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TDM 016 & 4th WALL EVENT: NO WALLS BETWEEN US
| TDM 016 & 4th WALL EVENT: NO WALLS BETWEEN US |
00. An Arrival and a Broken Wall?! You should be coming out of the water, the Nameless Island's own inherent energy drawing people in. It's like being suspended between realities and abruptly pushed from behind through a rift in dimensions. It may make you sick, or that might be the motion of the ocean, lifting you to the surface and carrying you to shore. Waterlogged and covered in sand, new arrivals should be greeted by robots who welcome them with towels and bracelet devices. The A5 card already loaded up, and if you don’t manage to get away from them quickly enough, they should usher you toward the Laid Bare Spa, where new arrivals will be offered free massages, a sauna, hairstyling, and their clothing may come up permanently missing. But you should be given a complimentary towel to leave with if needed! Should. That’s how things are for newbies - and maybe today, some newbies will arrive the usual way. Others might be surprised to hear that there is another "you"... already here! If and when you finally meet this other "you," there's simply no way to agree on who the so-called real version is. Your histories may be the same or they may be wildly divergent, but those little differences don't change the fact that you are who you say you are. Some islanders might even find themselves running into a much older or younger version of themselves. Duplicates and doppelgangers, you say? People who look and sound familiar but are just a little bit off? What strange anomalies have washed up from the ocean! On the other hand, maybe you’re not new here at all, or so you think. You’ve definitely been on this Island for months already. You can't exactly remember what you were doing here before, but you have the modest home and personal effects to prove that you existed. You’ve always been someone who greets new arrivals at the shore. You know very well how things work on the island, and how many of the buildings are abandoned and in dire need of repair. You know that beyond the city lingers a thick fog that obscures much of the wilderness from view. Wander too far into this fog, and you will find yourself mysteriously looping back to where you began, your memories of what you were doing and how you got there erased. You know all of this. You’ve already claimed a place to live in the now, whether a rundown apartment in the City, a tent on the beach, a bed in the barracks, or your own space at the House of Worship. You’re a veteran at this by now. Aren’t you? I. A WHOLE NEW YOU The fog has thickened off the shores of the Island and in the areas that have still been obscured. So thick that it looks not unlike the heavy clouds of the recent storm. But late into the night and early into the morning, the fog seems to encroach on the Nameless City even more, blinding and catching Islanders traveling through in areas normally free of its effects. Anyone who gets caught in the especially heavy mist might find themselves suffering from more than just the usual amnesia. The fog no longer only takes memories, but can also alter your memories... and you. You may forget your time on the Island. You may forget your life before. But you’ll remember something else. You’ll remember a life entirely different as if you lived it yourself: you are a merperson who has always lived here, in the waters around the Island. Those grand underwater cities look like ancient ruins to others, but to you? You still see them as beautiful and palatial as the day they were built. You are a Native whose memories are fuzzy, but you certainly remember living your entire life here in great happiness and luxury. And once you step out of the mist, you might even find yourself physically changed to match what you recall, with fins or tentacles and gills to allow you breathe beneath the waves. You might be completely transformed, or just enough to make life underwater as easy as it's ever been. Someone else attempting to free you of these delusions will find that the more they try to force you to remember your true life, the more real and convincing your undersea life begins to feel. You must embrace this new (old?) life, embrace this new you in all ways and live it to its fullest. Completing Auspicious Acts will help bring out glimpses, hints, flashes of memory and recognition that perhaps this is not who you once were, and allow you to return to your former self. But the longer you take to embrace this, the harder it might be to let go. Some of these changes could become permanent. II. LET XXX BE YOUR GUIDE Things have been strange, not just for the people of the Island, but the robots as well. The typically welcoming robots that offer their assistance in guiding new arrivals or encouraging Islanders to visit the various locations seem to be scarce. There are fewer of them running around the entertainment district and other establishments. To ensure that new arrivals continue to have a pleasant Island experience, robots will be recruiting Islanders as mentors and guides: mentor guides, if you will! Volunteers will lead other Islanders around the Island as a means of helping them become better acquainted with the locations available here for your fun and entertainment, and they will be rewarded with credits for their hard work. Guides and sightseers alike could be someone fresh and new to the Island, someone who insists they’ve been here for years, or even someone that a robot randomly dragged off the street. Mentor guides will all receive a very form-fitting and revealing uniform - no two are the same! - and, of course, a glossy paper map of all of the available sights on the Island. The pictures are big and detailed, and cute sex toy icons point out various key sights such as the recreation center, the bath house, and the library. There are even suggestions for which Auspicious Acts are the best for each location! Strangely, none of the maps list the same suggestions, so each map encourages its own unique experience. Mentees will also find that their mentor’s voice is very appealing. So appealing that just listening to them speak is enough to get you feeling some kind of way. The more they talk, the more of a reaction you have. Your body begins to burn or itch and it’s very hard to pay attention to their words when thoughts about all the things you could be doing to them instead keep coming to your mind. The only way to relieve these thoughts might be to make your mentor stop talking altogether, or follow through with some of those helpful map suggestions. Maybe you need them to mentor you in more ways than one? III. SITCHES GET GLITCHES You’re walking down the road, or in your own home, or visiting a friend and suddenly something happens out of the corner of your eye. There’s a soft pfzzzzzzt and the feel of static on the skin. You turn and realize that the wall is suddenly gone. Or, maybe the glass in a store window disappeared. Perhaps someone’s clothes just vanished off of them in the middle of the street, or the chair you were sitting in at the cafe suddenly poofs right from under you. It’s as if the world around them is malfunctioning - little glitches that can last for seconds, hours, or even days before returning to normal on their own. Nothing that could seriously harm someone, but enough to be quite inconvenient. At least completing an Auspicious Act in the affected area or with the affected person seems to put it to rights immediately. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop these glitches from happening again. You may be concerned, and the robots understand, but if asked they will insist it’s just the world adjusting as the Augur welcomes so many new people! Nothing to be worried about, obviously. It will take time for fluctuating energy levels to adjust, that’s all. Some robots might even say it’s the perfect time to enjoy having so few barriers between you. Embrace the open nature of the Island and share yourself and your home with others. Walls are only meant for keeping out what you could be letting in! OOC Notes:Enjoy a mini Fourth Wall event, Islanders! As such, this test drive meme is open for anyone to create top levels, not just prospective players. Current player characters, characters you want to play in the setting but can't app full-time, drive-by castmates, duplicates, canon AUs, characters that normally would not be allowed such as fandom AUs and genderswaps (not including characters under 15), formerly dropped characters, etc. are all encouraged to come in and play! As all other test drive memes, this one will be game canon. Characters who fourth wall but do not app will disappear after a few days to a week, along with their home (if applicable) and all of their possessions. Please label your top levels as to whether you are test driving [TDM] or fourth walling [4W]. (Of course, you are allowed to change your mind! But our rules regarding appable characters will still apply.) Since auspicious acts are an integral part of this event, potential and current players can swap one Auspicious Act on their card for one of their choosing, if needed for any of the prompts. As usual, prospective players can use an Act and swap it onto their card if they choose to app into the game. If you have any questions, please ask them below. N A V I G A T I O N |
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But she knows his voice immediately and her heart lurches into her throat as she turns around. ]
Hubert--
[ She blinks once -- twice -- as though she expects the image of him to dissipate. After so long she is not surprised to see others from Fódlan here, but it has been over a year now and not once has the sea brought her Hubert.
She wants to ask him a dozen questions, needs to find out when he came from, has to make certain he knows to curb his instincts, and instead she finds herself doing something much less appropriate. Hopefully he will overlook the moment of weakness because she's stepping toward him with all the stiffness of a statue come to life and before she knows it her face presses into his chest, her arms slipped around his middle. It was not so long ago that she told Dimitri she isn't certain she can cry any more but now she feels a distinct prickle behind her eyelids.
Just give her a moment. Just one. Then she'll slip the mask back on to the best of her ability. ]
It's been so long.
[ He smells like home. ]
bats eyelashes
He was wrong.
He knows her as soon as she starts to turn, and for a moment he feels completely knocked off his feet (even with what she's wearing, even with the changes to her hair, how could he ever not recognize her?), but he pulls himself together before his surprise can show too evidently on his face. Even though, she probably knows, probably the only person who can catch the shift in his expression.]
Lady Edelgard-
[But before he can say more, her arms are around him, her face against his chest, and he feels the ice his heart is frozen in crack, like only Edelgard can make it.
This is... new. Hubert is not one for physical affection, certainly not for hugging. But Edelgard... she feels so warm against him, so soft despite all the hard edges she must have to walk her path.
He can't hope to respond adequately. He would do anything for his lady, but comfort is one area where he knows he falls dreadfully short.
Still, he tries, one arm raising to press her closer to his chest, just for a moment.]
...I fear it has been longer for you than me. [Because he just saw her, hours ago, but she acts like it's been ages.] I'm sorry to have left you alone, Lady Edelgard.
no subject
She is more appreciative than she can say that he submits to the embrace and offers his own one-armed comfort. He clearly realizes that he is not the Edelgard that he left behind, and immediately the thought makes her wish that she hadn't put him in such an awkward position... but from a purely selfish point of view she can't regret it. At times she has thought it best for everyone, including himself, that Hubert has never been brought here, but he has been her most constant companion for so long and she has missed him dreadfully.
It's only after she steps back that she offers a mild admonishment: ]
Hubert, please, it is hardly your fault that these forces capable of plucking us out of our own worlds have not operated on a timeline more convenient for us.
[ But can she expect any other reaction from someone who as a boy eluded his father's men for days while trying to follow her to Faerghus? ]
But come: walk with me-- [ She was supposed to be a guide and she can still do her job. She will simply be giving a more personal tour than she expected. ] --and I will show you around while we catch up. What did you last experience at home?