Test Drive Meme #1

[diceofthegods]

Arrival

Broken Palace by Jonathan Eng

0:07 / 1:13

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Click here to listen.

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.

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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.

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:

⁂ 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:

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

<span style="font-family:courier new;"><b>Name:</b> <b>Age:</b> <b>Race:</b> <b>Favorite soup? Why?:</b> <b>Is soup something you eat or drink?</b></span>

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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 ⁂

Comments

Rocky Talky

[silver_soldier]

Where are you?

[rhapscdos]

Where are you? Genesis tries not to let that sudden memory make him panic. Tries. How much he succeeds is questionable, but at least he does answer immediately.

Where am I? Really now. When I've been searching high and low for you and Angeal? Where are you? Please tell me it's some ramshackle village ever-so creatively named Town.

[silver_soldier]

Sephiroth's relief is unspeakable. Not just that Genesis is here, and clearly fine, but that he answered at all. There have been times where his answering Sephiroth's texts to him was not a given.

Yes, we are. We arrived together. We've been looking for you, too. But it's much harder to get around quickly or get a proper view of things without flight. We must have been missing each other.

I can't sense either of you as well as I should, either.

We should meet in the town square.

[rhapscdos]

This town isn't terribly large. The fact that Genesis couldn't hear either of them at any point is disturbing to a point that actually fills him with dread. His senses have all felt remarkably dull, but much of it he'd accounted to whatever magic has drawn them here. But now he has to consider the idea it will hamper how he keeps careful tabs on his mates.

Neither can I. It's disturbing, that even my hearing is so dulled now. But yes, I will meet you there. Be safe; I will see you soon. He's already heading that way.

[firsteditionbfs]

If there's anything good to take into account, it is indeed that 'Town' isn't terribly large. That means it doesn't take long for any healthy young men - even those lacking superhuman abilities - to make it to the town square.

Honestly, that's where Angeal wanted to go in the end anyway. That nice cozy villa they all got used to is clearly not going to be a thing anymore, and, while it seems they have yet another benevolent powerful entity who is willing to help out with food a bit...

Angeal doesn't like the idea of doing that in the long term. Hell, he hadn't liked it in the simulation all that much.

Good thing he got a lot of practice tending to his garden and running the bakery back there.

He has a feeling it's going to be relevant soon. Just a gut feeling.

But for the immediate present... He and Sephiroth make it to the town square. A part of him is certainly looking at all the stalls, just what exactly they have to work with. But the other part of him can't help but look around, and keep close enough to Sephiroth for their shoulders to brush. Beneath his shirt, his wedding ring keeps brushing over his heart.

[silver_soldier]

Sephiroth, likewise, is keeping close to Angeal. Unlike Angeal, he's barely paying attention to the vendors, the food - anything but who else is in the square, and always on the lookout for that familiar shade of red. For some reason, he's even more anxious about losing Genesis and Angeal than they necessarily are about losing each other.

He, too, is sticking very close to Angeal. In fact, his hand is hovering by Angeal's wrist, fingers just barely touching it.

[rhapscdos]

Genesis is not nearly so calm as his mates. He never has had their control, ruled always by his fiery heart. So while his texts are not so frantic, the pace at which he runs for the town center is.

Really, what prevents the near-literal meteoric arrival he'd met Angeal with upon reuniting once before is the fact his wing doesn't give him lift anymore, and his unnatural speed is harshly curbed. Still, he's barreling into the pair with his full weight the second he spots them. Thankfully, they're close enough together he can wrap his arms around both of them on impact. Whether they're good and prepared for that mate-sized crash is not even a thought in his head right now. Just that he needs them in his arms right this instant.

[firsteditionbfs]

It's Genesis.

Of course Angeal is prepared for his mate to come crashing into them.

And it's good that, even if some of the more unnatural aspects of themselves have been dulled, Angeal is still a pretty solidly built guy. Combine that with the expectation of Genesis's force, and he's able to keep on his feet with but a grunt to indicate he's really feeling it. Like, really feeling it. Oof.

"It's okay, Gen. We're here." His hand goes up, soothingly running up along his mate's spine. "We're here."

I forgot we were on my tag somehow

[silver_soldier]

Sephiroth sees the red blur of Genesis coming as well, and the sheer relief on his face is something Genesis would probably write his own poem about, if he wasn't in too much of a rush to see it. He braces as well, and he and Angeal absorb the impact of Genesis together.

His focus is slightly different from Angeal's, however.

"You're here," are the words he murmurs, as his arms go around his beloved.

[rhapscdos]

Those strange throaty purrs start up the instant he's embraced, every part of him rejoicing in the familiar comfort of his beloveds. Sure, it's only been half a day, but that's half a day too long. He's done enough missing them for two lifetimes now. He'll write the poetry of their reunion another day. Right now, he needs his hands less for the pen and more to be on them, fingers curled into the respective fabrics of their clothes.

It's strange not being able to hear both their heartbeats in tandem, which is a peculiar thing that immediately upsets him on a micro-level. Their breathing, their hearts, just the tiniest shift in how they move. It's all so familiar, and now it is gone from his unnatural hearing. It just makes him cling a little tighter, press a little closer to hear all those sounds again.

"I missed you," he says, voice a touch softened by his worry, but also by the wine warming him. "Making me wait, how cruel."

[firsteditionbfs]

"I would say you made us wait," Angeal chides him, but in that soft way where he doesn't really mean any of it. "Got us sick with worry, you know." Reaching up, he cards his fingers through that reassuring bright red hair.

"Why don't we all go sit down somewhere? I don't want to test how long we can have all your weight on us before our knees collapse, in this new situation."

[silver_soldier]

"We missed you too, Genesis," Sephiroth murmurs, as though it's not obvious by the way the two of them are wrapped around him. At that soothing purr from Genesis, he starts reflexively making a low sound in his own throat, borderline subaudible. More rumble than purr, but close.

At Angeal's suggestion, Sephiroth looks around, but it's a somewhat half-hearted inspection of their surroundings. It's not that it's a bad suggestion by any means; it's just that Sephiroth finds the idea of potentially letting go of Genesis in order to move to be exceptionally unwelcome right now. When he doesn't immediately spot a place nearby to sit, he looks back to Angeal questioningly.

[rhapscdos]

Having Angeal's fingers combing back through his hair has the odd purring growing louder. He closes his eyes briefly, head leaned into Angeal's shoulder with that familiar comfort. The answering purr from Sephiroth only serves to soothe him more, and given they're the ones holding his weight, Genesis isn't much inclined to move at all.

But they're all very clearly without their usual strength, which is concerning, but he'll dwell on it later. Genesis lifts his head to do the same observation Sephiroth does, but he has one key advantage. He already knows of a wonderful spot to rest thanks to Elidibus.

So while he's reluctant to pull away, he at least has two hands to take each of them by the wrist, and nod towards a nearby hill.

"Come, we can discuss who missed who the most over there. The trees on the hilltop have a good amount of shade. And perhaps we can spot a decent cottage from that vantage to stay in."

[firsteditionbfs]

It is perhaps only when he is leaned against Angeal completely and allowing a moment to stay still that Genesis may feel his mate's rumbling purr - feel, instead of hear that quiet rumble imperceptible to most normal humans. But then they're all apart again, Genesis impatiently pulling on them, and Angeal adjusts himself.

"Got it, got it - you've been busy then, it looks like, if you're already learning about all the best picnic spots." With his free hand, Angeal makes sure he has Sephiroth's own. He has a feeling it might make Genesis feel better if he's the one taking charge in a situation like this.

"So what have you been up to, while we haven't had a chance to keep our eyes on you?" Something smells just a little off... If his nose were in working order, he could smell even more. Dammit. But he just needs to not think about this right now. Sephiroth already showed him earlier that he needs someone, and Genesis is a thousand times more emotional than that. He has to be steady.

[silver_soldier]

Sephiroth is already reaching for Angeal's hand when the other man's finds his, and it soothes him immediately. He follows Genesis' tugging without any further prompting, keeping a tight grip on Angeal at the same time.

"A cottage," he murmurs as they move. "I wonder if any of them are big enough..." Of course, Sephiroth mostly means in terms of capacity, but...that isn't really his only concern. It's been a long time since any of them have had to duck through door frames, but many of the places here seem to be on the small side.

[rhapscdos]

"As I said, you're cruel bastards to keep me waiting. Even if I was with good company." Genesis pouts a little, but it is difficult to be too upset about getting to spend time with Elidibus. And good wine. "Lucky I love you both."

It's not unusual for Genesis to be a sentimental mess over his mates, but the wine may have gotten to him a touch in the fact he's not quite so eloquently spouting poetry. Or maybe it's the riddling anxiety that is slow to dissipate about the prospect of missing them. Again.

"Elidibus is here too," he clarifies after a moment. "And he found wine. Not nearly as decadent as the vintages in the Villa, but-" Oh, right. His beautiful Villa is no longer here, he's reminded, as Sephiroth comments on the cottages. His attention redirects, and there's a dramatic sigh that follows. "They're tiny. Miniscule! Not a single board of that wood is mahogany," he laments, as if he's loved and lost like a widower.

[firsteditionbfs]

"Real lucky," Angeal murmurs in agreement, even if that may only serve to fuel Genesis's bout of poetry-lacking sentimentality even more. He doesn't care. As long as the three of them are all together like this.

It's what makes him happiest, after all. Well. Nearly happiest. They could use some other things to make it perfect.

Elidibus is a good step towards that, although Angeal quirks an eyebrow up at the mention of wine. "That explains things," he manages to say to Sephiroth, over the sound of the Villa being lamented. "Anyway, as long as we can fit our heads underneath the doorways without having to crouch, I really don't think I should be able to complain too much, personally."