acatalepsy_ooc | TDM # 6

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TDM # 6

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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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[It's been a long year, a longer nine months to have not seen her, when he'd only just found her. But she's here again, even if he wouldn't wish being conscripted into Astoria's fold on anyone, he is so happy to see her.

Except she's looking at him expectantly.

Okay. He can do this. It's not a big deal -- well it is. Being with Shiro is the biggest deal, one of the best things that's happened to him in this place. In his life.]

We're together. Shiro and me, I mean. For a while now. [He's smiling as he says it. What do you think, Mom? Approval? Maybe?]

[She's yet to fully learn what it means being conscripted like this (which will soon change, knowing them), but regardless of what happens... she will keep the promise she'd sworn when they were reunited the first time. She won't leave him if she can help it.

And when he finally says it, she rests a hand on his shoulder, smiling. Of course she approves.]

I'm glad. [She squeezes his shoulder lightly.] It's good to hear.

[He's found his way to someone he can be happy with even amidst the mess they've found themselves in. With the lives they all tend to lead whether by choice or not, those moments are more precious than can be put into words. Speaking of which... He's yet to answer her first question.]

[Keith can't help the way his expression softens at that, smile settling more certainly over his features as he fixes his mom with a grateful look. He's wanted to tell her, wanted to share this important thing in his life with his mother. And he wants her to get to know Shiro too -- though he supposes she has a head start on that given the glimpses into his memories and the things he talked about in their time in the quantum abyss.]

I am too. It's... it's good. Really good.

[It's the first time he's felt this relieved in a while. And that thought has his expression faltering faintly.]

I should tell you more about this place. It isn't always safe. We just got back from somewhere... [He shakes his head.] It went bad. A lot of people died. Two of my teammates. [Keith's voice takes on an edge, an anger at what had happened when they'd been thrown to the proverbial wolves (no offense to his good boy) with no preparation or anything.] Somehow they've been revived now that we're back.

[That she has, yet she still will let his actions speak for themselves. And if her son is this visibly happy, then he already has a few brownie points in her book.

Her grip on his shoulder takes on a whole different meaning as he continues and that smile falters. Many deaths, and yet they've all been revived? That takes a massive amount of magical power, and she's only seen it happen the once in their reality. It says a lot of what they're dealing with here.]

I have gathered as much. And there are no clues on how that happened? [The revivals.] How is morale since your return?

[If they aren't all livid or upset in their own ways she'd be surprised.]

It's not clear yet. Something is strange.

[He's only heard the beginnings of what happened from some of the newly revived dead, but there's something more going on than what they knew.]

Not great. People are... dealing with it. But I'm pissed off.

[Super pissed off. Furious really, but with nothing he can really do about it.]

[Something is strange. After mentioning mass revivals of the dead. You don't say. It isn't exactly something one casually glosses over. The implications are astounding, especially given their souls are still there. Back in their bodies.

But at this rate, he's going to explode and he definitely needs a way to blow off some steam. She ponders what she saw on the way after waking, and sighs.]

I imagine that's quite an understatement. [She doesn't even have all the pieces to the puzzle yet, but the look in Keith's eyes...]

I passed some sort of training grounds on my way here. [Come on, Keith. It's a goal and stress relief they both need.] You can explain on the way or after.

Yeah. The people who came back, they mentioned someone speaking to them before they revived. It's a name we've heard before, but we don't know much about her. We don't know much about anything. Everything is questions with no clear answers. But Astoria can't be trusted.

[He says this with the full awareness that Astoria can probably hear. But his mother needs to be aware of this, even if he's certain Krolia has already put that much together.

Then she mentions training grounds and his eyes light up. That sounds like exactly what he needs. She gets him, and that thought has a smile starting in spite of everything.] Yeah, okay. Let's go.

Perhaps in only being insufferably vague.

[Your mother is a spy and infiltrator, Keith. Not freely trusting some strange woman who claims to have brought oneself to be her warrior of light ~~like it's some odd Earthling video game~~ comes with the territory. Yet she'll play nice for the time being. Fully expecting her to know who she is and what she does.

Astoria has to earn that trust and she isn't doing a great job at it. Krolia smiles back, gesturing for him to lead the way. Well, "lead" in the sense she'll be walking beside him with their best wolf boy doesn't push ahead for more pets.]

Dangerously vague.

[Keith agrees, frowning.] We're sent into situations with no warning or intel or anything.

[A fact that makes him desperately miss the preparedness of the Blades. Among other things.

For now, Keith will start off towards the training area.]

It... really is good to see you. I wouldn't have wished for anyone else to get caught up in this mess, but I... yeah.

[He missed her. That's all.]

[Krolia stares at him from the corner of her eye as they walk.]

None. [By now, Keith has likely learned what this particular icy calm tone means.] And has no one brought it up to her just how reckless that is for someone who claims to want to save the universe?

[The Blades may keep all intel on a need to know basis, but to not tell those being sent out anything of a location prior to their arrival at the mission's destination is often murderous on the part of the sender and suicidal on the part of those dispatched. Knowing nothing of the area or what is needed to be done there almost always dooms the mission to failure, as well.

One can rely solely on luck only so many times before the reverse will happen. It's inevitable.

She feels a headache coming on, but she follows and her gaze softens slightly.] We can't always control where we wind up, Keith. [Now more than ever. Literally. And mess might be an understatement, but she smiles faintly to reassure him. She gets what he's trying to say.]

I don't think she cares. Or understands.

[A frown now and he shakes his head, frustration clear in his expression, in the tension in his posture that keeps his shoulders in a straight, hard line.

Something in him eases just slightly, almost deflating. And he manages a faint smile in her direction.]

I know. And we're here... for better or worse.

[She's part of this now. He does add,] It's not all bad. There are good people here. I've made friends here.

Hm. [She's thinking it over, running the two possibilities over in her head. The latter, she thinks, is a bit more likely than the former. It doesn't make it any less dangerous, but if she can be reasoned with they could work with this.

Krolia nods. Yes, she is a part of this. They're both here whether they wish to or not. Though she pauses for a split second, a pride shining in her eyes.

He made friends. Plural. And she knows how hard a time he's had with that in the past.] Tell me about them.

[It will likely distract him long enough until they get to the training grounds.]

[Friends! Plural! It's new for him too, really. Outside of the other paladins anyway. And Shiro. But his mom has heard all about them by now certainly. As for the friends he's made here...]

There's Maes. He's... he's a genuinely nice guy. Smart too. I think you'd like him. And there's Morrigan -- she has a dragon form. So I got to spar with a dragon.

[So that's one thing off his bucket list.] And Firo. Riza. [Good people.]

[Making friends! Of his own volition! Well, considering the extraneous circumstances. And yes, she knows about Team Voltron thanks to what he's said and what she's seen. She's still so proud of her son right now.]

She sparred you as a dragon. [Krolia doesn't outright laugh, but she spares Keith an amused glance. Somehow she thinks he liked that. Call it a hunch.] We'll see about Maes.

[Honestly, she probably will. Though she does raise an eyebrow. Firo and Riza must be people he doesn't know as much about yet.]

[It's definitely progress! And he really appreciates the friends that he's made here.]

She did, yeah. In the air. It was a lot of fun. The size difference was something else.

[He tries to hold back a grin at that glance. Yeah. He had a good time with that one. They've just about made it to the training arena at this point. So. Speaking of sparring.]

I can imagine. [Because, you know, dragon. That usually implies being huge and fierce, with the side of potentially breathing fire.

But- oh, here they are. Krolia spares her son a knowing glance.] And I hope you've stayed in shape since the last time we had the chance.

[Huge and fierce and flying. A plus sparring partners, would recommend. Five stars.

His grin only grows at that and he lifts an eyebrow.]

I just told you I've been fighting dragons for fun. I kept my edge. Besides, Shiro's here.

[So you know. Sparring buddy. Other... athletic activity buddy.]

[She will keep that in advisement. For now she simple raises an eyebrow, and by now...]

You have, though who knows if said dragon was going easy on you or not.

[Is it obvious she's merely teasing him? It should be obvious. Also "athletic activity buddy" her ass. Though they do have the stamina to go at it for some time... She's seen some of what Shiro is capable of and has trained Keith. Should go without saying.

And she doesn't as she smirks back at him.] Let's see how you've progressed.

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TDM # 6

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