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

[unleashedpup]

No! I mean...no.

[His ears droop and he shovels food into his mouth. Great. Now he's been rude to his dorm leader who doesn't even deserve it. Right now at least.

He swallows and his ears perk up a bit, the delicious taste of pear pleasing him. It's not his favorite dish but this is a pretty great way to eat pizza.

...Maybe if he asks that guy over in Heartslabyul he'll make it when they get back home.]

I don't know. I woke up in some weird room and was injured. Every room in the house just led back to that room too.

[savanaclaw]

[To be fair, Jack's been not-rude before when Leona absolutely deserved it, so. Like. Making up for lost time, here.

Anyway, munching pizza, stealing some of Jack's soda, just little dorm leader things.]

Huh. I woke up in some shitty flower field. Then died, I guess, and ended up here.

[Said... way too nonchalantly, tbh.]

[unleashedpup]

Hey! You have a soda!

[He reaches to snag his soda back because that's definitely his! Only he stops halfway there to stare at his dorm leader.

What...did he say?]

You died?

[Countdown to a protective meltdown starting in 5...4...]

[savanaclaw]

Yeah, s'different than yours.

[As if that's a good enough reason to steal some of Jack's. As if Jack really should have expected any different from him.

But ah. There's that staring at him he does, like he's worried or something. It kind of gets under his skin a bit, reminds him of darker times...

Anyway. Time to brush it off.]

Yeah, I think so. But I'm fine, now, so it doesn't matter.

[unleashedpup]

[...3...2...1...GO!]

Those bastards!

[He slams his hand on the table and stands up. His fur is standing on end and he looks ready to punch someone. Jack is pissed and, well, he's never been good at hiding his feelings.

Ever.]

I'm gonna find them and punch their lights out!

[savanaclaw]

Sit down.

[So he's definitely just. Eating another slice of pizza. Way too casual for someone who just admitted to dying, probably.

But what's he supposed to do about it? Not like anyone had shown up twirling a moustache and admitting to the nefarious deed of... making him sit for an evil portrait? It was weird.]

How're you going to do that if we don't even know where we're at, anyway?

[unleashedpup]

[It's...stupid how fast his ass hits the chair. But that's his dorm leader. So even as he's stewing with anger he still listens to him, growling with his fur on end.]

I...!

[...but he doesn't have an answer for that. He's really never been the brains of any operation.]

...I don't know.

[The growling stops and his ears go almost flat to his head.]

[savanaclaw]

I'll let you be the second in line to punch whoever's behind all this if we figure it out.

[Second in line because... well, he's first. Obviously.

Even if he's not entirely certain how they'll figure all this out. They just. Will. If only because seeing their puppy upset like this is... not great! Not that he'll let on about that, but... still.]