Test Drive #1

[felldenmods]

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.

Comments

[thescarletspeedster]

"It doesn't exist in my world," Barry tells him. "Or if it does, it's really well hidden. I've seen extraordinary things, but all of them could be explained by science." He darts forward, checking a tree for moss and beaming when he finds some.

"This way is definitely north!" As quick as it comes, his smile dims. "I guess we can hope the Court of Stars is this way." If possible, his expression dims even more. "Did you get conscripted as a Moon person or whatever? Either way, I'm not going to try to fight you."

[bestdressed]

"But do we want to travel north?" Dorian wonders with some concern. "I suppose any direction works, when we've no idea where we are." So long as they aren't crossing their own path again and getting even more lost. But his companion seems to have that well in hand.

It's remarkable how quickly he can go from grinning to morose, though. He has a nice smile, nice enough that Dorian feels a little less optimistic himself when it fades. "Stars for me as well," he assures. "Though I've met a few from the Moon Temple. It's difficult to say why we were drawn to one or the other, and I certainly have no intention of fighting anyone either, especially when none of us really know why." He pauses for a moment. Perhaps what's needed on all sides is a little more familiarity. A smile crosses his lips, small, but not tentative. "My name is Dorian. You are?"

[thescarletspeedster]

"Oh! I'm Barry." Not thinking that their manner of greeting might be different, Barry immediately extends his hand. "Barry Allen. From Earth." Which is something he's never had to specify before. "I'm a forensic scientist, but recently I got these powers that could get us out of here in no time. I guess they're not working for the same reason your magic isn't."

Barry curls his arms around his own middle. He's been through a lot, but he's never been alone before. Even when his mother died and his father was taken away, he'd had Joe, he'd had Iris. Now he has no one, and he can barely even defend himself. "Why make us powerless if they expect us to fight?"

[bestdressed]

Barry Allen from Earth. Charming. Dorian's smile warms, and he's intuitive enough to have an idea of what to do with Barry's unfamiliar greeting. He extends his free hand as well, but he doesn't shake. His touch is light and fleeting, a brush of fingers around Barry's before he draws back again.

Intuition doesn't tell him what a forensic scientist is, but he imagines they'll have plenty of time for that, if they're to be wandering the forest together for the foreseeable future.

"To be sure we'll fight for them rather than against them, I imagine," Dorian sighs. It seems the most logical conclusion, even if it isn't one he likes. "Or perhaps my magic and your powers alike simply aren't compatible with the magic of this world." He'd almost prefer the former, actually.

[thescarletspeedster]

It isn't quite a shake, and a small part of Barry thrills to realize that this Dorian's way of greeting isn't his own. Whatever else happens to them, the idea of learning about so many other cultures at once is thrilling, and Barry lets that buoy him through the sadder part of their conversation.

"Maybe," he says, lifting his hand. He focuses, and sparks fly over his fingertips, but the usual surge of power never comes. It's as if the speed force is trapped behind a veil - he can see it, but the veil itself is made of iron and he can't reach through.

"Or we could focus on the civilians caught in the middle of all of this," he says. "I've never lived through war, but I can't imagine that they asked for this conflict anymore than we did. People in power don't care how the people beneath them suffer."

[bestdressed]

Dorian's eyes practically light up at the play of sparks over Barry's hand. He can't help but wonder if his power is magical in nature--but then, he'd mentioned nothing of the sort. It makes him desperately curious.

"Most of them don't, that's true enough." Dorian agrees, and makes himself begin walking again. The torch is growing heavier as he holds it up, but he'll manage. "I have lived through war," he says, can't help but seem grim. It isn't the conflict with Corypheus he thinks of, but the Orlesian civil war that had come to a head at that time, only solved through Gaspard's execution--and through their efforts on the ground in the Exalted Plains and the Dales. "I've seen it on the front lines, so brutal and pointless that soldiers desert and become outlaws for lack of better options. I've seen the other side as well, the maneuvering by those in power who want to keep their position, however many lives that may require. I've seen how they talk about it. Which is to say, hardly at all where anyone can hear. Far too gruesome. The dour mood that sort of conversation brings might ruin the party."

Sarcasm is thick and heavy in his voice by the time he falls quiet. It's gone when he speaks again, more softly. "What became most apparent to me is that those who aren't involved are the most vulnerable; civilians, as you say. Whatever else we do here, I hope that we can help those people."

[thescarletspeedster]

"That's my hope too," says Barry, and he's still terrified, both to be in Fellden and to be plunged into the deepest part of a sinister forest, but he feels a rush of hope to hear that Dorian's desires are his own. He walks closer, noticing that the light has begun to tremble erratically against the leaves.

"I've got it for a while," he says, lifting his own torch. "We can go in turns." He steps over a winding tree root, pausing to make sure it doesn't catch Dorian's feet before he moves on. "I can't figure out the reasoning behind who they chose to bring here. You've lived through war, I haven't. Are they hoping my naivety will help somehow? All they'd have had to do was look at my life for three seconds to see I'd never hurt someone on someone else's behalf, ruler or otherwise. That's the complete opposite of the Flash."

Barry flushes. "That's the name I use at home."

[bestdressed]

Dorian passes over the torch with a murmur of thanks, sticking close to Barry's side to remain in the light.

The Flash, he says. Like a flash of lightning, there and gone. If Barry is supposed to be inhumanly fast, it makes sense as a moniker. Dorian smiles--can't help it, really, given Barry's apparent sheepishness about it.

"I'm sure they aren't expecting you to do anything that's entirely opposed to how you've lived until now. I can't imagine they would choose you if so. Perhaps they are in need of someone who thinks the way that you do."

[thescarletspeedster]

"If that's true, it's some comfort," says Barry. "I guess I'll use my speed where I can. Stop bandits, help the locals with whatever they need. This is all assuming it comes back." Abruptly, like ears popping, he feels the speed force once more within reach, and Barry darts a mile forward and back again, grinning when he reappears in a rush of air and crackling electricity.

"Okay, that's more like it," he grins, even if whatever power surge he's just experienced is already fading. "It must come back in increments."

[bestdressed]

Dorian feels the pulse of electricity in the air, as surely as if he'd cast a spell himself. Barry barely seems to move, but--he does, doesn't he? There was a moment where Dorian was sure he'd disappeared.

"You--" Dorian can do little but laugh, incredulous. "Did you just go somewhere and come back?" He's never seen anything like it. Or never experienced anything like it, rather. He didn't actually see much of anything.

[thescarletspeedster]

"Yeah!" says Barry brightly, "And good news, the trees are definitely thinner a mile ahead. The next time I feel my powers return, I'll take you with me," Barry promises, looking Dorian over.

"Is anything you're wearing extra flammable? Wind friction can cause clothing to catch fire."

[bestdressed]

Only a mile? That's better than Dorian had expected. Even if they have to walk normally, it shouldn't take long. Still, Dorian can't help but be curious about Barry's abilities. Very curious.

"Not especially, I shouldn't think?"