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polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polymeme2021-10-15 03:00 pm
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TDM #4

POLYMYTHOS: TEST DRIVE MEME

TEST DRIVE MEME


Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The island is a Winter Wonderland. Your boat docks alongside a wharf that leads you to a glimmering, snow covered land - good thing there’s a little wooden building right at the end of the wharf where you can grab some boots and a warm coat!

Beyond the icy beach among the snowy hills is nestled a little village that makes every postcard you’ve ever seen look like garbage. It’s so quaint! Strings of twinkling lights are strung up between scalloped roofs and fresh evergreen boughs and wreaths hang from doors and old fashioned lamposts.

There is a little outdoor market selling food and drinks - you can get some hot cocoa, or mulled wine. If you’re cold, you can stay in one of two cozy inns free of charge. How delightful!

Notes:
1. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

2. These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.

3. Any food is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities.

4. These residents of the village are normal humans. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.

5. Have fun!



Ⅱ. TOY STORY
The villagers are happy to lend you snowshoes and skis if you grow bored of their little village. They tell you that you can head north or east, but that you shouldn’t go west toward the mountains. That way is too dangerous! (South just takes you back to the ocean.) No matter what direction you choose, it’s best to go with a buddy. You wouldn’t want to get stranded all alone in the snow alone, would you?

If you choose to go to the east you’ll find that you are eventually surrounded by huge chunks of ice that glow a faint pinkish colour. Keep moving into this strange valley and you’ll find yourself surrounded by dozens and dozens of oversized gift boxes.

God, don’t you just love presents?

Whether it’s because you assume they’re all for you or because you’re almost positive you heard something moving inside one of those giant boxes, you untie a bow and take the lid off one of them.

The cheerfully decorated box shivers and shakes, and then out leaps a toy. Not just any toy, either: your toy. Your favourite from when you were a child. It’s almost as big as you are, with a gift tag around its neck that has your name on it and the motto “Introduce me!” Your old favourite toy has also gained the ability to move independently. And move it will, following you around like a shadow. It refuses to leave, actually.

The longer you ignore it the more aggressive it starts to become. Turns out a six foot teddy bear can clock you pretty good, and god forbid you’re being followed by a human sized GI Joe. Leave it long enough and your childhood friend will try to kill you.

Maybe if you explain what the hell this toy is to your companion it’ll leave you alone?

Notes:
1. The toy will stop following or trying to fight your character once they explain to someone why it was important to them.

2. The ‘toy’ can be anything - if all your character ever had to play with was a block of wood, they will be tailed by a block of wood.

3. If your character was never a child, you can instead choose some sort of frivolous object they loved at any age. The idea is to share a moment of imagination or play from their past.



Ⅲ. LIGHTS IN THE SKY
Head north with your skis or snowshoes and you’ll find yourself moving easily over sparkling snow past towering evergreen trees. The air is redolent with their smell and the crisp, clear air. Birds sing and there is a general air of deep peacefulness.


The trees open up and you find yourself in an open area empty save for a cute little shack. Inside there’s a woodpile, matches, and a wood stove. Best to use the first two inside the latter, no? Unless arson is your jam. There are also some surprisingly comfortable wooden rockers. The perfect place to sit a while as the sun fades from the sky; night comes early here this time of year.

Stay even longer and you’ll see something even more beautiful: shifting waves of light dancing across the sky.

Aurora borealis. At this time of year at this time of day in this part of the country localized entirely within this part of the island?

Yes.

As you watch the northern lights, you will start to see figures up there, sketched in light. With a start you’ll also come to recognise at least one of them: it’s you. There’s no way your companion hasn’t also noticed the resemblance. This glowing facsimile of you is acting something out, and you’ll come to realise that it’s reenacting a time you took a lie way, WAY too far.

If you explain what the hell happened aloud, it will fade from the sky. Don’t? Well. It will just keep on repeating its little pantomime until dawn.

Notes:
1. The lie can be as serious or as stupid as you like.



Ⅳ. ABOMINMAL
CW: monsters, possible violence.
You never were the type to follow the rules, or maybe your sense of direction is just terrible; you go west. The terrain grows rougher, and soon enough there are huge snow covered stones jutting from the ground. There are boulders, too, which have apparently rolled down from the mountain you are now at the base of. Some of these have landed so that they are tumbled together, creating pockets almost like caves in between and beneath them.

You continue up the mountain a bit, and you become aware of the fact that you cannot hear or see any animals. No birds sing or flit by low over the ground, no curious squirrels or foxes poke their noses out to see what you’re doing.

Everything is still.

You’re just starting to think maybe you ought to turn back when something roars. The sound is a deep, resonating bass sound full of fury and you feel the snow beneath your feet shiver with it.

A huge, hulking shape is rushing down the mountain toward you. Vaguely simian and covered in white fur, it has fangs and claws and seems all too eager to use both of them on you.

Looks like you only have a few seconds to decide on a course of action.

Notes:
1. The Yeti is very fast, but if your character is on skis they may be able to get ahead of it. Oh, they took the snowshoes? Uh oh...

2. The Yeti is a flesh and blood creature. It is superhumanly strong, but it can be fought and killed.

3. Hopefully there’s just one. And hopefully all that noise doesn’t cause an avalanche…



Greetings, prospective Travelers! Welcome to the POLYMYTHOS test drive meme and thank you for your interest in our game! Our next application round will run from October 22 - October 29, 2021. We invite you to use this TDM to explore but one of many, many islands within the Endless Isles; use it as an opportunity to introduce and familiarize yourself with the game, form connections with other characters, and just have some fun. (Perhaps while also getting some solid samples together for your application!)

Use the prompts provided below as-is or feel free to write your own set within the environment detailed in each. You're even welcome to access the network via your character's ScryWatch. While there will be some inevitable changes, TDMs may count as game canon and some islands may be revisited in the future. Be mindful of your surroundings -- you never know how you and your fellow Travelers might affect this place in the long run.



Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

danserai: human (24)

[personal profile] danserai 2021-10-16 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ ahiru nervously laughs. ]

H-haha, me magic? That's crazy, I definitely can't do magic. Especially not sky magic! And I could never do magic this pretty, so it's definitely not me!
aeroga: (006)

[personal profile] aeroga 2021-10-16 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
Whoa, whoa — okay, okay! [ Sora shakes his head, putting his own hands up in defeat. ] So you can't do magic. I'm just asking because if you could, you'd be like, the only other person I've met here so far who can.

[ It's been a little hard finding common ground! ]

And maybe it'd explain the stuff in the sky.
danserai: human (19)

wow dw notifs plz!!

[personal profile] danserai 2021-10-16 07:20 am (UTC)(link)
T — The only other one . . . ?

[ what does that mean for her? she doesn't have magic, but her pendant was magic. does that mean the pendant could stop working? she needed that! ]

Are you looking for people with magic?
snowburned: ([not looking away])

[personal profile] snowburned 2021-10-17 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
No, the other idiot!

[What a stupid question. Not that she can afford to be choosy at the moment. She has a feeling she knows the answer even though he hasn't given her a straight one. It would be nice to thing his skills don't match his ridiculus, absolutely un-warrior-like exterior, though.]

With a weapon? Magic? How do you think?
snowburned: ([no shit sherlock])

[personal profile] snowburned 2021-10-17 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
Let's stick with 'no.'

[Honestly she feels for the girl. Being able to cover up embarrassment with a frosty facade is a valuable skill that apparently no one has ever taught her.]

Do you have any idea why the dancing lights look like you?
danserai: human (105)

[personal profile] danserai 2021-10-17 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ THE JIG IS UP. ]

N-No, they just appeared that way . . . To mock me, I guess . . .
snowburned: ([royalty by happenstance])

[personal profile] snowburned 2021-10-17 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
Well, that's rude.

[It's not like she has a better explanation.]

It's too bad you can't punch the sky.
danserai: human (20)

[personal profile] danserai 2021-10-17 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
Ehehe . . . or make it change shape.
snowburned: ([angel underneath])

[personal profile] snowburned 2021-10-17 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
If you were capable of that I expect it wouldn't be mocking you to start with.

The dancing isn't bad, honestly.

[She actually has no idea what good ballet should look like, it could totally be bad.]
danserai: human (02)

[personal profile] danserai 2021-10-17 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
That's really all my friend, Rue. She's so good at ballet that it makes my dancing look good too.

But my dancing is really bad . . .
snowburned: ([swordy girl])

[personal profile] snowburned 2021-10-17 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
Wait, so this really happened?

[Huh]
danserai: human (98)

[personal profile] danserai 2021-10-17 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
Mmm, a few weeks ago.

[ so much has changed since then. rue has changed since then. even though ahiru firmly believes rue is still there, buried under kraehe's possessiveness, it has been hard. ]

It happened in my ballet class.
snowburned: ([royalty by happenstance])

[personal profile] snowburned 2021-10-17 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
I call that an unforgivably invasive display, then. You were in class. You were learning. You can't be expected to get everything right the first try.
danserai: human (14)

[personal profile] danserai 2021-10-17 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, it's fine. In and out of class, my dancing is terrible . . .
escutcheon: (♕ 35)

Cousland | Dragon Age

[personal profile] escutcheon 2021-10-17 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
♜ ONE: ARRIVAL
[ Well now! Isn't this a cosy little spot? How nice.

In contrast to the nervous mass of strangers still packed like sardines on the wharf behind her, Cousland's busy trying to hop around awkwardly on one leg while pulling a boot on, practically giving herself whiplash from trying to take in the grandeur of the snowy town all at once.
How fascinating! The odd architecture, the conspicuous absence of medieval sanitation standards (or let's face it, the lack thereof)... this isn't a remote region of the Frostbacks, that's for certain. Not a damned nug in sight.

But you know what is in plain sight?
Food. And drink. Wine specifically, which has her beelining through the knee deep drifts in her borrowed boots and scant cloak like a miniature red snowplow as if the cold is nothing but an afterthought, probably showering some unfortunate bystanders in her haste to "fortify herself".

STAND ASIDE, PEASANTS. This Dog Lord demands the liquor tithe posthaste! ]


One wine over here, good ser! [ Does she have coin to pay for it? Probably not. But doesn't the wolfish grin on her face scream "just trust me bro I'll pay you back next week"? Such sparkling charm. Such gallantry. Never you mind the fact this particular knight in shining armour is decidedly less shiny than she'd prefer, seeing as her usual wardrobe seems to have grown legs and wandered off when she wasn't looking.
But I digress. Cousland leans against the food stand with an elbow - mysteriously weaseling her way to the front of the line entirely by coincidence of course - and cranks up the winning smile several more magnitudes. ]
Maker, you can never tell how long sunshine lasts with this blasted weather, eh?

Better make that two cups. Just in case.

♜ TWO: TOY STORY
[ Alas, Cousland's greed has landed her in yet another predicament entirely of her own choosing.

Practical as Fereldan craftsmen are, she's rather regretting not liking a frail, frilly thing like the lacy toys found in Orlais... instead, she's shimmied up a tree in distinctly undignified fashion to get away from her beloved childhood toy - an ivory dog with a built in lever for working the jaws.
Great fun to make it "bite" unsuspecting people as a wee hellion. Now, she's not so sure. ]


Some friend you are. [ Cousland scolds the capering creature below, the mouth opening and closing with hollow 'click's and 'clack's in silent (indignant?) barks. Though it has long legs, the tree is just tall enough to keep her out of reach. ] I'm not apologizing for the family mabari getting his teeth in you, so forget it!

♜ THREE: LIGHTS IN THE SKY
[ Huh. Look at that. A sky tribute, all to her?

Sauntering on up next to whomever happens to be observing the same phenomenon, Cousland eyes the light show above skeptically for a moment or two, wrapping herself more snugly into the blanket she's dragged with her from the log cabin.
The scene etched in the shimmering aurora isn't Cousland as she is now, but as a child - pointing at another childlike figure in a very accusatory manner while a larger adult looks on.

After a brief span to study in silence, she remarks offhandedly: ]


As flattering as this attention is, that's a horrendously dull image to be looking at all night. Couldn't they have livened it up a bit?

♜ FOUR: WILDCARD
[ Choose your own prompt! ]
Edited 2021-10-17 07:03 (UTC)
taintedpeony: (pic#15159969)

Jin Guangyao | Mo Dao Zu Shi (cw:spoilers for MDZS and canon typical violence)

[personal profile] taintedpeony 2021-10-17 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
❁ i Arrival: This quaint winter village was very different than the hot humid temple in Yumeng that Jin Guangyao has last been in. He couldn't question too hard how he had come here to begin here. The last memory he had was being lifted by a fierce corpse. He was dying in any case and at least here he had the choice to face his own death. In the end, he would have died screaming that he did not fear the person he was afraid of the most. It felt like in this he had his power back in a world that made him feel powerless.

If this was an afterlife it was far more beautiful than anything he had deserved.

This place was nothing like any of the paintings he had seen, nor like the snows in Gusu. He shivered visibly in the simple light robes he was given when he arrived. He had always run a bit on the colder side. His teeth were chattering. He moved towards a building at the end of the wharf after asking a townsperson where he might procure something warm.

Now fully equipped with a yellow puffy coat, new boots, and a black woolen hat that kept his ears nice and warm he was ready to explore.

He bought a cup of something called a hot chocolate and sat at a small table watching people pass by. The chocolate was delicious in a way he had never tasted before. He was thoroughly impressed by it

"Are you new here as well?

You really must try this Chocolate. It is sweeter than even the sweetest spun candy I've had." he was usually pretty good at small talk. However, some of his grace was broken by the line of whipped cream on his upper lip.

❁ ii. Toy story: (cw: prostitution mention)

Jin Guangyao's first thought on seeing the movement from one of the boxes was that it was surely an animal of some sort trapped within it. When he opened it out popped out a a brightly painted wooden ram. She was bigger than him! And she shook her head out before hopping around excitedly.

A-Yao!!! Do you remember me? We played together for so long. I missed you!

All Jing Guangyao could do was make a silent choking noise. This was too strange. His mother had saved up and bought her for him for his birthday, he was a small skinny three-year-old child, hiding in the dusty corners of the brothel his mother worked and lived in keeping quiet while his mother saw the strange uncles who were her friends. They were all very different but he knew he had to be very very quiet.

He had named her Yulan after his mother's favorite flowers.

Did you forget? You never forget aaaaannnnnyyything Meng Yao!

He looked to his companion, his eyes wide.

"Do you know what is happening?"

❁ iii. Lights in the sky:

After that long cold trek in the snow, sitting with a fire on some wooden rocker with the sky changing colors was something that Jin Guangyao needed. The company of his companion was nice as well, the sky and lights were like nothing he had ever seen.

He was mesmerized by the shapes that danced in the sky. It was like what he had thought cultivation was when he was a child. How odd one of the shapes resembled him. Not him now...But of him when he was eighteen when he carried a different name and was just a soldier in his father's sect, toiling in a hopeless struggle to get recognized. His father would only see him if he had the credentials and his superior commander was a cruel man who stole his work and mocked his mother.

The scene was of the youth stabbing him with a cold smile. A large man came on to the scene and terrified the youth fell upon the ground claiming that it was in anger. The larger man was unfazed and immovable.

This was his first kill. The scene was not over but he was silent.
Edited 2021-10-17 07:33 (UTC)
aeroga: (003)

noooooo why must dw be this way

[personal profile] aeroga 2021-10-17 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I was looking for my friends and they can all use magic. So I thought —

[ Sora looks a little deflated. ]

I dunno, I thought if I found people with magic, I'd find them too. You know?
danserai: human (102)

cursed!!

[personal profile] danserai 2021-10-17 07:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ oh. she wished she could help him. but revealing her power would be unwise. she still had to help mytho and he needed her more than ever to find those heart shards.

still, that doesn't mean she's helpless. ]


Maybe we just need to ask around! Explore. I'm sure someone with magic is around!
taintedpeony: (pic#14749111)

1. Omg this is one of my fav games!!!!

[personal profile] taintedpeony 2021-10-17 07:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Jin Guangyao was by no means a heavy man. He was short and slight in build. So when bumping into the other man just sent him flying like that he couldn't help but gasp out in shock. He rushed over to the other man to make certain he wasn't hurt.]

How odd...

[There was something very strange about him though he would have to inspect further. he leaned forward to touch him to make certain he was okay.]
mewnifestos: (Default)

two!

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-10-17 08:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The last thing Anders was expecting to find, in his wandering, was an eerie little valley full of glowing pink ice and giant, ominous gift-wrapped boxes. The second to last was the nagging certainty there's something here other than him. It's been months since he felt that familiar pull, and it drags him away from the other oddities of his surroundings (probably saving him a toy-shaped pursuer of his own, he's not exactly known for resisting curiosity - or temptation).

That strange chattering sound is alarming, at first, but the closer he draws, the clearer a picture he gets of the bizarre little scene, and the less he sees any reason for alarm at all. ]


Well, imagine my relief! You're no darkspawn at all, are you?

[ At least not so far as he can see, still keeping a safe distance, as he peers around one of those large, colorfully wrapped boxes. It might be a toy dog, but it's not exactly small. And even if it doesn't seem interested in anything other than its present quarry, he's not risking it, yet. ]

Need a hand?
illicitly: (adult - 6)

Arrival!

[personal profile] illicitly 2021-10-17 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[Nie Huaisang had been in the process of working out a strategy to obtain some of that mulled wine himself without any money and precipitation on the ground than he's ever seen in his life when an unfamiliar redhead blazes through the snow toward the vendor he'd been eyeing. Seizing the opportunity, he simply follows in her footsteps, taking advantage of the newly formed trail to his desired destination. He offers a flustered, nervous smile and placating hand gesture to anyone in the line who seems overly annoyed as if he's merely trying to catch up to an overzealous companion as he stealthily maneuvers his way to the front of the line himself.]

Two cups! Definitely two cups! And those meat buns over there, too, please! They smell so delicious! I'm starving!

[Huaisang calls out breathlessly to the vendor as he darts forward to stand to the other side of the woman. There's no time to speak beforehand and it's risky to just jump straight into a ploy for food and drink with a total stranger but her robe and satchel look similar to his own so maybe she's in similar straits? If a big enough scene can be made, the vendor might be overwhelmed enough to give away more than just wine.

He turns to the redhead.]


Don't you think they look mouth-watering, too?
Edited 2021-10-17 21:21 (UTC)
illicitly: (adult - 1)

lights!

[personal profile] illicitly 2021-10-17 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Nie Huaisang doesn't know what possessed him to come out in the snow again. He'd been quite comfortable in his free room at the inn, bundled up in warm blankets with mulled wine. Perhaps it was the claims that the lights in the north were really rather beautiful that successfully managed to lure him back into the great outdoors. Regardless, he's out in the snow clad in selecting a long, fur-trimmed coat and matching boots, cheeks ruddy with cold.

Much of this place has been unfamiliar so it's quite startling to look to the sky and see a familiar face in it, although younger than he's been accustomed to seeing it. Huaisang finds himself scanning his surroundings, freezing when he recognizes Jin Guangyao. The words of warning the Ferryman had spoken drift through his mind. Speaking of the past to others is taboo, interfering with one another's journeys is forbidden. He twists a long strand of his hair nervously around a gloved finger. He doesn't know what the consequences of speaking out against Jin Guangyao would be but he's not in any hurry to find out either.

So he approaches cautiously, feet crunching on the snow to make noise but doesn't speak at all. Not until he has more of a sense of who he's dealing with.
Edited 2021-10-17 22:38 (UTC)
taintedpeony: Made by YilingIcons@tumblr (pic#14746103)

cw: murder

[personal profile] taintedpeony 2021-10-17 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Was that his first step to the path he had treaded on alone for so long? The one where Nie Mingjue began to hate him? Jin Guangyao was so tired and so very angry at the time. Nie Mingjue's letter did nothing at the end of it. Jin Guangshan had refused to even see him. However, he had overheard that the only way his father would recognize him was if he had brought Wen Ruohan's head back to him. Killing his commander was to buy him entry with the Wens. He had to admit shoving the Wen sword deep into the man's chest felt good. Lashing out a lifetime of anger and resentment.

The timing of Nie Mingjue's arrival was unfortunate.

The figure was on his knees begging for mercy, trying to explain. He wanted to send him to his father for justice and he knew it was a death sentence. His father would have loved an opportunity to dispose of an inconvenient bastard. One who apparently didn't know his place which was under the boots of everyone else.

Jin Guangyao pulled the furlined hood of his coat up around him, pulling his knees up on the rocking chair. He was so young back then, so desperate to fulfill his mother's wish.

It took him a while to actually notice he was no longer alone.

Ah.

"I don't expect to see you again so soon." his breath came out in a puff

"Did you want to sit down? I managed to get the stove on and it is warmer here than where you are." his voice was sad and resigned. He sounded tired more than anything else.
illicitly: (adult - 11)

[personal profile] illicitly 2021-10-17 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Nie Huaisang hesitates briefly.

He's alone and vulnerable here, encumbered by the frost-caked snowshoes on his feet. He stalls before answering, taking a couple of minutes to shake the snow free as he ponders the offer. Out here, no one could hear either of them scream for help. But even if Huaisang had come armed, he wouldn't have been able to defend himself against a war veteran capable of besting Jiang Cheng in combat. He doubts he's safe here but is he any safer mingling with the other Travelers? At least, he knows what Jin Guangyao is capable of.

"Sure," he says finally stepping onto the porch and taking a seat in one of the rockers.

It's more comfortable than it looked. He turns his gaze back to the light show playing out in the sky. Of course, he recognizes his own brother's visage in the heavens.

"I didn't expect to see you again either."

The Coffin-Sealing Ceremony Nie Huaisang had organized and overseen should have been the end of it, his brother and his killer on the porch firmly sealed away.

"The villagers were right. The northern lights are a spectacular sight to see."
taintedpeony: Made by YilingIcons@tumblr (pic#14746091)

[personal profile] taintedpeony 2021-10-17 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Even if he did attack Nie Huaisang, kill him as some sort of revenge for orchestrating his own death, what would even be the point of it. He was dead already. The pain was already there embedded deep in his gut. All it would go was piss of whatever forces controlled things in this bizarre afterlife? And the familiar face, even of his enemy was still better than the thousands of unfamiliar ones. At least he now knows what Huaisang was.

And he was tired. He rocked himself soothingly as he watched, listening as the other man settled in.

"Did you die? You do not look that much older if you did." he looked the same as he did when he saw him last, behind Lan Xichen. His eyes moved back to the lights.

The youth stabbed himself through, the larger man rushing to spread spiritual energy into him only to have his meridians blocked. The youth gave a deep bow, and ran, clutching his own wound to the stunned shock of the older man. The scene looped.

"Not a show I was expecting to see. It is strange seeing this play out as a spectator, however." he gave another soft sigh.

"I do not see the point in it. What use is showing me something I remember already?"

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