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

It could have been worse, it could have been grape fanta

[royalboar]

[Oh.

Mind you, Dimitri would not have wished an embarrassing fate like this on anyone; let the bottle practically explode in his grip for all he cares, if it spares some sorry rando the sticky consequences. But Felix of all people is no mere rando, but an old childhood friend that won’t take an accident like this sitting down. Very belatedly, and just as uselessly—]

Felix? I had not realized you were standing there.

[Like, right there. And oh, he’s absolutely dripping in the saccharine-sweet-smelling beverage, even his hair soaked through and through, and he looks as though the might kill Dimitri on the spot. No doubt deservedly, he thinks.

HE FEELS BAD and putting the deformed bottle down (still dripping) to reach at a pile of napkins doesn’t abate it, nor when he offers the fistful of them to Felix like it’ll help even a little.]

Forgive me. Here, quickly, use these.

this thread is still young...

[brothered]

[Was Felix standing in Dimitri's blind spot? Probably so, and yet Felix still narrows his eyes the slightest bit as he finally lowers his arms. I had not realized you were standing there. Aha. Sounds like a certain someone failed to pay attention to his surroundings, which is inexcusable, in Felix's opinion. He is wearing bright teal everything, bud... he's an impossible figure to miss, even from the corner of one's eye...

Or: It's easy for Felix to find fault with Dimitri, which probably (re: definitely) explains the irritated manner in which he flicks Dew from his hands—enjoy that blessedly brief shower, Dimitri—before snatching those proffered napkins.]

As careless as ever, boar, [he snaps, wasting no time swiping this shit off his face.] Mind your strength before you destroy something important.

[Not that there's anything important around? Their weapons are not here, much to Felix's displeasure, but—eugh. Hold that thought, please; let that useless warning slip right by, because as Felix tentatively touches his tongue to his lips, he can't help but to pull a face. So sweet! Holy shit! Felix is not a member of Dew Nation.]

Disgusting. What were you even doing with that?

[How many napkins are on this table... time for Felix to find out, i.e. time for Felix to purposely brush past this hulking fool, shoulder checking him in the process.]

[royalboar]

I— [He pauses, squinting one eye against the dripping-onslaught of soda flicked his way. A finger comes up to rub at a cheekbone, wiping away a droplet of the stuff — he’s sorry, all right!] It startled me. Did you not see how it had so quickly exploded? And I know I had barely touched it then.

[Though he is usually unaware of his strength until it’s too late, post-incident he can judge whether or not he should have applied a much lighter touch. In this case, he is almost certain he barely twisted the cap. But of course, Felix will not see it that way, but Dimitri cannot blame him… how embarrassing, to be sprayed with fizzy drink by a man standing literally a foot away. He should be more careful, but then again, his blind spot..]

I wanted to taste it.

[See: he wanted to see if he could register even the slightest tinge of a taste, maybe just the hint of something sweet, or sour, or anything. It might have happened, given how foreign it looked, and was it not worth a try? But Felix pulls a face, and then stomps right past him, jostling Dimitri’s form slightly as he turns to look at him.]

The smell is… strong. Is it not to your liking?

[Can he not live vicariously through you, Felix? Tell him your opinion of Mountain Dew.]

[brothered]

[There is, thankfully, a small mountain of napkins sitting beside these piled-up pizza boxes, obviously meant to be shared—but Felix swiftly snatches a fourth of them, using them to blot the soda from his forehead as he pushes his bangs back. This is not the end of the world? He's certainly suffered far, far worse than an impromptu shower; he'd gladly suffer worse, if it meant they'd all return home, but again, it's just... so easy to be frustrated with Dimitri. So easy. Little things have a way of becoming big things.

And yes, okay, maybe this is more of a medium-sized thing? Maybe he has every right to be pissy, because soda is sticky, and it smells, and it's sweet—and yet, while Felix pointedly keeps his back turned to Dimitri, Felix wills himself to simmer down. It's harmless, in the end. Something for Sylvain to laugh about, but even more than that—well. I wanted to taste it.

...Hmph. The first of the wadded-up napkins lands on the table, then, before Felix deigns to shoot Dimitri a narrow-eyed glance over his shoulder. To his liking...]

What if I pour chamomile tea over your head? Would that be to your liking?

[That was a straight-up stupid question, Dimitri, hence Felix's quiet scoff as he faces forward once more. There's more scrubbing to be done. He's a mess. And yet, before Dimitri can answer those (rhetorical, really) questions, Felix finds himself adding, grumpily:]

It's—sweet. [Hold on, let Felix the Sommelier catch another sniff—] The taste is worse than the scent.

[Because it tastes rather like a lemon crawled into a vat of sugar water and died. Anyway, don't ask me why a tag centered on Mountain Dew™ is this long; don't ask Felix why he remembers his old friend's tea preferences.]

[royalboar]

[He thinks Felix is difficult, he thinks Felix is purposefully missing the point: i.e., of course he would not enjoy having chamomile tea dumped on his head (though he’s suffered through far worse, naturally), just as Felix does not enjoy having soda sprayed in his face. But that had not been the crux of the question.]

I see.

[—is his only real reply, though, not wanting to press the point. He receives an answer, in the end, and there’s really no quelling his friend’s mood when he gets like this, all the blame ready to be piled onto Dimitri’s lap, and Dimitri willing to shoulder the burden of it — as always. So, instead, he notes the answer and wonders if he should find it so unpleasant if he could taste it.

No way of knowing, of course. He takes him at his word.]

Then you have spared me the effort of trying it for myself [as though there was any real chance he could taste it], though again… I am sorry that I made such a mess.

Were you given a change of clothing? It might be best for you to make use of it as soon as possible.

[Trying to be helpful, pt. 2.]