TEST DRIVE ※ 3

[wildermods]

TEST DRIVE ※ 3
The spirits of the Green need defenders but the game of fate they must play makes it so that their plans are like a garden, always in need of careful pruning. Only certain individuals are capable of living a life of adventure -- and even many who are capable may not be the heroes the Wilderlands needs.

The only way for the Green to be sure is by providing a test -- and as far as tests go, this one's a doozy, because the situation is real. There are countless conflicts all over the Wilderlands that are in need of intervention, so the Green tosses you head first into one of them with no warning or explanation. During it, you may perhaps run into others like yourself, thrown in over their heads -- or into others that came to the Wilderlands before you. Either way, your only chance of getting through it is to work together with whatever other unfortunates you find.

Welcome to the wilds, hero. It's time to put on your ruby slippers, pick up your vorpal sword, and carry that ring into Mordor.

---

THE DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES
The ruling government of the Wizarding World is the Ministry of Magic, nestled away in the confines of Magical London. Most of the Ministry's departments are what one might expect of a typical government, filled with offices and cubicles and the usual trappings of government bureaucracy. Magical or not, a ruling government still needs a metric fuckton of paperwork, apparently.

But one department isn't like the rest. One department is an agency that handles the most secret and sensitive parts of the Wizarding World: The Department of Mysteries. This Department is filled with magical items and secrets from the world over, gathered by the department's mysterious agents, the Unspeakables. Here, alongside the deepest secrets of magic, the Unspeakables study the intangible mysteries of the universe, like love, space, thought, time, and death. With the Wizarding World now part of the Wilderlands, the agents have extended their secret-gathering to include secrets from the other worlds now attached to the Wilderlands, too.

You've been teleported to the Department of Mysteries for some unknown reason. It's after hours, so the Department is eerily empty and dimly lit only by blue-white torches. The spirits of the Green wants you here for a reason, but all you have are their enigmatic whispers...

See the secrets in the room full of stars. Destroy the spheres before the masked ones take them.

Whether those two ideas are meant to be related is difficult to tell, but with the many odd dangers of this place, one thing is clear:

To find out, you're going to have to survive all kinds of weird-ass magical bullshit first.

---

STUFF YOU CAN DO
A. WRANGLE MAGICAL CREATURES

Some of the most dangerous magical creatures in existence are kept in the Department of Mysteries for study, and even more are brought in every day so magizoologists can add more data to the Unspeakables' body of research. One section of the Department is filled with pens, cages, and magical indoor habitats that house creatures like brutish trolls, venomous acromantulas, screeching banshees, ravenous kappas, and shadowy and suffocating lethifolds. With the additional exposure to new lands caused by the formation of the Wilderlands, the Unspeakables have started to collect creatures that are native to other realms as well.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but today isn't a normal day. Someone has gone through the section and opened latches, shattered glass enclosures, and broken open cages. Now the Zoology Office of the Department of Mysteries is...well, a zoo. A lethal one, at that.

You may find yourself facing dangerous creatures, including deceptive ones like the tentacle monster that disguises itself as a statue in a water fountain, then drags its victims in to try to drown and eat them if they get too close.

Or you might have to face a boggart, a creature that bursts out of the wardrobe it hides in, taking on the form of someone's greatest fear. This can even include taking on the image of dead loved ones. The boggart can only be banished back into its wardrobe if the person facing it wills themselves to work past their fear and attacks it with magic or force to scare it back in.

Maybe the creature you face will come as a total surprise.

Whether you wrangle creatures just enough to escape them, or plan to valiantly try to put them back in their cages, you're guaranteed to have your hands full.

[ooc: Feel free to use any magical creature from anything with this prompt, as creatures from more worlds than the Harry Potter universe are kept here. If you want more information on a creature or want a random creature thrown your way, comment here.]

B. AVOID OUT OF CONTROL MAGIC

Even if your character avoids the wild creatures running loose other dangers can be found here. The Unspeakables have an entire area devoted to experimental magic, the experimental wand and staff room. Due to its security spells being disrupted, the wands are blasting magic all over the place, making it so someone that has misfortune to wander in may find themselves cursed, hexed, jinxed, or otherwise altered by a random spell.

Any effect could be caused by a spell, ranging from your legs turning to jelly, to your face getting covered in boils, to your hair being turned to worms.

[ooc: Again, feel free to make up any effect you want. If you'd like a random effect chosen by the mods comment here.]

C. BEAN SOME BRAINS

In one empty room, there's an enormous glass tank of dark green liquid. In it, there are usually pearly white brains floating around -- usually -- but because the tank has been broken, the brains are on the loose, wandering the halls of the Department. Whenever they find people, they reach out and grab them with tendrils of glowing thought and memory that unravel like rolls of film.

If a brain captures you and someone else at the same time in its tentacles, you'll each see each a random memory from the other person's mind. The longer you're trapped, the more memories you'll both share, and the more intense they'll get.

It's possible to escape from the grip of one of the brains, but you'll have to fight your way free with the help of whoever you're ensnared with.

D. SEE THE DANCING OF THE SPHERES

The Space Room is what the Unspeakables use to try to uncover the physical nature of the universe. This is the room full of stars that the Green wanted you to see. Here, the entire multiverse is visible, little universes floating in the starry void. The images swirl and zoom in on little worlds within those universes and show worlds getting...dismantled? Strips of land are shown getting ripped off and transplanted on to a shimmering, shifting impossible Frankenstein of a world that keeps expanding in size.

The dimensionally strip-mined planets that are left behind? Apparently, they cave in on themselves and crumble in a mess of fiery molten lava and earthquakes that burn away what's left of the surface, making it uninhabitable. The peoples whose lands have been transplanted to the Wilderlands have long had questions about the parts of their worlds that have been left behind and apparently the answers aren't pretty.

Even worse? Your world is visible here, too. When you think of it or wonder about it, it suddenly appears and the Frankenstein planet that is the Wilderlands is shown next to it, its magic tugging at your homeworld's skin, which is slowly starting to unravel and reach ever so slightly towards it.

The magic creating the Wilderlands is strong and before long, it won't just be fantasy worlds that un-spool and become a part of it - if the Unspeakables' projections are right, perhaps it's just a matter of time before all worlds have chunks pulled into the Wilderlands - with only disasters, calamity, and mass extinction events happening to the chunks that are left behind.

E. DODGE DEATH EATERS

This is the other place you're needed, a massive hall filled with racks upon racks of blue globes. These globes have shimmering, moving images inside them, recorded memories of prophets and oracles relating their prophecies.

You must destroy some of these prophecies, because the "masked ones" have come. Death Eaters - once servants of the Dark Lord Voldemort, now servants of the Unfinished Princess - have descended on the Department of Mysteries. In fact, they're the source of all the security breaches and magical creatures being sprung loose. These robed and masked wizards start flinging colorful spells and curses your way, cackling sadistically, as they chase you between the different racks of prophecies.

The Green whispers its reminder: Destroy the spheres before the masked ones take them.

The Green has enchanted you with several gifts. One is a special vision that lets you see what you need to see; the spheres they want you to destroy glow with a gentle light the same color as new plant shoots so that you can find them. The other gift is an immunity to the enchantment around the spheres. Normally, people who try to take a prophecy that isn't labeled with their name are cursed to go insane. But the Green has made it so you can pick up any prophecy you want.

Some of the ones they want you to destroy are labeled with the names of people that are leaders and people of influence in this universe: Tiffany Aching, Aragorn, Harry Potter, Aang, and others. Some of the globes may perhaps be labeled with your name or the names of those you just met in the Department of Mysteries who have been in the Wilderlands longer. Unfortunately, even if your name is labeled on a globe, you don't have time to view the prophecy within and if you hesitate the Green reassures you there are other ways to find out what's prophesied:

There are other prophets, other ways to see.

You cannot hesitate. The Death Eaters have found an immunity to the curse that protects the globes, too. You must fight the Death Eaters and destroy them first, before they fall into the wrong hands.

F. FREESTYLE

The Department can hold all kinds of weirdness and secrets. Feel free to make up a strange scenario or an entire section whole-cloth if you want!

---

OOC INFO
✦ Feel free to play around with powers. If your character has powers from canon you want to play around, go for it. If you'd like to test out possibilities for game powers, also go for it.

✦ All the technology is broke. The magic of the Wilderlands messes up technology so that it doesn't work. Any weapons beyond the level of a crossbow will suddenly cease to function, including guns. Repair is impossible, as they'll seem to be in functional condition and still not work.

✦ This TDM is open to everyone. However, top-levels should be made for potential new characters only. Characters currently in the game should only tag top-levels.

✦ Potential players may use test drive threads as their log samples. However, at least one post in their thread must fit the requirements for apps, both in length (200 words) and in quality. If you do plan on using a thread as a sample, please make sure the writing throughout your threads is a good example of your writing skills and has some solid examples of the character's voice.

✦ Current players can count TDMs towards AC. They can only count towards comment-based AC proofs.

✦ Potential players can opt to keep these threads as game canon when they app in, or start over fresh, based on preference. The magic bringing them to the game universe can fog their memories, if players don't want their character to remember TDM threads when introing into the game.

✦ The game has limited slots. Please keep this in mind! As of this post 23 of 30 player slots have been filled, with one app still pending. This means 6 player slots are currently open.

Comments

MOD JUNK

[wildermods]

MOD QUESTIONS

[wildermods]

Ask the mods any questions about the TDM here! We'd be happy to help with anything.

MOD HELP | PROMPT A: CREATURE HELP

[wildermods]

If you would like more info than what is provided, you can comment under this post to ask for more information about one of the listed creatures and the mods will provide background info and strengths and weaknesses. Or you can ask for the mods to provide you an idea for a completely random creature from Harry Potter or one of the many other fantasy realms of the Wilderlands.

Please indicate your preference with either Creature Info (and the name of the creature you want more info on) or Random Creature in the subject of your comment.

MOD HELP | PROMPT B: CURSE HELP

[wildermods]

For the magical spells, since the wands or staffs can use more than Harry Potter universe magic, you can choose any effect that you like. However if you'd like the mods to surprise you with one, comment here and we'll pick a surprise spell to effect your character.

Punchy | Intimates

[culturalappropriation]

[Punchy doesn't even question that he'd be selected by a mysterious force to rescue the forest; if anything, he's surprised it hasn't happened already. Why wouldn't the universe reach out to him, the obvious hero, scourge of the arcade and prince of the comments section on Youtube, the flyest motherfucker of all motherfuckers still calling things fly in the year of our lord 2018? Why not him, a homie whose top skills include "keeping abs on fleek", dope rhymes and bragging about sex he hasn't had? A dawg from the streets stacking phatties in his mom's basement and flexing till his shoulders get sore?

He's the clear solution to all the ills in the world, because he is, in a word, the illest. Two words.

He's got a grin that could eat his whole head, which he only interrupts beatboxing "No Diggity" (not like anyone could tell) when he strolls on up into the room with the glowing brains Upon seeing the light-up organs he shifts into a decidedly more EDM-style tempo.]

Dawg, check this shit, Imma squish it into a glowstick. [He reaches out to grab the glowing tentacle.]

Re: Punchy | Intimates

[gonebyebye]

[Ray smacks Punchy's hand away. Some people should not be allowed around the supernatural, and this kid was obviously one of them.]

Have you completely taken leave of your senses? We don't know what these things are or what- it just grabbed my ankle, didn't it?

[Sure enough, Ray's resigned comment is right. A tentacle has grabbed ahold of his leg, and Ray shortly falls unconscious to the floor.]

[likeits1999]

Yo!

[ Kevin tugs Punchy back by his collar to try to stop him. ]

It's probably like acid or some junk, dude!

[ Kevin has some recent experience with the mysterious and organesque that he is not eager to repeat. ]

[kingspetpeasant]

[ Lenny makes no attempt to stop him as he reaches for the freaky critter. Quite the opposite, she jumps up behind him, grabbing his shoulders and pushing forward encouragingly, a manic smile of her own plasters across her face. ]

Dude, do it.

[ Because clearly that could only lead to good things. And hey, if someone's going to find out whether or not these things are dangerous or what they were capable of, better this jack ass than her.

Best case scenario he squishes the thing and holds true to his word, worse case scenario the things hurts him in some hilarious way. And really that's a win win for Lenny. ]

Kisuke Urahara | Bleach

[makinuscream]

[ ooc: Action or prose is fine with me! ]

A: Wrangle Magical Creatures (Roughing It)

[ Kisuke Urahara is a man of broad intellect and ingenuity there can be no doubt. He's also a being who's been alive for centuries and who had (up until recently) a breadth and depth of power to pull from when needed. Like when one fights monsters. Never has he considered himself reliant on his Soul Reaper abilities, prefering to use them last when other methods would yeild better results for the task a hand.

Well, a kidou binding spell would be an excellent ability to have when facing this very large, mottled greenish thing that hit with the all the force of a drunk Zaraki.

Meeting a wall at such speeds without his kidou enhanced reflexes is also quite unpleasant. ] Owwww.

[ Quickly picking himself up, Kisuke eyes whatever-it-is and the tunnel off to his left where he and his current partner had set a trap that this thing did not want to go into. ]

Why did I say I'd play bait again? [ Oh, right, because I'm still supposed to be quick on my feet. ] So, big, tall and angry doesn't want to play along. I'm all up for suggestions.

C: Bean Some Brains (Superpowers)

Uhhh, sorry about that. [ Urahara lets out a sheepish laugh as he closes the door on memory. There'd been explosions involved and now their mental selves are covered in a gelatinous and hot pink colored goo. Muffled voices of varying degrees of angry and incensed filter through the door but start to fade away along the with the room and - yay - the goo as well.]

So, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that we're trapped by the floaty brains. [ One hand curls under his chin as he ignores the sidewalk forming beneath their feet. The distance murmur of chattering voices slowly grows louder as pedestrians start to emerge and occupy space on the sidewalk as well. ] I don't suppose you'd happen to know how they work so that we can quickly extract ourselves from this mess.

[ Before either one of them ended up sharing more than they might like. ]

C because Trance loves sharing memories, you know!

[easy_as_cake]

It's okay. [It's so very not okay.] I don't think it was entirely your fault.

[She does, however, leave the door open on the possibility that it was, at least, partially his fault.

The lack of goo is nice, even if it is kind of a lie. She turns her hands over, examining them for any specks that remain, but there's nothing. Her tail is likewise clear when she checks it.]

What do you think floaty brains do when they trap someone?

[A person who wasn't there a minute ago walks by. Trance sticks out a hand to touch her shoulder, only for it to pass straight through the woman. That answers that, at least until it doesn't anymore. She isn't sure this place plays by any rules at all.]

I think I would have avoided them in the first place if I knew enough to know how they work.

A

[clapslapboom]

You could try running in the right direction, you know!

[Ed's shouting from the tunnel sounded shrill at best. It'd be great if Al were with him, but Al's back home, and Ed's stuck with this guy who can't even lead a monster into a trap properly.

Had he never fought monsters before? Eugh. Now, if he'd just do something neat. Whip out a gun or a sword or something...

Nah, Ed was definitely on his own.]

Run this— [He broke off with a scream as the lumbering monster turned its attentions on him. And lunged.

So he did the first thing that came to mind. He ran.

In the wrong direction.]

edward elric | fma: brotherhood

[clapslapboom]

❰ A ❱ & THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

[As far as creepy, weird places packed with secrets go, Ed considers this one pretty okay. Oh, sure, there's no question that it's one of Those Places where danger lurks around every corner, and he's pretty sure he's not going to get out of here without busting up his automail and seeing a very irate Winry, but at least no one in authority is stepping out of the shadows with a razor sharp grin and a revealing speech about immortality. At least none of the creatures in cages are chimeras. That has to count in his favor.

A violent shudder curls down his spine anyway, and he gives the creatures a wide berth. Just because they don't look like chimeras... well. Even now, he can't shake some of those memories.

Silently, he eases his way down the dimly lit corridor. He's done this plenty of times without Al, but knowing Al is nowhere in this world makes him more alert and far less easy. Every sound makes him freeze.

He slips into a warmly lit room but breathes no sigh of relief. Warmly lit rooms usually end up full of people who need their faces punched in. This one, strangely enough, is empty. That just makes him much more alert.

Eyes narrowed, he lifts his right arm, brandishing the bladed end of it as he inches deeper into the room. There's a cabinet on the opposite wall. He knows he shouldn't open it (something horrible is probably inside it), but he also knows that cabinets tend to hold books (duh), and books contain knowledge, and he's not passing up the opportunity to learn more about this place's weird not-quite alchemy.

He reaches the wardrobe. Pulls back the door. And throws himself back with a shout of alarm that turns into one of absolute anguish.

Ed trembles at the sight of his emaciated brother with dead, dead eyes staring up at him.]

N-no. [His voice trembles.] No, you're not real! You're not here!

❰ D ❱ & our dancing has turned to mourning

Is that my home? [He pokes at the illusion of his world, scowling at it. It doesn't dissolve. The alchemy of the illusion fascinates him. The dance of his world into the Wilderlands disturbs him, but he doesn't focus on that. Focus too much on the disturbing bits and they'll eventually break you. A broken alchemist can't fix anything, least of all himself, so Ed lets deep understanding become breakwaters and wash over him.]

So what's this saying?

[His scowl deepens.]

Eventually, everything's going to be consumed like this? [Scowl becomes grimace becomes understated determination. Thoughtful, he paces the illusion, looking up briefly to meet the eyes of the person in the room with him. Friend? Foe? He's not sure. But a sounding board is a sounding board.] There's gotta be a pattern here. [And if you can find the pattern, if you can break the whole down into commensurate parts, you can solve the problem.]

❰ E ❱ & prophecy never originated in human will

What do you mean I can't watch it? [Ed snarls the words as he darts down another row of glowing spheres. The Green insists there are other ways to see again as he jumps a weird ball of light (a curse?). The Green doesn't appreciate his situation.

Clapping his hands together, he feels the power of the world move through him. Feels the earth beneath his feet.

His hands hit the stone beneath him, and it changes. From flat stone into pillars that shoot forward, spearing into the darkness. He hopes the wide, blunted tips don't do much more than bruise.

If Al'd been here, he would've already struck, too, but Al isn't here. It's just Ed and whoever that person is, that other body rushing through the darkness alongside him.] Go for the weirdos in the masks! I'll get the glowing spheres! [He can see them. Who knows if the other person can.]

A

[gonebyebye]

Calm down kid. It's not real, it's illusory. Mostly. It's not illusory per se, due to the physical component, but-

[Ray cuts himself off. Even he could tell that his digression wouldn't exactly be much help.

He had already encountered one of the boggarts in his explorations. It had a sonewhat difficult time isolating what Ray was afraid of, as his closest loved one was already dead and yet still kicking around. It wasn't exactly capable of shifting into something the size of Stay-Puft, either. That difficulty had given Ray an idea of its true nature.]

My point being, whatever that is? It's not who you think. If I had to guess, it's probably a mildly psychic shapeshifting entity that takes on the appearance of what you most fear as a sort of defensive mechanism. Like a cat puffing its fur up to make themselves look bigger. Pretty common tactic, all things considered. Your...brother, right? He's most likely fine.

[The resemblance was too close for the relationship to be anything else. Aside from possibly father and son, but the kid looked far too young for that to be even remotely option.]

Dr. Ray Stantz. I'm a paranormal investigator.

[Hopefully that at least explained the long and unending stream of ectobabble.]

e

[shipoftheseus]

[The other body moving through the dimly lit stacks is weird, but in this chaos and this lighting maybe it's hard to catch just what's off. What light there is catches on their hair and and arms, strangely shiny, but some people just have really nice hair, right? And metallic arms maybe aren't that strange to a guy with some metal limbs of his own.

Phos sure as hell doesn't know what to make of the random pillars of stone and shit, but hey, lots of people here can do wild stuff. They're a little beyond questioning anything at this point. Ducking under a stone column to face the Death Eaters, they wave a golden arm vaguely at the human.]]

Fine, just hurry!

[Skidding to a halt on their heels (literally, like three-inch heels, how are they not tripping all over themselves running around in those), Phos lifts their arms and the golden material seems to suddely melt and deform, stretching out rapidly before them and spreading into an amorphous wall of liquid metal. It does a decent job of blocking off the aisle, bulging inward where its being impacted by curses or something but holding solid for the moment.]

A

[fleshalchemist]

It's not. That's a telepathic shapeshifter trying to get you to leave it alone.

[Lanoree reads minds herself, even when she knows she shouldn't. Especially when she knows she shouldn't. Here, in a new place populated by so many species she's never seen, so many fascinating aliens, why shouldn't she? Some manage to elude her usual ability, but the boggart is fairly simple, telepathy aside.

Tall, dark, scarved and with a sword on her back, Lanoree studies the seeming of a skeletal man with clinical interest, though since she's not as close as Ed it doesn't acknowledge her at all.]

That's useful. What do you look like when no one's here to see?

[She should be able to create illusions, but when she reaches for a simple image of this room with no one here, without even the suggestion of passersby, it won't realize. It stays in her head. Well, that's frustrating. She growls down in her throat, shakes her head. The Force comes to her hand easily, in most circumstances, that it doesn't here bodes ill.]

D

[googledox]

It's doubtful that you'll find a pattern.

[The young man that appears behind Ed looks a little strange. He's wearing utilitarian clothing that's just slightly not-of-this-world; the yellow boots and belt are normal enough, but the grey poncho is made of strange synthetic fabrics and the black bodysuit's made of something even stranger and more alien, almost too organic to be cloth.]

[He's also hella green and the way he moves is strangely precise and almost bird-like.]

[The expression on Brainiac 5's face is grave, like the concept of worlds being destroyed is painfully familiar, and the way his voice is calm...well, it's a little too calm. He has one of nature's near-monotones and that gets even worse when he's dealing with something that hits far too close to home. When facing something like this, the steady calm that usually reassures his friends turns into something far more hollow.]

There's rarely any sense to be found in destruction on a multiversal scale. It typically happens at the random whims of some deranged omnicidal maniac, usually one with delusions of godhood.

Mita Ashyn | Warhammer 40k

[immaterium]

E: dodge death eaters

[Mita Ashyn was no stranger to the whimsy of the Warp. How, when she threw herself into its turbulent waves and trusted that her self would stand firm, it would pluck her mind up like a giant playing with an ant and toss her to reaches she did not know. It takes her far too long to realise that she is not merely a projection of her astral self, and that it is her very real, very solid body.]

[Something she discovers when she's scored by a shard of glass from a shattering prophesy. Flinching away from the cut, she grows angry.]

You bastard, I'll show you what a witch can do!

[She sends out a boiling lance of psychic energy, an almost-invisible shimmer of force stabbing out into the air. It hits a Death Eater right in the stomach, and swats him like a fly with a crack of sound.]

C: bean some brains

[There is a thing attached to her arm. Pulsating, nauseatingly warm, and utterly repulsive on her skin, she is very certain that further contact is not advisable. There is something happening to her, some drain on her mind that she can feel. Fearful of what it is doing as she speaks, she is too panicked to meaningfully direct her energy, resulting in destructive psychic daggers that shatters everything but her target.]

[When she sees somebody else in the room, she screams out for help.]

E!

[makinuscream]

[ Outside of stories and legends, Urahara does not know much about witches, but if they can send some overdressed and manically cackling idiot flying through the air for no discernable reason, Kisuke thinks that he could be (possibly) on the side of a witch. From the next aisle over, he gives a wave and what seems to be enthusiastic approval just before he snags another one of the spheres.

She seems to have things well in hand. No need to interfere. Hmm, maybe he should offer at least. ]

If you need anything, let me know!!

[ Forming an 'okay' with his fingers, Urahara scrambles up another set of shelves, climbing up towards the top where the next targeted sphere rests. ]

If you can keep them occupied I can take care of these~

Kubo l Kubo & the Two Strings

[samisen]

Prompt A:

Wh -- whoa?!

[Kubo had just been exploring, wandering around curiously as he tried to figure his way around more, given he had only recently arrived here. But he still hadn't expected that. The statue? It wasn't in fact actually a statue, given by the fact that it moved, that it was pulling him in, when all he had done was try dip his toes into the water.

Or perhaps with the boggart, he sees the Moon King in that serpent, or human form. He'd grown up hearing those stories. Just didn't quite have the details of it all, exactly, in figuring it all out.]

How -- no....you can't be?

Prompt C:

[There's a few different potential memories on Kubo's end to share. him telling the villagers the stories about Hanzo, messing with Monkey because he is a kid and likes a laugh, his mother telling him the stories he then relays to the village.]

Stop!

[He reaches, trying to grip at the brain's tentacles to attempt to pry himself free.]

Prompt D:

What does this mean? That's....that's home?!

[Kubo looks up at the stars, at the images of all those different worlds, curious and horrified once he recognizes one of them. His home. The cave where he had lived with his mother. The town where he'd told his stories to the villagers. What was going on?]

Prompt E:

[Alright. Stop the Death Eaters getting the prophecy. The globes. Shouldn't be too hard? Right? Kubo at least isn't entirely defenseless, as he has his shamisen, his paper, ready to fold into whatever creation he might need to use to defend himself, to defend the prophecies.

Only, he's less willing to be quite as aggressive. To be quite as ruthless, in comparison to the Death Eaters. Which puts him more at risk, not to mention him being an easier target in just being a kid.

Which is how he starts off by leaping to the side to dodge a curse from the Death Eaters. Complete with a yelp of surprise, though really, he probably shouldn't be so taken aback. He was in the way of these guys getting their precious prophecy, after all.

Kubo straightens, pursing his lips as he strums at his shamisen's strings, his paper folding by itself to create a group of little 'birds' who swoop down to attack the Death Eater, hoping to at least distract him.]

E: MY BABY

[astrarche]

Kubo!

[Unfortunately for the Death Eaters, Kubo did not get his compassionate restraint from his mother. Unfortunate for them, because here she comes.

She cared enough about protecting the prophecy to spill some blood on her way to them. She cares about protecting her son a lot more. This is too bad for the Death Eaters between her and him. One of them has already lost a wand hand to her sword.]

Cover their eyes! They can't curse what they can't see!

Lanoree Brock | Star Wars DotJ

[fleshalchemist]

[Lanoree Brock - a six-foot tall woman with long auburn hair in clips, a protoJedi decked out in far nicer, flashier clothing and jewelry than the order goes for - doesn't have issues with her primary tangible weapon not working, because it's a metal sword, alchemically strengthened.

But she can tell her connection to the Force is wrong, off somehow. So much of the power that is her right is walled away, and she can't sense the physical presence of the moons Bogan and Ashla anywhere, no matter how she tries to stretch her senses. It's frustrating and disorienting, like reaching again and again for a tool that's always been at hand and finding that the hand she's reaching with is gone.

At the same time, this isn't anywhere in the Tython system, and all the people and creatures here are aliens to her. She can't deny the thrill of that. All her life, she's thought of finding a way to leave, and even doing so without her control or volition - that's exciting. Lanoree still has her hard-trained physical skill, some of her alchemy, some of her telekinesis, and her ability to touch and read minds; she will make do.]

Her Own Best Weapon: [You may see her in the prophecy room, ducking in and out in anticipation of the enemy, throwing punches and kicks that seem like they should barely touch or miss entirely, except that as much as several feet away glass shatters and Death Eaters are flung about. Lanoree fights with obvious enjoyment, a tight and superior smile showing under hard eyes, and like someone used to lone combat, with little regard for if flying glass or stricken foes hit anyone else. She'll use that sword to deflect curses, but only starts to cut down the enemy with it if things get dicey. She might be able to use these people if they're alive.]

Ethically Questionable:

[Speaking of! In a lull or even outright after the trouble is cleared up, with the current party of Death Eaters down and out, crouched over a prone but breathing form and removing his mask, putting a palm over his pasty forehead with a strange, avid cast to her face. She's talking to herself, or to him, or possibly to whoever strays near enough to hear her, it's hard to say.]

If only I had more time, what I could do with you... Who is the Unfinished Princess? No, hold still, be calm...

ethically questionable

[immaterium]

[Mita approaches her hesitantly, arm held close to her side.]

What are you doing?

[Her voice is curious, with an edge of wariness that implies she already knows the answer to the question. The figure that crouches before Mita is unmistakably a psyker, as an Empathitor being familiar with the gestures that make mind-invasion and easier. But she... she seems somewhat unstable. Better to be careful, and to avoid offending her.]

Neffa a Reyeth | OC | feel free to go for any other prompt!

[lessthanelementary]

A.

[Hold! Here's a handsome young man with excellent hair. His clothes are showy, all long bright-yellow skirts and flowing overrobe; a bundle of elegantly carved pieces of wood hang from the deep-blue sash around his waist, clacking with his every movement.

They're clacking a lot! Neffa is running for his life. Or trying to, anyway.

He'd approached the fountain imagining that it would be safe to sit beside it a moment, fill his mouth with clean water and try to fight his way out of his panic. (The sun. He can't see the sun.) He was too slow seeing the tentacle creeping over his shoulder, winding its way around his arm; his scream was cut off by the terrible jerk backward as it dragged him toward the water. By luck alone he'd managed to get his feet under him, but the tentacle is wound tight around his arm, another snaking toward his ankles, and though he has his feet planted against the fountain's base, it's clear he's not going to be able to hold his ground much longer.]

Help! For gods' sake! Please!

--

D.

[This room is beautiful. After the chaos getting here, it feels almost too quiet. Neffa's tread on the floor is soft, as though he were walking through a temple.

One of his wooden conduits is in his hand now, the carvings on it glowing with a soft yellow light, flickering like candleflame. He watches three or four worlds crumble away in its light, his expression an uncertain frown. So many worlds, and none of them familiar--

--until there it is. Ristopa. Jewel of the desert, city of the gods, land of the First Contract. He sees it from above, nestled within a wide curve of the Great Daa, the river that is its lifeblood. He feels a pang as he recognizes the shapes he always saw from the streets - the great Skytowers, the distant palace, the beautiful tree-lined streets of the Sun Quarter where he once dreamed of living one day.

And then it, too, begins to crumble.

The conduit trembles in his hand. He swallows hard.

No, [he says.] That can't happen. Not to Ristopa.

[He laughs, an uncertain, echoing sound. Like he can drive away the idea by reinforcing its absurdity. Other places, maybe-- not Ristopa.

D

[easy_as_cake]

You'd be surprised how little the universe cares about the people and places you love.

[Trance's footsteps are equally quiet, making it easy enough for her to slip into the room behind the man. Her words don't sound like any sort of censure or criticism, so much as a statement of fact.

She seems less in awe of their surroundings, as well, reaching out to brush fingers through some of the projections as she passes them. If anything, she appears practically at home here in this magical projection of worlds. No particular planet appears before her.]

It's nice, sometimes, but then when you want a place to be special... Is Ristopa your home?

chara | undertale | ota

[genosider]

A.

[ The real knife goes snicker-snack, and with its head, you'll find the boggart dead, and Chara steps a few paces back.

Catching creatures? No, Chara had gone for the more lethal route, in spite of themselves. Or perhaps because of exactly who they were. It was against protocol, but Chara wasn't finding much fun in following the rules. The boggart, moments prior to its nefarious execution, had taken the shape of a human that was more of a pitch black silhouette. By nature and how it carried itself, it was more than unfriendly, and Chara relished the chance to snap its vertebrae with their knife.

It was an ordinary knife. Chara is not an ordinary human, but also not extraordinary. They twirl the point of the blade on their finger, looking to see what kind of blood has stained it.

Nothing.

So they'll get in some trouble. Big deal, Chara loves trouble because trouble is a challenge. ]

E.

[ Smash. Smash. Crash.

Each orb Chara had the vision for crashed with a deafening blow against their blade, a strike for each one and the death of a prophecy oozing out into the world only to vanish. It was quite addicting, like breaking Christmas decorations against the side of a brick house-- relieving of anger, though Chara was never too angry to begin with. Destructive does not necessarily need 'angry'. ]

You're going too slow.

[ With that, Chara smashes another one in your character's line of sight, as if taking your kill for you.

Chara sees one with a familiar name attached to it, glowing, achingly and angrily familiar.

Smiling with delight, they break it and stomp on the pieces, as if wanting to cover themselves in the glass dust. ]

A

[reluctantgenius]

You must surprise people a lot with how capable you are with that knife.

[The speaker's smile is light and the compliment genuine, but both he and the yellow creature accompanying him are also reasonably wary of the child. But of course what's none other than a strangely-dressed fellow human would be able to hide such a thing better. His partner, the large rodent thing, attempts to bunch up its squishy body as closely as possible into their living perch.

Such a tiny... monster probably doesn't seem very threatening compared to the abominations running about.]

Ickis | Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

[loomingterror]

A.

[An ear-piercing shriek sounds out amongst the chaos of loose creatures, and a figure that looks like they could easily fit in with some of them goes darting down the hallway followed closely by an equally unpleasant sounding banshee.

Unaware of where he is or how he got here, Ickis had initially been horrified at the sight of what he had assumed were fellow monsters locked in cages, and he had started letting out some of the ones who hadn't already escaped, despite the fact that none of them seemed to be capable of responding to him when he tried talking to them. Unfortunately, they weren't all that great at showing gratitude. In fact, he was starting to see why they might have been locked up in the first place.

Now he was really wishing he'd learned his lesson about freeing prisoners the first time he'd made that mistake.]

I was just trying to help what is wrong with all of you?!

[Watching his back more than where he was going, he slams into another oncoming figure, bouncing off of them and landing on the floor. At his wit's end and seemingly forgetting he was being chased, he just started a bout of frustrated shriek sobbing.]

Leave me alooone!

E.

[All of this is NOT okay! The waking up in a weird place, the creepy cryptic whispering, the monsters that weren't monsters, and the humans! The sheer amount of humans and their weird new stick weapons and other oddities! This was like one of the worst nightmares he'd ever had, and he'd had some doozies!

Thankfully, being small had its advantages. After getting away from the room of...whatever those were (he was deciding against the idea that they were monsters), he'd been able to get around largely undetected. Most of the humans seemed more content to attack the other humans anyway, which frankly was the only normal thing about this situation so far.

Hiding away in the shelves full of odd little spheres, he heard more of that whispering, telling him to destroy the things, which...okay? Not the first time he'd dealt with weird cryptic instructions or mystical quest stuff, but that was it? Really? That was why he was poofed here?

Okay.

At least that was doable. Heck, it didn't look like he'd even have to work all that hard at it, most of the humans running around here seemed to be doing a good enough job of that themselves.

Climbing up higher into the shelves, he knocked over any of the ones in his path (not seeing a point in being all that picky about what ones got broken), or he ate them without putting any thought into what the magical junk might do to his insides. And any humans that came too close to his hidey hole got the little orbs chucked at them. He even managed to bean a robed shooty human in the head, before then trying to hit the person they'd been going after.]

snow villiers ( ffxiii )

[steelguard]

a — here there be monsters;;

( see the secrets in the room full of stars. destroy the spheres before the masked ones take them.

it's no real secret to anyone that knows him well that he's never been much for riddles — or anything that requires a lot of extensive thought, because he would so much rather go, do, be than sit, wait, and process. that being said, it should come to no surprise to literally anyone that he doesn't know a thing about what he's supposed to be doing in this department of mysteries, because as far as he's concerned, mysteries are better solved by. like. detectives, or something like that? there's a cocoon-equivalent for that somewhere. we're sure of it.

so, he's looking around. and so, he's taking in his surroundings with more than a modicum of interest, because this is the kind of thing you really don't see everyday, unless you're used to departments and mysteries and everything in between in your day-to-day.

the phrase dumb luck might have followed him around his entire life, but it may or may not be about to run out, depending on the next couple of minutes and what he decides to do with them; he hasn't, so far, run into any of the beasties released from their cages but he does pass a fountain with a not-at-all-suspicious-looking statue at its center, and he has to stop, if only for a second or two or seven, to really look at it.

he hasn't gotten close enough for a tentacle monster to nab him yet, but he isn't exactly small, which makes him easy to grab — only time will tell if he keeps on standing there, or decides to see what else this mysterious department holds for him.

hopefully not tentacles, but. no one's fate is written in stone. unless you're a l'cie, in which case it absolutely is, but we're not thinking about that right now, are we? )

e — man has an incurable habit of not fulfilling the prophecies of his fellow man;;

( destroy the spheres before the masked ones take them.

yeah, yeah, he remembers. and trust him, he's got an idea of what it means to fulfill one's prophecy or focus, even if it's much more literal in his own case, and there's a constant thorn in his side when he thinks about what had set the whole thing in motion in the first place.

( he isn't bitter, he isn't bitter at all but he reserves the right to think he has the right to be. if he chose to be. which he hasn't. )

he knows where he's supposed to be headed — at least in the very general sense, like a pull in the direction he needs to go as opposed to having any real navigational prowess ( listen, there's a reason he doesn't lead the group wherever they're going, okay ); the spheres he passes first are dark, almost to the point of passing beyond his notice until he finds one that shines a bit more brightly, a soft green that almost seems pleasant until he realizes that these are all futures that have yet to happen, and for some reason need to be stopped.

( some prophecies are bad, he knows, or at least thinks. some things just don't need to come to pass and some things do, and so he has a general understanding of why he's here —

but that doesn't mean he knows for sure whether or not these to-be-destroyed prophecies are good. or bad.

and that might result in hesitance. )

he's close enough to reach out with a gloved hand toward the sphere he needs to grab, but halts at the last second. right next to it, the same shade of every other sphere he isn't supposed to touch, is one with a name that will always make his heart clench tight in his chest.

serah farron.

it's the only reason he gives pause, because he has to wonder, has to know — what has he missed, what is he missing that hasn't already come to pass, what yet lies ahead in their tentative future that would find her name in a place like this.

it's what allows a death eater to come within range of him, and he grabs not only the sphere he's supposed to be getting but serah's as well, tucking them both somewhere ( hopefully ) safe inside his coat before he rounds with fists clenched and teeth bared, like he's ready to face down death itself.

well. it's not inaccurate. not entirely. )

f — choose your own adventure;;

( this is the part where you close your eyes and pick an option, or make up something new, or hit me up at boldly if you wanna brainstorm something specific! :> )

e.

[pellucidus]

[ things were meant to be okay. she had turned from crystal to flesh in mere seconds. they fought fate. they survived. she could finally be reunited with the people she loves the most. and it was okay for a time as society kept itself from crumbling down. for a moment, serah and snow thought they could make plans for the future.

it seems that there is something else in the cards for them. a detour of sorts, by way of a forest she has never seen before, leading her down a dark and sinister path.

destroy the spheres before the masked ones take them.

that's easy enough. serah wants to question it and she does, to some extent, though there isn't much time to think as she rushes down the pathways between shelves, ducking at each magic blast. there are names she's never seen before: korra, lyra belacqua, artemis fowl... there is importance to these names. she has smashed a two of them as promised and holds onto the last one curiously.

it only takes a second. that's what lightning told her as a soldier. it takes a second to pull you out of focus, letting the enemy find your weak spots. and so they do, glass smashing somewhere behind her, causing serah to scream in surprise and fright. her entire body tenses and she, hugging this mysterious sphere, begins to run in the opposite direction. ]

keith | voltron: legendary defender

[secondnature]

i. what you fear: boggart style

[In terms of a first mission—or quest or test or whatever is the right word for it—Keith doesn't think that anything is going that badly. Fighting a bunch of seemingly mindless monsters feels like it's par for the course in his life. It's just that the Galra (violent, warring, and not unlike him when someone gets down to it) are more sentient than these things. From what he can see. Keith isn't stopping to ask them about their days.

Keith is panting when he turns a sharp corner and comes to press up against a wall. Even if he can handle monsters—and running from them when needed—that doesn't mean he has endless endurance. He doesn't.

He sighs as he straightens up and starts moving, steps ginger and careful, right before he comes across a familiar face on his knees, hand across his belly as his wound spreads.

Shiro. The name is meaningless to anyone here, probably, but to Keith, it's everything. His shoulders tense for just a moment before he rushes forward.]

Keep away, Keith. You aren't wanted here. Not this time. After all, you got us into this mess. [Because why would a boggart pull its punches?

Keith straightens up, his lips twisting downward. Unlike his test with the Blade, Keith can tell that something is wrong here. It helps that he isn't delirious or tired. He's about to say something when he hears someone approach from behind, and he looks in that direction.]

Any chance that one of these magical things makes illusions? [There's a sharpness to Keith's voice as he tries to hide the fact that seeing Shiro like this hurts. Unfortunately, Keith isn't that good at hiding his emotions.

Especially when the illusion doubles over and gives a sickening laugh, like Keith has said the dumbest thing ever.]

ii. defender of the what? (dancing of the spheres)

[Keith wouldn't be able to explain why it is that Earth shows up when he thinks about it, but that's because Keith's relationship with his home planet is tenuous. Aside from Shiro, sometimes it feels like his life really got somewhere after he left home. Becoming a Paladin of Voltron felt natural. Joining the Blade to ensure that Voltron had the right leader? Also natural. No matter what, he never considered leaving the fight for his universe. It was all just about shifting into a different sphere.

But he can tell that this Earth is his Earth. It's the place he grew up, where he was a loner, and where he first sensed the Blue Lion and took his path off the planet.

He grimaces when he sees it start to fall apart. The wreckage and ruin is apparent.]

We're here to stop this. Right? That's not an impossible task. [He may not feel connected to home, but how long until everyone is sucked in, forced to deal with the tragedies apparent here?]

iii. team up against the bad guys

[Step one of this mess? Keith tries to do this without a team up. Spoilers: it went badly. Since his Marmora blade (a small blade with a purple emblem on it) isn't working, he's stuck trying to do this a different way. Having only a dagger on hand is good when he's taking out mindless drones, or trying to run from monsters to get them back into a cage by looping around mindlessly. But here? A dagger versus magic isn't much.

He leans up against where he's sitting, only to see one of his other ... quest mates? Partners? Whatever, it's someone to work with. He'd like to go it alone, but that won't be possible. So, time to hope they both don't get killed.

He motions for them to join him. Hopefully they ... get the hint. Or they don't make hand motions in return.

Keith isn't great at hand motions himself. Or, well, complicated ones.]

I

[partiallysquirrelblood]

[Walking up from behind Keith is a young woman with somewhat outsized incisors and a large fluffy squirrel tail. An actual squirrel with a pink bow rides on her shoulder.]

Probably? It doesn't really smell human. Trust me, my nose is awesome, I can tell. It might be an illusion, or maybe a shapeshifter. Or a shared psychic vision induced by a telepath?
But they usually try to make things smell real, so y'knoe , probably not it.

[She crouches, looking boggart in the eye.]

Look, I don't usually question people's life choices if they're not committing crimes or hurting anybody, but the whole trying to scare people for no reason thing is kind of a jerk move.

If you're actually hurt, I can try to help. Either way could you stop doing all this? It's not really getting you anywhere right now, and there's probably better ways you could be spending your time.

[Her eyes widen as she comes up what seems like a viable solution.]

Oh, dude, I know! We"re not exactly here on purpose. We're here to stop those guys in the masks who broke in. If you help us scare them off we'll leave too. What do you think? [Doreen and Tippy-Toe turn their heads towards Keith, obviously interested in his opinion as well.]