TEST DRIVE 003

[phantasmods]

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.

Comments

[collide_scope]

Yalda-who?

[Well, Akechi seems real enough to him so far. His aggravation is being rather quickly overtaken with confusion, though--he doesn't remember ever hearing about anyone by that name, and infiltrating Sae's Palace had gone smoothly..... almost too smoothly, if he's going to be honest. Having something happen during that stretch of time honestly seems like the more likely path for things to have taken.

Sighing, Morgana pads after Akechi, sitting down near his feet and settling in to listen. At least they're a bit closer in height now.....]

What happened to damage reality like this, then? Was it..... something in Mementos?

[foolishjustice]

Ah...you must be from before he revealed himself. He's the one who arranged things so Akira and I would be against each other.

[He rubs his forehead and sighs.]

The cause is still under investigation. I doubt it's related to Mementos, unless it's become self-perpetuating. The Metaverse Nav does function here, but there is no Mementos. Most likely there simply aren't enough people here to form one.

[collide_scope]

Wasn't that all Shido's doing? We already cut him down to size!

[Morgana hisses in displeasure at the thought. At least that's his location in the timeline more or less pinpointed, though--Shido's heart has been changed, but they haven't yet plumbed the depths of Mementos and discovered its true master.]

A place where even the collective unconscious can't reach.....

[foolishjustice]

[He shakes his head.]

Shido is just another pawn. Well...perhaps a higher ranking piece than that, but still ultimately disposable. He ordered me to kill Akira, but it was Yaldabaoth's manipulations that put us at odds to begin with.

[Just going to reach into his pocket and pull out...an unfamiliar phone, which he proceeds to fiddle with.]

But I think the situation back in our worlds is best saved for after the situation here. The Metaverse does exist, I've confirmed the existence of a Palace, even. But it's rather difficult to have a collective unconscious without a collective, and it seems like the Metaverse is contained to its own universe. It makes sense, given even very similar universes can have subtle differences. Otherwise, you would end up with false positives for people who have distorted views in another universe, but not your own.

Fissures, like the one we're in right now, have overtaken most of this world. I've been here for a couple of months, and seen no indication that there are living beings outside of the small community living at a nearby research station. Even if there are survivors, who knows how the Fissures would interact with the Metaverse, considering different realities bleed into this one through them.

[collide_scope]

[.....He's right. Whatever may be happening at home, they're pretty obviously somewhere else. Figuring out the situation here as it stands has to come first.]

What kind of disaster could shatter an entire world and wipe out everything on it? How do you people even eat if there are no living beings left?

[Food sounds like a big problem, to be honest, especially if there's a small community trying to sustain itself in a single building. There are only so many resources that can be acquired from the Metaverse, especially if there's not even a Mementos here to search for loot in. Is it really just a handful of people wandering around some kind of desolate wasteland? These woods seem pretty healthy, after all.....]

[foolishjustice]

Various materials appear from other worlds, the same way people do. There's also animals here we can hunt, and there's an ocean nearby. Speaking of which...

[He reaches into his bag and pulls out a paper wrapped slab of something that smells almost like raw tuna, with a faint undercurrent of...chocolate? When he opens it up, it looks just like a large fillet of raw fish. Nevermind that there's no way it could have been in that bag, and it almost looked like he was pulling it out of a Metaverse inventory. A switchknife follows from one of his jacket pockets, which he uses to cut a slice from the fillet.]

This is already prepared to eat as sashimi.

[collide_scope]

[Chocolate..... sashimi? His mind is blown, and he's not entirely sure it's in a good way. That..... doesn't really sound like two great tastes that taste great together, if he's honest. How is he even carrying that stuff around, outside of the Metaverse? Shouldn't it have spoiled by now?

There are no words, Akechi. He's just giving you an exceedingly dubious look.]

[foolishjustice]

[Well, if Morgana isn't going to instantly ask for it, he's going to toss the bite of sashimi into his mouth. He seems to like it, at least.]

Ah, right, I should probably explain how I did that. This world has a sort of magic that's highly compatible with how abilities work in the Metaverse. Any of the abilities we're used to using by exploiting Metaverse physics also work here.

[collide_scope]

[He is hungry, and the sushi mountain is still looming nearby, but..... Nnnnnngh. He's so unsure right now.

Unsure and now mildly indignant looking, at that. This is just plain unfair!]

If that's true, then why do I still look like this?

[foolishjustice]

I have to focus ind put in some effort for my Metaverse clothes appear, so it's probably because you haven't tried to look different.

[Cutting another slice of sashimi. It's right there...]

[collide_scope]

[.....Sniff..... Sniffsniffsniff..... Look at those cute little nose twitches, he's definitely considering it. He's certainly a little distracted from the conversation, at least.]

You really think it's that simple? It isn't exactly something I can choose to do, like casting a spell.....

[foolishjustice]

[...He'll take that ask asking. Here, he's holding out the slice of fish to you. It's a mild fish, similar to tuna, with a faintly sweet undertone.]

Neither is making my Metaverse outfits appear, normally. But...

[He closes his eyes, puts in just a bit of effort, and...fwoosh! Yep, he sure is in his Crow outfit now.]

[collide_scope]

[Morgana delicately takes the fish from Akechi's hand with his teeth, both paws raised to hold it while he eats. It's..... definitely not chocolatey, at least? Just a little bit sweet, like a natural honey glaze sauce..... His first tentative nibble quickly turns into devouring it with enthusiasm.

That..... that sure is a voluntary outfit change, though. It seems like it should be impossible, but he watched it with his own eyes, plain as day. Can he really do that too, then? Morgana closes his eyes and concentrates. He thinks about what it's like to go into the Metaverse, what it's like to transform--

--and with a rush of smoke, instead of a cat, there's suddenly a bus parked mere inches from Akechi. Oops?]

[foolishjustice]

[Maybe faintly choclate-y, but definitely not a strong flavor.

And oh. That. That sure is a bus right in his face. He lets out the most undignified sounding 'gyah!' noise as he tumbles over backwards. Thankfully, he drops the knife to the ground as he falls, so he doesn't end up stabbing himself...but he does end up with his slab of fish skewered on the end of his mask. It slowly slides off as he sits up, plopping into his hands.]

...Not quite.

[collide_scope]

H-hey! You probably didn't get it right the first time, either!

[Morgana revs his engine a few times in irritation, but he does roll back a foot or two to try again. The transition from bus to his Metaverse form is usually a voluntary thing, at least; it's familiar enough that this time, the smoke clears to reveal him standing on two legs. Victory!]

[foolishjustice]

I'll have you know, I did.

[Putting the fish slab back on the paper and pulling his mask off to remove a bit of fish from the underside of the beak.]

I just focused on my Persona and what I'm supposed to look like when I'm using it.

[collide_scope]

[He almost protests that his try was obviously twice as hard, since he's the only one with two different shapes in the Metaverse--only to abruptly remember that Akechi has two outfits to juggle, as well. He has a little tact. Not much, but a little. Have an indignant little growl instead.]

Rrrrggh.....

[foolishjustice]

[...To be fair, the outfit is mostly dependent on which Persona he's using.]

I'd suggest practicing changing back and forth...but not while standing right in front of someone.

[collide_scope]

I'm sure it'll be fine, now that I know how to do it. Piece of cake!

[foolishjustice]

I hope so. It would be very inconvenient if you turned into a car while in the Station.

[Digging a cloth out of his pocket to clean his mask properly.]

Hmm...maybe I should just summon my Persona...the mask should be clean when it reappears, right?

[collide_scope]

Of course it'll be clean! You don't think of your spirit of rebellion as dirty, do you? Even if it were covered in a Shadow's blood, all that would be gone once you summoned it again.

[Trust him, he's learned that much from experience.]

[foolishjustice]

Not literally, at least.

[Best not to go into how he sees himself, really. But it's certainly not as covered in fish juice. But Morgana will be in for a surprise when Crow summons his Persona: it's not Robin Hood that appears, but Rangda. And then...quickly vanishes, because she's already going to give him grief over summoning her for nothing.]

Much better. Now, where did my knife go...

[collide_scope]

That would be a terrible aesthetic.

[Geez, what a basic question. Hadn't anybody taught Akechi how thoroughly everything was grounded in cognition in the Metaverse? Hadn't he read Wakaba's research on cognitive psience? He should know how these sorts of things worked by now.

That skepticism is wiped away when Rangda appears; Mona gapes for a moment, incredulous.]

You can summon more than two?

[foolishjustice]

[Morgana, does he seem like he's had anyone to teach him this stuff? Everything he knows is from trial and error, and small peeks at bits and pieces of the research.

Ah, there's his knife. Sticking blade-first in the ground, of course.]

Six, at the moment. Akira taught me how to negotiate with Shadows after...a complicated series of events that left us much more genuinely allied.

[Plucking the knife out of the ground.]

Well, so much for using this to cut the sashimi...

[collide_scope]

Not bad! Sounds like you're getting the hang of it!

[He will be your Metaverse senpai, Akechi, come under his tiny furry wing.

In the meantime, though, he'll pull his own blade out of hammerspace his inventory and toss it into the air with a flashy little flip, catching it by the point to offer over. Cutting sashimi with a tiny sword may be Extra AF, but it won't stay dirty either, unlike an actual knife.]