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childrenofbajablast2024-09-14 12:01 pm
diceofthegods) wrote in childrenofbajablast2024-09-14 12:01 pm
Test Drive Meme #1
Arrival
Broken Palace by Jonathan Eng
0:07 / 1:13
▶︎
During 2014 Jonathan Eng composed the soundtrack for interactive narrative experience The Sailor’s Dream, consisting of a mix of instrumental tracks and a seven-part musical story told in folk song-form.
Like all who come through summoning circle, your arrival is heralded by a dream. Waking up is a dizzying, disorienting thing... and possibly made worse by the fact that you aren't alone.
Right after you appear, so does someone else. If you're lucky*, they'll simply blink into existence by your side. If you're not, there's a chance they spawned below or above you. That's one way to make a memorable first impression. Best untangle yourselves and get things figured out.
If you're extremely unlucky*, instead of another person being brought through the summoning circle, it's a monster. The creature bobs, laughs maniacally, and immediately begins to spit flames your way.
Some welcome this is. If you aren't the fighting type, hopefully someone nearby is. Eventually, one of the local Town guards will slay the monster before it - and you - cause too much trouble or fire damage.
Right after you appear, so does someone else. If you're lucky*, they'll simply blink into existence by your side. If you're not, there's a chance they spawned below or above you. That's one way to make a memorable first impression. Best untangle yourselves and get things figured out.
If you're extremely unlucky*, instead of another person being brought through the summoning circle, it's a monster. The creature bobs, laughs maniacally, and immediately begins to spit flames your way.
Some welcome this is. If you aren't the fighting type, hopefully someone nearby is. Eventually, one of the local Town guards will slay the monster before it - and you - cause too much trouble or fire damage.
Town Tricks
After your unexpected introduction to either your fellow offworlder or monster, you'll be given a proper one from Charlie in Town. He sends you on your way shortly after to get settled in properly and deal with then next offworlder that walks in. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a revolving door right now so he doesn't have time for a more in-depth explanation or to answer too many questions.
Nor does he remember to warn you about The Fae.
Although native to Talahee Forest, which is currently off-limits to offworlders, the surge of magic from the summoning circle has piqued their interest. While the faefolk vary wildly in appearance, the ones scouting are pixies.
These tiny tricksters may be too shy to reveal themselves outright... but that won't stop them from playing pranks on all these fun, new victims. Some examples of what can happen are:
Thankfully, these Fae mean you no harm. In fact, if you react with hostility they will give you a wide berth and simply find someone more fun to play with.
Nor does he remember to warn you about The Fae.
Although native to Talahee Forest, which is currently off-limits to offworlders, the surge of magic from the summoning circle has piqued their interest. While the faefolk vary wildly in appearance, the ones scouting are pixies.
These tiny tricksters may be too shy to reveal themselves outright... but that won't stop them from playing pranks on all these fun, new victims. Some examples of what can happen are:
- ⁂ Your shoestrings are suddenly tied together and make you trip.
⁂ An object you had on your person goes missing... only to be found in an odd place. Repeatedly.
⁂ Create illusions of food and drink that disappear or turn into something else as soon as you try to consume it.
⁂ At night, they'll use dancing lights to lead people astray and turn them around Town.
Thankfully, these Fae mean you no harm. In fact, if you react with hostility they will give you a wide berth and simply find someone more fun to play with.
Rocky Talky
One of the things that was given to you in your welcome pack from Charlie was a summoning-stone. Although it looks like, well, an ordinary stone- It's actually magic! You can look through it and see someone else's face too if you're both viewing your stones at the same time. It can also record your speech and deliver that to someone else in a snap.
One of the other features is that you can scrawl on it. It will turn your writing into legible text that you can send others to read on their stones. Of course, you need to attune yourself to your stone first. To that end, it prompts a small questionnaire:
The last couple of questions might seem... strange but, surely, it must have a reason for asking. Once you answer the questions and unlock your device, you might pocket it and forget. Unfortunately, your scrawled answers were sent to the entire summoning-stone network throughout Town. Everyone can see what you put and they might even have some thoughts about it.
One of the other features is that you can scrawl on it. It will turn your writing into legible text that you can send others to read on their stones. Of course, you need to attune yourself to your stone first. To that end, it prompts a small questionnaire:
- Name:
Age:
Race:
Favorite soup? Why?:
Is soup something you eat or drink?
The last couple of questions might seem... strange but, surely, it must have a reason for asking. Once you answer the questions and unlock your device, you might pocket it and forget. Unfortunately, your scrawled answers were sent to the entire summoning-stone network throughout Town. Everyone can see what you put and they might even have some thoughts about it.
Registration Questionnaire
Notes
⁂ Hello and welcome to Children of Bahamut! If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback feel free to comment here!
⁂ For the Arrival prompt, feel free to roll a d20 to see how lucky or unlucky you are.
⁂ The Town Tricks example list for pranks isn't exhaustive. If you have other silly prank ideas in mind, feel free to roll with that and have fun with it! The Fae certainly are.
⁂ There is a correct choice of favorite soup and the moderators will remember your choice/opinions. (We're joking. Mostly.)
⁂ Full Navigation ⁂
⁂ For the Arrival prompt, feel free to roll a d20 to see how lucky or unlucky you are.
⁂ The Town Tricks example list for pranks isn't exhaustive. If you have other silly prank ideas in mind, feel free to roll with that and have fun with it! The Fae certainly are.
⁂ There is a correct choice of favorite soup and the moderators will remember your choice/opinions. (We're joking. Mostly.)
no subject
Another pause. "But being around me seems to be triggering...something in your head. Even if you wanted to follow me around, can you afford to?" He takes another step backwards, further away from Cloud. "For your own sake...you should get some distance from me."
no subject
For a second, it almost sounds like Sephiroth is concerned about him. Again, it rings true towards old memories that are difficult to delve into.
"How am I supposed to know your reasons? I still don't know any of yours for what you've been doing to me already. What makes this different?"
But there goes Sephiroth, stepping away. For his sake, apparently. Cloud shakes off the haze of scrambled memories, trying just to focus on the here and now. If this isn't a dream, and this is Sephiroth, choosing not to harm him...Or is him IN a dream, which has happened plenty before, at the very least he can attempt to get a few answers. Whatever he can, to take home with him.
no subject
"Jenova." He says it simply. "I...or whatever's left of me...have been doing what Jenova wants, ever since that day in Nibelheim. I am...whatever part of Sephiroth that Jenova is not. I don't want the same things. I never have."
no subject
"But I saw you. I was with you, over in Nifelheim. When you locked yourself in that basement and lost your damn mind. That was you still. Wasn't what you wanted to see your mother, or whatever it was you kept telling me? What the hell happened then? When you died?!"
no subject
Besides, ultimately, the little details aren't important to the big picture.
"Jenova is...a virus. An intelligent hivemind of a virus. The ShinRa experiment that created me, made me as powerful as I am...I was injected with Jenova before I was even born. Much of my abilities come from it, not from any innate power or talent of my own." His gaze slides away from Cloud. "When my mind broke...the virus that had always been a dormant part of me took over. There wasn't enough left of me that was whole to oppose it. I still looked like myself, the way an ant riddled with parasites may still look like an ant...but that was where the similarities ended. And once Jenova had control...it took the vessel Hojo had created for it, and it did what a virus is meant to do. Spread itself to others...and kill anything extraneous to its natural imperatives."
He meets Cloud's gaze. "In the reactor, where 'I' spoke of seeing my mother...all I was then was a viral outpost, reuniting with the source of the virus hivemind. I, as a person...I had a human mother. But the Jenova in me...seeing the creature in the tank, to it, must indeed have been like a child finally reuniting with its mother. A scout, returning to home base."
He closes his eyes. "And you know that, in a sense, I never died. Jenova again. The part of me that was human died, but a virus like Jenova isn't so easily destroyed. It persists still, in the Lifestream, in Hojo's experiments with its cells. Wherever it can. And it will likely continue to use my form as its chosen face, until it finds another it prefers more." His eyes bore into Cloud. "Who do you think the body in that tank was, if not Jenova's host before me? Who did she used to be, thousands of years ago? How much does it matter now? All she is now, all anyone knows her as now, is Jenova. Perhaps that was her name once, and now...all her name means is the virus that destroyed her." His voice falls a bit quieter. "Such will be my fate as well."
For so many, 'Sephiroth' is synonymous with the deeds of Jenova. The distinction may matter to a few individuals, but to history...Sephiroth is the virus. The plague on humanity. The calamity from the skies. His legacy, forever.
no subject
Why come up with such a story in the first place? There is a despondency Cloud picks up with the silver-haired SOLDIER's way of explaining Jenova that rings eerily genuine. As quickly as his mind starts to slip towards offering Sephiroth an ounce of belief, it jerks back, reeling and replaying the repeated traumas the man- or if this Sephiroth is to be believed, the virus with his face- inflicted on him.
None of it makes sense. Those misgivings in his eyes and how he purses his lips might not be easy to read for most, but for a man who knows Cloud as well as Sephiroth does, perhaps he can see it.
"Why then? You're dead. How do you even exist anymore if you aren't the same guy? Plus...You feel like him. Like you."
Cloud isn't even entirely sure what he means by feel. That pull. A certain chill he gets. One he always gets, even if Sephiroth is out of sight, that tells him he is near. Magnetic in the absolute worst of ways.
no subject
He doesn't...really know how to address Cloud's remark about him feeling like himself, although he does feel an uncomfortable lurch in his stomach at the statement. Does Cloud mean that, even as himself, he feels identical to the vicious Jenova mockery he had become? He supposes that Cloud might well not be able to recognize - or might actively refuse to recognize - that there's any difference, that it may be anything but an objective observation, but he hates the thought of it all the same. He still struggles to accept at times that he and the monster are separate, so someone not being able to tell the difference...it damages his ability to continue to believe there is one. Maybe Cloud is more right than he is.
"Feel like...how?" he asks, a bit haltingly.
no subject
But stranger things have happened.
"When you would show up and cause problems,it felt like a magnet. A pull. Dunno. Even when you were away, it felt like I had to find you. On some physical level." Cloud shrugs, again wondering in the back of his mind just why Sephiroth reads as feeling...Sad? Worried? Whatever it is, it is far beyond the scope of anything Cloud has seen from Sephiroth since Nibelheim- through his own eyes or otherwise. "It still feels like magnets. Like there's something important. Or more mind games."
no subject
When Cloud speaks about the feeling he means...Sephiroth feels a mixture of relief and dread. Relief, because what Cloud is speaking of isn't some explicit parallel between Sephiroth and Jenova; dread, because it is, of course, still Jenova. But what part of Sephiroth's life, his very existence, has the luxury of not being Jenova in some way?
"I know what you speak of," he says, carefully. "But tell me. The pull you feel now...it's much weaker than it was back in our world, isn't it?"
no subject
"Yeah. Weaker. I usually could feel it over longer distances. Like I had to hunt you down. Nothing like that now."
no subject
A momentary pause. "All I can say is that it's related to Jenova. If Jenova didn't exist, you wouldn't feel such a thing. And I can say that I feel it as well, to a lesser extent. The pull towards me is the strongest, but I feel the same towards you...and towards others. You may feel those pulls elsewhere as well. I am not the only source. But Jenova is weakened here. Significantly. You can feel how the pull is weakened. That may be related to why it isn't affecting me the way it did in our world...though I can only hypothesize."
He shrugs slightly. "I'm afraid any more information than that would be hazardous. But I think for your immediate concerns, that should be enough to work with. Even if I told you more, and there were no adverse effects to my doing so...having that knowledge wouldn't enable you to do much with it here."
no subject
Sure, some things are foggy, but Cloud never pinned them down as problems with his memory, moreso chronic headaches. (Or perhaps the denial is so strong that he's blocked out the possibility of memory problems.)
Here Sephiroth is, speaking of concerns for him based on information he withholds or gives. It rings eerily genuine to Cloud, along with his claim that much of what happened after Nibelheim was against his wishes. It isn't like the cruel, cryptic taunting he's grown used to. Even Sephiroth's eyes look less cold, less alien than he remembers, despite the catlike and not-quite-human appearance.
The thought of Sephiroth caring about him in any capacity makes Cloud recoil. It's ironic, really. Years ago it would have had him excited. After all, he was Sephiroth's biggest fan. His inspiration. Certainly these thoughts won't come back to bother him longterm.
As for Jenova, why would he have anything to do with it? At worst he was near her- or her last host, if Sephiroth is to be believed- when they had their showdown in the reactor. He's SOLDIER, not some part of that crazy experiment.
"You're not making any sense. I'm SOLDIER. Nothing more than the First Class title I earned, plain and simple. Besides, sure I'll get out of here soon enough. Or wake up."
He hopes so. There's nothing for him in this place, and so much yet left back at home.
no subject
In truth...Sephiroth is tired. Guilty and exhausted and frustrated that even his best faith efforts are being met with this stonewalling, even if he can hardly blame Cloud for his mistrust. But if it's impossible for anything of value to be accomplished here, then he'd like to be able to leave...and that means convincing Cloud to disengage. He'd like not to turn his back and have Cloud shove the Buster Sword through his spine, again.
no subject
Cloud shrugs. This is not going to go anywhere, with the way Sephiroth seems hell-bent on maintaining this narrative. It makes something in him question things in a way that he never thought possible. That, in turn, paired with headaches has Cloud tiring out, needing space, anything to disconnect and think this through.
Or avoid it, he will see.
"I get a single whiff of you back to your old nonsense, and it's on sight."
Though Cloud does not turn his back to Sephiroth (he knows better), he does disengage, shuffling backwards and to one side to make his exit. It's weird, it's wrong, yet here he is... Disengaging from his mortal foe.
It ought to be for the best. For now. Cloud just needs to find a way home. This is not helping with that. Best to move along.