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

[whatteam]

[Brusque, Ogata can deal with. It's as familiar as tasting strange, foreign meat. His eyes follow the flick of a tail... with no cat in sight.

Well, whatever.]

Then, have you seen a little girl around here? She'd probably be asking about the food, too.

[Acting as a loner suits him just fine, but there is one person worth looking for. So he'll put forth at least a cursory effort, even if he expects an answer much like the first.]

[savanaclaw]

[Excuse you, the cat is right here, mister.

Anyway.]

No.

[Very pointed once-over of this guy here. He doesn't... really look like the sort of person who should be left with kids. So best to establish who this little girl is to him before offering to send her his way if he does see her. Minimal effort, here...]

Who's she to you, anyway? And what's she look like?

[whatteam]

[That initial question brings an entirely different visage to mind. Shrouded in shadow, a trail of crimson...

Ogata can feel himself being assessed, but he doesn't straighten. Doesn't even bother to focus his gaze on the stranger. He's scanning the crowd, looking for anyone familiar.]

She's short, with black hair and blue eyes. Probably dressed in furs - for the winter.

She's my guide.

[savanaclaw]

Right... Haven't seen her.

[His guide. Leona's not sure what kind of guide a little girl could be for a shady guy like this, but it smells fishy to say the least. Needless to say, he'd be asking this little girl about Shady Guy before actually directing her to him, at this rate.]

And what's your name, so I can tell her if I see her? ...And hers.

[And if whoever she is does show up, and doesn't seem too pleased to hear he's here... well... Good luck, shady dude.]

[whatteam]

[He didn't win this guy's trust, did he? Hesitation frames his response; it gives Ogata pause. He briefly considers the cooling slice of pizza in his hand.]

Her name is Asirpa.

[Then makes eye contact.] Tell her Sugimoto is looking for her.

[Thay should do the trick - once her eyes light up about the Immortal, any suspicion will disolve.

He's pretty damn satisfied with himself, a hint of a smile stifled when he takes a bite of his food.]

[savanaclaw]

[He absolutely did not win this guy's trust in the least. In this guy's - slim - defense, it isn't easily won, and it is easily lost, but even so, all he's said so far isn't reassuring.

His ear flicks, annoyed.

He's even almost put off his food, but he does take a bite while he waits for an unsatisfactory response.]

Alright. And who're you?

["Sugimoto" might well be looking for her, but that self-satisfied look on this guy's face leads Leona to believe he is not Sugimoto.]

[whatteam]

[Chewing the response over - literally - Ogata doesn't come up with much of a reply. He can't exactly go dubbing himself "The Immortal" and expect people not to test that claim.

He'd done the same.]

What about you? [He points, pizza in hand, to this guy's well-timed twitching ears. Ogata doesn't recognize the animal they're supposed to be from, but he doesn't need to know what something's called to shoot it.]

[savanaclaw]

[It wasn't even that much of a test, but this guy's subsequent response shows that he failed it miserably. So he's not "Sugimoto," then, but... who is he?

Seems like he doesn't want to say.]

What about me? I'll give you my name after you've given yours, if that's what you want.

[That's only ~polite~ after all.]

Your real one. Not this Sugimoto guy's.

[whatteam]

Your name, sure. But tell me about those ears too.

[Now that this guy's already ruffled, Ogata has no reason to play nice. The ears, if he had to guess, are some kind of cultutal thing. He's half expecting to be met with a long-winded explaination...

But probably just more of their mutual reluctance to budge on petty shit.]

Sugimoto's an old war buddy, you're right. [hm] We were in the same regiment. [and completely different divisions]

[savanaclaw]

Eh? You've never seen a beastman before?

[Said as if it's... the most normal thing in the world. Because it is, to him. He'd suspected that this guy wasn't pulled from the same world, but that really just cements it. Even people who'd somehow never met a beastman before at least knew they existed.

Still not budging on the name, though.]

So why'd you give me his name and not yours?

[whatteam]

[He's seen men act more like beasts than humans countless times, but Ogata doubts that's what this guy means. Some sort of tribal thing, maybe?

Well, whatever.

His nostrils flare as the conversation lingers on Sugimoto. A tic of something like aggrivation, but he'd been the one to driving the subject.]

He's got a reputation.... they say he's immortal.

I figured that sort of legend would travel farther than someone like me. [He only knows "humility" when it's useful for winning a contest of stubborness.]

[savanaclaw]

[More literal than tribal... but if this guy can't figure that out just by looking at him, then... well, that reflects poorly on him more than anything else.

Whatever.]

Don't need to know your reputation, and I don't give a shit about his, since he's probably not here. I'm just asking for your name.

[He already knows he won't know any reputation this guy has - he doesn't know the Sugimoto he's talking about, either, immortal or no, and he really doesn't think that this guy would recognize his own reputation, but that's not what the conversation is about.

Though petty does recognize petty, it's true.]

[whatteam]

[Sugimoto shouldn't be here. He should be dead - but there's a nagging, sick feeling in Ogata's gut that tells him he's alive. Immortal, after all.

His eyes narrow - maybe someday Sugimoto will tear this guy apart.

Nah. They'd probably get along.]

You haven't told me about those ears yet. [He points, hand full of pizza, and takes another bite.]

[savanaclaw]

[He'd be welcome to try. Maybe Sugimoto would get a taste of mortality for once... or maybe Leona would have a challenge, finally.

...Or maybe they'd just tussle a while and end up getting along, who knows.]

What about em? [Annoyed flick of the ears, annoyed swish of the tail, annoyed bite of pizza...] They're just ears.