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Liburutegia Mods ([personal profile] liburuzaina) wrote in [community profile] liburutegiaooc2020-11-20 12:38 pm
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TDM 1 ⬡ The Oval Portrait

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.


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weifinder: (oshi | now i'm done)

cw: art desecration and also FIRE. WARNING FOR FIRE.

[personal profile] weifinder 2020-11-26 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
( What a great partner in crime, which is what's happening at this point, though Wei Wuxian is truly injured enough that his pace is slowed down as he tries to quietly haul himself off the couch. He manages it, leaving streaks of blood on the material, but who was looking? He certainly wasn't, taking steps toward the painting as Yan Qing works his target, Wei Wuxian tuning out the particulars of the words until he's standing by the painting, considering the open flames.

There is an interesting quirk and issue with using turpentine. Oil paints themselves are not so flammable, but turpentine, oh, turpentine is an arsonist at heart. The soaked rag resting on the table by his painting seems to hear, it would be a shame and decides it, too, agrees: spontaneously combusting as Wei Wuxian is still considering lobbing the painting bodily into the hearth.

Several things happen in quick succession at that point. Yan Qing breaks the artist's fingers. Wei Wuxian smacks the flaming rag into the painting, where it catches, draping prettily and sending the rest of the rags also now burning scattering forward, strewn across the floor. He stumbles sideways, as if he just leapt from the couch in a panic, and cries:
)

Fire! The rags, they're burning! Yan Qing, Yan Qing! Save me!

( THIS BITCH now making his way toward the door like a very proactive damsel in distress. ESCAPAY!!! )
killful: <user name="doppelgpanda" site="twitter.com"> (dragon in the clouds)

EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING SO MUCH

[personal profile] killful 2020-11-26 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, that's one way to end an artist's career.

Yan Qing tries not to act surprised. He is, however, incredibly excited by this turn of events. It's just like old times! Which old times, he's not entirely sure, but he has a feeling the memory will come back to him very, very soon. Wei Wuxian's safety comes first, so Yan Qing deftly avoids the rags, now balls of fire on the floor, and hurries over to his master to catch him before he trips over himself. He drapes Wei Wuxian's arm over his shoulders and supports him the rest of the way through, only stopping to look back once they're at the door.

The artist is screaming. The model is crying. The studio is on fire, and there's no way in hell any of these people are insured. Does Yan Qing care? Nah. Still, he remembers his manners.]


Thank you so much for your hospitality, sir and madam, but... [He cracks a wide grin, drops all pretenses, and gives them a salute.] Heh, we gotta go! Sorry about your husband's hand, but maybe he can pick up a new hobby, yeah? And hey, when you're done with that guy, call me.

[With that, Yan Qing opens the door, and off they go into the night!

Only... this doesn't look like nighttime at all.]
weifinder: (Default)

hell of a first meeting they don't know is a first meeting

[personal profile] weifinder 2020-11-26 07:46 am (UTC)(link)
( He'd love to feel anything close to victorious over this, but for once, he's watched the place set itself on fire, for second, he feels bad for the woman if not her husband (breaking fingers was a bit much, but also, he was obviously neglecting his wife to the point of her detriment and his own obsession, and as much as Wei Wuxian finds art obsession worthy, people are not acceptable collateral damage), and following Yan Qing's parting flirtation, he likewise leans more heavily into him, tossing a look back over his shoulder and vaguely waving a hand. )

Or send me a note, I'll see that you get properly resettled!

( Calling out seems rather ineffective if she doesn't follow them through the open doors into...

... A daylit meadow. Not just any meadow, but one that stretches so far, he barely sees the trees lining the far expanse of it. Wei Wuxian wonders if this is his fever getting worse, and his reliance on Yan Qing to keep him upright has hit the point that his own knees are giving up the ghost of support, and he's sagging toward the ground of pleasantly scented flowers.

This would be a very poetic place to die. He'd rather avoid it, with a knee jerk certainty that death be not proud and not something he wants to revisit. (Revisit? What a strange inclination.)
)

Must have been in that place longer than we thought... Yan Qing, my companion, dear friend, and finger-breaking enthusiast. Are we in a meadow?
killful: (094 level star)

now if wei wuxian knew yan qing was technically a ghost...

[personal profile] killful 2020-11-26 09:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Wei Wuxian calls Yan Qing title after flattering title and by the end of it, he's rather proud to be all three. He'd be glad to be Wei Wuxian's finger-breaking friend anytime... Though he doesn't think he's ever been a valet and a friend in the same breath.]

I believe so, Master Wei. I'm seeing this place as much as you are.

[The meadows are green as far as the horizon, and Yan Qing lets out a sigh of both relief and defeat. If anything, perhaps this will discourage his master from any more wild adventures. The man can barely stand already. Exasperated and yet all the more endeared, Yan Qing looks for a good spot for them to settle down.

But not before crouching down, adjusting his hold, and carrying Wei Wuxian on his back. With the lack of strength his employer has in his feet, he doesn't really have a choice.]


It'll be a long way back to the chateau. Did that satisfy your curiosity, sir? You don't look so happy. [Because if he were to be completely honest, Yan Qing rather enjoyed himself, but he'd rather not show it if Wei Wuxian didn't share the sentiment.]
weifinder: (ffs | see my dream passing by)

come to his stick thin necromantic arms...

[personal profile] weifinder 2020-11-27 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
( Wei Wuxian for his part has a distinct impression that he's not supposed to be the master in tight knit family-like bonds, but it's a niggling thing, set aside. Being hauled up onto Yan Qing's back is an unexpected and strangely nostalgic feeling: for slimmer shoulders, of a man shrouded in white. He's stiff at first, but injury and the awareness of familiarity has him slumping and simply holding on to a neck with his arms pressing down on shoulders to take some of his weight. )

Warn a man before you do that, okay? I could still walk...

( That's a lie, and since they both know it, he trails off. The question about his curiosity and what degree of happy shows outwardly has him snorting and speaking close to Yan Qing's ear, more by position than intent. )

I wanted to look at the paintings we just saw go up in flames. Who'd be happy about that? But...

( Craning his head around to look back toward the door they'd emerged from, and the tower burning on its uppermost level. )

Lives are worth more than art. It's just unfortunate, makes me irritated, seeing people waste their love on self-absorbed peacocks like that.

( Yeah, it was a bit of a fun show, hence not one word against that, and all his objections being to the human condition. The heart, what a fickle, sad thing. )
killful: pixiv illust id: 67199741 (jade qilin)

he will try not to crush him with his strong, magical tattooed ones

[personal profile] killful 2020-11-27 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Yan Qing feels a memory in the back of his mind: the broad and distant back of a man who fed him and left him behind. He can't seem to recall anything else, but he feels the weight in his heart as he walks through the meadow.]

You and I both, sir. But I don't think it's hard to understand. Some people don't want to spend their lives searching. [A bitter thought tugs at the corner of his lip.] Some people have no one left.

[The topic's gotten too somber for his tastes. His job is to cheer his employer up, not bring him down! So Yan Qing wears a smile and continues in a tone more chipper:]

Well, I think things will turn out just fine, Master Wei! Your quick thinking and your kind heart saved the day — mostly. Besides, the chateau has many, many paintings. I'll carry you like this to each one, and you can just enjoy the ride, hahahaha!
weifinder: (smile | run so far away)

oh mr qing, oh!!!

[personal profile] weifinder 2020-11-28 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
( The inbuilt inequity of this relationship should (does) bother him, but at the same time, much as he's a bit of a flightly, easily injured art enthusiast semi-wastrel of an aristocrat, he's not totally insensible to the moods of those around him. Switching from statements about spending a life searching (and oh, that hurts, and he can't figure out why) or having no one left (this hurts too, an ache that beats with his heart in his chest) only to switch over to compliments that don't feel like anything of the kind: he doesn't think of himself as kind hearted, only as slightly less bloody minded when there's room for negotiation.

Also that negotiation room does not always exist.

He's not energised enough to do more than plop his chin down on his arm and remind Yan Qing:
)

You've got me. Troublesome as that ends up being, it's still at least half not a terrible thing.

( And makes himself grin, lopsided, thin lipped. )

Oh I will, will I? Promises, promises! ( He laughs since he's about as serious as never, casting his eyes across this endless, blooming meadow. ) Or we could pause for a moment, take a nap, see if clouds form interesting shapes or the scent of a flower inspires poetry without the sweet nectar of its wine on hand.
killful: <user name="ororooooooops" site="twitter.com"> (022 killer star)

uwu! also i think we can wrap this thread up soon?! this was a ride LOL

[personal profile] killful 2020-11-29 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
[The words bring comfort, lift his spirits, though Yan Qing's not quite sure why they move him this much. He should know his master's habits by now, but after all the years he thinks he's spent with him, he still manages to smile like it's the first time. Half not a terrible thing sounds better than none at all. He almost even forgets where he is, and relaxes. For a while, he's himself.]

Haha, that doesn't sound so bad! Even I could use a nap right now.

[But it's a distracted answer as something else tugs at the back of his mind. Half not a terrible thing — he made his work difficult, but was Wei Wuxian really so dreadful? He reaches a high spot in the fields where they can see everything that reaches the horizon, and he sets Wei Wuxian down gently for him to take it in. He plops himself on the ground beside him, leaning on his arms and sitting up with his legs stretched as he turns his head toward the sound of the sea.]

How's this, Master Wei? If you're uncomfortable, let me know. I'd offer my lap, but I think I shouldn't be presumptuous.
weifinder: (peace | all you've ever known)

oh yes totally i think this brings me to ten including starter and VERY WILD

[personal profile] weifinder 2020-11-29 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
( He utters a quiet grunt when he's settled down, looking out across this sea of flowers, the pain mellows, easier to forget. Feverish and light headed, he can only think, what beautiful flowers, and collapse slowly towards Yan Qing's shoulder. )

A shoulder would be more than enough. Not a lap man, if I'm honest.

( Not a terribly physically intimate man, if he's even more honest, but when he trusts, he trusts wholly, and with the history he's so certain days between them, it makes it acceptable to presume that his deadweight against the other man's shoulder won't bowl them both over.

The exhaustion and fatigue has caught up with him, and his tenuous claim on consciousness finally, fully slips away.
)
killful: <user name="Rrrrrrice0303" site="twitter.com"> (Rrrrrrice0303_13)

AWWW YEAAAAAAA just gonna wrap this up AND good luck!!

[personal profile] killful 2020-11-29 01:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Hahaha! Good night, Master Wei.

[They may be far away, but there's no need to rush. The Yiling Patriarch, the Skillful Star and founder of the Yanqingquan — for now, these are forgotten titles that hold no meaning. But if they could remember, then perhaps Yan Qing could understand how much they need this moment of repose, if not deserve it.]