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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No, but you pulled the most grossed-out face I've ever seen on you. [Which speaks for itself, as far as Klan is concerned, but it's not something she's going to ride that hard. Even if it's really obvious he thinks it's disgusting.

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.]

Wishful thinking I guess.

[ 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.

[That nets a very sudden shift in Klan's expression, to something a lot more stony and unreadable.]

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.]

[ As dense as Alto usually was, it was not hard to catch the sudden shift of Klan's mood. It was unexpected because he had said that to tease her. He expected her to blush and maybe get a bit angry at his teasing.

While he didn't know what, he knew something was wrong. ]

Hey, Klan. Whats wrong?

[That makes Klan shake her head, on the assumption that this is the Alto she's familiar with and would thus probably be able to figure out exactly what's wrong.] Nothing you don't already know. It seems a bit early to drag the mood down with talking about it.

[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.]

[ Drag the mood down? What is she talking about --- then it hit him. He could only think of one reason for Klan to be like this. It couldn't be possible. He doesn't want to accept it.

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 ---!

I should be saying that to you, shouldn't I? You were there. [And yet, Klan resists the powerful urge to punch Alto a new one for acting oblivious, because...really, she knows Alto well enough to know that he's way too dense to act that way intentionally. Which definitely makes things confusing, and she draws back a bit as she tries to work out how to navigate it.]

What's the last thing you remember?

[ Alto hesitated to answer that, because in a way it was like re-living the moment he died. However, if he really wanted the answers to his questions, he was going to have to. It was not that he was ashamed of it. In fact, he was quite happy to have died as a pilot. It just felt ... surreal probably. ]

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. ]

Edited 2019-04-02 14:23 (UTC)

[Yeah, that's...definitely not what Klan remembers, as is probably evidenced by the way her brows draw confusedly at his explanation.]

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.

Mikhail was there! He was there during that last battle!

[ Alto still didn't believe that Mikhail died. But, while he was flying ... he did not know what else was happening on the ground. ]

I don't know what is going on here, but he was definitely alive.

[ Their memories were different. But ... why? ]

[This is definitely a weird situation, and it's almost painful to hear Alto insisting so fervently that Mikhail is alive when he's one of the ones who would know best in her timeline that he isn't.

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.]

[ He didn't want to listen ... but he did.

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.

And I can tell you for sure that it did, and what you described to me about the final battle didn't. [Klan's tone is blunt, though she sounds faintly irritated about the confusion in the first place. It's a very weird situation to be encountering, even for them.] You were never in danger of getting hit by the final shot, and we handled the Queen differently to how you described it. So the only thing that really makes sense is...

[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.

Different timelines?

[ 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?

Nothing else really makes sense, does it? [It's not like amnesia extends to completely changing someone's memories of an event, and who they know seems to be similar enough that some things must be consistent between where they come from. It doesn't really make sense at all, but of the options, different timelines makes...the least amount of no sense, Klan supposes.

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.]

[ While he would never tell a living soul, after fighting and training with Klan for so long, she had become family to him. Unfortunately, he did not know what to do or say to comfort her at that moment. He was still dealing with the idea that the closest thing he had to a bestfriend was dead in another life. It also filled him with a bit of dread because what if Mikhail hadn't survived in his world too? Everything had happened so fast and he didn't really know.

He was being ridiculous ... probably ...

Alto couldn't bring himself to say anything. What can you say? Instead, he began to push his food around his plate but not really eating.

Mikhail ... that idiot. He's an idiot for making the girl he liked upset like this and having him figure out how to help her pick up the pieces.

Then again, Alto really is no better. ]

[Klan lets out a hard breath after a few moments, hand coming up to the collar of her suit briefly as she straightens up. Thankfully, the shattered glasses are still there under the fabric, the token of Mikhail's life that she hasn't let go of yet.]

So, while we're on sensitive topics, tell me you at least made up your mind about Sheryl before you went and got yourself in the way of a cannon.

[Without Mikhail's death happening, she's not sure she would have given him the same advice about it as she did in her own timeline, so honestly, she can't help but to ask. Part of the reason she'd even brought it up was because she didn't want to see them torn apart the same way, and yet it sounds like that might be what ended up happening to this Alto.]

I did ... I think?

[ Alto did remember telling Sheryl in the end. At least, he thought he had. Thinking back, he wasn't sure. The battlefield was a bit noisy. Did that count? At least he did make up his mind. ]

I am just not sure if she heard it.

[Yeah, that doesn't sound like the kind of resolution she was hoping for, and it gets a sharp breath out of Klan.]

I feel like I shouldn't be surprised that it took being in the face of death to get you to decide, though that's why I pulled you aside about it before it came to that in my timeline.

[That said, he hadn't confessed to someone in that world either that she knew of, but at least he hadn't died either.]

I know. I am an idiot. If I ever see her again, I ---

[ What can he do? He didn't really know. He hasn't exactly had a lot of dating experience. Neither did he have a lot of experience liking anyone beyond friendship. ]

I guess I will make up for it. [ But Sheryl had been sick. Gravely sick. None of them even knew how long she had. ]

That's an understatement. [Klan was never exactly quiet about thinking Alto was a bit of a reckless idiot, but it stands out a bit when it comes to matters of romance.]

We can hope you'll get the chance, at least. There's a lot that could have gone wrong on her end as well...

[If things had gone pear-shaped for Alto, there was definitely the possibility that Ranka hadn't been able to heal Sheryl the way she had in Klan's timeline.]

You know. I almost wish I don't see her. At least not for a very long time.

[ A part of him still thinks this was all a dream and Klan wasn't real. If Sheryl was here, it could only mean that she didn't survive. Sheryl had so much life and talent. It would be a shame if it were to be cut short. ]

I don't mind. I guess I can wait.

That seems like a hasty thing to say, and I don't know if I'd pick that of all the things you could be hasty about.

[Klan's tone isn't unsympathetic, but it's quite blunt. After all that, and after having lost her own loved one, Klan can't entirely believe that he wouldn't want to see Sheryl in this place. Though it doesn't quite occur to her that he'd believe she was dead.]

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TDM # 6

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