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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.
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[He is very much ready to be back-- well. Back in that weird place obsessed with apple picking and scavenger hunts that he was before he wound up waking up in a bespoke nightmare.
And maybe it's the Fox taking pity on them, but all at once a band starts playing the swelling familiar refrain of Pomp and Circumstance and the dream seems to culminate and start coming apart quite literally at the seams, like fabric fraying away around them. Good thing Steve ate those snacks.]
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He stands up to his feet, immediately. ]
Sam!
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[Muddling Wizard of Oz quotes is fine, right? He sits up and climbs to his feet.]
...still in the weird place though. Not home. So that part actually was real. [But that means Steve is actually here, not some figment of a dream.]
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[ He tries. He's trying. ]
Not sure how that happened, but it's over now. You get settled in yet?
[ It's a popular question to ask, but he means it every time, and he tries to help every time. ]
I'm living in a hobbit hole with Bucky. We could dig out a third room.
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[Since he met Steve he does, anyway. He shakes his head.]
No, just showed up. I haven't settled anything.
[He dusts off his pants since he's apparently been lying in the grass this whole time, and turns to face Steve. There is a moment where he tries to process living in a hobbit hole with Bucky, and sure. Okay.]
Well, that nerd must love that. [Mr. "I read the Hobbit when it came out."]
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[ He's all big smiles, clearly Bucky lent him a copy. ]
We'll have to find you a place to stay. Most people choose to stay in the apartment complex, you'll meet a lot of your neighbors that way.
[ Since Sam is so much more social than Bucky. ]
We've got a lot to talk about, besides living arrangements.
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[Sam says, with a shake of his head and a vaguely affectionate roll of his eyes. He nods.]
Sure, yeah. I'll find somewhere. Meantime, if you've got a sofa, I don't mind couch surfing.
[He's slept in much worse conditions, and Steve knows that well enough.] I'm all ears, Steve. Whatever I need to know about this place, I want to hear it. [He'll take the full briefing.]
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[ He starts heading in that direction. ]
And you know if there wasn't room, I'd take the floor. But I do have a couch.
[ As they walk, Steve explains pretty much the rundown of the setting and a few explanations including Greg, the flooding, the memory bubbles, turning into a merman, the know-what-you-did-last-summer phantoms, and briefly mentions the fuck lightning.
He's not really sure how to explain that. ]
...So I'm sure you have questions.
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I know you'd try to. [He'd fight you for the floor, Steve.
Sam listens as they walk, as Steve explains the general state of everything. It's a lot of strangeness. Half of it sounds like it has to be made up.]
Yeah. Just a few. [He is 85% questions by volume right now. A breath.] Okay, so. We're supposed to work on our potential and do it with other folks around or bad things happen. But also bad things seem to happen anyway. So... what's the play here? Just manage it all as it comes?
[Feels reactive. Sam is not a fan.]
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So yeah, for now, we've gotta see what else goes on in these trials.
[ They can't win the fight against whatever it is Thirteen wants them to do if they can't figure out what it is Thirteen wants them to do. So, that's number one. But also - ]
This whole place runs on a complicated system of magic that only the fox understands. So, I'm trying to learn different systems of magic from people who do know how their magic works.
[ How does he confess this to Sam... ]
So. I guess I'm a wizard.
[ Moving swiftly along. ]
But Misty - she's a witch - calls us warlocks. And Strange thinks if I try to learn sorcery that it'd trip me up more than it'd help.
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[Sam offers by way of observation. But okay, trials. He's not exactly looking forward to those, but he'll handle them. That's how this works. You don't always get to choose what you wind up facing down, but you face it anyway.]
You're a wizard.
[Yeah no, circling right back to that.One of the big three, Steve.] Warlocks are just wizards with bad PR. And no hats. [Sam's classification system for magic users is expanding.]
So you can do magic now? Like actual magic. Not Lang's fancy card tricks, actual magic?
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[ Though Prestidigitation is truly useful. ]
Watch.
[ He casts light on a nearby tree. ]
So, she might be, but that's what I'm learning the magic for.
Tell you what, you get me a hat, I'll wear it.
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[Sam sets his hands on his hips, looking at the now glowing tree, nodding to himself. Steve made the tree glow. That's a thing. Okay, so that's actually a cool thing is what that is. Sam may have to look into this magic stuff.]
Oh I'm definitely getting you a hat.
[He grins. Look, everything may be confusing as all hell and they're basically hostage-guests at the mercy of some weird magic Fox being, but Steve is here. Bucky is here. Things could be worse. Sam can work with this.]
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[ He pats Sam on the back. ]
How about you help me set up the couch, and then I show you around the neighborhood?
[ It's a bit weird that Steve's just accepted this, but they're kinda on the run at home, and he knows he makes it back in time for Sam not to miss him. So, this is just like a nice extended stay. ]
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[And then some. They're both rolling with it, and Sam figures that's par for the course. Nothing in his life has been normal since Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff showed up at his doorstep before breakfast looking like they'd had a building dropped on them. He's learned to adapt, even more than being in the service had taught him.]
I'll look forward to the tour of the Shire.
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But.
There's a Prancing Pony.
[ If Sam doesn't know, that's literally the name of the pub in one of his nerdy books. But if Sam does know, then he's just as big of a nerd as he accuses Steve and Bucky of being. ]
First pint's on me.
[ On the bright side, they're already in Willow, so it's not too far of a walk to Steve's lil Hobbit House. Sam can feel free to comment on the field of flowers and little vegetable garden on his roof. ]
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[Sam knows. Sam saw the movies, Steven. Sam also read the books, but that is not the point. He is as much of a nerd, let's be fully honest here. He's the one who came up with the wizard-android-alien trifecta anyway.]
Damn straight. I'd say second's on me, but uh... I think I'm broke?
[When they get in sight of the house, Sam can't help but grin.] Do you take tea out in the garden too? I... this is too charming. I don't think I can handle it. I need a moment.
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[ He's not even joking about that, Sam, so rude. But he cracks a smile. ]
It's nice.
[ He insists that it's nice here, look at this place. It's like a fairytale. ]
And you are broke, but we get more lore interacting, deep conversation and secrets are worth more, but you know what else?
[ He holds out a hand. ]
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It looks nice. Really nice.
[Fairytale is right. And Sam meant what he said. This is the sort of charming that comes straight out of those same stories.]
We get paid for this? [He will take that hand Steve, don't think he won't.] You sure you're not just looking for excuses to hold my hand?
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[ He pulls Sam into a hug instead. Not a half-hug, but a real one, holding him close for a few seconds at least, before letting go. ]
And if you don't get enough of that, you turn into a spirit or something. I don't make the rules.
[ He backs up and pats Sam on the arm. ]
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Right, yeah. Well. That sounds awful, so. I'll be sure to get my daily dose of hugs and handshakes I guess.
[A smile surfaces and he shakes his head.] Glad I've got you to show me the ropes here. None of this makes any logical sense.
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[ As he leads Sam into the house, he talks more in detail about all the stuff that's happened in the game since he's arrived, giving Sam a brief, essentially. And an explanation of what's to come.
In the meantime, he makes some coffee for him, asks him if he wants something to eat. And maybe unlike what Sam remembers, Steve has increased his cooking skills a little bit. ]
And then today I wound up in your high school, so that's just something else for the list. Guess we might have to watch out in case we pop into people's dreams.
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Or other people's nightmares. [This was pretty tame, despite the unintentional nudity.]
So this place keeps you on your toes. This is a lot, Steve. [But not something he can't handle, especially not with backup.] You've been through a lot here.
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[ He smiles, because of course that makes him feel more comfortable. Bucky's his anchor. ]
And for a bit, Tony was too. And so was another version of me.
[ Okay, he furrows his brow a bit at that one. ]
This place works like a nexus, pulling people from different times, but also different universes.
I think we're from the same one, but you never really know until you compare notes.
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Okay so, should we compare notes? We've established you're from the past. I mean, I recognize the beard. [A little gesture. It's a good look, Steve. That's all he's saying. Not that no-beard isn't a good look. It is. It's Steve Rogers. He's fairly sure there's no such thing as a bad look.]
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