test drive # 2

[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 #2 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. All you hear is a voice -- light, bubbly, warm, soothing, in your ear: Don't worry, darling. This won't hurt a bit~ ♥ For those who recognize the voice, it will sound a bit strained. Possibly tired. But the moment happens so quickly it's hard to pin down, and once that moment is over, you fall flat on your face. It's dim, damp, with the trickling of what feels like rain. It takes a few moments for you to gain composure, to catch your breath. You think, for half a moment, that a hand is on your back, rubbing between your shoulder blades in comfort, but when you open your eyes, no one is there. 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. And, of course, because this is just your luck. It's raining. 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. For some, this place is home. For others, this strange land is new and dark, like a haze has settled in the air. The creatures in the forest seem to be stirring, and every now and then the sky will open up, and a storm will pass through, in varying degrees of intensity. Some will be easy spring showers, others will be angry, thunderous storms. Not exactly the most welcoming place, but it's a start. 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. The rain makes everything feel a bit softer, but also eerie, like there is a secret being kept just on the outside of your vision. Of course, this means you have free reign. This place seems easy enough to figure out on your own, with enough time to take a walk around! However- members who recognize this place may notice the lack of a certain figure, the grounds feeling a bit more empty, more abandoned, than they did before. IT'S A FIELD OF . . . POPPIES? The buildings of the Temple of Beginnings span out across a fair-sized field, intermixed with trees, open grassy planes, outside sitting areas, fire rings, and other oddly ancient but somehow structures. With the mist and the rain, everything feels a bit more ethereal, like there is life to every inch of what you see before you. Or like you've stumbled into some kind of alternate world. Around the temple is a ring of stones that do not seem to move no matter what characters may attempt, and beyond that is the forest. The forest itself is more than just impressive - it is near-overwhelming. An impossibly ancient stretch of woods that crackle with magical energy. Within, there is all matter of fauna and flora, darting from tree trunk to tree trunk. The canopy is thick enough to shield from the worst of the rain, but still the water gets through, dripping down through the leaves and dampening the ground under your feet. While there is always a sense of wonder - and possible danger - in every stretch of this forest, nothing will come any closer than a brief glimpse out of the corner of your eyes. No matter how you try, you can't quite seem to catch a full glimpse of what is moving about. Some of the creatures seem small, flittering through the air, while others dart through the trees, larger, more imposing. Everything here seems to be looking for some kind of shelter, so be wary of stumbling across something already taken. There is a particular clearing not too far into the woods that opens up, a field encircled by trees. In the middle of the field there is an odd glow - luminescent even in the darkened sky. Upon investigation, you will find a bush - about the size of a small car - filled with glowing flowers, white, blue, gold, and purple. They all smell faintly sweet, but it's hard to tell with the scent of earth and rain all around you. if you decide to pick one of these flowers, there will be no immediate recourse. However, the longer you decide to keep the flower on your person - or if, for whatever reason, you decide to eat said flower - the following will start to set in. White: For whatever reason, you will have more energy than you know what to do with, and will be filled with the urge to shine. Ever needed a confidence booster? To a point that you need to get up on buildings and belt your favorite song at the top of your lungs? Well, now you do. Blue: After some time of carrying around this flower, you will start to feel at peace. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, is it? Until that feeling of peace continues to grow, and continues, and continues. Soon you will feel so peaceful, it's almost as if nothing matters at all. I mean...it'll work out in the end, won't it? You're no longer missing home, missing people, worried about what happened and what you might fine. Everything is chill. Beyond chill. The most chill. But maybe out in the middle of the forest isn't the best place for a nap? Gold: Congrats, you've officially become a hoarder! No, seriously, you will have this uncontrollable urge to grab things and collect them. It doesn't matter what they are, or where they are. You need to have them and you will find a way to make it happen. Hats? Rings? People with green hair? The world is your oyster, and that's the key word here - yours. Purple: Suddenly, and without warning, you find yourself unable to...well. Go on alone, really. The first person you see, or that you come in contact with, will feel much like the savior of your world, and for the next five hours or so, you will be unable to be far from them. Even if you know the fear is irrational, you can't really help it, following friend or stranger alike, always needing to be just in arms reach. Regarding further exploration of the wood, it will seem to go on forever. Getting lost seems almost imperative to existence within this forest, going on forever in all directions with no edge in sight. You could walk for days, weeks, possibly even more. However, the second that you find yourself thinking about wanting to return to the buildings from before, you find yourself cresting through the edge of the trees, back to your home. RUN BY THE RIVER While inside the buildings and in the main open spaces, the water doesn't seem to be building up all too terribly, un an unfortunate turn of events, it all seems to be rolling down a very slight hill, pulling just on the outside of the ring of stones. The ground here is unstable, wet and muddy from the amount of moisture falling from the skies. So much that in some areas (the fighting area being one), it will start to collect into a dangerous combination of mud and moving water. It's possible to get stuck in it, possible to get lost in the flooding, but it's also possible to...you know. Have some fun? Mud slides, mud wrestling, mud...castles? Whatever you want it to be, it's at your disposal! While the arena was originally a place to practice your powers, or any of the various weapons that are usually kept here, now you can do the same with a little added obstacle in your path. That, or it's possible you simply got stuck trying to make it back to your room. Hopefully someone will be by to help you! CONNECTIONS AND COMMENTARY 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

[partygeist]

This!

[ She excitedly slaps her own stomach with her hands, to prove that she is no longer ghost-like enough for it to go right through her. Polly, please. ]

Man! It's like I'm normal again or something!

[smallprince]

[Tyrion raised his eyebrow and asked irritated]

Normal again?

[He asked himself what in the Seven Hells could have happened to her that she was so excited of being normal ... He tried to recall the definition of normal but since that could vary depending on from which world you came, he decided that he should forget about the normal he's used to, the one he had grown up with. Afterall he wasn't normal too, according to the standards in his world]

[partygeist]

Yeah, like, solid.

[ His confusion and irritation makes her actually take a look at who she's talking to. Had this guy never seen a ghost before? It sure doesn't seem like it. ]

I just didn't think there were drugs hard enough to make me be alive again, I guess?

[smallprince]

[He listened to her answer, asking himself how someone couldn't be solid, or as he understood it touchable. The word alive finally rang a bell in his head. Could it be true that in her world she was dead? Inside Tyrion shrugged his shoulder, since he had become a Circle member he had learned a lot about other worlds, so why shouldn't it be possible to be dead in one and return alive to the Temple?]

It could be possible. Did I understood it right that you're supposed to dead in your world? I'm sorry if that question is too direct.

[partygeist]

Oh, yeah. I was totally dead until probably about five minutes ago.

[ She doesn't seem bothered by the question at all -- in fact, she seems excited to talk about exactly how dead she was. ]

Well, maybe it might have been longer and I just didn't notice? But I feel like I would have walked into a wall and definitely noticed when I couldn't go through it, y'know?

[smallprince]

"It could be because of the magic of the Temple that you've been brough back to life"

[Tyrion mused out loud. This was another first time in his life: meeting someone who had come back from the dead. Something he had thought impossible.]

"It could be possible that when you die you don't really realize it and somehow continue your life. But then, I have next to knowledge about what happens when you die. It's good to be alive, isn't it?

[He would've easily answered this question if someone had asked him. Part of him had died and he had been close to embrace the prospect of leaving the world but when he looked back of what had happened after he had changed his mind he was glad that he could enjoy life.]

[partygeist]

Huh?

[ Wow. That's deep, Tyrion! Unfortunately, Polly shares no such sentiment. ]

No way! You can't float through walls when you're alive. You can't party nearly as hard, either. That's how I died in the first place!

[smallprince]

[Now that answer took him by surprise. He asked himself how anyone could not enjoy being alive. He wanted to being to explain that going through might be useful when you want to scare somehow but that there were other ways to enter rooms unseen, when he heard her second reason.

This reason tugged at the memories he had from the times when he had enjoyed a good time with his best friend wine and indulged too much in it. The worst had always been the morning after, still they hadn't the effect on him that he became careful when drinking the next time.]

Isn't it unfair that the best things in life are usually the one that are the worst for your body?

[partygeist]

[ Now there's something Polly can get on board with. ]

I know, right? How am I supposed to do a triple kegstand now?

[ She looks a little dejected. ]

It was kind of cool for a minute or two, but now I'm a little bummed out about this whole alive thing.

[smallprince]

A what?

[He had never heard of a but he assume that it was something that could be fun from the way she talked about it. As to her second remark, Tyrion was aware that everything along the way, that maybe one day in the near future she would see some good aspects about being alive again wouldn't be right, therefore the kept his mouth shut - thankfully.

It dawned on him that in the last time he had gotten better at thinking a bit before talking. Could it that this was a neat side-effect of being a Circle member? After all it was saving him from troubles.

He hesitated at first but then he asked her]

What about if I show you the area bit? The buildings have neat rooms to stay. [With a friendly smile he added]Aren't you thirsty from all the talking? The wine is not the best I've drunk but it does its duty.

[It had been quite a while since he had found someone to drink with while having a conversation. He hadn't dared to get drunk while staying in El Minha but now that they were back in the Temple as sort of vacation before they would travel again, he wanted to enjoy the freedom of a little time out from world saving.]

[partygeist]

[ She's about to expand on the logistics of a triple kegstand, when ... oooh, wine. ]

I could go for some wine. This whole fancy temple has got me feeling like I'm hanging out at one of those human ren faires.

--Oooh, ooh! Do they have mead? I would be a great bar wench.

[smallprince]

"It's a relive that it's possible to get wine here. When I came to this place I feared that would have to stay sober for the rest of my life"

[That was something he couldn't image could ever happen. Probably it wouldn't even be healthy for him on the long sign. He had heard of the effects of being denied something you're used to for too long and he knew what a few weeks without alcohol was doing to him]

"I am sure there is something in the cellar. So far I have made the experience that there is very little that isn't available here, at least when it comes to food and drink"