TDM 1 ⬡ The Oval Portrait

[liburuzaina]

	Casting Call The Oval Portrait Edgar Allan Poe »» "Long — long I read — and devoutly, devotedly I gazed." Name: The Aristocrat Casting Call: Characters with a Birthday from September through December Physical Notes: Desperately wounded, to the point of being bedridden, but not losing consciousness. Personality Notes: Curious, and prone to becoming enraptured by the pursuit of learning about whatever has caught their curiosity. Mildly delirious due to injury. Compulsions: To learn about their surroundings, whether through study of the portraits in the chateau apartment, conversation with a companion, or ill-advised exploration. «« »» "We established ourselves in one of the smallest and least sumptuously furnished apartments." Name: The Valet Casting Call: Characters with an Unknown Birthday Physical Notes: Older than The Aristocrat by ≥ 5 years. Personality Notes: Willing and able (by force or by cleverness) to break in to a home for the well-being of their employer. A caretaker by nature. Compulsions: To see that The Aristocrat is comfortable for the night and their wounds are tended to, and to get some rest themselves once their duty is complete. In the absence of The Aristocrat, The Valet is free to act as they please. «« »» "She was a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee." Name: The Maiden Casting Call: Characters with a birthday from May through August Physical Notes: Young, aged from 15-20. Personality Notes: All smiles, loving and cherishing of all things, hating only The Painter's art, for they deprive them of their lover. Compulsions: To live life to the fullest, to love, to be happy... But also to make their husband, The Painter happy, by being a good and willing subject for his portraiture, should he ask. ⬡ Will slowly waste away and die, should they sit and allow themselves to be painted. «« »» "And evil was the hour when she saw, and loved, and wedded the painter." Name: The Painter Casting Call: Characters with a birthday from January through April Physical Notes: Older than the maiden by ≥ 10 years. Personality Notes: Passionate, studious, austere, wild, moody. More in love with his art than his wife. Compulsions: To paint. To paint, and paint, and paint some more. To ask their lovely wife to be the subject for their next piece, and to throw themselves into the completion of it. ⬡ Unaware they are doing harm with their painting, until it is complete. «« code @ efryndiel The Chateau ⬡ Common Cast Characters most likely to originate in The Chateau are The Aristocrat and The Valet ⬡ Literary Description "To all appearance it had been temporarily and very lately abandoned. We established ourselves in one of the smallest and least sumptuously furnished apartments. It lay in a remote turret of the building. Its decorations were rich, yet tattered and antique. Its walls were hung with tapestry and bedecked with manifold and multiform armorial trophies, together with an unusually great number of very spirited modern paintings in frames of rich golden arabesque." ⬡ For Your Exploration Characters may attempt to explore the Chateau, but it will be shrouded in darkness, and every room they enter will bring them back to the apartment chosen by The Valet. What decorations may be seen are dark and victorian in design, and the room and halls may be lit by candlelight. The Maiden's portrait is on the wall, and will initially be cloaked in shadow for The Aristocrat to find. It appears remarkably lifelike, almost as though it is a window instead of a portrait. The other paintings on the walls will contain figures that are almost familiar to The Aristocrat and The Valet - as though they could be someone they know, but only if they squint. There is no electricity. Characters will not have access to any powers. The Artist's Tower ⬡ Common Cast Characters most likely to originate in The Artist's Tower are The Maiden and The Painter ⬡ Literary Description "But she was humble and obedient, and sat meekly for many weeks in the dark, high turret-chamber where the light dripped upon the pale canvas only from overhead. But he, the painter, took glory in his work, which went on from hour to hour, and from day to day." ⬡ For Your Exploration Should characters leave the Painter's studio, they will immediately be transported outside, to a sprawling field of wildflowers. There won't seem to be anything else around, but there will be a light breeze and the sound of the sea in the distance. Inside the studio, the air is stale and musty, smelling of oil paints and turpentine. It's dim, lit only by a skylight. There is a stool for the subject and an easel with canvas sitting in the light, but everything else - art materials, more canvases, both empty and with the beginnings of paintings, and props - are all pushed to the sides of the room and cloaked in shadow. Like The Chateau, there is no electricity, and characters will not have access to their powers. The Library ⬡ Welcome! Free from their roles, through either death, completion of the Story, or from not being pulled into the tale in the first place, characters will find themselves in the gardens outside of the Library itself. As always, it will look and feel like a temperate, autumn afternoon. As this setting is part of the Library itself, characters will have full access to all their powers. ⬡ Grand Opening Coming Soon! The front door will, unfortunately, be locked, and a sign will be taped on the doors, detailing how the Library will be opening soon, but in the meantime to please enjoy the grounds and the pizza party in the courtyard. ⬡ Pizza party? Pizza party! In the courtyard, there will be tables set up that will be absolutely covered in stacks of paper plates, 2-liter bottles of any soda one could dream of, and stacks and stacks of pizza boxes, containing any flavor combination that could be desired. Opening a random box will provide a random, but popular, flavor. Opening a box with an Intent and a Desire for something specific will provide exactly that. Enjoy! It won't run out. navigation • premise • reserves • faq

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za boyz

[sidenote]

[The bit: committed and appreciated, know this. Felassan is busy putting plants into his face like the weirdo that he is, so when he looks at Felix immediately after... just spitting... he takes a second to connect the dots.

Ah, the little painter who cannot paint for beans!! (But can paint beans?) Yes, he remembers.]

Nothing at all! It's efficient, wouldn't you say?

[Do not say Anything, actually. He considers holding out the rest of the dandelion stem in offering, but no, that's too many bits to commit to... He flicks it down at his feet, instead, wiping his hand on the side of his leg while he gives Felix a perfectly reasonable look.]

What can I do for you, then?

[Is it... nothing!!]

[brothered]

[Efficient. Goddess above, but it most certainly is not? Eating whole-ass weeds is, like, a very Dimitri™ thing to do—and thus Felix releases a long, slow breath, just. Wondering why the world is full of absolute weirdos. Anyway, what can this particular weirdo do for Felix—]

Nothing. Obviously.

[He saw an opportunity and he took it, because he is just Like That.]

...If you're going to eat anything here, eat the—food. [Food, he says, so dubiously, and yet:] You're being ridiculous.

[Felix might be reluctant to eat greasy cheese-bread, at the moment, but he's lived through five years of war; he's eaten far worse things, so.]

[sidenote]

[Humans, so ornery... this is an ancient Dalish trick, little shem... 🙄]

And what do you know? Nothing about painting or what's happening here, yet you find the time to come and pass judgment on me... [Hmm!] Typical of your kind.

[He nods briefly, like, points for consistency! All humans are picky and rude! But not rude enough to deter him yet, so he says this wild thing about Passing Judgment (about flower chewing) and then inclines his head towards the greasy food table, idly.]

Why aren't you eating?

[brothered]

[I finished this tag last night and I never posted it? Smh. Anyway: Felix is indeed the Jon Snow of this scenario; he knows nothing at all, and yet that doesn't stop him from crossing his arms, looking unimpressed with Felassan's Everything. You ate a weed, sir, don't try to pass that off as a your-kind-versus-my-kind thing...

The answer to that question, though, is simple: Felix doesn't trust it! And yet, as he literally just told this guy to go eat some 'za—hhh.]

My kind prefer different foods.

[And yet somewhere not so far away, Dimitri is undoubtedly wishing a triple-cheese pizza into existence. The duality of man? The duality of Faerghans. But as Felix nods toward that table, because hey, buddy, two people can play the nodding game:]

More for you, then. I suppose you'll put a plant on it.

[Felassan now has a Reputation.]

[sidenote]

[It's the attitude that's a Thing, please keep up, artiste-no-more. Eating weeds is a highly advanced strat and he'd support Dimitri's drip if Dimitri hadn't wandered around with a fake(?) injury(?) back in that storyland nonsense. Alas...]

You are so very quick to take offense. [Typical Human Behavior] I thought that, maybe, that was only how you behaved when magic ensnared your mind to paint pictures of vegetables.

[But no, apparently this is True Felix, which is totally fine. Everyone here is prickly compared to Felassan, probably, soooo.]

Or am I doubly mistaken?

[brothered]

[How many times must a man say that he was not, in fact, painting a squash before he is believed?? Or: Felix's intense artistic pride (tm) has faded, thankfully, but his regular pride (tm) remains. How dare this weed-eating man poke fun at him...]

It was a vase.

[He is just! Making sure! His position is understood! But moving right along, as he sets one hand on his hip and lifts the other up to, like, gesture at All Of Him:]

And you are a nuisance.

[sidenote]

[This guy and his Regular Pride... very sensitive.]

And yet, here you are.

[Professional nuisanceism is indeed one of his talents, so thanks for noticing, actually. It was a squash, as well, so with those two very important things out of the way--]

Do you know any magic?

[You know, because All That was clearly some, but why would he explain...]

[brothered]

[There is something to be said, perhaps, for the fact that, while Felix did not choose to come here, Felix can choose to snap at this oh-so critical man? Is choosing to do so. He's tired and annoyed and—well. This, at least, is normal-ish.

Or: Meet him in the pit, you punk—without asking any more cryptic questions. Surely he expects the Look he receives, as Felix attempts to parse his meaning? Surely he expects the eventual (and cagey) response that is:]

I know enough. [Two fuckin' spells, buddy, What Of It. Warily:] Why?