fellmemes | Test Drive #1

Welcome to the August test drive—our first in

fellden! We're so excited to have you with us.

A few things of note:

✦ Test drive threads can be considered game-canon if you choose. They're essentially in a shared dreamscape and take place between your character leaving their world, and arriving in the audience hall with their faction leader.
✦ Reserves are open and will continue to be until 11:59 PM UTC on Tuesday, August 20th; they are not necessary to apply! They're valid for the first four days of the application cycle.
✦ Applications will open at 12:01 AM UTC on the 21st, and remain open until 11:59 PM UTC on the 27th. The IC & OOC intro logs will be posted two days later.
✦ Questions? We have a FAQ that's chock full of good information! If they are test drive specific, we have a top level thread below that allows for OOC questions to be posted.
✦ The network is available to use! No matter where your character is, their compass either arrived on their person or available in the Gods Wood. Please feel free to include a network post in your top-levels! Once opened, the compass will display instructions on use, such as using voice-commands to activate it. (Apologies for missing including this on the initial test drive!)

All set?

Perfect! Welcome to Fellden.

AS THE MOON RISES.
You’ll find yourself just outside the Temple doors, which will be locked if you try to open them. A little rude, keeping you out after bringing you all this way. The thing is, you can hear a lot of commotion in the distance, and smoke rising from the center of a district; you may want to check that out. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!

Except the smoke is not at all something to be concerned over. Instead, people are gathered near a large bonfire in the decorated city square, drinking and carousing, singing songs of celebration; Moon saviors have arrived! War winners! The residents of the city laugh and sing and dance in pairs throughout the square, grateful for those who have come to aid them. Their merriment doesn’t dwindle as the sun begins to set on the horizon, twin moons rising in its place.

When you (and other new arrivals) are finally noticed by the revelers, do not expect to be left alone! Flower crowns will be deposited upon your heads, food and drink placed into your hands, while live musicians play loud enough for the dead to hear. You’ll be invited to dance, to drinking games, and offered food and flowers and other items of value. Some may cry when they look into your face, thanking you for becoming their champions during this long and exhaustive war.

Hopefully you’re here to enjoy the festivities. Sneaking off is just fine, too, but don’t expect to be let go of quietly; the people of the Moon Temple are so happy to see you! Enjoy the celebration while it lasts long into the night.

THE SETTING STARS.
Unlike the Temple, your arrival to the Court of Stars is met with a rather somber greeting, however expressions are relieved, despite any emotional guard that may be up.

A gathering of knights, weary from a skirmish along the border they're returning from, pat you on the back and lead you through an open air courtyard. All the gathered people of the Emperor's Court look up from their tasks, giving the passing Otherworlders a knowing nod. There's gratitude in their eyes, but that's all the welcome you'll receive: your presence is appreciated, but growing an attachment is another heartache for those that care so deeply for their faction fellows. The silence is broken when a high-ranking member of the guard gives the proclamation: "Our heroes have arrived! Court defenders, world travelers! Help has come from the far lands to aid us in our battles for our Emperor, for all of Fellden!"

From there, the few knights that have not yet departed will lead you through the Court's castle, a brief tour of the most important areas (dining hall, housing wing, guard barracks, and the throne room) is given before they instruct you to rest, because the real excitement begins when the sun falls behind the horizon.

Left to drift, you can explore the castle, or venture out to the surrounding city as it prepares for the celebration the Starfolk have in store for the returned soldiers and, now, the new arrivals. You'll be invited to the party that spreads across the entire Court city, drawn into large circle dances, and will find that the locals become more at ease and welcoming the longer you spend with them.

WELCOME TO THE GODS WOOD.
Between one blink and the next, your eyesight has seemingly been stolen from you. Or, perhaps it’s more likely that something is covering your eyes? Yes, that’s definitely a blindfold tied around the back of your head, although quite the mystery as to how it came to be there. You vaguely remember a wolf that may or may not have spoken to you, but the blindfold is certainly a new addition to the situation.

Once removed, you’ll find yourself in the thick of the woods, with no path or directional indicators in sight. The moon is obscured by the tree line, and the stars above do nothing to light your path; seems like removing the blindfold wasn’t as helpful as you may have thought. As your eyes adjust to the darkness, it’s obvious that you are not alone in this; other people are removing their blindfolds just as you are, staring blearily into the dark of the forest with a similar lack of understanding to how they came to be here.

Thankfully, you’ll find some nearby travel packs with self-lighting torches, a few rations, and your faction-provided communicator. The compass, unfortunately, remains broken, which means you’ll have to find your way out of the woods without it. Hopefully your sense of direction is passable!

Whether you team up with others, or go your separate way is entirely up to you, but you must find your way out, and the fog rolling in is not going to be of any assistance. This is a Dropping, and the Gods Wood is not kind to loiterers.

DRAWN TO THE COASTLINE.
Needing an escape from the hectic energy that greeted you in your faction, an empathetic bystander pointed you in the direction of a nearby transport mirror, which you either stepped into without stating a destination, or didn't give one with enough clarity for the mirror to understand. Spitting you out on the beach just outside Kyst, it doesn't seem keen to let you back the way you came; temperamental teleportation magic.

As the largest trade city in all of Fellden, there is no shortage of things to do here! Shopping with what coin was hoisted upon you before your departure, mapping out the city itself to memorize the in's and out's, enjoying a drink on the house at a local tavern where you can get into a mean game of cards with some faction soldiers, or even meeting someone else that seems to have stumbled into this world just as you did. Perhaps you're more keen to the outdoors, rather than the bustle of a large city, wandering away from the city just far enough to find a stretch of pristine beach and inviting crystal clear waters of the ocean; the salty air fills your lungs while the rays of the midday sun are almost blinding against the swath of bright white sand that meets the crashing waves.

Regardless of what you decide to do, or where you end up, you're in the closest thing to No Man's Land you can get; enjoy your time fraternizing with the enemy, make some new friends in this neutral land, or stick with those from your own faction to get a lay of the land.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I: The Setting Stars

Togusa is unsettled, and unsteady on his feet, reaching out a hand for a support that is not there. Just an instant ago, he had been.. running, evacuating, and there had been an explosion?

He looks down at himself, and the black riot gear armor he is wearing has been blasted, shredded in some areas. He parts the plates, tossing aside shards of the material, until a hand touches his side. No blood. Bit of a bruise, but no damage. The armor did its job. But it's in no condition to do it again.

He stands, with his brow wrinkled in tight concentration for a few seconds, his eyes squinting and relaxing at nothing. It is hard to tell what he is doing, but it is clear that frustration grows on his face.

"Major," he finally says out loud, impatient. When he gets no response, his face noticeably pales. "..Nothing."

Togusa finally focuses on the nearest person. "Excuse me. Do you have a connection here? I'm not even getting a try for a signal." A hand goes to his head, as if checking to see if his head got hit, just as he had with his side.

II: Drawn To The Coastline

While Togusa still doesn't understand, he is at least accepting of the situation at this point. Or maybe that bomb did get him, and this is all some extended coma dream.

Weird. He didn't dream last time.

The beach, at least, will give him the kind of quiet to clear his head. The shredded armor is gone, leaving Togusa just in a black shirt and pants, combat boots. He stands close to the water, marveling at the sight in front of him, and letting his thoughts drift outside of himself for a time. Drinking in a view so alien to him is a good way to get the message through to himself. This is real, and he has to move forwards with whatever is expected of him next.

"It's so.. clean here. The air, the water. It's more natural than anything back home." He is comparing this to Japan's attempts to clean up their own coastline after so many wars have ravaged the world. No matter how clean it gets, the world is forever changed, and can't go back to something this pristine.

Unfortunately, the person he's talking to is a fantasy world OC. As such, Cordy just stares blankly at Togusa as he talks. Connection? Signal? She's really got no idea what he's talking about. She has a vague idea about connection, but how the heck would this guy know she's a druid?

Cordy does not realize that the fact that she looks like she's slept in the dirt and has some twigs and leaves sticking out of her hair is a fairly obvious sign that she's some sort of grody earthy hippie type.

"I dunno man," Cordy answers, in a low, sort of raspy tone of voice. Shrugs! "I'd have to find a tree to actually check this shit."

The 'hippie type' doesn't exactly exist in Togusa's home, so the dirt and plant remnants signal poverty or homelessness more so than a connection to the earth. Her appearance makes Togusa hesitate, and then briefly glance at the people who supposedly know what's going on here.

His tone turns apologetic. "Sorry, I didn't even think to ask if you were wired. Are you all right?" He glances her over for injuries, or anything that would show how she got in such a state.

Togusa tries again, and there is not even the hum of static over the communicator. Nothing. Maybe he really is alone.

Edited 2019-08-15 16:02 (UTC)

She's not injured. She's dirty as hell, a little bit scarred up, and has what looks like it might be a bird tattoo on her arm underneath that dirt, but she doesn't seem injured or hurt.

She is a little annoyed, though. At least give her a heads up before pulling this shit, c'mon higher powers.

"Feeling fine. Confused as all hell but like, that's just internal stuff, not anything you'd need to worry about." And then, because he asked and occasionally she has moments of remembering things like 'being a compassionate person' exists, "What about you?"

This merriment is a shroud, the thin sort that's draped over the dead. When only threadbare cloth covers corpses, a faint ray of light is enough to illuminate their sallow faces. Takasugi spots a similar visage through the milling locals and outlanders alike.

He approaches, not taking the time to appraise the man's injuries in detail. He's battered, and talking to someone who isn't here-

Irrevocably lost.

"Just where are you trying to connect?" Takasugi speaks like he's teetering on a knife's edge between laughter and contempt.

Misaki had really come to the beach for some quiet. Being whisked away from her (mostly) normal life as a high school girl and plunged into a war is something she’s still processing. Ultimately, after all that opening ceremony fuss, all she wanted was to go and lie on the beach. Not even on a towel or anything. Just straight up lying down in the sand.

But the voice nearby tugs at her attention and she sits up, brushing sand from her hair. She hadn’t actually looked that closely at the landscaping here, but...he’s right. It’s almost weirdly natural.

“Now that you mention it...yeah, actually.” Misaki looks down the water to the horizon with a slight frown on her face. It’s so...picturesque. “I didn’t think about it until just now, but I don’t think I’ve seen a single piece of trash on this beach.”

Test Drive #1

Togusa | Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

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