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

Comments

[brothered]

I don't have a grudge, [Felix grumbles, not unlike a man with a grudge, as he watches Sylvain turn to investigate what else sits upon this table. All that needs to be said about vegetables, in Felix's opinion, but—ah. Well.

Well.

It's not the first time Sylvain has joked about death, idiot that he is? It certainly won't be the last, but it hits different, in this moment; like, Felix immediately thinks of Sylvain stretched out on that chaise, eyelashes far too dark against cheeks that were far too pale, and it's—

—mmph. The rabbit suddenly turns to ash on his tongue; he has to force himself to swallow, eyes dropping to the bottle in Sylvain's hands as he wills that image to leave. It was fake? Or it turned out to be fake, in the end, and yet it felt so very real. Still does, hence the twist of his frown as he silently stares Sylvain down.]

...You're hardly funny. [His tone is quieter than it was a moment before? Terser, too—because it's guilt Felix feels, on some level, and thus it's guilt that sends him shifting his attention down to that stupid box of pizza. He'll busy himself with picking more rabbit chunks off this thing, thanks.] Drink it yourself.

[acquaint]

[ ah, too soon, perhaps. sylvain knows it wasn't real—he's still standing here, after all, hale and whole as if nothing happened. but the feelings still linger, despite how he tries not to think about it. he doesn't think he'd ever forget the sensation of his body slowly breaking down while he lounged on that chaise. and it isn't as if he's never thought about dying, especially in the last five years, but not like that. he'd rather get run through on the battlefield than go through that whole experience again. but this is what he does best: making light of it, pretending it doesn't bother him; shoving all of that down to think about later on his own. it wasn't felix's fault and neither was it his, and there's nothing any of them can do to change what already happened.

but he knows felix and he knows that it will stay with him despite sylvain's best efforts to convince him otherwise. that's just felix—he's always cared so much. ]

Too soon, I know. [ his smile softens a little and he leans down, just enough to try and meet felix's eyes. ] Hey, I'm still here. Okay? And I've never asked you for anything, so the least you could do is drink this with me for old time's sake.

[brothered]

[The dream, or whatever it was—that wasn't them? Not really, anyway, and yet, as Felix continues picking at this pizza—hmm. It's the thought of Sylvain dying before him while he did absolutely nothing that sticks with him, yes; that will stick with him for some time, but what's lodged even deeper in his mind is how that strange version of himself felt, in that moment, as he stood by Sylvain's side, pressing his fingers to Sylvain's cold, cold cheek: relieved. Grateful, even, that he'd been given just enough time to complete his painting.

Disgusting.

That, however, is for him to deal with; it would be, is, unfair to punish Sylvain for his own wrongdoings, even though Felix feels the very real urge to walk away as Sylvain leans closer. It's not Sylvain that Felix has a problem with? It's Sylvain's smile. The easy way he attempts to move past this, because—well. I've never asked you for anything, Sylvain said, and that's true—but as Felix plucks one last piece of rabbit from its cheesy prison before glancing at his friend, Felix thinks that maybe, just maybe, his friend should work on that. It's only fair.

But far be it from Felix to fail to take this out. They've other things to worry about? Dwelling on... that isn't helpful in the slightest, and so, after studying Sylvain for a moment longer, Felix offers the stilted olive branch that is:]

...I'm not drinking from that. [The bottle, he means. Come on, sir, show some class.] Find a glass.