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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.
2/2
Yuuri.
[He blinks a moment, reassuring himself once more that it's fine, it's just Yuuri.]
You-- [There's a slight wince as the misty figure laughs once more. And, despite being so paralyzed before, Heart almost instinctively steps to the side, so that he's between it and Yuuri.] ...It's not safe here.
no subject
They really don't deserve him, do they? ]
Listen to me, Heart. [ her voice is soft and urgent. ] It isn't real. I promise you, it's not. It's just a dream.
All we have to do is walk away. Okay? And then it'll be gone.
no subject
[He's conflicted a moment, old instincts fighting the more reasonable part of himself that knows he should listen to Yuuri.]
Then... we should--
Leaving already? [Heart tenses up again, not looking as the figure speaks up suddenly.] I don't think I said you could go yet, 002.
[And that gets Heart to react, as he turns to look at the specter of his creator.] You, stay out of--! [But he cuts himself off, because Yuuri must be right, in which case it would only be foolish to yell at an illusion. All that does is cause it to laugh again, because of course.]
Oh, yes, that's more like it. I always did like you better when you knew to stay quiet!
no subject
But maybe, she thinks, looking at Heart and that awful look on his face, he doesn't need to do anything. Maybe words are enough. She should know, shouldn't she? You don't always need fists or blows to really, truly injure someone. All it takes is the right words.
So for as foolish as it is to snap back at an illusion, it feels wrong to sit back and let it spew venom at Heart unchallenged. ]
Oh, I think you've misunderstood? It's not a matter of staying quiet, it's simply that you haven't a thing to say that's worth responding to.
[ Her hand finds her way into Heart's and she gives it a gentle squeeze. ]
no subject
That won't do at all... I can't have some worthless experiment forgetting its place.
[It's... a good thing, really, that Yuuri is holding Heart's hand. It's a very real, solid reminder that he isn't alone. It's grounding him, preventing him from feeling like it's fifteen years ago and nothing has changed. Because... it isn't like that, anymore. It hasn't been for a long time.
And he doesn't need to listen to any of this.]
Don't-- [He takes a deep breath, shaking his head. He's... trying to stay calm here, as much as he can.] ...It's not worth it. He's not worth it.
You're right, we should just go.
no subject
[ She's saying it lightly and trying to play it off as a joke but it's impossible to miss the steely undercurrent to her voice. She'd been the one to suggest walking away, yes, but the idea of them turning and starting to leave while this specter continues spitting insults at their backs.
Is it petty? A little bit, yes. Is it pointless?
No. Not if it makes Heart feel even a little better. ]
Or I could throw something. I've always wanted to try launching the karaoke machine at somebody.
no subject
Or you could just stay out of things that don't concern you. That's my property you have there and we have a lot of catching up to do, you know! We've fallen so far behind... [Banno takes a few steps forward now, completely focused on Heart and barely paying Yuuri any mind at all. And a few moments ago he wasn't holding anything, but dream logic doesn't care, so the mist helpfully forms a cylindrical device in one of his hands, with a thick metal coil surrounding the upper half. It looks an awful lot like... a cattle prod?] Isn't that right...?
[Yuuri may notice that Heart's grip on her hand tightens and she'll definitely notice the way he hastily takes a step back, even as he immediately looks ashamed that he did.
It's worse, in a way, that it's the Banno from his nightmares, his memories, rather than the real thing. It was easier to be defiant to the real thing, not even in a human body any longer. Neither of them had been the same as they once were and that had made it easier in a way that he'd never appreciated until this moment, now that it's all coming back.
It's why he doesn't like to sleep.]
Considering he's not actually real, it probably doesn't matter. You don't have to trouble yourself. We can just ignore him.
no subject
[ There's none of that coy downplaying of her anger in her voice this time. It's soft but with a bubbling undercurrent fury that she isn't even attempting to conceal. Of course it matters. It matters because even in dreams, this man is hurting someone Yuuri loves, making them feel helpless and afraid.
She suddenly understands with even more clarity what it must've meant to Heart for have died like he did and her stomach lurches with directionless loathing for Nina and everything she stood for all over again.
And it's that thought, more than anything that drives her to carefully loosen her grip on Heart's hand. Not so she can leave him or abandon him to the mist but so she can step in front of him and make sure that whatever happens here, he knows he's protected. ]
I think the karaoke machine's a little too good for him, but I'm sure I can come up with something. [ back to the light, almost careless tone from before, like she doesn't want her hands around this man's neck. ] But that's only if he's stupid enough to take another step over here.
no subject
Because it's so odd, to be dragged down by this specter's words, to have panic slowly overtake him, only to suddenly feel the warmth of knowing someone cares about you and is here to help.
It's what prevents him from losing his grip on reality, because if there's one thing he knows, it's that he definitely did not have that all those years ago.]
He probably will. [And maybe it's because he knows that this is just a fake and can't really hurt anyone, or maybe it's because Yuuri is standing in front of him. But Heart manages to steel his voice a little anyway, unable to resist a quick taunt.] He never has been nearly as smart as he thinks he is.
Hey, hey! [Predictably, Banno angrily takes several steps forward, really closing the gap between them now.] Just who do you both think you are, talking to a genius of my level like that--!
...Case in point.
no subject
[ Playing, she calls it, like any of this is at all fun. But she thinks that maybe, the more she pokes fun at this sad little man, the less real any sort of threat he poses might be to Heart.
And that's the part that really matters, she thinks.
She tilts her head back and gives him a smile. ]
Do you want to do the honors? Or can I go ahead?
no subject
[Because he did mean what he said before - he would love to see her land a hit on him. Just this version, one that can't hurt anyone, of course. Because if it was the real thing he would've gotten her out of here immediately.]
By all means.
no subject
[ She meant it when she said the karaoke machine was clearly too good for him and that means the Royal Arms are right out, too. It needs to be something completely undignified and ridiculous.
And with that in mind, Yuuri drops a can of cheap, knock-off space soda into her hand from the Armiger and with a quick flick of the wrist, it goes ptchooing right through Banno's garbage face and sends mist dispersing in all directions. There he go. ]
There! How was my form?
no subject
But he does smile at Yuuri when she asks that.]
Very impressive. You certainly made that shot count, hm?
[And then his smile softens into something much more... genuine.]
Thank you.