phantasmemes | TEST DRIVE 003

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!test drive

TEST DRIVE 003

Hello, and welcome to the third test drive for Phantasmal Rift!

Test drive threads are assumed to be game canon for accepted characters unless otherwise noted, so don't feel like you'll have to introduce yourself a second time to everyone you meet! As an added bonus, participation in the test drive comes with the chance to earn up to two items of loot for your trouble! Characters who are accepted can earn one item for having a top level, and one for tagging out to someone else's top level! Your SWEET LOOT will be included with your acceptance notice.

Additionally, characters currently in game can earn themselves a piece of bonus loot for the dungeon by tagging people's top-levels on the test drive! Existing characters get their bonus loot along with the rest of their loot at the conclusion of the dungeon.

This test drive takes place in the Fissure known as Amesta Forest - a forest filled with silver mist and shrouded in eternal twilight, where your dreams become real! For a certain limited definition of real. This is significantly less awesome than it sounds. On the bright side, anyone within the mists will find themselves with no need to sleep, as though trapped in the same spring evening as the rest of the forest.

OPTION ONE: DREAM A LITTLE DREAM

This first option might happen to you just about anywhere. From the swirls of silver mist comes a shape - or perhaps more than one shape? Who knows, it's your dream -

Well, probably. It could also be someone else's.

Those who stay too long in any one part of the mist will find their subconscious minds influencing it into shapes - the exact sort of things that appear in their dreams. As with their real dreams, the details are sometimes strange - too much detail, or not enough, depending on where your focus is. The character who 'created' the dream specter will instantly understand what it's supposed to be, but other viewers might have some difficulty with it.

Fortunately for those of you prone to violent nightmares, these dream figures are incapable of doing harm - any blows struck by them simply leave behind the dampness of walking through thick mist. A hard enough blow will similarly disperse them - or, in most cases, you can simply move quickly and leave them behind.

OPTION TWO: THE MOVEMENTS OF THE TREES

A forest filled with mist is honestly a kind of spooky place, isn't it?

Well, it's about to get spookier, when you notice that there's a tree... somewhere there wasn't a tree, before. Or maybe it's that you were looking around and realized that a tree wasn't there here there was one before, instead leaving behind only a round, torn-up patch of earth from where the roots were buried.

Either way, there's only one conclusion to be drawn - the trees are moving.

Those who pay close attention will soon realize that it's only one kind of tree that moves - an absolutely unfamiliar kind, with mist-silver bark and thin, almost translucent leaves in large handlike shapes. They aren't very tall, and their branches split low to the ground, the structure something like a less crooked Japanese maple. The Wanderwoods seem prone to following specific people, usually only moving when out of sight, though you might catch them shuffling along if you have quick reflexes for looking over your shoulder.

What do they want? Well, nothing, really. They're just attracted to sapient beings and, especially, the way the mist forms into their dreams. So while they won't do anything in particular to the characters themselves, anyone with a dream-form hanging around them might find that manifestation suddenly papered in thin, grabbing leaves... and swallowed up.

OPTION THREE: WHAT NOW IS FOUND?

Not all of the forest is trapped in eternal spring. One part of it is held in exactly the opposite - a brilliantly colored autumn morning, just before dawn, with the trees overhead colored in brilliant reds and oranges. Leaves drift down in a slow breeze, and pile up in random places among the trees (which never seem to run out of leaves to drop), and silver pools of water gather at the bases of the trees and in any other depressions, their surfaces perfectly still mirrors.

The mist is quite a bit thinner here, too, which allows you to see... What is that familiar shape in the distance, between the trees?

While dream manifestations are uncommon in the region of Fall's Heart, it's not only dreams that manifest here. Instead, characters will see the figures of those they've lost - instantly recognizable, but unreachable and nearly impossible to catch, running through the trees heedless of how you call after them. It's impossible to catch up to them by mundane means, and those who use supernatural means to do so -

- will find that, at their touch, the vision crumbles into silvery mist-water, forming another of those perfect, reflective pools at their feet.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The shape is a familiar looking shadow, only partially visible through the mist, and it seems to be following someone else.

-> Investigate?]

... Hm.

[ That's definitely a familiar looking shadow alright, but... whoever they're with doesn't look like Church or anyone else she can immediately recognize. So already, that's a little weird.

She sets off in pursuit, but just for the record, she doesn't like where this is going? Is that on the record? Okay, good. ]

[It sure is on the record! Sadly, the record doesn't mean much.

The figure is definitely that of Ardyn, but it's Ardyn as Lucis would know him - ridiculous coat and even the awful hat, though the wing attachment is missing. And the person he's following - ]

Hello, brother dear.

[The words aren't quite words, more of a low, ominous rumble, but Yuuri will understand them well enough if she concentrates, for now.

And the figure in front of him whirls and then takes a step back - you can laugh at Izunia's stupid shirt later, Yuuri, because right now the man is far beyond "has seen a ghost" and straight into "has seen his worst nightmare."]

[ And Yuuri suddenly wishes more than anything that she still thought this was a dream. A horrible, horrible thought occurs to her, even as she's registering what's happening here; if this is a world anything like the one she's left behind, then there could be a whole mess of timelines here all tangled together without any care for causality whatsoever.

She and Junpei had both assumed that their continued access to the Armiger had meant that Ardyn was also here. And maybe they'd been right – but who's to say it had to be Ardyn Tenmyouji who was here?

She backs up as fast as she can, both hands pressed to her mouth but that doesn't quite manage to silence the strangled little noise of fright she makes. ]

[The sound doesn't attract Izunia's attention on a conscious level - he's nearly frozen, as the Ardyn before him, just a little too shadowy to be real, takes a step closer -

And then pauses. With his back still to Yuuri, she won't be able to see his expression yet. But his pause and Hm? are clear enough.

And then he turns around, yellow-eyes-in-black seeking the source of the sound, foul Scourge tar dripping from his eyes and mouth.]

What's this?

[The warp isn't quite Ardyn's typical magenta - it's layered in with the silver mist and the blackness of Scourge magic. But it's recognizable enough.]

My, you do look like my dear niece. Sure she isn't one of yours, Izunia?

[At the sound of his name - because of course it is his name - the man the shadow left behind makes a weak sound.]

Stop, she has nothing to do with this, I - I've never seen her before!

[ Her stomach lurches and any colour that was left in Yuuri's face leaves it. She knows what this is – she hasn't seen it before but of course she knows what it means to see him weeping and oozing pitch black ichor and the sight of it makes her heart rate skyrocket. It'd been bad enough when she'd seen the Network's tasteless little recreation of it, but it'd so quickly become a joke, just something to smile and shake her head over. But now, Yuuri can't imagine a single thing less funny. ]

No. No, no, no, I'm not– you're not–

[ Her voice is small and panicked and it shoots up pitch and volume once he gets close. If she notices Izunia, she doesn't pay him an ounce of mind, focused as she is on this walking nightmare in front of her as she scrambles back. ]

Get away from me, get away from me!

[ She has no idea if she even means to reach for a weapon. She's still so clumsy with the Armiger, so unattuned to anything like it, that her attempts so far had all been fumbling and mostly half hearted. But panic and fright make her lash out without even thinking. Something bladed and scarlet (Sword of the Mystic, of course it's Sword of the Mystic, she thinks dazedly) bursts through the mist in a shattering of white crystal, launched straight from the Armiger like a bullet from a gun. ]

[Of course it's that sword. And it shoots through the nightmare of Ardyn like a knife through butter (as shot from a cannon), causing him to burst into a spray of mist. Silver mist, not black, perhaps thankfully.

For Izunia, though, this doesn't make the entire thing any less dreamlike. The blade embeds itself in a tree not five feet from him (good job, Yuuri), gleaming red and silver.

He's not frozen anymore. But still, as though in a dream, he reaches out, running his hands over the weapon in a motion that's very nearly a caress, before he suddenly tightens his grip and yanks it free.

And then he just... holds it, finally lifting his eyes to look at her clearly.]

[ It takes a solid five seconds for Yuuri to remember how to breathe.

Her mind's still reeling and even though that thing is gone, the image of it still remains sat just behind her eyelids. She stays fixed where she is frozen and unmoving until something streaks down her face, a tiny bead of liquid. She doesn't know if it's sweat or a tear but then her mind presents her with the image of black ichor oozing from her own eyes and mouth and the breath all but explodes out of her.

Gasping and panting and retching, she wipes at her face, almost scratching at her skin until she pulls her hands away and seems satisfied that they're clear and her face unmarred by scourge.

It's only then that she lifts her head as well and meets Izunia's gaze. There's a frozen moment where neither of them moves and Yuuri can only stare at him while she tries to understand what this means. And then she realizes if this man is dreaming of a scourge-tainted Ardyn, if he knows who that man is and has just seen her wielding the Accursed's Royal Arms–

The Sword of the Mystic shatters into white crystal, then to nothing at all as Yuuri turns on her heel and bolts. ]

[It's a long frozen moment, but it snaps with the dissolving of the blade - his brother's, Izunia would know it anywhere, imagines that he could almost feel the life in it.

And then the girl is running and here he is, frantically trying to catch up - ]

Stop - wait, please!

[He could catch her easily with warping, and would if he had to, but for now he tails her on foot - with longer legs, it probably still won't be too long until he catches up to her.

Retainers, the boy had said. With the plural.]

Please - who are you?

[ Yuuri doesn't answer, barely even acknowledges that he's giving chase at all. His voice is desperate but to Yuuri's suddenly panic-stricken mind it sounds accusatory and she's already frightened enough for reason to have taken a brief vacation.

Maybe that's why, instead of keeping her eyes on her feet and the ground, she whips her head around to see if he's still in pursuit. And just as she does, her foot snags on a particularly gnarled old root jutting out of the ground. Her ankle wrenches sickeningly in the wrong direction and she goes down, landing hard enough to knock the wind clean out of her.

Too stunned to get back to her feet, all Yuuri can do is curl in on herself and cling to the insane hope that he might have just lost her in all this mist. ]

[Fat chance of that. In fact, when he sees her go down, that's the end of not warping after her - he's there immediately, flash of blue.

His face is nothing but concern, and perhaps a touch of fear, still, himself.]

Please - are you alright? Please be alright...

Get away from me.

[ Her voice is pained and a little savage, like a dog snapping to ward off an unwanted touch. She's still curled up on herself, head ducked down and her hand on top of it like she's expecting a blow. ]

You're not real. You can't be real and even if you are, you not– you're not him.

I assure you, everything else I am -

[And he can practically hear it, murderer, fratricide, betrayer, fool - ]

I am as real now as I have ever been. Please, your ankle...

What part of get away don't you understand?!

[ Her voice is definitely a snarl now and she finally looks up at him. Her eyes are wild and panicked like that of a caged animal and she looks as though she's torn clean between fight and flight, as impossible as either may be right now. ]

What does it matter to you? You're a stranger, you don't know me and I'm... you're not...

[ She makes to push herself up and start to get away from him, but her ankle immediately protests and Yuuri huffs out a wheeze of pain and frustration through gritted teeth. ]

...No. I don't know you. But I know that blade.

[He pauses, exhaling slowly.]

I know that blade more intimately than any save Ardyn himself. And anyone that he trusts enough to share it with is precious to me. I won't hurt you, I promise, I'll swear it on whatever you like.

[ And what good, she wants to snap are your promises? Why should the words of a liar, a fraud, the man who ran through his own brother and took his throne, mean anything to her? She wants to clamber to her feet and run, heedless of the pain, but her legs just won't cooperate.

She curses herself that for all the gifts she's gotten from Ardyn, warping isn't one of them. ]

You can swear whatever you want. I don't need– [ okay, even to her, that's a blatant lie. oh well, cat's already out of the bag. ] I don't want your help. I have the Armiger, so there... th–there must be something I could use...

...I'm sure he'd have potions packed away in there somewhere, at some point. Crush the bottle over your leg.

[Even with the Accursed's regeneration, there would still be some handful left from when he was mortal even if he hadn't made more, right?]

I know that!

[ Maybe that's a little unnecessarily snappy, but Yuuri's having a very trying day. It takes a few moments of fumble before she can latch onto the Armiger's magic and pull one of those ridiculous bottles from it in a scattering of white crystals. It bursts into fragments over her ankle with the slightest squeeze of her hand and the relief is immediate.

She lets out a hard breath she hadn't been aware she was holding and then rises shakily to her feet. She's half expecting the pain to come back any moment, but once it doesn't, she gives a little sigh of relief.

And then half a second later, in a flash of crystals, there's another familiar, scarlet-bladed sword in her hands and she's pointing it right at Izunia. ]

Alright then. You wanted to talk?

Let's talk.

[ Well, okay, so that's happening. Holy shit, but that figment wasn't wrong to compare her to Aurora, bloody fuck. Izunia puts his hands up as pacifyingly as he can and doesn't move.]

I am at your absolute disposal, but also, who in the hell are you, anyway?

Yuuri Wakasa.

[ That isn't the question he's really asking and Yuuri knows it but like hell is she going to volunteer any more information to him than she absolutely has to. She's already inadvertently let too much slip just by virtue of what she's armed herself with and she's furious with herself. ]

And what about you?

[ She already knows who he is and she's sure both of them know it. But she needs to hear him acknowledge it herself before she can make herself believe that Izunia Lucis Caelum is stood here in front of her. ]

Not exactly what I was asking... Izunia Lucis Caelum, at your service, though I wager that you already knew.

[He looks down at the blade she's holding.]

Allow me to rephrase - who are you to him?

[ For a long, long moment, Yuuri's quiet. There's puffs of white fog coming out with every breath, like a dragon ready to spit fire at him. There's a spiteful, vindictive part of her that wants to tell this man exactly who she is, to rub it in his face that Ardyn is one of theirs, with a family that Izunia no longer has any place in.

And then the part of her that has any measure of sense, still, grabs the reigns and reminds her that whatever the situation is, going out of her way to antagonize him anymore than she's done already don't do her or the others any favours. So eventually, she gives a little tch of irritation and answers him. ]

... A Glaive.

[ Not the entire truth, but not a lie and more than she feels he deserves to know. It feels like a nice middle ground. ]

...A close and skilled one, to be able to conjure Royal Arms without assistance. Most cannot even call one, especially not outside the presence of their king.

[He'll accept that answer, for now.]

[ She bites back her instinctive snarl of and what would you know?, for now, anyway. As much as she wants to snap and bare teeth at him, it won't help at all. There's things only he'll be able to answer and the more she knows, the better she can prepare Ardyn once she's found him. ]

What are you doing here, then? You're supposed to be dead.

[ It comes out blunter than she intends but Yuuri doesn't care. ]

[Also he knows way more about kings and retainers than you do just from two thousand years of seeing such a wide variety of them, Yuuri, not everything is something to get pissed over.

For now, he shrugs helplessly.]

And so is he. I don't know how or why I have flesh again, but I'm not about to complain about it.

TEST DRIVE 003

sweet dreams are made of niece (sort of)

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hey inbox why u hidin the girl

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