acatalepsy_ooc | test drive # 2

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test drive # 2

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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! ♥

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah. I’m lost, too.

[ She’s startlingly young, the antithesis of Hayame, who was— is— sleek and hardened and formal, even in speech. Younger herself than Simon, he’s sure, but shaped by slavery and violence. This girl, though— well, whatever the reason she can afford to wear her heart on her sleeve like this, he kind of appreciates it. It’s. Relatable, even if it’s incredibly sad right now. ]

It’s gonna be okay. Just- just take a deep breath. We can figure this out. Can you, uh... get yourself out of the mud?

[ Simon has no idea what the hell is going on either, of course. His reassurance kinda is full of shit. He just feels really bad for this terrified crying girl who he hopes to god can extract herself from the mud because.... he definitely can’t move her.... ]

[Konoha is confident and positive, hard working and competent... in her own village. In her own home. Presiding over the lumber yard. Not... here. Not now, in the face of so much alien and unfamiliar. What was there that could prepare a young woman from a world like hers for such a thing? She certainly doesn't know- Hasn't yet even been able to wrap her head around the concept of "my world" and "other worlds".

But she tries. Tries to focus on just one thing, one thing first that this strange man? has reminded her of, and that's... she has to get out of this mud, it's no god, what if the rain flushed wolves or boars down the mountain, and-

... Oh. There was no mountain.]

Mm-

[But she messily wipes her tears away, (a bit useless with all the rain, but the effort counts), forces herself to try and wade forward, stretching a hand out for what looks like might be more solid ground at the edge of the mud pit... But it's half liquid itself in the end and provides no decent hold, forcing her to instead look to Simon. If she just had a brace-]

Can you tie a good knot?

[ Simon’s eyes shift with a mechanized tick, his noodly city-boy operating system already wary of ‘a good knot’, which sounds like code for ‘a complicated wilderness-survival knot’. And this is seconds after he reassured her they could figure it out. She’s just started to look like she believes it.

And he’s figured out weirder things, so he rallies. ] Uh, sure. How hard can it be?

[ inspiring confidence: another one of simon’s skills ]

[There's a suspiciously long pause there in which she just stares at him, hopeful, trying to be hopeful... but it's just him, out here, and even if the way he says that isn't the most assuring... it's all she has. Which is enough to make fresh tears well in her eyes, but Konoha wipes them hastily with tee back of her less muddy hand before she goes to the harness on her waist, which looks like a modified yoke one might expect to see on a plow horse. There's something like a tool belt hanging off it, and part of that is a coil of rope... one end of which she tosses Simon's way.]

If you can tie this off on a rock or a tree...

[She could easier haul herself out. Maybe. Hopefully.]

[ he catches the rope, and starts unfurling it- ] Right.

[ Rock is probably out. He’s not confident the rope would stay on any of them, especially when everything is... wet. And muddy. But a tree — that’ll probably work, right? Tying herself to things must be what the rope is for. A jinba wouldn’t be carrying rope that can’t reliably support a jinba.

So Simon wades through the mud to loop the rope around what he hopes is a really sturdy trunk, and double-knots it, pulling it as tight as he can.

And then he gives her a thumbs-up. ....which they definitely don’t do in feudal Japan but hopefully the sentiment gets across. ]

[It... yeah, she doesn't know what a thumbs up is. But it does look like a positive signal, not the sort of gesture she's used to men using to communicate with each other in the process of trimming, cutting, felling, and transporting trees... so she takes it to mean he's got it. It's a little hard to see in the rain, but.

Konoha tugs a few times to test the rope before she wraps it carefully around her arm, using her damp sleeve and arm guards to prevent friction burn before she gathers up her strength to surge... and begins to struggle out of the mud pit she'd ended up in. With as heavy as she is the pull of the mud is stronger, a suction that seeks to prevent her from getting her legs out and more able to move, but by half hauling herself along the rope she manages to strain until she gets her forelegs mostly free, scrambling and slipping on only slightly firmer ground until she can finally throw enough of her weight forward to get her back legs out-

And then she collapses into the more shallow mud, catching herself on human hands and panting for a minute while she tries to catch her breath, red-faced and mud-streaked.

She'll thank him, just- One second-]

[ Even if there were anything Simon could do to make the task easier, he’s pretty engrossed in watching this half-girl, half-plowhorse pull herself out of the mud. That her human arms can play any part in moving her horse half by sheer force is pretty astonishing, actually, and he hangs back until she falls forward onto the ground.

Watching her top half’s gesture of exhaustion, he can easily picture her as a human; short, probably, a dark, stocky counterpart to the relatively tall form that Hayame had to inhabit for most of Drakstaden.

While Konoha gets her bearings, Simon closes the distance between them and crouches down next to her. Visually, it’s like the spookiest boxing coach pep-talking the weirdest heavyweight champion at a pivotal movie moment. ]

You did it. That was pretty impressive.

[She's going to have to try and figure out why he's so spooky eventually, but for now she has six million other things to worry over, to be confused by, to be distracted by, and at least... she's out of the mud, the thing that had just been the straw on the... plowhorse's back that had led to the tears of frustration and fear that were still red-rim about her eyes.]

Don't underestimate me, I'm stronger than I look, aha...

[Konoha tries to force a smile, to... well, not get up fully, yet, but at least twist her lower half about to get her belly on the ground proper, straighten her muddy legs out.]

But my mother's going to be so mad on laundry day-

[... Oh.

Wait.]

[ Simon recognizes the Oh... Wait right away, and seeing it play out in real time brings him up short before he can point out that she looks pretty strong as it is.

Even if her mother’s alive and simply not here, the Oh... Wait is the worst when it strikes. If anything were to make the waterworks start again, he would expect it to be that, so he tries to head it off at the pass, because... Well, that’s what Simon does when he’s in danger of having to confront all his losses, so he’s doing her a favor by distracting her in the same way? ]

We might find some clean water if we keep going. What’s your name?

[She realizes now more than ever how dirty she is. There's mud caked up her legs nearly to her belly, she's soaked from the rain and splattered with dirt, her sleeves and armguards now muddied, too... and her hands, so she can't even wipe the tears that bead in her eyes as the second beat of oh, wait hits.

Her parents had always been there. Ever since her real parents had died, they'd been there, every day. Making dinner, planting seeds, washing clothes, waving at her from the fields when they spotted her trotting home, doing everything they could do make the house comfortable for both humans and jinba both, and-

What if she couldn't ever see them again? What if she really was stuck here, wherever here was? Konoha sniffs, attempting not to, trying to stay strong, but...]

... Konoha.

I’m Simon.

[ He hesitates, but then pats Konoha on her soggy human shoulder. Simon could probably count the number of people he’s touched or who have touched him in the past half a year on one hand, handshakes included, but she’s a lot more upset about being here than she is disturbed by him.

He tries to sound optimistic when he assures her, ] I’m sure there’s just been some kind of mistake.

[ He’s not actually sure of this. Well, it sure as hell seems like a mistake, but so did waking up in a robot body at the bottom of the ocean after the annihilation of the Earth’s surface, and there wasn’t exactly anybody to appeal to to get it fixed. But Catherine’s the blunt realist. Simon can’t bring himself to say anything less optimistic to somebody so sweet and upset. ] If we keep going, we’ll figure it out. And we’ll be out of the mud.

[Despite his strange looks, Konoha doesn't shirk away from the touch. It's comforting, and she's scared, and when you're alone... maybe anyone will do, really, but she's glad it's someone nice. Who ended up being able to tie a decent knot.

She reaches for his hand on her shoulder, holds it briefly. Someone's here. She's fine, she's fine-

And before she gets up,]

Thank you, Simon. For helping me.

[ .... she really is super nice. ]

Anytime, Konoha.

[ He follows her lead and gets to his feet, and now that she’s standing and out of the deepest of the mud, it’s easy to tell Simon’s lucky Konoha is friendlier than Hayame. Not that the latter ever made good on her threats of violence, but if he was worried about the damage a her racehorse legs could do, Konoha could probably kick in his faceplate and cortex chip and have her hooves come out the other side.

Then again, she doesn’t have a bow or sword as long as she is tall. So there’s that.

And, looking out toward the less-muddy distance, he starts off in that direction. ] Strength in numbers, right? And you have the strength of... half a dozen humans, I’d guess.

[Konoha's legs surely are more sturdy than her field jinba cousins. She's slightly shorter than Hayame, (about the same if you count the bun she wears atop her head, now disheveled about her shoulders), but whereas the other woman's muscles were lean and sleek hers are more obvious, draft breed blooded despite her upbringing being less than mountainous.

The mud cakes her hide from the belly down, her leggings and skirt? splattered with the stuff, but... she's out now. It's fine. If she just... if she just focuses on getting out of the rain-]

Aha, about... depending on where you put the weight...

[Oh, he probably didn't mean it that... specifically...]

I mean-

[She shuffles her legs awkwardly, trying to use the backs of her wrists to wipe her cheeks and not make a mess.]

I could escort you. If you need it.

[She does. A purpose. Something to do.]

Uh- [ Unfazed by her awkwardness, Simon looks back and up at her and spreads his arms slightly, in a hey-why-not shrug. ] Sure. If you don’t mind.

[ He heads down what’s starting to look like a path, tentatively, waiting to find a rhythm that includes both of them before he walks too far, but already the mud’s giving his feet back with less resistance. ] That’d be a big help, actually. I hope we don’t run into anything... hostile, but you’d know more about this wilderness stuff than me.

[ Sounds like a good arrangement to him. He’s helped Konoha out and shown he has some kind of utility, they figure out where the hell they’re going, and they’re not alone. Mostly the last one. ]

[Is it selfish, to help someone just to be helping anyone? To be focusing on anything but situation, or else she'll end up... crying in the mud again. She doesn't have the time to consider it, really, but.]

This time of year, you want to worry about bears... and wolves, too, of course. Oh, and boars-

[Right? It's... it's still the same season, even though the place is different, surely-]

I can handle smaller ones by myself, so- so don't worry!

[Mud cleaned off her face best she can, Konoha puts on a brave face to try and match, careful where she steps and trying to appear more confident.]

If they're bigger, I can carry you.

[ Simon falls into step beside her. Well, back to looking way up to have a face-to-face conversation with a centaur. ] ...Bears?

[ He isn’t sure how likely this is — it’s a forest in another dimension, and Konoha is going off what she’s familiar with. Then again, so was he, which is why he didn’t expect the actual ghosts that are apparently running around.

Still, it’s possible. It even makes more sense than the other, weird, space-magic-land alternatives. ] Yeah... I never lived outside the city. We’d get coyotes sometimes, but I didn’t have to deal with- uh, bears.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

test drive # 2

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