![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
September 2023 TDM
SEPTEMBER 2023 TDM
You wake up completely alone in an unfamiliar place. The forest around you is awash in the pleasant warmth of late summer. Any time-telling devices have stopped working and nothing looks familiar. But the visitors center has maps and information on the area, and with a bit of looking around you find the name of a nearby town: Ashbrook.
Welcome to Ashbrook's very first TDM. Take a look at our navigation page to get started, or skip right to the prompts below! TDM threads may be kept as game canon.
While Ashbrook is an invite-only game, you do not need an invite to play on the TDM.
Please direct any TDM-specific questions you may have here.
Welcome to Ashbrook's very first TDM. Take a look at our navigation page to get started, or skip right to the prompts below! TDM threads may be kept as game canon.
While Ashbrook is an invite-only game, you do not need an invite to play on the TDM.
Please direct any TDM-specific questions you may have here.
Of Monster and Men
What:
Lost in the woods with friends and 'friends'
When:
Throughout September
Warnings:
Stalking, paranoia, violence, being lost in the woods
With summer nearing its end and school already begun, it seems as if every teen's got a story to tell.
One of them that's pretty popular starts off like any other. Couple of kids go into the woods, one of them goes missing, and gets found later on — but they're not right, it's not them; the rest of the story goes as it goes and the group ends up dying or scared half to it by the week's end, tormented by the Goatman. The story has its variations depending on the person telling it. Sometimes there's a creature staring from the treeline; or unexplainable, not quite human voices calling from outside the campfire's light. No matter what the creature is hard to identify, and you can only really catch it by spotting oddities in the way it mimics its victims.
The stories aren't just stories, though. In any other town they might be, but in Ashbrook, they're warnings. You're cutting through the woods after class, or heading back to the car at the end of a camping trip, or maybe you're even a new arrival stumbling your way home. No matter what, there's an odd scent, sharp and metallic, that's following you around. It disappears when you think about it; maybe it's the mind playing its tricks after hearing the stories, or the stress of being somewhere unfamiliar?
But when you glance at your companion they're suddenly gone; look away and back and they're suddenly there again. It can happen a few times and it does. You try not to think about it, but it nags at the back of your mind — how well do you really know the person beside you? Are you sure they're safe? Are you sure they're really them? You decide to press on, sure you're imagining things.
Until you discover the eviscerated body of the person you've been traveling with.
You hear footsteps behind you.
TL;DR
- There's a Goatman that's said to roam the woods and slip unnoticed into groups, disguising itself as someone else. You won't ever catch it taking someone, just the mangled corpses it leaves behind.
- The Goatman has an acrid scent to it, metallic like blood in the back of your throat, but it doesn't linger enough to tell who it's coming from.
- The Goatman can take on the face of anyone at all. Identifying it is tricky, but possible — but it requires you the know the person it replaced well enough to spot the oddities.
- The Goatman will also play dead while disguised as a member of a group, in hopes of inspiring paranoia in its victims.
- Characters can experience visceral, gruesome deaths in this prompt, due either to the Goatman or to the paranoia of their traveling companions.
Ghost on the Shore
What:
An encounter on a foggy night
When:
Evenings in September
Warnings:
Drowning, compulsive behavior
As summer turns to autumn, fog from the rivers rolls steadily over the town in the early evenings, and only dissipates in the morning's rays. Visibility is low, but it's perfect if you want to go for a quiet evening stroll or pre-dawn jog. It's just you out there — you and one other person.
You don't know if they were there a second ago. And maybe it's just the cover of the fog making it hard to see but... they seem familiar. You feel drawn to follow the path they take. No matter how hard you try they don't slow or respond to yelling, and you never catch up. You eventually find yourself at the river's edge, one foot ahead of the other as you've seemingly started to tread the depths of it. You can't see the person you were following but you're certain they've gone into the water. You just need to follow them, and never mind how cold and swift the river runs.
But maybe that didn't happen. Maybe you thought you heard someone calling your name and snapped out of it. Your first instinct may be to get out of there and away from whatever had you hypnotized in the first place, but then you see it: someone else still chasing after a phantom.
If your first instinct isn't to help, as a decent person should, there's something like a soft voice as the wind caresses your ear, pleading for you not to let them near the water, not to let them sink... and you move, for whatever good enough reason your mind conjures, to help those who have yet to wake.
TL;DR
- Characters see a familiar face on foggy knights. They're driven to follow them, because who wouldn't want to see an old friend or even enemy?
- Unfortunately, characters will never reach that person. They can walk all they want, run or sprint, but the other will remain both unresponsive and just out of reach.
- Eventually, the phantom will attempt to lead their victim into the river, where they will likely drown if not rescued.
- Characters can be snapped out of this trance by a whisper on the wind they can't quite identify. Those that are will be compelled to seek out and help anyone still in a trance. Just don't wait too long, or you'll find the other party willingly taking a dive six feet under.
Toil and Trouble
What:
It's time to learn magic!
When:
Weekends in September
Warnings:
None
A more welcoming rumor is about the Witch of the Woods. The teens describe her as a stern but beautiful woman who's willing to teach anyone who comes seeks her out. Bring her a suitable offering and knock three times on her door in the middle of the night, and she'll answer to teach you what she knows of the supernatural and magic.
... Thankfully, no one has to find out how wrong that is right now. There are flyers, decorated childishly with bat and cauldron stickers, inviting the reader to the "Witch's Retreat". These flyers seem to appear when a Visitor glances away for a second to pick something up, or gently drift down right into their hands. Even the most skeptical, scoff-likely of Visitors will find their interest piqued in the days before it, mind drifting back to the promise of help in their unusual situation.
The retreat itself is headed by a middle-aged woman, who's narrowed gaze inspects the people who've come before she grumbles something under her breath and waves her hand.
"Look in the tree holes for your books and pick a partner to pair with — they aren't the kinds of things you'd want to test on your own. First rule: Always have a third hand. Second: Don't do it in public if you can help it. Final: Don't even try skipping ahead, because they won't answer you."
Whatever that means. It's time to learn magic.
The Witch — if pressed, she'll begrudgingly allow the students to address her as 'Ms. Spinner' — will force characters together with a surprisingly powerful shove of her hand if she passes and you aren't already paired with someone too, so don't think you can get out of this little exercise by going solo! You can't. As far as the promised spirituality goes... listen to the voice within, find your inner peace, and the rest'll come naturally. The Witch isn't too pressed for you whelps to understand off the bat, though she won't leave you out on a limb either.
TL;DR
- The characters — Visitors, as they're referred — are able to learn basic level magic with the help of the Witch.
- Pair up and practice. This is essential to the process, and the Witch will force unpaired individuals to partner up.
- Anything higher level magic won't come to the character; it may feel like there's a kind of blockage, even to those who're used to magic themselves.
- The Witch isn't open to questions about the town in particular (are you here to gossip or learn?) and won't answer anything about it, so stay on task if you want answers to your questions.
A Day In The Life
New Visitors may wake up in the woods, but that's not where they're going to be spending all of their time. They have homes, jobs, work, entire lives they need to attend to. They'd better get to it!
A Visitor will be instinctively drawn towards both their home and job; they will always know how to navigate the former, and may find the tasks they perform at the latter suspiciously easy. Outside of that, their life will be incredibly normal for the first few days. No one will acknowledge the strangeness in the woods, and a Visitor's insistence that they're not from around here will be treated like a joke.
And then suddenly it's weird again. They wake up one day and realize they have a different job, perhaps even a different home. They will lose any instinctive understanding they may have had of their old job and gain similar understanding of their new job. Visitors will retain all of their memories of their previous job, but if they bring it up to the townsfolk none of them will have any idea what they're talking about.
TL;DR
A Visitor will be instinctively drawn towards both their home and job; they will always know how to navigate the former, and may find the tasks they perform at the latter suspiciously easy. Outside of that, their life will be incredibly normal for the first few days. No one will acknowledge the strangeness in the woods, and a Visitor's insistence that they're not from around here will be treated like a joke.
And then suddenly it's weird again. They wake up one day and realize they have a different job, perhaps even a different home. They will lose any instinctive understanding they may have had of their old job and gain similar understanding of their new job. Visitors will retain all of their memories of their previous job, but if they bring it up to the townsfolk none of them will have any idea what they're talking about.
TL;DR
- This prompt is meant to allow players an opportunity to experiment with the role mechanic, without forcing them to retcon their threads if they receive a markedly different role after applying.
- Retconning is, of course, still an option - but if you want to give your character another bit of existential confusion, this is the prompt for you.
OOC Notes
If your character dies... While characters may die during the TDM, these deaths do not count towards a character's death count. If a character dies, they will vanish the instant they lose consciousness. The dead character will reappear safely back at the nearest visitors center, and both they and any witnesses will have only a hazy recollection of the event.
If a character TDMs but doesn't app... You have the option of having your character remember these characters. ICly, characters that TDM but do not apply will simply vanish without a trace under mysterious circumstances.
If you have any questions, please direct them here. Enjoy your new life.
If a character TDMs but doesn't app... You have the option of having your character remember these characters. ICly, characters that TDM but do not apply will simply vanish without a trace under mysterious circumstances.
If you have any questions, please direct them here. Enjoy your new life.
no subject
[That hurt comes flying back and Dipper takes a step back, expression leveling into something hostile almost.]
No! I don't know where we are, Stan, because the stupid portal probably sent us here! Which is your fault!
[Sorry Ford, you probably never expected Dipper to look or talk to you that way.]
And where's Mabel! I can't find her anywhere!
no subject
Stan? That's--
[ Wait. Wait. That part makes sense, actually. Ford reaches up and snatches the Mr. Mystery hat off of his head. ]
It's me, Dipper.
[ Clearly he doesn't need to say anything else to explain. So he doesnt. ]
And the portal couldn't have done this - I took it apart weeks ago.
[ ... And why would that be Stan's fault, anyway? ]
no subject
What are you talking about?!
[No, this has to be some kind of stupid misdirection. Stan is making excuses or trying to deny what just happened and that alone make his blood boil because-]
This is all your fault! You activated the portal and Mabel decided to trust you for some insane reason, and now it's probably ripped our universe in half! And now she's-
[He can't find her, he was all over the forest calling for her. He starts to sound a little more hysteric than just strictly angry, but it's clear that Dipper is Upset.]
If something's happened to her because of that, because of you- [He can't even finish that statement. His voice cracks as he struggles not to just succumb right there to his own emotions.]
no subject
It's taken a few moments, but things are finally starting to click into place. The memory gun is heavy in his jacket pocket, and the possibilities it represents are heavy in his thoughts. Cause Dipper clearly doesn't think they're in the middle of Weirdmageddon. Dipper doesn't realize he's not Stan. Dipper doesn't know that the portal itself isn't an issue anymore. And that's--
Nothing so obvious as horror crawls over Ford's expression. Instead there's just nothing, blank non-comprehension taking the place of the focus and intensity from a moment ago. He can't even be upset that Dipper does, even if he doesn't realize it, have the right target for his anger over Mabel's safety.
The silence hangs for a long moment. And then Ford holds his hand up, fingers spread. ]
Dipper, look.
no subject
[A six-fingered hand.]
[He stands there in stunned silence for a moment, uncomprehending, eyes slowly growing wide- and then. Then, the gears start rapidly turning, and the confusion and Dipper's insatiable need to understand kicks into overdrive.]
[Stan wouldn't be able to fake that, that extra finger is clearly moving like the rest on his hand. The voice comes back to him, and he really takes in its differences from Stan's. Then finally, Dipper looks at Ford, and it's like he's seeing him for the first time. All the details-- he couldn't divorce his anger at Stan from what he was looking at before, but now it's so obvious. This isn't Stan at all.]
...Who are you?
no subject
Ford has dealt with some extremely stressful and upsetting things over the past few days. He and Stan just came to an extremely difficult agreement over how to handle Bill. He's had to accept that the mess they're in is his fault in the first place. He has no idea where Mabel is, or if she's even alive. And now...
Who are you?
Ford opens his mouth, then closes it again. He swallows and, finally, finds his voice. ]
Stanford Pines. I'm the one who created the portal, the author of the journals, and your uncle Stan's twin brother.
1/2
[!?!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT???? HE'S WHO????? Hold on, wait for it. The gears have slammed to a stop but they're turning again, slowly.]
no subject
[And Stan's twin!? The creator of the portals!? Oh gosh oh heck oh man what on EARTH IS GOING ON. Instinctively, he reaches into his vest and pulls out Journal 3, holding it in front of him.]
Oh my god, oh my god, a-all summer! I've been searching for you all summer! And you're- you're Stan's twin!? But how is that even possible!?
[Dipper is getting worked up in such a familiar way. His complexion goes a little pale for a moment and he sways.]
Ooooh, man. I need to sit down.
no subject
But now it just feels kind of... weird. Not confusing and, surprisingly, not upsetting. Just strange. Here he is, reliving a moment that was ultimately a positive one for him, and all he feels is a disconcerting sense of dread. It was a positive moment because it's when he met Dipper and Mabel, but now Dipper doesn't even remember him and--
Dipper withdraws Journal 3 from his vest and Ford lights up. That's it. That's it! He can start sorting this mess out immediately. ]
That's right! This is the one I buried in the woods until you found it, and then--
[ Then Stan activated the portal, Ford came back to Gravity Falls, and Dipper gave returned Journal 3 to its rightful owner - which is when Ford resumed making his own entries again. He'll just have to show Dipper those to clear things up.
He reaches out to take the journal from Dipper, cracking it open to halfway through - right around where Dipper's additions start. He flips right to the end of those parts, which isn't hard when he has them memorized. Right after the entry about Archibald Corduroy is Dipper's note from the day Stan was arrested, then the CLASSIFIED stamp put there by Agent Trigger. Then there's two blank pages, and just after those--
More blank pages.
Ford blinks. He flips back again, like he could have somehow turned over two dozen pages at once. He flips forward a few more, like he ever would have left that much paper unused. But no, he's right where he ought to be, and right where his first post-return entry should be is nothing. Just blank, yellowing parchment that's no use to him at all.
Fortunately, Dipper will have a few moments to compose himself, because Ford has gone dead silent and statue still. ]
no subject
Oh- um. Haha, I uh. I ...added some notes to it. Hope that was okay.
[Suddenly the idea of such an important person looking at his contributions were enough make his nerves light up again. Especially now that he's gone silent as the dead.]
[He coughs, awkwardly, unable to handle it anymore.]
I-If you're mad about that, I can... I can probably get rid of them. The pen I used was erasable and-
no subject
[ Dipper is saying words and Ford isn't really processing them, too busy trying to sort through the implications of this particular edition of Journal 3. Is Dipper temporally displaced? That's not impossible, especially not with Time Baby having been recently annihilated, but it would be rather strange.
The more likely possibility is that they're from two different dimensions. If that's the case Dipper would clearly be from the 52' series, but that doesn't sit quite right with Ford, either. Which could, of course, could just be good old fashioned denial. He'll need to look through Dipper's notes and--
Then what Dipper was saying finally clicks. ]
Oh-- no, not at all. Trust me, my boy, those notes are going to be very useful.
[ If he can go over them later he can try to make sense of any differences that may be present. But later is the keyword there. For now he tucks the journal into his (Stan's) jacket pocket, then reaches out and rests both hands on Dipper's shoulders. ]
Dipper, listen to me. There's a lot I need to explain, but that has to wait until later. Right now we need to figure out where we are and how we got here.
no subject
[So, he snaps to attention. He's ...still sweaty and jittery, but he does know that Ford is right. This situation is weird and they need to figure out whats up with that first.]
R-Right. Right! I don't recognize this place as anything I've seen in Gravity Falls. I ...thought maybe it was the portal's fault. The last thing I remember is it activating and everything going nuts. What about you?
no subject
Ford thinks about everything that's happened to him over the past few days - no, over the past few hours. Torture, being a statue, fucking up the world-saving prophecy, the plan he formed with Stan, Bill's countdown... ]
... Nothing involving the portal. From my perspective I disassembled it weeks ago.
[ Which... yeah, that's something weird they're gonna have to talk about eventually. ]
We're definitely not in Gravity Falls, but we may be somewhere nearby.
[ He, finally, takes in the visitors center properly. ]
Stay close to me. We have no idea what we might stumble across here.