ateratooc | TD006

Test Drive 006

WELCOME TO ATERAT

Here is our Fifth Test Drive Meme! There are a lot of areas of the city to explore, so please have a look around! In case you need a little help getting started, I've included a few prompts below, or feel free to start your own! Exploration and player initiative are the names of the game here!

Helpful Links to Get Started

Arrival & General Information | Setting & Bestiary | Locales & Businesses | Residences & Housing Info | Rules & FAQ (ask questions here!)

I. Crash Into Me

Not exactly, but close enough. You have just arrived and received a strange satchel from a tiny, strange little man and are left more or less to your own devices (more information on what to expect upon arrival can be found here)! Follow directions to the north and check out the housing, or maybe have a look around the Historium and try to get some information from that giant glowing ball, see what you can waste your meager starter coin on in the Market District, or maybe just meet the neighbors.

II. What Goes Bump in the Night

It looks like Aterat proper has a spirit problem. Maybe you're seeing specters, hearing disembodied voices, your windows rattle when there's no breeze outside. Maybe there are cold spots in your place of business (or your apartment, which is so much worse). Either way, you're 100% convinced you're haunted. Hopefully, someone else believes you, or maybe you're used to feeling crazy.

III. When the Carnival Came to Town?

Take a look at the prompts from our latest event and go to town (or the carnival).

IV. Try the Network

The Tell-Phone allows for text, video, and audio transmissions to everyone else who has one. Give it a whirl!

V. Wildcard

The above prompts are all options, and there's much more to the setting than what they provide. Do your best (or your worst)!

Navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[daeshim watches this exchange with interest. so it's the coins that are preferred. he has heard that that's the way the world works, but he still doesn't understand it.

his eyes widen when she offers him the apple, and it's quickly traded out for the holey stone that's left behind in her palm.]

It is natural magic. It will protect you from a great many things, from illness to possession to a witch's curse! [daeshim bites into the fruit, and his next words come through a mouthful of apple.] I only do fair deals, but I do think this one favors you more. The apple is delicious though, very sweet and juicy...

[ She feels it over carefully in her hand and grins. ] It does, but you already gave it. [ No take backs! A tiny circular portal appeared above her hand and she reached through, plopping the stone inside before closing it back up. It was the cheaters way to put somewhere safe and maybe Illyana was a bit of a cheater now and then. ]

I can get you a few more if you'd like to make it more fair. Or...[ she leans sideways curiously. ] something else if you'd like? Anything else around you want?

[daeshim's kind thrive on trickery. there was a time when even he was known for wording a bargain to his advantage, or making it so that only he had a way out of it. so as for her "cheater's" portal: respect.

he presses his lips together. it would probably be wise to not put himself too much in her debt.

but.]

I also like bread! And sweets!

Who doesn't like sweets? [ After a few seconds of careful deliberation she took a few more coins out and offered them up to him. ]

Here. There's a decent place for sweets in the noble district. There's also a place around the market here that sells pretzels and they have cinnamon sugar ones. They're not bad.

[who doesn't like sweets. yes. yes! daeshim has wondered this exact same thing himself. he's met those who prefer meat, and those who'd rather have food that tastes like it's setting your mouth on fire, and he's understood none of them. it's exciting to meet a kindred spirit.

he stops in his tracks, hesitating to take the coins. fae don't believe that a gift is ever really a gift. this would put him back into her debt, and daeshim doesn't know her well enough to know what she might call on him for. it's unwise for him to even consider-

wait, did she just say cinnamon and sugar?]

I am Daeshim of the Ruinwood! I will accept your shiny coins, and return them to you threefold once I am settled here.

Nice to meet you Daeshim of the Ruinwood. I am Illyana of Limbo and Earth. [ Was she trying to imitate how he said it? Yup. It wasn't exactly mocking, but she liked to have fun with people. Everyone needed a way to pass the time. ]

I'll hold you to that!

[he does have a slightly...different way of speaking. but he's like a sponge too. who knows what he'll soak up from her and use in his own weird way.]

Limbo and Earth...can a person really belong to two places at once?

[maybe she has two kinds of blood the way that he does, though daeshim doesn't claim either court.]

Of course. If one's a hell dimension and the other is just Earth. I go back and forth.

[ And she'd spent most of her childhood in Limbo only to come out in Earth like no time had passed at all. ]

And what is this 'hell dimension' like?

[that's the thing about daeshim: if you answer one of his questions, he has two more ready to take its place.]

Like hell. [ The worst answer someone could ever give and she seems oddly proud of it. ]

[hell. there's a slight tilt of his head after she said it. she does sound proud - but that's understandable. he's also proud of the ruinwood.]

Is Hell a city?

[ She laughs a little bit at the question. ]

There are cities in some Hells. Mine is mostly a wasteland and then there's my castle and a few gardens. I made them.

It sounds...like a nice place?

[there's a question in his voice, and he looks to her for confirmation. a wasteland doesn't sound very pleasant, but he knows that castles are often a part of human dreams and stories.

the gardens sound nice. the fact that she made them sounds nice.]

Perhaps if I was in Hell, I could've helped you.

Oh, it's not. But it's a reflection of it's ruler so I've tried to make it...nicer. [ She's doing her best. But it's hard to change a place like Limbo. ]

Do you have a talent for gardens?

[daeshim is not tall. but a question like that makes him stand taller, feel taller.]

Mm! I can make things grow. Oak trees and apples, wildflowers and brambles. I know it is amazing, what you've done in your Hell! I also know that it's hard work. I did the same with the Ruinwood.

An interesting talent. You're not a mutant though. [ But he's not human too so points there! ] Was this Ruinwood in ruins before you?

It...was not much to look at in the beginning, that's true. But it didn't gain its name until later.

[daeshim's mouth curls down a little more at that. something happened...something that shouldn't have. and daeshim mourned and let his forest go to ruin. his eyes start lowering before he forces them back up again.]

But now Spring comes as it should. Even the darkest part is safe.

[ She looked at him curiously as his expression lowered and then just asked directly: ]

What happened to give it that name? [ Nobody ever claimed she had tact. ]

[he could refuse to answer. he could say nothing, and it wouldn't be a lie. for a moment he's not even sure that he can tell her. all this time, and he's never told another single living soul.

but maybe, sometimes he's wished that he could.]

Something terrible. Someone...someone under my protection was taken away.

[he sounds tired, sad and older. all the things that he feels whenever he thinks about it.]

[ For a moment she softens, offering an expression of sympathy. ]

I know what it's like to be taken. [ And then for something terrible to come of it. ] I am sorry for whatever came of it. And for whatever guilt you carry for it. [ Whether it was really his fault that this person had been taken or not. ]

TD006

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