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Entry tags:
August 2022 Test Drive Meme
AUGUST 2022 TDM
INTRODUCTION
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.
Content Warnings: snakes, cultists, optional violence.
FALLING DOWN LIKE PIECES INTO PLACE
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.
Content Warnings: Optional themes of identity and school trauma.
IMAKEOVER MAKEOVER
SAVED BY THE BELL
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.
we're holding SO many spoilers in this bag
And the voice is right. It's not her 'queenly' voice, but he's seen her caught by surprise often enough - often enough that he's bitten his tongue to keep from telling her that she doesn't have to put on airs for their sakes. Taion isn't a fool, he can tell that Nia isn't truly comfortable in that skin; he's just not sure that it's his place to call her out on it to her face, and so he's refrained.
Now, however... His expression goes from 'awkwardly approaching a stranger' to 'oh god I've fucked up. I've really put my foot in it this time' in zero seconds flat, even as she's taking the dress from his hands.]
Y-Your Majesty?!
[For the moment that's all he's got. Reboot in progress.]
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Your- your wot?
[ She stares for a long moment, then finally decides he must be pulling her leg. Her? Royalty? Yeah right! Finally she laughs, like it's a brilliant joke. ]
Either you've gotten me mixed up with someone else, or you're really bad at flirting, mate. Y'wanna give it another go?
no subject
If Aionios is trapped in an eternal present, then it follows that not only is there a future to reach towards, but a past that they come from. Nia herself had talked about the world before - or at least her side of it - with no small amount of nostalgia.
The Queens might be unaging and unchanging from the perspective of people for whom 'life' is only ten years, but they must have been young once.]
No, I don't believe I am. Nia, correct?
[Some of the awkwardness of the immediate moment has faded, but only because Taion has gone into Thinking Mode.]
My name is Taion. I... From your perspective, I suppose it will be a very long time until we meet.
no subject
Uh.
[ Very eloquent, Nia. Good job. ]
What, like- proper bleeding time travel? Just when I thought I actually understood this world we got stranded in.
[ Taion might be less awkward, but Nia is clearly becoming more agitated. It makes sense, really, she just hates it, so she's complaining about it. There's a bitter pull to her mouth, and she holds up the dress Taion handed her to scowl at it, needing to scowl at something even though she does still really like the dress.
And then, wait. No way. He can't have actually been serious about... ]
Hang on a second. You called me 'Your Majesty' - are you saying that, in the future, sometime, somehow, I become a Queen? Of what?
no subject
[Though that still doesn't explain her ears. Perhaps a slightly different Nia? The same way there have been countless Taions, no doubt, through years past? But, no, the Queens, at least, don't reincarnate.
At least he can answer her question easily enough, sort of. There's so much he doesn't know, about the transition between her original world and Aionios, things that it never occurred to him to ask. He doesn't even know its name, and though his face doesn't show it, Taion feels a prickle of grief and shame for that.]
Of the nation of Agnus, one half of the world Aionios.
[He doesn't know the name of her world, and he should. It's his world, too, on some level, because she's his Queen, and once, there was a person named Taion there, and some day, some day soon, there will be again.]
It's where I come from.
no subject
Oh there is only so much she can do while still holding a dress. She very casually hangs it back up on the nearest clothes rack, which contains jackets she was idly browsing before Taion walked up. This done, she then crosses her arms over her chest, ears flicking with annoyance, face scrunched up as she thinks. ]
I... have no idea what that is. Hold on, one half!? [ She repeats it, incredulous. ] Half!? How the 'ell did I become queen of half the bloody world!? And I'm like - active queen? I do - politics, 'n stuff? Am I... married??
[ She sort of dreads the answer, especially since... Well, it's either Shellhead or, like, Morag's little brother. Maybe Morag herself?? She's not sure if any of them are necessarily preferable, except maybe if she and Zeke married for politics and he kept his hands off her and kept making eyes at Pandora, but - This is all so utterly incomprehensible to her, truly. ]
no subject
H-how should I know? That's your business!
[Breathe, Taion. Take a deep breath. Do not hide in your scarf.
After deep breaths, he... Doesn't really have an answer for most of her other questions. Politics he only has the vaguest idea about - it's some kind of City thing that never really impacted Ouroboros, though it certainly stressed Monica no end. As for being an active queen... Well, that he supposes he can answer.]
Truthfully, you hadn't spent a lot of time being Queen for the last thousand years. You were in hiding while a group called Moebius used a puppet made in your image to lead Agnus. But... You were a great help to us. Even before we met, I can honestly say that my life wouldn't be the same without you. Not as a Queen, but as a person doing her part for a better world.
[He speaks slowly, choosing the words carefully. And it's true - while there's an automatic respect for the Queens, even the Queen who isn't yours, practically wired into their brains, which was the force behind his immediate embarrassed reaction, that's not where Taion's true respect for Nia comes from. Her being Queen of Agnus and his relation to that as an Agnian is far less important than the fact that she is the one who created the Ouroboros stones, and thus changed his life irreparably.]
no subject
[ Nia begins, but gets thoroughly distracted when Taion gives his estimate of how many years its been. ]
A thousand!? ...bloody hell.
[ She is, all things considered, a relatively young flesh eater. She knows they can live for a long time. Like, a really long time. Just look at Jin! What's a thousand years, after his five hundred, huh? But... she'd never bothered to apply that train of thought to herself, before. The idea that she'd live for a thousand years... maybe even longer... It kind of makes her dizzy. ]
Well. I s'pose that explains how - how I became Queen of a place I don't- I don't even recognize the name of.
[ She's fanning herself, a little. ]
Bloody hell, a thousand is a long time... And I...
[ She stops, hugging herself as she really, really takes his words in. The idea that she could make such a positive impact on someone isn't the most baffling part of this, but it's still deeply embarrassing on a way she doesn't know how to handle. He's being so earnest, and she's only just met him, and...
Well, nothing to it. She offers him a smile. ]
I'm- well, I have no idea what I did in your world, in your future, but... I'm glad I was able to help you. I guess. [ She laughs, nervous. ] Architect, who let me be queen, I'm awful at - speeches. [ or even remembering the right word for things, for that matter. This wasn't, exactly, a speech. ]
no subject
It puts the eternal now in perspective, that even someone who experienced - will experience - it can't comprehend how long it's lasted.
For now, he just tries to smile in a way that he hopes will settle her nerves.]
Well, you have a long time to practice, I suppose.
[You'll nail it eventually, Nia!]
no subject
Anyway, she laughs, looking a bit more at ease. ]
S'pose I will! A whole thousand years of it, practicing bloody speeches and... public speaking... And hopefully other things. Being a queen sounds boring, otherwise.
[ She still doesn't quite process what royalty does, just that every political meeting she's been to with either Zeke or Morag has been boring as hell. She gets why Pyra and Mythra avoid them if they can, truly. ]
Anyway... Tell me more about Agnus, if you'd like? I admit I'm kinda curious.
okokok i'm back ALSO for any lookie-loos XB3 lore spoilers from this tag and onwards
But... where does he even begin?
Maybe start at the beginning, someone's voice beside him doesn't say. He wishes he could hear it.]
'Agnus' is the name given to the country that was populated by people from your world when it collided with another. At some point in the past, you and Melia, a Queen from the world that became the nation of Keves, worked together to design a device called Origin that would preserve life in those worlds when they collided.
It worked... Imperfectly. The fear and hesitation of all the people contained within Origin became an entity called Z who took control of it from the Kevesi side. Z used the data inside Origin to create a world called Aionios that was a fusion of pieces from the two colliding worlds, and held it suspended in that state to create an 'eternal present.'
[That's the... mostly non-bad part. He takes a moment to gauge her reaction, to figure out how to say the next part.]