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

pizza partaaaay

[foulplayed]

( Ah, leave it to Dimitri to get himself into some kind of mess — literally, this time — simply by existing around other people. Yuri can't quite say he feels sorry for the guy (nobility is still nobility, after all), but there's something equal parts heart-warming and tragic in seeimg him fail at even the most menial of tasks. It's a lot like watching a huge blond puppy trying to catch a ball in its mouth, only to burst the damn thing every time. )

Whoa there—

( Fortunately for Yuri, he's light and nimble enough on his feet that he manages to skip away from the worst of the spray. A little hits the side of his boot, flecking dark patches across his calf that will surely dry in no time at all, but it seems as though Dimitri himself has managed to soak up the worst of the explosion.

Huh. Life really does imitate battle, sometimes. )

Getting a little over-enthusiastic with the fancy beverages, are we?

( An amused little smile touches Yuri's lips as he produces a single napkin from his sleeve. There's absolutely no way it'll be of much help, yet he offers it to Dimitri as though he's doing him a huge favour all the same. )

Here. I'll fix you up with a drink — just promise you won't try to open any more bottles, okay?

[royalboar]

[If life imitates warfare strewn across a battlefield, Dimitri vs. the soda bottle is representative of one gone horribly awry for both parties. But at least the worst of it means he’ll have to deal with the sticked surface of his armor and not much else; maybe those strange shirts they were given upon arrival would be put to good use right about now.

Yuri slips into his periphery after swiftly and enviably darting away from the soda onslaught, though—life imitates battle, indeed—and Dimitri cannot be certain if he’s relieved or otherwise that he’s made a fool of himself in front of a familiar face, rather than a complete stranger. There’s something to be said about not being the only one from Fódlan here, that if he must be utterly upended, at least he’s in the company of allies, even if the sentiment feels vaguely selfish for even entertaining it. Still, he pushes it aside for the matter at hand: Yuri handing him a clean white napkin as if it’ll be enough to soak up the entire mess he’s made.

Dimitri takes it anyway.]

I had barely touched it.

[The bottle, he means. Before he wrecked it with his grip, he had merely twisted the cap and it came surging out.]

But maybe it’s fitting—

[Here, Dimitri applies to himself… the napkin. It neatly soaks up the soda at his palms and fingers after he places the bottle down, and really, that’s about the extent of the good it’ll do.]

—that this unfathomable place has an unfathomable drink to compliment it.

[foulplayed]

( That earns him a pleasant chuckle followed by a little tease: )

An unfathomable drink, huh? Wow. I didn't know you could be so dramatic, Your Highness.

( While Dimitri presses the napkin between his palms, Yuri makes quick work of twisting the cap from another bottle and pouring the man a drink. It smells sweet enough to be intriguing: after all, he has a preference for sweetened beverages himself, and he's tempted to take a little sip before passing it to the other man.

Not this time. It wouldn't do to ruffle those dirty blonde feathers when it's so readily apparent Yuri might have need of him, whether to figure out how it is they've ended up in this place, or simply for a little extra protection should the mood of their stay sour. Lips quirk into an unreadable little smile as he offers him the plastic cup: )

Ah—

( ... But moves it out of Dimitri's reach before his fingers can close around it. )

Hold it gently. These things make Garreg Mach's tableware look priceless.

( This time he hands it over for real. )

[royalboar]

[But it is an unfathomable drink! 8[ Look at the weirdly-shaped bottle it’s in! The strange, sweet scent! The way it foamed and fizzed in a soda-y explosion.]

I do not think I am being particularly dramatic. All of this is impossible to understand — more than just the food and drink, but our experiences prior to this, too, and that does not even account for how we might have arrived.

[While Yuri pours a drink into a small plastic cup, Dimitri sullies the rest of the napkin with sticky soda, and places the rumpled cloth on the table next to them. He reaches for the offered drink out of conciliatory habit, only to press his lips into a thin line as his companion retracts it.]

I will be gentle this time.

[And with the cup finally in hand, Dimitri peers down into it like it were a truly foreign object.]

And what of yourself?

[(He asks Yuri, not the drink.)]

[foulplayed]

I didn't come out here looking to quench my thirst.

( He says lightly, brushing off the suggestion with a wave of his gloved hand. While it's true that he's at least interested in the drink, Yuri's reason for heading towards the hubbub was to feel out the people who've been drawn to this place as well. Dimitri isn't wrong: their arrival here has indeed raised a lot of questions, but Yuri has long since trained himself out of letting uncertainty show. )

I was on my way to the food when I saw a familiar face making a mess of things.

( ... Alright, Yuri doesn't want to ruffle his feathers, but he can't resist a little light roasting. His stomach chooses that moment to growl and lend credence to his not-quite-true story, which has him shrugging easily as those lilac eyes slide from Dimitri to the other picnickers. )

Anyway, c'mon, nothing's impossible to understand. It's just a case of finding the right answers to the right questions.

( In other words? There's research to be done. He glances back towards the other man, this time wearing a charming smile. )

Luckily for you, that's something I'm pretty good at.

[royalboar]

[As always, Yuri is hard to get a read on. His countenance is as casual and confident as ever, eking with something sly just behind bright eyes. Dimitri would almost find it an enviable stance, because he can do little more than worry in his own treacherous mind, but it is good to know that someone else appears more adjusted than he feels. Though maybe the soda dripping down his form has something to do with the fish-out-of-water feeling.]

Undoubtedly so.

[That isn’t surprising. Dimitri decides, despite himself, to take a sip of the drink in his hand. It tingles on his tongue, and maybe there’s the ghost of something almost-sweet there, but anything else is lost to him. It’s too expected for it to be a disappointment, and his expression shows barely any reaction as he lowers his hand to look at Yuri again.]

So have you made the rounds when it comes to questioning the others yet? It is an odd assortment of individuals, I must admit — though you may spy more than one familiar face sooner rather than later.

[foulplayed]

Oh yeah?

( Yuri raises an eyebrow at the suggestion there might be more people from their homeland here. It's an interesting thought — perhaps whatever magic brought them here required a certain ... sample size? — but one he tucks away for later, when he isn't navigating what looks to be a catered meet-and-greet. )

Good to know. As for me, I haven't spoken to anyone yet. Better to watch a little first, see what people are getting up to on their own.

( His smile is easy, deceptively benign. )

How's the drink?

[royalboar]

[Deceptively benign, indeed. Dimitri might not know Yuri very intimately, but they have fought on the same side of a war long enough for him to realize that an innocuous look does not necessarily mean an innocuous design. Even so, relief continues to supersede worry, and he gestures at their surroundings. People mill about, most looking just as lost as he feels.]

It will not be difficult for you to spot Felix, nor Sylvain. Anyone else, be certain to let me know.

[As for the question, though, he has half a mind to wave it away, but offers a rather generalized answer on second thought.]

The drink is... fine. Sweet. [He thinks. To taste even a lingering sweetness must mean that the flavor was stuffed to the brim with sugar sometime in its creation. Beyond that, he cannot know.] Unusual, much like the rest of the food here. If our hosts intend to demonstrate generosity, it is a bizarre way of doing so.