folkooc | August 2022 Test Drive Meme

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*tdm

August 2022 Test Drive Meme

AUGUST 2022 TDM

INTRODUCTION

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Welcome to Folkmore's monthly Test Drive Meme! Please feel free to test drive any and all characters regardless of your intent to apply or whether you have an invite or not.

All TDMs are game canon. You can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Each TDM will provide a scenario for how characters arrive in-game that particular month.

Playing TDMs will allow characters to immediately obtain canon items from homes especially weapons or other things they may have had on their person when they were pulled from their worlds! There will always be a prompt that provides some sort of "reward" to characters who complete certain tasks.

Current players are allowed to have in-game characters react to TDMs via the Network or make a log with the prompts. Current players are always encouraged to tag new people on the TDM!

TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.

[ Prompt One ★ Prompt Two]

Summer Is Over

Content Warnings: snakes, cultists, optional violence.

FALLING DOWN LIKE PIECES INTO PLACE

A breeze with the crisp smell of dying leaves caresses you awake. You sit up to find yourself in the middle of an apple orchard, rows spreading out in all directions. Mouth watering apples hang from the branches, and nobody will stop you from taking one. You can wander the orchard as long as you like, but eventually you will find yourself emerging into the front yard of a little farm. There’s a red barn with perfect white trim set far back, and to one side of the yard is a kiosk modeled to match the barn. This is staffed by a woman who sure looks a lot like the fox that brought you here.

On the side of the kiosk are advertised a few different items: pumpkin spice lattes, hot apple cider, cold alcoholic apple cider, and hot chocolate. The cider, you will be informed, is made on site. (But you have to be of legal age to be given that hard cider!)

There are two other things advertised: APPLE PICKING and a SCAVENGER HUNT.

“You need a buddy for those, though,” the woman running the kiosk will tell you. “Lucky for you there’s plenty of people you can pair up with.”

If you elect to try the scavenger hunt, you and your partner will be handed a piece of paper. On it reads the following:

TAKE A PICTURE OF THE FOLLOWING ON YOUR RELIC! :)

- YOU HOLDING HANDS WHILE YOU GO DOWN A PATH
- FEET WITH AUTUMN LEAVES
- SOMETHING YOU THINK IS TRULY BEAUTIFUL
- A GENUINE SMILE

“When you’re done, bring it back here and show me,” the woman instructs you. “You’ll get a prize if you do.”

It’s an easy enough list, right? Although you have to follow the instructions - you really DO have to find something you genuinely think is beautiful, and that smile can’t be forced! Those might require opening up to your partner a little bit!

If you succeed in the scavenger hunt, you will be gifted with an item from home.

Now, what if you decided to go apple picking?

You will be given a bucket. “Be careful to only pick apples from the trees in the rows,” the kiosk woman tells you with a secret smile. “You don’t want to bother the old trees off the path.”

Yeah. That sure sounds like a challenge, doesn’t it?

If you do stick to the orchard proper, you will be able to pick your fill of apples. All of them are crisp and sweet and delicious. But at some point you will see the other trees.

They’re both huge and old, standing on two sloping hills just past the orchard rows. One of them has apples red as blood, and the other apples gold as the sun. In the shade of these trees are weapons sticking half out of the earth, as if they were carelessly buried many years ago.

If you pick one of the red apples, you will find that you are suddenly besieged with huge snakes. They are as big as anacondas and an inky black that absorbs the light, with eyes the same red as the apples. They aren’t poisonous, but they bite and they crush, so you’ll have to fight them off at least long enough to run like hell!

If you pick the golden apples, a crowd of people will silently begin appearing from the orchard. They are all wearing animal masks… and they are all holding hand scythes. Uh oh. You’ll have to fight them off in order to escape! If you don’t manage that, well, in some places it’s traditional to have a big ol’ sacrificial bonfire…

All the weapons below the trees are non-enchanted items, but you may keep them.

Plaid Shirt Days and Nights

Content Warnings: Optional themes of identity and school trauma.

IMAKEOVER MAKEOVER

Thirteen believes passionately in education. There are, after all, five academies in Folkmore all catering to different types of learning. While these academies are open year round, it becomes apparent if you walk through any of the districts housing shops that back to school is definitely a thing.

A new school year represents a chance to learn more about the world, and about yourself.

Also? It’s a great time for a makeover!

Yes, step into any of the shops selling clothing and accessories anywhere in Folkmore and you will find yourself passionately invested in helping another person discover who it is they want to look like! Do they want to look cool and aloof? Warm and approachable? Are they an e-boy or a cottagcore witch? Punk or prep? You two can figure it out together!

As you shop together you will find it easier and easier to open up to one another, sharing who it is you want to be.

You’ll also be able to score a sweet outfit. Nice.

SAVED BY THE BELL

Wander into any school in Folkmore and you will find a handmade poster instructing all new students and faculty to report to the auditorium. Normal enough, one supposes… but the moment you enter the room you will find reality swims all around you and all of a sudden you’re stuck in a school nightmare!

You know the kind. You’re late for class, no matter how fast you run. You’re in gym class, trying to climb that goddamn rope. You’re getting your books dumped. You’re naked and giving a book report.

These could be memories, but it’s just as likely that they aren’t - you and another person are just trapped in this cliche together. Whichever one of you is in the audience role could maybe help the other one out? Get them some pants or something? Yeah.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

FALLING DOWN LIKE PIECES INTO PLACE--Scavenger Hunt

The woman was a fox. She knew that. She knew that without having to think about it.

In a way, it was reassuring to know she wasn't the only one here who was more than she appeared. Though, whenever she had transformed, she'd never grown Mountain Lion ears or a tail before, all of the animal's lethal aspects seemingly transformed into something she cringed inside to imagine, thinking they were "cute."

Dezba had never been cute. Not once in her entire life.

But, used to doing as she was told, she took the list of Scavenger Hunt items. The thought of doing so with a partner made her breath feel like it would stop, but she gave a wan smile to the closest person to herself.

"May I--may I ask for your assistance? I won't be a drag on you, I promise."

FALLING DOWN LIKE PIECES INTO PLACE---apple picking

Apples! An actual apple orchard! Her home had been so ravaged by the elements that things like fresh fruit were only there for the obscenely rich. The rest of them, Dezba including, had to make do with overly processed and canned fruits.

She could hear Ajei's voice in her head, her mother curling her lip at the canned, telling Dezba that once, there had been vast orchards, once everyone could go to the store and buy as much fresh fruit and vegetables as they wanted. But not now. Not for hundreds of years.

Wide eyed, Dezba backed up until she ran into someone else, immediately casting her gaze downward as she turned to face them. "I'm so sorry, I--I didn't know you were there. I'm sorry," she says with the distinct air of one who didn't expect to be forgiven.

SAVED BY THE BELL

Dezba had never been to school before. That, too, was a thing for the wealthy. Everyone else was expected to look and act and speak nicely as they served in whatever role they'd been assigned whether it was a salesgirl at a perfume counter, a driver (self-driving cars were available! but it was a status symbol to have an actual driver to take the rich from place to place), or a garbage collector.

She feels her brain swim unnaturally as she found herself naked as the day she was born, her old and well-worn copy of "Sense and Sensibility" in clutched in her hands so tightly her knuckles had turned white.

Without intending to, she meets the eye of someone. She can feel their judgement upon her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know how this happened, but I'm sorry."

Dezba looks rather like a deer in the headlights, just before the car made contact. But she knew better than to expect mercy.

[OOC: details about Dezba and the world she comes from can be found here with a heavy CW for a police state, extreme gaps between the rich and poor, and passing privilege]

Edited 2022-08-25 14:40 (UTC)

Ruri looked at the naked girl, this was all horribly confusing. She wasn't sure where she was, or why she was dressed like a girl in an Otome game. Still she shrugged. No one goes after the albino girl in those, so maybe she is here as a side character.

"I think I can help if you give me a moment. But could you tell me where we are?"

With that she walks over to a locker and puts her ear to the dial, twisting it and nodding a few times as she listens for the clicks.

Dezba was doing her best to not get angry and whatever had placed her in this situation. She knew that if she got angry, she'd cry and that would be misinterpreted as weakness. She couldn't let herself be weak.

But when the other girl offers help, Dezba gives her a look positively brimming with thanks. "Yes, help would be appreciated. As for where we are...I don't know. I've never been to a school before, Ajei taught me everything on the road."

She's never seen a locker before. Locks, yes, but this particular item? Not at all.

Ruri nods, still listening for the clicks, "So this is a school. I was never allowed to go to one with people my age in it so..."

Still, after a moment she opens the locker and rummages around, pulling out a jacket.

"I'm sure whoever's locker this is will understand. If they even are a person."

Looking around she tilts her head, "Is this a holographic simulation? Maybe one that malfunctioned. I don't think anyone would go to school naked. A hot spring yes, but. Oh well."

With that she turns, offers the jacket and bows, "I'm Ruri."

Dezba nods. "Neither was I. Schools are for the rich. We weren't."

And she can't help peeking into the locker. Everything here is so foreign, so unlike anything she'd seen before. Some of her books talked about school, but they were centuries old.

"I--I don't know. Nothing here smells right. It smells too fresh, too clean. But, what's a hot spring?"

And she takes the jacket gratefully. On her small frame, it falls down long enough to be a dress and she buttons it up to the neck, then bows in return. "Thank you. I'm Dezba. I'm very pleased to meet you. But, how do we get out of this place?"

Schools for the rich? That doesn't seem right. Everyone she knew went to school, and some of them were the poorest people out there.

"I thought schools were for everyone. Just when I was.... Younger... They didn't want me learning inefficiently at the academy. I considered going to get my Doctorate, but, I kind of wanted to wait till I'd be with people my own age."

Still, smell, it smelled like.... Well, it didn't smell as antiseptic as a colony, it smelled about like anywhere on Earth, "A hot spring is a naturally occuring pool where the water is like a bath. I'm not really used to smelling if a place is normal, but I'm not detecting the wifi signals that would go with a holographic set up. This place hurts my head."

It wasn't right. From what little she knew of other countries, it was a violation of human rights. But her home hadn't cared about such things for a long time, spending hundreds of years in isolation. But it was the way it was.

She shakes her head no. "One must be very wealthy and plan to go into a profession, such as a financial planner or a hedge fund manager. They go to school." And at the statement that Ruri was already well-educated enough to go for a Doctorate, her eyes widen. "That's...I've never heard of anything like that before. I'm sorry."

Not her Earth. Not for hundreds of years. "Oh. That sounds pleasant. And, I guess it's because my home is so polluted. The lack of smells of industrial plants and car exhaust, it's a little overwhelming." And Dezba ponders for a moment. "Every building has doors. There have to be doors out?"

Maybe she was from one of the bombed out areas. A lot of them had been heavily industrialized.... After being bombed into the stone age.

"I think we're looking for a red sign marked Exit. I honestly don't know much about places like these. I've only seen them in computer simulations and anime."

"Still, why would someone need to go to school to be in the financial sector? It is just basic math, it isn't something skilled like computer work, or technical like cooking... Is it? I generally don't deal with those two faced idiots. Well, there was Prospector-san, but he was nice enough to declare me defective."

With that her eyes look towards the ceiling, looking for a bright red exit sign.

There hadn't been any bombs. Simply too many people afraid to change the status quo, so they'd withdrawn into themselves. The rest of the world could go to Hell as long as the wealthy retained their wealth.

"Oh. That's likely...obvious," Dezba says, blushing despite herself.

"They take care of their family fortunes, they help others keep their fortunes, they know what to invest, where, and when to withdraw." A note of bitterness creeps into Dezba's voice. "Everything is for the very wealthy and the rest of us live on their scraps. As for computers...those are for the very wealthy, too. The rest of us are expected to take menial jobs, serving them." But not Dezba, at least not forever. She had a role in the prophecy.

And she started scanning for an Exit sign as well. There seems to be a faint, red glow at the end of a ridiculously long hallway. "You said that they're red?"

That sounded like the world that Mr. Prospector said things were going towards before unification. There were still fortunes, and very wealthy like her parents, but still, most of it seemed pointless.

"Why not just break the system then? I know I've been involved in several.... Wealth redestribution efforts... When rich idiots tried to take too much. If only a few people know how a system works, then only a few people will have eyes on any problems. That and... Numbers never work well in those systems in other ways."

"Yes. Red."

They said her nation had once been the world's greatest power, but little by little it plunged into darkness. Once in the darkness, it was hard to claw it back out.

"I'm...not sure if anyone knows how? Ajei says that we're kept stupid so that we can't find ways to fight back. And those who try don't...end well."

Public executions, mass hangings, firing squads. Anything and everything to keep the population afraid and willing to turn in their neighbor if it meant they got to keep their life and only spend a little while in a work camp.

"Then, I see red. Down there." Dezba pointed down the long, long hallway.

"English. Ok. That looks like an exit sign, yes."

She starts, and almost looks surprised, but still is mostly emotionless. "I'm surprised the UN allows that. How badly were you bombed when the Jovians attacked? I know America and Japan got bombed pretty badle, but the European Union, and most of the southern countries weren't... Well they didn't loose that much technology."

She then sighs, "Keeping people stupid never works forever. Eventually they realize they outnumber you."

"All right. Maybe what's outside will be true?"

At Ruri's questions, Dezba's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "What's the UN? And Jovians? I'm--I'm sorry, but I've never heard of them before.

But that, that sounds hopeful. "Maybe that will happen? It all depends on what happens with the--the prophecy."

How could she never have heard of the Jovian Lizards, or the UN. Still, everything about this is hurting Ruri's head, "What year was it when you last checked? And what prophecy? That almost sounds like an anime."

Still she moves to check the door, "And we can hope that outside isn't... This."

"I believe it's 2499? It was the last time I saw a calendar. And...it's the end of the world. Maybe. It all depends on what one person chooses and it's not me. I am...a soldier. Not a general."

Dezba looks deeply relieved at being someplace which isn't the school. "I hope so. Maybe the outdoors will smell right?" Rust, dust, decay, pollution, and above all the rot of garbage

"I have no idea. I've been in space so long, I only smell normal things."

She shrugs at that, "I'm from 2201. Was there another war? Maybe one of the colonies?"

"Space, among the stars," she asks, sounding wistful.

"No, no war. Not that I know of. Ajei might have known, but she's--not here. And USA doesn't bother with space anymore. And...I don't think there are any colonies." And she flushes, looking down. "I'm sorry. I honestly don't know. I might know later, but I'm not sure how that will work from here."

After all, at least five of the other soldiers were coming in from overseas. Smuggling them in would be a problem, but the knowledge they'd bring would be beyond valuable.

"Hrm. There are a lot of variables that I don't don't have to figure out specifics, but...."

She shoves open the door, "Let's solve the problems in front of us, before we start figuring out if this is some sort of quantum meeting point across using the infinite Earth theory. I'd need Omoikane to figure that one out."

"I suppose...I read a book once. It talked about alternate realities? Maybe--maybe that's the case?"

The sunlight which floods in once the door opens is nearly blinding, but in a good way, the best possible way. "All right. Where should we go from here?" She pushed a mass of red curls away from her face.

"There are several theories on it. I admit, that aspect of quantum physics is a bit out of my expertise."

She looks over at the other girl, "We should find you some more to wear first I think. Stolen locker clothes will only get you so far."

And Dezba blushed again, this time out of shame. "I can spell it, but Ajei was more concerned with developing my spiritual powers than she was with science."

"Yes. Yes, please. My outfit at work is--is one thing. But I need something else to wear. I don't know what they did with my things." They weren't much, but they were hers.

"I'm missing my uniform as well. This is... Well, I just feel silly in it."

She shakes her head, "Don't worry about spelling anything. It sounds like our worlds are very different. I've never heard of anyone having any spiritual powers other than... Yelling. Very loudly."

"Still, I'd like to believe our things are somewhere nearby."

"I felt silly the first few times I went to work, but I got used to it. Slowly." Black latex and matching platform boots were a lot for anyone to get used to.

"It seems that way," she says, another small worry-line forming. She wonders how things will progress with the End of the World without her.

"If not, they need to refer us to someone to register complaints with." Inside the back pocket of her jeans shorts was her ancient, taped-together copy of "Sense and Sensibility." If she loses it, she'll be far more than upset.

"Maybe that fox. Did you have a conversation with a fox too? Before being dumped here?"

She shakes her head, magic is really not in Ruri's vocabulary. Sure singularity technology seems magical, but admitting that it does isn't a thing she knows how to do.

"Maybe we should find a squirt gun if it is." Not that she knows anything about animals either, other than she likes wearing cat ears because she thinks they are cute.

"Yes. She was at my apartment. She told me that I needed to follow her and despite my...responsibilities back home, I felt that I had no choice. And here I thought that Coyote was the trickster."

Dezba is steeped in magic. Or at least what most call magic, she was taught to call it medicine, even though she was transformed by some of the darkest medicine into something more than human.

And that gets a sudden burst of laughter and a smile. "It couldn't hurt? Someone has to have answers and I fear that the fox will be...not exactly eager to tell her secrets." And she's embarrassed by her ears and tail. It was taking something sacred--dark, yet sacred--and playing her for the fool.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

August 2022 Test Drive Meme

Dezba Mulcahy | OC | Familiar (CW: underage nudity--book report prompt)

Saved By the Bell

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(CW: police state, executions, work camps)

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