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phantasmemes2018-04-12 11:09 pm
phantasmods) wrote in phantasmemes2018-04-12 11:09 pm
Entry tags:
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.
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.
no subject
Her hand reached out tentatively to simply just touch his arm, fingers curling into the sleeve of his coat as if she were afraid he'd suddenly disappear now that she'd confirmed he was really here before her right now. There were a number of things Futaba knew she could say to him, and yet all she could do was just nod quietly at the question he'd posed to her, gaze downcast. ]
...Yeah. There were gunshots... and then I couldn't sense you anymore. You were gone...
[ Her breath hitched, fingers tightening on the material in her grasp and she didn't want to let go. ]
I don't know how you're here but... you're alive. We thought... I thought you were actually dead and we hadn't been able to save you... but w-we took him down like you asked us to...
no subject
[He lightly touches her hand on his sleeve, fingers hesitant and shaking a little. Why...does she seem almost as if she were clinging to him? Like she's...glad to see him okay, and doesn't want to risk him leaving?
For some reason, he feels as though he's letting her down by telling her he's not the Akechi she knows.]
I only know of what I would have done on that ship because of meeting an Akira from a timeline more like yours.
no subject
That would explain the clothing you're wearing now...
[ Futaba shook her head at that, refusing to let go right now because it still was just sinking in that all of this was inherently real. That and she'd realized when his hand had touched hers, that it had been shaking slightly. ]
It doesn't matter right now. You're here and you're alright. Don't you dare up and disappear again, got it? [ Ugh being emotional sucks. Especially since it's hitting her full force, throat tight and the corners of her eyes prickling with what she was sure was tears. ] I'm tired of losing people that matter to me.
Teammate or not, you still meant something to all of us.
1/2
[He lets out a short, nervous laugh...but it doesn't do anything for the tears clouding his own eyes. He's not sure if the unsteadiness to his voice is from that unstable laughter, or from the other emotions trying to choke his voice out entirely.
Does this prove she's real, or prove she's a dream? His dreams would never be so kind, and yet...he can't imagine why this would really be happening.]
I'm not...that different, you know. I still betrayed all of you and got Akira captured, I still killed Okumura-san's father, and I...
no subject
So, he really did send someone. I didn't expect a kid...
[Goro turns around, eyes wide. A faint choking sound leaves his throat as he sees the form of Wakaba Isshiki, dressed in an outlandishly stereotypical labcoat...and looking at him with glowing, yellow eyes.]
no subject
Then he tried to bring up what he's done and it was enough that she shook her head insistently without a second thought. She wouldn't let him keep dwelling on the past like that since it wasn't healthy and she knew damn well what that did to a person; knowing from experience firsthand what that was like. ]
It doesn't change anything! You can't keep--
[ Futaba had been more focused on Akechi than anything else, so she almost didn't notice it until the secondary voice spoke up. Striking pain into her chest as her gaze shifted over to the familiar figure with eyes going wide. There was no way in hell she wouldn't recognize the form of her own mother. ]
M-Mom?? How...?
[ She couldn't muster any more words right now, kept in place due to that her legs didn't want her to move any. Not while this was actually happening and she didn't understand why. ]
no subject
It's...a figment from my nightmares. About...about her Shadow.
[The dream Shadow looks him over for a moment, before recognition seems to strike her.]
Wait...you're Akechi's boy, aren't you? I can't believe he dragged her son into this...no, I can. That man will sink to any lengths. But... [Her eyes drift past Goro, and settle on the girl behind him.] Futaba! What are you doing? Go...go play, mommy and this young man need to have a boring meeting now.
no subject
Not when someone so dear to her heart was standing right here, only a scant few feet away from her. Instinct screamed at her to run over and hug her, but only resisted as that was the moment when the shadow figment spoke up. Futaba's arms came up to wrap around herself loosely; as if trying to keep herself warm until one looked at the hurt expression on her face. ]
I-I can't. [ More like her legs wouldn't move right now even if she wanted to, but more importantly? ] I'm not going to keep running away from things like I used to. Even if it hurts being able to see you again like this.
[ Such was the truth, her fingers tightening even as she nodded and looked back up to face her mother's shadow once more. ]
no subject
[The Shadow figment edges around, trying to put herself between Goro and Futaba. As she moves, Goro slowly drifts away, as if he doesn't want to come within a certain distance of her.]
No...no she doesn't. But I'm not sure you'll convince her of that.
[The fake Shadow stares at Goro for a moment, before reaching out and putting a hand on top of Futaba's head.]
Please...I know I can't stop you, but leave my daughter out of this. She should be important to you, too.
no subject
This... one wasn't real. Not that it didn't stop her chest from aching painfully either way. ]
I-I... I don't...
[ Her throat felt constricted and tight, making it hard to speak and there was blurriness building at the corners of her eyes. It didn't help that she could vividly feel the fake shadow's hand on her head; done the same way as her real mom had done when she'd been alive.
Then... there was that.
Something about those words stopped her short. Yeah they were former teammates and all but did that really count as her being someone he'd consider as important? She'd have to ask about that later, but for now there was still something to be said. ]
He... won't hurt me. It's alright.
no subject
Futaba-chan, close your eyes.
[Whether Futaba obeys or not, the Shadow figment's head abruptly jerks back as if she'd been shot, causing her to slowly dissolve into black smoke.]
no subject
Silence seemed to pass after that, allowing it to fill the air between them before her shoulders fell a bit and she exhaled a breath she hadn't been aware she was even holding. ]
...I... want to ask you something. That's okay, right?
[ Something that's better to dwell on right now instead of the hurt clutching at her chest like a vice. Futaba hated feeling this pain and how she was lacking the inability to do something about it other than just turn her focus elsewhere.
If she didn't, it felt like she'd fall apart. ]
no subject
He finds himself holding his breath when Futaba asks him something, and inhales as he shakily nods.]
At worst, I'll say I don't want to talk about it.
no subject
My... mom's shadow. Or at least this version of her... she said I should be important to you too. Was that just because of being Phantom Thieves together, or something else I should know about?
[ She lets that hang in the air, a look of subtle insistence on her face. Wanting there to be answers since she really did want to know. ]