TDM # 6

[acatamods]

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! ♥

Comments

Love is in the Air

[starseedling]

[When Yuya gets onto the ferris wheel, there's already someone sitting there - ostensibly a little kid, with a deflated expression. He's similarly distracted as Yuya greets him, not even bothering to look around at this point. He's already been around the ferris wheel a couple times now and it didn't make things any clearer.

Things are so weird he can't even enjoy the carnival part! Geez.]

Hey.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya stands on his toes to see as high as he can, the cart swinging a little from their opposing weight. He's silent until they get close to the top, giving him a vantage of the forest.

And then he scurries to the other side to see how far the lake goes.] Are we on the coast? This has to be the middle of nowhere...

[starseedling]

I think we're probably on a different planet?

[He says this pretty casually, like it is a normal concept to him.]

So, it might not really make a difference. Did you just wake up here, too?

[hippocarnival]

[Or a different dimension... either possibility unsettles him, but he doesn't disbelieve it.

He looks over his shoulder, slowly lowering himself from trying to see over the top of the cart.] Yeah. It's the same for you?

[starseedling]

Yeah.

[He nods, crossing his arms around his body. He laughs uncomfortably.]

You know, a couple years ago I probably would have been really flattered! Right now, though... I just want to go home. I hope there's a way to do that...

[hippocarnival]

She could have asked before just taking us. [At least Reiji... baited him and beat him up before talking him across dimensions, but Yuya knew what was happening when he agreed!

He sinks on the bench with a sigh. Will his family even know where he went? Everyone was just reunited...]

Did you see her?

[starseedling]

[He shrugs his shoulders helplessly.]

I've been looking, but I haven't found her yet. They told me she was trying to save the universe, so she must be a good person, right?

[He hopes so, anyway.]

I didn't know people could just tug you to other worlds like this... every time I've ever teleported, it was with a warp pad...

[His gesturing starts to become a bit more frantic.]

And apparently a completely different kind of magic alien exists? I just finally got things settled with the ones I knew about, and now this...

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya'd like to believe that too. And maybe that means she'll be amicable to those that aren't totally on board with kidnapping.

Yuya nods in understanding, used to using warp technology and worms holes to--] Wait, magic aliens?

[He hadn't considered yet that anyone here, including Astoria, wasn't human.]

[starseedling]

I guess!

[Heck if he actually knows. From all descriptions it sounds like she looks human, but he's still working with his person bias until he's shown otherwise.]

Humans don't have magic like that, as far as I know.

[He's honestly just assuming Yuya is a normal human from his planet at this point.]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya's assuming the same thing, if you expand home plant to home dimensions. And it's true, humans themselves don't usually have that magic--it's spirits, but he's never considered them aliens.

But he supposes he doesn't really know.

Yuya puts his hands to his head.] We've been kidnapped by aliens. [With a way more rustic design than fiction would have him believe.] Doesn't that usually end in experiments on us?!

[starseedling]

Well, for me, it usually involves being thrown in jail.

[He says this like it's been a pretty normal part of his life, lately. Ostensibly he's been kidnapped by aliens before.]

But... I don't know anything about this place. At least nobody here seems to care about my mom. [He hesitates, and then adds:] She was an alien war criminal slash secret space princess so I guess that's kind of where my whole frame of reference comes from...

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya holds his hands up.] Wait. War criminal secret space princess?

[Is Steven an anime character? That sounds dramatic even for what he just went through.] Who's your mom?!

No, Yuya. YOU are the anime.

[starseedling]

Um... Well...

[Most humans probably have no idea about most of this gem drama. Maybe there's no point in getting into it right now. He waves off the question uncertainly, looking awkward.]

It's this whole thing. I guess you kind of had to be there.

And then Yuya was a zombie

[hippocarnival]

Oh. [He deflates a little.] There's more happening out there than I thought. And Academia was already a lot...

[It's a little overwhelming. But he needs to push through.

He tilts his head sideways to look at Steven.] I'm Sakaki Yuya, by the way. Oh, but you can call me Yuya.

[starseedling]

I'm Steven Universe! You can call me... Steven.

[Now it's Steven's turn to be a little perplexed, though.]

What's academia? Is that like going to school?

[He hasn't been to school personally but he's heard things about it.]

[hippocarnival]

Uh--[Right, most people still really wouldn't know about Academia. They're in similar boats.]

Yeah, it's a school for dueling. But they were using it to teach people to how to fight with it.

[Starting wars, the normal consequence of human nature. And card games.] But I think they'll change to be a lot more peaceful now.

[starseedling]

Dueling?

[He repeats the word, obviously not understanding what he means. He mostly thinks about Pearl in relation to that concept.]

You mean with swords?

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya blinks rapidly, looking more confused.] No! Duel Monsters, you know?

[He pulls out a card from his pocket and shows it to Steven, like that's going to trigger a memory. Duel Monsters was popular all over the world, wasn't it?]

[starseedling]

[Steven squints at the card, and then shakes his head.]

I have some limited edition Crying Breakfast Friends trading cards, but I've never seen those before. How do you fight people with them? Do you just surrender to whoever wins?

[That sounds like a TV show.]

[hippocarnival]

[Crying Breakfast Friends? Yuya's never heard of that, either. With his weird alien space princess mom, maybe Steven is also an alien from some other world?

(Eventually, Yuya will discover that's the case for basically everyone.)

He lowers the card.] Well, by itself it's just a card. But if you play with a solid vision duel disk, all the effects become real. So... an attack in the game can actually hurt someone.

[Decimate buildings, assault civilians...]

[starseedling]

[Oh...

Huh. He's pretty sure if that were a thing, he would have heard about it. Or, at least, Connie or the Gems would have.]

I don't think we have that where I'm from.

[hippocarnival]

Where are you from? [Yuya gestures to himself.] I'm from Maiami City, Japan. On Earth.

[It's probably important to specify the planet, when talking to space princes?]

[starseedling]

Beach City, Delmarva. In the USA. Earth.

[Is Maiami a real place? Japan definitely is.]

But... I feel like the Crystal Gems would know if humans could make monsters appear and fight for them? That would be really useful for catching corrupted gems...

[hippocarnival]

[Delmarva... that's probably a real state. At least he knows what the US and Earth are.]

Eh, but if you're from America that's where Duel Monsters started... isn't it really big over there too? [He's pretty sure it is. LDS has schools everywhere, but Yuya also remembers world championship tournaments that were held out there.

Something's still not lining up here. But, more importantly:] What are the Crystal Gems?

[starseedling]

They're this team of alien rebels I live with. My mom used to be their leader, but she's gone now.

[He goes quiet for a moment, thinking deeply about that. Certain revelations are still heavy on his mind.]

There used to just be four, but now there's probably hundreds of us.

[That's nice, anyway.]

Still, I've never seen anything about Duel Monsters before. I don't go to the city a lot, but I do watch a lot of TV!