historiadores: (Default)
AREYTO MODS ([personal profile] historiadores) wrote in [community profile] chismosos2020-10-17 10:54 pm
Entry tags:

test drive meme #1

TDM #1


LA LLEGADA
The Museum of Art and History is the largest and oldest in Llave, and contains a grand collection spanning from the time the first humans landed on its shores to the modern day. The building encircles an open courtyard where an art installation sits amidst many of the plants important to the settlers of Llave. Behind the museum is a wide, shallow field of hard-packed dirt lined by large stones, the petroglyphs on their surface worn by time—the earliest known playing field in all of the Caribbean. And further out are the areas where excavations are ongoing, uncovering the pottery, jewelry and artifacts of the ancestors.

After awakening, things move quickly. The museum is closed, and the characters ushered into the courtyard to wait. Any needing emergency medical attention are kept in one of the air conditioned galleries until the paramedics arrive. A group of women with a military bearing take charge of the situation; identified as the Bajari Bara, they question the healthy and able. They cede authority only to the Prime Minister when she arrives. Two more of their group flank the nation's leader, though they step aside when she begins to walk among the new arrivals to speak with them.

Each side has many questions and few answers. Characters are informed they are in Llave. It's October 2020. And efforts will be made to return them to their homes. But how they came to be here and why remain mysteries…as does how they’ll find their way back.

A hurricane shelter nearby is activated for use by the recent arrivals. There, characters are provided with food and clothing, a cot and other basic supplies. No one is allowed out, but through the windows they can see the lush green of the their surroundings. At night, coquí sing them to sleep. Those taken to a hospital will remain there until they are discharged. Each patient is allowed one visitor to stay with them overnight.

Over the next several days, all characters undergo physical and mental evaluations; are provided with their first immunizations; have the next legal steps explained to them; and are taught about Llave. Every character, regardless of age, has a caseworker who checks in with them daily. None have been arrested, they are assured. But they must also complete the quarantine process. To enforce quarantine, at both the hospital and the shelter, the Bajari Bara guard every entrance and exit.

Welcome to Llave.

EL AREYTO
As luck would have it, around the time quarantine ends, all of Llave is in the midst of celebration. Today is the Day of Heroes, celebrated every last weekend in October, which this year happens to fall on the eve of All Saints’ Day. So when the new arrivals venture out for the first time, Nona, the capital, welcomes them with color and music.

The people of Llave have a special love for music and dance, and it shows. All day, groups gather to play, and many more to dance. The songs center around heroes of Llave with the chief of these being Nuna, a beloved figure who is said to have led her people here to freedom. Those performing wear traditional clothes: guayaberas, long circle skirts, palm hats and headwraps, all brightly colored.

From early morning, artisans have set up under tents tables laden with goods. Clothing, jewelry, musical instruments, paintings, and more made from leather and wood, seashells and fish scales, aluminum and copper. Many create right at the table. Most popular are those working on cemís: sculptural objects, said to house the spirits of ancestors. Many carry them as amulets especially on this the eve to the days of the dead.

The food is equally rich and one of the cooks takes an interest in the new arrivals. Those who eat his food find their mood changing depending on what they ate. The tostones he prepared while speaking of his childhood home in Santa Cecilia bring on feelings of joy and contentment. The alcapurrias fried while arguing with a customer about last night’s wrestling match cause those who eat them to feel irritated. And the casabe, a flatbread made of cassava, that he explains he learned to make from his wife who passed, induces a profound nostalgia for lost loves. His wife, recognizable from the photo he keeps on the wall, sits beside those most affected and comforts them until the melancholy passes.

More dead can be found. An old man in a fine guayabera recalls composing the lyrics to a particular song. He points out the man playing the congas and proudly says his great-grandson will soon outplay him. When characters look back to the old man, he’s gone. Those with a sense for it will recognize many dead walking among the living. These next few days honor and celebrate the departed, and the dead have seized the rare opportunity to join the festivities once more.

For those who prefer the sea, the impossibly blue waters of the Caribbean are just a short walk away. Cobblestone and concrete paths line La Bahía de Nona. On one of the larger rock outcroppings jutting into the bay sits a silver-white dog. If called, he will trot over. Up close, one can see his color is due to the sand and salt that has collected on its coat. Though he allows himself to be petted, he does not step off the rocks. A passerby comments that the dog has been waiting for his master to return. How long? The man shrugs. When he was a boy, the dog was keeping watch; now he’s forty-three, and the dog is still there.

EL TRAVIESO
Or perhaps the characters were more distracted by how clean the water was, how clear. Enough so that the sight of a bottle bobbing in the waves seems offensively out of place. Anyone who chooses to snag it out of the water will find it’s a corked bottle of rum, apparently empty.

From a nearby restaurant, someone yells and waves their hands—too late. By uncorking it, they have freed the bacoo. Immediately, everyone backs away. Two cross themselves.

Only one stays long enough to warn, “You have to trick it back into the bottle. It likes milk and bananas. Don’t ask it for anything.

Turn around, and the bacoo is there.

Short and rugged with large eyes, long arms and legs, covered in unkempt hair and its fingers and toes ending in claws, the bacoo is a strange little creature. Stranger still, it can grant any wish—so long as it is kept appeased with a steady diet of milk and bananas.

A hungry bacoo will pelt walls with stones, move objects, keep its owner up at night, and otherwise wreak havoc until it is fed. A shapeshifter, they can be difficult to locate, much less trap. And a starving bacoo will turn vicious and its pranks malicious.

Best find a way to trick it into the bottle. Fast.


OOC NOTES
This TDM covers from mid-to-end of October. The first prompt lasts approximately two weeks; the second, a day. For now, all characters are restricted to Nona. Any attempting to leave will be gently, but firmly escorted back.

The TDM will also double as the first IC post of the game. Threads between any two or more characters who were all apped and approved will be considered game canon. As such, actions characters take in this TDM will impact the game once it opens. How characters behave will shape the inhabitants’ first impressions of them. Make it count.

Questions regarding this TDM can be asked below, while questions regarding the game at large should be directed to the FAQ.

Thank you for your interest and we hope to have you join!

NAVIGATIONIC COMMOOC COMMMEME COMM
boundwitch: (2)

[personal profile] boundwitch 2020-10-19 11:02 am (UTC)(link)
It might. [She says, shifting her weight slightly so those legs carry her forward. Not so far forward that she might accidentally bump into whoever Nico is talking to, but she wants a better look at the apparently empty space.]

Who are you talking to? Is it a ghost?
lordofdarkness: (This feeling calls for everything Im not)

[personal profile] lordofdarkness 2020-10-19 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[His lips pull up into the slightest of smiles and he steps back to give her a better view. She isn't afraid, and that's something.]

It is. His name is Ernesto. He says he's never seen legs like yours. Will you tell me your name so I can tell him?
boundwitch: (7)

[personal profile] boundwitch 2020-10-19 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh! [And she reaches down to flick a switch somewhere, which bends those metal spider legs until her real feet just brush the floor. She gives the ghost a very well practiced curtesy, even though she still can't see him.

Another flick of that switch, and she goes back to her prior height.
]

It's very nice to meet you, Mister Ernesto. My name is Sieglinde Sullivan. I'm sure you've never seen legs like these, because I made them myself. I call them the Arachne Patousa.

I have never met a real ghost before, but I have heard they make the air feel cold wherever they are. May I touch you?
lordofdarkness: (what do I do with a love that won't)

[personal profile] lordofdarkness 2020-10-19 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[Nico watches her movement with a wry sort of amusement and then at her question, he turns to the ghost beside him, speaking to him quietly for a moment. When he's finished, he turns to Sieglinde.]

He says he'll hold his hand out to you, but first—[Nico places a hand in the air around what might be Ernesto's shoulders and closes his eyes, concentrating for a moment. When he opens his eyes again. Ernesto's form is standing beside him in plain view for Sieglinde to see, if a bit hazy and see through.

Ernesto is an older man who with a friendly smile and age worn eyes that crinkle when he holds his hand out to Sieglinde.
]
boundwitch: (Default)

[personal profile] boundwitch 2020-10-20 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
[Those green eyes of hers go wide in astonishment as she holds out her hand to the ghost.]

Oh! There you are!
lordofdarkness: (Yeah maybe my head's fucked up)

[personal profile] lordofdarkness 2020-10-20 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Ernesto affords her a short wave with his other hand and when Sieglinde takes the hand he offers, she will indeed feel a change in temperature though it's more akin to a cool friendly breeze than a true chill. After that, he steps back and waves again, first to her and then to Nico before fading away once more.]

He said he wanted to go listen to more of the music but he was glad to be the first ghost you've met.

I didn't give you my name before, Sieglinde. I'm Nico. There are dozens of ghosts walking around today actually.
boundwitch: (4)

[personal profile] boundwitch 2020-10-23 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
... are you a ghost? [That's a possibility, but if he is a ghost, there's something different about him.]
lordofdarkness: (what do I do with a love that won't)

[personal profile] lordofdarkness 2020-10-29 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[It brings a wry smile to his face and he wonders at his own paleness and sunken in eyes. He shakes his head.]

No. I can just talk to them. [Among other ghostly interactions.]

Are you an engineer, Sieglinde?
boundwitch: (7)

[personal profile] boundwitch 2020-11-01 03:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm an inventor. [Not just an engineer, and there's a difference.]
lordofdarkness: (But not for spring to well up)

[personal profile] lordofdarkness 2020-11-03 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
[He nods, eyeing her legs in consideration.]

What sort of things do you invent, aside from those?
boundwitch: (9)

[personal profile] boundwitch 2020-11-13 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
All sorts of things. I've been working on something that can sort peoples blood, but I don't think it's relevant here. The medical science is extremely advanced.
lordofdarkness: (But you had to come along didn't you?)

[personal profile] lordofdarkness 2020-11-13 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Sort their blood? What do you mean? [Also like...why?]

Are you studying medicine?
boundwitch: (3)

[personal profile] boundwitch 2020-11-14 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh! [She's going to nerd.] There are four different types of blood. Someone else figured it out first, and called them Polaris, Vega, Canopis, and Sirius. Wolf says he thinks they're using it for blood transfusions, which would make sense.

But they didn't tell me their method, so I've had to figure out how to identify the types on my own. My friend Ciel is looking into something, and needed me to determine how they sorted the blood.
lordofdarkness: (But not for spring to well up)

[personal profile] lordofdarkness 2020-11-15 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
[Like blood types? He's never heard of those before, but maybe they're different names for them.]

That's really impressive. [Are you sure you're not a Hephaestus child.]

Blood types are labeled differently here-or I guess where I'm from, but they do it the same here. What's it like where you're from? Is it very different from this?
boundwitch: (9)

[personal profile] boundwitch 2020-11-15 03:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know if it's very different where I'm from. I'm from Germany, but I live in London now. What's different is when I'm from. It was the end of 1889, and it certainly isn't that now. There's a lot I need to catch up on here.
Edited 2020-11-15 15:13 (UTC)