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Restoria Mods ([personal profile] restoriamods) wrote in [community profile] restormania2021-01-29 09:44 am
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TEST DRIVE #001 : FALLING INTO BONDS WITH YOU

TEST DRIVE #001 : FALLING INTO BONDS WITH YOU


I. Greetings, Travelers.



You heard the voice, the song, the Call. You turned toward that voice and are falling, tripping through time and space, colors swirling all around you. You blinked.

You open your eyes to the great sprawling roots and unbending branches of the Tree of Harmony above you. You look around to find yourself in an open roof auditorium. And you are not alone. Others are there, waking up just as you are when figures step from around the tall stark columns circling the center of the room.

Greetings Travelers. The Sentinels of Restoria welcome you to our Greenhouse of Unity. The Devourer comes for us all and we must bond our worlds to save them. We cannot save your worlds without your help.

Your guide will lead you down a long staircase to another area of the Greenhouse’s compound: The Hall of Travelers. There you will be told what to expect of your time in Restoria, and then you will select a House: Stone or Cloud. Your House will provide benefits to you to help you in your new role, should you choose to accept it, including your choice of communication device and Housing.

If you need additional time to consider, you will be given leave to rest there in the Hall itself on one of the many comfortable cots provided for the night and simple meals will be provided. Maybe others will need time just as you do to think about the serious decision you would be undertaking. By the dawn, you must have your answer.

What will you do now, Traveler?


II. Getting Your Hands Dirty



Those who select House of Stone will be led by a member of the House to the Traveler Port leading directly to the center of the City of Stones for Orientation. There, Guides will take newcomers through the City, showing them important locations, such as the local groceries, restaurants, and entertainment. You may notice a lot of Stones’s entertainment involves outdoor activities or contact sport games. It is a city of physicality, but also camaraderie and group engagement. They may not talk a lot, but don’t be surprised if you are offered hugs and friendly arm holds wherever you go. Travelers are encouraged to greet each other similarly.

You will be shown your Housing, where basic supplies have been readied for you, and may be surprised to find that up to two items from home have also arrived with you and were already taken to your assigned room (unless they are too large to fit and you find a note instead of where they have been stored elsewhere). The Guides will give you time to greet any neighbors you have and take stock of what you might still need in your room, but before long they will be ushering you back out into the tunnels and through the canyon to the Sanctuary. It is a very busy day in the City of Stones with the Clay Exhibition taking place!

Entering through the Glimmering Gymnasium, you’ll be taken all the way to the other side to a wide set of stairs leading down a area depressed into the ground like a court that is used for outdoor games and other competitions has been filled with a thick layer of a deep red brown watery mush: The Gravel Pit, as it is affectionately called by the citizens of the City. The clay is a special mix just for this occasion. Coat your body in the clay, and you’ll find yourself wearing protective armor that moves just as smoothly as your typical clothing - but you can’t wear much underneath it. Too much clothing means it’s hard for the clay to set, so it's best to wear as little as possible.

And from there you’ll be encouraged to join in on the various exhibition matches: mud wrestling, mixed martial arts, gymnastics, and much more is open for any newcomer who would like to take part. What better way to start bonding with those around you?


III. Head in the Stars



Those who select House of Cloud will be led by a member of the House to the Traveler Port leading directly to the center of the City of Clouds for Orientation. There, Guides will take newcomers through the City, showing them important locations, such as the local eateries, museums, galleries and theaters. You may notice a lot of Cloud’s entertainment involves more creative pursuits and educational engagement. It is a city of knowledge, but also of culture and art. The people love to talk, to debate and challenge preconceptions, whether those of others or even their own. They will greet newcomers openly and without reservation, but they all have that assessing eye, looking to see what they can judge of your character.

You will be shown your Housing, and may be surprised to find that up to two items from home have also arrived with you and were already taken to your assigned area (unless they are too large to fit and you find a note instead of where they have been stored elsewhere). The Guides will give you time to greet any neighbors you have and take stock of what you might still need in your room, but not long as there is still so much left to do. Please keep up as they hurry you off to the Sanctuary of Clouds where they show off the Grand Library and give a waved hand of respect to the Watchtower before moving up into the mountains just outside of it. The air thins and the snow on the mountain side is cold, but it does not take long to reach the Observatory.

The Observatory is filled with tables and desks covered in star charts and books filled with various annotations and theories about space, time, and the laws of the universe. Some may even seem like familiar titles from your own world, and you are told that you are welcome to study them. Follow the winding staircase up to a large platform with various couches and cushy chairs for comfortable lounging and a large, obviously advanced telescope. Maybe you can sit back and relax for a brief moment.

The platform begins to raise itself up more and more as the sun fades and night falls over Restoria. The ceiling of the Observatory will open up to allow the platform to rise out over the mountain - the perfect location for stargazing and space-viewing. The air is quite frigid up here, which doesn't seem to bother the natives of Cloud. Newcomers, however, may find it necessary to cozy up together with blankets and hot drinks.


IV. Herb-a-Reore



As explained during Orientation, all Travelers will have opportunities to earn funds of their own. They do understand that not everyone will be satisfied with the basic free amenities that the Houses will provide them and may want to have capital of their own to purchase luxury items or anything else. Between larger Quests, taking jobs in their Cities and helping out around their respective Houses, the Sentinels also provide monetary missions to earn Reore on a regular basis.

With the large influx of Travelers, so comes the Merging, where the worlds of the visitors and Restoria begin to mesh and mix. The Sentinels take care to catalog many of these changes, including the new flora that show up around the cities, which they carefully cultivate in the large Conservatory. With the Travelers available, they request assistance in cataloging all of these new arrivals, offering each Traveler a reward of Reore for their time and expertise. Who better to help them make sure they don't miss a single herb or flower?

Travelers may recognize various plants from their own world, some benign, some less so. Some might even seem to have minds of their own: tendrils that reach out and poke, sticky webs designed to capture the unobservant, or sweet smells that make one sleepy. Please make sure to label them properly.


V. All Soulstice Day



The people of Restoria are friendly and welcoming in general to newcomers, but you may find them even more so today. They will greet you with smiles, offer their hands or even come in for a quick hug. Others may stare deeply into your eyes as if looking for some recognition, an understanding.

It may seem confusing, until you touch someone or look into their eyes yourself and feel a soothing sensation, as if you have known this person your entire life and couldn’t think of a reason to be wary of them. You can feel them almost as if you can sense their emotions in a distant way. Best friend? Family? Whatever this feeling is, you just know that you care about them and want to spend time with them.

What could be going on? Will you choose to ask?

If you do, you will be told what a fortuitous time it is for Travelers to arrive in Restoria with the celebration of Soulstice Day taking place. A day when the magic of Restoria is at its strongest and compatible bonds are even more likely! A wonderful day for new friendships and the strengthening of long held camaraderie.

Native Restorians and Travelers alike will feel themselves drawn to people as their auras react to heightened compatibility. Those friendly auras will almost sing to each other, bringing about happy, content feelings and a sense of understanding that might feel rare to you for someone you’ve only just met. Nothing is forced, but the possibilities are open for all who choose to lean into them.

People who meet someone with a compatible aura will find the effects of the Soulstice last for a couple days after the fact. A strong motivator for making new friends.


NAVIGATION

slidesrightoff: (Sparkles)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-10 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
[Eddie is positively delighted by this turn of events, his eyes all but glittering as he watches, enthralled.]

Wow! Can you make anything?!
yachtrock: (pic#14629637)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-10 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
Well. Yes but, this isn't something I like to show-off, exactly.

[And yet, now he has Eddie's attention...]

What would you like?
slidesrightoff: (Hat)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-10 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
Why not?! It's so cool!

[There's so much he wants to see, but after their latest conversation, he isn't sure if Chauncy would know what they are. It takes him a moment, but he finally comes up with an answer.]

Oh! How about your biggest city? Or where you're from!
yachtrock: (pic#14629639)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-10 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
Same place. I've never seen it from an aerial point of view before but...

[He tries. It's much bigger than his castle, given that it's a whole city, but his castle does make an appearance near the coast line of his illusioned city. It isn't perfect and has a few blank spots of places he's never seen or been to, and of course isn't as big as a place like New York, but it's certainly the biggest city Chauncy's ever been to.]

I'm only showing you this because you're not of Edol. I can't have people from my world knowing I can do this. Which means not talking about it after this, yes?
slidesrightoff: (Oops)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-10 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh. Oh no. The look on Eddie's face says it all. This is absolutely a problem.]

...I'll try my hardest.

[Eddie has a little problem with... thinking before he opens his mouth.]
yachtrock: (pic#14629630)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-10 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
[Yeah. He can tell.]

Why do I keep trusting people who can't keep secrets, to keep secrets? Am I the gullible one here?

Luckily, there's no one else here that I've seen from Edol, so you should be fine, even if it slips. For now.
slidesrightoff: (Oops)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-10 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
[Sorry. He's so used to people knowing this already.]

Um... two questions: what's an edol, and why does it have to be a secret?
yachtrock: (pic#14629641)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-10 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
Where I'm from. My world. And it's a secret because I'm not naturally a magic user.

[And, upon realizing he's once again said too much...]

...Which you also won't repeat to anyone. Or I'll put a curse on you.

[He can't actually do that.]
slidesrightoff: (Intense)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-10 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
[There are exactly 0 promises about to be made here.]

Did you steal it from someone? Or did you figure out a secret? Or...?

yachtrock: (pic#14629628)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-10 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
I signed a contract. Which isn't illegal, but the one I signed it to is. So it's better if no one knows, so no one asks. I don't know why I'm even telling all of this to you.

[He just seems so trustworthy. Just has that kind of face...]
slidesrightoff: (Ooof)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-10 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
[Eddie does have that effect on people, unfortunately.]

Wait, are you trying to tell me you made a deal with the devil to make a movie with your hands? I can't figure out if that makes it a good deal or a bad one.
yachtrock: (pic#14629676)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-10 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
One: he's not the devil. Two: no. I made a deal so I could do this.

[Fuck it. Who cares. If anyone questions Eddie on his intimate secrets, he'll say the kid's got head trauma or something.

So anyway, Chauncy pulls a giant magic glaive out of his hand.
]
slidesrightoff: (Sparkles)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-11 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh. Oh. Eddie's eyes widen at the suddenly appearing shiny polearm.]

Okay I might make a deal with the devil to do that. That seems way more worth it.
yachtrock: (pic#14629638)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-11 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
I said he's not the devil. He's a God.

[He rests the glaive, rounded end on the pavement while it's pointy end remains in the air, blade-side away from Eddie. Despite their obvious annoyance with each other, he's quite sure neither want to actually hurt the other. ...Right?]

I am his emissary.
slidesrightoff: (Stare)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-11 04:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[He's got built-in armor so it's cool.]

What are you heralding?

[So close.]
yachtrock: (pic#14629641)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-13 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
Uh.

[Well...]

His existence, I suppose. His value, his benefits. His aspirations. What else do emissaries do?
slidesrightoff: (Stare)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-13 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
I dunno. I mean you literally just told me about him, soooo...

[He shrugs.]
yachtrock: (pic#14629641)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-13 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
Are you actually... interested in learning more?

[This is new.]

I can tell you more about him. His name is the Sunrise Prince.
slidesrightoff: (Talking)

[personal profile] slidesrightoff 2021-02-14 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
[Why wouldn't he be? Sure, he's not about to sign up for anything, but it's only polite to listen to why people can suddenly pull polearms from their hands.

He nods.]


So is he a prince that's a god, or a god that's also a prince?
yachtrock: (Default)

[personal profile] yachtrock 2021-02-17 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
It's a title. He's a God. Do your Gods not have titles?