mundane_realms | Bardsong's First Test-Drive Meme!

Entry tags:

Bardsong's First Test-Drive Meme!

The Bardsong Test-Drive Meme!

How to Use:

Please take the time to review the premise, the FAQ, and locations to get a feel for the setting!

Make a toplevel with Character Name, Canon, and Class Names in the title. The class page is right here!

Tag out, mingle, and enjoy! We'll announce the opening date soon!

It all began when you fell from the skies above, wreathed in flame. When you landed, you learned that you weren't alone: So many others, each from worlds entirely different from yours, have found themselves in his predicament, and know about as much as you do! The locals greet you with a cautious friendliness, welcoming you to the town of Concord. They tell you that the world was broken apart mysteriously not long ago, and are trying to devise ways to step far beyond the town borders to find where the rest of the globe went, get to the bottom of things.

But your arrival is nothing short of a blessing. Perhaps you, the Starfallen, are the answer to their prayers. They explain how live presently works in Concord, they give you that tour of their guilds, and even give you a place to stay at Concord Crossing, where you're randomly assigned roommates. You hope your roommates are amicable...

In the days following, after shaking off the shock of your current situation, you find yourself beginning to integrate into Concord life. But while you await word from the local researchers among the many guilds dotted through town, each looking for new members to bestow their teachings, you need to fill your pockets with precious, precious sol. You'd also heard that there was to be a celebration very soon, and everyone is invited. A little partying never hurt anyone, right? Besides, free food!

Now, where to begin...?

I. More Than This Provincial Life

Concord, the large city that it is, hosts many opportunities for work. Between the multiple quarters and their specialties, just about anyone can find a job. With the isolation from the rest of the world, employers eagerly welcome the Starfallen with part time or temporary work (Apparently, all full time positions are taken and employers conspicuously nudge people out the door if they spend too much time on the clock) to coincide with the life of an adventurer. For those who wish for something to do and a source of income outside of quests, there's always an honest day's wage to be made! With the exception of a few tasks the South Quarter may have to offer, but those aren't the kind of jobs spoken of too loudly.

I-A. Magicka Cleanup Detail

The Concord Magic Academy, between bright-eyed students trying their best and young nobles whose admission was paid in cash, sees quite a few accidents in its halls. Alchemy experiments, wayward fireballs, testing theories given by their Occultist friends, anything can come up and make a mess of a lab or a classroom. As such, the academy welcomes the brave and the patient to the field of custodial engineering, especially those with strong stomachs and combat experience. It wouldn't be the first time stains fight back or gravity ceased to be, so on top of keeping to their own personal hygiene standards, employees are expected to be thorough in their cleaning and expect the unexpected.

I-B. Amazing Paperboy Deliveries

The Concord Truthogram is dedicated to bringing the truth right to the doors of paying customers as soon as the next issue is ready. They're looking for delivery workers and runners equally dedicated to I bringing the truth to subscribers! Runners will need to deliver newspapers all across Concord before dawn breaks. Subscribers are all throughout the city, so runners are encouraged to find an optimal route and coordinate with their co-workers to bring the truth the world in a timely and orderly manner! This job favors the agile, as early Concord mornings are filled with people bustling through the streets and occasional hazards to trip up the distracted runner. Try not to make too many mistakes, as unsatisfied customers will unsubscribe and deny themselves the gift of the Concord Truthogram. Watch out for stray dogs and the occasional grim reaper.

II. O Valley Of Plenty, Whoa-oh-oh!

Working at a coffee shop or helping to organize a wizard's dusty study isn't for everyone, and the people of Concord understand. Every world runs on some currency, and here, it's known as the 'sol'. For those looking to do a 'dirtier' work, the citizenry helpfully direct the Starfallen to the Men-At-Arms Guild, your source of monster-busting work!

Lit by the glow of lanterns, the following work is looking for takers, posted on a large board outside the guild:

II-A. Rabites!

"We need someone to handle the Rabite problem! A couple that chooses not to be named found a pair and decided to raise them as pets, but they have since bred out of control into feral, very bitey colonies. They may look cute and cuddly, but you may need to bring a friend to be on the safe side."

Reward: 50 sol per pelt

II-B. Bumps in the Night!

"We need graveyard shift relief for the town guard posted along the outskirts of Concord. Lately, the guards have been reporting strange noises through the night, and have seen an influx of ghoul sightings coming down from the nearby hills. Take care care not to get bitten; it won't make you like them, but it will make you sluggish and leave you as easy prey."

Reward: 800 sol a night + 100 sol per head

III. Like One of Those Music Videos

While typically only those following the paths of their departed founders and enduring Masters of the Manor are granted entry to the Glistering Estate, the Guild of Steel and Lace nonetheless occasionally open the gates to outsiders. Oftentimes, this is simply to showcase a performance at the theatre, or to offer a chance for newcomers to join their ranks; today, however, is a special occasion: the anniversary of the Estate's groundbreaking. For the evening, the entire Estate grounds have been made available to the residents of Concord, and an exquisite buffet has been prepared for all who would raise a glass to their Founders. Many who come may be tempted by the lavish wealth on display, but aspiring thieves and troublemakers must be warned: Behind the gold and silk lies a house packed to the brim with the likes of veteran Paladins and entrapping illusionists.

III-A. Black Tie...?

Before one is permitted entry to the Estate proper, they must be willing to show a modicum of due deference and wear the proper attire. For an open-door event such as this, simple and tasteful formalwear will suffice; a collared dress shirt or modest blouse, at the very least. Fortunately for those who cannot afford- or, as is sometimes the case, simply forgot- such fineries, the Guild of Steel and Lace happily provides attire of the sort worn by their own members on the estate grounds, and their stocks accommodates all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, their standard attire inevitably takes the form of service attire such as maid outfits and butler uniforms. They have even provided booths to change in private, so please, don't make a scene.

III-B. Upper, Upper Class High Society!

Once inside, the guests have freedom to enjoy the manor's full facilities; the Guild of Steel and Lace have spared no expense in setting up food options from their in-house chefs ranging from terrestrial crab legs and tropical fruits to... erm... unfamiliar flora or fauna that are unidentifiable, but thoroughly delicious. At least, to the locals who have already acquired the taste. Additionally, The theatre is hosting an ongoing series of performances from the Guild's bards, though they're not above letting the Starfallen have their turns at the microphone. Nonetheless, from ballroom to gardens to bathhouse, the entire estate is open to visitors, so why not have a look around...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Whoa, hello." Corrin stops suddenly when the young man appears in front of her, looking quite serious. Immediately, she suspects danger. "What's wrong? Are we under attack?" But then her concern turns to confusion. "...I'm sorry?" She asks, bewildered.

Corrin has also opted for a crisp butler's uniform, and had noticed the small tear in the right sleeve of her jacket, but considering these must be old and unused outfits for the most part, and that the tear was barely noticeable, she'd decided not to make an issue of it. She was already pushing things a little by insisting she go barefoot, after all. Besides, the tear had hardly been noticeable, or...so she had thought.

"Got what? I'm confused. Is there something on my face?"

He seemed not to pay heed to any of her replies, instead threading a needle and tying off an end. A thread about this long ought to mend the tear, keep it in place for now...

Wait, her face?

"Whadda you mean? Ya don't see the tear?" He reached for the sleeve and turned that section inward. After a pinch in place, he set to work on a simple running stitch.

"The more ya move your arm, the bigger it'll get... s'best to catch 'em while they're small, got it?"

"The tear?" Corrin is momentarily confused, but Kanji then takes her arm and understanding sets in. "Oh, that? I didn't think it would be a big deal for one night. But, thank you for stepping in." She watches him work curiously. "Can it really get that bad just from regular movement?" She asks. She normally has others to do this kind of work for her, at least for regular clothes; she does her own armour and gear checks, as Xander taught her to do. A royal has to be responsible for her own arms and armour, after all and in that area she's quite proficient.

"You have a really good eye." She offers after a few moments. "I didn't think anyone would notice."

"Depends on a buncha things: If the clothes were treated roughly during a wash, if the soap's been harsh, and how much it's been work can all make seams weak or wear the hell outta cloth. Y'gotta treat it right." Ugh. He really did sound like his parents now, huh? He guessed it was gonna be a matter of time.

"I only got an eye for it 'cause I had crazy-ass growth spurts and was tearin' outta things a lot. Then there was the last place I was in, where the minute a full moon hits, it's over no matter how much I spent on a belt, a jacket or a new pair of pants."

Corrin listens intently, while she watches Kanji work, lifting her arm a bit to help him get a better view. "...I never knew that." She admits. "I mean, I knew clothes wore out over time, I guess I just never really thought about, you know, how that actually happens." Jakob would die of shame if his lady had ever been seen wearing anything that wasn't immaculately pressed, cleaned, and intact.

It slowly begins to dawn on Corrin that these are the sorts of things she'll have to look after herself, now. And she has no real idea how to do that; even on the campaign trail her various servants made sure her day to day needs were looked after. And even her attempts to try to learn how to be independent were progressing rather slowly; even getting Jakob to teach her how to make a proper cup of tea had been an...effort. It seems more than a little daunting to her now.

She blinks in confusion. Last place he was in?. "Why is that?" She asks curiously, wondering what a full moon had to do with anything.

He was stitching as if working against a clock, yet nothing in the result seemed rushed: The seam was closed again and the stitch appeared strong as he began the final knots.

"I was in a world that ain't mine before this one. The moons liked to change and turn ya into stuff. I guess for a couple years I was a werewolf."

Kanji paused, frowned. "Which reminds me that I gotta figure out when the full moons are so I can lock down. Shit..."

Oh, like a Wolfskin or Kitsune. "You know, there's tribes of beastpeople where I come from who use a special stone to manage their transformations." She offers. "It even keeps their clothes intact too." So does her Dragonstone when she uses it, to Corrin's immense relief. "Maybe we can help you find something similar here, if it's still a concern for you. I know I haven't been able to transform since I got here, so it might not be an issue for you, either." Though it sounds like it might be more of a relief to this young man if he can't, given he apparently needs to "lock down" when he changes.

Of course, Keaton was an admitted maneater...

Kanji just had to stare, his stitching momentarily forgotten. Once he gave his mind the time to reset, things began to slowly click into place, piece by piece. She hadn't been nervous upon hearing the word 'werewolf'. Why would she? She spoke of beast people. Stones? Perhaps he needed to find a stone like that, if his blessing became a problem.

Wait- "You're a beast person too?"

She wasn't able to transform, either. So possibly, because the moon of Sanguis and the god Himself was so far away, he would have no problem.

"I figure all the practice I've done should keep the instincts in check. I jus' hope bein' in another world entirely won't throw all my hard work away..."

Corrin blinks in confusion at Kanji's wonderment, then realizes her mistake. Oh. Oh right, transformation wasn't strictly speaking normal, and yet Corrin's not really used to it being treated as a big deal. With one thing or another with the war and constantly being sent on missions by the False King, there hadn't been much time for Corrin to dwell on her recently-discovered ability to take the form of a dragon.

"Uh, well...kind of?" She laughs a bit nervously. "I recently discovered, back home that is, I have this, uh, ability, I guess you could call it to...change into a dragon?" Her pointed ears twitch, a bit of a nervous habit. "I couldn't tell you why, though! All my siblings have dragon-blood in them, but none of them can do it." Though that hadn't stopped Elise from trying for an hour to use Corrin's Dragonstone to transform, before having to concede defeat. But Elise being Elise, she'd simply shrugged it off with a laugh, deciding that even if she wasn't a dragon, having one for a sister was still pretty good. "But I don't have my Dragonstone with me, which is important, and even without it I can't seem to do it anyway. So, you're probably safe! Maybe our abilities will return in time, and they're just, you know...out of whack from being sent hurtling through the Deeprealms. Say, how wolf-y do you get? When you can transform I mean." She cocks her head curiously. That's not a weird thing to ask, right?

Kanji didn't seem to flinch at that, only finish his stitch. Someone else who could turn into a dragon? Shit, imagine. But it was encouraging to know that she didn't seem to change even without her stone.

He was tucking the thread in as he thought, tried to picture the sheer size of himself when he transformed.

"That spare four-poster bed over there...? Push two more of 'em together and it'll fit me, all except the tail. Full-on 'find me in the woods' style, not a wolf-man thing."

Corrin follows his gaze to the bed, then tries to imagine the additional beds, and the size of the wolf that would just barely fit on them, and her eyebrows raise. "Oh, wow. That's bigger than me in my dragonform." She looks back down at Kanji. "I can see why you were worried about it eating through your wardrobe. Did you find it difficult adapting to four legs? I had a little trouble with it myself at first." Especially when you don't have hooves or claws at the end of your four new legs so much as you have hands.

"Honestly, I could look very ungraceful by times. And my tail! It still seems to have a mind of its own sometimes." She chuckles. Don't even get her started on trying to remember to keep track of her wings.

He blinked as he recalled those first Sanguis moons. "Shit... yeah, it was tough figurin' out how to move without fallin' on my face! It took a few times, but I manage to walk n' run- even fly!"

His own opened, black appendages with massive claws at the end.

"Enough that I decided I wanted to keep the wings. It beats takin' a bus, and my wife, she-... she... hah..."

Man. He'd gotten used to the word now. Now look at him, getting himself down all over again.

"Whoa, look at those!" Corrin whistles as Kanji spreads his wings in demonstration. "I can't do that; I'm either full dragon, or full human. How exactly do you do that?"

Her eyes light up when she mentions his wife. "You're married? That's so wonderful! Is she joining us tonight?" The question escapes her lips just as she realizes why Kanji suddenly looks so glum, and her own face falls. No, of course she wouldn't be joining them. "Oh. I'm sorry, that was...stupid of me to say. I'm so, so sorry."

"Long story." How else to explain the Ware Wolf Shop?

But Kanji shook his head. The woman looked down, too, and he hadn't meant to drag down the mood just because he'd started to feel a little lonely.

"Ya didn't know, don't sweat it. At least I know she went back home, y'know? That and she ain't a fan of big, fancy parties."

Corrin nods. "Yeah, you're right." That at least was a comfort that could ease the pain of separation, to know that the one you'd given your heart to was at least safe and sound. "At least you'll probably have a few stories to share with her when you get home too." Always trying to find the positive, that's Corrin.

"Can I ask how long you two have been together?" She asks, curiously. Romance in general has long been an interest to her, not having many chances at experiencing it herself so far, save in the pages of the many romance novels that had seemed to find their way into the Northern Fortress' library over the years (she suspected Camilla's hand in that since Xander and Leo seemed mostly uninterested or clueless on the subject, and given how the novels had, *ahem*, aged up in content with Corrin as she had grown, that rather ruled Elise out as well, or at least Corrin hoped it did.)

He smiled, which may have looked odd on a face like his. In a way, despite having never met before, it almost felt... rare. But the thought of sharing more stories sounded appealing.

"Two years...? We'd known each other about five. Met in high school when she was in the area, a junior detective called down to look into weird shit goin' on in my home town. I, uh... totally misread her interest in me as somethin' other than professional, and when we became friends, it was hard to be honest with her about how I felt."

He rubbed the back of his head.

"I grew the balls and told her the truth eventually. I'm... still workin' on callin' her 'wife' since we only married about a couple months ago. I wonder... I wonder if it gets easier, or if my heart will ever stop tryn'a beat outta my chest. The latter's somethin' I don't ever wanna stop."

Edited 2020-10-20 04:10 (UTC)

"Oh, that's so lovely." Corrin enthuses. "School sweethearts? It's like out of a story." More than a few of the romance novels Corrin has read over the years feature such relationships as the center of the narrative, and it's one dear to her, even though she herself never attended any sort of formal academy.

It must be hard for him, to have married her and yet have been parted so soon, especially when they don't know when (or even if, though she prefers not to think about that) they'll be able to go home. But that must be something he knows all too well, so Corrin doesn't linger on it. Instead, she shakes her head. "I don't have an answer for you, I'm afraid. But I hope it doesn't, for both of you." Love should be ever-green, as far as Corrin's concerned. "It must be an exhilarating feeling."

"It's scary, but it's a good kinda scary! I think, 'holy crap, I'm a husband. I gotta get my shit together.'" He laughed a little.

"Ah, but that don't mean dick if she ain't here. I ain't gonna be some lovesick puppy, 'specially when there's work that needs doin' here. How's a world just... break, anyway? At least it ain't some energy crisis like the last place I was in."

Kanji paused, then offered a hand.

"Actually... sorry if this is weird, but grab on for a sec? I wanna test somethin'."

"It's hard to conceive of anything that might be that powerful." Corrin agrees. "But I went out and spent some time at the Sea of Stars earlier and...have you been out there?" She asks. "The world just...ends." It had been beautiful and impossible to forget, but it was unmistakeable proof that something had shattered this world in a way everything Corrin had ever been taught had led her to believe was impossible.

Like islands floating sideways in a void of sky you can only reach through a magic tunnel in the water? That voice in her head asks. But she can't speak of that aloud; Azura had warned her it wasn't safe and she wasn't about to test the curse, even in a different world.

She regards Kanji's hand for a moment, slightly confused. Energy crisis? But, it seems harmless enough. It's not like Corrin's ever been shy about hand-holding. "Sure, I guess." She nods, and takes his hand, gingerly, in her own. She notes the rather pleasant warmth.

"What's supposed to happen?"

"I went out there once and got the spins. Didn't know what to expect, but after fallin' outta the damn sky, I gotta learn to be ready for anything." She was right, though. The world just ended, and it was a frightening thought to have to think that something like that may happen to his own. Inaba nearly was lost in a fog...

Their hands met. His heart fluttered, waiting for that rushing feeling, that growing warmth through his body he'd been accustomed to for years. Chroma gave life, buzzed through every pore of every being, and when he shared a bed it was akin to melding into one being. All that was his was hers, just as all that was hers was his.

But now? Holding Corrin's hand was like a day at the park, back home in Inaba. Nothing changed, other than the fact that his hand was full of hers.

Kanji sighed, released his hold. "Sorry... uh, wanted to see if Chroma was a thing here. When people touch, it makes energy. More if they sleep together. Looks like we're pretty far from Prismatica."

Corrin's eyebrows raise at the description of Chroma, and how one...generates it. She also gets noticeably redder. "O-Oh. Um." She doesn't...really know how to respond to that! "Yeah, I guess we are. I don't think I've generated any energy from...touch like that."

Beneath the endless stars, huddled under her cape together, purple silk against her bare shoulder, and the smell of lilac and something else she still can't place.

That didn't feel like it generated any kind of energy...didn't it? Her blush deepens.

"O-Oh, but you said that was a property of this Prismatica place so of course there wouldn't have been any w-when we were...held hands. Just now, I mean." Corrin finishes, correcting herself quickly and trying (and mostly failing) to banish thoughts of her trip out to the Sea of Stars from her mind. She puts a hand to her forehead. "I'm sorry, I'm making a complete fool of myself." She apologizes. "I just wasn't quite expecting that answer, you know?" Yeah, that's all it is. She's still new to her own world, for the most part. That's all it is.

...Isn't it?

"Nah, don't worry about it. I figured from the word go that talkin' about that place'll gimme some weird looks. Place is fixed and we got to leave anyway, so that's that." He shrugged.

"Anyway, I'm Kanji." Yes. Yes, he managed the introduction thing before being caught by surprise! Still, he had to figure more than a few things out about this place before he could start working out how to fix it. The whole werewolf thing could be put on a back burner, anyways, especially since he was now increasingly confident that he wasn't going to turn into anything.

But, he... should... keep an eye out on the moon cycle, if anything to keep himself sharp.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bardsong's First Test-Drive Meme!

III-A

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject