TDM 2 ⬡ The Little Match Girl

[liburuzaina]

	Casting Call The Little Match Girl Hans Christian Andersen »» "A picture of misery, poor little girl!" Name: The Little Match Girl Casting Call: Characters with a Lawful, True, or Chaotic Neutral Alignment Physical Notes: Young - 15 years old or younger. Small and slight. Malnourished. Dressed in rags, and not wearing any shoes, gloves, or hat to ward against the cold. Personality Notes: Passive to the extent of not being forceful or insistent, but still very determined. Compulsions: To not go home until she's sold all her matches. To periodically light a match in an attempt to keep warm, and to hallucinate from hypothermia as a result. «« »» "Grandmother had never been so grand and beautiful." Name: The Grandmother/Angel Casting Call: Characters with a Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic Good Alignment Physical Notes: Old, with a very kind face. Radiant and loving. Possessing of any desired "Christmas Angel" features while taking The Little Match Girl to Heaven. Personality Notes: Kind and loving. The only one to show compassion to the little girl, both in life and as she's dying. Compulsions: To look after her granddaughter one last time, and carry her off to heaven in comfort and warmth as she passes away. «« »» "No one imagined what beautiful things she had seen." Name: Passers-by Casting Call: Characters with a Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic Evil Alignment Physical Notes: Varied - Could be any age, appearance, or social standing. Living, humanoid. Personality Notes: Predominantly indifferent to the plights of others, more focused on themselves. Will typically only offer pity and condolences when it's too late. Compulsions: To not buy matches from the girl, and to ignore her plight. To gossip amongst themselves the morning after she's passed away, and once her corpse is found. «« code @ efryndiel The Streets ⬡ Common Cast All characters are likely to originate in The Streets. ⬡ Literary Description "It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark. Evening came on, the last evening of the year. In the cold and gloom a poor little girl, bareheaded and barefoot, was walking through the streets." ⬡ For Your Exploration The Streets are an endless row of street and sidewalk, hedged on either side by tall buildings, much like one might find in a large city - London, New York, Chicago, or the like. It's bitter cold out, and snow has already fallen several inches, and shows no sign of stopping. It's dusk, though the light is quickly fading, and people are slowly but surely going in for the night. The buildings are not residential - they're all little shops and restaurants, or the entrances to more private businesses. The time and place are ambiguous. The city could be a modern one, a medieval one, a Victorian one, but it will be simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar to the first character to manifest in the space (i.e. the starter-writer). Only the Grandmother/Angel will have powers, and those powers will be limited to what might be expected of a stereotypical Christmas Angel - Flight by way of large, feathery wings, an ambient glow, and the generation of warmth and good feelings. The Corner ⬡ Common Cast All characters are likely to originate in The Corner. ⬡ Literary Description "In a corner formed by two buildings, one of which projected farther out into the street than the other, she sat down and drew up her little feet under her." ⬡ For Your Exploration Eventually, once night has fallen, the Little Match Girl will find The Corner. It's tucked in and out of the way of the main sidewalk, and the brick walls block the wind, to an extent. Huddling here will make her less noticeable to Passers-By, but it will provide some small respite from the cold while she tries to warm herself by striking one match at a time. The cold will bring her hallucinations of pleasant things, brought on by the striking of a new match, and taken away when it putters out. Eventually, her kind Grandmother will appear to her, and take her away as she succumbs to the cold. In the morning, Passers-by will finally find themselves caring about her, but only enough to gossip about her hardships, and about how she tried warming herself with simple matches, once they see her corpse. Like the Streets, the time and place are ambiguous. The city could be a modern one, a medieval one, a Victorian one, but it will be simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar to the first character to manifest in the space (i.e. the starter-writer). Only the Grandmother/Angel will have powers, and those powers will be limited to what might be expected of a stereotypical Christmas Angel - Flight by way of large, feathery wings, an ambient glow, and the generation of warmth and good feelings. ⬡ Hallucinations The Little Match Girl's hallucinations will come and go as she strikes matches on the wall. They'll all be pleasant for her, and will lessen her pain while they last. They may contain - but are not limited to - her believing there's a warm stove or fireplace nearby to warm herself, a great Christmas or New Year's feast to eat, or a kind and loving family to spend the holidays with. The Tree ⬡ Merry Christmas? Mysteriously, on what would be the 24th of December, for anyone capable of keeping track of the passage of days, a massive Christmas Tree will appear on the first floor of the Library, immediately visible to anyone walking in the Paseo entrance. It seems to warp the space around it - appearing to be several stories tall all on its own, and yet not reaching the ceiling. For characters already milling about the first floor, the tree will appear when they look away from the space - or even when they simply blink. As this setting is part of the Library itself, characters will have full access to all their powers. ⬡ Presents? The base of the tree will be surrounded with piles and piles of gifts. For anyone looking closely enough, these gifts will have clearly marked tags - and you might even find one for you in the pile! Contained in these gifts is an additional item from home, for everyone in the Library. As characters are originally only brought in with the things on their person, this gift can be anything else they could possibly want from their home world. If there is nothing else they would want from home, it will contain a generic Christmas Gift - a soft and practical sweater in their favorite color, a stuffed toy, a pillow or blanket, slippers, warm and fuzzy socks, etc. The only restriction on gifts is that it cannot be a food item (it's not in the cafe, after all!) and any weapons brought from home will come in the form of a note written in a card, thanking the character for their contribution to the gallery their weapon will then be found in. Characters will be unable to open gifts that do not have their name written on the tag. The Tree and all unopened gifts will disappear as easily as they appeared when the clock would strike midnight on January 1st. navigation • premise • reserves • faq

Comments

Claude von Riegan | Fire Emblem: Three Houses | Match girl

[bowfaire]

THE STREETS

(Why is he out in the cold? His eyes dart from shop entrance to restaurant window and he considers just going inside where it's warm and dry. This is what he would usually do by the time he's reached this point! Derdriu is temperate and the winters are mild. And sure, Garreg Mach can get cold up in the mountains but it's not like he's spent frequent winters or anything up there. His cold tolerance? Not so great. He's a temperate flower. A spring blossom! A summer rose! Wrap him up and stick him some place warm, thanks.

But he can't. Every time he tries to go inside, his mind wanders back to these matches in his basket and he finds himself taking to the streets again, his feet carrying him away from the warmth.

He's always been sharp and if you asked him? He'd say that along with his dashing good looks and personable charm, his mind was one of his best assets. And right now it feels like something has worked its way in, like some intrusive nighttime thought that he can't shake off, compelling him to come back to it again and again. He has to sell these matches. Every. Single. One. Down to the very last. He can't rest until he does.

There it goes again, his feet carrying him into the snow, barefoot, hungry, cold-- )

Hey.

(He barely manages to grab onto a sleeve or touch an arm. He holds up a match and smiles-- perfectly charming, warm and inviting, even if it doesn't quite match a certain type of desperation in his eyes.)

It's getting cold and dark. So how about it? Why not have something warm and bright for the night...

THE CORNER

(He brings his hands close to his face and breathes, trying to warm his fingers. Nothing. It isn't good enough and he brings himself close. It's cold. It's so cold and he fumbles for one of the matches. He can barely feel it in his fingers and he finds himself relying on his sight more than his touch to strike it.

The flame is bright and warm and everyone is gathered in the dining hall. He raises a glass and gives some sort of speech and everyone is having such a wonderful time. It's a real splendid feast with delicious and warm food, important people, and...)

Ouch!

(The match burns down to his fingers and he drops it into the snow. With the dark comes the cold again.)

THE TREE

(Oh, sorry, were you looking for your present? Because Claude has it right now. It most definitely does not have his name on it but that doesn't stop him from picking it up, weighing it, and maybe even giving it a gentle shake.

He's comparing it to his own gift. It's small, light, and still wrapped in paper and

well

maybe he's considering... switching name tags??? It doesn't matter that he can't actually do it. He's going to try.)

WILDCARD

(Hit me. He's a nerd so catch him all over the library. Or in the cafe because something something after shelter, find food/water. Anyway, feel free to reach me over at plurk eski or PM.)

Hands off her present >:/

[inlikethebrume]

[So she wasn't actively looking for her present but it's hard to miss when she can see the tag with her name on it. In the hands of another.]

Oh! You found the gift left for me! My thanks for you finding it!

[Because not everyone is a tricky lil thief, right? Surely he was just holding it until its rightful owner came to claim it.]

unhand the present

[savanaclaw]

[So Leona hadn't come to the tree to see if there was a present for him under it. In fact, he'd just assumed that they were there for decoration, and they'd make a nice shield for him when he went to go nap under the tree.

Or in the tree.

Somewhere out of the way, is the point.

But it soon became clear that there were gifts for everyone pulled in, and that someone is manhandling his.]

Oi.

[The box is long and thin, more unwieldy than heavy, and judging by other gifts that had been opened, Leona has a guess at what's in it. And he doesn't want someone else to steal it, even if he also doesn't anticipate getting much use out of it here.

If he's right, anyway.]

Looks like you found my gift for me.

[So, like, hand it over.]

the corner

[weifinder]

( Here stands another youth, hair long and fettered by snowflakes as he strides into the corner, ducking down and trying to capture the singed fingers in his hands with a fumbling that speaks of his own cold and the effect of the dark on his eyes. He feels the same compulsion, but there's another fear, not of the cold, but of what else fire draws: attention, the hungry, things with teeth.

Being here is asking for hurt, and while he's tired and his own supply of matches is down to the handfuls, he doesn't want to be alone on these streets anymore. Not after dark. )

If you keep burning them, how're we going to light a fire back at the house?

( A wan smile in the moonlight, made brighter by the reflection off the snows, even in this dark corner of the world. )

We can't just chase the illusion of warmth. We have to make it real.

( Before the feral dogs that live even in the coldest of winter streets finds them and makes a meal of their thin boned frames. )