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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
Let me try to put this bluntly; forgive me, but it's not been long and it's easiest to just get it all out with as little dancing about the issue as possible.
We were taken from our home worlds and timelines to participate in an intergalactic television show presented as fiction to its audience. Airlocked, popular in seven galaxies and with a fanbase completely unaware they were watching actual people being put through the ordeal of memory loss, murder, trials, and the like.
[The halfhearted smile finally faltered, Ardyn staring blankly at his coffee like he was reciting something that happened to someone else, a million miles away.]
Those of us who survived their games escaped and spent time on the run from the network responsible, but we didn't realize we were being tracked and essentially led back into enemy hands when they were eventually prepared for their fifth and final season. Thankfully, that one ended with the executive producer brought to justice and the network collapsed, with all of us that had been killed being awoken from the simulation we were being stored in.
no subject
The second that he hears "intergalactic television show presented as fiction," there's a brief moment where he comes close to seeing red. He doesn't even realize how strongly he's reacting, until he notices a dim ache in both hands and in his back teeth. It's so disgustingly close to what he'd been imagining their situation, back in the mall, was like...
Akira's breathing is uneven, but he forces himself to quietly listen to all of it. The sick feeling in his stomach has him second guessing his decision to try eating. He very... slowly... manages to loosen those fists and his jaw. Calm down. ]
What kind of justice?
[ They were all brought back to life - it ended with everyone being alive. Focus on that. Justice is all he'd ever fought for, alongside his friends, so that should be enough... right? Heh. It didn't even happen to him - not exactly - and yet this feels so goddamn personal. He shouldn't want to go find this producer. He shouldn't. ]
Either way, I'm glad you all got out. That's the most important part...
[ There's something distant and deceptively calm in his tone; if looks could kill? The entire forest would probably be up in flames around here. He's going to just. Sip that coffee in an overly calm way until he's actually, really calmed down. Ardyn had specified that there were a lot of people... how many had died during all of... whatever they went through? He's only able to imagine, based on what his group had gone through... and that alone...
... His grip on the cup is wavering a little, so he quietly sets the cup back down.
It's not his; he would really hate to risk breaking it. ]
no subject
[There was a cold edge creeping into Ardyn's voice as he said that, pulling himself out of whatever distant thoughts he was briefly lost in. If he thought Akira's anger strange or even really noticed it, it went unremarked upon as he unsteadily took a drink from his own cup of coffee.]
She can't hurt anyone else where she is now; I suppose that's the important aspect of it.
eh why not show a few moments of akira's dreams
There's absolutely nothing he can do from here, beyond learn what he can. But, even now, they have a Fissure to focus on. He can't let himself dwell on everything these other people went through, and-- ]
Karma Akabane -- Jack... I want you to know I trust you entirely with my life. No matter what happens here, now, or even in the future... What do you say... partner?
[ Behind them, there's a materialized Akira Kurusu with a young, redheaded guy - clearly, the "Jack" in this scenario. The Akira next to Ardyn is tensing just a bit before turning to look at the pair.
Other him is shaking Karma's hand before this dream scene swirls and shifts, starting from Akira stabbing someone in the shoulder, and then jumping into him getting shot by that same woman. It ends with Akira and Jack doing a fusion attack that shoots said woman-- ]
Consider yourself assassinated.
[ --or so they thought, even if the dream doesn't continue into the real aftermath. But, Akira doesn't seem to be focused on the dream. In fact, he's turned back around and staring at the ground as he speaks. ]
... Sometimes even remembering the most important parts doesn't take away from the side effect of being a person with emotions.
[ He's looking right at Ardyn. ]
Letting yourself feel that anger, and remembering you have every right to be pissed off, is just as important.
no subject
I’m afraid I’m a bit new to being a person with emotions.
[Behind him, an immaterial dream of his own; blackened miasma coiling like smoke trails of purple-black, the lingering remnants of something dark and terrible Ardyn refused to acknowledge.]
And I don’t...have a good history with anger. So I find perhaps it’s safer to just let the matter alone.
no subject
... Man, there are so many options, given the nature of how this whole thing works - multiple worlds, multiple lifestyles, multiple laws of physics, etc...
Either way, his eyes narrow at the smoke-like formation, something between concern and confusion surfacing before he bites back on it. If Ardyn wants to go into it, he will--... heh, it's actually difficult to accept that. A lack of pushing people has gotten him some awful things in the past, but this guy is new to him, for as somewhat familiar as the face and the voice are.
There's a nod. It's not even that he's afraid of whatever this guy could do. But, still. No need to jab a sleeping dragon when it hasn't been causing any problems. ]
Sorry. [ it's genuine, even with the calm tone ] It's not my place to shove advice at you.
[ He holds a blink for just a moment. ]
If it's okay to ask, what did you mean by "new to being a person with emotions?"
no subject
[Ardyn's gaze dropped to the table, the dreamlike miasma clouding behind him before dissipating like the smoky substance it was. He laughed hollowly, raking a hand through his hair only for it to fall right back in his face.]
I suppose...with him around here as well as Noctis and his entourage, there's no need to keep it a secret.
[A deep breath, slow sigh. There was a strange exhaustion on Ardyn's face, worn into the lines beneath his eyes the way stone was eroded by the steady and persistent years of ocean tides.]
There was a time not very long ago when I...wasn't human. It's a long and complex story, but I was more the vessel of a sentient plague. It drove me utterly insane, and turned me into a monster fueled only by hate and malice. When Intergal took me from my homeworld, they--correctly--deemed me a 'contagion risk' and implanted my consciousness in a replicated human body with some imitation of the scourge running through it. All the twisted emotional state, with none of the risk of an outbreak...I'm sure someone thought they were quite clever to think of that.
[He shook his head, looking off to the side and starting to restlessly twist a ring on his left hand.]
But it's gone now, even the replica was removed nearly a year ago. All I am now is merely human, for the first in a very long time.
no subject
I never really got around to asking him about much.
[ So... him, Izunia, Prompto, and Noctis. He has to wonder about each person's relationship with the others; so far, only Noctis and Prompto are close to one another in a sort of obvious way.
Well, in any case, his mind is quickly compromised by abundance of information. And, holy shit, is it a lot. ]
Shit...
[ What the absolute fuck is this guy's life... Akira's actually staring at him for a moment, clearly at a momentary loss for words.
(Dimly, comes a thought that, between Ardyn and Kana, he genuinely doesn't see any reason to complain about his own life, ever again.) ]
You... [ shifting a bit, frowning at the ground ] You're a pretty... impressive guy, in that case.
no subject
[Ardyn looked up like he genuinely didn't know what to make of a statement like that, yellow eyes blinking once or twice as if that would bring some measure of clarity to it.]
I'm...not sure I understand what you mean.
no subject
[ He shifts so his elbows are resting on his knees. ]
No matter how it's put, you've been through more than any one person should ever have to go through.
[ He's turning his head to look at Ardyn. No, he isn't being super naive - Ardyn could easily be acting, but honestly? If he is? That's all the more reason to say stuff like this. ]
Yet... you've been nothing but nice to me since we met.
no subject
I haven't...always been the best person. I acknowledge that, and certain people are justified in wanting me dead for it. But I don't...I don't want to hurt anyone else. Or at least not those who have done nothing to warrant it.
[Better person though he was, that didn't make Ardyn a pacifist by any means.]
You-...I understand you aren't the Akira I know. You're someone with varying experiences that surely made you into another person entirely. But even knowing that, I don't think I've reason to be suspicious of your intent in being kind to me. So obviously I should do the same in turn.
no subject
I've met and fought people who've only ever cared about themselves. They murdered people, lied, used people as tools... [ shifting to twist a strand of bangs ] And it wasn't until after the Phantom Thieves changed their heart, they snapped out of it.
[ His smile is grim. ]
During a single year, I saw the hearts of humanity; things are never black and white. Seemingly good people can do terrible things, just like seemingly terrible people can do good things.
[ It's as he says the last part, he's moving to sit up straight, eyes firmly resting on Ardyn. His tone shifts into something much more blunt. ]
You easily could have turned into some asshole who only cares about himself. Because he believes the entire universe owes him, after all the things it put him through. That's the kind of mindset I've seen plenty of... but it's clearly not the one you have.
[ A dismissive wave of his hand, albeit a gentle one... much like his expression. ]
So, my point stands. [ he is filled with Determination over this, for some reason ] Everyone has a dark side or maybe even a dark past... It doesn't make them a bad person, by default.
no subject
People are-...can be terrible. I've been betrayed too many times by those I trusted and those I thought I knew to ever believe otherwise. But I don't...want to believe that betrayal is the natural end result of trust. I want to hold to this newfound faith that people in general...are worth pain like that.
[Ardyn nervously twisted a ring worn on his left hand, pausing as he tried to find the right words to say.]
...It doesn't change anything. The fact that I've rediscovered humanity doesn't change that Noctis wants me dead or that Prompto's likely terrified of me, or that I can't even stand to look at my brother. But I-...can't allow myself to fall back into being a lost cause. Not after all that's been done to pull me out of it.
no subject
He focuses on the words... ]
... Sounds to me like you're determined to be hard on yourself, here.
[ Akira's looking at the ground as he talks, this time. ]
In one breath, you're making it clear you're determined to be a better person. Then, in the next moment, you're saying it doesn't change anything. [ the smile is sadder than he'd like it to be ] Yeah, it's true... it doesn't change what's happened. But, as long as you're alive, there are things you can change - with you. From the sounds of it, that's exactly what you're doing.
[ He shakes his head. ]
Nothing will change overnight, and there's no guarantee that the things will change for the better. You'll be disappointed, hurt... [ his brow tenses ] But that's part of being alive - pain...
[ It's a little difficult to swallow, but he keeps his expression even. ]
We can't stop the bad things from happening in this world, but being strong and being a decent person isn't about how we handle the good times. It's about how we handle the worst moments, going forward.
[ And now a nod! ]
And for what it's worth? I'm more than happy to give you a chance. So, you can consider me an ally in this place.