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

lottie person | snotgirl | the maiden

[oomfies]

01. 𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩 🖼️


[ Escaping from the Artist's Tower to the Chateau leaves Lottie winded and light headed, but inspired. Not to do any of the arts, but to admire it - admire herself, specifically. She's already unveiled her portrait, unabashedly extravagant and taking up the better part of the wall among the other small (foggier? Because she can't really recall who those people are, but she must know them) paintings hung up.

When she turns, all smiles and sparkles, towards you, the first thing you might notice is that this woman is definitely the one illustrated on the wall. Looking considerably paler, a little frailer, but the glam is all the same. It's easier to see the resemblance when she cutely poses the same way she did for the painting. ]

Doesn't it look amazing? [ Doesn't she look amazing? ] I'm married to talent, you know. Gorgeous work.

02. 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 🎨


[ Despite the stale, musky air inside the studio, it's comforting. In an odd, sad sort of way. Through the window she sees a meadow of flowers, bright and beautiful - they look fresh, look alive. But when she glances back in the full body mirror, situated for her some ways behind the easel in front of her, she sees someone dull. Boring. But pretty. Gorgeous, the perfect model, if she squints and adjusts her dress just right.

She doesn't really stew on the negative thoughts, because it makes her chest churn and it just feels wrong. So, she focuses on the right! Standing off her stool and wandering over to the unfinished portrait of herself, over to the props piled off to the side.

And whether you're the Painter, or someone else who happened to wander in, Lottie will reach down to pick up a dusty apple off the ground (plastic, but realistic enough to fool anyone who's looking) and ask: ]

What do you think would be a fun subject to draw?

03. 𝙥𝙞𝙯𝙯𝙖 🍕 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙮


[ Lottie doesn't particularly realize she's manifesting something into existence, come opening a random ass pizza box. But what she finds there instead of a crappy, greasy, slice of pizza she finds - ]

..Tissues?

[ Tissue paper shaped pizza. That's right, it's just origami'd tissue paper. Why? Because Lottie is going through a fantastic bout of allergies, existing in this garden with all these new smells and new emotions. She looks off to the side, at the person beside her, before laughing awkwardly. ]

Hahahaa.. Crazy, right?

04. 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙙
[ feel free to toss anything else my way! 💖 ]

03

[kiboutraveler]

[Jyushimatsu peers into the box. Wh. Is that origami? Immediately, he laughs.]

That's origami! That's super crazy!! How'd you make that? ... Why'd you even make that? It's pretty neat!!!

[oomfies]

[ Not a moment after he leans in, Lottie leans back, withdrawing her hands away from her custom made origami tissue box in favor of casually (and insistently) denying: ]

I-I didn't make that, [ A pause. ] obviously!

[ It doesn't matter if he said it was neat or not, it's still weird. And fairly eye catching, so much that she can't sneak a slice into her pocket for later (boo!!). ]

It just appeared!

[kiboutraveler]

...Heh? Oh! Well, you kinda made it. You were thinking about origami real hard, so the pizza box just sorta. Poofed it!

Like, watch. I'm gonna think real hard abouuutttt....meat pizza.

[He scrunches his face up, thinking, then opens up another box. Sure enough, a pizza covered with beef is inside.]

Ta-daaaaa~!! So technically, you did make it! You just didn't know!