The Village Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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villagememes2020-11-19 10:10 pm
villagemod) wrote in villagememes2020-11-19 10:10 pm
Entry tags:
test drive — winter
WINTER TEST DRIVE
Welcome to the test drive and thank you for your interest in The Village. This test drive is not game canon but will allow players the opportunity to experiment with game mechanics, the setting, and the flexibility of choice allowed by this game. The following prompts are examples of typical situations characters might face in the game. At least one thread from the TDM is required as part of the game's application process.
The setting details and locations are still being unveiled in the game, so prospective players are welcome to play with established locations or create their own within the general setting of Mathias.( Recommended listening: ♫ )
INTO THE ENDLESS
Winter has arrived in Mathias. Snow falls steadily, big puffy flakes that pile up quickly in drifts as the wind blows them around town. The trees in the forest are covered in it, the branches bending under the weight and shaking when the piles fall from them to the forest floor. The roofs of buildings become solid white and drifts form in doorways as the wind tries to rush inside anywhere it can.
New arrivals wake in the forest, with its winding paths twisting back on themselves as they branch in either direction. It isn't safe to stray from the path, there is a menacing fog that waits just a few yards inward in any direction, but for now, there is nothing impeding movement along those snow-covered paths that cut through the trees. Continue stumbling in one direction and you'll reach the small town, coming out near the mishmash of quaint houses that nestle beside crumbling ruins that used to be homes. But choose the other and you'll seem to stumble on forever, huddling against the wind until there seems to be a clearing up ahead—
And then nothing. The earth opens up before you in a ravine so deep that the bottom cannot be seen. The other side can be seen, tantalizingly out of reach, and there is the sense that safety is just beyond, if only you could get there. But with that sensation is also the knowledge that if you stay here, you will die. The edge seems unsteady, like getting too close would set it crumbling and send you tumbling into that dark endless nothing that waits below...
BODIES WITHOUT SOULS
Benedict Books is nestled quaintly on the square surrounding Mathias's Town Hall, a thick layer of dirt covering the front windows. Looking through those windows provides a much different view than looking directly into the shop through the doorway — vague shapes and forms of figures seem to be inside, though no details can be determined through the streaks of grime. Flickers that resemble flashlights can be seen passing along the windows from time to time, and on occasion there is even a muffled tapping sound that comes from behind the glass, as if someone is trying to get your attention. The same distorted figures can be seen looking through the windows from the inside outward, but moving from one side or the other reveals... nothing. There is nothing there, and perhaps it is all in your imagination.
A portrait hangs at the front of the store to illustrate the namesake of the little shop... that may, in fact, not be so little. Dust covers everything in sight and detritus litters the wooden floor, as if someone left the door open and allowed half the forest inside.
The books are mostly familiar titles from the 1990s and earlier, but close examination will reveal that key details seem to have been changed. They fill shelves in neat lines along the walls and rows in between, the building almost seeming to stretch on forever until, finally, a small office can be seen tucked away in the back. A glance back toward the front door gives the impression that the room isn't that big, after all. Strange that you previously thought so.
Prying the door open is the only way to get inside the small office; the hinges have rusted and are caked with dirt and grime. Search as you might, there are no interesting bits of information to be found here beyond a few inventory lists on the little desk. There is, however, a green and gold safe in the corner that, no matter how many times one turns the dial, simply clicks and clicks. Scratches around the safe indicate that someone tried to get in at one point, though there's no indication as to whether they succeeded.
THE END APPROACHES
Standing at the center of Mathias, the town hall is a modest two-story building that would be welcoming if not for the faded sign, chipped paint, and deafening silence within its empty halls. It's a typical government building, with a reception desk at the front and rows of identical offices within, the names half faded from each door. But what catches the attention is a large bulletin board on the main wall beside the reception desk, once meant to hold flyers or announcements for the community.
What it holds now is decidedly different. Tacked onto the board are scraps of paper covered in an assortment of handwriting styles — requests for supplies should anyone find them, pieces of information shared in the hopes of someone understanding the strange symbols and mathematical equations, notes about those missing or recently deceased. And over the center of the board, tacked on top of other papers, is a map discolored with age. Mathias Township can be read in the corner, a stretch of forest displayed beneath it, but everything else has been smeared to illegibility with red... ink? Upon close examination, a keen eye will realize that the ink is actually blood, though whether it is human is unknown. And scrawled across that forest, nearly covering the illustration of a clearing and a large house within, are the wordshe is coming
A number of tarnished metal pushpins are scattered around the edges of the board, waiting for future messages to be shared, and a stack of pristine white paper and pile of cheap ballpoint pens rest on one of three chairs beside the board. The chairs are clearly meant for those waiting for meetings and are covered in the same layer of grime as everything else in the building — everything except the pens, paper, and bulletin board.
no subject
Drawing in a breath, she lifts her hands away from herself and begins waving wildly back, still marching forward, desperate for that boarding house heat.
"You're very tall!" Excitement bubbles in her chest and she laughs loudly, feeling relief at the fact she won't die in the snow. "Wait there!" She moves quickly, uncaring now of the thick blanket beneath her feet, and runs the distance between her and the tall and lanky, arm-waving voice.
no subject
She's closing in quick, considering the wealth of snow covering the grounds. He laughs a little at the remark about his height. If not for her voice being all wrong, it could be so so easy to think it was Daisy running toward him right now, and his chest tightens at the stray thought.
He can't help it-- once she gets there, and she's close enough, he just almost automatically pulls her into a hug. This was a good moment. She didn't get stuck out there forever. "Hey, being tall means it was easier for you to find me, right?" he laughs and after a moment, he pulls back and shifts his long, leather coat off, wrapping it around her shoulders instead. It swallows her much shorter frame, but it'll be warm, and she definitely needs it more than he does right now.
He pulls her along with him, "Come on," he wraps his fingers through her own, "I don't know about the rest of the houses in this place, but the boarding house is in good condition. And it's where I stay." A beat before he adds. "I'm Klaus, by the way." Introductions. Those were probably a thing that needed to be done, right? He keeps close to her, both for body heat purposes as well as making sure he's guiding her.
no subject
"Elena," she says with a warm smile. That name tugs at her in a way that's uncomfortable, but she doesn't assign him to the anger and resentment and grief that loops itself around the ankles and wrists of Klaus Mikaelson. This Klaus didn't kill her. He's saved her.
"Thank you for answering. I thought I was going crazy out there—there's just all this snow."
He'd know, of course. She's practically preaching to the choir.
plz say you're apping 👀
There's the tiniest, shortest-lived blip of tension when he introduces himself, but he couldn't even begin to fathom what that might be about. "Yeah, I bet. It's gotta be worse, further into the woods."
👀👀👀 yes 😌i require this friendship, it's a matter of life or death
Either he's woken up in the snow and managed to get settled in the boarding house in town within a matter of hours… or he's been here for a lot longer than she's been awake. If that's the case, perhaps he did wake in the snow just like her.
Elena's not sure which answer she'd find solace in.
yassss I adore them already-- sadface @ TDM not as game canon. They'll have to meet cutely again lol
As they walk through snow-covered streets, passing houses that look mostly run-down, he explains, "There's probably about two dozen people here now, I think. A lot of them have been here longer than me, and there aren't any, like... local people? It's really freakin' weird."
they will!! and she needs to steal his coats all the time plz
"I'm trying hard to not be jealous that you woke up on a beach," she says with a small smile. Sometimes it's best to joke than to let the weight of reality set in and crush her.
She's grateful that he's one of the few to be here, although, Elena wishes that he wasn't. Being in strange places often means that there was a kidnapping at hand... and she's so over being kidnapped.
"Did you wake up alone?"
bahaha yassss
He nods, "Mmhm. My brother found me pretty quick, caught me up to speed. Not that there's much to get caught up on. Nobody really has any answers about how we got here, or what happened to the town before we did." It's an unfortunate situation-- so many questions, and no real answers to speak of.
no subject
She peers up at him, head tilted to the side. "Your brother is here?" her voice is kind and gentle. At least Klaus isn't alone. "You didn't come together?"
But it does get her hopes up that perhaps Jeremy's here—or, better yet, maybe Aunt Jenna. They'd been together in Mystic Falls. Perhaps there's someone for everyone here.
no subject
Luckily, it's only to the end of the street to the boarding house, and he's leading her up the steps and inside soon enough. "You probably need a new set of clothes, huh?" If she was out in all that mess for long, hers are probably frozen, wet, or both.
no subject
"I don't have any money." The moment it's out of her mouth, she feels stupid. She has no wallet, only her cellphone in her back pocket, and she has no one here.
Does this place even need money? God, she's had a long day and it's already showing. She shakes her head and presses her hands against her palms in amusement. "I don't need money, do I?"