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buttrinthum2025-05-01 10:11 am
May 2025 TDM
Whether it be sleep or death, you feel your eyes close, and as your body begins to let go, you see an inky starry nothingness spread out around you. You feel yourself mouth the words, “I wish, I wish..” and utter your deepest and darkest desire.
When you regain consciousness, you’ll find you are in an unfamiliar place with no recognition of how you arrived here. You have the clothes on your back, but nothing else. No weapons and if you had a particular superpower, you’ll notice it is missing. All you have is a satchel with a piece of bread, a vial of water, and a potion. The potion could be red, blue or golden. There are no instructions about these potions other than two words: Drink Me.
Though there is nothing to prove it, you just know you have made a promise, a contract of sorts, with something and someone who remains but a shadow in your memories.
- 💐 Blood Weed is a sharp as razorblades. It grows waist high on a 6'0" tall person in places, but never less than 5" tall overall. Small paths wind through the grass, and those who find themselves waking up near the blood weed will have to carefully navigate through the paths in order to come out without being cut. The cuts themselves are painful, the sensation of pins and needles is accompanied with a burning that reaches deep to the bone. It's not debilitating, not completely, but it will make it harder to escape and more likely a victim will bleed to feed.... the blood weed.
- 🌸 Witch Hair is a strange plant, soft to the touch and with the scent of marshmallows. If eaten plain it can soothe the ache of blood weed cuts temporarily, but it is far more effective as a medicine when brewed into a potion. The strangest thing about Witch hair is that it only grows at the water's edge, and then weaves over the ground through the blood weed. It's almost as if it is encouraging a sacrifice to save someone else. A cut for a cure. The one side effect of eating the weed raw is that it can give those who ingest it a temporary ability to affect the weather in a small radius around them. Perhaps this too, could be a boon? The effect only lasts a few hours, 48 at most. Maybe there's a way to have fun with it in the meantime?
No matter your adventures in the garden with its many plants, before long you are found by a gaggle of inhabitants from both the City of Stellari and Somnius. They seem excited in general, and excited to see whoever it is they stumble upon without pause. They approach with handkerchiefs of varied colors and wave them about as they take new Dreamer's hands.
The chaos from last month has settled, leaving a celebration behind in its wake. Officials from Stellari explain that, every year, the city holds a massive event, meant to honor the spirit of competition. This year, they've decided to include Somnius in the competition as well. The crystal-clearing efforts have been fruitful, and slowly but surely, more of Visium is starting to become accessible.
To that end, Dreamers find both Stellari and Somnius transformed, dressed head-to-toe in festival stalls and decorations of red, blue, green, and yellow. Dreamers themselves are all divided into one of four color teams. They are selected automatically, and by traits inherent to their being.
A handkerchief of their team's color is magically fastened to every participant, and can only be removed when a game necessitates it, such as capture the flag. It's an important way of identifying who is on what team. You'll want to know who your teammates are, because teammates gain special benefits when interacting, such as increased strength and magical ability. As well as that, people can also communicate telepathically with others from their team for the duration of the event.
- Red team candidates are either extremely good, in a moral sense, or extremely bad.
- Blue team candidates are either extremely emotional or show very little emotion whatsoever.
- Yellow team candidates are either extremely powerful or extremely weak.
- Green team candidates are either extremely average or exceptionally special.
By the same token, however, being in close proximity with others who aren't on one's team cause negative effects. Different teams have different effects, depending on their color.
This is all, of course, in the interest of making the competition more interesting. Each team will also have a home base to work from, with team red's being the Amphitheater of the Mind, team blue's being Lake Termina, team yellow's being the (old) Church of the Moon, and team green's being The Stone Dragon.
- Red team members destabilize the emotions of opponents around them.
- Blue team members bring confusion and disorientation to opponents around them.
- Yellow team members destabilize magic/abilities of the opponents around them.
- Green team members bring bad luck to opponents around them.
For the duration of the festival, teams will meet to face off in various games and challenges, all earning points for their color team. The points are displayed on large scoreboards, stationed over the crystals in both Somnius and Stellari. Ribbons, medals, and trophies are offered as rewards during the celebrations and ceremonies that occur every night for the duration of the event. More than anything, though, the spirit of competition drives everyone, compelling them to dive headfirst into the games and give it their absolute best.
Some of the events are as follows, though pretty much any sport you can think of is offered - even ones one may recognize only from their own worlds.- 🤾Dodgeball
- 🚩 Capture the Flag
- 🏃♀️ Relay Races
- 🏊 A Triathlon
- 🙈 Hide & Seek
- 🫱 Tag
- 🪢 Tug-o-war
- 🥇 Obstacle Courses
- 🔴 Kickball
- ❓ Etc.
So, get out there and start battling it out - just not to the death this time!
Perhaps the largest event of all is a scavenger hunt in which the items are other Dreamers. Competitors are given a scroll with a list of descriptions, and are asked to seek out other Dreamers who fit those descriptions, and get a signature from them.
The list is as follows:
- 🔎 1. someone who can fly
- 🔎 2. someone who has never killed anyone
- 🔎 3. someone who has killed more than ten people
- 🔎 4. someone who can turn into something other than an animal
- 🔎 5. someone who betrayed someone they love
- 🔎 6. someone who saved the world
- 🔎 7. someone who wants to leave this place
- 🔎 8. someone who never wants to leave this place
- 🔎 9. someone who sacrificed their powers to Vaeros
- 🔎 10. someone who arrived after Vaeros' death
- 🔎 11. someone older than 30
- 🔎 12. someone younger than 15
- 🔎 13. someone who didn't drink their gold/blue/red potion
- 🔎 14. someone who has drunk more than one gold/blue/red potion
- 🔎 15. someone who has returned to their world, then returned to this place
Dreamers then sign their name next to the descriptor on the competitor's scroll. Magic compels them to be honest when confronted, and to give their signature even if they're unhappy to do so.
There is also a variation of this game, though much smaller in scale. Dreamers draw slips of paper with descriptions written on them, then pass them off to others who match that description. Some of them include:
- 💖 Someone you admire.
- ❌ Someone you hate.
- 😱 Someone you're afraid of.
- 🫂 Someone you trust.
- 😳 Someone you wish to know better.
- 😖 Someone you need to apologize to.
- 😊 Someone you're glad you met here.
- 😡 Someone you're angry at.
- 😨 Someone you're worried about.
- 🤕 Someone who hurt you.
Dreamers feel compelled to respond honestly, and genuinely give their slip of paper to whoever they think of first, even if it's something they wouldn't normally confess.
Both games last the duration of the festival, the Scavenger Hunt promising a massive amount of cords for anyone who can complete the entire list, as well as a medal.
Competitions can't be competitions all the time. Players need rest, the crowds need sustenance. But even though breaks are needed, parties never have to stop. Throughout the month-long Games, there's a Celebration along with it. Both Lumindeas and Stellari as well as Somnius are partaking in the celebration. No matter where dreamers wind up during this celebration, there's not a single location where Natives aren't doing their best to partake in a party that never ends.
The feeling and goodwill that comes with the games and camaraderie is infectious, and even the locals from Somnius are feeling more forgiving of Dreamers than they have in months. They visit Stellari while those who live in Stellari visit Somnius. It's the mingling and shared celebration that simply seems to warm up the town that has so long been alienated by crystal. With the glowing feeling of camaraderie in the air and the collaborative efforts to revive the land of Visium, everywhere seems to be in good spirits.
- 🪩 Dancing and Singing
There's music in the air and lights that shine on dance floors. It's hard to mistake the purpose of these portions of the celebrations, but everything is a game, even between the organized events. Every dance floor is a setup for a partnered dance competition. The genre is different in each location: romantic slow dancing, upbeat country music for line dancing, pop type music that thunders through the air and vibrates through the floor. The possibilities are endless, but the competition is stiff. Locals are paired with other locals, and dreamers with dreamers and everyone gets into the spirit, sweating and swaying to the music.
For more organized events there happens to be a cake walk, where dreamers and locals alike are encouraged to participate and win one of the many fruit flavored cakes. Be careful to not land on the same space as a competitor, or you'll both be eliminated and recieve a pie to the face! Don't worry though, towels and a change of clothes MIGHT be offered as consolation prizes.
For those that don't really feel the dancing beat, there's another way to compete for a little fun. Open mic is provided in some of these dancing locations, with magically powered instruments provided by Seravo himself. A simple request, a song title, and the instruments know the song to be played. Or perhaps in some cases a little poetry might be more someone's speed. In any case, the microphone is ready, the band primed to play.
🍔 Food and Socalizing
It's a bit of a task to get nourishment as well. There are food stalls installed in both cities, though every one comes with a bit of a game or competition in order to get your delicious sustenance. Those who approach the stalls of different kinds of food will be asked to win a compliment war with the guest next to them before their order will be fulfilled. Offer a compliment before the timer is up to win the competition against your chosen competitor. Each round you only get a certain amount of time to think up a compliment, with each round decreasing until no time is left. It might take several rounds before the attendant of the food stall feels inclined to hand over their delicious creations. Of course, once the game is over a plate or drink will be offered. If you want seconds, however, you're going to have to fork over another win.
Other ways of getting your tummies filled include participating in eating contests, several of which are set up throughout various locations. Burger eating, hotdog eating, even ice cream and cake or drinks themselves, the varieties of things offered are endless. Lucky dreamers might even find foods that are unique to where they come from. ...if a bit off. Its hard to make things exactly the same when the ingredients might be scarce.
If you're looking for a spot to relax while eating, there are tables and chairs aplenty. There is one catch, though. In order to sit and eat, one must play. Play what, you ask? Musical chairs. Both Dreamers and locals alike are encouraged to participate in a game of musical chairs with their tablemates, while eating of course. The winner will be given a small ribbon to remember the game by.
Well, perhaps even celebration can all be a competition after all.
Expand to see our Event Summary
Garden of Dreams
The Spirit of Competition
Living Scavenger Hunt
The Gametime Jubilations
A note that teams are ICly selected automatically for characters, but OOCly, we will not be assigning teams. Simply choose whichever team you think suits your character best.
Feel free to ask questions underneath the correct header! We also request of current players that most playing with the event happen on the event post so that those looking to TDM have a chance to play in all of the varied games and competitions we have provided! Overflows will be provided when and if needed.
no subject
He might be, because he's at least smart enough to know that people dislike others prying about anything that could be called a disfigurement. But he works up his courage enough to gesture to Dolph's arm, ]
Is that a prosthetic?
[ A beat before he adds a secondary question, ]
It's functional?
[ Not just a hook or something equally unhelpful. ]
no subject
Something like that. I lost my arm a while ago and they fitted me with this one.
[ he'll shift it into its cannon mode. ]
It's a weapon.
no subject
That's amazing!
[ He lifts his index finger and he's just a breath away from asking about a hundred and one questions on how it works, being too young for the sheer destructive factor to really register, but some bit of good sense from the past few sentences passed between them and having a parent who instilled values in him chokes out those words. They die in his throat, and he lowers his hand, and despite being absolute starstruck by the sheer implications of metal transforming in itself is...
Well, it can be used for non-destructive things. It can, and that's what leaves him so starstruck. ]
But it just functions like a normal arm the most of the time, right? So you can still do everything that you could before you lost your arm? I've read about ancient technology, but I've never heard of being able to replace a lost limb with something perfectly functional... Do you still have feeling in it?
[ He's already rotating this in his mind, and the so this is an important question. He doesn't have any reason to fit people with weapons, actually. ]
no subject
I can move it but I don't really feel it. There's nothing to feel.
[ sometimes he feels discombobulated. you never quite lose the feeling that there was a real arm there. a ghost, a phantom limb. but he had been young when he lost it, strapped down to that table. and eden never cared what he felt. or what he didn't. he wasn't a person to them, just an object holding onto their work. ]
no subject
[ Varian frowns, leaning in just a tad to pay more attention to it. It could almost be called clinical, if not for the furrow of his brow and the way that his hand cups his chin, thoroughly dissatisfied with the answer itself. It's better than nothing. It's better than what they have and he would certainly be glad to replicate it, but... He's not satisfied with it.
But he only stares for a few moments, displeased, searching fruitlessly for some way to fix it, before his eyes move back up to meet Dolph's. As with its transformative functions, he at least has enough sense not to grill him on the hows and whys, and instead asks, ]
Is it really difficult to live with? How do you do it? [ And despite the insensitivity, it is meant as a genuine question. There's another light frown. ] If you can't feel anything, then how do you apply the proper amount of pressure?
[ And, with the faintest hint of concern, as though some other possibility were finally occurring to him - ]
Is that something you had to learn?
no subject
Trial and error.
[ he broke a lot of bones. not that anyone cared. it took a while to figure out how much strength and how little. even now, he never fully trusts himself. careful about using it. touching people with it. alex never held back. people don't which is kind but dolph has never been able to shake it off.
his stomach sours. he's not doing anyone any favors right now. not himself and not varian. but he's at a loss as to how to extricate himself. ]
That's what it comes down to.
no subject
[ Varian bites his lips, his eyes moving up and down, then up and down again. Horrible is the word hew ants to use, but can't quite bring himself to say, because he would be so lucky as to offer what Dolph has. He's already plotting and planning things out in his head, but he lacks the biological knowledge to know how to fix the very flaw he brought up.
He doesn't know, and that's frustrating, and he can't quite emotionally grapple with it. He's not sure how to reconcile practicality with what he sees as right - he's not old enough to satisfy himself with something.
He scoots just a bit closer, looking up and down once more, s though this will instill upon him some forbidden knowledge that fixes all those issues.
Unfortunately it doesn't, and however hard Varian tries, the right words seem to tangle up and die in his throat. How does one speak of how amazing they find his advancement, that functionality, while being horrified at where it stopped? He can't reconcile it. ]
You're a really strong person, [ Is what he eventually settles on, in a suddenly quiet and uncertain voice that's at odds with his previous high pitch, like he might be scolded, but not quite able to leave his thoughts be, ] It must have been hard... It must be hard.
no subject
I'm just a person. Nothing more, nothing less.
no subject
[ He's a touch nervous with that statement, but he's not looking for approval nor disapproval. It's a grounding point, a connecting point. If he says Dolph is a strong person, if he acknowledges that he was a weak person, then they can meet in the middle by just being people. Varian is stronger now. He's better now. But it's the same logic. It's a bit easier.
But Dolph is a hero. He can't quite shake that impression that such a small tidbit left, that idea that he's something more, because hearing that he'd struggled, too, just makes him feel more like one.
But despite these misgivings, his own ponderings as to how to solve the problem of Dolph's analgesia, and Varian's own status as an enemy to everyone, he moves along with the direction taken here, ]
But you're just a person, so I am too...
[ That feels a little uncomfortable. It wouldn't with others, but with someone so much more admirable... Well. He's doing his best here. And, a touch more nervously, because it really is just suddenly sinking in here at once - ]
So I hope we can talk more.
no subject
We can talk more. Any time.
[ a brief pause as he mulls over his own words. he's not a hero anymore. no more children look up at him, starry eyed. hoping to be like him. he doesn't miss it. you can't miss a lie. but dolph broke free because he could still see that innocent people existed, even in eden. they didn't help him, they didn't care about him but.
it still mattered. ]
We're all just people. We make weak choices. We make strong ones. We're all the same in that.
no subject
There's a comfort in those words. It proves to be easier to parse than "good" and "bad," both of which seem to him to have lost value as of late. It seems to him easier to process and slot his choices into, and there is a sort of comfort in that. ]
... We're both just people.
[ He repeats in a thoughtful tone, and with a little more confidence for having been given approval, ]
Are you usually around town? [ That's a bit vague, so - ] Where can I find you?
no subject
I own a club. Club Quartz. I guess you can pop in if you want.
do you wanna wrap up here?
Club Quartz... [ He mumbles the name thoughtfully, ] Oh, I've heard of that! I didn't know you were the owner though.
[ He grins, a grin that turns just a bit awkward as he continues on. ]
Right! Club Quartz, [ One more time, because he's committing it to memory, ] Um, I'll come by to see it soon.
[ +1 teenager acquired. ]
yeah sounds good!
Sure. Anytime.