August 2022 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

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.

Comments

[unsign]

You know it. The Enterprise! At least for a while. We were on the USS Prometheus, Starbase 25 for a while, and the USS Baltimore. [ She doesn't say that her parents are Starfleet, but it's pretty obvious that her parents are Starfleet ]

I mean, I loved the Enterprise. It was really something. And being a teen on the Enterprise? It was awesome! Riker--he was the Number One when I was there--he's a good guy.

[unas]

( it's very obvious that her parents are starfleet. and that mariner enjoys being starfleet more than her general attitude would let on )

As a child I'd have been envious. It wasn't until I joined Starfleet that I really saw the stars.

( and the stars she'd grown up seeing were so distant now compared to everything that she saw )

What made you stay instead of doing something else?

( since she'd gotten a very different perspective growing up )

[unsign]

What else is there to do? It's Starfleet!

[ Oh, no. Some of her true, honest feelings there. She tamps it down with a cough ]

I mean, it's a decent gig. Good pay and stuff, and I get to shoot lasers? Hell yeah.

[unas]

It is, not everyone chooses to join it.

( study in other places, science or engineering jobs on other planets, other organisations, or even something else. there are still writers, programmers, artists. she was more curious about the woman's interests even if she had earlier wondered why she was in starfleet when it seemed to... not be what she wanted? or not be how she'd act. since apparently it was what she wanted )

You did for a reason, whether it's the same one most have or something else.

[unsign]

Yeah, and it's none of your business.

[ Not a good comeback! But, hell, she's feeling childish today. Maybe it's being back in school that's getting to her ]

What classes are you in anyway? Boring class for boring people?

[unas]

Ensign.

( a mild warning. she'd been shocked at first, taken aback by the sting in light of where they were. until that moment had passed and she'd seen the defensiveness of it. clearly why she joined starfleet wasn't a good topic for her )

I wasn't making it my business. You're at an advantage, you had training that tells you who I am, more that I couldn't guess it. I was trying to learn something in return.

[unsign]

[ Chin-Riley has a good point there, and it's irritating, and Beckett grips the books harder ]

Fine. I'm not an open book. You get three questions, and I don't promise to answer them.

[unas]

I'm not doing three questions.

( she could, but una's determined to make this more of a friendlier thing rather than just questions or 'interrogation'. and with junior officers she's definitely not as great at it: they don't do the friendly conversation with her, they just see a commander and she's distant enough that she doesn't do it either.

she pauses slightly, shifting it back around. mariner might know about her but it doesn't mean she can't still talk, share her own things. attempt to encourage something back )

I was born off-world. I read about different planets, different places that I wanted to see, that I was determined to see in Starfleet. Earth wasn't the first planet I saw, the transport ship stopped off on the way, but I don't think I read enough about it first before the Academy.

[unsign]

[ She's actually pretty okay with Una not taking her up on the questions. Instead, she listens, and thinks she gets where the Commander is going here. It's annoying, but... she's trying. She's trying, and isn't that what her mom is always telling her? Think, think before she acts. Make room for other people. Listen.

It's so annoying when her mom is right.

Fuck, she's still pissed about her mom-- ]

Earth was a surprise to you? Kind of me, too. I visited a few times, but I only moved there for the Academy. It's all a lot more... boring than I thought it would be.

I was born on a ship, the USS Baltimore. Boring ship, I was there until I was two, so I didn't have to suffer that long. It was bouncing around different ships and stations after that. It was kind of cool. I went to so many planets even before I joined Starfleet.

What tripped you up on Earth?

[unas]

Food for one, at home we cooked instead of replicating it. So there was a lot I didn't know about.

( it's an easy lie of omission to make: she didn't know a lot of the food because she cooked illyrian dishes instead. some vegetables she hadn't known about nevermind the meal it went in.

and now it's very different, though her choice in replicating is for convenience in her duties more than anything else )

Some of the views. I found a lot of places to hike but I hadn't expected them.

[unsign]

Cooking again... [ She groans, but no! Not going to get into this argument again! ]

Yeah, I guess Earth can be kind of pretty. When it's not super boring.

[unas]

( there's a slight eyebrow raise at the response (you asked the question) but she doesn't make a comment on it )

The same could be said about any planet, though I'd disagree that the planet is boring. It's finding something for your time that's key.

( says the woman who does downtime very badly )

Though I don't tend to stay long when we have leave.

[unsign]

Oh, yeah? Married to your ship? [ She can't really blame Una. The Enterprise really is something ] Maybe it's because Earth is so... Earth. But I have way more fun on other planets. Especially like Klingon ones. Those are super fun.