version of how this happened is...somewhat unsettling.] Mikhail's death was long before that, though.
1/2
[ Alto still didn't believe that Mikhail died. But, while he was flying ... he did not know what else was happening on the ground. ]
2/2
[ Their memories were different. But ... why? ]
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Letting out a harsh breath to try and hold down any temptation to shout Alto down, because this is hardly his fault so much as some bizarre misunderstanding, she shakes her head.]
The way it went for me, you saw him die. A little before that final fight, the Vajra got into the main island. I thought of a way to get them out, but I needed to be macronised for it, so you and him guarded the tank. One of the Vajra...it got him before he got it, and though he managed to kill it, it ripped a hole in the wall as it was dying. He got sucked out with it, with no protective equipment.
[There's something very bland and professional about the explanation, as if Klan is trying very hard not to be overtly emotional about it, but it's clearly still a struggle.]
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Mikhail was like a brother to him, though he wouldn't admit it. Listening to this was more painful than any sound nails through a chalkboard can make.
'No. This did not happen. None of that happened,' he was internally telling himself. However, Klan was not a liar. He knew that much. That was not the face of a girl who would say something without being sure.
It was strange still. Alto could remember every single moment of that battle up until the moment he died and he did not remember that ever happening. While he did not know what happened to him exactly as the battle took place, he knew this much ---- he was not there to witness it. ]
I remember everything until my last moments, Klan. That never happened.
[ He did not want to give her false hopes though. ]
I don't know what happened to him after I --- after. I just know that what you described did not happen.
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[If the witch can pull people from different dimensions, worlds and times entirely, why not different timelines? It's not like it makes any less sense than anything else that's going on here, even though Klan lets out a faint sound of annoyance before she even says it.]
...it sounds weird to even think it, but we might be from some kind of different timelines or something.
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[ Yeah, he was beginning to sound like a broken record. It was online by now that Alto realized that he had lost his appetite. His food was still in front of him barely touched. He really didn't feel like eating. There was a lot of new information that he still needed time to process.
Witches? Alternate timeline? If he counted himself, bringing someone back from the dead?
His chest ached, which might seem ridiculous. Her Mikhail was ... not the same person, right? He should not feel hurt like this but it did. ]
I'm sorry, Klan. I'm sorry ...
Are you okay?
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Her fingers clench a bit at the apology, and Klan turns her head away.] I'm fine. It's been...well, not long, but enough that I could start moving on.
[She does let out a faint hiss through her teeth, though.] I suppose you expect to lose people in our business, but somehow that never extends to the ones who are really important.
[Mikhail. Lalamia. It hasn't been an easy battle for Klan, in terms of losses.]
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